Instead of replying right away, Clark carefully sized up Josh and the golden-glowing Holy Grail in his hand, then glanced at Seia. Only then did he ask, looking rather bewildered, "Mr. Josh, what are you doing here?"

"I came to save Dalton."

Josh kept it brief and to the point. "He’s somewhere nearby, but we found you first."

Understanding dawned on Clark, and he shifted his gaze back to Seia.

He didn’t possess a sixth sense as powerful as Elise’s, but as an exorcist, every follower of the faith carried a decent amount of natural talent. He could clearly perceive the sacred aura radiating from Seia, which meant she was a member of the Church.

"May the Lord protect us... I am so sorry, child. My own immaturity has brought you trouble." He made a prayer gesture, tracing a perfect crucifix in front of his chest, and spoke with an apologetic tone.

"It is no trouble at all, but rather the guidance of the Lord."

Seia didn’t accept his guilt, choosing instead to attribute the outcome to God.

Clark’s expression softened considerably at that, though it quickly turned serious again. "How much time has passed on the outside?"

Time and matter worked differently in the Further. Without an anchor point, it was entirely possible for a single day on the outside to equal a whole year here—or vice versa.

"About a day has passed since you entered this place," Josh answered for her, since he kept closer track of it.

"A day, huh..."

Clark let out a small sigh of relief. That matched his own internal clock, meaning not too much time had been lost. He then began to explain what had happened to him during his stay.

As it turned out, he had found Dalton not long after entering the Further. However, on their way back, they were ambushed by an onslaught of malevolent spirits and even demons.

Although he had prepared extensively before entering this realm, his preparations were meant for dealing with ghosts.

As previously established, ordinary spirits couldn’t even best a healthy adult male. Naturally, a prepared Clark hadn’t felt like his gear was lacking.

He just hadn’t expected to run into a demon.

"I exhausted my strength fighting the demon, and my ritual tools were stolen," Clark said with a bitter smile. "Later, completely worn out from fighting wave after wave of spirits, I drew the hunting ghosts away and got separated from Dalton."

"I have barely any strength left." He looked toward Josh. "I’m probably weaker than you right now, and you’re a believer who just recently found faith."

Josh only caught the name Dalton, so he pressed anxiously, "Where was he when you two got separated?"

"Asking ’where’ has no meaning in this world," Seia answered softly in Clark’s stead. "Even if we returned to the exact spot from before, it wouldn’t necessarily look the same as it did then."

Though he had drawn the danger away to save the boy, questioning a man of faith about where he had abandoned someone in need was still a form of torture.

Clark threw Seia a grateful look.

Josh was aware of the warped nature of the space—it had been mentioned more than once, after all—but he truly didn’t have a firm grasp on the concept.

Fortunately, Seia’s voice possessed a sort of magic that seemed to soothe anxiety. The frantic Josh calmed down, realizing that panicking wouldn’t do any good.

"That demon is still waiting. It’s waiting for Dalton’s body to grow weak," Clark stated. "We still have a chance before that happens!"

"Then let’s move together." Having already dealt with several spirits, Josh had clearly gained a good amount of confidence. Ghosts were no longer terrifying, unknown entities in his eyes; they were just damn roadblocks.

"Right!" Clark nodded. Though his holy power was running on empty, he was still a physically robust exorcist. Even without his sacred energy, his combat ability far exceeded that of an ordinary person.

"Oh, right, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet."

Just as they were about to set off, Clark realized that he and Seia hadn’t properly met. "I am Clark Fouque. You can just call me Clark."

"Seia Yurizono. You can just call me Seia."

"Yurizono? No... Yurizono...?"

Clark blinked, a touch of surprise registering in his eyes as he looked at Seia. That wasn’t the naming convention of their region. Still, foreign languages were a foundational requirement for exorcists, so he could pick up on its meaning.

But before he could ponder any further, Josh’s urgent call echoed from a short distance away.

Snapping back into a state of high alert, the trio continued forward.

They quickly finished exploring the first-floor corridors, but they didn’t find much. Their only choice was to head to the second floor.

Compared to the first floor, the environment on the second floor was noticeably better. The decay that had been everywhere completely vanished, replaced by an eerie cleanliness that felt entirely out of place in a haunted realm.

Josh led the way with the Holy Grail in hand. Though Clark was curious about the artifact, he didn’t press for answers. That was until they walked into a kitchen, and he watched with his own eyes as Josh used the base of the Holy Grail to bash a spirit’s head to a bloody pulp.

"Holy shit..."

The eye-popping scene played out right in front of him, leaving Clark nearly choking on his own breath.

He couldn’t help but look at Seia. After all, she was clearly the one who had brought this thing out. But seeing how she didn’t show any reaction whatsoever, he could only swallow his shock and process the horror on his own.

The second floor clearly had far more spirits than the first. The ghosts that had been relatively rare downstairs seemed to occupy almost every single room up here, and their numbers were multiplying.

While this kept Josh and Clark frantically busy, it also gave them a vague inkling about the second floor: they were very likely closing in on their target.

Holding onto that hope and anticipation, the two accelerated their pace.

Keeping up with them wasn’t much of a chore for Seia.

After all, the path she needed to walk was much shorter than theirs; she only needed to stand at the doorways and wait for the two men to go in and clear out the spirits.

Clark had been a bit puzzled by this at first. But after hearing about how Seia had previously fired a gun to draw a massive horde of spirits into an ambush, he nodded in understanding.

Then again, Seia really didn’t look like someone built for direct, front-line combat. It wasn’t uncommon for exorcists—many of whom started out as nuns or pastors—to rely on powerful holy energy paired with various ritual tools and sacred relics to fight.

Driven by their hurried pace, the three soon arrived before a red door.

This door was deeply familiar to both Josh and Seia. After all, it was the very same red door drawn on the paper taped to Dalton’s desk.

Clark recognized it instantly too, as this was the exact spot where he had saved Dalton before.

This red door was undoubtedly the absolute heart of the demon’s domain.

Clark was about to voice a warning, but Josh moved faster.

The familiar sound of crying echoed from behind the door. There was no way Josh could remain indifferent. Without a second thought, he shoved the door open and burst inside.

At the exact same moment, his eyes locked onto a dense, black mass of malevolent spirits.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

A pale female spirit, dressed in a white gown like a noblewoman, suddenly tore her mouth wide open.

With a twisted, hideous expression, she pointed right at them, unleashing a piercing shriek that made their skin crawl.

There were too many enemies to fight head-on.

Josh and Clark made the split-second judgment instantly.

But Dalton was right inside...

If they left now, the warped nature of the space meant it could take several times longer to find Dalton again.

Inside the red door, a pitch-black demon with a face painted entirely blood-red stood on the second floor, looking down coldly at the situation.

He had noticed Seia and Josh the moment they stepped into the manor. Now presented with the opportunity to wipe all three of them out in one fell swoop, he wasn’t about to miss it.

While Josh was still paralyzed by hesitation, Clark grabbed his arm and yanked him backward. "We’ll have plenty of chances!"

As long as they stayed alive, they could keep searching. There was no point in throwing their lives away here; a temporary retreat was the best course of action.

Josh understood the logic. If something happened to him, it would only plunge Dalton into an even worse predicament, and that would be the ultimate disaster.

But as the two turned to flee, they realized the red-faced demon who had just been on the second floor was already standing right behind them.

Bang!

Before either man could react, a gunshot blasted right next to their ears, followed instantly by a second and a third.

The holy silver bullets tore into the red-faced demon like a blade slicing through modeling clay. Every shot shattered the demon’s form, yet a moment later, the fiend would quickly knit back together.

However, the attack was far from useless. The red-faced demon could feel a piercing pain throbbing at the impact sites, gradually spreading throughout his entire body.

This unprecedented agony fueled his rage. With a booming roar, the spirits inside the red door surged forward, charging frantically toward the trio.

Simultaneously, the red-faced demon lunged forward, clawing directly toward Seia.

"Oh no!"

Clark hadn’t expected to get pinched in a pincer attack like this. But his reflexes were sharp; he took a swift step forward to block the red door, while shouting at Josh behind him, "Give me a hand here!"

Josh had been left somewhat bewildered by the chaotic sight and his own internal struggle, but hearing the call, he instinctively lunged to Clark’s side. Together, they threw their weight against the red door.

A massive, crushing force pushed back from the other side. Without a moment’s hesitation, Clark gripped the replicated Holy Grail in Josh’s hand, instantly sensing the staggering amount of holy power contained within the artifact.

No wonder Josh could effortlessly smash spirits to pieces with it. The sheer purity of this sacred energy alone was enough to keep evil entities at bay. Connecting the dots with the surname Yurizono, this holy power within the grail must have been stored in advance by that girl.

With time running out, Clark didn’t have the luxury to ask for permission.

He immediately tapped into the holy power of the grail to reinforce his body, locking his legs down like a mountain to hold the door shut.

But that was all he could manage. Furthermore, drawing such a massive amount of energy left him uncertain as to how long the grail’s power would last.

Both men instinctively looked back. When it came down to it, the real threat was the demon. Everything now rested on Seia.

Peep peep! A glowing, plump little bird rammed into the approaching red-faced demon, forcing it back. Seizing the opening, Seia reloaded and pumped several more rounds into the monster. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Struck again, the red-faced demon let out a thunderous roar, its movements becoming blindingly fast.

Clark instinctively braced his mind. Roars were a tool demons used to shatter human willpower; it was exactly how he had slipped up and lost his ritual tools in his previous battle.

Yet this time, he realized he wasn’t affected in the slightest.

Feeling the warmth radiating more clearly from the grail, he wondered—was it because of this artifact? Did it keep human consciousness sharp and unclouded?

Seeing the creature attempt to close in on her human, the plump little bird chirped furiously and charged once more. But the same trick wasn’t going to work twice on the red-faced demon.

Disregarding the searing, burn-like pain in its hand, the demon swatted the bird, slamming it violently into the floor. Without breaking stride, its claw lashed out at Seia.

Barely finishing her reload, the petite blonde figure ducked low to evade the swipe. The muzzle of her gun rose, aiming dead-center at the demon’s jaw, only for the red-faced demon’s other hand to violently smack her weapon aside.

The whiz of a bullet grazing past its ear and the scorched mark left by holy energy on its cheek made the red-faced demon wary, but it only served to ignite its vicious nature further.

The hallway was incredibly narrow, and the two men holding the red door were just a short distance behind her. Seia couldn’t retreat.

With a contorted face, the red-faced demon threw another punch, but it caught nothing but a stray lock of hair as Seia dodged.

Expecting her to stay put, the demon didn’t anticipate Seia using the momentum of her dodge to plant her foot against the wall, vaulting herself into the air. The heel of her shoe traced a clean half-circle arc through the air, slamming brutally into the demon’s temple.

Demons had no concept of pressure points, but this strike, heavily coated in holy energy, still left the red-faced demon severely dazed and disoriented.

"Nice hit!" Josh couldn’t help but cheer.

Before the red-faced demon could recover, Seia landed gracefully and raised her arm. Holy silver bullets erupted from the muzzle flash, tearing straight into its head.

One shot, two shots. The moment the creature tried to reform, the next bullet followed immediately, shattering its body once again.

The strength of a demon was far beyond anything a common spirit could muster, but there was a hierarchy among demons as well.

Compared to Valak, the red-faced demon was clearly an obscure, low-ranking entity. Although it was far more resilient than those ghosts, it had finally reached its breaking point.

"Holy..."

Clark stared at the scene in absolute disbelief.

As an exorcist—and one who had personally fought this very demon—he knew exactly how powerful the creature was, especially here in the non-material realm where its full strength could be unleashed.

Even if this demon didn’t rank high in the grand scheme of things, under normal circumstances, it would take at least two highly skilled exorcists working together to have any hope of defeating it.

To see such a formidable demon suppressed so effortlessly... Just who on earth was this girl?

Josh obviously lacked the background knowledge to fully grasp this. He knew a demon was stronger than a ghost, but he didn’t understand the specifics. In his eyes, a regular ghost took a shot or two to kill, whereas this demon was still standing after taking so many bullets—that alone was proof of its power.

Clark, however, knew better. The biggest reason the blonde girl was handling this so easily wasn’t just her overwhelming holy power or her powerful artifacts.

More than anything, it was her iron willpower, which hadn’t been compromised by the demon even a fraction during the fight.

In the heat of battle, the brain processes information at breakneck speeds. Panic, fear, anger—all of these were vulnerabilities a demon could seize upon to manipulate an exorcist. Yet the girl in front of him seemed completely immune to such emotions.

She... was truly terrifyingly strong.

For Seia, however, the battle was yielding to boredom. Even on his home turf where he could exert his full power, the red-faced demon couldn’t put any pressure on her.

Forget comparing him to Valak—who had been draped in debuffs while confined to a monastery surrounded by crosses, flooded with holy water, and bombarded with daily prayers—this red-faced demon couldn’t even match up to Valak’s familiars.

Still, a quick and easy resolution was always a welcome outcome.

--+--

T/N: If you want advance Chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL