Alabaster is angry.
"STOP!!! We don't even how it came into the world. The ritual won't work but I could find out more about that guy's origin. I recognize that clothing."
Boris and Amy were stunned to hear that.
"The clothing is native to Karnei. It was the latest fashion after the Treaty of Two Sands."
"The Treaty of Two Sands was almost six hundred years ago." Boris said.
"I have to double-check. I can assure you that we can find a coherent story so please just wait a bit longer. We'll find something that we can trap it with. The cameras might have picked up something I didn't."
Amy wanted to glare at Alabaster as if he was talking in front of her. "I'm doubting it but I'll take your word for it."
Upon leaving, she saw Rufus at her peripherals and ran towards him. Immediately, she noticed his expression look sad. She is not good with handling emotions, so she slowly walk towards him.
"What's wrong?"
He gave her a downcast look. "The Lune family are dead."
Amy is shocked to hear that. "What? When?"
"Apparently the same time as Margaret's death." he said solemnly, "I heard from the teachers than we might not come back for the next school year."
Amy gulped in an attempt to not show any anger than she already feels. "I have a favor to ask of you." she said. He stared at her with a somewhat puzzled look, "I need to know just how strong your magic is and if you can help me contain and destroy the Ripper."
"I-"
"I know that your magic is more powerful than mine. Dead man's net is originally a spell to capture powerful spirits, but it is more known to capture spirits even if you are not a spiritualist. But the magic to contain a spirit depends on its strength and I am not strong enough to do this alone."
"What are you trying to say?"
She then exhaled slowly with nervousness, "I saw the Ripper."
His eyes widened at this revelation. "You did?! How did it-"
"I failed to destroy it." she interrupted, "It's not just a vengeful ghost that I initially thought. It's a poltergeist from an old era judging by his clothing. I need your help in capturing it and I need Leon's help with this too. The ritual requires at least three strong magic users to trap it. This thing is a whole lot stronger than you'd think"
His expression is hard to read as always but for a brief moment, his expression reminds her of Aron. She sometimes forgets that they look alike.
"Follow me." He said and led her to his room.
*
Alabaster admits that business is slow but that isn't the problem right now. His company isn't big enough to care of its standing but also not too bad to the point that it's bankrupt. In fact, he has more time on his hands. The marionettes that Amaryllis made so much of takes care of the labor issue especially since she only needs to feed one worm. It is because of projects like this that people think her power is weaker than her sister.
He did DNA analysis on all the corpses but do not know when to trace it. Around 600 years is enough. Not everyone is related but the poltergeist is looking for multiple people, so it is not completely mindless. His goal is to find a common ancestor so they would put together a strong case. Now that Margaret Lune is dead, a Solin noble, it is much easier to access her family records and trace it to a known ancestor. After cross-checking, he found an interesting name. He is definitely foreign. Judging by the outfit, that person is noble in origin but that long hair might suggest he is a traditionalist.
There was a lot of cultural exchange between the two nations. But not everyone liked it and were very opinionated and there was a lot of fighting over it. For instance, men in Karnei keep their hair long as part of tradition and worship but they favor the short haircut which they saw as disrespectful. They are called the traditionalists. It led to the treaty. That man enjoys wearing the fusion style apparel but kept his hair long. He probably wanted revenge for his murderers.
Now he has to find out who the poltergeist is and why it is so strong. This is the hard part. The ritual failed because they are not strong enough to cage it. He has enough ingredients for one more ritual and lent it to Amaryllis, but it might not work even with Rufus and Leon's help.
"Hmmm."
*
After getting to Rufus's room, it occurred to her that he rarely lets anyone inside his room. Even Leon rarely was allowed inside. It is clean and tidy, but she could see that he is a bit of a minimalist as he keeps very little personal possession around other than common necessities. Then he grabbed a scrying ball. She immediately recognized the limited-edition item from Bowen's Gizmos.
Rufus immediately touched it. "Oi, Are you there? There's something we need to talk about."
The ball showed Leon's bored face. He is still grounded in his room.
"What's going on?" he asked, confused to see Amy.
"We need your help. Amaryllis has a plan."
Amy wasted no time, "Dead man's net didn't work."
Leon's eyes widened but before he could say anything, she interrupted him, "Because the Ripper isn't a ghost. He's a poltergeist."
He then sports an understandably confused look, "What the fucks a Poltergeist?" he asked.
"Not important," she snaps, "The point is that the Ripper never needed to borrow magic to interact in the physical world. He was using his own the whole time and he's impossibly powerful. He warned me not to stop him and I can't deal with him on my own. With Rufus's power, your ability and my purification ability, we can beat him."
Leon raised his hand in excitement, like an eager student waiting to be picked.
"Can physical attacks work?"
Amy shook her head.
"Then how long til you can try the ritual again?"
Amy was silent for a moment, "A week. We have enough ingredients for one more ritual but now that we know that it's a poltergeist with its own magic, we need a lot."
Leon perked up, "I know where we can get some."