The day after we were on the road again.
"Let's head to the haunted mansion to the north." Luka declared as he opened his map.
Alice silently glared at him, but he didn't notice.
We started walking soon after.
~– ~ – ~
On the way, I mentally reviewed what we would find there.
First, obviously, Chrome and her Zombies, plus the various monsters that naturally inhabited the place, some of which we would only face later, if they were even present now.
Then there were the ghosts of Frederika and many others.
I idly wondered if I would be able to sense them as well.
It would have helped confirm my theory about souls and Light energy.
Then there was Promestein...
I honestly had no idea what to do about her.
I could not predict what she would do If I caught her interest.
Not only was she most likely already overwhelmingly powerful, she was also possibly still untouchable to all but Angel Halo as a complete Angel.
She wasn't likely to overtly interfere with Ilias' plans for Luka, but if she managed to gleam something from my physique...
If there was anyone in this world that could discover my secret, it was her.
That terrified me.
In the end, I concluded that the best possible thing I could have done was hide from her, hoping Luka would not question my motivations.
~– ~ – ~
We arrived at the mansion as night started falling.
The atmosphere was about as eerie as I expected around the old, dilapidated building.
"...It's bigger than I thought. There's also a really creepy atmosphere... What's wrong Alice?" Luka suddenly asked our straight-faced companion.
She just stayed silent.
"Hey, look... There's a graveyard over there." he added, pointing to a small cemetery on the side of the house.
"I already saw that! But even then, I didn't mention it! Why are you pointing out obvious things!? You don't understand a woman's heart at all!" Alice shrieked.
Luka looked at her in confusion for a second, before turning back to the house and startling.
"Hrm...? Alice, did you see that!? There's a small girl in that window on the second floor!" he said, noticing Chrome's silhouette by the window.
I had already sensed her aura, however, so I wasn't surprised.
"Aieee!" Alice shrieked again, hiding behind Luka's back.
"Alice... By any chance... Are you scared of ghosts?" he asked her in sudden realization.
Good god, he was dense.
Thankfully I was here to keep these two dumb lovebirds together.
"O... Of course not! The only thing I'm scared of is hunger!" Alice declared.
"I see... Then let's go inside." Luka declared.
...Did he actually fall for that?
I facepalmed.
"I won't! Have you forgotten what you set out as a Hero to do? Why are you wasting your time playing here!?" Alice yelled angrily.
However, her snake half betrayed her true feelings, as it shivered incontrollably.
"The people of San Ilia are scared of this house. It's also the role of a Hero to help the townspeople. Certainly you, the Monster lord aren't afraid of ghosts?" Luka questioned.
"O... Of course I'm not! Don't be ridiculous!" Alice scoffed with a twitching expression.
Pride: the ultimate steroid.
"Then, let's go." Luka finished, turning to the house.
"Aaa..." Alice weakly agreed, as we entered the dilapidated house.
~– ~ – ~
"It looks really creepy..." Luka commented, as we entered the main hall.
Alice was silently slithering behind him, while I looked around, still concentrating on my sixth sense.
"What's that!?" Luka yelled, having seen a shadow move at the corner of his eye.
I felt the dark energy emanating from it, as I hid behind a column.
"Aie! G... Ghost!?" Alice fearfully said, as the monster revealed itself.
It looked like a girl with black hair that seemed to cover her entire body except for her face and chest, her legs nonexistent.
Around her floated many disembodies hands.
She was also almost transparent.
"...Oh, it's a Ghost Girl. I thought it was a ghost." Alice sighed in relief.
"Uh... What's the difference...?" Luka inquired.
"A Ghost girl is born from a collection of souls mixing with magic power. It's much different than something unscientific like a normal ghost. Finish this quickly." Alice said, before vanishing.
I considered her words together with my previous theory.
So, souls seemingly DID exist.
But what did that mean?
How did they affect the physical realm?
I needed more time to understand.
"Human energy... I'll suck it all up..." the Ghost Girl moaned hungrily.
"No!" Luka denied, as he took a fighting stance.
He rushed forward, slashing the monster with his blade.
"Good... My attacks can hit." Luka commented, looking at his sword.
"Your penis is warm..." the Ghost Girl said, pushing her breasts on Luka's crotch, even through his clothes.
Luka slashed at her again, cutting her incorporeal form with his sword.
However the monster used the opportunity to grab him with her floating hands, pinning him to the ground.
"I'll violate you like this... I'll take all of your energy..." she moaned, but Luka managed to break free before she could make good on her words.
"Don't you want me to violate you?" the monster questioned seductively, as Luka suddenly turned around, running up the wall for a Demon Skull Beheading.
He dealt a crushing blow to his opponent's head, her form starting to dissipate.
"My... Power..." The Ghost Girl lamented, before turning into a strange, floating light that soon disappeared.
Interesting, I thought.
"Whew... Is it over?" Luka said, wiping his forehead and sheathing his sword.
He looked around for a moment, seeing me, but not Alice.
"...Where did that girl go...? We can't just wait around here... Let's keep looking around." he proposed.
I followed behind him, as we started to explore the house.
~– ~ – ~
On the way, we passed by a room filled with various artworks.
"Hmm...? What's this strange feeling?" Luka said, noticing a japanese-styled life-sized doll knocked over on the floor.
I could feel a dark aura emanating from it.
I hid behind a sofa, as the doll suddenly moved.
"Big bro... Play... with me..." the Cursed Doll said in a soft voice, floating in midair with a smile on her face.
"Are you a monster too!?" Luka said as he took a fighting stance.
He opened with a Thunder thrust, scratching the doll's surface, and she countered with a playful hug.
Luka slashed at her again, as she put a hand in his pants.
He jumped back, and ran up a wall, executing a Demon Skull beheading, cracking the monster's head.
However the doll was not done yet.
"I want to play more..." she said, as her hair expanded and wrapped around Luka, restraining him.
"Guh... What is this!?" Luka exclaimed, feeling his energy being drained, as he started trying to break free.
"I'll play with you now, big bro... Teehee... I won't let go, big bro... Hehehe..." " she said, as her hair lowered Luka's pants, coiling around his member.
"Ohh..." Luka grimaced at the stimulation.
"Big bro... Are you having fun?" the doll gloated playfully.
"Damn you...!" Luka yelled, as he finally managed to cut the hair with his sword, breaking free from her grasp.
"Don't you want to play big bro?" the doll pleaded in a heartbroken tone, before Luka slashed her a final time, finishing the fight.
"More... I wanted to play..." the doll lamented, as her energy dissipated, leaving behind an empty husk.
"Whew. So there are monsters like that, too..." Luka commented.
"Looks like it... It's kind of sad isn't it?" I pointed out.
"Yeah... Let's just move on." Luka agreed, before we went up some stairs.
~– ~ – ~
We finally found Alice cowering in a corner inside the first room we entered.
"...What are you doing? Oi, Alice... Did something happen?" Luka asked her.
She didn't react, seemingly frozen in fear, before a voice moaned behind us, a dark presence getting closer.
"Hyaaaaaa!" Alice startled, starting to slither around in panicked circles, before slamming on the floor as she somehow stumbled on something, making a desk and a bookcase crash onto the floor.
How she managed that with a snake body, I had no idea...
A small picture fell by Luka's feet, and he picked it up.
"Hyaaa! ...That girl. That girl!" Alice's eyes widened as she looked at the picture of a young woman whose name I knew to be Frederika.
"Do you know this girl...?" Luka asked her.
"Haaa..." Alice weakly voiced, before starting to panic again.
The next moment, the presence I had felt entered the room.
Even though I had expected it, I couldn't help but gag at the sight of a dead body covered in blood moving in front of me, the foul smell of rot violating my nostrils.
"Hyaaaa!" Alice shrieked.
"Uooooohhh..." the elfine Zombie girl moaned.
"...Oh it's just a normal Zombie Girl." Alice stopped, before knocking her head clean off her shoulders with a punch.
I could not hold my nausea anymore, as I vomited in a corner.
"Sheesh. Don't surprise me like that." Alice scoffed.
"Oi, oi..." Luka said, as he pat my back with his hand, showing his support.
"Hmm...?" Alice let out as the floor under her started to crumble, unable to hold itself together after her previous rampage.
"Ah. Uwaaa!" she yelped, as she fell through the floor in a cartoonish manner.
That made me feel a little better.
"Eh...?" Luka said, turning towards the sound of footsteps approaching.
I braced myself for more nausea, finishing to clean up and raising my facemask to cover my nose.
"Uuu...Uhhhh..." the second Zombie girl moaned, as she entered the room.
"Another one!?" Luka yelled, before stabbing forward.
"Aim at the head!" I yelled, as he adjusted his swing to do as I said, trusting my judgement.
The blow was satisfying, but the monster was resilient.
"Semen... Want..." the Zombie moaned, throwing Luka to the ground.
"Thirst... Cure..." she lamented, as she tried to lower Luka's pants.
However, Luka easily shook her off and attacked her again.
"It doesn't look like she's very strong..." Luka commented.
"Yeah, but she's resilient. Zombies are like that. You need to concentrate your attacks on their brain so that they can't move anymore." I lectured.
"Alright. Here I go!" Luka declared, finishing the fight with a Demon Skull Beheading.
"Aaa..." the Zombie Girl moaned a last time, as a bright light escaped her.
Her once again lifeless body collapsed to the floor.
"Whew..." Luka sighed in relief.
"Don't relax yet! There's more of them!" I warned, feeling more presences approaching us.
"No way... More?" Luka asked in disbelief, as multiple Zombies poured into the room.
"Why are there so many Zombies...? What the hell is going on in this house!?" Luka shouted fearfully.
"There's gotta be a Necromancer around here. I can feel a powerful presence somewhere." I provided, feeling Chrome's aura down below us.
"Guh... Now is not the time to think about that!" Luka said, as he started wailing on his opponents.
This time I helped too, cringing at the feeling of punching their cold, dead flesh.
Luka got caught one time, but he managed to free himself soon after.
He finished the fight soon after, sealing the last Zombie.
"Uuh... Aah..." the Zombie moaned, before falling to the floor, joining the others.
"Haa... Haa... What's with this Zombie infestation?" Luka breathed, as I hid from view of the door, feeling Chrome getting closer.
The figure of a little girl wearing a small black nurse uniform, with two purple glowing horns growing on her head appeared through the doorway a second later.
"Ah! My experiments!" she yelled, looking at the pile of bodies.
"Who are you!?" Luka demanded.
"Wawawa!?" Chrome yelped, before running away from Luka.
"Wait!" He yelled as he ran out of the room.
I followed after him, as he entered the main hall once again.
Chrome and Frederika's Zombie body were there waiting for him.
I hid behind the door, waiting for a chance to sneak attack if needed.
"What's with you? Why are you going crazy in my laboratory?" Chrome asked.
"No, what's with YOU? What the hell are you doing in here...?" Luka retorted, looking at the little girl and the huge Zombie.
"My name is Chrome. I'm a Necromancer. This place was an execution ground, then a graveyard. Since there are so many corpses, it's great for my experiments." Chrome explained.
"Experiments...? What are you trying to do?" Luka inquired.
"I said I was a Necromancer. I'm experimenting on the dead. This girl, the daughter of the rich guy who owned this place, is a particularly good specimen. I want to reanimate the dead into something even more powerful than normal monsters!" the Necromancer declared.
"...So you created those Zombies from before, too?" Luka asked.
"Of course I did. That stupid Ghost Girl came in by herself, but the Zombies were all my creations." the little girl stated pridefully.
"You created them all!? Stop your horrible experiments at once! Otherwise...!" Luka demanded in an enraged tone, pointing his sword at Chrome.
"Hmph. I still have a lot of things to test. I'll make a nuisance like you into a new experiment! Get him Frederika!" Chrome ordered her creation, as Frederika's corpse started shambling towards Luka.
"You made this too... Damn you!" Luka cursed.
" Hehe... So you noticed. Frederika is my masterpiece. The elegant rich girl's pure body was excellent raw material to create a magnificent Zombie." the girl gloated.
"Unforgivable! Defiling a girl's body after her death... Making her into such a creature!" Luka said in a furious tone.
Chrome looked unimpressed.
"Hmph. I don't care about what you have to say. Go Frederika! Make him go insane!" she commanded, before moving back a bit.
"Understood... Master..." Frederika complied.
"Gah..." Luka grimaced, before taking a fighting stance.
He charged forward with a Thunder Thrust, his sword penetrating the dead flesh.
However his opponent appeared unphased.
"Squeeze him with your breasts." Chrome ordered.
"Understood..." Frederika complied, before falling on top of Luka, her huge breasts crushing him.
He recovered from the unexpected blow, slashing at his opponent again.
I started moving silently, trying to sneak up on Chrome.
"Let him taste the pleasure of your thighs!" The necromancer ordered.
"Understood, master..." Frederika complied, grabbing Luka between her legs.
He slashed her again, and stepped back, as his opponent spoke again.
"Please... me..." Frederika voiced weakly.
"Eh...?" Luka let out.
"Please... Kill... Me..." she whispered.
"What...?" Luka said in confusion.
"I don't want... This... Please... Kill..." she pleaded.
"Frederika..." Luka called out in a sad tone.
"What are you blabbering about? Frederika! Use... Waah!" Chrome started, before I interrupted her by lifting her from behind.
"Booh." I deadpanned.
"Ahhh! Where did you come from!?" the little girl fearfully demanded.
"I'm a ghost. Shouldn't you know all about them as a Necromancer?" I questioned, grinning maliciously.
"Kyaaa! Let go!" she yelled, as she started struggling.
"Now, Luka!" I shouted.
"No more... Please... Free me..." Frederika pleaded again.
"...! I understand!" Luka said resolutely, before running up a wall and hitting Frederika's body with a Demon Skull beheading.
The zombie herself seemed to lean into the blow, magnifying its strenght.
"Thank... You..." Frederika whispered gratefully, as she collapsed on the ground, a bright light escaping her.
"Whew... Ah! The floor!" Luka said, as the floorboards around him started cracking from the impact they had received from his last move.
"Not good! Crap!" he cursed.
"Wawawa! My laboratory!" Chrome lamented.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed, as we all fell down into the darkness.
~– ~ – ~
The impact was pretty painful, but I managed not to break anything.
During the fall, however, Chrome had managed to escape my grasp.
"Where is this...?" Luka wondered aloud, looking at the catacombs surrounding us.
"What the hell did you do!?" Chrome yelled angrily, making Luka take a step back.
I hid myself behind a coffin.
"First you beat Frederika, next you break the floor of my laboratory! She was my ultimate masterpiece!" the little girl complained.
"...A corpse isn't your toy. I won't forgive you for breaking the tranquil sleep of the dead!" Luka declared.
"You science hater! Corpses are just lifeless things! If you're going to be like that, I'll be your opponent!" Chrome declared, as her energy surged.
"You... Are you going to fight!?" Luka asked in disbelief.
"Did you think I was weaker than my Zombies? I'll show you the power of a Necromancer!" the girl proclaimed, as she now floated in the air.
Luka opened the fight as usual, with a sharp thrust.
Chrome accused the blow, but still floated backwards, before speaking up.
"For a skilled Necromancer, it's easy to summon the dead..." she said, as her energy entered the corpses below the ground, before they started moving.
"What is this!? Ahhhh!" Luka yelled out, as a multitude of arms pulled at him from below the ground.
"Hahaha... Can you endure it? The only thing those hands desire is for their thirst to be quenched by your semen..." Chrome taunted, as she commanded more and more Zombies to swarm Luka.
He slashed at her again, keeping up the pressure.
"You... Don't get carried away!" Chrome said, her energy surging again.
"What...? Uwaaa!" Luka said, as more and more arms grabbed his body, pinning him to the ground.
"Hehehe... I'll deal with you while you're like that." Chrome gloated, floating closer to Luka as he started struggling.
"Hehehe... Now, I'll violate you... just lay there quietly... I'll take a sample with my pussy..." Chrome said, sitting on top of Luka.
However, just as she started to lower his pants, Luka managed to free one arm, knocking her away.
"You stupid virgin!" she yelled angrily.
But before she could say anything else, I hit her head with both hands from behind, as she had been sent right in my direction.
"Auuuu...!" she let out, as the blow broke her concentration, the dead now free from her influence.
"You! What kind of person punches a little girl!? You bastard!" she yelled at me with tears in her eyes, before turning fearful at Luka's enraged expression.
"I'lll... I'll let you go with just that today!" she shouted back, as she quickly started running away.
"Wait! Don't run!" Luka yelled, as he chased behind her.
However, the catacombs were too dark, and he soon lost track of her.
"...We lost her. Damn, where did she run off to?" Luka asked, before noticing a shadow cowering behind one of the coffins.
"I found you! Give up!" he yelled out, but when he looked behind the stone box...
He found the missing Alice instead, paralyzed in fear.
"Hey... Alice..." he softly started.
"I'MSOSORRYI'MSOSORRY! An evil god, the first Monster Lord, I don't care! Just please help me! I won't do bad things anymore! I won't bully the Kitsunes either! I won't pull on their ears! Or step on their tails! Or steal their fried tofu!" Alice shrieked fearfully.
She really had a grudge against those foxes huh?
"Alice, the bad person is that girl... She's making Zombies here. Did you see that girl run by here...?" Luka gently inquired.
And then I just about pissed myself in fear, feeling Alice's energy surge in terrifying, hellish wrath.
"She's the bad one...? Are you sure...?" Alice asked in a low tone, slowly turning towards Luka with bright, pupilless eyes.
"That girl made this house her laboratory..." Luka started.
"It's her fault that I was like that! I won't forgive her! Get out here!" the Monster Lord demanded in a furious tone, her energy launching towards Chrome's hiding spot, making the coffin she was hiding in fucking DISINTEGRATE!
"Fugya!" Chrome yelped, jumping out of the ashes of her hiding spot.
"Hiding in such a place..." Luka trailed off, as Alice quickly advanced towards the small Necromancer and started slapping her with her tail.
"Who are you!? Another gho... Gafu! Geha!" Chrome recoiled at the painful blows.
"It's your fault!" Alice yelled as she kept slapping her.
"Ahh! Stop! Wawa! I'm sorry!" Chrome apologised as she started crying.
"Calm down, Alice! She's still just a girl..." Luka tried to pacify her.
"Hmph. Just because a monster looks young, it doesn't mean they really are. This girl is 100 years older than I am." Alice declared.
It was likely true, if her aura was any indication.
"You shouldn't hurt your elders then. Now Chrome, apologise to Alice." Luka chided.
"...I'm sorry." Chrome quickly apologised.
"It's good to be so devoted to something... But you can't treat corpses like toys. It's also very bad to create Zombies like this. If you keep that up, the big mean snake lady will get angry again." Luka spoke, as if scolding a small child.
"...I'm sorry, I'll be good..." Chrome weakly acquiesced.
"If you understand then get the hell out of here!" Alice yelled out, still angry.
"Wawawa! I will!" Chrome yelped, before running away.
"Sheesh... So she was cause of all the crap in this mansion? The townspeople saw the Zombies and must have thought they were ghosts. How stupid! Ghosts don't exist!" Alice deduced.
"Is that really what you believe...?" Luka softly muttered, before Frederika's transparent silhouette appeared before us.
I could not sense her aura despite my awareness having been focused on my sixth sense during the whole conversation in anticipation.
Was my theory wrong?
"F... Frederika...?" Luka stammered.
"Thank you, Hero... Now my... No, our souls have been saved..." Frederika spoke gratefully, as another shape appeared.
"With our bodies turned into Zombies, our souls were bound here... But now, we're finally free..." a transparent man said.
"Even if I'm just a soul, I can finally return... The homeland I've missed so much... San Ilia..." the ghost of the first Zombie we fought said, as all around us, thousands of souls drifted toward the sky.
"Thank you, Hero... Thanks to you, we're finally free..." they all thanked Luka, as they ascended towards the surface.
Finally, all of them vanished.
I stopped concentrating on my magic sense, and for a moment, I felt their energies leaving my range.
What?
Why had I not sensed them earlier?
That didn't make any sense!
I could perceive their energy passively, but I couldn't focus on it?
How did that even work?
"Now they can finally rest peacefully... Isn't that great, Alice?" Luka questioned.
However, Alice did not respond.
"Alice? Hey! Alice!?" Luka exclaimed, as he turned to face the Monster Lord who had passed out from fright.
I facepalmed and followed behind Luka, as he carried her unconscious body out of the house.
~– ~ – ~
"It's already morning? Sheesh, this girl is so heavy..." Luka complained as we left the house, stepping into the morning light.
Immediately, I hid myself in a bush, as I had felt an Angel's aura outside of the gates.
"Excuse me... Do you have some business here? I don't think there are any ghosts left..." Luka politely inquired to the normal-looking woman with red hair, wearing a white labcoat.
"I see. So Chrome left?" Promestein inquired.
"Eh...!?" Luka exclaimed, surprised by the woman knowing Chrome's name.
"Tch. I came all this way to deliver her some new tech, too. Well whatever. That stupid Necromancer still pulled off something. Putting the Monster lord in such a state..." Promestein commented in amusement, as she eyed Alice's unconscious form.
"...!? Just who are you?" Luka demanded.
Promestein ignored him, simply staying silent.
Just when I thought she was about to leave, however...
"...You there. Come out." she calmly requested, looking in my direction.
My blood froze in my veins.
How!?
Even Alice couldn't sense me, and she was far stronger than Promestein herself!
I stepped out of my hiding spot, desperately trying not to let my panic show.
Suddenly, Promestein's eyes widened, before she narrowed them thoughtfully.
"Interesting... What are you?" she asked me in a curious tone.
"A human, as far as I know. Though I do have a monster parent." I lied.
"I see... A mutation then? However, it's likely useless... You have no magic, do you?" the Angel questioned.
"None that can be sensed. In fact, I'd like to know how you managed to find me." I said, trying to obtain more information for myself.
"So you don't know? I see... Well, I'd like to research your body thoroughly, but my schedule is swamped, and I have other priorities. Your mutation is likely useless to my current goals regardless. I will find you later." the scientist declared, before turning to leave.
I did not dare to press any further, despite her casual attitude, simply watching her walk away.
Luka just stared at the scene in confusion.
"Daniel, do you know who that woman was?" he inquired.
"No idea. But she's dangerous." I half-lied.
Indeed, though Ilias was more powerful and had managed to manipulate even her, in my mind Promestein had always been the real threat...
Soon after that, we moved away from the haunted house, walking towards San Ilia.
~– ~ – ~
The scene we found there was absurd enough Luka had no words to describe it, limiting himself to look around silently.
"Ohhh... My dear San Ilia! I've finally found a quiet place for my soul to rest!" a disembodied soul said.
"It seems as though all the souls have gathered back here! Even though my hometown is on the southern continent, this seems like a nice town too." another commented.
All around the streets, more ghosts were walking around in broad daylight.
The spectacle was pretty damn surreal.
I also could sense their energy, but when I tried to focus on it, it seemed to disappear from my perception again.
No matter what, I just couldn't understand why...
"I better put Alice in the Inn... If she saw this, she might not wake up again." Luka commented, as we started walking towards the local Inn.
~– ~ – ~
Some time later, we were sitting in a room together, and Luka woke Alice up, before starting to explain the situation to her.
"That's how it is... There are ghosts everywhere now." he concluded.
Alice calmly closed her eyes, as a small ghost played with other children outside the window.
"...We're leaving here. That's an order." she finally declared, her eyes white and pupilless again.
"I get it... Stop looking at me with those creepy eyes." Luka acquiesced.
We started moving towards our next destination soon after.
~– ~ – ~
As we walked towards the Forest of spirits, I idly wondered what Sylph would say about me...
Would she be able to sense me like Promestein did?
How had the angel managed that in the first place?
And what was up with my aura sense and ghosts?
In the end, I found no answer to these questions, as we walked out of the city.