Chapter 4: The Test

"The world is not what it seems…

Though most are familiar with the physical world, there exists another world, a spiritual world that co-exists with the physical.

Spirits, ghosts, the supernatural, demons, deities, Gods, they all exist. Spiritual beings that feed off human emotions, ideas, and for some, human devotion.

Most of the time, spirits coexist with humans. Most humans can't even see spirits, those with the spiritual energy to do so are rare.

There exists a few factors that allow someone to interact with the spiritual world.

Firstly, their spiritual energy. You are either born with the innate ability or not. Though it can be honed, it is largely determined by your bloodline and occasionally by pure chance. Those who do have such ability tend to end up as monks, pastors, mediums, or other vocations that often deal with spirits.

Secondly, your emotional state. Those that have a heightened state of emotions can sometimes see spirits. This factor is responsible for those rare ghost sightings some people do see. Those who have been attacked by spirits can see them as well before they die.

Lastly, your connection to that particular spirit. If you were closely connected in some way, you are more likely to see particular spirits of certain kinds.

A good example we have right here is Mark. He had a connection to a vengeful spirit that also happened to attack him. He knew the deceased and probably had a lot of emotions coming to the site. The site also happened to be full of spiritual energy. This combination of factors allowed someone like Mark, who usually does not have connections to spirits, to see one for the first time."

Daiyu's introduction ended up casting a spotlight on Mark. The 3 unfamiliar faces turned to face him, Mark could now get a good look at them. Furthest away from Mark was a girl with blond hair. Her hair was braided and tied in a ponytail. Her eyes were azure blue, giving Mark a cold gaze. She wore a white blouse under her cardigan and a maroon skirt fastened with a belt, she also had black stockings on. Mark had the impression that she came from a wealthy family.

The person second-furthest from him was a guy with light-brown hair in a bowl cut. He dressed simply, in a simple sweater and slacks. Mark would have felt he was the most normal out of the 3 if not for the fact that he was wearing a bandana covering his mouth as well as wearing a blindfold covering his eyes.

The person sitting next to Mark was another girl, her medium-length hair was silver in colour, immediately drawing Mark's gaze. She was dressed in a white oversized long sleeved T-shirt that showed off one of her shoulders. She had short denim pants on and white boots. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at Mark. Mark had a sensing that she was just as confused as he was.

"Now even though most of the population cannot interact with spirits, spirits can interact with humans anytime they choose. Almost all unexplained disappearances or deaths can be linked to the supernatural.

Now, why would spirits do such a thing? Well, that's because of various reasons. Spirits with grudges and malicious intent do exist. But usually, most spirits act on other human emotions. For example, if a spirit feeds on too much negative human emotion, they will act negatively based on the emotions they consume. For spirits, they are literally what they eat.

To counter this, the Special Anomalies Investigation Bureau was formed, or SAIB for short.

We exorcise spirits that bring harm to humanity. Simple as that. Now of course, exorcism is no joke, and deaths are common in this profession. Which is why we need to replenish our numbers yearly, a task already made difficult due to the low number of people with the talent to become exorcists in the first place.

But still, we need to have a screening process to weed out those that aren't suited. Because if you aren't, then you'll definitely die…" Daiyu grinned a mischievous smile as she said that.

Mark and the silver-haired girl immediately put up their hands.

"Um… I don't want any part in this… So… Can I go?" Mark stuttered in an awkward manner, he more or less understood what was said but he had trouble believing what he was hearing.

"Yeah… I kinda want to leave too… Exorcism? Sounds like crazy talk." The silver-haired girl chimed in.

"Well Mark, you may leave. But then you wouldn't be able to know more about the contract you formed with Ruby would you? If you don't care about that then we can exorcise her for you, though we can't guarantee anything for your own safety during the process. As for you, Mai, need I remind you that your only other option is death?" Daiyu's comments stung deeper than Mai had thought. Mai slumped back in her chair and began to pout, realising that Daiyu was right.

Death?

Mark had more questions about the whole situation and he did want answers to this supposed contract he had formed and so he leaned back into his seat.

"As I was saying, we are in charge of investigating and preventing any spiritual anomaly that may result in harm towards humanity. To do this, we rely on other spirits through contracts. Contracts are an unbreakable vow to the spirit, in which you and the spirit come to an agreement on a set of conditions. In exchange for fulfilling these conditions, the spirit gives you abilities. Now, not everyone can enter a contract and come out unharmed. Those that fail, end up haunted or cursed. Again it goes back to your affinity with the spiritual world.

Anyways, I've said enough…

It's better if I let you experience what it feels like to be an exorcist instead…."

With that, Daiyu snapped her fingers and the screen behind her began broadcasting a special white room. In the centre of the room, was a creepy-looking doll.

"The Cursed Doll of Mayu Suzuki. This doll has been responsible for the recent suicides of two families."

Daiyu explained and snapped her finger one more time. "Release the barrier…"

The doll suddenly stood up, its green porcelain eyes started to move. Black liquid began streaming down the eyes, forming a puddle below the doll.

Mark and Mai, the silver-haired girl beside him, flinched at the sight.

The doll began walking around leaving black stains where she walked. The doll stopped and turned towards the camera. Her mouth opened and screamed: "LET's PLaaYY!"

The doll began to transform, the black liquid oozed out of every crack and joint of the doll as the doll's mass grew larger and larger. A truly disturbing beast emerged out of the doll, black and dripping, the spirit had long dishevelled hair that extended all the way to the floor. The spirit had a pale white human-like body, with legs that seemed to resemble human legs. The spirit had 4 arms, each arm pale as snow and with black nails that acted like talons. The spirit began crawling on all limbs like a spider, crawling up the walls with surprising speed. It put its face up to the camera, the face resembled that of a woman, but her eyes were pitch black and her skin was pale white and peeling off.

Mark shuddered at the sight. He had imagined how doll spirits looked like when reading his horror books but seeing the real thing was different.

"That's a Malicious Spirit, an upper C rank Exorcist could probably exorcise it. But that's no fun… so we'll have some of you guys do it instead." Daiyu grinned as she snapped her fingers.

Khan stood up from his chair and clapped his hands, "Okay, so who wants to go first? We were only planning to have 2 of you go up against this but I guess we can take 3 now since we have a new inclusion."

The blond-haired girl and Vince immediately volunteered.

"Okay, we have Hannah and Vince. Anyone else?" Khan asked.

There was a pause in the room. Mai looked around and was feeling a bit uneasy. She glanced at Daiyu who gave a wicked smile and nod before mouthing the word: "Death"

Mai knew this was her chance to prove herself.

"Ah, what the heck," Mai stood up and volunteered.

"Okay, we have our three brave volunteers! Now, I need all three of you to hold hands." Khan said as he positioned himself behind the three volunteers.

The three of them held hands according to Khan's instructions.

"Uh… what is this for? Are we taking a group picture?" Mai asked, slightly confused.

"Oh, you'll see. Step forward on the count of 3…" Khan said, as he clasped his hands together.

"1…"

Mark immediately felt a surge of energy in the room. It was like a magnetic force was pulling his soul to where Khan was.

"2…"

The energy accumulated to where Khan and the 3 volunteers were standing, all concentrated on that area.

"3… go!"

Khan and the volunteers took a step forward and disappeared from sight.

Mark sat there with his mouth agape. He looked to his side to see Ozai simply unfazed. Though Mark was sure if he could see his mouth and eyes, he would be having a similar expression as him.

Is this what exorcists can do?

"Don't be mistakened… Only Khan is capable of that… Imagine the costs you could save, teleporting wherever…" Shen spoke as if to address the shock of Mark.

"Well, we had to get Khan to teleport them there, you see, because the location of that room isn't even in this building. Now though I am slightly disappointed that the two of you didn't volunteer, perhaps you can take something away from the upcoming exorcism. Let's take a look shall we?"

Daiyu once again gestured to the screen where the four of them were about to exorcise the cursed doll spirit.

…

When Vince took a step forward, he immediately found himself stepping into a white room. To his disappointment, it was seamless. As if he were simply taking the step. The change in environment happened in an instant, and though disorientating, didn't really feel as extravagant as he thought it would feel.

This must be the power of spatial manipulation… amazing…

Vince let out a small grin.

"Well, beyond that door lies your test… You'll receive no help from any of the exorcists at this facility. Though I doubt you guys will need any help…" Khan said as he eyed the volunteers one by one. He could sense their spiritual potential.

"You flatter me Khan sir!" Vince exclaimed as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, let's not waste time…" Hannah said as she brushed her hair back and turned to face the door.

"Uh.. wait, guys.. Are we not going to discuss strategy?? I still don't know much about this exorcism stuff…" Mai asked, her voice kind of desperate.

"Hey, relax! If anything happens, I've got you covered!" Vince winked as he held the door open for the two girls to walk through.

"Good luck… I hope you guys give it a proper exorcism…" Khan said as he watched them exit the room with a grin.

Vince and the gang stepped into the room with the spirit, but a barrier still separated them.

"I'll be releasing the barrier now," Khan's voice boomed over the loudspeakers at the top of the room.

Vince could feel the barrier slowly weaken. He broke into a smile as he began stretching.

The spirit was suddenly aware of their presence in the room, and on instinct began crawling to the three.

"Oh my gosh… I regret this so much!" Mai exclaimed as she saw the spirit up close.

"Then sit tight, and let me handle this…" Hannah confidently replied and stepped forward.

The spirit screamed and jumped in the air, its pale limbs extended and ready to grab one of the kids.

Hannah breathed a deep breath and pulled out a pen from her pocket and drew a vague line in the air before uttering the following words: "[Binding Chain]"

Her voice boomed and a steel chain materialised out of thin air, one end lodged into the wall furthest from them and the other end impaling the spirit.

The spirit was yanked back, unable to move forward. The steel chain embedded in the spirit's chest caused it to bleed black blood. The spirit thrashed and screamed, it's four arms trying to pry the steel chain out.

"What a useful ability…"

Vince was genuinely impressed. He marvelled at the strength of the chains and how fast they materialised.

But Hannah wasn't done.

"[Piercing Pole]"

Hannah spoke as she drew a large line across the spirit's body. She repeated the process and drew another line in the opposite direction creating an 'x' shape.

"[Piercing Pole]" Hannah repeated for the second line she drew.

Two iron poles appeared and impaled the spirit, lodging themselves firmly into the ground.

Vince was even more impressed.

"...Thanks for holding it down for me, I've got this now." With that, Vince stepped closer to the spirit, a wide grin on his face as he pulled out two karambit knives from his pocket.

"What are you going to do with those tiny knives?" Hannah asked, eyebrows raised as she crossed her arms.

Vince started to cut himself using the knives, one slice on each hand. The blood dripped down the knives, coating it a dark red.

"Uh… What?" Mai was getting concerned.

"Oh this? Don't worry about it… You see, unlike most of you… I made a contract with a very particular spirit." Vince said as he ran towards the writhing cursed spirit.

The spirit, still screaming, began to move its limbs to try and stop Vince from approaching. Despite being held down by poles and chains, its limbs could still move at a surprisingly fast speed. But Vince was faster. Dodging, ducking and jumping over the spirit's arms, Vince began to flick his blood onto the spirit using the knives, as if he was marking it. Vince made his way around the spirit, getting close while furiously weaving around the spirit's attacks. The way he leaped, ducked, spun, pivoted, and flipped, Vince was practically dancing around the beast.

"Seems… good enough…" Vince spoke between breaths as he backed away from the spirit, keeping his knives and turning towards Mai and Hannah.

"As I was saying, I made a contract with a very peculiar spirit…it's the kind of spirit that allows me to use blood as a weapon …Well, I say spirit but its nature is more like that of a…. Demon." Vince's eyes glowed red as the spirit made another attempt to crush Vince under its hands.

"[Perfect Blade]"

Each of his blood spots glowed red as he activated his ability. Then all of a sudden, large cuts appeared in the spirit, each cut originating and ending at one of Vince's blood spots. It was as if a giant blade had cut through the spirit, using Vince's blood as a guide, connecting the dots between pairs of blood spots.

The spirit screamed and yelled as its body got severed into different pieces. Even its arms and legs weren't spared and lay in multiple pieces on the floor.

"Okay, remind me not to piss you off…" Mai said as she stared in awe, but also disgust. Mostly disgust.

"Well, I don't really get pissed off easily, so it'd be really easy for you! And, it seems like we're done!" Vince said happily, walking towards the door.

"Hold on…" Hannah cautioned, pointing to the pieces of the spirit laying on the floor. "They aren't disappearing yet…"

Vince paused and stared at the pieces of flesh on the floor.

"You're right…" Vince said as he got into a battle stance again.

The spirit began thrashing in place, arms and limbs flopping on the ground as it screamed, its head rolling on the floor, black blood leaking from every severed limb and piece.

The black blood kept oozing out, forming a black puddle beneath all the limbs. The puddle grew larger and larger and started to fill the entire floor area.

"Guys! This black blood thing looks like bad news…" Mai screamed, proceeding to hide behind Hannah.

"[Blockading Wall]" Hannah activated her ability, producing three walls to block off the blood from reaching them.

"Vince!" Hannah called out.

Vince attempted to sprint towards Hannah but the black blood restricted his movements greatly.

"What on Earth is this?" Vince muttered out loud, the black blood already nearing his knees.

"Uhh, Vince? This is getting really bad, you need to get over here now!" Hannah screamed, feeling the black blood rise above her knees.

"What kind of test is this?? We're seriously going to die!" Mai shrieked helplessly.

"Ah… Damn… Hannah, just close it off! I'll find a… way…" Vince struggled to speak as he fought against the resistance of the black blood, now at his hips.

"Shit!" Hannah sweared in frustration as she turned to the remaining opening and muttered "[Blockading Wall]"

The final wall materialised and blocked off the black blood from rising further. Hannah and Mai were now confined in a small space, the blood at their chest level.

"Are they seriously going to let this happen? Vince is going to die at this rate! What kind of sick test is this?" Mai was starting to freak out.

"Looks like we're not entirely safe either…" Hannah said as she pulled her arm out of the black blood. Her arm was a sickly shade of purple, the colour steadily spreading up her arm.

"Soul corruption… Shit… this is a high level spirit." Hannah stated as she leaned against her wall, already feeling the effects of the black blood's corrupting properties.

"No…" Mai gasped as she saw Hannah's state, she could feel it too, her body weakening slowly.

…

"What are you guys doing?" Mark stood up in protest. He had been silently watching the events unfold from the comfort of the meeting room and had seen everything unfold in shock and horror.

"You guys need to help them! Aren't you all expert exorcists? They're going to die!" Mark was distressed. He had already come close to seeing someone die earlier and was not prepared to relive that again.

"Relax… there's still one person who hasn't revealed her cards yet…" Daiyu reassured Mark, gesturing for him to sit down.

"In fact, we were initially going to just send her in alone…"

"You mean Mai? She seems just as clueless as I am! Are you guys joking?" Mark was starting to get angry.

"Well, she is clueless… but do you know why she's here? Do you know why I said that her only other option was death? " Daiyu asked, a small smile appearing.

…

"Mai!" Vince shouted from outside the wall.

"You know, if you have any tricks up your sleeve, it'd be great to show your hand!" Vince felt the blood corrupting his skin near his neck.

"He's right… " Hannah said faintly.

"What… What are you talking about? I don't know how to use my power! I barely know what my powers are! I just wanted to live peacefully! I never wanted this!"

"For God's sake… Look Mai," Hannah mustered her strength to grab Mai by her shirt, staring her down with her cold blue eyes.

"You may not want this, but you're here. You don't have a choice now… If you want to give up and die, do it by yourself… But I don't plan on dying… anytime …soon…" Hannah slumped down, leaning onto Mai.

Mai was distraught… she froze as she saw Hannah's weakened and seemingly limp body. Her eyes widened in fear as she realised this could really be it.

Fuck! All I wanted to do was sleep. I just wanted a good night's sleep!

Mai closed her eyes, desperately hoping that she could somehow activate her ability. She had never done it once, not even since that night. That night when everything changed.

"Come on… Come out!" Mai yelled in frustration, the black blood now rising to the point where it was flowing into the small walled off section Hannah had created.

"Stupid spirit…I'm giving you the reigns now! Just come out!" Mai closed her eyes and searched deep within, she could feel her body weakening as well.

Hehehehehe, human, you finally called? You're giving me free reign at last?

Mai heard a voice from deep within her. It was a shrewd, malevolent sounding voice that sent shivers down her spine.

"Yes, demon, spirit, whatever! Just save us! I'll let you take the rest. Just come out!"

Say the words, I want to hear you say it. Tell me what I want to hear…

Mai breathed in, steadying herself.

"[I call upon thee, Demon of Greed, Tao Tie of the Four Fiends, come forth, and DEVOUR YOUR ENEMY!]"