Chapter 133
A raven soared in the sky. The eyes of the raven did not have a boundary between the iris and the sclera. The raven looked down upon the world with its pale eyes. To the raven, the world was sometimes bright, sometimes dark, and sometimes even red. It was a time when day, night, and twilight overlapped.
Thirteen girls raced down the road. Children chased after them, and the girls chased after the chasing children. Some of the children were scary, and some of the girls were scary. Some of the children were scared, and some of the girls were scared. The road was a dead-end alley, which was suitable. The girls held hands and formed a circle.
"TH-TH-TH─" the girls sang.
The children aimed their guns at the girls.
What was inside the guns?
It was impossible to know. Bullets struck the girls' bodies.
Thud, thud.
The girls limply fell to the ground. From the eyes that were engraved on their foreheads, black blood poured out. The blood flowed down the road and formed dark blue patterns.
Thirteen girls raced down the road. The road was an open alley, but all was well. The girls held hands and formed a circle.
"AH-AH-AH─" the girls sang.
The bullets flew in.
Thump, thump.
The girls fell down. Black blood poured out from the eyes that were engraved on their foreheads. The floor was engraved with dark blue patterns.
Thirteen girls raced down the road. A circle was formed.
"UUUMMM─" the girls sang and fell down.
Thirteen girls held hands and formed a circle. They didn't race down the road, but all was well.
"TH-TH-TH-AH-AH-AH-UUUMMM─!"
It was fine even if the girls didn't sing. The song echoed out from the skies and from the ground. The floor was engraved with dark blue patterns. The patterns of the east, west, north, south, and center shone together. The blue light of the ground merged with the blue light of the sky.
Rumble rumble.
The ground trembled. The broken bodies of the girls turned into smoke and flowed into the sky. Only the girls’ heads remained. The heads rolled around with the circle in the center. The eyes engraved on the foreheads of the smiling girls spewed out black blood. The light of the dark blue patterns engraved on the floor was intense.
A goat appeared in the center of a pentagram that pointed downward. The smoke gathered and turned into flesh, and the flesh gathered and turned into a pile of meat.
Two heads sprouted out from the meat. They were goat heads, but the attached ears were those of a fox. The form of the devil summoned in the center of the pentagon had three horns and six legs.
The raven looked down upon the world with its pale eyes.
To the east, there was a dog, and to the west, there was a snake. To the north, there was a peacock, and to the south, there was a fly. These were nothing more than replicas molded into the form of devils using the girls' flesh. However, the power imbued in each of their bodies rivaled that of a real devil.
"This is the Western Paladin Order. Requesting support from Central. The situation is at a dangerous level, Baphomet... No, Pentagram! Pentagram!!!"
"Southern Paladin Order... Ah, arghhhh—!"
"This is the North. The witches are using sorcery—!"
Bang.
The devil's fist was thrust toward the children. The raven perched on the shoulder of the devil that had been summoned in the center and watched the scene of the massacre from a closer distance.
A devil with a goat’s head swung its fist and its horns, smashing buildings and killing paladins.
A paladin that was buried under a pile of rubble stretched out his hands toward his deceased comrades.
"Central, crusaders...! No, the Holy See's army... Help, anyone...!"
Boom—!
The devil spewed out black flames. The paladin burned and perished with his hand outstretched. Another paladin sank to the ground in disbelief.
The person who had died just now was the team leader, and the one who sank to the ground was his subordinate, but to the raven, they were all the same.
The paladin who sank to the ground looked up at the sky. In the sky where night, day, and twilight were mixed together, suddenly, twilight and day disappeared, and only night remained. It had been an unusually short day. Toward the god that had closed its eyes and refused to respond to the atrocities, the paladin said resentfully, "Ah, ah, ah. Adonai, my lord. Why...?!"
The sun closed its eyes, and the moon opened its eyes. The moon's pupils were round and red. The paladin looked up at the moon, and the moon looked down at the paladin.
The red moonlight descended onto the ground. The devil, which was destroying everything that it touched, abruptly halted its movements. The devil lifted its head and looked up at the moon. The three horns on the devil's head glowed blood-red.
The moon blinked its eyes.
"Oh, ah. Ahh, arghh—!" the devil screamed.
Crack, crack—!
Like wings, the red moonlight stretched out from the moon. Then, the moonlight descended down like hands and tore apart the devil’s body. The devil floundered and clung to the moonlight as its body contorted and twisted. The devil was no longer even able to scream.
With a quiet and chilling sound like that of a carriage wheel rolling through, Jun-Hyuk's vision plummeted toward the ground. Dozens of red threads were drawn across his neck and body. It was the moon's punishment.
Slice─!
Jun-Hyuk looked at his body that had been mercilessly severed apart. The red moonlight was removing his body, which had been severed into countless pieces. No, it was devouring it.
Yet, Jun-Hyuk was still alive. This strange body would not die even if only the neck remained, which was sometimes convenient, but he couldn’t help resenting it at times.
Sun-Woo and Jun-Hyuk silently stared at each other with cold eyes. Jun-Hyuk only had his head remaining, so he was currently only half-resurrected, and Sun-Woo was engulfed in black flames, so he was practically dead. In the boundary between life and death, the two remained silent.
They had both received the death penalty for their own reasons. A great sin was sealing the boys who could not even shake each other’s hands.
Whoosh—!
A pillar of fire fell upon the devil located on the eastern side with the dog’s head, which had been indecisively hopping about between the two.
Jin-Seo had been chasing after the sword that had escaped from Florence Academy, when she was surrounded by a divine light that shone brightly like a flame. The light dispelled the thick smoke and fog surrounding Eiden Hill. The light burned away the darkness.
Afterward, Do-Jin staggered toward the place where the red moon had set. The sword he was holding in his hand glowed red in the moonlight. With the sword, Do-Jin beheaded the devil.
Before the miracle replication and Do-Jin's sword strike, Commander Jun-Hyuk had lost his power to control the taxidermied creature. As a result, the devil from the east died. The paladins walked in unison toward Eiden Hill.
Jun-Hyuk sighed.
"Ah..."
On the shoulders of Director Han Dae-Ho was In-Ah, who had been knocked out by black magic. He had tried to kill her, but he could not bring himself to do so. That was why he attempted to create a perfect taxidermied creature based on her appearance, but it had been impossible.
Since he could not completely discard his emotions, he failed as Satan's container. In addition, because he could not create a perfect taxidermied creature, he failed as a commander. He had wanted to turn her into a taxidermied creature and keep her forever. Unable to remove that inner human that was within him, In-Ah's existence became evidence of Jun-Hyuk's failure.
She would have to live on while carrying that sense of betrayal.
Jun-Hyuk recalled his mother crying out while looking at his deceased father. He remembered his mother's eyes darting between his father, who had become a taxidermied creature, and himself, who had turned his father into a taxidermied creature.
He wanted his mother.
He wanted In-Ah.
"It looks like I won’t be able to go to the sea...." Jun-Hyuk muttered and closed his eyes.
He was sleepy. The approaching paladins lifted Jun-Hyuk's head with their hands wrapped in light and placed it in a bag.
* * *
Kalfu. The Loa of the Moon, and the Loa of Crossroads.
I still could not borrow his power. All I could do was ask for the temporary use of an ancient destructive spell through the use of some kind of contract. That was all I could do. In exchange, I sacrificed one of my lungs and five fingers on my left hand.
With that, I was able to kill four of the devils that Jun-Hyuk had created, and I was able to dismember his body. However, it was painful. My fingers didn't hurt. It was my burning body that hurt, and it was my decaying and withering organs that were in pain. My head hurt, and every time I took a breath, my chest hurt.
Fortunately, thanks to sacrificing my left lung, only my right chest hurt. I smiled as I was grateful for that fact.
Thump, thump, thump...
After killing the devil that I could not defeat by burning it with her flame of miracles, she approached me.
As soon as she saw me, her face turned pale. She took off the anti-demon mask she had been wearing and put it on me. I could feel her breath that remained on the mask, and as a result, my lungs painfully ached.
"Do-Do Sun-Woo! Hey, answer me. Hey..." She called out to me, but I couldn't answer. My mouth wouldn't move.
She removed her outerwear and swung it toward the black flames that clung to my body. The flames flickered due to the wind caused by the clothes, but they never went out. The black flames didn't transfer to anything other than me. They burned only me.
"Why won't this go out?! Why?! Why...?! Teacher, The fire won’t go out...!!"
"..."
Do-Jin approached behind Jin-Seo, who was sobbing. As he limped toward her, I saw that his body was filled with injuries.
Jin-Seo stared at me with tear-filled, reddened eyes. Do-Jin silently looked at my body. His face was calm, but there was a faint sense of despair in his eyes. He was looking at the sword lodged in my stomach.
I closed my eyes. I was tired. Darkness came.
Drip—
I heard the sound of droplets falling. The darkness in front of me twisted and unfolded. As it gathered and dispersed, the darkness changed its form. Purple mist flowed out from somewhere and shaped the darkness.
A red moon rose in the center of the darkness. The moon was big and round.
[In the end, it's a crossroads.]
The two paths created by the darkness intersected and created a crossroad. I was standing at that crossroads. The red moonlight shone down on me, and in the distance, two red stars were approaching me. As the stars approached, a familiar scent lingered at the tip of my nose.
"You’ve come."
Before I knew it, he was right in front of me while smiling like a beast.
"Let's talk about the Contract of the Dead," Baron Samedi said before exhaling smoke.