Chapter 49: Get exposed.

Okimodo’s brain throbbed and his heart raced as he stood at the edge of a large circular indoor pool. The pool was filled with a turquoise fluid and countless vines along with countless other Azurai children who lay floating while they were attended to by women of the Ionoon school. Many of the other children groaned in pain and discomfort as the women poured mixtures of tea and herbs all over their bodies to calm them.

This place was the known as the education recovery centre, it was where all of the children had to go in order to recover from their yearly memory infusion.

Due to the nature of the Azurai clan children had to achieve an adult level of education before they turned thirteen. This was achieved by forcefully cramming multiple years worth of higher education into their brains once every year through a memory infusion.

The human brain was naturally not designed for this kind of forceful education so the children would often experience extreme pain and temporary brain damage. Because of this it was necessary for them to bathe in special healing fluids for a few days so that their brains could fully recover. If this wasn’t done then they’d experience a high rate of dementia and other brain wasting disorders later in life.

An older woman from the Ionoon school came up behind Okimodo and ushered him into the pool to lie down. Like the rest of the children he wore white robe that was infused with vines and special healing bacteria. It was rather unstylish but Okimodo was too preoccupied with all the knowledge he had since suddenly acquired as well as the pain to care.

With the guidance of the woman he slowly stepped down into the pool before lying down and staring at the ceiling. A mural depicting Heshea and his family was painted across tiled ceiling and walls, occasionally obscured by massive vines and pink flowers that all emitted healing proto atoms.

Okimodo only found relief in the fact that he was now twelve years old and wouldn’t have to endure this again. Many children often dreaded this day and would always try to weasel their way out of it. Okimodo himself had lied saying that he already got his infusion on his own but was exposed by none other than his smug cunt of a sister who begged their dad to test him on it. After he was exposed his father dragged him all the way up here to get his infusion which felt just as hellish as he expected. He had acquired a university level of education on all manner of subjects ranging from mathematics and engineering to war and history. This meant that he was now equipped with enough knowledge to function as a competent super resonator. Still, he had to wait one more year to pass his rite of passage and truly become an official shang rokai.

The woman smiled and spoke gentle words to him, reassuring him that the pain would go away in just three days.

Okimodo couldn’t help but find it laughable, three days in this kind of agony would be no different than three years. It was a total joke.

The woman suddenly underwent a frightening transformation as her head morphed into a giant cigarette that puffed out smoke continuously. She then said. “Wake up dumbass you’re being possessed again. That Cassandra woman trapped you in your own memories from a year in the past to keep you distracted.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Okimodo couldn’t help but laugh at the entities words. For the past year he had been seeing it pop up from time to time and this was easily the most bizarre thing it ever said.

“Let me try.” An extremely familiar voice suddenly spoke. It sounded almost identical to his own.

That’s when he saw what appeared to be a version of himself in a white robe suddenly appear by the side of the entity. He looked down upon Okimodo with a sad smile as tears of blood poured from his eyes.

“Wait a second? Your…” Before Okimodo could say anything else he was suddenly flooded with a years worth of memories.

His first time having sex, the time he was stung by a jungle wasp and his passing of the rite of passage all came back to him. He then remembered the job he was currently doing and Benjamin Norton.

“Shit!” Okimodo quickly stood up straight and watched as he aged up one year. He grew several inches taller and his voice deepened becoming similar to that of a teenager.

The environment around him quickly began to contort and change into that of a vast star filled void.

The two entities from before were gone and he was now standing face to face with a tall dark skinned man with rainbow coloured eyes. He had a massive afro and wore a long green coat with camouflaged pants.

The man suddenly jolted in surprise at the sight of Okimodo before he redirected his gaze to a point just past Okimodo.

Okimodo naturally turned to look at what had captured the strangers attention and that’s when he saw a woman with dark hair and amber eyes groaning in a crouched position.

She slowly uttered. “Lord puppet king, why did you force me to endure the spiritual attack from that other Azurai brat.”

The man then laughed out loud before replying. “Puppet king? You’re seriously still buying that lie I told you when you revived as a spirit?”

“What.” Okimodo looked at him with extreme confusion. “So the puppet king isn’t after my life?”

The man continued to laugh before he tapped his finger against his forehead three times before saying. “Be sharp young Azurai… you are just a random kid, why the hell would a literal god go out of his way to kill you? To existences like that you’re just an ant, and so am I. That puppet king bullshit was just a lie to make use of that woman’s sudden revival.”

“Then let me ask again.” Okimodo frowned. “Why do you want me dead?”

“I was asked to kill you.” The man said laughing. “It was by none other than one of your own clan members.”

“Who?” Okimodo asked. What the hell could he have done to make someone want to kill him? Sure he wasn’t always the kindest soul in the world but as far as Okimodo knew he had not triggered any feuds with other clan members.

“So you didn’t revive me?” Cassandra sneered at the man.

“Technically you never revived, you just became a ghost.” The man explained. “It really shouldn’t come as a surprise since many super resonators can return as spirits after death. Usually it’s because they died suddenly and without warning. Just like you.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Fuck you.” Cassandra cursed before charging at the man shoving Okimodo to the side.

The man snapped his fingers and Cassandra vanished instantly.

“What the hell did you do.” Okimodo asked as he regained his footing.

“I kicked her out of your body.” The man explained. “She’s not useful anymore so why keep her around?”

“So are you going to kill me now?” Okimodo asked readying himself for a fight.

The man waved his hands in the air. “Relax yourself young Azurai, I was only asked to kill you, I wasn’t paid any money so I’m having a little fun. Plus I’m here for my own reasons and I still need your body.”

“Why’s that?” Okimodo asked incredulously. “And you still haven’t told me who asked you to kill me.”

“I’m not a snitch!” The man chuckled.

“You’ve already basically snitched on them anyway, I don’t see why dropping a simple name is so much of a jump for you.” Okimodo once again readied himself to fight this invader.

He willed with all of his might to kick this man out which manifested as a force pushing the man backwards.

“Weak.” The man chuckled. “It’s clear that you have no idea on how to defend yourself against possession. That’s completely fine though, I’ll just lock you up in another dream until your body’s not useful anymore.”

He then suddenly charged at Okimodo pressing his hand against the Azurai’s forehead.

“Damn it.” Almost immediately Okimodo felt his perception start to dull.

“Huh what’s this?” The man suddenly became surprised when a third person slapped his hand away.

“You’re proving to be quite an annoying intruder.” Cigarette Head said as he stepped infront of Okimodo, blocking the man off.

“What the hell are you?” The man squinted his eyes as he observed the bizarre entity.

“I don’t know you tell me?” Cigarette Head replied, his head erupting with dense smoke.

The smoke suddenly enveloped the intruder and forced him backwards.

The man gritted his teeth before burning away the smoke with a burst of purple flames. “I can’t seem to sense any distinction between the two of you, yet you both act as distinct entities, could it be that you’re like him?”

“Him.” Okimodo raised an eyebrow. “What the hell are you talking about? Why are you so confusing.”

“Ignore him.” The monkey demon said as it also appeared alongside Okimodo and Cigarette Head.

“What a fascinating specimen you are.” The man laughed. “Let’s see what you’ve got Azurai boy.”

At the next moment the man suddenly grew to the size of a god damn planet before thrusting his massive palm down on to Okimodo and his two companions.

Cigarette Head as well as the monkey demon both flew up to intercept the palm and hold it back. They all collided and it was as if the universe itself was lit up in a grand inferno.

The two entities yelled back down at Okimodo. “We will hold him off for now. Use this chance to take control of your body and make Shipo hit you with another Divine Cleave. We’re going to let him take control right before the attack hits so that his soul will be injured and not yours.”

“Understood.” Okimodo said before focusing on waking up.

In the real world the purple flames all disappeared around Okimodo’s body before he suddenly fell to the ground.

The black sphere quickly began to deform and expel bolts of purple lightning likely due to the sudden disappearance of the man who was sustaining it.

Okimodo quickly staggered to his feet and looked around. He saw none other than Shipo staring back at him from a few metres away before he also saw Hiruru, Veronica and Rineamodo struggling against some kind of mangled monster further in the back.

Wasting no time he yelled at his brother. “Your Divine cleave. Hit me with another one.”

“What?” Shipo didn’t know what to think of this sudden development, was it really his brother or one of the others in his body? What if it was a trap designed specifically so that he could hit his brother’s soul instead of the body snatcher?

“Hurry the fuck up.” Okimodo snapped. “This kind of indecision is why you can’t get laid.”

Shipo scowled instantly. “That was definitely Okimodo, and just so you know the girls in the clan have always found my more masculine features more attractive. I just have more significant things to worry about than sex.”

“You’re not more masculine than me.” Okimodo shot back. “You’re just a goddamn machine that always bows to authority. Woman like a rebel not a man th-“

Before Okimodo could finish his words Shipo sent another Divine Cleave straight at him.

Okimodo quickly abdicated control of his body willingly forcing the invader back into control.

Before he could react the attack already passed through him carving a nasty wound into his soul.

He staggered backwards before laughing. “That’s pretty sharp.”

At the next moment Okimodo’s body fell to the ground motionless.

Hiro and June entered back down into the bunker where they looked around for the enemy. They saw only Tristan staring back up through the hole he had originally descended from with the dragon.

Not noticing the two super resonators encroaching on him he pondered to himself. There was no way that the being in the Azurai’s body was the actual puppet king. A being like that was an archetype and far too powerful to manifest in the body of a teenager. It was likely that he had been deceived by this entity in order to serve its bizarre agenda.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up suddenly as he sensed killing intent encroaching on him from his right. He dove back but it was too late as he found that he had already been enshrouded in a dense cloud of death seeds.

“It’s over.” Hiro smiled cruelly as she loomed over him with June.

“Do you have any last words?” June added with an equally smug expression.

“Shit.” Tristan began to shit bricks before he suddenly kowtowed. “Please spare me. I’ll do anything just let me leave peacefully.”

“My goodness.” June frowned. “At least try to have a little pride.” He then looked over and asked. “So, are going to spare him.”

Hiro began to ponder. She wasn’t the most righteous person on earth but she still would rather not kill somebody who wasn’t actively a threat.

She then said. “Tear your job request in half and I’ll remove my death seeds once I sense that you’re at least a kilometre away from here.”

Tristan didn’t hesitate and retrieved his job request before ripping it to pieces. It didn’t matter anymore anyway since he couldn’t retrieve Benjamin’s dead body to prove that he killed him. If running away kept him alive then so be it.

Hiro nodded in satisfaction before motioning for him to get lost.

Tristan smiled happily before bolting past her out towards the bunker’s exit.

He then suddenly bumped into another person who had appeared without warning.

“Hey, watch it, this coat is very expensive.” Cosmic Keith glared at Tristan who quickly ran back behind a stunned Hiro and June.

“You…” Hiro had an unsightly expression as she took several terrified steps back.

“It’s been a while junior.” Keith grinned as he held his arms wide open. “What’s the matter?”

“Shut up.” Hiro yelled.

Beside her June immediately grew wary.

“Are you going to finally give me the thing that I want?” Keith’s rainbow eyes gleamed as his bloodlust seeped out and bathed everything in an icy cold aura.

“I already told you.” Hiro pleaded her voice trembling with fear. “I can fix it, I just need a little time.”

“Screw that.” Keith grinned. “My brother’s upstairs, so I’ll just have him rip the curse right off of your soul before killing you.”

Hiro began to sweat aggressively as she pondered on what to do.

“Hiro?” June looked at her before asking. “Are you okay?”

Hiro then responded. “We have to run. There’s no chance in hell of beating him.”

What are you go-” Before June could finish his question Hiro bolted away before leaping up the hole in the ceiling.

June quickly followed after her leaving Tristan to face Keith alone.

“I love the chase.” Keith smiled happily as he got closer to Tristan. “Aren’t you going to run too?”

”wait I’m on your side.” Tristan said suddenly with a nervous smile. “That puppet king guy right? He’s your brother. I get it now you manipulated Benjamin into coming here right? I’m in on it now, your brother trusts me.”

Keith continued to get closer until he loomed over him, his rainbow eyes glowing like a lighthouse across a stormy ocean. “Didn’t you just beg them to spare your life?”

Tristan then quickly bowed. “It was all a part of my plan to help you and your brother I swear on my famil-“

Blood and brain matter was scattered across the room as Keith simply crushed his head into a delicate paste.

In truth Keith didn’t care anyway. Weather it be a strong person or a pathetic person death would still claim them in the end, so why should he care?

End of chapter 49.