Gaze Between Entwined Ridges and Flesh
Between the entanglement of mountain ridges and lumps of flesh, we stared at each other. Flames licked up to my shoulders, scorching hot. My right arm was the one burning, but my left arm burned too, and so did both legs. The heat seemed to race through my veins, spreading across my entire body. My stomach and chest burned, my eyelids burned. I trudged forward, using that searing heat to drive away the dead weight dragging at my toes.
Gu Jun-hyeok walked toward me. Black-red tentacles writhed from the nape of his neck. The black magic circle had been drawn by those tentacles, and his severed body had been reassembled by them too.
Kyaaahhh!
Aaack, aaaahhh!!
Kwajiijik—!
Mountain ridges and lumps of flesh twisted together, clashing and fighting. There was no clear victor in the fray. We advanced toward each other beneath the shadows cast by the battle.
Gu Jun-hyeok's body was riddled with stab wounds from swords, soaked in blood. Mine was no different.
Squelch, squelch, squelch.
Even amid the shrieks of flesh and the echoes bouncing off the peaks, our footsteps rang out clearly. Drenched in blood, we came face-to-face at this crossroads where life and death touched.
"Can't exactly shake hands."
Gu Jun-hyeok grinned with exaggerated nonchalance. His left hand was severed, and my right arm was ablaze. Yeah, a handshake was out of the question. More than that, we were still too far apart for one anyway.
I answered by raising my Decapitation Sword.
Whoosh!
Gu Jun-hyeok's tentacles sliced through the air, drawing a black magic circle. The leaking demonic energy seeped into his severed wrist. Instead of red blood, black ichor oozed from the cross-section. It hardened, forming a new hand that burned with black flames.
I drew spell circles. Faint, Nightmare, Memory Crush. Whatever came to mind, I traced with my hands. I didn't expect the spells to work on him. But if I could blur his mind even for a split second, that would be enough.
Saaaaah….
Purple mist poured from the spell circles, enveloping Gu Jun-hyeok. Black demonic energy and dark flames wrapped around me. Purple haze and black smoke clashed and dispersed. No light reached this spot—only mist and smoke flowed here.
"Bosu…."
I called out to him, sword raised. Gu Jun-hyeok's body kept reattaching no matter how it was cut. A normal swing wouldn't sever his neck. Muscles tearing, bones snapping, blood and tears streaming—even if it meant all that—I had to stake everything on this one strike.
I answer... the prophet's call...
Bosu's reluctant voice trembled in my mind. Blood boiled, my heart thundered, vision blurred to white. Everything faded hazy, leaving only the sound of my own ragged breaths crystal clear. His voice echoed again in my head.
Bosu fears death.
"…."
The prophet's death—not mine—terrifies me. Your body is dying now.
My body was burning. The backlash from demonic flames and Loa powers spread through every inch. Joints throbbed, muscles tore like paper, guts melted in scorching agony. Pushing Bosu's power to max here might shatter me for real.
"It's fine."
But if I didn't kill Gu Jun-hyeok right here, he'd kill me. No running or surrendering—he might rat me out to the Papal Court as the Voodoo Cult Leader. To survive, I had to end him now.
Understood.
With his reply, superhuman strength flooded my body. I could barely see ahead. This was the trade-off for my optic nerves—raw power for sight. Dim vision, but enough. I poured force into my legs and leaped at Gu Jun-hyeok.
Crack.
My legs snapped. No pain registered anymore—my body was already saturated with it, no room for more. I channeled the ground-shattering momentum straight into my sword tip. The Decapitation Sword screamed toward his head.
Clang!
The blade halted short of his skull. He blocked with a hand wreathed in flames—black, murky fire, unyieldingly solid. But I didn't relent. I meant to pierce his palm and crack his cranium.
Kak, kagak—!
Friction ground against his palm. The sword tugged and pushed but couldn't breach his forehead. Purple glow from the Decapitation Sword tangled with black flames from his hand. A brutal deadlock. If I eased up, his grip would crush my throat; if he did, the blade would split his brow.
"Just one question."
I spoke amid the razor-edge standoff.
"Where'd you take Jeong In-ah?"
"…Beats me."
Gu Jun-hyeok smirked. His lips twitched. Murderous eyes raking me over, he continued.
"Scattered all over the place."
"…."
"Maybe mixed in with the taxidermy dolls you killed."
No Jeong In-ah at Florence—just a taxidermy doll modeled after her. She couldn't have left campus, so I figured he'd kidnapped her. Never thought she might be dead. No reason—just a vague hunch. But Eden Hill held no trace of her. Ogoun's blades never flew at him. His words rang true.
My sword hand trembled. Arm muscles burned out by demonic fire, strength ebbing. I raised my left arm. Three hovering swords turned on him, tips glowing red-hot, razor-sharp, poised to impale.
But they froze midair, unresponsive.
"Ogoun."
[…….]
I stared toward where he lurked, watching me, and pressed.
"Stab him."
Shrieeek—!
The sword screamed forward—at Gu Jun-hyeok, and at me. Thunk! It pierced my gut, then his heart. The momentum slammed into me. I drove the Decapitation Sword deeper.
Kak, kagak—!
It grazed his hand, veering off. The blade plunged into his left eye. I wanted to swing and shred his skull, but no strength remained. No Voodoo magic left to sustain the Decapitation Sword. It vanished in purple mist, swirling eerily around us.
Gu Jun-hyeok toyed with the sword in his chest.
"…Why keep getting in the way… if you can't handle it… you're desperate, huh?"
Blood gushed from his laughing mouth in heaving spurts.
"Getting in the way, my ass…."
I raised my hand. Two airborne swords dove at him. Plunk, thunk…. They fell limp, embedding harmlessly in the ground. No strength to control Ogoun anymore.
A tentacle sprouted from his nape but slumped before drawing black magic. Neither of us had fight left. Too many wounds, too much blood lost. Our bodies cooled to ice.
Thud, boom—!
The mountain ridges and flesh lumps battling overhead collapsed, exhausted. Silence fell. Faint patter of thin rain filled it. Thunder rumbled softly, wind whispered. My heart beat slow and weak. The thick demonic haze blanketing the hill faded. As it cleared, a pit yawned behind Gu Jun-hyeok—a deep, black well-like hole. Probably dug to unearth the buried box on Eden Hill.
"The box… what's…."
"…How do you know about that?"
His face hardened cold. Eyes quivered narrow. Pain surged everywhere. Words stuck, unfinished. With my last scraps of strength, I invoked the Intoxication Spell, inhaling mist to numb the agony. Then continued.
"Something to resurrect Satan… like that?"
He sneered, twisting his lips. Shaking hand delved into his pocket.
"Something like that."
Out came an eyeball. Veins dangling, he popped it into his mouth. A tentacle from the socket rebuilt it. He shuddered, then fixed his new eye on me.
"I'm the vessel for Satan."
No human eye. Slit horizontally like a goat's or sheep's. I couldn't read the emotion in it—or even meet its gaze.
Shrash!
Tentacles burst from nape and eye. They engulfed half his head. Black demonic energy poured from his gaping mouth—darker, more ominous than before.
"The energy of the gray death is killing him."
"The energy of the gray death is killing him."
Demonic energy from his mouth shaped into a hand. A hand I couldn't look at. Six eyes on its six claws glared at me.
Twang!
"Kuhuk…!"
The gaze's shockwave punched through my abdomen. I flew back endlessly, sword in gut.
—Boom!
Smashed into a tree. Blood vomited from my mouth. Guts ruptured.
"Ah, haak…!"
I tried to rise—futile. No strength below my chest. Spine snapped, probably. Even upright, I couldn't walk. My body was wrecked beyond repair.
Forcing my useless head up, I glimpsed Gu Jun-hyeok shrouded in demonic haze.
"Ahem, uh-huh."
Clearing his throat, he raised a blazing black index finger with his left hand, then cupped it with his right. Black flames leaped over. Watching both hands ignite, he chanted softly, black smoke billowing from his lips.
"TH-TH-TH-AH-AH-AH-UUUMMM—!"
A milky third eye etched onto his forehead. Eyes shut, it scanned the world. Black smoke from rotting taxidermy corpses gathered above him, forming countless flecks of flesh.
Squelch, squelch, squelch—!
Flecks merged into a massive lump. Arms, legs, head sprouted. A colossal taxidermy doll—flesh from every slain doll fused into overwhelming enormity.
Thud, thud—!
Each step quaked the earth, shook the air. It lumbered toward me. Slow, clumsy—but I had no means to evade.
With my final strength, I gazed skyward.
"Ahh…."
Smoke and thunderclouds choked the heavens. Not a sliver of sunlight pierced through. From that dizzyingly high, terrifying black void, one fragment of light peered down.
Full moon glow.
"…Kalpu."
A night where the full moon shines beautifully.
Blood-red moonlight cascaded over my head.
(To be continued)