Chapter 35: Dies Irae

  Dante watched as Ace nibbled on his dorayaki. The boy with the white streak in his raven-black hair smiled at him with food between his teeth. The smile turned cheeky as he kept conjuring baby Nova to poke fun at the newly imposed ban on cat-based Visions.

  For the first time, Dante felt the muscles at the corners of his eyes relax. His temples were less tense, and he opened his eyes a little wider than he usually did. The other thing that he was not used to feeling was the stickiness of his skin. He had been working himself to the bone just to prepare himself to face Ace. It was like drinking, but at least he was sober and not spewing from either end – liquid or wrong words.

  Just as Dante was about to tell Ace to release his technique, his phone vibrated. An unknown number stared back at him. He picked it up.

  “Hello, Dante Higashino speaking.”

  “Hm, the number does work. The Mengs do dabble in electronics and telcom systems after all. And there Felix was, worrying that you wouldn't even touch the new phone he bought you.”

  There was a beat as Dante tacked the voice to its owner. “Dr. Lee?”

  “Nothing escapes that memory of yours,” Dr. Lee remarked drily. “Don’t worry, besides me and a few select individuals, your return is still under wraps. Felix gave me your number so it would be easier for me to explain my findings about the bodies you uncovered.”

  Sighing inwardly, Dante looked over at Ace, who was staring at him expectantly. He removed the phone from his ear and placed it on speaker mode. “This is about the phantoms we encountered the other day,” Dante quickly briefed Ace.

  “All in all, this is more dire than I expected.” Dr. Lee said.

  “Elaborate.” Dante felt the tension returning to his temples.

  “On the forensic side, at least seven people died. All bodies, or whatever that’s left of them, are at various stages of decomposition. The most recent one must have been there for only a couple of days.” Dr. Lee explained.

  “Cause of death?” Dante asked.

  “Inconclusive,” Dr. Lee replied. “There were no signs of physical injuries, poison or anything of the sort.”

  “Were you able to profile them?” Dante shot a glance at Ace, who had stopped chewing entirely. Perhaps letting him listen was not the best idea.

  “Shun ran through the world’s databases. We’ve only managed to identify four of them. Dannis Brouwer, Henry Lee, Wang Ye and Kento Yamazaki. The only pattern, albeit trivial, is that all victims are male. They come from extremely diverse backgrounds. Dannis Brouwer is well-known in the finance sector, with a net worth in the billions. His disappearance was just reported in the news. Wang Ye was a gambler with his neck in debt, which he was trying to clear by trying his luck out at casinos.”

  A random attack? Dante thought. No, there has to be another pattern.

  As though reading his mind, Dr. Lee added that they were going to run more thorough checks and identify the remaining victims. As for the cause of death, Dr. Lee narrowed it down to one probable cause: Vessel failure.

  “Implosion caused by a build-up and ultimate rejection of Cursed Essence. Their systems essentially collapsed on themselves, eventually pouring out of the vessels to form a collective hive-mind that you encountered. It's as if someone were trying to use them as a vessel and cultivate sorcerers to use the Cursed Arts, so their deaths are likely connected to them,” Dr. Lee said.

  “How many people do you think are behind this killing spree?”

  “I am no detective,” said Dr. Lee. “But if I were to take a gander, I do not think that there would be more than one person behind this.”

  “Does that make things easier for us?” Ace asked in low tones.

  Dante sighed inwardly. One suspect would hardly make things easier. If their opponent were formidable enough to pull off a killing spree without others getting a whiff that something was up, they would be even more difficult to trace.

  A lone wolf has no allies to exploit and no weak links to hold it back.

  “There is a singular Cursed Essence signature that stood out to me. It is quite different from the ones in the bodies,” Dr. Lee explained. “How do I put it? It is very refined and does not consume foreign Cursed Energy. It’s as if it’s… self-fulfilled. No leakages, no traces, nothing definite.”

  “What if it is done on purpose?” Dante asked.

  “There is no way to ascertain that,” Dr. Lee lamented. “Not with all these restrictions. You know the red tape surrounding this.”

  “Can’t Felix intervene?” Ace spoke up this time. “Maybe I could use my ability to look at what happened before they died.”

  “The boy’s been listening the whole time?” Dr. Lee asked.

  “If not for him, we would not have encountered the bodies,” Dante said.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Well, about Felix intervening, it’s easier said than done, young man,” Dr. Lee replied. “Unfortunately, there are absolutely no residuals of untainted Essence that we can use. Using your ability on something as volatile as Cursed Essence is too much of a risk. You need more training and very, very close supervision.”

  “Is there anything else you would like to add?” Dante asked before Ace could come up with more ideas.

  “That’s all there is. I’ll release the bodies to the next of kin as well as put up an alert for sorcerers to be on the lookout for someone who is engaging in illicit acts,” Dr. Lee said.

  “I thought that’s a job for the police,” Ace chimed in.

  “Has Felix not told you about our standard operating procedure?” Dr. Lee asked. “Dealing with the police is meddlesome, so we have a team that poses as the police. A bit of memory manipulation and we would save ourselves a lot of trouble.”

  A stupid way of doing things, Dante thought.

  “Ah, Felix asked if you would be up for some detective work.”

  “Up for what?” Dante narrowed his eyes.

  “Detective work,” Dr. Lee repeated.

  “I am not obliged–”

  “He’s very sure that you would do it,” Dr. Lee cut him off. “Godspeed and goodbye.”

  Dante hung up and ran a hand down his face. He did not mind getting his hands dirty – what bothered him was knowing Felix had anticipated he would. A bitter taste lingered on his tongue, the corners of his eyes twitching as he suppressed the look of disdain that was forming on his face. “Can I come along?” Ace asked eagerly. “This investigation sounds like it would be a good learning experience.”

  “No.”

  Ace whined. “I have been evaluating what type of learner I am, and it turns out that I am a visual learner. I learn best when I see stuff happen!”

  “It’s not safe,” Dante said flatly. It was the truth.

  “But what’s the point of learning all these techniques when I can’t get a chance to apply them…” Ace stuck out his lower lip. “Please…”

  “Anything can go wrong.”

  “And I am ready for it!” Ace protested. “Stop treating me like a kid!”

  “I am not,” Dante said. “I am trusting that you are mature enough to weigh the risks.”

  “The learning experience outweighs everything!” Ace conjured yet another baby Nova in his palm, and it sat on its rear. The Vision lifted its front paws as though asking for treats.

  “That trick is getting old,” Dante said, unimpressed.

  “Name your price.” Ace held up another Vision of Nova in his other hand. “This should be enough, eh?”

  Dante mashed his lips together but finally relented. “You can come along, but I reserve the liberty to exclude you if it becomes unsafe,” he warned.

  Ace clapped his hands together in glee. “The cat always works,” he said cheekily.

  How difficult, Dante thought. Treat him like an adult, and he flexes the flairs of a child. Treat him like a child, and he thinks himself a veteran.

  Dante picked up his sword. “I’ve never mentioned this, but your sword is more like a cleaver,” Ace said.

  “Hollow Sparrow was designed this way,” Dante said flatly as he wiped it down.

  “My staff is pretty legit, but I lost it in the sea. Leonhart is going to kill me for that.” Ace said. “Anyway, when are we starting?”

  “There is one rule that I abide by when I start investigations,” Dante said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I wait for the next victim to show up.”

  “Eh?!”

  “Based on what Dr. Lee said, I believe that there is an agent nurturing someone to be practitioners of the Cursed Arts,” Dante explained calmly. “These men were inadequate. We can still exorcise nearby phantoms to extract clues, if any. However, I believe it is a matter of time before one is created. My instinct tells me that either another victim with a similar cause of death shows up or…”

  “Or what?”

  “Someone will die at the hands of the newly created practitioner.”

  ***

  It was another day of work at the Yokohama Highland Hospital, one of the biggest and leading hospitals serving the city. Dr. Nori Iwata, the Head of Surgery, had just finished his rounds. He was taking a break in the hospital pantry. While he was resting, Dr Johann Faust, the surgeon who had joined them a few years back, sat down next to him.

  The two men acknowledged one another. “Dr. Iwata, have you seen my proposal?” Dr. Faust asked.

  “Er… Yes, I have taken a look at it and I have sent it to the Director for his perusal,” Dr. Iwata replied. He did not want to linger for long.

  In reality, Dr. Iwata had looked at his proposal and had placed it aside. He’s far too ambitious. I don’t know how they do it in the West, but this would not fly here, he thought as he sipped on his coffee. Too liberal, they don’t know what they are playing at.

  “I see,” Dr. Faust said, cradling his cup of coffee. “Thank you for taking the time to look through it.”

  Dr. Faust held out a hand. Dr. Iwata hardly thought twice before shaking it. Professional courtesy was merely an instinct that he acted upon when the right buttons were pressed.

  “I’ll be heading back to do my rounds,” Dr. Faust said, getting up to leave.

  “See you around.”

  Back at his office, Dr. Iwata sat down and took another quick look at the research proposal that Dr. Faust turned in. Perhaps I should pass it to the director, he thought, closing the file.

  Just then, he felt an itch on his right hand. He scratched it, but the itch soon turned into blistering pain, as if someone was pulling his skin apart. Startled, he looked down at his hand. Dark lines ran across his skin, dividing his hand into thin segments.

  Before he could feel a prick of pain, his whole body split apart.

  ===

  The cursed have been silenced, sentenced to acrid flames by a just judge who continued making his rounds. He sighed like the guilty while he sat on the throne of his glory.

  Whatever lay hidden would appear.

  Nothing would remain unpunished.