Chapter 032. Glasya Labolas’s Trial (2)
“O Archangel, commander of the heavenly army, by the power granted to you by God, drive Satan and the other evil spirits who wander throughout this world seeking the ruin of souls back into Hell. Amen!”
“Kieeeeeek!”
Crackle—!
As they moved through the streets, Sia recited the prayer over another possessed person.
Only the demon inside the person was purified, leaving the human body unharmed.
“So they really were possessed…”
“A high-ranking demon can forcibly inject lesser demons into humans. They haven’t been possessed for long either, so there’s no chance they’ve already turned into demons.”
Every possession Mikael and Sia had encountered on their way here had been caused by the demons from inside the mirrors.
With Glasya Labolas directly interfering, demons could possess humans even without making individual contracts with them.
But that wasn’t the only thing that surprised Sia.
“This cross is amazing too. I thought it only amplified Aura, but it can even do something like this!”
“You’re getting excited over nothing. Stop talking nonsense and let’s move on.”
They hadn’t even prepared a formal exorcism ritual.
And yet, with nothing more than the cross in Sia’s hand and a prayer, she could expel the demon.
They had discovered that ability thanks to Mikael, who noticed something unusual when she first recited the prayer over a possessed person.
Crash!
“Kiaaaaak!”
At that moment, a possessed person smashed through a shop window and lunged at Sia with a knife.
“Has this bastard lost his mind?”
Mikael stepped in front of Sia.
He pulled his expandable baton far behind him—
Then swung.
Bam!
Before the knife could reach them, Mikael’s baton slammed into the possessed person’s head.
The attacker collapsed.
Mikael immediately kicked him under the chin while he was down.
“Th-Thank you.”
“Forget that. Purify this one quickly so we can move on.”
“Yes!”
Their exorcisms had been going like this nonstop.
Mikael subdued the possessed people.
Sia purified the demons inside them.
Together, they beat down every demon they came across.
“Amen!”
“Kieeeek!”
After purifying yet another possessed person, Sia bent over and gasped for breath.
“Huff… huff… I’m dying. There are way too many of them! At this rate, the trial is going to end before we even find Yeonhwa!”
They had been running around for so long that the sun was already high in the sky.
Dividing their roles made things faster, but Sia was reaching her limit.
Mikael still couldn’t properly use Aura because of his overload, meaning Sia had to handle all the actual exorcisms by herself.
And now her physical stamina was starting to fail too.
“Yeah. They’re spread out too much.”
If the demons had gathered in one place like they had at the club, they could have saved their energy.
But searching every street for possessed people was simply too much.
“There is one method…”
Mikael was about to explain the solution when he stopped at the shocking scene in front of him.
“Damn it! Hold them back!”
Bam! Bam! Whoosh!
Police officers and possessed civilians were fighting in the middle of the street.
When a possessed person charged forward, one officer smashed him with a baton.
Another possessed person rushed in with a knife.
An officer grabbed his wrist and flipped him over his shoulder.
From a distance, it looked like the trained police were successfully controlling the situation.
“When is the riot squad getting here?!”
“Sir! There are too many of them!”
But the reality was different.
The possessed kept coming like an endless human wave, and even the police were beginning to struggle.
They fired Tasers.
The possessed bodies convulsed—
Then stood right back up and attacked again.
“Hey! Officer Kim! What’s wrong with you?!”
“Senior… help me. They… they say they need blood.”
To make matters worse, some of the police officers themselves became possessed, causing fighting to break out within their own ranks.
“Shouldn’t we be using live ammunition at this point?!”
“……”
A junior officer finally asked his superior.
The superior didn’t answer.
He simply raised his gun toward the sky.
Bang!
“Eek!”
Unable to endure the threat from the armed possessed people any longer, the officer fired a warning shot.
Sia jumped at the sudden gunshot.
But the possessed didn’t even flinch.
They continued rushing toward the police.
“I didn’t think this would grow this serious…”
“Once the completed artwork is released, it’ll become far worse than this.”
Mikael’s expression darkened as he remembered the massacre that had taken place in Florence.
If they delayed much longer, they might fail the trial and have their souls trapped.
They needed to find the demon worshipper before that happened.
And to do so—
Mikael grabbed Sia by the shoulder.
“Braggart. You’ll have to do this.”
“Huh? Me? All of a sudden?”
Sia looked confused.
Mikael spoke firmly.
“Enough. Close your eyes first.”
“M-My eyes?”
She felt uneasy, but Sia obeyed.
She closed her eyes.
Everything went dark.
With her sight gone, she had no choice but to focus entirely on sound.
Mikael began explaining.
“From now on, you need to feel it.”
“Feel what?”
Developing this kind of perception was something every high-level priest eventually had to learn.
After all, sensing demons was one of the basic skills of an exorcist.
“The sensation that lets you distinguish divine power from demonic energy.”
“I can already sense demonic energy a little—”
“Say one more thing and I’ll hit you.”
He really was the kind of person who would actually hit her.
Sia immediately shut her mouth after Mikael’s warning.
Seeing her concentrate, Mikael continued.
“Pour Aura into your senses and expand the range as far as possible.”
“That’s easy for you to say… Fine. I’ll try.”
Sia tightly gripped the cross.
She activated her Aura and began concentrating.
Within the darkness—
The sounds of fighting.
Explosions.
Screams.
One by one, every sound began to disappear.
“Rely on your instincts as much as possible. You should be able to feel both demonic energy and divine power.”
Strangely, only Mikael’s voice refused to disappear.
His words entered her mind clearly, almost as if they were being directly planted into her thoughts.
Hmm… I think I feel something. Or maybe I don’t?
She concentrated harder.
Slowly, something began to appear in her perception.
First—
A small, pure-white flame flickered from Mikael standing beside her.
Is that divine power?
She focused even harder.
Then murky black flames appeared around the possessed people fighting the police.
“Ah! This is… it? Huh?”
But the black flames seemed to be gathering around Sia.
“If you can feel the flames, raise your Aura exactly like that.”
Simply sensing the area around them wouldn’t be enough.
They needed to find a demon worshipper whose location was completely unknown.
That meant expanding the search radius as far as possible.
Since Sia could still use Aura, she was better suited for the task.
It was her first time, so the process felt awkward.
Still, following Mikael’s advice, Sia increased her Aura output.
Drop.
Within the empty world of her senses, it was like a single drop of water falling into a still pond.
A ripple spread outward.
It passed through the nearby buildings like a scanning wave.
Then through the people.
When Sia poured Aura into it—
The range expanded dramatically.
Her perception spread across the entire neighborhood.
