Chapter 61: Successful Imprisonment
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation
Amidst an environment that eerily resembled a shopping mall, with its architectural design merging effortlessly into its backdrop, everything seemed awash in a disturbing crimson light. This ghostly red illumination imbued everything in its path with an otherworldly reddish tint.
This peculiar place, referred to as the ghost domain, could easily be mistaken as a confined space from the outside. However, stepping inside presented a different reality. Its confines seemed to stretch boundlessly, mirroring the attributes of a parallel universe that teetered on the edge of both reality and illusion. The intricate nature of this domain was so multifaceted that even its owner, Miles, had difficulty comprehending its genuine essence.
Out of nowhere, an eerie figure took shape before him. It was the mutilated body of a man. An arm was absent, and its head was contorted in a horrifying manner, almost as if snapped from its natural position. The sight was grimly familiar. It was the body of one of Master Catch’s disciples, whom Miles had discreetly observed not long ago. Strangely, despite the dire state of the body, the young man, who was in his early thirties, showed no signs of aging.
Reflecting on the situation, Miles thought, “Just as I had thought. This entity has a penchant for occupying newly deceased bodies, dismissing those that are decayed or unsuitable. It seems to have the power to possess any cadaver at will. With its capabilities, even Ethan would be incapable of trapping it unless he could somehow immobilize all potential hosts at once.”
An epiphany hit him, “But containing it here, within my ghost domain, alters the scenario. This is the only guaranteed method to thwart its getaway.”
A sense of somber satisfaction washed over him, “Ethan made a wise decision allying with me. His role as a decoy is proving invaluable.”
His gaze shifted momentarily to a countdown timer displayed on his smartphone. Two minutes and forty seconds had passed, but he wasn’t worried. He had identified the spirit’s location, and he had a total of five minutes to execute the plan.
The urgency of the situation was undeniable. Up till this point, their adversaries were merely bodies manipulated by the spirit. Now, Miles found himself facing the malevolent force head-on.
The mangled body in front of him started to move, its grotesquely twisted head adjusting to its normal position. The cold, vacant grey eyes fixed on Miles were devoid of any emotion, giving off a spine-chilling aura.
Yet, Miles was unperturbed. He had faced even more formidable apparitions in the past, including the infamous knocking ghost. Such encounters had fortified his determination.
In a surprising turn of events, the corpse, energized by the spirit, lunged at him with incredible swiftness. In the blink of an eye, it was almost upon him. However, instead of aiming for his head, the entity reached out with its remaining arm towards the eye symbol engraved on the back of Miles’s hand.
Miles speculated, “Is this your endgame, ghost? To assemble a macabre body using parts from tormented spirits? Have you been scavenging body parts to find the perfect pieces for your own monstrous creation?”
In the face of looming danger, Miles stood his ground resolutely, his demeanor betraying no fear, ready to confront whatever came his way.
“You seem to have potential akin to the ghost child I’ve encountered before,” Miles observed. “If you succeed in creating a body from an amalgamation of spirits, your malevolence might elevate to the feared S-class level. But right now, I must admit, your terror quotient isn’t quite there yet.”
With the ghost right in front of him, its ethereal fingers were wrapped around Miles’s hand, threateningly close to ripping out the ghost eye symbol that was engraved on the back of it.
But in a fleeting moment, he disappeared.
To the ghost’s surprise, Miles manifested a short distance behind it.
“It’s indeed fortunate that today we get a chance to neutralize a ghost that holds such significant future peril,” Miles mused aloud. “Yet, I’m often left pondering whether beings like you possess any real intelligence or just instinct.”
He scrutinized the ghost’s every move, trying to decipher any meaningful patterns, intent, or purpose. Gleaning such insights could potentially make their mission even more successful.
The ghost, however, remained eerily silent and still, giving away nothing.
“Since a meaningful dialogue is out of the question,” Miles said with caution, “we have no option but to detain you, especially when we’re here in the ghost domain.”
Miles signaled, “Ethan, the ball’s in your court now.”
As a beam of crimson light bathed the clothing store, the boundaries of the ghost domain became evident. Within this ghost domain, the figures of Miles and the body were clearly discernible.
Meanwhile, Ethan had somehow managed to reattach the arm the ghost had taken earlier. The specifics of how he achieved this remained a mystery, but it could very well be attributed to the latent ghostly power residing within him.
“Are you sure it’s this particular body?” Ethan inquired with a hint of astonishment, having witnessed Miles’s sudden reappearance.
“I’ve confined it using the ghost domain’s properties. Tell me, have the other bodies exhibited any movements during my absence?” Miles probed.
Glancing around, Ethan replied, “No, they’re as still as statues.”
Seeking further assurance, Ethan pressed on, “I just need to be absolutely certain. You’re well aware of the consequences of any oversight on our part.”
Miles responded with a heavy tone, “We’re all in, Ethan. There’s no room for second-guessing. If we successfully incarcerate this ghost, perhaps you could consider an early retirement? A feat of this magnitude is worth a fortune, ensuring a legacy neither of us will regret.”
Nodding, Ethan said, “You’ve got a point.” He then steeled himself and ventured into the ghost domain.
Ordinarily, Ethan couldn’t enter this ghost domain on his own. Only with Miles’s explicit consent could he gain access.
However, the instant Ethan set foot in the ghost domain, the atmosphere shifted. The ghost perhaps perceived him as a formidable adversary.
Suddenly, a nebulous silhouette disentangled itself from the corpse. As it took form, its height and build eerily matched that of Miles, but it was noticeably devoid of a head.
A headless apparition!
Was this the ghost’s authentic appearance?
It now made sense why the heads of the corpses it inhabited were the first to deteriorate – it lacked one of its own.
Spotting this, Ethan warned in a panic-stricken voice, “Miles, it’s targeting you!”
Before Ethan could process his thoughts further, the ghostly figure darted towards Miles with an alarming speed as if it was trying to meld into him.
For a moment, it was hard to discern if Miles was caught off guard or if the ghost’s moves were genuinely that unpredictable. The ghost seemingly merged with Miles, leaving what appeared to be his lifeless form standing there.
“This can’t be,” Ethan whispered, dread evident in his eyes. Over time, he had come to understand the unique capability of the ghost: its power to possess and dominate any body, be it living or inanimate. If the ghost had truly taken over Miles, the implications would be dire.
But from a distance, Miles’s voice rang out, clearly unharmed, “Fooled you, didn’t it?” He continued, “The ghost might have claimed a host, but it’s not me. It possessed a mannequin. It seems that even spiritual entities can be tricked.”
To Ethan’s astonishment, under the pulsating red glow, what seemed to be Miles was, in fact, an inanimate dummy.
“Is this the power of your ghost domain?” Ethan exclaimed, looking at the unharmed Miles who seemed to have materialized from nowhere. He contemplated whether this version of Miles was another illusion. Inside the ghost domain, perception of reality could be molded and shifted; the only constant was what Miles himself believed to be true.
“You better act swiftly or I’m leaving this place,” Miles cautioned.
Regaining his composure, Ethan affirmed, “Got it.” With a single stride, he found himself standing next to the possessed mannequin. Here, in the ghost domain, space was malleable.
Choosing to focus on the task at hand and pushing aside the bizarre properties of the ghost domain, Ethan grasped the mannequin firmly. His gloved hand was dampened by fresh blood, which began to permeate the dummy.
From the distance, rhythmic heartbeats echoed, “Thump, thump, thump!”
As Ethan’s special ghost-suppressing blood interacted with the genuine spirit within the dummy, other bodies scattered around the store started to disintegrate. They collapsed one after the other, like dominoes toppling in succession.
While observing the scene, Miles remarked appreciatively, “You’ve done it. While I can only trap the ghost, you’ve managed to restrain it. Impressive work.”
With a weary smile, Ethan responded, “Your unparalleled ghost domain is the true marvel. If I can’t physically confront the ghost, I’m defenseless. If I fail to suppress it, escaping would be out of the question. However, if we combined our abilities, ghost hunting would become notably easier.”
Pausing to gather his thoughts, Ethan’s gaze met Miles’s. Their distinct skills did indeed synergize perfectly. A pang of regret hit Ethan, given that his time in this world was fleeting. If only he had encountered Miles earlier in his journey. Until a short while ago, Miles was just a novice in the realm of ghost containment, an unassuming student.
Miles interjected, breaking Ethan’s reverie, “Let’s save the reminiscing for later. We’re nearing the four-minute mark. I’d rather not meet my end because of a resurgent ghost. Finish what you started.”
“Just a moment more; the timing isn’t right,” Ethan replied, focused on the task at hand.
Recognizing the gravity in Ethan’s voice, Miles knew he had no choice but to wait with bated breath.
After a brief ten-second interval, the potency of Ethan’s ghost blood began to manifest itself on the mannequin. The previously rigid plastic form started to disintegrate, with streams of the ghost-suppressing blood oozing from its seams and joints. As the blood permeated the dummy, it caused both the inanimate object and the ghostly entity inhabiting it to vaporize.
As the mannequin and the ghostly figure dissolved, a viscous puddle of blood materialized on the ground, causing slight ripples in the ethereal atmosphere of the ghost domain.
Observing the situation, Ethan knelt and extended his hand over the blood reservoir. Miraculously, the fluid seemed to be drawn back into his body, steadily diminishing in volume. Yet, within the remaining pool, a contorted headless apparition struggled. It thrashed and flexed in desperation, attempting to break free from the blood that held it captive.
With a sense of accomplishment, Ethan declared, “It’s time.” He then extracted an ornate box from his pocket. Crafted intricately with gold, the box, though appearing compact, was designed to house the residual blood along with its ghostly prisoner.
Guided by an unseen force, the residual blood, with the entrapped ghost, began to flow into the box.
With a definite “Click!”, the box locked in its captive. For an added measure of protection, Ethan meticulously wrapped the box in multiple sheets of gold foil, ensuring that there were absolutely no exposed areas.
“It’s just the primary containment phase,” he elucidated. “If deemed necessary, melt the outer gold layers to seal the box completely. This is crucial because even the smallest crevice can provide this entity a potential escape route. Several ghost tamers have met their doom due to such seemingly insignificant oversights.”
Only after completing these steps did Ethan permit himself a sigh of relief.
Intrigued, Miles commented, “This is a novel experience for me. It’s fascinating to see the intricacies involved in ghost containment.”
It was clear to him now that using gold wasn’t merely a whimsical choice. The sealing process needed to be flawless, leaving no room for even the tiniest breach.
Having witnessed the entire procedure, Miles posed a question, “Now that this entity is safely contained, what are your plans for it? If it’s agreeable to you, I could keep the box in my possession for some time. Would that be acceptable to you?”
There is exactly one way to capture a ghost with relative safety, and that is a cause for concern because it’s by setting up a formation around a ghost tamer before the outbreak of their ghost. You’ll find a few noble souls that willingly submit to such when they feel themselves reaching their limit, but the ghost tamer community as a whole is a wild west full of people who are gradually losing their humanity anyway. Under such circumstances, it’s both far safer and far more profitable to hunt weak ghost tamers than to suppress ghosts. There’s no way there isn’t a significant “player kill” undercurrent in the ghost tamer world.
The release of the ghost baby was a big deal, and Mile’s ghost is even more powerful. Mr. Right died ahead of schedule because of an unexpected confrontation with an extremely powerful ghost. Given he was teaching about ghosts in a world where that knowledge is still being suppressed, the organization was likely somehow able to determine that at least one person in the class possessed the talent to become a ghost tamer. Probably with an item similar to the fortune telling human skin parchment.
Basically, he was taken out of active duty and assigned the low risk role of training a successor from scratch, because freelance ghost tamers are difficult to recruit and inspire loyalty in. They likely hoped that without using his power he’d last until the release of the experimental technique of leveraging tamed ghosts against each other, and given that he had merit they may may have intended to make him part of an ongoing secret “alpha” phase of the research, but if he couldn’t hold on they would have probably isolated him in a special sealing facility. Mr. Right had the personality to go along with that, but Miles is the type to bet on a one in a million chance to find a path to survival when he’s already at the brink. If I was the government agency, I wouldn’t give such a person the option to say no to being taken into custody, so he should be careful.
Ethan’s power is limited but an excellent complement to Mile’s. The method of resisting ghost corrosion should be by pitting multiple tamed ghosts against each other, so you can imagine a future where Miles acquires Ethan’s ghost in the future… But the growth potential of the headless ghost here is probably a hint: ghosts can consume other ghosts to become stronger. The strength of the ghosts is mismatched, so the ghost eye would devour the ghost blood slowly and become more powerful, even as it bought him time. That suits a story like this because it maintains urgency, but I’d still rather see Ethan, who is close to reaching his limit, get a ghost eye mark and become an earmarked subordinate ghost. That probably wouldn’t provide benefits regarding corruption speed, but Miles can probably utilize their power more freely without increasing either party’s corruption level much. I feel bad for Ethan, but since he’s a dude he’ll probably lose most of his ego at some point. Probably still better than being entirely consumed by his own ghost.
The dullahan will probably be sold, the abilities it possesses don’t seem that useful for the protagonist rn, even if there’s a potential heroine character who can be argued to have a karmic link to it. The foresight page is probably too dangerous to allow it to consume that particular ghost, because of the “possession” attribute. The foresight parchment should itself have an extremely similar nature to that of a ghost. His classmate was probably somewhere in between a ghost tamer and a marked victim like the heroine classmate. If you accept the parchment as being your future self, it gradually erodes and becomes part of you, and probably evolves to a full ghost upon your death after full erosion. Which is why he’s described as seeming human yet not. Sealing a ghost inside it should allow it to grow by consuming that ghost, but a parasite that survives by offering the devil’s temptation and a parasite that can forcefully seize a host are entirely different concepts. On the other hand, if Miles can subordinate the newspaper ghost somehow before allowing it to be consumed, the compatibility seems high. The human skin parchment used as a bandage to suppress some of his eyes temporarily is fitting, and, due to being human skin, would probably seamlessly and invisibly merge into his body for as long as he wanted it to. A true hidden weapon.
Heroine classmate will probably eventually tame the ghost baby, their karmic link is too strong, and she needs some sort of power. I suspect the link that marks her as the baby’s prey for consumption and subordination still exists, it’s just that its progression value is currently zero. I suspect that bond can be leveraged in reverse if the value becomes “negative.” This may already be happening, a white handprint or something slowly forming on the ghost baby under the indirect pressure of the eye marking that gives her the upper hand. Truly subordinating it would be difficult for a long time because it has a strong growth potential that prevents it from being totally dominated by the ghost eye, but it isn’t hard to imagine it feeling compelled to protect her, at least. Kinda like the relationship between Casca and her baby in Berserk, except the baby possesses less of a will. I’m unconvinced that ghosts born from ghost tamers possess no will at all: if only for balance, there needs to be some sort of advantage for ghosts that have been “germinated” through a ghost tamer compared to those that emerge naturally. From how the knocking ghost possessed so many subordinate ghosts so soon after it came into being, as well as it being able to proliferate itself over the internet on purpose, I suspect that it was originally a powerful ghost tamer and a pioneer of the mutual suppression method of life extension. A suitable destined foe for the protagonist, who escaped once but by borrowing the power of a ghost trapped within, if not yet subordinate to, the knocking ghost’s domain. Did the ghost eye escape being consumed entirely by possessing Miles, or does a link to the tree in the domain still exist? If the tree is the main body, Miles has no choice but to increase the power of the eye over time, despite the risks. The main body living inside another ghost’s domain presents only two options: consume it, or be consumed.
If the Dullahan appears in the story, it will probably be through the rich classmate. The Dullahan as a tamed ghost has some gag comedy potential, and the classmate has both the money to buy it that would ensure Ethan’s share, the motivation to seek power from his experiences, and the tendencies of a gamer that can maximize controlling multiple puppets like an RTS.
If bathroom girl becomes a heroine, she’ll probably get power eventually, but I suspect her primary attributes will be dumb luck, good instinct, and the related attribute of clinging firmly to the thigh she found. A support character who listens to orders faithfully even while whining about it.
oh no, this story is no comedy. its very cruel later on, in fact, the gags and poor sex jokes is only there to build up William’s character
I don’t actually think of it as a comedy, but, at least right now preceding further character development, William is a dandy meant to lighten the mood a bit, if not a full gag character. Lighthearted moments at the beginning like drawing on inspiration from RTS games, being enthusiastic about customizing a set of very expensive mannequins to control, and panicking about the physical manifestation of the ghost’s corrosion being his head becoming more weakly attached to his body all feel quite appropriate for this phase of exploration. Regarding the last bit: he’ll just die if his head actually comes off, so the manifestation would probably be more like a seam on his neck where the tissue is more weakly connected and thus more prone to damage there, which at first shows as a ring of bruises around his neck from normal movements causing capillaries to rupture and eventually requires full neck immobilization to protect the seam from tearing. If if progresses enough to damage his vocal cords, he can have the full set: Batman voice and neck immobilization style Batman cowl.