"Ahhhhh!!!"
A scream of agony echoed in the distance as a figure clad in armor suddenly slammed into an abandoned car in the middle of the street.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Keep firing! All civilians, stay behind us!" a soldier shouted as he threw several smoke grenades just behind their position.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The heavy-caliber gunfire drew survivors from all the surrounding areas toward the scene. Under normal circumstances, survivors would flee from war zones, but things were different here. As long as they stayed with the people who had come to help them, they might at least have a chance of surviving or even escaping.
"Call for reinforcements! We need more soldiers in this area!"
A soldier ran forward while reloading his weapon. They needed at least two or three magazines to take down a single X-class Demon.
The moment they opened fire, all the nearby Demons swarmed toward them like a massive horde. This forced the soldiers into direct combat with the creatures. However, one thing gave everyone hope and confidence: the Cursed Spirit near the sea hadn't moved.
"The military is fighting! We have to help them!"
"Are you crazy? You'll die!"
"What the hell are they shooting at?"
"That thing in the smoke just moved! It looks huge!"
Once the situation outside the barrier had stabilized, the soldiers launched a frontal assault with the sole purpose of evacuating survivors to a safe zone. If the exorcists who had arrived at the scene confronted the enemy directly, everyone still alive might end up dead.
The soldiers were brave. They fought with their hearts in their throats, but the casualties were numerous, and there was no comparison between their losses and the number of enemies they eliminated. For every Demon they killed, one or two soldiers were wounded. If they tried to take on two Demons at once, one soldier would die and three others would be injured.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Damn you... Don't underestimate humanity! Even if I don't stand a chance, I'll drag you to hell with me!" a soldier screamed while trapped in a Demon's claws, detonating the bomb strapped to his chest.
BOOM!!!
The massive explosion sent debris flying, and the limbs of the Demon killed in the blast were blown to pieces.
Everyone knew how dangerous it was to eliminate these enemies. In fact, they were all prepared to die if necessary.
Some of them—or, in fact, most of them—had inexplicably lost someone they loved. The military recruited them in secret and sent them to special exorcist-agent training bases, where they received their training. Every one of them had willingly agreed to join the human squad tasked with confronting anomalies without fear.
They all understood that, compared to exorcists, their bodies were like paper, and their weapons sometimes did little more than caress their enemies. Nevertheless, they felt compelled to do something, and they fought without regret.
Only by doing so could they contribute, even in some small way, on behalf of all those who had died without receiving medals or being remembered.
"Hang in there, sir! I'll get you somewhere safe!"
Two young men dragged a soldier who had lost his left leg to safety, while the wounded soldier continued firing his weapon.
"Run and leave me here! If you keep moving in that direction, you'll find a group of soldiers! You need to escape and warn them that the Demons are on the move! Hurry!"
"We're not leaving you behind, sir! We're getting out of here together!" the young man shouted with determination as he continued dragging the soldier.
This was the natural consequence of it all...
Humans created dark entities through their negative emotions, only to become their victims themselves, along with the humans controlled by the Demons.
"Everything is perfectly balanced..."
A man with long hair and a cold expression drew a long knife. The divine energy within his body erupted as he stabbed a woolen doll.
"Spirit Contract: Reverse Control!"
BOOM!
It was as if a sword had pierced the foreheads of every Demon within hundreds of meters. Their heads exploded, and the shock wave from the attack shattered all the windows in the vicinity.
"All civilians must leave this area. Things are about to get very bad..." the man said as he continued walking.
A dog at least a meter and a half tall followed him. It looked more like a lion than a dog.
"Excuse me, sir!" a soldier shouted as he sat down on the ground. "Are you with the special division?"
"No one in this world is special, soldier. Good work. Now go home..."
The exorcist known as Jim was the first to make a move. On the other side of the city, Miguel had already made contact with several Demons.
"I have a feeling I might die today. I shouldn't have answered that call... But they let me get my favorite actor's autograph! Hollywood really is my calling... They've even promised me a role in a movie. Can you imagine my road to success?"
Jim, a lover of movies from every country, was excited about eliminating the Demons in this place. He had negotiated a special condition: he wanted to meet five actors and take pictures with them. After that, he wanted to appear in a movie alongside his beloved dog, Bulbubi—a rather peculiar name for a pet.
"I'd hate to die without finding out how far my favorite pirates will go. I also need to eat those noodles in France that I saw in Mission: Impossible..."
Jim was a simple man. He had agreed to eliminate the Demons because he believed it would be just like living the life of a superhero.
"There are only three exorcists in this area, with two more on their way..."
"Spirit Contract: Summoning of the Shadow Dogs!"