Nanri made short work of the shade. It was blasted to oblivion with a single ray of light before turning into a cloud of dust. Cira wasn’t sure of letting her participate, but a little competition got everybody fired up. After obliterating the ghost she went and sat with the spectators, removing a book from a titanium cube and opening it to a bookmark.

The thief jumped back on stage for round two.

“Be careful. Specters are fast and they’ll mess with your mind.” Cira explained, “Just keep that hat on and you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

“I move around when I fight.” She argued, “How am I supposed to make sure it doesn’t fall off?”

Cira was no slouch with a needle and thread, “You think a hat I crafted would fall off your head so easily? Come forth, frail specter!”

This time there was a white light. Like pure mana, or light mana, death also shared the color. Specters weren’t associated with any element, per se. They were spirits that refused to die. Not often due to strong emotion, so they tended to be weak and not very intelligent.

While partly transparent, they looked as if someone threw a sheet over an invisible man. There was no face, and it stretched out on both sides like arms held it up. Kate threw her boomerang and it dodged, ducking under the blade almost faster than the eye could see. Laundry in a hurricane would have looked similar as it flew towards the thief.

She caught the boomerang and rolled away, coming out of it with another throw. This time it connected, and the specter disappeared. Kate stood up and caught the blade again, relaxing her shoulders. Right then, it appeared flying at her as if time had reversed.

“What?!” She dove out of the way and the glyphs on her cloak lit up. When the specter shied away, Kate siezed that moment to let her boomerang loose again. It hit the ghost, but this time it didn’t disappear. Instead, it began dissolving into light.

Cira clapped, “Close one! Now come on down and let someone else give it a go.”

The crowd looked less than excited after watching their next challenger. Shades weren’t fast at all, just really creepy.

“What happens if the specter gets us?” Lomp asked absently.

“It’ll nibble on your soul, taking all your willpower away.”

Nobody liked that answer. Kate was nonplussed though, and she hadn’t gotten off the stage yet.

“I don’t need a break, give me the last trial!” She readied her boomerang again.

Her words irritated Cira to no end, “How do you know there’s only three?”

“I thought you didn’t like to waste time—”

“Come forth, night wraith!”

The brightest flash yet burst in the center of the ring and the air in the room grew heavy with death. Those waiting for their turn felt a chill creep up their spine. That white light gave birth to a thick black smoke not unlike Yl’Gad earlier. The platform grew dark until one could hardly see the nervous Kate shaking in her boots and stepping back with a tear in her eye.

A face formed and started cackling in multiple overlapping voices, while many others screamed and cried. Finally, they all unified into one overbearing voice that shook the entire training room.

“CHILD OF GAZENNNNNNN! YOU FOOOOOOOOL!” The wraith kept growing until it looked down on her menacingly from the ceiling, completely ignoring the thief. The white light of death burned bright in its eyes and the pressure in the room increased. She could see her guests all straining not to fall to the floor. The massive wraith was bringing night upon the room until all that could be seen were its eyes and outstretched hand with the power of death gathering before it.

“Oh shi—“ Cira pulled Prismagora out of nothing just as a pillar of death mana erupted from Yl’gad’s palm. The explosion of light blinded everyone, sent her companions to the ground shielding their eyes. Without any time to spare, the death beam split on contact with Cira’s golden barrier, and Kate could be seen pressed up against the back of her own little bubble.

The sorcerer shot towards the wraith, leaving behind nothing but a column of stone and a cloud of dust. It cried in pain as smoke sizzled off while Cira flew through the air, becoming brighter as she approached.

“Holy Lance!” A golden spear flew out of her staff and pierced the pitch-black wraith, leaving behind a shining wound. She didn’t let up as she started falling, “Holy Lance! Holy Lance!”

She landed softly on the ground in front of Kate and Lamplights started floating off her like bubbles. They spun around until there were hundreds surrounding the interloper. Its shrill cries increased in volume and number as it melted into the ground, with countless voices that nearly shattered her ears from up close.

“You would reincarnate as a night wraith to come for me?!” Cira threw another lance as its face burned with fury and started glaring at her from the ground. It was like the wraith had deflated and was stuck in a puddle of shadows. “Begone, foolish wraith! Incomprehensible one, I offer this pitiful demon to you!”

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The chorus of screams got louder and more distorted as the puddle shined, then the wraith started wisping away into motes of golden light. Before long, the room was silent again.

“Phew…” Cira let out a long breath and cracked her back. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Kate flared up.

“Yeah, I thought you said we weren’t going to see any wraiths!”

“My Chip can’t fight those things!” Rosalie hung to him for dear life.

Cira sighed, “Dammit…”

Her students devolved into an argument, and they all pointed their dissatisfaction to her. Nanri tried to help, and they disregarded even her.

“Look guys,” Cira said, “You won’t have to face any wraiths, and there probably won’t be shades or specters either. That’s the whole point, the Last Step will be like a walk in the park compared to the Trials of Spectral Combat!”

Kate piped up again, “So you’re saying this training is useless?!”

“Of course not. I’m overpreparing you.”

Even Lomp was upset, “Cira, are you sure this test is really necessary?”

They all looked at him like the savior. Cira had to think about it for a minute. Realistically, there was nothing stopping Yl’Gad from coming back—the spell she used to banish him was flimsy at best, and who knew if that being would feel like hanging onto him. Continuing the tests could turn into a huge hassle and put her guests at unnecessary risk.

“Fine then.” Cira acquiesced, “You all pass the test. You should be able to keep a level head down there at least.”

They all cheered. Tears of relief formed in Rosalie’s eye. Chip pat Lomp on the back and told him, “Great job.”

Her team was assembled. Each of them had gear they were comfortable with and were all warmed up with their weapon of choice. They even had a fledgling healer and an offensive mage. The big question remained. Were they ready to subjugate ghosts?

They’ve seen more terrors tonight than they’ll likely see in the next three years. Unless I want to spend all night teaching them magic, this is about as ready as they’ll ever get.

“I guess you’re all officially exorcists now. Congratulations.” She wasn’t particularly enthused.

“Yay!” Nanri jumped up and clicked her heels. The others looked at her with either exhaustion or contempt.

“We’ll leave at dawn.” Cira decided, “If any of you aside from these two prisoners have somewhere to be or something to do, I suggest you take care of it promptly. The trip will be one way and there will be a lot of work to be done before you get a chance to come back up.”

She led them back upstairs and she offered them dinner before calling it a night. It’d been a while since she had tuna, so it was plentiful. Most of them were grateful except Kate, but the smell brought her around and she ended up reluctantly scarfing it down like she hadn’t eaten in days.

She saw Rosalie and Chip off, telling the latter not to be late. The guard with glasses also elected to go home but said he would be joining them. Cira could imagine he went straight to Pappy when he left, but his report wouldn’t trouble her. Same with Lomp—he hadn’t been home in days. Evidently there was no family though, he just missed his bed.

“What are we supposed to do?” Triton asked.

Cira opened a chest next to the couch and pulled out a few blankets, “You two can sleep here in the living room with Nanri, but the training room is open too if you prefer a cold stone floor. I’ll wake you up in the morning so don’t worry about that.”

“Wait!” Nanri’s voice shook, and she caught Cira as she had a foot down the stairs, “Can I… can I sleep in your room again?”

She thought about it for a minute, “I guess that’s alright… Afraid of the big scary smuggler? He’s turning his life around, you know.”

The witch was troubled. She couldn’t say the actual reason or Cira would think she was crazy, “Um, yeah that’s it. I couldn’t possibly sleep near this… this brute.” Lying in this way put a pained expression on her face.

“Hey!” he called from the couch.

Kate also had something to say from the adjacent couch, “And what makes you think I want to?”

“Smuggler.” Cira voice was cold, “Don’t give me reason to deliver judgement upon you. There’s a curse with your name on it downstairs.”

“I wouldn’t dare!” Anxious sweat formed on his forehead, having stepped into a trap unwittingly.

“Come on, Nanri.” She pulled her down the stairs and down the hall, stopping at her bedroom door and undoing a seal, “I have to take care of something in the forge real quick, but go ahead. I’ll be in shortly.”

Cira left the curious witch in her room and went to take care of a few last-minute preparations.

___

The sorcerer sat in the garden drinking her morning tea and the sun was just beginning to poke up behind the distant clouds below. Last night turned into a lot of work but she was satisfied. In her hand was the letter she received in the mail the other day. It would have made good reading material, but the wax seal was unfamiliar to her. As Cira considered opening it, she heard footsteps and saw Lomp walked up the stairs with Glasses in tow.

“You know Pappy’s down there.” Lomp said, “He’s pretty upset.”

Cira sipped her tea, “I better let him work it out himself then. Any sign of Chip?”

Nanri leaned over the railing, “There he is!” She waved, receiving an awkward reaction from the couple.

They said their goodbyes and shortly after, Chip came walking up the stairs.

Triton and Kate stood against the railing looking bored and tired. The latter had a burn on her hand that she was trying to hide. Cira gave her a questioning look, “Try to take something, did ya?”

“I did not!” She looked away sheepishly, “I was just trying to turn a picture around.”

Cira snicked before standing up, “Sure… Anyway, it looks like everyone’s here. Are you all ready?”

“Well,” Lomp said in his usual contradictory tone, “we still have to ride an elevator for thirty hours… You’re not planning on going the same way as last time, are you?”

“Lomp, you will never catch me spending thirty hours on an elevator,” She walked over to the edge of the grass and her orichalcum staff popped out. Once it lit, a tall border rose out of the salt around her home. This was to save her spot, so-to-speak.

“Gah! What the hell?!” A familiar old man’s cry came from below. Cira peered over and saw Pappy splayed on the ground. “Damn you, sorcerer! Get down here! I ain’t even started yellin’ at ya’!”

Cira leaned back from the railing now, putting her staff away. As she sat back in her chair, there was a rumbling beneath their feet. Soon, their surroundings lowered around them, and Breeze Haven left the ground.

“What are you doing?!” Triton fell to all fours, wobbling around with a scared look on his face like a dog. Even Nanri clutched the table and yelped. Chip alone was pointing and laughing at everyone else.

“We will be taking the scenic route,” Cira said, “Now would anybody like breakfast?”