I Refuse To Be Fate’s Puppet - Chapter 74

Arata and Ryouma sat in Eamon’s room, while Eamon and Eva were working on a strange device in the middle of the table. As they were tinkering away with the device, Arata was glancing at the door. At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Ryouma stood up, walked over and opened the door. Damien walked in as Ryouma closed the door. Damien bowed to Arata and Eamon as he walked in.

“M-Masters Arata, Eamon and Eva.”

“C’mon kid, you gotta be a bit more confident with how you speak.”

Damien’s shadow began to move and distort as it rose up. The shadows merged together and formed a silhouette that solidified and revealed Hyosuke. Hyosuke placed his hand on Damien’s shoulder.

“You need to be firm and strong if you want to truly convince this guy that you are who you say you are.”

Damien nodded his head nervously. Ryouma walked by Hyosuke.

“That was pretty cool. Even with my Shadow Awareness, I still couldn’t see or sense you.”

Hyosuke chuckled.

“That’s just because of the Mastery difference. Shadow Awareness is indeed stronger than Night Body when they are at the same level. In time, young grasshopper.”

Arata threw a cushion at Hyosuke, who was pretending to stroke a non-existent beard.

“You can stop the whole wise sage act. You suit the dumb, pretty boy more.”

Hyosuke rolled his eyes. Eamon stood up by the table.

“Done. Let’s get this started.”

Eamon walked over to Damien with a warm smile.

“We just need you to place your hand on the orb.”

Damien nodded nervously as he did his best to not make a fool of himself. He walked over, slightly shaking. As he was walking, Hyosuke pushed him forward.

“I said confidence, man. Stop the shaking, it’s embarrassing.”

Damien looked back at Hyosuke. Hyosuke nodded and gave him a grin. Damien stared at Hyosuke for a second before nodding his head firmly. Damien then walked towards the orb confidently, or at least what he thought looked confident. He stood in front of Eamon with a red face.

“I am ready, sir.”

Eamon chuckled at the young boy’s attitude.

“Very well, let’s get this started.”

Eamon gestured towards the orb on the table. Damien walked over and placed his hand on it. He felt a surge of Energy burst through his hand from the orb. The Demonic Energy within him shook as it tried to overwhelm the incoming Energy. Eamon smirked.

“You have a truly powerful Energy within you. But it is still too soon to try and overwhelm my Energy.”

Eamon placed his hand on the orb and directed his Energy into the orb and into Damien. It pushed against the resistance coming from the Demonic Source within Damien. He was stunned to see that it was being pushed back. He looked up at Eamon in awe that he was able to push back his Energy. He felt a trace of Energy wrap around his Elemental Reservoir before disappearing. Although it was gone, he could feel that it was still there, it was a strange thing that he was feeling.

Hyosuke came over and nodded.

“The Demonic Source, unfortunately, is nothing in the face of Truth.”

Damien took his hand off of the orb as he looked towards Arata. Arata nodded as he turned to Hyosuke, who placed his hand on the orb as well. Unlike Damien, Hyosuke didn’t need the assistance of Eamon as he guided the Energy himself. He then nodded as he took his hand off the orb. Eamon turned to Hyosuke and Damien.

“The time to meet with the young boy is approaching. The two of you have everything ready?”

Damien nodded. Hyosuke grinned at Eamon before he turned to Damien.

“Let’s get this thing rolling. Do your best to not die.”

Hyosuke winked at Damien as he melted and became a part of Damien’s shadow. Damien looked around as everyone gave him encouraging looks. Damien took a deep breath before waking out the door. Ryouma walked over to Arata with a concerned look on his face.

“Do you really think that he will be alright?”

Arata led him to sit down on the couch as he looked at the orb on the table.

“I think he has more to him than we give him credit for. Although his power has made him inherently shy and nervous around others, due to their reactions to his uncontrollable Energy, he is extremely smart and can gauge one’s aura and personality quite easily. He can read people really well, according to Hyosuke’s observations. Definitely better at it than you at least.”

Ryouma gave Arata a droll face before looking at the orb as well. Eamon and Eva sat down on the other side and looked at the orb. Eamon seemed to be concentrating as he stared at the orb.

“When they are close, I’ll activate it.”

Arata and Ryouma nodded as they waited patiently. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Eamon inhaled deeply as his eyes began to shine. He then placed his hand on the orb on the table.

“They’re in position.”

As he directed his Energy into the device, two images were projected out the top. They were both of an alleyway in the school, looking at a dark figure, but the two images seemed to be at a slightly different angle, one seemed to be at ground level, while the other was on eye level with the figure in the alleyway. This device was a Tech Enhancement made by Eamon, that connected his Truth Energy to someone’s Elemental Reservoir before hiding within them, creating an unseen connection. And because of the power of Truth, it is impossible to detect the Energy as it can change the Truth that people see, morphing the Truth that it is there to becoming Truth that it isn’t there.

The device is then able to connect the people with the Truth Energy within them and project what they are viewing. The two projections that were being shown were the views of Damien and Hyosuke. Damien walked towards the figure at the end of the alleyway. Eamon frowned.

“I see. He has a barrier completely covering him. It is why my Truth has been unable to see into him. The people that sent and prepared him for his mission are clearly powerful people to be able to give a Karmic Distortion Barrier to a child.”

Arata made a grim face at the mention of the Karmic Distortion Barrier.

“We may need more people to take on these potential enemies. If those backing the boy end up joining the battle, we may not have the strength to take them on.”

Eamon nodded.

“I’ll have Eva send word to our Father and Lord Azrail. Just to be on the lookout.”

“They already know and have their contingencies in place.”

Ryouma jumped as Granny Mo was suddenly sitting next to him.

“But they will only step in if they are absolutely needed. We can’t have them show themselves if the attack is of a low level. The Royal Institute will seem weak and in need of outside protection if they join the battle, although this is a serious matter, so is the politics of power and the standing of the Royal Institute. We have our Protectors in place for anything that could happen, so hopefully the Royal Family and the Sato Clan will not need to be involved.”

Arata and Eamon nodded as they heard Granny Mo’s words. They continued to watch the projections. Damien walked over to the figure, who walked over to Damien. The figure was revealed to be the young boy that had used a mental attack on Arata, the boy from Class 1. After some investigation, Arata found out the boy was named Seth, an orphan that was able to get a scholarship to the Royal Institute. Granny Mo found that she was unable to find the person that gave the scholarship for him, which was a big warning signal. She wanted to dig deeper, but she was afraid of alerting the wrong people with her investigation, so she had to leave it be for now. The boy looked over Damien, eyeing him up and down.

“Who are you?”

Damien did his best to maintain a poker face as he replied simply.

“Damien. Are you Seth?”

Seth’s eyes squinted slightly.

“Are you really the one they sent?”

Damien nodded. The boy frowned.

“I don’t believe it. You seem far to weak to…”

As the boy was speaking he suddenly stopped as Damien began to release his Energy. The Demonic Source began to spill out of him and the area around them began to distort and change. His shadow began to spread out around him, moving along the ground to where the boy was. On the projections, they could see that Hyosuke’s vision was moving forward from behind the young boy, he was clearly the one controlling the shadows.

The Shadows surrounded the two boys, cutting them off from the outside world, Hyosuke’s shadows containing the Demonic Energy within. The boy now looked at Damien with a new look, one of awe. Damien recited the words that he had rehearsed with Hyosuke beforehand, as he gestured to the shadows around them.

“A precaution to prevent outsiders listening in. I was instructed to simply provide support wherever necessary. This is your mission.”

Although it was a little shaky, Damien was able to speak clearly and loudly. Although Arata and Eamon were able to sense the nervousness in his voice, the boy seemed to be so stunned by the Demonic Energy that he missed it. He was also taken aback by the last sentence. This was his mission. He hesitated for a moment before putting on an air of superiority.

“That is quite a powerful Demonic Energy you have there. Not bad, kid. It will come in handy when the portal is activated. With you helping, we can possibly have everyone enter a day early, have the final adjustments made, and then we will have more than enough time to complete the ceremonial preparations before the Seniors match.”

Seth’s face twisted into a grin as he began thinking about things silently, he was trying to remain calm and strong but it was obvious that he was excited. Although to Damien, and even Ryouma, it looked like Seth was in control of the situation, it was clear to Hyosuke, Arata, Eamon and Granny Mo that he was truly still a kid, with how easily he trusted Damien and revealed such an obvious look of excitement. Damien stood patiently, Hyosuke whispering in his ear to reassure and instruct him on what to do. After some time, Seth looked back at Damien.

“From the message I received, you are to be my aide and fulfil my orders for the mission. So you will listen and obey me from now on, understood?”

Damien nodded simply. Seth smirked proudly.

“Good. I have some minor adjustments to make to the portal, and then we can try a test run using your Demonic Energy as a base for the portal. So we don’t draw any attention, I’ll head out first. After half an hour, head over to the Old Infirmary by the West Dorms. If you go around to the back entrance, I’ll leave the door open. Head to the basement. Do not let yourself be seen by anyone.”

Damien nodded again as he retracted his Energy, the shadows that were surrounding them began to dissolve and move back to Damien. After a few seconds, the alleyway was back to normal again. Seth nodded before walking away, while Damien watched him leave. After he was gone, his shadow rose from the ground, forming into Hyosuke, who was looking directly into Damien’s eyes.

“I think he will have his guard down around little Damien. He doesn’t seem to be as trained as I had anticipated. He is still just a child. I think Young Master Eamon and Young Arata will be able to follow us in, as long as you are both hidden. I also think…..”

Hyosuke paused for a moment as he looked into Damien’s eyes. Eamon and Arata saw this look through the projections and understood what he wanted to say. Hyosuke coughed before he began to turn back into a shadow.

“Meet us by the Old Infirmary.”

Eamon turned the device off and looked towards Arata, who seemed to be contemplating something. He looked up at Eamon.

“I’m not sure he fully knows what he is doing, but I don’t know if that is enough to excuse everything…..”

Eamon nodded slowly. The two boys sat quietly for a moment. Granny Mo stood up and walked to the door as flames began to dance around her, she looked back towards Eamon and Arata.

“Not every enemy is inherently evil. Sometimes a person chooses the Darkness, while others are born into it. And then there are those that don’t understand that they are in the Dark until it is too late. Then they are unable to leave the Darkness. Remember that your families are here to not only defeat the evil in the Dark, but also to help people in the Dark that those in the Light can’t. Sometimes, only those in the Dark can influence others in the Dark. Even if you are not inherently evil, it is easy to walk down that path in the Dark.”

Flames consumed her and she disappeared while her voice floated in the room.

“But not everyone in the Dark need to be evil. If stopped early enough, they can be sent down the right path in the Dark. All they need is the right guidance from someone with Night Vision.”