"The murderer is!"

Tsukune paused.

"Well? Who did it?" asked Kurumu.

"Yeah, the suspense is killing me." said Moka.

"Hmm… I think there's a better way to explain this to all of you… Turn out your pockets."

"What for?"

Tsukune showed them all an empty plastic bag, the one where they had used put the gun that was used to kill Mrs. Esmeralda that evening.

"As you can see, the gun is missing. The murderer picked it up on their way upstairs to poison Izumi and kill Emiko, so they could shoot the chandelier down when we were at the bottom of the stairs. Now turn out your pockets everyone… Whoever has the gun… is the murderer."

Everyone turned out their pockets.

"Tsukune, I hate to point this out but… none of us have the gun." said Moka.

"Exactly."

"What do you mean?"

Tsukune smiled.

"You can come out… Ulysses."

"YAGH-HAGH-HAGH-HAGH-HAGH!"

Ulysses walked into the room holding the gun, he had a big grin on his face.

"AH!"

"ULYSSES!"

"HE'S ALIVE!"

"Yes… You murdered them all." said Tsukune.

"Brilliantly worked out Tsukune Aono… I congratulate you."

"But… but… but… but…" said the girls.

"Yes, tell me Tsukune Aono, how did you deduce it was me?"

"Yours was the only 'death' that occurred before Mrs. Esmeralda's predicted murder at midnight. Needless to say I found that a little odd. Eventually it became clear that the murderer had to have been someone who knew about the secret passages in this house, when I was explaining to everyone how you did it, I could tell from Izumi's surprised looks that she didn't know about them, even though she was the 'only' servant still alive. Whenever we split up to search the house you ended up shutting off the electricity, it was easy for you here on the ground floor. The murderer also had to be someone who knew that you had an extra set of keys to all the rooms in the house. Then I simply went back to a theory that is seldom used today, the butler did it."

"Hmm… I confess I hadn't thought of that."

"But the beestings!" said Yukari.

"Hurt like hell, but I was never allergic."

"But the rash… and you had no pulse!" said Ruby.

"Yes… Tell us Mr. Aono, how did you account for my 'dead' body in the kitchen?"

"Well I admit, for awhile there you had me completely fooled. I thought it was funny that Ms. Ooyama said that all the years she had worked here; you never said anything about being allergic to beestings, even though there is an apiary in the grounds. But the rash and your lack of pulse made it look like you had been. When Moka and I were down in the bomb shelter she reminded me of Agatha Christie's And then there were none. In the story… Oh, hang on."

(Spoiler Alert!)

"In the story, the murderer is one of the guests pretending to be dead. It came to my attention that it may be the case here. Mrs. Esmeralda had been shot six times in the back, Ms. Ooyama had been run through from behind with a sword, Ogata had his skull smashed with a mace, someone tried to poison Izumi with something that was clearly lethal, and if the crashing through the window didn't kill Emiko the drowning certainly did, but your death could've been faked, and it was."

"How?" asked Mizore.

"Remember the turpentine I found in the kitchen? Topically it is applied to wounds, but when over applied it causes a nasty rash. When we found Ulysses in the kitchen we saw what we were expected to see, a severe allergic reaction that can only result in death."

"But he had no pulse! I'm sure of it!" said Ruby.

"And yet… here I am."

"Yes Ruby, it looked like he was dead as doornail. But do you Ulysses, remember your fatal mistake?"

"Enlighten me…"

"In the library, the late Mr. Esmeralda's book, the one with the bookmark and the circled words."

Ulysses snapped his fingers.

"What about it?" asked Gin.

"As I said before metoprolol and atenolol are both commonly available beta blockers that are used to treat arrhythmias and other cardiac diseases, but Ulysses doesn't have either of those diseases, instead he put some tablets into his gin martini so they would slow his blood pressure, making it look like he had no pulse. While we all thought he was dead, he murdered his employer and all the others."

Ulysses just stood there smiling.

"But why did you do it?" asked Izumi holding her daughter tightly "How could you? After all these years working faithfully for Mrs. Esmeralda you kill her and the rest of us for her money?"

"It wasn't about inheriting her fortune Izumi." said Tsukune.

"What?"

"If Ulysses wanted to inherit Mrs. Esmeralda's fortune then why was he pretending to be dead?"

"He's right my dear." said Ulysses still smiling "Money was just a red herring, that's why I killed all the others."

"Then why?" asked Moka.

"Did you think it was coincidence that this all took place on the sixth anniversary of her husband's death?"

Tsukune could see it in his eyes.

"It wasn't suicide… You killed him!"

"With this very same gun… and I'd do it again too…"

"But why… Why did you do it?"

"Simple… I first met Jessenia Esmeralda over twelve years ago. Despite her age she was the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes upon. I took the job of being her butler so I could be close to her, and I did get close, I even told her my secret."

"What secret?"

"Don't interrupt me. When I finally thought I was going to win her heart, he came… her damned future husband… she fell in love with a pathetic human instead. But I wasn't going to take that lying down."

"So you got rid of him…" said Tsukune "And for these last six years you've been trying to take advantage of the fumble, but Mrs. Esmeralda somehow learned that it was you who killed her husband recently, knowing she would never love you… you decided if you couldn't have her, nobody could."

"Yes… and what exactly do you propose to do about it?"

Ulysses still had the gun pointed at them, but Tsukune didn't seem to care.

"You're responsible for the deaths of five people and an attempt on Izumi's life as well. So you're going to hang."

"I thought we'd hit this little snag." Ulysses laughed "You think I'm just going to come quietly… but I have no intention of going to the noose."

Before any of the girls could utter a word of warning…

BANG!

"NO! TSUKUNE!"

Tsukune had been shot in the heart, but he just stood there laughing.

"Good shot Ulysses…"

He reached in, pulled out the bullet, and crushed it in his hand. His wound immediately started to heal by itself.

"But not good enough."

"What the?"

"Don't any of you guys remember?" said Moka "Tsukune is a Super Ghoul now, no amount of bullets will kill him!"

"Oh right…" said Yukari "Now I remember, he needs to be beheaded for that to happen."

"So it is true… My late employer has invited the legendary Super Ghoul… No matter… If I can't shoot you to death, I'll just have to rip you apart."

"Yeah right."

"Don't let my camouflage fool you Tsukune Aono, I already told you all that I'm not just a pathetic human like Jessina's husband."

"You're a yokai too?"

"Yes… and not just any yokai… You should feel honored. You'll be one of the few people to see one of my kind… First you will see, then you will die!"

Ulysses started to transform before their very eyes. At first it just seemed like he had significantly increased his muscle mass and tripled in size, but then his skin stated to turn into sparkling white scales, his teeth turned into fangs, his fingers and toes turned into razor sharp claws, horns sprouted from his head and huge dorsal fins shot out of his back.

"He's… he's a dragon!" said Ruby.

"And not just any dragon…" said Moka "He's a Greek diamond dragon!"

Ulysses stood tall like a giant over them and laughed.

"Yes… TIME TO DIE!"