Chapter 47: The enemy

Veronica awoke amidst fallen debris and waves of smoke. She slowly staggered up to her feet and looked around to see what the hell was going on. A sharp pain stabbed her through the head as she remembered her friends dying at the hands of Tristan.

“Bastard.” She sneered hatefully, her eyes burning with a ruthless light.

She quickly charged forward into the Smokey abyss, revenge was the only thing on her mind.

Ivan watched on as Okimodo leapt up from the hole after the purple flames all dispersed. He landed elegantly on the burnt tiles before being joined by three others. One was a blonde haired super resonator in a long black coat, one appeared to be a young dragon in human form and the other appeared to be a headless corpse.

That’s when Ivan took a closer look at the headless corpse. The clothes while burned were undoubtedly that of Benjamin and the skin texture was unmistakably that of a zombie.

A necromancer? Is the person obviously possessing okimodo just a demonic super resonator or a full on demon? Ivan couldn’t help but begin to wonder.

“Who are you?” Ivan demanded to know.

The puppet king looked at him and smiled. “It’s me Okimodo, you’re rivals son.”

“Then why are you siding with two enemy super resonators and a reanimated corpse?” Ivan extended his right hand and the white guillotine was summoned in a blinding flash.

The puppet king took a single step forward before saying. “Tristan send the dragon to attack him and lead him as far away from here as possible. And just to clarify you will stay here.”

“What?” Tristan looked at him as if his own death had just been set in stone. “I still can’t use my maple puppeteer yet! If I’m separated from the dragon then I’ll have no means of self defence.”

The puppet king rolled his eyes. “Just stick with me.”

Ivan couldn’t hear them speaking over the crackling hot flames. If he were to fight them then he’d really have to focus as to not hurt Okimodo.

Ivan let out a long breath as he activated a resonance ability. When he began to breathe back in all of the fire and smoke from the building was gradually sucked towards him.

“Crap.” The puppet king signed. “He’s already making a move. Tristan, send the dragon after him now.”

Tristan reluctantly willed for the dragon to attack which it did.

It slowly and grotesquely morphed from its human form into its dragon form while constantly snapping its bones.

Ivan continued to inhale and soon a massive vortex formed around him. The fire throughout the room was all sucked into his body before the fire and smoke from outside the room followed. Before long the entire building was stripped of its heat as everything began to freeze slowly.

Once the dragon had readjusted to its original shape it quickly charged at Ivan tackling him through the wall and sending him crashing through the various rooms. Ivan quickly regained his footing but was then tackled again by the dragon before it swooped up destroying even more of the ceiling as it carried Ivan with it outside.

It tore through the final wall before throwing Ivan across the various rooftops of the early morning city.

The dragon then surprisingly didn’t follow up after that and just flew away instead heading straight back in the direction of Viriticily.

“Shit.” Tristan cursed. “The dragon has escaped the range of the wingless butterfly, so much for having that on my side.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That’s only a minor setback.” The puppet king laughed before clapping his hands together in a ritualistic motion.

Ivan watched on as the entire maternity ward was covered in a purple vale of proto atoms.

He quickly dashed through the streets back towards the now destroyed entrance only to find out that he couldn’t enter no matter what.

He sneered “what the fuck is going on.”

It still didn’t make sense to him. Even from the very beginning Benjamin never should have ventured on his journey during such a dangerous time for him. It was simply illogical even if his wife was expecting a child. Why didn’t he just seek out military protection or go into hiding? If he really needed to come here that badly then he could’ve at least disguised himself as doing so was quite easy. Perhaps his thought process had been altered somehow?

It may have seemed like a stupid idea but Ivan had encountered mental manipulation resonance abilities countless times over his life. Often the victim wouldn’t even realise that they’re being manipulated until they reflected on the day and realised how bizarre their actions were. These types of abilities could make parents boil their children alive thinking they’re vegetables and eat shit thinking it’s chocolate cake.

Now that Ivan really thought about it, it was obvious that Benjamin had been deliberately manipulated into coming here. It was likely that whoever was in Okimodo’s body had planned this entire thing out from the beginning. As to why they did all of this? Ivan had no idea.

“What happened?” Sharron yelled out to Ivan as she ran towards him with Shipo.

“Where is the woman and her child?” Ivan asked immediately.

“We dropped them off at a Hyeesha protection school just outside of the evacuation area.” Shipo explained. “They’re both safe.”

“That’s good to hear.” Ivan said as he pressed his right hand against the vale preventing him from entering the ward.

“What’s up with this barrier?” Sharron asked before pressing her hand against it along with him.

“What the…” Shipo was astonished when he saw that he could enter effortlessly unlike the other two.

Ivan quickly looked at him and said. “Bingo, that right there tells me exactly what this barrier really is.”

“What do you mean?” Shipo asked curiously.

Ivan cleared his throat in the cold morning air before continuing. “it’s a class specific barrier designed to keep out high class super resonators like me and Sharron. Since your class is lower you can enter and not us.”

Sharron couldn’t help but lampoon. “This new enemy is a limp dick coward. Why not pick on someone your own size instead of only inviting the little kiddies to play.”

Shipo didn’t like being referred to as a little kiddie and turned his nose up at the older woman as he walked past her towards Ivan. He then asked Ivan. “Do you know what school the enemy super resonator is from?”

“All I know is that they’re a necromancer that can posses bodies.” Ivan explained. “I think that narrows it down to about six archetypal schools and every single demonic school.”

“Well shit.” Shipo signed. Wasn’t that just great.

“I know what kind of attacks might work on him though.” Ivan continued. “They’re possessing your brother’s body so I imagine soul attacks are probably your best bet.”

“Soul attacks huh.” Shipo only had two resonance abilities at his disposal that could affect the soul. One was a general type resonance ability called Heshea’s roar and the other was a blade specialist ability called divine cleave. The second one was the most effective so he’d definitely have to use it. The main issue was that his current blade was only a common type that would surely shatter if he used the attack even once. He never expected that this job would take the turn it did so he naturally left his more valuable blades at home. He had no choice but to make due with it unless…

“Can I borrow the white guillotine?” Shipo asked with a sense of urgency.

Much to Shipo’s surprise Ivan summoned the blade and gave it to him with little hesitation.

“Don’t waste time by asking me why.” Ivan said hastily. “Go in there and use as many soul attacks as you need to in order to free your brother or at least force the enemy to retreat. Be careful though, they’re probably a class six or seven at least. You should probably find Rineamodo and Hiruru before you confront the enemy themselves.”

“Shit…” Shipo’s expression quickly became grave as he realised that his brother was in real danger.

He quickly ran through the vale and into the halls of the now icy cold hospital ward.

“What the hell just happened.” Rineamodo shivered as he walked through a wide and chard corridor. The place had suddenly been stripped of all of the fire and smoke and now he felt as if he could freeze to death at any moment.

He suddenly took cover in one of the destroyed rooms when he heard footsteps approaching rapidly. He leaned his head out slightly to take a peak at who was coming towards him.

He then saw a beautiful and incredibly angry young woman running towards him. She had jet black hair and glowing crimson eyes.

Noticing a shadow up ahead Veronica suddenly stopped before yelling. “Who the hell are you? Show yourself now!”

“Don’t you think it’s a little stupid to yell and give your position away.” Rineamodo chuckled as he stepped out in front of her before removing his mask.

Veronica was completely speechless when she recognised him. “…”

“What’s the matter?” Rineamodo laughed. “Have you never seen royalty before?”

End of chapter 47.