The conversation had been brief, but Sister Irene walked away with a wealth of information.

First and foremost, demons were rampant during the Dark Ages; summoning one hadn't been nearly as difficult as it was today.

Yet even then, a Duke had seen fit to force a summoning, risking the heavy price of discovery by the Church.

This implied that the entity was formidable even by demonic standards, hence the severe restrictions placed upon its entry into the mortal realm.

Seeking to be ordained as a formal nun as soon as possible was definitely the right move.

Father Burke was already investigating elsewhere; she could only hope he'd turn up something useful.

With that thought, Irene's hand instinctively tightened around the slightly rusted key in her pocket—the one Father Burke had entrusted to her.

"Could you tell me which door this key opens?"

She pulled the key from her pocket and held it out for Sister Oana to see.

"...I cannot say."

Sister Oana visibly stiffened at the sight of the key. Her refusal to elaborate was clear, yet she made no move to take the key back. Instead, her gaze drifted momentarily toward the window, looking out in the direction of the distant catacombs.

Remembering Oana's earlier mention that the sisters preferred not to speak, Irene chalked it up to some local taboo. The sister was trying to tell her through silence and suggestion what she couldn't say aloud.

Before she took her vows to become a formal nun, Irene decided she would take a thorough look around the abbey. It might just yield the clues she needed.

At that moment, however, Seia spoke up, mentioning that she needed to return to her room to rest.

Since it was still morning, Irene didn't object. After all, Seia had stated from the start that she was here only to witness the trial of the Sister and the Father. Moreover, Seia had faced a demonic familiar head-on just yesterday; it was only natural she'd want to recover her strength to be ready for whatever came next.

Back within the sanctuary of the enclosed room protected by the crucifixes, Valak found himself unable to probe Seia's condition. He wasn't a demon prone to impatience, so he didn't pay it much mind.

Seia, meanwhile, simply crossed over into the timeline of the night.

In this world, time travel was far from impossible. Beyond the reach of human perception lay a peculiar realm known as the Otherworld.

It surrounded humanity, unnoticed and intangible. In the Otherworld, there was no concrete concept of time; the future could bleed into the past, and the present could ripple into the future.

The Otherworld was mostly populated by lost human souls, or the dark spirits and demons that lurked within the shadows.

The method Seia used to traverse time was similar to the Otherworld, but unlike the path of human souls or the corridors used by demons, the space she moved through was a place where only angels could exist. It had no name, but for now, she called it the Sanctuary.

After all, a name was just a label. Even "Otherworld" wasn't an official title; it was just a convenient way to refer to it.

The scene before her eyes shifted into a world of pure white for a fleeting heartbeat before snapping back to reality.

Without her noticing, the sky had already plunged into darkness.

A scream, laced with panic and raw terror, echoed through the inner courtyard of the abbey. It was Irene.

Seia followed the sound to the chapel. Inside, three figures stood: Irene, Father Burke, and Maurice, who had returned to the abbey at some point.

Maurice was even clutching a Holy Flame shotgun.

Aside from the three of them, several nuns lay scattered across the floor, as still as corpses.

On the ground before them lay a body wrapped in a burial shroud, its entire form wreathed in flickering flames.

"We know the demon's true name now." Seeing Seia arrive, Father Burke didn't even stop to ask why she was only appearing now. He cut straight to the heart of the matter. "But based on what I've found and Irene's account, knowing the name won't do us much good."

Irene's face was still pale from the shock of the resurrected corpse, but her voice remained steady. "The gateway to Hell has been opened. Simply knowing the demon's name isn't enough to banish him. We need a holy relic capable of sealing the gate."

And the only thing here that qualified as a relic was the ancient vial of Christ's blood, which had sealed the gate once before.

Seia didn't respond immediately. Instead, she looked at the souls of the nuns surrounding them, which were slowly dissolving into black mist.

An imperceptible power flowed from her toward the souls at her feet. Those who were about to lose their sanity and become demonic puppets were instantly jolted into clarity.

In that moment, they saw it—the golden halo crowning the girl's head, visible only to them.

Valak didn't care about Seia's late arrival. Having reclaimed all the souls, he waited quietly for the group to walk into the trap he had set.

"What do we do now?" Maurice asked, his voice thick with worry. He had returned out of a desperate desire to help. He had been attacked while leaving the abbey and had ended up begging a hotel owner to borrow this gun.

Supposedly, the weapon was an heirloom passed down through the owner's family.

"We have to close that door, which means we need the Holy Blood," Irene said. "I think I know where it is."

With the decision made, the three followed Irene. Using her intuition to sense the general location of the blood, she led them to a statue of Saint Mary within the catacombs.

The Father suddenly remembered Irene's words: at the end of every prophetic dream, the Virgin Mother would show her the way.

Pale moonlight caught the tip of the statue's finger, reflecting the light onto the wall. There, hidden within the cracks of the stone bricks, a faint keyhole appeared.

Without hesitation, they produced the key they had retrieved from the ice cellar. It fit perfectly, clicking as it triggered a hidden compartment.

The vial containing the Blood of Christ sat nestled within.

Father Burke's heart hammered against his ribs like never before. This was the turning point—the signal that the final battle was about to begin.

He couldn't help but look toward Seia.

Noticing his gaze, Seia offered him her usual, faint smile, seemingly untouched by the gravity of the situation. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Father Burke looked away, feeling a bit sheepish.

Now, all that remained was to find the entrance to the seal.

Maurice hesitantly offered to give the Holy Flame to the Father, but Burke refused. While the weapon would certainly bolster his fighting strength, it was the only thing Maurice had to protect himself.

At the Father's suggestion, the four of them split up, casting a wide net to locate the seal as quickly as possible.

Quietly orchestrating the entire affair, Valak let out a cold sneer as he began to manifest Father Burke's inner demons.

He held nothing but contempt for this priest—a man who hadn't fully repented, whose heart was full of holes, and who couldn't even tap into half of his true strength. Dealing with him wouldn't require any effort at all.

Maurice was even less of a concern, just an ordinary human. Even with the Holy Flame in his hands, he was nothing more than a toy to be trifled with.

Then, Valak turned his gaze toward Irene and Seia.

One was moving cautiously, holding a single candle to light her way; the other was strolling along unhurriedly, accompanied by the chirping of small birds.

These two were his primary targets.

--+--

T/N: I have a Patreon!

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