As soon as the words left his mouth, sothing strange flickered through Lynn's eyes.
"You really are a cold and heartless priest," she said quietly.
"And you," Gideon replied, deliberately stressing a single word, "are the most emotional nun I've ever t."
With that, he turned and walked toward the exit.
"Your story is moving," he added flatly, "but unfortunately, it didn't move ."
Lynn's cheeks burned.
Watching her last chance slip away, she blurted out, "Do you want a saint's relic?"
Gideon stopped.
He turned back and raised three fingers.
"You have three sentences."
A saint's relic referred to the remains left behind by high-ranking clergy after death.
Such bones were saturated with pure holy power. They could repel evil, and more importantly, they were priceless materials for advanced theological cultivation.
Take Skeletal Manifestation as an example.
When a cleric reaches the third-tier holy art Bone Resonance, they must establish a connection with another set of bones.
Compared to ordinary remains, saintly relics were naturally compatible with clerics, making subsequent cultivation far more powerful.
Although Gideon was still in an earlier stage, he had to prepare for future advancent.
Outwardly, however, he remained indifferent.
From the mont they t, this nun had tried seduction, then emotional manipulation. In his eyes, she had already exhausted her credibility.
If she couldn't offer sothing real, he had no intention of wasting more ti.
Sensing his resolve, Lynn finally dropped all theatrics and spoke plainly.
"When I obtained my sigil, I ca into contact with a coven of witches. They seed to be searching for a 'Supre Witch.'"
"They ntioned a location where witches once fought alongside the Church to repel a great evil. Many clerics died there—and a saint's relic remains at that site."
"Judging by the residual holy power, that cleric was Skeletal-Manifested, and in life had cultivated up to the Spirit Bridge stage."
Gideon's eyebrow rose slightly.
Spirit Bridge was the fifth stage of theological cultivation. Reaching it required at least three sigils—otherwise, sustaining the holy power consumption would be impossible.
That implied sothing else as well.
The cleric in question likely possessed Sacred Bone Marrow.
This was a high-tier skeletal holy art, one Gideon had only seen briefly ntioned in ancient Church texts.
Legend said Sacred Bone Marrow could bear the sins of others—and transfer them elsewhere.
That already touched the domain of rules.
Gideon felt temptation stir—but outwardly, he rely frowned.
"That's it?"
Lynn knew she was at the brink. If she held back now, he would leave.
After fumbling briefly, she pulled out a small object and handed it to him.
"This… is a sample the witches retrieved. I thought it might be valuable, so I… kept a piece."
It was a single bone fragnt.
Gideon ignored her expression and accepted it.
"The residual holy power should be enough to prove its authenticity," Lynn added quickly.
Clearly, she had studied it herself.
Gideon nodded. He could indeed feel extrely pure holy energy within it.
But through Sacred Sight, he noticed sothing else.
This bone had not cultivated advanced skeletal holy arts.
Or rather—
His gaze sharpened.
Inside the bone, he saw faint black chains.
If he wasn't mistaken, these represented the Sin of Selfishness.
And those chains were being restrained—by sothing.
He focused carefully.
Gold.
"…Sacred Bone Marrow," Gideon thought, startled.
Only such a substance could bind sin itself.
He lifted his head. Lynn was watching him closely.
Judging by her expression, she hadn't noticed the abnormality inside the bone.
Gideon remained outwardly calm, pretending to continue his inspection.
Had Psychological Counseling not advanced earlier, he might never have noticed this.
But now it was clear—
The owner of this bone fragnt had been a cleric of extrely high theological rank.
"It seems this trip is unavoidable," Gideon concluded inwardly.
His decision was made.
He looked at Lynn and said, "This can indeed be considered a saint's relic. Very well—I'll accompany you on this trip."
As he spoke, Gideon put the bone away.
"I'll keep this for you for now. Once the commission is finished, you can tell where the rest of the saint's remains are."
Lynn froze. Her outstretched hand hung awkwardly in midair.
When did I ever say I was giving this to you?! she raged inwardly.
But at this point, it was impossible to ask for it back. She could only stew in silence.
Gideon smiled faintly. "In that case, let's talk about the rest once we're outside. I'd rather not be misunderstood."
Lynn was speechless.
This priest had threatened her, torn at her clothes—yet sohow she was the one who felt cornered.
Before Gideon even reached the front desk, hurried footsteps sounded from outside.
He soon spotted Judy and Flora.
The two of them were pretending to study the shelves, as if they'd only just noticed him.
Seeing Gideon relaxed while Lynn trailed behind looking dispirited, Flora couldn't help but smile inwardly.
Looks like Sister Lynn didn't gain the upper hand after all.
"Father Gideon," Flora stepped forward, "have you finished your discussion?"
Gideon nodded. "Sister Lynn's commission report—could you help retrieve it?"
Since he had decided to take the job, he needed to study it carefully.
While they waited, Judy leaned over. "Gideon! Weren't you going to take on a real exorcism?"
Her eyes brimd with resentnt, as if he had broken a solemn promise.
Gideon rubbed his nose. "Of course. Isn't this assignnt perfect? It's a classic case—you should already be familiar with it."
"Is that really all?" Judy asked suspiciously.
Her gaze flicked back and forth between Gideon and Lynn.
She hadn't heard everything clearly earlier, but she distinctly caught words like deal.
They'd agreed this trip would be just the two of them!
Father Gideon was truly despicable!
Just then, Flora returned with the report.
Gideon imdiately sat down on a stool by the counter.
"Long Island, New York—Deer Park. Cursed house. Paranormal threat classification."
That was written on the cover. He flipped to the details.
Skipping over what he already knew from Lynn, he soon found sothing interesting.
---
Incident Report – Father Delaney
"At the request of the Lutz family, I carried sacred artifacts to their villa to conduct an exorcism.
It was still dayti when I arrived, yet I felt a sudden chill. Thankfully, under the Lord's protection, the sensation lasted only a mont. The house remained just as silent as it had been a year ago.
I searched every room but found no visible traces of evil. Still, I sensed sothing watching from behind—an unmistakable, bone-chilling presence.
At Mrs. Lutz's request, I proceeded with the exorcism.
The ritual arrangent showed no abnormalities at first. But when I sprinkled holy water on the floor, it instantly began to boil!
Whispers arose all around, and dark green viscous fluid seeped from the walls—exactly the sa as one year ago! Yet Mrs. Lutz claid she heard nothing.
I know this was no illusion. It was a warning.
And as expected, when I began reciting Scripture and commanding them to leave, a trendous force struck .
I was thrown out of the house and landed on the lawn. At the sa ti, a tearing scream echoed in my ears—
'Get out!'
So I ran.
Mrs. Lutz tried to stop , but I knew this was my last chance to escape. Otherwise, the evil spirits would have attacked ."
---
That was the end of Father Delaney's account.
Because he fled mid-mission and abandoned the client, his actions severely damaged the Church's reputation. The local diocese had already placed him under review, with punishnt pending.
Yet Gideon found himself agreeing with Delaney.
"Knowing when to run and actually escaping—that puts him in the top tier of characters in Arican horror," Gideon muttered. "But…"
He shook his head.
"Even running requires timing. You need planning. Pace yourself. Escape in a way that satisfies all parties—and ideally leaves no trace."
Summarizing Delaney's mistakes, Gideon concluded that the entity in the house was far from weak and possessed at least illusion-inducing abilities.
Delaney had repeatedly emphasized one phrase: 'just like a year ago.'
Gideon flipped through the appended materials.
Soon, a bold newspaper headline caught his eye:
"MURDER CASE: 20-YEAR-OLD MAN SLAUGHTERS FAMILY OF SIX!"
Reading further:
"Long Island residential district, 412 Ocean Avenue. Auto dealer Ronald DeFeo, his wife, and four children were found murdered in their ho.
The sole survivor was 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr.
According to his testimony, he heard demonic voices commanding him to kill his family.
The defendant shot his parents and siblings, then killed his sister Allison, who was hiding in a closet. She was only six years old.
Police rejected the demonic possession claim and placed the defendant in protective custody…"
Gideon closed the report.
Just as he'd thought, the case itself wasn't complicated—classic malevolent spirit infestation.
What baffled him was this:
Only one year after the DeFeo family massacre, the Lutz family moved in.
And according to realtor Eunice, she had fully disclosed the incident before the sale.
"Mr. George Lutz stated that houses don't kill people—only people do."
Seeing this, Gideon almost laughed in anger.
In Arican horror, even flipping a coin could trigger catastrophe—and these people dared move into a murder house.
If this were on the Pacific coast, the entire neighborhood would've emptied out long before any ghost had a chance to act.
It seed that when it ca to reverence and fear, North Aricans still had a long way to go.
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