A group of cars slowly left the city, turned onto the lonely road, and drove at maximum speed. In the back seat, Anton called his father, who was currently in Spain.
"A powerful dark entity that we haven't sent back to hell? That demon sounds like something I heard from a priest's account some time ago. It was said that the demon wanted to open the gates of hell and summon over thirty legions of demons to torment humans."
Anton furrowed his brow upon hearing that and said, "I will use an ancient relic to seal the demon. Do I have your authorization?"
"Do it if you find it. You have capable exorcists with you, so do what is most convenient."
After ending the call, Anton looked at the information about the demon and found that someone had restrained the demon long ago, but for some reason, there were no concise records about it.
"Did he request an ancient relic because he thinks he knows about the existence of a powerful demon?" Thomas, sitting in the front seat, asked with a bit more confidence in Anton.
"It's probably a demon that has been wandering the world since ancient times, with the sole purpose of opening the gates of hell," Anton said, looking at the empty road and sensing that the atmosphere was beginning to change. He couldn't help but laugh.
Not long after leaving the community, Anton felt a strange but familiar sensation. Anton took some yellowed pages and inscribed runic symbols to later place them on the recently acquired cursed objects.
"Do they bring top-notch equipment?" Anton looked at the men in the cars behind him and asked because he didn't know what weaponry they had.
"We have top-notch equipment. We can face whatever comes our way with what we have," said Terry, who was driving and had joined Anton after the events in South Korea.
Anton nodded in approval, but after a few minutes, due to fatigue, sleep began to slowly overtake him.
"What do you hope to achieve as a priest?"
He couldn't answer that question because Anton himself didn't know what he could achieve as a priest. His main goal in becoming one was to cleanse his sins from the past, earn a place in heaven, and prevail for the rest of eternity. He supposed, at that moment, that it would be the dream of anyone in his situation.
Who wouldn't want to secure a place in heaven by achieving a certain goal? In any case, when Anton woke up in this new life, he began to immerse himself more and more in the supernatural. He stepped into the darkness and embraced it, gradually becoming someone completely different until he became what he was now.
From then on, every day turned gray as Anton had to eliminate the darkness that filled this world without stopping.
Now he was heading to the Abbey, where he discovered the story of the young Frenchman. He wanted to gather data and, if possible, seal that rift from hell through the medium.
"You're not going to make it."
Anton tried to wake up from the strange dream he was having, realizing that what brought him to this world was actually the devil, and everything he believed was distorted in such a way that everything he fought for collapsed.
Rage awoke within Anton, who was still half asleep, and just when he was about to get serious, the van he was traveling in suddenly stopped, causing the other two vehicles following closely behind to almost collide.
"What's happening?" Anton opened his eyes, fully composed.
"A woman has blocked our way, sir. What should we do?" Terry looked at the elderly woman, and the people by her side pulled the triggers on their rifles as if they were ready to face whatever came.
Anton took a deep breath, opened the van's door, and when he got out, numerous agents dressed in special suits also got out.
"Ma'am, may I know why you're blocking the road?" Anton walked to the front of the car, looking at the woman standing in front.
"There's no road beyond this point. Where exactly do you want to go?" The woman looked at Anton with disdain.
Anton smiled faintly and said, "We're going to the abbey. It should be down this road, so we'll keep going no matter what we encounter."
"Are you a priest?" The woman looked at the purple cross on Anton's chest and the scar on his face, and for a moment, she had a vision of him fighting a huge two-winged monster that seemed invincible.
Anton nodded and said, "I'm a bishop. I have a feeling that evil wasn't completely eliminated in the abbey ahead, so I've come to check."
"Do you have time? Maybe I know some things that can help you." The woman walked back to an old cabin behind some trees.
Anton signaled with his hands, and the vans advanced a few more meters before stopping. "May I know your name?"
"Irene..." The elderly woman briefly responded as she entered the cabin.
Anton followed without saying a word, and when he saw the house in this desolate place, he knew Irene lived completely alone.
"Now that you've come to this place, you must know what you're up against." Irene took out an old book that seemed to contain black magic.
Anton, who took the book, looked at a name on the cover and murmured, "Valac..."