Chapter 13 - The Black Knight

“Where am I?” Ken Ito asked as he woke to be greeted by stuffy darkness in an unfamiliar environment.

He looked around to get his bearings. The room has no electricity, and the windows were broken at places.

There were a couple of broken pieces of furniture and he was seated on a disused desk that was dusty and hard. The discomfort made him angry. He sat up and instantly felt a sore on the right side of his face.

"Ahhh..." He winced.

He noticed his henchmen who were standing nearby and railed. "Where is this? Why am I here?"

There was Haruki, the man with white iris in his right eye, whom Adam called White Eye. Then there was another man, Botan, with dark complexion and red-coloured hair. He was stout and a trusted soldier in Kuroi robu.

"Please, Ito-san." They urged him to stay silent. "We brought you here. The police wass everywhere."

In indignation, Ken touched his cheek and realized there was a bandage.

"My face." He touched it.

“Ito-san, there is an injury on your chest too. We have applied some medicine."

Haruki gestured to Ken's left chest.

“It reached the bottom of your ear lobe,” Haruki explained.

Ken ran his hands over the bandage. “Aargh!” He howled, “ How dare they…”

An injury, especially on the face, was an insult to him.

Turning to Haruki, Ken demanded, “Mirror.”

Ken snatched the compact mirror when it was brought over

and peeked. The next second, he slammed the mirror on the desk.

Then, he tore the bandage away

"I am the knight of the Black Robes, Kuro nno Kishi. I will not tolerate

such an insult."

Ken clenched his fists. “Kelly! Adam! I will get you for this. The Onmyojis!"

“The bandage…” Haruki said. "Your wound will need to heal."

“That’s for the weak. I do not need it.”

Ken retorted. He jumped to his feet and then asked

“Where are we? I had asked many times. Can I have answers?"

"This is a disused factory. You had lost consciousness, and we had to carry you back to our van. We left the grasslands through a small sand path on the east side of the grasslands. Ibuki drove as far as he could.”

"We saw the fire engines and ambulances from the west."

“Disgusting.” Ito sniggered as he looked at the dilapidated surroundings.

“Next time, find a better place.”

“Hi. I tried, but I am worried. Our actions tonight have attracted the police.”

Ken clenched his fist and shook his head.

"Does our organization have some property in Singapore? Seek permission to use them."

"Hai" Botan replied

After he had calmed down, Ken said

“Where is the thing? That thing."

Botan stepped forward and raised a velvet bag. From within, he pulled out a small box

and handed it, deferentially, to Ken and backed down.

With the unusual caution of an accountant, Ken took over the box. The box fitted easily into the

heart of his palm. Despite his curiosity to see the content, he checked himself.

After a long moment, Botan spoke softly

“Ito-san?”

Ken shot a threatening glance at the disturbance

"I know what I am doing."

Ken began to scrutinize the box like an art valuer.

His mind flew back to the caution he had received before the mission when he spoke

to one of the elders of the Kuroi.

"Be cautious. It will blow your mind away."

"Blow your mind away. Blow your mind away."

He repeated the words and stood, lost in his thought for a long moment

Botan finally spoke again, risking the potential wrath that might be rained upon him

“Dont you want to look at the object?” He said

“Chikuso - damn!” Ken shot him with a look of reproach and slapped Botan’s head.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

Ken inhaled and then gradually lifted the lid like he was dealing with radioactive material.

Soon, he was looking at the object they had stolen from Kelly - an inconspicuous piece of stone.

He frowned- all the efforts for this piece of insignificance.

Ken sniggered, “ A stone?” Then he picked up the object with his thumb and pointer finger, and pored over it with disdain.

“We risked our lives to steal this, and headquarters had been rushing me to bring it back to Japan.”

“Maybe there are some secrets?” Haruki said coldly.

“Bageta. Waste of my time.”

He turned to Botan. “Did Masutā say why?”

Botan shrugged his shoulders, and his act irritated Ken and earned him another slap on the shoulders

“I need some answers!”Ken bellowed.

As he stared at the tiny stone, his mind swung back to the moment, seven days ago, when he received instructions from the Order(Kuroi Robu). He was tasked to bring back two artifacts - the two components of Kagi back to Japan.

When he asked for details, he was flatly denied.

"Talk when you are back in Japan." was the closing statement.

Ken was irritated. The instructions threw a spanner in the works.

He was holidaying in Phuket, sunbathing on the beaches, when the message to execute a mission in Singapore arrived. He had to cancel his travel plans for the next two weeks and that included stops at Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.

However, Ken was not someone to question authority. Moreover, the opportunity to take on an opponent from Tenmon So was too tempting to pass. He has always viewed them as arrogant and their superior complex disdainful. For centuries, the Onmyojis had behaved like they were morally superior to everyone else in the human and other supernatural realms. He has always searched for a contest of their skills, and the journey to Singapore will be the perfect opportunity.

Ken quickly went about planning his mission in Singapore. From the intelligence collected by his men, he quickly developed a scheme to trap Kelly and steal the prize.

Last night, his ambushes would have completed the rout if not for the police. Kelly was in their hands, and he had planned to end her life there and then until that portly policeman appeared and fired a shot.

He comforted himself - there is always the next time.

He turned to Haruki.

“Perhaps you can tell me another thing - how did the police find us in the tall grass?”

His henchmen shook their heads.

“Bagate! You do not know anything!” Ken completed his expression with a slap on Haruki’s head

“I think it may be because of the security cameras?” Haruki said.

“Security cameras? We have those in Japan, no? However, we are seldom tracked down!”

He shouted.

“It must be something else. If not, the police would not have found us.”

Ken’s reproach turned the atmosphere grave and heavy, and both his henchmen had bowed low

“Enough. I think we'd better think about returning to Japan.”

“That’s easy, but the stone?”

“Kagi?” Ken “There must be a reason there is so much excitement over this piece of…”

Saying, Ken picked up the stone.

Haruki was about to protest, but bit his lips.

Ken wanted to continue with his plans when he soon realized something was amiss.

Initially, he thought it was an earthquake as he felt the ground sway. However, there were no tremors.

Something was moving in him! He felt nauseous.

There was an invisible current of energy that was surging through his body. It soon materialized as a throbbing lump in his arms that cruised down his thigh to his calf and then up to his abdomen. The invading energies then began to cruise through his veins. He tried to summon his Qi to stop the alien energy but failed. The energy was robust and its abrupt appearance lent it an air of mystery that unsettled Ken. He hated the sensation of being controlled by an unknown force.

Sweat began to break up over his forehead. His ineptitude was making him anxious and he tried hard not to look silly in front of his subordinates.

"Ito-san" Botan asked but Ken was too distracted to answer him.

It soon dawned upon Ken that the unexpected energy was originating from the stone.

The stone is indeed some relic. He tried to drop the stone, but it remained stuck to his fingers.

The next thing he felt was an explosive light in his mind.

Ken cried out loud “Aaargh” and his pupils turned cloudy.

He doubled backwards and fell onto the floor and remained stuck to the ground.

“Ito-San!” Ken's men tried to help him to his feet.

However, upon contact, a force repelled them, and the duo was thrown feet away.

Haruki hitting a desk while Botan tumbled over a broken chair.

Ken began to lapse into a series of spasms and twitches. His mouth opened and cried with agony like

something was forcing itself out of him. Botan and Haruki tried to help but were again repulsed. Botan found the leg of a chair lying a corner and picked it up.

With all his force, Botan swung at Ken's hands. The impact sent the relic into a corner and also knocked the leg off Botan's hand. The impact strained the arm, and he yelled in pain. The act put a stop to Ken's convulsions.

“Ito-san, are you fine?” Haruki cried but Ken was disoriented. He was wet with perspiration

and his hands were trembling with the fingernails black. The darkness crept up his sinews as he trembled.

He clenched his fists and drummed his chest before hitting his temples amidst cries of "Ito-san"

Unexpectedly, Ken stood to full height and raised his hands over his head.

“Seirei ga watashi o tasukete kureru - spirits to my rescue.” he cried.

There was a spark of energy in his palms as a dark bluish light travelled up his limbs.

The current soon dimmed, spluttered and then faded away. The next moment, Ken’s eyes turned white before turning normal. Then, in bouts of twitches, he faltered and slumped to the ground.

Ken had lost consciousness. Botan and Haruki wasted no time in reviving him with water. After a long moment, Ken finally opened his eyes with his mouth, gaping for air. He looked pale and weary.

“Ito-san! Are you fine?”

Ken shook his head as his eyes riveted on the fragment that had been flung to the far corner of the room.

“Mind blowing indeed. Inconspicuous yet powerful.”

Ken mumbled as he tried to still the throbbing vibes in his heart.

"What am I dealing with? What's that?"

I need answers. I need answers.