A desolate wasteland outside the city.
What loomed before them was not mere darkness—but a gate, ancient and terrifying, stretching up before their very eyes. Behind it was no ordinary void, but a realm of endless wraiths—Hell made manifest.
Marcus Chen and his younger brother, Elliot Chen, felt an icy chill course through their entire bodies.
The evil spirits sealed within them were wailing. Elliot fared slightly better, but Marcus's "ghost mark" was on the verge of breaking free.The twisted face of an old man bulged from his back, lifelike and hideously expressive.
"Well... aren't we just blessed today," Elliot muttered, his voice shaking, a bitter smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
Through his Ghost Eye, Elliot could see them—countless spirits gathering behind the gate.Just the tiniest sliver of their aura was enough to paralyze them with fear, as if they'd been dragged into a world that belonged to the dead.
"Hehehehe~ humans…"
"Let me out! Let me out! I'm hungry!"
"Wanna play with me? Can I borrow your head for a while?"
The screeches came from beyond the gate, sometimes childish, sometimes deranged. Laughter that belonged in nightmares.
"The Gate of the Dead has appeared in the outskirts of Huadu. Countless spirits… unpredictable in number and power…"Marcus hunched over, receiving a flood of ghastly information from the spirit inside him while reporting through his phone.
"The gate isn't fully open yet, but we can't tell how complete it already is."
Just then, a sudden dampness touched his cheek.
"Are you here to play with me too?"
A child's cold, innocent voice whispered in his ear.
Wet, tangled black hair had suddenly draped over his back, covering the ghostly face etched into his skin.He whipped his head toward his brother—and what he saw froze his blood.
Elliot—his brother with the Ghost Eye—was completely covered in palm-sized childlike spirits.Their skin was pallid, their eyes pure black with no whites. One of them was even perched on Elliot's face, poking its tiny fingers into his eye socket.
"When did they—?!"
Marcus's instincts kicked in. He ended the call and unleashed the full force of his spirit's power.
Crack!
The ghostly old man's face on his back erupted with a sinister energy, shredding the curtain of cursed hair.
In that fleeting instant, Marcus leapt back several steps, his spine arched like a beast.From his back, a ghostly blue hand emerged—massive and clawed—swiping at the spirits clinging to Elliot.
Snap!
The evil spirits shattered like illusions, fading into mist.
Marcus lunged forward and caught his brother before he fell.
"You okay, Elliot?!"
Elliot was pale. His Ghost Eye had contracted into a needle-thin slit.
"I'm fine, bro… I just… let my guard down for a second. That thing—when did it even show up?"
Before them now stood a ghost clad in a white gown, its long black hair soaked and dripping with blood.Around its feet were the very same child-spirits from earlier, now linking hands and spinning in a circle like they were playing a game.
Behind the ghost, the Gate of the Dead continued to churn and pulse.The long-haired spirit stood before it like a guardian, unmoving and full of malice.
"Are you both here to play with me~?"
Marcus and Elliot exchanged a look—and saw the same fear in each other's eyes.
"B-Class…" Marcus whispered.
This wasn't a run-of-the-mill ghost. It was a B-Class threat—a level considered catastrophic.If even one such spirit got into the city, the consequences would be unimaginable.And from the Gate behind it… they could feel even stronger presences looming.
"Think we can take it?" Marcus asked, crouching lower, his body contorting unnaturally. A second ghostly arm was forming—blue and spectral—beside the old man's face on his back.
"Doesn't matter." Elliot's voice turned steely. "We have to take it. Even if we die trying. We can't let it get through."
Blood began to leak from the corner of Elliot's eyes, tracing eerie, smiling patterns across his face.
The long-haired ghost, sensing their resolve, hissed with rage.From beneath its veil of hair, a pair of narrow, venomous eyes glared out.
"Won't play? Then you can DIE!"
Zzzzzzz—!
Its hair slithered across the ground like vipers, dark tendrils writhing madly.
A wave of malevolent energy surged toward the brothers like a black tsunami.
The little ghosts on the ground began to laugh in unison.
"Heeheehee~""Heeheehee~"
Ghostbinder HQ.
Captain Lucas Yan gripped his phone tightly, his knuckles white as he listened to the busy tone.The Gate of the Dead… It had actually manifested. And right in Huadu.
He forced himself to stay calm.
"Alert all active Ghostbinders," he ordered, his voice grim. "Get to the Chen brothers' last known location. Now."
"We must destroy the gate… before it fully opens."