It's been a few days, and Jigen seems to be more interested in me than Code. Due to this, Code initiated at least a thousand fights with me during these past days.
Most of the time, I ended up getting beaten and had to go to Amado for healing meds. But once my chest pain stopped occurring when using karma, I started giving Code my pay back for all the beating he gave me.
Just like now, there was a red-haired boy lying on the ground with red liquid flowing from his mouth. Standing over him was a white-haired boy, his body and hair covered in patches of red, panting heavily.
"You're defective, Code. Your body will never undergo Otsutsukification like mine," I told him between pants.
That's right, it appeared that Code's karma was even more flawed, providing him with only battle experience and physical strength amplification.
On the other hand, mine was different. I not only gained the experience of Isshiki Otsutsuki but also Otsutsukification itself. However, not Isshiki's latest version, but that of a base Isshiki Otsutsuki who had never consumed a chakra fruit, and good thing is that his soul is not in my karma.
My karma was a mystery, not just to me but to all the members of Kara, and even Jigen seemed surprised that such a unique variation of karma existed.
It seemed like a perfect opportunity, but I knew the truth. Isshiki was planning to sacrifice me to the Juubi once my Otsutsukification was complete.
After that, he'd use Jigen as another sacrifice and then reincarnate into Kawaki's body to devour the chakra fruit.
However, for this plan to succeed, he'd need both me and Kawaki to complete our Otsutsukification at the same time.
Otherwise, it would be foolish to leave a chakra fruit maturing without his supervision, as someone might just eat it.
Code, overwhelmed by anger, yelled, "You! Bastard! I'll kill you! You fucker!" He was on the edge of losing control after getting beaten black and blue, and hearing the harsh yet shocking truth had pushed him over that edge.
Jumping back on his feet, he drew his fist back and launched a powerful punch toward my face.
However, I managed to evade the blow by ducking, causing Code, carried by the punch's momentum, to fall forward and land face-first on the ground.
"You cannot change," I repeated just as the door swung open. We were assigned a single room because we both bore the White karma. Kawaki, being the 'Vessel,' had his own room.
Delta entered the room, accompanied by Deepa, who whistled when he saw Code's battered state. A crazed smile crossed his face, and he remarked, "Oh? So, after all the beatings you got, you finally managed to teach him a lesson?"
He displayed his inhumanity by kicking Code in the back, wearing a mocking smile as he said, "Hey there, Defective." Little did he know that Code would grow even stronger, eventually even surpassing Jigen, only to restrain his power by requesting Amado to add limiters to his own body.
Delta simply dragged Code along with her while fixing me with her piercing gaze. She wanted me to accompany her, to walk alongside her, and I did.
After I exited the room, Deepa followed suit, closing the door behind us. We gathered outside and proceeded to Amado's lab, where he crafted cyborgs.
Upon entering the lab, the smell of chemicals assaulted my senses, causing me to stagger and fall to the floor. To my surprise, Code was with me, his eyes already shut, but I could tell he was alive.
Struggling to lift my head, I noticed that both Delta and Deepa wore inhaler masks. 'I see,' I thought before losing consciousness right there.
·3RD POV·
"Amado, here are the brats," Delta stated tersely before she departed without uttering another word, her disdain for Amado evident.
Deepa simply followed her after giving Amado a nod by way of greeting.
Amado sighed, feeling a twinge of pain in his heart as he watched her leave, knowing that despite having all of his daughter Akebi's memories, she still treated him with disdain.
He raised a cigarette to his lips, lighting it and taking a sharp inhale before carefully picking up the bloodied forms of Code and Shiro. Their bloodstained clothes were evidence of the recent skirmish.
He removed their clothes and fitted inhalers to their mouths, connecting them to an oxygen tank. With great care, he positioned them inside a container, which he subsequently filled with chemical fluids.
Ambling over to his table, he pressed his finger onto the keyhole, prompting it to reveal a small eye scanner that analyzed his eye. Following that, he felt a slight prick on his finger, a security measure to ensure that no one could access what he had stored within the table.
The table compartment swung open, revealing a handful of vials. They contained the DNA of Shibai Otsutsuki, extracted before Amado had securely stored the body in a hidden location.
He approached the computer and pressed a series of buttons. Within moments, two tubes inside the container extended and punctured the veins of both Shiro and Code.
Amado then retrieved two of the vials and injected their contents into the tubes from the outside, ensuring one vial for Shiro and another for Code.
A few seconds elapsed, and the suspended forms of Code and Shiro began to convulse, their limbs flailing uncontrollably.
They were undergoing a scientific DNA alteration, a process that would typically kill or prove fatal to the recipients. However, Amado had developed a method to ensure their survival.
After a few minutes, they both settled into a state of calm, though unconsciousness still enveloped them. The excruciating pain from the process lingered even in their unconscious state.
"It may take hours, months, or even, in the worst-case scenario, years for them to awaken," he murmured to himself. Returning to his work at the computer, he ran simulations to predict the abilities that Code and Shiro would gain from Shibai Otsutsuki's DNA.
Secretly, he had administered a karma decompression-reducing drug into Shiro, effectively slowing down his Otsutsukification process.
With a calculating expression, he thought to himself, 'If all goes as planned, I'll get what I want.' He took another drag from his cigarette, contemplating the potential outcomes.