The place itself was already surrounded by death energy, but beyond the town, beyond everything visible, where there was only fog and an endless wasteland, there was an enormous accumulation of it.
Kaito rose into the air and headed in that direction.
On the way he could see hundreds of humanoid creatures whose heads looked like plants, Demogorgons, but they ignored him and he ignored them. According to his experience so far, killing the Mind Flayer would kill all the Demogorgons and close the Upside Down, so there was no need to deal with them personally.
It did not take long for him to reach his objective.
In the middle of the thick fog that blocked any vision, there was an enormous shadow in the sky impossible to hide, shaped like an octopus or some similar creature, with thousands of tentacles, so large that even a tailed beast would not reach the size of even one of its tentacles.
But that was all, only a shadow, a manifestation of the creature's mental power, something only those with extremely great mental strength could see.
Before it was not like this, in the past the Mind Flayer was a real mental entity, but since it fused with a body, now the body was the one in control.
The Mind Flayer no longer existed in a real sense, now it was nothing more than power in someone else's hands.
And that person was sitting on a throne waiting for Kaito's arrival.
"Vecna" said Kaito, looking at the individual in front of him.
"Lucifer. I would prefer not to fight you."
"Then how about you give me the object of death?"
"That is impossible, this human body is weak, it is rotten, both inside and out.
Once I manage to find a perfect body capable of assimilating my power, I will finally be truly free, outside this cursed realm.
Besides, I know you well enough to know you would kill me anyway, and even so I cannot give it to you. Have you not realized the true identity of the Mind Flayer?"
"I suspect something" Kaito replied.
"In that case you know that, even if I would prefer not to, we must fight, let us stop wasting time and begin." Vecna separated from his majestic throne and raised a hand, the black roots covering the entire wasteland rose in Kaito's direction.
"I am sorry, but I cannot touch the object" Kaito said before murmuring, "Omnipotence."
Within a diameter of one kilometer, everything was perfectly visible and manipulable, Kaito had total control over reality in that area for thirty seconds.
Using this he accessed Vecna's mind and confirmed his suspicions: the Mind Flayer was the object he was looking for, capable of manipulating souls and minds, which had gained consciousness due to strange circumstances.
Because of this, Kaito had not wanted to fight Vecna and risk touching what he suspected was the object, since if he touched it, it would disappear as the mission would be considered complete, an unacceptable result for Kaito at this moment.
Kaito forced deeper, entering the object of death itself.
Like an expert programmer entering the game files of a novice, Kaito felt the object's operation clearly, he knew exactly how the object managed to do what it did.
And in the same way, he copied the entire operation before fusing it into his own body.
However, it was not as easy as Kaito had thought, it was not as simple as thinking of his goal and having it completed. Kaito felt that even if he knew what to do, he could not do it, it was beyond his capabilities, as if he had the entire program but not a computer advanced enough to run it.
However Kaito at that moment was in a state of omnipotence, something that would normally be impossible for him was now as clear and easy to understand as the language he had spoken since he was a baby.
Thus, within his own body he found exactly the component that was missing, something capable of supporting what he was doing.
And he was not surprised by what it was.
Within his own body, he fused the object's operation with the fragments of divinity within his soul, successfully creating a new ability.
After that he simply appeared in front of Vecna and touched his forehead, penetrating directly into his mind. The moment he did so the object disappeared, transforming Vecna back into Henry, the person he had been before obtaining this power.
Although Vecna already had powers before merging with the Mind Flayer, they only reached weak mental abilities, weaker even than Eleven, an experiment created using his own genes.
"W-what happened to me? What happened?" Henry murmured.
Kaito ignored him and looked around. To his surprise, the Upside Down was still there, so he turned around and returned to the laboratory he had come from earlier.
Every door he had previously ignored was opened. It took Kaito less than ten seconds to traverse the entire place until he finally arrived at what looked like the typical boss's office, with a safe.
And inside the safe he found it.
A file with black pages and white letters, whose existence seemed inverted. On the first page it clearly said "Upside Down".
"So the Upside Down and the object that created the Mind Flayer were two separate objects. If that is the case, it is likely that existing inside another object is what ended up developing its consciousness.
Or perhaps it has something to do with Henry and his mental powers that imprinted Hawkins into this world so many years ago, which modified the Upside Down and indirectly affected the other object inside here."
Kaito tried to analyze the situation, but after a while he stopped thinking about it. In the half second he spent thinking about it the object disappeared from his hands, along with the entire installation around him, and also the mirror Hawkins and the nothingness that existed beyond it.
The only things left were the people inside, who appeared again in the real world, in Hawkins.
Kaito looked around. It was already dark and the full moon of that night illuminated the entire place with its ethereal white glow.
Before leaving, Kaito quickly returned to where Henry was and killed him to make sure he would not cause problems.
After that he scanned the entire town in seconds looking for Shiho, finally finding her in Mike's house.
...
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Just like the last time, only a second after Kaito knocked the click of the door was heard and an older woman came out.
The moment she opened it and saw him her face showed surprise before she shouted.
"Shiho, your boyfriend is back!"
Hurried footsteps were heard as Shiho ran quickly toward the door where Kaito was standing.
"I'm back, what are you do..."
Kaito fell silent when Shiho suddenly interrupted him with a hug and a kiss.
"What is wrong?" he asked, worried.
"What is wrong? What is wrong with you? You were gone for a whole week, I was worried."
"A week?" Kaito repeated in surprise. "It was only a few hours for me."
"Alright, alright, do not talk in the doorway, come in please." The woman interrupted.
"Are you sure?" Kaito replied, somewhat confused.
Inside he was led by Karen to the sofa, where he found Eleven and Mike playing a board game on the living room table.
"You came back!" Mike and Eleven said in surprise.
Kaito paid attention to the two of them, especially to Eleven, who in the week that had passed had already stopped being shy and spoke like a normal person.
"I came back, but... what are you doing here?"
"Of course I let them stay, if you had explained the situation to me earlier I would not have complained" Karen said as she sat down in one of the individual sofas in the living room.
"The situation?"
"That is right, although it surprised me that such a young couple like you already has such an older daughter. Shiho explained to me that she is actually the daughter of her sister who is no longer in this world and you two decided to take care of her. Such responsible young people.
However, if she ran away from home and fled all the way here then you are not doing a very good job. You are lucky my little Mike found her. Fortunately I am here and can give you advice. During this week I have been teaching Shiho how to be a good mother, besides..."
Kaito kept listening to the explanation with a serious face, but inside he was processing the information.
Apparently somehow Karen believed that Eleven was the daughter of Shiho's sister, a single mother who suddenly died from an illness, leaving her under the care of Shiho and Kaito.
Eleven ran away and was found by Mike, who hid her in his house, which is why they were knocking on the door the last time, since they were looking for her.
Finally Kaito had to return to work suddenly due to an emergency, leaving Shiho with nowhere to stay, which was why she ended up seeking refuge here and Karen allowed her to stay until he returned.
'What a terrible father I am,' Kaito thought, finding the situation somewhat amusing. Shiho probably stayed late waiting for him in the forest, so she quickly invented that excuse to stay here and explain why she had Mike out so late at night, never expecting that it would take an entire week for him to return.
"Kaito!" While Kaito continued talking with Karen, Mike interrupted. "What happened with the game we were playing before?"
"The game, huh? I defeated the boss and the dungeon disappeared" Kaito said, understanding what he meant.
Mike was quite clever for his age and managed to disguise the question.
Ring ring ring.
Before Kaito could explain more about the "game", the house phone rang and Karen stood up to answer it.
Seconds later she returned in a hurry.
"I am sorry, I have to go, can you take care of Mike?" Karen asked, and without waiting for an answer she left the house.
"Now can you explain what happened?" Shiho asked.
"Alright, actually..."
Kaito briefly explained the situation in the Upside Down. After hearing the explanation Shiho finally let go of her bad mood.
"So that giant octopus boss was defeated by you with a single move and you stole his abilities?" Mike asked, surprised and excited, looking at Kaito like a superhero.
"So the other side no longer exists?" Meanwhile Eleven asked worriedly.
"That is right" Kaito replied to both of them. "By the way, Will was also there and he already returned" Kaito said, remembering the boy who should have been trapped in the Upside Down.
Although he had not actually confirmed it, since everyone else had returned it should not be different.
"Then we have to tell his mother" Mike said as he abruptly stood up, and Eleven nodded beside him.
"Do not worry, they probably already know. That is why your mother just ran out" Kaito said.
"I see, you are like a prophet."
"Haha, that is the second time someone has told me that today" Kaito joked.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)