The Legendary Ghost Hunter

Chapter 192: Broken Shackles

“Then let us sign our contract.”

“…!”

Iris’s eyes snapped open as she returned to reality, and she felt an insurmountable amount of power awakening inside her. It was nothing like what she had ever experienced before, but it felt good. Warmth flooded through her veins, and her mana was instantly restored to full and was still growing in capacity.

“… Heh.”

Iris smirked as the power entered her body, then preemptively cut the air with her hand. A crescent-shaped concentration of energy shot out of her fingertips and soared towards the incoming Specters, piercing straight through Finn’s shock field and completely unaffected by the lightning.

Upon hitting the first Specter, the projectile split into multiple smaller ones, then those divided as well. In an instant, the hundreds of Specters about to fall on Finn and Iris were eliminated, reduced to nothing but ashes.

Finn used the Tower Card of the Cardmaster Angelica to summon a platform for them to stand on high up above all the trees, and the two landed on it safely.

“… What happened there?” Finn asked, arching an eyebrow. “All the resistance my shock field was facing… it disappeared in an instant.”

“I’m… not entirely sure, actually,” Iris said, glancing down at her own hand that had fired the crescent-shaped energy blast. “Back there, I remember feeling a sudden surge of power through my body, and I just instinctively threw out that attack…”

“I see…” Finn muttered under his breath, falling into thought. Was Iris more powerful than he imagined?

“Well… in any case, it would seem we’ve broken out of the Specter’s mind game,” Iris said, looking down from the tower. “The rainforest below us is completely gone… and from what I can see…”

Suddenly, she trailed off, voice growing weak, and Finn realized something was wrong.

“Ivy?”

“Hngh…”

Iris’s knees suddenly buckled and she collapsed onto Finn, who caught her in his arms.

“Ivy, what’s wrong?” He asked, shaking her lightly, thinking this was an attack from the Specters, just like last time. But…

“I’m fine, Ace…” Iris whispered. “Just… a little tired. I think I used too much power, back there…”

“… I see. Then… sleep.”

The two should be safe up here now that they were out of the Specter’s mind games, and could afford to rest a little. Iris gave a cute, brisk nod, and drifted to sleep.

*****

– Within Iris’s Dreamspace –

“…!”

Iris sat up with a jolt, glancing around in surprise. She was still wearing her normal white armor and masquerade mask that covered the majority of the top half of her face, and the two ribbons that dangled by her armor’s sides were still there too.

Slowly, she stood up, and realized that she could walk properly. It wasn’t the armor doing the job, she could feel it. It was her own two legs, walking as if they weren’t injured.

“… What… where am I…?”

“This is a small pocket space in the Paracausal Realm, a space that belongs to us and us alone,” a female voice said, and Iris spun around to see the mirror reflection of herself standing a few meters away, wearing all black and a wry smile on her face.

“It’s you…” Iris murmured.

“You are able to walk in here because this is not reality, but rather a cognitive world created from your desires. In other words, your wish to be able to walk is so strong that inside this pocket dimension of your mind, you are able to walk normally.”

“… Who are you, really?” Iris asked, frowning. “And why was I unable to recall what happened with our contract when Finn asked me about it just now?”

“I already answered you this, did I not?” The reflection of Iris said. “I am you, and you are me. We are two sides of the same person. I am just the part of your personality you sealed away.”

“I… sealed you away?”

“Yes. Or rather… your ancestors did. But one cannot run from their identity forever, Iris Sylvoir. Look. Look at me. Look at you.”

Suddenly, six white tentacles shot out of the back of the mirror Iris, squirming and glowing. The real Iris’s eyes widened, and she instinctively took a step back.

“W-Wha…”

“Don’t run. Look. This is your other half, the half your bloodline hid away for so long that when you called upon this power earlier, your body was unable to handle it, and thus you fainted. Do you understand now, Iris Sylvoir? Without this power, you cannot remain beside Finn. I wish to protect him, stay by his side as well, but I cannot do so without your consent. So… let us become one, and have our greatest wish fulfilled together.”

“… Alright,” Iris said after a short while. “How do we… become one?”

“You already signed the contract that tied the two bloodlines within you together. Now, all that’s left is to hone that power by using it. Eventually, you and I will become one once more. Very simple, is it not?”

“… What’s the catch?” Iris asked, narrowing her eyes. “My ancestors must’ve sealed this side of my bloodline for a reason. Why?”

The mirror Iris smiled. “That… is because they were scared.”

“Scared…? Of what?”

“Of having the power of a Ghost,” the other Iris said. “But not just any Ghost—the Queen of them all.”

Iris’s eyes widened as she gasped in shock. “What…?”

“Yes… we are the directly descended from the Mother of all Ghosts, the Sylvoir bloodline. She was overthrown and eventually killed after escaping to this world, but the fact that our bloodline is the most powerful of all remains the same. In the past, all descendants of the Sylvoir Bloodline have been males, hence they could not inherit this matriarchal power. However, we… are different.”

“T-The Queen of all Ghosts… you’re kidding, right?” Iris laughed awkwardly, still not wanting to believe this. “Doesn’t that make us Finn’s ultimate archenemy…?”

The Ghost side of Iris gave a low chuckle. “Perhaps… but love is a powerful emotion. Just as light erases darkness, love erases hate. As long as we work together, all our problems—even Finn’s bloodthirsty hatred for Ghosts—can be cured. It took a long time for this side of our bloodline to finally be awakened again, but… the time is finally here. We, Iris Sylvoir, will take the world by storm.”