"Micheal, are you waiting for me to die one more time, or have you taken some kind of bribe from these spirits to get me killed?" Mercy snapped, glaring at Micheal, who stood with his eyes closed, trying hard to remember something.
"I'm sorry, Mercy, but I can't focus, and because of that, I can't recall all the spells from this spell book. Though… there is one way. If we merge your blades with my 'The Fury of Aetheria' spell, then the blades themselves will annihilate all these spirits," Micheal said in a grave tone.
"So you'll begin that spell after I die?" Mercy said irritably.
"This spell doesn't cast so easily, Mercy. It requires a high level of channeling and a complex chant that merges the caster's will with the weapon's core." Micheal quickly stood up as he spoke.
"Will you speak clearly and tell me what you actually mean?" Mercy said, pushing away a spirit's hand.
"Give me your blades. Quickly. But until I finish casting the spell, you'll have to hold these spirits off, because once I begin the chant, I can't stop until the spell is fully cast." Micheal extended his hand toward Mercy, waiting for her to give him her blades.
"Looks like because of your spell, I'm destined to die today… and that too for the second time." Saying this, Mercy handed both her blades to Micheal and began fighting the spirits with her bare hands, while Micheal started casting the spell.
Meanwhile, Stephanie sat in the backseat of the car, watching the same livestream where Adam and his friends had entered the mental asylum.
"Stephanie, don't panic. Lily drives really well and really fast. We'll reach the location soon," Claire said, turning around to comfort her.
But Stephanie wasn't convinced. She turned to look outside the window.
"But Stephanie, before we reach there, you'll have to tell us where this sudden stepbrother of yours came from and what his name is. And how do you know he's trapped by some spirit right now?" Lily asked while driving.
Stephanie glanced at both her friends and finally began speaking. "Yes, it's true that I'm the only biological daughter of my parents, and my mother's family has long been connected to the shaman community—helping people for generations. Shamans are those who deal with spirits, supernatural forces, and deities. But I only received incomplete training from my mom before I left home and went to live with my grandmother. I became just a medium—someone who can only see and hear spirits.
"A few years later, my father passed away, and my mother married a man who already had a child—his name was Robin. That man was very wealthy, but my mother never told him that she was a shaman. When I was fourteen, my grandmother passed away too, so I had to return to my mother. That's when I met Robin. He respected me like a real sister. Robin and I became like real siblings, taking care of each other. Later, I moved here to live with you guys, while Robin went to Los Angeles for higher studies.
"But today, while I was browsing online, I saw a group of high school students performing a ritual to summon a spirit inside a building. They made some mistake, and because of that, the spirit now wants to take all their lives—and has already killed one of them. In that same livestream… I saw my brother Robin. I have to go save him. People may think the livestream is fake, but I saw another girl's spirit inside that girl Sarah." As she finished, Stephanie broke down in tears, emotional and shaking.
Because so many things had suddenly come to light, neither Claire nor Lily could fully understand everything, yet they still headed toward the mental asylum so they could support their friend Stephanie. For that reason, Lily pressed her foot fully onto the accelerator, driving the car at full speed toward the asylum.
Meanwhile, Mercy's condition had deteriorated severely, and blood from every part of her body was dripping onto the ground. But then, a powerful burst of white light exploded, throwing all the spirits attacking her far back. At the same moment, Micheal rose four feet above the ground. Mercy's blades were spinning clockwise around him at an incredible speed, his eyes glowing with white radiance. It felt as if Micheal had transformed into some kind of angel—likely because of the spell book given by Poseidon—except that angel wings were white, while Micheal's wings were black, proving that he belonged to Hell and worked for Lucifer.
"Mercy! Step back now. I'll handle all these spirits," Micheal said in a booming voice, signaling her to move away.
As soon as Mercy stepped back, Micheal spoke the final part of the chant of the spell he had cast. Instantly, Mercy's blades—spinning fiercely in the air—began slicing every spirit present straight through the middle, annihilating them one by one. Here, Micheal had brought the situation under control with the help of his magical powers and the spell book. But in the asylum, Robin and Ameli had grown exhausted from running, and they still couldn't find a way down from the 7th floor. Emma's spirit—inside Sarah's body—had now gotten dangerously close.
"Rob, I can't run anymore. Instead of dying every second like this, it's better if that spirit kills me in one strike. Please… you go from here. I'll hold her off until then. The help you've given me till now is more than enough," Amily said between heavy breaths.
"I'm not leaving you behind, Amily. I promised I would protect you, and in our family, people sacrifice their lives to keep their promises," Robin said, also panting as he quickly checked their surroundings.
But the very next moment, they saw Sarah standing in front of them, growling with furious rage. The following instant, Sarah used her power to rip bricks from the walls of the 7th floor and hurl them toward Robin and Amily. Both tried hard to dodge, but the bricks struck their bodies, injuring them again and again.
Back in the car, Claire and Stephanie were watching everything, and Stephanie was panicking after seeing her brother Robin trapped by the spirit like that.
"Lily, drive even faster! If anything happens to Robin, I'll never forgive myself. I promised Robin that I would always protect him like an elder sister, and in our family, people give their lives to keep their promises," Stephanie said, looking at Lily.
"But who is this spirit, and why is she after Robin and his friends?" Claire asked Stephanie while watching the video.
"I don't know, Claire. Last time I spoke to Robin, he told me he was coming to New York and that once he reached here, he was going to introduce me to someone. I thought that when I met Robin, I'd introduce him to both of you as well." Saying this, Stephanie went back to watching the video.
"But when did you talk to him?" Lily asked, looking at Stephanie through the rearview mirror.
"The same day at the mall… when you were removing your clothes and doing a photoshoot outside the trial room." Stephanie replied without lifting her eyes.
Lily turned to Claire and said, "I told you, Stephanie is hiding something from us. That's why she was secretly talking to someone on the phone that day in the mall."
"I wasn't hiding anything from either of you. I was just waiting for the right time to tell you about my brother," Stephanie said irritably to Lily.
After that, silence filled the car, and all three girls sat quietly in their seats.
Meanwhile, in the house built above the cemetery, Micheal and Mercy were sitting on the sofa, both panting heavily.
"So, Mercy, how did you like my power?" Micheal asked proudly.
"Because of your power, those spirits would've hunted both of us down using my own blades, and then neither you would've made it to the afterlife nor would I have returned to Hell," Mercy replied with some irritation.
"I can understand you're angry, but what else could I do? I wasn't prepared at all to face so many spirits. If I had been prepared beforehand, none of this would have happened," Micheal said in his defense.
"Yes, I know it's not your fault. The entire fault lies with that Gandolf. And I know that bastard must be sitting in Hell right now, watching us through the T—meaning the crystal ball—and laughing at our condition," Mercy said angrily, and then she looked upward and warned, "Gandolf, enjoy your happiness until I return to Hell. The day I come back, I'll close your account from your own register forever."
Mercy's guess was absolutely right—Gandolf was watching Mercy and Micheal and smiling. But instead of being scared of her threat, he kept smiling, and the next moment whispered to himself, "I'm waiting for your return, my love."
Meanwhile, inside Sarah's body, Emma's spirit moved closer to Robin and Amily to kill them, because the brick injuries had left them badly wounded. Blood was dripping from every part of their bodies, making their condition nearly half-dead. Seeing death right in front of them, Robin and Amily closed their eyes so they wouldn't have to witness their own end.
But suddenly, a loud noise echoed from the terrace, like a machine had turned on, and Emma's spirit—inside Sarah—was distracted, her attention shifting toward the terrace on the top floor.
"Jennifer, give me your hand quickly." Standing inside the shamanic lift, Christopher extended his hand forward to pull Jennifer inside.
Holding Christopher's hand, Jennifer also stepped into the lift, and the two of them began descending toward the ground floor.
Actually, Christopher's father was a civil engineer, and during childhood Christopher often accompanied him to his work sites. Because of that, he knew how to operate many machines. Recently, the government had started installing solar panels on the building's top floor, and for that, a goods-carrying lift had been set up to transport materials from the ground to the top. Christopher had activated that lift, and using it, he and Jennifer were now going down.
When Emma's spirit realized that Christopher and Jennifer were escaping from the building, she clenched her teeth in rage, and the next moment she climbed onto the wall, chasing after them. As soon as the lift reached the 7th floor, Emma's spirit—inside Sarah's body—jumped onto Christopher and Jennifer, and to avoid her, both of them leapt out onto the 7th floor.
But this incident gave Robin and Ameli a few precious seconds to survive, and taking advantage of the chance, they gathered whatever strength they had left and ran toward the stairs.
"Robin, where will we go? We can't even see the stairs that lead downward," Amily asked while running.
"If we can't go down, so what? We can still go up. Come on—going up will give us some time to shake that spirit off," Robin said as he kept running forward.
But then he heard Jenny's voice from behind. Jennifer and Christopher had also jumped onto the 7th floor to escape the spirit, and now they were running behind Amily and Robin to get away from Emma's spirit.
Meanwhile in the car, Stephanie had closed her eyes tightly when she saw that Emma's spirit inside Sarah was about to kill Robin and Amily. But the moment she heard Robin shout "run," she opened her eyes again and resumed watching the stream. Seeing Robin and Amily running away from the spirit, she screamed with happiness.
"Lily, drive a little faster! Robin has used his mind and somehow kept that spirit away from himself till now. But he won't be able to save himself for long," Stephanie said to Lily.
"Don't worry, Stephanie. We'll be there in just five minutes. By the way, which floor is Robin on right now?" Lily asked while driving, her eyes fixed on the mental asylum coming into view.
"Robin and his friends are heading back to the 8th floor," Stephanie replied.
"Why didn't they go down? Maybe they could've escaped the building that way," Claire said, watching the livestream.
Actually, Robin, Amily, Christopher, and Jennifer couldn't see the stairs leading down from the 7th floor, but everyone watching the livestream could clearly see them. This clearly meant that Emma's spirit was not only playing with them physically but mentally as well.
Right now, Robin, Christopher, Ameli, and Jennifer were just like lab mice brought in for testing—running around desperately to save themselves, yet ultimately becoming part of someone's research report.
Just then, the Ghost Mentors team reached the mental asylum, and all three girls grabbed their equipment and rushed inside the building, running quickly toward the 8th floor where Robin was.
"Claire and Lily, you two go find Robin, and meanwhile I'll try to stop that spirit," Stephanie said as she ran up the stairs with her two friends.
"But that spirit is extremely angry—how will you stop her?" Claire asked while running behind Stephanie.
"I'll figure that out. You both go first and get Robin and his friends to safety—and ask them why this spirit wants to take all of their lives," Stephanie said while climbing the stairs to the 2nd floor.
Meanwhile, Robin and the others were now trapped on the 8th floor because of Emma's spirit's power. Just like they couldn't see the stairs going down, now even the stairs going up had vanished from their sight.
But then, all of them suddenly heard Sarah and Emma's combined terrifying voice echoing through the floor, humming a song whose lyrics were—
"Come, play hide-and-seek no more, don't flee,
Stop tormenting me, let my dark spirit see.
Quench this consuming thirst for your blood that burns,
Step into my realm, where the endless night turns.
How long will you cover, how long will you run away?
The haunting specter returns to claim its due prey.
Come now, reveal the secret of my grave's cold dread,
Come to me... oh! come to me... join the unquiet dead."
As soon as Robin and his friends felt it, they knew—Emma's spirit, still trapped inside Sarah's body, was now climbing up toward the eighth floor. Robin, Christopher, Jennifer, and Amily were already exhausted; Robin and Amily were injured as well. They all understood they couldn't run from their deaths any longer. So instead of fleeing, they silently decided to face it.
For a brief moment, each of them looked at one another—one last shared glance. And in that same heartbeat, Emma's spirit, wearing Sarah's body like a shell, finally reached them and appeared right in front of their eyes.