Inside the exorcism room

  An Angel guard came in with a phone and brought it close to Zun’s left ear.

  “Zun, Zun are you there?” A familiar voice called out softly but unsurely.

  A wave of emotion quickly hit Zun at all the soft spots she reserved in her heart and her pride. “Mom, yes I am here.” She let out an awkward laugh, “Mom, how are you?”

  “Oh goodness, I am so worried about you. I haven't heard anything from you since yesterday and have been calling you this whole time! You didn’t even answer!” She paused for a while as she noticed her rising voice might caught Zun off guard. “Then I called the organisation and they said you were wounded in a recent mission and currently undergoing treatment.”

  Right, of course they won’t tell her the truth.

  “Oh.., that, yeah, yeah, it’s not like that. I…I mean it’s just a few scratches. Not a big deal.” She smirked and continued, “But guess what mom, I defeated a demon in my mission!! Hahahaha! It is my first success!!”

  “Look at you, getting excited over this kind of thing. Your safety comes first, okay? ” Despite her concern, Lily gave a cheerful laugh.

  Zun got more excited. “Mom you don’t know, if you see me right at that moment you will know how badass I look!! Really!”

  Lily laughed, “But, I am more worried about your wounds, silly girl.”

  This warmed her heart and Zun smiled faintly, “Thanks.”

  “You are as energetic as ever. It seems like your father is taking care of you.”

  Zun’s face turned pale upon the mention of that old man. This careless remark struck and she began to shiver in response to try and shake off the disgust that slowly but sharply seeped into her ears.

  “Remember to thank him properly. Don’t show him bad faces, okay? He must be really proud of you!” The spring of energy was obvious from Lily’s tone as she tried to impress Zun with a glorified image of Koi that seemed to be painted out of imagination.“You know, I need to go through all these layers of calls just to reach you! He is being really protective.”

  A chilling silence followed afterward. Still, Lily pressed on, “He surely just wants you to have some rest. You need to listen to him sometime.”

  There was no sign of an attempt to reply from Zun. She completely lost her voice and struggled to even understand why Lily called her at this point.

  The guard looked at her impatiently, “Hey! Are you deaf? If you don’t want to talk just say so, I can’t waste my time here!”

  “Shut up and just hold the speaker!!” Zun hissed back with a voice pressed through clenched teeth and startled the lazy guard, who found himself immediately submitting to her command to his own surprise. “Mom” She tried to retrace their conversation, in fear that she would disappoint her. “Where are we just now? Oh right, I know, I know, I am taking care of myself. I am really taking care of myself. I know how to be strong.”

  This nervous repetition didn’t amuse Lily. She responded, “I shouldn’t have called you this time, mom is too insensitive. Catch up with your sleep—”

  Suddenly a group of men came in with Koi leading the troop and Roger behind him. Koi grabbed the phone and turned it off without a second thought, and told the guard off. “Shut the door.”

  The room started boiling with muted tension charging between them. Zun slowly looked up at Koi and gave him an ugly smile, showing her clenched teeth and sweaty face. The guilt was written all over her face.

  “What’s wrong with you?” She asked rigidly.

  Koi smug and looked at the angry Roger who leaned forward and threw the ball of hairs tied inside a plastic bag at Zun.

  “You shit brat! You think you can do me dirty! Bite off my hair with your disgusting teeth to cast black magic on me!!! Too bad your little trick has run out of luck!”

  “Stop spraying your saliva at me!!!” Zun shouted back equally loud.

  “I think I don’t need to explain anything. I trust that you are not that much of a fool to not understand what kind of situation you are in.” Koi walked around Zun rather calmly, further charging the tension. “But I might forgive you if you answer my question.” He stopped right behind Zun. From the reflection of the mirror, she could see his glare eying her. “Tell me, were you able to get anything from the clown before you killed him?”

  Zun laughed rudely. “What are you talking about? I. Don’t. Know. Nonsense!”

  “Are you still going to lie?” Roger tested.

  “What kind of black magic could fool a mighty Master like you! How would I dare?! Can’t you see I’m tied up, or are you just blind, cow head?!!!”

  Koi hit her hard across the face and tightened his sleeves. “Prepare the site! Master Roger, stay aside and watch. This time I shall deliver the punishment personally.”

  Fear knocked on Zun’s heart. Usually a Captain would only orchestrate a ritual on behalf of the master if the Captain wanted to be fully in charge and guarantee success. The Angels started to walk in a circle around Zun. Some dropped sand along their pathway while their adjacent partners dropped holy water. All of them recited a spell that stirred the substances until the sand turned white and spread across the floor to create a Yang symbol. Then, in a sleight of hand, they lit up candles taken out from their sleeves and used their spell to turn the flame a deep green glow. These lights were placed at different points of the Yang circle as they danced around.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  This is the Blind Heaven ritual which can leave a permanent void inside the victim’s energetic core. It is used only on victims who are hell bound. Why is he doing this to her? Is he purposely doing this to shut her energetic core and prevent her from using spells ever again? Roger thought to himself and felt uneasy at the thought of this cruel punishment.

  The Angels nodded between themselves and took out rats from their magical sleeves and burned the creatures on the green flame until only black ashes remained. These ashes were dispersed across the floor and formed the Ying symbol.

  Shivers ran through Zun’s spine as her eyes jumped from one place to another. The Angels began to recite different spells, which seemed to merge in tune in Zun’s ears and rang like an iron bell. Koi took out his holy sword and motioned the tip across different candles and performed a ritual dance.

  “Stop it! Stop it! You lied!! This is fake, I wasn’t possessed at all! You are just lying to refill your drained energy, I’m not doing this!! I AM NOT! I won’t allow you to suck my energy!!” Her pathetic cry thundered across the room yet her face was almost pale white, like she was dying.

  Roger was shocked and looked at Koi, but Koi didn’t stop at all. He motioned his index and middle fingers together and lifted the green flame and ran it down his sword until it burned bright as if alive. He recited a spell in tongue-twisting speed as he continued to perform the ritual dance. The room visibly darkened. The flame rose higher, almost touching the roof of the room. In the mirror reflection, Zun couldn’t even see her own face anymore.

  “Stop it! I’m not possessed!” She kept roaring those few words breathlessly like a mad woman and aggressively tried to pull her tied hands, although they were already strained and bruised.

  Koi approached her and positioned the tip of his sword in front of Zun’s third eye, causing her to shriek and finally admit everything.

  “I did it! I did it! I will tell you everything, I will tell you everything the clown said!!” Zun violently motioned her head away from the sword, seeing that Koi remained unhinged in the same posture. “I am not lying this time! Yes, I did the black magic, I killed the clown!”

  Koi relaxed his hand a bit.

  “I will tell you everything and you will stop this ritual. Please, Koi, please, please.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Roger cleared his throat and asked, “Explain how you cast that black magic!”

  “I swallowed your hair and drew a cursed symbol with my blood. Then I uttered an ancient spell which allows me to force my presence on your mind.”

  “What?! Then why was that hair inside my gut?”

  “The hair formed an energy that tied us together. As the energy transferred my consciousness, the hair was also transferred into your own stomach.” She talked quickly, almost mumbling.

  “Damned you! How do you even know such dirty magic?!!!”

  “Is that even important? Of course, I tried my best to study!!!”

  A wave of disgust clouded Roger’s face. He looked across at Koi, who was quietly waiting with no response. Zun quickly continued her sentence and told him everything about King Cobra and his plan to target children.

  “Damned! King Cobra, the cannibal demon.” Roger clicked his tongue in disbelief. “This is the demon, who holds a top record in the organisation’s target list. He has been known to kill people including children from one town to another for over 300 years.”

  300 years? Seems like he has been on a rampage, searching for the immortal soul for this long. Zun thought to herself.

  “Tin’s case is going to be really complicated.” Roger remarked.

  “Please include me in the case, I…I want to help.” Zun pleaded, but just as she was about to get excited, Koi clapped his hands.

  “Is that it?” Koi smug and looked at the team.

  An ominous feeling sunk into Zun’s stomach. “...yeah.” Her reply came almost like a whisper.

  “Prepare the site. Zun, after this, just leaves this organisation and disappears somewhere. You are too pathetic to give in to your temptation for black magic.” But more than that, from his bitter tone, there was a sense of deep humiliation or a hint of jealousy, perhaps because of his inability to get any information from the clown while his daughter succeeded.

  “What do you mean? You said you…will…stop this ritual?” Zun said it slowly, unable to comprehend what was happening.

  “Sometimes to get the information you have to lie, no? Isn’t that what you did to the clown too?”

  The reality slowly hit Zun. The room suddenly dimmed and the only thing that shone in Zun’s eyes was the glowing sword. She wailed in pain as the holy light pierced into her third eyes and formed a line of light cracking energetically through her body.

  “NO! I won’t open my energy portal! I WON’T.” Tears welled down in that very moment and she heard the cry of that man, urging her not to give in.

  “Lie! Everything is a lie! You cannot give in. They will suck your energy dry, they will violate your soul!”

  Koi persisted but to his surprise, blood started leaking through the energetic crack that traced across her skin. “Blood?! How can it be? Why is there blood? Only those who have demonic energy would leak blood.” Koi could hear Roger’s astonished voice followed by Zun’s scream that sounded as if it was torn out of her lungs. For a split second, Zun saw that man drenched in blood in front of her.

  “This is not a good experience, this is not. It will tear your soul apart. Stop it!! Stop it right now!!!” That man yelled at her.

  Suddenly the light from the sword dimmed. Koi and all the Angels were speechless. In a split second, the green candles light turned red and released ashy smoke.

  Zun broke the chains with an unexplainable strength, leaving many scar lines across her body. She broke the pole and hit Koi, breaking his sword, but he jumped back in time to dodge the swinging pole. The Angels acted coherently and tried to restrain her using chains, but she broke free from the chains and hit them back at full speed, fatally wounding many Angels, including Roger, before he could even activate his spell. Koi dashed across the room and used his whip to wrap around her arm and restrain her movement. Zun tried to pull back, but he quickly threw holy coins at her, which exploded upon hitting her shoulders.

  Zun screamed in pain and jumped back as she tore the whip with her demonic claws. Koi noticed she was weak against his attack and attempted to engage further, but she climbed the wall like a wild beast and made haste to escape, leaving a huge hole in the ceiling. Everything happened so fast in the dim light, and nobody could really tell what exactly had happened, but after Zun escaped, the whole room was exposed by the hash sunlight invading through the large crack on the roof.

  Koi finally saw Roger bleeding heavily. His finger motioned as he slowly drifted in silence and let death take his last breath. Some Angels were also either wounded or killed.

  That girl is hosting a demon inside her.

  Suddenly Chan and his group rushed in. His eyes ran across the dead bodies and spotted Roger’s motionless corpse. “Help them!” He ordered the exorcists and rushed to Koi. “Captain!! What happened?!”

  “Zun ran away in the middle of the ritual.”

  “You mean she caused this?!!”

  Koi was in no mood to answer question. “Chan, I didn’t get any energy from her.” His expression darkened. “Clear this up and take Roger’s body before it gets cold. There is no choice now.”

  Chan’s face turned pale white as he looked at Roger, feeling a sense of complicated dismay and sympathy for the man.