Chapter 257 — Coordination Between Professionals
"Father Gideon, in a moment I'll drag the evil spirits out of the girls' bodies. Please restrain them when that happens," Rossi said.
"No problem." Gideon nodded.
Originally, he had been considering whether he should perform that task himself. Unexpectedly, someone else had already taken the initiative.
Rossi stepped forward to stand before the two girls. From inside his robe, he drew a silver dagger.
A sharp slicing sound followed as the blade cut across skin.
Crimson blood immediately began dripping from Rossi's palm.
He pressed his bleeding hand against one of the runes carved on the floor.
"I swear by the blood of Rossi to purify the evil in this place…"
In the next instant, with Rossi at the center, the blood illuminated all the surrounding runes.
Gideon raised an eyebrow.
He sensed a mysterious and sacred power rising within the living room.
The blood-marked runes seemed to come alive. One by one, they sank into the bodies of the two girls and seeped directly into their spiritual forms.
Among everyone present, only Gideon could see this phenomenon clearly.
This should be… the Blood of Oath, he thought.
In the Manifestation of Blood stage of sacred arts, there were three levels of mastery.
Blood of Oath was the second level.
By swearing an oath with the caster's own blood, the blood gains a sealing and isolating property, allowing evil energy to be forcibly extracted from a possessed host.
If he can perform this sacred art, it means he has already completed the fundamental training stages of Eyes, Flesh, and Bone… which also requires an enormous amount of holy power, Gideon reflected.
An ordinary priest could never achieve this. Unless there are special circumstances, Father Rossi likely possesses at least two Imprints.
Before long, a thin plume of white smoke rose from above the girls' heads.
It slowly formed into the grotesque face of a malevolent spirit.
"You think this is enough to subdue me?" the spirit hissed, its voice echoing throughout the room.
In the next moment, a powerful surge of energy erupted from it.
The four people present immediately noticed the walls and furniture in the room begin to twist and distort.
Seeing this, Catherine gripped the necklace in her hand and began chanting a spell.
Moments later, a pale golden spiritual thread extended from the necklace.
The thread shot rapidly through the living room, ricocheting from point to point. Each time it touched a surface, it left behind a glowing anchor.
Within a single second, the entire living room was filled with these spiritual threads.
They intertwined with one another like a vast neural network.
When the demon's energy wave struck the threads, they vibrated violently.
The shock was distributed across countless strands of light, dispersing the force until it gradually faded away.
At the same time, everyone's vision returned to normal.
"Mental defense witchcraft…" the evil spirit snarled, glaring at Catherine.
Suddenly it raised a hand toward her.
Catherine stiffened and immediately assumed a defensive stance.
But nothing happened.
Just as confusion crossed her mind, Rossi—standing in front of her—suddenly froze.
An immense force clamped around his neck, preventing him from speaking.
At the same time, his neck began twisting in the opposite direction against his will.
Rossi struggled desperately, barely managing to resist the force. Without that effort, his neck would have snapped within seconds.
But as the struggle continued, he began to lose strength.
Physical resilience and skeletal reinforcement were not his specialties.
"—Hah."
Suddenly, the pressure on his neck vanished.
When Rossi turned around, he saw Gideon behind him, staring intently at the evil spirit.
Golden rings had appeared within Gideon's pupils, and powerful waves of holy energy radiated from his body.
"Thank you," Rossi said.
Gideon gave a slight nod, his attention still fixed on the evil spirit.
Mind-reading, psychological interference, telekinetic control.
The spirit across from them was not only cunning—it could influence all four of them with these abilities. Its rank was clearly far from ordinary. Earlier, it must have been deliberately pretending to be a typical possessing spirit.
Only now did Catherine and Ralph realize that the demon's true target had been Rossi all along.
"So it's you again," the spirit said in a deeper voice.
"Gideon… I see now. Have you forgotten what you once did? Do you really think those people would forgive you?"
The spirit roared.
Gideon remained silent.
"Mr. Gideon, ignore it. I'll block the interference for you," Catherine said as she stepped beside him.
"Hmph. You can block interference—but can you block your own heart?"
The demon's voice echoed through the room.
"Miss Catherine, I'm fine," Gideon said calmly.
His eyes remained completely steady.
Seeing this, Catherine felt reassured and nodded.
Gideon looked back at the demon.
"Throwing out vague accusations and hoping I fill in the blanks myself… Considering you successfully read everyone else earlier, it's actually a clever tactic."
His tone was calm.
The demon fell silent.
It hadn't expected the priest to remain completely unaffected.
Could this man truly be a selfless and upright priest?
Unfortunately for the demon, it hadn't grown up on the other side of the Earth. Otherwise it might have known that this kind of trick was a basic technique used by street fortune-tellers in the East.
Seeing the demon stay silent, Gideon smiled slightly.
"Earlier you used a false target to mislead us. But this time you attacked me directly… Does that mean my actions made you feel threatened?"
The energy surrounding the demon fluctuated slightly.
"You were sealed for so long. After finally regaining freedom in the human world, now you're about to be purified again."
"I almost feel sorry for you."
Nearby, Rossi—who was maintaining the Blood Oath ritual—froze for a moment.
Sorry? He can't possibly be serious… he thought.
Catherine also looked surprised.
Father Gideon's empathy is way too strong. That won't do!
Only Ralph looked at the demon with a pitying expression, silently thinking:
Here it comes… he's starting.
"The Church sympathizes with evil spirits?" the demon laughed mockingly.
"How ridiculous."
"Ridiculous?" Gideon sneered.
"A thousand years ago, you tried to advance your rank, only to be stopped by someone halfway through. In the end you were sealed by the Church."
"And now, even after escaping, the best you can do is torment children."
"Compared to that… yes, you are rather pathetic."
The moment he finished speaking, the demon's evil aura exploded violently.
"You damned beast! How do you know that?!"
The sudden surge nearly caused Rossi to lose control of the ritual. He had to release more blood to stabilize it.
At the same time, he stared at Gideon in shock.
He knows this demon's origin?
Catherine also strengthened her mental defenses, wondering the same thing.
Ralph looked at Gideon in admiration.
How does this kid know all that information? Something similar happened back in the Plague Lands… I really want to learn that trick.
Ironically, Gideon himself was also surprised.
Wait… that actually happened?
In truth, he had simply used the same psychological trick against the demon.
Over the years, he had handled many commissions and encountered numerous demons and dark entities.
Most of them had two goals:
Descending into the human world, or
Harvesting souls to advance their rank
The first option usually required the support of major powers like Satan or the Fallen Angels.
So Gideon guessed the second possibility—and by sheer coincidence, he had guessed correctly.
Now that he had hit the mark, Gideon naturally wouldn't waste the opportunity to destabilize the enemy emotionally.
He snorted coldly.
"I have no interest in explaining anything to a failure."
The demon's state immediately became unstable.
A faint crimson aura appeared around it—the manifestation of anger.
At the same time, the evil energy surrounding its spirit body briefly fell into chaos.
Gideon immediately poured more holy power into the spirit, eliminating its last chance to break free.
Then his eyes suddenly widened in surprise.
When his holy power came into contact with the aura of anger, a small portion merged together, forming a thin chain.
The chain glowed crimson, like flowing blood.
This is—
Gideon raised an eyebrow.
He carefully touched the chain with his holy power—and realized he could actually control it.
Without hesitation, he used the chain to bind the demon's spirit body.
The demon sensed something was wrong and stared at him in shock.
It struggled to break free.
But the chain clung to the spirit body like glue.
The more it struggled, the deeper the chain embedded itself into the spirit.
The demon's hatred for Gideon grew stronger.
Then—
Crack.
The chain suddenly snapped and dissolved into countless particles of spiritual energy.
All of this happened within only a few seconds.
Gideon glanced at the others.
None of the three exorcists seemed to notice anything unusual—they were still focused on the demon's anger.
If I'm not mistaken, that was the Chain of Emotion, the fourth-level sacred art of Soul Manifestation, Gideon thought.
This ability could exploit the deepest obsessions of both humans and evil beings—hatred, love, greed—and transform them into chains that bind enemies using their own emotions.
"But my third-level sacred art, Herald of Sin, isn't fully completed yet…"
Gideon checked his internal progress. The requirement for the next stage still lacked a little completion.
Maybe my words intensified the demon's emotions, and my holy power just happened to guide them… he speculated.
Regardless, Gideon knew he hadn't truly mastered the power yet.
Otherwise the chain wouldn't have broken so quickly.
Still, this brief experience would likely help him avoid many detours when he eventually mastered the technique.
Gideon refocused on the battle.
With his interference, Rossi seized the opportunity and finally forced the spirits completely out of the girls' bodies.
"Mr. Kins, your turn," Rossi said immediately.
Ralph nodded.
He opened his holster and drew a LeMat revolver.
This weapon could switch to a shotgun mode. Although the range was short, its close-range destructive power was tremendous.
Ralph loaded two .42-caliber rounds into the cylinder and stepped in front of the girls.
He aimed the gun at the spirits hovering above their heads and cocked the hammer with his thumb.
At that moment, Ralph's face was completely expressionless—the image of a seasoned demon hunter.
"Wait!"
Catherine suddenly spoke.
She hurried forward, removing her robe and covering the girls' heads.
"A direct shot might injure them. My robe has defensive witchcraft runes—it can absorb close-range impact."
"Sorry… sorry," Ralph said sheepishly, scratching his head.
After the brief interruption, he raised the gun again.
Perhaps realizing escape was impossible, the demon struggled violently.
A massive wave of evil power attempted to break free.
But Gideon and the others would not give it the chance.
Bang!
The gunshot thundered through the room.
Flames erupted onto the spirit body.
The demon screamed in agony.
Gideon observed closely and noticed many tiny particles clinging to the spirit.
These particles possessed the ability to dissolve spiritual energy, slowly devouring the demon.
Those must come from the Alerd family… looks impressive, Gideon thought.
He had never asked about Shadi's family business before, so he didn't know that these Flame-Annihilation Bullets had become highly sought after among southern demon hunters.
The four of them watched the demon's suffering carefully, not relaxing for a moment.
When the last trace of evil aura burned away, Rossi finally sighed in relief.
He gestured outside, signaling the parents that they could come in.
Fielding rushed inside immediately.
When he had seen Ralph aim the gun at his daughter earlier, he had almost lost control.
"Angela! Angela!"
He called softly.
Nearby, Catherine's parents shook their daughter gently.
After a moment, both girls slowly regained consciousness.
"Dad!"
Angela threw herself into her father's arms, and they embraced tightly.
The same warm reunion occurred on the other side.
Ralph wiped down his revolver, smiling faintly.
Rossi and Catherine also smiled.
But when Catherine turned around—
she saw Gideon still standing there, vigilant.
"Mr. Gideon, is something wrong?" Catherine asked curiously.
"This demon… was far too cunning. Could it really be purified so easily?" Gideon said slowly.
"With your restraints, Miss Catherine's mental defense, and Mr. Kins—well, Mr. Ralph's ammunition, the demon had no chance," Rossi replied.
"And I'm confident in my Blood of Oath. There shouldn't be any evil residue left in the girls."
Gideon frowned immediately.
His suspicion came partly from his cautious nature—but also from experience.
The demon had previously demonstrated considerable power.
And every demon Gideon had encountered before possessed special abilities.
Most importantly—
Rossi had just raised another massive death flag.
And sure enough—
In the living room, the girls' eyes suddenly rolled upward.
Their bodies slowly began levitating into the air.
"Angela!"
"Catherine!"
Their parents panicked, trying to pull them down.
"Don't touch them!"
A voice suddenly shouted.
Everyone turned toward the speaker in confusion.
"The evil aura around them is extremely dense. Anyone who touches them will be contaminated," Gideon said grimly.
Fielding looked at his daughter.
Sure enough, dense black bubbles had begun forming across her clothing.
They pulsed and wriggled as if alive.
Then the demon's deep voice echoed again.
"Hmph. You're quite perceptive."
"So you must die."
"You all get out," Gideon said, tossing two crosses to the girls' parents.
Fielding and the others quickly retreated.
"Don't worry. I won't harm these ordinary humans before harvesting your souls," the demon snarled.
"Harvest souls?" Gideon raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know how you revived yourself, but those bubble-like things don't seem capable of sustaining much power."
"Exactly," Rossi added. "You're just burning out your last energy."
The demon laughed coldly.
"Even so… it's enough to kill all of you."
The bubbles on the girls' bodies suddenly multiplied violently, then burst one after another.
Each burst created a gust of wind.
As the explosions multiplied, a violent vortex formed inside the room.
Sofas, wall plaster, televisions—everything was pulled into the whirlwind.
Gideon and the others were forced onto the defensive.
Worse still, the wind carried corrosive energy.
Rossi's blood runes were blown apart.
Catherine's spiritual threads snapped one after another.
The distortion returned to their vision.
"We need to leave—now!" Rossi shouted.
The sudden change had completely exceeded his expectations.
But the demon gave them no chance.
The raging wind drained Rossi and Catherine's power rapidly.
Then—
suddenly, everything went quiet.
Catherine slowly raised her head.
Outside the house, five invisible barriers had appeared.
"This is… Mr. Gideon's formation array," she murmured.
The demonic energy was now trapped entirely within the room.
"You again! Always you!"
The demon snarled in fury.
"I am the God of Storms, the Bringer of Pestilence! How could I lose to a mere mortal?!"
It spoke incoherently, revealing fragments of its origin.
Just as Gideon was about to mock it again—
the evil power exploded once more.
This time the force was so intense that cracks appeared in space itself.
One by one, Gideon's outer barriers shattered.
Until only the final layer remained.
But in the end—
the power still failed to escape.
When the dust settled, Fielding cautiously peeked inside.
Then his eyes widened in horror.
Inside the living room—
the two girls' bodies had already been torn into pieces of flesh.
Three exorcists lay on the ground, their bodies covered in cracks.
And the priest named Gideon… was nowhere to be seen.