"You were acting all high and mighty talking to Rem earlier, so tell me, why the hell are you clinging on to me?!" complained Vin at the quivering Prim tugging his sleeve as they carefully walked through the darkness.
"That's because they're all over the place, you idiot!" she exclaimed.
"You don't have to yell on my ear. More importantly, shouldn't you be used to it by now? seNIOR." he teasingly remarked.
She quivered desperately trying to block her senses, "I've never seen such a haunted place. I hear a lot of crying as we speak."
"Ah, those are most likely the souls of those who died jumping off." he said focusing on the weak luminance the flashlight has been producing, "But this is amazing, even though the area is still visible for us to be able to walk around without bumping to stores and stalls, the amount of brightness that the light can touch is limited due to the thickness of the miasma around us."
Prim suddenly screams hiding behind his back clenching on to his shoulder.
"Can you not suddenly scream?! Your grip is killing me!" he yells then noticed how she was shaking furiously, "What is it?"
She slowly lifts her finger pointing at the ceiling, her hand quivering. Vin looks to the direction her hand was pointing and saw a girl covered in blood hung upside down staring at them.
In normal circumstances, Vin wouldn't be able to see the paranormal clearly as his third eye had only been opened 40%, but because Prim's wavelength has been going wild since earlier, anyone who comes close in a meter radius would be able to see what she's seeing.
"Even though I already know what they look like, it's been a while since I saw something this intense." he mumbles feeling a chill all over his body (¯―¯٥).
"Will you hurry up and exorcise that already?!" Prim exclaims in a breathy tone.
"I know already." he complains pulling out a purification talisman from inside his sleeve muttering a mantra over some prayer beads. The bloody ghost started screeching in pain which made Prim wince accidentally releasing her mana on to Vin's talisman. Vin notices Prim's wavelength getting erratic so he quickly finished the prayer and sent the paper flying, burning the ghost and making it disappear. The air of surrounding area had started to become easier to breathe in even with a small exorcism.
"Is it gone?" Prim peeks from behind.
"You can tell right?" he exhaled putting the prayer beads back in his sleeve.
Prim sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I could never continue walking with that hanging around."
Vin brushed her hand away from his shoulder and turned to her looking disappointed, "Oy Flower, what the hell was that?" he said.
"What do you mean..?"
"Don't give me that meek look! You know what I mean. Why were you acting like that?" his voice echoed in frustration, "Didn't you realize that it was your unstable emotions that caused your wavelength to unnecessarily attract all of these?"
"You don't have to yell at me! I know what I did. But I can't help it," she frowned, "they have the same feeling as that of earlier with Sig." she mumbled to herself.
Vin sighed, "A whisperer getting scared of ghosts. You really never cease to surprise me. How can you face the big boss up ahead if you're already wavering at this point?"
Prim gritted her teeth in anger. But she wasn't angry at Vin, she was angry at herself for being weak. "I'll tell you the details later," she remarked as her legs start to move, advancing to the direction of the corrupted area.
"Hey, where are you going? Aren't you too scared?" Vin pulled her arm by the wrist, "I'll think of a way we can pursue it from here."
Prim smiled with lonely eyes, "I am scared, but....that spirit, I'm the only one who can pursue it, right?"
Vin's heart winced. It was the same eyes she had when she was locked up in that basement.
"Fine." he replied loosening his grip, staring directly into her eyes, "What do you plan on doing?"
* * * * * * * * * * *
「TK」
"You okay in there?" Vin's voice buzzed in Prim's ear as she carefully walked in the bathroom's corridor. The area was warped making it look like a maze. With every turn she takes, she's only led to another long path and the trickery has not ended for the past five minutes she's in.
Prim nods, "It's a bit dark, but my ears can make sense the surrounding area. As expected, the malice and miasma in here is thicker. It was right to keep you out."
"Hey, you're making it sound like I can't handle that." frustration emanating in his voice.
Prim giggled, "How's it there on your end?"
"Mm. The spirits that were scattered around are now gathered around the entrance the instance you went in. That big boss must have called them."
"Big boss really stuck to you huh?" she laughs.
"What else am I supposed to call it then? Just―I'm trying my best to ward these bunch off for now."
Prim nods, "And I'll do my best not to get lost in this dimension 'big boss' has created. It must have sensed me and started warping the place."
"Alright. I'll take your word for it." She could sense in Vin's voice that he was grinning.
The reason why Prim panicked earlier when she saw the demonized spirit was because the place suddenly felt like what she felt at the cemetery village during her training with Sig. It felt so horrible that her body instinctively tensed up and her wavelength became unstable. It wasn't her first time seeing such a sight and feeling a lot of heavy cold bodies dragged on her feet, but it was because of that familiar jarring sensation she couldn't shake off the moment they set foot on that floor.
"Flower, your pulse went up. Don't go running out on me now. It's going to be a lot harder to control you remotely." Vin buzzed in.
Prim was undeniably sweating in worry. The feeling she had earlier has come back. It was really close and her ears were tingling. She smirked as her chest tightening making her clench unto it.
"As much as I wanna run back out right now, I don't think my body wants me to." she laughs awkwardly.
It was true. The fact that her body feels heavier and terrified, her head was filled with curiosity. The drive to know what is in this place that keeps dragging her to hell.