Marcelo had decided to take a little time to reorientate himself about his goals. His focus was dwindling, and he was beginning to loose sight of who he was. He was getting weaker, and his last exorcism had proven that beyond doubts. He had struggled against a demon that wasn't near the power of the strongest he had faced before. His loss against death had taken a serious toll on his mental and physical health, and they weren't things he would easily recover from. His emotions were getting in the way of everything he did and it had greatly affected his productivity. It wasn't his first time loosing a fight, but this felt much more painful than any of his loses. He barely lost and when he did, his opponents often considered their victory irrelevant. But this time around he had lost two consecutive battles in just a minute. He had lost against death, and also to the Quinns. He had misused a once in a lifetime opportunity and an innocent boy had paid the price with his life. The guilt
At the last second, Marcelo was able to get his emotions under control. This would not go like his last two battles. Those ones had the odds stacked against him. Fortunately, fate seemed to be smiling on him for once. If there was anything Marcelo knew he was good at, it was exorcizing demons. In a flash, he pulled out the bottle of holy water he always carried. Loosening the cap slightly, he tossed it directly towards the encirclement. It had the result of throwing a grenade at a bunch at people. The demons hissed and growled loudly as they immediately retreated from the sizzling liquid that splashed around. Seizing his opportunity, Sebastian immediately grabbed the bottle and emptied it around himself in a circle after which he began to pray unceasingly, which further agitated the vile creatures. "Hey you bastards!" Marcelo called out before they could refocus on the boy. Holy water was good and all, but this was not a normal possession case. These things were sent, like a small
Daemon devorator, Marion, translated as the Demon Devourer Marion was the manifestation of Marcelo's innermost desire. It was a weapon whose power only increased in the presence of demons and anything that had to do with them. Just like the name suggested, Marion drew strength with every demon it cut down. It acted as a multipurpose weapon too, as with every increase in its power, Marion would transfer the absorbed energy into Marcelo to increase his physical attributes exponentially. The ultimate weapon against the demonic scourge, Marion was Marcelo's ace in the hole against the otherworldly creatures. He had not used this weapon against Death, because it would have been in vain. The reason was that for all its evil, Death was not and had never been a demon. Azrael was hailed as a Fallen Angel, therefore facing it with a weapon designed to purge demons would be have been very unwise. But in a situation like this, Marion showed its true greatness. From the corner of his eyes,
With each swing of Marion's blade, disgusting creatures from the Underworld were banished from the burial grounds. So much ash filled the waterlogged soil, that Marcelo had to occasionally use the heat from Marion to vaporize the water to avoid slipping. The demons were not particularly strong with only a handful of them posing actual threats. It was their numbers that Marcelo found annoying. Deciding he had had enough, he carved a large circle around him which soon began to glow with a red shine that repulsed the demons. Bringing Marion up to chest level horizontally, Marcelo tapped it thrice, at the bottom mid point and the tip of the blade. Each tap created powerful sonic waves that had the demons screeching uncontrollably. "Mors Lanistus," he intoned and with a loud grunt, Marcelo plunged the sword into the ground. From the point of impact, a large wave of crimson energy swept out to devour every single demon around him instantly. In the next second, Marcelo was already cross
The demon's eyes were now fixed on Marcelo and he felt the weight on his shoulders double, so much that he had to grit his teeth to remain standing. Having expended nearly every drop of energy in Marion with that last strike, he was left with a near empty tank to draw on. The demon itself was perfectly unharmed, as was the ground around it. By contrast, the area around them and beyond was utterly wrecked. It took one look around and scoffed lightly, although Marcelo could not really tell with how deep its voice was. "You humans really have a penchant for destruction." Marcelo cursed and tried to move away to rethink his strategy, only to find out that he could not even move a muscle. His eyes widened in alarm as he struggled to even shift his feet in vain. He made to open his mouth yet he found out that he could not even do so. Neither could he breathe. The same spacial distortion that had stopped Marion was also around his body. The alarm on his face must have drawn the demon's
The distortions around Marcelo and Sebastian disappeared as well, and the latter immediately ran out to meet the former. "What was that?!" "That, my friend, is the reason why you rarely see exorcists over forty years old," Marcelo replied. Despite the lightness in his tone, Marcelo's heart was heavy. This was the first time he had ever encountered one of the Seventy-Two face-to-face. He had always known that they were exceedingly powerful but to experience such strength firsthand was truly humbling. To make out worse was the fact that Morax was only a President of Hell. Had it been one of the Marquises or worse still a Duke, Marcelo was sure he would have likely been killed without even knowing what killed him. That did not sit well with him. His grip tightened around Marion's hilt. He needed to get stronger. Azrael was still waiting for him. "Come on Sebastian," Marcelo called out as he twirled Marion twice before inserting the blade into his chest without causing himself any
Everyone present could feel the tension in the atmosphere but they preferred to feign ignorance in this type of situation. Edward was at it again. He seemed to derive some sort of satisfaction in downplaying Marcelo and his apprentice but nobody dared to interfere anytime he began throwing these tantrums. Marcelo heeded Edward's words little attention. He needn't remind the man that he had just saved their lives moments ago. He seemed to enjoy tabling people's bad sides than commending a more obvious good deed. He understood that Edward's words were correct to an extent, but at the same time he had his own reasons and he wasn't prepared to share them with the group yet."Shouldn't you be a bit grateful Edward? Marcelo just saved our necks back there" Rebecca pointed out and immediately, the ranting man's voice died out. Marcelo eyes Rebecca for a second before pulling away his gaze from here. In as much as she had done good by shutting Edward up and bringing peace to their ears, she
His master's words had Sebastian's cheek turning red, but the boy did well to conceal the joy that had welled up inside of him just by hearing those words."Do you think I'll ever be as strong as you are?" Sebastian inquired of the man beside him. He knew he was being hasty with this particular question, but his motivation to get stronger would only grow with the next words Marcelo would utter .Marcelo was definite about Sebastian surpassing him. Unlike him who received his own abilities from the rituals of his family, Sebastian was gifted by the heavens, which could only entail that his powers were far greater than the ones brought about by human actions. Sebastian would definitely change the world someday, but he wasn't about to let the boy know that just yet."You might not, your abilities aren't made for battles. You're better as a support character don't get ahead of yourself" Marcelo gave his honest answer. Sebastian's abilities weren't the kind that would aid him in a one one s