Ainsworth lurched backwards, distancing himself from the spirit as he grimaced. The figure was pitch-black, but had an inkling of a rotting, pus-filled corpse underneath the veil of shadow. Its eyes were bright-red, and it let out a slow, hollow groan as it stared at Ainsworth.
Where did it originate from? If they couldn't find the source that bound the spirit to the room, it would be impossible to eliminate it! At least, with their abilities…
The figure's spiritual body trailed long behind the two, connected vaguely to a small bronze coin at the edge of the room, sitting on a table. As he traced this with his eyes quickly, he realised that the spirit had disappeared from beside him!
'Kill the Queen? Rid the nightmares? Save Lord Lire? What is this spirit talking about? Is an evil spirit supposed to make sense? Is this his remnant grudge…?' Ainsworth's mind raced as he tried to recall what he knew about the North, his gaze flitting back and forth as he searched for where the spirit had reappeared.
''Anastis Lire' was a rebel who tried to usurp the Forger Empire, wasn't he? Of course, I don't think it was called the 'Forger Empire' back then… I wonder why a soldier who calls him 'Lord' would want to kill the Nightmare Queen, that powerful being who wields the Ghouls… wasn't Anastis Lire one of her servants? It was what allowed him to mount a strong attack force against the Empire in the first place… that 'Undying Creed'.'
'Then again, this doesn't really matter. It just means that this evil spirit is around one-and-a-half-thousand years old! What an ancient creature! Has he been stuck in this coin the entire time…?'
Suddenly, the shadow lurched forward from thin air, swinging its fist towards Ainsworth, who deftly dodged the blow aimed toward his head.
"It's the coin!" Ainsworth shouted towards Dietrich. The other nodded his head, adopting a grim expression as he immediately raised his hand, using the paper card to conjure a large ball of light, which he lurched his arms forward to throw. It cascaded through the air towards the pitch-black creature, blowing through its abdomen as specks of shadow flew outwards in all directions. It was a direct hit!
At the same time, Ainsworth sprinted towards the coin at the end of the room, grinning as if that combination had won them the whole bout. However, no matter how long he seemed to run, he couldn't get much closer to the table the coin sat upon!
'What is this!?' Ainsworth grimaced as he reached into his jacket, procuring a set of paper cards before raising one into the air. It was engraved with runes that would summon 'light', just like Dietrich had used previously. However, instead of summoning a large ball of light to throw in an aggressive fashion, he used a card that summoned a spell that would scatter into thousands of smaller flecks of light. When he conjured the spell, those flecks of light spread out across the room, shrouding the area around them in brilliance that blocked out the shadow around them.
Instantly, the half-stable spirit vanished from sight. Of course, he would reappear as soon as the spell had burnt out all of its starlight, acting as fuel. Ainsworth had to act quick! He lurched towards the table, an aching pain erupting through the right side of his abdomen. Of course, as he had expected, it was the spirit that was causing the spatial inaccuracy! It had become a matter of blocking out the spirit's direct influence by causing it to flee from the light. But why was shadow so important to it? And how did it cloak itself in shade?
Suddenly, as Ainsworth's hand reached the edge of the tabletop, the flecks of light ceased, the conjured starlight completely burnt out. With nothing left to fuel it, the spell failed to continue. Quickly, darkness coated the interior of the building once more, Dietrich working at breakneck speeds to draw another light spell.
'Damn it, I forgot to prepare something that would coat the room itself, rather than target an enemy! I was a fool! I'll have to cast several larger spells at once, and even that might risk damaging the artifacts in this room! The Tormoul Head will be so angry!' Dietrich chided internally as he raised several cards at once.
Suddenly, the evil spirit reappeared beside Ainsworth.
The shadows in the area shifted, rushing towards Ainsworth as if they were flying spears, dozens, intent on killing him. Two of the spears pierced through the back of his hand, pinning it to the edge of the table. He let out a sharp groan, his free hand reaching out towards the bronze coin as he ignored the other incoming spears of shadow, his mind racing.
'Black magic!? Just like Nicole!' Ainsworth's eyes widened. 'How can an evil spirit use a Cursed Domain!?
Another spear of shadow shot through his outstretched arm, arriving clean through the underside of the table. Just at that time, Ainsworth grasped the bronze coin in the palm of his hand, grinning wildly. Crimson flames erupted from the palm of his hand, igniting the coin as it slowly wilted, melting against Ainsworth's flesh.
There was something contained between his fingers of the hand that had been pinned to the table. It was a paper card, one of Ainsworth's flame spells!
The spirit immediately fell to the ground, its form growing less and less vivid as the flames continued to burn away the bronze coin it was bound to. At the same time, it continued its murmurs, seemingly losing focus on the two men.
"Lord… I didn't want to be… a ghoul. Just… your servant. Why did we trust… her? When can we return to Yharan?"
Ainsworth eyed the ghoul with some sort of empathy. Of course, this was a being that was nearly twenty lifetimes old. He had lived a life long before Ainsworth had, perhaps not even nearly as long, due to his occupation. Ainsworth didn't even have a full grasp of the history surrounding the man. Still… it was sad.
But as soon as it seemed as if the spirit had lost focus of Ainsworth and Dietrich, it glanced up towards the two of them. The red glow of its gaze had faded, and although his eyes were glassy, they seemed far more human. It pleaded, desperately so.
"The Phantoms… don't let them… trick Lord Lire…"
"Remember… the Creed… of the Undying…"
It reached out a hand shakily towards them, but just as it did so, its form faded completely, leaving the room in silence. Ainsworth and Dietrich let out a sigh, but many questions were still left at the forefront of his mind.
'Phantoms? As in… the Phantom Syndicate? Isn't that the mysterious organisation behind the attack on the monastery, the one that Lumière and Mr. Selaphiel have been investigating on behalf of the Church? What connection could they have to this? Maybe there's more to this than I anticipated… I'll have to report this to Mr. Selaphiel as soon as we finish our investigation into the Cattleya Family's printing business!'
Suddenly, Dietrich and Ainsworth felt as if multitudes of gazes looked at them from afar, despite them being concealed by the room around them. This shook the two men to their core, to the extent that they drew their weapons immediately. Were they being watched, or was this just an instinctual, silly reaction to having vanquished such a supernatural creature only a moment prior?
"Let's go." Ainsworth sighed, sheathing his blade. 'We still have to continue with 'that' plan."
Dietrich nodded his head in agreement, following behind Ainsworth as they headed towards the door.
As soon as they exited the building, being sure to quickly tidy up what they had knocked over during the battle against the evil spirit, they met the emerald gaze of an inquisitive man. He had fiery-orange hair, and stood silently afront the building, staring at the two men as they exited. He had a soft, knowing grin on his face, as if anticipating them. There was something quite familiar about him.
"Ah, good afternoon, Sir." Ainsworth politely greeted the unfamiliar man , wary of his sudden appearance.
"There's no need to be such a stranger, Mr. Benedict." The man chuckled. "I'm Orion. Orion Callister. I was invited to that party you threw in the lower borough's quaint monastery."
He took a step back, raising his hands as he explained himself.
"I'm a good friend of Lumière's. I think we've met before, already." Orion smiled genially, reaching out to shake Ainsworth's hand. Of course, this was a lie. While he knew about Ainsworth from observing Lumière's daily life, as well as making deals with Euler, they had never truly had an interaction, and he was only trying to subconsciously place that idea in Ainsworth's head. Now, the Priest would feel as if he was a rude person, to forget someone who might be really important towards his best friend, Lumière.
However, this irked Ainsworth even more.
'Does Lumière have 'good friends'?'