"John, how much longer do I have to be your slave before you teach me how to perform exorcisms?"
Inside a yellow taxi, a young man about twenty years old asked while driving.
"Chas, you're not my slave," Constantine replied distractedly, brushing him off. "You're my apprentice, my assistant."
"Like... Robin. You know, Batman's sidekick from Gotham."
Chas pursed his lips. "How old is Robin? Batman taught them so much, and I've been with you for how many years now?"
Constantine pretended not to hear. He couldn't exactly tell Chas that he lacked Psychic abilities and had almost no chance of becoming an Exorcist, and that he was just looking for free labor, could he?
Suddenly, Chas, who was driving, asked again, "By the way, John, did you offend someone?"
"Which one are you talking about?" Constantine asked without looking up.
"Uh, a bunch of demons?" Chas asked uncertainly.
Constantine quickly looked ahead and saw a large swarm of demons in various shapes in mid-air, rushing toward them.
"Turn around! Fast!" Constantine shouted.
Among Exorcists, he was considered top-tier, so he naturally didn't think this group of demons was just passing by.
Even if they were just passing by, if the demons discovered Constantine was in the car, they would probably tear the vehicle to shreds.
Chas quickly adjusted the steering and floored the gas pedal, while Constantine rapidly pulled a roll of dirty cloth from his pocket.
"The Shroud of Jesus—this will definitely take out these demons!" he whispered.
But when Constantine looked back, he saw a figure in a white suit suddenly flash into existence between the demons and their car.
"Bolts of Balthakk!"
Fang Yuan raised his hand and released a giant bolt of red lightning. The thunder struck the demons ahead, and chain lightning quickly engulfed the rest, turning all of them to nothingness in an instant.
He had originally wanted to use fire, but since demons were born of fire, Fang Yuan used the more powerful thunder instead.
To ensure the lightning could harm the demons, Fang Yuan even used divine power, making sure his entrance was sufficiently shocking.
"Screech!"
Chas slammed on the brakes and stuck his head out of the taxi in shock.
"Did you see that?" Chas was full of amazement. "Can you do that move too, John?"
Constantine's mouth twitched.
"I'm an Exorcist, not a Mage!" he could only say to save face.
But Constantine himself was internally marveling; Fang Yuan's display just now was too stunning.
Although he could achieve something similar, Constantine would have to use one of his trump cards, the Shroud of Jesus.
He only had a small piece of it; after all, Jesus was just a normal-sized human. Even if he had been wrapped like a mummy, the pieces circulating in the World after all these years were almost gone.
"Cough, cough, cough!" Chas suddenly started coughing violently, quickly covering his nose and mouth. "What's that smell?"
"Click!"
Constantine lit a cigarette. "Sulfur. Everyone reacts like that the first time they encounter it."
Isabel and Angela, who were beside Fang Yuan, were the same, but Fang Yuan waved his hand and isolated the smell from them.
Constantine walked over. "John Constantine, Exorcist."
"Fang Yuan. My current identity can be considered... a Mage," Fang Yuan introduced himself.
Constantine pointed around while smoking. "Thanks. But I'd be even more grateful if you told me what's going on."
"The gratitude of Constantine the Exorcist?" Fang Yuan shook his head. "Doesn't seem like something very valuable."
The smoker's face darkened.
"However, something big is indeed happening," Fang Yuan explained his purpose. "The demon Mammon is looking for a way to descend into the human World, and he needs a powerful Psychic as a host."
He pointed toward Isabel and Angela. "The girl on the left, Isabel, was the original target. But I saved her, so it seems the demons have switched targets."
"Mammon?"
Constantine immediately wanted to say it was impossible; Heaven and Hell had an agreement that demons could not enter the human World.
But on second thought, the agreement was actually between God and Satan. If Mammon wanted to descend, he surely intended to rebel and turn the human World into a second Hell, so he naturally wouldn't care about God and Satan's wager.
As for whether this was a little trick by Satan to exploit a loophole?
Constantine felt it was unlikely.
At the level of God and Satan, what they cared about was never the ownership of a World, but the wager itself.
If Satan dared to exploit a loophole, he would never be able to hold his head high before God again, and God would gossip about him wherever he went.
Constantine even thought further: if Mammon successfully descended, Satan would also lose massive face for being unable to control his own son, and God would still gossip about him.
Fang Yuan, who was reading Constantine's thoughts, had a slight stiffening of his expression.
"I was wondering why God hasn't shown any reaction to Mammon and Satan causing trouble in the human World. Maybe He really does have plans like that."
Fang Yuan's thoughts wandered.
"If Mammon is stopped, it's because of God's righteous guidance. If Mammon succeeds, it's because Satan is incompetent. Either way, God doesn't lose."
Fang Yuan had always speculated about others with the worst intentions. With so many Worlds out there, he didn't think God would care particularly much for this one.
"What an old schemer, truly an old schemer," he couldn't help but sigh. "There's always more to learn."
No wonder God agreed to his conditions so readily. It turned out that whether Fang Yuan succeeded or failed, the real big shot was already in an invincible position.
"This point must be written into the Vought spirit," Fang Yuan decided.
"I didn't expect the demons to target an Exorcist like me." Constantine lit another cigarette, unsure if he was lamenting or celebrating.
Fang Yuan smiled and shook his head. "From what I can see, the target of the demon attack doesn't seem to be you."
Constantine was stunned. He knew Fang Yuan wouldn't say things without a reason.
But just now, there was only him and Chas. Surely the demons' target couldn't be the taxi?
"Chas?" He shook his head violently. "He's not even a Psychic; there's no way he meets the criteria!"
In fact, Constantine was thinking more along the lines of: A powerful Psychic?
Even a legendary Exorcist like him didn't meet the standard, yet Chas, whom he used as cheap labor, did? Where was his pride?
Of course, Fang Yuan knew why. A Psychic chosen as Mammon's host would die, and since Satan had his eye on Constantine, he would personally come to collect his soul if he died. Wouldn't killing Constantine be equivalent to self-destructing for Mammon?
Mammon wasn't that stupid.
But Constantine probably wouldn't want to understand that logic, just like now.
Constantine's smoking motion suddenly froze. He realized why the demons weren't looking for him, but this also meant that if they wanted to save the World and stop Mammon, the method was simple—just kill him.
"Ahem." Constantine coughed twice and immediately pulled Chas over, saying enthusiastically, "Ah, yes! Chas is the greatest Psychic. I've known it all along!"
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