Chapter 65 65 – Memento Mori

Slayer Organization main office.

On the top floor, the director of the office was biting her nails while looking at the report her subordinate had sent.

Katarina Spencer was by no meant a woman who made a hasty decision. For the last 10 years, she has held the position of director of the New York office, replacing her predecessor, who died in a mission; she had only made some small mistakes.

While she looked rather young, in her mid-twenties, she was actually already in her forties. Her massive reserve of Spirit Power and her specialty in controlling it made her age slower than normal people.

And now, that middle-aged lady had a scary look on her face, frowning deeply.

"What's gone wrong?" She muttered ominously as she took her tablet, scrolling the report to make sure she read it correctly. "One of the corner barriers in the US that keep the ghost and demons sealed was destroyed?"

One of the cornerstones that kept ghosts and nasty creatures called demons staying still in the Astral plane was destroyed. That itself wasn't that big of a problem. At best, only some low-grade ghosts and demons would be able to escape.

But the problem was, who destroyed the cornerstone barrier?

"Was it the work of the same person who created the artificial Tear in Oni Village and awakened Boogeymen faster than the expected time?"

There was a report from the Slayer Organization in Japan that they had found something about the Tear. The information was spread alongside Kai's existence.

However, that tiny piece of information was forgotten due to how much impact the person with the title of Ruler brought to the world. Forgotten by all but Katarina.

"A book with the black skull logo on the cover was found beside the destroyed cornerstone. It's similar to that found near the Oni Village."

On her tablet, Katarina brought two pictures to compare with each other. Showing on the screen were two white books with golden rims.

The book looked luxurious, but the symbol of death on the cover, made from a real skull, made them look ominous. Bringing some bad luck.

What made the two books different was the fact that the second skull had a small bone jutting out from its left eye socket, something the director noted.

Katarina's eyes darted to the words written below the skull. They were written in red ink, resembling blood. The sentences were different.

Words contained power, even more so when they were spoken with Spirit Power or written in something that held Spirit Power. However, they would turn ordinary if they were only spoken lightly.

"You will be late for your own funeral."

She recited the sentence from the first book, which was found near the Oni Village.

That sentence might be referring to the Boogeymen and the hope to bring death to the Oni Village. Unfortunately for whoever it was, the Ruler was there, and so were Shuten Douji and the other two mythical beings.

The mysterious culprit's plan failed, soiled with only small destruction. Maybe that was what pushed them to do the next.

Then she continued to recite the sentences written in the second book. This sentence was more direct and contained a hint of the culprit. He… No, they were planning something.

"Remember that you [have to] die."

Just a short sentence, but it made Katarina narrow her eyes.

"This is…" She quickly rose from her seat and went to the bookshelf in the corner of the office room. She traced her hand over the bookshelf before stopping to take a thick book with a blue cover.

The book she took was a dictionary. A Latin Dictionary, to be exact.

Her memory wasn't perfect, but she swore she had heard that sentence before. She quickly flipped the pages. With her exceptional eyesight, reading the book was really easy. Still, she had a clue already, so she could find the page she wanted to find.

"There…" She stopped after flipping it a few times. Her frown deepened as she growled. "How dare they plant such an obvious clue. Are they that confident?"

She returned to her desk and slammed shut the dictionary. Then she sat at the desk while taking her phone, calling someone.

"I am sorry to bother you, but can you go to a certain place, Elder?"

"…"

"Yes. I am truly sorry… The name?"

Katarina glanced at the dictionary for a second before answering.

"Memento Mori. That's the target, Elder."

***

On the edge of the cliff under the dark of the night, when the wind blew toward the southern sea, a man clad in a luxurious tuxedo that danced in the sky spread his arms with an ecstasy smile.

"Oh… Ooooohh!!!" He moaned loudly as his lips quivered. He turned around slowly, showing half of his masked face. It was pure white with a hole around the eye socket.

With blazing red eyes flashing through the dark, he looked at a figure holding a hoe that walked toward him.

"Ooooooh!! You've come!! Chaos bringer! The punisher! The terror!" He kept shouting words with his voice coated in happiness that spread through his whole body. "I've been waiting for you!"

The figure stopped a bit away from the man, looking cautious. They tilted their head to the side, moving the hat they wore, curiously.

"You don't need to worry!" The man turned his upper body around 180 degrees without moving his feet. He looked twisted, but there was no sign of pain on his face. Instead, his lips curled up into a mad green.

"I am the one who called you! The Tear! The destruction! If only… if only the Ruler! Oooh, Ruler! How noble and precious! The perfect sacrifice for our goal! Our glory!"

Once again, the man's body twisted and returned to normal. The figure was now confused. They hadn't seen something like the man for… as long as they had existed.

"Worry not, my chaos bringer!" The man turned around. This time, normally. "You want to bring destruction. Punishing those naughty children, aren't you?"

The figure holding a hoe nodded slightly as it raised its head. A rag covered its head was clear now, with two O-shaped eyes and a smiley face made from buttons.

​ "Good! Goooodddd!!! That's it. That's how we did it! We will prepare the stage. A grand stage that's worthy of you! Oooh chaos bringer! Shall we work together?" The man tilted his head to the side, cracking it 90 degrees.

People would think that he had no bones. No human was capable of doing such a thing.

"Leave everything to us! Death will always come to you. Remember that you [have to] die. However, we sought immortality. As such, we name ourselves." The strange man spun around while hugging his body, stopping only after the third rotation.

He spread his arms beautifully like a circus performer and exclaimed. "Memento Mori."

The strange figure had taken an interest in the man. Its smiley face parted, exposing a row of sharp teeth made from various gems it dug from the ground. Then with its iconic sound, it smirked.

"Kishi." Then it laughed loudly. "Kishishishishi."

The man joined the laugh. They approached each other while laughing loudly. However, when they got close to each other, the figure covered in a rag suddenly opened its mouth.

"No."

It happened instantly. Their hand moved and lopped the strange man's head from its body. Then it kicked the still-standing body toward the sea alongside the severed head.

Looking at them dropping to the raging sea from above, the figure's rag face turned to normal X-shaped eyes and an O-shaped mouth.

"Kishi! Boogeymen work for no one. We are one."