With determination in his eyes, Daniel reached deep within his mindscape, where a mysterious card materialized before him—the 'Disassembling' card. Focusing his mind on it, he willed the magical energy to flow through him. A surge of power enveloped him, and he directed it towards the confining walls of the confession booth. Slowly, the steel shutter began to vibrate, responding to the mysterious force channeled through Daniel.
Outside, the priest's initial triumph turned to horror as the once impenetrable booth started to tremble and creak. With every passing second, the steel components seemed to lose their integrity, defying the laws of reality. Piece by piece, the booth disassembled itself, the steel fragments levitating in the air before neatly rearranging into an orderly formation beside Daniel. The priest and the other heretics stood frozen in shock, disbelief etched across their faces.
As the confession booth transformed before their eyes, they realized the magnitude of Daniel's power. It was an unparalleled feat, shattering their perception of reality. The Vatican blessed steel, once seen as invincible, now yielded to Daniel's command.
Within moments, the booth had been dismantled entirely, leaving Daniel standing unbound amid the scattered pieces. The priest who had initially trapped him trembled with fear, realizing the grave mistake he had made. His allies, too, were paralyzed with astonishment, unsure of how to confront this overwhelming force.
"You see, Father," Daniel's voice was calm yet commanding, "I have no desire for conflict. I came here seeking answers, and I suggest you provide them truthfully if you wish to avoid further... demonstrations of my abilities."
The recording in Daniel's glasses was still working, and he changed the assist mode to check the other priests surrounding him. To his surprise, they all exhibited signs of mana within their bodies, no different from the first priest. If it weren't for the extreme hostility the priest had displayed when threatened with exposure to Christopher, Daniel might have questioned whether only members of the Secret Exterminator Unit could use faith power.
"What are you saying!? This is the sacred ground of God! We never lie, and you've come to the wrong place!!" The priest still didn't yield and decided to put on a brave front.
"Never lie? Fine, let's say I believe you. So, that's why I need to call someone to witness what you're saying. And since the highest-ranking person in the Vatican I know is Grand Paladin Christopher, let's call him." Daniel said with a teasing smile, but the threat was palpable without any display of coldness or hostility.
He brought out his cellphone, ready to call Christopher. Curiosity gnawed at him. He wondered how Christopher would react if he learned that these priests used mana as an energy source instead of faith power. Would they face severe consequences after Christopher's wrath had been unleashed? It was an intriguing prospect.
"Please! No! Don't! I'll tell you—I'll tell you where he is! I'll tell you where Lucian Blackscar is!!" The priest relented, begging Daniel to stop. Daniel observed the pallor on the priests' faces and their body language, all indicating genuine fear that he might reveal their secret to Christopher.
"Okay, Father, let's hear it." Daniel said with a smile that held no threat or hostility, but to the priests, it appeared as sinister as a devil's grin.
"Lucian is hiding in…. Ugrghh…" The priest was about to answer, but before the words could escape his mouth, black blood suddenly seeped out, and his attempts to resist were futile as the mana within his body thwarted his speech.
"Arrggh Arraaaaaaaarrggg!" The priest screamed in agony as his body started to grow larger and larger. His clothing tore into pieces, revealing a blood-drenched demonic circle engraved on his body. All the other priests began undergoing the same horrifying transformation, succumbing to the dark power within them.
The eerie atmosphere in the church intensified as the demonic circle on the priest's chest glowed with an ominous aura. The moment he attempted to disclose Lucian's whereabouts, an invisible force seemed to grip his throat, preventing any words from escaping. Panic filled the priest's eyes as black blood oozed from his mouth, staining his once pristine garments.
A dreadful transformation began to unfold before Daniel's eyes. The priest convulsed and thrashed in pain, his body growing grotesquely larger with each passing moment. His clothes were shredded to tatters as a sinister, blood-red demonic circle emerged from beneath the torn fabric, etched into his now monstrous form. The other priests in the vicinity suffered a similar fate, their bodies twisting and contorting, becoming hideous and nightmarish creatures.
Their minds were overwhelmed by chaos and destruction, the darkness within the demonic circle consuming their sanity. The once devout and serene priests were now nothing more than savage beings, driven solely by their base instincts for malevolence and ruin.
The very air in the church seemed to vibrate with terror as the transformed priests let out guttural and twisted cries of agony. The once hallowed ground was now tainted with a malevolent presence that sent shivers down the spines of any who bore witness to the horrifying spectacle.
With a mix of surprise and exasperation, Daniel watched the horrifying scene unfold before him. "First vampires and now demons!? Great... Just great..." he muttered to himself with a sigh, reaching into the Universal Pocket hidden within his suit to retrieve a large-caliber handgun.
As the nightmarish transformation of the first priest unfolded, the other priests who rushed to aid their comrade met the same gruesome fate. One by one, they convulsed and writhed in excruciating pain, their bodies growing grotesquely larger until they stood as towering, four-meter-tall red demons. Sinewy muscles upon muscles bulged under their crimson skin, emanating an aura of raw, unholy power.
Their once serene and devout countenances were now twisted into snarling, demonic visages. Fiery eyes glowed with malevolence, and their mouths gaped open, revealing rows of razor-sharp fangs dripping with blackened saliva. They exuded an unbridled bloodlust, their very presence suffusing the church with an oppressive aura of darkness.
The transformed priests unleashed guttural roars that echoed through the desecrated sanctuary, sending tremors through the hallowed ground. Witnessing this horrifying spectacle, the few remaining bystanders who had sought refuge in the church were frozen in terror, their hearts pounding in their chests.
Without waiting for the demons to attack, Daniel swiftly aimed his gun and fired at the demon in front of him.
Bang!
A silver bullet, heavily infused with holy elements, pierced the demon's skull, sending it stumbling backward. Fiery blood spewed from its foul head as it roared in agonizing pain. The bullet ravaged its brain, intensifying the suffering, causing the demon to convulse on the ground while howling in torment as if afflicted by a venomous poison. The once fiery blood vessels now blackened as the fire subsided, but the demon's life force continued to shine brightly.
Before the other demon could strike, Daniel leaped out of harm's way, leaving behind only a trap on the floor. Unaware of the impending danger, the foolish demon pounced and triggered the trap.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion resounded as the trap released its deadly payload: silver nails heavily blessed for extreme lethality against the foul creatures. The nails tore through the demon's body, but Daniel's preparation went even further this time. After analyzing data from his last encounter with a vampire, he had specially designed these nails for a more devastating effect.
The blessed nail not only pierced the demon but also targeted its fiery blood vessels, making its way toward the heart like a fish swimming upstream. The demon writhed in unimaginable pain, its body engulfed in holy flames as the nail burned through its blood vessels, crippling its combat capabilities.
"Send in the cavalry; this is no longer a dispute between us and the Vatican," Daniel ordered through the communication device embedded within his glasses.
Booom! Boooom!
The echoing crashes filled the church as two assault pods descended through the roof. One of them precisely landed on a demon's head, crushing both the skull and body in a gory explosion. Fiery red blood and innards splattered across the floor, turning the once-holy church into a hellish landscape with hellfire seeping from the ground.
As the assault pod's door blasted open, three Atlantean Vanguards emerged, clad in hulking red power armor. One wielded melee weapons, such as a shield and sword, engaging nearby demons in combat. The others, equipped with ranged weapons, shot with precision, ensuring the demons' heads were blasted open to prevent their regenerative abilities from taking effect.
The demonic hearts, the main source of energy and life force for the demons, were mercilessly destroyed by the relentless onslaught of these warriors in their heavy-duty power armor, designed to go toe-to-toe with foes many times stronger than a normal human.
Daniel joined his soldiers in the fight, rushing towards one of the demons and emptying his gun's clip into its head. The combined might of Daniel and the Atlantean Vanguards made quick work of the demonic horde.
Within a mere 10 minutes, all the demons lay dead, their foul corpses scattered amidst the ruins of the church. Fortunately, Maria and the support team had already placed magic arrays to prevent normal people from witnessing such an otherworldly and terrifying scene.
After everything had been settled, Daniel walked out of the remnants of the church, if one could even still call it that. Outside, he encountered two strangers – a disheveled man wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt with long hair and stubble, his dark eyes showing signs of sleep deprivation, and a beautiful woman dressed in a green one-piece outfit. They both seemed as though they had just returned from a vacation. It was none other than Gregor and Amy, who had the duty of observing Daniel and reporting to Envy.
The man was glaring at him as if he had killed his parents.
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