Chapter 48: You will die here

For a moment, Cheon Juyeon, the next leader of the Jeilyeongrak Church, doubted her own eyes.  

—Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!!  

A pillar of light, always radiating an immense glow.  

A terrifying presence was clearly striding across one side of the campus.  

—Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!!!  

And from the opposite side, another pillar with a similar aura appeared, marching steadily across the grounds.  

This one felt even brighter.  

‘What is this, hell?’  

With a grave expression, Cheon Juyeon seriously wondered if she’d died and ended up in the afterlife.  

Among the top brass of Seoul Supernatural Academy, there were those with exceptional perception, like Cheon Juyeon, whose ‘eyes’ possessed remarkable abilities.  

“…Huh?”  

She suddenly realized something.  

Doubting her senses for a moment, she leapt to her feet in shock.  

Something had just landed on the mortal plane.  

She didn’t know the exact method or reason.  

But one thing was certain: an unprecedentedly powerful entity had abruptly descended onto the academy’s campus.  

Incidents often happen suddenly.  

Sometimes they come all at once, plunging everything into a crucible of chaos.  

Today was exactly that kind of day.  

***

5:13 p.m.  

After stopping by the dormitory, Maho Misamoto arrived at the main academy building, at the clubroom where Imir and Sephine had already secured a spot.  

Sephine Alabard, who saw Maho more as an ally than a rival, and Imir, who had just realized Seol Yeonhwa was also coming, initially welcomed Maho’s arrival.  

“…Huh?”  

Or at least, they tried to.  

That was before they noticed the two massive horns sprouting from her pink hair.  

When they first saw them, both doubted their own eyes.  

‘Wait, is that a headband?’  

‘Jet-black horns? Dark magic? Demonification? No, I don’t sense that kind of mana… It doesn’t seem like spirit manifestation either… What are those?’  

The horns looked so vivid, as if they belonged to a real demon or dragon.  

Of course, in this day and age, it could just be a hyper-realistic accessory.  

***

“Hey, hi! How’ve you been?”  

As the Guardian of the Jeilyeongrak Church, particularly sensitive to mana and souls, Imir sensed something unusual.  

Even if someone pretended to be the same person, there were bound to be slight differences.  

Though Maho’s voice and face were the same as always, there was a subtle, awkward disconnect.  

Contrary to her hopes, Imir had a gut feeling that this wouldn’t be an ordinary birthday party.  

“Oh.”  

And then there was Sephine Alabard, a genius summoner destined to one day surpass even high-ranking mages.  

After staring at Maho’s horns for a while, she broke into a wide grin.  

“Wow! They look so real! I should’ve gotten a headband too! Where’d you buy those?”  

…What?  

Imir covered her eyes with her hand at the unexpectedly carefree reaction.  

‘Am I the only one worried about an emergency?’  

With recent crackdowns on criminal dark mages in the country, there was a chance some covert operation was underway. 

Imir didn’t let her guard down.  

The possibility that those around the target had been compromised by dark magic or drugs was very real.  

The timing of the issue was just too critical, making her hesitate about whether to subdue the girl in front of her.  

If she subdued her now, the surprise birthday party atmosphere would be utterly ruined.  

She wasn’t keen on acting rashly.  

While Imir pondered with a serious expression, the pink-haired girl—the goddess—nodded calmly.  

“They’re a bound relic from a treasure chest.”  

“Ohh!”  

***

Naturally, it was a lie.  

The horns were a kind of vestigial organ caused by the Dragon God’s divine power.  

She’d been startled when they first appeared, but by now, she was getting used to this body.  

She could now control her divine power without straining the body or soul.  

“Ta-da!”  

The goddess flashed a bright smile and pressed the horns with her palm.  

They vanished instantly, as if they’d never been there.  

“Wow!”  

***

Sephine Alabard’s eyes widened in amazement, while Imir’s expression grew even grimmer.  

The scene before her felt oddly eerie, but that aside, an urgent message suddenly came through.  

Not from her intelligence team, but from someone higher up—Cheon Juyeon, the next church leader.  

—Get out now.  

It came with an ultra-emergency signal.  

“Oh.”  

The situation was definitely not normal.  

No, it wasn’t just abnormal—it felt like everything was going to hell.  

Her instincts had been right.  

With a 100% serious expression, Imir, feigning the demeanor of a timid male student, hurriedly said, 

“Uh, it’s about time for Yuseong to show up, so I’ll go grab the cake.”  

“Already?”  

Sephine looked puzzled for a moment, but Imir, certain that hell was about to break loose, nodded repeatedly and added, 

“Y-Yeah, if we set off sparklers and give him the cake as soon as Yuseong walks in, won’t he be even happier?”  

“Oh, good point!”  

All Imir could hope was that the only thing exploding here wasn’t her own body.  

To think she had to take on such a massive risk just for being a dark mage or a spy.  

She resolved to take a vacation—or retire—soon.  

Despite her calm facade, she moved with urgent haste.  

“I’ll be right back!”  

She had no intention of returning until the situation was resolved, but she said it anyway.  

She’d claim some errand had delayed her to avoid suspicion for stepping out.  

Spouting whatever excuse came to mind, Imir bolted from the clubroom the moment she stepped outside.  

***

“Hmm, then I’ll have to keep things under wraps until the cake arrives to avoid suspicion.”  

Naive Sephine, without a shred of doubt, focused solely on reviewing the birthday party plans.  

***

Meanwhile, the goddess, in Maho’s form, closed her eyes to observe another ‘perspective.’  

Possessing a human body imposed limitations on her abilities, but it was a novel experience.  

It felt fresh and intriguing.  

However, it seemed a ‘problem’ was brewing.  

‘What should I do about this?’  

After some thought, the goddess nodded to herself.  

“It’ll work out somehow.”  

And so, the current occupants of the clubroom: two people.  

***

“What should we eat for dinner?”  

“I’m fine with anything.”  

“That’s the hardest answer to work with.”  

“I really am okay with anything.”  

“Not making this easy.”  

Though of different genders, I was chatting with Seol Yeonhwa, whose behavior somehow felt oddly similar to mine, when I suddenly sensed something strange.  

“Hm?”  

At school, I usually dampen my perception to respect other students’ privacy.  

But an aura that stood out distinctly from others was easy to pick up.  

At the very least, I could sense danger before it hit.  

That way, I could respond.  

The confusing part was that there were three distinct auras nearby.  

One was eerily familiar, another was so dark it repelled me, and the last was a mix of both.  

What the hell is going on?  

Pondering, I glanced at the sky outside.  

‘Goddess?’  

Still no response from her, as had been the case earlier.  

If she were an ordinary being, I might’ve felt a twinge of unease, but that wasn’t her at all.  

I quickly became certain.  

‘This person… no, this goddess—is she for real?’  

I didn’t know in what form, but it seemed she’d come down to meet me.  

For an aura this familiar to belong to anyone other than my goddess would be even stranger.  

What’s this about? 

Why is she here?  

‘Did she come to hang out since exams are over?’  

Or maybe because it’s my birthday?  

If she descended to celebrate, that’d be kind [unintelligible].  

There was also that repulsive aura near the familiar one, but…  

‘Probably just a passing dark mage.’  

It didn’t feel particularly threatening.  

It could even be a special event planned by the goddess herself.  

Even if trouble arose, I could handle it alone, and with the goddess here, what was there to worry about?  

‘I could probably survive even in hell.’  

Though I was a bit concerned about what kind of fuss she’d make if she met Seol Yeonhwa in person…  

I also faintly wanted to introduce my limited circle of friends to each other.  

Feeling inexplicably excited, I led Seol Yeonhwa toward the clubroom.  

The closer we got, the stronger the auras became. By the time I opened the clubroom door, I was smiling, ready to greet her.  

Dr-r-r-rk.  

The moment the sliding door opened, the aura’s intensity peaked.  

As my eyes met Sephine Alabard’s and the pink-haired girl’s inside the room, something unusual happened.  

A pitch-black darkness suddenly surged.  

Where there is light, there is darkness.  

Where there is hope, there is despair.  

Where there is pleasure, there is pain.  

At the end of life lies death.  

And at the end of death lies an even deeper darkness, despair, and pain.  

This was a ritual for him.  

A man cloaked in darkness formed a seal with his hands.  

—Evil Path, unfold.  

Boom!  

Boom!  

Boom!  

In an instant, a jet-black space expanded, and hundreds of pillars embedded themselves into the ground.  

The pillars were made of distorted faces, severed limbs, and groans of anguish.  

And the souls of the dead.  

***

This was a place reached by those at the end of life—a realm just above hell among the six paths, the domain of evil.  

As the ritual succeeded, the summoned world was perfectly manifested.  

—Hungry Ghost Path.  

A world prepared for his enemies, dozens of times more painful than ordinary death, unfolded.  

Baek Yu, the Slaughter Bishop of the Central Plains’ Divine Church, raised his dark head to gaze at the foolish adversaries of the church trapped within the barrier.  

More precisely, at the foolish human who had recently dared to interfere with the church’s demon brain in this country.  

Baek Yu looked at the handsome young man in a school uniform.  

Shin Yuseong.  

The church had expended vast resources to uncover his identity.  

Those who dared to cross the church’s executives required thorough retribution, yet somehow, the demon brain had left no trace before its death.  

But even without traces, a church of their caliber had ways to find out.  

Though laborious and convoluted, there were methods to track someone through the communication of stars and worlds.  

And so, they finally found this man.  

Others had been caught up in the ritual, but that was intentional.  

There was a need to warn what horrific fate awaited those who dared to cross the church.  

“You will die here.”  

For Baek Yu, the Slaughter Bishop of the Divine Church, dealing with this foolish adversary and his associates was more than enough.  

With a haughty gaze, he surveyed those before him: the handsome male student Shin Yuseong, the pink-haired female student, Sephine Alabard—a noble whose death might cause some backlash—and Seol Yeonhwa, the genius of the Blue Magic Tower.  

And a blonde little girl with a blank, bewildered expression.  

‘Huh, who’s that?’  

She hadn’t registered on his detection until just now, yet somehow, she was inside the barrier.  

Baek Yu’s expression hardened as he regarded the girl warily.  

Though she looked like a mere child, he never let his guard down.  

There was an old saying in the Central Plains: beware of the elderly, men, and children.  

Gooo—  

Lowering his stance, Baek Yu emanated a pitch-black demonic aura, ready to counter any attack.  

***

A dark mage—no, more accurately, a demonic human from the Central Plains—who had unleashed a sudden dark barrier.  

A being whose human body rivaled high-ranking demons.  

Looking at him, the hero Shin Yuseong thought:  

‘What’s with this idiot?’  

Remarkably, his thoughts aligned perfectly with the goddess’s.  

To be continued…