Crack!
Anton kicked the door open, walked into the apartment, and surveyed the chaos that had unfolded. "Did it manifest corporeally? That cannot be possible unless it dominates the mind of its victim. I suspect avoiding being a victim of this dark entity is just a matter of not being afraid, but if its effectiveness also extends to physical harm, I wouldn't be so sure."
The surroundings were in disarray, as if there had been a fight throughout the house. At this point, Anton was contemplating a possible non-corporeal form of the dark entity. He had never heard of a concrete curse from an object causing illusions, which is precisely why he was even more confused and didn't seek an immediate answer to this situation.
"Don't rush, Anton; don't do it." Anton murmured as he examined some signs of the dark entity. His field of vision had certain dark traits leading directly to the TV screen once again.
Once again, it was the television, but this time there was no place where the cassette could be played, let alone anything like that present in this place. "Can it enter directly through the screen regardless of whether it's present or not due to the brand?"
Beep-beep!
At that moment, Anton's cellphone vibrated, and upon checking, he found a series of files with all the information. "This makes more sense..."
After reading the letter from the man who died at the Continental, Anton understood a bit more about what had happened.
"Dear life, today I find myself compelled to write these lines, plunged into the darkness that the curse has cast upon my existence.
It all began when I found an old cassette among my late father's belongings. Moved by nostalgia, I decided to play it, never imagining it would unleash a fateful destiny.
In that old video, a mysterious girl combing her hair appeared before my eyes. An unexpected call came shortly after, warning me of an imminent death, fixed at seven days. At first, the idea of a curse seemed absurd, but soon strange events began to weave into my life.
With time running against me, I chose to hide the cassette in a remote cabin, hoping to free myself from the nefarious influence surrounding it. My days became a constant confrontation with the supernatural, desperately trying to elude the destiny looming over me.
As I write these words, I feel the weight of the condemnation on my shoulders, but I persist in the hope that by hiding this cassette, I will save others from falling into the same deadly trap. Farewell, life, and my last letter before facing the inevitable. [With resignation, an old man who did not end with something as simple as a curse.]"
"An old cabin?" Anton, who now knew exactly what cursed object it was—a video cassette—needed to find out if the students who spoke about this legend found the cassette.
To know if the deaths were directly related to the same cursed object, he first had to find out information about the students and whether they found the cassette on the same day the man hid it.
"Hmm, either you're an idiot who can't hide a cursed object very well, or that very object let itself be found by the students." Anton muttered as he left the dead girl's apartment.
"Yes, it all seems like a suicide, but let's wait for the forensic team's statement."
Yoshio finished talking to some police officers, and seeing Anton approach, he asked, "Have you discovered anything?"
"We have to find a connection between the deceased on this list. I want to know which cabin they visited where they found the cursed object, and for that, we need to interrogate the families of the deceased," said Anton, very focused on his rigorous investigation.
"I'll send teams to investigate the houses of these kids. We need to restrict that cassette as soon as possible."
Anton nodded, headed to the car, and said, "For now, let's get some coffee. I need caffeine to stay awake for the rest of the day."
"Understood, sir..."
Yoshio learned a lot about how this ShadowBane worked; it seemed that Anton didn't mind exerting himself to the maximum his body allowed just to catch the dark entity. This put him far above just fulfilling his duty.
"I think I will learn a lot from him."
...
Hotel Continental Osaka
Office of the Hotel Manager.
"A dark entity in our hotel?" Koji Shimazu looked at his daughter with a rather distressed expression.
Akira, who looked at her father worriedly, quickly said, "But Anton, who came to get to know us better, is taking care of the case. He mentioned that this hotel is beyond the reach of a dark entity because the brand comes from a curse."
"Your fiancé arrived, and you hadn't informed me? Well, considering the overall situation, it's more than enough to know it now. Forget it. Sebastian mentioned that his son, when involved in a case, doesn't let it go until it's eliminated. We'll leave it in his hands."
"Yes, father..." Akira bowed respectfully to her father and left the room.
She understood that what she didn't give much importance to was actually something her father respected a lot. Now, more than ever, she wanted to learn more about dark entities.