When Kuzuki pushed open the heavy double doors and stepped into the mansion, Okame and the other students filed in behind him.
They proceeded cautiously down the creaking wooden corridor. The place was undoubtedly dilapidated, but...
(Wait... is this place being looked after?)
There wasn't a speck of dust on the floorboards, the walls showed clear signs of replastering, and someone had even gone to the trouble of setting a vase of fresh, vibrant red flowers on a stand by the window. It was blatantly obvious that the interior was being meticulously maintained. Under normal circumstances, that meant the estate had a rightful owner who kept it in good order. From what he could see, the structure itself was remarkably solid despite its age. It was far more reasonable to assume that some mafia syndicate or influential figure was using the property as a staging ground for confidential business, deliberately fabricating rumors like the Seven Horrors to keep people away. And yet...
(Th-this feeling...)
To any student in Babel, this location had an infamous reputation that everyone had heard at least once. Known far and wide as one of the Seven Horrors of Babel, it was rumored to be plagued by all manner of sinister supernatural phenomena. Kuzuki had never put much stock in such dubious tales, but ever since setting foot inside, a distinct, crawling revulsion—like thousands of tiny insects creeping over his skin—had been welling up from deep within him.
(This isn't normal! There's no way in hell this is normal!)
With every step forward, a suffocating pressure bore down on him, as though he were sinking into the crushing depths of the ocean floor. Kuzuki had always possessed an unnervingly sharp intuition when it came to things like this. He suspected it was the work of his unidentified Gift, Medium. After all, ever since he was a child, he had been able to perceive things invisible to ordinary eyes.
Of course, some in the group were far too oblivious to share his apprehension.
"Seven Horrors, my ass! It's just a run-down old heap!"
Okame sneered, roughly shoving Kuzuki aside to take the lead.
"Indeed. It's almost certainly a hideout for whatever mafia filth is infesting Babel," Mime agreed with open disdain.
"Yeah. For an abandoned ruin, there ain't a single scrap of trash lying around. That proves there's a caretaker keeping it clean. The whole 'Seven Horrors' crap is probably just a rumor the mob cooked up."
Looking thoroughly unimpressed, Okame spat on the floor and kicked a nearby table. The vase atop it crashed down and shattered across the floorboards. Treading over the broken porcelain, he strolled into the first-floor dining hall—only to freeze at the sight of a lone swordsman standing in the center of the room, his longsword already drawn.
"H-hey... isn't that a wraith?"
One of Mime's classmates pointed at the figure, his voice trembling with uncertainty. From the knees down, the swordsman's legs faded into a pale translucence. By no stretch of the imagination could he be called human.
"Battle stations!"
At Okame's roar, the students drew their weapons and took up vigilant stances against the spectral warrior.
Surrounded on all sides, the wraith leveled the tip of his blade toward them.
"Truth be told, I was just planning on scaring you lot off so you'd turn back. But things have changed. A few of the livelier ones among you are gonna have to be sacrificed. Don't worry, though. In return, I'll let every last one of the rest go."
He dipped his head slightly, wearing an apologetic grimace.
"You're just a damn undead, and you think you can look down on us?! We're students of Kyoei Academy, you bastard!"
Bellowing in fury, Mime lunged at the wraith.
"You volunteering to go first?"
Before Mime's downward slash could even graze his target, the wraith deflected the strike with effortless grace.
"Huh?"
Mime's longsword went sailing off into the distance. As the boy stood frozen in utter disbelief, his arms still raised and his mouth hanging agape, the wraith drove a heavy left fist straight into his face. The impact sent Mime rocketing backward until his spine crashed violently against the wall, leaving him to crumple to the floor in an unconscious heap.
"N-no way... M-Mime got taken out in one hit?!"
As the rest of the students shrank back in horror, staring wide-eyed at Mime foaming at the mouth, Okame shoved his way to the front.
"Useless piece of shit! Getting dropped by a low-level undead like that! That's why I told you not to let your guard down!"
Okame spat on the floor as he glared at his unconscious lackey, then leveled his staff directly at the spectral swordsman.
"Flame Snake!"
The moment the spell left Okame's lips, numerous serpents of roaring fire materialized in midair, writhing violently as they surged toward their target.
"A chantless Flame Snake?!"
Letting out a sharp gasp of astonishment, the wraith threw himself backward. Yet the flaming serpents twisted and turned, relentlessly pursuing him at blinding speed.
"Tch!"
Clicking his tongue, the wraith repeatedly slashed at the fiery vipers with his blade. But the flames coiled up the length of his steel, lunging straight for his exposed throat. He managed to intercept the strike with his bare left hand, but the serpent's scorching fangs sank deep into his flesh.
"Gah!"
As the swordsman grimaced in searing agony, a voice cut through the air.
"Ice Bird!"
A clear, melodic female voice rang out across the hall. Out of nowhere, ten birds sculpted from pure ice manifested, swooping down to intertwine with the fiery serpents and extinguishing them in a burst of hissing steam.
"Lady Lucile! Much obliged!"
A woman whose face was entirely concealed beneath countless talismans stepped forward, holding her right hand over the swordsman's charred left arm. As if winding back the hands of time, the scorched flesh rapidly knitted itself back together.
"Hey, woman... You ain't human either, are you? You an undead mage?"
Okame demanded warily, keeping his staff trained on her.
"Indeed. I have long since departed the realm of the living. Calling me an undead is by no means incorrect."
"Is that so?!"
Once more, serpents of fire ignited in midair. This time, however, there were six of them, weaving through the air with fluid, predatory grace.
"Burn that bitch to ashes!"
At Okame's command, the flaming vipers surged toward the talisman-clad woman all at once.
"Dammit! That many right off the bat?!"
Cursing under his breath, the wraith threw himself in front of her to intercept the attack. But as the woman brought her hands together in a silent incantation, a colossal dragon of ice erupted from the floorboards, swallowing the flame serpents whole in a single bite.
"What the hell?!"
For the first time, Okame's smug facade cracked into pure shock. Grimacing, he took a wary step back, glanced over his shoulder, and bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Flame Snake Duke, get out here!"
With a low, echoing hiss, an enormous serpent forged of blazing fire materialized from the ether. Raising its hood, the fiery beast narrowed its eyes at the woman before slowly turning a razor-sharp glare onto Okame.
"Okame... Surely you did not summon me merely to exterminate a puny undead wench, did you?"
The spirit pressed him, its tone thick with venomous contempt.
"Sh-shut up! She's using some bizarre magic! I'll give you half that guy's vitality as payment, so just hurry up and slaughter them already!"
Okame yelled furiously, pointing a trembling finger at Kuzuki.
"Hmph! Half the life force of a pathetic wretch like that is hardly sufficient recompense!"
"I'll make up the difference with the others later! Just do it!"
"Very well. See to it that you do not forget your promise!"
The crimson serpent eyes locked onto Kuzuki, glowing with an ominous light. Instantly, all strength deserted Kuzuki's limbs.
"Wh-what... is this...?"
Without warning, the Flame Snake Duke's fiery skin began to bubble and churn violently, boiling outward. In seconds, its serpentine frame swelled into a massive, formless sphere of raging fire.
"H-hey... Flame Snake Duke?"
Ignoring Okame's panic-stricken voice, the colossal ball of flame began to reshape itself.
Four muscular limbs extended from the core, and massive wings unfurled. It was, without a doubt, a dragon of pure flame. The beast threw back its head and unleashed a deafening roar toward the heavens, shuddering with overwhelming ecstasy.
"Magnificent! Truly magnificent! This is the vessel of a Dragon Species! At long last, I have ascended to dragonhood!"
"I-is that a Dragon... Duke? And a flame Dragon Duke at that—I have never even heard of such a thing! This is disastrous! We cannot possibly contend with this! Staying here is nothing short of suicide! Take the children and evacuate immediately!"
The talisman-masked woman cried out, her voice trembling with rising panic and raw terror.
"On it!"
"You shall go nowhere."
The wraith swordsman tried to break into a sprint toward Mime and the others, but a sudden barrage of searing fireballs struck him dead-on, blowing him across the room.
"Guria!"
"Uuuuseless!"
As the talisman-clad woman moved to rush to Guria's side, a streak of fire cut off her path. The flames coalesced into a towering draconic figure that looked down upon her, mockingly wagging its right forefinger back and forth.
"Ah..."
The woman froze, her face twitching in terror. In the next instant, a blazing tail whipped through the air, smashing her into the wall. The impact left her coughing up dark blood, utterly paralyzed and broken. The flame dragon then turned its imposing gaze upon Kuzuki.
"Brat. Form a contract with me!"
The demand came completely out of left field.
"M-me?"
Kuzuki barely managed to croak out the question through his fading consciousness.
"Don't give me that bullshit! You're under contract with me! Who do you think you're—"
Okame scrambled to his feet, his face pale with rage as he began to scream, but—
"Insolent pest!"
A lash of fire swept past, instantly incinerating Okame's entire lower body.
"Gyaaaaaaaagh?!"
Paying no mind to Okame writhing on the ground in agonizing screams, the dragon dissolved into flame once more and drifted close to Kuzuki, its voice booming with sheer elation.
"You are extraordinary! With you by my side, I could even ascend to become the King of Dragons—the supreme apex of all living creatures!"
Just then—
"Indeed. He does seem to be cut from a different cloth."
At the sound of the mysterious voice, a swirling black vortex ripped open in the floor right beneath Kuzuki.
"Eh?"
A bewildered squeak escaped his lips just before his consciousness plunged into an endless, suffocating darkness.