Few Minutes Earlier

Olivia (Inngirl) POV

"Ow… damn it," Olivia muttered.

Her head throbbed as she lifted it, the sound of her own voice echoing faintly in the dark.

She blinked a few times, then squinted.

It took her a moment to understand what she was seeing.

Or rather, what she wasn't.

Everything around her was pitch black.

She slowly pushed herself up and looked around.

"Where in the seas did I land now…?"

The ground beneath her felt uneven, cracked, and cold.

Far above, barely visible, was a tiny circle of pale blue light. The sky.

"Looks like the ground gave way. And not by a little, either."

She judged the distance with a practiced eye.

"Reckon it dropped about a kilometer. Nasty fall, that."

Despite the overwhelming force that had slammed down on her earlier, she felt no pain beyond a dull ache.

There was no blood, no broken bones. Not even torn clothes.

She rolled her shoulders and stretched, then took a step forward.

Her foot struck something solid.

"Ow!"

She stumbled and nearly fell before catching herself.

The darkness swallowed everything. She couldn't see debris, broken earth, or shattered remains, but she could feel them under her boots.

With a tired sigh, she sat down carefully.

"Well, ts is a fine mess. Blind as a bat and stuck in a hole."

She leaned back against what felt like a slab of stone.

"Caelum said he'd find a way out of that cursed domain. Guess I'll just wait here till he does. Ain't like I can sail my way out of this hole on my own," she continued, speaking to no one in particular.

As soon as his name crossed her mind, warmth crept up her cheeks.

She shook her head, but it didn't help.

White hair. Clear blue eyes.

That calm, steady look he always had, even when everything was falling apart.

His face surfaced in her mind without permission.

"Damn it. That man commands everyone with grace like it's nothing, then goes and says things like that."

Her heart fluttered as she remembered the way he had spoken earlier.

The proposal.

"Damn fool… making my heart jump like that."

Her fingers curled into her sleeves as she imagined it again. A future where they were together.

"Kyaa—!"

She clapped a hand over her mouth, squirming where she sat.

"Get a grip, girl. You're acting like a greenhorn on her first voyage."

Behind her, unseen, the Cursed Spirit guarding Olivia let out a long, exasperated sigh.

Its form, concealed within fractured space itself, shifted slightly.

Then it froze.

Something was moving.

The spirit turned its attention forward.

From the darkness ahead, a figure dragged itself closer, step by slow step.

Its movements were uneven, and unnatural.

The "head" it wore was unmistakable.

Valen.

Or rather, the "head" — now, mask — of Valen.

This ghoul, wearing the stolen remains of a Rank 5 Exorcist, was one of the most dangerous entities still active in the domain, second only to the Cursed Spirit God itself.

It had sensed Olivia long before she was hit by the hammer.

Because she smelled "dangerous".

And now, with her sight gone and her awareness dulled, it believed it had found an opening.

The ghoul crept closer, suppressing its presence as best it could.

The guardian spirit made a low, irritated sound.

The space in front of it split open silently.

A tentacle, pale and warped, slipped through the tear and shot forward.

The ghoul barely had time to react.

It tried to scream.

Tried to lash out.

Tried to flee.

None of it mattered.

The tentacle wrapped around its torso and yanked it into the spatial cut. The tear sealed instantly, leaving no trace behind.

The guardian spirit consumed the ghoul whole.

A moment later, it released a small, satisfied burp.

Olivia, unaware of everything that had just occurred, hugged her knees and sighed.

"Hope you're safe, Caelum. Try not to do anything reckless, yeah?"

…

MC's POV

I opened my eyes.

Light exploded outward from my body.

It was absolute.

The brightness erased the darkness of the night entirely.

The domain trembled.

The dagger that had been inching toward my heart was flung away as if struck by an invisible wall.

I exhaled sharply.

"That was close."

The Exorcist in front of me stared in disbelief, his face pale as the light continued to spread.

It raced across the ground, climbed the broken structures, and surged upward into the sky.

Night vanished.

The false heavens cracked and dissolved, revealing clear daylight.

The Cursed Spirit God screamed once before vanishing entirely.

Silence followed.

Then a voice reached me.

"Thank you. For showing me what I should have done."

The words echoed strangely, as if spoken from everywhere at once.

Before I could respond, the world collapsed.

Everything disappeared.

I felt weightless, suspended in empty space.

Then translucent lines of text appeared before my eyes.

You have exorcised the Rank 4 Cursed Spirit: Blackout Priest.

Your World has granted you rewards.

Reward: +10,000,000 Soul Shards

Reward: Contact Lens

You resisted powerful mental corruption for a short duration and retained emotional stability: Spirit +30

I stared at the message, then let out a breathless laugh.

"I did it."

A Rank 4 Cursed Spirit.

At my age, this was absurd. It was an historic achievement.

If anyone heard about this, they wouldn't believe it.

"The Recollection Ring saved me. It let me recover my memories just long enough.

"And the Mind Protection Amulet, I got from Elicoras Arena, allowed me to retain my emotions until they could blend into the priest."

Together, they had allowed me to clear the third step.

A pair of contact lenses materialized in front of me.

I grabbed them immediately and slipped them into my pocket, then sent them through the spatial rune on my palm for safekeeping.

"I'll check those later."

My gaze returned to the reward list.

Ten million Soul Shards.

"That's the real prize."

With this much, I could upgrade Yuna's abilities properly, and use the Gacha system that I had been putting off until now..

I smiled despite myself.

"Ten million."

Exorcising a Rank 4 Cursed Spirit normally granted fifty million Soul Shards.

But rewards were only distributed among humans involved.

The Cursed Spirits didn't receive anything.

Which meant the split was between me, Valen, Saint Maverick, and Judy.

"Fifty million divided by four gives me ten million."

"Fifty million divided by four gives me ten million."

Why was I repeating the same words?

Eh, who cared.

I just liked doing it for some reason.

"Fifty million divided by four gives me ten million."

"Fifty million divided by four gives me ten million."

After a few moments, the emptiness around me began to change.

Space twisted, folding inward.

"We should appear wherever the cursed spirit controlling Tomoe's body was," I muttered.

I hoped it was still within the Bermuda Triangle domain.

That hope lasted exactly one second.

The world snapped back into place.

I was standing in the middle of a large hall.

Bright lights. Polished floors. Dozens of eyes locked onto me.

The decorations and infrastructure told me where I was.

Japanese Exorcist Branch headquarters.

Tomoe lay nearby, unconscious, medical staff frozen in shock as we suddenly appeared.

'…You've got to be kidding me.'

From what I found out later, she had told everyone that we attacked her, and she barely escaped.

She told everyone I had allied myself with Prime Five.

That my goal was to assassinate the Monkey King.

In short, I was now an enemy of the Exorcist Union.

And I was currently standing in the center of one of their main branches.

I let out a tired sigh.

"Damned fate," I muttered.

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