Chapter 14: fraudulent.
Much like the previous three older youths, Helious attacked first, charging towards Shibeki before unleashing a series of sweeping and spinning kicks.
Much to the surprise of Okimodo none of Helious’s kicks managed to connect.
“What the…” Shipo immediately dawned a baffled expression.
Okimodo questioned Shibeki’s intelligence. It was clear that he was using the wingless butterfly somehow as Helious’s attacks were all completely off. To an ordinary person it may have seemed as if Shibeki was dodging but in fact he was simply side stepping the older boy’s poorly aimed attacks. Helious’s poor aim could be interpreted as a lack of skill but this boy had Shown plenty of promise in the two previous ceremony. Any shang rokai watching would surely find it fishy.
as the fight continued on to pass the previous time set by Chaiseky, Okimodo looked around to see if any of the Shang rokai where questioning the fight’s credibility. He saw Guyus observing from the front row of seats along with old man Bujorn. Guyus was visibly tense and gritting his teeth while bujorn was stroking his chin in contemplation. As Okimodo looked back towards the fight he saw that Shimpacha was observing this battle with great intensity. It was clear that they found something to be off about the duel but didn’t know exactly what it was. Okimodo fixed his gaze on Shibeki and began to analyse him to see where the wingless butterfly was being kept on his body. It obviously wasn’t being held in his hands or else he would’ve been exposed easily. It couldn’t be in any of his pockets either as that would be too obvious. Okimodo thought deeply pulling at his knowledge surrounding the wingless butterflies. Generally people who used them in battle would partially consume the creature allowing it to remain at the base of the tongue just above the separation of the wind pipe and the oesophagus. This method was the most discreet and by extension the most efficient but required months of training to be effective in battle and could backfire extremely easily. It was unlikely that Shibeki was doing this unless he had planned on cheating months in advance.
Helious became visibly frustrated with the way things were going and promptly intensified his attacks. His kicks became more frequent and accurate despite the wingless butterfly’s effect on him. Shibeki was forced to retreat back a metre as Helious’s kicks were now grazing him.
Helious quickly closed the distance between them and delivered a spinning kick that hit Shibeki straight in the throat. Shibeki fell to the ground where his cheeks inflated briefly as if he was about to spit something out. Shimpacha raised an eyebrow at this before quickly raising his hand to pause the duel.
“Why the hell did Helious do that?” Okimodo was stumped. A kick aimed at the throat was a lethal move and by extension an illegal one during the rite of passage.
Helious stepped back a few metres while panting and paying close attention to Shimpacha’s actions.
Shimpacha kneeled down before Shibeki and offered him a hand to help him up.
Shibeki took Shimpacha’s hand before spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“As stated previously, you aren’t allowed to kill your opponent.” Shimpacha looked back at Helious disapprovingly. “You kicked him in the throat and now he’s coughing up blood. Had that kick been a little harder or reinforced with resonance he would have been killed.”
Helious gave Shimpacha a baffled expression. “I didn’t kick him in the throat. It was in the chest.”
“Don’t take me for a fool.” Shimpacha sneered.
As Okimodo observed he felt as if something was off. Helious was known to be a soft hearted individual who always held back during duels. This was one of the main reasons why he failed his previous two attempts at passing the rite of passage. It was indeed very out of character for him to attack with a lethal move, especially against an opponent two years younger than him. That’s when a realisation dawned on Okimodo. He wasn’t sure what the range of the wingles butterfly’s area of effect was, it was very much possible that him as well as all of the people close to the battle had their perception altered.
Shimpacha raised his head high as he began to speak in an authoritative tone. “Azurai Sami Helious has inflicted a potentially lethal blow on Azurai Shildron Shibeki and has thus violated the rules of the rite of passage.”
Helious’s shoulders fell slumped as reality froze. Surely this couldn’t actually be happening right? Was he really about to fail his right of passage like this?
At the next moment a fourth person stepped into the centre of the circle.
“Okimodo?” Shipo watched on as his brother interrupted Shimpacha.
“Helious is innocent.” Okimodo declared.
Shimpacha gave Okimodo an incredulous look while Shibeki who had been smug the entire time suddenly went pale.
“It’s him!” Cheadle’s eyes lit up as she stood up to get a better view, her heart racing.
“That’s the boy?” Joa looked Okimodo up and down before smiling. “he really is quite adorable.”
“What’s that boy doing?” Shikimodo raised an eyebrow.
Beside him Fuji barked and wagged her tail in Shitari’s lap ecstatic to see Okimodo show himself.
“Shibeki has been using a wingless butterfly to alter the duel.” Okimodo said skipping straight to the point. “Helious really didn’t kick him in the throat. If you don’t believe me then ask the audience who are outside of the wingless butterflies range.”
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Shimpacha pondered to himself. The duel was indeed going in a very strange direction. Helious’s aim had been completely off which was in stark contrast to his performance to the previous two ceremonies. If Shibeki really was Cheating then that could explain Helious’s lack of skill. But that didn’t explain the blood Shibeki spat out.
Shibeki was in a sticky situation. He had kept the wingless butterfy at the base of his tongue while making sure not to swallow it. Throughout the battle he had been using the animal to slightly alter Helious’s perception of reality to the best of his ability while also altering the perception of the surrounding people as well. He had made it appear as if he had dodged all of Helious’s kicks when in fact he had been struck by Helious several times already. All around his body there was swelling and pain where Helious’s attacks struck him. His most recent attack was the worst of all as it broke one of his ribs. In truth Shibeki was only a single attack away from admitting defeat. Because of that fact he had planned on using the wingless butterfly to alter people’s perception and make it appear as if Helious kicked him in the throat and not his chest. He even bit his tongue deliberately as he fell to the ground to make it appear as if his throat was injured. The plan was for him to win through getting Helious disqualified, but now that Okimodo had suddenly interfered the situation became much more dire. He had to Swallow the wingless butterfly immediately and allow it to be destroyed in his stomach acid or else it would be over for him. He was about to swallow the wingless butterfly to hide the evidence but stopped when Okimodo addressed him.
“Do not swallow.” Okimodo yelled at him. “If you swallow right now then that proves the wingless butterfly was in your throat.”
Shibeki gritted his teeth. This bastard Okimodo needed to fuck off right away.
“That won’t be necessary.” Shimpacha said before looking around at the audience and yelling. “Did any of you witness Helious kick Shibeki in the throat?”
Murmuring could be heard among the crowd before a woman spoke up. This was none other than Helious’s own mother Azurai Sami Dara. Beside her sat Helious’s father and Guyus’s older brother Azurai Sami Guynio. He watched and listened in silence as his wife spoke.
“I saw the entire fight and Helious never used a single illegal move.” Dara stated. “My son is a warm hearted person who’d never do such a thing to a junior.”
“I’m confused.” Guyus Spoke up. “I also didn’t see any evidence of an illegal move. All of Helious’s attacks hit non vital areas.”
“Shibeki was hit?” Shipo had no idea what the hell was going on. “I didn’t see him get hit even once aside from the most recent attack.”
“Neither did I…” Shimpacha stroked his chin.
“The reports of people in the crowd and the people in the arena aren’t consistent.” Okimodo kneeled down to give Shibeki a mocking grin. “I wonder why that is?”
In Shibeki’s mind a hurricane of insults where directed at Okimodo and his entire family tree as well as his ancestors. This bastard Okimodo had always had it out for him. He wanted to spit in Okimodo’s face but couldn’t as that would expose the wound on his tongue.
Okimodo observed Shibeki’s rage filled eyes before standing up and speaking. “The inconsistency can be explained pretty easily. It’s because the people outside of the arena are all outside of the wingless butterfly’s range.”
“Shibeki…” Shimpacha’s voice darkened as he turned to look at Shibeki who was still on the ground. “Hand the wingless butterfly over to me.”
Shibeki desperately pondered over his next actions. It was pretty much over for him if the wingless butterfly was discovered but what other options did he have? With a gulp Shibeki swallowed the insect whole.
“What was the point in that?” Okimodo sneered. “Had you just handed it over then at least it could’ve been set free. Now it has to suffer an agonising death because of you.” Okimodo chuckled as he kneeled back down to face Shibeki. “That’s the kind of person you are. Someone who goes out of his way to create suffering for others. That’s why I won’t miss you when you get kicked out of the clan.”
“Fuck you and your Ukunese whore of a mother.” Shibeki yelled before spitting blood in Okimodo’s face.
Okimodo stood up slowly, wiping his face clean before laughing out loud as he circled around Shibeki. “You’ve disrespected the rite of passage by cheating and now you’ve got the audacity to spit in the face of your better?”
Okimodo then suddenly leaned forward and moved at a frightening speed turning into an after image in front of all of the onlookers.
Shibeki got up on his knees and looked around frantically but Okimodo was nowhere to be seen. At the next moment an overwhelming force exploded against Shibeki’s chest causing him to be sent tumbling over to the edge of the circle.
Okimodo reappeared walking over to him while speaking. “The three foundational principles of being a shang rokai are honour, strength and kindness.”
Okimodo then kicked Shibeki back into the centre of the arena before disappearing again leaving only a small plume of dust where he once stood.
“He’s so fast.” Cheadle was awestruck.
“That’s a super resonator for you.” Marble laughed. “By dedicating themselves to a particular archetype they gain numerous abilities that set them apart from the general population. That boy is an extreme example of that.”
Shibeki rolled across the ground while heaving blood stained breaths filled with pain. The difference in strength between Okimodo and Helious was like heaven and earth. In that moment he wished it had just been Helious attacking him.
“The first principle of being a shang rokai is honour.” Okimodo reappeared circling around Shibeki slowly. “You displayed a disregard for honour when you decided to cheat in this rite of passage.”
Okimodo then vanished again and Shibeki felt his rib cage contract as a devastating kick to the chest sent him flying up two metres into the air. He landed with a thud before Okimodo reappeared once again circling around him while speaking.
“The second principle is strength.” Okimodo said looking down at Shibeki like a piece of garbage. “Strength comes in many forms and you lack all of them. You lack the strength to compete fairly in the rite of passage and you lack the strength to admit your wrong doing. You also lack mental strength as seen when you spiralled out of control when Diavana rejected you.”
Okimodo disappeared and reappeared holding Shibeki’s head up by the hair before leaning down to face him.
“The third principle is kindness.” Okimodo said looking the now bloody Shibeki dead in the eye. “You completely disregarded kindness by attempting to destroy Helious’s life in order to elevate yourself.” Okimodo then raised his voice and declared. “Shibeki has no regard for our clan’s teachings and should therefore never be allowed to dawn the red shang rokai robe.”
Okimodo then attacked one final time striking Shibeki in the jaw with his knee causing the youth to be sent hurdling into Bhudboidingas.
Bhudboidingas laughed like a maniac before kicking Shibeki back into the centre and clapping his hands. “That was quite impressive Okimodo.”
“Okimodo has said everything that needs to be said.” Shimpacha declared. “Shibeki has failed his right of passage and his officially banned from ever attending the rite of passage again. Helious has passed his right of passage and is an official shang rokai from now on.”
End of chapter 14.