"In this world, strength is not a gift… it's the price you pay to stay alive."
"The Kara is the vital energy that flows through all things. Some shape it to create, others to destroy… but all depend on it to survive."
"When the breath of Kara fades, the heart stops beating, and the soul disappears into eternal shadow."
Rain fell over Kazemori.
Fine, cold, and unending.
It washed the streets, made the cobblestones shine, and drowned the lanterns in a blurry glow.
It seeped everywhere, even into the dark alleys, like a veil draped over the city.
In a quiet district, a small house with shuttered windows seemed asleep.
But inside… there was only the silence of death.
Bodies were scattered across the floor, twisted into unnatural positions.
Their eyes, wide open, stared at the ceiling without seeing.
Fresh blood slowly spread and mingled with the darkness.
The door opened without a sound.
Shiro Takahashi appeared.
Tall, calm, immaculate.
He wore a perfect black suit, not a single stain on it, as if dust and blood dared not touch him.
He stopped at the threshold, watching the rain with disgust, as if the entire world revolted him.
Slowly, he extended his hand outside.
His pale, delicate skin caught a single drop of rain.
Fssshhh…
A sharp sound.
The drop hissed against his skin, burning it like acid.
But Shiro did not scream.
He remained still, eyes cold.
Only his jaw tightened for a brief instant.
He slowly withdrew his hand, bringing it back into the shadows, and clenched his fist.
Smoke still rose from the burn.
His gaze drifted into the curtain of rain.
Then, in a low, contemptuous voice:
Shiro:
— This world… will rise again under my hand. The weak will be purged, and only the true chosen will shape the age to come.
He turned away without a glance, disappearing into the darkness of the house, leaving the rain to wash away the blood on the threshold
as if cleansing a stain that, in his eyes, tainted the entire world.
Transition — inside the warehouse…
The fine rain leaked through the gaps of the shattered roof, falling in uneven rhythms onto the cracked concrete.
Each drop that neared Danky began to tremble midair, diverted by an invisible pressure.
He floated a few centimeters above the ground, head bowed, shoulders shaking.
His broken body stood not by strength, but by unleashed willpower.
His red hair clung to his forehead, occasionally lifted by unseen pulses. His eyes, glowing crimson, locked onto Johan with an almost inhuman intensity.
Around them, two forces clashed:
the absolute cold of Diana, and the telekinetic distortion of Danky.
The air rippled, walls groaned, metal twisted softly.
The entire warehouse seemed to hold its breath.
Johan stood still, arms crossed, observing.
His usual grin was gone, replaced by an analytical, focused expression.
Johan (thinking):
A girl who freezes and heals. A boy who manipulates Celestial Kara through sheer will… no control, no restraint. Two raw awakenings, pure chaos. Shiro-sama will love dissecting them.
A breath.
Then Danky vanished.
A sharp bang tore the air.
The ground exploded under the force of his projection. Johan raised his arm...too late. Danky's fist slammed into his guard, releasing an invisible shockwave through the warehouse.
Crates flew, glass shattered.
Johan staggered back three steps, teeth clenched.
Johan (thinking):
That's not muscle strength… he's compressing the air itself!
Danky followed up:
a left hook...dodged.
A spinning strike,Johan blocked with his forearm, but felt a psychic weight crash behind the blow, as if hit by an invisible hammer.
His bones trembled.
His balance broke.
Danky twisted, raised his hand… and the air folded around Johan.
A metal shelf ripped from the ground and launched through the mist, narrowly missing his face.
Diana (thinking):
His power… he's using it without awareness. He'll collapse at this rate.
She took a deep breath, placing her hand on the floor.
— Celestial Kara: Embrace of Frost.
The ground froze instantly, ice spreading in dark, translucent patterns.
Spikes burst forth, forcing Johan to retreat, while shards of frost floated in the air
suspended within Danky's telekinetic waves.
The combined effect of both Karas created an unreal battlefield:
the ground trembled, mist twisted, gravity itself felt fickle.
Johan stepped back, slightly winded, his eyes gleaming.
Blades of frost erupted from the floor, chasing Johan like starving beasts.
He dodged, leaping from crate to crate, his boots leaving dark fiery marks on the ice.
But every step he took brought him exactly where she wanted.
Diana (thinking):
Move… just a bit more… now!
— Danky!
Her voice echoed. Danky launched himself like a comet.
The impact was titanic. Johan was thrown against a metal pillar, which bent under the collision.
Cracks spidered across the frozen floor. The air filled with sparks of Kara.
Johan spat blood.
Then smiled.
Johan (thinking):
They learn fast… too fast. But emotion is still their weakness.
He suddenly lunged toward Diana, using the chaos to his advantage.
His trajectory—precise, lethal.
— Diana!
Danky appeared in her path.
The air detonated with each step—one step, one breath, one silent roar.
He materialized between them, fist already flying.
But Johan didn't dodge.
— Dark Kara: Folding.
Around them, reality itself bent, like cloth being wrung.
The collision between Danky's fist and Johan's hand caused a distortion. The wall of ice Diana had just raised twisted in on itself, then folded like a wave, forming chains of frost infused with black energy.
They cracked through the air, wrapping around Danky.
The young man was slammed against a pillar, pinned to the ground.
His eyes still burned, but his body refused to move. The chains vibrated, draining his energy, smothering his telekinetic pressure.
Diana (gasping):
— Danky!
Johan approached slowly, his shadow distorted as it slid across the frozen floor.
Johan (coldly):
— Rage gives strength… but not mastery. And without mastery, you're nothing but dead weight.
Leaning against a shattered wall, Raizen panted. His arm hung, dislocated, and each breath burned.
But his eyes did not waver.
He observed.
Every detail.
Every movement.
The chaos before him seemed distant: Danky, trapped in the frost chains; Diana, kneeling, frozen with fear; and Johan, an immobile silhouette in the mist.
Raizen felt something.
A small nervous tic in Johan's gesture.
An almost imperceptible movement of his hand toward his mask, each time he used his power.
Raizen (thinking, panting):
The mask… it's not decoration…
…it's the key.
A searing pain shot through his chest, but he pushed it aside.
His fingers groped through the dust until they found a small piece of metal—a broken, twisted shard.
Before him, Johan approached Diana with a calm step.
The sound of his boots on the ice was more chilling than the cold itself.
Danky didn't move.
Diana's breath came in short, ragged gasps.
It was all over.
And yet—
Raizen (shouting):
— HEY, YOU BASTARD!
The sound exploded like a detonation in the silence.
Johan slowly turned his head, annoyed, his red eye gleaming behind the mask.
It was the opening.
Raizen, with his still-functional hand, hurled the shard.
A simple, sharp, precise motion.
But as the metal left his fingers, he infused it with a faint pulse of Celestial Kara.
Not to harm.
To guide.
The projectile cut through the mist, flying like a shooting star.
CLING!
A crystalline sound.
The metal grazed the mask.
A crack appeared, thin as a thread of light.
The flow of Dark Kara around Johan wavered.
The ground stopped vibrating.
His chains crumbled like ashes.
A deathly silence fell over the warehouse.
Johan remained still.
Then, slowly, he brought his hand to his face. His fingers traced the crack.
Johan (softly, almost amused):
— …Interesting.
Then laughter erupted. Low at first, then growing louder. A terrifying laugh, not of rage, but of pure and intense satisfaction.
Johan:
— Very interesting.
His body liquefied, transforming into a dense, black smoke that rose and escaped through an opening in the roof. He had abandoned the fight.
Diana collapsed, tears mixing with the rain falling through the roof.
Her ice slowly melted, revealing the bare floor, stained with blood and dust.
Danky, finally freed, fell to his knees, his aura extinguishing like a drowned ember.
And Raizen, still leaning against the wall, lifted his eyes toward the hole in the roof.
Raindrops fell on his face without him caring.
He stared at the empty sky, the passage through which their enemy had vanished.
Before him lay Ashley's lifeless body.
Raizen (thinking):
We didn't win…
We just survived.
He closed his eyes.
And the sound of the rain was the only thing that remained.
The smoke reformed on the roof of a nearby building, under the moonlight. Johan did not look in any particular direction. He closed his eyes, focusing, and sensed a concentration of Zenith energy approaching at lightning speed.
He raised his eyes. In front of him, space seemed to tear open, creating a rift of pure light. Five silhouettes of Astroforges in armor emerged, their weapons already drawn.
Johan paid them no attention. His eyes were fixed on the rift through which they had arrived. He had found what he sought. Not a place. A path.
A cruel smile stretched across his lips.
Johan (to himself):
— Mission accomplished.
He vanished into the shadows, a fraction of a second before the Astroforges could spot him.
END OF CHAPTER 9