The situation was not at all rosy at the Ghostbusters station. Paranormal events were getting more and more dangerous, and for some reason Walter Peck intended to get them out of business, even if it meant dooming the city to the ghostly threats that plagued it. Egon was barely making headway exploring the black cube, even with Eve's help. And considering the group's situation with the Ghostbusters, if the Ghostbusters closes by order of the town hall, Kairi and the others would be arrested for the damage they caused earlier. They thought at the time of running away from being precise, but Kairi didn't want to tarnish the good name that comes with being a Keybearer.

The only good thing she'd gotten out of the situation was that Eve seemed to have an idea who was spying on them, but not who she was reporting to. Even though Kairi wanted to know, Eve had to make sure that her information was correct, because if she was wrong, the real spy could slip away, so Kairi left the Nasod Queen with her procedures.

At the moment, Kairi, Nina, and Ray were looking at a paper with the symbol that had appeared in both the library and the museum.

"What does this symbol mean?" Ray wondered, looking at the symbol on the table.

"If we don't solve this mystery soon, we will be in serious trouble," Kairi said as Nina nodded.

Winston, who was just passing by to see how they were doing, noticed one thing in particular.

"Uh, guys…" Winston said, starting to move the drawing of the symbol and overlay it on the city map the drawing was on. Map showing the three places they visited with paranormal activity: the Sedgewick Hotel, the Public Library, and the Natural History Museum. And at least three of the symbol's circles fit into those three points. "Perfect fit."

They all came to see the drawing and the map, seeing how it fit together perfectly.

"It's not a constellation. It's a mandala," Ray said, realizing that Winston was right.

"In the name of… if it were a wolf it would have devoured us all," Nina said, shaking her head with one hand.

"Yes, and a very big one, indeed," Winston commented.

"I can't believe I never saw it before," Ilyssa said, surprised to see the connection between the drawing and the map.

"Okay, for one minute pretend someone here doesn't know what a Mandala is," Peter said, indirectly indicating that he didn't know what it was.

"I second what he has said," Edea said, raising her hand.

"Well, we're three now," Kairi commented.

"A mandala is like a spiritual labyrinth," Egon said.

"And this one looks like a spiraling system that feeds into each consecutive node along the line until it reaches a culmination point. Before he died, Shandor must have set some mechanism in place similar to the antenna on Dana's building," Ray said.

"You know, I think you helped to make that clearer," Peter said. "So this was the gizmo that's supposed to feed energy to the destructor form?"

"That's... That's right, Peter!" Ray exclaimed.

Makoto bumped his fist into his hand at that moment. "The tunnels under the museum!"

"That's right!" Rena exclaimed. "Those ghost-infested tunnels must be connecting this mandala between those points."

Egon thought for a moment before speaking. "Alright, I'm just speculating but it's possible Ghosts are trapped in the system, funneled from node to node, and they get stronger and stronger, until they reach the end, and then they..."

"We have the problem at hand, right?" Priere asked, the rest nodding.

"Look!" Ray exclaimed looking at the map. "The first portal… the library. The second… the museum. And the third… the Sedgewick."

"And that means the fourth portal must be... right... here," Egon pointed to a spot on the map, but there was only the city's river.

"The middle of the Hudson River?" Winston asked with some disbelief.

"Well, according to the mandala, yes," Ray confirmed.

"It may need a little tweaking," Egon said.

"I don't know, plenty of bodies in that river to become ghosts," Peter said.

"But to be able to be used as you say it would be necessary that the river had been used, at least, as a clandestine cemetery," Eve reasoned.

"Oh, you have no idea how harsh the history of this city was, with his gangsters and street gangs, and how they disposed of the dead bodies," Peter said to Eve.

"But what does this have to do with me? What did I do? Ilyssa asked.

"You were at the museum and at the Sedgewick," Ray said.

"Perhaps you were some sort of catalyst... accidentally setting things in motion," Egon reasoned.

"You're saying this is my fault?" Illyssa asked, scared.

"You are blameless!" Peter exclaimed, trying to calm her down. "What Egon meant to say was that you have some sort of connection to this and we're gonna go back to the Sedgewick and find out what. Isn't that right, brainiac?" Peter asked Egon.

"That's right, Peter," Egon replied.

"Wait a minute!" Kairi interrupted. "It is true that perhaps Ilyssa triggered the events of the hotel and the museum, but what about the library? She never went there."

"As we know," Winston said.

"Impossible," Eve said. "If we think about it, and calculating the time between the energy surge that shook the city on the first day, and the time we met Dr. Selwyn at the hotel before Gozer's attack, she didn't have time to spend close to the library."

"Perhaps the energy surge from the museum, the paranormal activation from the hotel, and Gozer's attack, were enough to indirectly activate the system in the library," Nina reasoned.

"That is most likely what happened," Ray said before turning his gaze to Ilyssa. "Ilyssa, do you remember where you were going when you were at the Sedgewick?"

"I was standing outside a room..." Ilyssa said, remembering what happened. "1221. Something was compelling me to go in, but I woke up just before the door opened. I ran out of there as fast as I could. And then some jerk tried to pick me up on the elevator," She said with a displeased tone, making the girls laugh. At least those who were present at that moment in the hotel.

"Haha, very funny, ladies. Very funny," Peter complained, before turning to Ilyssa. "Okay, you need to stay here, where it's safe, and where you can't set off any more crossdimensional shockwaves, hot stuff. Here, read up on the mandala, and boys will check out the Sedgewick."

"Boys? And what about you, superstar? Winston asked.

"That, smartass. What are you going to do while we turn the hotel upside down?" Rena asked.

"I'm gonna have you drop me off near Peck's Office. Something tells me he's not quite what he seems," Peter suggested.

"Good idea," Egon said. "Meet us at the hotel when you're done."

"I will stay here to continue researching the Codex while Edea protects the stronghold. Now that we know what the symbol is, maybe we can come up with some way to override it if things go wrong," Nina said, with Edea nodding her head.

"I agree," Kairi said. "The more we know about that mandala, the better."

Decisions made, and Peter dropped off on the street where Penn's office is, the group headed back to the Sedgewick. Already at the entrance, they saw how even from the outside it seemed that it was totally abandoned.

"Whoa. If this place were any more dead, we'd need a coroner," Winston said.

"Normal, with the damage we did the other night," Kairi said.

"Egon used to be a licensed coroner," Ray commented.

"No kidding?" Winston and Rena asked at the same time.

"It's just a hobby now," Egon said without much importance.

"Wow, that explains a lot of things," Priere said.

The group approached the entrance, where they could see a sign posted on the door, which Winston picked up to take a look at it.

"Closed until further notice by the Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission," Winston read.

"PCOC!" Ray exclaimed.

"It seems that," Eve said.

Winston continued reading the paper. "Entrance into this establishment is strictly forbidden and is punishable by fine and imprisonment."

"What now? Hmm. Egon asked.

"This notice is for the general public," Ray said. "It doesn't apply to us. We're bonded contractors for the city!"

The girls nodded at Ray, but Makoto noticed something on the paper.

"Especially the Ghostbusters," Makoto read from the paper.

"Really?!" Kairi asked. "It is as if the National Police closed a building and did not allow the police to enter!"

However, Egon grabbed the paper and tore it to pieces with his bare hands before throwing it into the air, leaving a tense silence in the room.

"Well, step aside, gentlemen. I'm going to smash this door," Priere said, cracking his knuckles.

"Wait!" Egon stopped Priere. "I have a better idea."

Egon walked over to the door, and smoothly pushed it open as it seemed the door was unlocked.

"Good thinking," Winston said.

The group entered the hotel hall, seeing that everything was full of construction material, probably to repair the damage from the other night there. But other than that, there wasn't much to see.

"Hmm. This is disappointing," Egon said.

"No. Disappointing is the Jets losing in the last two minutes. Not being covered in slime by phantom ghouls out to kill us... doesn't exactly make reach for a hanky," Winston said sarcastically, looking around. "Why'd they shut down? You guys didn't bang the place up that bad last time you were here."

"Right, I don't think we were so harsh on the place last time," Makoto said.

Then Ray spoke. "If this place is a mandala node, a few burnt walls and broken ceilings are the last thing anybody's..."

"And smashed furniture, broken chandeliers, destroyed paintings, shattered vases, probably some minor structural damage…" Egon listed.

"Thanks, Egon," Ray said blankly. "My point being that there's more to worry about here than some minor cosmetic issues."

"Definitely a mandala node," Egon said.

"Really? I didn't knew it," Kairi said sarcastically.

"If we don't shut down Shandor's Mandala soon, most of Manhattan will become vacant as this. Not to mention also becoming a bastion of absolute, mind-numbing horror for centuries to come," Ray explained.

"I think we need to work on not putting pressure on the group, Ray," Rena suggested.

"Hey! I definitely don't lay out two grand a month for a 600 square foot walk-up to live in a bastion!" Winston exclaimed. "Let's get to work."

"Nor have I come here to be plagued by absolute, mind-numbing horror for longer than necessary. We have enough with the Fallen already," Kairi said.

The group entered the abandoned hotel in search of any clue of the mandala at the site, until they found themselves surrounded by specters.

"It's an ambush!" Winston exclaimed upon seeing the ghosts. "Get 'em hot!"

"Wait a moment… wait!" Ray said, stopping everyone from getting ready. "I don't think they're a threat. They may only be residual hauntings."

"I think Ray's right," Egon said. "they haven't crossed entirely into this dimension. They're just psychokinetic echoes. Ghosts of ghosts. Completely harmless."

"No kidding?" Priere asked, looking at the ghosts.

"Great. I was hoping to meet a friendly ghost some day, but I'll settle for 'harmless' right now," Winston said.

"Well, as long as they don't attack us, better ignore them," Said Kairi, seeing how the ghosts passed from one side to another, as if they were leading a daily life without realizing that they are... well, dead.

Egon pointed his detector up for a moment. "I'm getting a strong valence spike higher up in the building."

"Ilyssa said that she was called to the 12th floor. Let's start there," Ray suggested.

The group passed through the clusters of ghosts along the way as they made their way to the elevator area to go up, but nothing happened when they pressed the button to call the elevator.

"They must have shut down the power when they closed," Ray said.

"And now that?" Priere asked. "Should we take the stairs?"

"I guess that's what it's supposed to be, if we can't use the elevator," Winston said.

"Remember that the stairs were destroyed the last time we were here by the level 3 animator you found the other day. Only someone who can fly or jump very high could use that route now," Eve said.

"Right, and besides, our equipment is too heavy to make those kinds of jumps," Egon said.

"Yeah, that's right. I forgot you and Priere weren't here last time, Winston. So no stairs, no elevators…" Ray clarified. Suddenly they heard a strange noise all over the place. "Did you hear something?"

"It was that way!" Rena exclaimed, starting to run.

The group moved through the room until they reached the area before the stairs.

"I think we're dealing with a Level Five Anchored Ambusher! Be careful," Ray warned.

"It went into the stairwell!" Winston exclaimed. "We've got it cornered!"

"But how many types of ghosts do you have cataloged?" Kairi asked. "You have animators, omnivagants, possessors…"

"And more there is, miss. We have cataloged a total of 25 variants of paranormal entities. One up, one down," Egon said.

"Help!" exclaimed a feminine voice behind the door.

"This is just how a Level Five Anchored Ambusher lures you in!" Ray warned.

"Less talk and more action!" Priere exclaimed.

The group opened the door and entered the stairwell looking for any threat.

But the only thing they found was the hotel Manager, which left everyone confused.

"The Manager?" Ray asked, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Ghosts! Monsters! Everywhere!" The director said, apparently terrified.

"Is there anyone else here with you?" Kairi asked. "I say this because we have heard a woman scream."

The director looked at them, apparently offended. "Look, I just said 'ghosts and monsters everywhere'. Does that sound like I'm alone?

"I didn't mean that," Kairi said. "I meant if there was another person with you."

"Then, yes… I think so," The director answered. But then a ghostly echo appeared in the stairwell, causing him to scream… in a woman's voice.

"Well, I guess that explains it," Ray said.

The girls looked at each other arching an eyebrow.

"Sir,there's no need to fear. These are just shadows; echoes of actual ghosts. They can't hurt you," Egon explained to the director.

"As we know," Makoto said.

"Come with us, sir, we can lead you to safety," Winston said.

The group left the stair area going back to the hall, but there they saw two ghosts heading for the elevator. But the most important thing about this couple was that the woman was not only dressed as an elegant harlot, in addition to carrying a hidden knife on her back while holding the other ghost's arm, she had a tattoo of a spider's web with a spider in the center in the back.

"My God!" The director exclaimed when he saw the ghost.

"Someone you know?" Winston asked upon seeing his reaction.

"I… don't know," Said the scared director. "Most of the old staff knows the story of the Spider Witch, a professional widow who did unimaginable things in a room on the 12th floor back in the 1920's," The man explained.

"From the looks of her, she must be a serial killer or similar," Rena guessed.

"Amazing!" Ray exclaimed excitedly. "How often does she manifest inside the hotel? Has she ever made physical contact? I can't believe I've never heard of her before!"

"Excuse him. He's passionate about her work," Winston said to the director.

"Ray, I have a feeling we're about to have as much contact with her as we'd ever want. The fluxes around her were at max. She may very well be the focal point for all this activity," Egon said with detection equipment at hand.

"So she's the one we need to take out to neutralize the node here, right?" Makoto asked.

"It seems that way," Kairi replied.

"By the way, to all this, what are you still doing here? Why didn't you evacuate with everyone else?" Rena asked the director.

"I came back last night to retrieve some payroll records, but the hotel won't let me out!" The man exclaimed, terrified. "The doors shut on me! And the phones are down too.

"That means we're trapped now too," Winston guessed. "And we have to hope that Peter and Edea figures out we're missing? There goes the weekend."

"Well, don't worry, I just have to break the doors and that's it," Priere proposed. "It won't be hard to make an exit."

"Believe me, I already tried. I've even thrown stones at the doors, and nothing. It's like they've been shielded or something," The manager explained.

"Well, if that's the case, we're toasted," Said Kairi crossed her arms.

"Not necessarily," Egon said. "The 12th floor is apparently the core of this node. If we can get the power back on, we can take the elevators."

"If the elevators don't eat us," Winston said.

"Yes, if the elevators don't eat us," Egon admitted.

"And Edea didn't reply about not coming here. I wonder why?" Makoto commented.

"Yes, now Nina could be useful to us with her magic and activate the elevators," Priere said.

"I think magic doesn't work that way with technology," Egon said.

"Where are the circuit breakers for this place?" Ray asked the director. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Uh… breakers," Said the director. "In my office. But the city came and turned off most of our power after the electrical fire on 3th floor. There's no way to turn it back on from here."

"That's inconvenient," Egon said

"Don't need to say that," Rena said.

"We've gotta find some way to get the elevators moving," Winston said to the group.

"There's a backup generator in the utility room of the kitchen. It's for emergency blackouts," Said the director.

"Perfect. Let's give it a try. To the kitchen!" Ray proposed.

"Wait. I don't think it's wise to search for it in the dark," Eve said. "Maybe Moby and Leby can activate the generator. I will send them to find it and activate it."

"Good idea. It wouldn't do me any good to be ambushed while searching without seeing what I have in front of me," Winston said.

"I'm with you. We'll stay here guarding the place while Eve's robots search for and activate the backup generator. But be careful, who knows what can happen here," Ray said.

After that, Moby and Levy left the room to look for the emergency generator.

"Hey Eve, are you sure you'll be okay while those two are away?" Kairi asked.

"Yes, don't worry. I can defend myself without them if necessary," Eve replied.

At that moment Rena looked to the side with a frown. "Well, this is the time to see if that's true," High Elf Archer said as she took the bow from her.

At that moment the ghostly echoes began to transform into zombie-like beings and began to run against the group.

"Sir, stay behind us! We take care of this!" Ray exclaimed to the director as he prepared his proton pack.

The Ghostbusters used their proton equipment against the malevolent echoes that were approaching them, while at the same time Kairi, Makoto and Priere were dedicated to hitting any ghost that got too close to them, supported by Rena who was dedicated to shooting her arrows at them. the farthest ones to alleviate the large number of enemies approaching, while Eve used her arsenal against them showing that she did not need her two drones to defend herself.

They eventually cleared up the ground floor of the malevolent echoes that attacked them.

"Can somebody tell me what happened?" Rena asked.

"Yeah, weren't they supposed to be 'harmless'?" Kairi asked Egon.

"I guess some of them apparently fulminate to this place. It doesn't seem like they're happy about it," Egon hypothesized.

"Are you sure?" Kairi asked.

Egon nodded. "I guess they will continue to manifest as long as this node is active."

"Well, we must finish off as soon as possible with that Spider Witch," Priere said.

"With the elevators without power, we aren't going to do much about it," Ray said.

Just at that moment the light returned to the building, illuminating everything.

"Hey, look! The little ones did it!" Winston exclaimed.

"Did you doubt Moby and Leby?" Eve asked Winston.

"I didn't doubt them! Only believed that it would take longer for them to turn on the generator. With so much paranormal stuff in this place," Winston explained.

At that moment Egon put his psychokinetic tracker to work. "Okay, it looks like the psycho-mass has come to rest about 190 feet above our heads."

"The 13th floor," Ray guessed.

"This hotel has no 13th floor!" exclaimed the director, apparently indignant. "None of the grand old hotels do!"

"Man's got a strong argument," Winston said.

"If you speak about superstitions, he's not wrong about that," Eve said. "Although I see it a bit illogical, in my opinion."

"We'll split the difference," Ray suggested. "Egon, you, Kairi, Priere and Eve go to the 12th floor. Winston, I, Rena and Makoto will check out the 14th floor. Sir, if you'll please join us."

"Fine. But stay in contact. This site is extraordinarily dangerous," Egon warned.

"Wait, why with you and not with them?" Makoto asked.

"I'm sorry, but we currently need at least one expert in close combat in each group in case there are any problems," Egon explained.

"Also, maybe it's my imagination but I think you should stop following the girl for once," Winston said, referring to the fact that Makoto has always gone where Kairi went.

"Okay, whatever…" Makoto said sulkily.

Splitting up, Egon, Kairi, Priere, and Eve took the elevator up to the 12th floor at the same time the rest took another elevator to the 14th floor, hoping to cover more ground in their search.

"Egon, what were you saying earlier about the mandala node?" Winston asked over the radio.

"You mean why do we keep seeing new ghosts?" Egon asked.

"Yes," Was Winston's reply.

"I wonder that too," Kairi said.

"Okay," Egon began to explain. "Think of the mandala as a city bus line. At the bus station, ghosts, or waiting passengers, are drawn into the system here and trapped. This concentrates his PK energy which is then eventually forced through to the next node, or 'station', and so on, until it all ends up at a final terminus. At each successive bus station, the station manager absorbs some of the energy. This makes the station manager, or Node Guardian, stronger, so that it can keep the ghosts in line and destroy anyone who comes to the station to interfere with the flow. These nodes or bus stations gather the power used to feed a central point thus creating a much bigger threat to our world. Does that make more sense now?

The girls who were with him were just either frozen or shook their heads looking more confused than they were before. The only one who seemed to have understood something was Eve.

"TTTE. Totally Trapped Transit Company," Winston replied.

"Yeah, you were going strong right up until the passengers got trapped inside the bus station," Ray commented.

"Remind me not to take the bus in Egon's neighborhood," Makoto commented over the radio.

"Seriously, and I thought that my history teacher was bad in his explanations," Kairi commented.

Suddenly the light suddenly went out, the red emergency light lighting up immediately, but the most sudden thing was the appearance of the Spider Witch and her 'victim' in the elevator, causing everyone to back up to the walls in fright.

"I say, young lady, you are full of surprise!" exclaimed the ghost to the Spider Witch. "After you, my dear!"

Both specters left the elevator, returning everything to normal.

"Well. That was terrifying," Egon commented, with his PKE detector in hand.

"You say it again. I didn't expect that," Kairi commented, breathing heavily after shock.

"Be extremely careful. This is likely to be a point of dangerous concentration," Egon warned.

"Don't need to repeat it," Priere said.

After the warning, the elevator doors opened and they entered the 12th floor.

"Odd," Egon said, pointing the PKE detector at him everywhere. "It's coming from everywhere and nowhere. Impossible to get a significant fix," Then he radioed. "Ray, come in. Are you there?"

"Egon. What happened? We lost you for a minute there," Ray said over the radio.

"We had a close contact," Egon reported.

"We even saw her lipstick mark by how close we got to her," Priere said.

"I've got some more information on the Spider Witch ghost," Ray said. "Manager says authorities never found her but…"

"The bodies were hung from the ceiling!" exclaimed the director. "They were drained of blood and dragged around!"

"He says the victims were found in a pretty bad state," Ray said.

"Yes, we have already heard you, thanks," Eve said.

"The walls were painted in blood! Furniture was half chewed and crushed and piled in a corner like a giant nest!" The manager explained.

"She seems to have van-"

"We already heard, Ray! Thank you very much!" Kairi interrupted.

"Hm. I don't want to be hung from a ceiling and drained from blood," Egon commented.

"I'll tell you this: I do NOT want to be found in bad shape… OR vandalized," Winston commented on the radio.

"Neither you nor anyone else," Kairi commented.

"I think that sentiment is unanimous," Ray said.

"Seriously, can you tell me what the heck happened in that woman's head?" Makoto asked over the radio.

"Given what we know, she could be one of the former associates of a certain lunatic architect," Rena guessed, heard on the radio.

Just as Egon kicked open one of the double doors, for a second and before the lights went out they spotted a strange huge spider creature walking away from them, and heard a most sinister female laugh. When the lights came back on, there was no sign of the creature.

"Anyone else have the creeps?" Kairi asked.

The group moved down the hall a few meters, attentive to what might happen. But then Egon picked up his radio

"Ray! Come in!" Egon called over the radio.

"Yes, what's up?" Ray asked.

"What was the Spider Witch's room number?" Egon asked.

"1221," The director answered. "After her spree, it was locked up. Until about five years ago when we remodeled."

"The 1221? Didn't Ilyssa say that she appeared in front of that room back in the station?" Rena asked over the radio.

"I am beginning to see a pattern in this matter," Kairi said.

The group kept going until they turned a corner, where they found the corridor becoming more chaotic, with everything full of cobwebs, with sacks of cobwebs included.

"Okay, one of two: we are on the right floor, or the cleaning and maintenance service is a disaster," Kairi commented upon seeing the sorry state of the hallway.

"Oh, greet our visitors," Said a sinister female voice that echoed through the hall.

And just then dozens of spiders began to appear and pounce on them, forcing Egon and Eve to keep them at a distance with the weapons they had while Kairi used whatever spell was available, leaving Priere to deal with those who got too close, until which eventually got rid of the spiders.

"We are not alone," Egon commented.

The girls nodded, continuing down the hall as they kept running into more spiders, but these weren't the only problem they ran into.

For example, when they saw how one of those spiders approached them through a crossing, they saw how a long tongue impaled the spider and took it where the tongue came from.

"Shh. Not a single noise," Kairi said, recognizing that kind of language.

When they peeked around the corner, they saw a Licker slowly circling the hallway, indicating that the place might be infested with Fallen as well. They thought of a way to get rid of it, but luckily another pack of spiders caught its attention, which they took advantage of to cross to the other side of the intersection to avoid more problems.

As they moved forward, not only did they have to deal with more spiders, but also more Fallen like Skeleton Soldiers and Skeleton Archers, which made the mission quite complicated, plus the entire hallway seemed to become more distorted as they went.

And to make matters worse, they began to hear the ghost's voice.

"My ankles? Goodness, we hardly know each other! Not, I… Who… what are you?! No…! Help! No! Please… AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"That didn't sound good at all," Kairi said worried.

"We just witnessed one of the Spider Witch's attacks," Eve said.

"This can't get any worse, right?" Eve asked.

Then Egon looked at them with serious concern.

"It's the Ghostworld crossing through! Happening sooner than we expected!" Exclaimed Egon. "It looks like this is where the node is focused! We could use some help!"

"Good idea," Kairi said, looking around her.

Egon quickly grabbed his radio. "Ray, are you there?! Come in Ray!" But he had no response, addressing them. "Looks like it's up to us... let's find 1221 and finish this."

"If there is no choice," Kairi commented.

The group continued down the corridor, until they came to a fork.

"It's strange," Eve said. "If all the floors have the same distribution, this bifurcation should not exist here."

"This floor is undergoing significant metamorphosis," Egon said. "Ghostworld is aggressively encroaching on ours. It's not even utilizing a portal. This is very bad."

"And now where are we going?" Kairi asked.

Then Egon turned around, reacting to what was behind him. "Watch out! We got company!"

Behind the group a small group of Crossbow Armor had appeared, taking aim at them and firing immediately. The group quickly moved to avoid the arrows which impacted with the wall causing an ice explosion that froze the fork in a block of ice.

Unfortunately, Kairi and Eve stayed on one side of the ice wall, while Egon and Priere stayed on the other side.

"Are you OK?" Kairi asked, hoping to be heard despite the block of ice.

"We are ok!" Exclaimed Egon. "I highly doubt we can break through this ice in time, even with Priere's strength. I suggest we continue along the path before us. Hopefully it will lead us back to the original route and to the room we are looking for."

"Okay!" Kairi exclaimed. "Can you take care of him, Priere?"

"Do not worry. I'll take care of the brainiac," Priere replied.

"Okay, we'll meet at 1221," Kairi said. 'If we find it…'

At that point both groups took separate routes, with Kairi and Eve going one way, and Egon and Priere going the other way.

At his side, Kairi and Eve made their way down their hallway, careful to watch out for any Fallen or spiders that might come their way.

"Kairi, we need to talk," Eve said.

"Now?" Kairi asked.

"Yes, now," Eve replied. "It's about the spy."

Kairi looked at the Nasod for a moment.

"Right," Kairi said. "Have you found out if you're right yet?"

"Yes, that's it. There is no room for doubt," Eve replied.

"And do you know who he is?"

"If I'm not wrong, and I'm not, our spy is the squirrel woman."

Kairi stopped, looking from her to Eve in surprise.

"Makota? Are you sure?" Kairi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"To begin with, you should have guessed from the start," Eve said. "Didn't you think it was a little strange that she helped us earlier, taking part of the punishment for the damage caused to that building?"

"A little, but from there to her being a spy. It could have been a coincidence," Kairi said. "And what makes you think it's really her?"

"The last signal I detected lasted longer than the other times," Eve replied. "Tell me, did something happen to Makoto while you were in the museum?"

"Well, she was attacked by a possessor, and Ray had to help her."

"And how long did it take to do that?"

"I have no idea!" Kairi exclaimed. "I only know that she was attacked just as we encountered that giant skeletal Fallen, and by the time we finished him off Ray had already freed her from her possessor."

"So, in theory that fight lasted a few minutes, right?"

"Hm, right," Kairi said with a hand on her chin.

"Well, the transmission signal lasted about that long," Eve said. "My theory is that Makoto was trying to transmit to her contact when she was attacked by the possessor, causing the transmission to last quite a while."

Kairi was surprised at Eve's exposition. And she was partly right in her suspicion, as said transmissions happened just as Makoto disappeared from their sight. Except when they were in the Ghostworld during the events of the library of course, although it is true that no one saw her for a moment after returning from there.

She felt disappointed that someone she trusted was spying on her behind her back. But she also felt angry inside about it.

But first things first, and that was to close her mandala, both here and at the last location, even if she is in the middle of the river.

"Thanks for the information, but for now, not a word to the rest. We must settle this matter before dealing with Makoto," Kairi told Eve.

"Yes, you're right," Eve admitted.

Following their path down the hall, until they reached a section of the floor that was indeed on Eve's blueprints, it was just then that they ran into Priere and Egon.

"Hey! Are you OK?" Kairi asked both of them.

"Yes, although we only ran into a friend," Prior replied.

"If an armor with a giant shield and a large repeater cannon for an arm can be called 'friend'," Egon commented.

At that moment Egon began to check the numbers on the doors. "1220… 1222. N 1221."

"What you say?" Kairi asked.

The girls checked the doors of the section, and Egon was right: 1221 was missing.

"Where is it?" Egon wondered. "1221 has to be here."

"Well, it's not here!" Priere exclaimed. "Anyone see it?"

"Perhaps they have moved it from its post," Kairi suggested.

"Impossible. Room 21 is assigned to this point on all floors. They can't have moved an entire room somewhere else," Eve said.

The group began to look around to see if they could find the room without much success, although Kairi noticed something subtle. Around the doors there always seems to be some ornamentation that helps visually to find the doors. That being the case, why did such ornamentation surround a wall made of cobwebs?

Kairi approached said wall and hit it with her hands. It looked like a normal wall, but also something else.

"Egon, girls, I think I just found the door," Kairi said, pointing to the wall.

Egon used the PKE detector on him by directing him at the wall, causing the device to react on him.

"Good thinking!" Exclaimed Egon. "It was here all along. We just need to return it to its place. Stand aside."

At that moment Egon began to use the Slime booster against the wall, and eventually made the entrance to room 1221 appear.

"Alright, everyone inside," Eve said.

Everyone entered the room, which was just as chaotic as the rest of the floor, almost everything covered in cobwebs, not to mention what looked like hanging bodies wrapped in cobwebs.

"Well, this looks inviting," Egon commented on the room.

"If by inviting you mean terrifying," Kairi said.

The group continued to advance through the room, Kairi wondering what kind of atrocities this Spider Witch did in said room when she was alive. One can only think what could happen if said entity remained active for too long.

"I don't like the look of this, but we're run out of options," Egon commented.

"Yes, we can only do one thing. Locate the Spider Witch and destroy her. There is no other way," Kairi said.

"Come to me, little man."

That sudden voice startled the group, who all looked around. Despite this, they continued to explore the macabre room until they passed into what seemed more like a huge dark cavern with few traces of the hotel, but that place seemed more like a giant spider's nest.

But as they continued to investigate, they noticed that something was watching them in the dark.

"Which ones are these? These are not mine," The sinister female voice said, apparently tempting Egon. "Everyone here is mine. The quiet men, the angry men, the hungry men, the scuttling ones… Yes! Now you are here and that means you are mine."

"Sorry!" Priere exclaimed. "But the brainiac is not the only one here. If you want him, you'll have to go through us first!"

"Priere, ask before you say things like that, okay?" Kairi asked.

"Oh, don't worry," Said the voice of the Spider Witch. "I have always had a predilection for men, but I think I can make an exception for you. After all, I've never played with someone who wasn't… human."

Kairi didn't know that she cared more, that she was going to make an exception for them, or that she knew of her esper nature.

"This will not hurt a bit. You're going to feel a tiny prick."

"I don't know about us, but what we have for you is going to hurt you," Priere said.

Then they heard the voice laugh, and just then they saw the Spider Witch appear climbing the walls and ceiling as she had the body of a giant spider instead of legs, immediately dropping down a wall to the ground and charging at Kairi using the front legs like pikes with the intention of impaling her.

Kairi stepped back as he repelled the legs with his Keyblade trying to keep the Spider Witch, who was focused on her, at bay. Which left her exposed so that Priere could strike her with his staff on the side of the spider body, at the same time that Eve used her armory and Egon used his Proton beam against the Spider Witch's human torso, although she seemed to be able to resist. the blows smoothly while continuing to attack Kairi with its front paws.

Fortunately Kairi was able to get away enough to launch a Firaga at the Spider Witch, though she vanished like smoke on impact as she laughed.

"Where has she been?" Priere asked, looking around. "Come back here, you coward!"

"I do not like this at all," Egon commented as he looked around her with his PKE detector in hand.

"Oh, you've come to play games? Well, I know lots of games" Said the echo of the Spider Witch through the cavern. "And someone, who has been kind to me, has lent me several 'toys' for you."

Just then several sacks of cobwebs fell to the ground from the ceiling, breaking apart and revealing several Skeleton Soldiers and Archers inside, which began to rise up to attack the group.

"It would be good for us if the others were here too," Said Kairi before preparing to fight the Fallen.

The group began to engage the Fallen that had appeared, with Eve and Egon firing from range with their gear while Kairi and Priere engaged them in close combat. But if things couldn't get worse, it was at that moment that the Spider Witch decided to appear again.

"Really? Now?" Priere complained after sending the skull of a Skeleton Soldier flying.

"Let's deal with her reinforcements and then focus on her," Egon suggested as he struck down a Skeleton Archer with his proton beam.

The group continued to destroy the remaining Fallen in the place, while Kairi tried to keep her distance from the Spider Witch who had started attacking her again with her legs, as well as launching projectiles at her, which Kairi blocked with her barrier, but it was clear that being always on the defensive couldn't always work.

Fortunately, Eve was free to use her artillery against the paranormal entity, trying to avoid hitting Kairi in the process, but she already had practice avoiding the indiscriminate attacks from her companions in previous battles.

And just then Priere got rid of the last Fallen standing there and decided to jump onto the Spider Witch's back, using her staff to grab her by the neck as she thrashed around trying to get the demon woman off of her, leaving her exposed for Eve to see. Kairi and Egon, who was recently able to focus on the Spider Witch, attacked her with everything they had to damage her as much as possible.

Until suddenly the Spider Witch went up in smoke, and Priere fell to the ground on her butt, the latter complaining about her fall.

"Again?" Kairi asked.

"Stay tuned. Who knows what she will attack us with this time," Egon warned, aiming his detector around him.

As Priere got to his feet, they began to hear spider-leg noises with bone-joint noises echoing throughout the room.

"I know that sound," Kairi said, looking around her with the Keyblade at the ready. "Watch out."

And at that moment, climbing over the edge of the platform, a Bone Tarantula appeared, roaring at the group as it faced them as they heard the Spider Witch's laughter, which caused two more Bone Tarantulas to ascend as well, surrounding the entire group.

"Are you serious?" Priere asked, looking at the newly arrived Fallen..

"And just one is problematic enough," Kairi said, looking at the Bone Tarantulas, then spotted the Spider Witch appearing behind the Fallen.

Eve was quick to create a barrier around her to keep the enemy out of her, even though they began attacking the barrier to try to get through with her claws.

"This doesn't work. Even if we damage the Spider Witch, she can disappear and summon more enemies," Eve said.

"And who knows if she can recover her energy despite the damage caused," Egon said.

"The only way to end this is to finish her off with one blow," Eve said.

"Too bad the rest of the heavy artillery is on another floor," Priere said, preparing to fight in case the barrier gave way.

Kairi thought for a moment, coming to a single conclusion for the situation, despite the risks.

"Egon, according to you, this place is the Ghostworld, isn't it?" Kairi asked Egon, capturing the attention of the others.

"Actually we are somewhere between our world and the Ghostworld, so we are at the same time between both worlds and neither," Egon explained.

"What if, in anyone's words, something catastrophic happened here suddenly?" Kairi asked.

Egon looked at her confused, but soon understood what the questions were about. "Technically we are more inside the Ghostworld than our own. Most surely the Sedgewick Hotel will feel a small part of the event if that happens," Egon replied.

"That's what I wanted to know!" Kairi exclaimed, immediately releasing her Esper form, and using her fire wings Kairi flew out of the barrier.

Coming out of it, the enemy realized that Kairi was outside the barrier and the Fallen began to climb the walls to attack her from the ceiling, with the Spider Witch leading the charge. But Kairi was undeterred by the enemy advance and began to fly around the room at ceiling height, taking turns hitting both the Bony Tarantulas and the Spider Witch, while the group watched as Kairi dealt with them.

"I will never get tired of seeing the potential of a half-Phoenix Esper," Egon commented, at the same time that Priere looked to Eve to remove the barrier but she refused, shaking her head.

After dealing several blows to the enemy, Kairi decided to end the fight, generating a huge fireball in his Keyblade and throwing it at the Spider Witch at point blank range.

The impact caused a violent explosion that also hit the Bone Tarantulas who fell abruptly to the ground and were instantly destroyed. That explosion could have affected the rest of the group if not for Eve's barrier, and was greatly affected by the violence of the explosion.

When they realized, they saw the Spider Witch fall to the ground in agony, while her spider body writhed and her legs began to fold in on themselves.

Before they could say anything, there was a flash and they all found themselves back in the real world, right in the Ruby Ballroom inside the Sedgewick.

"Okay, when we got here?" Priere asked, looking around.

"It's best not to think about that," Eve suggested, the moment everyone saw the mandala map on the wall.

Just as at that moment one of the glowing symbols went out. They had managed to shut down the Sedgewick's node.

"Ray, Winston, Rena, Makoto, come in. You there?" Egon called on the radio.

"Egon! What happened? You alright?" Ray asked over the radio.

"Thanks for remembering us, Ray," Kairi commented sarcastically, just as he returned to his normal form.

"The girls found the 13th floor and we shut it down. PKE levels are back to acceptable parameters. This node of the mandala is fully neutronized," Egon explained.

"Alright!" Exclaimed Winston.

"Where are you? We went back down to the 12th floor and couldn't find anything. Everything seems pretty normal," Rena said over the radio.

"Ray almost had a heart attack when we didn't find you on the 12th floor," Makoto said over the radio. Kairi frowned as she heard her voice over the radio.

"Very funny, Makoto," Ray replied.

"Looks like we're back in the Ruby Ballroom. We'll meet you at Ecto-1," Egon called.

"Okay!" Makoto said before Ray cut off the communication.

At that moment Egon noticed Kairi's serious expression.

"Something happens?"

"No, nothing," Kairi lied to Egon.

"Well, anyway, we only have one node left to shut down, so let's hurry up before it's too late," Egon said.

Egon was right. The priority now was to close the last node of the mandala as soon as possible. Kairi would deal with Makoto later.