Chapter 073

Inside the Red Castle, Alvin appeared in the hall with the throne. The wall was still intact, though Alvin knew that it would disappear shortly after.

Be decided that the confrontation would take place close to the passageways, because he had placed all of the Beyonder ingredients, mystical items and some other assets of his were all placed at the other end, close to the throne. He did not want the fight affecting all of the items in any way.

After he decided on the spot for the confrontation, he started setting a few traps. He was betting that the Spectre was much more impatient than he was, and would rush into the hall as soon as it could.

He made sure to leave the Sword of Dominance outside, as he was unsure if it had some secondary functions inside the Red Castle he was unaware about, and the Spectre could take advantage of.

He left the Dream World Hat and the Forgotten Cloak behind, as he was worried about the occurrence of negative effects that would affect him. He wore 3-031 and held with him the Sword of Culling. Other than that, he carried his regular weapons like the revolvers and shotgun, even though he knew that they probably wouldn't be of much help. He then sat on the throne, and made some other preparations.

After all this Alvin stayed right outside the barrier and waited.

At exactly 12, the barrier faded. Alvin tensed up, but then relaxed, and waited.

After a few moments, he could hear the slither of the Spectre moving, which he remembered from last time. He stood a little distance away from the passageway, and waited.

As soon as he saw the Spectre, he unhesitatingly sent streams of flames all around him, triggering the barrels of gunpowder and oil, making a powerful explosion and creating a huge fire stream.

The Spectre, which was affected by the explosion, and the still-burning flames, rushed into Alvin's body.

Alvin's first step of plans could be considered successful due to the actions of the Spectre. Alvin knew that he couldn't stand up the Spectre in direct combat, as it was probably a Reaper. Be it its flame control or fighting power, Alvin expected himself to be outclassed. Though it could be weak due to the long term isolation, and the spirit attack by Soest, it would be foolish to gamble on that chance.

Since there was no way he could defeat it outside his body, he took advantage of his immunity to fire to force it inside his body. He had not only another spirit attack by Soest unused, but he had a few other measures prepared to deal with the Spectre. He had bought a book that detailed how to resist Wraith possession, from which he took some inspiration for his plans.

As soon as the Spectre entered his body, just like last time, the spirit attack by Soest triggered first, and wreaked havoc on it.

But in the six weeks since then, the Spectre which had time to think, probably realised that the spirit attack was probably a one-time defence granted by a powerful Beyonder, because while it screamed in agony, it did not leave Alvin's body like last time.

As one of the last physical actions before he and the Spectre would start colliding in his spirit body, Alvin threw himself at a corner, where by design, the flames were continuous yet not that intense, and ripped off the headband.

His Pyromaniac constitution gave him some degree of resistance against flames, but the pain from the few burns he suffered would help him keep sober for some time, enough for him to collect himself and execute his plans.

He could vaguely feel a red figure that had entered him try to devour him little by little. The pain from the burns kept him barely sober, as the Spectre was quickly overpowering him. After a few seconds, when the Spectre gained a decided advantage, it started to swallow Alvin's spirit body.

Alvin then snapped the fingers of his right hand. This triggered a psychological hint he had created in his mind earlier, while sitting on the throne with the Dreamwalker characteristic. Thus, he suddenly recalled the horrific thing he had seen in the Blue Cliff Cave.

While there were a lot of horrific things he recalled from the story, they were all textual descriptions. Coupled with the isolation effects of the Red Castle, they were harmless in here.

But what he saw in the cave wasn't contamination, or pollution. It was the naked viewing of the Mythical Form of some creature that was at least a demigod.

As evidenced by the fact that Ennoru went inside the cave multiple times and came out unscathed, there wasn't any pollution there. Rather, it was the sheer viewing of the Mythical Form of the creature that was too much for a non-demigod to bear. Thus, when Ennoru went in with his eyes closed, and thus unable to see the creature, he was fine.

Now, with the forgotten image of the Mythical Form of the creature suddenly appearing in his mind, the same was reflected in his spirit body. He started writing in pain, as the information from the Mythical Form started to overload him, but so did the Spectre, who also saw the image that was reflected in Alvin's mind.

Alvin then snapped the fingers of the other hand to reseal that image, and quickly consumed a very expensive potion he had brought.

The Spectre, recovering from what it had just seen, or maybe just bearing it for the moment, rushed into Alvin's spiritual body again, but this time due to the potion he had just consumed, his spirit body was dotted with some impurities on its surface. This potion apparently was an emergency solution against Wraiths, which could contaminate possessing Wraiths. But it could easily be resolved if the possessor spotted it on the spirit body before it started the possession.

Even so, Alvin paid 1000 pounds for it. The Spectre, having just safely collided with Alvin's spirit body, did not check as it did the same. It then backtracked, screaming, as the impurities attached themselves to it's spirit body and were slowly eroding it.

Realising that it was in a bad situation, and that it had no way out, it disregarded everything else and forcefully collided with Alvin's spirit body again. As before Alvin unsealed the image he saw once again.

Now, they both were battling out their wills, to see if they could outlast the other.

Alvin slowly linked up to the Dreamwalker's Throne in this state, and collapsed into it.