Eiwin glared at ‘Narcha.’ “Leave her alone.”
Her voice was full of anger.
The ghost smiled. “No time to talk, then? And here I thought you were the reasonable one of your group.”
“That body doesn’t belong to you, ghost.” Eiwin said. “Leave her alone and pass on to the Netherworld, as all living beings should.”
‘Narcha’ seemed confused. “Ghost? Ah, but of course. That is what I am, is it not? I wonder if this is how all ghosts must feel. Yet, no matter how much I try to see otherwise, how could I lament and curse my very own existence, no matter in what form it comes?”
Eiwin frowned. “… So you won’t leave?”
“And doom myself to oblivion?” the woman shook her head. “Nay, I would rather take my chances in this form.”
Eiwin glared at her possessed companion and took a deep breath. Then, without saying anything, she entered a combat stance.
‘Narcha' seemed to find this amusing as she laughed. “It really does seem as if you care about this girl a lot… Still, don’t you want to know what I have to say? Not even if it involves the existence of that floating head?”
Her words gave Eiwin some pause.
“Eiwin…” Red called out to her with a frown.
The younger woman looked back at him with an angered expression. They both exchanged glances, and Red could see the clear struggle in her expression.
He shook his head.
The boy’s meaning was clear. This wasn’t something they could rush head on into, and Red couldn’t let Eiwin’s anger lead her to making a reckless decision. The boy remembered what the necromancer told him about a powerful ghost inhabiting the head, and judging by how this Curse Breaker’s knight died, whoever was possessing Narcha couldn’t be underestimated.
Eiwin hesitated for a few seconds, but she still let her stance drop in the end.
After seeing this, the ghost smiled and looked over at Red. “You’re the child with special powers, aren’t you? Or can I even call you a child at this point? One would be hard pressed to think of you as such considering how you act.”
The boy frowned but didn’t say anything.
The woman continued. “Some would credit this maturity to signs of reincarnation, but it is not unheard of for a child to grow before their time. There were often rumors in my sect about how most of my premature success and talent were all due to my memories as a cultivator in my previous life. You would not imagine the hurdles certain people go through to discredit others’ accomplishments because of envy.”
“… You’re from a sect?” Red asked.
‘Narcha’ nodded. “Does that surprise you?”
“You’re a ghost.” the boy said.
She laughed. “Trust me, this isn’t even the worst ending you can get as a cultivator. Mortals often think of sects as inviolable sanctuaries of virtue and tradition, and yet they don’t know that internal disputes happen just as often in these places as anywhere else. In fact, these disputes are often worse in sects, seeing as a fight between cultivators can often wipe out entire towns.”
“Is that how you ended up imprisoned inside that head? By a sect dispute?” Red tried to extrapolate from her information.
The ghost smiled. “Not so fast, child. I did say I wanted to talk, but it won’t do if you’re the one asking all the questions, will it?”
The boy frowned. He wanted to use the ghost’s willingness to talk to extract information from her, but above all else, he was trying to buy himself some time.
Whoever this person possessing Narcha’s body was, they were powerful beyond expectation. Red was skeptical they had any chances to defeat them in straight forward combat, so he was trying to come up with a plan.
‘This Curse Breaker knight was alone… Maybe their companions will be searching for him.’
That could prove to be an opportunity out of this situation, or it could make everything else even more complicated. In either case, Red still needed more time.
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Eiwin continued to stare at Narcha with a severe gaze, while Allen looked uncertain about how to proceed. In any case, both of them seemed to trust Red to take care of the situation.
“What do you want to know?” he asked.
‘Narcha’ put on a pondering expression. “I have searched through this girl’s memories, and yet the information I was looking for was absent. Not to mention, what I found was very alarming, to say the least…”
“You want to know about your sect?” Red guessed at her intention.
She smiled. “How smart. Indeed, I want to know about my sect, and if they’re still alive, that is.”
“What is the name of your sect?”
“Amber Saber Sect.”
Red froze. He recognized that name.
His master Goulth’s manual came from that very same sect.
This change in expression didn’t go unnoticed by the ghost.
She sighed. “So they’re indeed destroyed. A pity. Was it this Empire?”
Red nodded.
‘They don’t know about the Empire.’
This would put them at the very least as being five hundred years old or more, around the dawn of the Empire.
“I have never heard of this Empire before, but I can see they’ve caused quite a ruckus around the cultivation world.” the ghost said. “Barely 500 years old and yet already strong enough to go against sects that were thousands of years old… I wonder how they accomplished such a feat. Perhaps this is something I should investigate myself.”
This wasn’t an uncommon question for the general populace, but there were many conflicting theories about it. All people knew for certain is that one day extremely strong cultivators, or celestial practitioners as they called themselves, suddenly appeared in the Empire and declared war against the sects occupying their lands.
They attributed their sudden rise to their Celestial Gods, but no one knew the truth for certain.
Red stared at the pondering ‘Narcha.’ “How did you get inside that head?”
“I was betrayed and killed by my own sect.” the ghost said. “They were members of a rival faction, envious of my rise to power. We often relied on sabotaging and undermining each other’s efforts, but to think they would go as far as to rely on assassination… Truly, it is no wonder we were destroyed in the end.”
Red frowned. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“That’s because I don’t know.” she shook her head. “You should know ghosts often don’t remember much of their own life, not to mention the moments leading up to the corruption of their form while they’re nothing but a wandering soul.”
This was the first time the boy heard of this. He looked over at Eiwin for confirmation, and the younger woman nodded.
“All I recall was waking up in that… place.” the ghost said, her expression showing some apprehension for the first time. “Thousands of wailing souls, confused and fearful of their situation. So many emotions… It took all my will to just keep my own sanity, and I only succeeded due to the fact I reinforced my soul during cultivation. Even then, there were some ghosts inside that head that even I was fearful of. Suffice it to say, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, I fled that place as quickly as I could.”
“And took our friend’s body for yourself.” Eiwin frowned. “Aren’t you a sect cultivator? Shouldn’t you be ashamed of living in this corrupted form? People like you almost wiped out humanity in the past!”
‘Narcha’ shook her head. “I thought so too when I awoke… To be a ghost was worse than death, a sign of corruption of one’s very soul and ideals they once stood for in life. Yet, I met someone inside that place that convinced me otherwise. Now, I see this form as a second chance in death to achieve what I couldn’t do in life.”
The younger woman gritted her teeth. “You’re a disgrace! As both a cultivator and a human being!”
The ghost smiled. “Maybe, but compared to being dead, this is a much preferable state of being, is it not?”
Eiwin shivered in anger, on the verge of charging at the woman.
“Ah, now wait a second!” ‘Narcha’ held her hands up. “Don’t you want your friend back? If you attack me right now, there is no way you will be able to take me out from her.”
Red looked at his companion. “Eiwin, let’s hear what they have to say.”
Once more, his prompting was enough to calm Eiwin down. Of course, the ghost was under an erroneous assumption.
They thought that the group had no way of taking them out of Narcha’s body. Perhaps Red could use this to his advantage.
“What do you want from us?” he asked.
“Well, you see, possession is a fickle thing.” The ghost looked over their possessed body. “Sects have been researching the subject for as long as humanity has existed, hoping this would provide a way to prolong their own life beyond what their bodies could support. However, the immutable truth they discovered is that a body and soul were both parts of one being, made and created for each other. A soul would only be in perfect harmony in one’s own body, and outside of it, or even occupying a different shape, innumerable problems would occur that would eventually lead to the soul’s dissolution. A true and absolute death, if you will.
“Of course, they found some ways to counterbalance that. Searching for compatible bodies and transforming one’s soul were amongst them, yet these are half-measures, and don’t solve the root problem.” The ghost looked over at Eiwin. “Of course, this was until the Queen of the Dead and her necromancers came along and offered a more permanent solution.”
Eiwin spat on the ground. “So now you intend to consort with necromancers?”
The ghost smiled. “It is my only option, isn’t it? For that, however, I need a proper body to control until I’m able to meet with their necromancers and that’s where our problem resides.”
Red started to have an inkling about where this conversation was going.
“You see, compatibility is important in choosing a body to possess, permanent or not.” the ghost said. “I was a woman in life, so I had to choose a woman’s body to possess. Unfortunately, however, I didn’t have time to identify my potential hosts, and ended up assigned to a rather… Unsuitable one.” They examined themselves. “This girl is more of a brute, a barbarian, too angry and headstrong for her own good, quite unlike how I myself was in life. No, I won’t last too long inside this body. For me to reach my objective, I need someone more gentle, more calm…”
She looked over at Eiwin.
“Someone more like you.”