64 Identity - Ghos (1/2)

While a large investigation is being carried out behind the scenes, Stigma's group was currently walking down the market. Since Felix had to rondevu with his group soon, he gave his ticket to Stigma and told him to keep the reward if there was a chance, they then separated and would all meet in Stigma's tent by tonight.

Unlike the festive mood that was happening around them, the four were showing different expressions, especially Stigma who had a haggard expression and a bloody nose. Kirin was sleeping inside his robes so it didn't draw to much attention, Hilda was strapped to his back maintaining her silence, and Dusk followed behind them but with great distance.

Between ofthe siblings, the sister was browsing through the jewelry like an appraiser before handing what she liked the most to Stigma , while the brother were standing right beside him who was trying not look around like a tourist.

The leader was buying all sorts of food and carried on with the festivities, enjoying herself as she looked back at Stigma with a playful expression, but he knows all to well behind that cute smile was a she-demon.

When Stigma came out from his bath, all of them were drinking from the little brother's stash that was inside his space ring. Stigma finally had the chance to introduce Hilda to the groups when they asked why he carried a rusted sword when he carried other weapons like the ax and knives.

Their first reaction was full of curiosity, from the brother's experience and knowledge, he described his rope as durable enough to withstand a chop from an ax, even when it laid on the ground without Zen energy it would only lead the ax to bounce of.

If he applied some Zen aura the ax would suffer instead, coupled with his strength, the tension applied could break a normal sword under one strong swing or bend if it was made in the higher Tier. Stigma struggled under his bindings, yet the sword remained the same driving all of them to curiosity about the swords origins.

When he introduced Hilda towards the group, they all had different expressions when they realized Stigma 'named' his weapon; Felix was trying not to offend Stigma's childlike innocence and asked him where he found it, the little brother was holding his laughter and humored him as he called out Hilda's name with familiarity, while the girls were giggling about him naming his sword and thought it was cute.

Irritation got over Stigma when they were not taking him seriously, so took the opportunity for payback from before, he made an exaggerated story about Hilda's origins. From how they reacted from the orb, Stigma understood that these people were not familiar with dealing with cursed objects, Hilda understood immediately and played along.

He told them by nightfall he always notices a shadowy figure following him in the distance, he tried to call it out but did nothing but stare at him, as if to keep him company at night. So far, it had done nothing to him but watch from a distance leading him to ignored it. But every time he was in dark places it was always pointing at him, declaring something in silent.

By the time he notices, the sound of heavy breathing was beside him as if it was right next to his ear and every time he turned to look of the source, there was nothing there. When his back was turned, he always felt a hand brush past his shoulder, as if its was trying to catch Stigma's attention, to look back.

But every time he looked after each brush, Stigma notices shadowy figure was getting closer from each time, slowly it was getting near making him believe that it was waiting for something, and each time it got closer the louder the breathing was by his ear.

And today it was still following him.

To add a dramatic effect to the story, he ordered Dusk to brush pass their shoulders a little when they look at Hilda and breath right next to their ears, as if they were cursed and the figure was calling out to them - like a ghost.

They first thought Stigma was making a joke, but how Stigma told the story made them all feel uneasy, followed with why the sword did break was driving them to believe the sword may indeed be special.

Instinctively, rather than look at Stigma, they all looked at the rusted broad sword named Hilda on his hand. Hilda played her part and responded with a soft voice which made them all suddenly feel their backs were covered in sweat, but they all laughed it off as it was his talent for ventriloquism.

However, what happened next was a sensation of heavy breathing rights beside their ears but each time they turned there was nothing there. Unknown to them, as Stigma told his story he was also blatantly ordering Dusk who was still invisible..Silently it listened and followed Stigma's orders without question and started doing said actions, avoiding any means to harm them in the process.

They tried to laugh it off as a form of uneasiness, but Stigma understood that in this world standards, ghost or curses exist and many believe it was due to Heavenly Beings or superstition in religious practices.

But they reasoned that, although Cultivators are powerful and have the potential to become future demigod beings, they are still affected or fear dangerous elements like curses or ghost, as they are hardly any known cultivators who can use exorcism.

So areas that had experienced large bloodshed or land that had buried remains in abundance are to never be ventured unless it was recent or a thousand years had passed, they were repeatedly warned by their elders and seniors to never to enter them or else a bad omen will befall them.

Regrettably, many are still hot blooded or blinded by greed and tried taking old treasures from deceased seniors as graverobbers. Because they kept ignoring the warnings, anyone who had those treasures on their possessions would experience strange encounters like seeing something that shouldn't exist or was latched on to bizzare spirits that forced them to live in a living nightmare leading them to their death.

There were multiple ghost stories told but they all had the same message - respect the dead. One of those stories was about a people being possessed and acted like wild beast or they would turn blind after using an old mirror.

So when they heard that Hilda was capable of talking and was buried under the earth, they immediately remembered the old warnings, which they all pay heed out of respect. Causing all of them to urge Stigma to leave the sword back to where he found it and stop making scary jokes.

But Stigma wanted their little prank to be paid back in full, if not, who knows how many times it will happen and his petty honor would not allow him getting fooled again.

When Dusk finally gave the leader a small tap to the shoulder it became visible at the right time, causing not only the leader to stare at it but screamed to the top of her lungs, the brother was no different and they both screamed with terror on their faces.

Strangely when Dusk appeared right beside the the leader, two panicked but Felix was ready to fight, but Stigma was more surprise to see the sister remain expressionless like she wasn't afraid.

The leader was shaking in fear, the sister wasn't scared and laughed it off as she hugged her, while the brother tried his best not to show fear and destroyed the bottle by his gru. Felix on the other hand had jumped back with a shadow over his eyes, flipping his hand two metal rods that were over one meter each, summoned at each hand and made a fighting stance.

From how they reacted, other than the sister the two had actually met Dusk last night. Stigma was aware that Dusk can't stay invisible forever, so he made the assumption that when Dusk appeared before the three, and tried to attack it out of desperation immediately mistaking him as a malevolent spirit.

Having a shadowy figure appear out of nowhere had them all spocked to their cores, each of them gave similar but exaggerated reactions compared to how Stigma first reacted to meeting Dusk. But they tried to drive it of as a Cultivator that used a bizarre technique.

Unfortunately Dusk kept his distance since they were recognized as not 'enemies', excluding the sister both had tried to chase it around all night until it disappeared which made them have little sleep, which explains why the tent was a mess when Stigma woke up.

The leader and the little brother being undress was due to the leader spatting out bizarre knowledge of how to get rid of bad spirits, because she was heavily drunk her explanation was vague but gave a reason that spirits can see humans due to them being in clothes, so she removed her clothes and tried to removed the little brothers in fear that it will return unless all were naked.[1]

After a while, Dusk never appeared again and the leader gave up halfway eventually falling a sleep along with the two, in total they only slept in three hours until Stigma woke up. Before they slept the leader ordered both of the them spirits return if they speak of their names, so they never speak of it again, until now that is.

Seeing the leader panic made Stigma's day, he then introduced Dusk to them as his 'first' familiar, causing all of them to be baffled from the sudden news as payback from before. When he explained its abilities they immediately understood why it looked like a ghost.

The sister taught that there would be more fun of it was around and laughed it off, while the brother believed that Stigma would harder to deal with than his leader when pranks are involved.

Unfortunately, the leader was very petty and got even with Stigma by having a few sparring matches. The result, until he was strong enough, Stigma would never scare her again.

Out of ten matches; he repeatedly lost because he was weak in grappling attacks, even when he tapped out she turned deaf for a whole minute and refused to let go.

When his limbs returned feeling from going completely numb, Stigma swore in his heart; Once I gets stronger, I will haunt that b*tch if its the last thing I do or my name is not Stigma Falsus.

As an apology they told him to carry most of their belonging during shopping, placing everything inside his space ring and return them later on, at the same time Felix separated from them but he kept the orb with Stigma permission to study it.

Before they left, they told Stigma that it would be less confusing if they told him to use code names for now, these three were still on a mission so until then they can't tell him their actual names much less the organization until the mission is over.

The names are as follows; the sister will be called Veil, the brother is the Hangman - Han for short, and the leader exaggerated her code name as Princess, but Stigma called her 'Princess of Peace'[2] which both the siblings agreed but got Stigma's face kneed, ending him with a bloody nose.

They also said that these code names represents the aliases that all underworld agents will use from now on once they enter the field, so Stigma had to choose carefully in what code name will be, as it will carry on until he is dies. During their time in the market they have to carry on a mission, so Stigma had enough time until they can all leave to think about his alias.

Because Stigma didn't find any interest in the market he played around with a simple tool Veil brought out to help him with his Zen energy control. During their fight they notice Stigma had an advance level technique that focuses on aura control, with their limited time, the sister made a simple tool for him and help them as they move around.

The tool was a glass bottle filled with water and oil, the point of the training was to insert Zen energy in either the water or oil and try to separate them, the more clear one side is the more one's control is shown to have increased. So far Stigma was progressing slowly and he was trying his best to form the oil into one area, surprising them all.

Along the way they noticed that was a group of people parading in the street beating large drums on wheels in a rhythm, as they pass by they handed out flyers with the rules on the lottery.

It is as follows:

1. The lottery will go by predetermined patterns, to make sure odds are fair the numbers on the tickets are set in ten patterns only, all the tickets given are set to have prizes in each category but the numbers patterns will not be announced until the event starts; so the more tickets they buy the more chances they can get to the highest prize.

2. The odds in getting the prize are as follows: Any prizes above six will be a sixty percent, any prizes between the four and five will be thirty percent, in the third category ten percent, in the second will be eight percent and the first prize will be five percent.

3. The event will end until the end of the day, to claim the winning prize they must go to the center of the stage and give them the ticket.