---
Chapter 18: Awakening of Power – Light Within Darkness
---
Scene One: The Collapse
A heavy silence blanketed the Cursed Land. The six knights had fallen one by one, their bodies drenched in wounds, their spirits dimming. The air was thick with black magic, and the sky above burned with clouds foretelling the end.
Garmosh stood atop a hill of bones, his staff—crafted from a black dragon’s spine—glowing with a blood-red hue. His eyes burned like twin embers in a face marked by demonic runes.
Garmosh (mocking, in a voice that pierced the soul):
"Is this all? The knights foretold in prophecy? Just children fighting gods of ruin with wooden daggers? How utterly disappointing…"
He slammed his staff into the ground.
A dark explosion erupted beneath him. From the shadows rose terrifying demon souls, their screams enough to shatter sanity.
Garmosh’s First Technique: “Howl of the Abyss”
Burning souls launched from his mouth like a swarm of hellish ravens, surrounding the knights, attempting to drag them into the world of the dead.
---
Scene Two: The Awakening Begins
Hakora was the first to hear the call.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
A voice inside her, pure as snow:
"Rise, wielder of the cold dawn. It is time to choose…"
Her eyes opened. The ice in her veins ignited. Slowly, she stood and reached toward the sky.
Hakora (calmly):
"Fear is not a weakness… it is a reason to fight. I will freeze your shadows, Garmosh, as I once froze my own heart."
Hakora’s Technique: “Breath of the Icy Dawn”
A crystal spear of frost grew from her hand and struck the ground, sending a chilling shockwave that froze the surrounding demonic spirits solid.
---
Kain rose, shadows cloaking him like a living shroud.
Kain (softly, as if speaking to the darkness):
"What hides in the shadows… isn’t always afraid. Sometimes, it’s the one waiting to strike back."
Kain’s Technique: “Court of Eternal Shadows”
He summoned pillars of living shadow, serpentine and silent, that crushed Garmosh’s spirits and locked them in prisons where no sound could escape.
---
Hanto’s eye glowed with a color never seen before—golden like the sun, bloody like a forgotten oath.
Hanto (in a double voice—half human, half ancient):
"Every sword remembers. And mine… remembers how to cut evil from its root."
Hanto’s Technique: “Sacred Fate Engraving”
His blade became inscribed with radiant runes. Each slash carved a mark on the enemy’s soul, with every wound slowly unraveling their essence.
---
Rygar, burning from within, let out a primal roar.
Rygar (furious):
"You won’t crush the souls of my loved ones twice! This time… I AM the fire!"
Rygar’s Technique: “Crimson Dragon's Wrath”
He breathed a stream of fire like a dragon, incinerating the demonic spirits with flames that could not be extinguished—not even by tears.
---
Lorena floated into the air, her golden hair flowing like tongues of holy fire. Behind her, a radiant portal opened.
Lorena (softly, yet commanding):
"What begins in light… does not end in shadow. Your time of curses is over, Garmosh."
Lorena’s Technique: “Heaven’s Judgement”
She summoned a massive mirror of light, reflecting Garmosh’s soul and analyzing his dark energy, then fired a cleansing beam straight at his core.
---
Scene Three: Garmosh’s Response – The Demon of a Thousand Souls
Garmosh stepped back slightly, smirking, and threw off his cloak. From his body erupted a thousand cursed souls, each one screaming, weeping, laughing, and biting at the air.
Garmosh (his voice now a fusion of many):
"You don’t understand… I am not a man. I am the echo of all who fell, all who betrayed, all who went mad. You are fighting a thousand souls… and I am the bridge between them!"
His Techniques: “Soul Flood” + “Sevenfold Curse Prison”
The souls transformed into raging phantoms, stabbing at the knights with visions of guilt and fear.
Garmosh formed seven prisons, each trapping a knight in a vivid memory of their greatest trauma.
---
Scene Four: Inner Struggles
Hanto knelt, forced to relive the day he failed to save his father.
Rygar watched his childhood friends burn again.
Kain heard his mother whisper, “You are a curse.”
Hakora saw herself frozen, alone.
Lorena witnessed light fading from the world before her eyes.
But then…
A voice, echoing from the earth itself—resonating with all six knights:
"We won’t fall into the same darkness twice… not today, not ever!"
Combined Technique: “Reverse Tempest”
Together, the knights fused their powers into a radiant storm that absorbed the curses and flung them back toward Garmosh in a devastating surge.
---
Scene Five: The Cliffhanger
In a moment of desperation, Garmosh struck his staff into the earth once more. A massive rift opened. From its depths emerged a black entity with no face—only a single, watching eye.
Garmosh (screaming):
"I will drag you with me… to where no light ever reaches!"
The ground cracked, and the knights began to fall… one after another.
Hanto (shouting, his voice echoing in the darkness):
"Even in the abyss… we will remember the light!"
The chapter ends with the six knights falling into a black void, while Garmosh smiles, blood streaming from his eyes.
---
End of Chapter 18.
