The Crow Took Flight
A crow flew through the sky. The crow's eyes, black and white blurring into one, were a murky gray. With those eyes, it gazed down upon the world. The world was white and black, and sometimes red. It was the hour when day, night, and dusk overlapped.
Thirteen girls raced down the road. Children chased them, and the girls chased the children in turn. There were frightening children and frightening girls. There were children who were afraid and girls who were afraid. The road ended in a dead-end alley—perfect.
The girls joined hands, forming a circle.
"TH-TH-TH—"
The girls sang. The children aimed guns at them. What was loaded in those guns? No one knew. Bullets struck the girls' bodies. Thud, thud. The girls collapsed limply. From the eyes engraved on their foreheads, black blood poured out. The blood flowed across the road, etching a dark blue pattern into the ground.
Thirteen girls raced down the road. The alley was open-ended, but that was fine. The girls joined hands, forming a circle.
"AH-AH-AH—"
The girls sang. Bullets flew in. Thud, thud. The girls collapsed. Black blood poured from the eyes on their foreheads. A dark blue pattern etched itself into the ground.
Thirteen girls raced down the road. A circle formed. "UUUMMM—" The girls sang and fell.
Thirteen girls joined hands, forming a circle. They didn't need to race down the road. They didn't even need to sing. The song echoed from the heavens and the earth. A dark blue pattern etched into the ground.
The patterns in the east, west, north, south, and center glowed all at once. The blue light of the earth merged with the blue light of the sky. Rumble rumble rumble. The ground shook. The broken bodies of the girls turned to smoke and drifted upward. The girls, left with only their heads, rolled around the center of the circle. Their widely grinning foreheads bore those murky eyes, spilling black blood. The light of the dark blue pattern on the ground grew intense—an inverted pentagram. At its center, a goat materialized.
The smoke coalesced into flesh, the flesh into masses of meat. From the masses sprouted two heads. Goat heads, but with fox ears. Three horns protruded, and it had six legs. Such was the form of the demon summoned at the center.
The crow gazed down upon the world with its murky eyes. In the east was a dog, in the west a snake. North held a peacock, south a fly. They were mere mockeries, crafted from the girls' flesh into demonic shapes. Yet the power dwelling in each of their bodies rivaled that of true demons.
"Western Paladin Order here. Requesting backup from Central. Situation danger level: Baphomet... no, pentagram! Pentagram!!"
"Southern Paladin... Agh, aaah—!"
"Northern here. The witches are using sorcery—!"
Bam. The demon's fist surged toward the children. The crow perched on the shoulder of the central demon, watching the slaughter even closer. The goat-headed demon swung its fists, gored buildings with its horns, slaughtering the paladins. One paladin, pinned under building rubble, reached out toward his dead comrades.
"Central, Holy Knights...! No, Papal Guard... Help us, anyone...!"
Whoosh—! The demon spewed black flames. The paladin burned to death, hand still outstretched. Another paladin, witnessing it, pissed himself and collapsed to the ground. The dead one was the team leader, the collapsed one his subordinate—but to the crow, they were all the same paladins.
The collapsed paladin looked up at the sky. In the landscape of mingled day, night, and dusk, the day and dusk had faded, leaving only the night in sharp clarity. It was an unusually short day. His voice grew louder, cursing the closed-eyed god, the silent god.
"Ah, aaah, ah. Adonai, mercy... Why...!"
The sun closed its eyes, and the moon opened hers. The moon's pupils were round and red. The paladin gazed up at the moon, and the moon gazed down at the paladin. Red moonlight descended to the earth. The demon's rampage, destroying everything it touched, came to an abrupt halt. The demon looked up at the moon. The three horns on its head glowed blood-red. The moon blinked.
"Oh, ah. Aaah, aaagh—!"
Crunch, cruuunch—! The demon bellowed. Red moonlight extended like wings, shaping into hands, twisting and tearing the demon's body. The demon thrashed, grasping at the moonlight, its body contorting and coiling. It could bellow no more. Rip—! Its skin tore, sawdust spraying. Plop plop, sawdust scattered before the collapsed paladin. Splats, splats. The demon's hide flew in all directions. The scattered hides could no longer turn to smoke, vanishing as if wound in the red moonlight. The central demon was dead.
The moon gazed down upon the world with her red pupils. The moon blinked. Crack! The peacock demon's upper body was severed. Legless, its wings flapped briefly before it lost strength and fell. The cut surface bore bite marks and saliva, as if devoured by a beast. Moonlight claimed the remains. The northern demon was dead.
The moon blinked. Sizzle, sizzzzz... Moonlight peeled the snake's skin. The snake vomited sawdust and sprawled on the ground. Moonlight took the corpse. The western demon was dead.
Blink. Boom—! Moonlight crushed the fly. Its body burst. Sawdust, stuffing, and hide smeared flat across the ground. Moonlight reclaimed the corpse. The southern demon was dead.
The crow flew. With its murky eyes, it looked to the sky. The full moon was waning into a crescent smile. The moonlight aimed at the crow's murky eyes. The crow flew gazing at the sky, the moon smiled down at the ground. Their gazes crossed.
Pop—! The crow's murky pupil shattered. Its wings tore. The falling crow's vision spun dizzily. The boundaries of east, west, south, north blurred. The shattered eye gradually lost sight. Splat, the crow's body hit the ground. Moonlight took the corpse.
"Cough...!"
The crow died. The sensation transmitted fully to Gu Jun-hyeok's body. He shared the third eye on his forehead with the crow's murky gaze. Through the crow's eyes, he had watched the world.
Of the five taxidermy dolls summoned with thirteen coven members as sacrifices, he had witnessed four being twisted and crushed to death by moonlight.
"You... what did you do...!"
Gu Jun-hyeok staggered toward the fallen Do Seon-woo. He was self-mutilating. First, he pressed his left index finger against a tree and bent it backward. The central demon twisted. Next, he bit and snapped his middle finger. The northern demon's upper body was severed. Then, with the blade in his gut, he crushed and peeled the skin from his ring finger. The western demon's hide peeled away. He ground his pinky against a rock, crushing it. The southern demon shattered and died.
Of his five left fingers, he had deliberately destroyed four. Yet Do Seon-woo showed no sign of pain, merely smiling up at the red moon in the sky.
"Loa of the moon... Kalpu. For the finale, an ancient spell..."
Do Seon-woo raised his thumb. Then sliced it off with the blade. Moonlight claimed the severed thumb. Red moonlight enveloped Do Seon-woo's body. Then it poured toward Gu Jun-hyeok. He quickened his pace. Even decapitated or eyes gouged, he wouldn't die. He had resolved to become the vessel of Satan; crude attacks like that wouldn't work. Human weapons couldn't kill Satan's vessels in the first place. That was why 'Wrath' had been imprisoned rather than killed. Unable to kill, they had chosen to restrain.
"SUUU-RR-YAH, RR-AHH-UUU-MMM."
Red moonlight gripped his body. He couldn't breathe. This death felt different from all before—a chilling sensation. This wasn't human. Some divine entity was tearing his body apart. True death loomed. Before dying, he had to kill Do Seon-woo—that bastard. Or at least stop him. Gu Jun-hyeok continued his incantation.
"HAIL, SAT—!"
Screeech... But the final words never came. With a quiet, chilling sound like grinding cartwheels, Gu Jun-hyeok's vision plummeted to the ground. Dozens of red lines slashed across his neck and body. The moon's retribution. Slash—! Gu Jun-hyeok saw his mercilessly dismembered body. Red moonlight gathered the shattered pieces. No—devoured them. Yet he still lived. Even headless, this bizarre body refused to die. Sometimes convenient, sometimes cursed.
Do Seon-woo and Gu Jun-hyeok stared at each other with downcast eyes, silent. Gu Jun-hyeok lived only as a head, half-revived; Do Seon-woo, wreathed in black flames, was as good as dead. In the boundary of death and life, they were silent. Each punished for their own reasons. A vast sin sealed them apart, unable even to shake hands.
Whoosh—! Between them, the hesitating eastern demon—dog-headed—had a pillar of fire crash upon it. Kim Jin-seo, who had chased the escaped sword from Florence, glowed with holy light like flames around her body. The light drove away the sticky smoke and fog filling Eden Hill. Light burned the darkness.
Behind her, So Do-jin limped across the ground where red moonlight had fallen. The sword in his hand gleamed red in the moonlight. With it, So Do-jin severed the demon's neck.
Before the miracle recreation and So Do-jin's sword strike, Legion Commander Gu Jun-hyeok had lost control of the taxidermy. Thus the eastern demon died.
Paladins marched into Eden Hill in formation. Gu Jun-hyeok sighed.
"Ah..."
Over Captain Han Dae-ho's shoulder rode Jeong In-ah, unconscious from black magic. He had tried to kill her but failed, aimed to make a perfect taxidermy doll of her but couldn't. Unable to fully discard emotion, he failed as Satan's vessel; unable to craft perfect taxidermy, he failed as legion commander. He had wanted to preserve her eternally as taxidermy. Because he couldn't excise his inner humanity, Jeong In-ah became proof of his failure. She would live on steeped in betrayal.
Gu Jun-hyeok recalled his mother screaming before his dead father. Her eyes alternating between the taxidermied father and the son who had made him so. He wanted his mother. He wanted Jeong In-ah.
"Guess we won't make it to the sea..."
Gu Jun-hyeok murmured, closing his eyes. Sleepy. Approaching paladins lifted his head with hands wreathed in light, bagging it in a sack.
*
Kalpu. Loa of the moon and crossroads. I couldn't yet borrow his power. Through some contract, temporarily begging to use an ancient destruction spell—that was all I could do. Nothing more.
For it, I sacrificed my five left fingers and one lung. That killed the four demons Gu Jun-hyeok had wrought and dismantled his body. But it hurt. Not the fingers. My burning half-body hurt, my rotting, searing guts hurt. My head throbbed, my chest ached with every breath. Fortunately, sacrificing my left lung meant only my right chest hurt. I smiled, grateful for that.
Splat, splat, splat... She approached, having incinerated the unslain demon with miraculous flames. Seeing me, her face paled. She removed her demon-warding mask and placed it over my face. Her lingering breath on it made my lung burn fiercely.
"Do, Do Seon-woo! Hey, answer me. Heeeey...!"
She called, but I couldn't respond. My lips wouldn't part. She stripped off her outer coat, swinging it at the black flames clinging to me. They flickered in the wind but never extinguished. The black flames wouldn't transfer—only burned me.
"Why won't it go out! Why! Why won't this fire...! T-Teacher. The fire won't go out...!!"
"..."
Behind the tearful Kim Jin-seo, So Do-jin approached. His limping body was covered in wounds. Kim Jin-seo gazed at me with reddened, teary eyes. So Do-jin silently examined my body. His face was calm, but faint despair lingered in his eyes. He stared at the blade in my gut. I closed my eyes. Sleepy. Darkness came.
Splash— A water drop fell. The darkness before me twisted and spread. Coalescing and dispersing, it took form. Purple mist flowing from somewhere shaped the darkness. At its center, a red moon rose. Large and round.
In the end, it all circles back to the crossroads.
Two paths formed in the darkness crossed. I stood at the intersection. Red moonlight illuminated me, while two red stars approached from afar. As they neared, a familiar cigar scent wafted to my nose.
"You've come."
Now right before me, he grinned like a beast and continued.
"Let's talk about the contract with the dead."
Baron Samedi exhaled smoke.
(To be continued)