Augustus had walked up to the old and worn wooden door, the light green paint was peeling off with the chipping all over in front of it. 

The path that he had walked to this desolate house had been unkempt with dead leaves spotting the yard but there were no weeds nor grass visible. It was like a dry ocean with archipelagos of dead turf where life decided to no longer bother attempting to grow. Walking up the path he had felt this underlying presence best described as anti-life. It had gotten stronger and stronger until he had reached that front door, by that point he was suffocating in that invisible miasma. He was sweating from the feeling, sweating even more than he had been earlier while walking here in his black robe-like garments during this hot summer.

But he knew what he had to do. No matter the danger, be it demon or devil, a priest like himself had to go forth. Inside was the woman who had called for his help. She had pleaded with the local church for the strongest holyman to quell the demonic presence inside. The call had gone up the branches, no priests would bother with the task. They all would say that she was simply crazy and that such work was a waste of time. Her plea had been left unanswered… That is until Augustus had read about it in the local papers' personal ads.

Augustus started knocking on the door, “*kak* *kak* *kak*” Each knock made a soft hollow sound. The wood felt as if it was rotting from the inside and a bit of the paint chipped into his hand. He waited, standing prepared. He recalled the details of the ad, “priest needed, very big evil!” it said, with a drawing of some devil behind a woman with her hands up with the label “pretty” on her face. He knew she was desperate, that she was in such trouble that she had some small and amateurish child draw such low detailed figures. The thought broke his heart.

And when he tried to call the local church they refused to tell him any information, of course he already knew why. They were corrupt and didn’t understand the true reality of it all, claiming he was “deranged”, the same type of claim levied against our prophets some thousands of years ago. 

He was still waiting as he heard the far voice of a woman inside, she sounded a bit frantic and hurried as she yelled “Coming!” and he heard the sound of running and creaking all along the floor inside. He heard “Please wait!” a number of times and a final “I’m coming!” as the sound of running stopped at the door led by the handle turning.

As the door opened he saw a woman, she had on what looked like that of a pilgrims dress, or maybe some 1800’s maid attire. It had this form of white apron on top of a black dress and was tight onto her body. Augustus did not see any further for men of God do not look at large bosoms in front of them. 

Her hair was very rough looking. It was a bright golden blonde, unnaturally bright and the length was a little above her shoulders and looked very messy, a mix between some bob looking cut and a rough bedhead, mostly behind the shoulders though. 

“So… Are you here for the exorcism?” She asked with a weird shy look on her face.

Augustus looked her in the eyes as he answered with a blunt and emotionless “Yes.”

She moved aside to the door and motioned him inside, all with the same weird awkward look, her head darting left to right. 

Upon entering that miasma feeling worsened like he was now in a thick smog of evil. The epicenter of the Devil’s influence. 

“There’s been… Things happening, Father, and I don’t know-”

“I’m not Father…” He interrupted her, she looked at him surprised as he stared into her eyes

“I am The Priest” he said with a monotone and low volume.

“O-okay… Anyway Prie-”

“The Priest” he said, in the same tone as before but emphasizing ‘the’ with some extra loudness.

Her expressions got more awkward and she stuttered a bit raising a finger

“B-But the grammar and, and” before she stopped and went blank. She stopped speaking for a few moments to rethink, looking down and bringing her hands to her lap.

“Weird things have b-been happening.” she started, looking up towards him “Like these weird sounds, you know, and plates thrown around, a-and I’ve… I’ve…” she started going quiet and looked down. She said quietly, nearly in a whisper “I’ve seen this, thing, this black shadowman. H-He watches and, and he’s there sometimes. Outside but he's started coming in, in the room that’s always been locked…”

She became startled as Augustus put his hands on her shoulder, her face went a bit wild as he started saying loudly “Lead me to this room”.

“W-would you like some tea first?” she said meekly and he nodded in response.

The two sat at her kitchen table, it was a cheap plastic table, the type kids would have in corners. Those damned kids… Always having their corner cliques during reunions. Like mobsters... The cup’s were a fake china plastic and the tea was tap-water cold. Augustus still drank it nonetheless, for tea from a lady is tea from a lady. Especially since cold water, even if mixed with some low quality tea, is so very expensive.

The kitchen had paintings all around, done by some young ones. They were of flowers and landscapes with few colors and looked messy. The kitchen itself looked disheveled and disorganized.

They sat across from one another, Augustus staring at her face for the duration of the tea time. At first she was somewhat calm and meeting his eyes on occasion but after a minute of this staring she began averting her gaze. Fidgeting a bit as she drank, pretending to drink when she ran out, pouring more and more and drinking each fill until she was just pretending to drink and pour despite the kettle and cup being empty. 

Eventually she piped up while a bit flushed in the face “So, um, what church are you from?”

“I am my own church”

“O-oh… Like you’re a bishop or like, like a leader?”

“I am my own priest”

“L-like you just say you are? Ah, have you read the bible?” her voice had stopped having as much struggle and was starting to become a bit clearer as she started finally making some conversation.

Stolen novel; please report.

“I have read the bible 118 times. I have it with me now” he said whilst plopping a bible onto the table right in front of her. The woman’s eyes widen and dilate.

“O-oh have you know, haha” her awkward little laughs would have been enough for any normal man to realize her discomfort. But Augustus is no normal man.

“Have you read the bible?” he asks her, looking into her eyes as she tries darting them around and some sweat drips down her face “N-no, you know never had t-” 

“Horrible…”

Her mouth is left a bit ajar and she stammers a bit “B-But”

“You should read it, this is why you are being haunted by this GHOST!” he starts shouting, standing up from the chair and pointing at her now “READ THE BIBLE OR PERISH YOU GODLESS HEATHEN, YOU WRETCHED OF THE HEART!”

She looks on the verge of tears at his verbal barrage, her hands in her lap as she starts looking down to her legs.

“Yes” and “You’re right” was all she could muster quietly, repeating the two as he continued scolding her in her own home.

After some time the two are in the hallway. “Show me the Demon’s room” he asks her, in his same commanding tone “y-yes” she responded. The two had started moving before he stopped her.

“Wait, we must evacuate the child from the home. She risks injury if I start the exorcism while she’s present in the home.”

“C-Child?” she gave a wandering look at Augustus. “What do you mean?”

“The child who's here, right, like your child or sibling”

“I don’t have kids or any siblings here? Do I look old enough to have kids!?” a sad expression took hold of her face

“Of course you do, you have to, who's the one who put that drawing into the paper ad?”

“That was me. Why would you think a kid would make it ”

“Because it looked like a child's drawing”

“No, it was mine haha. I’m a bit of an artist so I made something cute for the paper, ya’know, so that people will like it.”

“Oh, well that makes sense. So those paintings hung around here are yours from when you were a kid.”

“Y-Yeah…” she looked away and quieted down “from when I was a kid…”

She had kept looking down a bit while leading him up to the second floor. Past one door, past a second, past a third and fourth until they came in front of a fifth at the end of the hallway.

He readied the cross from his robes pocket in his right hand and prepared his torn and ragged bible in his left.

“No matter what, stay outside this door” he told her, quietly and with some pause “and if you believe I have failed, you must run and leave this home. You will be unable to dispel this evil.”

She nodded before backing up. He turned the knob and moved the door slightly ajar, peering into the darkness before fully entering the room. He was basking in the dark but as the door closed he was fully engulfed. The feeling like that of suffocation, as if a pillow was forced onto his face as he walked further into the pitch black room. He lit a candle in the center,. The orange and flickering glow was the only semblance of protection and sight given in this void. 

“St. Michael the Archangel” he began, the candle flicker turning violent and the light’s casted shadows began dancing.

“defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness” as the dancing of the candle's orange devils intensified,  going back and forth upon the walls with the shadow in a high rhythm. The light was present but the illumination of the wall was now at the whim of something, someone, whatever was within that room. 

“and snares of the devil.” as the room began to darken despite the candle light being the same. 

“May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God” the shadow dance was a race, a ballet, a wild throwing dance, the candles fire began to join in the fray of the shadows. It wayed wildly from side to side following suit of the shadows, no wind was needed for this demonic dance. The miasmic feeling worsened and became almost choking, infesting the nose with a stench and forcing the throat to hold a lump. The tongue felt a forced taste of rotting carcass and chunky milk all along it, every taste bud assaulted.

“cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of” with the final word “souls.” the light went to the dimmest possible that light could be while staying present. He could feel a pair of breasts against his back, he could not see it but there was a blonde shining through brightly from the little light.

“Amen” Asmodeus said

“Asmodeus… I knew of you the entire time. Did you really think that disguise tricked me? I knew from the start.”

She scoffed “I’m flattered that you’d think I’m one of the Progenitors” the two kept the same positions with neither moving an inch apart from the smile that had formed on her face, from cheek to cheek.

“Remember this name, burn each syllable into the brain and carry it forth into your death, Amerodya, the Grand Demoness of Underworld!” she yelled aloud followed loudly by what sounded like a steak being thrown onto the cement. Her face was thrown downward to the side as Augustus’s fist replaced where her head had just been. She looked at him with now widened eyes with her now sore cheek facing up towards him. Her glare intensified by her hateful crimson eyes.

“Y-you…” before her neck began to crack and contort, turning her head widely with a sound like bones being cracked and crushed followed by random erratic throws of her head.

“You.” a full fling all the way to the left.

“You” a full fling all the way to the right.

YOU!” a complete straightening of it.

Before she threw her own fist, as it flew it was covered in a veneer of shadow which obscured the entire forearm. He weaved to the right before throwing his body weight fast upward, landing a hook into her side, as it impacted she recoiled and spasmed with her body contorting to that side in reflex. He followed with another fist into her throat, sloppy but he knew it worked when she started gagging and stumbling around. Her defenses were lackluster, her training non-existent, so Augustus aimed to finish the demon.

As she had hunched a bit trying to recover he uppercutted her in the stomach, then again and again. She immediately covered the floor with the tea after the first punch but nothing more came out, only dry heaves while all her air was forced out, He continued doing this until she collapsed into the puddle of her own vomit, some more heaving as she laid.

“Begone from this earth, demo-”

Before a deep slash went across his face, blood flowed all over and he stumbled backwards from the impact. He looked and saw the Demon, whatever her name was, standing in front of him some ten feet away. Her hands had bone structured claws protruding from them with flesh hanging from the exit points. Her eyes were a fierce, deep red and curved horns were on her head which were glowing in a deep burgundy red.

He could not speak, he had just tried to but the mouth could not open. The air would not flow, he tried breathing manually but nothing would come out other than blood from the slit now across his throat. 

He held his hand on to try and stop the bleeding, his other grabbing tightly to the crucifix that he held infront as the Demon moved towards him. Her legs were still but it was like the air was carrying her. She was perfectly still yet coming towards him. The hair didn’t sway with her movement and her eyes stared deep into his.

“You really tried, huh… I’m going to make the rest of this a hell for you.” she said quietly while now holding onto his chin, bringing his face close into hers, staring into his pained eyes. All he could see in hers was malice and emptiness like the eyes of a taxidermy.

Her grin was uncontrollable, it took the entirety of her bottom face and her eyes were like that of a rabid, wild dog finding some bunny in the wild.

“Oh, your crucifix? Do you think that can save you here, now? It’s useless…” she spoke slowly, mocking his attempts at holding the cross slightly up towards her.

He gave up and wrapped one arm over her and the other around her side in an impromptu hug, holding onto the cross tighter behind her.

“Oh, OHH HAHA!” she let out loudly before going quiet to mock him “Okay… I’ll let you hug me as you die. Such a lonely priest… SUCH A LOSER OF A PRIEST! I bet the only thing you’ve hugged was some priest against your will huh…” she said, mocking him as he moved his thumb towards the center of the cross “Or were you such a loser, so undesirable that those higher men didn’t even bother using you?” she was smirking and laughing loudly “GET IT, CAUSE PRIESTS ARE PEDARISTS HAHA!”  but by the end of her insults he had flicked up Jesus's head on the cross. His hate for her was intense but he still moved his fingers calmly as his breathing started to stop.

“What’s it like to suffocate in your blood, can your God sa-” her face became shocked at the bright light before half of the house collapsed, the roof instantly caving in as the walls were blown away from the explosion.