"Rudra, wake up" his mother yelled as she shook his leg underneath the blanket
"5 more minutes"
"Da you already slept enough. You must go to Sunday school today."
"Really? But I thought they said today was off"
"Ya they made a Pandal and some mats on the floor so that you can sit. I guess yesterday's rain destroyed the church and they want to reassure people and discuss something, so they called a meeting and Sunday school too" (Pandal means cloth or tarpaulin roofs tied to bamboo or metal poles)
"Ok fine I will get up"
Leela being satisfied simply left the room
Rudra carefully took of the blanket and stretched a bit. He recoiled as his back stung from the injuries he had sustained the day before.
'Ah well at least it is not bleeding that much'
Rudra had come home the previous night bleeding from the injuries. He climbed back through the open roof tile and went straight to the bathroom. He used a wet and hot towel to press against the injuries to clean it. Luckily it had healed quickly, and all Rudra had left to do was hide the now bloodied cloth. He buried it in the nearby field, deep underground, along with the broken Aruval (machete).
Rudra freshened up and got ready. He sat at the dinner table as his mother gave him a plate of puttu and a puzhungiya banana (puttu is steamed rice cake made with ground rice and grated coconut, Puzhungiya banana = Steamed (boiled) banana). His small fingers broke apart the puttu, letting steam rise into the morning air. He tore a piece from the soft, steamed banana, pressing it into the broken puttu until it formed a small oval ball before eating it. He ate quickly then as his mother reminded him of the Sunday school and drank the milk that sat in the cup beside him.
He got ready for Sunday school and walked down the path to the church. A few children were already there, sitting cross-legged on a couple of large mats laid over the patchy grass, grouped around different teachers as they waited for the rest of the class. The church had barely a hundred members (counting each family member individually) so there were never too many people to begin with. Two pedestal fans stood at opposite ends, slowly swivelling to send occasional gusts of cool air across the seated children.
Rudra sat down next to his classmate on the floor, giving a quick nod of hello as he pulled his Sunday school book out of his bag. A few more students came to the class and the teacher started teaching. It lasted for approximately an hour before the class was dismissed and some adults started putting plastic chairs where they had sat. Slowly the parents of the children and other members started coming. The priest and two people sat in front of the whole congregation. As soon as every person was settled in their seats the priest stood up to speak.
"Alright people today we have come to talk about the damages that happened to the church. We have already alerted the police station, and they will come this afternoon or early evening to check with the forensic team"
One person raised his voice from the crowd to speak
"Ok, so then how do we repair the church?"
"Well once we get the police report in about 3 or 4 days, we can send that to the diocese and get funds for the church"
A blanket of murmurs fell upon the gathering for some time before someone asked what everyone was thinking.
"How did this much damage happen?"
"Not sure, we think it might have been due to the storm plus the lamp post breaking and lighting the mat on fire. Probably some loose wiring also"
"Where will we conduct the church?"
"We will do it here, outside. We will reduce the time by a half hour"
"Acho, can we not take it as a God given sign that he does not want us to keep the Qurbana?" said one man at the end of the congregation. (Acho or Achan means Father. Here it can be used to call the priest. In English, "Qurbana" translates to Eucharist or Holy Communion)
"Oh, you get up anyway to go to the bar ya. Just think of a god given sign to come here and let the liquor evaporate, instead of spending some more time in the shap." (shap also means liquor shop or bar. Some elder people believe that when a drunk person sits in the sun, a bit of the liquor gets out of the body through sweat. In Malayalam you could say Choodil irikka; madyam okke chorunnu povum which means Sit in the heat; the liquor will drain out. Of course there are different slangs and according to context, the way you say it also might defer.)
"Maybe he wants us to take a break from prayer and focus on our primary needs"
"Da, da, da, you barely do anything other than drink and gamble. Your poor wife is working as a nurse full time and taking care of the home too. Had you done either of these things I would have been silent with what you said. The only reason you earn any money is because Mariamma chechi lends to you from time to time. What more primary needs do you have?"
A small chuckle erupted from the audience before another gets back to the topic
"Either ways how will we do the interior construction. I don't think the diocese will send that much money. Also it would take a lot of time for other people to construct it back" asked another
"I will take care of that" the owner of the voice was Mariamma who adjusted her shawl a bit before standing up.
"I know a few people that will take care of the inner pain and the restoration. Of course anything else like table or other loose items I will not pay for but the wall painting and mats I will take care of."
"Ok so that is taken care of I guess so meeting is adjourned. I will give more information after the next Qurbana"
The people started leaving slowly. Rudra got up to leave before he heard his name being called. He looked around to see Mariamma beckoning him to come with her. He walked with her as they headed towards the local market. It was down the hill on which they lived and was a little far. A few houses littered the landscape. Some grand, with red tiled rooftops and a front porch surrounded by white cement walls with a wide open gate at the entrance. A small veranda sat in the front of each house to welcome guests and for family members to enjoy the weather while sipping tea or coffee and munching a few biscuits. They had a few banana trees growing and if the compound was large enough some jackfruit trees too. Some other houses had slightly worn-down pillars at the entrance of the house with paint sighing at it's own condition, moaning to be renewed with a fresher one. A few slightly run down chicken coops lay at the back of the houses. Different plants and bushes adorned the entrance with a small, cleared pathway for bikes and small vehicles to enter.
Quite a few farms lay on the scenery, interrupting the walls of concrete with a few black, white and brown specs of cows and goats lazily munching on the grass. Infront of some of these farms were posts of streetlights that sometimes worked. However, the one thing they were famous for was the number of political posters pasted on them. Most of them were smiling while holding their hands beside their heads with palms faces against each other. It was now the go to look for politicians regardless of if they were Congress, Communist or any other political party.
As they neared the market they moved to the side of the road as now, they were slightly a greater number of bikes and scooters with the occasional honks of small cars passing through. The market was a series of small shops on both sides of the road. Hawkers called out their wares and prices, often competing. In the back stood a few autorickshaws with some of their drivers sipping tea and reading the newspaper or simply standing around, staring into the sky aimlessly while smoking a beedi. They had khaki-coloured shirts with jeans or similar fashioned khaki pants
"Ahah, ith arra? Mariamma chechi anno. Kazhinja azrcha kandillallo. Njan Vittil vannu pakshe arreyum kandilla" (Ahah, who is this? Is it sister Mariamma? I didn't see you last week. I went to your house, but I didn't see anyone.). (Often even though the person is clearly older than them they call them chechi, which in literary meaning means sister, simply to please the other person as age for women can sometime be a slightly sensitive topic.)
"Ah, Rizwan I had to go to an event last week. There was a Kalarippayattu show in one school, and they invited me to simply come as a guest speaker." (Kalarippayattu is a local martial art. It was used quite a lot before in Kerala as a form of warfare, with a lot of the technique's dependant on weapons, and self-defence. It is now considered a cultural and historic part of Kerala, though personally I am not sure how widespread it is currently with how foreign martial arts like Karate, and such are now common in Kerala)
"Ahah so the old fox has a few tricks left in her bag huh."
"Nothing like that. I used to train in that long time ago and won a few competitions. Other people were busy or charged slightly high for appearing, so they called me as I was free."
"Ah ok that make sense. Anyways I have got a few vegetables for you. Do you need the usual?"
"Ya, I will go with the usual. Also pick up some apples and a few mangoes."
"I assume the mangoes are for Rudra?"
The shopkeeper called him over while placing the packed vegetables and fruits in plastic bags. He handed the bags to Rudra and then dropped a toffee into Rudra's breast pocket.
"Take care of your grandma for me ya. Eat this when u get home"
Mariamma simply nodded with a smile before turning to the other stalls to buy some other groceries. She then went to an autorickshaw driver.
"Da Gopal, can you take these to my house and put it in the fridge."
Gopal took out the beedi from his mouth and looked at Mariamma. He looked at her and then at Rudra and raised an eyebrow. He sighed while nodding and then dropped the beedi to stomp it out. He took the bags and put them in autorickshaw and turned the auto to face the hill and drove up.
"Chandra, could you give me that auto?" (short form for autorickshaw)
"Ahah, you can drive an auto? But why do you need it?"
"I want to take my godson out to explore nearby."
"Ah are you going to the city?"
"Close by, but not there."
"Ok then. I will charge for the day though."
"That is fine. Come at the end of the month and I will give it. I assume this auto is yours now?"
"Yup, took a loan from the bank and bought it. Must pay the EMI every month so budget is a bit tight. Luckily though the loan was aligned with some government program, so it is not too bad."
Mariamma turned on the engine while adjusting the front mirror a bit. Chandra lifted Rudra and put him on the passenger seat, which in Rudra's opinion was completely unnecessary.
Mariamma smiled and nodded her head and then drove the auto in the direction of the city. Some time and distance passed before Rudra started speaking.
"Uhm... where are we going amachee?"
"We are going to a place where I will test your abilities."
Rudra started sweating a bit. He remembered what she had done to him while he was a baby and wondered if this had anything to do with the church.
"What do you mean?"
Mariamma simply chuckled and shook her head.
"You know what I mean. Who do you think cleaned up your mess in the church? It was a good thing that there was a storm going on. Otherwise, it would be difficult disguising that as an accident you know."
Rudra gulped in nervousness and remained silent from then. Soon they reached an abandoned school ground. It was in disrepair with weeds and vines growing the ground and walls. A building that barely stood one storeyed in height but had a decent length stood before them. It had a slanted tiled roof with leaves from the nearby trees collecting on top of it.
"Well this is the place" Mariamma muttered as she got out of the auto. She continued walking towards the building with Rudra following close behind.
"There was a report of cursed spirits here. Approximate number 3. Cursed techniques unknown. Types: 3 are animalistic and the fourth is humanoid. Appearance of the animals are 2 large snake and a large dog. Cursed energy of each are 3rd to low 2nd grade for the animalistic ones and between mid-2nd to low 1st grade for the humanoid. Do not worry about property damage as this building is scheduled for demolition."
Rudra listened carefully to what she was saying and theorizing what he could potentially do. Mariamma's nose twitched a bit as she smiled
'Good, he is already planning his moves. His muscles are tensing, and adrenaline is running a bit. Yet he is not scared but just getting prepared.'
"Ok now take of your shirt"
"Huh" Rudra asked in surprise
"Take of your shirt. I need to assess how injured you are before the battle." She said impatiently.
Rudra quickly took of his shirt, and she circled him looking at his injuries.
"Ok it is not that bad. I only came to the church after you finished fighting so I didn't see you."
'And it seems that it is already almost healed. Problem is that there is no cursed technique or reversed cursed energy here. I thought he was one of us, but it seems that even his healing is completely biological.'
"Ok it seems that you are healed well enough. However, this time I will be leading the fight. You will follow and observe me. I will not be using much of actual martial arts this time as I don't want you to try copying that and get injured. Understood?"
"Yes mam" said Rudra standing in attention.
"Good now follow me" Mariamma first crouching down a bit and then jumping onto the roof.
Rudra simply ran up the wall to the roof
'Hmm so it seems that his body can stick to surfaces at will. Interesting.'
Her nose started to change, becoming slightly longer. Her eyes became slits while her arms and legs grew larger with grey fur. Her fingers grew thicker and longer with the nails becoming sharp and long. She sniffed the air before violently smashing the rooftop to get to the ground. As she crashed down, she came face to face with a large viper that looked surprised. Surprise turned to anger as it attacked her with fangs bared. Not even bothered by its speed, she simply caught it's head mid-air and was ready to crush it before she heard the rush of a dog's feet on the ground. She twister her hips and slammed the head of the snake against the wall while her other hand reached out slam the head of the dog against the ground. However, her hands touched air as she saw a slightly alarmed Rudra on the ground holding back a dog that looked like a German shepherd but a little larger with his webs. His alarm turned into slight embarrassment as he realized that she was prepared for the attack.
"Tsk, move back boy."
Rudra's spider sense blared in response before he let go of the dog and jumped back. Arms came out of the wall a second later as a 5-foot humanoid wrapped in head to toe in long bandages came out. Upon not finding it's prey it stopped itself and stared at the stronger enemy.
"Pllee…..ssseee stoopp mmyy paain" the humanoid said as before it lunged at her. The dog this time faced Rudra and lunged at him. Mariamma raised her foot and kicked the humanoid's jaw up towards the roof. It slammed against the tiles breaking them and flying into the air. She reached for the still dazed snake and simply squashed its head with her palm
Rudra on the other hand was jumping from wall to wall as the dog attempted to bite him. The dog jumped and tried once more only to have a web connect at its snout. Rudra simply pulled down as the dog lost its balance and went tumbling to the floor. While it was down, he gathered some cursed energy on his right hand and gathered some electric sparks. It jumped back to bite him and this time Rudra simply dodged to the left and punched it with the cursed technique to slam it against the wall. Since there was little time to gather cursed energy, it was only enough to stun the dog for a moment. As soon as it reached the ground Mariamma's triceps smashed through the left wall as she looked down to see the dog. She raised her leg to smash its head against the ground. However, the dog sensed the danger and rolled over towards the right and started retreating away. Mariamma simply let it retreat before she looked at Rudra.
"As I told you before. Do not help me here. Only observe. While your help is appreciated right now it is only distracting me." She flashed him a grin with slightly elongated canines. "Don't worry about me boy. I have experience dealing with curses ganging up against me. Now come. That dog would have run towards the other spirit."
She ran towards where the dog disappeared, and Rudra attempted to follow. He soon found out that he simply did not have here level of speed and shot his webs against the walls to slingshot himself further
'Good he knows how to use his webs outside of a battle too.'
They soon reached and empty classroom where the dog was waiting for them. However this time it was accompanied by a 10 foot rock python. It's green skin with frequent brownish spots slithered around. It's skin for some reason was releasing gas that was reducing vision.
"Ok Rudra jump towards the roof and see how I fight from there."
Rudra following her advise jumped on the wooden support beams and displaced a few roof tiles to get out and watch. While the smoke was growing within the room, the air coming from the broken windows and the now partially open roof allowed some clarity. Of course, Rudra's extraordinary eyesight also played a role.
Mariamma rushed towards the smoke without much concern. The dog leapt towards her head and in response she simply ducked. While down she raised her right hand and struck the underbelly while pushing it away at the same time. The python took advantage of this and started to coil around her with her head barely sticking out.
"Now this is a scenario which you will find yourself often. Right now, there are two things that you need to be worried about. The first is that the smoke might be poisonous. The second is that you are trapped in the clutches of an animal that might crush you. Here you can be sure that this snake is not venomous, because if it was it would have already tried attacking with that instead of wrapping itself around you"
The dog assured of their victory simply started walking around the python and staring at Rudra. The python tried to crush her bones and swallow her but for some reason was finding it extremely difficult. She shimmered with a cloaking of cursed energy barely a few centimetres from her skin
"Thus, I am doing two things. To counteract the possibly poisonous gas I am coating myself with a barrier of cursed energy that keeps the smoke from filling my lungs and blurring my eyes. At the same time this barrier also traps a small pocket of fresh air underneath it, buying me some time to escape. Because my cursed energy is dense enough it also acts a defensive barrier. However, you should only practice this to protect yourself against poison and such. Normally these barriers break against even a simple punch."
As if on cue the python started squeezing harder. Her cursed energy barrier started shimmering and cracking.
"However, there is another type of barrier that is useful here. That is a modified simple domain."
Immediately a dome of cursed energy expanded from her body spanning a 2-meter radius. The python was flung away with bits of its flesh and blood randomly getting sprayed around the room. The smoke started to clear away as its generation stopped. The dog tried attacking her however it was stopped mid-air when its snout bumped against the barrier
"Normally a simple domain is only useful against domain expansions. However, the user can use binding vows to change the functionality. Here I made the vow to not move both my feet from the original position from when the domain was cast. On top of that I made a vow to not use my hands to attack while in the domain. In return anything that enters the domain or is in range of the domain that I recognize as a foe will be automatically pushed away or defended against. Remember right now I have adjusted my output to match yours. So, if you practice you should be able to have a slightly weaker simple domain"
"Pllee…..ssseee stoopp mmyy paain" came a voice from the entrance of the classroom. The bandaged humanoid now stared her and his fellow curses and screamed in rage. It charged at her arms stretched. His arms clobbered against the domain cracking it in a few hits. On seeing it's success it loaded up his punch and put his full weight to completely break the domain.
However, Mariamma was ready. Moments before his strike could land, she dropped to the floor while sticking her right hand against the floor and extending her left leg in a circular motion to kick the knee of the humanoid tripping it. The simple domain immediately disappeared due to the conditions of the domain being violated.
The dog jumped to attack, and she simply rolled away by pushing off her right arm. The snake now slowly regenerating lunged to coil against her again. However, this time she simply caught the head of the snake with her hands and then stomped on the body with her foot.
"Now normally my hands itself would be enough to end this snake. However, I want to show you what level of strength that you should expect to have when you become 9 or 10 and how to use that."
She released her foot from the snake's body and swung around like a whip towards the face of the approaching humanoid. She slammed the head of the snake against the wall and let it go to spin away with the balls of her feet to doge incoming dog. Mid-spin, while the dog was in the air, she used her elbow to hit the top of the dog's head, thumping it against the floor. She then stomped her left foot on the dog's neck instantly killing it
She then caught the head of the dazed python and used her left hand to catch the top jaw while using her right hand to rip the lower jaw sideways. The python writhed in agony however she paid no mind to it. She used the right hand to rip part of it's tongue out and then used her left hand to pierce the eyes. She made no delay in once again smashing the heading against the ground followed by the satisfying crunch of the broken head as she stomped down on it.
"Are you ok? You don't seem so good." She says eyeing him on the roof while at the same time swatting away a blow that came from the humanoid
Rudra felt like vomiting seeing the gore that was happening in front of him. It was only now he was realizing how bloody his own battle was as he was swept away in the flow then. Even then he was doubtful that his battle was this gory.
"Well, this is the last bit I suppose" she said as she blocked and an attack from her left and responded with a flicker jab to its jaw.
"Now do not attempt to block creatures like this unless there is no choice. If so, then always remember to either cut short the momentum of the attack or manage to redirect it. After these creatures are currently a little too strong for you to block."
The humanoid's left hand came towards her face to which she moved used her left hand to touch its elbow and guide the hand away from her while moving to its far left and out of its range. She then delivered a strike to the solar plexus, knocking the air out of the curse.
"And remember. Do not stop attacking. Do not give them a chance to recuperate."
She struck its left kidney and then while it bent down in pain she slammed her knee up against its face. A satisfying crunch of the nose breaking came out after which she pushed the head up. She then grabbed the throat and used her nails to puncture it. She ripped out the larynx in one go and then used her other hand to pierce the chest and destroy the heart. She let it fall to the ground as it flopped around trying to regenerate. However, the injuries were simply too severe, and it soon lay still as purple blood pooled around it.
Rudra jumped from the rooftop to the outside field and then leaned against the wall as he vomited. The animals dying were still bearable. However, the humanoid's death was simply too much. It hit a little too close to home. A small ringing of the spider sense was all he got before he heard a voice beside him.
"Don't worry, let it all out. This is the first time you have witnessed a battle where you were not filled with adrenaline and went with the flow. It is completely natural for you to respond this way. When you are done there is a wash basin nearby. Luckily, the board didn't stop the water supply to the surrounding area so you can wash your mouth there."
Rudra took some time to rest and then followed Mariamma to the wash basin to clean his mouth
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Meanwhile in the afternoon of the same day.
A police jeep was parked in the church compound as 4 police officers in their khaki uniforms along with a few people from the forensic team collecting what little evidence they could get.
"Did you get anything?" asked a female police officer to the forensic team. She was a short smiling woman in her early 20s that simply looked happy to be a part of the investigation
"Well not much really Janaki. Just some burnt debris. No real signs of human interactions. At least not with the level of strength of normal human beings. The lamp post seems to be cut clean but then it is charred at the end too. Possible involvement of some wild boars fighting against each other or something else. A few lashes on the walls and floor which look like some kind of rope or long vines. Though that could be completely different considering just how burnt and damaged this place is"
"Well, I am not surprised. The damage does look like it is mainly caused due to the storm and the lampposts. Maybe some boars might have been in the area and got trapped here. Luckily, they escaped I guess because there is not carcass." Said a middle-aged police man.
"Maybe Adithya, but then who damaged those walls though? I don't think boars alone could break the wall though" said Janaki frowning. This was her first police case. She did not want it to be shot down so fast. She was hoping for at least a little bit more of investigation to create a bit of name for herself.
"Ehh, who knows. I could be lightning from the storm that broke the pole and then it could have broken the already weak wall. After all it is kind of an old church and not really made that well either. There might have been a few wild boars in the area that took shelter on seeing the broken wall. On seeing a fire start out they might have panicked and ran out." Said an older man with a big smile on his face. He was an easy-going man that somehow wanted the investigation to get over
"That seems to be a little too farfetched you know Ishan sir" she replied.
"Maybe" he shrugged his shoulders. "However, there is no real explanation here. There is nothing stolen here. All the religious symbols except for the books are safe. The books are just burnt and no signs of human tampering to burn them. So, there is no monetary reason or any religious reason. Like the forensic man said there is also no signs of humans. Unless of course you are claiming that someone has very high resistance to heat and did all of this while the ground was burning."
"Well, when you put it like that…" she said demoralized that things weren't going her way
The older man simply chuckled and pat her back.
"Don't worry you will get a better case later dear. Right now, we are here just because the church wants this in paper so that they can ask money from their centre for money to rebuild."
"Wel there is one thing that is suspicious though" said another man from the forensic team.
"Oh, what is that?" said Janaki brightening up.
"Well, it is not too revealing but there seems to be a few strands of spider web here and there. Majority of it is burnt but we got a few out. The thing is this seems to be thicker than the average web of a spider. Though it is safe to say that we only got parts of the strands because most of it were burnt in the fire."
"Is that so?" a voice came from the entrance of the church. The voice belonged to a woman in her mid-20s and an imposing no nonsense aura. All the rest of the officers immediately went rigid and slightly raised their heels while giving a salute to her. She waved her hand downwards acknowledging them.
"Why would you say that this is so abnormal. After all, from what I saw in those packets it wasn't so much thicker than the average spider." She asked the forensic team
"Yes, but like I told before even that strand is mostly damaged. Just a few very thin strands lying about. We didn't get anything else so we just put this"
"I see"
Ishan came forward.
"Madam Vineetha, permission to speak?" as he leaned forward slightly bowed. She sighed and waved her hand
"You don't need to speak to me like that. I might be the new SI, but I don't have such a large ego to be stroked at every turn. You have even more experience than me here. Speak your mind" The man's face cleared a bit and his voice regained a bit of pride. He came a bit closer and whispered.
"Well mam, you see there is no real evidence here. Even for argument's sake if we take in this there is nothing that gives us any clue on what happened. We have gone around and interviewed the neighbours and all of them were in their home asleep. The caretaker was in the shap getting drunk with a lot of witnesses to confirm. Nothing got stolen or purposely damaged. The only two people left for us to interview is one old woman and that boy called Rudra. One was asleep in his parent's house and the other is well respected member of the society with no previous cases against her. All this is going to do is lead us on a wild goose chase. Also mam I am going to retire this week. So please let me have an easy retirement by closing this case"
Vineetha thought about this for some time before sighing and agreeing with him.
"Very well just shelve this, I guess. Close the case and then give the priest what he needs"
People slowly left the building to continue the rest of the day.
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Mariamma parked the auto in front of her home. Her shoes swiftly stepped on the gravel below as she got to her door. She did not bother trying to find the key under the potter plant nearby and simply opened the door.
"So how was the kid?" asked a voice from the hall.
Mariamma simply switched on the lights to reveal two people sitting on the chairs of her dining table. The owner of the voice was te auto driver Gopal, and the other was the man that amused the church in the morning
"Well, he was fine. The boy was slightly injured so I did not let him fight much and just let him watch me."
"Hmm he got injured playing or something?" asked the other man.
"No, it was from the battle at the church."
"No way. How is that possible. Rudra is barely 8 years old. I could accept if he got a few lucky shots in today because you were with him, but the church yard was filled with cursed spirits." He said looking in disbelief. He looked at Gopal to back him up but got a sigh as a response
"Well to be honest Thomacha, it makes sense. The scene was a bit too messy for something that she would handle." Gopal replied (Thomacha or Thomachan is an informal way of referring to Thomas)
"I thought that is because she was overwhelmed you know. She is retired after all." Thomachan snapped back.
"Relax, both of you. I just came here to give the report. You guys report back to the centre and come back. You two are my aids for retirement so I might need you later. I am an old woman after all" she replied humorously. All she got where snorts of disbelief.
"Well the kid was healing well already so there wasn't too much problem in him following me. So I let him come."
"Hmm is he like you too? Does his cursed technique allow him to transform?" asked Gopal
"No"
"Sorry I must have misheard. Can you repeat?"
"It is what you heard. His cursed technique has nothing to do with transforming like me. In fact, I will go far as to call him some type of mutant that is not human in the base form itself"
"You are claiming that boy is a perfect mutant?"
"Yes. It seems that the speculations of the old are true. Luckily this child seems to be in good control over himself and is against too much gore."
"Incredible. He must be the first one after such a long time." Replied Thomachan. "But you are sure of this? No mistakes?"
"Yes. I feel that it is some sort of human and spider mix. His webs come from the base of his wrist, which I had given you some strands of, are quite strong and can conduct cursed energy. Approximate strength is easily able to hold together while holding back a low grade 2 curse"
Whispers of wonder came from the two while she continued
"Base strength with no cursed energy reinforcement was able to barely keep up with me. He of course used his webs when he felt it a bit too hard. As such his current base strength is high grade 3 to low grade 2. Of course this is impressive considering his age."
She took a break from speaking as she walked towards the sofa and sat down leaning forward to not get any stains on it.
"Agility just lower than mine when relaxed. Response time however is probably almost the same. Cursed technique seems to be electricity generation and manipulation. He had briefly stunned a 3rd grade curse when I was busy with another."
"Impressive. The boy has quite a bit of potential. Even if we don't look at his strength, the fact that his response time equals yours itself is a testament in itself" said Gopal in awe.
"Well, that is true. However, one thing I noticed is that his cursed energy reserves are high grade 4 or mid-grade 3 at max. Of course, you can expect this to vastly improve when he grows to be a teen, but for someone with the hype of a perfect mutant that seems to be a bit disappointing."
"Well you can't expect someone to have it all can you? This is India not Japan. We can't expect another Satoru Gojo, can we?" replied Thomachan
"Speaking of him. He should be the same age as Rudra right. Both were born in 1989 and even on the same month. Gojo on December 7th and Rudra on 16th. Well at least when he was adopted. Now they are both 8 years old at 1998 and it seems that one is clearly better than the other by feats alone." Gopal retorted.
"Come on now. Don't become a whiny old aunty that keeps comparing their children with others. You keep forgetting that Gojo has both the six eyes and limitless. He also has been trained from a young age. On the other hand, Rudra has had no training and yet is able to take down an entire field of cursed spirits with such low reserves of cursed energy. That is a feat by itself. Even now I can't do such a thing so easily." Chastised Thomachan
"Well, I don't know about another Gojo Satoru, but I believe that he will be able to reach the likes of Zenin Toji"
A moment of silence and disbelief followed
"Are you serious?" asked Gopal
"Quite so. In fact, I will go as far as to say he might be the one to solve the riddle of the Navaratnam. I don't know much about the brass knuckles cause of how much cursed energy he needs to wield it but someday I believe he might be able use that too."
A low whistle from Gopal turned into a full out laugh from the three as they grew excited at the mere possibility of Rudra's growth.