"What was that, some kind of sign?" Kara thinks in his mind.
Seka slowly opens her eyes as she sees the mesmerizing scenery of Kara looking away.
"Aaa," she makes a small noise. It alerts Kara; with the noise, he looks down at her and stares at her for a while.
"Ah, I-… hello." Her voice sounds as if she is really nervous. She starts getting red all over again. "Ahh, are you okay now?" she asks Kara. Unable to keep eye contact, she looks in another direction.
"Ah, yea, I am fine, did—" he notices her face turning all red. "It seems am not good , cause you're avoiding me," Kara says.
Seka, with that, looks at him and sees his smug face. "What are you looking at me like that for?" she shouts and stands up. Kara gives a little giggle.
"You seem all right. Why did I even worry about you?" Seka says, turning the other side with her arms folded. Kara looks at her and stands up. "Hehe," he gives a smile to her.
"I am going back," Seka says, all flustered. She turns around and starts to walk.
As she takes a step, Kara grabs her hand. "Wait, what if I said I was not fine?" he says.
"Wait, you are joking, right?" Seka looks at his face, still holding hands. Kara looks in her eyes in all seriousness and nods no.
"It's just, I don't know… maybe I just want to talk some more." Kara looks down. "Why don't I tell you about me then? I also think I reached my limit of hiding things from people, especially from you."
She looks at Kara. "Oh, does that make me special then?" Kara looks at her with a happy smile.
"It's cause you're the only other person who asked me, idiot," Seka says and takes a seat on the bench nearby.
"Five years ago, when I was 11, I had an encounter with someone who betrayed us for something I am protecting till now—who ended up killing my father and mother in front of my very own eyes. Until a few months ago, I didn't know about this place, so I worked in different places as I could with my brother, until finally I started to have an easier life with the Kioku."
Kara replies, "That really sounds tough." Kara looks at Seka and puts his hands on top of her head. "You did well till now. Really proud."
"I don't need tha—" She starts to cry as she speaks, her words breaking. "I don't want to have anybody face what I just faced. I don't want, I don—" She speaks as her gaze slowly drifts to her hand.
with the gaze slowly fade into Kara's hand resting and healing Seka's stomac, slowly every thing becomes blury and wobbly and warm, as tear forms in Karas eyes and dropps on his hands.
"Please ju—"
A giant tentacle comes his way and smacks him, launching him far from Seka.
Once again in Karas memory… "I couldn't save or fight then. But now I want to be strong, to be able to protect everyone—and also myself."
Chyak!
Kara looks at the Curse as it pierces its tentacles through the very wound Kara was trying to heal.
Kara looks at the Curse with rage. He starts to engage his focus. His eyes turn blue, and his hair turns white.
"Stab, stab, stab!" The Curse starts to scream in satisfaction.
As he tries to stab her: "Hmm, look—there is someone who wants revenge. Just what I need." The Curse looks at Kara with a side eye, smiling, as he pierces another of his tentacles through her shoulder.
Crack! The whole arena starts to burn under a heavy pressure that people have never seen.
People start to find it difficult to breathe. The pressure grows heavier.
A crystal cracks. "Hmm, your power is quite intense. Who are you? You show some nice power to me." It looks at Kara and back at Seka "it's so boring just to stab…" The curse puts her down. "Why don't we try to squash—"
"Stop it. Stop it. Stop it!" Kara shouts.
The Curse speaks: "This looks quite interesting. What did you say? Say it again."
Swish!
The cracked crystal breaks. The Curse's tentacles are sliced and fall to the ground.
The pressure increases throughout the place with a wave.
The Curse, covering Chio's body, changes its form into a smaller, slimmer humanoid body.
"Tch, come at me, fool!"
Kara dashes so quick that the audience gets blown away with the gust of wind.
"Who is he? Is he one of the generals?" the people in the audience start to wonder.
Kara quickly dashes behind the Curse and brings out his fist for a punch. The Curse dodges.
"Did you think only you were so powerful?" The Curse grabs Kara's hands and flings him into the place where the audience sits. He comes crashing down, destroying multiple walls.
"Come at me!" the Curse screams at Kara. Taunting him.
He stands up. "Tch… you speak quite a lot for a piece of shit."
Kara jumps out of the hole he is in and starts to use his magic. He drops in front of the Curse, vanishing into the mist.
The Curse tries looking for him. He brings out his tentacles and sends them in all directions. The tentacles swoop through the whole fighting ground, covering every nook and corner.
Kara emerges from one of the distorted mist clouds. "Can't see me, can you?"
He gives a heavy punch to the Curse. The Curse backs off a little. "Hehe…" the Curse smiles. Inside the Curse, it starts extracting more anger from Chio.
Chio's hands clench very hard, her eyes narrowing as she feels all her energy being drained out.
Kara tries to emerge once again, but the Curse grabs him right as he comes out, clutching his head. The Curse starts running laps around the arena, dragging Kara's body on the ground as he runs.
It stops and throws Kara towards another corner. Kara regains his control and jumps mid-air toward the Curse. The Curse instantly gets behind him.
"Awh, don't say you are not able to catch up with me."
Brang! It hits Kara so hard that he is launched into the ground, making a large dent. Kara bounces from the impact, and the Curse gets in front of him.
The Curse tries to hit Kara, but he dodges mid-air and punches him instead. His hands get stuck inside the Curse's body.
Kara tries pulling out his hands.
The Curse smiles menacingly and gives a couple of heavy punches as Kara is stuck. Kara tries moving—
—but his hands sense something. As he is touching, he realizes… his hands are on Chio's face.
He tries a little harder and manages to grab her hands. He pulls. The Curse is shocked.
"What did you do!" the Curse screams, slinging Kara and crashing him into the ground.
"It is Chio inside… I have to save her too, but I am at my limit." Kara gets out of the rubble.
He takes a deep breath and stands still.
A crystal starts to crack. "I might not have much time… but it's enough for you."
Kara launches at the Curse. The Curse gets startled by the sudden jump in speed. It launches more tentacles.
Bang—swish!
He dodges the tentacle and keeps going.
Dung!
Another attack by the Curse creates a burst of smoke.
Woosh!
Kara jumps out of the smoke.
Woosh! A wave of chilly mist covers the whole area.
The Curse gasps and looks back.
"You're fast, but too late. I was stupid to let my rage for revenge get in my way. I should have been more careful."
Kara is already behind him. The blue smoke mixes with the cyan mist glow as he slowly solidifies from the mist.
Kara looks calm, cool, and focused as he brings out his arm with something like a handle in his hand.
The handle changes its shape—it's Seka's weapon he took. It transforms into a sword.
The Curse reacts quickly and launches its attack. But Kara is faster. Kara disappears into mist right the moment he touches him. Suddenly, the Curse sees Kara standing at a distance.
"Magic Mist Area: The Dead Soul."
The mist all around grows heavier and colder, forming across the ground until only the surface is barely visible.
The Curse turns back and sees Kara standing still, looking at the ground, sword in hand.
With his left hand, he pulls the scarf from his neck, exposing his mouth.
"Haa…" he exhales, cold mist escaping his breath as he looks at the Curse with a calm face.
The Curse takes a step—
Instantly, its pieces separate and explode. Chio comes out. Kara slides in and grabs her in his arms, one hand on her shoulder.
Kara sits there, sword on the ground, knees bent, calm, with Chio in his arms.
The Curse speaks: "W-what the fk did you do to my body?!" It attacks Kara with summoned tentacles. But one by one, all the tentacles explode.
Seka regains a little consciousness and sees Kara fighting the Curse.
She lets out, weakly: "Ka…ra…"
Kara takes a deep breath. Chio starts to regain consciousness.
In a second, the Curse's vision turns dark. It feels like he is in a black space.
The Curse starts to scream, its voice echoing through the arena: "What the heck—why am I—fk you!"**
Kara exhales. The remaining slimy body explodes into pieces, which vaporize as they land.
Chio opens her eyes a little. "Kara?" she says, flustered and tired.