When they were stepping out of the portal, Jianmen, Josephine Wong and Glenda Grimes could easily see the smoking castle not that far away. There was a strange sense of inconsistency in the image, as the castle itself seemed to be completely intact, with all of its splendor and beauty under the bright gentle sun, yet the smoke seemed to have torn a rift in the beautiful image, revealing a dark, cloudy sky with red flares flickering behind the thick clouds.

“Now that’s a beautifying spell to behold.” Jianmen chuckled when he landed on the ground.

“How soon can your Division agents come?” Glenda Grimes asked.

“My core team are all dealing with their own missions, some of which are quite dangerous, and it will take a while before they can come to us.” Josephine Wong sighed: “This is not a good time, we’re simply spread too thin.”

“What about reinforcements from your central departments and other regional departments?” Glenda Grimes asked again: “They should have some kind of quick reaction forces on standby for things like this, no?”

“The quick reaction forces can only be deployed per the commissioner's order, if the commissioner’s absent then it would be the deputy commissioner or the security council.” Jianmen shrugged: “The name’s kinda ironic now, isn’t it?”

“A liaison’s only a liaison, it’s not a position with a lot of power.” Josephine Wong sighed: “Let’s wait here for a bit and see if either the Division or the Academy would spare some forces as our reinforcements.”

Jianmen knelt down to grab some grass and dirt from the ground, then after a quick whiff of the smell of the dirt, he said: “I’m afraid that won’t be an option. This place is about twice as bad as San Francisco right after that incident. And something just stirred the dormant malice up. We’re looking at an immediate implosion or dispersion, unless there’s a maintainer here.”

“Then let’s leave a short message here to instruct them how to follow us. And let’s leave enough trails for them to follow.” Josephine Wong said after a short moment of consideration: “How long can the portal hold?”

“Not too long, but the spacial rift we created could be reopened quite easily, so they could easily create their own portal and find us here.” Jianmen stood up and took out a thick but short incense stick like a cigarette butt from a small pouch of his: “Let’s go in. I can sense that this place is full of curses and malice related spells. Be careful and stay by my side. And, I sensed something targeting one’s mind and will behind this gate. So activate your mind guard.”

“Ready.” Glenda Grimes drew her long and green rapier, tapped the pendant on her necklace, and a thin layer of light green energy surrounded her body.

Josephine Wong put on her dark purple cloves and two metal rings, one on each index finger and let out a long exhale after kissing both the rings: “Ready.”

“Woosh!” Jianmen lit up the short incense stick and flicked it right at the metal gate in front of them. The incense stick shot right at the metal gate in a straight trajectory leaving a trail of light ashes and sparks behind. An orange and golden fireball rose from the central seal of the gate as the incense stick struck, and a burning hole appeared on it. Melted metal dropped from the hole and onto the ground as the metal gate swung open from the middle.

One piece of cloud swirled and changed in shape, then after a wave of thousands of howls and cries, thousands of skulls made of energy fog, mist and cloud poured down on the three of them at the same time. 

Jianmen waved his left arm, and a broom appeared in his left hand, then he swung the broom back and twisted his body to the right. Then, after a short moment of calm and peace, he swung the broom in the air like a left-handed swordsman would his sword.

A wall of wind gushed up the sky from this swing, all the skulls pouring at them were first pushed back up into higher airspace back at the cloud from which they came, then their internal structures became loose, and ten at the final stage of their life cycles, they burst into flames and burnt into light ashes that started slowly and gradually falling down like snow.

Josephine Wong and Glenda Grimes marched through the metal gate and on the pathway leading to the doorway of the inner ward. The look of the castle and everything inside the walls of the outer ward just changed - the lighting was no longer bright and, and the castle revealed its true, broken and torn up look. Their energy shields flickered as the morbid song was sung by children’s voices - they could still hear it, but they were instantly aware of the spirit hidden in the song itself. The mind guards they cast on themselves activated as the Voice Wraiths sensed their intent and tried to infest them and blocked them out completely.

Glenda Grimes concentrated her power on her rapier, and translucent green energy constructs grew like stalagmites on the blade, forming into strangely shaped teeths and hollow tubes. Then she started swinging her rapier in the air, when the blade of the rapier and the constructs on it sliced through the air, a calming and serene melody like that performed by flutes and ocarinas came from her swinging the blade. Josephine Wong, on the other hand, conjured a purple ocarina in her hand and started playing a duet with Glenda Grimes, the music from Glenda Grimes’ rapier was lighter and faster, while that came from Josephine Wong’s ocarina was slightly deeper and slower.

The attacks of the Voice Wraiths became weaker and slower as the melody continued on. When Jianmen caught up to both of them, the attacks had all stopped completely.

“Requiem for the Voice Wraiths.” Jianmen nodded at Josephine Wong and Glenda Grimes with a smile: “Nice, really kind.”

“Thanks.” Josephine Wong put down her ocarina and pointed at the four slim, giant two-headed and three-headed humanoid monsters trying to attack a spot on the wall of the inner ward along with some moving trees: “What do you think that is?”

“I guess someone didn’t knock.”