Chapter 13: Judgment Night

"Get outta my way, old man," the dog snarled—its voice not quite dog, not quite human.

The sound chilled me to the bone. It was a guttural snarl, warped by something far older and crueler than any animal.

"Don’t recognize the command flag? Then all your tricks are for nothing."

I looked down at it coldly.

My words were sharp, cutting through the last shreds of hope it might have had.

I raised the flag, voice steady: "By the old laws, by the power given to me—spirits that harm the living, you’re done here. Time to go."

Of the three floating flags—green, yellow, and red—the green one responded to my command and shot forward.

Under the green flag, eighteen ‘chi’ characters appeared, encircling the dog.

Eighteen levels of hell, the wails of ten thousand spirits formed the ‘chi’ characters. How could a mere evil ghost withstand it?

As expected, once the ‘chi’ sound and characters appeared, the dog bled from all seven orifices, pinned to the ground by the eighteen characters, struggling desperately, howling in agony.

Just as I was about to point my sword at the yellow flag and take its life, something unexpected happened.

The dog bit off its own tongue, and I saw its pupils turn gray. The ghost burst from the dog’s mismatched eyes, using the moment when the command flag bound the dog’s soul to blow up one of its own souls, breaking free from the flag’s restraint and fleeing madly toward the balcony.

Using the dog’s soul to explode its own soul and escape?

I frowned, not giving chase, and began to calculate with my fingers.

The command flag had completely crushed the dog’s soul. It left half its tongue on the ground, already lifeless.

Suddenly, I noticed a strange bulge on its belly.

I reached out and touched it.

It felt like a piece of bone.

The night was quiet again, but I could feel the echo of the battle in my bones—the kind of fatigue that settles in after you’ve glimpsed the darkness and walked away still standing. Outside, a siren wailed, distant and comforting, just another part of city life pressing on, oblivious to the secrets hidden in its shadows.

The dog watched me from the balcony, one eye catching the moonlight. I had a feeling this night was far from over.

The room was still, but my heart wasn’t. I stared at the lifeless dog, knowing whatever haunted Natalie wasn’t finished yet. Not by a long shot.