There are always some people whose very presence commands attention the moment they stand there.
There are also those who, just by standing there, can make everyone feel incredibly at ease.
And York was exactly that kind of person.
His arrival cleared the gloom from everyone's hearts.
So, the relaxed demeanor of Ed and Drew this morning was not without reason.
As York's tall frame appeared in the house, his powerful presence made a deep impression on the Theodore family, who had never met him before.
"..."
"Thank you, Father!"
As the head of the household, Theodore looked at the priest before him, his face full of gratitude.
Their family had already gone to the local church to seek help, but because their child, Abbott, had not been baptized and they were not members of the church, the review process took longer than it would for actual believers.
By then, they would have already... "Thank you for helping us!"
Theodore understood that the priest's presence was truly a great blessing for his family.
"You're welcome, Mr. Theodore." York looked at the Theodore family huddled together; he knew the situation within the Church—at times, the Church could be quite overbearing and cold.
There was a hierarchy of priority; for those who weren't church members, if a priest performed an exorcism without permission from headquarters, he would have to bear all the consequences. Thus, even if a priest wanted to intervene personally, he had to weigh the risks.
"I'm aware of the situation. You are indeed being troubled by foul things. There are no issues with the procedure; the Church would have sent someone sooner or later, so I've simply come ahead of schedule."
Saying this, York looked at the still-grateful Theodore family, paused, and then continued.
"The most important thing now is that you must follow my instructions from this moment on."
The Theodore family nodded earnestly.
"Yes, Father."
Seeing this, York smiled and shifted his gaze to Ed and Drew, who had been waiting for orders.
"In that case, let's begin."
"Yes, Father!"
Everyone nodded... Zip!
York unzipped the first backpack and, following his usual routine, took out some tools to surround the house and handed them to Ed to set up.
The purpose was to encircle and contain—no, to restrict the space in which the evil Spirit could move.
Not just outside; York also had Drew place ordinary blessed crosses throughout the house to provoke the evil Spirit and serve as speakers to reveal its location.
Evil Spirits naturally loathe things imbued with light—this was an immutable fact. Placing a blessed Cross in front of an evil Spirit was no different from hurling filth into a person's face; it was both disgusting and harmful.
Besides that, after finishing the initial arrangements, York silently picked up another backpack, went to the hallway where the evil Spirit was most likely to appear, and secretly placed a Bluetooth speaker that had received Holy Imbuement.
This was his most important task. Exorcising an evil Spirit was far too simple for his current strength; he had come solely to experiment with the possibilities of recordings and holy water, and for any random missions that might be triggered.
Unfortunately, however, no random mission was triggered.
It wasn't until nightfall.
Under York's arrangement, everyone stayed in the room at the end of the hallway—the master bedroom where the Theodores slept.
Under the shroud of night, the atmosphere naturally felt more terrifying than during the day. As time flew by, it slowly approached 10:00 PM.
The Theodores, who had already been tormented significantly, still huddled together despite the priest's presence. The gentle Lorraine comforted them from the side, while Ed and Drew remained silent, waiting for the priest's orders.
Meanwhile, York glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table.
The time was now [21:55].
"Five more minutes..." York withdrew his gaze and looked back at the group, finally stopping at an air humidifier in the corner.
This device was also known as a nebulizer; it heated the water in the tank to turn it into mist, thereby increasing the humidity of the air—a standard fixture for middle-class households.
In other words, it could turn the water inside into mist and disperse it throughout the room.
After a moment's thought, York took a bottle of holy water from the backpack at his feet and walked toward the air humidifier. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he opened the parched water tank and poured the holy water from the bottle into it.
This was something he wouldn't have done before because the amount of holy water was too limited. Before he had Holy Imbuement, the amount of holy water was determined entirely by the meager light—or what was called the Power of Faith—beneath the Jesus Statue in the church.
The upper limit had long been fixed.
On days when more was produced, there would be less later, so he generally wasn't that extravagant.
Of course, the main reason was the lack of visiting believers, which cut off York's path to being extravagant.
But now that he had Holy Imbuement and his Spirit could recover, this limit had been broken. He could produce 500 grams every day, so he could use it however he pleased.
"Father Yorkes, what are you doing?"
Compared to the composed Warrens, Drew was the first to ask.
York finished pouring the 500ml bottle—roughly 500 grams—of holy water. He screwed the cap back on and responded calmly.
"When this water is misted into the air, the evil Spirit won't dare to enter. This way, it can protect you from intrusion."
"Huh?" Drew was stunned, not quite understanding for a moment.
The Warrens exchanged a look, and Ed spoke up, "Father, was that all holy water you poured in?"
"Yes, the essence of holy water is just purified water," York replied as he tapped the buttons on the device to start the air humidifier.
"So it's perfectly suitable for this machine. It won't cause any air pollution, and the holy attributes within it will protect you from the harm of evil entities."
This long explanation left everyone except The Warrens in a daze, even making Drew consider buying some.
As if sensing his thoughts, York stood up and continued with a calm expression.
"If you wish to purchase some, you can come to Pluto Church and exchange an offering for a certain amount of holy water. It's quite affordable."
When he said this, even The Warrens, who knew York relatively well, wore expressions of being caught between laughter and tears.
"Father Yorkes, isn't selling it prohibited?"
"Why would it be prohibited?" York countered, looking at Ed.
"Ed, the world is large, and there is much you don't understand. Of course, that's also the beauty of it. If you were to look into it just a little..."
At this point, York couldn't help but think of those wealthy individuals and the big shots in official organizations; that's exactly how they played the game.