Jim never imagined—not even in his wildest dreams—that he would one day see his father again.
So when his father's spirit suddenly appeared before him…
He began to question the very nature of reality.
At the sa ti, another murder had taken place—shaking the foundations of Jim's faith.
After assigning people to deal with the corpse on the first floor, he led Evan to the second floor.
"You're saying you can really resolve this?"
Jim frowned as he asked, clearly skeptical.
"Of course. I've already located the source of the malevolent spirit."
Evan spoke with calm confidence.
"It's possessing your daughter."
The mont he said that, everyone in the room looked visibly surprised.
Even Gideon raised an eyebrow—he hadn't expected anyone else to figure it out.
Earlier, using Night Vision, Gideon had spotted the handprint on the corpse's abdon.
And on the way here, Gordon had ntioned that Jim had a daughter.
Putting the pieces together, Gideon had already suspected that the evil spirit was using the girl's body to carry out the killings.
"The handprint on the victim downstairs…"
Evan explained his reasoning, which aligned almost perfectly with Gideon's own deduction.
John, standing nearby, was shocked when Evan ntioned a clear handprint.
Even he could barely make out a vague outline.
To perceive such detail with Spiritual Sight, Evan had to be at least bishop level.
John's attention shifted to the emblem on Evan's sleeve.
"That crest... It looks like…"
He hesitated, then asked tentatively:
"Mr. Bray, are you from the Exorcist Academy?"
Evan raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? I didn't expect anyone here to recognize that."
Now with confirmation, John imdiately bowed in respect.
In recent tis, word of the Church's "Holy Word" had spread throughout the exorcist community.
The Exorcist Academy had beco a place many dread of joining.
Unlike the Church, independent demon hunters had sparse and fragnted lineages.
Most relied solely on the experience passed down from their predecessors and a few sacred weapons.
As a result, their numbers were small, and they mostly operated in the western regions.
It wasn't until the advent of the Holy Word that the Church revealed its overwhelming foundation—
An ancient and fully preserved heritage of exorcism.
The Academy itself divides its clerics into three ranks during training.
New initiates wear copper cross insignias on their sleeves.
Except for a few with connections, these recruits are typically extrely gifted—many having already awakened Holy Power even before entering the academy.
One level above them are the Silver Cross Clerics—the elite of the elite.
They not only possess profound control over Holy Power but also have extensive field experience in exorcism.
Across all Exorcist Academies in North Arica, there are only 32 such individuals.
Each one is considered bishop-tier, the future backbone of the Church.
And standing before John now—was one of them.
Evan wasn't surprised by everyone's reaction—he'd seen this kind of scene countless tis before.
And this visit of his… wasn't rely to "assist a local official on behalf of the Church," as he had originally claid.
No, Evan had a different objective:
To use the church as an anchor to draw in and absorb Holy Power.
In the exorcist world, it was universally acknowledged just how difficult it was to cultivate Holy Power.
The most stable and traditional thod was through daily spiritual reflection, finding insight within the true aning of scripture.
But even after a lifeti of devotion, many clerics never even touched the threshold of Holy Power.
This gave rise to two alternative approaches: Assimilation and Infusion.
The first—Assimilation—was the act of rging external Holy Power into oneself.
After every exorcism, or the founding of a church, a small trace of divine energy would be generated.
This energy flowed from what was known as the "Non-Existent Realm"—a space that lay between Heaven and Hell, according to scripture.
Demons, evil spirits, and even deceased clerics—all their powers returned to this realm upon death.
Their souls, based on their actions in life, would ascend to Heaven or descend into Hell.
Over ti, the energies stored in that realm would trickle back into the mortal world—
Spawning new demons, diums, and clerics in an eternal cycle.
Clerics could then purify these leaked energies through sacred prayers, absorb them, and convert them into Holy Power.
However, this thod produced Holy Power that wasn't entirely pure—
Which is why scripture recitation remained essential to cleanse one's heart and soul.
Even so, it was widely accepted as the fastest way to grow stronger.
The second thod—Infusion—was far more secretive.
Infusion involved sealing a deceased cleric's Holy Power and injecting it into a new host.
The recipient would experience a massive boost in strength, skipping decades of arduous training.
The Church had reportedly mastered this technique centuries ago.
Unlike Assimilation, Infusion was more stable and significantly less risky—
But only those who made extraordinary contributions to the Church were granted access.
Evan had already made significant progress in his cultivation of Holy Power, and if he continued at this pace, his future would be limitless.
And yet, what truly drove him was sothing far greater—
A second Holy Word that only a handful of people within the Church even knew about.
It foretold a world-shaking event:
The first true "Descent of the Divine" was approaching.
One day soon, an Evil God would arrive in the mortal realm, passing through the Non-Existent Realm—
Just like a vanguard ahead of Judgnt Day.
To prepare for this catastrophe, the leadership of the Exorcist Academy had issued a decree:
All clerics must devote themselves fully to the cultivation of Holy Power.
Simultaneously, this divine descent would temporarily open the Non-Existent Realm—
And the energies floating within it would begin to spill into the human world.
If one was fortunate enough to catch a fragnt of that power, it could be absorbed for an imnse strength boost.
This type of "wild infusion" was cruder, more violent—and far more dangerous.
But unlike traditional infusion, it did not require permission from the Church.
Still, to stand a chance of seizing anything during the descent, one needed the strength equivalent to ten years of Holy Power.
That… was why Evan was really here.
Just recently, in order to strike a deal with this particular governnt official, Evan had even risked using his secret ability: Necromancy.
It was a talent he was born with—sothing no one else knew about.
Had it not been for his parents' wishes, Evan might have beco a spirit dium instead of a cleric.
But to summon the dead was considered a grave desecration within the Church.
Fortunately, it had worked out this ti.
—Returning to the present—
From the mont Evan saw Jim's daughter, he had understood what was going on:
A possession by so kind of evil spirit.
Judging from the markings left on the corpse, the entity seed to be from the class of Fallen Angels.
He referred to it as a "class" because the residual energy was weak.
If the real fallen angel had manifested, Evan would've run without hesitation.
It was far more likely that a lesser spirit had sohow gained access to that angel's power.
That made things easier.
All he had to do was force the spirit to reveal itself using an exorcism chant, compel it to speak its na—and then he could destroy it.
With that in mind, Evan stepped forward.
"Mr. Nicken, we must begin the exorcism imdiately. If we delay, the spirit could cause irreversible harm to your daughter's soul."
Nicken narrowed his eyes.
A long pause.
Then—
"Fine. If you can save Carol, then I agree to the terms."
"Naturally," Evan replied with a smile.
He walked up to Carol, who instinctively shrank back in fear.
Evan took out a silver cross and began chanting the exorcism prayer over the little girl.
At first, nothing happened.
But just as everyone began to wonder if it was a false alarm—
Carol's eyes suddenly rolled back into her skull.
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