" In this world, strength is not a gift… it is the price one pays 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 the eternal shadow".
Rain was falling on Kazemori.
Fine, cold, and continuous.
It cleaned the streets, made the cobblestones shine, and drowned the lanterns in a blurry light.
It seeped in everywhere, even into the dark alleys, like a veil laid over the city.
In a quiet neighborhood, a small house with closed shutters seemed to be asleep.
But inside… it was the silence of death.
Bodies were scattered on the floor, twisted into strange positions.
Their wide-open eyes stared at the ceiling without seeing it.
The blood, still fresh, flowed slowly and mixed with the darkness.
The door opened without a sound.
Shiro Takahashi appeared.
Tall, calm, impeccable.
He wore a perfect black suit, without a single stain, as if dust and blood could not touch him.
He stopped on the threshold, observing the rain with an expression of disgust, as if this entire world repulsed him.
Gently, he reached his hand outside.
His pale, fine skin caught a single drop of rain.
Fssshhh…
A sharp sound.
The drop made his skin smoke, burning it like acid.
But Shiro did not scream.
He remained motionless, his eyes cold.
Only his jaw tensed for a moment.
He slowly withdrew his hand, bringing it back into the shadows, and clenched his fist.
Smoke was still rising from the burn.
His gaze was lost in the curtain of rain.
Then, in a low voice, full of contempt:
Shiro:
This world... will rise again under my hand. The weak will be purged, and only the truly chosen will shape the era to come.
He turned without a backward glance and walked away into the darkness of the house, leaving the rain to wash the blood from the threshold, as if to erase a stain that, in his eyes, contaminated the entire world.
Transition to the warehouse...
The fine rain seeped through the breaches of the torn roof, falling in an irregular rhythm on the cracked concrete. Every drop that approached Danky began to vibrate in the air, deflected by an invisible pressure.
He was floating a few inches off the ground, his head bowed, his shoulders trembling.
His broken body was held up not by physical strength, but by an unleashed will.
His red hair stuck to his forehead, sometimes lifted by invisible pulsations. His eyes, an incandescent red, stared at Johan with an almost inhuman intensity.
Around them, two atmospheres collided:
the absolute cold of Diana, and the telekinetic distortion of Danky.
The air rippled, the walls cracked, the metal twisted gently.
The entire warehouse seemed to be holding its breath.
Johan observed the scene, motionless, his arms crossed.
His usual smile had disappeared, replaced by an analytical and focused expression.
Johan (thinking):
A girl who freezes and heals. A boy who manipulates Celestial Kara through pure will… unfiltered, limitless. Two raw, uncontrolled awakenings. Shiro-sama will love dissecting them.
A breath.
Then Danky disappeared.
A sharp bang split the air.
The ground exploded under the force of his projection. Johan raised his arm—too late. Danky's fist crashed against his guard, sending an invisible wave through the warehouse.
Crates flew, windows shattered.
Johan took three steps back, his teeth clenched.
Johan (thinking):
This isn't muscular strength… he's compressing the air itself!
Danky followed up:
a left hook—dodged.
A rotation of the fist—Johan parried with his forearm, but felt a psychic pressure crash behind the blow, as if the impact came from an invisible hammer.
His bones vibrated.
His balance gave way.
Danky pivoted, raised his hand… and the air bent around Johan.
A metal shelf was torn from the ground and propelled through the mist, narrowly missing the opponent's face.
Diana (thinking):
His power… he's using it without awareness. He's going to collapse at this rate.
She took a deep breath, placing her hand on the ground.
Celestial Kara: Frost's Embrace.
The ground froze before their eyes, the ice spreading in black and translucent arabesques.
Spikes shot up, forcing Johan to retreat, while shards of frost floated in the air—suspended in Danky's mental vibrations.
The combined effect of the two Kara created an unreal battlefield:
the ground vibrated, the mist twisted, gravity seemed capricious.
Johan retreated, slightly breathless, his eyes shining.
Blades of frost erupted from the ground, seeking Johan like hungry beasts.
He dodged, leaping from crate to crate, his boots leaving trails of dark fire on the ice.
But every step he took led him where she wanted.
Diana (thinking):
Move, go on… one more step… now!
Danky!
The cry echoed. Danky propelled himself like a comet.
The impact was titanic. Johan was thrown against a metal pillar that bent under the impact.
Cracks snaked across the frozen ground. The air filled with sparks of Kara.
Johan spat blood.
Then he smiled.
Johan (thinking):
They learn fast... too fast. But emotion remains their flaw.
He suddenly propelled himself toward Diana, taking advantage of the chaos.
His trajectory was calculated, direct, deadly.
Diana!
Danky appeared in his path.
The air exploded under his steps—one step, one breath, one silent roar.
He appeared between Johan and her, his fist already ready.
But Johan did not try to dodge.
Black Kara: Folding.
Around them, reality seemed to bend, like a fabric being crumpled.
The clash between Danky's fist and Johan's hand caused a distortion. The ice wall Diana had just erected twisted on itself, then folded like a wave, forming chains of frost animated by the black energy.
They cracked in the air, wrapping around Danky.
The young man was thrown against a pillar and pinned to the ground.
His eyes still burned, but his body refused to move. The chains vibrated, absorbing his energy, suffocating the telekinetic pressure.
Diana (panting):
Danky!
Johan approached slowly, his distorted shadow gliding over the frozen ground.
Johan (coldly):
Rage gives strength... but not mastery. And without mastery, you are just a dead weight.
Leaning against a shattered wall, Raizen panted. His arm hung limp, dislocated, and every breath was a burn.
But his eyes did not waver.
He was observing.
Every detail.
Every movement.
The chaos before him seemed distant: Danky, a prisoner of the frost chains, Diana, on her knees, frozen with fear, and Johan, a motionless 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 for decoration…
… it's the key.
A searing pain shot through his chest, but he pushed it away.
His fingers fumbled in the dust until they found a small shard of metal—a broken, twisted blade.
In front of him, Johan was approaching Diana with a calm stride.
The sound of his boots on the ice was more chilling than the cold itself.
Danky was no longer moving.
Diana's breath was ragged.
It was all over.
And yet
Raizen (screaming):
HEY, SCUM!
The sound exploded like a detonation in the silence.
Johan slowly turned his head, annoyed, his red eye shining behind the mask.
It was the opening.
Raizen, with his still-valid hand, threw the shard.
A simple, sharp, precise gesture.
But as the metal left his fingers, he infused it with a tiny pulse of Celestial Kara.
Not to injure.
To guide.
The projectile split the mist, streaking like a shooting star.
CLING!
A crystalline sound.
The metal grazed the mask.
A crack appeared, as fine as a thread of light.
The flow of Black Kara around Johan flickered.
The ground stopped vibrating.
His chains disintegrated like ash.
A dead silence fell over the warehouse.
Johan remained motionless.
Then, slowly, he brought his hand to his face. His fingers slid over the crack.
Johan (softly, almost amused):
… Interesting.
Then, a laugh erupted. A low laugh, then louder and louder. A terrifying laugh, not of fury, but of pure, 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 ground, 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, looked up at the hole in the roof.
The drops fell on his face without him caring.
He was looking at the empty sky, the passage through which their enemy had flown away.
In front of him, Ashley's lifeless body lay.
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 neighboring building, under the moonlight. Johan did not look in any particular direction. He closed his eyes, concentrating, and felt a concentration of Zenith energy approaching at lightning speed.
He looked up. In front of him, space seemed to "tear" open, creating a breach of pure light. Five silhouettes of Astroforges in armor emerged from it, their weapons already drawn.
Johan did not spare them a glance. His eyes were fixed on the tear through which they had arrived. He had found what he was looking for. Not a place. A path.
A cruel smile stretched 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 15