"Thanks for hearing me out. Name's Ban, an Undead—bones in a winter wind."

After he finished, the Skeleton named Ban lifted his skull. His face hid behind a mask; expression unreadable like a moon behind clouds. Even without the mask, bare bone shows no life, no expression, just frost-white silence.

He toyed with the flute in his hand like a rare jade. He didn't look at Ling, yet his voice drifted her way like smoke.

"Me? I'm the one posted here, the boss by default, a gate-stone in the river. You're intruders, so of course I come out to fight."

At that, Ban sighed, a hollow wind through ribs. No one knew how a skeleton sighed; it wasn't a cartoon puff scribbled by the mouth.

"Odd, isn't it? We Undead haven't done anything wrong. Why swing blades the moment you enter? And how'd you find us? We hid this place like a stone under moss."

Alicia blinked, lost, like a bird in fog.

"Wait—uh—didn't you put your lair entrance on the air corridor—"

"Sis! Don't buy their chatter. Trust an enemy and you'll bleed for it!"

Alicia's words snapped off as Ling darted in like a spring cat. Chided, Alicia shelved her questions, though curiosity still coiled like a vine in her chest.

Hearing that, Ban struck an "innocent" pose, a mime's shrug under a clown mask, silently protesting like a leaf caught in blameful rain.

"Enough, Sis. He's here to fight. Why sift sand for pearls?"

The brawler in her woke. She drew her long-abandoned Scythe from the pocket dimension behind her back, a crescent a size larger than Ling herself, somehow hidden like a moon behind sleeves.

Words were pebbles in a river; no explanation would stick. In this battle-state, Ling wouldn't hear a thing.

"Miss Ling, please wait!"

They had both stepped into the ring in spirit, when Edmund's shout split the standoff like a bell at dawn.

He lifted his head. Edmund's gaze on Ling was stern, iron under frost.

"Miss Ling, I have a small request," he said, his voice steady as a drawn line.

Meeting that grave look, Ling glanced at her Scythe. Then at the pile of Skeletons that promised little impact, like straw men. In the end, she nodded.

"Fine. Since you insist, Alicia and I won't step in. Remember—don't make us lose face; keep our banner clean!"

After Edmund kept calling her "my lady" and "master," Ling unconsciously stepped into the role like slipping on a robe; her words followed suit.

She tilted her head at Ban and pulled a face at that creepy clown mask, a child teasing a scarecrow. Then she jogged to Alicia and tugged her farther from the field.

"Will he be okay? Letting him face a crowd of Skeletons alone... like one torch in a graveyard."

From the room's shadowed corner, she saw the numbers like a tide against one rock. Even if the Skeletons were weak, Alicia feared Edmund would be drowned by sheer count.

Ling disagreed. Arms folded, she watched the field like a hawk. Her baby face held no worry, clear as an autumn sky.

"Leave it to him. If he says so, he has a plan. And if he can't win, we can cut in. Remember, we're Yokai; knights' fair duels aren't our creed."

—Besides, I'm dying to see what that handsome sword can do, like a cat eyeing a shiny fish.

That last bit was her true aim. No need to voice it; a fox keeps a few tails hidden.

——————————————

Edmund stood unguarded before the ring of Skeletons, his gaze locked on the sword in his hand like a pilgrim on a shrine lamp.

His brow furrowed with worry, then smoothed, resolve settling like a stone in a still pond.

"Hey—planning to fight me alone? You'll die for real. This isn't your training ground. No one pulls punches here; no silk gloves, only iron."

Ban had clearly read Ling and Alicia as humans out on a lark, strayed into a crypt. Edmund he pegged as their bodyguard... or maybe their mount, a warhorse in borrowed armor.

Edmund didn't answer. He tightened his grip. His dark eyes met the blade, staring as if into deep water.

—If you can truly make me strong...

Black mist gushed from the blade. A liquid-dark substance crept over Edmund's skin like oil over stone.

—If you truly haven't lied to me...

It started at his waist. One stream climbed for his head; another spilled down toward his feet, like night flooding a valley.

—If you truly can let me defeat everything...

The black coated his whole body, sealing him in a living shadow, leaving only eyes exposed—glowing red like embers in ash.

—Then let's test it.

—Let's test the resolve that drove you to threaten me just to seal a pact.

—Let's test that so-called absolute power, the kind even gods would fear.

—If you satisfy me, if I acknowledge you, then I'll give you—after I help my Master and win a peaceful life—I'll give you... my body.

A flicker of savagery flashed in his eyes. From afar, Alicia frowned at the sight, worry passing like a cloud.

"Come on, then... fight me! You Undead bastard!" His shout cracked like thunder over stone.

[As you wish, my Master...]