Chapter 40: Chapter 38

“It was here alright - look at the grass.”

Conrad scanned the surroundings as he gestured towards the riverbank. In the direction he was pointing, there was a patch of grass that was unnaturally withered and brown, exactly in the spot Hibiki had pointed out. He had to shout over the intense downpour, but everyone’s attention was focused on him, and they all remained grouped together for safety.

The students that had been sleeping were woken up, and their search was now in full swing as they chased after the demon. It was in the early hours of the morning and the only light that guided their way shone from the torches in their hand, but the heavy rain cut visibility down to a minimum. The conditions were bleak, but it couldn’t be helped - they needed to deal with the wraith tonight.

“Stick together, and we make our way to the church. Give the river a wide berth, for all we know the ghost may use it to attack.”

It was a wise call, as Yuuji himself had seen similar cases with his own eyes. If a ghost had a physical attachment to an object or place, it would often be drawn to using that to its advantage, such as a poltergeist slamming doors shut and launching household objects as projectiles.

He sidled up alongside Hibiki, who stood in a daze while staring at the river. Neither of them had been able to sleep for long, but he felt sympathetic to the girl who likely wasn’t used to such a stressful awakening.

“How are you feeling?”
“...”

She turned to look at him, but her face was filled with concern. She didn’t seem as frightened as he expected, but it was obvious something was troubling her.

“Hibiki?”
“She was sad. Why is she sad?”
“...What do you mean?”
“I’m… not sure. I don’t know if this is right. Is this how it always goes?”

Her eyes fixed back once again to the point where the wraith had been standing. Yuuji silently reminded himself that this was her first real demon hunt, and even though she’d been cleared to partake in the investigation, it was not something that was easy to get used to.

“This is what we’re here to do. Just stick by me, and I’ll keep you safe, no matter what.”
“Mmm.”

She smiled weakly in return, and he felt a pang of guilt in his heart. The feelings she was experiencing were unknown to him, as they had been locked deep inside his mind so long ago he couldn’t even remember what it was like. Fear, concern, and doubt would simply cloud his judgment on a mission, and a split second could be the difference between life and death when the time came - this is what he’d always told himself.

The wraith had already visited Hibiki once, and though she had escaped unharmed, there was no guarantee the same thing would happen again. He thought back to the girl who he met behind the vicarage, and grit his teeth - if she and the wraith were one and the same, it would be nearly impossible to fight her alone.

The rain continued to crash down around them, and sure enough the once quaint little river that ran through the centre of the village swelled beyond its limits. The rapids raged as they quickened with every passing moment, and as the water crashed over the rocky ground it was clear that anyone unfortunate enough to fall in was likely never getting out again.

Thankfully, they wouldn’t have to cross to reach the church, but they had to follow a path near the riverside for far longer than they liked. All eyes lay on the water, just waiting for a screaming nightmare to emerge at any moment and try to drag them under.

“Is that… No!”
“Gale?... Shit.”

As Gale and Conrad led the pack, they were the first to see.

In front of them, through the torrential rain and battering winds, was the outline of the church they’d seen only hours earlier, but it was the shapes lined along the street that made their hearts sink.

Ten… Twenty… Thirty, maybe more. Strewn over the floor before the church entrance were scores of human figures, all laying motionless in the puddles of water that surrounded them.

“Aoi, multiple potential casualties. Everyone! Close up together, keep your heads screwed on straight!”

Gale, Conrad, and Aoi rushed towards the bodies as the students formed a defensive circle. Many of them had been unfortunate enough to see human remains in their lives already, but that didn’t mean they didn’t still feel sick to their stomachs at the thought of people they’d met the day before now lifeless in the dirt.

“No… how did this happen..?”

One more voice came out from behind the group, as a woman stumbled over towards the messy scene and fell to her knees.

“...”
“Henri… why? Did the Lord ask for this?”

Mrs Bailey held an empty stare as she looked at the bloated corpse of a man they did not know. Conrad and Aoi refused to allow her to stay alone in the pub unprotected, but she hadn’t spoken a word to them since they had taken her along with them.

“We were too late.”
“So much death… how is a single wraith so strong?”

Aoi shook her head while looking across the bodies, confirming the worst. As Gale came across the body of the vicar, she placed his arms over his chest and closed his eyelids. She wouldn’t dare speak of the look he had on his face when he passed, but even with the stubborn man signing his own death warrant, she didn’t wish this pain on anybody.

The doors to the church had been swung wide open, and most of the corpses were faced down in the opposite direction. It seemed clear that something happened within the building, and despite their desperate attempts to escape, none of them had made it out alive.

Except for one.

“..!”
“You..!”

Standing in the middle of the doorway was a man trembling from the cold. He was soaked to his core, but his wrinkled face was contorted and he moaned as he wept uncontrollably.

“Henri… my dear girl…”
“He was still alive in there!?”

Conrad’s shock was not too surprising. The area outside the church was nightmarish enough, and these were the people who had managed to break out of the room they barricaded themselves inside - they could only imagine what it would look like within those dull, grey walls.

“Miller! Don’t you dare move!”
“All I ever wanted… was for her to be at peace…”

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His mind was broken, and he didn’t even acknowledge their existence. Stepping out beyond the doors, the rain hit his face as he let out a sorrowful wail once more. His cries of agony resonated even through the thunderous downpour, and Mrs Bailey too began to sob.

As he stood by Hibiki’s side, Yuuji saw the girl turn to look at the man, and her lilac eyes seemed to glow ever so faintly. Pausing for a moment, her head whipped towards an empty space, and she muttered so quietly only Yuuji could hear.

“She’s here.”

Collectively the students of Phoenix all felt shivers creep up their spine, as a presence became known to them. It stood, or floated, atop the riverbank not far from the church, but it faced towards them and raised its wispy arm as if grasping out.

“Uriel!”
“Marena!”

The first to react were Leona and Valeriya, who dashed out as they summoned their spirits. As close-quarters fighters, they were useless from a distance, so if the wraith was able to drown them before they were near they wouldn’t stand a chance.

“..!”

As the students formed a defensive line, the non-combatants were placed at the back. Wang Bao gripped his prayer beads tight, and two giant golden hands wrapped around the ones he sought to protect behind him, shielding them from any harm that might come their way.

Conrad dashed forward at superhuman speed and grabbed Mr Miller as Aoi pulled Mrs Bailey away. The two of them didn’t have the combat strength of the students, but they were no strangers to the battlefield and quickly got the remaining civilians out of the way.

“Minamoto no Yorimitsu. Doujigiri!”

Yuuji summoned his most trusty sword but bit his lip as he fought the urge to rush forward. Wang Bao had covered Hibiki along with the others near them, but he couldn’t risk leaving them alone in case the wraith somehow made it past the front liners - after all, from Hibiki’s description, it seemed to have done so before.

The other students found themselves in similar situations, as their spirits were either not suited for close combat in the first place, or more useful for defence and support than trying to contest with the duo who rocketed into the fray.

“HAAA!”

First to arrive was Leona’s flaming kick, which tore straight through the wraith’s visage with ease, though she cursed as the ghastly figure evaporated into mist before her eyes. She turned around frantically trying to recapture its location, but it wasn’t until Valeriya’s icy rapier thrust over her shoulder that she realised it had appeared behind her.

“GUuaAAR!”
“Shit!”
“Watch out.”

This time, the wraith let out a distressed gargle as it vanished, with a lump of ice hitting the ground at the point Valeriya’s rapier had made contact with it. She had wounded the demon, but it wasn’t gone yet.

The wind howled, and the raindrops whirled around like miniature bullets as they pounded against the students. It was difficult enough to see through the darkness of the storm, but as the water assaulted their eyes, visibility was reduced to nearly nothing.

“Viviane, bestow your blade upon us!”
“GRAAAUUU!”

A shimmering light pierced the darkness.

The dazzling flash stung their eyes for a moment, but it quickly turned to a warm glow that radiated from Gale’s weapon. In her hand was a medieval-style longsword which she held aloft, and her heroic figure in the dark was like a knight from a fairytale.

The students quickly caught their bearings, and turned their heads in shock. The howl of pain had come from behind them, and sure enough, the wraith had re-emerged only meters away without a single one of them noticing.

The once hazy figure was sizzling in the glow of Gale’s heroic spirit, and its bare figure was now clear to see. It was a skeleton with mottled chunks of rotten flesh stuck to its features, and though the face seemed to once resemble a human it was no more than a monster now.

Despite writhing in pain, it still reached out in anger, and tried to wrap its bony fingers around the neck of Mrs Bailey as she collapsed in fear.

*TWANG*

“Arf!”

A brilliant golden arrow struck the chest of the creature, not far from the hole left by Valeriya’s rapier. As it recoiled from Mitra’s attack, the grey wolf Faolán grabbed Mrs Bailey by the scruff of her collar and tugged her to safety once more.

“Not this time!!”

The wraith swayed heavily from the attacks, as whatever remained of its flesh continued to burn away under the holy light. Before it could attempt another escape, a fiery meteor hammered down on top of its skull, as Leona unleashed her full fury in a devastating blow.

It crumbled to the floor, and before it could get up, a jet-black void tore open the ground beneath it, and tens of bony limbs wrapped around its body. It struggled fruitlessly for a moment before a shimmering beam of light pierced through its chest once more, and the creature erupted into crystals of ice with a silvery-white gleam.

*CRACK*

The giant icicle cracked, then shattered into pieces, and the dim grey dust that remained quickly fluttered away into the wind.

The wraith of Marlbourne was dead.

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