Red was not eager to act, though, and for a moment he and the ghost stared at each other in silence. ‘Narcha’ too, seemed hesitant.

She frowned. “You know blood magic too?”

‘Is that what it’s called?’

Red never heard his powers referred to as such, but he supposed the term was fitting.

The ghost shook their head. “Truly, you are a melting pot of corrupting powers. It is a wonder you haven’t exploded or gone insane yet.”

The boy said nothing, examining ‘Narcha’ in silence. He was trying to come up with a plan, but the truth was that even under this boost in energy, Red wasn’t too confident in defeating the ghost.

‘I need to try to exorcize her.’

The technique was indeed effective as he found out, but the problem was that now that the ghost knew about it, would they allow Red the opportunity to try it again?

In any case, the boy needed to hurry. This boost in energy wouldn’t last forever.

With no other choice, Red stopped hesitating and charged at the woman. His plan was simple: keep within at least two meters of her and chant the incantations while trying not to get killed. He didn’t know how easy this would be, but after six months of training, Red was more confident than ever in his footwork.

To his surprise, the possessed Narcha chose to retreat, keeping her distance from him. The boy thought she was about to flee the scene, but he noticed her running towards her saber that she had dropped on the ground.

Red frowned. He tried to push his legs to the limit, but he was a step too slow. The ghost grabbed the saber, and without hesitation, swung it around in a wide arc towards the boy.

He was forced to slow down and dodge out of the way. ‘Narcha’ didn’t follow up on her attack, though, so the boy tried to approach her again.

It was no use, however. The ghost seemed to be able to guess his intentions and kept him at a maximum distance with the large reach of her saber, and the boy was forced to stop his advance time and time again.

Her blows didn’t seem to be aimed at striking him directly, but rather to keep Red away. It was working too, as the boy couldn’t get any closer than two meters from the woman unless he intended to be cut in half by her saber.

Still, the ghost seemed to be content in their defensive position.

‘They’re buying themselves time.’

Red frowned and redoubled his efforts, to no avail. The ghost seemed to be able to foresee his every move and was more than quick enough to react.

The possessed Narcha saw his urgent actions and smiled. “Like I thought, these types of boost in power never last too long.”

Red frowned. Indeed, even now, he could feel this rush of power surging through his veins weakening bit by bit. The boost offered to him by using the blood of a Lesser Ring Realm cultivator was nowhere near as strong as the one he had gained from a monster.

It wouldn’t last him for too long.

‘I need more. Or perhaps…’

Red suddenly had an idea.

He looked over at the knight’s corpse out of the corner of his eyes. There was still plenty of blood pooling, a veritable font of power to him.

He made to disengage from his opponent and charge towards it. His actions didn’t go unnoticed by the ghost, however, who chose to strike with full commitment at this moment, swinging her saber at his back. How could they allow Red to recharge his powers?

Of course, this was exactly the reaction the boy was counting on. He suddenly dropped down, letting the saber pass right over his head as if he was expecting it.

The woman’s expression changed.

Without hesitation, the boy charged towards her, closing the distance within a second. The ghost tried to retreat, but by that point Red was already chanting his incantation.

Visible struggle appeared on Narcha’s face as her steps faltered and some gray smoke started leaving her body. Still, the ghost kept trying to retreat.

Red, however, wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass.

He stabbed the possessed woman’s right thigh, his sword finding deep purchase. Her steps faltered even further, and more gray smoke left Narcha’s body into the crystal core.

The ghost, however, was quick to notice they wouldn’t be able to retreat in this state, so instead they punched Red with their free hand. The boy tried to dodge, but this close to his opponent, the task was almost impossible.

Narcha’s fist connected with the side of his head, and Red felt his world darken for a moment. Still, the boy held on to consciousness with the help of his improved resiliency and continued to shout the incantations through gritted teeth.

Then another punch came. This time, Red couldn’t hold on and fell down to his knees, on the verge of losing his consciousness. His words also faltered, and that gave ‘Narcha’ the opportunity to recover.

She didn’t retreat, though, instead pulling back just a few steps back so she could swing her saber.

“Forget about possessing you.” the ghost said. “You’re too dangerous to be left alive.”

Her saber was just about to swing down when suddenly someone charged at her from the side. A short sword stabbed into her other leg, causing ‘Narcha’ to falter again.

“I won’t let you!” Allen glared at the woman, holding onto his weapon.

All the response he received was a slap that sent him flying to the side. Still, the ghost, now possessing a body with two swords stabbed into its legs, was struggling to remain standing.

Red, using whatever strength remained in him at that moment, continued to chant the incantation. Still, his words came out weakly and slowly, and the effect they seemed to have on the ghost was limited as barely a trickle of gray mist came out of their body.

‘Narcha’ looked back at him, displaying anger in her expression for the first time. She resumed her attack, hoping to cut him down, when her arm was grabbed from behind.

Allen wrapped himself around her arm and did his best to weight the limb down. “I said… I won’t let you!”

Blood was trickling down the side of the young master’s face, but he still held on. ‘Narcha’ gritted her teeth and tried to grab at Allen.

However, from the other side, someone also grabbed onto her left arm. A ragged Eiwin held her companion’s limb back with a steely grip.

Her countenance was weak, with no signs of the silver light emanating from her skin. Still, the young woman seemed to have recovered enough to act again, possibly with the help of the medicine Goulth had provided them.

Eiwin kicked the back of her companion’s knees, forcing ‘Narcha’ to kneel on the ground. Now with all limbs either injured or restrained, the ghost found themselves immobilized. However, it continued to struggle, and it was clear by Eiwin and Allen’s expression that they were hanging by a thread.

“Red, quickly!” Eiwin called out to the boy.

Red, who was barely conscious, didn’t even understand her words clearly. Still, he knew what had to be done.

He continued to recite the incantations. The last bit of the blood power seemed to give him strength to go on, and so the boy did.

More and more of the gray smoke came out of Narcha’s forehead, entering the core in his hand. There was far more of the substance this time around compared to the ghost that possessed Allen, and yet it was coming out with increasing speed.

The possessed Narcha’s struggles weakened, and ten seconds later, the woman barely seemed to have the strength to keep her head up. Her gaze, however, continued to be trained on Red.

She smiled.

“He was right.” the ghost said with an almost inaudible whisper. “I doubted him, but he was right… You still won in the end.”

Red didn’t pay attention to those words. He focused on the incantation, until the gray smoke coming out of Narcha’s body diminished and eventually fizzled out completely. The woman’s struggle completely stopped, and she seemed to fall unconscious.

Red still continued chanting until he was certain nothing else was going to come out of her body. Only then was he satisfied.

He sighed in relief and fell to the ground on his back.

“Red!” Allen called out to him.

“I’m… fine.” Red struggled to get the words out. “Narcha should be… fine too.”

He saw Eiwin approach him through his darkening vision, examining the side of his head.

She exclaimed in worry. “You’re bleeding!”

‘I am?’

Red barely felt it. Then again, he supposed a few punches to the side of the head by someone as strong as Narcha was bound to leave its mark. He only hoped there was no brain damage.

His strength continued to slip him. Then, he suddenly felt someone shove a small round object into his mouth.

Without hesitation, the boy tried to swallow it, a task that proved harder than he was expecting this time around. Still, he eventually succeeded.

A few seconds later, he felt an energy blossom at the pit of his stomach before spreading through the rest of his body. Strength returned to him bit by bit, and his senses started to stabilize.

Red didn’t know how much time passed, but he eventually didn’t feel like he was on the verge of passing out any longer. He struggled to get up, before feeling a wave of dizziness hit him and falling back down again.

“Don’t try to get up!” He heard Eiwin’s voice say. “We don’t even know if you’re fully healed yet!”

“I’m fine…” Red waved her off. “I just need to be a bit slower. Help me here…”

“Ah, I’ll help you!” Allen said, supporting his back as the boy tried to sit up.

Red still felt dizzy and a terrible headache pulsed through his skull. He grunted in pain.

“You’re not well!” Eiwin stared at him in worry. “A blow to the head can have many kinds of side-effects! Things that aren’t easily healed by any pill.”

“I know.” Red nodded. “But we can’t afford to lose time here… How is Narcha?”

“She’s still unconscious. I considered giving her some medicine, but…” Eiwin shook her head. “I don’t want to risk it.”

The boy appreciated Eiwin’s rational thinking. She might have been eager to heal and wake up her companion, but they needed to confirm the ghost wasn’t playing a trick on them and was still hiding inside her body.

“Let me see her.” Red said.

With Allen’s support, the boy got up and walked over to Narcha’s body. Eiwin had taken out the swords from her legs and wrapped them in some cloth to stop the bleeding. Still, this was all the treatment she gave the woman, and she was still in a quite ragged state.

Red picked up his insectoid core and sat down by her side. He repeated the incantations, checking as many times as he could to make sure nothing of the ghost remained inside Narcha’s body. Still, even after a few minutes, nothing else came out.

If the ghost was still there, then there was nothing Red could do to dig it out.

“It should be fine.” He nodded at Eiwin. “Let’s wake her up to make sure she is still the same.”

The woman seemed relieved to hear this. She took out another pill from her pouch before forcing it into Narcha’s mouth and making sure she swallowed it.

Thirty seconds passed by before the woman’s body began to stir. Then, slowly, she opened her eyes. Her gaze changed as she met with Eiwin’s eyes, looking over her.

“Eiwin… What happened?”