If you want to read more about my works or just to support me then here is my patreon:
Patreon.com/Doflamingo4 .
__
If you liked this one. Cheek also my other stories:
[ Shadow Monarch in Hogwarts].
Patreon.com/Doflamingo4 .
________________________________________________________________________________
Third POV:
Every breath Akai took pulled some of them into his mouth and nose, coating his tongue with the taste of stone and something older.
Akai's body twitched against the cracked wall before he forced himself forward—slowly… painfully…
His muscles screamed. His bones ached. Every inch of his skin felt like it had been stretched too thin and then hit with a hammer. But he moved anyway. His hands pressed against the cold stone, fingers scraping for grip, palms flat against the cracks his own body had made in the wall. He pushed. His arms trembled. His shoulders shook. But he pushed.
His knees shook as he pushed himself up.
The joints wobbled beneath his weight, unstable, untrustworthy, but they held. Just barely. His legs straightened inch by inch, each movement accompanied by a fresh wave of pain that traveled from his feet all the way up to his skull. The dust settled on his shoulders, his hair, the back of his neck, making him look like he had been carved from the same stone as the walls around him.
"Ghh…"
A wet sound followed—
SPIT—!
Dark blood splashed onto the polished floor beneath him, echoing faintly in the vast hall.
The red liquid spread across the smooth stone, thin and dark, like spilled ink. It pooled for a moment, catching the light, then began to creep slowly between the tiny cracks in the floor. Akai watched it for a second, his eyes tracking the movement, before he looked away.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, smearing the crimson across his face, breathing hard. The blood felt warm against his skin, sticky and thick. It painted a messy line from his lips to his cheek, mixing with the dust and sweat that already covered him.
"Seven fucking hell…" he rasped, shoulders rising and falling. His chest heaved with each breath, the air rattling in his throat like stones in a wooden box. "…they attacked me off guard."
His voice was rough, scraped raw by the dust and the screaming he hadn't done but had wanted to. He rolled his shoulders, trying to loosen the tension that had locked them in place, but the movement only made him wince.
He barely finished the sentence—
WHOOSH—!
A massive blade tore through the air toward his head.
The sound came first—a sharp, cutting noise like fabric being ripped apart but a hundred times louder. Then came the pressure, the way the air itself seemed to part around the swinging metal, pushed aside by something that had no right to move so fast.
Akai's eyes snapped wide.
His pupils contracted. His whole body reacted before his brain could catch up—muscles tensing, spine bending, head pulling back—
He twisted—barely—
The sword passed inches from his face, slicing through strands of his hair before crashing into the wall behind him. He felt the wind of it against his skin, cold and sharp, like the breath of something hungry. A few strands of dark hair floated down around him, cut cleanly by the edge of the blade.
KRRRAAASH—!
Stone exploded outward.
Pieces of rock burst from the wall, large and small, flying in every direction. Some bounced off Akai's shoulders. Some skipped across the floor. One chunk hit his knee, hard, but he barely noticed. The wall behind him now had a massive gash in it, deep and dark, with cracks spreading outward like veins.
But—
THUD!!!
A second knight was already there.
He hadn't seen it move. Hadn't heard it approach. It was just… there. Suddenly. Immediately. Its massive frame filled his vision, blocking out the light, blocking out everything except the armored fist that was already swinging toward his ribs.
Its armored fist slammed into his ribs with monstrous force.
The impact sent a shockwave through his entire body—
BOOOM!
The sound was deep, wet, terrible. It wasn't just the noise of metal hitting flesh—it was the noise of bones bending, of organs shifting, of a body being asked to endure something it was never meant to endure.
Akai's feet left the ground before he crashed and skidded across the floor, rolling violently until he came to a stop.
The world became a blur of stone and light and pain. He tumbled once, twice, three times, each rotation slamming a different part of his body against the hard floor. His shoulder. His hip. His elbow. His head. By the time he stopped, he was lying on his stomach, face turned to the side, mouth open, gasping.
"Ghh—!!"
His body convulsed.
A violent shudder ran through him from head to toe, like something inside was trying to escape. His fingers curled against the stone, scraping uselessly, leaving faint white lines on the dark surface.
Pain surged again, fresh, brutal, unforgiving.
It rolled over him in waves, each one higher than the last, each one crashing down with more weight. His ribs felt broken. His back felt broken. His whole body felt like one big bruise wrapped in skin.
But he forced himself up.
Again.
Always again.
His hands pressed flat against the floor. His arms pushed. His knees drew up beneath him. The movements were slow, clumsy, nothing like the quick, sharp motions he was used to. But they worked. Inch by inch, he rose.
He staggered to his feet, breathing heavy, vision shaking—but his eyes… were different now.
The pain was still there. The fear was still there. But underneath them, something else had surfaced. Something harder. Something colder. His gaze was no longer wild and panicked. It was steady. Sharp. The eyes of someone who had stopped reacting and started thinking.
Focused.
Calculating.
"They're not that fast after all…" he muttered, watching their movements carefully.
His head turned slightly, tracking the knights as they adjusted their positions. He watched their feet, their shoulders, the way their swords moved. Patterns emerged from the chaos. Rhythms beneath the noise.
The knights advanced—slow, deliberate steps.
Heavy. Predictable.
Each footfall was the same as the last. Each swing followed the same arc. They were powerful, yes. Dangerous, absolutely. But they were also bound by something—rules, programming, whatever had been built into them when they were first created.
"…using swords makes them a bit slower."
His voice was quieter now, almost thoughtful. He was talking to himself, working through the problem out loud because thinking inside his head wasn't fast enough anymore.
A pause.
His lips curled slightly.
It wasn't a smile. Not really. It was too thin for that, too tight. But it was something. A crack in the wall of fear that had been building inside him since the first knight had moved.
"They're just big…"
Another breath. Deeper now. He could feel his ribs expand, could feel the pain that came with each inhale, but he didn't let it stop him.
"…and statues."
His fingers tightened into fists.
The knuckles cracked, a soft popping sound that was lost in the vastness of the hall. His nails dug into his palms, anchoring him, reminding him that he was still here, still standing, still fighting.
"And these fuckers…"
His stance lowered.
His knees bent. His weight shifted to the balls of his feet. His arms came up, loose but ready, positioned to block or strike or dodge depending on what came next.
"…can be destroyed."
Then—
He moved.
Fast.
Faster than before.
His feet pushed off the stone, launching him forward with a burst of speed that surprised even him. The air rushed past his face, cool against his blood-stained skin. The knights loomed ahead, tall and dark and terrible, but he didn't slow down.
Akai shot forward, his footsteps sharp against the stone—
TAP—TAP—TAP—!
The sounds were quick, crisp, echoing off the walls and pillars and ceiling. Each step was deliberate, placed exactly where he wanted it, carrying him toward his target with precision.
Straight toward the two knights that attacked him earlier.
He recognized them. The one with the slightly dented shoulder plate. The one whose sword had a small chip in the blade. They had hurt him first. They would be the first to fall.
They reacted instantly.
One raised its blade.
The other shifted its stance to intercept.
Metal groaned. Armor plates scraped against each other. The two knights moved as one, covering each other's openings, presenting a wall of steel and stone that should have been impossible to breach.
Akai didn't slow down.
His legs pumped. His arms pumped. His eyes stayed locked on the space between them, the narrow gap where their coordination might fail.
At the last second—
He jumped.
His body lifted into the air, twisting mid-motion, aiming a full-force kick toward the first knight's leg joint. His leg extended, his foot aimed, his whole body rotating to put as much force behind the strike as possible.
The second knight reacted—
Its massive sword rose high—
The blade caught the light, gleaming red and silver, as it arced upward, preparing to come down. The knight's whole body twisted with the motion, putting its weight behind the swing, aiming to cut Akai in half before he could land.
Ready to cut him down mid-air.
And in that exact moment—
Akai's eyes sharpened.
The fog of pain cleared. The panic faded. Everything became simple. Clean. He saw the sword coming. Saw the knight's stance. Saw the first knight raising its arm to block his kick.
He twisted.
Not toward the first knight—
But away.
His body contorted in the air, spine bending, shoulders turning, hips rotating. It was a move that shouldn't have been possible, a change of direction that defied physics and expectation.
Mid-air, he changed direction completely.
A movement so sudden… so precise…
That it broke the rhythm of their coordination.
The first knight's arm swung up to block a kick that never came. The second knight's sword arced down toward a target that was no longer there. For one crucial second, their perfect synchronization crumbled.
The second knight's blade came down—
SHHHHHRRRRRAAAAAAASH—!!!
The sound was enormous. A shriek of metal against metal, of steel cutting through steel, of force meeting force in a collision that sent sparks flying in every direction.
But not on Akai.
On its own ally.
The sword cleaved straight through the first knight's torso.
The blade bit deep, carving through armor and stone and whatever else lay beneath. The metal screamed as it cut, a high-pitched wail that hurt to hear. Sparks rained down like fireworks, orange and white and red, lighting up the hall in brief, violent flashes.
For a split second—
Silence.
The world stopped. The knights stopped. Even the air seemed to hold its breath, stunned by what had just happened.
Then—
CRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAACK—!!!
The armored body split apart.
The two halves separated slowly at first, then faster, pulled apart by gravity and the force of the blow that had killed it. Fragments burst outward—metal, stone, and something deeper within shattering violently as the structure collapsed. Pieces of armor flew in every direction, bouncing off the floor, off the other knights, off the pillars. A chunk of metal the size of Akai's head landed at his feet and rolled to a stop.
The sound echoed like thunder in the hall.
It bounced off the walls, off the ceiling, off the throne at the far end, returning again and again, each repetition slightly quieter than the last, until finally, after what felt like forever, it faded into nothing.
The knight fell—
BOOOOOM!!!
Its body hit the floor with a crash that shook the ground. Pieces scattered across the stone, rolling and sliding, coming to rest in a wide circle around the impact point. What had once been a towering guardian was now just a pile of broken parts. Lifeless once again.
Still.
Gone.
Akai landed lightly a few meters away, sliding slightly before stopping.
His shoes scraped against the stone, leaving faint marks, before he found his balance. His chest was heaving. His body was screaming. But he was standing. He was alive.
He turned his head just enough to look back at the destroyed guardian.
The pile of metal and stone lay motionless in the red light. No twitching. No glowing. No signs of the unnatural life that had animated it moments ago. Just broken things, scattered across the floor, already starting to look like they had always been there.
A smirk slowly formed on his blood-stained face.
It was tired. It was shaky. But it was real.
"…One is gone."
His voice was rough, barely above a whisper, but in the silence of the hall, it sounded loud.
DING.
The red screen flickered again—but this time, something new appeared.
The text was gold this time, bright against the dark red background, standing out like a flame in the darkness.
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 6]
Akai blinked. His eyes moved across the words, reading them twice to make sure they were real. Level six. He had been level five. Now he was level six. It wasn't a huge jump, but it was something. A sign that he was moving forward, even if it didn't feel like it.
Another line followed immediately—
[New Attribute Unlocked: Enhanced Speed Record]
His eyes narrowed slightly as he read it, his chest still rising and falling. Enhanced Speed Record. He didn't know exactly what that meant, but he could guess. His movements had been faster. Sharper. The mid-air twist, the sudden change of direction—those hadn't been things he could do before. Not like that. Not so smoothly.
The system was helping him. Adapting to him. Giving him what he needed to survive.
Around him—
The remaining 23 knights adjusted their stance.
They had stopped advancing. Stopped attacking. For the first time since they had awakened, they were still. Not frozen like before, but… watching. Waiting. Processing.
Their grips tightened.
Fingers curled around sword hilts with a new intensity. The metal creaked under the pressure, tiny sounds of strain that filled the quiet space between heartbeats.
Their attention sharpened.
The empty visors seemed darker now, more focused. Whatever intelligence lived inside those hollow shells was paying attention now. Learning. Adapting just like he was.
And now—
They were all looking at him… differently.
Not like prey. Not like something to be crushed and forgotten.
Like a threat.
Like something that could actually hurt them.
Akai straightened his back, ignoring the pain that screamed through his ribs. His blood-stained face lifted toward the remaining knights, his eyes moving from one to another, counting them, measuring them.
Twenty-three left.
Twenty-three chances to make a mistake.
Twenty-three chances to win.
His smirk faded into something harder. Something colder. The expression of someone who had survived the first wave and was already planning for the second.
The red light pulsed around him.
The engravings on the throne glowed brighter.
And the guardians waited.
But this time—
So did he.
[ End of Chapter 18 ].
To Be Continued...
Don't forget power stones... Guys...
________________________
If you want to read more about my works or just to support me then here is my patreon:
Patreon.com/Doflamingo4 .
__
If you liked this one. Cheek also my other stories:
[ Shadow Monarch in Hogwarts].
Patreon.com/Doflamingo4 .
Thank you all for reading...