The Woman Born from Black Magic
When black magic poured from the mouths of the dead, scattering through the cathedral before coalescing into a single point and manifesting as a woman, Kim Jin-seo finally came face-to-face with the child amid the hanging corpses and the wounded.
"…Ah, it's Jin-seo."
"Yeah."
Kim Jin-seo nodded at the child's words and gave her a small smile. The child, looking up at Kim Jin-seo, smiled back.
Kneeling down, Kim Jin-seo pulled the girl into her arms. She was so light—unnaturally light—that Kim Jin-seo checked her condition. The child she had come to the cathedral with was still alive, without a doubt. But she was in worse shape than the dead.
The girl's lower body had been nearly severed, leaving only her torso. Kim Jin-seo's expression hardened.
"I wanna get up, but… I got no strength."
"It's okay. Just stay like this."
"My legs won't move at all… How bad am I hurt?"
"You're not hurt. You're fine."
Kim Jin-seo lied. She stared at the child for a moment, then blinked as her vision blurred. Tears fell onto the girl's face. Kim Jin-seo didn't bother wiping them away. She didn't even try to hold them back.
Seeing that, the child let out a small chuckle.
"Why're you crying? You've been looking for me this whole time?"
"Yeah."
The child smiled—a weak smile, but one brimming with clear joy. Even on the brink of death, she was purely happy that Kim Jin-seo had found her. That fact broke Kim Jin-seo's heart.
There was nothing she could do for this dying child. Nothing but stay by her side like this.
"During the practical exam… I had this weird dream."
"…"
"You were in it. So I didn't wanna wake up."
During the practical exam, Kim Jin-seo had a strange dream too. It was a hallucination induced by black magic—a mere illusion. In it, she had seen Do Seon-woo. He said and did everything she wanted, just as she desired. It was so blissful that Kim Jin-seo hadn't wanted to wake up. In the illusion, she could hear and see the words and actions he'd never give her in reality.
"I like you."
The child spoke. Kim Jin-seo stroked her hair and nodded.
"Me too."
"It's different for me. Different meaning."
It took Kim Jin-seo a moment to grasp what the child meant by "different meaning." But even after understanding, nothing much changed in her mind. Whatever the reason, whatever the intent, it boiled down to liking her. That fact remained unchanged.
If anything, it made her sadder. The child knew that, for a Romanica follower, such feelings were a "sin." That's why she'd kept her heart buried deep, never voicing it honestly until now. Kim Jin-seo felt a raw, aching pity for that desperate pain.
"…What's your name?"
Kim Jin-seo asked. Come to think of it, she hadn't even learned her name properly. She vaguely remembered the sound of it, but not the full name or surname—and she hadn't bothered to ask.
The child's breathing had already grown faint, on the verge of stopping. She said something, but her voice was too soft to hear. Kim Jin-seo pressed her ear to the girl's lips.
Only then did she catch it. Kim Jin-seo etched the name firmly into her memory, repeating it silently in her head over and over. She never wanted to forget.
"I'll remember."
Kim Jin-seo said. There was no reply. The child's breath had already stopped. Considering her injuries, it was strangely long that she'd held on this far. Kim Jin-seo figured it was because there were so many words left unsaid in life, so many she wanted to voice before dying.
She laid the body down and stood. In one corner of the cathedral, she spotted a holy knight morphing into some unrecognizable form—human or demon species, she couldn't tell. Behind him stood the naked woman, wearing a serene smile.
Drag. Drag.
Kim Jin-seo dragged her sword across the floor as she approached the woman. It scraped dryly against the stone.
The other clerics, excluding Kim Jin-seo, were all frozen. Like they'd been enchanted, they stared blankly at the naked woman.
As she passed those dazed clerics with her own blank expression, Kim Jin-seo thought.
She had become a holy warrior for revenge. To avenge her adoptive mother, killed by demon species. And she'd achieved that wish just moments ago. It had been emptier and easier than expected.
But in the process, she'd lost someone precious again, and now she was vowing revenge once more.
So where did this cycle of vengeance end? Killing all demon species and magic beasts? Eradicating all Satanists? Or wiping out every heretical cult except Romanica? Or…
"…"
She didn't know. The only certainty was that she had to cut down the woman before her.
*
"Ah… Aah. M-my body."
O Hui-jin muttered. His voice was wrong. The thin, feminine tone he'd often been teased for had twisted into a monstrous, guttural growl.
His body felt off too. His slender, bony arms had thickened beyond even Captain Han Dae-ho's. Power surged through him, so much that he could barely control it.
His head throbbed. A bizarre pleasure coursed through his veins.
O Hui-jin looked up. He saw the clerics—some unharmed, some wounded and collapsed, some dead. Among the injured was Han Dae-ho, downed by the battle's aftermath. The man who'd always seemed gigantic now looked so small.
"Captain… S-something's wrong with me. Save me, please… Save me…"
O Hui-jin murmured toward Han Dae-ho. His grotesquely warped voice terrified even him.
Then someone approached. Kim Jin-seo, gripping her sword tightly. But her sharp, icy gaze wasn't on O Hui-jin—it was fixed on the naked woman behind him.
Swish.
Suddenly, the woman wrapped her arms around O Hui-jin's neck from behind, caressing it. Her sticky, warm breath brushed his ear. A strange sensation spread through him, teetering between disgust and pleasure.
—Grab her.
The woman's voice flowed into O Hui-jin's ear. Without his will, his arm rose. From his massive, heavy limb, black-magic tendrils wriggled out.
Kim Jin-seo raised her sword, swinging toward the woman behind him.
Slash!
"Ugh…!"
But the tendril was faster than her blade. It seized her body, hoisting her up. Her hand released the sword. The tendril coiled around her throat, strangling.
Kim Jin-seo thrashed in midair, clawing at it with her nails.
O Hui-jin's face twisted.
"Ah… Aah. Sorry. Really, I'm sorry. M-my body's moving on its own. Save her. Someone save this girl…"
O Hui-jin whipped his head around, pleading. But no one came to her aid. They all remained entranced, staring at the naked woman.
They were truly bewitched—by her aura, by the black magic. No one could even think to attack her.
Unable to sense "enmity." That was the most dangerous black magic of the Satan Cult executive, Lust.
"…Ah… Aaaah—!"
Then a voice shattered the cathedral's silence. A desperate, sorrowful cry, like a valiant general's death rattle.
It echoed through the hall, snapping a few entranced clerics back to reality. The voice belonged to Florence Academy Chairman Kim Chang-won.
Drip, drip.
Blood tears streamed from his eyes as he watched Kim Jin-seo under attack. The blood pattered to the floor.
At the same time, divine power poured from his body. The precursor to a miracle recreation.
Kim Chang-won, who in his active days would cough blood just from expelling divine power due to overexertion, was attempting a miracle recreation now. It was a miracle born at the cost of his life.
Crunch, crunch… crunch… crunch, crunch…
The divine power from his body twisted into grotesque shapes, then began moving like living creatures. A swarm of locusts.
They crawled up the tendril choking Kim Jin-seo, devouring the flesh of O Hui-jin's forearm.
"Argh… Aaaah…!"
O Hui-jin groaned more from revulsion than pain. His massive arm shriveled under the swarm, growing bony again. The tendril lost its strength.
Kim Jin-seo's suspended body began to plummet.
Thud.
Do Seon-woo caught her as she fell. Snapped awake by Kim Chang-won's cry, he'd rushed to assess the chaos and intercept her. No time to grab the dropped sword.
He quickly carried her away from the woman and O Hui-jin.
"…Ah, must've zoned out for a sec."
In the meantime, Mun Yo-seop cracked his knuckles and approached O Hui-jin, now alert. Seong Yu-da did the same.
They were clad in the light of blessings. Some recovered priests and Seong Ha-yeon were supporting them with blessing circles.
Mun Yo-seop and Seong Yu-da's movements were swift. Panicked, O Hui-jin backed away.
Earlier, Kim Jin-seo had shown hostility toward the woman behind O Hui-jin, targeting only her. But now, the two men's gazes and enmity were squarely on O Hui-jin.
"…Forgive me."
"Sorry. Never thought I'd have to kill you with my own hands."
They knew that to strike the woman, they had to eliminate O Hui-jin first. Even if he was a victim of black magic, stopping greater harm meant attacking him.
They'd learned from experience: hesitate against a comrade turned demon or beast, and an even worse tragedy unfolds.
"W-wait. Save me—please. Help me. Save…!"
O Hui-jin cried out, retreating. But the two didn't stop. They clenched their fists tighter, charging with killing intent.
Swish.
In that instant, the pair lunging at O Hui-jin froze. Or at least, to O Hui-jin, it looked that way.
A soft, cool touch grazed his nape. The woman's hand.
—Kill them.
The woman's voice echoed in O Hui-jin's mind. A sweet, seductive whisper that melted his brain.
—You can do it now. You're stronger than anyone here. Stronger than all of them.
"Ah… Ah…"
—Right now. Stronger than anyone.
And O Hui-jin, who had aspired to become a holy knight to protect everyone, was so very weak.
Monstrously strong clerics abounded. The prime example was Eastern Holy Knight Order Captain Han Dae-ho. Mun Yo-seop and Seong Yu-da before him were monsters too.
Even Do Seon-woo, an apprentice in the Eastern Order, inspired awe in O Hui-jin.
—Clench your fist. Then just swing at those frozen fools.
O Hui-jin despised his own weakness and envied the strong. But he could never grow strong, so he'd found another path: fighting cults with knowledge, proving his worth through intellect.
His apparent devotion to study was mere flailing to escape frailty, a struggle to forget his inferiority.
—Prove your superiority.
The woman deftly prodded his inferiority and weakness.
Crack!
O Hui-jin clenched his fist. His arm swung of its own accord, smashing into Mun Yo-seop and Seong Yu-da's faces in turn.
The bold assailants flew back limply from his punch.
The sensation was odd. He'd felled two clerics he admired with one blow, yet it felt no different from swatting a mosquito without a thought.
—Yes, good boy.
The woman stroked his chin and chuckled softly. O Hui-jin stared at his enormous, vicious fist, smeared with Mun Yo-seop and Seong Yu-da's blood.
(To be continued)