Book 28: The Eden Conference

June 19, 2022 - 7.32am

Unknown, Unknown, Nigeria

“I was hoping you’d do that…killer.”

The words had barely left Angelo’s mouth when Soji appeared on his left side with a glowing fist clenched in the same anger burning in his eyes. The maestro quickly pulled in his wooden black staff to hold it with both hands, just managing to block the blow. The force of Soji’s punch sent him sliding back across the damp forest floor.

“He didn’t even punch with proper form and he’s still that strong?!” Angelo had to dig his staff into the mud to stop.

“You’re shamelessly using that devil power?” He growled. Soji looked down at his own fist in amazement. He had gauged that he was somewhat stronger because of how his body felt, but actually exerting that strength far exceeded his expectations.

“Hell yeah.” He ran at Angelo again while Kuro shot past both of them and towards Esme. Before he could reach her, Isadora stepped between them, flaring her atma.

“This kid has a high atma output for a beginner,” she thought.

She struck Kuro’s face, countering his telegraphed punch with ease. The blow again, was partially cushioned by his atma so he only stumbled back, slightly disoriented.

“So that’s atma reinforcement…I have no issues with Flow; Coach suggested it’s because I’ve been subconsciously using it my whole life. But extending it to other objects…there’s only so much you can learn in three days.”

The boy let his atma flow into the branch he gripped tightly. Its stream was not as steady as the energy wrapping around his body, but the branch seemingly tightened with new strength.

“You can barely reinforce a stick,” Isadora said, “That white hair must be a dye job.” She immediately followed up with a barrage of attacks, punching the boy over and over again, refusing him the chance to so much as block with his impromptu weapon.

Meanwhile, Esme watched on in boredom before turning to Monika.

“Your friends aren’t too shabby for beginners. I know you can’t respond right now, but this would have been so much easier if you surrendered the b—”

The girl stopped mid sentence as all the hairs on her body suddenly stood on end. The loose hairs of her reddish-black braids rose up, exalting the arrival of something sinister. Without hesitating, she tapped Monika with her Net, freeing her from its technique.

“Hey, what gives? Did you grow a conscience or somethi…” Monika trailed off.

“What is that…the sound of that atma…it’s horrible…”

Angelo stopped fighting Soji, using his staff to trip him up as the younger boy clumsily lunged in for a punch. The maestro activated his technique immediately.

“Maneki: Heads.” Angelo’s atma burst into a mass of strings then wove itself into the shape of a floating maneki-neko cat. The atma-formed creature spat out a coin glowing a soft bluish-white, and the boy caught it with his free hand.

At the same time, Isadora had stopped, but made the mistake of ignoring Kuro, who finally saw an opening and swung at her with as much force as he could muster. A translucent white dome of atma encapsulated everyone with Angelo as its center. Isadora, who’d just been pushed outside of its radius, gawped at Kuro as she stumbled back. With barely a millisecond difference, thick yellow veins of lightning came crashing down on the surrounding area.

The bolts relentlessly slammed against the barrier, one after the other. With their eyes tightly shut, and hands covering ears, those within the barrier could still feel the rumble of the storm and smell the burning flesh it brought. After nearly a minute—a stubborn one that seemed like it’d never pass— the lightning ceased, and a second later, the barrier disappeared.

Kuro’s ears rang, vision still adjusting to the change in brightness when he barely made out Isadora’s burnt up body on the ground. Chunks of her flesh were missing, and the wounds cauterized. His stomach turned at the sight. Something flashed in the corner of his eye, and brought with it the crash of thunder.

“Be not afraid,” a deep, smoky voice consoled him, “This was the work of God.”

Standing next to Kuro was a beautiful dark-skinned boy in his late teens with tapered white hair. He was adorned with tongues of electricity, daring the onlookers to approach. He wore what looked like a sun-bleached version of Esme and Angelo’s uniform, the deep blue windbreaker long since faded to a light gray. Adamant streaks and splashes of old blood decorated its sleeves, evidence of the boy’s self-proclaimed missionary work.

Startled, Kuro leapt away from the stranger and landed next to Monika, stumbling.

“Who is that?” Soji was on edge, the mere presence of the boy making him uneasy. The atma crackling off his body snapped with malice. Esme was the first to speak, her own voice trembling.

“Victor,” she whispered.

“Esme. I’ve missed you.” Victor smiled softly, but with a darkness that managed to make his brown eyes seem black. He towered over the group, a muscled giant whose gaze couldn’t hide his indignance.

Esme’s eyebrows scrunched downwards in disgust, and her upper lip twisted to match the sentiment.

“What are you doing here?” Angelo demanded.

“Yo, Angelo. Don’t be so serious, man. I’m just here to play with the man of the hour.”

“Shit. I was bluffing earlier about killing the boy. Yasu wants him alive. If we leave him to Victor, he’ll make a mess,” The staff-wielding maestro thought.

“I can’t let you do that.” He said.

“That’s fine. You can play too.” Victor’s atma roared, igniting into a screaming blue flame.

“Get down!” Monika yelled, ducking in unison with the group. Victor somersaulted and waved his hands to burst forth a ring of fire from his body, lighting ablaze the nearby trees. The area was simultaneously brightened by the fire and darkened by the rising smoke, forming an infernal arena in an instant. Before anyone could get up, Victor appeared next to Monika and Kuro, completely ignoring Esme and Angelo.

“You’re not supposed to be here” he snarled, glaring at Kuro, “but we’ll save that for the second act.”

He grabbed both of them by the shoulder. Kuro could barely register the overpowering grip before he was launched through pillars of fire and into the woods, right after Victor did the same to Monika. The force was so great, that the wind following their bodies snuffed out the portion of flaming ring they passed through.

“I couldn’t even react to that…” Angelo thought.

“Kuro!” Soji managed to yell out as he broke free from the paralysis that Victor’s presence commanded.

“Relax, Soji,” The boy’s voice contrasted his technique with a cool whisper, “they’re probably not dead.”

“Y-you know my name?” Soji took a step back.

“We all do,” Victor smiled, approaching the remaining trio.

“We? Is he working with that woman?”

“But never mind that. Your body’s acting out on its own…” He pointed at Soji’s hands with his eyes. They had outgrown the soft glow to don familiar soot-like skin with burning veins. With it, Soji finally noticed the beastly strength that came bundled with fear.

“Are you excited to see me?” The white-haired boy cocked his head to the side.

Without warning, Esme swung her Net down on him, hoping to catch him, but he was too fast. Victor sidestepped, and dropped down to kick her but was interrupted by Angelo’s staff crashing into the left side of his ribs from behind. Deep blue atma burned like fire, and caused Victor to wince. He jumped away from the trio and put his hands up to feign surrender.

“That staff completely ignored my reinforcement! I have to take him seriously.”

“Those Instruments of yours are scary! I thought we could have a fun little play date, but you guys are getting in my way,” Victor’s tone deepened into a growl.

Esme tapped her Instrument against the ground, deploying a thin film of atma around her feet. She kicked off the ground as though ice skating and rushed at Victor with the Net pointed downwards. Angelo followed suit, but circled around instead of a direct rush. Soji watched on in awe, his heart pounding in his chest.

“These guys can fight someone like that? I need to go find Kuro and Monika!” He shook himself free from his mindless stargazing and ran away, perpendicular to the conflict. The fear that he thought he escaped pushed out tears.

Victor took less than a second to assess the full scene. He swung his arm in a wide circle before punching in Soji’s direction. A bolt of lightning followed his clenched fist and struck the boy down, igniting his tattering tank-top.

“That should keep him down for a minute.”

The white-haired devil then extended two fingers and drew his whole hand inwards, pulling in a string of lightning that he then used as a whip to lash at Esme’s feet. As he expected, the girl jumped over the bolt, but before she could land, he dismissed it and dropped down low for a sweep kick.

He was surprised to see that his kick connected with nothing, and looked up to see Esme floating just a few inches above the ground. With Victor’s body in no position to avoid her, she dropped to the ground and smashed his side with the flat of her halo-tipped spear. He was sent rolling right into Angelo’s own kick to the chest, which forced him to stumble as he tried to regain balance.

Esme slid after him, this time intending to finish it as she brought down the Net with its sharp edge pointed at his neck. The boy managed to put a hand up to block the blade, but even with his exceptional reinforcement, the Instrument drew blood from a flesh-deep cut.

“When did you two get so close, all synced up like that?” He coughed out a taunt, met with no response.

He attempted to go for a calf kick on Esme but felt his foot slip before it could take hold, and tumbled to the ground. Victor rolled over, still unable to stand. He dug his fingers into the soft earth and did the same with his toes. Slowly, he started to get up.

“Damn that technique of yours!” His atma flared to ready himself for the girl’s follow-up attack, but once again Angelo played a support role, bludgeoning Victor’s shoulder with his tiger-headed staff, causing his atma to flicker out. Charged with anger, Esme fastened Calypso’s Net into the ground, and gathered the remaining atma she had into her back, legs, and fists, and repeatedly beat Victor in the face. Meanwhile, Angelo alternated between each side of his torso, his staff wearing down on Victor’s ribs. Between the maestro duo, there was only one motivation: avenge Isa.

“This is no good…I could easily overpower them individually, but together… At this rate… I have to use that!” Victor remained calm internally as he managed to bring his index and middle fingers together to form a triangle with a cross formed from his thumbs underneath it; a hand-made alchemical symbol for sulfur.

“Genten!” Angelo and Esme both jumped back immediately as Victor’s atma exploded in volume, this time taking a fiery form as opposed to his favored lightning.

“Just kidding!”

“As if I would waste that kind of ability on you! “

With his new opening, Victor hurried to hurl a bright blue melon-sized ball of fire at Angelo.

“You’re so predictable when you’re by yourself, Angie.”

“Maneki: Tails.” Angelo’s pale white cat rematerialized and shot a coin at its user's hand. He sighed in relief when a white forcefield flashed around him before fading into imperceptibility.

“As long as I keep guessing heads or tails correctly, Maneki will give me the invincibility I need to keep up with Victor.”

Victor’s fireball had the efficacy of a water balloon, and splashed against the boy with no visible damage to his body. But by the time the flame cleared from his vision, Angelo was greeted by the sight of Victor on top of Esme, strangling her.

“Looks like you’ve still got pitiful amounts of atma. You shouldn’t have gotten so cocky.”

His thumbs pressed into her throat, pushing past her reinforcement. Esme struggled for air, her bulging eyes darting around to identify some sort of saving grace.

“The knife in my boot!”

She slammed her heel against the dry forest floor to loosen the blade from its holster, but this proved to be a difficult task with very little air in her body. Angelo too, had expended a lot of his atma when they cornered Victor moments earlier, and was now paying for it as he rationed what little he had left to get to Esme.

Suddenly, a knee shot into Victor’s jaw, knocking him off of Esme. The girl could barely make out the blur that then launched itself at an already recovering Victor. It was only when the thing overpowered him that she saw it was Soji.

Or rather, a version of him; his skin had blackened as though covered in soot. In addition to bright orange veins glowing through the flesh, his hands emanated visible waves of heat. The blackness had spread to the left side of his face, with the iris of his left eye now blood red. The boy’s hair elongated with tendrils that looked like solid smoke. The outline of his skull became visible, his face now gaunt. But what really drew attention was the slowly protruding horn on the left side of his forehead, where his x-shaped scar used to be.

“What kind of bloom is that?” Esme wondered as she gripped onto consciousness.

As shocking as the creature’s appearance was, both Angelo and Esme were thankful that it somewhat displayed typical bloom behavior. It was well-known that since the creatures fed off of atma, they would target the largest source of it on instinct. Angelo slowed his rush in that direction and readjusted to come to Esme’s aid.

“We have to go!”

“We can’t leave the boy with him!”

“I only have enough atma for a couple more coin tosses. But if I missed…” Angelo knew it wasn’t right, but he was never the type to prioritize the safety of strangers, let alone a target, over his own life and that of his friends. They had incurred a great loss already. A loss made worse by the fact that they had to leave the body behind.

Soji and Victor struggled for dominance on the ground.

“I thought you’d be stronger!” Victor smirked, “Come on! Play with me!”

Soji repeatedly raised a fist and slammed down on his opponent, striking his nose into a bloody mess. The white-haired boy laughed as he kicked the half-bloom off of him. He jumped up and noticed Angelo and Esme limping away, holding each other up.

“After I so graciously let you bear witness?” Once more, Victor called down a girthy yellow bolt from the smoke-filled skies then compressed it into a thin, buzzing, rod of energy. He redirected its downward trajectory and blasted it at Angelo with a finger gun just as Soji rushed into him.

The lightning’s strike was instant; Angelo screamed in pain, and was lucky he had the chance to. Had it not been for the bloom boy’s assault on Victor, he wouldn’t have had the macabre opportunity to see his right forearm on the ground to realize exactly what had happened. Victor chuckled but was quickly met with a possessed Soji mounting his back and sinking his teeth into his shoulder. He yelled. Esme continued on with Angelo, trying her very best not to look back and steeling her nerves as she wished Soji godspeed.

“That tastes awful,” Soji noted, “but I feel so warm.” He felt a sense of euphoria and lightheadedness passively co-piloting his body.

Victor reached over his shoulder and threw the boy on the ground. Flakes of black clay shot off his skin.

“Is that seriously all you got? Where’s the killer bloom I heard about? I’m going to kill you! Don’t you want to live!? Do something! Come on!” He smashed his foot into Soji’s face unceasingly until the younger boy’s hands went limp. The repetitive squelches and crunches were like music to Victor’s ears. It was a song he normally relished in, but today, it didn’t spark as much joy as it should’ve.

“Maybe Daisy ought to try again.”

He ceased his rhythmic stomping and walked away from the boy, sighing. Victor turned and raised his hand up to form a screeching ball of flames in his palm.

He looked down at Soji with disappointment.

“Disappear…” Victor brought down the attack, dousing the boy before him in its glow. To his amazement, the flame was quickly extinguished, or rather, it was swallowed up by contact with Soji’s obsidian skin.

The veins of fire cracked his skin as his body started shaking. Violent waves of heat pulsated off of him, igniting the hem of Victor’s pants. By this time, Soji was almost completely naked, with only surprisingly resistant underwear smoldering around his crotch. The fire that raged through the forest seemed to have a change of heart and raced back to the clearing to be consumed by the boy’s body.

“What the f—?”