Chapter 429: Essence and Fluctuation

The sound of the wooden fish spread throughout the venue, bringing everyone into a miraculous state of tranquility. It was a state immune to any disturbance. Even in the terrifying atmosphere of this world, everyone could focus on handling the matters at hand.

Thus, the priests and shrine maidens at the altars gazed intently at the large masses of resentful spirits trapped within the light barrier, their expressions firming slightly. Although the resentful spirits within the barrier continuously transformed and assailed the slowly closing light barrier, under these circumstances, the originally trembling barrier gradually became more solid, closing steadily in a stable state.

John Wick's face relaxed slightly as he glanced at the apartment building. There, a glowing talisman floated in mid-air, continuously rippling with waves around it.

"It should be my turn next," he thought.

During the previous communication, they had already determined their roles.

He knew what he was supposed to do; his task was to protect the immobilized priests and shrine maidens, preventing any disturbances.

The situation had now become clear, and John Wick could sense that it was almost time for him to enter the fray. For now, the only move left for the specter demon was to interfere with the immobilized priests and shrine maidens.

The childish voices were a harbinger.

Though it was quiet now, he somehow felt that something was surrounding them.

"Can feel those numerous gazes, but who exactly is watching us?"

John Wick scanned the surrounding darkness, where nothing was visible, and slowly gripped his machine gun loaded with sacred bullets.

Having transitioned from a top-tier assassin to a church monk, his killer instincts and habits hadn't disappeared. He was particularly sensitive to gazes cast upon him.

If anyone stared at him for a few seconds, he would react immediately—an instinct honed from his assassin days to gain a slight edge in firearm battles, dodging faster.

Now as a monk, having studied divine power and being imbued with holy energy, his assassin skills had enhanced several-fold.

His movements, instincts, strength, and perception had all improved significantly.

So, he trusted his instincts; there really was something lurking around.

He might not handle the large masses of resentful spirits well, nor was he adept at dealing with them, but for individual entities, he wasn't as challenged.

But in this scenario, he would have to rely on the bishop's talismans.

John Wick's eyes continually moved around suspicious areas.

His senses were not wrong. Just as the talisman exerted its power and the eerie childlike voices could no longer interfere, suddenly, the muffled sound of footsteps began.

First faint and sparse, like a distant, faint echo. However, as the footsteps grew denser, a hard-to-describe terror and eeriness quietly spread, but under the influence of the talisman, it also became quite mundane.

Simultaneously, as the footsteps approached, something seemed to be quietly nearing in the darkness, carrying a cold aura.

John Wick was not affected, merely looking downward.

The armory was well-stocked, and the piles of bullet magazines were easily accessible. He was confident that within two seconds, he could unload and reload.

Thanks to Hilli's modifications, the position of the heavy machine gun was much higher than the car's hood, which didn't hinder the output and allowed the machine below to support a 360-degree rotation and vertical adjustment of the heavy machine gun.

His seat would also rotate following the machine gun, eliminating the need for him to turn around.

As John Wick checked everything at a glance.

With the footsteps growing closer, suddenly, tiny dark shadows appeared from all directions.

To the naked eye, combined with the dark backdrop, these small dark shadows seemed like demons crawling out from the depths of hell, twisted and ferocious, flickering in and out of visibility, densely packed from all sides.

As the dark shadows appeared, the footsteps also became more rapid and heavy.

In an instant, this group of dark shadows directly broke through the darkness, crashing into the range illuminated by the candlelight.

This moment, John Wick finally saw the true faces of the dark shadows.

They lacked any discernable features, no face, no ears, only bodies the size of children, cloaked in black, surrounded by a layer of flames made of resentment.

"Hehe!"

"Hahaha!"

Laughter erupted from them, but John Wick sighed in relief.

"As long as it's not a large-scale event."

As he thought this, John Wick sat there, pressing the trigger on the handle he was holding.

In an instant, accompanied by a deafening roar, a stream of pure white flames burst from the muzzle of the machine gun.

With the machine gun's characteristic roaring, flames wildly danced at the muzzle, and the ready bullets poured out like a torrential downpour, tracing fiery paths through the air, dazzling and lethal like a meteor shower.

These large-caliber sacred bullets, modified and developed by Hilli, each contained

 immense kinetic and holy energy. They raced through the air, emitting piercing whistles as if to tear through everything that blocked their path, creating blinding trails in the light, like meteors across the night sky.

Then, with astonishing speed, they pierced through the air, their piercing whistles targeting the dark shadows that appeared from all directions.

Pop pop pop!

When the bullets hit the dark shadows, they erupted with tremendous force.

Affected by the holy stones and the divine energy within, each bullet struck the dark shadows with a burst of explosive white light.

With each burst of white light, another shadow was torn apart.

As the number and speed of the bursting shadows increased, the surrounding air also became more violent and chaotic.

Invisible energy fluctuations stirred in the air, forming visible ripples, enveloping all the dark shadows and creating a truly spectacular scene.

If someone were present, the first thing they would think of would be the dazzling fireworks.

And at the center of these fireworks was John Wick, continuously rotating with the machine gun setup.

The continuously erupting, fan-shaped bullets were like the sparkling remnants of fireworks explosions.

Pop pop pop!

The bursts of white light exploded like shocking splashes of blood.

Under this fierce firepower, the encroaching dark shadows were forcibly held back by John Wick along a line.

Ah ah ah!

The childlike voices turned into screams, and the number of dark shadows seemed to multiply.

However, the coverage of John Wick's heavy machine gun was extremely wide. He could sit there, mechanically pressing the trigger, expressionless, yet still able to pick up a grenade from below and throw it towards the suddenly increased direction.

Boom!

A dazzling white light directly blasted away the dense cluster of dark shadows, creating a vacuum in that direction.

Under these circumstances, John Wick could even swiftly change a magazine, his firepower continuously preventing the dark shadows from reaching the priests and shrine maidens on the altar. Even under the influence of the Zen cleansing talisman, these distractions couldn't affect their actions or state of mind.

Of course, achieving this was also thanks to Hilli's modifications and his own comprehensive evolution since becoming a monk.

Indispensable.

"Phew!"

Higa Makoto, watching this dazzling scene from above the apartment, also sighed in relief.

If it had been before, she would have had to expend a lot of spiritual power to handle this situation. But now, with the help of York's deacon monk John Wick and deacon nun Erin, this troublesome scene was finally resolved.

"Next is the main battlefield," Higa Makoto silently said, glancing at her sister Higa Makoto next to her.

But Higa Makoto was already blinking her bright eyes, staring at her, as if knowing what she was thinking.

"Big sister," Higa Makoto said.

"There seems to be something happening inside the apartment."

"The specter demon's essence is about to appear," Higa Makoto replied, looking at the corridor to the left and right. "According to the records, it might merge with that unfortunate child."

Higa Makoto nodded, understanding the current situation.

The essence of exorcism is essentially the removal of all resentment.

Now, with the events unfolding beneath the apartment, the specter demon simply couldn't withstand this consumption. Without taking action, it only had one outcome: to be slowly depleted or sealed, like a slow poison.

Because the specific manifestation was that the world of eternal night enveloping the entire apartment community seemed to brighten a bit.

This indicated that with the massive consumption of resentment, the specter demon's power could no longer sustain this world, its home field.

And it had no physical form, essentially the resentment of those children manifested, incapable of any substantial actions.

"So, what it wants to do is to merge all the resentment into that unfortunate child, appearing in the human world as a true individual," Higa Makoto said as if she knew what her sister was thinking, looking calmly at the right side of the corridor.

"And this also fulfills our requirement for removal."

Beside her, Erin, who hadn't spoken yet, just listened to the Higa sisters' conversation, following Higa Makoto's gaze, looking to the right along with Higa Makoto.

At the right side of the corridor, a creeping trail of blood began to appear from the dim entrance.

The blood was a sinister red, exuding an evil aura.

Simultaneously, the apartment beneath their feet also vibrated in sync.

"It's coming," Higa Makoto said.

Pop pop!

The corridor began to show fine cracks, and the color of the oozing blood resembled the cracks of molten lava from hell.

Simultaneously.

A figure appeared in the dim corridor entrance. Unlike the dark shadows below the apartment, this figure, only the size of a five or six-year-old child, began to show distinct clothing and features slowly emerged.

It was a real child, but its pupils were entirely gray.

Ah!!!

The moment she appeared,

 she opened her mouth and screamed loudly.

The piercing, shrill voice caused cracks to appear in the corridor walls, including the opposite side's house walls and doors, filled with blood slowly flowing down.

However, the wall-shattering scream couldn't affect the watching Higa sisters and Erin due to the talisman's effect.

Instead, the spreading blood continued to extend towards the three of them, like a wave reaching out.

The blood from the outer wall of the corridor also flowed down non-stop, forming a waterfall outside.

This emitted an evil aura, indicating what would happen if touched by the blood, with evil entering the body being the least of concerns.

"I'll handle the protection," Erin said at this moment, looking at the Higa sisters, calmly speaking.

"The real work will be done by Makoto."

Higa Makoto had no objections, not replying, but Higa Makoto took a deep breath, pinching another talisman.

This undoubtedly agreed with her statement.

Seeing this, Erin smiled slightly, and as the blood was about to reach them, she took out a bottle of holy water blessed by their own bishop from a small bag at her waist and threw it to the ground.

Plop!

The bottle, made from holy stone by Hilli, shattered instantly, scattering in all directions.

Following the burst of the bottle, the holy water suddenly emitted a pure white light, spreading under the feet of the three...

Like a silver needle piercing the blue sky, St. Maria Cathedral.

In a beautifully luxurious room, also adorned with various church decorations, an elderly man stood with his hands behind his back, facing the slightly red sunset outside through a large floor-to-ceiling window, unmoved.

A voice came from behind him, "Bishop Pedrillo, there's quite a stir in the Shinagawa area, you."

The voice had just started when the old man interrupted: "Don't worry, since York's deacons are there, York must have prepared everything well in advance."

"Uh."

Father Jun Yamaoka behind the bishop paused, his expression somewhat hesitant.

Bishop Pedrillo seemed to know Father Jun Yamaoka's expression, looking at the dazzling sunset in the sky, shook his head and smiled.

"You haven't interacted much with that guy York, so you might not know his personality and way of doing things, but I do," said Bishop Pedrillo somewhat sentimentally. "That guy is quite a character, cherishing life and protective of his own, plus his extremely cautious nature, he prepares many backup plans, no one knows what he has left for his deacons,

He could rush to hell in a rage over an old believer's issue and even return unscathed with the believer's soul,

What more for the deacons who accompany him for life? He must have left something on his deacons that even they don't know about, and these things can naturally protect my daughters too."

Hearing this, Father Jun Yamaoka could only respond.

"Yes!"

Bishop Pedrillo smiled. Actually, since York came to the island nation, he was not worried about his daughters at all, just silently watching his daughters grow up safely.

Otherwise, he would rush to hell like York, forcibly saving his daughters, regardless of the cost of his life.

Bishop Pedrillo couldn't help but shift his right hand, which was held behind his back. He wanted to say something, but the movement behind him interrupted his action.

The wide-open door revealed a hurriedly arriving priest.

"Bishop Pedrillo! There's a disturbance in the world rift, detecting massive energy fluctuations!"

Hearing this anxious voice, Bishop Pedrillo's reaction was greater than when he heard about his daughters' situation.

"Let's go! Take me to see!"

"Yes!"

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