The instruction written on the picture Rebecca sent was precise and needed to be followed one by one.
There was only a simple instruction, and Kai was confident he could follow it. Still, there was one embarrassing part of the instruction.
"Do I need to recite this spell loudly?"
Even if there was no one besides him and the ghost in this place, he was still a bit embarrassed to recite a spell that sounded straight from a movie loudly.
As he was still looking at the screen, he didn't realize that the ghost's tentacle was already in front of him, flying at a fast speed toward him.
"Woah." He jumped in the air with considerable strength. His body looked like it floated in the sky as he turned around. The gravity took him, and he slowly fell to the ground, head first.
As he fell, he passed the ghost, and it attacked him again with its many tentacles. Using the Phoenix fire, he propelled himself away and fixed his posture. Unfortunately, without fusing with Amber, he couldn't create a fire strong enough to fly.
However, the fire was enough for him to move around in the sky like a water jet. They came out from his palms and feet, propelling him each time he was about to fall.
"Let's try it."
Kai muttered as he slowly descended to the ground.
"GarARASSAAAAaaa! MeeEee!! fAAMoooUUusss!!" The ghost let out a deafening scream as it jumped with its tentacles. Its gooey body splashed on the ground, creating a loud smashing sound and cracking the road beneath.
For something that had an astral body that couldn't be affected by a normal attack, it indeed packed some punch. That contradiction was really interesting and curious.
Many people still didn't know why the ghost was like that.
But they had a theory that the ghost was something bound to this world by their emotion, thus could affect the mortal plane. At the same time, they weren't really in this world, so they couldn't be affected by the phenomenon of this world.
They were at a place that was called 'Between the World' and could freely pass the mortal and astral planes. Usually, that would make them incredible and invincible. But they had a glaring weakness.
They had a dark element tendency because they had no body. So something like an exorcism technique was effective against them.
Kai stood in front of the ghost and opened his palms. He concentrated and moved his Spirit Power, moving them toward the tip of his fingers and condensing them. A pale blue aura lit on the tip of his fingers, wriggling around like a flame.
"I hope this really works."
While in theory that Rebecca told him this would work, Kai was still skeptical and ready to run anytime. He glanced at his escape route toward the Slayer Organization's main office in case this technique didn't work.
The ghost seemingly noticed what he tried to do and moved toward him. It shot its tentacles toward Kai, which he dodged skillfully with minimum movement.
The tentacles smashed into the ground, making a loud impact.
"Ash to ash. Dust to dust."
With his arms extended, Kai began to recite his spell while arching through the sky. He dragged his hands across the air in a swift motion, crossing with each other. Two pale blue grid clawing patterns stayed in the air, floating still as the ghost moved toward him.
Narrowing his eyes, he raised his fore and middle finger, creating a seal with his hand as he softly landed on the ground.
"Dirt to dirt. Death to death."
The crossing five clawing patterns began to take shape with light fluttering movements. The ghost was coming toward them, and the patterns were approaching it. As soon as they touched, the ghost screamed in agony.
"Flesh to flesh. Spirit to spirit."
Kai extended both hands, closing the clawing patterns over the ghost's body. The ghost looked like it was in pain as if it wanted to cry. The sight was surreal. The simple pattern became a web, tying the ghost's body as it glowed a bright blue light.
The ghost screamed and twisted its body like it was trying to free itself from the web. But it couldn't escape. It was tied tightly with the web. The web was also very thin, but Kai couldn't see any cracks or damage to it.
Amazed as he was, he still needed to finish the spell.
"Life to life. Gone to where you are from!"
The web started to shrink until it completely disappeared, and the ghost began to grow brighter as its body became smaller and smaller. It stopped screaming when it became so small that Kai could barely see it anymore.
He released his Spirit Power from the spell as soon as it finished and stood there idly. This was the first spell he had ever done. Somehow, the feelings he got from defeating the ghost with a spell felt different from when he used fire and his fist to beat his enemy.
"It's over."
The ghost was completely gone without a trace, leaving only a pale blue mist behind in its place.
"Phew." Kai breathed in relief and began to walk toward his restaurant. "I decided." He muttered, looking at the sky.
He took down the barrier he created, and the purplish dark sky turned into a normal one, darkness without any shining stars. "I officially hate ghosts."
***
Arriving at the front of his restaurant, Kai noticed Marcus was drinking with his friends, John and Billy. They laughed merrily as they played some card games.
At that moment, he felt like he saw Marcus' shadow move slightly, making him stop before he entered his restaurant. He narrowed his eyes to see it clearly, but the shadow didn't move at all.
In the end, he heaved a sigh as he scratched the back of his head.
'I guess I am getting tired from exorcizing a ghost earlier.'
He opened the door of his restaurant and noticed Amber sitting on one of the chairs. She turned to him and smiled warmly, waving her hand.
"Welcome back, Kai."
Kai smiled slightly at the warm welcome. "I am back." He said as he walked toward her and pulled a chair for him. "You know what? I met something rather scary on the way back."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"A ghost." He shuddered as he hugged his body. "I certainly don't want to meet any of them anymore."
"Fufufu." Amber chuckled at him. "So you met that nasty creature, huh?"
"Yeah! Listen…" He began to tell the Phoenix girl about his experience earlier. They talked with each other while laughing each time he made a strange gesture.
Meanwhile, in the stall where Marcus and his friends were playing cards, the old man's eyes flashed a strange light as he looked at the restaurant. Then he glanced at his shadow and muttered, "Gozu."
His shadow wriggled before a part of it shot toward the dark alleyway. It happened so quickly that it was invisible to normal human eyes.
"What's wrong, Marcus?" The old man with a mustache, John, asked Marcus curiously. "It's your fucking turn. Just go at it."
Marcus turned to his friend before bursting into laughter. "Bahahaha! My bad. It's just that there is some rat entering the city." He replied to John as he put his card on the table. "I won, bastards."
"Ah! You're so lucky." Billy, the other bearded old man, threw his cards on the table and heaved a long sigh. "Anyway, are you sure a rat has entered the city?"
"Yeah." Marcus nodded as he tidied the card. The winner was the next dealer, which was their rule in playing the game. "But you don't need to worry yet. I have released pesticide, so they will be exterminated sooner or later."
"Hmm…" Billy hummed, sipping his beer. "If you need help to exterminate the rat, just tell me. Some of my subordinates are working rather efficiently in exterminating rats."
"Hahahaha! This is just a small rat. Rather, you should ask your subordinate to deal with the bigger rat. Have you found it yet?"
"Not yet." Billy shook his head and turned to John. "How about your subordinates, John. Aren't they great at finding rats and cockroaches?"
"Hah! They are too rusty now." John slammed the glass filled with beer on the table as he scoffed. "They will find that big rat soon, though. I will make sure to inform you about that rat, Marcus."
"I appreciate it." Marcus nodded with a solemn gaze. A second later, a grin grew on his face as he laughed loudly. "Now, let's continue our game. Hahahaha. I will win again this time."
"In your dream! I will be the one who takes the win this time." John grinned as he took a big gulp of his beer.
"I will only do my best." Billy only smiled slightly at the sight of his old friends.
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