“Ah… that was fun,” Zelestria said, pulling the blankets over the two of them and hugging Finn tightly.

Finn, whose arm Zelestria was laying on top of, was kind of forced to hug her back awkwardly, but his mind was focused on something completely else.

“Zelestria… are you going to take us into the reality rift, or what?”

“Yes, yes… so impatient, fufu~”

She giggled and eased Finn down into a laying down position, then rested her head on top of his chest.

“Relax your mind and go to sleep, darling. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Her voice was a soft, gentle whisper, like the beckoning of the goddess of sleep. Finn gave in and relaxed his mind just as told, arm still circled around Zelestria.

With a mischievous smile on her face, Zelestria shifted her body upwards a little and planted a light peck on Finn’s cheeks before activating the reality rift, causing both of their consciousnesses to enter.

Finn’s eyes opened slowly, seeing the familiar vaporwave-style scene of the reality rift. Zelestria stood in front of him with a sweet smile on her face, clothes on once again and completely undamaged.

“So… how do I activated the tentacles?” Finn asked, glancing down at his completely healed body.

“In the same way you would activate your armor’s wings,” Zelestria explained, folding her arms behind her back and winking cutely. “Except… instead of channeling mana, try channeling your blood flow instead.”

“My blood…?”

“Yes. This is also good practice for when you steal the Bloodcaller Angelica, fufu~” Zelestria giggled. “That Angelica requires you to control both your mana and blood simultaneously, which is difficult — hence why not many people in the world can use it, and hence why that Heartbeat person is in such a position of power despite being only slightly older than you.”

“I see…” Finn closed his eyes and began breathing slowly, keeping a steady rhythm. He could feel his mana flow within his body with ease, but to find his blood flow and control it, he would have to dig deeper, hidden beneath the mana.

‘There…!’ His eyes snapped back he redirected the black portion of his blood, converging on one single point in the center of his back.

Suddenly, six long and thick tentacles shot out of his back, each one glowing white and ending in a sharp, curved tip. They looked like the tails of a fox in a sense, except thicker and three on each side.

“…” Even Finn himself was surprised at this, and hurriedly attempted to control his new appendages. However, in doing so-

“E-Eh?!” Zelestria yelped in shock, eyes widened, as the six tentacles wrapped themselves around her, lifting her up into the air. “Hah… d-darling… so you’re into this kind of play, huh~? So be it…”

“Wha…” Finn was confused. He most certainly had not instructed his tentacles to do this, yet here they were, holding Zelestria up in the air like something out of an h-anime. Two of them wrapped around her breast area and teased them while another tickled her crotch, causing her to squirm in pleasure.

“Ahn~ darling~”

“Tch…!” Finn forcefully retracted the tentacles by unconcentrating the blood flow, causing the tendrils to all shoot back into his body in the blink of an eye. Zelestria fell from the sky, regaining her balance just before crashing into the ground.

“Oh~ why did you stop~?” She giggled seductively, walking closer and wrapping her arms around Finn’s neck. “It was just getting to the good part too~”

“I didn’t instruct them to do that,” Finn replied coldly, pushing her away. “For whatever reason, I can’t control them…”

“Perhaps it’s because you didn’t absorb enough of the priesty’s blood,” Zelestria said, shrugging nonchalantly. “But don’t worry — with some practice, you’ll be able to do it.”

With a sigh, Finn spent the rest of that night within the reality rift, attempting to harness the new power he just received.

Though… he only had several minutes to do so.

– The Next Day –

Lei called in a meeting for the members of Squadron 154 and the remaining four members of the Big Five to discuss future steps. Since they went to sleep late the previous night, the meeting was held at noon, providing everyone with enough sleep.

Naturally, the discussion was held in the main hall. Finn pushed Iris on her wheelchair, while Octane, Reaper, and Fanatic walked alongside them. Beside them, the four members of the Big Five stood. Fortunately, Tian Long seemed to be a good state. He appeared to have accepted his friend’s death and wore a thin smile of hope on his face, as if returned to normal. Jim was here as well, along with Elder Hua.

“Good morning, Hunters. Though… I suppose it is already afternoon now,” Lei said, lacing his hands together. “It pains me to say this after you all just had an exhausting night fighting the Baron, but your battle is not over just yet.”

“… The Emperor, huh?” Iris muttered in her wheelchair, furrowing her brows in thought.

“Indeed,” Lei confirmed with a nod. “We have a time limit of exactly 4 and a half days, starting now. Once the sun sets on the 4th day, this entire District could very well be doomed. The only reason he hasn’t struck already… is possibly because he is gathering power.”

“Gathering power?” Qi Ling echoed, confused.

“Yes. While using his Barons as cover to hide from the GHO, he has been secretly sapping power from the citizens of this District. Take a look.”

Saying this, Lei lifted up a newspaper and tossed it over to the young Ghost Hunters. Iris caught it in her hands and spread it out, reading what was written on it.

“Multiple individuals missing… f-fifty-one in total?!”

“And that is not counting all the missing people who didn’t have loved ones or friends, which the GHO covered up,” Lei said, letting out a deep breath. “It is believed that these incidents first started on the day after the Perfect Outbreak that occurred a while back. And it’s not only just here in District A too — I’ve received news that other Districts have also had plenty of people gone missing, never to be seen again.”

“…” The young Ghost Hunters fell silent, trying to digest what all of this meant.

“Ghosts, those bloody bastards, feed on life force ta survive n’ recover strength,” Jim interrupted, pushing open the doors and strolling into the main hall before shutting them behind him again. “Which means the fact that these incidents have been happenin’… reveals somethin’ deeper. More.”

Lei frowned. “Stop, they aren’t ready to-“

“Aren’t ready?” Jim cut in coldly, eyes dark. “Ha! Oi, Lei, yer bloody kiddin’ me, right? These kids watched one of their own get brutally murdered before their very eyes. If ya ask me… I’d say they’re more than ready ’nuff.”