"A demon can mimic a child's voice… a laugh… even a prayer.
But it will never know what it means to love."
---
Location: San Lazaro Hospital – Restricted Wing
Time: 10:37 PM
The hallway was too clean. Too quiet. The kind of silence that only existed in places where people were either dying—or being hidden.
Security had cleared the area under vague instructions from someone "higher up." No one asked questions.
Jomarie stood at the edge of the pediatric isolation ward. The observation glass in front of him was rimmed with holy salt and covered in scratched, faded prayer seals.
None of it worked.
Inside, strapped to a hospital bed, was a 7-year-old girl named Mika. Her face was pale, her eyes flickering between fear and something unrecognizable. Her small frame trembled, but her voice…
"Do you still dream of your father screaming, Jomarie?"
He froze.
That wasn't Mika.
That was something else—something wearing her voice like a skin.
-----------------------------------------
> [System Warning: Class C Possession Detected – Host: Underage Civilian]
> [Objective: Expel the demon. Killing the host will result in mission failure.]
-----------------------------------------
He tightened his grip on Sky Piercer.
"Non-lethal."
"Perfect. No pressure at all."
---
He stepped into the room. The temperature dropped immediately.
"Hello, Mika…"
The girl's head turned 180 degrees with an audible crack of bone. Her mouth twisted into a smile. Her eyes were pitch black.
"She's not here right now. But I can leave a message."
Jomarie triggered the system interface in his mind.
> [Spell Loadout: Initiated]
-----------------------------------------
> [Spell: Jaa Geuksang – Soul Trap]
> [Spell: Muryang Gongcheo – Sensory Sever]
>[Spell: Heaven's Delay – One-second time freeze (One-time use)]
-----------------------------------------
She screamed—and leapt straight off the bed, restraints snapping like paper. Her limbs flailed unnaturally, like a marionette pulled by unseen strings.
Black glyphs erupted from her skin, crawling across the ceiling like insects.
"You think light scares me?"
"You think your weak little prayers matter?"
"I'm not praying to scare you," Jomarie said coldly.
"I'm praying to drag you out."
He raised his free hand.
> "Jaa Geuksang."
A silver sigil launched from his palm and struck the air above Mika's head. Reality fractured — and the demon's true form broke through.
It was small—childlike in height, but horrific. A writhing shadow with six twitching limbs and a serpent-like tongue that reached hungrily for his face.
"You see me now?" it hissed.
"Then come closer… and die the way your father did."
That was the second time it had mentioned his father.
Something inside him broke.
---
FLASHBACK – Two Years Ago
Location: Funeral Home, Manila
Jomarie stood next to his mother, holding her hand as they stared at a cheap wooden casket.
His father's body didn't look human anymore.
A fish vendor by day. Crushed by debt collectors by night.
His final words were a whisper:
"Take care of your older brother... make sure he eats."
They couldn't afford proper rites. Coins were taped to the man's eyes to keep them closed.
Jomarie didn't speak for nearly a week after that day.
---
Back in the present
The demon lunged.
Jomarie rolled beneath the strike, pushed off the side wall, and hurled Sky Piercer mid-air. The dagger curved with unnatural precision, guided by thought. It sliced clean through the demon's tongue.
It howled.
"Now!"
> "Muryang Gongcheo!"
A blinding white circle erupted beneath the bed.
The restraints disintegrated as divine chains materialized, pinning Mika's body to the radiant seal. The demon shrieked, fighting to escape her flesh.
Jomarie stood over her, pulse pounding in his ears.
"Use Heaven's Delay?"
"Not yet… not while she's still fighting."
The demon made a final attempt.
"She wants to stay! She chose me! Her soul is mine!"
Mika's mouth opened—and her real voice came through, soft and trembling.
"Big brother… help me…"
That was all he needed to hear.
"In Jesus' name…"
Sky Piercer ignited, shining like the sun.
"Amen."
He plunged the blade into the ground—not into the girl, but into the shadow underneath her.
The explosion of divine light shattered the room's darkness like an earthquake of purity. The demon screamed—so loud that car alarms blared across the block.
And then…
Silence.
The glyphs vanished. The chains evaporated.
Mika's body fell limp onto the bed, breathing softly.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
-----------------------------------------
> [Possession Neutralized: Class C]
> [Host Status: Stable. Memory Protected.]
> [XP Gained: 89]
> [New Passive Acquired: Soul Sense – Level 1]
> [Note: Your compassion amplifies divine resonance.]
-----------------------------------------
Jomarie didn't stand victorious.
He sat quietly at the girl's bedside, hands trembling, tears in his eyes. And he whispered a prayer—not for strength, not for himself…
…but for her tomorrow.
---
Elsewhere...
Inside a desecrated cathedral turned throne room, Lilitheia — Sin-Bearer of Lust — dipped her fingers into a basin of blood, watching Jomarie through a demon-forged mirror.
"So... the Chosen isn't just a killer," she said.
"He's a healer. How quaint."
Behind her, hundreds of possessed children slept in glass coffins, suspended in stasis like cursed dolls.
"Let's see what he does," she whispered with a smile,
"when the one screaming... is his own sibling."