Chapter 15: time to shine.
Shibeki glared at Okimodo as two women from the Ionoon school escorted him out of the arena. Okimodo himself returned to his previous place next to Shipo and waited patiently for the next duel to commence.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this.” Shipo laughed self deprecatingly as he spoke. “I’m actually impressed, I never imagined that you’d be willing to display your clan’s pride so openly.”
“It’s not only pride.” Okimodo responded. “It’s to establish my dedication to upholding the clan’s morals and principles. By doing so, my chances of getting drafted early on will increase significantly. It’s also the main reason why I plan to fight hand to hand and display my combat versatility. All of these things in conjunction with my reputation as an archer prodigy should boost my prestige in the clan head’s eyes.”
Shipo fell into deep thought when he heard his brother’s words. To think that Okimodo exploited the situation with Shibeki to elevate himself, it showed a ruthless side to his brother that Shipo rarely saw. Shipo naturally did not judge his brother for this, after all he intended to put on an impressive performance for the clan head as well.
“So basically you plan to kiss the clan’s ass to get ahead.” Bhudboidingas laughed as he invited himself into the conversation. “In the end everyone is just a selfish bastard, yet you all look down on people like me and Shibeki. At least we are honest about who we are.”
“Do you think that’s something honourable?” Okimodo asked incredulously. “That just makes you stupid. In life it’s survival of the most cunning.”
“I don’t give a shit about honour.” Bhudboidingas clarified. “It’s just a funny observation.”
The clan head sat on a balcony overlooking the arena on the highest floor of the palace. He had been observing the situation intensely while stroking his long white beard.
“That was quite an interesting display just now.” The clan head smirked as he leaned back in his rocking chair. “What is that boy’s name again?”
“Which one?” Beside him sat the head of the Ionoon school, an old woman named Shiadoncha. She had deep black eyes that told a thousand stories and her long white hair draped across the ground like a silver cape.
“The one that disciplined that youth named Shibeki.” The clan head clarified.
“That’s Azurai Batari Okimodo.” Shiadoncha explained. “He’s one of the upcoming prodigies along side his brother Shipo and an older youth named Ioseph.”
“Okimodo?” The old man’s gaze intensified. “That’s right it’s all coming back to me now, he’s Shikimodo’s son the archer prodigy the other elders won’t shut up about. It seems he’s hell bent on getting drafted into our main fighting force, it’s quite entertaining. Definitely a promising youth.”
Back in the arena Cheadle’s impression of Okimodo had changed considerably. The image she had built up of a carefree and aloof boy was no more, now replaced by a disciplined and devout young man. This Okimodo was now someone she could bring home to her parents knowing they’d be assured she had a stable future. This naturally led to her developing a much deeper interest in getting to know Okimodo.
In another part of the crowd Shikimodo smiled approvingly while Petra was crying tears of pride. Shitari sighed lightly while playing with Fuji, largely indifferent to the whole situation.
“Number five, please step forward.” Shimpacha continued on with the rite of passage as if nothing happened.
The fight went as predicted with the younger boy being pummelled into oblivion by the older one for a few seconds before he admitted defeat. The only thing worth narrating was the fact that the boy lasted longer than Chaiseky and Stava with a time of twenty eight seconds.
The next couple of duels went by in a flash and before Okimodo knew it Shimpacha called out for number twenty three.
Okimodo stepped forward into the arena where he felt as if the entire world was watching him. Okimodo being the kind of person he was, was not nervous or uncomfortable at all. This was what he wanted. It was time for the world to know his legend.
“It’s finally his turn!” Kaiya was jumping for joy in her seat, much to the irritation of her parents and Chaiseky who now sat next to her.
On the opposite side of the arena, Cheadle was equally as ecstatic and almost tumbled over when she leaned forward a bit too much.
“Make me proud my son!” Shikimodo roared from his seat capturing the attention of the arena for a few seconds.
“Number three hundred and one, please step forward.” Shimpacha called out.
From within the depths of the encircling boys, a tall well built young man stepped out from within the crowd. This was naturally not a third timer but a shang rokai volunteer. During the rite of passage around half of the first timers would be put up against a volunteering shang rokai as opposed to a third timer. This was due to the fact that the amount of third timers was only half that of the first timers. First timers were intended to fail against the stronger third timers and volunteers and then they would train for a year and re attempt their right of passage as a second timer. Unlike first timers second timers only thought against other second timers resulting in half of the second timers passing their right of passage. The half of the second timers that lost would go on to train for another year and return as third timers and then they’d be put against first timers for an easy win. This method allowed for as many chances as possible for the boys to pass the rite of passage and become men while allowing the less talented to train and make up for their shortcomings. But Okimodo speculated that there was another reason for why he was currently facing a volunteer. It was likely because Okimodo was already stronger than most of the third timers and due to the rite of passage being designed for the first timers to lose, the only option was for him to be put against a much stronger volunteer. Normally it wasn’t until halfway through the rite of passage when all of the third timers had passed that the volunteers would step in to deal with the remaining half of the first timers. Since it was a guarantee that Okimodo would win no matter what it was better to put him up against a volunteer and save an unlucky third timer from failing the rite of passage.
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In this situation any other youth besides Shipo would be cursing and whining, but not Okimodo. In fact going up against a volunteer and winning would only further increase his prestige.
The shang rokai stepped forward introducing himself to Okimodo as Azurai Ding Bonsai, Chaiseky’s maternal cousin.
Okimodo had not recognised him initially as it had been years since he last saw the young man. After some observations Okimodo realised that it really was him.
“Well I guess I’ll go easy on you since you’re my friend’s cousin.” Okimodo laughed arrogantly.
“You’re just as rambunctious as I remember you.” Bonsai cackled.
“Let the duel begin.” Shimpacha commanded.
Instantly Bonsai became a blur of red afterimages kicking up a gust of wind with the force of his heavy body moving at super human speeds.
“Spectrum dash right of the bat.” Okimodo grinned as a lust for battle roared in his heart.
The hair on the back of his neck stood up straight as he instinctively felt Bonsai’s incoming attack. It was a kick aimed at his liver.
As Bonsai’s leg tore through the wind on its course towards Okimodo, his eyes widened in surprise.
Okimodo had vanished completely.
Bonsai then felt a hand grasp his hair from behind before he caught the blur of a speeding knee cap in the corner of his eye.
In a flash Okimodo delivered a knee straight into Bonsai’s jaw. The force of the blow cracked the smooth stone ground underneath the two and made several of the watching boys take a step back in awe.
Bonsai took the blow and devoured it like a full course meal before grabbing Okimodo’s leg and swinging him into the ground shattering much of it.
Okimodo felt the whole world spin as a plume of dust consumed him. He activated spectrum dash and quickly leaped over a dozen metres into the air to get a birds eye view of his opponent. Down on the ground Bonsai stared back up at him as he heaved in a deep breath.
“Shit!” Okimodo had to think fast as he knew instinctively what Bonsai would do next.
Bonsai took in as much air as he could causing his muscular body to expand like a balloon before he unleashed a pillar of crimson flames from his mouth. It tore through the air as it thundered up towards Okimodo dying everything in an orange afterglow. Okimodo made a kicking motion with his left foot and the slipper he was wearing shot straight down cutting through the pillar of flames and causing it to split into two halves that flew off in opposite directions. Bonsai jumped back narrowly dodging the slipper that sliced into the ground like a freshly sharpened blade.
Bonsai quickly wedged his right hand into one of the cracks on the ground before lifting a huge chunk of the arena into the air.
Okimodo who had used resonance to create a small platform of air for him to stand on laughed maniacally as he watched this.
“Oh my goodness.” Cheadle held her hand over her mouth while both of her parents watched on with deep focus.
“That escalated quickly.” Bhudboidingas chuckled.
Beside him Shipo watched in silence with his arms folded.
Bonsai threw the piece of the arena into the air before quickly laying down on his back and bouncing up feet first into the air towards the rubble he had thrown. His feet pressed against it before he pushed forward with immense strength sending the piece of the arena rocketing upwards towards Okimodo.
Okimodo grinned as he squatted and thrusted his palm downwards stopping the piece of the arena’s momentum and capturing it in place.
At the next moment the piece of rock shattered into numerous fragments that rained down upon Bonsai like a never ending stream of bullets, causing a plume of dust to obscure everything.
Bonsai shot up from within the dust hurdling towards Okimodo, twisting his upper body in mid air in the wind up for a massive punch.
“Bingo!” Okimodo had his opponent right where he wanted him.
As Bonsai thrusted his right arm forward, Okimodo quickly thrusted his own arm forward, faking a punch before opening up his hand to reveal a palm thrust.
“Shit!” Bonsai cursed realising that he had messed up.
“Bye bye!” Okimodo laughed mockingly. At the next moment Okimodo unleashed a wave of air pressure that shot Bonsai straight out of the bounds of the arena. He was sent hurdling towards the wall of the palace or more specifically the balcony the clan head was on. He landed on the balcony sliding back past the clan head and the head of the Ionoon school.
Okimodo landed back down on the now largely destroyed arena.
“Azurai Batari Okimodo has knocked Azurai Ding Bonsai out of the bounds of the arena and has subsequently won.” Shimpacha roared.
“THAT’S OUR BOY!!!” Both Shikimodo and Petra yelled in praise.
“THAT’S MY BOYFRIEND!!!” Kaiya yelled out startling Chaiseky and her parents.
Cheadle had conveniently been talking to both of her parents about the battle and wasn’t able to make out Kaiya’s words.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Bonsai brushed himself off as he walked back out on to the balcony joining the two elders.
“What a promising young man.” The clan head leaned back in his chair laughing at what he had just witnessed.
“I have a feeling we’ll be seeing him on the front lines very soon.” Shiadoncha smiled before glancing over at the clan head.
“Azurai Batari Okimodo is from now on an official shang rokai.” Shimpacha declared.
Shipo watched on as Okimodo bowed towards the clan head’s balcony to show respect before turning and walking towards him. In that moment a wide uncharacteristic smile formed involuntarily on Shipo’s face. It was one of those rare moments when he truly felt joy in being Okimodo’s older brother.
“I think I’ve put on a memorable display, now it’s your turn.” Okimodo said with a smile. He patted his older brother on the shoulder before leaving some final words. “Don’t let me down.”
Shipo scoffed. “Of course I won’t.”
Bhudboidingas watched on amused as Okimodo disappeared into the circle of boys and two women from the Ionoon school ran out into the arena.
They held out their hands that emitted a golden light and the largely destroyed arena slowly began to repair itself.
Shipo breathed in deeply and his mind became as still as a mountain pond. It was his turn next and he knew for a fact that his younger brother wouldn’t outshine him.
End of chapter 15.