"Horcrux?"
Serika did not understand.
"It's a kind of dark magic object. That thing can make someone very hard to kill. I suspect Joachim made a Horcrux."
Joachim's state made Murphy think of Tom Riddle's Diary. In the original, after it used Ginny Weasley to revive, its state had not been entirely solid either; hazy and indistinct, it was closer to a ghost.
Although he was not sure whether that revived Tom had some of a ghost's traits, for the moment, Murphy could only think of this possibility.
"As long as we find that Horcrux and destroy it, Joachim should be able to be defeated."
"But where are we supposed to look?"
"We'll go to his house first and look for clues," Murphy said. "Maybe it's in his house, for all we know."
"Here's what we'll do. You go to Joachim's house and look for the Horcrux. I'll lure him away," Murphy said.
"Remember, the Horcrux could be anything—a diary, a ring, a gemstone, a necklace, anything like that. Odds are it has some special meaning to him. After all, it's something tied to his own life, so I doubt anyone would just pick up a random stone from the roadside to make one."
"It might not stand out much, but it usually contains extremely powerful dark magic. As long as you get close, you should be able to discover it. But be careful. He may have set some traps or the like around his Horcrux."
Murphy gave all the instructions in one breath, but Serika was still a little dazed. So many could-bes, odds-are, mights, maybes...
She felt this plan was not reliable at all.
"Will you be in danger?" Serika asked.
"No kidding! Of course I will! So you have to find the Horcrux, or some other clue