"Did you know...that when one tenth of a million people die, they become... possessed?!" The possessed asked with a grin as four corpses slowly rose up, their faces twisted with possession, and began to advance toward Eddy.
***
Downstairs, Damian stared at the apartment building, worry etched on his face. Who could blame him? All he could hear was the ruckus coming from inside, with no way of knowing if his partner was in danger. Yet, he had complete trust in Eddy and believed his companion would come out alive. He turned to see Maria, still in her initial position, speaking with some police officers. As one of them walked away, Damian strolled over to Maria.
"I know I said this before, but I'm terribly sorry this happened to you. If we had found the possessed before it harmed anyone, maybe you wouldn't be all alone." he said.
"Thank you." Maria replied.
"Anytime. If you need anything, just ask, alright?" Damian added.
"I think you should be more concerned about your friend up there" Maria uttered as she turned her glance up at the apartment where the battle raged on.
Damian, however, chuckled lightly, as though he was uncaring of her statement.
"I'm more worried about the possessed than him."
"You trust him that much?"
"It's not just a matter of trust. The Holy Exorcist guild is basically a clan composed of students, members, elders, and a leader. There are only seven elders, ranked according to their strengths and weaknesses." Damian explained.
"I'm a rank 5 elder, which sounds impressive, but it's nothing compared to him."
"What rank is he?" Maria asked.
"Him? He's rank 3." Damian replied with a contempt grin on his face.
Detective Becker burst out of the apartment, screaming, "Monsters! Monsters!!"
Simultaneously, two possessed beings swiftly broke through a window and free falling to the ground. Their bones began to heal as they slowly rose, observing their surroundings. The police officers around them drew their guns and pointed at the possessed.
"Hands in the air!" An officer screamed, trembling in fear.
The two possessed rushed at the police officers, beginning a massacre despite the barrage of bullets being fired into them.
"Shit," Damian exclaimed.
Inside the apartment, the heads of the two remaining sophomore possessed fell to the ground, followed by their torsos. The intelligent possessed stared at Eddy in amazement. In the blink of an eye, the man it had assumed had lost the battle had somehow defeated two of its kind. Eddy's aura had suddenly changed, making the possessed unsure whether its opponent was still human or had transcended to something greater.
"This... aura." it muttered to itself.
"I have to kill him before he uses whatever ability he just used."
Eddy stood nonchalantly, his cold eyes fixed on the possessed, and his drive as high as ever.
"Come at me."
The possessed observed Eddy carefully, inspecting the exorcist's admirable courageous stance. Regardless of the exorcists confidence, it fails to hesitates and immediately charges in to the exorcist.
"Don't take me too lightly, boy!".
In an instant, Eddy sliced off all it's limbs —both arms and legs as though they were made of butter. The possessed fell to the ground in confusion, it's severed limbs twitching helplessly a few meters away from it.
Eddy's technique was far from ordinary. When activated, it granted him approximately 145 seconds of unparalleled prowess. During this brief period, his strength, skill, stamina, speed, acceleration, and reaction times soared to levels that even the most seasoned elders could never reach. This was the key to his rapid rise through the ranks at such a young age. However, the technique had a severe drawback: once the boost ended, his abilities and efficiency plummeted for the next two to three hours.
Downstairs, the chaos continued as the two possessed rampaged, attacking officers. One of them pounced on an officer, gnawing on his hand while the man screamed in pain. Out of nowhere, Damian appeared, sending the creature flying into a police vehicle with a single powerful kick.
"Get that wound treated now." Damian instructed the officer, who immediately ran towards the ambulance.
The possessed creature peeled itself off the car and began circling Damian like a viper, clicking ominously as it moved. Damian drew his sledgehammer and rested it on his shoulder, a confident smile on his face. His sledgehammer wasn't just any weapon; it was made of pure silver from end to end, with one side flat like a typical hammer and the other end pointed for penetrating enemies.
"That's it... come on, boy... come on." Damian taunted.
The possessed lunged at him, but Damian smashed its head away with a powerful swing. As it struggled to rise, he drove the pointed end of the sledgehammer into its heart, exorcising the possessed in an instant. The possessed's body began to decay, a clear sign of its death.
At that moment, Damian heard a growl from behind him just in time ,and swiftly turned to see the other possessed, riddled with bullet holes. It roared and charged, only to be met with a volley of gunfire from Detective Becker. The creature turned to face her, but before it could attack, Damian smashed its head to the floor with his sledgehammer. He did not halt there however. He struck it repeatedly, each blow heavier than the last until its head was nothing but a bloody mess.
Damian, releasing a sigh of relief, turned to Detective Becker.
"That was... that was—"
"A possessed, yes."
"They actually exist... this defies all the laws of nature. It just isn't right." Detective Becker replied, still in shock from the unfamiliar grim situation he had only survived.
"Treat your wounded." Damian said as he walked into the apartment building.
Inside, the intelligent possessed slowly regained consciousness, realizing it had lost all its limbs and was resting against the wall. It looked up to see Eddy squatting and staring at it. The creature startled, whimpers in fear on sighting Eddy.
"What the fuck! Why am I still alive?!" it demanded.
"That's an odd way to react after I spared your life." Eddy replied as calmly as ever.
"Oh please, an exorcist sparing a possessed? That's basically begging to be excommunicado." the possessed scoffed.
"Correct. I won't spare you, but not out of fear of consequences. I won't spare you because creatures like you don't deserve to live in this world."
"I'll ask you one more time... one last time: why do you harm the innocent?" He added as he rose to his feet, unsheathing his katana.
The possessed looked at Eddy, who stared down at it with icy eyes.
"I won't repeat myself." Eddy added.
The possessed paused for a moment, inspecting the exorcist once more, before bursting into a loud, evil maniacal cackle. Eddy's expression remained unchanged, however, he wasted no time to stab its shoulder, cutting the possessed's banter short.
"You shit!" roared the possessed.
"Sorry, your laugh is quite irritating to my ear. If you wouldn't mind answering the question, I would appreciate it." Eddy added, his tone unwavering.
"Innocents, you say? Ha! They're nothing but inferior beings. I simply put them in their place—"
"Inferior? Because of you, the poor girl downstairs will have to grow up without parents... and it's all your fault." Eddy interrupted.
"Like you all say, I simply performed an evil—"
Eddy, fed up by its reply, immediately slashes the possessed's throat open with a single stroke, halting its speech.
"I've heard enough. Scum like you ruin people's lives and walk around as if it's nothing. Your kind disgusts me."
The possessed's throat however regenerates up once again in an instance, providing it with speech once again.
"Wh... wh... wh... who the hell do you think you are to look down on me?!" the possessed roared.
"Me? Well, I... am... judgment." Eddy declared, slicing its head off its neck with a single swing of his blade, before stabbing it in the heart. He then sheathed his katana and with a soft sigh of relief, exited the room, leaving the lifeless body of the possessed behinds.