Chapter 161: Demonic Shootout (1)
Chapter 161: Demonic Shootout (1)
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"Helping other people is the best way to make up for your mistakes"
— Kenshin Himura, (Rurouni Kenshin)
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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>
"Bruce, you said you were an expert in exorcising demons, yet that one is still shooting at us like the quiet kid in a school shootout. Can you or can you not do something about it? Because if you can't, I think it's time to call in one of your favors from the All Caste. They sort of consider you as their secret leader since you are their main "backer and financial investor" and will be more than happy to assist you in exorcising it. Demonic and ghostly stuff like this is just up their niche after all. I think they even set up an office in Trenton which means they can be here in an hour at the longest if you give them a call." Nyssa had to almost shout to make her voice heard above the noise of the gunshots due to the demon was shooting at us.
"I am not asking for help, Nyssa. Batman doesn't ask for help to protect his own city especially if it is a measly demon who is trying to shoot me down with a couple of guns. And just for your knowledge, I didn't make any mistake in trying to exorcise it. All the rituals and words I used were accurate... Maybe that demon just doesn't understand any of the twenty languages I spoke... or maybe it is an atheist or something. But whatever the reason for his not being exorcised is, my skills have nothing to do with it. Oh, and I am definitely better at exorcising evil than any member of the All Caste. I respect Ducra and her daughter but even they are not as good as me, let alone the other new recruits of the organization." I defended myself with a snort as I watched my bat tool charge up to the max for the next shot in its gun mode.
Yes, I did fail at exorcising the demon even after boasting about my skills so much, but just like I previously said, it was not at all my fault. The demon did suffer for some time while I was reading the chants, but it didn't even show the tiniest bit of willingness to go back to Hell as it should have. However, reading so many exorcising spells wasn't for naught since I was able to figure out a lot of things from the entire ordeal like the fact that it was a demon named the Mawzir who was on some sort of mission from Hell and that he was an extremely special demon since he apparently could not be banished or killed through the normal demon killing methods. It seemed like there was supposed to be some sort of special method for eliminating the wretched creature, but I still had no idea what.
*BANG BANG BANG BANG* I shot 4 more times at the Mawzir, to blast the rest of its arms away. I had already taken care of the other six of its arms when I was performing the exorcism on it which meant currently, the gunslinging demon no longer had any arms to actually sling its guns. "Man, I am glad that I integrated a miniaturized version of the proton pack technology from Ghost Busters in my Bat tool." I could not help but snicker at how rewarding my paranoia and foresight turned out to be while deciding to temporarily take care of the handless demon before it could heal its injuries.
I reached the demon in a short burst of speed before punching it with my chi-coated fist which cracked its white skeleton-like outer shell with a sickening crunch and propelled him away like a rag doll. But instead of letting the demon feel the pain, I doubled down with a few more chi-coated punches before ultimately following with a hard punch which contained an enormous amount of chi further enhanced by my unique darkness breathing style.
"GAH!" The Mawzir screamed in agony as my chi penetrated its form, attempting to annihilate it from the inside like an invasive element. Alas, my chi could not inflict fatal injury upon the demon. Nonetheless, it was able to do some heavy critical damage and slowed down its rate of healing. Then, with another piercing shriek, the demon vanished into a cloud of dark mist, giving us the opportunity to withdraw and come up with a new strategy to completely eliminate it for good.
"Finally, it's gone. I thought it was too stubborn to retreat even in the face of such a thrashing... Wait, how come the people didn't even notice us beating the shit out of a demon with our high-tech guns despite this being one of the busiest streets in Gotham. It's like nobody even gives a crap that a ten-armed literal skeleton gun-wielding demon was having a showdown against the richest guy in the whole damn city in the middle of a street." Nyssa asked in surprise, still holding her gun and knife as alert as always.
Honestly, I didn't have the answer to her question yet as well, but I had a rough guess. The Mawzir had probably cast some sort of confusion or cloaking spell on everyone passing through the street to make sure that they either wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary or that they would just ignore it even if they did. Nonetheless, whatever it had done, it was a big help for both of us since we were able to beat up the demon without anyone noticing or even doubting our identities. That was also the reason why I didn't take any chances by suiting up in my armor since I didn't want to risk any supernaturally gifted person knowing about my alter ego.
I mean I could explain shooting demons with energy blasters but explaining why a multibillionaire like me plays dress up as a humanoid bat was one conversation I never wanted to have.
"The car I called is here, Bruce and I even did you the courtesy of calling a heavier car this time instead of a sports car since the demon might try to attack again soon." Cortana's voice suddenly chimed in my ears as a black driverless compact SUV stopped before us. "Also, I have accessed all the CCTV footage in the city to find out more about the demon and everyone else the demon had been involved with, but it seems that this Mawzir can teleport to wherever he wants whenever he wants, making tracking his whereabouts impossible. However, I did find footage of the demon having a shootout with a man in a Gotham alley a few days ago. That person also pulled the same trick as you and escaped after destroying most of its body with explosives and high-caliber bullets... As a matter of fact, that man is in a pub right now which is surprisingly quite close to your current location. You can reach him within five minutes if you drive fast." Cortana informed me as my bracelet began to ring with all the information, she had sent me about the man and his current location along with the footage of the fight.
"Good work, Cortana. Given our lack of knowledge about the demon, we'll need to gather all the information we can about it from any source possible. So, any help is welcome. Meanwhile, dispatch a pair of drones to retrieve the antiques from my car's trunk; I'd hate for them to be looted by normal civilians looking to make a quick buck by stealing. Let's go, Nyssa, we've got a pub to visit." With those words, I swiftly removed the rifle case from the rear seat of the old car and joined Nyssa in the new SUV.
"I think we should have tried putting a few seals on him. Maybe that would have gotten rid of him for good or at least trapped him until we figured out some other way of eliminating him." Out of nowhere, Nyssa suddenly spoke out loud after a few minutes of driving.
But I just shook my head sideways in response, "Wouldn't have worked. That demon being immune to all the exorcism rituals I cast can only mean one thing. It somehow tied his existence to something or someone in this world. That means as long as that particular something or someone exists, Mawzir can never be completely destroyed, and it will always find a way to return back to the Earthly realm. Think of it like Voldemort being anchored to life by his Horcrux." I explained knowing that the young assassin was a big fan of the Harry Potter books that were being published by the Wayne Publishing House. "As for what that anchor is, we can only know after detailed research into Mawzir's past. After that, we only need to figure out what type of anchor it is and how to use it to destroy the creature, something that I have a feeling this man named Tommy Monaghan can help us with." I elaborated before showing her the holographic images of a Hitman on my bracelet.
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