As Jonathan had anticipated, within hours the streets were empty. The curfew was not a suggestion; it was law. Patrols went down every avenue in tight formation, not to stop ordinary criminals, but to ensure that no civilian would be exposed to what prowled in the darkness.
The police protocol had been drafted in haste, with rigid, almost military language. No officer was to move alone. Every two blocks, radios were confirming positions, while volunteers brought in to bolster manpower wondered what was happening.
The order was clear: watch, contain, and survive.
Facing Slenderman was never like chasing a flesh-and-blood criminal. It was dealing with something that moved outside the natural laws. The first complication was the uncertainty of his presence: surveillance teams would see him in an empty alley, record him on video… but when the footage was played back, there remained only a distorted noise, an impossible flicker the mind could not hold.
The second threat was the psychological effect. It was enough to hold his gaze for a few seconds for agents to feel a sudden dizziness, as if reality folded over itself. Several dropped to their knees, bleeding from the nose, while others began to shout incoherent things, trapped in visions nobody else could see.
Added to this was the impossibility of direct combat. Bullets had no effect; they passed through his silhouette as if the body were a mirage. Trying to get closer was even worse, because the shorter the distance, the greater the panic. Some swore that Slenderman could "stretch" until he occupied the entire field of vision, as if he had no fixed size.
Finally, there was the most feared factor: influence at a distance. It was not necessary to have him face to face. His shadow reached those who remained in the area too long, producing sudden disappearances, electrical failures, and an unnatural silence that swallowed any hope.
That was why police command insisted on a single principle: it was not about destroying him, but about surviving his passing. Every protocol, every patrol, every order was built around that truth.
…
"Sir, whoever you are, I will be your most powerful warrior."
Supernatural events in this world are different from place to place; one is more irregular than another. But many of them have a certain regularity in their occurrences.
In some cases, the evil spirits that torment the living have always had a cause-and-effect behind why their behavior is malevolent.
At the same time, their appearance and possession are not unfounded. Compared to demons that come directly from hell and have their own bodies, the evil spirits that have persisted in the world of the living are inherently weaker and must go through three globally known stages before they can fully possess human beings and control their bodies and consciousness.
So to speak, these stages are three.
The initiation stage is when humans enter contact with dark territory or an area that triggers the appearance of one or many evil spirits.
Once marked, the moment of the spirit's appearance arrives; it initially begins to make faint noises, understandable whispers, footsteps, tugs on the victim's body, and the victim begins to drain positive energy.
In that stage the cursed spirit wears down its victim; ordinary people tend to have little patience and now ask themselves, knowing about something invisible appearing in their home, when will it all end, what is the true fear?
Personally, if he had been in that situation in his past life, he would have been afraid. Because if you cannot fight something you cannot touch, see, or smell, that would be a battle lost long before it began.
His thoughts on these matters were that if he encountered a ghost that tormented him until it took his life, once dead he would seek to kill that which had taken his life. If there is something you cannot see, the chances of becoming that very thing are high.
But now he did not think the same, because in the third stage there is, in fact, the possession.
Still, what was not known or written was that there is a certain stage in which the evil spirit wanders the world freely without being punished for its sins.
Jonathan, as hunter and exorcist, was about to face this level of evil, one that very possibly no living being had been able to scratch. Curiously, the Belmonts were the only ones specialized in killing the impossible.
When he put on his trousers with two black belts wrapped around his right thigh, a black leather belt, black gloves and tall black boots, he walked to where his weapons were.
His main weapon for this operation was a whip called the Vampire Killer. In the background of the story, the Vampire Killer was not a simple whip, but a mystical weapon with a hidden power tied to its wielder's life and could only be used by someone with the necessary strength and purity.
Additionally, he had extremely powerful weapons from fictions where demons were the enemies, as was his case. For that reason, Jonathan felt no fear about facing something that was far from being a mere opponent.
Jonathan now had more muscles than before, black hair that before had been styled with a fringe partially covering his eyes, and now it was parted with his fringe combed down. He had sky-blue eyes and pale white skin.
Fully equipped, he climbed the stairs to the living-room floor, where some thirty men were waiting for him in silence, all equipped with the most advanced protective gear against dark entities.
Jonathan's steps were heard; everyone stood and held their weapons, ready to accompany their boss to death if it meant eliminating that dark entity.
When Jonathan looked at his men he was brief with his words: "Dark entity, class five, I will personally kill it. I want you to make sure it stays within the seal so it cannot hide in its dimension. Don't die stupidly; you must only protect the seal during that time."
"Understood, boss."
Jonathan nodded slightly, put on a red mask covering the lower half of his mouth and murmured, "Then let the hunt begin."