Royal High

Cadence stepped foot on the school compounds. It was late afternoon and the sun was casting a tired, dreary glow over the buildings.

Cadence could already sense the spiritual energy. It was building up around the school compounds. In every building, there was an abnormal buildup of spiritual energy.

This must’ve taken weeks to get to a state like this…

Cadence began the procedure. Cadence was wearing her usual uniform, with a sleeveless vest that contained her barrier charms. She reached into her vest pockets and pulled out slips of paper with inscriptions on them. She began to make her way to the perimeter of the school compounds, placing a barrier charm on nearby objects as she walked.

These basic charms Raison provided should be adequate…

The charms would be able to slow the buildup of spiritual energy by preventing external spiritual interference. Once the perimeter had been established, a full barrier could be set up. The barrier would only be necessary if a spirit had manifested or if the buildup of spiritual energy reached levels where a spiritual anomaly could occur. The purpose of the barrier was to minimise Spiritual damage to all living and nonliving things in the barrier with the exception of those with spiritual energy. This exception was the cost of being able to move freely within the barrier. For everything else, it was almost like time stopped for them. Almost. Exorcists like to refer to the area inside the barrier as the Twilight Zone.

This is one big Twilight zone… but I have no choice, there’s too many potential hotspots…

Cadence knew the consequence. The bigger the area, the more charms needed to achieve the same strength of protection. Cadence had a limited amount of charms, spreading it out over the entire school would mean weaker spiritual protection. But Cadence wasn’t willing to risk leaving entire areas unprotected.

In fact, this amount of spiritual energy is too unusual…

Cadence kept her guard up as she continued her path around the school. She had an uneasy feeling. No, it wasn’t just a vague uneasy feeling. Cadence knew there was a spiritual presence, possibly several. Which was why the perimeter had to be established quickly.

Cadence hastened her steps.

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Elsewhere, Royal High.

The ringing of the school bell reverberated through the school halls as weary and tired students stumbled out of the classrooms and headed for whatever activity or class they had next. Mark weaved in and out through the crowds as he kept his eyes peeled.

“Class 3-2, Class 3-2…” Mark mumbled. A few simple questions gave him the class number of the girls Camie and Karmi. Mark soon found himself standing outside class 3-2.

“Hey sorry, have you guys seen Camie or Karmi?” Mark asked the student standing outside class 3-2.

“Hey, someone’s looking for Camie and Karmi! Anyone seen her?” The boy shouted into the classroom. He had an earbud in one ear and looked as if he was about to head home.

“No! Steven! We’ve been trying to call them all day! Did they really just leave in the middle of the day?” A girl shouted back. She had her hair braided and was wearing large round glasses. Mark noticed she was wearing the “Class Head” badge.

“They skipped class?” Mark asked, entering the classroom.

“Ugh… I can’t believe it… ” the distressed Class Head began to rub her temple.

“Camie and Karmi wouldn’t just leave school after one period… If they were skipping school they wouldn’t have come.” A boy with dyed blond hair spoke up from behind a few seats.

“So where did they go? I’m starting to get worried…” The Class Head began to bite her nails.

“Wait a minute… They’ve been gone since the first period? Who saw them last?” Mark asked. He was starting to feel a little uneasy.

“I don’t know… They left saying they wanted to buy something from the cafeteria… Maybe they did decide to just skip school in the end…” A girl in a tracksuit spoke as she walked past the Class Head, on her way to the front door of the class.

“Relax, they probably skipped school. You know how they are. Just let teach know. Seeya guys!” The girl in the tracksuit left the class.

Mark was left slightly disappointed. He did feel like skipping school was something those two girls would do. Perhaps he could try again tomorrow.

“Say, why are you even concerned about them? Are you their friend or something? That would be surprising since they don’t really have many friends ever since that girl killed-” The boy with the blond hair cut himself off.

“Before that incident.. You know what I’m talking about…”

“They were ostracised?” Mark asked. He had thought the blame was put on him.

“Yeah, there were rumours that they bullied that girl. And well, they were generally mean to others as well so it’s not surprising. Recently they’ve been extra gloomy though-”

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“Okay guys stop your gossip! Come back tomorrow if you want to talk to them.” The Class Head warned Mark and the other boy.

“Recently it feels like their aura has changed… they don’t act the same anymore. It’s weird…” The boy whispered into Mark’s ear.

Mark nodded and thanked the boy before walking out of class.

Strange… Maybe I can find them tomorrow. I wonder if Mai had any luck finding Sabrina…

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Mai.

Mai had no such luck.

Sabrina’s final period was different from Mark’s and so they were in different classrooms. Mark took History while Sabrina had Geography as her final period. The same as Mai’s. And so they had ended at the same time. Which was why Mai was tasked with finding her.

But the trace of the spirit above Sabrina was no longer as strong as it was. Mai could not get a grasp on it.

But then it hit her. It was a different sensation. It was stronger. It was a filthier stench than before.

Did the spirit somehow get stronger? Why couldn’t I sense it before?

Mai ran towards the ‘stench’. It was like running towards fire. She felt the spiritual presence get stronger as she ran along the school hallways. It was like a game of hot and cold, leading her upstairs. Each floor she climbed she could feel herself getting closer and closer to the source.

Mai eventually found herself approaching the school pool. It was located on the rooftop of the school, tucked away in a corner. Her instincts were telling her to run away, as if screaming at her: ‘this is definitely dangerous’.

The stench, the spiritual energy, it was so malicious, Mai actually felt an innate sense of disgust.

She approached the girl’s locker room. She felt the dark energy emanating from behind it. Mai gently pushed the door open. Her hands shaking as she did so.

The view before her slowly unveiled as she opened the door wider. The first thing Mai saw was a hand, laying on the floor. A dismembered hand.

Mai let out a small gasp as she pushed the door open wider. The dismembered hand was connected to a body laying on the floor by a trail of blood. It was the body of a girl lying face-down. Her body lay there motionless like a mannequin. The uniform was dirtied and stained with blood. Her short pink hair contrasted the dark tiles and lighting of the locker room. Both hands were dismembered but not far from the main body and were laying in small pools of blood. She was most definitely dead.

Omygosh omygosh no no no no!

Mai started to hyperventilate. She covered her mouth, fighting every urge to scream. She wanted to call for help. But she didn’t know who to call. It was spiritual energy that did this. She could see the remnants of the dark aura linger around the body. There was no doubt this was a spirit’s work.

Mai slowly backed away. She knew she had to tell Mark. She had to tell Shen-sensei. She had to tell the SAIB.

Mai breathed in deep. She had to calm herself. Tears started to gather in her eyes. Her heart pounded so hard it felt like her heartbeat was audible from the outside even as she steadied her breathing.

Keep calm…. You’re an exorcist now… Keep calm….

Her hands kept shaking even as she reached for her phone. She quickly dialled Mark.

He picked up instantly.

“Umm…. Mark…. I found someone… She’s… She’s dead.”

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Mark.

Mark ran like hell. He felt his legs burn as he raced up the stairs. He didn’t slow down a bit. He couldn’t let Mai get hurt. He couldn’t lose another friend.

“Mai!” Mark yelled as he approached the pool.

“Here!” Mai yelled back.

Mark dashed towards Mai’s voice.

Mai quickly dashed towards Mark, colliding into his arms.

“Mai! Are.. are you okay?” Mark was slightly shocked at Mai’s sudden embrace. He saw she was in shock. Tears streamed down her eyes and wet his uniform.

Mai separated from Mark and pointed to the door. She sniffed and steadied herself.

“She’s… she’s in there….”

Mark prepared to enter the girl’s locker room but Mai tugged at his uniform.

“Careful… the malicious energy… It’s crazy strong.. And… it’s not a pretty sight.” Mai warned.

Mark cautiously opened the door.

Mai was right. Mark instantly felt the urge to throw up. It was ghastly.

But Mark recognised the hair. This was Karmi, the girl from Ruby’s memories.

Mark was surprisingly more calm than he thought he’d be. Sure, he was disgusted… but it didn’t fully register to him that someone in front of him was dead… Someone Ruby knew.

Mark shook his head. He needed to think of a plan of action. Reporting this to the authorities would surely stir up a storm. He needed to inform the authorities that actually dealt with stuff like this.

Mark dialled the SAIB.

“Um.. Hello, I’d like to report a spiritual anomaly…. At Royal High… wait… an exorcist has already been dispatched? Okay, um, well, yes… there’s something new I’d like to add… There’s been a body…”

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Cadence.

“Wait a body?? Oh dear…” Cadence was on the phone with the SAIB HQ. They had just received an urgent call regarding the spiritual anomaly at Royal High and had relayed that information to Cadence, the exorcist dispatched to the scene.

A body was bad news. Very bad news.

A few minutes later Cadence found herself standing next to Mark and Mai.

“I wish I could have met you guys again under better circumstances…” Cadence sighed as she stood before the gruesome scene.

“I’ll call for the cleanup crew, meanwhile you guys-” Cadence was interrupted as sudden aura crept up from the dead bodies which instantly set off alarm bells in Cadence’s head. Before Cadence could say anything, she felt a force push her body.

She blinked and the next thing she felt was her body slamming against the glass window behind her. The window cracked and shattered under the impact, Cadence’s body was still travelling at such speed that she was flung out of the window. The last thing she saw before gravity pulled her down was the shocked faces of Mark and Mai. And the spirit that had emerged in front of them.

Cadence let out a gasp as she recovered the air that was smacked out of her lungs. She was still mid-air, trying to regain her bearings.

“Looks like I found you… Exorcist…”. Floating above Cadence was a man in a trench coat, one hand on his moustache. He frowned as his spiritual aura around him grew. Cadence could sense his aura and not only was it strong, it had a sinister sensation, like danger was looming close. Cadence recognised him from the briefings. A man in a trench coat and monocle.

Cadence could only think one thought:

Yeah, this is bad news alright.