CHAPTER 17:
"New Death Note Rules"

Shinto Izanagi flipped the coin into the air and it spun with such velocity that it was a mere blur when looked at by the naked eye. It went unhindered as it fell and slammed onto the hardwood floor with several clangs and bounces. It eventually landed with heads up.

"I win," he said plainly.

"No, wait," Matsuda said. "I never chose a side before you flipped the coin!"

Suddenly, a tremendous shock reverberated through Matsuda's jaw. He grabbed his mouth, tried to scream, but the pain was so unexpected that he clenched his jaw instead, and whimpered. Tears bead at the corners of his eyes and he folded over. The pain too much, and Matsuda fell into a momentary unconsciousness, laying limp on the floor.

"W-what's happening? Matsuda!"

Aizawa took two steps forward in an attempt to help his friend, but Hiro pulled at the trigger of Matsuda's gun in reaction. Nothing happened. But neither did it misfire. In Hiro's excitement, he forgot to racket back the safety switch. But he had full control of his own gun and pushed Aizawa back. In was a good thing, however, or Hiro would have inadvertently shot a police officer, and there would be questions.

"He never lost! You cheated!" Aizawa said.

"No, Detective Aizawa," Izanagi said. "Like in ever casino, on a draw: The House rules. The moment he agreed to play the game is the moment he truly lost. If the coin landed on its edge, the outcome would've been the same."

Matsuda suddenly gasped, and his eyes shot open. "Ow! What just happened? I'm not dead?" His felt his jaw.

"No, you are not dead. You just became my willing and obedient servant, Touta Matsuda," Shinto Izanagi said. "The moment the mouthguard was inserted, it locked to your upper jaw. If you attempt to take it out, you will die. The price for failing to obey me will be an immediate and fatal heart attack."

Matsuda gave a snap, shocked look to Aizawa. "A heart attack?" he questioned.

"There's only one thing I know of that could do something like that, but with that you'd have to write a person's name down while envisioning their face," Aizawa said, as he gave Shinto Izanagi a weird stare.

Shinto Izanagi put a hand to his mask, and in dramatic fashion, removed it, as if he was an actor playing a theatrical role on stage. He had white hair, but no scare anywhere on his face.

But he did have one thing—familiarity. Aizawa and Matsuda knew him.

"Oh, my, god!" Aizawa gasped. "Light Yagami. But…you're…"

"Dead? I am Kira! I am forever! I was shot and left for dead, but I was reborn, with a new identity, and new allies at my beck and call. Everyone who gets involved with the Death Note seems to die—all except me." He gave Demetre a sideways glance and a smirk. "I was chosen, and I now hold the power to change this world once more!"

Matsuda looked at him with animosity, and Light smiled. "Good, Matsuda, and go ahead and hate me. It gives me joy that you now look upon the man you thought once killed for crimes against humanity, but now has come back despite your efforts. And as for the details of my resurrection, they are too complicated for feeble minds. Suffice to say, I plan on getting revenge on everyone who opposed me." He shrugged. "Is that cliche? Perhaps? But accept it!"

Aizawa clenched his fists at his side and scowled. A normal person would be completely taken aback by the circumstances of someone returning from the dead, but after the events with the Death Note, and the existence of beings known as Shinigami "gods of death", the chance of Light coming back was not unfathomable, especially for a former Kira Task Force member to think, for which Aizawa had been a member.

"Do you plan on killing Near, the SPK, and all the former members of the Kira Task Force? Teru Mikami is dead, he killed himself in the warehouse on the pier where Matsuda shot you, giving you time to make an escape. Misa Amane is also dead. She committed suicide just recently at a religious convent." Aizawa looked to both the man he knew as Tréy Cottré and a younger man whom he did not know. "Are these your new allies? How did you survive?"

"By sheer will and determination," Light answered. "You may not know them personally, but you may have heard their names in association with mine during other cases…" Light gestured. "To my right is my oldest friend: Demetre Draycott, and to my left, you knew him by another name, Matsuda even conducted a family tree on him after the Yukaza Affair: Riki. But his real name is Hiro Yamamoto. When the world abandoned him, I gave him purpose here."

Light smirked, then brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen loose when he removed his mask. "And to answer another question that I know is foremost on your mind: How did I become the CEO to a multi-national company? I thought ahead, invested, and I climbed the ladder of success. Quite quickly, I admit. And in allying myself with others, the Death Note was weaponized with brand new abilities. Matsuda has a new Death Note in his mouth, and it is controlled by the Alpha Guard that I put in my mouth. It uses a new ability and a form of psi-neuropathy.

"In layman terms: mind control. And it works with a wireless control of the Prefrontal Cortex of the brain and through nerve electro-stimulation. This area controls the 'executive functions' of the brain including judgment, impulse control, management of aggression, emotional regulation, self regulation, planning, reasoning and social skills. So, whatever I wish for a person who wears a mouthguard to do, they do so without question. Or, they suffer the consequences for their defiance.

"Matsuda is not the first under my control, and he won't be the last. The Death Note is still available to use, it just doesn't need to be carried around anymore. And who do you think incentivized Misa to kill herself? She was already a weak-minded person, I just gave her that final push. She's out of my hair for good!"

"You bastard!" Aizawa growled. Then: "Speaking of your hair, what happened to yours? It's ghostly white."

Light brushed a hand through is hair. "It's a side effect of my rebirth, much like receiving a deathly fright," he admitted. "Yet it's useful. It plays well to my new persona as Shinto Izanagi, CEO of the Tsuku-Yoki Corporation, and the story I tell everyone why I wear the mask is that I was splashed with acid by an old rival. The mask is the perfect cover to hide my real identity."

"You won't get away with this! Now that we know the truth, your lie will be exposed. When Near finds out, he'll hunt you down to the ends of the Earth, and finally send you to die for good!"

Light laughed with a broad smile. "He'll never know, and who will tell him? You? Unfortunately, you'll about to forget this entire escapade ever happened." Light pointed. "Matsuda, you will go to sleep! And when you awake, I order you to forget everything you've seen and heard inside this room."

Suddenly, Matsuda eyes fluttered, as if his mind was instantly controlled, and he dropped like a stone to the floor unconscious.

Aizawa shouted for Matsuda to wake up.

"Shout all you want, Aizawa. My office is sound proof. If I wished to murder you here, no one would hear the shot."

Just then, Demetre moved quickly, and delivered a hard punch to Aizawa's chin, knocking him back. Aizawa staggered, but did not drop. He reached down to his left leg, and grabbed a secondary weapon, and pointed it at Demetre. Demetre dodged the bullet, and whacked the gun out of his hand.

Then he grabbed Aizawa's face in the palm of his hand, his fingers spread out like spider's limbs, and issued a command of his own, using his Death Note ring.

Aizawa grabbed Demetre's arm with both hands and tried to pry his hand away from his face, but could not. He struggled and his protests were muffled by Demetre's hand. Demetre's grip was strong and Aizawa was stuck.

"You will yield to my instructions, Shuichi Aizawa. If you do not obey me, you will suffer the gravest of misfortunes, and die a horrible death," Demetre threatened. The command went straight to Aizawa's Prefrontal Cortex, using a form of neurological telepathy, but through touch.

Aizawa appeared to settle, the Death Note ring taking control of his mind. Demetre could only use telepathy with the ring after he took control of a subject through initial contract first, Morph had told him. Then he could issue any command, at a later date, once a person's mind's eye was open through speech. He didn't have telepathic powers, but the Death Note ring gave him the ability to control a person's mind once after he used the ring on them. It acted much like a magician's influence after he had inserted a secret command into a person's mind.

Aizawa's arms dropped at his sides.

Demetre then said, "You will forget everything you have seen and heard in this room. When you hear a command from my voice, you will obey it without question…"

With this method of control, Demetre was able to override a subject's basic moral compass, and make them do anything he commanded. And Aizawa had not been the first he used this on.

He then gave Aizawa a command phrase, and unless the phrase was issued, nothing here would be recalled. He could also use it to control Aizawa to do anything he wished without being consciously aware of it.

Light also issued a similar phrase to Matsuda as he slept, his mind adhering to the mouthguard's control even in an unconscious state. And after their commands, both said the word: "Infinity" to conclude it, or Aizawa and Matsuda would die by the Death Note. Geist had revealed this secret.

Geist was a rogue Shinigami, and when he made a contract with Demetre, he revealed everything about the Death Note, that Ryuk would normally have left out because Light not knowing, he said, provided more entertainment.

But Geist revealed a little known fact about the Death Note that only the Shinigami King and few others would know: that reciting the word, or writing the symbol "Infinity", after an instruction in the Death Note, would dispel a person from dying after the forty-second countdown. It was a "cheat", as some video game players would say.

It caused time to start and finish forever, in an infinity loop, therefore cancelling the forty-second death-clock, unless removed with a Death Eraser, and because it was in a class of its own, it was named "Rule IL" (as in Infinity Loop).

It was also how Demetre overcame Light's attempt to kill him when they had their Death Note battle. (**refers to my novel: The Draycott Factor). Humorously referred to by both as the "Battle of the Death Notes". Neither won, nor lost that battle.

In addition, if a person placed their palm on a page of the Death Note, they didn't need to use an instrument to write with, they could simply recite, audibly, what they wanted to say, and it would write itself out. This rule also did not have a number attached to it, therefore it was called "Rule RW" (as in Recite/Write).

They were new tricks of the Death Note Light hadn't known about.

Aizawa and Matsuda were saved because they could later be used as pawns if needed.

Demetre stepped back, Aizawa then dropped to the floor, unconscious.

"Wow!" Hiro said with amazement after witnessing everything, still holding both guns in hand. Light asked for them when he extended a hand, and Hiro relinquished the weapons without question. Hiro obeyed every order from Light. "You never told me you had devices like that? Are those some kind of new high-tech defensive weapons you're trying out for military warfare before you distribute them? And what is a Death Note?"

Demetre cracked his knuckles of his left hand. "The boy asks too many questions, Light."

Light sighed regretfully. "I know," he said, with a slight tilt of his head.

Demetre did not need to touch the boy to issue a command. He squeezed his left hand and used the power of his ring and a command had had previously inserted. He had used his powers on Hiro once before and made the boy forget the use. It was insurance for situations like this, just in case he found something out that he should not.

Hiro was a foot and half shorter than Demetre and he still looked like a young teenager, hence the term 'boy'.

"Hiro Yamamoto," he said, as the boy gasped, his face going suddenly blank, his mental cognitive abilities hijacked. "You will forget everything you have seen here, everything you have heard about the Death Note, the mouthguard's, and my ring. Your memories will revert back to just before you came into the office minutes ago. You will leave, and sit down in a chair in the outer office, and shut your eyes, after you tell the secretary you are to wait. When you awaken, you will feel refreshed, and then return to give Shinto Izanagi a massage."

Demetre then spoke the word Infinity, saving Hiro's life.

Hiro nodded, he then left the office, shutting the door.

"Now, for these two," Demetre said. "They must leave under their own power, and oblivious to what has transpired. We have instructed them to forget, but they'll wonder why they are on the floor. They will be out pawns for later. And with the Infinity Rule, we can chose when they will die. Omnipotent power is once again under Kira's control!"

Light smirked broadly. "Correction, Demetre: our control, together we are Kira now!"

"The mouthguard must remain in Matsuda's mouth for your command to remain," Demetre reminded Light. "You can take the Alpha Guard out, but if Matsuda decides to take his mouthguard out without you releasing him, Matsuda will die of a heart attack. As for Leopard's mouthguard, we'll destroy it. NPA forensics will wonder where it went to, but then Aizawa will get the blame for losing it. But at least the Death Note will be safe. As Morph later told us, only the original Death Note for which the mouthguard and this ring are forged will allow people be able to see Shinigami."

"Yes, I know all this." Light nodded. "No need to remind me. And yes, destroying Leopard's mouthguard is prudent. I killed him because he had found out about the Grand Agenda, and me. He needed to be eliminated."

Demetre agreed. He looked at his watch on his right wrist. "Any word on the Shinigami?"

Just then, as if on cue after Demetre spoke of them, Ryuk and Geist emerged from behind a wall near Light's desk. If Shinigami could look tired, they looked exhausted.

"Welcome back," Light said to the pair. "Was the mission successful?"

Geist grumbled under his so-called breath. "If you mean scaring a butch of kids half-to-death in a poltergeist like raid…" His eyes glowered with distain. "Then yes," he further said unpleasantly. "Mission accomplished."

Ryuk held something in his boney, but leather covered left hand. It looked like a black mini bowling ball. Light knew what it was. It was a Probable Ob.

Ryuk enjoyed hiding things. If the Shinigami had only divulged certain things to Light when they first met like Geist had to Demetre, Kira would still reign supreme. He remembered Ryuk and Misa had used one like it to find him in the underground Yukaza facility when he had been kidnapped by the Dragon Sect, years prior.

However, while each Shinigami had one, this didn't belong to either one of them. Light had Geist's Probable Ob in his desk, he had spoken to Ryuk earlier using it. Ryuk hence presented his to prove it wasn't his.

Light went over and cupped it in his hands, as Ryuk gave it to him. "This is unexpected," Light said.

"We found in the possession of a small boy after we did the deed, where you sent us," Ryuk said. "We had a little trouble finding the place, but this Ob lead us to it like a beacon. The kid who had it, his name was Jayden."

"And why would a boy at such a place like an orphanage have a device that belongs to a god of death?"

Ryuk shrugged his shoulders. "But like you said, there were no fatalities," the Shinigami stated. "If there were, then one or neither one of us would be here. If we killed for you, we'd turn to dust like Rem did after killing L."

Light smirked. That implied Ryuk liked him. And if a Shinigami killed for their human handler, they'd die.

"So, that's it then," Demetre said. "Wammy House in Winchester, England—L's place of origin—is no more."

Walking past the two unconscious detectives, Light went back to his computer and brought up a search engine, after logging on with a fingerprint reader, then typed in for information on "Wammy House".

News captions popped up with the name with articles on the destruction of the orphanage, blamed on a freak weather phenomenon, and bringing with it sudden gale-force winds clocked at with 130 mph. It was categorized as a Type 4 hurricane-type storm, but without torrential rains which normally came with such destructive tempest.

He sat and leaned back in his chair, then looked at Demetre with a satisfying smile. His friend had taken a snack from the food tray Hiro had brought in and stood with a half-bitten biscuit in hand. "All is going to plan, Demmy, and better than I had hoped," Light said. "I think it's for that massage now."

To be continued...