A soft clink! stood out against the noise coming from the monitors. His right hand busy flipping a coin, a young man casually laid back on the chair––that most definitely did not belong to him––one leg crossed over the other and his purple eyes fixated on the one monitor screen amongst the many lined up against the wall in the dimly lit room.

The coin was flicked a little higher before it was swiftly caught and placed down the table. A look of awe crossed the young man's expression. A support member was displayed on the screen, her eyes shone a vivid red and her expression was apathetic. The cameras were especially focused on her seeing how several different angles were captured.

"Did she get possessed?" he mumbled. "That's so cool––well, it wouldn't be cool if the vengeful apparition ends up killing her––but still very cool."

The young man jumped off the seat––which was surprisingly quite comfortable, might he add––stretched his arms over his head, and glanced around. He chuckled sheepishly upon seeing four unconscious individuals, individuals wearing uniforms that belonged to the Technology Design Division and individuals that were unconscious thanks to him. Their heads were on the table, cheeks squished against the surface as they slept peacefully.

He brought a hand to his lips and closed his eyes, eyebrows slightly knitting together in concentration. "Ah... what was I doing again?" He snapped his fingers. "Oh, right! Breaking and entering."

That moment of concentration lasted approximately 0.2 seconds before his attention was stolen yet again by the monitors. How could he not turn around when he saw an entire building collapse onto the possessed support member?

"Woah, is she okay––? Wait, I shouldn't get distracted." He sighed. "Man, being my own boss is tough."

Begrudgingly, the young man tore his attention away from the screen and forced himself to focus on the task at hand. He brushed his long blonde hair off his shoulders, placed his hands on his hips, and nodded to himself. Alright, alright. Illegal activity, that's what I'm supposed to be doing.

The small enclosed space in where he was currently was the least complex one to break into amongst all the other sections belonging to the TDD. It resembled a security room, but a little more luxurious. Drawers had reports and files of AEI members, which was nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary. At the back of the room were a few computers and were obviously secured with passwords. The blond would love to pull out some cool hacking skills, but he didn't have any.

There was a long desk in front of the monitors where papers and notepads laid. His original plan was to enter the room, knock out the AEI members, read the contents on the papers and notepads they were writing in, then get out as soon as possible. Honestly, the first two steps were surprisingly easier than he expected. Not getting distracted by the SF trial on the monitors was the hard part.

Mumbling a quiet 'excuse me', he pushed aside one of the AEI member's arms to take a look at the papers and notepads. Written down were several names and notes underneath said names. The blond glanced at the monitor, then looked back at the documentations. Were these written observations on the SF candidates? The AEI members were probably watching on the monitors and jotting stuff down, huh?

Out of all the names, there were three with the most written about them.

(Y/n), Amias, and Cecil. He knew who Cecil was, but he wondered about the other two. Though, he swore he had heard rumours about (Y/n) at some point. Something about surviving a vengeful apparition's possession?

The young man took photos of the notes on his phone and he couldn't help but read out a few sentences to himself.

"(Y/n): has abnormal experiences with apparitions." Hah! So he was thinking of the right person! Being a detective didn't seem so impossible now. Should he come up with a name for himself? "Amias: an unknown background. Has a great affinity for exorcism despite showing a lack of experience in the field."

Woah, what happened while I was gone? They let someone with an unknown background in? That's kinda awesome. And (Y/n), huh? They sounded like they could either be a formidable enemy or an ally of his. Or maybe none and he was completely off the mark.

The young man placed the papers and notepads to where they originally were––well, tried to. He basically just made a big mess.

Suddenly, the automatic door slid open and an AEI member entered. The woman's neutral expression was quick to morph into one of panic and she dropped the folders in her arms.

The blond chuckled. "Oh. This is awkward."

The AEI member was about to slam the emergency button, but the blond was quick to grab onto her arm.

"Someone! He... help..."

A sweet scent coaxed the woman and a purple mist wrapped around her comfortably like a thin blanket. Her eyes became cloudy, her speech slowed, and her voice gradually grew more and more quiet. The young man held out an arm to catch her when she passed out and slept peacefully just like the other AEI members he had taken care of. Carefully, he carried her to an empty chair. He propped her up and she ended up falling forward and slamming her cheeks loudly against the table.

The young man flinched and whispered a 'sorry!' He also gave her a reassuring pat on the back for good measure.

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a security camera. "Ohhh. I knew I was forgetting a precaution." He shrugged and let out a carefree laugh, showing a peace sign at the camera. "Haha! It's fine. No one remembers me anyway."



===



"Hey, hey. Are you still salty that the vengeful apparition got away last operation?"

Elias leapt off the ground, grabbed onto the edge of the roof, and lifted himself up. When he landed, he stepped to the side to avoid an incoming apparition before exorcising it. It's screams reverberated in his head, carving the sound inside his mind. A soft sigh left his lips at that.

"No, this is just a good opportunity to get rid of it," Elias replied, straightening himself and dusting off his uniform. If it wasn't Caleb who was talking, he wouldn't bother replying to such an unnecessary comment.

Caleb sent an explosion to launch himself unnecessarily high in the air and exorcised an apparition from above. He landed next to Elias with an obnoxious thud and grinned cheekily.

"So, you're salty.'

"I'm not––fine. Whatever."

"Hah! So, you admit your loss. I knew it––wait, don't go ahead with me!"

Elias rolled his eyes and parkoured his way down the tall building with Caleb following close behind him. When they reached ground, Elias's attention was directed at the intense storm up ahead. However, the storm then suddenly stopped. He highly doubted someone exorcised the vengeful apparition already, so what was going on?

"You know, I saw Miss Support on the screens," Caleb said, gesturing at the sky.

"I did as well," Elias replied. "She's quite enthusiastic about diving straight into danger."

Caleb laughed. "That's my Miss Support for ya! Do you think she exorcised the apparition––"

A loud crash interrupted Caleb. The two looked at each other for a brief moment before nodding and running towards the source of the sound. Elias stole a glance at the holographic screen and saw a fallen building and cheering AEI members.

Caleb spoke up, "As much as it pains me to be away from my dear prince, let's split up."

The brunet ignored the first part. "Sure."

Elias didn't need to ask questions, he already had an idea of what Caleb had in mind. Elias also didn't need to waste his breath saying "be careful" or "are you sure you'll be okay?" because he knew Caleb was more than capable of taking care of himself in situations such as these.

Caleb waved cheerfully before running off in a different direction. Elias kept going forward and the more he closed in, the more prominent the sounds of cheers and excited conversations were. He stopped running to examine the situation. Seems like everyone was celebrating at the fact that they exorcised the vengeful apparition. The brunet's eyes narrowed and he resisted the urge to openly express his disappointment. Didn't they learn to not let their guard down?

Underneath the mountain of rubble, a hand suddenly shot up and the nails clawed onto a piece of a broken wall. Elias took a step back and remained on guard. A figure lifted themselves up, blood dripping from their face and tainting the debris red.

It was you, but there was clearly something off and the red hue in your eyes confirmed Elias's suspicions.

So, she got possessed by a vengeful apparition again?

On one hand, he was surprised at how you managed to do it a third time. On the other, he was immensely curious about observing you. Reading the reports was one thing, seeing it for himself would be a far more informative experience. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to put you down. Elias would like to keep you alive if possible. Someone like you shouldn't die here.

I should throw off her senses first.

Elias was about to snap his fingers, but stopped when you suddenly locked eyes with him. You slammed one foot onto the ground, causing it to split apart in a straight line. Elias dodged it and marvelled at the impact. This was a power he shouldn't underestimate.

The SF candidates nearby stayed put on the sidelines, too afraid to engage in combat or too curious to leave. Elias wasn't sure to be thankful that there would be no interruptions or to scoff at their cowardice and inaction. Looks like it was a match between him and the vengeful apparition. It wasn't like this was his first time dealing with one, but it was his first time having to fight one who had possessed the body of an AEI member that wasn't a complete stranger to him.

"This body is fragile." It was your voice, your face, your body, but Elias couldn't see the person as you. "Be careful."

"Fragile? You care what happens to the body?" Elias asked. "That's new. I thought the host was meant to act as your shield."

The vengeful apparition cocked your head to the side and tapped your temple. The movements were eerily graceful. "The information in here is more valuable than you think."

The vengeful apparition was having a conversation with him as if they were any normal human being. This was an anomaly. Vengeful apparitions were reckless, irrational; their sole objective was to fulfil their revenge. They would destroy everything in their path to get it as soon as possible.

"Valuable?"

The vengeful apparition closed your eyes and hummed contemplatively. Your eyes fluttered open and your eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion.

"Huh, that's interesting. The first thought of you when I tried digging through her memories was a sadist."

The vengeful apparition was sorting through your memories? Vengeful apparitions were incredibly strong, but their biggest weakness was their impulsive nature. It rendered them unable to utilise their skills strategically. This vengeful apparition didn't have that weakness. I need to be cautious.

"A sadist? I've been called many names, but a sadist is a first," Elias said. "I thought I was polite to (Y/n). I wonder what gave her that idea."

You took off your gloves before shaking your head. "She respects you. Don't get the wrong idea."

A very contradictory thought. If the vengeful apparition was messing with him, they were very lucky with their selection of words. Elias always thought you were odd, someone who seemed to stand out yet also seemed so incredibly ordinary. There were times where he'd think he was underestimating you, but other times he wondered if he was simply overthinking.

Well, no matter. Now wasn't the time to think about you. And he didn't care enough to ask the vengeful apparition to elaborate.

Suddenly, you groaned painfully. The red hue in your eyes flickering back and forth to your original colour. Elias didn't know what was going on, but he knew this was the perfect opportunity to strike. A swift snap of his fingers and you winced, the distortion of your senses must've worked.

"That ability of yours is annoying." You scoffed. "Ah, she has earplugs in her pockets. Convenient."

Elias wasn't concerned. That won't work on my ability.

"Ah, that sucks. It won't work against you."

The brunet was a little surprised. Did the apparition figure that out from sorting through the information in (Y/n)'s head? However, how did you know such a detail? Elias's ability wasn't a secret to the public, but no one knew of the details.

Behind you, a pale green light shone and an explosion clamoured––Caleb, who wouldn't recognise that ability? It looked like a direct hit, but Elias knew better than to celebrate early. Assuming you dodged the attack, Elias ran towards you and launched an attack of his own. With an exasperated sigh and minimal footwork, you dodged both attacks.

Amias teleported behind you, but you were anything but caught off guard. A light spin and one step to the left, you avoided his attack as well. Elias noticed the slight hesitation in Amias's movements, which allowed you to distance yourself. Small essences of electricity sparked across the air as a result of Amias's teleportation. You raised an eyebrow at that.

"You call this lightning?" A hand was raised and red electricity began conducting around it. "I'll show you something better."

You brought your hand down and several consecutive lightning strikes burned the ground, causing tremors. Amias managed to dodge them, but was almost hit on the last strike. The vengeful apparition wasn't trying to attack anyone with that move, they just wanted to prove that their power was superior.

Caleb whistled. "Wow~ Fancy powers ya got there. Did you have to steal a body to do it?"

Caleb's words were met with a torrent of wind. He laughed and moved aside to avoid it. You didn't have time to speak when a bright red mark on your arm illuminated. You examined it curiously before realising that several strings of bullet shaped exorcism light darted towards you. You twirled a finger in the air and the wind redirected the bullets straight into a building, causing it to crumble and fall. SF members nearby ran away in fear.

Elias wasn't surprised when Lyle appeared, he heard rapid footsteps prior. Lyle wasted no time engaging in a physical fight. You dodged the punches and kicks thrown your way, however it was evident that if any of Lyle's attacks connected it would be detrimental to your body. Whenever a bullet was shot, you redirected it away. Though, there were a few close calls since the proximity was closer and you had less time to react.

Elias waited for a moment to intervene and help Lyle out, but there never seemed to be an appropriate time. Caleb and Amias were also closely watching.

"Lyle... Lyle..." you mumbled. "According to her memories, you can only target what you see. I guess you put those holographic screens to good use. That's bad. Even if I run away, as long as the cameras show me, your bullets will find a way to hit their target."

You glanced up and made a quick motion with your hand as if brushing away some dust. At the gesture, clouds covered the holographic screens.

(Y/n) has a pretty good grasp on Lyle's abilities. If the vengeful apparition knew everyone's abilities well, it'll only cause more trouble. Just how well versed were you with everyone else, including Elias himself?

Lyle stopped attacking and his red eyes pierced into yours. Elias wasn't sure which gaze held more authority; Lyle's glare or your apathetic look despite having just engaged in intense combat.

"You're leeching off a support member because of your short lifespan," Lyle said with a scoff. "Getting vengeance? Don't make me laugh. You died for a reason."

Ah, he was trying to provoke the apparition. On normal occasions, that'd work. Your expression remained indifferent.

"Normally this is the part where I become irrational and give you an opening to attack, but I feel fine." You glanced around and noticed that some SF candidates were closing in on you. "Hmph. Seems like everyone has forgotten my strength because I turned off the weather. Well then, here's a reminder."

As if a beast was prowling underneath Elias's feet, a low grumble shook the ground before thunder clamoured and dark red lightning soared through the skies, splitting it open. Crimson tainted the sky yet again and the city became a cage underneath the vengeful apparition's control.

"I need some alone time." You glanced over to the apparitions. "You go and deal with the guy with purple hair and the one with the green eyes. Possess them or whatever." You turned your head around. "And you, back them up. But shut that mouth of yours. If I hear one peep, I'll get rid of you on the spot."

The apparitions rushed to Caleb and Lyle. Amias teleported behind you again, capturing your attention. Elias masked the sound of his footsteps and used your blind spot to his advantage.

"Seriously, how much time does (Y/n) spend observing you people?"

After dodging Amias's attack, you turned your head and almost landed a kick on Elias's abdomen. Thankfully, the brunet was able to react just in time. Did the vengeful apparition get lucky or did they see me coming?

"Manipulation of sound... So, you can silence your own footsteps as well." You looked over to Amias. "You have a pattern when you teleport. Not that it's obvious, but for some reason (Y/n) knows––"

A pained grunt interrupted your sentence and you held your head in your hands. Elias didn't waste a moment. He dashed towards you and his kick landed. Your body slammed right into a wall. Cracks formed and you fell forward, hands on the ground and head down.

I probably broke a few bones... If you made it out alive, he'll apologise.

Amias rushed over to you, shouting words of concern. Elias slowly approached you, guard still up. There was a moment of silence before you stood up.

Your eyes were back to normal.

"Elias..." You began before letting out a short laugh. "Couldn't you hold back a little?"

===

Your consciousness was held together by a thin string, a thin string that was close to slipping through your grasps. The feeling was similar to back then, as in, the moment before you first came into Anomalous; as if you were aimlessly floating into a void full of darkness with no sense of direction. You couldn't reach your hands up to feel your body, you couldn't speak, you were just there with your thoughts.

Was it seconds later? Minutes? Hours? Either way, solid ground eventually reached your feet. Just that simple contact sent a wave of relief within you. You walked with no destination in mind, but a goal. To find the vengeful apparition.

Kind of arrogant of me considering I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

Amongst the darkness, there was a faint grey light in the distance and a silhouette of an individual. The closer you got, the more you could make out their features. There were bandages around his throat, arms, and hands. You grimaced when you saw the glass shards that stuck out of the bandages on his arms and the blood that stained the bandages around his throat. He was wearing a worn out school uniform; the typical white shirt and black pants.

Once you were only a metre away from him, you stopped walking. The individual turned around; judging from his youthful features and the idea you had of his backstory, he was likely in his final year of high school.

"It's one thing after another with you."

You gathered your shock at the situation, carefully placed it in a basket, and threw it as far away as possible. "Sorry?" Oh! I can speak now!

Slightly, his red eyes narrowed. "If you couldn't tell by now, I'm the vengeful apparition."

I want to respond with 'oh really? what a shock!' but I feel like living today. "What is this space?"

"Hell if I know. I'm guessing this is your consciousness. The last time I possessed you, I didn't come here."

He was probably referring to the time when you first met Amias. "I did have control over my thoughts that time, you were just controlling my movements."

"And this time I basically have full possession over you, it's just for some reason you're here."

"What would normally happen?"

"How should I know?"

Heck, you weren't sure as well. "Well, since it's just us here, how about we talk for a bit?"

"You know, I'm still in control of your body right now."

"...Can I ask what you're doing?"

"Beating everyone up."

Understandable, have a nice day. "Are you going to uh...unpossess me anytime soon?"

"That depends."

"Great."

He was thoughtful for a moment. "From what I know, a vengeful apparition's purpose is to destroy everything until their revenge is satisfied. When I first became one, all that was on my mind was to find any connections to my death and kill it."

You nodded. "They have a short lifespan, how short depends how much they exert themselves. Half a year is typically the limit. If they fulfil their revenge before they run out of time, they'll just find any excuse to keep causing destruction, no matter how small the connection is."

Within the game, you'd hear rumours and conversations from NPCs that pertain to the vengeful apparition causing trouble in the city. However, this time, you didn't. You always thought it was strange and assumed it had something to do with you.

"A power that comes with a price, nothing shocking. Still, I found my situation to be different. These past few months I managed to quell my desire to destroy anything. I've been mainly living in hiding."

That explained your initial question. "Really?"

"Really. I even managed to maintain my original human form for the duration. It made keeping my head down easier." He looked at his arms bitterly and gently touched his throat, dark brown hair momentarily falling over his eyes. "I don't appreciate this look, though. Guess it only makes sense to remain in the form that relates most to why I became a vengeful apparition? By the way, the information you have in your head...You're a lot more competent than I thought."

"Hey. What's that supposed to mean?"

The vengeful apparition completely ignored your question. "It would've been much harder to fight against those exorcists, but having information on them helped."

"Wait, who are you fighting right now?"

"Elias, Caleb...Amias and Lyle," he said. "The first two I knew, the other two I figured out from accessing your memories."

Hold on, you literally knew everything there is regarding the abilities of the Anomalous characters. He basically got a cheat card! You now wondered what else the vengeful apparition knew. Did he know you were from another world? That this world was just a video game?

"What I wanted to talk about was me."

"Damn, okay."

"Don't give me that look, you know that's not what I meant." He shook his head. "Forget that. You weren't off the mark when it came to piecing together how I died. Just how much investigating did you do to figure out my past like that?"

I read NPC dialogues and pay attention to unnecessary details in video games.

"Shouldn't you know?"

"There are parts of your memory I'm unable to access."

Unable to access? "Huh, okay. Then––wait, so your name was Alastor! Why didn't you respond the first time I called out for you?"

"Didn't want to."

You swore you felt an eyebrow twitch. This brat.

Alastor either ignored your annoyed look or didn't care enough to comment. "Why did you let me possess you?"

"That's because––" I was hoping that you'll look at my thoughts and go 'I see, I see. So she feels frustrated at my death. Damn. Fantastic. Touching. I should team up with her. Friendship.' "Uh."

"Uh?"

You awkwardly shot him finger guns. "I believed in ᵧₒᵤ"

"..."

"..."

"Okay, I admit, it was a reckless idea if you really think about it. But what else could I do in the heat of the moment?"

He sighed. "I'm disappointed, but not surprised."

"Oi––"

"But glad." He huffed and looked off to the side. Was it just your imagination or was he a little embarrassed?

You blinked. Once, twice, thrice. "Did you just––"

"You know, when you give me that look it makes me want to take those words back immediately."

"Okay, okay. Sorry." You took a deep breath. "But like––"

"Look, after months of being in isolation, shunned by many, feared by civilians, and hunted down by exorcists, do you think I'm that cold to reject someone if they wanted to help me?"

"Would you kill me if I said yes."

"Were you going to say yes?"

Yes.

"No."

You were pleasantly surprised, despite his attitude that made your blood pressure rise to the stars, Alastor was more cooperative than you thought. Dying and becoming an apparition was one thing in Anomalous, becoming a vengeful apparition meant that the individual was driven by a powerful desire, a desire so powerful that they'll do whatever they can to fulfil it, even if it meant surpassing death. You had an idea of what Alastor's desire was.

During the months before the SF trial, you went around different schools and tried to gather information. As expected, most of your time was in vain since finding information on one unknown student in a massive city isn't exactly a walk in the park.

But, eventually you overheard a particular conversation between a group of students.

"There's no way it's him! Plus, the vengeful apparition hasn't been showing up recently. It probably got exorcised already."

"But...What if it is Alastor? Wh-what if he comes for us? We did push him out of the classroom when––"

"Shut up and quit worrying. Besides, someone like him doesn't have the guts to come back as a vengeful apparition anyway."

After hearing that, you went home and did some research. It took hours, days, weeks of digging––Amias was seriously concerned because of your all nighters and Elias's suggestions on effective caffeines to keep you awake didn't help ease his worries––until you finally came across a certain news article. It was written by an unknown author, the website was honestly done so poorly put together you almost exited the moment you clicked on it, but you found the final piece of the puzzle that sewed your theory together.

"Here's the thing that's bothering me. Being destructive and thinking about nothing except revenge––that was exactly how I was like at the start. After possessing you for the first time, that was when I finally had clear thoughts."

For the first time...that was when you first transmigrated into Anomalous, wasn't it? How nostalgic.

"Though, it was only for a brief moment. The second time, I managed for months. There were moments where I'd almost slip and would relapse, but it kept it together. I wanted to still be me. I didn't want to be a vengeful apparition who could only think about harming others for their own self fulfilment." He took a deep breath. "Is it naive of me to think you can help with that?"

You were speechless for a moment. Losing yourself when you're desperately trying not to––you have no idea how it'd feel like since you've never experienced it yourself, but you can imagine how despairing it is. Someone like him... you can't believe how much story you didn't unravel because he was removed from it so early.

"To be honest, I have no idea how this will all turn out, but we can try. I'm not entirely familiar with everything about my ability, so if you have questions, don't expect me to be able to figure it all out," you said.

"Don't worry." For the first time ever, his indifferent expression had a small smile, a reassuring one. "I don't have high expectations."

Fucking brat– "You know I'm older than you, right?"

"And?"

Holdittogether(Y/n)theguyhascontroloveryourbodyrightnow. "I'm going to ignore that. So, here's the plan." You grinned. "I'll be kidnapping you."

"What."

"Don't give me that look like you've already given up on me. Let me explain."

Alastor, despite his apathetic expression, attentively listened to you as you ran through the plan. It wasn't perfect or very complex, but it was the best you could come up with on the spot.

"Alright. I'm ready to return to my body––"

Without warning, you blacked out and were hit with a sudden onslaught of––well, everything. Your sense of smell, the musky yet fresh scent of the rain that dampened the ground. Your hearing, it ranged from the shouts of exorcists to the ghastly wind. Your sense of touch, you could feel the freezing air and––

You doubled over and coughed, blood splattering on the ground. Your body trembled slightly and you've just managed to not completely collapse on the ground, pass out, and call it game over. Yeah, you felt that alright. Goddammit, Alastor. A warning would've been nice.

Oh. Elias kicked you, by the way. That wasn't me.

You glared at the ground. Couldn't you stopped him?

You'll be fine.

Black mist surrounded you temporarily then abruptly shot up to the sky. You expected to feel immense pain when you tried to stand up, but surprisingly felt refreshed and energised. Did Alastor heal you before leaving your body completely? Okay, you were a little less mad.

"(Y/n)! Are you okay?!"

Amias was running towards you while Elias kept his distance. The look in the brunet's eyes had a fine line between intrigue and suspicion.

"Elias..." You began before letting out a short laugh. "Couldn't you hold back a little?"





A/n: New character and im making him a himbo no one is stopping me gn

Also! Alastor and Yn interaction!