Chapter 96 – The Exorcism of Melissa Colan 3

"Damn it... If we don't do anything, she's going to possess her again." While saying that, Hannibal's eyes immediately shifted toward the slowly recovering Mrs Colan.

Allatou had already demonstrated what she could do. If they allowed her another opportunity, there was nothing stopping her from returning to the woman she'd already used as a vessel.

Suddenly, a solution came to his mind as he shouted, "Daimon! The anhk amulet!"

The half-demon understood immediately what he intended to do and reached into his pocket, pulled out another ankh, and tossed it toward Hannibal while saying, "Catch."

Hannibal caught it and immediately pressed it into Mrs Colan's hands while advising her, "Keep this on you."

She stared at the amulet in confusion and asked, "What is—"

But Hannibal didn't give her the chance to finish as he explained, "It'll keep that thing from possessing you again."

The woman's eyes widened before she looked toward Albert Colan.

Her husband was no longer himself. His face had twisted into a demonic expression; his skin became darker and leathery, and he now sported long green hair as Allatou continued attacking Blade and Daimon.

Watching that scene, she weakly muttered, "Albert..."

"Don't worry about him. Daimon and Blade will do everything in their power to keep you and your family safe..." Hannibal said.

It wasn't exactly reassuring considering the current situation, but there wasn't time for anything else.

Daimon blocked another attack with his trident and said, "She's right. We can't keep doing this."

Blade ducked beneath Albert's fist and struck him across the side with the flat side of his sword while asking, "Meaning?"

"We can't exorcise her while she has access to everyone in this house."

Daimon pushed Albert backwards and added, "We need to force her into one host and keep her there."

Hannibal understood immediately and said, "And then you exorcise her."

"That's the idea."

"Can you do it?"

Daimon hesitated for a moment before he said, "Eventually."

Blade glanced at him and commented, "That's not exactly reassuring."

"Because I'm being honest." Daimon narrowly avoided another attack before continuing, "Allatou is powerful. More powerful than most demons I've encountered. The speed at which she can move between hosts is particularly unusual."

"So?"

"So forcing her out of a host against her will isn't going to be easy."

Daimon thrust his trident forward, but Albert became intangible, and the weapon passed through him while he concluded, "Even for me."

At this point, Alexander's attention shifted toward Melissa, and a plan started to take a more concrete form in his mind before he pointed at the girl beside him and said, "Then we should use her."

Everyone looked at him, then reacted.

"Melissa?"

"Her?"

"Hmm..."

Melissa herself looked both confused and scared as she muttered, "Me...?"

Mrs Colan immediately exclaimed, "No!"

"There's something connected to her." Alexander struggled to put it into words but still tried, "It's a Duel Spirit. It's helping her resist Allatou. We've already seen that happen."

While dodging another attack, Daimon thought back to the battle.

Melissa's hesitation. The trembling hand. The moments when her body had resisted Allatou's commands.

Then he said, "You're right."

Daimon looked toward the scared girl, "Whatever that Duel Spirit you're talking about is, it was indeed interfering with her control."

"Exactly. If we can force Allatou back into Melissa... We might be able to keep her there."

Daimon nodded and said, "And then I can perform the exorcism."

Agreeing on something that somewhat resembled a plan, everyone fully focused back on the battle.

Alexander watched the ongoing battle as his eyes remained fixed on Allatou/Albert.

He had already opened the YGO System and the Card Database and already found the two cards needed, now he simply needed the right moment to act.

One of the cards was Binding Chain.

He remembered the last time he'd used it, and it was again another demon. At that time, the Duel Spirit had restrained the demon long enough for it to retreat.

Allatou was much stronger, but the basic principle should remain the same. If he could restrain her for even a few seconds, that might be enough for Daimon to take over and deal with her.

Suddenly, Alexander frowned while thinking, 'One problem is the five-minute limit. Once I summon Binding Chain, I will only have a limited amount of time, and I can't waste it. The other is that I'm not confident Binding Chain can fully restrain Allatou... This is why this other Duel Spirit is also going to be crucial.'

While he was thinking that, the fight continued and the living room had ceased to resemble a living room.

The couch had been overturned and shoved halfway against the wall. One of the windows had been reduced to a jagged black-edged hole, curtains hanging in tatters from the rod. Plaster and splinters littered the carpet, while a heavy wooden coffee table lay broken across the floor. Somewhere behind the walls, pipes groaned from the strain of the house shaking around them and through it all, the wards held.

Thin traces of light crawled intermittently along the doorframes and windows, almost invisible beneath the dust and smoke, sealing the house against anything that might try to escape it.

Allatou had noticed, and that was why she was becoming more ferocious.

Albert's body blurred for an instant as Blade's sword swept through the space where Albert's torso had been and struck nothing but air, then Albert snapped back into solidity, and his fist caught Blade across the ribs.

The vampire hunter was thrown sideways, crashed through what remained of a bookshelf, and hit the wall hard enough to rattle the pictures hanging above it.

"Damn it!" Blade growled, rolling to his feet.

Albert's face twisted, but it wasn't his expression as Allatou smiled through him while she said, "How persistent."

Then she lunged.

Blade barely had time to bring his sword up before Albert's hands closed around the weapon. The demon possessed his body with terrifying strength, wrenching the blade sideways and forcing Blade off balance.

Right at that moment, a trident slammed into Albert's shoulder as Daimon crossed the room in an instant.

The impact drove Albert several steps sideways.

"Let him go," Daimon snarled.

Allatou turned her head toward him and the smile vanished.

Albert's eyes burned with something that did not belong inside a human being as he groaned, "You first."

She swung her fist and Daimon caught the blow on the shaft of his trident, but the force behind it drove his boots backwards through the carpet. His heels struck the overturned sofa, and for half a second Allatou seemed to have him pinned.

Then Hannibal King came from the side, and he struck Albert in the ribs, followed immediately by a second blow to the arm, forcing Allatou to release Daimon.

Hannibal didn't waste the opening. He moved between Albert and the hallway, deliberately putting himself where Allatou would have to go through him if she tried to reach Mrs Colan, "You're not getting past me."

Allatou's gaze flicked toward him and hissed, "Vampire."

Hannibal's expression hardened, "At least I'm not ugly..."

She attacked him. Hannibal slipped the first punch, caught the second against his forearm, and drove an elbow into Albert's chest. The possessed man stumbled backwards.

Blade was already there. He swept his sword low, not at Albert's body, but at his legs.

Allatou anticipated it, and Albert became intangible, making the sword pass harmlessly through him.

Blade's eyes narrowed; he had been expecting that, so he stepped forward instead of retreating, pivoting on his heel as Albert solidified again.

The sword stopped a fraction from his throat as Allatou jerked backwards.

Blade grinned and said, "Gotcha."

Suddenly a burst of supernatural force exploded outward, and Blade was thrown across the room.

Daimon caught the edge of a doorway with one hand, stopping himself from being hurled into the wall. Hannibal wasn't as fortunate. He struck the floor shoulder-first and rolled through a cloud of dust.

Albert stood in the middle of the wreckage; his breathing was ragged, and for the briefest moment, his expression seemed confused, but then Allatou returned.

Alexander saw it.

He had been watching from the edge of the room, keeping well away from the actual fighting.

16 years old and very aware that stepping into the middle of a fight between three supernatural hunters and a demon would be an excellent way to get himself killed, Alexander had stayed where he could see without becoming another target.

At first, the battle had looked like chaos, but now it didn't. There was a pattern.

Allatou could make Albert intangible. She could return him to solidity. She could shift her supernatural presence in ways that made ordinary attacks almost useless, but neither transition was instantaneous. There was always a moment, barely there, a flicker, something like a hesitation in the shape of Albert's body, a strange distortion in the air around him.

Alexander had seen it several times now as he waited for the opportunity to present itself, 'Come on...'

Blade charged again, and Albert met him head-on.

Blade feinted high, then drove his shoulder into Albert's chest. The two slammed into the wall. Albert's head struck the plaster.

Blade pulled back his fist, and for a moment, he hesitated as he couldn't simply drive it through Albert's skull.

That hesitation was all Allatou needed as Albert's body went intangible and Blade's fist passed through his shoulder.

Allatou solidified behind him, and Blade spun, but it was too late. Albert's hand struck him in the back and sent him stumbling across the room.

Daimon attacked immediately. His trident came down in a controlled arc.

Allatou shifted, and the weapon passed through Albert's body, making Daimon twist the shaft in his hands and step back.

His eyes narrowed as he commented, "You can't remain intangible forever."

Allatou smiled and quipped, "I don't have to."

She became solid before the air seemed to contract around her, then she unleashed another wave of force with a roar.

Daimon raised his trident and braced himself, but the blast still drove him backwards.

Hannibal moved at the same time, positioning himself between Albert and the hallway again. He glanced briefly toward Mrs Colan.

She was still there. Still alive. Still terrified.

Hannibal turned back, "Come on, demon."

Allatou's head snapped toward him before she crossed the distance with impossible speed.

Hannibal met her, and the collision shook the room.

He caught Albert's wrist and redirected the first strike, then ducked beneath the second. His movements were economical, every motion calculated around the same problem: he couldn't afford to hurt the man trapped underneath the demon.

Allatou knew it, and she exploited it.

She drove Hannibal backwards, forcing him to retreat rather than attack.

Blade came in from the flank. His sword flashed.

Allatou turned with a malicious grin as the blade stopped just short of Albert's neck.

Blade grimaced, "She's using him like a damn shield."

Daimon's voice came from behind him, "Because she knows we'll hesitate."

Albert suddenly twisted, but Blade blocked the punch, yet the impact numbed his arm.

Daimon thrust his trident forward, but Allatou made Albert intangible again.

The prongs passed through him, then he became solid.

'There!' Alexander's eyes widened as he noticed, 'That transition. It was longer this time. Only a fraction of a second, but longer. Allatou's form flickered as she returned to physical reality, and for that tiny instant the distinction between Albert and Allatou seemed to weaken.... Is it because of the limit of the host? If so, we can wear her down.'

Alexander memorised it, but he didn't move, not yet.

The battle erupted again.

Blade slammed Albert against the wall while Hannibal struck from the other side.

Daimon drove Allatou backwards with a series of controlled thrusts from his trident, never allowing the weapon to strike Albert directly.

Allatou snarled while Albert's body was being pushed harder and harder.

She staggered, then she screamed, "Enough!"

The word came from Albert's mouth, but the voice behind it was something ancient and utterly inhuman.

The lights flickered, and the wards around the room flared.

Allatou became intangible, making Daimon's trident pass through her; Blade's sword followed, and Hannibal's fist met nothing. Then she became solid again, but the transition lasted longer than before.

Albert's body flickered and for a heartbeat, his outline seemed to split between two forms.

Daimon saw it, and his expression changed, "Now."

He raised his trident, and Soulfire erupted around its prongs, not an uncontrolled inferno, not here, not with Albert's body so close, but a concentrated torrent of Soulfire, burning with a light that seemed to illuminate something deeper than flesh.

The flames struck Albert, and he screamed. His body convulsed as the Soulfire passed through him, seeking the presence buried inside his soul.

Then Allatou shrieked, and her control slipped.

The flames clung to her presence rather than his flesh, illuminating the demon's supernatural form from within, "NO!"

Daimon gritted his teeth and commanded, "Get out of him!"

Allatou fought back; the room shook, the windows rattled violently in their frames, the wards blazed brighter as something unseen slammed against them, searching desperately for an escape route, but there wasn't one, and the house held.

Allatou screamed again as her presence began tearing free.

Albert collapsed to his knees as something vast and unnatural emerged from him, stretching outward like a shadow being ripped from a body that no longer belonged to it.

For one terrible moment, Allatou seemed caught between two worlds, then Daimon drove the trident forward, and the soulfire surged.

Allatou was ripped out of Albert. Her supernatural presence tore free of the man's body with a violent, shrieking burst of energy.

At this point, Hannibal shouted, "Now!"

Everyone moved at once.

Allatou had nowhere else to go, so she immediately turned toward Melissa.

The girl was still sitting on the floor with her eyes closed in terror as the demon rushed toward her.

Melissa's body convulsed, and Allatou forced herself back inside, making her scream, "NO!"

The Duel Spirit resisted, but Allatou was stronger, and the connection was too faint, so her presence overwhelmed the resistance.

Melissa's eyes opened and the demonic glow returned.

Blade immediately moved toward Albert and handed him a second ankh amulet, "Here. Keep this on you."

Albert barely understood what was happening, but he obeyed.

Mrs Colan already had hers, and that left only Melissa.

Alexander's eyes sharpened, and without any more hesitation, he gave a mental command and a card appeared in his hand, then he spent 25 Duel Energy and called out, "Come forth, Binding Chain! Restrain that demon!"

The card in his hand erupted with light, then it shattered into motes of light.

Suddenly, golden chains erupted from every direction. Walls, floor, ceiling, windows, even the air itself.

The chains glowed with pale radiant light, and the oppressive atmosphere shattered instantly.

Chains moved around Melissa, but they didn't simply wrap around her.

They locked her arms, her legs, her torso, and soon every movement became restricted.

Allatou screamed, "What is this thing?!"

The chains tightened, and Melissa's body was forced into place.

Allatou attempted to become intangible, but nothing happened as the chains restrained he powers.

She tried to move, but the chains tightened further, even though they groaned under the strain of the might.

She tried to force Melissa's body forward, and again, nothing happened.

Alexander stared while thinking, 'It is working! The Binding Chain is restraining Allatou's control over Melissa. But they won't last long like this; Allatou is just too strong...'

Allatou kept struggling as her body remained locked, and the groaning sound coming out of the chains became louder; some even started to crack.

She also tried to transfer herself, but nothing happened, making her exclaim, "What did you do to me!?"

Alexander clenched his fists and said, "You're not going anywhere."

The Binding Chain's Duel Spirit stood beside him; the chains continued glowing, but he could feel their strain at keeping Allatou contained, 'Like this, it won't last long enough to even cover the 5-minute time limit... But it should buy us enough time, especially if what I'm doing next works as I hope.'

At the same time, Daimon looked at him and asked, "How long can you hold her?"

"Not forever."

"How long?"

"Long enough." Alexander made the second card appear in his hand and added, "At least I hope so."

Then without wasting any time, Alexander spent 5 Duel Energy and summoned another Duel Spirit, "Come, Happy Lover!"

The card in his hand shone and shattered before the motes gathered and took the form of another Duel Spirit.

It was a small egg-shaped being with a primarily orange head. It has large, expressive blue eyes and thin, black eyebrows that curve upwards. On its forehead, there is a prominent pink heart with fine, parallel lines etched within it and a small mouth, giving a gentle smile.

Extending from the sides of its head are two large, vibrant pink, feathered wings. Below its head, the Happy Lover has a lower set of wings. These are colored in purple.

Its expression was almost ridiculously cute compared to the demonic creature it was facing, especially when it released an equally cute happy cry, but Alexander knew better.

This wasn't simply a cute Duel Spirit; this was the Duel Spirit that had already been connected to Melissa, and now it was physically here.

Alexander immediately said, "Happy Lover. Help her!"

The little angel turned toward him, then toward Melissa, and its expression changed to one of concern before it flew toward her.

The moment it reached Melissa, something changed as Alexander could feel the connection between them becoming stronger.

The Happy Lover let out another cute cry before it emitted a Heart Ray from its forehead, and the power flowed into the girl.

Melissa's eyes widened, and for the first time since Allatou had possessed her, she looked completely aware, "Help... me..."

The word was barely audible, but Happy Lover moved closer while Allatou screamed, "No!"

The demon struggled against the chains and Melissa's body trembled, but this time she wasn't fighting alone.

Happy Lover was beside her, and the Duel Spirit's power pushed back against Allatou, weakening Allatou even more.

Melissa pushed too, and the three spiritual presences collided.

Girl and Duel Spirit on one side, demon on the other and Alexander's Binding Chain holding the demon in place, restraining her powers.

For the first time since the battle began, Allatou couldn't simply run.

Daimon watched, then he smiled and said, "That's our opening."

He walked forward.

Allatou saw him, and her expression changed. For the first time, she looked afraid, "No."

Daimon continued walking as she yelled, "Stay away from me!"

She tried to struggle and do anything, but the combined effort of Binding Chain, Happy Lover, and Melissa stopped her, making Allatou scream, "Get out of my way!"

Daimon stopped in front of her, raised his trident, then he began chanting, "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. Allatou! Deus omnipotens, Deus vivorum et mortuorum, Deus lucis, a quo tenebrae fugiunt et mendacium corruit, inclina aurem tuam ad servum tuum. Adiuro te, spiritus immunde: non in virtute mea, sed in nomine Iesu Christi. Non tibi impero ut homo, sed ut creatura Creatori suo oboediat..."

She struggled. She screamed. But everything was futile.

"Melissa!" Daimon called out, and when the girl's eyes met his, "Fight her!"

Melissa clenched her teeth, "I..."

Happy Lover moved even closer to support her, and Melissa nodded; then she pushed back.

Allatou screamed. "No!"

The demon's presence began separating from Melissa.

Daimon continued the exorcism, "...Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat. In lumine eius, tenebrae cadant. In nomine eius, mendacium taceat. In misericordia eius, malum relinquat quod usurpavit. Adjuro te iterum, et tertio adjuro: nomen tuum dic, si audes; et discede, si potes. Vade. Nunc. In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen!"

Throughout the prayer, Allatou fought harder, but Melissa resisted harder, and Happy Lover pushed alongside her as it kept using its Heart Ray to weaken Allatou while Binding Chain tightened and restrained her.

For one final moment, Allatou's presence seemed to fill the entire room, then she was ripped free.

The demonic figure fully emerged from Melissa's body.

For the first time, Allatou had no host. No human body to hide behind. No one to manipulate. She was exposed.

Daimon stared at her, and Allatou looked back as fear filled her eyes, "No..."

Daimon raised his hand and declared, "You're finished."

Blackish flames erupted from it, his Soulfire.

Allatou screamed as the flames engulfed her.

The demon tried to flee, but there was nowhere to go, and so the Soulfire consumed her.

Her form began breaking apart as she shrieked, "Nooo!"

Daimon didn't stop, and the flames grew brighter.

Allatou's scream gradually faded as her demonic form disintegrated; then there was nothing left.

The Soulfire disappeared, and silence settled over the ruined house.

Daimon lowered his hand.

Alexander stared at the place where Allatou had been and muttered, "It's over..."

For the first time since the battle began, there was no demonic presence in the room.

Melissa was free. Her mother and father were alive. Blade, Hannibal and Daimon were still standing.

Alexander looked toward Happy Lover as the little Duel Spirit hovered beside Melissa, and for a moment, Alexander simply smiled.

They had actually done it. They had defeated a demon.