Inside the exorcism room

  Zun opened her eyes and saw her reflection staring back from the mirror. She was now back inside the exorcism room, still tied to the wooden pole. There was a line of blood red tears straining down her face, and her whole body felt fatigued. She recalled the conversation with Chan and the clown, and a rush of heat splashed across her face.

  Seems like this voodoo spell is taking a toll on my body. I can't continue it anymore. But more importantly, I need to do something about the situation.

  She scanned the room, reading every detail she could pick up to her advantage - until the sudden sound of approaching footsteps alerted her. Like a reflex, she tilted her head and tried to hide the spell she drew on the pole. Her breath stuck in her throat as she anticipated the worst.

  “Your mother’s calling you”, a guard Angel called out as they prepared to open the door.

  Zun was surprised. “Mom?”

  In the dark room

  Many Angels were seen rushing into the room, armed with weapons. Chan was already inside, checking on Tin’s condition. The boy was lying unconscious on his chair; his chest wound looked less aggressive than it was the last time Chan looked at it. He hovered his hand over Tin’s head and chest, but couldn’t feel the clown anymore. The team of Angels observed a pool of blood at the corner of the room, pitch black like coal.

  “He is no more, NO MORE!” Chan yelled at Roger with a voice defeated by fear. “Why do you pull him out! Do you know what kind of mess you have just created?!”

  Roger shoved his hand in denial. “That’s impossible!! I don’t remember doing any of that!! I don't even know why I am here!! That wasn’t me, I swear!!”

  “It’s you! Stop denying!” A wounded Angel exclaimed. “You attacked us as soon as Chan left.”

  “What are you lying?!” Roger barked back and leaned forward to hit the Angel, but Chan blocked him and returned a punch to his face, leaving him with a bruised eye.

  “You are the one lying! I should have trusted my instinct then.” He pressed his voice. “Now stop bullshitting and reveal your motive.”

  Roger roared in disbelief. “You shit Chan dare to hit me. Taste this!!” Roger ignited his spell wand and shot several fireballs at Chan. Chan dodged them quickly and threw a chain whip at him to disarm him. The Angels joined in and spread a train of talismans across the room to form a barrier. “You guys are mad!” Roger stepped backwards and spun his wand to break the approaching chain. “I am warning you, you don’t want to do this!”

  He shot a talisman back at Chan with his other hand, but Chan cut it off swiftly with his dagger. Other Angels started to recite spells, which lit up the barrier of talismans and conditioned them to shoot laser light. The fight intensified, but the overwhelming number of Angels pushed Roger to the edge of the room. He leaned against the wall and used his wand to build a firewall to defend himself.

  “I didn’t kill the clown! THAT WASN’T ME!!!!!”

  Chan waved his hands and signalled the Angels to stop, giving Roger a moment to catch his breath.

  “Go ahead and explain yourself,” Chan spoke sternly.

  “Last thing, I remember I was just trying to find the medicine to heal my head. I don’t even know how I ended up here!! Why can’t you just listen!!!”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Chan squinted his eyes and pressed on. “Look at your bandaged head. It seems to me you have already taken care of it! Or are you going to tell me you are too drunk to remember!”

  “Argghhhh!! I am not drunk, I just drank one shot in the morning, you long head!” Roger killed the flame wall so Chan and the other Angels could see him.

  “THIS!” He touched the bandage and threw it on the floor, “ This is just a worthless piece of torn cloth! Can’t you see it with your chicken eyes?!!!”

  Roger took a deep, expressive breath, “I was definitely controlled by someone or something!!” He exclaimed.

  Chan was taken aback by this claim. “You want to say a demon took over your consciousness, or what? Impossible! Look at all the seals in this room!!

  “ENOUGH!” A commanding voice engulfed the whole room and immediately demanded full attention.

  Chan looked back and saw Koi stomping into the room and trembled to give an explanation. “The situation is…is like this—”

  “I heard it all.” Koi remarked boldly.

  “Captain!!!” Roger rushed toward Koi. “Great that you are here! None of them would listen to me, but I am telling the truth! You need to trust me.”

  Without any warning, Koi liver punched Roger, causing him to fall to the ground and start puking up fluid. The atmosphere dropped like a deadweight around the scene. Koi continued to attack and kicked Roger harder and harder, ignoring the desperate begging of the poor man, who had now lost the ability to even whisper a word. Chan felt a wave of shiver tensing up his muscles. Eventually, dark fluid started dripping from Roger’s mouth. As though anticipating this, Koi gave a final kick, forcing the man to throw up a ball of hair.

  My lord! Chan looked away in disgust, pulling down his lower lip into a frown.

  Roger tossed and turned around just to realise the mess he was in and shrieked in horror.

  Koi glared at him for a good five seconds before saying, “Do you understand what you have got yourself into?”

  Roger stood collapsed on the floor, mouth agape in a silent scream.

  Chan whispered timidly, “So it was not a demonic possession but black magic?”

  “RIGHT” Koi kneeled down and touched the dark fluid. “A black magic that allows the caster to control the victim’s conscious mind. How did it happen?” He eyed Roger, but Roger’s expression remained paralysed, and he failed to apprehend the question on time for Koi to be satisfied. The very next second, Roger got dragged up from the floor and shoved against the wall like a discarded punching bag. With anger building up and patience ticking off, Koi grabbed Roger’s throat and yelled, “What the hell happened?!!!”

  The voice thundered into Roger’s pathetic mind and knocked him back to reality. “It’s HER!, It’s your daughter! She bit off my hair when I was performing the ritual, so…so…I left the room to heal my wound, and after that, I couldn’t remember.”

  Koi finally let go of the alarmed and almost proud-looking Roger, who was now acting like he had solved a mystery and even boldly claiming, “I knew it. I was already suspecting it.”

  Chan ignored Roger’s random remarks and asked carefully, “You mean Zun cast the black magic and possessed you to kill the clown?” With a tone lingering in half denial, he continued, “How is that even possible? How does she know that kind of spell?!”

  Koi clenched his fist, “Because she studied them. I trained her to learn energy control, but that girl wasted all those precious skills on experimenting with those dirty forbidden magics.” Koi narrowed his eyes. You, troublesome girl, even learned ancient magic! A familiar anger built up in his mind, feasting on his already agitated state. Like a habit waiting to sink into the same loop of disorder, the longing for a familiar violence itched his muscles. A flashback of Koi training Zun on how to use energy and cast spells splashed across his vision, bringing a fresh surge of heat up his brain. His voice repeated in his memory, as loud as ever.

  “How many times do I have to tell you, the energy needs to come from the core! That is just brute force, it won’t last at all in the battle! You need DURABILITY, you need STRENGTH, you need FOCUS.” He whipped the child with his belt a few times.

  She trembled in pain and curled into a ball as she pulled her legs closer to her chest and buried her face with arms behind her head. “I am sorry, dad! Please stop hitting me! Stop, please!”

  The memory faded out as quickly as it appeared.

  This brat, how dare she ruin my plan? The anger built up and hit his nerves with a bitter numbness. “You, follow me to the ritual ground!” Koi ordered Roger, along with other Angels, and turned around to make his way out.

  “Of course!” Roger answered rather pridefully as he looked at Chan with a sly side eye.

  “Captain, I can also follow…” Chan tried to participate, but Koi cut his words halfway.

  “You look after Tin with the medical team and wait for my order.”

  With this, the group left the room, leaving Chan alone with the medics. He sighed as he looked at Tin, who was sleeping quite comfortably despite the yelling.

  “Is Zun trying to help him? She is such a lazy, easy-going person. Why would she even do that?”