Chapter 8: The Sacrificial Ritual
"Hehe, thanks for all your hard work over the years."
Johnny twisted the dagger in his hand.
"For the glory of the Descent, please die."
Gail felt her strength drain away.
She slowly looked down.
An inverted black crucifix was embedded in her left side, just below the ribs.
It radiated a palpable aura of evil.
In the next moment, she lost consciousness.
Johnny shoved Gail aside like a ragdoll.
Thud.
She hit the floor heavily, motionless.
"You killed Ms. Gail! What the hell is the Council trying to do?!"
"Hmph! Don't you get it? These two are cultists!"
"With so many exorcists here, you're digging your own graves!"
...
The crowd immediately rallied, preparing to rush the stage.
But more black-robed figures burst out from the sides of the stage, blocking the exorcists.
Meanwhile, the audience section had descended into chaos.
People fled their seats in terror, crowding toward the exit.
But the doors were sealed. Several people who tried to force their way out were hacked to death on the spot.
With this bloody warning, the crowd froze in place.
Seeing this, Johnny grew even more excited.
He waved his hand.
The five assistants around him immediately drew daggers and plunged them into their own ribs.
Trembling, they carved out their still-beating hearts and placed them on the floor.
Blood began to flow slowly.
Starting from the tips of the V-shapes, the blood connected to form a crimson pentagram.
At the same time, Johnny began chanting an incantation.
The pentagram flared with an ominous red light.
The exorcists were shocked.
The various exorcism artifacts in their hands suddenly flew out of their grasp.
They gathered above the possessed man's head and began to rot and corrode at a visible speed.
"How is this possible?!"
Simultaneously, everyone present felt a suffocating pressure in their chests.
Blood began to seep from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, flying toward the center of the stage.
Lorraine clutched the crucifix on her chest tightly, chanting scripture under her breath. The bleeding stopped for her, but she could barely maintain it.
She looked frantically at her daughter.
If she could barely protect herself, then her daughter must be...
But to her surprise, Judy had simply fainted. There were no other abnormalities.
"What is that?"
Lorraine noticed something around her daughter's neck glowing with a faint, pure white light.
...
On the other side.
Renai lay on the floor, terrified.
She didn't understand what was happening. She saw people around her collapsing in agony, but she was unharmed.
Then Renai felt a warmth on her thigh.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a crucifix glowing with white light.
It was the one she had bought from the Asian priest earlier. Renai realized that this cheap trinket was protecting her.
She looked around and quickly spotted her friend Laura.
Laura had collapsed from blood loss, her face pale as a sheet.
Renai crawled over, grabbed Laura's hand, and pressed it against the crucifix.
...
In a corner of the theater, Dustin was slumped in his chair.
He had lost consciousness, but four beams of white light were shining from his pocket.
...
Seeing the situation under control, Johnny licked his lips, ready to begin the "Descent" ritual.
"Wait."
Saint walked onto the stage. "There is one more exorcism artifact."
Johnny looked confused.
He looked around. The exorcists' hands were empty.
Even the exorcists themselves were now fuel for the ritual.
Saint pointed to the edge of the stage.
There stood a black-robed figure holding an Exorcism Bible.
It belonged to that priest.
Johnny had made his move right after the priest handed it over.
So this artifact hadn't been corrupted yet.
As for its owner, he was currently lying under a chair in the audience.
Saint had checked earlier; blood was flying out of the priest just like everyone else.
Johnny sneered. "That clumsy priest? Heh, Saint, you give him too much credit."
"Details determine success or failure."
Saint was unmoved.
"Many of our predecessors failed at the last moment because they overlooked the details."
Clearly, he had studied the history of their cult extensively.
Although Johnny was dismissive, he admitted it made sense.
It was a simple task anyway, so he ordered the black-robed figure to bring the Bible up.
Meanwhile, under the chair, William was making preparations.
When the medium was decapitated earlier, the crowd in the theater had been paralyzed with fear.
So he had immediately laid down on the floor to minimize attention.
Because William practiced the Holy Doctrine daily and was protected by holy power, the pentagram's draining effect had no impact on him.
Plus, he was loaded with holy artifacts.
So, in reality, he was in the best condition of anyone in the theater.
But to be safe, William lay next to a victim.
He secretly used an amulet to protect the victim while using the victim's excess blood to camouflage himself.
At the same time, thanks to his Demon-Trapping Array, he sensed a powerful evil awakening within the possessed man.
And William had heard Saint's words. So he waited silently for the right moment.
On stage.
The black-robed figure held the Exorcism Bible over the possessed man's head.
He opened the book.
In the next instant, a small bottle fell out from between the hollowed-out pages. It shattered upon impact with the possessed man.
Splash.
The liquid inside poured over the man's head.
The possessed man let out a heart-wrenching shriek.
He rolled on the ground, trying to shake off the water.
But the Holy Water seemed to multiply, flowing not just onto the ground but seeping under his skin.
In mere moments, the man melted into a pile of ash.
"Impossible!!"
Johnny stood frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"It was Holy Water! Damn it!" Saint gritted his teeth, his composure shattered.
This was the vessel they had painstakingly prepared for the Descent, and it was destroyed just like that?
While the two were in shock, the Holy Water on the ground flowed into the pentagram, disrupting the ritual.
The flying blood began to return to the victims' bodies.
People woke up from their stupor. Seeing the entrance unguarded, they scrambled to escape.
Lorraine picked up her daughter and blended into the crowd.
Before leaving, she looked back, hoping to see the figure she suspected, but saw no one.
On stage.
Johnny was at a loss. "Did... did we fail?"
But a low voice sounded from behind him.
"No! The Descent must be completed!"
Johnny shuddered.
He turned his head with difficulty to find a dagger buried in his heart.
The scene felt vaguely familiar.
Behind him, Saint's hair was disheveled, his eyes filled with madness.
Splurt.
A jet of blood sprayed out, followed by a pool of crimson.
"Lord of Darkness and the Netherworld..."
Saint chanted the incantation, using Johnny's blood to continue the ritual.
This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. He had planned this long ago. If anything went wrong, Johnny was the backup plan.
Of course, so was he!
"The Descent must happen. Let me be the vessel!"
Saint held the inverted crucifix, his body beginning to emit a dark aura.
The pentagram began to glow again.
Suddenly, a young voice rang out.
"By the Lord's purity, let evil find no foothold..."
Saint discovered his power was being suppressed!
The ritual stopped again.
He turned his head. It was that damn priest.
"It was you! Who are you? A hidden Bishop from the Vatican?"
But William didn't answer. He just kept chanting exorcism scriptures.
His experience told him that any pause would give evil a chance to breathe.
And if the enemy got a chance, William would lose his life!
Saint threatened, "You are a priest! To stop me, are you willing to sacrifice those ignorant fools?"
He forced his body past its limits, jump-starting the sacrificial ritual again.
"All the exits in this building are locked. They can't escape... WHAT?!!"
Saint stopped mid-sentence, shock written all over his face.
Empowered by the evil force, he could "see" what was happening in the building.
The people in the theater had burst through the doors and escaped!
Weren't those doors locked?!
Was it this priest again?!
Saint's face twisted in fury. Disregarding everything else, he burned his own life force to force the Descent.
Then, it seemed a gateway opened.
A moment later.
A terrifying aura flooded the room.
Death. Heaviness. Cold.
Saint had lost consciousness. His eyes rolled back into his head, and fierce winds whipped around him.
William could feel something entering Saint's body.
And the Exorcism Bible alone could no longer suppress it.
So, he activated the Demon-Trapping Array.
In the next instant, the wind stopped.
Just as William thought he had succeeded, a voice whispered in his ear, seeming to come from a great distance.
"Weak but pure Holy Light. Still as disgusting as ever."
"Son of God, I'll be taking your soul."