It happened without warning. A hand, pale as bone and dry as old paper, shot out from inside the mirror and clamped onto Airam's wrist.
!
A scream escaped Airam, more from shock than pain. Instinctively, she pulled back, but that thing's strength was unnatural. She didn't slip, it was dragging her, bending her arm.
"NO! LET HER GO!"
Leif lunged, fumbling in his jacket. He pulled out a silver cross and slammed it hard against the pale knuckles.
!
A horrible hiss occurred, like water thrown onto red-hot metal. Black smoke erupted from the skin, but the grip didn't loosen.
In fact, it tightened more.
With a brutal yank, the hand began to seriously pull Airam, dragging her toward the glass surface.
The creature wanted her. Leif could feel it: a surge of pure, icy hunger emanating from the mirror, a desire focused on Airam's soul.
"N-no, no, no!" Airam screamed, her feet slipping on the floor.
Leif saw that it already had her up to the shoulder and quickly, he grabbed her by the waist with both arms and pulled with all his weight... But it was a useless struggle, as the instant he secured her, dozens more hands, all equally pale, burst from the mirror and wrapped around both of them, grabbing their clothes, their arms, their hair.
A sudden and irresistible force yanked them both.
There was no time to scream.
Leif felt a glacial cold that cut his breath, as if submerging into ice-cold water. The surface of the mirror bent like a plastic film, enveloped them, and sucked them in.
They crossed the barrier and fell.
The landing was a dull thud onto something hard and damp.
The air was the first thing they noticed. Thick. It carried an unbearable stench of rust, old mold, and something sickly sweet and rotten, like decaying flesh.
Leif sprang to his feet, helping Airam up. They were still in the mall, but it was a nightmare version.
The walls were dripping a dark substance and were covered in stains that looked like... dried blood. There were no lights on the ceiling, only pale green flames burning in broken fixtures, casting twisted shadows.
And the mirrors were still there, covering the walls, but these no longer reflected anything. Instead, inside each one, faces were contorted in silent agony, watching them.
"You... are mine."
A voice was heard that came from nowhere in particular.
Involuntarily they looked up and in the enormous main mirror, at the end of the hallway, a shape was taking form.
It was not a man.
It was a mass of fluid shadows, a blur of pure malice that made the hair on the back of the neck stand up.
And they were not alone.
From the wall mirrors, things began to emerge.
They crawled, climbed, and fell to the floor. Figures in torn hospital gowns and bent bodies. Others covered in surgical sutures that wept a black liquid.
They were screaming, but no sound came out, only that dark liquid that gushed from their open mouths and eyes.
They were an army of tortured souls, and every one of them slowly turned their broken heads to look at them.
And with a collective growl, the tide of resentful spirits began to advance, staggering toward them.
!
The blood drained from Airam's face. The fact that she was also a spirit meant nothing; facing that tide of pure hatred, that wall of broken souls, paralyzed her.
The fear was a physical pressure.
"Stay behind me."
Leif gently pushed her behind him. And unlike her, there was no trace of panic on his face; in fact, a dangerous, tight smile was forming on his lips.
He raised his hands and with a magical movement, two beautiful twin Colt 1911s appeared in his hands, one a matte black and the other a polished silver.
"They were starting to collect dust," Leif muttered, and theatrically blew on the tips of the barrels.
Swish
A wraith, faster or stupider than the rest, leaped from his blind spot, claws outstretched and a rotten mouth open to tear at his neck.
BANG
Leif didn't even look. He simply extended his left arm to the side and pulled the trigger. A bullet, shining with a blinding silver light, went through the wraith's forehead.
The creature ignited like newspaper, let out a scream that cut off abruptly, and dissolved into a cloud of bluish smoke before hitting the floor.
One shot, one kill.
"..."
The entire horde of spirits froze.
Airam stared at him open-mouthed. The energy emanating from those weapons was not normal; it was pure, concentrated, and absolutely lethal to those creatures.
This man... was much more than he appeared.
Leif felt the gaze of the horde and Airam's. He tilted his head and winked at the girl.
"What?" he said, his voice resonating with an almost insulting confidence, "Did I impress you?"
And then, all hell broke loose.
BANG BANG BANG
The pistols came alive, becoming extensions of his will. The shots echoed in the decaying hall, not like chaotic detonations, but with a deliberate rhythm: a symphony of bullets and purification.
It was literally not a fight; it was a choreography.
Leif was moving. He slid sideways, dodging claws, while his shot found the spirit's chest. He spun, shooting in opposite directions, and two more spirits exploded in light.
He saw two climbing the mirrors to attack him from behind, he jumped backward, shooting upward while still in the air, and blasted them against the glass.
Every bullet was not just lead; it was an eruption of holy light that illuminated the rot of the hall with intermittent flashes.
"..."
Airam was paralyzed.
She stood rigid, in the small circle of safety Leif had created. She watched how he moved, a blur of fluid motion in the midst of the chaos, and listened to the constant rhythm of the gunfire.
The commotion inside her was heavy.
That calm, that coldness, and also that... damned elegance, made her completely stunned for an instant.
So this was what he was hiding...
The echo of the last shot faded, bouncing off the walls, and the blue smoke of the last purified soul dissipated, mixing with the stale air.
Absolute silence.
Only the faint spots of light remained on the floor, like fallen stars, proof that the massacre had not been an illusion.
With a smooth motion, Leif spun the smoking pistols in his hands, holstering them in scabbards that hadn't been there a moment before.
He turned around. Airam was still there, wide-eyed. He gave her a broad, cheeky smile.
"End of show. I hope you enjoyed the spectacle. Because there are no refunds."
Airam's gaze turned away from him, sweeping the now-empty hall. Her expression was a mixture of disbelief and... something else.
She had seen the misery of resentful spirits all her life, but she had never seen a "liberation" like that. It wasn't an exorcism.
It was an execution. Violent, direct, but with a certain beauty....
"... What are you really?" the question left her lips before she could stop it.
Leif placed a hand on his chest with feigned seriousness.
"For the record, I'm just a normal high school student, full of love and a sense of justice, who was passing by."
Airam rolled her eyes, but didn't continue asking; she simply changed the subject, "Don't get comfortable. You've cleaned up the opening act, but the main star hasn't come out yet."
"Then let's go find him," Leif said, and began walking toward the darkness at the back of the hall, taking her compliance for granted.
She clenched her jaw and followed him, her steps much quieter than his.
The crunch of the wood beneath Leif's boots was the only sound, aside from the distant dripping. The stained walls and closed room doors seemed to watch them.
The smell of rust and decaying flesh intensified with every step, becoming so thick it was like trying to breathe through a damp cloth.
"Maria..." Leif said suddenly, his voice sounding strangely casual in the oppressive silence, "Is she alright?"
Airam stopped for an instant. He didn't, so she had to take two quick steps to catch up. She glanced sideways at him. The ghostly flames on the walls made shadows dance on his face.
"You seem very worried about her."
"She's a good girl. A little skittish, that's all."
"..."
Airam was silent for several seconds…
"It's her body," she finally said, "I'll give it back to her. But not before the people who bullied her... pay for what they did."
________
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