"Psychics have special powers. They can move things with their mind. Conjure mental energy. Even some unique abilities like teleportation or super strength, super speed."
"So they're superheroes? We have superheroes? Why didn't I ever hear of them before?" Selina couldn't help but widen her eyes in response.
"It is because of the SCOA. That piece of document isn't just limited to our country. Have you heard of the Lutheria Accords?"
"That… Isn't that the peace accords that all the countries signed after the Great War?"
Carpenter nodded. "It is. But the Great War was much more complicated than what they're teaching in schools. It isn't just a war between countries. It's a war between the living and the dead.
Long story short, we won. To prevent the widespread of NCEs, all countries agreed to never let the public know about the existence of the underworld.
NCEs feed on the Negative Emotional Spectrum, remember? The less people know about it, the less NCEs there will be and the weaker they are."
"I see. So that's the reason for all the secrecy."
The three arrived at the tombstones. Carpenter squatted down to take a closer look at the dug up graves.
"This is definitely the sign of raising the dead. You haven't gone inside the house, I assume?"
"Umm…"
Selina looked over to Mater. The black cat nodded, implying she could tell the policewoman.
"Actually. It is better if you take a look yourself."
Selina didn't actually know what happened so that's the best excuse she could think of.
"Is it dangerous?" Carpenter said.
Selina looked to Mater again. The black cat shook his head.
"No."
The trio went inside the villa. With Mater's guidance, they went to the cellar where the corpse of Lisa lay.
Then they went to the basement where the corpse of Darren and Eric Wilson were.
Carpenter shined the flashlight around, spotting the headless undead and the four metal pins on the wall.
"This?! There was an NCE here. Have you dealt with it?" Carpenter said.
Mater gestured to Selina to take the credit again.
"Yes. But I didn't do much. Mr. Mater did everything!"
Selina grabbed the black cat and lifted it up.
"Meow?"
"I see. So your power relies on a familiar, huh? We have a few of them already."
"Sure…" Selina didn't know what to say so she just admitted it.
"Cole disagreed with the Detective for letting you become a Bounty Hunter. But the Detective was correct once again.
You are more than capable of defending yourself. Usually only Bronze Bounty Hunter has access to exorcizing missions. Iron missions are mostly scouting and gathering information.
You will need to collect a bit more tokens to reach the Bronze Rank. That rank should have more suitable missions to you."
"Of course. Haha!" Selina said.
"Well. I will contact headquarters to come and clean up this place. The reward will obviously be increased since you deal with the NCE yourself. The reward will be issued to your Bounty Hunter Account once we're done documenting the case."
"Thank you, officer."
"No. Thank YOU, Miss Isles. You have a bright future ahead of you."
Mater and Selina left the premises of the house. They were once again riding on her bicycle.
"I feel like an imposter, Mr. Mater." The goth girl sighed deeply.
"You don't need to. With me, whether you are a Psychic or not doesn't matter." Mater meowed.
"You're right, Mr. Mater! I need to be strong! There are people out there that need my help!"
"I definitely didn't say that."
Mater jumped on her shoulder and bit at the Dark Grimoire in her backpack. Selina was curious about what he's trying to do. She stopped the bicycle to take the book out.
Mater snapped the book open, revealing a wooden index finger being squished between the pages.
"This is?!" Selina grabbed the wooden finger. "It is very similar to the one we took in David Rendell's house!"
Selina still had the other finger in her backpack. She took that out and compared the two.
The first finger was a thumb. This new one was the index finger. Both fingers had a ring on them.
"These are definitely coming from the same place. What do you think they are, Mr. Mater?"
The black cat shrugged. He didn't care to be honest. He only collected it because he thought it might be relevant to a wraith.
"Well. I will keep these safe. Maybe we will have a use for them in the future."
With that, Selina continued down the road. She's pedalling to the second location, the Kensington Tunnel on Parch Street. It was where Owen Douglas had disappeared.
As for Mater, he lay down with his belly up, bathing his fluffy fur to the warm sunlight above. He enjoyed the life of a cat outside, while fusing Chaos to his blood on the inside.
"Let's see. I collected five Chaos Stones from that ball of hair. Each stone should give me 50 kilometers of infusion."
The five spheres spun around his heart. Their Chaos slowly spread out and was absorbed into his blood vessels.
The Chaos began from the heart then spread to every corner of the cat's body, infusing his blood with more Chaos Magic.
"750 kilometers."
"800 kilometers."
"850 kilometers."
"900 kilometers."
"950 kilometers."
"Phew! 250 kilometers of Chaos Infusion. I'm very close to reaching level 2. Only 50 more kilometers to go. A single wraith should do the trick." Mater meowed loudly and stretched his body.
All the red spheres around his heart disappeared. Now he had a full belly of Chaos inside him.
Selina chuckled seeing the black cat squirming in her bicycle's basket. The girl reached out to play with his belly, which Mater willingly allowed.
"Not anyone can touch the darklord's body, girl." Mater meowed softly. His eyes were half-open. He clearly enjoyed Selina's hand on him.
When they reached Parch Street, it was already dusk. The sun was starting to set.
Mater's belly roared. Selina was also feeling hungry. She entered a convenience store first to find something to eat before checking the site.
"Hello there! May I get a hot pot to go?"
"Certainly!"
Selina then whispered to Mater. "What do you want, Mr. Mater?"
The black cat jumped down from her shoulder and onto the counter. He tapped his soft paw on the glass of one of the food.
"Fish fingers? You want that?"
That black cat nodded.
"Give me a bag of fish fingers also."
"Of course. That cat is so smart!"
"He certainly is!"
"Can I pet him?"
"You have to ask him that."
Mater voiced his disapproval with a hiss to the clerk.
"He is definitely not letting me touch him. Haha! What a pity!"
Selina and Mater sat at a table in the convenient store. Mater sat on top of the table and grabbed the fish fingers with his paw. He tried all the available sauces and found that chilly sauce was his favorite.
Tomato sauce was also good but he liked chilly sauce the best. Only its heat could be worthy for a darklord like him.
The sight of the cat drew a lot of attention. A cat grabbing his food with his paw was not something you saw everyday.
A few tried to approach and pet the cat but Mater hissed at all of them.
"What is with these people? Don't they know it's impolite to disturb meal time?" Mater was extra spicy and even extended his claws as a warning.
Selina had to tell all of the passerbys to go away and apologize for his behavior.
"Why are you apologizing, girl? They crossed the line first!"
The pair quickly finished their meal and got out of there. They approached the Kensington Tunnel for their second bounty.