Chapter 236: Battle
At those words, the evil spirit's movements clearly faltered for a moment.
Grande turned her head.
When she saw that familiar figure, a powerful sense of security surged through her. Even her tightly wound nerves loosened.
"Gideon!"
She instinctively copied Judy's tone.
Strength returned to her body. She hurriedly stood up and hid behind Gideon.
Seeing this, Gideon sighed helplessly.
"Miss Grande, did it ever occur to you that I might be an illusion fabricated by the evil spirit inside your mind?"
Only then did Grande realize she had never doubted him—not even once.
"Y-you… you…"
Her thoughts fell into chaos. For a moment, she didn't know whether she should run.
"Then… are you?"
She stared at Gideon, biting her lip hard.
"Didn't we agree on a code beforehand?" Gideon shook his head again, deeply concerned about the general lack of vigilance among the new generation.
Grande froze. She vaguely remembered something like that.
After thinking for a moment, she asked tentatively,
"Who is the strongest exorcist on the Pacific West Coast?"
"Ninth Uncle."
"No… that's just a character he played," Grande corrected herself, recalling their earlier conversation.
Gideon nodded.
"Correct code."
Only then did Grande finally relax.
But her expression quickly turned worried again.
"Gideon… can you see it? And the audience too?"
"Leave this to me. Move aside for now."
Gideon handed her a cross.
Over the past few days, in order to draw out the evil spirit, he had deliberately avoided giving her any holy items.
At the same time, he had stayed close to her at all times—ready to act the instant she was in danger.
Grande nodded firmly.
"Be careful."
She retreated to the side of the stage.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
Only then did Gideon look back at the monster.
During his conversation with Grande, the Smile Entity hadn't attacked at all—instead, it had waited patiently.
"You church people can't save her."
The monster spoke—using Grande's voice.
Gideon's eyes narrowed.
The fact that it could communicate meant it possessed a degree of self-awareness.
And it recognized that Gideon came from the Church.
Under those circumstances, the spirit couldn't possibly be ignorant of the Church's methods.
Yet it hadn't attacked earlier—it had waited.
That was strange.
If the entity were overwhelmingly powerful, it wouldn't tolerate such deliberate disregard—assuming it was even capable of feeling humiliation.
If it could ignore verbal provocation and dismissive behavior entirely, then even among evil beings it would qualify as a true arch-villain.
Gideon didn't believe such an existence would dare to walk the human world so openly.
He had dealt with plenty of infernal and fallen-angel entities.
Even beings that powerful had to keep their heads down and operate in the shadows before launching sacrificial rituals.
So he quickly ruled out that possibility.
Which left only one conclusion—
The spirit needed time. It was preparing something.
With that in mind, Gideon spoke again.
"I didn't expect you to be able to talk. Care to tell me where you come from?"
"The Church is still as stupid as ever," the monster sneered.
"Trying to pry a demon's true name from its mouth."
Gideon raised an eyebrow.
"Then that means you've appeared in the mortal world before."
He looked thoughtful.
"Come to think of it, there are similar cases in the Church's exorcism archives."
"Strange smiles. Hallucinations that blur reality…"
"That entity—was it your companion?"
The blood-colored monster snorted.
"That thing was nothing but low-grade trash."
Gideon's eyes narrowed. That answer eliminated one lingering doubt.
"Low-grade?" he pressed.
"So you plan to corrupt the world through curses as well—claiming dominion over humanity?"
The crimson monster drifted upward. Scarlet energy surged around its body.
Below, every audience member slowly raised their head.
"Human," it said,
"Why don't you guess?"
Gideon fell silent.
This entity was far more cunning than anything he had encountered before.
He recalled how, during the investigation, it had constantly concealed its presence.
That alone proved one thing—
If it dared to reveal itself now, it must be confident in something.
Whatever it was planning, Gideon had no intention of waiting any longer.
"You're different from other evil spirits," he said calmly.
"But you should know—this venue has already been prepared."
"Anything you attempt here will fail."
"I know," the crimson monster replied.
"The statues at the ticket gates. The large-scale formation inside the venue. The holy water traps on the stage…"
Its voice was hoarse and hateful.
"This place reeks of sanctified filth!"
"You seem very confident about whatever you're preparing," Gideon said, unfazed by the fact that his setup had been exposed.
"Hmph. You are different from the other church dogs," the monster admitted.
"Whenever I get close to you, I can smell danger."
"To avoid alerting you, I spent a long time hiding—anywhere you were, I stayed several kilometers away."
"If more people in North America had that kind of awareness," Gideon remarked dryly,
"you might've retired already."
He hadn't expected an evil spirit to be this cautious.
"Hmph. But now, you're no longer a threat," the entity said coldly.
"The Smile Curse has already taken root in these humans."
"If you mean these—"
Gideon reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper, bearing a twisted smiling face.
"These can cause some level of psychological interference, yes. But they were confiscated at security checks long before the concert began."
The evil spirit laughed.
"The power of a smile doesn't need to be passed on physically."
As his words fell, every audience member below suddenly raised their phones.
Displayed on every screen—was that same twisted smiling face.
"T-this… I posted that online."
Grande's voice sounded from behind.
She covered her mouth, phone clutched tightly in her hand.
Gideon's figure flashed beside her instantly.
He snatched the phone and glanced at the screen.
It was a chatroom-like interface.
And long before she had gone to Gideon for help, she had already uploaded the image there.
Given her influence, the picture had likely been shared countless times by now.
The situation reversed in an instant.
At the same time, the blood-colored monster's power surged again.
Below, faint white glimmers appeared within the audience.
Vague human silhouettes began to rise from their bodies.
"…Soul separation."
Gideon narrowed his eyes.
"Human, your strength is impressive—but you cannot escape."
Countless fleshy tendrils burst from the crimson monster, latching onto the audience and forcibly tearing their souls free.
Above its head, a massive vortex formed, drawing every soul into its center.
Activating Ethereal Sight, Gideon immediately sensed something ancient within it.
A force that acted directly upon souls—instilling an instinctive urge to merge.
Even Gideon felt dizzy.
Without hesitation, he triggered the holy artifacts embedded throughout the venue and downed a vial of holy water.
But the extraction did not stop.
"Hmph. Stop struggling. This is the power of a high-ranking demon," the monster sneered.
"Even one who has undergone anointing cannot escape."
"Soon… I will fully claim this power."
For the first time, excitement surfaced in the evil spirit's voice.
"…So that's it," Gideon muttered with difficulty.
"You're trying to ascend… your rank."
He had long known—ever since the last few incidents—that evil beings could evolve.
"It's too late to realize now."
The monster intensified the vortex.
The pulling force doubled.
Grande had already collapsed, unconscious—her soul drifting upward.
Seeing this, Gideon reached into his robes and pulled out a brown face mask.
Ever since discovering the clue of soul extraction, he had kept the Cursed Smile Mask on him at all times.
It wasn't just for investigation.
This—was precisely what he had been preparing for.
The moment the evil spirit saw it, panic finally broke through its voice.
"What?! How do you have that?!"
The vortex roared, lifting Gideon into the air.
At the same time, tendrils lashed out again.
But Gideon had already donned the mask.
Pff—pff.
The tendrils pierced his body, drawing blood.
In the next instant, Gideon grabbed them tightly.
"So close to success—and you still started spouting classic villain last words."
His voice was no longer calm. It carried a teasing edge.
"What a stupid evil spirit."
Holy power erupted from his hands, instantly incinerating the tendrils into ash.
At the same time, his soul fully remerged with his body.
The vortex lost its grip on him.
"What did you say?!"
The monster roared in fury, unleashing even more tendrils.
Gideon stood still.
He tilted his head back and inhaled deeply.
"The stench of an evil spirit… an ascending one, at that…"
His breathing grew ragged—his tone disturbingly eager.
"How intoxicating."
The tendrils struck for his vitals.
Only at the final moment did Gideon move.
He twisted through the air like a dancer, evading every attack with effortless grace.
Then—five vials of thirty-year holy water flew from his hands.
Sensing the overwhelming sanctified power, the evil spirit dodged desperately.
Straight into blinding holy light.
A holy statue—pre-arranged.
Sizzle.
The air burned.
The monster screamed and fled another direction—
Where Gideon was already waiting.
With one hand, he flipped open his pack.
A metal spike slid free.
The moment he caught it, divine arrays ignited.
Thud!
The spike slammed into the monster's flesh.
It froze—just for a moment.
That was enough.
Gideon began circling it.
Once.
Twice.
His form blurred into afterimages.
Spikes appeared one by one across the monster's body.
Each radiated immense holy power, completely suppressing its movement.
"Feels good being pinned down, doesn't it?"
Gideon reappeared above it and stomped down hard.
BOOM!
The stage collapsed into a massive crater.
"Hallucinations? Smile curses?"
He stomped again and again, burying the creature's head deep into the ground.
Then he uncorked five more vials of holy water and placed them atop its body.
One twitch—and they would spill.
"The other personality really was a coward," Gideon muttered.
"Such a powerful body—wasted hiding behind tricks."
He closed his eyes, clenching his fists, savoring the exhaustion from holy power depletion.
"…This is exhilarating. Don't you think?"
If anyone who knew Gideon saw him now, they would be terrified.
A twisted smile.
A sacred black robe.
Blood-soaked from head to toe.
This was the cautious priest they knew?
Gideon jumped into the crater and crouched before the battered evil spirit.
Its body was torn and broken—evil aura nearly gone.
He grabbed its grotesque face—and leaned in.
"Hiss… ah…"
He inhaled deeply.
A foul, bloody evil essence filled his lungs.
Though instantly purified by holy power, pleasure crossed his face.
His grip tightened.
For the first time—
Fear appeared in the Smile Entity's eyes.
"Oh—sorry, sorry. Did I scare you?"
Gideon pulled back reluctantly.
"Y-you… monster…" the spirit croaked, desperately trying to retreat.
"Monster?" Gideon touched his cheek.
"I got this item after destroying your companion."
The evil spirit's eyes went wide.
"That thing… was purified by you?"
It was born from an unknowable realm—neither Heaven nor Hell.
From birth, it possessed the power to extract souls.
A power feared even by angels and demons.
And the mask—
Was its only weakness.
An artifact older than its very existence.
Such a thing should never have escaped that realm.
Yet here it was.
"Even if you destroy me… you cannot stop the soul extraction," it rasped.
"Why would I want to?"
The evil spirit froze.
Wasn't that the Church's mission?
But the priest before it stared back with naked hunger.
A chill crawled through its being.
Gideon licked his lips.
"Bloody flesh. A highly autonomous will."
"Your soul must be delicious."
Smile Entity: ???
Why do YOU look like the villain?!
Gideon's breathing quickened, saliva trailing from his lips as he advanced.
"NO—NO!"
The evil spirit felt death approaching.
But it couldn't move.
It could only watch as the priest's hand touched its body.
"NOOOOOOOOO—!!!"
A scream of pure despair echoed through the arena.