Serial Spirit Scythe

Pictures of large, gaping wounds sat clipped to a small stack of papers, reporting a number of attacks from an invisible menace within the area, but the thing about all of the wounds were that they were never fatal, and the victims would never bleed after the attack. Thomas sighed, hoping that he would've had some form of rest after his last case with the Dullahan, but it seemed like a vacation was beyond his reach here. The stack of papers caught fire, as if they had spontaneously combusted as Thomas dropped the now burning file into the trash bin.

He had reached his destination, the last location where the incident had occurred, and he cautiously looked around, trying to see if there were any spirits wandering around the area, at least, any that would be capable enough to cause such serious wounds. The assault had taken place right outside of a Scottish Pub, in the alleyway to the pubs left. Said alleyway was very spacious, and there were no lights what so ever, a perfect place for any miscreant to strike. Thomas kept a hand on the gun in his trench coat pocket, as he certainly didn't want to be the next victim of this case.

Milly lurked quietly through the area with a paranoid glance behind her back occasionally. She didn't want any spirits or demons sneaking up on her again like yesterday. A strange tall figure had chased her through a building, and down the road until it vanished with an evil laugh. The figure still remained burned in her memory. She wasn't sure if they were messing with her now or really intended to hurt her. The sudden arrival of someone caused her to double check that she was phased out so as not to be seen by any humans or less likely to be seen by spirits in her realm. The world was a light shade of blue, but she could still see everything clearly as she saw a stranger approaching. Her first instinct was to hide behind one of the poles of the porch that wrapped around the pub. With wide eyes she watched the stranger approach the alleyway, where she had seen mysterious foggy figures before. Milly was unsure of whether she wanted to follow the man in the trench coat, so she crept along the porch to get a better view at what he was looking for.

Thomas stopped suddenly, and pulled what looked like a mirror from his left pocket. It was a small square of a mirror, about a one inch by one inch in size. He then threw it to the ground, and crossed himself, as if he were about to start praying. From the shards of mirror that now littered a small portion of the ground, a metal clad phantom seemed to rise, towering over the priest and just floating there, awaiting a command from his master.

"Are you here spirit? I do not want to harm you, no, I merely wanted to speak to you, understand why you're doing such horrid things. I would like to see a sign, to show me that you are still lingering around. Can you do that for me?" Thomas asked, his right hand never letting go of the gun in his pocket, all the while the metallic phantom seemed to look around, scanning the perimeter for any hostiles.

Milly poked her head around the corner to fully view the man. Surprised at the sudden phantom next to him she was alarmed. "Is that a bad spirit? It doesn't give off a bad aura... But still." She whispered to herself as she approached a little closer with her hand placed on her small spirit gun. She didn't understand that he had summoned a spirit by himself, and assumed it was the spirit he talking to out in the open. She tilted her head, curious at why he was so eagerly searching for a spirit alone in the first place. Milly then remembered that wasn't an odd thing for humans to do in this town for some reason. Looking for trouble was something they all tended to do as she remembered the two wolf demons she had met earlier.

Thomas's ears twitched for a moment, and he turned, smiling at the ghost now walking towards him. The armored phantom just continued to float over the priest, now staring at the ghostly woman through it's soulless helmet. The man waved to the ghost girl with his left hand, "Ah, so you've come have you? Good, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to track you down. Tell me, have you seen any spirits with bladed weaponry? Maybe a demon? Anything with claws?"

Thomas could already tell that the ghost he was looking at could accomplish such a thing as serial assault, as she looked way to cautious for such a thing. He pushed his sunglasses up as they had started to fall down his nose.

Milly merely stared at him for a few brief moments. A spirit with blades...? I don't think... She was lost in her thoughts, completely silent as she tried to remember all the spirits she had seen around. None that she could remember had blades or claws. She had seen something down the alleyway, but it had never seen it completely as it tended to stay in an odd foggy form. She shook her head. "No I've-" She halted as she heard some kind of high pitched whistling sound from behind the man and the phantom.

Thomas quickly turned around, and aimed his gun at the source of the high pitched noise, his stance unflinching as his phantom charged in front of him, acting as a shield. A loud clang rang through the alley way, which was then followed by a soft pair of cackles.

Thomas quickly rolled to the side, keeping his gun trained on the anomaly, only to growl upon seeing nothing at all. He sighed in frustration, stuffing his gun back into his pocket now that the target had fled.

He turned back to the ghostly girl who had tried to hide from him moments before, and asked, "So tell me, why were you watching me a minute ago? It's not pleasant to have someone eavesdrop when someone is trying to have a conversation."

Milly shrugged at his question. "Most people here don't go talking to empty alleyways and then summoning up phantoms. Let alone wandering around at dark by themselves. This town isn't pleasant at any time of the day." She said bluntly. His question was a fair one. She had been watching him, but it was merely out of curiosity.

Thomas chuckled, "I guess you have a point there, miss. But you see, most lingering spirits have the nasty habit of taking their frustrations out on people, and seeing you there, with that fancy looking gun of yours makes me a tad bit suspicious. You see, I'm tracking a series of incidents involving the little mongrel who just tried to slice me, and since this here is a pretty small town, I figured that you'd at least know of the wayward souls that I'm looking for."

No longer sensing the hostile spirits, Thomas snapped his fingers, and the Phantom vanished into nothing. The priest sighed, "But if you don't know anything, then I guess I'll have to look elsewhere, won't I?"

Milly sighed. She knew the habits of most of the spirits in town, how they interacted with humans anyways. "This one isn't going to come to someone who's looking for it. It knows better than that. It looks like the type who appears when you're not looking, when your guard is down... Thankfully it was up. I could only see a light streak as it passed by, but I can tell you it wasn't just... One spirit. Kind of." She said finally. Talking to anyone was a strange effort for her, after being dead for a short amount of time. "Unlike your friend, it will strike, run away, and you might not ever see it again. But someone else will. So you'd be better off going around town, staying in different areas with a lot of different people, because it will strike again eventually."

Thomas arced his brow before readjusting his sunglasses once more. He already knew of the habits of most spirits from his training, and knew that only the most mischievious of spirits would actually respond to a calling as the one he had tried to perform. Still, to hear a spirit give him advice on how to track one of her own was rather...new.

"I see...of course, that is just what normal humans do to find spirits. I, I am no normal man, for I have God's grace on my side. Now please, stand back for a moment," Thomas stated, tucking his left hand into his jacket before pulling out a small candle and a lanturn on a chain. With ease, the candle's wick burned the moment it was placed within the lanturn, and the smoke slowly rose up whilst Thomas started to speak verses from a number of various religious texts, lightly swinging the lanturn side to side, never stopping his chant as the smoke slowly started to move.

It was like the smoke had gained sentience, as it wormed it's way down the alley and around the corner. The priest looked back to the ghost, a smirk on his lips as he continued to chant, and he simply walked ahead, following the smoke trail that had been made.

Milly stood back, which was actually floating on her part. She watched the man travel down the alleyway with his odd lantern and the smoke weaving around him. The action was a strange one to her, and the smoke was curious, but she assumed being too close might affect her considering he was looking for another spirit. Milly watched as the smoke weaved down the alleyway and continued further until it turned down a bend. She was curious, so she followed at a fair distance.

Thomas continued on, following the smoke around the corner and down the street, people politely getting out of the holy man's way as he walked and chanted. He walked for what felt like half an hour before finally stopping in front of a, decrepit home, the smoke flowing up the broken stairs and through the rotting wooden door.

He smiled, and pulled the lantern up to his face to blow out the candle and stuff it back into his coat, which didn't seem to bulge out despite carrying a lantern within it. Thomas then pulled out another tiny mirror and shattered it against the ground, summoning the armored phantom once again as he approached the stairs.

He stopped at the first step, and turned to the ghostly woman following him, "I won't ask you to come along miss. After all, this isn't your fight."

Milly nodded. "I might as well come. The lady might be there. The blonde lady I mean." She said and hovered towards the door. "I'm not scared. The most they can do is scare me really." Milly said. She wasn't exactly sure how truthful her words were. Considering she'd always managed to get away, she'd never seen what would happen if she did get caught. "And I can help, at least a little." She replied while carefully phasing through the door without waiting for a response from Thomas.

The priest paused for a moment, watching as the girl floated on into the home, before entering the building himself. The old, decrepit wooden door creaked loudly as it was opened, and the floorboards seemed to groan under the priest's weight. He slowly drew his gun, and took cautious steps into the home, his phantom phasing through the wall and following him.

"Alright, I think we should check the basement. Considering how old this house looks, I'd rather not fall through the attic floor and end up down in the basement." Thomas suggested, even though he knew that ghosts had no weight, and it would be wiser to send the ghost woman upstairs to scout around. Still, he knew that the spirits would attack the least suspecting of the duo, and Thomas was loaded like an exorcist war hero. So if anything, they'd most likely go after...the one that would die.

"On second thought, how about you check upstairs, and I check the basement. That way they won't evade us quite as easily." Thomas stated, continuing forward to try and find an entrance into the basement.

"Okay." Milly said and floated through the house. She could tell something was watching them from somewhere in the house, but she wasn't sure where. She decided to travel on foot as she didn't want to skip anything. Spirits could be hiding in the tiniest nook and cranny, whatever attached them to this specific house could be the tiniest thing. It could even be hidden under the floorboards. She walked up the stairs, which didn't make a sound thankfully. The second floor was even more eerie. The windows were covered with tattered drapes probably eaten by moths in the past. The floor had several cracks and the occasional hole in it.

Milly crept into the first room. She felt nothing too overpowering in this room. She focused her senses. There didn't seemed to be anything hiding despite how hard she tried, so she proceeded down to the next room.

Thomas walked through the entryway, his gun at the ready, as he slowly crept through the door on the back left hand corner of the room. The stench of rotten meat and mold assaulted his nostrils as he entered the kitchen, it's tiled floor covered with scum and grease stains, the kitchenettes all in disrepair, and the wooden cupboards above them were practically falling apart as termites chewed away at their innards.

Thomas tried his best to ignore the sight, as well as the stench, and continued on into the kitchen, as he saw a door at the end of the kitchen. One of the knives from a small set hanging on the wall then suddenly flung itself towards the priest, who swiftly ducked to avoid the rusted cutlery, watching as it smashed through the dirt caked window.

Milly heard the sudden crash from below. She closed her eyes tight, and sucked in her breath to find the heat source of Thomas. If she was calm she could phase herself to another room without floating around. She hit the area near the front door, the kitchen just nearby. Calming herself she phased through the door. Something moved right in front of her at an incredible speed and she pulled out her spirit gun. She fired off one shot but missed it entirely. The bullet blasted into the wall, exploding into a light blue dust on impact. There was a small indentation in the wall. Milly sighed, whatever it was frustrated her to no end at how fast and slippery it could be.

Thomas rolled backwards and onto his feet upon seeing the small blue explosion and turned his gun behind him, aiming it at Milly before lowering it. He sighed with relief, "Don't scare me like that. Still, thanks for the help."

Thomas returned to clearing the first floor, walking slowly through the kitchen and opening the door ahead, peering down as it led to a series of stone steps, which were oddly placed in this mostly wooden and dry wall household. Thomas heard a giggle behind him, and before he could turn and react, he felt an invisible force push him hard, sending the priest careening down the stairs. The young man tumbled for roughly three seconds before he hit the ground.

A whispy weasel floated at the entrance, turning it's head a full 180 degrees to look at Milly with black eyes, then cackled at her before it suddenly shot up through the floor, obviously trying to avoid the spirit and her gun.

Milly glanced to where the spirit vanished, and then back to where the priest had fallen down the stairs. She decided to go with following the priest, as she wasn't sure if there could be more danger where he had fallen and he could be hurt. She focused herself for a moment to find him. Being able to sense the heat from a living human she easily tracked him down and phased right next to him after some concentration. She saw Thomas laying on the ground. "A-are you alright?" Milly asked, concerned that he might not get up.

The dusty floor wasn't the best thing to catch the priest, the young man groaning as he got back to his feet. He nodded over to the female ghost accompanying him, answering her question without a need for words. His eyes turned to the top of the stairs, his blue eyes watching as the door to the basement was slammed shut by another chuckling spirit.

"A-are you all right?"

Thomas quickly turned his gun on the unfamiliar voice, his phantom dropping through the roof and grabbing the ghost with metallic hands. However Thomas lowered his gun upon seeing the spirit, analyzing the surprisingly tame soul. The spirit in question was a small yet abnormally long weasel who didn't seem to struggle in Izanagi's grasp.

"Are you one of the three spirits attacking innocents as of late?" Thomas asked, not calling off Izanagi until the weasel explained himself. The weasel quickly shook his head in response, frowning slightly at being held so forcefully.

"Why should I believe you?" Thomas replied, aiming his gun straight at the weasel spirit's muzzle, which was enough of an ultimatum for the captive soul, who was quick to answer Thomas's question.

"I'm the one who stops the wounds from bleeding! I'm not like my brothers, they're insane! P-please, you have to stop them..." The weasel replied, his ears flattening against his head as the gun didn't move an inch.

Thomas sighed, and silently commanded Izanagi to release the Soul, who sighed with relief upon being released. The soul floated down to the floor, and bowed, "Thank you. My name is Otoya, and I am one of the three Itatchigami that reside within this household. I'm a healer of sorts...I won't be able to completely mend your wounds, but I'll be able to clean your wounds and stop the bleeding."

Thomas looked over to Milly, and pointed over to Otoya before saying, "Watch over him, I don't know if he's just toying with us, or if he actually means what he says."

Milly eyed the weasel spirit. She could notice he was nervous, even as a spirit he seemed to be avoiding saying something. "He's afraid of something. He's nervous." Milly said while watching the weasel as she approached closer and closer to. it. She knew he wasn't lying about their being three of them, but she wasn't sure how truthful his words were. Something caught her attention though. It was a creaking from upstairs. Milly knew nobody was there because she couldn't sense any heat from a living creature. "Something is coming." Was all she said and pulled out her spirit gun.

Otoya shook his head, "No, don't worry, they can't reach us down here, that's why they locked me up down here. I can't leave the basement because there is a seal at the door that prevents me from going up to that floor. But at the same time, they can't pass through the door or the floor, so they're stuck up above."

"Great, that means they're waiting to ambush us. Milly, I need you to head on up and try to sneak around to the side. Izanagi and I will bash through the door and come out swinging, so I need you to watch my back." Thomas instructed, turning to the weasel and pulling a small piece of chalk out of his coat pocket. Otoya just watched, dumbfounded as the priest started to draw a strange sigil under the spirit, finishing it off with a circle before stuffing the chalk back into his pocket.


"Head out now, I don't need you getting caught in this by accident." Thomas stated, pulling out a small gold cross out from under his shirt, the cross attached to a necklace that hung around the young priest's neck.

Milly nodded and picked a spot to phase through. The area to the right of the door seemed good enough. She phased through the wall after floating up to the next floor, only poking her head through to scan the area. She couldn't sense anything in the kitchen so far. There were no movements to detect. The wicked spirits weren't showing themselves, so she inched over to the wall across from the one she had just phased through. She felt uneasy about being alone, even though the weasel spirits were less likely to target her. She knew they were lurking somewhere, and out of paranoia she kept looking this way and that.

"U-um, are you sure you know what you're doing sir?" Otoya asked nervously, his small lanky body quivering as Thomas started to chant. The priest's eyes were closed, and as he clutched his golden cross in his right hand, he reached down and grabbed a handful of dust off of the ground. His eyes remained shut as he slowly extended his left arm towards the weasel spirit, and then slowly poured the sand onto the sigil.

"What are you do- Ah!" Otoya exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his skin as the circle around him started to glow, and his form slowly started to fade as the dust swirled around his body. Thomas didn't have much else to use as a medium, so dust and sand would have to suffice. After a minute or so, the sigil stopped glowing as Otoya vanished, his spirit now bound to Thomas, just as Izanagi was.

The young priest slowly rose to his feet, a little unsteady as he stood. He gathered up small handfuls of dust and quickly poured them into his pocket, before quietly letting one handful fall to the ground. The sand swirled around in a small tornado, and from within it, Otoya appeared, gently falling to the floor with a shocked expression on his face.

"W-what did you just-"

"There's no time for chatter right now, I've got vermin to exterminate." Thomas replied, replacing his cross with his revolver before pointing his left hand at the door, expecting Izanagi to blow it to pieces with a pyrokinetic blast...but the metallic knight did not respond, or was even present at that moment.

"I see, so only one spirit can be summoned at once. Figures. Alright then, I guess I'll just do this the old fashioned way." Thomas sighed, walking up the stairs before stopping at the door, his gun aimed at the door hinges. With two rounds from his revolver, the door hinges burst into metallic shards, the door itself falling to the ground without any effort on Thomas's part. He emerged, suspecting the two remaining weasels to assault him instantly, but to his surprise, they were nowhere in sight. Then again, neither was Milly.

---

A long, spindly paw with scythe like blades reached out and grabbed Milly, pulling her through the wall and holding her close to a tall, lanky weasel who's body looked more akin to a mans than any sort of animal. He chuckled, his left arm drapped around her waist and pinning her arms to her sides, while his right, clawed hand slowly traced across the ghost's throat, a black mark being left behind that seemed dark and horrifying, even for a ghost like Milly.

"So what did our brother tell you, hm? That we had gone looney perhaps? What does he know?! Nothing, absolutely nothing! But you...you know, don't you? You know about the chariot, yes?" The weasel asked, his breath wheezy, his voice high pitched and scratchy, like some sort of chain smoking chipmunk.