[SECONDARY REPORT FOR CASE: GAMMA-158]

Spirit Classification: Deity

Exorcist In Charge: Rohan Yang

Transcribed Audio Report No.2:

[LOG START]

“So just to be clear on everything, I thought I should explain what exactly Dispossession is, because I know you first-year trainees will be studying this case.

“Dispossession is when a spirit manages to pull you into the spirit world. Usually, Spirits manifest in the physical world in a physical form. In this form, they are susceptible to our physical attacks as well as spiritual attacks. However, Dispossession flips this. It causes regular humans to manifest in the spiritual world in a spiritual form.

“This causes a number of problems for those Dispossessed. In the spiritual world, spirits are not bound by physical laws. Ideas like gravity, forces, they are all warped and twisted. Spirits can take advantage of that.

“The spiritual world also enhances all their abilities and some spirits may also be able to manipulate the spiritual world to their liking.

“It is also be harder for exorcists to utilise their Spirit Contracts, some have reported not even being able to use their Contracts at all.

“Dispossession is a rare event and not much is known about it. What we do know, is that it requires an immense amount of spiritual energy to conjure up this phenomenon. So much, that only Deity Level spirits are able to do it.

“The reason behind Dispossession requiring so much energy is that it goes against the laws of the spiritual world. Spirits that manifest in the spiritual world, do so because the spiritual energy of humans called them there and pulls them out of the spiritual world. A spirit forcing themselves back into the spiritual world has to go against that force.

“Likewise, there is a spiritual force that pushes antyhing not from the spiritual world out.

“The spirit that uses Dispossession has to go against these two forces of the spiritual world. Thus, one of the few ways to escape the spiritual world is to either wait until the spirit has exhausted itself, or exorcise the spirit and let the spiritual world kick you out….

…

Khan was enveloped in darkness. He couldn’t see anything, he couldn't feel anything. This wasn’t his first time being Dispossessed. But each Dispossession was always a unique, disorientating feeling. Khan felt completely weightless, but at the same time, he could feel like he was standing on something solid.

“Khan-sensei?”

Khan heard a voice. He didn’t recongise it. Only two people would refer to him as ‘sensei’, and the voice didn’t sound like it came from Vince.

“Ozai?” Khan called out, walking towards the voice.

“How is this possible? I lost my voice in my Contract…” Ozai asked, dumbfounded.

“I’m not even moving my mouth…” Ozai noticed, it was more like he was sending his thoughts out.

“This is the spiritual world Ozai… the rules here are vastly different… Are you the only one that got sucked in?” Khan asked.

“I can sense… 3 others… Barrier Agents…” Ozai replied.

“Shit…” Khan wandered aimlessly hoping to get a sensing of his surroundings.

“Sensei! I found them!” Ozai called out.

“Wait, where are you? How did you get them so fast?” Khan asked, surprised.

“Well, I’ve gotten used to not being able to see a thing… I rely on sensing spiritual energy to get around. And this place is full of it! I can see everything clearly…” Ozai replied, the realisation set in that this was the closest he could get to having proper vision.

“That’s right…this is the spiritual world…” Khan closed his eyes, and focused on the energy around him.

Khan had been Dispossessed a few times before, but this was the first time he appeared in the spiritual world without being able to see a thing. In his previous trips to the spiritual world, he always relied on a mix of his visual and spiritual senses, this would be the first time he viewed the spiritual world with only his spiritual senses.

Exorcists often refer to their ability to see spirits and the supernatural as using their ‘third eye’ or using their ‘mind’s eye’. This was the fullest and highest extent of that.

Khan tuned into his mind and opened his mind’s eye.

He was bombarded with a blast of visuals that slowly came into focus, forming shapes and structure.

The spiritual world zoomed into view.

Khan found himself in a dark dilapidated environment.

He was able to ‘see’ now, but his surroundings were still dark, as though it was night. The ‘ground’ his stood on was a shade of dark purple. Though he was standing on it, he couldn’t exactly feel it. When he looked down, it was like he was staring into a dark hole, an endless abyss. On the ‘ground’ were brown winding objects that seemed to be roots, slithering across the floor.

Khan shook his head and focused elsewhere. The energies around him were definitely malicious. Fear, anger, hatred, disgust. The energies manifested as transluscent wavy lines and shapes, moving about him like flowing water.

Khan soon sensed the presence of Ozai and the Barrier Agents and ran up to them.

“Is everyone okay?” Khan asked.

“Sensei… They don’t look too good…” Ozai was kneeling down, examining the bodies of the three agents that were lying down.

They were unconscious, their breathing laboured.

“Hmm… the sudden influx of spiritual energy must have affected them badly…” Khan noted.

Barrier Agents are still regular people with just slightly above average levels of spiritual energy after all…

Khan racked his brain, they needed to get out fast.

“Ozai, keep your senses sharp, the spirit that brought us here is still here… we need it to get out.” Khan looked around, honing his senses.

But there was just too much malicious energy around him, it was almost impossible to identify the spirit. It simply felt like Eugene was all around him.

Wait… what if…

What if he actually is all around us!

“Ozai! Grab onto one of the agents!” Khan yelled urgently, grabbing onto two of the agents on the floor, heaving them over his shoulder.

“Hold on to me!” Khan instructed Ozai before quickly creating his invisible portal.

The ground shook and the vine-like roots started to slither towards each other, forming a large mound.

The group stepped through the portal, away from the mound, but something wasn’t right.

Khan felt it, his control of space felt weak. Before, folding space was as simple as folding paper, but now, it felt like he was bending a thick cardboard. He knew that in the spiritual world, your Spirit Contract was weakened, but this was his only choice.

“Shit!” Khan yelled as he felt his grasp on space slip. The group that stepped through the portal didn’t all reappear in the same place, they were thrown out of the portal, strewn around in different places.

Khan, Ozai and one agent managed to successfully teleport together, but the other agents Khan was holding onto were strewn on the ground.

The roots reached for them, grabbing hold of their bodies.

“HAHAHAHA! YOU FINALLYYY CAUGHT OOON!” Eugene’s voice boomed from all around them.

“Welcome! To my abysss… to my personal helllll… Do you like it? This is the spiritual world… my world…” Eugene’s face started to form from the roots, creating a large hood. His creepy eyes and mouth appeared from the darkness in the giant hood.

“Eugene! Let them go!” Khan yelled in frustration. He was getting tired of hearing Eugene’s voice.

“These people? Comee ooonnn… you don’t actually care about these guysss… They’re just fodder…” Eugene used the roots to slam the bodies of the two Barrier Agents into the ground.

Their bodies splattered upon impact.

Their limbs, blood and bones made a disturbing mess on the pitch-black floor.

Khan and Ozai stood there in shock.

“Oooppss. Don’t worry, I’ll clean up…” Eugene spoke and the remnants of the bodies began disintegrating.

“I’ve dumped their remainsss back into the physical world… you can thank me laterrr…Heeheee” Eugene gloated, how white teeth shining in the darkness as he smiled.

“Fuck you!” Khan shouted as he tried to use his Contract.

But nothing happened. His Contract had been weakened more than he thought.

“Uh oh… looks like you can’t rely on that bullshittt ability anymore!!” Eugene gleefully exclaimed.

“Ozai! Stand back, protect the agent!” Khan commanded, his tone showed that this was serious.

For the first time, Ozai saw that Khan was on edge.

“So what, I can defeat you without my ability anyways…” Khan held his fists up, getting into a fighting stance.

In the spiritual world, spiritual energy can be visualised more than in the physical world. And what Ozai saw was unlike anything he had seen before. Large colourful waves and lines started gathering towards Khan’s body, moving up to his fists. It was like a rainbow had wrapped around Khan’s arms. The colours eventually combined into a blinding white, lacing Khan’s fists.

“HAHAHA, this could be fuunnnn!” Eugene laughed, his roots lunged at Khan.

They came from all directions, some simply appearing out of the darkness. But Khan was fast, he punched, kicked and redirected the roots effortlessly, his body moving in a blur. His body moved around Ozai and the remaining agent, defending them from the roots. Each punch and kick to the roots burned and disintegrated them instantly, Khan’s spiritual energy was that potent.

Khan flipped and twisted, his body was like a laser, any root that touched him burned and got sliced cleanly off.

“Is that all you can do? This might be easier than I thought…” Khan taunted, his confidence coming back.

“Don’tt gett too ahead of yoursselff…” Eugene’s low voice boomed from around them.

A body started to rise from the ground. It was like a shadow had stood up. It was a pure black humanoid shape. Eugene’s eyes and sharp smile appeared on the head.

“Hello!”

Eugene dashed toward’s Ozai, aiming for the kill.

Khan reacted quickly, jumping forward and getting in the way.

Eugene threw a punch, to Khan’s surprise, Eugene’s arm passed through him, reaching for Ozai and the Barrier Agent on the other side.

“Don’t forget… Darkness is all around youuu!” Eugene squealed, reaching for Ozai.

Ozai reacted fast, he was already moving away from Eugene before he threw that punch.

The Barrier Agent he was carrying was a woman, she had a small build and was relatively light. Ozai managed to carry her in his arms in a princess carry, running away from the shadowy hand of Eugene.

But then another humanoid shape rose from the ground in front of Ozai, identical to the one before.

Now there were two Eugenes.

Then another one rose, and another, then a fifth, a sixth.

Soon, there was an entire army of purple-eyed, smiling Eugenes surrounding them.

Khan moved as fast as he could, but each clone seemed to be as strong as the original.

The Eugene clones dodged each attack Khan threw at them, even changing the shape of their body to dodge Khan’s attacks.

Khan wasted no time in entertaining the clones near him, he had to protect Ozai, in this world, Ozai was defenseless.

Ozai, still carrying the single barrier agent was in no position to fight. He skillfully dodged and backed away from the clones that were slowly closing in. Ozai’s sharp senses allowed him to moved quickly and react even before the clones attacked. But he wouldn’t have much space left to manouvre for long.

Khan got to where Ozai was, helping him fend off the clones.

It was too much, it was like darkness itself was suffocating them.

Wait… darkness.

Khan thought of an idea, an chided himself for not doing this earlier.

Khan’s body was still laced with a white gleam of energy.

If I use my energy to produce more light instead…

Khan’s arms started to glow brighter and brighter, until they became like massive glowing orbs. The blinding glow caused the Eugene clones to back off.

“Yeah, I’m stupid for not thinking about ths earlier…” Khan then sprang into action, using his glowing fists to pummel the clones, who got weaker the closer Khan got to them.

As the light reached them, the bodies of Eugene started to wither and morph, the light burning away at their body.

“Let’s just end this already!” Khan was growing impatient, even though he was slowly cutting down the clones, there were still too many for just one exorcist to slowly punch down.

Khan combined his hands and made a gun shape, his index and middle fingers making the barrel of the gun.

“Know what this is? It’s a gun.” Khan said, the barrel of his finger gun glowing white.

“HEHHEE, Spiritual Reinforcement? You should know that in the spiritual world-” Eugene’s voice was cut off when Khan blasted a light beam straight through multiple Eugene clones.

Khan smirked.

Eugene’s eyes frowned.

“OKAY!! III agree! Let’s enddd thissss!” Eugene bellowed as the area around them started to shift.

The floor began to change texture and the darkness around Khan and Ozai started to become a dark liquid, extinguishing the light from Khan’s fingers. It was like the air around them melted.

Khan noticed that he and Ozai were sinking into the floor.

“Did youuu forgettt? This is my world… so now, YOU obey MY RULESS!”

All remaining Eugene clones started to combine into one giant version, with the roots from before weaving together to form a cloak.

The menacing figure approached Khan and Eugene, who were firmly stuck in the ground, shin-deep.

“Fuck me…” Khan spat.

Vince stood there stunned.

One moment he was talking to a bunch of Barrier Agents with Ozai about how to construct barriers with charms, and the next moment, he was talking into thin air.

In front of him, was a mysterious mist. It was as if a clear line had been drawn between him and the mist.

Vince instinctively felt like something bad would happen if he stepped into the mist and so he backed away.

The mist formed a form of barrier by itself, only existing within a certain space, shaped like a dome.

The mist was pale and translucent, Vince could feel the malicious energy but any ordinary person would walk right into it, not thinking much.

“The barrier broke? And what happened here… where did Mando, Lara and Jin-Ho go?” Another Barrier Agent came up to Vince.

Vince held his arm out, preventing the Barrier Agent from getting any closer to the mist.

“Watch out man, this doesn’t look safe…” Vince warned.

He looked around, it seems the more senior agents were aware of the threat. They were scurrying around setting up a wider perimeter and making calls.

“Vince! This is an Epsilon Level Anomaly… you need to go back to Headquarters…” The same senior Barrier Agent that called out to him at the start now gestured for him to enter the sedan he arrived in.

“What… what about the rest? Where did Khan and Ozai go?” Vince asked walking towards the agent, still confused.

“They… they likely got Spirited Away…” The agent replied.

“For your safety, you need to head back, and tell the others while you’re at it, we’ll make some calls to deal with this…” The agent forced Vince into the car and signalled for the driver to drive off.

“Get me Exorcist Rohan!” Vince could hear the Barrier Agent say before the car drove off.

“Spirited Away? What does that mean? Are Ozai and Khan okay?” Vince started to get worried, he had no idea what Spirited Away meant.

“You better ask the other Exorcists… I’m not too sure about the details…” The driver replied.

When they reached the headquarters building, Vince dashed out of the car, running to open the building doors.

He had to find Shen or Daiyu, he needed to know what on Earth just happened.

The building was seemingly empty. Only a few agents were around, some manning the reception counter.

“Where’s Ms. Daiyu? Or any exorcist?” Vince asked the counter.

“I’m sorry, who are you? We need some verificati-” The receptionist was cut off by Vince before she completed her sentence.

“I’m Vince Seung, first year exorcist trainee. Please tell me where she is…” vince held up his ID card.

“Well, Ms. Dauyu is currently out on a mission, the only exorcists we have in the building are…” The receptionist checked something on her computer.

“We don’t have any professional exorcists in the building at the moment… I’m so sorry, most of our staff went out after an Epsilon Level Threat was reported…Exorcist Rohan just left…It’s been a busy day in general…” The receptionist replied.

“I know! I just came back from that site! Do we not have even other trainees? Point me to someone senior… please…” Vince was getting desperate, he began imagining the worst-case scenario for what happened to Ozai and Khan.

“Well, fourth-year trainee Cadence is here, she’s training with the other first-years in the training room.” The receptionist informed Vince.

Vince was already on his way, yelling a ‘thank you’ as he dashed past the receptionist.

Mark lay on the floor, extremely winded. He was heaving and gasping for air after having the air punched out of his lungs.

On the other end of the dojo, Mai was lying down in a similar state.

The only one left standing was Hannah, and even then, she was looking beat.

“Well, well, looks like you guys still have much to work on… Your movements are too slow and sloppy… you won’t be able to keep relying on your Contracts you know… Sometimes…” Cadence paused as she ducked under Hannah’s slow and obvious punch before delivering a counter jab to Hannah’s solar plexus.

“Sometimes all you have are your fists and simple spiritual energy…” Cadence finished her sentence as Hannah collapsed, gasping for air.

This senior is crazy! Wouldn’t you think to go easy on your juniors??

Mark thought as he slowly got up, still heaving. He dragged himself to a bench nearby for a seat.

Mai did the same, crawling up to the bench instead.

“I think she just wanted to beat us juniors up…look how sweaty I got… ewww…” Mai complained as she wiped her sweat with the sleeves of her shirt.

“Now, now, here you go…” Cadence handed them each a cold isotonic drink.

Hannah was still recovering from that punch to the solar plexus, heaving and gasping.

“One… more… round…” She muttered between breaths, struggling to stand.

“I think you need some rest first…” Cadence handed her an isotonic drink.

“I even went easy on you guys, you know?” Cadence said as she grabbed another drink from a vending machine just outside the dojo.

“You’re kidding… right?” Mai asked, afraid of what her being serious would mean.

“Well, when you guys get better at hand-to-hand, you can challenge me and find out.” Cadence winked as she took a big gulp of her drink.

The atmosphere was interrupted by Vince stepping through the door to the training room.

“Oh? Who’s this? Another first year?” Cadence asked.

“Vince? You’re back? Wait… where’s Ozai?” Mai asked.

“Vince… you okay? What happened?” Mark asked, picking up on Vince’s panicked look.

“I was told to come back here and inform any exorcist I could… but I also need an explanation… Can someone tell me, what on Earth is a Dispossession??” Vince asked.

Cadence stopped drinking from her drink when she heard that word.

“Where did you hear that from? What happened?” Cadence asked, her tone now serious.

“Khan, Ozai and a few other Barrier Agents, I think they were Disposessed or Spirited Away… they’re saying the Lower Demon spirit caused it… tell me, Cadence, what happened to them, will they be okay?”

“Ahh, so Khan-sensei got Disposessed with them? Then I wouldn’t be worried… I can explain what Dispossession is and what exactly it means to get Spirited Away… but if you ask me about if they’re going to be okay… then well, I’m confident in Khan-Sensei’s abilities…” Cadence replied.

“What… how can you be so sure? The agents sounded very worried...” Vince asked.

“Well, that’s because they don’t know Khan-Sensei’s rank…you know how exorcists are graded according to their abilities and given ranks right?” Cadence enquired, testing their knowledge.

Mark and Mai, as usual, had a blank look on their faces

“We have Ranks D, C, B, A and S. D being the weakest and able to handle basic spirits while Rank S means they can exorcise even Lower Deities,” Hannah answered confidently.

“Bingo! Guess which Rank Khan Sensei is in?” Cadence asked, grinning.

“Well, since you say he’s so strong, he must be Rank S?” Mark answered.

“Wrong! You see, there exist a small group of people whose power cannot be quantified by the simple rank system. Khan-Sensei is one of those people. Their power was so immense that they had a whole new rank created for them: Rank SS. I know, simply adding another S doesn’t really show much… but to be considered a double S ranking exorcist, you need to fulfil one condition: You need to be able to exorcise a God.” Cadence revealed and watched the faces of her juniors with satisfaction.

“A… a God? How is that possible?” Vince asked, he found it hard to believe.

Cadence smiled. “Well, simple… if Dispossession is a Spirit’s trump card against Exorcists, then an exorcist has one too. It’s called…”

In the Spiritual World…

Khan had to do it. He had no choice. If he couldn’t use his Contract, this was the only option.

The trump card of exorcists: ‘Convergence’

Khan breathed in deeply. Focusing on the energy within him.

The world around him slowed down.

Eugene was about to pounce on them, and they were defenceless.

Khan felt the world come to a stop. The energy around him stopped flowing.

But the energy within him stirred. He felt the connection to his contracted spirit.

Like a thin thread, it was weak but it provided a point of contact.

[Once again, you seem to need my help…]

A familiar voice spoke to Khan from within him. It reverberated in his soul.

Looks like I do… though I doubt the mighty Akasha would give up this chance to smite a foe?

[I suppose I have gotten tired from watching from afar… You do make good use of my power, better than your the previous holders. But it has yet to reach my standards. Well then, allow me to show you how it's done… you have my permission.]

Thank you. Please help me avenge my fallen comrades.

Khan closed his eyes and formed the Akash mudra with his hands, bringing it up to his face as he chanted the following incantation:

“[Convergence: Divine Temple of the Akasha Dragon]”

The space around him swerved and a blast of spiritual energy flowed around him. Marks and lines started to form on Khan’s arms and face. These markings started to glow deep indigo. Another pair of arms with similar glowing markings sprouted out of Khan’s torso. His fingernails grew sharper on all four hands.

When Khan opened his eyes, they were glowing as well. Khan’s Iris now glowed indigo, with a ring formed around his pupil.

The Eugene clones were frozen still, as if they could not move under Khan’s immense presence.

Khan smiled as took a step forward, pulling himself out of the ground with ease. His entire body radiated with intense, blistering energy. With one hand grabbing the fist of his other arm, he was ready to fight. The other pair of hands formed the Akash mudra.

Khan opened his mouth to speak, his voice sounded as if it was layered with another deeper voice.

“Now… Let us show you how it feels to fight a real Deity.”