The possessed materializes a sheathed katana out of thin air, identical to Eddy's weapon, and assumes a waki stance. With a series of clicks, it charges at Eddy. The thrilling part was in less than a second, it closes the wide distance between them and swiftly draws its
katana, swinging it at Eddy. Eddy, reacting just in time, blocks the slash with his own katana and instinctively leaps away.
"What the hell? l just killed that beast. I'm sure I hit the heart." he mutters, recalling as he had sliced the possessed's too bits a moment ago.
"And that blade... it formed out of thin air and copied my attack." he thinks, his mind racing.
"I knew it was going to be strong, but not this strong."
Eddy's thoughts, misfortunately for him, are cut short as the possessed vanishes from his sight, leaving him dazzled at its incomprehensible speed.
In an instance, it reappears behind him, again assuming a waki stance. However, before Eddy could react to its movements, it executes a slash once more which it successfully lands on Eddy, right then, everything goes dark.
When Eddy regains his senses, and there he sees his chest, which had been sliced open by the possessed.
"...I've been...hit?..." he thinks, collapsing to the ground as blood oozes from his wound. The possessed returns to its original stance, and its katana fading away. It casually turns away, and walks off, leaving a dying Eddy alone.
***
Meanwhile, Damian continues exploring the mansion, entering various rooms. As he steps into a study, he notices a bottle of whiskey and approaches it. He picks up the bottle, marveling at its rich, harmonizing color, wondering how it would taste. The study, like the other rooms, is well-furnished. At the center of the room is a wooden table and a rolling chair, which is turned to face the window behind the desk.
"How bad could taking a sip be?" Damian thinks.
There's no sign of any possessed creatures, and it's been a while since he had a good drink.
"Even if drinking on the job is reckless... a sip wouldn't really hur-"
The rolling chair spins around, revealing Jeremy's possessed form.
"Jeremy!" Damian's reflexes kick in, and he swings his sledgehammer, smashing the possessed through a wall.
"Bad timing, but at least I got it
with that swing. That should give me enough of an opening to-"
Jeremy's possessed form bursts back into the room, forming a sledgehammer almost identical to Damian's. It swings the weapon at Damian, sending him flying through a wall into the hallway.
"Was that... my attack?" Damian
wonders as he scrambles to his feet. The possessed relentlessly swings the pointed end at Damian, who narrowly dodges the attack.
"Goddamnit. It's persistent." he mutters. The creature's reckless swings eventually leave an opening, and Damian seizes the opportunity.
Charging his sledgehammer with enough rinn to destroy an entire building, he delivers a devastating blow, obliterating the torso of the possessed. The lifeless remains fall to the ground.
Damian rests his sledgehammer on his shoulder and wipes the blood from his chin with his knuckle, as he catches his breath.
"There can only be one sledgehammer god. Remember that in your next life, you cheap
copycat." Damian declared with a proud smirk spreading across his face.
His moment of triumph was abruptly interrupted as he noticed something extraordinary-something he had never witnessed in his nine years of service as an exorcist. The beast's entire torso had been obliterated by his sledgehammer, which should have destroyed its heart, the core of a possessed's soul. Yet, right before his eyes, the possessed began to rise, its ruptured organs and tissues regenerating at an alarming rate.
"Impossible. I've slain it twice now, and it keeps getting up. This must mean it has some kind of reinforced soul that prevents it from being destroyed by mere attacks." he thought, his mind racing to make sense of the situation.
"Yes, that's the only reasonable explanation...although it's also somehow mimicking my movement patterns and battle skills." he mused further.
This was a possessed unlike any he had
encountered before. Despite the lethal attacks he had launched, it still stood, unyielding.
Nevertheless, Damian was resolute in proving that he wasn't the 5th elder in the exorcist guild without reason.
Charging his entire body with rinn, he prepared to attack the possessed, which has already fully healed by this time.
"Possessed are incapable of controlling the rinn that flows through their souls. In rare cases, they can manipulate a small amount of rinn to create techniques." he explained, addressing the beast.
"Your technique is more about equality than copying. You can only fight your opponent with their own techniques or tools, hence the sledgehammer in your hand."
"Nevertheless, I will fulfill my duties as an exorcist right here and now and slay you. Let's find out who the best swinger really is." he challenged, swinging his sledgehammer. The possessed dodged Damian's swing and
countered with a blow that sent him flying to the edge of the hallway. Damian immediately charged his fist with rinn as the possessed advanced with its sledgehammer. It swung at Damian three times, each swing narrowly missing as Damian dodged and then countered with a series of rinn-charged punches. A powerful knee strike to its jaw sent the possessed staggering back. Damian laughed, taunting the creature.
"I hope you've still got some fight left in you, because I know I do." He immediately raised his rinn-charged sledgehammer into the air and slammed it on the floor with all his might, shattering the entire hallway floor. Both he and the possessed, along with debris from the destroyed floor, plummeted to the ground floor.
As the possessed attempted to land on its feet, Damian, now charged with rinn energy, dropkicked it into the next room. The creature crashed through the wall, however, it immediately rolled, and stood up, only to be met with a crushing blow from Damian's sledgehammer, which shattered its limbs.
"On your feet... devil." Damian commanded, his voice cold and unyielding. He stood ready, his sledgehammer poised for the next strike, determined to finish the fight once and for all.