At that moment, before Jonathan's eyes, a humanoid spirit was standing next to Laila, trying to open her mouth and enter.
No one else could see it.
At least, that's what Jonathan thought. But Judy was the only other one who could see everything that was happening. When she saw the cursed spirit, she curled up in a corner, brought her hands to her head, and wished she hadn't come here on a whim.
Nelson, seeing his wife like that, was the first to take the initiative and approach Laila to see what was wrong. As an experienced doctor, he skillfully examined Laila's condition.
Henry stepped back toward Judy, never taking his eyes off his teacher.
Jonathan remained calm. In situations like this, he strangely didn't feel anything—he simply thought quickly about what was happening and analyzed the surroundings. Walking alongside the room, he scanned everything within Laila's reach, looking for objects she could use as weapons.
"A broken vase that could be used as a sharp weapon. A fruit knife—potentially dangerous." Jonathan looked over the table and then murmured, "Wooden chopsticks—annoyingly painful."
In just a few moments, while everyone's attention was solely on Laila, Jonathan took a mental snapshot of the scene and located all the objects that could harm people if she ended up being possessed.
Meanwhile, Nelson had also reached a conclusion. "The limbs are showing signs of cramping, and her eyes look lethargic—suggesting a state of significant overstimulation."
After saying that, Nelson turned to Laila's parents and asked in an angry tone, "Hey, what did you give her? I made it clear that you weren't to medicate Laila until a proper diagnosis was made following a full analysis."
That statement offended Laila's parents, as they hadn't given her anything. "Our daughter is in serious condition, and you're accusing us of giving her medicine? You should think before you speak, Nelson."
Nelson suddenly fell silent after hearing his in-laws speak. He knew they had just arrived that morning, so giving Laila any medication didn't seem likely.
That's why Nelson now considered taking Laila to a hospital and treating her himself.
"If you take Laila from here, she won't survive." Just as panic was setting in, Jonathan—who had remained silent until now—spoke.
When everyone realized it was the priest speaking again, they immediately used him as a target for their frustration.
"Hey, this guy's still here. Are you trying to say Laila's possessed by a demon?"
Nelson also looked angry. "Hey, who the hell let you in? Get out of my house!"
At that moment, the spirit had successfully entered Laila's body.
Nelson felt her weight lighten in his arms and realized that Laila had stood up on her own.
"Sweetheart, are you okay?"
The others looked at Laila in anger, thinking she was faking.
But Laila smiled, the corners of her lips stretched unnaturally wide in a bizarre expression.
Everyone present was terrified by her appearance.
"What's going on, Laila?"
Amid everyone's shocked stares, "Laila" grabbed a fork from the table.
Crack!
Seconds later, a cracking sound was followed by a scraping noise. Under everyone's watchful eyes, they saw Laila try to cut her own neck. But luckily for her, the fork she had grabbed was plastic.
Laila—possessed by the cursed spirit—paused under the horrified gazes of the others. She looked at her hand, which had traces of blood, but not enough to end her life.
"Laila, what are you doing?"
Nelson wanted to help, but Laila threw him aside with force, then extended her hand toward the table without even looking down.
In her memory, a fruit knife was within reach at that spot. But the next moment, her hand grasped nothing.
"Looking for this?" A cold, mocking voice came from beside her.
Laila turned her head and saw the priest eating a slice of pie with the fruit knife. "Anything you could've used to end your life is gone."
Jonathan, setting aside the fruit, tossed the knife far away. "So, what will you do now?"
The room fell into brief silence.
Everyone glanced back and forth between Laila and the priest, trying to understand what was happening.
Henry was a little excited—he already had some theories.
Judy looked up to get a better view of what had happened. Even though she was still terrified of that demon, she wanted to see what Jonathan would do.
After a brief calm, "Laila" moved again. She extended her ten fingers and began to strangle herself.
But as a teacher, Laila paid great attention to keeping her nails trimmed for the safety of her students. Even though she wanted to tear open her throat, all she managed were a few scratches.
"Laila, calm down! What are you trying to do?" Nelson tried to stop her upon seeing this.
But in that instant, Jonathan appeared in front of Laila, grabbed her by the collar, and slammed her against the wall.
Crack!
Lifting her into the air, Jonathan looked directly into her eyes, seeing the void beyond the soul, and whispered:
"Oh glorious justice, sublime model of all virtues, pure vessel of God's grace. Here I am, your humble warrior. I beg your loving heart to grant me the power of your might, to expel the evil that has invaded one of your children."
As Jonathan's cold words spread throughout the room, the dark entity inside Laila felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
Argh!
Jonathan threw holy water at her, and Laila's body—now filled with darkness—began to writhe while she clutched the arm holding her. Despite her unnatural strength, the priest's grip on her clothes didn't falter.
"God, our Lord, King of the ages, Almighty and all-powerful, You who created all things and transform all things by Your will alone. You, who turned the flames of the furnace into dew in Babylon—I implore You, grant me the power to win yet another of my battles."
As Jonathan chanted, a massive silhouette emerged from Laila. Though the others couldn't see it, they were stunned to see the priest speaking with such seriousness.
The room began to cool, the paintings on the walls trembled, and the previously clear sky started to darken.
Could it be… is Laila really possessed by a cursed spirit?
Is he really… an exorcist?
Though questions flooded Laila's parents and her husband, they didn't want to believe such a thing.
Nelson clenched his fists in anger. He was a staunch atheist, and seeing Laila in so much pain, he thought the priest was hurting her.
Immediately, he shouted and stepped forward to grab Jonathan's shoulders. The priest was at a critical moment, and the sudden tug caused him to lose concentration for a few seconds.
"What did you do?" Jonathan's eyes locked on Nelson for a few seconds, but then, a powerful force shoved him hard, sending him flying.
Boom!
Jonathan's body crashed into a wall, bursting through it and landing in the kitchen.
As everyone stared in shock at what had just happened, a scream pierced the air, unsettling everyone present.
Instinctively, everyone covered their ears. While trying not to be affected, they realized the scream was a mix of two voices.
One of them belonged to Laila.
The other voice overlapped hers—it was deeper and colder, making people's hearts pound.
Crash!
The sound ceased as all the windows in the house shattered.
Silence. Complete silence.
"What the hell is happening?"
"My daughter is possessed..." Laila's mother, a devout woman, immediately believed the priest's words—he was now in the kitchen, in an uncertain state.
Nelson stood there, stunned, only just beginning to realize he might have done something wrong.
Lying among the rubble and shattered glass, Jonathan turned his head toward where the golden Bible rested and muttered, "I'm charging you extra for this..."
Wasting no time and ignoring the blood dripping from his wounds, Jonathan stood up, grabbed the Bible, and, brushing off the dazed stares around him, focused solely on Laila, who now seemed to be at peace.
"You're very lucky..." Jonathan immediately noticed that Laila had been freed from the cursed spirit—its curse vanished, and the dark entity had left the house.
However, he had made preparations outside the house, so even if the evil spirit escaped, it would pay a heavy price.
Besides, with the barrier he had set, he still had time.
"Let's finish this..." Jonathan helped Laila to her feet, cleaned her wounds with holy water, and they healed at an astonishing rate.
"Priest..." Laila's trembling hands held Jonathan's as she burst into anguished tears.
"You won't see those terrible things anymore. I've expelled them from your body. You've suffered enough."
Laila had retained some awareness during the ordeal and understood what had happened.
Along with the fact that her secrets had been exposed in that moment, all her grievances came flooding back.
Under Jonathan's gentle guidance, Laila finally expressed the deep pain in her heart.
It turned out that as a child, she had let her childhood friend die out of fear—and she had always felt guilty about it. With Jonathan's comfort, Laila broke into sobs, and the knot in her heart, which had lasted more than twenty years, finally unraveled.
Once Jonathan knew Laila was alright, he stood up. He hadn't pursued the evil spirit right away because of the victim.
This cursed spirit could feed on people's inner trauma. If left unchecked, Laila might be cursed again.
Everyone was astonished to see Laila return to normal, her eyes clearing up.
"That was incredible... it was the first time I witnessed an exorcism."
Who is this priest?
"Laila, I'm sorry, I always thought..." Nelson was stunned. The scene he had just witnessed shattered his understanding of the world and left him lost.
At that moment, Jonathan gathered his belongings and approached the two children.
Henry's eyes were full of admiration—he had just witnessed a real exorcist!
Judy was also in awe. Besides her mother, someone else in the world could see monsters like her.
She also envied Jonathan's bravery.
When facing the monster, all she could do was hide and convince herself it wasn't real.
Right then, Judy felt that Jonathan was incredibly kind, as if she had found a kindred spirit.
"Your mission is complete. I still have to chase that thing, so I can't take you home."
Jonathan patted both children gently on the head, grabbed his things, and walked out.
"Wait! I'm coming too!" Henry took a moment to react and then rushed after him.
He wanted to become an exorcist too!
Judy quickly followed.
…
A street corner.
Jonathan closed his eyes and focused. With the traps he had set, he could faintly sense the approximate location of the evil.
In this way, Jonathan chased away the cursed spirits.
The latest one was furious—if it even had a feeling called anger.
Trying to escape the exorcist's grip so it could curse someone else, the dark entity found itself trapped by numerous barriers blocking its path.
Those barriers were too complex to break through. As if fate itself intervened, it encountered barrier after barrier while trying to flee the house.
Seeing the priest was about to catch up, the evil spirit was forced to seek a host in a nearby park.
When Jonathan arrived, he saw a middle-aged Black man sitting on a bench.
"When I was a kid, my parents only cared about my studies… I thought that would change my life, but the work never ended and the debts were too big."
"After I got married, I could only eat my wife's and daughter's leftovers… Why does no one care about how I feel?..." The man was murmuring.
After a while, his body went rigid, and then he stood up in an unnatural way.
The middle-aged man turned toward Jonathan and gave him a strange smile. Then, he pulled a knife from his pocket, and his grin widened.
Jonathan narrowed his eyes—but this time, he pulled out a double-barreled shotgun. It was the famous Purdey Side-by-Side Shotgun from around 1880—a gift from whoever supported him in his exorcist career.
The man was about to commit suicide in front of Jonathan but realized he couldn't move.
"You're a cursed spirit. Strong... with an annoying curse." Jonathan stepped closer, loaded two blank shells into the shotgun, and stood just a few meters from the entity.
"If you hadn't weakened yourself by leaving Laila's body and then been damaged by the barrier, maybe you really would've escaped."
The man's smile froze upon hearing this. He gritted his teeth.
Jonathan continued while stroking the shotgun. "I forgot to mention—I originally planned to bring you to this park, but I didn't expect you to cooperate so nicely."
Fear appeared in the man's eyes, as if he'd just realized something.
"Look closely—do you see anyone around besides that man drowning in his thoughts?"
"No? That's because you're inside a barrier I personally set up in case you escaped the house." With that, Jonathan pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
The blank shells struck the man. They wouldn't kill him, but they would hurt the cursed spirit hiding inside him.
"Arghhh!"
As if a powerful force had ripped it out, the cursed spirit was expelled from the man's body.
Now too weak to resist, the spirit was absorbed into the Bible in Jonathan's hands under his prayers.
Setting the Bible on the ground, Jonathan cut his hand, and his blood formed a seal over a dark drawing representing the grinning spirit.
"You'll stay here until your evil is gone," Jonathan said coldly, closing the Bible.
After completing everything, Jonathan received a message in his mind:
"[Congratulations on completing a high-level exorcism. You've gained 20 general strength points, your soul power has increased, and you've received a consecrated spiritual force sword!]"