Stella cautiously entered my room as we followed nervously behind. Though we'd encountered ghosts before, this was our first time witnessing an actual ghost-hunting ritual—and in our own home at that.
Once inside, Stella's eyes swept across the room. Her expression suggested she saw nothing unusual. She used her mahogany sword to flip back the quilt and open cupboards, but still found no traces of the ghost.
"Why did you come to my room first?" I asked. "There doesn't seem to be any ghost here either!"
Stella explained that when she opened her Heavenly Eye, she'd seen a black shadow dart into my room. The yin energy here was particularly heavy, making it highly probable a ghost was present.
According to Stella, the ghost was likely here—but with the room's size, we ordinary people couldn't spot it even if it was right before us. Only she could see it clearly.
After several more minutes of fruitless searching, Stein suggested we check elsewhere. "Ghosts don't have to stay in one place," he said. "Maybe it fled when we entered."
Stella nodded in agreement. "This ghost is cunning and excellent at hiding. We should search another room—it won't be easy to find."
As Stein turned to exit first, Stella suddenly swung her mahogany sword at his back!
To our shock, Stein dodged nimbly, his face registering surprise. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
Stella pointed at Stein's feet. "You've revealed yourself!"
Antonio and I looked down—Stein was walking on tiptoes, explaining why he'd suddenly appeared taller.
"Humans walking on tiptoes means they're possessed," Stella declared. "The ghost's feet are beneath theirs."
"Hey hey, สวัสดีครับ..." Stein's face abruptly turned ghostly green, his eyes glowing scarlet as he uttered incomprehensible words.
Stella identified it as Southeast Asian language. This ghost wasn't local—and had somehow evaded her Heavenly Eye.
Southeast Asia was distant—how had this ghost traveled here? Only one explanation existed: this ghost had an owner. Southeast Asia's notorious ghost-raising practices made it likely this spirit was someone's deliberate creation.
Suddenly, I remembered Hames and what Christoph had told me.
Christoph had warned that the female Kuman Thong master Hames abandoned might be dangerous. If I helped Hames remove the Kuman Thong, that woman would likely come after me.
Could that female Kuman Thong master be here? Was she the one who raised this brat?
If so, then she didn't just know Kuman Thong—she practiced ghost-raising too. A truly formidable opponent.
After uttering those words, Stein suddenly bolted for the exit. "Trying to run? No way!" Stella shouted.
She flung out a yellow Taoist talisman that flew straight to Stein's back and stuck fast. A burst of black light erupted as something shot from Stein's body, transforming into a humanoid shape that clung spider-like to the ceiling while Stein collapsed to the floor.
"It's him!" Antonio and I cried simultaneously—that horrifying child with the grotesque face and eyes.
"Waaahh..." The creature shrieked, unleashing a chilling wind that sliced at our skin like knives, leaving us shuddering.
We immediately dragged Stein away, putting as much distance between us and the ghost as possible. This was Stella's battle now.
"Who's your master? Why are you haunting this place?" Stella demanded, pointing her mahogany sword at the creature's nose.
"Hehehe, kowtow kowtow kowtow..." The ghost emitted strange laughter and gibberish. While possessing Stein it had spoken Mandarin—now it spouted what I guessed was Southeast Asian language.
"Fuck this! I'll show you the power of a true Celestial Master. How dare some Southeast Asian ghost trash haunt here? You've got a death wish!" Stella cursed, hurling another yellow talisman.
The ghost proved alarmingly agile, scuttling across the ceiling to dodge. Undeterred, Stella launched several more—all missing their mark but embedding like darts in the ceiling. Impressively, the paper talismans penetrated the solid surface, though none struck the creature.
"Tsee tsee tsee..." The ghost actually tittered, mocking Stella openly.
"Laugh at this!" Stella pressed her ten fingers together, forming hand seals as she chanted: "By Zhu Rong's fiery might, let these talismans blaze and annihilate all evil!"
With a whoosh, every embedded talisman burst into flames. The fires merged, forming a serpent of flame that coiled around the shrieking ghost.
The little ghost immediately began wailing as the flames consumed it. Within moments, its skin burned away layer by layer before melting into a puddle of black liquid.
Unable to maintain its grip on the ceiling any longer, it crashed to the floor with a thud—the talisman-ignited flames still clinging to its body, setting the rest of it ablaze.
In desperation, the creature used its sharp fingernails to slash open its own stomach. Black blood gushed forth, extinguishing the magical flames—but the damage was done. Half its body had burned away, and its self-inflicted wound left it barely alive.
Apparently Stella wasn't just about big breasts and a pretty face—she truly knew how to handle ghosts.
Thoroughly cowed, the ghost abandoned its earlier bravado and tried to flee. But Stella wouldn't permit escape—she gave chase, swinging her mahogany sword straight at the creature's head.
Now severely weakened, the ghost couldn't fully dodge. It managed only a slight twist as the blade came down—completely severing its right arm at the shoulder. Black blood sprayed over half a meter high, evaporating into acrid smoke upon hitting the floor before vanishing completely.
"Waaahh..." The ghost shrieked in agony, collapsing into a fetal position. Its remaining strength gone, it could only emit strange, guttural whimpers—perhaps pleading for mercy.
"Shut up! One more sound and I'll end you," Stella barked as she approached.
Defiant to the last, the creature snapped at her with its teeth. Stella responded by stomping her foot down on its head, pinning it firmly before driving her peachwood sword straight through its torso.
Impaled by the sacred blade, the ghost finally stopped struggling—barely able to twitch, its scarlet eyes blinking weakly.
Now just a broken remnant pinned by the mahogany sword, it stood no chance against Stella.
"These Southeast Asian raised ghosts aren't so tough after all!" Stella boasted, hands on hips as she looked down at her captive.
Antonio and I cautiously approached, though even in its subdued state, the creature still unnerved me.
"Who sent you? Where's your master?" I demanded.
"Grr...aaahh..." It only growled in response, completely unintelligible.
"Enough. Let's finish it before more trouble comes. We can't communicate unless it possesses one of us," Stella declared.
At these words, the ghost suddenly trembled, its expression shifting to unmistakable fear.
Bullshit! If it really couldn't understand us, why did it get scared when we mentioned killing it?
Just then, sudden thud-thud-thud footsteps echoed through the building—someone was coming upstairs. The wounded ghost on the floor suddenly started laughing, its expression turning gleeful.
"Who's there?" Antonio bellowed toward the staircase, his voice intimidating.
About ten seconds later, a woman in a black dress emerged from the stairwell. She wore a black hairband and indeed looked quite sturdy. Both her face and figure were attractive—only her outfit gave off an odd vibe.
"Hello, gentlemen. I'm from Southeast Asia. You can call me Uwe," the woman said in heavily accented but pleasantly voiced Mandarin.
Uwe? That's what we should call her here? What was her real Southeast Asian name then? She clearly had no intention of revealing it.
"What are you doing here? Do we know each other? And this ghost..." I demanded sharply.
"I raised this ghost," Uwe admitted without hesitation. "We've never met, but I came here specifically to kill you!"