Chapter 5

  True Magic

  In next to no time, I find my 31.1 cubic inches of Trash and cause it all to just disappear like it was nothing. It doesn’t seem like much, particularly when there are hundreds of yards of scrap metals, biological waste, and discarded debris littering this apparent once great park.

  I always wanted to do something like this, to actually be able to make a difference, and slowly but surely I am. The power I have now, my Personal Skill, it is everything I ever wanted and more. Apparently it is everything that Madame Bloom wanted an more as well, as she immediately goes out and has grass seeds that are being thrown out onto the ground, which she then waves her glowing green hands and causes tiny grass sprouts to appear right in the tiny tuft of land that I created.

  Seeing her work, I can tell she is using a powerful class skill of some kind.

  After her efforts of growing the grass seeds, it is clear that she too is also tired. Standing up, she gives a gesture to her drivers who nod and immediately come over with a curved stone bench that gets placed right at the entry way to the park. Right over a few feet of grass that I cleared off last week.

  I get it now, this place is sacred to the Madame. Likely the only reason she too came out here, and that is apparently how I got on the Madame’s radar.

  “Sit,” Madame Bloom states authoritatively while pointing to the open half of the stone bench. Still feeling tired, I nod and then head over and plop down. Despite being used to it by now, I am a bit tired, despite having done this process hundreds of times by now.

  Plop.

  I land with a bit more force than I intended, but the Madame only seems to chuckle at such an act.

  “You have a truly amazing gift, a shame that others don’t see its true potential,” the Madame speaks.

  I nod, a bit too tired for the moment to say much more.

  Had I been on my own, I would have taken my time, but with the Madame I felt a need to hurry up and showcase my talent, as I assumed we would need to leave immediately.

  Instead, here we are, sitting and staring off into the basically condemned park that is currently acting as a makeshift landfill. Even now a faint gentle breeze should be reassuring, but instead it just fills my nose with the scent of rot, mold, and waste.

  “How did this place even get like this?” I ask, wondering how a clearly once beautiful park could be left to rot.

  Scoff.

  “It started slowly. At first, I didn’t even know what was happening. People began littering in distant patches. Doing so slowly, until sections began to rot and smell. Which caused us to first close off those areas. Then the same thing happened to other areas as well. At the time, we didn’t even think it was our political rivals at work. We just thought people got too complacent, and then closed off the park. That’s when things got really bad, as we didn’t have enough guards to monitor the entire perimeter, and that’s how our rivals got us. They found a point no one would go to, and then knowing no one was here they came and purposefully dumped trash here for months. All but forcing us to condemn this land.”

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  There was a moment of silence as I let that thought kick in. Wait, people ruined a perfectly good park, just because it had your name on it?

  I thought, but apparently I spoke out loud as Madame Bloom answered.

  “Yes, it was our pride to offer such a place free of buildings and distractions right in the heart of the city. Almost daring the other families to conspire after us,” Madame Bloom stated.

  I thought about the words for only a moment, before I spoke my true thoughts. “You aren’t going to let them get away with this? You are going to punish them for this, right?”

  At that question a coy smile formed on the lips of Madame Bloom, “whose to say, I haven’t already.”

  I pause, letting those words sink in, then I press, “wait, what?”

  “Truth be told, the first time I was informed of yet another DiVoratore coming here, and making shifty movements around my park. I almost lost it, that was why I was here, watching you.” Madame Bloom began.

  “Wait, other DiVoratore?” I ask.

  “Yes, you see, the other reason we had to condemn this park is that it is now haunted. But the DiVoratore refused to take any ghost extermination requests in this park, given that it was a biohazard zone as well,” Madame Bloom stated sadly.

  Hearing that, I stood up, feeling that I was at about half of my reserves thanks to having rested and spoken for so long with the Madame.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Madame Bloom asked, concern? In her voice.

  I pause to look back, at the Madame.

  “I’m going to kill some spirits,” I state and then with deft practiced movements I begin side hopping through the debris infused park. I primarily try to find untouched spots, but where that isn’t possible, I aim for sturdy looking metal objects that seem like they might be able to hold my weight.

  “Wait,” the Madame calls out, but I can tell she doesn’t truly mean it. This is the token wait one would give when asking if someone was certain they wanted to pay for a meal enjoyed by both. Not the true sound a house leader would demand of one of their subjects, as such I continue without pause. Showing that I am at least committed to scoping out the area.

  Warbling sounds echo and pulse under my feet, but that doesn’t matter. Instead, I just continue, letting my gut instinct and then my eyes lead me to the source where the spirits would most likely be forced to congregate.

  As expected, they were all congregated right by the middle of the vacant park. Worse, it had clearly been some years since anyone was here to stop the spirits, as a clear magical rift to the spirit world could be seen pulsing and throbbing. It is relatively weak, a grade two at best, but still far more than I can take on at the moment. But I can start to weaken it, by first taking out the surrounding spirits.

  Fortunately, whoever dumped right here gave me a perfect amount of ammunition as there are metal scraps and debris all over the place. Why metal? Well simple, metal is the easiest conduit to push Mana into, and given that it has some weight to it, it is therefore easier to throw.

  Reaching down, I grab a what had to be half of a doorknob, which I pick up infuse with three points of Soul Devour infused mana, then I throw.

  Swooosh!

  I miss.

  Or at least I missed the spirit that I had been aiming at, as I apparently didn’t account for the odd arc the doorknob would take once the extended screws twisted in the wind. Nor did I factor in the apparent side to side rocking motion that the spirits took. The result, a throw that had been met for the head of a spirit missed by inches.

  Fortunately, there were dozens of the suckers all crammed together, likely in an effort to force the spirit rift to form faster. Which is why, while I missed the head or outline of a head for one spirit, the next was hit by a doorknob right to the chest.

  Pop.

  While no sound could be heard, my mind automatically assigned the popping sound as what I should hear for such an event.

  There was a flash of light, and then the doorknob went a bit further and managed to hit yet another spirit, right in the feet area. There of course were no feet, but it was in that pulsing stretch of phantasmal energy that existed where feet should also exist.

  Pop.

  Scuffle.

  I see another spirit explode in a burst of radiant light, at the same time that I hear a set of pointed heels rush over debris to stare at me. I lock gazes with the Madame thinking she is crazy for trying to run after me through a literal dumping area, in nothing more than an exquisite green dress and black high heels. Still, the fact that she managed to do so with only minimal dirt getting onto her, was impressive. I could remove said dirt with a fraction of my power, so that was no problem. But what was a problem was that she looked shocked.

  I was about to ask why she was concerned, when she finally spoke.

  “Oh shit!” Her complete use of vulgarity threw me off for only a moment as she pointed.

  I assumed I knew what she was pointing at, the second grade spirit rift that looked like it would be close to breaching and letting monstrous spirits roam freely. Still, I turned, only to be shocked myself at what I saw.

  Rather than standing still and guarding the rift as one would expect, these spirits seemed angry. A fact that was proven as they all started charging forward far faster than vaporous smoke clouds in the form of humanoid beings ever should be able to, especially on their own.

  At that point, I too felt my manners drop as I mirrored the Madame’s comments. “Oh shit!”

  And like that, we knew we were in for an apparent battle with a legion of spirits.

  Happy Halloween!