"In this world, strength is not a gift… it is the price one pays to stay alive."
"Kara is the life 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 vanishes into the eternal shadow."
In a dark alley leading directly to the ruins, Danky ran, his eyes closed.
He had learned to trust his Celestial Kara, to let it act as a sixth sense, a radar.
Danky: (murmuring, focused)
"I'm not far now. I can feel a strong presence of Black Kara."
He opened his eyes and accelerated, his heart pounding.
He was about to witness the victory he hoped for from his mentor, the Stellar Zenith, the one who would avenge Ashley.
The moment he entered the ruins, the ground trembled.
The shockwave from Duck's Kara caused a massive, multi-meter-high column to collapse right in front of him.
The pillar fell.
CRACK!
The pillar stopped dead, inches from his face, frozen in mid-air, thanks to his elemental telekinesis Kara.
Danky: (thought, admiringly)
That was close… Even the shockwaves of his Kara are this powerful!
He had no time to marvel.
He channeled his rage and his will.
Danky: "Push!"
The column was hurled deeper into the ruins.
Duck Bum Darly: (with a sigh)
"Hey, kid. You managed to find us, that's…"
Danky: "Watch out behind you!"
Johan charged, his fist covered in Black Kara.
Johan: "I forbid you to ignore me, you wretch!"
Duck leaped backward, laughing, as the column behind him disintegrated into a shower of rubble.
He draws his sword.
SHING.
The air splits, a wave slices through the ground.
BOOM!
Johan barely blocks, his arms burning.
Duck advances.
One strike, two, three.
Each blow releases a cutting wave.
The ruins explode, stones flying.
Danky: (stunned)
"These guys are incredible!"
But Johan doesn't stop and charges forward.
His black wings unfold, he leaps.
The two blades cross
KLANG!
A spark. Then a hundred more.
Their speed becomes a blur.
Duck: "Too slow."
Johan retreats, but Duck's sword tears into him. The hand.
Despite the pain, he roars in fury and counters with a wave of Black Kara.
Duck pivots, cutting the air: "Broken Wave."
The two attacks collide.
Explosion. Smoke. Silence.
Two silhouettes. Two heavy breaths.
Danky: (whispering, trembling)
"…They're beyond anything I imagined. Even their breaths are fighting."
Johan: (smiling, panting)
"Not bad… Duck."
Duck: (glacial)
"It's not over. Stay focused."
A blink of an eye.
Then… CRACK.
The world froze.
Duck was already there.
His fist slammed into Johan's temple.
A clean impact.
Bones cracked. The ground vibrated.
Before Johan even hit the ground, Duck spun around, an ascending heel kick.
Johan's jaw bent, his mask came off. Blood spurted.
He fell back, but Duck was already behind him.
Danky: (clenching his fists, exhilarated)
"Every move is perfectly calculated. It's like he can see the future."
Duck: "Still too slow."
Duck's knee struck his back.
BAM!
Johan's spine arched, a sharp crack cutting through the silence.
Then he disappeared, reappearing further away.
The mental camera follows:
Duck dodges a hook, his fist slipping under the armpit—an uppercut to the liver.
Johan doubles over, vomiting blood.
Duck pivots, an elbow to the jaw.
Johan spins, disoriented.
Duck grabs his head, slams him to the ground.
BOOOOOOM!
A crater opens beneath the impact.
Johan's body trembles, his hand clawing at the dust.
Danky: (shouting, shaken)
"Incredible… Duck! He destroyed his mask!"
Johan: (screaming, disoriented)
"No… my mask!!"
His cry tears through the silence.
The breath of Black Kara coils around him, wild, uncontrollable.
For a moment, his shadow seems to swallow the light.
A voice echoes in his memory, cold and metallic. The voice of his master.
Shiro Takahashi (memory): "That mask contains your rage. If you take it off, you are nothing. Just an uncontrollable monster. Never forget that, Number 5."
Johan's shadow seems to swallow the light. He is no longer Johan Traken. He is the monster his master described.
Then everything fades to black.
Johan:
"YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!
—BLACK KARA: TOTAL ABSORPTION!"
The air freezes.
The ground fissures.
All around him, matter is sucked in, distorted, as if the world itself is being swallowed.
Space trembles. Sound disappears.
A sphere of nothingness rises, devouring the light.
Facing it, Duck sighs.
Calm. Unmovable.
Duck Bum Darly:
"What a waste… To die for a simple tantrum."
He raises his hand.
Time seems to slow—or perhaps, to stop.
His Celestial Kara concentrates in his palm, pure, pale blue, almost silent.
Duck Bum Darly: "Celestial Kara – Fracture."
A brief sound.
Like the cracking of a bone… or of a universe shattering.
Then, nothing.
Duck is back where he started.
Swords sheathed.
Hands in his pockets.
Absolute silence.
Danky: (trembling)
"What… what just happened?"
Johan remains frozen, standing, a gasp of horror in his eyes.
A mark appears on his forehead. Then—
CRACK.
A first fissure.
Then another.
His body cracks like glass.
Streams of light escape from it, widening, exploding.
BOOOOOOM.
A storm of dust and shards of light engulfs the ruins.
Then…
When the calm returns, nothing is left.
Nothing but a gentle wind, and ashes floating slowly to the ground.
Duck: (his gaze cold, almost disappointed)
"…That attack wasn't even at its peak.
And yet, it turned you to dust.
Goes to show… the fifth elite Burning Blood was far too far from my final level."
Danky: (thought, his eyes shining)
There it is… the true summit.
The Stellar Zenith.
[Transition]
The port was a chaos of neons and rain.
Atop a loading crane, a slender figure stood motionless, silhouetted against the stormy sky.
Suddenly, the threads of shadow dancing between her fingers froze.
Her Black Kara had just detected an absence. A clean break in the web.
She opened her eyes. A cold smile stretched her lips.
Feminine Voice:
"He has been defeated."
One of her shadow threads fell into the void, wrapped around a container, and lifted it effortlessly. She moved it a few meters, like a piece on a chessboard.
Feminine Voice:
"One less pawn. One step closer to the top."
She turned and disappeared into the crane's shadow.
...
Thousands of kilometers away, the air was dry and cold.
On the edge of a cliff, a massive figure sat, his unstable aura crackling around him.
Suddenly, the energy exploded in a wave of contained fury.
He had felt the break. The shockwave.
A hoarse, almost hysterical laugh broke the silence.
Masculine Voice:
"So, you were defeated? Your mask couldn't contain the monster you were."
He stood up, his body silhouetted against the desert landscape. The unstable energy emanating from him returned, stronger, denser.
Masculine Voice:
"But your death… it is instructive. It proves the Duck is a problem."
He walked away from the cliff, his heavy footsteps echoing on the stone.
Masculine Voice:
"A problem I will be delighted to solve."
[Transition]
Night weighed on Kazemori. A dog barked in the distance, then fell silent with a plaintive whimper. The damp cobblestones seemed to absorb all sound.
Shiro Takahashi advanced. His black suit was an ink stain in the gloom. His steps made no noise, a spectral gait.
At the turn of an alley, four silhouettes. Two local thugs, reeking of the crass arrogance of those who have never known true fear. Two young women, trapped. One of them, struggling, bumped into Shiro.
Young Woman: (stammering)
"S-sorry…"
A coarse laugh.
Thug 1:
"Hey, old man, you lost? This is a private alley."
Thug 2: (pulling out a small knife, its blade catching a pale gleam)
"Look at his watch. Hand it over, and everything else you've got, and maybe we'll let you walk away."
Shiro raised his head.
And that's when everything changed.
His gaze fell upon them. Those were not eyes. They were two red embers, void of all humanity, burning with a cold and ancient hunger. The gaze of an absolute predator that has just spotted wounded prey. In those eyes, the two thugs saw not anger or threat. They saw their own deaths, not as a possibility, but as a certainty already decided. They saw the promise of unimaginable pain.
The laugh of Thug 1 died in his throat, replaced by a strangled gasp. The knife slipped from Thug 2 's fingers and fell to the pavement with a metallic click that echoed in the sudden silence.
Thug 1: (his voice now a mere whisper)
"Dude… we… we should go."
He tried to turn. Shiro's hand landed on his shoulder. Cold. Heavy as a tombstone.
The mental camera pans away, focusing on the face of Thug 2, which is now a blank canvas of pure terror.
Only one sound is heard.
A dull, wet sound. A tear.
Followed by the thud of a heavy, soft object hitting the ground. Thug 2 saw what had rolled into the shadows. His friend's head, eyes open, staring at nothing.
He didn't scream. His jaw trembled, his eyes fixed on a point in the darkness behind Shiro. He had just understood that the laws of physics, the rules of the world he knew, no longer applied in this alley.
A streetlight above them flickered violently, then died, plunging the scene into near-total darkness.
The two young women didn't even scream. A primal whimper, the sound of a trapped animal, escaped their throats.
Shiro withdrew his hand. Nothing could be seen in the dark, but the smell could be felt. A metallic, coppery smell that rose and choked the air.
Then, the two red dots glowed anew.
Shiro Takahashi: (a hoarse whisper, almost a purr)
"You've come at a perfect time. I have a great urge… to kill."
Thug 2 fell to his knees, trembling, hands on his head. His mind was cracking under the pressure of the Black Kara.
An icy breath filled the alley, and a thin layer of frost formed on the walls. Shiro took a step, a simple sound of a shoe, but it resonated like a death sentence.
He tilted his head, a carnivorous smile playing on his lips… then turned on his heel.
Behind him, silence returned. Then came the muffled sobs and, under the flickering streetlight, a dark pool slowly began to spread.
END OF CHAPTER 17
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