With each passing second, Nicholas could feel the movement around them intensifying. if they hesitated any longer, there was no doubt they would be completely surrounded.
"We are members of the Spirit Medium Order, under the jurisdiction of the Church of the God of Death and Rebirth!" Piers's voice boomed, echoing through the cemetery. "You are currently trespassing on Order territory and threatening the public peace of York City. If you do not reveal yourself immediately, we will be forced to use lethal force to apprehend you as a rogue Extraordinary."
Piers's voice rang out across the graveyard, echoing through the fog. However, there was no response whatsoever.
"It seems our friend isn't much of a talker,"
"Was that some kind of pre-engagement protocol?" Nicholas couldn't help but ask. The wording from earlier seemed similar to how investigators read suspects their rights during an arrest.
"Nope. I was just trying my luck."
Piers's answer shattered the professional image in his head completely.
"But since the other side showed no reaction at all means those threats were useless. Maybe this guy knew we were from the Order from the start."
"The situation doesn't look too good… what's the plan?" Nicholas asked.
"At this point, our only option is to break through the encirclement." Piers scanned their surroundings. "Which way to the exit?"
"Which direction leads to the exit?"
"West." Evelyn replied. She seemed to have maintained a perfect mental map of their recent path.
"Yorn and I will clear the path ahead. When I give the signal, you two follow me as fast as you can," Piers laid out the plan.
Nicholas and Evelyn nodded in sync. With the plan settled, they prepared to move immediately.
Piers stared toward the west. The undead seemed particularly dense in that direction, a sign that the enemy likely anticipated their escape route. Even so, they had no other choice.
The vice captain of Division Four held up three fingers before slowly lowering them one by one to count down for his team members. The moment he reached zero, he gave the signal.
"Go!"
Piers launched himself toward the west, with Nicholas and Evelyn following closely behind. The corpses that had been eerily still moments ago snapped into aggression. They swarmed the trio like a pack of starving crocodiles closing in on their prey.
"Yorn!"
The child spirit's battle form manifested once more. It slammed into the soulless puppets, the impact scattering them in all directions and carving a narrow path through the wall of flesh.
With the encirclement broken, the group immediately pressed forward along the opening without needing further signals. Up ahead, the bound spirit clearing the way shifted seamlessly between its spectral and physical forms, dodging and striking in tandem.
Even though Nicholas had already seen it fight before, he couldn't help but reassess its strength.
It was no wonder Romero had once questioned how he had survived the Vengeful Spirit. In terms of spiritual power, Yorn only had power equivalent to a newly formed Vengeful Spirit. whereas David's Vengeful Spirit had been nearly on par with a that of a Specter —vastly outclassing the child spirit before them.
This incident made Nicholas realize his own luck, as well as the terrifying power of his authority as Judicial Representative.
Beads of sweat broke out across Piers's face and body. Looking at his condition, Nicholas didn't think it wasn't simply from running or physical exertion. Fighting alongside a bound spirit was likely far more taxing than Nicholas had imagined.
"Hurry—"
The words had barely left Piers's lips when his body jerked to a halt, unable to move forward. He felt something tugging at his leg, throwing him off balance. Glancing down at his right foot, he saw a hand—bursting up from beneath the ground—gripping his ankle.
"From below!?"
It seemed the danger wasn't only what was visible. Even the ground beneath them had become part of the encirclement.
'If I fire now, I might hit the old man,' Nicholas hesitated. If he pulled the trigger, he wasn't sure whether he'd free his vice-captain… or retire the old man permanently.
Just as he was weighing his options, a gust of wind swept past him.
A nimble figure danced forward, weaving through the attacking corpses from all directions. Nicholas's eyes followed Evelyn as she moved gracefully toward Piers. Her movements were like a ballet performance—fluid, precise, almost unreal.
Sliding low across the ground, a dagger appeared in her hand. Twisting her body, she slashed cleanly at the wrist that held Piers in place.
Slash!
The hand was severed instantly, freeing Piers's foot. But behind him, a corpse puppet lunged forward, both arms outstretched as if to seize the older man—
BANG!!
A thunderous gunshot echoed from the side.
The puppet's neck twisted violently as if crushed by an invisible force before exploding. Its head was torn completely from its shoulders, and the body slumped lifelessly to the dirt.
"Thanks, rookie. You've got a real talent for shooting," Piers grunted, grateful for the timely and precise save.
'…I was actually aiming for the head this time'
But that information wasn't important right now.
Nicholas cocked the hammer before firing two more shots. Fortunately, both hit their marks. One struck a corpse at close range in the chest, dropping it instantly. The other hit the leg of a walking corpse dozens of meters away. Yet even with one leg gone, it continued to crawl toward them, relentless—like a machine following its programming.
The bad news was that Nicholas only had one spiritual bullet left.
For some reason… he had a strong feeling he should save that final round for the right moment.
He removed the bullet from the chamber and replaced it with the regular ammunition he carried. But while doing so, he was attacked by two corpses. The drawback of using a revolver with limited capacity was clear—he had to reload far too often.
Nicholas ducked low, then kicked one of the attackers, sending it crashing into another corpse. As both tumbled to the ground, he finished reloading and aimed straight at them.
BANG! BANG!
At such close range, accuracy wasn't an issue. The bullets pierced through their skulls. Compared to spiritual rounds, regular bullets were far less effective—so to avoid wasting shots, Nicholas had no choice but to aim for the head.
Adrenaline surged through his veins, his heart pounding wildly. For a brief moment, he felt as if he was trapped inside a famous survival-horror game franchise.
Luckily, these corpses weren't much stronger than average humans, making them manageable one-on-one. But with their overwhelming numbers, the situation was gradually becoming more and more difficult.
"This is bad," Piers shouted over the chaos. "We were making progress before, but now we're completely pinned down!"
"I'm doing everything I can just to hold them back!" Evelyn snapped.
They were stuck in a defensive stance, making a breakout feel like a distant impossibility.
"Is there any Tría level ability that can get us out of this?"
Nicholas shouted to Piers—the highest-ranking among them—while sidestepping another grasping hand.
"We Spirit Mediums specialize in spiritual attacks... but we're severely lacking when it comes to physical combat," Piers panted. "That's why we have to rely on Bound Spirits for that role. But when we're overwhelmed by pure numbers like this, we're at a total disadvantage."
Despite the long-winded explanation, the core message was simple: there was no secret weapon for this.
"This would be a lot easier if we had more spiritual bullets." Nicholas noted.
"Mine are almost out too. Plus, I probably can't keep Yorn manifested much longer. Maintaining a physical form for a Vengeful Spirit is a massive drain on my energy. my spiritual energy runs out, we're finished."
It was clear that Yorn was the one carrying the heaviest burden, but as Piers had just confirmed, the child spirit couldn't stay in his battle form indefinitely.
Spirits at the Vengeful Spirit level lacks the spiritual power to manifest a physical body that can impact the material world on its own. Therefore, they required the support—and spiritual energy—of their Spirit Medium. But doing so placed a heavy strain on the one controlling them.
"Our only way out right now is to find the Corpse Puppeteer and take them down," Piers said.
"Easier said than done," Evelyn grumbled irritably while slashing her blade across the neck of a nearby corpse and severing it cleanly.
"Getting angry won't help anything, missy."
From the very beginning until now, they hadn't even caught a glimpse of the puppeteer. It was obvious—the enemy was deliberately wearing them down. There was no way he would reveal himself so easily.
"How can we be sure the puppeteer is even nearby?" Nicholas asked.
"Look at how these corpses respond to our every move, he has to be close. As far as I know, only high-level Corpse Puppeteers can command corpses to move independently from a distance. My guess is that he's hiding among the corpses around us."
Sweat pouring down Piers's body indicated he was nearing his limit. Their time was running out.
"Can we locate him?"
"I've tried, but I can't sense anything. He might have some ability—or an artifact—that conceals his presence," Evelyn replied.
Nicholas processed all the information he had received in his head. Throughout this long battle, he himself couldn't sense spiritual power or emotional radiation from any living being around them. Considering what Piers had said, it seemed Evelyn's assumption seemed to be close to the truth.
If they couldn't pinpoint the puppeteer's location, they were bound to lose this game.
'Wait... position, you say?'
It was at this moment that a certain thought flashed through Nicholas's mind.
" Vice-Captain, Evelyn, permission to regroup for a moment."
Nicholas shouted, calling them together. There was something he wanted to propose, but with the enemy possibly lurking nearby, he couldn't risk saying it out loud.
Seeing his urgency, Evelyn fully utilized her agility, weaving through the battlefield, while Piers gave orders for Yorn to clear the surrounding area to the best of its ability, carving out a small pocket of space for the three of them to reunite.
Once they were together, they stood back-to-back in a defensive triangle.
"I have a plan," Nicholas said. "No guarantees it'll work—but it's worth a shot."
A faint smile curled at the corner of his lips. After being on the defensive for so long…
It was finally time to strike back.
09.11.550
Nicholas Parlay
Spirit medium (Éna)