You needed pure of heart friends with you, not evil people.
Jesus sent the disciples out in twos, so that if one was overcome the other would be there to help him.
A friend and I were praying over a woman that needed to break a soul tie. My friend was very sensitive and would let her emotions get her off the task at hand. The demonic knows that & use sympathy against people who are trying to cast them out. When breaking a soul tie, the person has to speak it out loud that they're severing ties with that person that was in their life. If it's a strong soul tie, the person can't say the words, they'll start crying -- you have to stay on mission and make them speak those words; as soon as they do, the tears dry up and they can't remember why they were crying!. So this woman started crying, and my friend showed sympathy rather than direction, and I had to step in twice to shake her out of it. That stuff is no joke!

I believe you, you have a lot of knowledge.
I've experienced similar things... but I didn't know they were always sent in pairs. All my life I feel alone in such situations.
But it always helped when I connected to the energy of the earth and matched the rhythm of the earth and pure nature with my heartbeat, I'm writing it very simply.