Chapter 1.4 The Haunted Mansion

"So this is your house?"

"I'm sorry"

We've somehow arrived all three together at their place. I looked at the surroundings, and I can say, they're all surrounded by an ocean of trees.

Earlier-, As I was pinned together by both of them, I continued to shout.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! FUCC- AHHHHHHH"

The Lich was in full force hugging my legs together trying to break them. But instead of actually breaking them, they just focus on making me feel the pain.

"You Stupid flat- AHHHHHH< I surrender, I surrender"

I tapped the Dark elf's arms signaling my surrender, She looked at me, But they didn't accept my white flag so easily, They still continued.

"AHHHH STOPPP"

"I'm really sorrryyy!" cried by the Dark elf.

"IF YOU'RE SORRY< STOPP AHHHHHH"

The two of them signaled each other. The lich asks.

"Do suru no? Kaiho suru?" (What to do? Free him?)

"Ehhhh, Yoroshidesu ka?"(Are you sure?)

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

I shouted in pain, to the point I'm starting to feel that my legs are numbing. I'm crying tears, I don't know what to do.

Big Sis, Mama, See you on the other side.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

I was knocked unconscious.

The moment I woke up, I saw the Dark elf and the Lich in front of me. There's grass on the ground, We're still at school.

"What, ahhh! my legs"

"You're alive?"

I looked at the Lich staring at me, I can still see that massive smoke of miasma behind her back.

I can't move my arms, Am I binded? There's rope tied from up to my shoulders down to my waist.

The Dark elf looked at me imitating an apologetic gesture and said.

"I'm really sorry about this"

"What's this about?"

"Can I ask you to spare my cousin?"

"Spare-"

I looked at the lich, I gulped my saliva in tense. feeling up my legs, I feel like I should be the one to be spared here.

"Why didn't you kill me instead?" I asked.

The Dark elf looked at me and said as she was wiping my head with a handkerchief.

"Eh? I'm not- like I said before, we're not bad people, I will not hurt you!"

"Heeh, Is that so?" But she did help her cousin hurt my legs.

The Lich looked at me with a heavy stare as I looked straight at her face. The Dark elf untied my ropes and helped me stand up. I'm surprised I can stand up while I can't feel my legs anymore.

I looked at her and asked.

"Why should I trust you?"

The lich knuckled her hands and said.

"Listen here red eye, Be grateful"

"I'm sorry"

I averted my gaze as I can't look directly at her eyes.

"Ugh my legs still hurts"

I looked at their house, or should I say Mansion. It's a 2 floor story mansion in pale cream paint that resembles a 15th century generic Villa.

A Haunted Villa exactly, or so it was.

"Ho Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas"

I looked at the Dark elf completely confused.

"Why are there still Christmas decorations in your house, It's June you know!"

"Ehhh, sorry I don't know actually"

Above their roof, there's a Christmas light with the design of Santa in a Red sleigh and Jesus behind him throwing gifts. It's even playing music.

"We've arrived here last summer May of this year and when we went here, the Santa Jesus was already there"

"Why didn't you take it?"

"We arrived here May 30, we focused on renovating the insides first, actually we hadn't even finished yet so we didn't have time to take it down."

"I see, but that Santa Jesus looks cool, don't take it down actually"

"Is that so? I could put that in mind"

"Yeah, By the way, where is that Flat chest --, Ughhh, My legs!"

My legs suddenly decided to palpitate. I pressed to pressure the pain. It seems the sensation on my legs is coming back, but in a needle-like ache. The Dark elf then looked at me worriedly and asked.

"Are you okay? We can aid it, does it really hurt that much?"

"What kind of Scorpion lock doesn't hurt! Ahh! how did you two learn those moves btw, was those Jiu jitsu? It hurts like hell"

"I'm sorry"

I jumped lightly trying to ignore the pain, The Dark elf still looked at me worriedly. I then noticed that my uniform is incredibly dirty.

"Just gonna ask you Dark elf"

"Hmm? What is it? you need aid?"

"Nope, but earlier, It might be true that you have no intent of hurting me, but you could just leave me and go home alone after you tied me up."

The Dark elf looked at me.

"Why I decided that huh, It might be a bright way Crimson but I'm looking at the brighter side, I thought that if I abandon you, you can just hunt me again tomorrow"

"That reasoning?"

"You see, instead of running away from your problem, I think it might be easier for yourself to solve it. If I can prove to you I'm really not a bad person and keep my promises, my future self won't suffer the consequences"

"Is that so? what if that choice was the wrong one?"

"I'll make it right!"

Such bold words. I took my dirty uniform and stored it in my backpack. All I have left to me is my Inner white T-shirt and my slacks. I then looked at the sky and slowly looked as the sun set down.

"It's 6pm huh, Should we go?"

When the nights hit the time 6, the sky will surely set down, turning everything into dark where monsters will appear.

Like we talked about before, she promised me a way to spare her life. Even though I was the one that got sparred.

I then looked at the forest. I must say, this mansion really is in a forest, there's a sea of trees and there's no nearby neighbors. I asked her as I prepared myself.

"Aren't you going to take off your uniform? It might get dirty"

"Hmm? oh this, It's a pain to switch clothes right now so I'll do it afterwards, I'll just lure enemies that we can take care of easily so don't worry"

"How does this work?"

"I'll show it to you afterwards"

"Where's the lich by the way?"

"Kuro-chan? She mentions she's going to get something first"

I looked straight at the tree.

"Is that so?"

Aren't these Molave and Mango trees? And it's pretty huge, I never knew this place existed before here in this City. I could feel the ominosity it delivers, there should be a lot of apparitions here rather than Ghouls and Oddities. I went ahead of the Dark elf to check upon it.

As the dark elf was about to follow me, the lich suddenly appeared and grabbed her shoulders.

The Dark elf jumped in surprise but went in ease as she saw the lich, The Lich told her.

"I'll make Dinner so be careful out there"

"Ah, You scared me earlier"

I ignored them and continued walking, but the lich called me.

"Red eye!"

I looked at her from a huge distance.

"Geeh, What do you want?"

She then threw something at me.

"Catch it!"

'What's this?"

I captured the thing she threw at me. When I looked at it, I saw that it was a small katana in red.

"You're going to fight apparitions right? take that with you! it's name is Heart-span"

I took a closer look at it. If I remember, small Katana like this are called Wakizashi, its scabbard colour is bright red whilst its handle is old crimson dark with gold Kashira and dragon sculpt inscriptions.

I then slowly unsheathed it, and as I did, the blade glowed.

My eyes open in astonishment as the blood-craving crimson blade collar radiates bright, its edge pattern looks deadly sharp and its point looks durable. It emits an ambience that this Wakizashi is not a simple Wakizashi.

The Lich opened her eyes in surprise.

"It's True"

"What's True?" I ask.

"You can have the sword"

"Wha-" I looked at the Sword "O-okay"

She gave me a suspicious yet cool looking sword out of the blue, is this not a trap or a scheme she's plotting? Perhaps it's cursed.

Heart-span is a bit lame name, I think I'll call it

"Chunraporicopo"

The Dark elf went to me and looked at the sword with bright eyes.

"Oh, The Heart-span, Its glowing"

"It's Chunraporicopo, You know this sword?"

"Kind of, It was mentioned to me that the Heart-span possess some kind of divinity that allows it to perform complete deletion to Apparitions"

My Chunraporicopo is an Enchanted weapon? That's awesome.

I look at the blade of the sword, then I notice a word encrypted to the blade.

"Dark elf, look, what is this?"

"Hmmm?" The Dark elf also looked at it too. "It seems to be a Kanji of Number 19"

"Number 19?"

"Yeah, that's what it says here"

"Ohh, weird, are you sure I can have this?"

"She gave it to you? how weird, I guess it's fine"

"Is that so" Is this really not a trap?

We went together in the middle of the forest away from their home. The place was covered in mist and darkness that even my smartphone flashlight can't discern everything.

As I look above, the sky is covered in tree branches that you can't even see, it's so dark that even the moonlight can't shine upon.

We continued to walk and I can feel hair-standing eerie feelings as we proceed. We're not lost aren't we?

Suddenly, there was a shine, a purple shine that radiates the surrounding.

What is this-

I then looked at where it sourced and as I looked by.

"I guess we can do it here"

The Dark elf's arm was glowing in magic circles.

That's awesome, is what is in my head. I then turned off my smartphone light as her purple glow radiated enough shine to let me see the surroundings.

I asked.

"What's that in your hand?"

"Oh this? it's the magic skill, Lurer, Though I'm just preparing to activate it cause it needs a chant"

"A chant huh, I never used long word magic chant before"

Since all magic I knew is Instant chant and cast because I'm more of a close combat fighter.

The Dark elf crosses her hands, and a purple glowing magic circle appears on her feet, enclosing her entire body.

She then asked.

"By the way, what kind of apparitions do you want to fight?"

"Now that you mention it"

Hmmm, Apparitions huh, there's not a lot of them that I fought.

"What are the available options"

The dark elf closes her eyes and thinks about it.

"The weakest I can recommend would be, the Fire sprites"

"Fire Sprites?"

"You don't know them?"

"What the fuck is that?"

"I guess it's much easier to explain if I show it"

She started to chant as she slowly closed her eyes.

"~Heed my help, oh pitiful me, spirits who abandoned me, I seek why~"

What kind of chant is that?

"~Bless me helpful so I'll be free~"

"Was that a chant?"

"The requirements for the lurer magic is to chant words that makes you sound weak and begging for mercy"

"I, I didn't know magic works like that"

The Dark elf magic circle appeared bigger as soon as she chanted, with encryptions of Hindu-Arabic alphabet on it?

"Ohh, there's a lot of them Crimson"

"A lot- you mean the fire spri-"

As Dark as the forest it was, there was a faint light of fire illuminating on this misty fog, Several were going straight into us, banding together as it marches.

It has the shape of a sphere with eyes and nose, with its entire body engulfed with flames.

"Fire sprites, More like that's a Fucking Santelmo!"

"San- what?"

I prepared my dagger immediately, preparing to fight them. There's several of them, calculating it to be 15-20.

The Dark elf told me.

"They're pretty easy to beat especially when you use the element opposite to them, so I don't think it will pose a problem to you"

"Is that so?"

But still, seeing a face in a ball of fire is really creepy.I chanted.

"Heart-Impact! Throwing dagger attackkkkkk"

"Huh-?"

I threw the dagger right into the leading Santelmo. As soon as it hit, it was sliced into two and vanished in thin air like how a fire vanishes when killed..

I looked at it.

"Ohhh, My dagger seems to do damage to their body despite them being a Logia"

Did I put haki in my dagger?

Confused, The Dark elf asked. "Did you just throw your weapon?"

"Yes, why?"

"I mean, won't you fight them in close combat?"

"Gehh, No, Those things are creepy as fuck, I don't even want to touch them"

"Huh? I know they're creepy but throwing away your weapon is something- I don't really recommend whilst fighting lot of enemies at once"

"Is that so?"

"Well, you still have the Heart-span so it's okay"

I looked at the Santelmo and thought of fighting them in close combat. It's true that throwing away your weapon isn't really a good thing.

And if they die on that small of an attack, perhaps...-

Geeh Nevermind, they're creepy as fuck.

I used the Wakizashi the lich gave me.

"SUIIIII"

"Oii"

I managed to hit another one of the Santelmo, and I observed that the kill from the Dagger and Chunraporicopo is different.

When I kill them with Chunraporicopo, they'll instantly vanish.

"I see"

"See what? you just threw the Sword!"

"Where the problem at?"

The Dark elf looked at me flabbergasted.

"What are you going to do now? there's still like 18 of them, you don't have enough weapons to throw"

"Don't assume I only have 2 weapons"

I raised my hands forward, my palms open, and took aim at the Santelmo.

"What are you doing?"

"FIREBLASTTTTT"

"HUH?"

"DA!DA!DA!DA!DA!DA!DA!DA!DA!

I cast multiple fire blasts that fired like a rifle right from my arm. The blast was as big as a fist, and flew at speed faster than bullets.

"Attacking a fire based apparition with fire instead of water won't-"

"RATATATATATATATA"

I continued to fire my attacks and managed to hit the Apparitions and as they hit, they vanished.

"work-" The Dark Elf was Flabbergasted again. "Its working?"

"RATATATATATATATATATA"

I continued to fire until there was nothing left.

"That settles it"

"Oi, Don't use fire attacks on a forest!"

"Chillax, Fire blast is a blast not an actual fire"

I went forward and looked at the place where the Santelmo died. There were blue orbs gathering around and as soon as I went near, they came into me, getting absorbed.

"They're not much huh" I complained. The Dark elf looked at me and asked.

"I keep seeing this Blue orb when an apparition dies, I know they're soul essence, but how are you absorbing them?"

"I thought you knew them?"

"I mean, when I try to gather the blue orbs, I can't absorb them, I can't even touch this thing"

"Ohhhh, Well normally, any person can't, unless you're a Vampire or Succubus"

"Are you a Vampire Crimson? That explains your Red eye"

"I'm just a Human with red eyes, I'm not a vampire, We have a system that lets us gather this, and I won't reveal it to you"

"Is that so, Hmmm, What was that?"

The Dark elf looked at the distance and saw a purple light similar to her magic earlier.

I answered.

"That's your magic right?"

"I already deactivated it though"

We went there together as soon as I managed to absorb the soul essence gathered around me. And as soon as we looked at.

"A Magic circle?"

There was a paper with an activated glowing magic circle inside it.

I asked "Did you do this?"

"I don't cast magic using Abaca Papers"

The Dark elf touched it.

"It seems that it's the same magic as mine, but it's calling something different"

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know, I can't pronounce this part, It seems to be a name of something, Kap- re?"

"Kapre?"

"Seems to be that pronunciation"

(Groooowwwlllll)

"Eiiiiii" 2x, We both shrieked as soon as we heard a creepy loud growl from a distance.

"What was that?" The Dark elf asked.

"No idea, Anyways Isn't a Kapre a huge Black Giant that dwells in Mango trees?"

"I never heard of Kapre" She answered "Anyways, this magic is Dangerous, I should deactivate it and-" As soon as the Dark elf tried to take the Paper.

"Kyaaaa"

A huge blast coming out the paper blew her away.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Ugh, What was that? something blew me away, like it's preventing me to touch it"

"Is that so?"

I looked at the paper. It was glowing bright like how the Dark elf cast her magic earlier, the magic circles even went holographic and went further past from the edge of the paper.

"What will the magic do again?"

"Seems to be luring the Oddity called Kapre"

"Luring a Kapre? Are you su-"

(GROOOOOOOWWWWLLLLLL)

"EIIIIII" We two let out a huge shriek again.

"Do Kapre growls?"