At the police headquarters, Michael was slowly, cautiously stepping toward Leslie's spirit."Look, you have to come with me. You must serve the punishment Hell assigned to you," he said, extending his hand toward her.
From a distance, Mercy watched everything unfold. The more she observed, the more wrong it all felt. Something in her insisted that whatever was happening to Leslie's spirit was unjust—and that perhaps the warrant issued from Hell in Leslie's name was the result of some misunderstanding. Trying to stop Michael, she spoke firmly, "Michael, don't you think you should confirm the details with Gandolf once more? Leslie was the one who suffered injustice—so how could she be sent to Hell? I feel like there's some mistake here."
"Mercy, you're forgetting something. If this warrant didn't truly belong to Leslie's spirit, she would've already crossed over to the afterlife by now. The only reason she's still bound to this earth is because she escaped from Hell the moment she found a chance."
But the moment Michael and Mercy's words reached her, Leslie's spirit suddenly burst into rage, growling loudly as terrifying voices echoed from all sides. Watching this, Michael gestured toward Mercy and said, "There—this is Leslie's true nature."
But Mercy still wasn't convinced. She walked toward Leslie's spirit, determined to calm her and uncover the full truth. No matter how ruthless Mercy might normally be, the injustice Leslie had endured stirred a deep sense of sympathy within her.
"Listen, Leslie, you don't have to do all this. I know you're not the spirit that Hell issued the warrant for. So tell me—what have you been doing on earth all this time? Why haven't you crossed over to the afterlife yet?" Mercy asked, settling into a chair in front of her.
Hearing Mercy's words, Leslie halted the storm raging through the underground section. Tears filled her eyes. With her head bowed between her knees, she spoke without looking up, "What will you even do with this truth? You and your partner received a warrant with my name on it, didn't you? Your job is to drag me back to Hell." Her spirit grew quiet after that.
Mercy was stunned. Until now, she had been convinced that the warrant issued in Leslie's name was just a misunderstanding. But the way Leslie responded made it painfully clear—Michael had never been mistaken.
Meanwhile, Claire, Stephanie, and Lily were at home with Sophia, preparing to send Stephanie to the Ghost Bridge.
"Sophia, did you bring everything? I had asked you to get them," Stephanie asked as she double-checked the items.
"Yes, everything written on the list is here," Sophia replied, settling onto the sofa.
"But Sophia, did you bring Harper's scarf—the one she left behind at the headquarters? We'll need it for the ritual," Claire asked, looking at Sophia while lighting four candles to begin the ceremony.
"Yes, Claire, it's in the same bag with the other items. I even brought Harper's handbag—the one she had with her at the time of the accident. But why are these things necessary for the ritual?"Hearing this, Stephanie quietly sat down on the sofa, then explained to Sophia, "Look, whenever we try to contact a spirit, we need something that belonged to the person when they were alive—something they used before their death."
Jumping in, Lily added, "But how do we know Harper's spirit will even appear to us at the Ghost Bridge? We made a mistake—we should've asked Sophia to bring something that belonged to Aaron too, something he used before he died. That way, if Harper's spirit doesn't show up, we could at least contact Aaron's."
Lily's point was valid. Not every death is suspicious or accidental; some are supernatural, and the soul may still be wandering.
"There's truth in what Lily is saying. What if Harper didn't die because of the curse, but we know for sure Aaron did. So we should have something that belonged to him as well," Claire agreed.
"Don't worry. I knew you might ask for something of Aaron's too, so before coming here, I went home and brought his watch—the one his dad gifted him when he turned twelve. It was his favorite, so he always wore it."With that, Sophia took a watch out of her purse and placed it on the table.
Now the Ghost Mentors team had everything they needed to complete the ritual, so Stephanie began.
Meanwhile, in the LAPD underground, Mercy asked Leslie's spirit, "What did you do? Why were you sent to Hell despite suffering so much even when you were alive? And if you really were sent there, why did you escape?"
Hearing this, Leslie's spirit first looked at Michael through her tear-filled eyes, then turned to Mercy and spoke, "The spirit you're talking about—that's not me. And I never showed you any of the things you witnessed. There's another spirit here, and because of her, I'm trapped. I cannot cross over to the afterlife even if I want to. Everything you saw—all those things that happened to me before I died—those happen to me every single day. And it's not anyone else… it's the spirit of the police chief. He died the after some days I did. he's still here, listening to us."
Her words shocked Michael. He immediately stood up and stepped closer to her. "What do you mean the police chief also died after some days?"
Leslie's spirit looked at Michael and said, "Yes. The spirit you came here to capture is not me—it's the police chief. That day, after he had the inmates assault me, he used his wireless to call the backup force downstairs. He told them that while I was supervising the prisoners, I accidentally left the gate open, which made them furious, and they broke out, raped me, and killed me. Then, to stop the prisoners from escaping, he shot them all. But it was a lie. he killed them so that no one could reveal the truth about my death—or his crimes."
Michael couldn't understand any of it. Believing everything a spirit said without question meant making himself an easy target for her—and he knew it. Besides, he had just sealed the entire area with his spell; any spirit trapped inside that zone could neither hide nor lie.
"I don't believe you. If the police chief's spirit were here, my spell would've already forced him to appear in front of us," Michael countered, staring sharply at Leslie's spirit.
Hearing that, Leslie's spirit suddenly began to laugh, and seeing her do that, both Mercy and Michael exchanged confused looks. Then Leslie spoke, "The police chief didn't escape Hell on his own—someone helped him. When hhe was alive, hhe was part of a cult that worships the Dark Lord, the god of death, and they offer human sacrifices to him. So when I died and my body was sent to the hospital, the doctor told him that the baby inside me was still alive. But that monster had the baby delivered and sacrificed it to his Dark Lord. Because of that, she received help even in Hell from someone who was already connected to him."
"What are you even saying? What proof do you have? And how did the police chief die?" Michael asked, irritated and overwhelmed by Leslie's claims.
"A few days after my death, my husband found out about the affair between me and the police chief. My husband was a soldier. One day, when he saw the police chief alone in his house, he couldn't control his anger. He broke into his home, killed him, and hid the body. By then, his true nature had also been exposed, and the police were preparing to arrest her. But before they could, my husband killed him and disposed of his body. So everyone assumed he ran away out of fear of being arrested and his secrets being revealed."As Leslie's spirit said this, she suddenly grabbed Michael's hand.
"What are you doing? Let go of me!" Michael yanked his hand away from her.
But the next moment, Leslie's spirit began screaming and sobbing loudly, as if terrified of something. Then, all at once, it looked as though some invisible force was beating her mercilessly. All of it unfolded right in front of Michael and Mercy, leaving them both in shock as they turned in every direction trying to locate the attacker—yet they couldn't see anyone.
"You said that your spell forces every spirit in this underground area to reveal themselves—then why can't we see the police chief's spirit yet?" Mercy asked, gripping both her blades as she moved into a defensive stance.
Michael was just as confused. The spell had already been cast—so why wasn't it affecting the police chief's spirit? Mercy rushed forward to help Leslie's spirit, but in the very next moment, some powerful force hurled Mercy into the wall.
Michael ran to her at once. "Mercy, are you okay?"
"I'm fine—but Leslie's spirit isn't. We have to help her. Do something—anything—that lets us see the police chief's spirit. I want to tear her soul into so many pieces with my own hands that she never gets reborn, not even as an insect. But be careful—whatever threw me like that is extremely powerful," Mercy said as she pushed herself off the ground.
Now Michael was furious. He rose to his feet, swept both hands through the air, and formed a swirling circle of wind. He closed his eyes, and the next moment, he sent that wind-forged circle expanding across the entire area like a shockwave.The moment he did, he saw it—towering before him stood a horrifying twelve-foot demon, massive and nightmarish in form. The creature was huge, black-red, its iron-like body covered in sharp, oversized spikes and stone-like scales. Deep orange flames burned in its four-eyed face, and enormous black tusks jutted out from its shadowed jaws. Its monstrous claws carried a strength like forged steel, tearing mercilessly at Leslie's spirit, and the huge, spiraling horns on its head looked like they were trying to pierce the sky itself.
For a heartbeat, both Michael and Mercy froze in shock at the sight of the demon. Then Mercy launched herself at it, climbed onto its head, and sliced off one of its horns with her blades. But the moment she did, the demon roared in fury and hurled her violently into the wall again. The impact was brutal, and a pained gasp escaped her lips.
Seeing this, Michael flung a bolt of blue lightning from his hands, blasting the demon far away from Leslie's spirit.
Now only Michael and the monstrous demon faced each other in the field of battle. Mercy's scream still echoed in his ears, and a fire of vengeance ignited in his eyes. He lifted his hands again, and this time blue lightning began to spark from his fingertips. Taking a deep breath, he formed a massive orb of blue energy around himself. It spun faster and faster, slicing through the air with a roaring sound.
But the demon wasn't done. Writhing in pain from its severed horn, it opened its jaws and launched a stream of black-red lava directly at Michael. Michael swept his hand forward, and the orb surged ahead, colliding with the lava mid-air and evaporating it instantly. The impact was so powerful it made the ground quake.
Then the demon lifted its massive tail and swung it at Michael. The air itself split with the force, but Michael darted back with lightning speed, and the tail slammed into the ground, carving a deep crater. Michael gathered all his strength and hurled the energy orb straight at the demon's chest. The blue sphere struck like a storm, erupting in a blinding flash and sending the demon crashing to the ground again. Cracks split across its stone-like scales, and a guttural roar of pain escaped it.
But the demon rose—this time with even greater brutality in its burning eyes. It clawed the ground, summoning a ring of black smoke that surged toward Michael, ready to consume everything. Michael shut his eyes, and when he opened them again, two beams of blue lightning shot from them, slicing through the smoke and racing toward the demon's forehead.
Another violent clash was coming. This battle had only just begun.
With every strike, Michael poured out all his power—but the demon answered each attack with equal might, countering and breaking through Michael's assaults again and again.Then Michael shouted toward Mercy, "Mercy! Take Leslie's spirit and wait for me near the exit of this underground section. Today, I'll show this demon why the world calls Michael the best demon slayer alive!"
Following Michael's words, Mercy held Leslie's soul tightly and moved to stand near the door, because Michael was now about to bring his fight with the police chief's soul—who had turned into a demon—to its final conclusion.
The blue lightning beams shooting from Michael's eyes struck the demon right on its forehead. With a violent flash, sparks burst from the demon's skull, and it roared loudly in pain—its once terrifying voice now loaded with pure agony. The strike was so effective that the demon dropped onto one knee, and black blood began to seep from its black-red body.
Michael knew this was the final chance. He pushed his hands forward, and all the energy present in the air around him rushed into his palms at incredible speed. Because of that gathered power, his hair and clothes began to glow with a blue radiance, and behind him a massive, swirling projection of energy formed.
Gathering his strength, Michael shouted, "This is the end of your demonic power—right here!"
He thrust both hands forward with force, and all the energy within him shot out as a massive, concentrated blue thread—something that could be called the Magic Chain of Binding. The thread stretched longer and faster through the air, moving with lightning speed, and wrapped itself tightly around the wounded demon.
The demon made one last attempt. It raised its claws, jerked its broken tail, and tried to release a burst of black-red lava steam, but Michael's magical chain was far faster.
Krrrssshhhhh!
Within moments, the 12-foot demon was completely bound in Michael's blue lightning chains. The chains wrapped around every limb, every scale, and even its broken horn so tightly that it couldn't move at all. Its fiery orange eyes were now beginning to fade.
Michael pulled the chains toward himself and then turned his palm toward the ground. At his command, a deep, circular hole formed on the floor, glowing with brilliant blue light. This was the "HellPrison".
Michael pushed the struggling demon toward the glowing pit. The demon tried one last time to break free, but the lightning chains tightened even more. With a final agonized cry, the terrifying demon was swallowed into the blue hole.
The moment it disappeared, the hole sealed shut instantly, leaving only a faint blue shimmer behind. The battlefield fell silent. Michael was breathing hard—his powers had drained almost all his energy—but victory still shone clearly in his eyes. He lowered his hands, and the crackling lightning around him faded away.