There’s only one name that appeared in their mind. Andromeda Aldebaran. 

It was too obvious that it was weird. She was the one to reschedule their trip to the afternoon instead of the morning. And for Cain’s first visit to the village to study culture of different areas under Alrauna, she directly told General Lynx not to send guards. 

“My Estelle also had her social studies only accompanied by one maid and one guard when she was eighteen. One year younger than the prince.” 

It was on Estelle’s request and should not affect normal procedures that a group of guards should follow royal family members in their social study. But Andromeda was petty and even Holden could not argue. Or he was too tired to argue since Selene decided to depart from the kingdom, canceling the deal they made before. His mood was bad and he just let his legal wife take care of the prince’s education just like that. Rigel somehow worried about Cain’s future if Holden continued being such an immature dad. Even now, Rigel could see that Cain was practically raised by Alan.

Back to their current situation, it had to be Andromeda’s works. 

The question was where did she find a summoner–registered or not–who was crazy enough to perform the forbidden spell that moves the dead?

“The hell with these creatures?!”Rigel slayed the hand who tried to grab Cain with his sword. The rotten flesh fell on the white surface but the body still moved. Cain broke the ghoul’s leg by using a water spiral. It still pathetically crawled to Cain. Before Cain stepped on the pale hands and crushed it completely under his feet.

“Disgusting.”

“I wish I could burn them all but…”

Their path was crossing the forest. Even if Rigel directed his fire only to burn the ghouls, the thing could still move and spread fire. Not to mention their carriage was made of the finest wood too. It would make nice firewood in this situation and if things go bad, Rigel might end up burning at least half of the forest. But if Cain was willing to balance his fire with his own water, perhaps they could do something.

But of course, the prince as summoner had this hidden card to surprise his own guard.

“I need time to reverse the summoning spell.” Cain stepped back and kneeled. He cut his palm and let his blood taint the white snow. “Protect me.”

“Reverse–what?” Rigel asked dumbly. Actually, he did not panic at all, he could always burn the walking corpse which came closer. That way, it wouldn’t spread unwanted wildfire. But it would take a long time to burn them one by one. Not to mention that constantly burning the enemy might consume more of his energy than burning all in one go. He had to preserve his energy because no one could predict what other things that could attack them later. “Can’t you just summon something to eat these corpses?”

Rigel was quite taken aback by the sight of how Cain’s blood seemed to have its own mind. It seeped into the snow, creating a pattern of Cain’s magic circle. But this time the rune was written backwards. He used to see Cain’s magic circle created with pure energy, shining so bright. This was Rigel’s first time seeing Cain using another method. 

Cain who already started his reversing spell let Lumi answer that in his place.

“You know before summoners appeared in our world, the first thing that tame magical beasts were those who we called transporters?”

Rigel didn’t really remember his lesson about the core of magic, but of course, he knew transporters. In the history of Alrauna, transporters were famous for taming and trapping the magical beast and sending them locked in the magical realm. They were the opposite of the current summoners. 

So he nodded at Lumi’s explanation. He threw a small fire dagger to the ghoul who came closer.

“Transporters and summoners are actually the same. Different timelines just made them called in different terms.” Following Rigel, Lumi threw three wind arrows at the ghoul group. They came again and again as if they could clone themselves. What made Rigel sure they couldn’t multiply by themselves was the fact that different ghouls were wearing different attire. But that means someone with great power and unlimited supply of corpses was behind this. 

“Transporters tamed the magical beast, locked them in the magic realm; ‘The Remnants’. And the summoners called them back to use them in battle. It’s simple actually.”

“It’s like using the weapon from the armory.”

“Yeah. And some talented transporters could create their own beast just like Incendio Falla. Hence locked them also in The Remnants. And these ghouls are man created beasts too. They are a defective result of manipulating earth spirit.”

“These ghouls?”

“Yeah. The forbidden technique of manipulating nature energy gave birth to evil spirits. The spirits are locked in the remnants too. But unlike Incendio Falla, they were actually useless without a body to possess.” 

But to appear in the real world, of course they need tangible vessels. That’s why the summoner who called the spirit needed to have corpses ready. Due to its unethical way of manipulating the human body, summoning ghouls was declared a forbidden technique. 

“I see.” 

Some ghouls wore the attire of commoners, they couldn't attack other than physical ones. They tried to grab Rigel or Lumi but failed miserably because the gap in power was too great. Rigel thought it was bad of him to burn human corpses at first. But since he didn’t know any of them personally, he’d just say sorry and continue burning them with ease. He just had to hold on until Cain finished his spell.

But for the second wave of ghouls, they wear the uniform of knight and mercenary. And this is why dealing with the ghouls is difficult. The evil spirit could use its vessel ability and even maximize its potential. Lumi was hurt by the fire arrow from one of the ghouls. Of course she repaid them multiple times by slashing them into small pieces.

Lumi and Rigel both keep their duty to protect Cain. Nara had reverted to its cat form and landed at Cain’s shoulder, as if supporting his masters. The blood color was turning black. It didn’t make sense for Rigel how the red blood turned so black like ink. 

Another ghoul appeared. To their surprise, this particular ghoul crawled from underground. His thin but big hands pulled Lumi’s ankle, making her scream in surprise. It was scary, really. But different from the other ghoul with rotten flesh and bone showing here and there, the hand that grabbed Lumi seemed to be in good condition. 

Rigel stepped hard on the hand and slashed the wrist, making the ghoul’s right palm fall to the inside of Cain’s magic circle. The said parts slowly stopped moving, frozen in the cold air. 

Cain was still focused on his duty. He chanted spells that Rigel couldn’t comprehend. And one by one the ghouls collapsed. They fell on their knees, crawling and–just like the hand before–fell into the ground, staying motionless.

Except for the one ghouls that grabbed Lumi before. That girl had stepped away from her original position and formed an ice spear on her hands. But when she saw the body that appeared from the ground, she was speechless. 

Unlike the rest, this ghoul which appeared last was like a normal human except for the pale skin, dirty clothes and its hollow eyes. Rigel thought it must be a new corpse, someone who was intentionally killed just before this attack happened. If it was not the case, then someone who performs an embalming procedure must be really skilled. The skin and hair remain the same like living beings, there was no sign of decomposition at all. It walked slowly to Lumi, trying to grab her.

Rigel pulled Lumi to step back. 

“Missy!”

Cain almost sent all the ghouls back to the remnants but for this one, he couldn’t continue reciting the spell after seeing its face. 

Rigel had no idea what was happening until he heard Lumi whisper something.

“Ian…”

Ian Callisto. Someone Rigel only knew by name. He had never seen a picture or heard a story about him. The only information he had was that he was Lumi’s older brother who died protecting Estelle. 

Now he took a look at the famous Ian Callisto, he found similarities to Lumi. Their black hair and icy blue irises were identical. He was as tall as Rigel himself. 

“Bastard.” 

Lumi beside Rigel cursed. From her tightened jaw and reddish eyes, it was clear that she was furious. She lifted the ghoul who was using Ian’s body to the air and tied him with invisible air waves. Rigel had to stabilize his own standing because Lumi didn’t even care to control her power. She could blow away the entire area with the wind vortex formed mainly because of her wrath. 

But it was also evident that Lumi tried her best not to hurt his brother’s body. She just handled him the best she could by spreading distance between them. If she wanted to, she would already mutilate him. But she could not. 

She would not want to. 

The ghoul started laughing hysterically. Its voice was sharp, loud, and made the three of them feel like their ears could bleed anytime. Then the ghoul started to struggle. 

Ian ought to be a wind elementalist also when he was alive. Rigel could see how the ghoul used his ability to break free from Lumi’s binding. It skillfully created an air explosion around Ian’s body, and didn't care at all that Ian was scarred at so many places by doing so. 

Cain, who regained his senses, started to recite the reversing spell again from the beginning.

But the ghoul in Ian’s body moved fast, probably the evil spirit was excited for possessing a vessel which was so powerful. In seconds after breaking free, it jumped in front of Lumi and strangled her neck. Lumi held its wrist and tried to fight back. But it was not easy. Ian–when he was alive–must be so powerful. 

Rigel did not hesitate to stab Ian’s head with a dagger he kept near his chest. The ghoul was surprised by the sudden attack and loosened its grip on Lumi’s neck. But Lumi who finally freed pushed Rigel instead of Ian. 

“Don’t!”

Rigel wanted to scold her because of this unreasonable act. But after he heard Lumi screaming to Cain to spare Ian’s body, he knew that for Lumi, even though Ian was no longer here, she still wanna guard what’s left of him. His body might just be an empty vessel without a soul for anyone else, except his sister. 

She couldn’t bear the fact that her brother’s body was being hurt all over again even after his death. 

Cain was repeating the reversing spell from the beginning. It took some time for him to weaken this particular ghoul. There must be another secret technique used on Ian’s body. But Cain didn’t have any clue at all. 

The ghoul was throwing a tantrum. It shrieked so loud, like a wild animal being hurt. Lumi looked away, she was not ready to see Ian–even she was fully aware that it was only his body–screaming in pain.

“It’s okay. It’s not him that is being hurt.”

“I know.” Lumi said in a low voice, almost like a whisper.

For almost two minutes that felt like forever, the ghouls screamed, it held its head like it rejected Cain’s effort to extract it from Ian’s body. But then it starts to laugh with a low voice. Black liquid streamed from its eyes to the cheek. 

It was Rigel’s turn to scream. Without any warning, the ghoul charged forward to Cain.

“PRINCE!”