“Out of the way,” Gento said to Azusa, and this otherwise headstrong girl retreated at once, as if pushed to the side by cold unseeing fingers.
“This okay?”
“There is no need for you to concern yourself so,” Hyota answered in a muddled voice.
Not only his forehead, but the Inverness topcoat—of a sort once favored by Sherlock Holmes—shone with that dull wet glow. Azusa stared harder. She saw the glistening threads twine around his frame, gone in the blink of an eye.
An aura—fey and demonic—welled up between master and servant. For a moment, Azusa felt like she was observing combat among mortal enemies. She trembled.
“How do your skills fare?” asked Hyota.
“I have a ways to go,” said Gento, a cool-headed scientist evaluating the results of an experiment. “Compared to Setsura?”
“I cannot say.”
Gento’s eyes flashed. “Don’t play the fool with me.”
“I would say that the one is the mirror of the other.”
“In that case,” Gento said, a touch of humor in his voice, “everything depends on the degree of our abstention and dedication henceforth. He must be training himself vigorously in order to defeat you. While I watch and wait. Is that what it comes down to?”
“It is all as your father wished.”
“So there was value in hibernating for fifteen years after all.”
“There most likely was.”
“This calls for a celebration. Have you ascertained yet where Setsura lives?”
“I am still searching. However, a representative from the Shinjuku Restoration Society says they know his whereabouts.”
The organization Hyota referred to worked for the producers of the Assassin Games that Setsura and Gento had made such a mess of. The power and influence of Hyota and Gento reached even into their secretive group.
“And what did he have to say for himself?” Gento asked with genuine curiosity.
“They sent three men after him. No news yet. I had planned on telling you as soon as you awoke.”
That Hyota had not sallied forth was likely due to his thorough knowledge of Setsura’s true strengths.
“They think three dogs can defeat a tiger?” Gento spat out. “Fools. Unlikely that he’ll even be there. Can you employ the same means as this Restoration Society to find out where he is?”
“Probably.”
“Something to get to later. In my current state, there is no need to rush. This body does not understand the workings of a simultaneous attack. By the way, where is the doctor?”
“Right here.”
The answer came as if he’d been waiting there all along. With an understandable start, Gento glanced behind him. Hyota let out a little gasp. The doctor was standing in his white cape atop the mound of earth.
“We met in the infirmary of the Coliseum, but I do not believe we’ve been formally introduced. I am Mephisto.”
“Gento Roran,” Gento replied with a polite nod.
Gento was naked. A woman bound with ropes plus his dark and feral servant made for a most unusual reception party. But what had the good doctor been up to since Hyota brought him to this underground cavern?
With no further explanation, Mephisto descended the earthen mountain. “What a strange mound of dirt,” he said, bobbing his chin at the curious silhouette behind him.
Except that Gento had strung his devil wires around his resting place, high and low, such that no other living thing should’ve been able to climb it.
“It is permeated with the thoughts and memories of one particular person. It’s been a long time since I have witnessed such an energetic life force. Your father, I take it?”
Even Gento was impressed by this deduction. “How did you know?”
“I have looked into the feud between the Aki and Roran clans on my own, though I have yet to discern the reason behind the conflict. I cannot imagine another pair of pedigrees with a history as barren as yours.”
“I would rather you take that as a point of pride,” Gento corrected him. “The blood that flows through our veins shall rule the world. Perhaps that is no less true of the Aki clan. More importantly, you are close friends with Setsura Aki. Did he not bring you a most peculiar patient?”
“He did indeed. She is presently in my hospital.”
“I don’t suppose I could ask you to turn her over?”
“Not unless you wish to make enemies of us both.”
“That would be problematic,” Gento said with a slight smile. “Besides, bringing her here would do neither of us any good. Best she stay where she is. Or—”
“Or?”
“Seek out another doctor perhaps? Surely not one up to your standards, but an equally adventurous chap nonetheless.”
“Do whatever strikes your fancy. Is that the only reason you summoned me here?”
“An examination is all that remains.”
Mephisto nodded. “I saw for myself your amazing dead man.”
“I had hoped for such a reply. The dead can be made to walk.”
“Meeting their mutual demise in the Coliseum and gone to meet his maker, he finds himself a soulless slave? The darkness of Hades while awaiting reincarnation must be filled with such an accursed darkness.”
Gento looked past Mephisto, to something lurking there in one corner of the gloom-laden expanse. And then directed those ironic eyes back at Mephisto.
“Are you aware how I intend to use it?” he asked.
“A gladiator to send against Setsura. Fascinating.”
“I appreciate your cutting to the chase. Can you make it so?”
“Yes, but there will be conditions.”
“No need to even mention such things. I won’t put a word in edgewise. Do whatever you feel is right and proper. Anything you need, Hyota will provide. My only demand is that you bring to the fore in him every last ounce of their abilities.”
“Are you sure that is wise? Perhaps it will attack you when I am done. Or I will reveal its weaknesses to Setsura.”
Gento grinned. An enchanting smile that would make one of Odysseus’s sirens his prisoner instead. “As long as you are the man known as Doctor Mephisto, I am sure neither will be in the cards.”
Mephisto’s mouth parted in a thin smile. “I see you would make an ideal employer, but my conditions are somewhat different. First of all, my surgical fees are dear. And I do not take money in kind.”
“How fortunate, for I have no money.”
“Second, I must ascertain for myself whether you are deserving of the name Gento Roran. However, this as well falls under the purview of my qualifying evaluation.”
“I happily accept both. As for your fee, whatever your heart desires.”
Gento looked directly at Mephisto. Observing the mask of carnality that briefly shadowed his face, Azusa furrowed her brows.
“As for my qualifications, those are—”
Mephisto’s raised right hand cut him off. A tense silence fell, the meaning of which escaped the other two there, until from far away there came the sound of creaking steel.