The Psyche Diver Trilogy: Demon Hunters by Baku Yumemakura Page A
Authors: Baku Yumemakura
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forced into the flesh is enough to be painful and cause the immune system to react. Just like the skin, the same is true for the mind, it mounts resistance against intrusion. For this reason, Divers often face real, physical danger.
Extended dives can affect a Diver’s very personality. A Diver could become permanently crippled if he was stranded without a protective psyche suit for a period of days, even if he were able to eventually resurface. Divers are physical laborers of the mind. They are required to exhibit a high sensitivity to their surroundings, yet possess a mentality as tough as steel. Only a select few have what it takes to be successful Divers.
Now, an A-grade Diver had been trapped inside someone’s subconscious for over ten days. There was an edge to the way the old man presented the information, as though he was trying to provoke Hosuke to rise to the challenge.
“And you think I would be able to pull it off,” Hosuke said after a period of silence.
“Exactly.”
“I wouldn’t want you to overestimate me. You know what A-grade Divers are. You can’t get to that level through training. You need to be born with talent and graduate an impossibly tough regimen. A-grade Divers aren’t like normal people; their skill borders on superhuman. Why would you imagine an unlicensed Diver like me could succeed where an A-grader failed?”
“Come now Mr. Kumon, I am sure you are perfectly aware of your talents.” The old man fixed his gaze on Hosuke, eyes improbably astute for his age. “We have taken the liberty of researching your history. People still talk about your work at NASA; I can only imagine the skill it must have taken to cure Colonel Jones’ mental condition after the Psyche Converter failed in the middle of the dive, and you still enjoy a fine reputation in France after the exorcism you performed two years ago. Professor Rozimoff’s...eccentricities...have much improved in the time since. I believe that was when you pioneered the technique that has since become known as the Pearl Treatment.”
Hosuke sighed. The ‘devil’ that had possessed Professor Rozimoff had been a deeply buried facet of his own psyche. His problem had been unique. As an infant he had used a knife to cut his mother’s genitalia in her sleep. The memory had lodged itself deep inside his subconscious, becoming a nucleus that underwent a gradual transformation into a demonic presence. After the incident, his mother had poured her energy into instilling in him the teachings of the Bible, but this only worsened his guilt and, conversely, nurtured the further development of the demonic personality inside him. It is a fact that the more devout a Christian becomes, the more prone they become to possession.
When he dived into the professor’s mind, the demon’s face had been a disgusting caricature of the man’s own mother. Fountains of blood poured from oversized genitals between her legs and her anus was blistered with a cross protruding out of it. Hosuke had used brute force to pin the demon down and covered it with secretions of the professor’s consciousness. Finally, he created a river to continue drawing the secretions into the demon. Over the course of a few years the secretions would gradually assimilate the demon, reducing it to a mostly harmless mental scar. In the meantime, the redirection of unnecessary mental secretions would prevent the professor from lingering on dangerous patterns of thought.
Enjaku listed a few more examples of Hosuke’s previous work. “Well, what do you think?”
“Impressive,” Hosuke said looking genuinely amazed.
“We have useful connections. Nothing to boast about, of course.”
“Obviously, I’m no match for you. Wouldn’t surprise me if you knew the number of hairs on my ass.”
“Freelancers are greatly underestimated by the Divers Syndicate in Japan. This is particularly true, I fear, in your case. However, we place you in very high esteem indeed.”
“Quite
Extended dives can affect a Diver’s very personality. A Diver could become permanently crippled if he was stranded without a protective psyche suit for a period of days, even if he were able to eventually resurface. Divers are physical laborers of the mind. They are required to exhibit a high sensitivity to their surroundings, yet possess a mentality as tough as steel. Only a select few have what it takes to be successful Divers.
Now, an A-grade Diver had been trapped inside someone’s subconscious for over ten days. There was an edge to the way the old man presented the information, as though he was trying to provoke Hosuke to rise to the challenge.
“And you think I would be able to pull it off,” Hosuke said after a period of silence.
“Exactly.”
“I wouldn’t want you to overestimate me. You know what A-grade Divers are. You can’t get to that level through training. You need to be born with talent and graduate an impossibly tough regimen. A-grade Divers aren’t like normal people; their skill borders on superhuman. Why would you imagine an unlicensed Diver like me could succeed where an A-grader failed?”
“Come now Mr. Kumon, I am sure you are perfectly aware of your talents.” The old man fixed his gaze on Hosuke, eyes improbably astute for his age. “We have taken the liberty of researching your history. People still talk about your work at NASA; I can only imagine the skill it must have taken to cure Colonel Jones’ mental condition after the Psyche Converter failed in the middle of the dive, and you still enjoy a fine reputation in France after the exorcism you performed two years ago. Professor Rozimoff’s...eccentricities...have much improved in the time since. I believe that was when you pioneered the technique that has since become known as the Pearl Treatment.”
Hosuke sighed. The ‘devil’ that had possessed Professor Rozimoff had been a deeply buried facet of his own psyche. His problem had been unique. As an infant he had used a knife to cut his mother’s genitalia in her sleep. The memory had lodged itself deep inside his subconscious, becoming a nucleus that underwent a gradual transformation into a demonic presence. After the incident, his mother had poured her energy into instilling in him the teachings of the Bible, but this only worsened his guilt and, conversely, nurtured the further development of the demonic personality inside him. It is a fact that the more devout a Christian becomes, the more prone they become to possession.
When he dived into the professor’s mind, the demon’s face had been a disgusting caricature of the man’s own mother. Fountains of blood poured from oversized genitals between her legs and her anus was blistered with a cross protruding out of it. Hosuke had used brute force to pin the demon down and covered it with secretions of the professor’s consciousness. Finally, he created a river to continue drawing the secretions into the demon. Over the course of a few years the secretions would gradually assimilate the demon, reducing it to a mostly harmless mental scar. In the meantime, the redirection of unnecessary mental secretions would prevent the professor from lingering on dangerous patterns of thought.
Enjaku listed a few more examples of Hosuke’s previous work. “Well, what do you think?”
“Impressive,” Hosuke said looking genuinely amazed.
“We have useful connections. Nothing to boast about, of course.”
“Obviously, I’m no match for you. Wouldn’t surprise me if you knew the number of hairs on my ass.”
“Freelancers are greatly underestimated by the Divers Syndicate in Japan. This is particularly true, I fear, in your case. However, we place you in very high esteem indeed.”
“Quite
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