Anne sat upright on the sofa, her pale face still carrying traces of exhaustion, but now her eyes were filled with curiosity rather than fear.
She studied Lucien carefully.
He was far younger than the kind of exorcist she had imagined.
No old priest.
No silver cross.
No Vatican robes.
Just a calm young man from the East, sitting across from her with a composure that somehow made the room itself feel safer.
"So young…" Anne said softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "And yet you came so quickly. I thought the Church usually takes days to send someone."
Lucien instantly understood her misunderstanding.
In the West, exorcism was almost always tied to the Church. Official priests needed approval, reports, and procedures before taking action.
But what he practiced was something entirely different.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"I'm not from the Church," he said evenly. "Nor am I the kind of exorcist you're familiar with."
Anne blinked.
"Then what are you?"
Lucien leaned back slightly, his dark eyes calm.
"I use Taoist arts."
The unfamiliar phrase made Anne tilt her head.
"Taoist… arts?"
Lucien chose the simplest explanation.
"You can think of it as Eastern mysticism. Different methods, same purpose."
Anne slowly nodded, half-understanding, though the mystery in her expression only deepened.
Her gaze soon dropped to the yellow talisman in her hand.
She carefully unfolded it, studying the strange symbols written across its surface.
"So this is what saved me?"
Her voice lowered.
"In the dream… I couldn't move before. But suddenly I could breathe again… I could run…"
She touched her neck instinctively, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
"The wounds…"
Her fingers moved across the smooth skin where claw marks should have been.
"They're gone."
Lucien gave a small nod.
"The exorcising talisman suppressed the spirit's influence. It protected your body and soul while you slept."
The gratitude in Anne's eyes deepened instantly.
For the first time in what felt like forever, she looked truly alive.
"Thank you," she whispered. "If you hadn't arrived… I might already be dead."
Then her voice softened further.
"May I know your name?"
"Lucien."
She repeated it slowly, as if memorizing it.
"Master Lucien… please save me."
There was genuine desperation in her voice now.
She shifted slightly on the sofa, her posture fragile, almost pleading.
But Lucien remained steady.
He had seen too many desperate faces to be moved by appearances alone.
"I'll do everything I can," he said. "But first, I need information."
His gaze sharpened.
"Tell me exactly what you saw."
The memory alone was enough to make Anne tremble.
Her fingers tightened around the talisman.
Her breathing grew uneven.
For a moment, it looked as though the mere recollection might drag her back into that terror.
Finally, she forced herself to speak.
"I saw him."
Lucien's eyes narrowed.
"This time… because I could move, I finally turned around."
Her voice shook.
"His face…"
She swallowed hard.
"It was burned. Twisted. Like melted flesh stretched over bone."
A visible shiver ran through her body.
"He wore a red-and-green striped sweater… and a black hat."
Her lips trembled.
"And his hand…"
She nearly gagged.
"It was covered in blades. Long metal claws."
The room fell silent.
Lucien's expression darkened.
That description confirmed what he had already suspected.
Freddy Krueger.
A spirit that hunted through dreams.
A nightmare made flesh.
A far more troublesome enemy than ordinary ghosts.
Lucien asked calmly, "Do you know where it came from?"
Anne shook her head at first, then suddenly paused.
"Wait…"
Her brows furrowed.
"There was something."
Lucien immediately focused on her.
"Tell me."
"Before filming began, the crew bought this house for location shooting."
She spoke slowly, piecing together the memory.
"While clearing out old storage, the props department found an old rusted glove."
Her face paled.
"It had metal claws attached to the fingers."
Lucien's eyes instantly sharpened.
So that was it.
A cursed vessel.
A medium strong enough to anchor Freddy's presence into reality.
The crew had unknowingly brought the nightmare back.
Anne's voice turned weak.
"They thought it looked interesting… so they kept it as a prop."
Lucien let out a slow breath.
That single mistake had likely doomed everyone involved.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Anne watched him nervously.
"Master Lucien?"
Lucien frowned as if troubled.
"This spirit is more dangerous than I expected."
Her face lost all color.
"How dangerous?"
Lucien sighed and rose from his seat.
"The exorcising talismans I brought aren't enough."
Anne stared at him.
"What do you mean…?"
Lucien turned toward the window.
"I'm out."
Silence.
Her lips parted.
"No… more?"
"None."
Panic instantly flooded her face.
"Then what do we do?"
Lucien remained looking outside.
"I sent Jamie to bring more supplies. Once he returns, I can prepare more."
Then he muttered almost to himself,
"Strange… why is he taking so long?"
A cold wind suddenly blew through the room.
The talisman paper on the table fluttered.
Then—
everything went still.
Lucien's eyes flickered.
The atmosphere changed.
Behind him, Anne slowly rose from the sofa.
But it was no longer Anne.
Her pale skin twisted unnaturally.
Her face warped.
Flesh sank inward.
Burn marks spread across her features like writhing black worms.
Her elegant black outfit shifted into a striped red-and-green sweater.
Her long hair shrank away—
replaced by a dark hat.
Then the metal claws emerged.
Sharp.
Cold.
Deadly.
Freddy stood silently behind Lucien.
No footsteps.
No sound.
Only the grin.
A grin wide enough to split his burned face apart.
His clawed hand rose slowly.
The blades glinted in the dim light as they aimed directly for Lucien's heart.
Then—
Anne's voice came from Freddy's mouth.
"Master Lucien… don't turn around. I need to change my clothes."
The voice was perfect.
A flawless imitation.
Lucien didn't move.
His tone remained calm.
"Alright."
A pause.
"Take your time."
The blades came down.
But the instant they touched Lucien's back—
a pale golden light burst from his body.
BOOM.
Freddy was blasted backward.
Smoke rose from his claws as if they had touched burning steel.
For the first time, the nightmare spirit's grin faltered.
Lucien slowly turned around.
His expression was completely calm.
No fear.
No surprise.
Only a faint smile.
"So," he said softly, looking directly into Freddy's burned face, "you finally decided to show yourself."
Freddy chuckled.
"Lying is bad, Master Lucien."
Lucien's smile widened.
"I wasn't lying."
His eyes gleamed.
"I was baiting a ghost."
The room fell into a chilling silence.
Then Lucien took one slow step forward.
"And you walked right into the trap."