Book 28: The Eden Conference

June 20, 2022 - 3:47pm

Some Road, Abuja, Nigeria

“Why are they just standing there?” Tobias folded his arms, disgruntled by the lackluster reaction from the kids to his presence.

“Probably planning,” Lucia explained.

“Then why are we just standing here?” Kyriaki asked, hopping up and down excitedly.

“Because we won’t win by attacking her head on. Those kids of hers are precious to her. If it weren’t for them, we’d be dead already.” Lucia unsheathed her broadsword, a plain Instrument. “She’ll want to show off while keeping them safe. So, this is what we do…” The group got in close to listen.

Meanwhile, Tamara rested against her car as she addressed the kids, Soji and Kuro in particular.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed my technique involves some sort of intangibility. I’ve extended it to include you for the duration of the fight. All you have to do is stay here and watch.”

Soji rubbed his head, nodding as if he understood.

“Huh? You can do that?” His pitch jumped with curiosity.

“Of course.” Tamara dragged her thumb’s nail down her palm, splitting it open. “I can do whatever I please.”

The woman laughed as her blood, shining gold in color, spilled violently from the self-inflicted wound. It took the shape of a longsword with no hilt, and she wielded it with expertise. Kuro took note of her stance.

“Looks like she’s ready,” Lucia responded in kind, tightening the grip on her blade as she backed away from the group. She barely managed to get the words out before Tamara was in front of her mid-swing. She was able to block the attack with a deafening CLANG! The rest of the group jumped back, startled.

“Even I couldn’t keep up with that!” Tobias thought. He extended a hand towards the woman, flaring his atma and snapping his fingers. His technique reset Tamara’s displacement, putting her right where she started as she finished her second swing.

“Some sort of spatial technique. It didn’t seem to have any specific conditions besides that finger snap.” She pointed her sword at Tobias. Both the assailants and Tamara’s students watched on with unease; the air buzzed with atma and bloodlust.

The blade shot out of her hand with blinding speed. Again, the young man snapped his fingers, except this time, the golden blood-crafted missile didn’t vanish, but instantly changed velocity, returning to its originator with equal force. The projectile phased through Tamara, the car and kids behind her, and shot into a single tree. Its girthy trunk shattered, and brought the giant tumbling down onto the road, barely grazing her white Lincoln Hybrid. Soji and Kuro jumped.

“What is that golden blood?” Kuro asked.

“It’s her Family’s Instrument,” Monika replied, “Adam’s Blood.” Tamara soundlessly glitched out of sight.

“How the hell does that relate to intangibility?! Is that her technique or can everyone do that?” Soji exclaimed, impressed by the show their mentor had put on so far.

“I only know two things about Tamara’s technique. Its name is Nsoroma’s Prism, and it divides reality into layers.”

“You idiot!” Lucia spat at Tobias, “you’ve shown your hand! Stay a—” The woman watched in horror as the devil flickered into sight behind Tobias. She again wielded one of her golden blades, and it was embedded deep in her target’s belly, protruding from his stomach.

“Just like I thought,” she muttered, “your technique is sight-based. A two-parter, too. Resetting my displacement, and inverting my Instrument’s velocity. Impressive, and yet…” The blade liquified before transforming into a kanabo with inch-long spikes running along its shaft. The weapon spun, blending the man’s innards, coaxing pained yells. She withdrew her weapon, dropping his bleeding body to the floor.

“...inadequate.” She finished. Tobias whispered something inaudible, and a moment later he was shifted away in a dark cloud of ink.

“She deduced his technique that quickly? She’s gotten way stronger!” Lucia grimaced.

“Seems you have a few atma users with spatial techniques in your little group,” she called out to Lucia who, like Kyriaki, had taken several steps away from the woman.

“Alright then,” Tamara’s tone shifted back to its usual jovial melody, “half-time!” The woman walked back to her students who were all glassy-eyed with awe. Lucia slowly crept back into the forest while Kyriaki’s body produced smoke.

“Make sure you write this down: Always try to figure out your opponent’s technique as soon as possible. What are its limits, conditions, and weaknesses? A fight between maestros can be decided in the first five minutes, and even sooner the stronger the combatants.”

Monika and Soji nodded eagerly, excited to see more. It had only taken a few days for the boy to become desensitized to gore, but for Kuro, it was still stomach-churning.

“How did you reach him so quickly? That your teleportation trick? How does that even work with what your technique is?” As usual, the boy had a plethora of astute questions, this time to take his mind off of the fact that Tamara just blended a man’s innards.

“Nothing so fancy, just regular reinforcement. However, I separated myself from the layer where light exists, making myself invisible. Anyone else I put in that layer would be blinded. Myself included, technically. I’ve just got really good atma sensory skills. As for the teleportation, or shuffling, a magician never tells.”

“Can we get food, though?” Soji asked. Since the incident of his unfortunate awakening, his stomach had become an inconsiderate void whose grumbles could only be sated for an hour or so. That is, unless he ate enough food for a family of four.

“Definitely. There’s a good suya place on the way home. Just let me finish this quickly.”

Tamara fished her phone out of her pocket, and tossed it at Monika.

“Record this, will ya? It’s excellent study material.” The girl was happy to oblige.

While the remaining members of this impromptu assault team were in a panic over what to do, Tamara shuffled directly in front of Kyriaki and smashed her fist into the girl’s face, unbothered by the smoke.

The blue-haired woman grabbed Kyriaki’s hand, and raised an arm while reforming a blade from her palm. Before she could bring the weapon down, the girl loosed a plume of spear-shaped smoke from her exposed skin, into Tamara’s face. The weapon stuck out from the back of her head, but Tamara moved as though there was nothing there.

With one smooth swing, she relieved Kyriaki of her right arm, up to her elbow. She then grabbed the girl’s neck and began beating her with so much force that her reinforcement was broken on the first hit.

“O-” Tamara hit her.

“Ome—” She hit her again.

“Om—” She shot a fist at Kyriaki’s gut, causing her to cough up blood. Tamara pushed the girl’s limp body away. None of the kids noticed Lucia slowly slither around Tamara’s vehicle, glaring at the back of Kuro’s head.

She put a single hand up, and began signing something in ASL, having sheathed her sword. Tamara turned instantly, and shuffled into Lucia, a newly formed blade in hand.

“How did she see me?”

Panicked, Lucia signed to shoot a gust of wind outwards, blowing everyone, including Tamara, away. The kids braced for an impact that never came. They opened their eyes to find themselves floating high above the ground. They struggled for balance while Soji laughed, greatly amused.

“Monika! Make sure you get this!” Tamara called out.

“That should keep them out of the way for now. So far, it’s two techniques that can actually touch me in one group? I’m starting to think these guys got together just for me!”

She formed a golden staff with several spikes along its shaft and shuffled to Lucia with a readied upwards swing. The masked woman used the side of her wind-coated palm to smack the blade away from her face. With Tamara now off balance, Lucia signed for the wind to follow her fists that she then repeatedly buried into her.

“This atma…why does it feel so familiar?” Tamara questioned.

The woman regained balance, dismissed her golden arms and grabbed her attacker’s head. She dragged it downwards to meet a rapidly rising knee. Still holding Lucia’s head, Tamara whispered to the masked assailant.

“I’ve been meaning to destress…so don’t take this personally, okay?” She unhanded her, and swept her off her feet with a lightning-fast kick to Lucia’s ankles. As she fell, Tamara added a punch to the back for good measure, slamming her opponent into the asphalt with greater force. Lucia attempted to stand but found her body refusing to listen to her, stuck on all fours.

“You’re stuck, right?” Tamara cooed, resting a single boot on the woman’s back. “I separated your somatic nervous system and the electrical signals coming from your brain into different layers. Your body won’t listen to you.” She lifted a portion of the woman’s shirt to shine dust off her boot, then did the same to her left.

“This bitch is still insufferable…” Lucia raged internally. That Tamara toyed with her so was already humiliating enough, but for it to be in front of her target and recorded was mind-numbing. Control returned to her body with a bone-crushing kick to the side of her chest. Lucia coughed as she was launched backwards.

Tamara was already waiting for her when she hit a tree, having shuffled there. She picked her up by her mask, and sat her up against the tree trunk. Tamara let loose a spurt of her Adam’s Blood, forming the shape of a bat. She smashed the construct into Lucia’s face over and over again. On the thirteenth strike, the bat transformed into a shepherd’s staff with a large hook. It dragged Lucia into the sky where she floated painfully before the children.

Monika focused the camera on their assailant before she hit the ground with a sickening THUD.

“I know I said I was playing with you, but you could at least fight back?”

“I’d cut her tongue to prevent her from escaping with that ‘Omen’ technique, but I need to interrogate her.”

“Aw, come on T, I know better than to tussle with you.” Lucia’s voice was mischievous, albeit stiff. She lifted the bottom half of her mask as Tamara suddenly stood frozen in place. She stuck her tongue out to reveal the tattoo on it.

Years of memories flooded into Tamara’s brain.

“Lu?” She whispered. Then came the emotions, and understanding. She frowned, anger apparent even behind her visor.

“LU!” Tamara’s atma exploded, causing even the kids to shiver. Lucia’s smirk disappeared.

“OMEN!” She screamed, vanishing into that familiar inky burst of mist. Kyriaki’s body followed, unnoticed.

The Cain stood there for a moment, unmoving. That feeling of unease, the one that made Kuro want to fall to his knees and bow returned. Even with their assailants gone, Tamara’s atma buzzed with the intensity of a sun goddess, making an already hot day unbearable.

Finally, the woman reached into her pocket and fished out an old Nokia, a device she always kept on her in the event of emergencies. And now, it was most definitely an emergency. The kids looked at each other confused, unsure of what just transpired.

“Miguel,” Tamara called, “are you still in Abuja?” She pointed her hand towards the children. They glitched out of sight, minus her other phone that continued to freely float about.

Soji felt like he was being pulled through several miles per second, almost like a rollercoaster going so fast it didn’t feel like he was moving. The world blurred all sorts of colors for a moment before the three of them appeared back on the M.I.I. campus with a SHUP and a small breeze.

“What the—?” Monika looked confused.

“What happened?” Kuro asked, “Did that woman say something?”

“No idea…” Soji said, “but it seemed like they knew each other. And she disappeared the way Victor and that bloom woman disappeared. They’ve got to be working together.”

“So what now?”

The trio looked around while maestros stared back, curious about their sudden appearance. Without warning, the sound of running and old wheels creaking startled them. A large man, whose face was obscured by a balaclava, piloted an even larger laundry hamper with ferocity. Before they could ready themselves, another person, unseen, knocked them into the cart and tightly sealed it with tarp and rope. Just like that, the three children were apprehended and carted away.