Chương 19: Confrontation

Ch 19 - Confrontation Reid stared at the demon standing before him. The creature had somehow clawed its way into his little brother's body. It returned his gaze with an expression of perfectly human shock, but Reid wasn't fooled. He'd seen demons wear innocent faces before, and every time someone hesitated, people died. It didn't matter. Never trust a demon.

"What are you talking about, Brother?" the demon asked.

"And... why are you pointing your gun at me?"

"Don't bother lying," Reid said.

"You reek of demonic energy, and a potent one at that." He narrowed his eyes. Through his enhanced vision, he could see the thick, cloying darkness saturating Evan's body from the inside out.

"Is this some kind of joke?" the demon asked.

"It's not funny."

"Get out, or I'll blow your head off," Reid said as he stepped closer and pressed the barrel of his gun against the demon's forehead. The demon's eyes widened in horror. Reid waited for the usual threats. That killing it would only harm its vessel. That doing so would be pointless. Yet those familiar lines never came. Instead, the demon simply stared at him like a fish gasping for air.

"Brother... you're scaring me..." it said, its lips trembling.

"Don't call me that," Reid replied.

"Stop pretending to be my little brother. I know you're not."

"But I am Evan!"

"Then prove it."

"What? Like how my first steps were me trying to walk over to you when I was a baby?"

"Nice try. I know demons can access their host's memories once possession begins," Reid said coldly. Despite the gun pressed against his temple, the demon threw up its hands in frustration.

"What do you want me to say then? If this is some prank, you're the only one laughing. What kind of nonsense is this demon thing? Is it some new type of monster?"

"I think you'd know that better," Reid said, pressing the barrel harder against its forehead.

"Me?! I literally just got kidnapped and beaten half to death, and this is how you greet me? By pointing a gun at me and threatening to shoot me?" the demon shouted.

"What if I just screamed and called the nurses and doctors?"

"I've already isolated this room," Reid said.

"No matter how loudly you scream, your voice won't leave these walls. So stop the act. The sooner you admit what you are and leave my brother's body, the quicker your death will be." The demon's shoulders tensed.

"Are you serious? Did you not hear a word I just said? I was kidnapped and nearly died! I got choked half to death, by the way!" He jabbed a finger at the thick bandages wrapped around his throat. Reid raised an eyebrow at the demon's insistence. He wondered if he should begin the exorcism immediately. But when his gaze fell on Evan's battered body, he hesitated. Performing the exorcism ritual in his current condition would place even greater strain on his injuries.

There was even a chance his brother would fall into a coma once the demon was expelled. As for the other method... no. He would rather not resort to that unless there was no other choice. Since this demon was unusually talkative, Reid decided to humor it a little longer. It might still provide useful information.

"Go on, then," Reid said.

"Since you're so insistent on talking."

"I... I was looking for Marcus's cousin, Tyler," the demon began.

"He was kidnapped not too long ago, and Marcus blamed himself for it. I thought that if I searched the place where Tyler disappeared at night, the kidnapper might come back, and I was right. His name was Isaac, and when I found him, he was activating some strange device that tore open a Rift inside an abandoned warehouse. It wasn't like any normal Rift, though. He'd turned it into some kind of hideout." Reid frowned. That was an awful lot of information. Was the demon trying to confuse him or distract him?

He didn't interrupt and simply let it continue. The demon continued, "Anyway, I followed him inside and found Marcus's cousin along with a bunch of other kidnapped kids. I tried to free them, but Isaac caught me and locked me up too. He was... strange. I think he was insane. He kept talking to himself about human sacrifices and how lucky he was to have found another offering. He even had a juvenile wyvern that obeyed his every command, perched on the rooftop.

At first, I thought he planned to feed us to it, but instead he kept us imprisoned for several days. Then one day, he dragged all of us onto the roof, where there was this huge magic circle painted across the floor with dark-colored crystals arranged all around it. The wyvern was sitting right in the center." Reid's mind jumped to a sacrificial ritual.

"I finally got to see it up close, and it was pretty big, but I'm sure it was still a juvenile. What was strange was the weird symbol on its forehead." It tapped its own forehead.

"Anyway, I didn't get a close look because I was more busy staring at its sharp teeth. Then Isaac began pushing us children into the circle before he started chanting and activated it. It... it was cold. I heard screams. And then... I... I don't know. Something must have gone wrong because the man suddenly stopped the ritual, and I lost consciousness..."

"That's a nice story, but how did you escape?" Reid asked.

"A demonic arts practitioner and his beast. Evan couldn't possibly escape something like that."

"I'm getting there." The demon bit its lip.

"Like I said, I lost consciousness. When I woke up, the wyvern was gone, and there was someone else there. S-rank Awakener Shinomiya Ryusei." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Shinomiya Ryusei? The head of the Awakener Affairs Bureau's Enforcement Division? How had he suddenly become part of this tall tale? Reid's brows furrowed even deeper.

"He took care of Isaac. They seemed to know each other, but Isaac fought him and got killed. Ryusei... I'm not sure. I knew he had shadow abilities, but back in that Rift, he actually used dark flames. It was really weird. He even burned Isaac's body to ashes with them."

"You're accusing a well-known S-rank Awakener of being a practitioner of the Demonic Arts. Do you know how difficult that is to believe?" Reid said.

"I'm just telling you what I saw, okay? Then he did something to me. I don't know what it was, but I lost consciousness and woke up here." The demon looked up at Reid hopefully, but Reid only glared back coldly. The demon sighed, its shoulders slumping.

"Fine... whatever. Seems like no matter what I say, you're just going to keep refusing to believe me anyway. Go ahead then. Shoot me. Do it." The demon squeezed its eyes shut as though waiting for its death. Reid pursed his lips. His training and experience told him to perform the exorcism and be done with it. At the same time, seeing Evan's battered body curled in on itself while he pressed a gun against its temple gave him pause.

If what the demon had said wasn't complete nonsense, then the most likely explanation was that Isaac, an untrained practitioner of the Demonic Arts, had attempted a human sacrificial ritual to strengthen his demonic beast. He must have made a mistake while drawing the ritual circle or used the wrong materials. Whatever the reason, something had gone wrong, allowing Evan to survive. Normally, a failed sacrificial ritual ended in an explosion, consuming everyone caught within it. But there was another possibility.

Reid had only seen it happen a handful of times. Instead of flowing toward its intended target, the ritual reversed, sending the demonic energy surging back into the sacrifices. That would explain why Evan's body was now saturated with demonic energy. The demon cautiously peeked through one eye. Seeing that Reid still hadn't pulled the trigger, it asked, "What? Having second thoughts now?"

"If you really are who you claim to be," Reid said, "then you shouldn't mind letting me examine you."

"Examine what?" the demon asked. Reid stretched out his free hand and pressed his thumb against the center of the demon's forehead before reaching out with his astral body. It was a very risky, almost foolish thing to do. If his late brothers and sisters were here to witness this, they would rip him apart for his recklessness. Every Demon Hunter was taught to subdue a demon first and ensure it was completely incapable of fighting back.

What Reid was doing now was essentially leaving himself wide open so he could examine Evan's soul. Closing his eyes, Reid projected his astral body into Evan's mindscape. Passing through the thick, cloying demonic energy surrounding it, he was surprised to find himself standing inside a rundown apartment. The air was stale and heavy. Mold crept across the walls and ceiling in dark patches, while strips of peeling wallpaper curled away from the plaster.

A sagging sofa rested against one wall beside a scratched wooden table, and a flickering fluorescent light bathed the cramped room in an uneven glow. This was... Evan's mindscape? Reid frowned, but his attention was soon drawn to a small child sitting on a thin, low bed. The child stared blankly ahead, his little arms wrapped tightly around himself. As Reid approached, the child didn't react. Only when Reid gently rested a hand on the boy's small shoulder did he slowly lift his head.

Empty black eyes met Reid's gaze. Reid studied him in silence, searching for even the faintest trace of a demon's soul clinging to the child. There was none. Although the mindscape was battered and dark energy drifted through every corner, there were no signs of corruption or the presence of a demon. Only the manifestation of Evan's soul sat before him. The child pursed his lips.

"Get out." Without warning, Reid felt a tremendous force shove his astral body out of Evan's mindscape and back into his physical body. He clutched his head as pain exploded through it.

"Are you okay?!" Evan asked, reaching out to grab Reid's arm. Reid opened his eyes and met his brother's worried gaze.

"It's okay," Reid said.

"I'm fine." Evan blinked.

"Are you… finally believing me?" Reid glanced at the gun he was still pointing at Evan's chest and quickly holstered it. He then gently took Evan's hand.

"I'm really sorry, Evan. I must've scared you." A flurry of emotions crossed Evan's face. Shock. Relief. Then indignation.

"As you should! Who barges into their brother's hospital room and points a gun at his head? If I were any weaker, I would've had a heart attack and died already!"

"I'm sorry. It's my fault," Reid said, lowering his head. Then something important occurred to him.

"You said you were hurt, right? Let me heal you." He gently released Sacred Light over Evan's body, mending the remaining bruises and easing the lingering pain. He paid particular attention to Evan's neck, where the swelling had yet to fully subside. Annoyingly, despite his best efforts to purge the lingering demonic energy clinging to Evan's body and soul, it refused to disappear completely. He could still sense it shifting somewhere deep within him. Reid narrowed his eyes.

He considered pouring even more Sacred Light into Evan, but stopped himself. Not now. Evan had already been through enough. He could keep an eye on it for the time being.

"There. How do you feel now?" Reid asked with a smile. Evan gently rubbed his neck.

"Better. Your ability really is handy. But what's this about demons? Why were you so sure I was one?"

"It's... a bit complicated," Reid said.

"For now, just think of them as a new type of monster. One that's far more insidious and dangerous than any monster humanity has encountered before."

"Are we talking about actual demons? Like, demons from hell?"

"In a way," Reid replied.

"My ability makes me especially sensitive to demonic energy. When I arrived, your body was saturated with it, so I assumed..."

"... that I was possessed," Evan finished, crossing his arms. Reid nodded.

"I'm really sorry..." Evan let out a sigh.

"No, it's fine. I'm sure you had your reasons, even if I don't fully understand them. But..." He raised a finger.

"I'm still mad, so if you want me to forgive you, you can buy me a pizza."

"I don't think your doctor would agree with that," Reid pointed out.

"I don't care. I'm hungry," Evan said.

"And my throat doesn't even hurt anymore. I could leave the hospital if I wanted to."

"Let's wait until tomorrow, shall we?" Reid said, ruffling his hair.

"All right. I'll buy you a pepperoni pizza."

"Yup! And don't forget the extra cheese!" Reid chuckled before leaving the room. Click. As the door closed behind him, the warm smile on Reid's face vanished. He still didn't understand exactly what had happened to Evan, but one thing was certain. His brother wasn't possessed by a demon. Yet that brought him little comfort. Somehow, Evan had become entangled in something just as dangerous. Practitioners of the Demonic Arts operating on Earth... And... Shinomiya Ryusei.

The man Evan claimed had wielded powers frighteningly similar to the Demonic Arts. Reid's eyes narrowed. It seemed he had an investigation to conduct.