Chapter 46: The puppet king appears?

“Sharron and Shipo please escort the mother and daughter out of the ward, Hiruru and Rineamodo will stay here with me to confirm if Benjamin is dead.” Ivan instructed as his eyes panned across the smouldering ward. All around him there was smashed equipment and burning chemicals, the once brilliant pink stone that made up the walls and ceiling was now burnt black.

Sharron and Shipo both nodded and quickly made their way over to Rosa and Shannon. They were both still morning Judus even as everything collapsed slowly around them.

“We have to go!” Sharron yelled as soon as she got close.

“This place isn’t safe for an ordinary mother and child anymore.” Shipo added.

Rosa nodded tearfully as she held her crying child in her hands. She gave Judus’s body one last look before she broke down crying and left with Sharron and Shipo.

Benjamin’s brain matter had splattered across everything causing it to be cooked by increasingly intense flames. The smell of burnt flesh soon melded with the thick smoke causing the bunker to become even more intolerable. For a split second the faintest trace of remorse and regret came over Satio’s eyes and twitching mouth before her face became cold in the amber blaze.

“Let’s get out of here Satio.” One of the staff members approached her and patted her on the back. “Let’s go.”

Tristan immediately stepped forward to stop her from leaving but hesitated when he saw Hiro and June take defensive stances around her.

Satio spat towards Benjamin’s corpse before turning to leave alongside the staff members, leaving the super resonators alone in the burning bunker.

Seeing that the fire was slowly spreading towards Benjamin’s body, Tristan quickly grew anxious as he needed the remains in order to get paid.

Cassandra came crashing down through the flames behind Tristan. As soon as she touched the burning ground she instinctively panicked due to the heat.

This immediately caught the attention of the others who all stared at her, believing her to be Okimodo.

“Before you try anything stupid, know that Benjamin is already dead.” Tristan immediately said. “In the end it was still me who came out on top.”

“Shut the hell up idiot.” Cassandra yelled back at him. “It’s me Cassandra.”

“What?” Tristan’s expression quickly became one of puzzlement as he got closer. “You’re fucking with me right? If you think you can mess with my head easily th-“

At the next moment several threads shot into Tristan’s body and took control of him. Cassandra then manipulated them to make him punch himself in the balls.

“Ouch!” Tristan sneered. “Knock it off I believe you.”

At the next moment the two of them were swarmed with a wave of death seeds.

Hiro who had attacked without hesitation upon discovering that Okimodo was possessed stepped forward alongside June through the crackling flames.

“Give Okimodo’s body back or you’ll both die.” Hiro threatened as she got closer.

“What the hell do we do now?” Tristan asked Cassandra as he grew nervous, he did not have his maple puppeteer available yet and the juvenile dragon had no means of defending itself against death energy. The threads also couldn’t stop Hiro from manipulating her death seeds to kill them even if she was paralysed. They were in a sticky situation.

“She’s bluffing idiot.” Cassandra said as she cringed at her stupid partner. “Why the hell would she kill me? I’m literally in the body of her friend or ally or boyfriend or whatever this Azurai kid is to her.”

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“Looks like you got me.” Hiro smiled. “That’s fine though, I just needed to throw you off long enough for me to get close to Benjamin’s body.”

“This little bitch!” Cassandra cursed.

“Who the hell are you calling a bitch?” Hiro sneered. “Don’t defile Okimodo’s precious mouth by speaking such vile words through it. Do you really think you can speak to me however you want just because you came back as a ghost and killed a bunch of super resonators? Don’t forget that it was me who put your ass in the dirt in the first place.”

Cassandra’s eyes widened. “You mean the super resonators on the higher floors? I didn’t kill them at all. They were long dead before I even arrived. And I can speak to you exactly as I please.”

“WHAT!” Hiro and June both reacted simultaneously.

“You didn’t kill those guys up there?” June was on edge immediately. “If it wasn’t you then who was it?”

“Beats me.” Cassandra shrugged.

“This is going to be a pain.” Tristan massaged the back of his neck before doing the same to his forehead in frustration.

June then said. “Release Okimodo or else we’ll destroy the corpse and you won’t get paid a single cent.”

“What the hell do we do now.” Tristan frowned.

Cassandra began to rack her brains in search for a solution. Perhaps she could just hand Okimodo’s body over? But by doing so she’d be disobeying her archetype of worship and could potentially be killed off for good. Her only option was to lunge for Benjamin’s corpse and salvage as much of it as she can while Hiro destroyed it. By doing this she could leverage the fact that Hiro probably wouldn’t try to kill her as long as she was in Okimodo’s body.

“You’re over complicating things.” An all too familiar voice spoke from deep within Cassandra’s soul.

“Lord… lord puppet king?” Cassandra said startling everyone present.

“What?” Hiro was stunned as she could sense a second presence emerging inside of Okimodo’s body through her death seeds.

“Follower of mine.” The puppet king said. “Please abdicate your control over the Azurai’s body to me and dedicate yourself to making sure he doesn’t regain his senses.”

“As you wish.” Cassandra said kneeling down suddenly.

At the next moment a change occurred in Okimodo’s eyes. They grew sharper and more ruthless as if he were a demon.

Hiro took a big step back alongside June.

Okimodo, or perhaps the puppet king then uttered several words in a completely unrecognisable language before standing up straight and saying. “Rise inflictor soul.”

Benjamin’s corpse then suddenly began to spasm and jerk around violently as if he were alive and having a seizure. His skin gradually turned grey as numerous large blisters and lesions appeared all over it. The headless body then slowly rose up without using it’s legs as if carried up by an invisible force.

The puppet king then said. “Get behind me Tristan.”

Tristan quickly obeyed before the dragon and Benjamin’s corpse did the same thing.

The puppet king then unleashed a beam of purple flames that destroyed everything in its path, it even vaporised the death seeds Hiro had put on everyone.

Hiro and June both dashed up the staircase narrowly escaping.

Upstairs Ivan, Hiruru and Rineamodo had all separated to search the various rooms and corridors that were still intact.

Ivan himself had come across the massive hole that Tristan created with the dragon and began to observe it carefully. The hole seemingly went down by at least three stories and had exposed several pipes and cables. As his eyes wondered further down he noticed a purple glow rush up from the bottom followed by an explosion of purple flames that sent him sliding back a few metres. His armoured boots scraped and scarred the pink tiles on the floor as he came to a slow stop.

“These kinds of proto atoms… they’re of a demonic nature.” Ivan couldn’t help but feel intrigued. “Judging by the density I’d say this entity is a class six or seven.”

Ivan fell into deep thought. Looking back on it now. none of this made much of any sense.

Satio and the ward staff all poured out into an alleyway through an emergency exit. The place was grimy and smelled of stale urine which prompted many of the staff to immediately head towards the alleyways exit. Satio was immediately greeted by the doctor she had given her baby to who promptly offered it back to her.

Satio cradled the child gently before a barrier of light suddenly appeared around her.

“SATIO!”

“What’s going on?”

“Hang on I’ll get you out of there.”

The staff all quickly flew into a panic before the bright headlights of an automobile invaded the alley almost blinding everyone present.

The heavy vehicle came to a slow stop as the rear seat window slowly slid down. A rather robust hand extended out into the air, a large black pipe for smoking tobacco was being held in between its middle and index fingers. Green smoke quickly erupted from its tip before spreading across the alley.

“Who the hell is th… that…” One of the doctors quickly collapsed only to be followed by another.

One by one they all fell to the ground unconscious until only Satio remained standing with her crying child.

The golden barrier that surrounded her began to shrink inward until it formed a golden aura around her and her child.

She then approached the vehicle before entering with the baby.

The engine began to rev up as it reversed out of the green misty alleyway and onto the side road behind it. It then quickly turned and drove off into the early morning darkness.

End of chapter 46.