"Mister Quezir, did you find it?" I asked him as I let my blood drip on the magic circle on the floor. It's a sacrificial circle, somewhat similar to the ones the Avadons used with those children before. However, instead of one to break a curse, it was one intended to convert life into power that would strengthen a demon. However, the souls of those sacrificed in this kind of circle would never find peace, even if the demon is killed, as those souls are also converted into power.
Which should mean that Mister Quezir would not be able to see his daughter anymore.
"But, I can't give up like this." I muttered to myself and squeezed my palm more to let it flow on to the magic circle. It took me a while that Mister Quezir was looking at me with his mouth agape, like he was seeing something unbelievable.
"Miss Zee... What are you doing?" He tried to reach out for my hand, but it just passed through mine. "Never mind that, Mister Quezir. Did you find what I asked you to look for?" He seemed hesitant, but he nodded. As if on cue, the magic circle glowed red and my lips rose into a smirk.
It's finished.
"Where is it, Mister Quezir? Envision it in your mind, hurry." He seemed taken aback, but he nodded at me and closed his eyes. I reached my hand out to him and used my power to make physical contact with his soul. Right on cue, I saw that place he had in his mind and in a second, we're already in that place.
"What was that?" I heard Mister Quezir asked, but I didn't have time to answer his question. I immediately headed towards the sea of bones and skeletons which were laid in order on top of a red cloth. I could feel my eye-color changing into a light violet as I focused my gaze into the sea of bones.
When I got a glimpse of a figure of a girl with chestnut hair, I immediately commanded the wind to bring the skeleton to me and turned to Mister Quezir.
"What is that for, Miss Zee?" I kept quiet and touched him in the shoulder to teleport back to the torture room. I sighed in relief when the magic circle was still glowing red. Using the wind, I let the skeleton lay in the middle of the circle and looked at Mister Quezir who was looking at me with a confused expression. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
"Listen, Mister Quezir. I could only give you a maximum of one minute, so make the most out of it." I felt a surge of my power coming out and being sucked on the magic circle, making it glow brighter. In that second, I felt my magic being drained at a fast rate, but I knew it wasn't the end. In the corner of my eye, I could see the power of the dead demon being sucked into the magic circle.
"Ruby, heed my call. Show yourself." I felt blood coming out from my nose and my knees felt weak, but now's not the time to fall. The red light was dissipating, but I strengthened pouring magic into the circle, so it turned back to its former glow.
After a few seconds, the red light glowed brightest, making me close my eyes and by the time I opened them once again, I saw a floating transparent figure of a young lady with chestnut hair and cat-like brown eyes in the middle of the magic circle. Unlike the arrogant expression when I first saw that appearance, she was looking very gentle and calm.
She looked disoriented at first, but when she saw the figure in front of her, tears formed in her eyes. "Papa..." When I turned to Mister Quezir, he looked taken aback, but he immediately collected himself and rushed towards the lady and hugged her tight.
It was a touching scene, making me feel that I was undeserving to witness this.
I looked away and intentionally diverted my thoughts and attention into my next moves after finishing my job. I didn't notice the time, but I looked at the two when I started to cough up blood. Like I expected, the transparent figure of the lady was already fading away.
"Papa, I missed you a lot!" The lady smiled brightly and I felt a lump on my throat as I saw the pure and sincere love she has for her father.
He may have let her be adopted when she was young, but he was thinking of her own good. Before that happened, they may have been a very close family.
How lucky.
I coughed up more blood again and that's when they both turned to me. Mister Quezir was crying, but he seemed quite worried for me. After a few seconds of staring, he smiled and nodded at me, as he seemed to understand the situation. He then turned to his daughter and hugged her tight again.
"Papa loves you so much, my dearest daughter. I'm sorry if I was not able to save you." I could hear the regrets filling his voice, but the lady gently smiled and hugged him back. "Mmm, it's not your fault, Papa. Besides, I'm happy to be able to see you again. I love you, Papa! You're the best father I could ever have!"
After that, none of them talked until the lady's figure disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing but a blank space and a blanked out Mister Quezir. Both the light from the magic circle and the magic circle itself also disappeared, so the room was now dark and cold. I summoned a flame to light up the torches on the walls to fill the room with some light.
I tried to take a step forward to Mister Quezir, but before I could even move, my body just collapsed on the floor, face first, and a searing pain invaded all of my senses.
"Miss Zee!" When I looked up, I saw Mister Quezir looking at me with worry and panic. I groaned when another wave of pain hit my body and I took a deep breath to calm myself.
It's fine. I won't die. It's just painful.
I could hear Mister Quezir continuing to call for my name, but I felt too tired to talk. After a few minutes, I could feel my strength coming back so I slowly lifted myself up to sit on the floor and looked at Mister Quezir.
"That was all I could do, I'm sorry." I braced myself for a fit of anger or disappointment from him, but I was taken aback he gently smiled at me.
"Don't be, Miss Zee. If nothing else, I should be saying thank you. I never expected that I would see her again, considering what you told me earlier." His voice sounded so soft, the risk of it breaking into tears at any moment. I remained silent and just stared at him, who was now glowing slightly and is starting to dissipate into thin air.
"Looks like I was able to finish my task, Mister Quezir." He seemed to just notice on what's happening to him, and I was shocked when he looked like he was panicking. "Miss Zee! How about the skill?" It took me a while to process what he said and when it finally dawned on me, I can't help but laugh slightly.
"Don't worry about that, Mister Quezir. It would automatically input in my brain and body, right after you are in peace." He looked relieved after I said that, and now he glowed brighter than before. His gaze turned to his body then to my eyes right after.
"Is it near?" I simply nodded with his question and looked around. "What do you plan to do after this, Miss Zee?" I knew that he was trying to open a conversation with me, and since I was still tired, I just answered him.
"Mmm... I'm not yet sure, but I know that the truth of this family's death would be revealed sooner. I can't burn the whole place down, so I guess I'll just eliminate any sign of the demon in the house then think of what I can do from there. That maid was also just another summon of the demon, so there's no living human in the mansion. I might also try to find any remaining people of their bloodline then break the news to them." I answered Mister Quezir and he just nodded at me.
"I've been meaning to ask this, Miss Zee..." He sounded hesitant again, so I opted to take the initiative. "Let me guess, is it about how I was able to summon Ruby again even if I told you that her soul is already consumed?" He hesitantly nodded with my direct question, so I looked down and blankly stared at the floor.
"In simple words, the magic circle was supposed to be rendered inactive after the demon's death, along with the dissipation of the power he obtained from it. I overwrote the ownership of the magic circle with my blood, then re-activated it. Using a medium, which was her skeleton, I used that to forcefully convert her from being the power of the demon into a spectral figure using my own. It drains too much of magic power, so I can only maintain that for a minute at most." I explained to him and he seemed to be shocked upon hearing what I said.
Too shocked, if I may say, making me wonder.
"You know about me, don't you? Why do you look so surprised, Mister Quezir?" I asked him and now he seemed nervous to answer me.
Hmm... Well, I can't say that my reputation is that good for those lost souls.
"Well, I just didn't expect that you would be that... powerful and..." He stopped in his words and I just chuckled with his hesitation.
"Insane, right? I don't really care about my nicknames, since it's not wrong." I shortly answered and smiled.
The Insane Soul Contractor.
"Miss Zee..." His voice trailed into a whisper, so I turned my gaze to him who was now almost invisible to the naked eye.
"Good bye, Mister Quezir. I hope you'll be in peace." He pressed his lips together, stopping himself from saying anything, and just smiled at me. In a few seconds, the place was filled with a white light and by the time it was gone, Mister Quezir was also gone. And on cue, memories and knowledge filled my head and I smiled upon processing all those.
100 shots, huh?
Not bad, I can't wait to try it.
I stood up from sitting on the floor and before I could move another inch, the ceiling blasted into pieces and the light pierced through the dark room.
Alongside it, I felt an energy that came from above and I can't help but sigh as I belatedly realized the fact that the hair at the back of my neck were standing, warning me of danger.
Ah, shit. How can I forget?
"I found you, demon." In a second, a longsword almost slashed my neck and if I didn't take a step back, my head would have been separated from my body.
I opened my fans and looked at the person in front of me.
An 18-year-old boy clad in white and gold armor is pointing his longsword with a gold hilt to me, his expression is grim and angry. I covered half of my face with my right fan and annoyingly looked at him.
"Hi, Mr. Angel Descendant."
Damn it, this is too much of an aftermath to deal with!