The quest said exorcism.

Aldric had put it on the board.

"Technically an exorcism?" Kai said, reading the paper.

"Technically." Aldric drank. "A house on the outskirts has had paranormal activity for three weeks. The residents left the second week."

"What kind of activity?"

"Objects moving. Sounds. A chair that, according to the report, walked out the front door at midnight."

Kai looked at the paper.

Looked at Serah.

Looked at Lira.

"Have either of you ever done an exorcism?"

"No," Serah said.

"Ghosts," Lira said, with the tone of someone establishing a position, "are technically residual post-mortem consciousness energy. They’re not my area."

"But do you know anything about them?"

"I know they exist." She looked at the paper. "And that standard vampiric methods don’t work on bodiless energy."

Kai put the paper away.

"Fine. Let’s go see what it is."

---

The house was on the western edge of Valdris where the town streets ended and the dirt road began.

It wasn’t big — two stories, northern sector stone, the kind of construction that’s been standing for decades and will stand for decades more.

The windows were closed from the inside.

The front door had marks from something that had exited through it with enough force to leave the wood slightly warped.

Probably the chair.

The three stopped in front of the door.

"Stream active," Kai said.

[Stream active]

---

[DraconicLegacy: EXORCISM?]

[Warwolf: KAI IS GOING TO PUNCH A GHOST]

[Per_Sudin: this isn’t going to end well. ghosts can’t be punched.]

[Udo_Ehmen: (°ロ°) (°ロ°) (°ロ°)]

[Jack_Moore: Lira said it’s not her area. first time Lira admits something isn’t her area.]

[John_Bentley: viewers: 2,100,000. climbing.]

[Drakeking12: the chair that walked out the door. that image.]

[Kalgarth: Kai looks like he’s going to try to punch the ghost anyway. I can see it.]

---

They entered.

The house was in the state of something abandoned in a hurry — plates on the table, clothes on the chairs, the kind of mess people leave when they decide leaving is more urgent than tidying up.

And on the ceiling of the main room, floating with the posture of someone who’s been there a while and has found that the ceiling is the best available position, was Bram.

He had been burly in life — you could tell even in the translucent, slightly glowing version occupying the ceiling now.

Broad shoulders.

Big hands.

The kind of build hunters have who trust more in direct strength than technique.

He still wore his mission gear — or the ghostly version of it, which included a backpack that technically could no longer hold anything and a sword on his back that technically could no longer cut anything.

He looked at them from the ceiling.

"Another exorcism team."

"Hi," Kai said.

Bram assessed them — Kai, Serah, Lira.

"How many are they going to send before accepting I’m not leaving?"

"I don’t know yet," Kai said. "How many have come?"

"Three teams. Two individual mages. A shaman from the southern sector who took four hours and left crying."

"Why crying?"

"It wasn’t violence." Bram looked at the ceiling. "I just have a lot of free time and the shaman turned out to be emotionally sensitive."

---

[DraconicLegacy: "the shaman left crying" / "it wasn’t violence" / "I just have a lot of free time" HAHAHA]

[Warwolf: Bram is the calmest ghost I’ve seen in any fiction]

[Per_Sudin: "three teams, two mages, a shaman." Bram is keeping count.]

[Udo_Ehmen: 😂😂😂 the emotionally sensitive shaman 😂😂😂]

[Jack_Moore: Kai greeted the ghost. "hi." as always.]

[John_Bentley: viewers: 2,800,000.]

[Drakeking12: Bram has a ghostly sword and backpack that are useless now. still carries them.]

[Kalgarth: Kai has a face like he’s calculating something. the same face as when he entered the labyrinth.]

---

Kai threw a punch.

Not with Qi — a direct punch, to verify what he already knew was going to happen.

The punch passed through Bram with the resistance of passing through air.

Bram looked at him.

"That’s not going to work."

"I know now."

Serah launched primordial ice — concentrated, the kind she had used in the labyrinth against the fortress-material creatures.

The ice passed through Bram.

The wall behind Bram was coated in frost.

Bram remained on the ceiling.

"Not that either," he said.

Lira launched a blood current at forty percent.

The current passed through Bram.

It hit the back wall.

Bram yawned.

He didn’t technically have a mouth — or he had the translucent version of one — but the gesture was unmistakable.

---

[DraconicLegacy: THE GHOST YAWNED]

[Warwolf: Lira at 40% and Bram yawned. YAWNED.]

[Per_Sudin: Serah froze the wall. Kai’s fist passed through. Lira’s current. none worked.]

[Udo_Ehmen: (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó) (╬ Ò﹏Ó)]

[Jack_Moore: Bram’s been putting up with exorcism teams for two months. a yawn is the least he deserves.]

[Drakeking12: Kai looking at his fist after it passed through. that face.]

[Kalgarth: question: can Kai punch the ghost if he concentrates resonance Qi? the ghost is energy. Qi is too.]

---

The next twenty minutes were variations on the same principle.

Kai tried Penetrating Strike — in case concentrated Qi had a different effect than a direct punch. It passed through Bram with the same resistance as always.

Serah tried structural ice — in case extreme temperature affected residual consciousness energy. The ice formed around the space where Bram was and then fell because there was nothing solid to hold it up.

Lira tried blood mist — in case area coverage was different from a direct current. The mist passed through Bram and covered the ceiling behind him.

Bram watched them from above with the patience of something in no hurry because it has nothing else to do.

Minute sixteen was when Serah and Lira stopped attacking Bram.

"Your ice interferes with my currents," Lira said.

"My currents don’t affect you or Kai," Serah said.

"Cold reduces blood magic conductivity in the area."

"Then work before I use the ice."

"I can’t predict when you’re going to use the ice if you don’t coordinate."

"I don’t need to coordinate anything with you."

The temperature dropped two degrees.

Bram came down from the ceiling.

Not to intervene — to get a better view. He positioned himself in the corner of the room with his arms crossed.

---

[DraconicLegacy: BRAM CAME DOWN TO GET A BETTER VIEW HAHAHAHA]

[Warwolf: the ghost that won’t be exorcised now has free entertainment]

[Per_Sudin: "I don’t need to coordinate anything with you" — Serah and Lira fighting more with the ghost as a witness than with the ghost as a target]

[Udo_Ehmen: 😂😂😂 BRAM IN THE CORNER 😂😂😂]

[Jack_Moore: Bram crossed his arms. he has the posture of a viewer. HE’S A VIEWER.]

[John_Bentley: viewers: 3,400,000. the ghost as an involuntary viewer of Kai’s stream.]

[Drakeking12: Serah and Lira fighting each other. the ghost they should be exorcising watching with more interest than before.]

[Kalgarth: Kai still hasn’t said anything. he’s calculating.]

---

Kai sat on the floor.

Not at the edge — in the center of the room, legs crossed and back straight.

Serah and Lira kept arguing.

Bram watched them from the corner.

Kai looked at him.

"What do you need to leave?"

Bram looked at him.

"It’s none of your business."

"I’m sitting on the floor of your house unable to do anything." Kai looked at the floor around him. "Clearly it’s my business."

Bram considered this.

It was the most direct answer he’d received in two months of exorcism teams arriving with rituals and methods and none of them sitting on the floor to ask him the concrete question.

"I’ll think about it," he said.

"Good."

Kai looked at Serah and Lira.

"Are you done?"

Both looked at him.

Then at the corner where Bram still stood with his arms crossed.

Then at each other.

Serah looked away.

Lira adjusted the glasses she wasn’t wearing because it was night and there was no sun.

---

[DraconicLegacy: "I’m sitting on the floor of your house unable to do anything. clearly it’s my business" — KAI]

[Warwolf: Kai ignored twenty minutes of failed attempts and went straight to the right question]

[Per_Sudin: Bram said "I’ll think about it." first opening since the quest started.]

[Udo_Ehmen: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ KAI ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Jack_Moore: "are you done?" directed at Serah and Lira. both looking at Bram’s corner so they don’t have to answer.]

[Drakeking12: Lira adjusted glasses she wasn’t wearing. that’s processing embarrassment with available objects.]

[Kalgarth: Bram has his arms crossed just like Lira always does. the ghost and the vampire have the same defensive posture.]

---

They slept in the house.

Or tried to.

Kai chose the main bedroom — the biggest one, the one the residents had left with the bed still made.

Serah chose the back bedroom.

Lira said she didn’t need to sleep that much and stayed in the chair in the main room that was the most comfortable available.

Bram disappeared at midnight.

Or so it seemed.

---

The kitchen table moved at one.

It didn’t fall — it moved, three meters to the right, with the specific sound of heavy wood dragging on stone.

Then the chair in the main room where Lira was sitting tilted forward — not tipping over, just tilting, enough that Lira had to grab the arm.

Then Serah’s bedroom door closed and opened four times in a row.

Then, at two in the morning, Kai’s bed began to move.

Not fast — slowly, with the regularity of something shifting with purpose, crossing the room from the north wall toward the south wall while Kai was still in it.

Kai opened his eyes.

Watched the ceiling moving.

Closed his eyes.

The bed reached the south wall and stopped.

Kai kept sleeping.

---

Bram appeared on the bedroom ceiling.

Watched Kai sleeping against the south wall.

Watched the bed he had moved.

Then the ceiling.

’This one,’ Bram thought, ’is different from the others.’

---

[DraconicLegacy: THE BED MOVED ON ITS OWN WITH KAI IN IT]

[Warwolf: KAI KEPT SLEEPING. THE BED REACHED THE WALL AND KAI KEPT SLEEPING.]

[Per_Sudin: Bram moved the table, Lira’s chair, Serah’s door, and Kai’s bed. Kai was the only one who didn’t react.]

[Udo_Ehmen: 😂😂😂😂😂 KAI 😂😂😂😂😂]

[Jack_Moore: "this one is different from the others" — Bram is already interested in Kai. the exorcism is going to end differently than expected.]

[John_Bentley: viewers: 4,100,000.]

[Drakeking12: the bed reached the wall and Kai kept sleeping. twelve years of underground rings prepared that man for anything.]

[Kalgarth: Bram thinking "this one is different." Kai earned the ghost’s respect by sleeping. only Kai.]

[System — notification]

[Quest: exorcism — in progress]

[Current method: none effective]