Dean's body froze, the gun in his hand completely dropped, and his eyes were full of shock and guilt.
"Then others, one after another." Henriksen's voice trembled, "She tortured us for 45 minutes before blowing up that police station. Tell me, is this fair? You were rescued from Hell - and I died. Why do you get a second chance, Dean? Why do you? There is much more blood on your hands than me!"
Dean looked at him, opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word. His mind went blank, leaving only the "45 minutes" Henriksen said, echoing over and over again. He imagined Nancy was being skinned, imagining how Henriksen and the policemen were tortured, imagining their despair before death, and his heart seemed to be gripped by a hand, making him unable to breathe in pain.
45 minutes... they were tortured there for 45 minutes. And I didn't do anything. I left them there. We should have been more careful. We should have taken them all away. I hurt them. It's all my fault. I don't deserve a second chance. I don't deserve to come back from Hell. I should have stayed there, tortured until I lost my mind. That's where I should be.
Sam and Dean rushed back to the study almost at the same time. Their faces were frighteningly pale, and their foreheads were covered with cold sweat. They put everything Bobby wanted on the table.
At this moment, the temperature in the room dropped sharply again, and the ghosts of the two little girls suddenly appeared in the room, standing in front of Bobby's desk, staring at him, their eyes full of resentment.
"You still haven't found us, Bobby." One of the little girls spoke, her voice light and airy, but with a biting chill.
Bobby immediately raised the shotgun in his hand and pointed it at them. His voice was hoarse and he could not hide his guilt. "Get out."
"You let the monster capture us." Another little girl said, walking towards Bobby step by step, "You are obviously in the house, you can obviously save us."
Bobby faced the two girls and immediately pulled the trigger. The salt bomb penetrated their ghosts with a bang. They screamed and disappeared instantly.
Bobby immediately put all the materials into the copper bowl on the table, picked up the book, and quickly recited the incantation. As the incantation sounded, he snapped his fingers, and the materials in the copper bowl instantly ignited with flames, and orange-red flames danced in the bowl.
Bai Haorui Immediately a red-gold Pure Yang True Fire popped up from his fingertips and poured into the flame of the copper bowl. The pure Yang power of "Three Altars Body-Refining True Fire Art" spread instantly, and the flame doubled in brightness instantly, changing from orange-red to dazzling golden-red. The temperature of the flame increased instantly, and the Yin energy in the entire room was burned and dissipated instantly.
"Dean! Catch it!" Bobby picked up the copper bowl and threw it towards Dean.
Dean immediately stepped forward and caught the copper bowl firmly. The hot temperature was transmitted through the wall of the bowl, but he didn't care at all.
"Fireplace! Throw the bowl into the fireplace!" Bobby shouted at him, "Let the flames spread down the chimney and break the spell completely!"
Dean immediately turned around, hugged the copper bowl, and rushed to the fireplace in the living room. He opened the fire door of the fireplace, threw the copper bowl burning with the spell material, and threw it into the fireplace.
The flame exploded instantly, changing from golden red to dazzling blue, sweeping through the entire fireplace like a tsunami and rushing out along the chimney. The blue light instantly illuminated the entire house, and the ghost's shrill screams rang out throughout the house. Meg, Henriksen, Ronald, the two little girls, and all the witness ghosts captured by the spell were all twisted and dissipated in the blue light. The black magic marks on their bodies instantly shattered. Their souls finally broke free from the shackles, turned into dots of white light, and disappeared completely.
The lights in the house stopped flickering, the temperature slowly rose, the biting chill completely disappeared, and the yin and blood smell in the air was completely purified by the blue light.
Bobby collapsed on the ground, the book in his hand fell to the ground, gasping for air. Dean leaned against the fireplace and sat on the ground. The copper bowl slipped from his hand and fell to the ground with a clang. Sam leaned on the door frame, covering his forehead with gauze, and let out a long breath, his body trembling slightly.
Bai Haorui put away the mahogany sword, True Fire at the fingertips slowly moved away, but his brows were still furrowed, and he looked at the sky outside the window, his eyes full of heaviness.
The spell is broken and the ghost is sent away, but the seal has been broken. The so-called Apocalypse has already begun, and it will only get worse from now on. Lilith will not stop, she will continue to break the remaining seals until Lucifer is released. Heaven will not stop. They will continue to force Dean until he is willing to be the container of Michael. This war has just begun.
It got dark, and the house finally returned to calm. Dean walked into the kitchen, picked up the glass on the table, took a glass of cold water, and drank most of it in one breath. Days of running around, successive battles, and the words of Meg and Henriksen made him breathless. He leaned against the cabinet, closed his eyes, and fell asleep without realizing it, his brows still furrowed tightly.
Dean woke up suddenly and found that the kitchen light was on. Under the warm yellow light, Castiel was standing in the center of the kitchen, looking at him. He was still wearing the windbreaker, his eyes were cold and distant, with an absolute sense of mission, like a sculpture without emotion.
"It's you." Dean's body tensed up instantly, and he subconsciously touched the shotgun on his waist, but found nothing.
"You did a good job in handling the witness matter." Castiel's voice was calm, without any emotional ups and downs.
"Don't do this." Dean's tone instantly cooled down, his eyes full of anger and questioning, "You knew this would happen a long time ago, right? Lilith cast a spell, 66 seals, Lucifer, you know everything."
Castiel nodded and said calmly, "I do know."
"Then why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you help?" Dean's voice was higher, and his eyes were full of anger, "We almost died, and five hunters are already dead! Where are you and your angel brothers? Are you watching us die in the sky?"
"We have our war to fight." Castiel looked at him, his tone still calm.
"What war?" Dean took a step forward and stared at him, "Is it more important than the lives of 20 hunters? More important than preventing Lucifer from being released?"
"Rise of the Witnesses is one of the 66 seals." Castiel did not answer his question and said to himself, "These seals are being broken one by one by Lilith."
"Is it the spell she cast that awakened those witnesses?"
"That's right." Castiel nodded, "And not just here, 20 hunters have died in the United States. Lilith has a great sense of humor. She specializes in awakening the souls of those hunters failed to save and letting them come directly to you for revenge. Not only does she want to break the seal, but she also wants to destroy everyone who can stop her."
"Then if we break the spell, will the seal be restored?" Dean's tone was filled with a hint of hope. He really hoped that the answer would be yes, and that everything could be undone.
Castiel looked at him, shook his head, and said in a calm but cruel tone, "I'm afraid not. Once the seal is broken, it can never be restored."
Dean's body froze instantly, and the light in his eyes dimmed little by little.
"Then why did she break the seal?" Dean's voice was hoarse, "Does she really want to release Lucifer? Want to destroy the world?"
"You can think of these seals as the locks on a door." Castiel looked at him, "66 locks, opened one after another."
"Okay." Dean's Adam's apple moved, "The last lock is opened, and then what?"
"Lucifer will be free. Apocalypse will come."
"... I always thought that Lucifer was just a story made up by demons in Sunday school and didn't exist at all." Dean murmured to himself, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Three days ago, you thought I didn't exist." The corner of Castiel's mouth raised a faint, almost invisible arc, "Why do you think we walked on earth for the first time after 2000 years?"
Dean looked at him and said word by word, "To stop Lucifer."
"This is why we are here." Castiel nodded.
"Really... Then you did a really good job." Dean sneered, his eyes full of ridicule, "The witness matter was handled so beautifully. 20 hunters died, the seal was broken, and you didn't do anything."
"We tried our best." Castiel's tone became colder, "There are other battles, other seals. Some we can win, some we will lose. This one, we lost. Our number is not unlimited. This week, six of my brothers died on the battlefield. Do you think Heaven's army should follow you around every day? There is a bigger situation to consider."
He took a step forward, and the cold breath hit his face, with unquestionable pressure in his eyes.
"You should show some respect to me. I dragged you out of Hell, and I can throw you back."
As soon as the words fell, Castiel disappeared instantly. Dean suddenly woke up from his dream and found that he was still leaning on the kitchen cabinet. It was already dawn, and the water glass in his hand was already cold. The water droplets on the wall of the glass dripped down his fingers and onto the ground.
He leaned against the cabinet, looking at the bright sky outside the window, his eyes empty, his face no longer had the cynicism of the past, only an unbreakable solemnity remained.
Once the seal is broken, it can never be restored... Apocalypse is real, Lucifer is real, and angels are real too. They fished me out of Hell, and the root of It's not a good intention, it's not God's Grace. They want me to be their pawn to fight this doomsday war. I don't have a choice at all, do I? Whether I want it or not, I am involved.
When Dean walked into the study, Sam had already woken up and was packing up the demon hunting equipment. He put salt bombs, holy water, and peach wood stakes into his backpack one by one. His movements were very light, but there was a trace of heaviness that could not be concealed. Bobby sat at the table, holding a glass of whiskey in his hand, drinking slowly, looking at the scrapyard outside the window, his eyes tired. Bai Haorui leaned against the window, looking at the sky outside the window, silent, Five Emperor Coins on his fingertips, slowly turning.
"So... you have no doubts about God and Angel?" Dean was the first to break the silence, looking at Sam with a calm tone.
Sam raised his head, looked at him, and nodded. "Yes, I no longer doubt it. Now it seems that they are indeed real, and they are our only allies who can fight against Lilith and stop Apocalypse."
Dean twitched the corner of his mouth and showed a sarcastic smile, "Then let me guess, you also believe that Lucifer is real, Apocalypse is real, and the end of the world is also real?"
"What's wrong?" Sam looked at him with doubts in his eyes.
"It's nothing." Dean leaned against the door frame, folded his arms, and looked out the window, "It's just... what we have been hunting are small monsters and demons. Catch a ghost, kill a werewolf, and deal with Shapeshifter, we thought that was all. But now...Apocalypse, Lucifer, 66 seals. This is real, right? The end of the world is really coming."
"It seems so." Sam nodded, put down the equipment in his hands, and walked to him, "Dean, we have no choice."
"Then what should we do?" Dean looked at him with confusion in his eyes. This was the first time he showed such an expression in front of Sam. In the past, no matter what happened, he could handle it and come up with a solution. But now, facing the end of the world and the war between Heaven and Hell, for the first time, he felt that he was so small and powerless.
"We can only continue to fight." Sam looked at him with a firm tone, "Stop Lilith and prevent the remaining seals from being broken. We have no choice. We must do this for the sake of those dead hunters, for Meg, for Henriksen, and for all innocent people."
Dean looked at him and was silent for a long time. He finally nodded and said no more. He turned his head and looked out the window. The sun was shining brightly on the scrap car yard, but there was no light in his eyes.
In the corner of the study, Bobby took a sip of whiskey, put down the glass, looked at Bai Haorui next to him, and sighed, "Next, I have to endure it."
Bai Haorui turned his head, looked at him, nodded, his eyes were firm, and his tone was calm but with unquestionable power. "Apocalypse has already started, and it will only get worse next. But we won't let them destroy the world, right?"
Bobby looked at him, smiled, stretched out his hand, and patted his shoulder heavily. "With you here, these two boys can have more protection."
Bai Haorui also smiled, turned his head and looked at the sky outside the window. The sunlight fell on his face, and on his fingertips, the red-gold True Fire beat slowly.
Dean has been targeted by Heaven, the dark side of Sam is slowly getting out of control, and God's script is still advancing step by step. The containers of Michael and Lucifer are already in place. It doesn't matter, take your time.
The picture slowly darkened, and the sunlight outside the window was gradually obscured by clouds.