Spirit Investigator (9)

Edited by: Kuro and Lille

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"Does this look familiar to you?" Grey asked Emery as they looked through some of the translated information System 225 sent.

Emery shook his head. "Nope, this doesn't ring any bells…"

It was a sealing technique from a small country on another continent. Emery could only wonder how Grey found all of this information or how he translated it so accurately… They had been looking through all sorts of sealing techniques with no way of knowing if they worked or not. They would have to test it, but they got a couple of months off so it was plenty of time.

Grey asked Emery if he remembered hoping his subconscious would at least feel a sense of déjà vu when looking through the sealing techniques. Thus far, they haven't seen any that Emery recognized and Grey still wasn't able to tap into Emery's lost memories.

In Grey's own time, he also looked through the sealing techniques from other worlds and he didn't find any that were compatible with the current world.

Nora, who was watching this interaction go on for more than 4 hours, couldn't take it anymore and groaned. "We've been doing this for days. Why can't you just make Emery remember?"

Even though she said that casually, Grey couldn't help but flinch as he knew the consequences of forcing Emery to remember.

Emery saw Grey's small movement and couldn't help but point it out. "Why did you flinch? Is there something wrong with forcing me to remember?" Even he was a bit tired of going through many sealing techniques but not being able to find the one from his sealed/lost memories.

Grey saw the two staring at him with curious and hopeful eyes, making him sigh in defeat. He knew he had to tell them. "I can force you to remember, but it's a really painful process. If Emery isn't strong enough to handle all of the emotions of his past life, it may damage his soul to the point he would disappear completely. I would not be able to bring you back..."

There was a chilling silence after Grey explained the problems with forcing Emery to remember. Nora felt really bad about suggesting it and didn't know what to say.

Emery, who felt like he had a lump in his throat, said, "Is there a way for me to gently remember without being forced like so?"

"Like I said in the beginning, you would have to naturally remember by yourself, but I'm not sure how to help speed up that process. That's why I've been making you look at different sealing techniques hoping one of them would trigger your memory."

Emery was silent for a while and didn't know what to say. He wanted to remember but he also didn't want to disappear forever. He knew there was life after death, but what happens if he made it so that he didn't have anything after death? It was scary to think about.

"I'm sorry for saying it like that, but I didn't say anything because I wanted to help you remember safely, you both understand right?"

Nora nodded. "Yeah, I apologize for bringing it up out of frustration." Though she was a bit hot-headed and spoke first before thinking, she knew when she made mistakes and learned from them. There was no way Grey could get mad at her when she took criticism well.

"We have plenty of time so let's take it slowly, alright?" Grey said and then looked over at Emery who was still silent. The man was stunned and floating mid-air. It seems he was still thinking about what Grey had said about his soul disappearing forever.

"Emery?" He called out but Emery didn't say a word.

"Emery, come back to us now, we still have a lot to look through."

Emery finally snapped out of it and saw Nora and Grey looking over at him with worry. "I'm sorry, I just… I don't know why but I felt as though a chill was sent through my soul and I felt like I couldn't move."

Grey reached out and asked if he could take Emery's hand. Emery complied and allowed Grey to hold his hand. He didn't know what Grey wanted to know but he couldn't say no.

Grey closed his eyes and began talking to System 225.

'Is there something wrong with his soul? Can you do a comprehensive check?'

[*Chirp* That's fine, Host. Initiating scan now… Scan complete. Hmm? It seems his soul has been damaged further from what I remember. Ah, Emery is not supposed to be in this world so his soul is being damaged the longer it stays. Host, you must be quick or else Emery would really disappear…]

[*Chirp Chirp* Hidden Mission: Seal the Demon named Jon before Emery's soul disappears.

[Time Limit: 1 Month.

[Countdown starting now.]

Grey opened his eyes and looked up at Emery who was staring at him nervously. Seeing the grim look on Grey's face, Emery didn't know what to say as the lump in his throat obstructed him from talking.

"Grey, what's wrong with Emery?" Nora asked and quickly came over to take a good look at her best friend.

Grey couldn't keep a secret from these two. "If we can't seal demon Jon within 1 month, Emery's soul would be destroyed and disappear forever…"

"What does that demon have to do with this?" Nora asked because she couldn't understand why.

"It's because this is what I want, isn't it? I'm not supposed to be in this world, so it's damaging my soul… If we can complete my wish, I will be saved, right Grey?" Emery was quick as he knew very well the situation of his soul.

"That's correct. If Emery were staying in the space provided by me, his soul would be protected. Now that he is here and roaming free, the world is retaliating against him. They know he should not be here like this. If he's not in his body, he should be in the light. The worlds gets angry when people do not follow the laws of the world…"

There was a long silence before Grey let go and went back to the computer. "We need to find the seal quickly. Not just any seal will do. If we can't get Emery to remember, we need to test them out and see how effective they are."

Emery and Nora nodded and they began to help Grey sort through hundreds of sealing techniques, grabbing ones that seemed like they could work and tossing ones that made no sense.

Who knew if most of these sealing techniques actually worked…

*****

Two weeks had gone by since they decided to pick a batch of sealing techniques from several different countries. In the mornings, Grey went to visit Shamir and then devoted his time to helping Emery and Nora in the afternoon.

They were running low and still couldn't find the sealing technique Emery had found in his previous life. They tested the seals on local known demons who liked to mess around from time to time. None of the seals hurt the demons. They were also given permission from the Agency to do this as a way of searching for a way to contain the demons that liked to run wild.

75% of them didn't really work and the rest worked to a degree but they didn't seal long enough. Some only lasted a few minutes showing that they were either incomplete or they were only used temporarily.

"Maybe I have been approaching this wrong…" Grey mumbled to himself after using up the last of their sealing methods.

"What do you mean?" Emery, who was holding Grey's hand, asked because he wanted to make sure that Nora could still hear him.

"What happens if you didn't find it, but you made your own?" Grey said as he looked at Emery with shining eyes.

"If we can take the elements that worked for each seal and then modify them to be able to lengthen the time, as well as the strength, wouldn't that work as well?"

"Modify…" Emery said as he looked dazedly at Grey. He felt like those words made sense, but something about them sparked something within him. He didn't say anything for a while as though he was thinking quite deeply. He didn't realize that they had already arrived at Nora's place.

Nora saw Emery's expression that hadn't changed since Grey's question and waved her hand in front of his face. "Earth to Emery, you okay?"

It was only then that Emery snapped out of his trance and found himself in Nora's living room. He was even seated next to Grey on the sofa.

"I… I think I remembered something." Emery said and got up and flew over to Nora. The notebook that was placed next to her was opened by Emery and the pages flew quickly. After stopping at some of the seals Nora wrote down, he looked over at Grey and Nora excitedly and urged them to give him a pencil or pen.

Nora had one in her pocket, so she gave her pencil to him. He thanked her and began writing a couple of pages worth of notes in the book. If anyone else were there, they would think that the pages and pencil were moving on their own.

Eventually, a seal was drawn on one of the pages. It was a lot more complex than the ones they had seen thus far. Grey could feel a strong power coming from it even when it was just drawn in the notebook to show them what it would look like.

Emery put the pencil down and sat next to Grey so that he could talk with Nora. Emery was getting weaker, so he really needed to be by Grey at all times. He had used most of his energy writing everything he remembered about the seal he had created.

Nora showed the notebook to Grey and they looked at it together.

Emery had written the incantation for the seal and it was a bit lengthy. It was a good two pages long. Though a lot of it said, "Repeat this as many times as needed" or "Repeat this three times before moving on to the next chant." Considering how Demon Jon would be sealed away for a decade, it made sense for it to be a bit long. Also, there was another incantation on one of the two pages to renew the seal after the 10 years were up. Once the demon repented in the item it was sealed in, the seal and the item would disappear forever.

"Emery, this is amazing!" Nora couldn't help but say as she read through the whole thing and even looked at how intricate the seal was. There were even instructions.

First, they needed to arrange a few things. One was an item that was suitable for sealing souls. Items like hand-held statues (not religious artifacts), small portrait-size paintings, or even porcelain dolls. Another item or two they needed was something they could carve the seal with or write it down on. As long as they could carve or stick papers to the surface of the item, it was fine. Lastly, they need a place to house these items so that they won't be disturbed by others. They were planning on going to the agency for this.

"How did you suddenly remember it?" Nora couldn't help but ask.

"I heard Grey say something about modifying and creating our seal, and my memories slowly flowed into my head…"

"Did you remember how you died?" Grey was a little worried about how it would affect Emery if he did.

"No, I still can't remember that."

"I think that's for the best. Good job remembering this though. I feel we couldn't have done it without you, Emery." Grey patted Emery's hand. He sent Emery some energy so that Emery would feel a bit stronger.

Emery also didn't want to remember how he died. He knew it was gruesome so some things were better off not remembering…

After reading through Emery's notes in detail, Nora made extra copies while Grey practiced the complicated seal with the help of Emery. They had to be quick or Demon Jon would realize what they were doing.

They didn't have much time. The clock was ticking and they knew that time would not wait for them…