77. Spawn of Darkness

“How?” I gasped.

We were sitting on the rug, a dark mass floating over our heads. Ray slightly shrugged, as confused as I was.

“Maybe… it’s regaining its strength?” he suggested.

In such a short period of time?

“Ray… Could it be we just unleashed some terrifying monster?”

“That…”

There was a nervous silence, then I heard Ray’s thought inadvertently leak into my mind like an endless wave:

‘It’d be perfect if I could remember what happened, both today, in the Yuutow Tower, and on that day. But all I remember on the day when my power awakened is the scary sight of people shrouded in darkness. Lei was at the Marvel Hotel too with his siblings. So it is only natural that he does remember something, as he implied, but that stubborn Sunclaw won’t spit it out unless I learn to control my power and fight him again—in other words, he’s toying with me, so I should just ignore him… That’s what I would like to do, but… I want to know. If my power is just a normal dark-energy-based power, why did Mom hide it from me? Why did the Sunclaw erase all the records of the incident? Why did Lei mention the Spawns of Darkness? And… why do I feel like it is related to that shadow we just set free? My damned head can’t remember a thing. Could it be voluntary amnesia? I thought I could just deal with it later, but I was wrong. I must find the truth. What if I lose myself again and give Armen another order? That could be catastrophic. The transformation into a Fury is such a chaotic and fragile phase—even his state of mind can alter it. So I need to get a grip. I can’t supervise Armen’s transformation while struggling with stupid hallucinations and fake memories. As Makler Vod writes, “there is no greater fear for a rational person than to lose control of his own mind.” Geez… I only hope that, whatever that shadow is, saving it won’t bring us more trouble.’

I had frozen at such a display of thoughts. So, that was what Ray’s mind was like.

Exhausting.

Hectic.

And somehow distressing.

Was he always like that? As for the meaning of all his inner monologue… it was confusing, to say the least. I cleared my throat.

“I could never be in your head, Ray. I could never sleep at night.”

Ray gasped and looked at me with consternation, then blocked our necro-bond, let out a long, uneasy sigh, and muttered:

“You never sleep, anyway.”

“Oh… You’re right, heh. So, sorry I heard your thoughts and all, but now that I did… What is a Spawn of Darkness?”

“… I’m not sure.”

I glanced at the shadow looming over our heads.

“Is that thing a Spawn of Darkness?”

Ray shook his head slowly.

“I don’t know.”

Seeing Ray’s reserved face, I pouted then shrugged:

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me. Hey, I never told you about my origins either. I wonder why, actually. I did promise my big sis I wouldn’t say anything about it… but I can’t remember why. Maybe I forgot after I died?” I gave Ray a mildly worried look. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told Ilija, after all.”

“Er… Well, how should I know,” Ray coughed embarrassedly. “I don’t know much about the Chorns, and even less about the Cursed People. I was just surprised you never mentioned it before… Well, I’m not one to talk. I hid a much worse secret from you, after all, like… the fact that my paternal family is full of necromancers.”

“…!” I laughed. “You’re right!”

Anyway, most likely, nothing would have changed if I had known. As for the Chorns… Well, even Chorns were most probably not looked down on as terribly as undeads were, so why worry?

My gaze followed the floating shadow as it rubbed itself against the ceiling and the walls, blindly feeling around. Was it trying to find its way out of the room? Was it worried we might not want to set it free after all? No, the more I looked at it the more it seemed that it was just sluggishly dawdling.

“So…” Ray said, embarrassed. “How much did you hear?”

“You mean, about what you were thinking? Mm… Things about the incident at Marvel Hotel, about Lei being a jerk… oh, and you cited Makler Vod. You sure are a fan of that old necromancer, aren’t you? ”

Ray grimaced then sighed. As Rainbows walked on his lap, the young necromancer stroked her absent-mindedly.

“I told you earlier that Lei wants to learn necromancy,” he said. Was he going to tell me, after all? As I nodded with curiosity, he went on: “I don’t think he’s interested in power, nor afraid of death, and unless he’s trying to become an Immortal or whatever… my guess is he only got interested in necromancy because its applications have a lot to do with qi manipulation. I told you: he’s a qi freak. On the day of our duel, just after Christmas, he suggested that we make a bet. At first, that jerk wanted to buy you from me.”

“…!! He what?!”

“Yeah… Lei Sunclaw is basically a whimsical fool. He wants to see for himself whether familiars do have a soul, whether it is true that they transform white energy into dark energy, and stuff like that.”

Lei doubted that I had a soul?! The hell…

“How much did he offer?”

Ray rolled his eyes.

“Five hundred thousand Corns.”

I was aghast. A half-million Corns! Were undeads so expensive? To think that Lei had been seeing me as a rare monster all this time… I muttered:

“I don’t know if I should feel offended or creeped out. Anyway, what did he say when you turned him down?”

“When did I say I turned him down?”

“What?”

Ray snorted with laughter.

“Sorry, I’m kidding.”

“Don’t give me a scare like that.”

“Sorry, there’s just no way I could ever sell you, Armen. For starters, I don’t own you. His offer was ridiculous and based on stupid preconceptions.”

‘Besides, I may have become a necromancer, but necromancers have their dignity too,’ he thought with exasperation. ‘Only a messed-up necromancer would sell his own familiars. Those rich kids think they can buy anything with money. And martial artists think they can get anything with power—’

“You’re doing it again, Ray,” I pointed out calmly.

“…! Sorry.” He added mentally and perhaps unwillingly: ‘Controlling a necro-bond with a Fury sure is tough…’ His thought was blocked at this point. He cleared his throat and continued: “When I rejected his offer, Lei made another suggestion: if he won the spar, I would help him with learning the basics of necromancy. Since I lost, I lent him some books in digital format. I kept receiving messages from him this month, but I just ignored them. It turns out that, after all these weeks, he’s still trying to have me explain the very basics to him. There’s no way I’ll do it. As Makler Vod says in one of his books, ‘As long as you are not ready to die, you will not control the realm of Death but be infallibly drawn into it instead’.” He paused with a glint of severity in his dark eyes, then flushed slightly. “And, just to be clear, I’m not a fan of Vod.”

“Sure,” I grinned. Well, hopefully, Lei would soon give up on trying for his own good. I frowned. “But why did you accept the bet? I mean… What did he promise you if you were to win the duel?”

Ray didn’t answer right away. He smiled at Rainbows. And I felt a touch of jealousy. The hell was with that creepy feeling? Sometimes, I was under the impression that my undead instincts were affecting me more than I thought.

“Well,” Ray finally said, “I think you heard it when I shared my thoughts. If I had won, Lei would have told me the truth about what really happened back then, when I first used my power of shadows and lost control.”

The truth? Didn’t his shadows just go out of control and paralyzed the guests?

“Although I lost, when we went to the infirmary, he still said to me, ‘Ever heard of the Spawns of Darkness?’, then he asked me for the necromancy books and left.”

There was a silence.

“Wasn’t he just toying with you?” I asked.

“… I think he was not.”

“Lei is a jester, though.”

Ray shrugged.

“I’ve looked into the term ‘Spawn of Darkness’, including some translations to other languages, and… it’s hard to distinguish between truth and falsehood. There are plenty of results on the Internet, usernames, music bands, and the like. It’s also a legendary creature apparently well-known in the Starland continent. It’s not always evil, but it’s invariably destructive. In Starland, it’s almost always a creature born under the blessing of the Black Great Crystals and thus a servant of the Dark Gods. I read a tale in which a creature like that possessed a greedy businessman, ruined him, then repelled the spell of an exorcist, and turned the whole village upside down as retaliation.”

“… Scary. But it’s just folklore, right?”

Ray cast me a curious look.

“Aren’t you a believer of the Holy Gods?”

“Well, I am. I do believe the Crystals are sacred, the Black Crystals included, but… The Holy Gods have no servants. They’re like oceans. Well, rivers do flow into oceans, but it’s more like, you know, I had a book, back at home. It said that the Blue Gods were oceans of water, the Dark Gods were oceans of night, the White Gods were oceans of light, and so on, and—Shoot, what was I trying to say, again? A-Anyhow, even if such a creature exists, what does it have to do with you? You’re not a Spawn of Darkness. Humans are not spawns of gods. Gods have no souls.”

Ray looked up at me in surprise.

“Gods have no souls?” he repeated.

I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah… Well, that’s what I’ve been taught by my family. Souls are a source of emotions and weaknesses, but gods have no emotions or weaknesses, hence gods have no souls,” I cited.

“… An overwhelming logic. I didn’t know there was such a belief.”

“Since you’re a non-believer,” I nodded, amused. “Anyway, since they have no souls, all the souls of the whole world become the Holy Gods’ souls.”

“So they do have a soul.”

“… Looks like it.”

Ray snorted with laughter.

“You should become a priest, Armen.”

“Huh… I’m just repeating what I learned, but I’m a bad student, so… Anyway! We digressed. We were talking about you figuring out what your power really is. I was thinking, if your mom hid the records, she should know everything, shouldn’t she?”

“Yeah… That’s the most logic thing to do.” Ray’s voice was muffled by uncertainty. There was a silence. “But there’s no way I can actually ask her.”

Ray flinched under my surprised look. Gently, he put Rainbows aside, stood up, walked to the window, and leaned his hands on the ledge, turning his face to the darkness of the night.

“You can’t compare my parents to yours, Armen,” he finally said. “My dad is a necro-freak that lives by working as a ‘doctor’ for rich people to extend their lives. He makes a lot of money out of it… His philosophy is ‘I don’t care where my money comes from, as long as I can keep expanding my dear family of undeads’.” He paused. “I find it unfair, stupid, and awful.”

“When you put it that way, it does sound pretty bad…”

I saw him clench his fists.

“But the thing is,” he went on, “my mom is even more incomprehensible than my dad. She’s a Lovecryce fan. No, it’s worse than that. You know that she’s one of the Nine Crowned Fairies. Did you know they are also nicknamed the Nine Demons of Lovecryce? Every time she talks about his boss, it’s like she’s talking about a god. She sacrifices her vacations for him. She’s committed to her cause and thinks Lovecryce will make the Nyomin become the greatest branch of the WHO for people’s sake. She believes in the Greater Good in all seriousness. Sometimes I wonder if she has been brainwashed or what. Anyhow…” He turned to me. “All these years, she sacrificed her family for her job. I don’t blame her. It’s her life, her decision. She probably saved lives she wouldn’t have if she had been taking care of his son. And she still cared for me in her own way. But I can’t play her game forever. I accepted to go to this training, but that’s that. I won’t become a Nyomin Hero. I won’t waste my life for the sake of an ideal that’s not mine. That’s common sense. ”

‘But if I can’t bring myself to tell her that, would it be okay to ask her about my power? All those attempts to help me control my energies…’ he took his necklace, pensive, and contemplated the Black Gem that his mother had given him for Christmas. ‘Is it because she wants me to prove her suspicions wrong? But what suspicions?’

His thought, full of frustration and incomprehension, infiltrated my mind then faded away, leaving only a deep silence.

It was a shame that his parents were such freaks but… it couldn’t be helped. I knew all I could do, as a friend, was support him in whichever decision he would take.

Rainbow’s meowing broke the silence. Her eyes were fixed on its master. She was hungry.

“Ops, right, Rainbows, your meal!” Ray looked embarrassed as he hurried to his bag, took out a tin, and opened it. “It’s the last. I’ll have to buy more tomorrow.”

“I’ll buy some tonight,” I suggested. “Natasha told me we would go to the main island together, and it seems there are quite a lot of groceries shops open at night.”

“I see… Then… Crabmeat.”

“Crabmeat,” I affirmed.

We both looked at the cat chewing the meat in the tin with delight. Its eyes were darkening. According to Ray, a ghoul’s eyes always darkened when they were eating, because of the incoming deathforce. Life reapers’ didn’t, except when they had eaten too much lifeforce.

“She sure eats a lot.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Haha… True. Do you know when Rainbows will become a life reaper?”

Ray raised an eyebrow at my question.

“Not tomorrow, and probably not in one year. It took three years for Louise to become one. Ghouls don’t change easily. By the way, Armen…”

“Yes?”

“I’ve got a favor to ask of you.”

I straightened up. A favor? Ray glanced at the shadow, that was now floating like a big ethereal dark slime just by his side. Was it… following him, now? Ray held out a hand and gently touched the shadow under my alarmed eyes. It went through it. For a moment, I thought the shadow had devoured his hand; then Ray withdrew it and gave a firm nod.

“I’m going to accept Lei’s challenge.”

“…!”

He turned to me.

“I know I’m always saying that but… this time, I’ll learn how to control my power for real.”

So he had given up on asking her mom about the past, huh? Well, the determination shining in his eyes was kinda invigorating. I smiled and merrily bumped a fist in my palm.

“Okay! Do you want me to throw you into a black pit or make you go through some terrifying experience so you can practice?”

“Why am I beginning to feel like a guinea pig?” Ray protested with a snort. Rainbows stopped eating for a moment to observe us with curiosity. Well, it seemed that Ray had another plan to force his power to activate. I saw him take off his necklace, showing the Black Gem. “Do you know what this is?”

“A rare fragment of a Black Crystal. You told me.”

Ray detached the crescent moon pendant and weighed it up on his palm.

“My mom told me in her letter that absorbing its energy would help me control my power.”

Obviously curious, the shadow stretched into a snake and began slithering in the air around Ray’s palm. Wasn’t it getting thinner? I turned my attention back to the gem as I echoed:

“Absorb? You mean like a pill?”

“Kinda. But it’s not artificially made. It’s a black gem. That is, it’s a fragment of dark crystal with a core. The Great Crystals have a lot of cores that make the whole structure almost unbreakable and keep the Crystals ‘alive’. Take the Yellow Crystal in Farskyer: only its roots can be broken; the main body with the cores can’t.”

“I know that. My PE teacher told me.”

“What kind of PE teacher teaches that? Anyway, there is an exception to the rule. Great Crystals have never been broken by humans so far, but some did break during the Big Blend: they fell from space at an incredible speed, and the fall and impact caused big parts to disintegrate. It’s said that a rain of smaller Crystals completely crumbled into dust. That’s how the atmosphere is now made of crystal particles. We learned that in middle school.”

“Now I remember.”

“… Do you? Anyway, it’s still possible to find some rare crystal cores in small fragments. This black gem is one of them. Some acquaintances of my mom found it in the Hydra continent, and she bought it from them. A crystal core can store energy, but that’s not all: a black gem possesses a memory. Remember what Azritz told us, one day, about the researchers who specialize in understanding where Great Crystals come from? She told us crystal cores are actually alive. Some say they are part of a unique tremendous entity living in the Great Crystal, a god so to speak. Another theory is that those cores are living beings, or more exactly, spiritual fragments of them, aliens that somehow ended up imprisoned within the Crystals.”

“… Aliens?! You kidding, right? Weren’t the Crystals sent by the gods?”

“… Er… They say the Holy Gods come from space, remember? So your gods are aliens, Armen.” That shocked me, but what struck me even more was the fact that I had never made the connection. “Now let’s put the gods aside for a moment. Your sis told us about those cores when she was still in College. You were with me at the time.”

We weren’t even fourteen, then. Obviously, I wouldn’t remember. It’s not that Azritz’s lessons weren’t interesting, it’s just that my long-term memory left much to be desired.

“Oh, right. Maybe it’s natural you don’t remember,” Ray said, his face darkened. “Just as you say you forgot past things you don’t care about, after your revival…”

“I would have probably forgotten about it anyway,” I assured. “I’m not a crystal fan. So? What about those cores?”

“Ah, right… You do know that every living being has a core, right?”

“Yeah. A white crystal core.”

“Exactly.” Ray lifted the gem between two fingers. “That’s a black core. The first necromancers used black cores to revive undeads, but because undeads with those cores were unruly and didn’t last long, they did a lot of research and chose to create artificial cores, using plain black crystal.”

“So my core is made of black crystal?”

“It’s the base, but it’s not that simple. Cyan crystals are used to form the necro-bond and retain your soul, purple crystal allows the necro-bond to work through warping, and orange crystals protect your soul from shocks and allow you to circulate the deathforce throughout your body… Sorry I’m losing you, Armen.”

“No, no, I’m okay… for now. I was just wondering: if a core has to be made beforehand, then that means the Lord brought one with him when you two revived me.”

“That’s right. My dad has quite a collection of cores. He gave me a few of them, and I thought I wouldn’t use them, but then…”

His eyes looked down at Rainbows. I smiled.

“Then you did. And you gave me a little sister. Thank you, dad.”

“The hell? Don’t…” Suppressing his order just in time, he puffed out his cheeks and breathed out loudly as I laughed. He grumbled. “Anyway! Artificial cores are easier to control, fix, and understand than a gem core. Handling a gem core doesn’t go without risk.”

“Oi, you’re saying your mom gave you something dangerous?!”

“She gave me instructions to only absorb the energy of the core and do nothing more with it. That should help me get used to my power. I’ve been absorbing the gem’s energy, and there’s scarcely any left now. So… I think it’s about time I try to activate my power.”

His eyes sparkled. He really looked motivated. I laughed.

“That’s great news! Also, I’m glad to hear you don’t need the gem anymore, because…”

I pointed with my chin at Ray’s palm. The shadow had been continuously swirling around it, getting thinner and thinner, until it had become a mere worm. At this instant, it disappeared, as if absorbed by the Black Gem.

Ray let out an exclamation of surprise.

“What?!”

The young necromancer had been so engrossed in the conversation that he had not paid attention to the shadow. I chuckled.

“It looked so happy going around your hand that I actually didn’t realize what it was doing until it became really tiny.”

“You could have told me! Well… I don’t think it’ll be in danger in there. The gem does store energy, after all.”

“Damn, if I had known it could go in there, I wouldn’t have swallowed it,” I grumbled, then I leaned forward, staring at the gem with curiosity. “You said the gem was almost empty of energy, right? Since the shadow is made of dark energy too, is it absorbable?”

Barely had I said that when a fist made of shadows sprang out of the gem and punched my forehead. Although I was sitting on the floor, I lost my balance. I recovered it, astonished, and gasped:

“It hit me! But how?”

The vengeful, cowardly shadow had rushed back to its new home. Ray made a thoughtful pout.

“It’s made of energy. Even dark energies can create a force field when condensed. More importantly, it seems that it understands us perfectly. She must have learned Yanganese through the years, by listening to the martial artists climbing the tower.”

“She”? I repeated silently. Well, the shadow sure seemed to be intelligent. I joined my hands, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry to scare you, Hellfist.”

Ray snorted.

“Hellfist?”

“It’s her name.”

“You say it as if you didn’t just come up with it.”

“You don’t like it? Then… Hellblackfire? Helly? Infernalia? Tartarus? The Shelled Devil? Hell-punch-shade?”

“What’s with those scary names…”

Ray fell silent when a shady hand came out of the gem, holding up three fingers. I squinted an eye. Three fingers…?

“Oh! You prefer the third one, you mean? Helly?”

It gave a thumbs up. I grinned at Ray.

“Hah, I gave her a name. I feel like a new father.”

“She’s way older than you, though. ”

As Ray reattached the gem to his necklace, I pondered and came to the conclusion that Helly had no bad intentions towards her saviors and that she even wanted to stay with us. She seemed rather happy to have found a comfortable home within the black gem. I still was a bit worried that Ray kept her so close to him but… who knows, maybe Helly would help him figure out what the Spawns of Darkness were? Then I thought again about Ray’s intention to test his power out, and I grimaced, remembering something.

“Ray, I was thinking. Is it okay to activate your power here? The thing is, before I left Farskyer City, the Lord told me to… you know… to advise you against activating your power during the training. I’m personally not against it, of course! I think you can—”

“Did he order you?” Ray’s eyes glowered.

“Huh… I don’t remember—No, actually, he did order me, but by the time I left his mansion, my core had forgotten about the order, so… I think he must have ordered me unwillingly.”

And that had made me painfully confirm that, even if I could resist some specific orders issued by an average necromancer, I was still rather defenseless against necromancy experts.

Ray shook his head softly.

“I made up my mind. I won’t back down now so…” He paused and nodded. “If I activate my power and lose consciousness, I won’t be able to know what happens. The good thing is, it seems my power doesn’t work on undead people. Remember? You weren’t affected in the slightest when I used my power on Sally Sunclaw. I think it’s probably because the sort of energy my shadows are made of is very similar to deathforce. They’re both dark energies, after all.”

Oh… so that was the favor he wanted to ask from me.

“I just need to watch over you when you’re activating your power, right?”

“That’s right, plus evacuate the house if things go really wrong. The problem is, if I faint, I’ll be probably out cold for several days. But—”

“You won’t faint,” I interrupted him, and I smiled at his quizzical expression. “If you’re really determined to do it, then do it thinking you’ll do it right.”

Ray’s lips went up a bit.

“Without a doubt, I’ll do it right.”

“That’s the spirit! So? Are you gonna do it? Go for it.” I hit my chest. “I’m here to watch over you, master.”

“Ugh… I’ll do it after dinner,” he said. “The meeting for the badge exchange is at half-past six. In one hour.”

“You’re going? But Zeeta—”

“I know. I won’t buy his badge. I’ll just go take a look.”

I frowned thoughtfully. Ever since I had seen Axel Sunclaw call the young Oliver a monster, I was worried about his intentions, and I had been thinking of taking the matter into my hands, but if Ray was going to that meeting, could I just ask him to make sure the kid’s badge wouldn’t end up in Axel’s hands?

Nah. Ray had already a lot to deal with. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to rest if I wasn’t the one settling the matter with that damned crazy negativist.

“Where are you going?”

I had stood up and was walking to the door. My hand stopped on the doorknob.

“Ray. Could I ask you for a favor?”

“…? Of course. What is it?”

“Don’t see through my eyes or hear through my ears until we meet again.” Under his shocked eyes, I insisted: “Please?”

“… I…” Ray swallowed his questions and nodded. “Okay.”

I smiled as I opened the door.

“Thanks.”

“So you won’t tell me where you’re going?”

My smile broadened as I raised a hand.

“Just taking a walk. Don’t worry. After that meeting, let’s eat that Losterness curry and test your power out. See ya! See ya, Rainbows. See ya, Helly.”

I closed the door behind me and went downstairs. No one had come back yet to the Wind House. I left, walked across the court, then down the escalator.

From what I had learned this morning, there were, in total, nine flying houses that were occupied by the trainees. Almost all the Starlanders were living in the Fire House, the biggest and lowest house of all. Zeeta lived in the Sun House with Cesarine and her underlings. The Cactus House, where Arkifa lived with the dryad, was the farthest house from the Wind House. The nearest was the Music House: it was occupied by Eder Irakoze, the European elite trainee, who was living there alone.

As for the other four houses… I tried to remember their names as well as their location. The Steel House, the Shaking House…

“Oh.”

At the sound of a voice, I came back to reality. I had arrived at the platform that connected the Wind House and the Music House. No one was in sight. I frowned, then I heard from behind:

“It’s true, you really can’t feel anything!”

I turned around to see a teen my age in a dark tunic. His long, dark braid, was laying on his shoulder, almost reaching its red belt.

“Lei. What are you doing?”

“Just testing your sense of touch.”

That jerk…

“I’m not completely insensible, you know.”

“Really?”

He put his forefinger on my chest. I glared at him… then paused, surprised. I grabbed his hand. I really couldn’t feel anything. Maybe I was running low on energy? The Yuutow Tower must have eaten away almost all my deathforce—and maybe Helly had stolen energy from me to grow that fast? I rolled my eyes inwardly and put things into perspective: in a way, if I lost my sense of touch whenever my body needed food, that would be a useful method to measure my energy levels.

Anyway, I only hoped I wouldn’t go berserk now. Lei’s lifeforce, unlike Linah’s, tasted good… With a mix of relief and disappointment, I saw him step away.

“So?” he asked.

I snorted.

“You read the books Ray lent you, didn’t you? Then you probably know more about undeads than I do.”

“Oh? Ray told you about our deal? Then you must know I tried to buy you for one million Corns.”

“Wasn’t it five hundred thousand?”

“That was the starting price. Well, but I would have been in trouble if I had to explain to my father that I spent all my savings on you, so I guess it was for the best that Ray turned me down. After reading the books, I also realized that you can’t switch masters just like that. That necro-bond thing… It’s common knowledge that necromancers have absolute control over their familiars, but is that true?”

“… Yeah. Technically.”

“So cool. Undeads are so cool,” he said excitedly.

“Thanks.”

“I quite like that necro-bond stuff, but I’m even more interested in how deathforce works. I still remember the first time we met, in the Work-Lair. I gave you a blow that should have knocked you out, but it didn’t, even though your fighting skills were absolutely awful. Undeads sure are sturdy.”

“Thanks for the compliment. Where are you going, anyway? This platform only leads to Ray’s house and the European’s.” I squinted at him. “You’re not gonna cause trouble for Ray, are you?”

Lei’s eyes curled up, smiling.

“What if I am?”

“…” Tch. Damn bastard. “Do you know where I’m going now?”

“Huh? Dunno. To suck someone’s lifeforce dry?”

“I don’t do that.” My jaws clenched, but my smile didn’t falter. “I’m going to challenge your twin brother to a duel.”

Lei widened his eyes, amazed. Bingo. He had taken the bait.

“Aya-aya, undeads sure are lively. Did you know? As far as martial arts are concerned, Axel is not as hardworking as I am, but after so many defeats, I have to admit it, he is stronger than me. Now, are you still willing to fight him?”

“Yeah.”

Lei stared at me, then chuckled.

“You picked my curiosity. I’ll leave Ray in peace for now. Let’s see how you plan on taking on my dear brother.”

“Good. Do you know where he lives?”

“Eeh… you don’t even know that? He lives alone. This way. I heard the house he chose is not even used by the regular students nowadays. There is a smoky bubble around the whole wing. A special bubble that distorts sounds.”

“What is the name of the house?”

As we were going down the escalator, Lei glanced at me.

“The Silent House.”

When we arrived and entered the bubble, I could see a court very similar to that of the Wind House illuminated by several lights, but there were no small cactuses and no flowers besides some rare wild daisies growing in the garden courtyards on both sides; the facade looked gloomy.

Lei cast me a quizzical look. Ray would have thought I was reckless. Well, I was. The only thing I had in mind to defeat Axel was to eat his lifeforce in the most pleasurable way so he would suffer the backlash and surrender. That was my plan. And it wasn’t a bad one, I think.

‘You won’t smile ever again’, he had said…

Yeah… His words, in the tower, had rubbed me the wrong way. However, before anything else, I had a question to ask him. Depending on his answer… I would leave or knock some sense into him.

My beliefs reaffirmed, I stepped forward, stopped in the middle of the court, took a deep breath, and shouted:

“AXEL, COME OUT!”

I was surprised at my own rasping voice. It echoed everywhere in the bubble, muffled, like a macabre and ghastly complaint.

For once, I sounded like a real revenant.