Chapter 5

“As usual?” Anne's serious voice resounded strangely inside my head as a sign showing that she was focused on the mission.

I squinted at the blurred figure struggling to get free from my fiery cage, and then I nodded silently before gearing up for rushing at the cage. “Of course.”

“Now, start to cast out this ugly devil.”

Exorcism, or getting rid of devils, was one of our frequent works. Everyone has the risk of being possessed by a devil, even us, and when compared to our other dangerous tasks, they're just as simple as an accident. Let's do some rudimentary calculations.

RSA, our agency, had a gigantic network connecting all the souled entities in the world and they had to receive five thousand cases per day, at least. Individually to the Vietnam branch, that number must be about dozens of cases a day, and according to my workload, I had to deal with them about three times a week.

Hence, it was quite hard for me to be shocked at someone haunted in this manner.

I pointed at the large cage created with red flames burning fiercely. And in a moment, the flames in front of me slowly separated into a slot as it was torn apart. The devil that was insanely looking for a way to escape from the cage, immediately took notice of that slot when it came into view.

It rushed out of the cage as fast as the flash, with its four limbs gliding over the ground and the malicious claws going straight ahead of me. It used Phuong Chi's charming face to grin fearfully with the mouth full of sharp teeth and whispered only two words, “devil raiser...”

I didn't resist as well as dodge the devil, just calmly saw it shooting to my front.

When its claws almost touched my body, a sudden flame ignited in the air.

I heard the shrieking voice soared over the air as it would tear the space apart. “Aaaaaagrh…”

Starting with the clawed hands, the flames clung on its skin and then gradually spreaded upward as there was an oil stain. The flames became the blazes, burned fast to the extent that the devil couldn't extinguish in time, hastily covered its body and engulfed it in flames.

The fire I used then was still the corrosive one. Its effects were weaker since there was no fiery cage to maintain the pressure, but like its siblings, it was inextinguishable.

Therefore, the devil briskly became crazy because of the fire's annoyance. Its body was abruptly wrapped by a strange blue-grey blast and some flames were extinguished. Nevertheless, fire and wind were originally harmonious, then if some flames were smothered, others flared up again by the wind itself, not the impact from me.

The devil made more and more strong winds but it was still useless. Phuong Chi's originally round and bright eyes were quickly dyed bloodshot. Its carmine color covered all her eyes, became the real blood drops rolling out her pale cheeks, and the devil's angry scream converted into the shriek through the sky.

“Screeech!!!”

One of the crucial rules in exorcism was decreasing the devil's attention to the victim and turning it to the devil raisers themselves. If not, it was likely that the devil would focus on usurping and corroding the victim's vitality to increase its power.

The longer the devil possessed Phuong Chi, the more dangerous she would be. Her ration, vitality, and even her lifespan were all negatively affected. It would be harder for me to cast out this devil. And even if I had successfully exorcised it from her by force, I couldn't have made sure if the victim had a sequela.

But attracting the attention of the devil was not enough. It noticed you while still negatively affecting the victim, their souls could be corroded in some ways that you didn't see. You have to protect the soul first – of course, nobody was willing to see just a cold body left after being exorcised. Hence, before killing the devil, it must be weakened.

How about letting it run out of steam?

A strong whirlwind appeared strangely. Everything suddenly darkened as the space was solidified by a scary black color. All of my senses were covered by the whirlwind's cold. The wind howled fiercely in my ears and its power seemed to strike me anytime.

My visibility was down to zero, I couldn't even see any luminescent points on the devil's body as well as the burning ground.

I understood that the devil had already started increasing its power usage.

A howling wind abruptly hit my nose with the burning smell, and even though I couldn't see anything, I instinctively face upwards and then jump back in a moment.

A thumping sound resounded right at the place that I had just stood one second ago. The next was a strong force thrusting at me with the whiff sound, while I wasn't able to feel anything. The aim was my neck, which was suddenly chilled to the bone.

After my instinctive dodge, the devil recognized my defect: unable to see in the dark. That sounded bad, I admitted. What's worse, this one was smart, if compared to any other devils that I had met before. The devil knew that it was necessary to exterminate any rivals it felt dangerous, as well as take advantage of their defects to kill them. Then it decided to kill me with just one focused attack, and I guessed that my neck bones were very likely to be kicked away - as what it wanted.

But this devil forgot one thing, which we call “haste makes waste”.

“Anne, go.”

And as you saw, my cutie Anne had excellent all-round visibility in the dark, dear.

My left hand suddenly raised forward without control. And in a second, an abrupt force struck my hands as heavily as lead. A thumping sound filled the air, my feet slid backward uncontrollably and I could feel nothing but serious pain and numbness in my hand.