X. The Faulty Treaty

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***

"How was that possible?", Irina asked when the three of them settled in the kitchen of the manor. Is this going to be my life now, she wondered. Just when she thought things were starting to unravel, so did the troubles. She couldn't even have a day break from the misfortunes, but she couldn't complain, knowing that Lucian and Evangelyn had been dealing with these "things" far longer than her. And probably would for the rest of their lives.

"I thought you said Umbra is only attracted to places and people with highly depressing spirits, and even if that's the case, it shouldn't happen in day time?", she followed up.

Lucian remained silent and looked at the girls. He was still recovering from the choking, it felt like it fractured his neck. Irina already suggested to use the same "cloth" he had used before to heal her wounds. Lucian had explained it had magical healing properties, but it worked only like a band aid, just a first aid to close wounds. It couldn't heal beyond the skin.

"No, it shouldn't", Evangelyn answered, seeing that Lucian was having a hard time speaking, "at least not with those regular Nightmares. These creatures feed from spirit energy. Once they reach a certain level, they could assimilate a living body whose soul is tainted with enough negativity. That's the only time a Nightmare can physically walk on our plane, like those who attacked you in the hospital."

"Assimilate? Don't you mean, possess?", Irina asked, confused.

"Not possess, but assimilate. The difference is assimilation takes time but it's permanent. Nightmares dwells in both the physical body and the soul like a parasite. Both body and soul must break at the same time. If the body breaks first but the soul resists, the host goes crazy. You remember how a crazy person loses the perception of holy and negative?", Eve asked as if making sure she was following everything they taught her. Irina nodded.

"In both cases, the Nightmare fails to assimilate, so it will remain but a spirit energy on earth. It will have grown stronger from consuming the soul of its last host, which is its problem, because it would be too strong to find a host with a strong spirited soul to consume, and a strong body to withstand it.

"That's why we, the hunters, kill Nightmares at the earliest chance, especially those that haven't assimilated yet. You know how it is, break them while they're young, right?" Eve finished, smirking.

"I wouldn't really use that phrase. But you also said that spiritual energy cannot be destroyed.", she said, more like a question.

"That's right. Its remnants linger." Eve replied.

"Then, what happens to the spirit of the Nightmares you kill?", she asked.

"It dissipates into smaller and pure spirit energy. You can think of our killing as "purging". You saw the weapons we have? Those are spirit artifacts made from our very own spirit energy. Everytime we kill a Nightmare with it, some of its spirits become part of us. Consume or be consumed right?"

"Right. So, if those regular Nightmares aren't powerful enough to call the Umbra..", she didn't finish her question, Eve already had an answer.

"Those Nightmares who are lucky enough to assimilate a powerful host could summon the Umbra at will. They are called Spectres. I've only heard of them, never fought one before. They were exterminated 15 years ago in the "Greater Holy Purification", or so the leaders of ARK say." Eve replied.

Irina unconsciously pulled her hair with her finger. There were lots of things she still didn't know. She continued asking, "Do you know how strong they are?"

"Only from the files I read. They are 100 times more powerful than the average Nightmare. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?" Eve said with a smile.

"That's absurd! He didn't seem that strong, I mean, you or even Lucian alone was beating him and his lackeys.", referring to the elves.

"That's because he just assimilated it", it was Lucian who answered as he stretched his neck. "It's killing Hunters to get used to its powers, and leaving their corpse on purpose to taunt us, so we'd hunt him, only to realize we're the prey. It still hasn't tapped the full potential of its host, the Elf Prince, but once it does, Eve's right. He'll be a hundred times stronger. He'll summon an entire army of elves. And he'll control the Umbra at will. Best case scenario, we'll be trapped for one hour only."

She felt her blood leave her head. That five minutes felt like a whole day, just trying to stay alive. One hour against an army? They would be dead for sure.

"You knew it was a potential Spectre, didn't you?", Evangelyn asked. "You would only ask for help if you knew there's a one percent chance it could endanger you."

Lucian nodded, "The old man told me. Hearing that it killed four of us, I had suspected it could be a demi human, and to our misfortune, it had to be an elf, and the elf prince, no less."

"That's what confuses me", Irina said, "You were completely fine on your own, even after he called his lackeys."

"Royal Guards", Lucian corrected between his chuckle. He seemed amused to how she's addressing the elves.

"Yeah, whatever those cowards are. You had plenty of chances to finish him, I mean, you even avenged your fellow Hunters by cutting his fingers one at a time. You had me call Eve as a precaution, but isn't it counterintuitive to drop your sword and fight them bare handed?", Irina said with a serious tone.

"Technically, I didn't drop my sword-"

"That's beyond the point!", she could feel the corner of her eyes burning. She's both worried and mad at how he acted. "You wanted me to stay behind you to be safe but what you did was suicide. So, why?"

"I understand you're angry, and I don't blame you. I know I put your life in danger."

"That's not my concern! You acted so rashly without thinking. What was that about? Were you showing off? Did you really have a death wish?! Answer me!"

She couldn't believe she bursted out like that. Even Evangelyn looked shocked at how angry she was, but remained silent.

"I don't have to explain everything to you.", he said, as he stood up to leave. "I'm getting some rest."

She hated him for walking out like that. He was back to his grim, arrogant self, like the first time they met, or technically, the second time they met in the hospital.

Evangelyn caressed her back. She didn't notice her tears fall when he left the common area. "I'm so pathetic. I was a burden that needed protecting, and I just wanted to help.. but all I did was shout at him", she cried, intentionally avoiding to say she wanted to show she cared.

"Listen, Rin", Evangelyn said, "Lucian is the most intelligent person I know when it comes to our job as Rangers. He wasn't toying with the elf bastard when he cut its fingers, instead of its neck. He wasn't showing off when he fought bare handed. And certainly, he didn't call for me to make an excuse to stop your date."

"What date? I never said anything about that!", she protested, blushing.

"I'm kidding! You should see how red your face turned", Eve said in laughter. "But do you know why he did those things?"

Irina listened intently.

"It's because of the freaking faulty Treaty that favors royalty. He could only cut the fingers of that elf, because that was the only part of him that transformed to a Nightmare. When he saw the Royal Emerald, he immediately knew it was the Royal Elf Prince he was fighting, and a Treaty clause prohibits us from raising our spirit artifacts to attack them, and that prohibition extends to the Royal Guards within 100 meters of the prince. He may be a Nightmare but he's still the elf prince, and the elf race is stubborn that way. Had Lucian carelessly slit that bastard's throat right away, there would be war among races, and we cannot afford that when our hands are already full of Nightmares.", Eve explained in details.

Irina felt guilty after hearing that from Eve. She was just concerned but she ended up shouting at Lucian. Her lack of friends made it difficult to project her feelings appropriately.

"Do you want to know why he called me? I'm sure you think, he could have asked for Siegfried, so why Evangelyn, is she that special?" Eve teased. She could feel her cheeks warming up but she let Eve finish.

"That's because of my harisen and my sealing arts. I didn't have to kill them. My harisen is an artifact from Mikofujo clan with shamanic runes for dispelling, if it hits anything that is summoned in the last three minutes, it will send them back to where they were. I was the perfect match to them given the situation, to avoid a war.", Eve blinked as if bragging.

"But you guys said I shot the prince. Wouldn't that cause a war?" she asked.

"The Treaty is between ARK and the elves. Good thing you're not with the ARK.", Eve answered.

"Right.", she disappointedly replied. "Good thing."

"But not for long. You still want to be like 'us'?"