"Activate your Karma," Jigen said as he explained how to activate it. He said, "Will it, and it will activate on its own."
Shiro and Code did exactly as told. Though Shiro's activated the first time he tried, perhaps because he had a mature conscience.
As the white mark stretched from his palm to his forehead, he could feel tremendous power flowing inside him, and his surroundings became clearer.
The second one to activate was Code. Of course, Kawaki would never activate Karma on his own volition, and he would get a beating from Jigen for that.
Walking down from the throne-like chair he was sitting in, Jigen reached and pulled Kawaki away from them and to where he was sitting. He sat down and dropped Kawaki on the floor next to his feet.
"Now, Code and Shiro, fight each other," Jigen said. Before he could even blink, Code was already attacking Shiro, throwing a punch towards Shiro's head.
Though it was narrowly evaded by a thread of luck, it was evident that Code was ready to kill him. Shiro's body moved instinctively, and before Code or he could understand what happened, Code was sent flying with a single kick to his stomach.
'What?' His body had moved on its own, as if Isshiki's battle experience had been overlaid upon his mind and body, just as Code had mentioned in the manga.
But even then, it wasn't enough to entirely knock out Code. With his own Karma-powered body, he stood straight back up and ran toward Shiro.
Evading another punch, Shiro attempted to kick Code, but his kick was blocked by Code's leg, and he received a punch under his chin, sending him flying.
Standing up and wiping away a bit of blood from his lips, Shiro suddenly appeared before Code, almost as if he had teleported, and delivered a punch to Code's stomach, causing him to spit out saliva.
Before he could take another step, his whole body ached, and his heart was beating like crazy. He grabbed his chest, breathing heavily as he fell face down on the floor.
Though Code didn't seem to have any problems, he stood up and walked towards Shiro. Code kicked him in the shoulder, throwing him onto his back, and then sat on his stomach. He began punching Shiro's face repeatedly as he screamed, "Why do you have to be one too!?"
He could do nothing but receive the punches that fell like a truck on his face. He could undoubtedly tell that he only survived because of the karma giving him enhanced strength and durability.
"That's enough, Code," Jigen's voice commanded, and Code stopped like a doll. He stood up from Shiro's stomach and walked a few feet away, kneeling before Jigen.
Kawaki was shivering, looking at Shiro's slightly bloodied face. Jigen simply pressed a button on his throne, and a white-haired man with a mask on his face appeared and dragged Shiro away by his hand.
"Well done, Code," he heard Jigen complimenting Code for attacking him when he was down. 'What a bastard,' he thought as he was being dragged away. He promised himself that he would pay Code back for this.
"Who are you?" he asked the man who was dragging him. "Also, can't you guys just stop dragging me? I'll come with you, jeez," he added with irritation.
"You are an interesting one, aren't you?" Instead of answering his questions, the man asked with an amused expression, his lips quirking into a small grin.
Of course, he knew who this man was from his memories: the clone of the legendary Sannin Jiraiya, Kashin Koji.
"The name's Kashin Koji. Don't ask me questions unless you become a superior," he said with authority as he continued dragging him, he stopped before a door, which appeared to be quite futuristic. Koji had to scan his iris and voice before entering.
Motioning him to stand up, with the pain in his chest now gone, Shiro complied and found himself face to face with the man, the myth, the legend, the most suspicious man in the entire manga, wearing sun glasses and a beard – none other than Amado Sanzu.
"And who are you?" Shiro asked cautiously, his eyes darting between Amado and Kashin Koji, hoping to appear clueless.
·Shiro Pov·
It seems I truly appeared to be clueless as I hoped, "My name is Amado and I work here." He said as he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it.
He pointed at me, as if asking if I wanted one, before taking a syringe and instructing me to place my hand on the table.
I did as I was told, "This is going to sting a bit, but don't worry," he said as he pierced my vein with the syringe. I didn't feel a thing.
He took my blood and nodded to Kashin Koji. Koji nodded back, and once again, he was going to drag me with him. However, this time I didn't allow him and just walked towards the door and looked back over my shoulder as I asked, "You coming or what?"
He just smirked, and I tried to open the door, only that it didn't open when I tried. Koji came over, and once again, he scanned his iris and voice, and the door opened.
'I had totally forgotten about that.' I sighed exasperated, but it seemed that I would be having a good time, seeing Code living a royal life guarding the Ten Tails for Jigen, and he had a white karma.
He led me to another place filled with needle-like items. Was this some kind of tattoo shop? Oh, right, I had forgotten about that too – they marked people with numbers.
"Are you scared? Don't worry; this will hurt," he said with a terrifyingly dark tone, then smirked as he left.
Once again, Amado entered with some kind of gun. If my guess is right, this is a needle gun.
"This is a laser tattoo gun. Now, come here," he said as he gestured for me to take a seat. Did he think I would willingly go to him? "I will have to use force if you aren't comfortable coming here."
I just nodded and moved along anyway, sat on the chair. The height of the chair left my feet in the air, not touching the ground.
He placed the gun on the right side of my forehead, just above my eyebrows, and I felt a stinging sensation for just a second before it was gone.
I looked to the side and saw that he was holding a mirror towards me. I took it and examined myself. I had an 'X' above my right eyebrow. "Do you understand what this means?" He asked, and I shook my head no.
"This is the number indicating when your body will be modified. Kawaki's number is 9," he revealed. I shook in shock. "So I'm going to be modified?" I asked, and he nodded with his cigarette in his mouth.
It seems that I will not be having as good of a time as I thought.