As both ghosts watched the investigation move through the rubble-covered ritual hall, the debris finally lay still, no longer moving, as if bearing witness to the closing act of an absurd story.
As the investigator started—
"Why is he investigating? It's not like it activated," one of the Inquisitors asked the girl who seemed to be in charge, wearing something different next to her.
"Probably just going through the motions. He doesn't know for sure. Most of it is blown. Maybe it exists because of a different part of the spell," she answered simply, clicking her tongue.
The ghost of Lucy sat above them, staring at the ceiling. Her smile had all but faded as she looked down at the scene with absolute boredom, as if waiting for it to be over.
The fox ghost next to her, on the other hand, was eating his metaphorical nails as he stared at them, his eyes constantly moving around. They definitely made for an interesting audience.
The investigator and the Inquisition decided to set the ritual room as the central location for their investigation. It had taken them quite a while to move all movable evidence back into the ritual room and prepare.
The ritual had an issue: the trigger and the location of resurrection had been blown to pieces.
"Which means, for all I know, the ritual triggered and the location is unknown… or it didn't. But I can't prove it," the investigator working with the Inquisition said in a frustrated voice.
She ignored the temptation to touch the gold paint—made of actual gold—for a reason only the fox knew.
Back in the ritual room, a small meeting took place.
Lucy lowered her gaze from the ceiling to watch them, a small gleaming sparkle in her eye as dust passed through her non-physical body. Her face remained blank.
Billy, on the other hand, was sweating—which turned out to be something ghosts could do—as he watched.
Lucy spared him a glance.
She noticed his eyes were locked on a safe. He didn't even care about his precious gold paint.
She frowned, then grimaced, but didn't dwell on it. She simply asked, "Since when did we have this safe?"
His expression worsened as he looked at her. She grimaced harder, fighting a laugh that would have been filled with self-pity.
The fox's facial expression sank further after hearing her.
"You better hope that safe has something useful, or even your—" the investigator started.
"I don't need to hear it," she cut her off.
"It's that attitude that caused this mess," the investigator continued anyway.
"They were dangerous," she snapped.
"It's all about intent. It was obvious they planned to escape. Why not magic defense?"
Lucy glared at Billy, who just coughed, clearing his throat. If his clothes were real, they'd be sticking to him from all the sweat.
"Maybe they just forgot," Athena replied sarcastically, though her eyes showed doubt in her own words.
The investigator rolled her eyes and huffed in annoyance as she moved to the safe to see what she could do.
Lucy brimmed with a dark grin.
Billy had practically melted, which should have been impossible for ghosts—up until this point.
Lucy brought her hand to her face and sighed.
"I have a feeling something that shouldn't have happened did," Lucy said coldly, glaring at Billy.
Billy tried to form words, but stopped.
"What's the point? Look around. Just say it already," Lucy blurted out in frustration.
Billy took a deep breath and blurted, "No matter what angle you see me from, or what I'm wearing or saying, I'm intimidating, right? I am the Devil of Sophia." He spoke fast, sounding anything but intimidating as his melting worsened.
"You really like that title, huh? I think I understand. So that's what you put in the safe," she said. Her face shifted from smiling to sighing as she looked away, complicated emotions passing through her in minutes.
The fox said nothing as he stared blankly at the safe.
What followed were surprising hours of trial and error. In the end, with bloodshot eyes, the investigator failed. She was sweating, visibly terrified, her hand bleeding.
She stared at the safe, shaken.
"Forgot, my ass. What the hell?"
"Huh… that was too close. Praise be to Rose," the now-calm ghost said.
"That stupid secret of yours is worth more than our lives. Are you mad?" she snapped, losing all composure as the quiet resignation shattered. She looked ready to lunge at him again.
"Hey, I thought you forgave me! You even smiled!" he pleaded, backing away.
But her face went blank, and the investigators gathered everything and left the place.
Lucy smiled as she watched Billy's face sink when they took the safe with them back to base.
There were arguments between the investigator and Athena. In the end, Athena seemed to give in, siding with the investigator after drunk company.
Athena took the flower used for communication and altered its color. In a soft, heart-stealing feminine voice, she said, "Report, Captain."
She gave a simple report, adding at the end, "Force was excessive, but it was the Devil of Sophia. I had to take extreme measures. He and his partner are known for being dangerous, not cunning."
Lucy glared at her. Being a ghost spared Athena from having to kill a crazed woman jumping at her.
"Oh, nice. I should've known it was bad if you were the one reporting. But that's worse—you, of all people, can guarantee nothing," the voice sighed.
"Leading my men into a situation where they would die fighting an extremely dangerous demi-human?" Athena nearly shouted, her voice shaking.
"It's their job, sweetheart. We need to have a conversation about this," the voice said in disappointment.
Athena flinched, tried to interrupt, but the call was cut.
After that, most of the Inquisition left alongside the investigator. Athena went drinking with her depressed partner, then later went to the promised talk with her superior.
The investigator kept working on the safe, poor soul.
And slowly, what was once their home became empty once more.
The fox ghost pleaded with the cat ghost he had spent most of his life with. He wanted her forgiveness, even though she had already given it.
"Then smile. If you truly forgave me, you wouldn't look like that," Billy said, screaming the same thing inside as he dropped to his knees dramatically.
She kept frowning. "It's over. There's no point in dwelling. Let's face it with a smile, like we always promised."
The situation dragged on until something finally broke Billy's delusion. His fake peace unraveled as Lucy's low magic began to disperse.
At first he denied it—kept smiling, talking, ignoring it.
"Guess it's over," Lucy said softly, her voice gentle.
"You still made it, I guess. There's nothing I can do now…"
Before he could continue, Lucy hugged him.
"Thanks again, my little knight. And goodbye. Don't keep me waiting in a lonely embrace for too long."
She didn't separate from him as she finished her words. Her hug only tightened.
Billy froze as a flood of memories flashed through him. She had called him "knight." She only did that when they were kids.
"Why are you calling me that? Do you miss being kids that much? I thought I was the silly one," he said, struggling to hug her back. His smile didn't fade—because as long as they were together, it never would.
But "never" held no power in this world, no matter how painful that was.
She was gone.
He didn't move an inch. His smile froze.
He kept talking to her, even though she wasn't there. His eyes turned red and wet, yet he kept smiling.
Days passed. His magic refused to let go.
When he finally stopped talking, he sat blankly, staring at the air… then at himself.
For the first time, a new emotion appeared on his face.
Anger.
Hatred.
It was aimed at the mirror staring back at him—a beautiful man with fox ears above human ones, a tail, both covered in red fur. His ocean-blue eyes scanned soft features that made him look younger than his age.
And just as Lily's mercy was about to fully fade, something unexpected happened—dragging him unwillingly back from the grave, along with surprisingly good news