Half an hour later, Sephirot brought Angela to Constantine's exorcism cabin.
"What did you bring me to this bastard's place for?"
Angela's expression darkened.
"Just trust me, ma'am," Sephirot said.
Inside, the room was thick with smoke.
Constantine sat at his desk, squinting through a haze of cigarette smoke as he fiddled with a weapon in his hands.
Seeing Sephirot enter, Constantine raised the Holy Shotgun in his hand and said smugly, "You're just in time. I just picked up a new case. Soon, I'll show you exactly what this new weapon is capable of."
The last time he had witnessed Sephirot's brutal, straightforward method of physical exorcism, it had left him thoroughly shaken, and it had completely opened up the perspective of this traditional exorcist.
Then, he noticed Angela following behind Sephirot and knit his brows. "What did you bring this troublesome woman here for?"
Sephirot patted Angela just as she was about to snap, then pulled Constantine aside. "The cause of her sister's death is tied to Mammon's descent plan. You'd better take charge and handle this."
"You're so capable you can even pin Papa Midnite to the floor. Why don't you handle this yourself?"
Constantine exhaled a cloud of smoke and gave a cold snort.
Sephirot feigned a sigh and said softly, "I don't have as many ingenious methods as you do, like being able to open a passage directly to Hell."
"Besides, you don't really want to go to Hell after you die, do you? If you resolve this, you might just be able to trade it for a ticket to Heaven from God."
Sephirot's exorcism methods were essentially based on overwhelming magical power.
Constantine relied more on his innate talents, his unique constitution, and years of research into Occultism.
To enter Hell, Constantine only needed to fill a basin with water, step inside, and stare into the eyes of a black cat to let his soul cross dimensions and reach Hell.
If it were Sephirot...
He'd probably end up in a staring contest with the cat for half a day.
The black cat would likely end up meowing at him in annoyance: "What now..."
Even though this guy did nothing but smoke and drink, he was indeed the best person to handle this matter.
Hearing that it involved Mammon, and especially the possibility of getting into Heaven, Constantine couldn't help but ask, "For real?"
He couldn't help it; whenever he thought of the demons in Hell he had swindled, he shuddered at the thought of the torture he'd face if he ever ended up there.
"Of course. Think about it, who is Mammon? The son of Satan!"
Sephirot spoke persuasively, "Wouldn't his manifestation mean that Hell was the first to break the contract terms? If Hell launches a full-scale invasion of the Human Realm, how many casualties would that cause?"
"If you can solve a major event like this, what reason would God have to keep you out of Heaven?"
Constantine's expression shifted several times as he listened.
He shot Sephirot an indignant glare, knowing he was being manipulated, but he could only bite the bullet and agree.
"Fine. I'll take the woman's case." Constantine crushed his cigarette butt. "In exchange, you have to help me with this thorny job I've got on my hands."
Sephirot nodded. "Of course. What are brothers for if not helping each other out?"
"Go sit on the sofa over there, lady."
Constantine shot a glance at Angela, his tone gruff. "Try to remember every unusual thing your sister did before she died."
Though Angela was curious about the job he mentioned, she complied and sat on the nearby sofa, grateful that he had finally agreed to help investigate the cause of her sister's death.
Having cleared Angela away, Constantine pulled open a drawer, fished out a dossier stamped with the seal of the Vatican Holy See, and tossed it onto the desk. He began to brief him on the case.
"Not long ago, the Holy See received an emergency report from a pair of paranormal investigators named the Warrens."
"During an investigation, this couple discovered a haunting involving a single-parent family. Initially, they thought it was just a common vengeful spirit, but later investigation revealed that the spirit was nothing more than a puppet on a string."
"The one pulling the strings from the shadows is a powerful demon disguised as a nun."
"Because the danger level far exceeded their capabilities, the Warrens had no choice but to seek help from the Holy See."
"After evaluating the situation, the Holy See dumped this mess on me."
Listening to the description, Sephirot's eyes shifted slightly.
*The Warrens?*
*Weren't those the psychic investigators from The Conjuring?*
*In that case, this so-called demon should be Valak, one of the 72 Demons of Hell.*
Centuries ago, a noble duke obsessed with Black magic held a sacrificial ritual in his castle to obtain dark power, successfully opening a rift to Hell in the real world.
Halfway through the sacrificial ritual, the Vatican Holy See sensed the anomaly and dispatched Crusaders to seal the rift.
To prevent the rift from reopening, the Holy See converted the castle into an Abbey, ordering the resident nuns to pray in shifts day and night to suppress the rift beneath the ground.
Until World War II broke out, when bombs triggered an earthquake, the seal broke, and the demon Valak was fully released, slaughtering the entire Abbey.
Ultimately, Valak possessed a human who had come to investigate and escaped the area.
"I'm surprised. A man like you, actually willing to risk your life for the Holy See?"
Sephirot teased.
"I'm not like you, doing whatever the hell you want."
Constantine gave him a weary look. "I'm going to Heaven."
"Wiping the asses of these high-and-mighty clergymen and doing their dirty work is how I buy my ticket to Heaven from God."
Constantine lit another cigarette and continued, "This target is vicious. It slaughtered an entire Abbey of nuns a long time ago and has managed to enter society by using a human host."
"If we don't deal with it soon, who knows where it'll end up next."
To be honest, handling this alone would be incredibly risky.
Against a demon possession like this, it would be impossible for him to win with a body as riddled with terminal illness as his.
That was the reason he had racked his brains to create the Holy Shotgun.
Sephirot coming to his door for help today had given him the perfect excuse to bring it up.
When the time came, he would let Sephirot face the evil spirit head-on while he stood back, safely performing the Exorcism ritual to banish the demon back to Hell.
If this guy didn't have such a big mouth and didn't know him so well, the two of them would have been a team born for exorcism.
However, Sephirot's plan was entirely different from his.
He looked at the mission prompt that had just popped up in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Triggered Side Quest: The Profane Nun]
[Mission Description: The Marquis of the Abyss, the demon Valak disguised as a holy nun, continuously tortures the minds of the innocent in an attempt to complete its final descent plan.]
[Mission Objective: Kill the demon Valak completely]
[Mission Reward: 3000 points, bloodline awakening degree: 3%]
[Special Drop: Hell Demon Origin (Spirit) × 1]
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — CROSSOVER GUIDE
Some references in this chapter come from source universes that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The notes below provide the context needed to understand them without leaving the page.
SOURCE UNIVERSES
The Conjuring universe — A horror film franchise based on the real-life cases of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The films include The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016), The Nun (2018), and several spinoffs. The central recurring antagonist of the franchise is Valak, a demonic entity that takes the form of a corrupted nun. Sephirot recognizes the Warrens' names and correctly identifies the demon they encountered as Valak.
CHARACTERS
Ed and Lorraine Warren — The husband-and-wife paranormal investigator duo at the center of the Conjuring franchise. Ed was a self-described demonologist, Lorraine a clairvoyant. In the films, they are depicted as devout Catholics who work closely with the Vatican to investigate supernatural cases. They appear here only by name, having filed the emergency report that brought Valak to Constantine's attention.
ANTAGONISTS
Valak — A powerful demonic entity and the primary antagonist of The Nun (2018) and The Conjuring 2 (2016). It is listed among the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia (a medieval grimoire cataloguing the spirits of Hell) and manifests in the form of a desecrated nun. Its origin story, as summarized by Sephirot in this chapter, closely follows The Nun: a noble duke opened a rift to Hell through dark ritual, the Vatican sealed it by consecrating the site as an Abbey, and the seal eventually broke during World War II, freeing Valak and leading to the massacre of all the nuns in residence.
CONCEPTS
The 72 Demons of Hell — A reference to the Ars Goetia (Latin: "The Art of Sorcery"), a section of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a 17th-century grimoire cataloguing 72 demonic spirits, each with a name, rank, and specific power. The list includes figures such as Bael, Astaroth, and Valak (sometimes spelled Valac). The grimoire has been widely referenced in occult fiction and horror media.