Of course, I could have ordered Dante to fight him.
Even if Dante couldn't kill the Exorcist, he could easily defend me.
The third form of Dante—the only version this 'man' could see—was dangerous enough that approaching me would come at a cost.
But I didn't give Dante any command.
There were three steps to exorcising this domain.
The first step was gathering information.
The second step was surviving the hammers.
The third step was different.
It was more dangerous than the first two combined.
To begin the third step, the one performing the ritual had to be placed in mortal danger while continuing the exorcism.
This was to enact the past.
'I did a good job showing goodwill,' I thought as I continued the dance.
'Well, even if he wasn't here to kill me, I would've had to time this with the hammer's impact.'
The temple beneath my feet began to tremble.
Small vibrations ran through the stone floor, rattling the ritual tools I had laid out earlier.
