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Chapter 38: 38—Demon hunter girl Noah’s chest felt tighter. Here he was face to face with a pretty girl, yet he was more worried about killing her than anything else. Truth. A lie was what caused this. But he couldn’t give her the full truth. No one would even believe such a thing. Hey, I transmigrated as a spirit into my own dead body in another world. Noah brought his hand to the back of his head, looking away. He walked over to the door and closed it, before grabbing a blanket to cover Mikaela. "What is the Union?" He asked, carefully covering the girl he almost killed without touching her. Madeleine just watched him the whole time, silently waiting for him to answer her question first. She leaned against the wall and pursed her lips. Noah sighed and ran his hands over his face. "I killed myself a couple weeks ago." He pointed at his neck. "The mark is long gone but I hung myself when I was a bit high." The color drained from Madeleine’s face. "That’s... I’m sorry. Why’d you do it? Did anyone instruct you to do it?" Noah was taken back; he shook his head. "No, I was just... not too mentally stable and on a delirious drug." "What drug?" "...Angel," He murmured, not sure what this added to the conversation. "The Ironfield Mob?" Madeleine said, eyes narrowing, but she wasn’t looking at him. She wasn’t suspicious of him. Noah spoke slowly, trying to use every word the right way. "Yes... the blackouts first started when I hung myself..." Madeleine’s golden eyes traced his lips. "So no one told you about the ritual to gain the Phantasm?" "Ritual? Like I have to do something special," Noah asked, his forehead wrinkled with confusion. "Was killing myself a way to gain these powers?" "Maybe," Madeleine murmured, walking around the room and pulling a book from one of the shelves. "How many blackouts have you experienced?" "Maybe two?" Noah said with a shrug. "But I did recently change like you said. Evolved. I can’t control the transformation, but I can remember leaving my body." Madeleine stopped, growing silent for a torturous moment. "What do you mean leave your body?" What does that mean? I leave my body to become a wraith... Unless that’s not normal. When Isaac transformed, his body changed to become the bull. But when I transform, I leave my body and it becomes essentially dead. So that must not be the normal way to using Phantasm abilities. "It’s how I use my power," Noah explained. "One day I woke up outside my body, watching myself sleep. It was like I died and was outside my body." "Can you do it now?" Madeleine asked, her eyes growing worried. Noah shook his head. "It’s a bit random." Madeleine dropped the book she was holding to pace around the room. After a long bout she spoke in a conspiratorial tone. "Okay, but do you remember killing anyone or attacking a person?" "No, but I do have memories of fighting a bull," Noah said innocently, his eyes growing wide. "But I don’t think I killed it, just broke its horns. But that might not have been me. I have memories that aren’t mine, from people I’ve never met." Madeleine pursed her lips, indecision fighting behind her eyes. "Okay, that’s good. I’m pretty sure rules say if you have no memories of the murder you’re not liable." "Wait, I didn’t kill anyone," Noah protested. "You don’t know that," Madeleine muttered. She looked conflicted, struggling with her next words. "I don’t know how to say this. But you died that day." Noah wanted to pretend her words shook him but he always knew that. So he just nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I, uh, guessed that." "The Phantasm possessed you but merged with your passing spirit for some reason," Madeleine explained, turning away and pacing. He could see that she knew as little as he did about this. "Then why did I gain control? Why do I still... feel like myself." Madeleine turned to face him. "You still are. Phantasms are unpredictable. RCB holds a seminar every year just to tell us they still don’t fully understand Phantasms and warn us not to think we fully understand them." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎 "RCB?" Noah asked. "Research and containment." "That sounds like a nice job," Noah said, nodding. Madeleine looked more panicked than him right now. "Better than enforcement. I guess you have to fight monsters and... Phantasms is what you called it." "I don’t get to fight much," Madeleine muttered bitterly, waving his words off. Then she paused. "Forget Union jobs, you have bigger problems. If any Keepers find out about you they’ll try to extract the Wraith in your body, but that’ll... technically kill you too." Noah massaged his temples, speaking slowly. "Please slow down. What do you mean Wraith inside me? And why would this kill..." The realisation hit. "I’m dead. My spirit is the Wraith, whatever that is." Madeleine walked closer to him and explained. "Okay, let’s start from the top. The Union is in charge of public safety from Phantasms. You died and someone summoned a Wraith that merged with your passing spirit, gaining a higher connection to your body." She paused to make sure he was following. "Okay, now a Wraith is a vengeful spirit. It forms from accumulated hatred. Lots of famous people deal with them. But criminal groups deal with them too. Someone summoned the Wraith to destroy the Ironfield mob and fused it with you." "Why are you sure it’s the Ironfield mob?" Noah asked, partially interested in how the Union deduced these things. "Almost two weeks ago there was an explosion in a gas station," Madeleine said. "Only two people died, both persons of interest in mob cases. One of them had a Chained Bull Phantasm. An old myth brought from abroad by the mafia. Whoever summoned the Wraith sent you to kill them." Noah tried feigning disbelief, but it felt real. "That makes no sense, but it also does in a way." "Don’t worry about it," Madeleine reassured. "Our main problem is the Union." Our? How did she make this her problem already? Something was wrong with Madeleine, but Noah was glad she wasn’t like Hadrian at least. "Why? Aren’t they like the FBI or something?" Noah asked, looking for more info. "Shouldn’t cases like this be reported?" While things were cordial, it would be best to see how much he could learn from Madeleine.