[Chapter 309: It's Better Destroyed!]
Valak panicked.
The two-headed Dragon writhed uneasily, emitting low hisses.
It couldn't sense the Abyss's response anymore.
The umbilical cord connecting it to Hell had been severed.
"Where's the darkness? Where's my power?" Valak's childlike form trembled as it stared fixedly at the golden giant before it. "This is impossible! How can this be? How can a mortal possess such great power to sever cause and effect? No! How can you be so strong?"
Daniel looked down from above, his gaze cold and detached, like observing a corpse.
"Ignorant worm."
Before he even finished speaking, Daniel took a step forward.
Space folded.
His massive body instantly filled Valak's vision.
Daniel raised his right hand.
Violet lightning coiled around his giant palm, and golden light flowed over it.
There were no extra movements; just a casual slap, delivered directly.
"Rumble!"
The night sky trembled.
Above the house, a golden giant palm phantom dozens of feet wide materialized out of thin air. The palm lines were clearly visible, crackling with surging lightning plasma inside each line.
With a roar, the palm pressed down, intent on crushing everything beneath it.
"Escape!"
Valak shrieked, transforming into black smoke and frantically bolting to the left.
But barely fifty feet away, it looked up -- and the giant palm was still directly above its head.
It turned back and burrowed into the ground.
It was useless.
The palm followed like a shadow, sealing off every spatial direction.
The sky seemed to collapse.
"No--!"
Valak watched in despair as the golden great hand completely enveloped it.
"Boom!"
The palm landed.
The old wooden house, worn down by a hundred years of storms, was as fragile as a paper toy beneath the strike.
Beams snapped; walls shattered; floors exploded.
All the wood, bricks, and furniture turned to dust the moment they touched the palm.
Terrifying power pierced through the floors, straight into the earth.
The ground trembled violently, like an 8.0 magnitude earthquake.
Smoke and dust erupted into the sky, forming a massive mushroom cloud.
After a long while, the smoke and dust dispersed.
More than half of the original Hodgson family home had vanished.
Only the corner where Ed and the others were, protected by the Ward, stood isolated amid the ruins like an island on a cliff.
Where the house once stood, the ground was deeply concave.
Leaving behind a giant handprint several meters deep, the palm lines still clearly visible.
Inside the handprint, scorched earth smoked, residual lightning flickering within the soil and rocks, sizzling softly.
As for Valak?
Not even a trace of black energy remained.
It had been completely obliterated by that single strike.
In Daniel's mind, the System's clear notification sounded.
[Ding! Killed an A-rank Demon God Projection, gained 100,000,000 merit points.]
[Ding! Killed an A-rank Demon God Projection, gained Nine Sacred Invocations: Might.]
In the sky, before the scattered black energy disappeared completely, the last resentful voice echoed above the ruins:
"Daniel! We won't let you get away with this!"
The voice was shrill but grew fainter and fainter until it finally died out.
Above the ruins, deadly silence reigned. Only faint crackling from residual electric arcs in the scorched earth broke the stillness.
Ed and Lorraine knelt in the corner of the Ward, staring blankly at the massive pit before them, then up at the golden giant who seemed to have stepped out of myth.
Both were utterly stunned.
They'd been exorcists for decades, facing countless spirits and demons. They thought they understood the supernatural. But today, a single palm strike shattered their worldview.
Such power wasn't mortal exorcising in God's name. It was a direct judgment, obliterating with overwhelming might.
The aura that erupted stirred a deep tremor in their souls.
It was the raw, instinctive urge to submit lower life forms feel before something infinitely greater.
Lorraine even felt, in that moment, she truly saw the wrath of God.
In the center of the Ward, Daniel frowned slightly.
"A projection?"
He silently repeated the word.
He had unleashed his full power -- Rite of Divine Empowerment, Seven Lamps of Dominion Rite, and for the first time, the 'Guard' Incantation from the Nine Sacred Invocations.
All his trump cards were on the table, causing this huge upheaval.
Yet what he'd killed was only a projection of Valak?
Though he'd earned 100 million merit points and the 'Might' Incantation as rewards, the implication made Daniel wary.
If a projection was A-rank, what level was the real Valak in Hell? S-rank? Or higher?
"Ram Cult..."
A cold glint flashed in Daniel's eyes.
This feud was now sealed tight, but the enemy was more powerful than he imagined.
As Valak's projection dissipated, the spatial seal crumbled with it.
"Whoosh--"
A night breeze stirred.
The thick darkness around them quickly dissipated like a receding tide.
Streetlights outside once again illuminated the dilapidated house.
In the distance, dogs barked and cars passed.
Reality returned.
Daniel took a deep breath. With a thought, the golden light on his body slowly receded, flowing into his skin like liquid.
Crackling~
Bones contracted audibly.
The towering nine-feet giant shrank visibly as suffocating pressure retreated like a tide.
Seconds later, Daniel was back to his original form.
He stood naked at the edge of the ruins, calm and collected.
With a wave of his hand, a brand-new suit appeared in his grasp.
He unhurriedly dressed, buttoning his jacket and adjusting his collar.
Only then did the crushing sense of overwhelming worship dissolve completely.
He reverted to the handsome, stern young man.
...
"It's over."
Daniel turned to the people in the corner.
"Ah... oh!"
Peggy stirred as if waking from a bad dream.
She glanced at the huge handprint pit, then down at her safe and sound children in her arms.
Relief flooded her face.
She scrambled forward but stopped a few feet from Daniel, afraid to get closer.
She dropped to her knees.
"Thank you! Thank you, Great Master! Thank you for saving my family!"
Peggy was incoherent, tears and snot streaming down her face.
The four children behind her also knelt, and Janet looked at Daniel, eyes shining with hope.
Daniel glanced around. "The house is destroyed. I'm sorry."
Half the house had collapsed; load-bearing walls shattered. It was clearly unlivable.
"No! No!"
Peggy shook her head vigorously, pointing at the deep pit, her teeth clenched.
"It's better destroyed! It's only clean when destroyed! I haven't wanted to live in this haunted place for a long time! As long as the children are safe, I'd even sleep on the streets!"
Daniel nodded.
At that moment, Ed and Lorraine approached, supporting each other.
Their legs were still weak.
When they reached Daniel, Ed bowed deeply.
"Mr. Cross..." His voice was hoarse but filled with respect. "I take back what I said before. In this world, aside from God, you are the most... incredible being I have ever seen. Thank you for breaking that prophecy."
Lorraine looked at Daniel, her eyes complex. "The death scene in that prophecy has disappeared. Mr. Cross, you not only saved Ed, but you saved me too."
Daniel looked at them and said quietly, "Since I've taken the money, this is what I should do."
He looked up at the sky.
"Let's deal with the aftermath. The police should be arriving soon."
*****
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