Joyce had been all too ready to forget about that winged feline and just move on with his life. After all, in the end, it was just a faulty sword he couldn’t use that the spirit had stolen. Though it wasn’t like he had the ability to use a spirit sword to begin with. Creating so many had just been his desperate attempts at trying to find a sword that would follow his command.

The doctors had all told him he had overflowing spiritual energy that was ten times that of the average human, which was why evil spirits had been hunting him for as long as he could remember. When he was young, he was told he would naturally become a powerful spirit hunter the moment he was old enough to forge his sword simply because of how much it overflowed. But when that day came, the first sword he had forged that was supposed to have been made with his very own blood, life force, and spiritual core… went haywire and refused to obey his command, and there had been much destruction that followed.

After that, however, his parents did not give up in their high hopes for him. They had tried to help him make a contract with a powerful spirit in order for him to gain power another way. After all, when humans and spirits made a bond with each other, not only would the human’s lifespan grow to match their spirit partner— making them effectively immortal— but the spirit would also be able to transfer their power into the human to grant them other spiritual abilities that just wielding a spirit sword alone could not grant you. And, once again, ever since he was young, Joyce had been loved by all friendly spirits. Every spirit he met said he smelled wonderful and welcoming, since a human’s scent was a big deal for them. There had been many spirits willing to bond with him as a child because of this, and his parents had rejoiced that their son and heir to the Spiritking family line would finally be able to harness the power of his ancestors by making a bond. However, every bond he tried to make with a spirit failed. It was absolutely unprecedented.  

See, let him explain something. A spirit could only make a bond with one human at a time, with these bonds that linked their souls together also being referred to as contracts, pacts, oaths, vows, and pretty much any word you could think of over the years. However, that limitation did not work both ways. While spirits could only make one bond, humans could make endless contracts with spirits so long as all parties consented to the deal. These contracts could also never be broken, unless either the human or spirit were to die. In rare but gruesome cases where a human and spirit pair grew to despise each other, they would try to kill each other, and whoever survived would be set free from the bond.

But, well, even if he did have a limit imposed on him for some reason, Joyce had never made a bond with any spirit at all. And yet, exactly like spirits who had already contracted with a human, whenever they went to undertake the ritual to bind themselves to each other, his spirituality would always reject the other without him meaning to! Once that had become clear, no matter how many spirits offered themselves to give it a try, that was when everyone around him who had once deemed him fit for the title of prodigy had given up and labeled him deficit.

No one knew why he was this way. And no matter how many swords he forged afterward, they all ended up the same. So really, if the thieving little spirit wanted the faulty sword, why should Joyce try to stop it? He was a bit angry that a spirit had the gall to steal from him so blatantly and from right under his nose, but he was willing to let it go because it truly did serve no use to him. Well, until it looked like it may be turning into a slightly bigger problem. Because according to Isabelle’s lucky divination and the power of her three spirit bonds, it seemed this winged feline was using the sword to lead it somewhere that a weaker spirit should never go. And it just so happened that the human maintaining this dangerous area was Joyce Spiritking, making it his direct responsibility to investigate and prevent potential damage from occurring. In the end, there was no way he could still choose ignorance, as something would have to be done.  

“It’s kinda weird to be back…” June babbled nervously, always the one to speak up and talk when the silence got to him. They’d just stepped out of the car to meet the entrance of their old home, the Spiritking family’s ancestral estate. It was rather small when compared to most historical estates of the same era and rank, as its original owner was said to be a very modest man with more secrets than known facts. And considering that beyond the ground level and down to what could not be seen there were masses of tunnels harboring rooms that could not always be explained, perhaps his modesty had always been more of a show to hide what he didn’t want others to see.

“This is where Luce said that spirit was heading based on the whiffs of its power we collected,” Isabelle looked around her old home with her hand on the hilt of her sword, her brown skin looking almost red underneath the direct sunlight shaded by dark leaves. She was a very capable woman who had a sturdy and optimistic mentality and who was always looking for the silver lining in every situation. She was a happy girl who loved aesthetics and dressing up, but who could never be underestimated in a fight because of her levelheaded pragmatism and no-nonsense way of doing things.

Her three spirit bonds were small, pale yellow fairies with fluttering wings resembling a dragonflies’ twice the size of their bodies, and they each dominated a section of luck, which scored them the title of the three lucky sprites. Luce controlled luck pertaining to power, Lucy controlled luck pertaining to love and friendship, and Lucinda controlled luck pertaining to material wealth and fortune. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Lucinda was the biggest reason the Spiritking family had been able to maintain its wealth after his parents' passing, though she was the quietest out of the sprites and was often hiding in Isabelle’s clothing. Having three spirit bonds was already quite rare though, which had placed Isabelle in the A-Rank spirit hunter category with ease three years ago, and having her here was the only reason Joyce had been allowed to come without further assistance.

“I do think it’s weird that it came here, though. I mean, this has been nothing but an infected zone for the past decade, so it’s hard to imagine that any spirit would want to do something good here,” Isabelle spoke her mind as she watched her younger cousin walk forward to the front steps of their old porch, his expression appearing gravely serious. “But Lucy already determined that we have great luck when it comes to befriending it, so I truly believe June was right with his reading and that it’s a friendly spirit who means us no harm.”

And Joyce couldn’t help but internally sigh upon hearing those words, remembering now that this was the kind of person she was. Isabelle Spiritking, his older cousin by a year and a few months who willingly followed him as the head of their family. Her mother was his late father’s younger sister, and her own father who had married into the family was a power-hungry man who was always trying to push her ahead of him, but Isabelle herself had no interest in stealing that role from her cousin, because she truly believed he was the one more fit for it. Really, she was loyal and kind and powerful, so sometimes it could be easy to forget she had flaws. But one flaw that Joyce could never forget was how badly she overrelied on her luck and stopped examining things after one good reading.

Because of that fact, Joyce didn’t respond to her immediately and merely stepped forward to press his palm against the seal that guarded their estate. Regardless of whether or not he could harness spirituality through a sword, the seal protecting his family’s ancestral home would always respond to the head of the family that had been chosen during the ancient crowning ceremony by the remnants of a dead god’s will, and so he was able to tell it had not yet been breached. And after learning this, he gave a nod to their driver to give them permission to leave before he finally turned back to Isabelle and spoke. “Everything’s fine. One of the few things I can do is maintain all the seals created by those of my bloodline, and it hasn’t even been half a year since I renewed this seal’s strength. It remains untouched,” he explained, Isabelle’s brows furrowing as she stopped to think, all while June was making loud exclamations.

“Yes, that’s perfect then! We have somewhere safe to stay!” their childhood friend cheered ecstatically, though it didn’t take long before his excited words began to turn unintentionally insensitive. “But won’t this place just become an even huger target with Joyce staying here again? Even if the seal is going strong, we probably still shouldn’t stay here for any longer than we have to, I don’t wanna get eaten by demons,” June rambled, Joyce’s brow twitching as he decided to ignore the man and instead began to walk his way around the barrier to observe the levels of dark spirituality.

“I don’t know. We have to consider all our options,” their leader admitted with a grim tone, though in all honesty, he always sounded like that. Contrary to his name, relaxing or allowing himself to feel a little joy had never been his strong suit, and Isabelle and June had no choice but to follow him deeper into the fray while June looked longingly at the safety inside the barrier, Joyce refusing to mince his cautionary words. “I hate to say this, but that winged feline we’re tracking did cross through that other barrier I put up without actually breaking it, which meant it must have met one of the barrier’s conditions for passing. After all, having the ability to break a barrier is one thing and would be easier to explain, but that’s not what happened to us. So we have to consider that maybe this spirit knows a way to sneak its way inside my family’s barrier techniques. They are pretty ancient, so I wouldn’t be surprised if an intelligent spirit out there has found a loophole by now.”

“...well, I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Isabelle frowned as she followed him, doing her best to look around herself for familiar traces of spirituality while Luce flew close to the ground, smelling everything along their path. “But honestly, I’m still not completely sold on that. These barriers were invented by our ancestor, founder, and society’s greatest legend, Joy Spiritking, and can only be created by members of the family, which only includes you, me, and my mother. I find it hard to believe that one of Joy Spiritking’s best works has been infiltrated like that, no matter how long of a time it’s been…”

“Hey, Izzy, I understand wanting to have faith in your famous ancestor, but Joyce is right, that guy died thousands of years ago. We can’t count on his work for everything anymore,” June spoke up, as uncomforting as ever while Isabelle refused to look him in the eye.

“Don’t refer to my grandfather as ‘that guy.’ And he died three thousand and twenty years ago to be exact,” she chose to correct him instead, June giving her the most dumbfounded stare.

“Izzy, that just goes to prove my point… that’s a really long time…”

“You two should stop talking. Even if the barrier’s fine, I still sense that something is wrong,” Joyce interrupted the two’s bickering very sternly, as disciplined and diligent as ever. Isabelle really thought he should relax more. After all, all three of her spirits had told her this journey was bound to bring them major good luck that would change all of their lives immensely for the better, and she’d already reported as much to him. These good luck readings were off the charts, so something amazing and brilliant was bound to happen!

But in her cousin’s firm opinion, those readings didn’t matter. To him, the only reason they’d come here was to check on the Spiritking family’s seal, since if that winged feline took one of his faulty spirit swords too close to the barrier, it could potentially cause lots of trouble, regardless of whether or not the spirit meant any harm. After all, the sword was uncontrollable, not that Joyce had ever been able to make a sword that was… but the point behind that was if the winged feline made the wrong move, it could interact poorly with the barrier that was also powered by Joyce’s spirituality, and they were more so here to check on that and to prevent the barrier from malfunctioning if that happened. Of course, teaching that curious little kitten about safety protocols and why it was wrong to steal was also a priority, and they would make sure to protect the poor thing if it got in too deep over its head…

Ahh, Isabelle had never come across such a young baby spirit before, that in and of itself already made her feel extremely lucky. The fact that it was also a winged feline just made it better! No wonder Luce, Lucy, and Lucinda had reported to her that this journey would be filled to the brim with good luck! That’s why she firmly believed Joyce should stop being so paranoid and have faith in her spirits! But her younger cousin was just walking deeper into the forest and into a darker zone more damp with evil energy, and so Isabelle’s hopes for this being an easy mission were forced to sink. “Joyce, it’s no wonder you’re sensing something wrong, there’s bound to be an evil spirit nest that way… you can’t fight, so if you really want to investigate the area, at least get behind me so I can protect you.”

“Oh, can I get behind you too then, Izzy?” June immediately asked with a grin, only for the woman to give him the most disgusted stare without a single word, causing him to back down instantly. “Oh! Oh, uhh… never mind, haha! I’ll fight, don’t worry Izzy! You can count on me guys, trust me… hahah…”

“Hmph,” she turned away from him, June’s spirits immediately deflating. And she made sure to leave him to check on her cousin instead, who was staring off into the dark forest beyond, his thoughts looking all too clouded. “What’s wrong, Joyce?” she decided to ask once she stood beside him, the man’s gaze looking awfully strange in this lighting. His eyes were a deep golden color, bright and strong in hue as if the color of his irises had truly been made from the string strung of gold. But there was a weird, almost dim sort of spark to them… usually, only somebody channeling the power of their spirit companion through a bond would ever gain the ability for their eyes to glow, but saying that his eyes were glowing right now wasn’t the right word for it either… and it made her concerned. “Ah, Joyce, maybe you should—”

But she never got to finish that sentence. Really, it was… it was just always so cruel.