Escape

The newly arrived reinforcements did not panic. The captain who had taken over Mrs. Golden Mask's squad was also a Disciplinary Paladin. He raised his right hand, pointed at the spirit holding the head, and was about to speak the Ancient Hermes word for "Imprisonment."

But just then, the voluptuous female spirit opened her mouth first and began to "sing" in Spirit Speech!

Yes, she was not using a Vengeful Spirit's usual Shriek or anything of the sort. This was singing much like an Ocean Songster's.

In an instant, one awkward, obscure, grating word after another spilled from the female Evil Spirit's mouth in a strange rhythm, none of them intelligible.

Though no one understood what she sang, everyone present froze where they stood. Transparent patches rapidly appeared across their bodies.

An illusory force was tugging at their spirits!

At that critical moment, the Ring of Light on Xio's finger blazed. The Purifying Aura that had clung closely to her body spread outward in wave after wave. Warm, white Holy Light washed over the MI9 agents, purging the sinister power within them and filling them with fierce courage.

The two Sequence 5 Disciplinary Paladins recovered first. Almost simultaneously, they thrust out their right hands and declared in Ancient Hermes:

"Words of the Dead are forbidden here!"

"Singing is forbidden here!"

After her declaration, Mrs. Golden Mask, whose Spirituality had already been nearly exhausted, could barely remain standing. She had to brace herself against a streetlamp.

She took off her mask, revealing a young, valiant face, then pulled a bottle of potion from her coat, unscrewed the cap, and drank it down.

Meanwhile, after Xio's Purifying Aura broke the song's effect, the baron's head in the female Evil Spirit's arms snapped its eyes open. He stared straight at Xio, as though