Killing Two Birds with One Stone
Killing Two Birds with One Stone
"Um... where am I?"
A young man asked me.
It was a meaningless question.
Even if he asked me, I couldn't give him the answer he wanted.
So I just...
"This is the bathhouse. Believers gather here to rest and socialize."
"Ah... I see."
His reaction was lukewarm.
He'd been surprised at first by the bathhouse's scale, but he'd already caught on that we were just circling the same area.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
I mean, forget helping me out—why were those two just standing there staring blankly?
When I shot them a look telling them to do something, to my irritation, Ha Hui-ryeong and Kim Ha-yoon quietly turned their heads away.
Really, the only time they ever moved in such perfect sync was at moments like this.
...God damn it. I was running out of material—what the hell was I supposed to do now?
I let out a sigh inwardly, trying to keep my agitation in check, when it happened.
"Hweeeee-ha~!!!!"
Vrooooom─!
Along with an engine roar so intense it made me wince, someone's wild shriek echoed out.
When I turned my gaze to see what was going on, I spotted a pack of bikers charging down the stairs like madmen.
"Is this some kind of event too...?"
"...No. Probably not."
Their confusion was short-lived. The bikers cut straight across the center of the bathhouse without hesitation.
"Second squad, sweep up the small fry in a skirmish line! Third squad, scatter and divert their attention! Fourth, fifth squads, and the main force, follow me to the center! Secure Mirkella by any means necessary! Move out!"
The man at the front commanded the bikers with practiced ease.
This was serious. Their movements had zero hesitation, as if this was a meticulously planned raid.
"W-wait...! Save me! Please save me!!"
"Kahahaha!! Blood! Flesh! Skulls!!!"
Crunch.
Despite their ragged appearances, his subordinates took up positions with military precision and began rampaging through the underground.
The most striking of them all was the hulking brute who appeared to be their enforcer.
He snatched a fleeing believer, hoisted them up, and tore them in half.
Yes, ripped them apart with his bare hands.
Limbs tore and a spray of red mist burst in all directions.
The clear bathwater gradually stained crimson.
"Kyaaaaaah!!"
At that moment, the woman behind me couldn't hold it in anymore and screamed.
Maybe her legs gave out, because she collapsed with a splat, trembling all over.
...Well, I get it. It had to be horrifying. Even I, who'd adapted to some degree, felt nauseous when a scene that grotesque unfolded right in front of me.
"Urrp... ugh..."
"W-what is this! Fuck, what the hell now!?"
The young man retching, the middle-aged guy backpedaling and then quietly slipping away from us to bolt.
From start to finish, it was quite the spectacle.
"A woman? Oh, and a smoking hot body, too?"
"I like that one."
A few of the thugs, having heard the commotion and spotted us, changed course.
These bastards—all of them were ability users. Flames flickered along the long swords, hammers, and steel pipes they'd gotten their hands on from who knows where.
"Stand back."
At that moment, Kim Ha-yoon stepped forward. She lightly shook the golden bell we'd seized earlier. A golden wave rippled outward around us, blocking their ferocious charge.
-Kung! Kaboom!
"What, looks like you did have a Priest-rank after all?"
Priest? Could that be what they called those who used these special artifacts? The context seemed to suggest it.
-Scraaape.
Steel pipes and hammers dragged across the ground, producing an unpleasant noise. The bastards circled around us, striking at the golden wave now and then to test it.
"But how long's that gonna last, huh? Why not just open up and make things easier for all of us?"
"Yeah. We'll send you straight to heaven. Right into your Father's arms, just the way you like."
Well, they'd definitely mistaken us for the cultists.
With chaos engulfing everything, should I quietly clean up just these guys while no one was looking?
Ha Hui-ryeong must have been thinking the same thing, because she signaled me with her eyes.
'Wanna wreck 'em? I could slaughter them all without them even getting a word out.'
'Wait for now. Once this barrier drops, we can wreck them however we want.'
'Okay.'
That was how our Bluetooth communication went down, when—
"My, how noisy. Just whose safe haven do you think you're raising such a ruckus in?"
At last, the silver-haired woman revealed herself.
Her calm, measured voice rang out amid the whirlpool of chaos. Even though it was a soft voice, every word she spoke pierced the ear with clarity.
"Finally decided to show up, Mirkella! You're a little late this time!"
The man I presumed to be the leader bared his teeth in a wide grin.
The Saintess, Mirkella, narrowed her brow slightly and let out a small sigh.
"You again. You truly never get tired of this, do you?"
"We can't quit until we've had a taste of you! Let's go, boys! Follow me! I'll pave the way!"
Vroooom. Flames surged up around the speeding motorcycle. Every one of these bastards had similar types of abilities. All fire-related.
"How vulgar."
What met the fierce flames was a viscous darkness like tar. Shadows rose from beneath Mirkella's feet and poured toward them.
Shunk, crunch, kabababoom!!
Black spears. One by one, they were impaled on the sharp spikes.
The roar of battle, wretched screams, and thunderous blasts. In an instant, the surroundings became a complete mess as raging flames and shadows clashed wildly.
But in the end, he reached her. After charging in like a moth to a flame, throwing his life away, the man finally closed in on Mirkella.
"You intend to face me alone? Heh, how preposterous."
"Hah... hah...! Your arrogance won't last!"
Of course, he wasn't in good shape. Covered in cuts and scrapes, the man forced the corners of his mouth up and burned his flames even hotter.
"Burn! More! Even more!"
Wreathed in crimson flames, he rushed at her with brute determination. Fwoosh—the flames grazed past. His punch missed, but after it stopped, a violent explosion followed.
Kabooooom!
Every strike ignited flames that threatened to incinerate everything. There was no finesse. Like a back-alley brawler, he poured out only heavy, straightforward blows. But the power was nothing to scoff at. The flames rippling along the trail of his swings brought fierce explosions in their wake.
"...Tch!"
In the end, Mirkella clicked her tongue in irritation and was forced to create distance. She'd realized close combat put her at a disadvantage.
Fwoosh.
Enormous wings unfurled behind her back. Twin wings of shadow and a halo stained black. It perfectly resembled the form of an angel, but ironically, it felt less holy and more like a fallen demon.
"How could mere light fathom the depth of darkness?"
In an instant, the writhing shadows surged up like a whirlwind. A pillar of tar rising from the floor engulfed the man, then encased him like a black sphere, trapping him inside.
"You who have fallen into the Abyss, remember the oath carved into the Dark Abyss."
Mirkella chanted something incomprehensible, as if reciting an incantation. The more she did, the more violently the shadows erupted, swelling in mass.
"It is Chaos, Void, and Endless. Realize it. Fathom it further. And so you shall be reborn anew."
What eventually revealed itself was a black coffin. As the massive black coffin took shape at the center of the bathhouse, Mirkella let out rough, exhausted breaths.
"Huff, haaah....!"
Watching this quietly, a deep smile spread across my face.
Things had turned out this way by accident, but... for me, this was actually perfect.
The most troublesome woman was now completely drained. Yes—it was finally our turn to step up. The time had come at last to drop this tiresome act!
'The fisherman's gain! Killing two birds with one stone!'
-Snap!
I snapped my fingers to signal the two beside me.
*
Crackle!
"Kyahahahaha!!"
Lightning churned wildly. Fierce bolts of thunder scattered along blue trails, followed by peals of mad laughter.
'I knew this would happen.'
The Saintess, Mirkella, calmly gathered her shadows. The darkness cast beneath her feet rose up to meet the ferocious strike of the charging woman head-on.
Of course, this wasn't all. The sharp frost lingering at the woman's side took aim at Mirkella as a follow-up attack.
"Still got enough in you for that? Ha, you really are something else, you crazy bitch?"
Grinding screeches, like steel grinding against steel, mixed with a mocking voice. Mirkella countered with an impassive expression. She stamped her foot once. A fragment of condensed shadow materialized in her grasp. A great scythe. Her primary weapon swept across the front in a horizontal slash.
"Whoa, that's dangerous."
The woman dodged nimbly, tossed aside her mask, and revealed a smile filled with ecstasy.
Just as I suspected. The identity behind the mask was someone she didn't know at all.
She couldn't have known. They probably thought we wouldn't be recognized because we were all wearing the same robes, but they'd overlooked one crucial thing. The way people were distinguished here was by their masks. More precisely, by the mask patterns.
The reason each pattern was different was so Mirkella could tell the believers apart. Yes, all of this was a system devised by the Cult Leader for Mirkella, who suffered from prosopagnosia.
Therefore, Mirkella had been able to see through their disguises from the very first moment.
The mask the woman had been wearing belonged to Priest Nesti. And Nesti's distinguishing features were a petite build and a uniquely timid gait. But when she returned to the surface, her build had completely changed, and her stride was not just confident—it was swaggering.
The others were the same. Priest Rachel and Knight Marco. Their features were completely different from those two as well.
But the reason she hadn't brought them to trial immediately and kept silent was because the Cult Leader had instructed her to do so.
'The Promised Land, Eden.'
The master of this underground Order—Mirkella's own father—had wanted to observe them for the time being. She didn't know the reason, but that was enough. Mirkella had been so blindly devoted that even before the apocalypse, she would follow any word of the Cult Leader's without question.
"What, you got time to zone out? Aren't you a little too relaxed?"
At the sound of the husky voice, she pushed her thoughts aside. Mirkella then steadied her breathing and opened her mouth.
"What happened to Sister Nesti?"
"Ah, that bitch? Probably groaning up there somewhere."
"...Rachel, Marco. And those two?"
"No idea who those are. But let me tell you one thing—except for the one wearing this outfit, we killed them all."
"I see. Then that settles it."
But now that she'd been cornered by this unforeseen situation, was there any need to keep that order? Mirkella was the Saintess. The highest rank in the Order after the Cult Leader. That was why the Cult Leader always told her, 'Follow my commands, but prioritize your own life above all else.'
What she needed to prioritize was clear. Subdue if possible, but she had to be ready to kill.
"You need only pay the price for it."
"And here I thought forgiveness and repentance were what mattered most?"
"There is a limit to such things."
Those who crossed the line didn't need mercy—they needed punishment. Especially for demons, not mere sinners.
"Judgment by Fire and Brimstone."
Black flames blazed up from beneath her feet. The dark flames surged like waves, following Mirkella's touch.
"Now that's more like it!"
With a faint smile, the woman kicked off the ground. The floor caved in at the same time as thunder followed behind her.
Black flames rushed forward to shoot her down as she advanced along the wall. That was when it happened—when all attention was fixed on the woman.
-Ping!
A sharp shard of frost grazed Mirkella's cheek. In her moment of bewilderment, what followed was a storm of pure-white frost.
"Ngh...!"
Where had that come from? She looked around but couldn't tell who the caster was.
'How cunning...!'
She flapped her wings. Mirkella began flying at low altitude with her shadow-forged wings, starting to shatter the incoming frost one by one.
Crash. Just as she destroyed all five frost shards—
Kugu-gu-gung...!
A deafening thunderclap roared. At the same moment, blue lightning flashed right before her eyes.
"You just gonna keep running forever?! Huh!?"
Crack!
Shadows burst forth urgently and deflected the metal club. But the barrage kept coming. Even though Mirkella was dashing faster than most vehicles, this woman somehow kept clinging on, as if she never tired.
And the ice was the same. She had no idea where it was coming from, but the attacks kept pressing her without pause at every opening.
Truly, annoyances beyond compare...!
"Fine! If that's how it is, I'll bring out my full strength!"
The black halo floating above Mirkella's head began to pulse erratically. The twin wings also darkened further, dripping ominous liquid with thick plops.
The shadows gathered, one by one. The darkness cast across the area was sucked into Mirkella's grasp in an instant.
"Wh-what...?"
A small sphere. But the energy condensed within it was unimaginably immense. Enough to bring this entire place down just from its release.
The woman who sensed this let out a panicked sound and hurriedly tried to respond—but—
"It is already too late! You will slumber here! In the pitch-dark Abyss for Eternity!"
"Hey! Same goes for you! You think you'll be fine after setting that off!?"
"Of course! The rest of you may not survive, but I will be just fine! I have reserved enough strength to endure it myself!"
At the end of darkness lay—ironically—a bright light. As the gathered darkness bloomed, what it emitted was a radiant light that would swallow everything...
"Not so fast."
At that moment. Precisely at that moment, Mirkella felt something strange. As if seized by an irresistible force, her body was pulled at tremendous speed. No—it was like dust being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.
'W-what is this...!'
Her expression of dismay lasted only a moment.
What followed was an intense pain assaulting her lower half.
Shuunk!
She felt her clothes and underwear being dragged in. Into her most private place. Yes—something thick and hard, like a rod, had forced its way inside her vagina along with the fabric of her clothes.
"Ah, aah....!"
It was the moment the precious first time she had guarded her whole life was defiled.