Satanas Chapter 3.2 - Sinking

The man stripped the ornate garments that had covered the slender body. The child’s clothes, soiled with mud and filthy water, must have originally been white, but they were so thoroughly soaked in blood that they looked as if they had been dyed with balsam flowers. The pale hand that reached to untie the jacket’s ribbons paused in midair.

“F-first, we should take off the child’s clothes and his body…”

It was because Pedro, who had been outside the door, took a step forward.

“I will do it.”

The man’s eyes as he turned around were clear and cool. And what of his voice? It was as if it held the silence that floated all the way to the main hall beyond the annex, so Pedro had no choice but to shut his mouth. When the man turned his head again, his long hair, which must have dried at some point, fell away, strand by silky strand. The red cloak spread on the floor had also dried before he knew it.

“I would like to be alone with the child for a moment.”

“Ah, I understand. In that case, the physician…”

“No.”

Pedro, who had been about to hastily close the door, faltered.

“Do not even think of calling a physician.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He is a child who was persecuted. If the truth gets out, your position will be just as troubled.”

At the man’s words, Pedro only moved his lips without a sound, and,

“I came here seeking someone who could surely grant my request. Did I come to the wrong place?”

he soon had to close the door with a strangely contorted face.

The man with the golden hair stood leaning his body against the door. He was listening intently to the footsteps of Pedro, who had retreated without concealing his flustered and uncomfortable state. Water droplets that slid down the roof tiles dangled from the edge of the eaves, falling drop by drop to the ground. The sound of footsteps seeping into the rain passes through the courtyard and turns the corner.

When he gently closed his eyes, an image formed of the rainwater that splattered in all directions, creating ripples in every puddle. Through it, he could see feet carefully taking off shoes and stepping up onto the wooden-floored hall, and a hand closing the door of the detached guest house. In the night enveloped by darkness from an extinguished oil lamp, only when the guest house grew still did the man open his once-closed eyes.

“…Angel.”

The boy’s lips, their skin flaky and raised, quivered.

“Don’t go, Angel…”

The child spoke, though he did not even have the strength to lift his eyelids, which were swollen shut like the mouth of a goldfish. But the man just stood there silently. The child fidgeted with his fingertips, where no nails remained, and lifted his hand.

“I’m not going.”

Only then did the man open his mouth.

“Don’t leave me… where would you be goin’… you can’t, Angel…”

“I said I’m not going.”

Leaving out the inner thought that followed his curt reply: Where would I go, leaving something this delicious behind.

“…Angel.”

The small hand that had barely been lifted fell with a thud. The man looked at his own outstretched palm, then slowly curled his fingers. As he clenched his hand into a tight fist, a breath like a single thread of silk flowed out again through the child’s slightly parted lips.

He pushed his body away from the door he had been leaning on and slowly took a step. He sat down next to the child, who lay with his limbs splayed out, and brushed away the hair that clung like sea mustard to the small face. The tips of his fingers traced down the plump, baby-fatted cheek and past the collar of the garment that fastened around the slender neck.

And they stopped over the jacket ribbons he had been unable to untie. When he pulled firmly on one of the long ribbons, the jacket came undone just like that. His chest, which looked as if every single rib had collapsed, was revealed, sunken in. The thin layer of skin was lumpy with fractured ribs, and the black cross etched between his cherry-sized nipples was bumpy and uneven.

“For this is no strange thing.”

A large palm covers the marking, which looked as if it had been painted with black ink.

“For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

Crack, crackle. The broken ribs find their pairs and mend themselves. The crushed lungs inflated, regaining their proper form. The crude thicket that had wrapped around the black cross grew and tangled chaotically, and from each stem, thorns sprouted to bloom luscious roses. When he abruptly lifted his palm, the hideously collapsed chest had returned to its original state.

He slowly bowed his head. Golden hair slid from the crown of his head, falling with a soft touch onto the child’s cheek and earlobe. The bridge of his nose, drawn with a bold brushstroke, met the child’s dainty one. The child’s face was reflected on the surface of his eyes, which were like a placid waterfront.

“Therefore… it is no great thing if I also be transformed as the angel.”

When he whispered, parting his lips slightly, the face with its eyes closed looked much more at ease.

🦇

Bell was sitting in a chair embroidered with flowers. He held a thin, long pipe, and with each puff, the smoke that was sucked up toward the window was so intensely white it almost looked blue.

Sunlight poured onto his head as he rested his chin on his arm, which was propped on the backrest. His hair, catching the dusty sunlight, was the desert of a wasteland, and his face, shining transparently, was like a mirage about to disappear. One of his legs, lowered below the chair, revealed an ankle bone. Beside the navy blue pohye shoes he wore, the back of a silver-white changpao robe fell. Upon it, the tail of a blue serpent coiled, stitch by stitch.

“…Angel.”

The lips, their skin flaking like lint, quivered. Along with the softly drifting smoke, Bell turned around. Tadeo was lying on a bed set against the rough earthen wall. His two hands, resting on the blanket pulled up to his chest, twitched. His thistle-like eyelashes also trembled.

Bell turned his head back toward the window. He put the pipe to his lips and drew in a puff of opium.

“The smell… is awful…”

After a brief rustling sound, a voice, awakened from sleep, was heard.

“Not as awful as you.”

Bell said, without even a glance.

“You should try it, too. The taste is quite good.”

Beyond the billowing smoke, Bell felt like a phantom. Tadeo clutched the edge of the blanket and fiddled with it. He recalls the memory of being swept away by a giant wave and falling into the sea. His body, sinking helplessly despite his outstretched hand, the bone-chillingly cold seawater, and… Bell, who carried light with him even in the dark depths of the sea.

The ecstatic breath that had entered his water-filled lungs still lingered on his lips.

“I’ve been thinking about what to do with you.”

Tadeo blinked. The hand holding the pipe moved lightly. Bell was still looking only at the window.

“Should I throw you into a brothel in an opium den?”

“…”

“Or should I cut off your limbs and toss you into a pigsty?”

“…”

“What do you think, Tadeo? Which do you prefer?”

The silence, wrapped in the wavering smoke, flowed slowly. Bell was thoroughly angry. Despite the chilling words, Tadeo was lost in reminiscence for a moment.

Of the times he would hold his hair in his hand and press a kiss upon it. It was a frequent method of soothing him. Bell’s hair was so light that even when held, he couldn’t shake the feeling of futility. That’s how it started, with bringing his lips to it. If his anger still hadn’t subsided, he would cup that face in both hands and kiss his forehead and the bridge of his nose in turn. Then Bell would mischievously ask where he would be kissed next.

As no words came, Bell turned his head. The moment he looked back, their eyes met instantly. Tadeo was wearing a white changpao that came up high on his neck. It was a garment Bell had chosen himself.

“It suits you. You look so virtuous. Fucking virtuous.”

He said, holding the pipe between his lips. He would murmur softly, then suddenly bark through clenched teeth.

“You act all virtuous, yet you were so good at fawning over a man you’d just met.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why can’t you do it for me?”

“Bell.”

“Don’t say my name.”

Bell said harshly, his expression twisting. His face only relaxed once Tadeo fell silent. The slant of his lips, with one corner upturned, gave a measure of just how twisted his mood was.

“Try it on me, just once.”

He leaned his head back, resting the arm that held the pipe on the back of the chair. When he swallowed, his prominent Adam’s apple moved. Tadeo, who had been silently watching its shape, averted his eyes. The man he had glimpsed by the smokestack while wrangling with Kenders on the ship was no illusion.

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“I said, try it.”

Bell insisted, even adding a nod of his head. His attitude was no different from how one would treat a prostitute who had been paid her fee.

“You can’t do that one thing for the benefactor who saved your life?”

His tilted face jeered, but Tadeo’s expression did not waver one bit.

“Come here. We have to finish what we couldn’t.”

Sitting with his legs spread, Bell patted his own thigh. Thwack, thwack. As he switched the pipe to his other hand, light settled upon his outstretched hand. Even in that moment, Tadeo was reminded of the dream he’d had on the ship. His limp lower body twitched.

“The thing you said you wanted to do with me last if the world were to end tomorrow. Yes, I did wonder why you were acting so bewitching for once.”

“…Will you let me go then?”

The smirking corner of his mouth instantly hardened. Tadeo put a hand under the blanket and grabbed his front, which kept twitching. And then he realized. He wasn’t wearing a single pair of pants under the side-slit changpao.

Bell, who couldn’t possibly not know that, slowly lowered his gaze to stare. Asking so innocently while being hard as a rock, wasn’t his face the very picture of insolence?

“If you please me.”

The outstretched hand was still there. Hesitantly, he pushes off the blanket, and a slender ankle steps down from the bed. The thigh revealed through the slit in the robe was particularly fair. The hem falling below his properly straightened body rustled at his feet. His hesitant steps draw closer, and two sets of fingertips, where the sunlight crumbled, meet.

Bell interlocked their fingers, fitting his between the parted ones. He clenched his hand tight and pulled, and Tadeo’s body was abruptly yanked forward.

“Ah…!”

Stumbling, Tadeo steadied himself by placing a hand on Bell’s shoulder. Bell tilted his head up and gently closed his eyes. A soft hand touches his neatly arranged hair. Tadeo swallowed dryly and slowly brought his lips closer.

The backlight illuminating their approaching faces was like the halo of Christ in a holy painting. Although the sunlight was murky from the unventilated air, its color glittered a burnished yellow. When the light settled on one side of his cheek, divided by the bridge of his nose, it shone as if anointed with myrrh and frankincense. As their two lips met, the bridges of their noses, which had brushed slightly, overlapped at an angle.

The black pupils disappeared behind descending eyelids. Bell, as if he had been waiting, opened his once-closed eyes. The line of his eyes, faintly marked with a hidden double-eyelid crease, was slender. The lips, pressed together and unmoving, were trembling slightly. So was the hand on his shoulder, and the upturned tips of his eyelashes quivered like tiny twigs. Bell almost let out a sigh.

Where had that seductive demeanor gone, the one that made it seem like a few smacks on the ass would lead to thigh-rubbing? The one who acted like a cunning demon with holy water in his mouth was nowhere to be found.

Before his consciousness faded, the angel’s face Bell had seen had been more salacious than that of Asmodeus, the demon of lust. A face whose secretly held lechery had even shone when met with the red heat of the fireplace. The mere memory of it seized him, making not his anger but his appetite boil over.

“Finished?”

“…Yes. This is it.”

Just as he finished his thought, the tedious kiss was over. The lips that pulled away still looked stiff. ‘No, this isn’t it.’ Bell shook his head and slowly stood up.

“Just rubbing lips together isn’t everything, Tadeo.”

The navy blue pohye shoes, which handsomely encased his feet, took a step. Tadeo’s eyes, now standing face to face, darted left and right once. White smoke drifted leisurely from the pipe in his hand. From the moment their eyes met, Tadeo couldn’t take a single step, only bobbing on his heels.

“Do you think I act like a dog in heat just to press my lips against yours?”

“I don’t know what you’re saying. And I don’t want to know.”

How bold of him, talking back so defiantly while being scared. Pausing his steps for a moment, Bell rolled his tongue inside his mouth. The tongue that emerged after gliding over the mucous membrane moistened his lips. Anger surged.

When he had held that holy-water-filled face and met his eyes, he had heard a piercing auditory hallucination.

‘Beeeeeell!’

The scream of a malevolent spirit, flashing past like lightning. It was clearly meant to drive a wedge between him and Tadeo. Knowing it was poison, he had still offered his lips as he wanted, and even opened them willingly. Of course, the price for that was far greater than he had expected, far greater than he had braced himself for.

The ultimate agony of his throat and all his internal organs being burned away without a trace. The pain of his whole body being flayed was something he had never experienced before.

“You asked me what I would want to do with you if the world were to end tomorrow, didn’t you.”

Bell strode closer and reached out his hand. The hand, thrown like a snare, instantly gripped the nape of Tadeo’s neck.

“Ngh…!”

“Shall I show you, starting now?”

Lips, full of a mouthful of opium, rushed in. When he struggled to keep them closed, the hand that had tossed aside the pipe did not miss its chance and created an opening. The thumb that forced its way in this time met with clenched teeth. Bell put more strength into the other fingers gripping his jaw.

“Ah, it hurts…!”

Tadeo shuddered as his jaw, squeezed tight by the grip, ached. But Bell paid him no mind and shoved a finger through the parted lips. Not to be outdone, Tadeo, with eyes glaring, bit down with all his might. A dull crack sounded from the bitten flesh.

Red blood began to well up in the deep gash. The flowing blood stained his front teeth and dripped onto his tongue. Seeing Bell’s unchanging expression, Tadeo felt a chill run down his spine. The taste of blood on his tongue was sour and sharp.

“Ughh…!”

The bleeding hand pressed down hard on the soft tongue.

“Mmph…!”

He pulled on the nape of his neck and kissed him at once. As he opened his mouth, the attached jaw muscles moved along with it. The jawline, rising and falling as if pushing food into a mouth and savoring the taste, was sharp. As the white smoke passed into his throat, the fragrant yet bitter scent was transmitted directly to his sense of smell.

The opium smoke hit his vocal cords with a stinging sensation. It felt as if sand was stuck to his uvula, and a wave of nausea rose, making his nose sting. Tadeo urgently pushed Bell away and turned his head.

“Cough, cough…!”

“Stop being a baby and open your mouth.”

The sight of him coughing, bent at the waist, was comical. Bell raised the corners of his mouth in satisfaction. It was just like seeing his own reflection from not long ago, and he quite liked it. Saliva drooled from the lips that wouldn’t stop coughing, and the tears that had clung to the corners of his eyes had now spread, moistening the area around them. Looking at the face, red all the way to the forehead, Bell sank into a vicious fantasy.

The fantasy of hanging that white, willowy body upside down and fucking it.

“I’m dizzy, I’m so dizzy… Bell.”

After coughing his lungs out, he now staggers as if his legs have given out. His eyes and mouth were all slack and agape, a truly spectacular sight. The hands that had been busy pushing him away were now desperate to grab the collar of Bell’s clothes.

“Take it off.”

Bell said, grabbing and batting those hands away. The fingertips fell limply, trembling in the air. The dazed eyes, not having lost all reason yet, searched for a focus.

“If you think I didn’t know how you work that sly little head of yours, you’re gravely mistaken.”

“…”

“You knew. What I want to do with you. Didn’t you ask knowing that? Did you not even have that much resolve?”

The flush of blood draining from his face was returning it to its original color. His eyes, unable to hide their shock, grew wider than Bell’s glittering ones. It was pathetic to see him trembling so hard his jaw chattered and he looked like he might bite his own lip off, but Bell had no intention of going easy on him. He had to be pushed further, tormented more, made to cry more.

Finally, tears fell with a splat onto Tadeo’s fair cheeks.

“You’re hopeless, Tadeo.”

“…Please.”

“Stop your blubbering and take it off.”

Despite his pleading face, Bell was heartless. The lips that had uttered the command fell silent. The pupils, subsided like the calm before a storm, were desolate. Tadeo slowly lowered his chin. The hand that went to the button fastening the mandarin collar trembled violently. Watching the maddeningly fumbling hand, Bell thought it would take quite a while.

Unfastening the first button, surprisingly, did not take long. Funnily enough, it was the hand that moved to the next one that began to act sluggishly. They say the first step is always the hardest, but you’re truly strange.

“I can’t do it, Bell… I, I can’t…”

After fumbling with the button, which was no bigger than his own nipple, and letting it go several times, Tadeo finally dropped both his hands and whimpered. The face he lifted so pitifully was like a peach blossom soaked in rain. Bell, his patience worn thin, grabbed a fistful of his collar.

“Hiccup…! I, I was wrong…!”

He dragged him to the bed and flung him onto the sheets, which had lost their warmth. The light body sprawled wretchedly, and the rounded buttocks were clearly exposed outside the robe, which was slit to the waist. The overlapping thighs and delicate ankles were connected in a graceful curve. The two legs, which gave a slender impression, were clearly different from a woman’s shapely calves, but they were of a length and thickness that would look good wrapped around a waist.

Suppressing the impulse to grab them, spread them, and ravage them to his heart’s content, he seized the collapsed body and turned it over. Bell climbed on top of his lower abdomen and trapped his small head between two strong arms.

“You said you wanted to escape. Then you should pay a worthy price, shouldn’t you? Or perhaps being forced is your preference?”

The face, brought up close, snarled, baring its teeth.

“Out of consideration for the affection we’ve shared for nearly seventeen years, if I’m being kind, you should duly follow suit.”

“H-huhh…”

Just the low whisper felt like his whole body was being torn apart and devoured, bones and all. Every time Tadeo sobbed, his teeth chattered and the area around his solar plexus trembled.

“And here, you have this, standing straight at attention…!”

“Aht!”

Bell let out a sneer as he squeezed the erection, cloth and all. The thrown-back Adam’s apple bent in a pleasing shape. The fully erect cock was of an underdeveloped size.

His other hand crept stealthily into the robe, which was slit to the waist. After rubbing the protruding hip bone, it traced a long line down the inside of his groin. Heek, a thin gasp was sucked in. The pubic hair that grew in the narrowing valley was soft. And finally.

“N-no, please, ugh.”

He grasped the hard penis, swollen with blood, in his bare hand. The size that fit in one hand throbbed, spewing fluid. When Tadeo covered his face in shame, Bell pulled his hands away and held his constantly averting gaze in place.

“Show me. Your face.”

He gripped it from the root and pulled, his hand sliding down. The foreskin was drawn up, and a bead of fluid that had formed at the urethra trickled down.

“Heub, haah… Ah, ah… Be, Bell.”

The body, which had never even masturbated, was sensitive. Tadeo narrowed his tear-filled eyes and rubbed his hips. Perhaps you were born for this. Bell thought, and with a flick, he lifted the trailing hem of the robe. Even without being circumcised, the glans, with its prettily peeled-back skin, had a petite shape.

“Ah, ng! Ahh, uhh…”

“You’re dying of pleasure, aren’t you.”

“No, no… Ah! Bell, Bell…”

As he gradually lost his reason, his thighs also parted. The pale buttocks constantly bucked, rubbing against the sheets. He shook the rigidly raised shaft, then stimulated the sensitive bumps on the surface of the glans. Then he would even lift his hips slightly and tremble with a shiver.

“I-It’s strange, it feels like, like it’s going to come out, it’s strange…!”

The two hands that had been clawing at the pillow abruptly grabbed Bell. They clutched his thick wrist and pleaded with teary eyes.

“Do you feel like you have to piss or something?”

“Ah! Yes, yes, I have to, I have to…!”

Tadeo shook his head as if in a fit. His glistening red lips were spouting whatever words came to mind, like a child. Watching him, Bell’s expression went slightly blank. He quickened the pace of his hand’s pumping motion. He could vividly feel through the skin how the fist-sized cock was swollen as if to burst, filled with how much semen.

However, Tadeo only kept calling Bell’s name, unable to release it. It was because he had never once touched himself, considering even masturbation an impure mindset. Despite the pain of being about to burst, he didn’t know how to let go. He was afraid that if he came just like this, he might urinate as well.

“If you have to piss, you should go piss… hmm?”

“I don’t want to, I don’t want to piss… It hurts, it’s all swollen and it hurts, it hurts… hiccup.”

His black hair was a complete mess from his thrashing about, not knowing what to do. Bell lowered his face as it was and took the penis he held in his hand into his mouth in one go. As he sucked on it forcefully, the sound of a gulping breath could be heard from above his head. When Bell raised his eyebrows and looked up, all he could see was a raised chin.

“S-stop, Bell, please!”

His hands, nails digging in, clawed at the sheets with all their might and clenched. His outstretched toes repeatedly curled and uncurled. His extended shins seemed to stiffen for a moment before going limp.

Along with a high-pitched cry.

“Aaaah…!”

As the lukewarm, viscous fluid sprayed profusely into his mouth, he sucked it in until his cheeks hollowed. He slurped it down as if drinking through a straw. Only after taking in every last drop did Bell let Tadeo go. The softened penis, once it left his mouth, fell with a thud and dangled between his thighs.

“Ha, haah… Haah…”

The face, which could only let out heated breaths as he lay with his limbs splayed out, was like an angel thrown into a brothel. Bell met the gaze of the ink-black eyes visible through the disheveled hair. Drip, drip. The thick, cloudy liquid fell onto his large palm, creating an iridescent sheen. The pure white ejaculate trickling down was etched onto the blankly staring pupils.

“Isn’t this the first time you’ve seen your own?”

Bell said, showing his palm. The eyes that followed were vacant. In the blinking eyes that couldn’t grasp reality, water-logged eyelashes were clumped together.

Tadeo still held the afterglow of his ejaculation. If he retraced his memory just a little, the pain from when his penis was swollen and throbbing came back vividly. It felt as if someone had shoved a steel skewer into his urethra and sent a current of electricity through it. The sensation seemed to be happening all over again, making even his fingertips tingle.

“Is it… all over…?”

The voice that came out caught midway, and his throat clenched shut. He moved his dry throat and swallowed hard. Hmph, a calm and languid breath seeped into his ear. As Bell sat up straight, his slender, well-defined flank was revealed against the clinging changpao. It was a masculine curve created by his muscular back and the downward slope of his waist.

He reached down and lifted the two limply outstretched legs with great ease. Only then did the dazed gaze that had been trailing him show a small ripple. The focus he had lost slowly returned, and the pupils that had been weighted down as if by a plumb bob floated to the surface.

“Wh-what are you doing.”

His flailing feet slipped on the sheets. Tadeo, startled, shot up and scrambled backwards on his bottom. But Bell, with an indifferent downward glance, grabbed his fleeing ankle and pulled. His head, which had slid down, slipped on the headboard and his hair became disheveled. The milky fluid that had been trapped in his narrow urethra had now grown cold.

“N-no! I don’t want to!”

A palm, large enough to grasp a buttock with room to spare, pressed firmly on the inside of his groin. The limp penis between his helplessly spread legs gave a single nod. Seeing that, Bell let out a short, dry laugh.

“D-don’t. Don’t do it, please!”

“I can’t hear you.”

He grabbed the two plump buttocks and pulled them apart.

“Please, please… If you stop, hic, even now… I’ll pretend it… never happened…”

Tadeo was now begging with his hands clasped together. The fact that those hands, which had only ever looked up to the cross, were now directed at him, immediately plunged Bell into a sense of superiority. The corners of his mouth, inspired by a strange sense of victory, rose sharply.

The foreign sensation penetrating the cleft between his cheeks was bizarre, and the liquid being applied was sticky and cold. The shock that flashed through his mind left a clear line across his black pupils. He tried to twist his lower abdomen, which was revealed as the long hem of the robe was lifted, but it was all futile resistance.

“Bell!”

Tadeo shot his upper body up. The shadow of a hand, bent fiercely like a hawk snatching its prey, was cast over him. The approaching hand was intimidating, as if it would crush him. His terror-filled eyes finally squeezed shut.

“You’ll pretend it never happened if I stop now?”

“…Hic, huhh.”

“Not a chance.”

Bell gave a satisfied smile and gently pushed down the tightly hunched chest.

“If it becomes something that never happened, I’ll just make it happen again.”

“…”

“I’ll make it happen again, and again, and even if I have to break your legs each time, I’ll grab you and spread them.”

“…”

“And I’ll shove my cock, right here, into you.”

He knew without looking. How pleasing the shape of this thing was, tightly sealed by the gathered folds in the deep valley. He thrust his piercing blue eyes before the man’s buttocks. He spread the flesh as if to tear it and took in the sight of the twitching hole.

What kind of face are you making right now?

“Heup…!”

The fingertip that had been gliding over the wrinkles pushed its way through the entrance and slowly entered. Normally, he would have shoved in several at once without a second thought, but he wanted to humor him with some proper foreplay. For Bell, who had a vicious appetite for enjoying human suffering, this was very gentlemanly treatment.

It was just that the embarrassing petting process had been skipped. He was angry, and he was in the middle of teaching a lesson. He intended to tame him very slowly, painstakingly restraining his desire to play with him as he pleased.

“Bell, Bell. L-look at me…”

Tadeo shot his upper body up and cupped Bell’s face in his hands. His name was mixed in with his rough, panting breaths. Drawn by the sound, Bell lifted his head and met the messily disheveled face. The glistening red lips move bewitchingly right before his eyes.

“It hurts, I’m in pain, Bell… You know I hate being in pain…”

He was pleading, bringing his own hand down between his spread thighs. Slender fingers clung to the hand that was smeared with semen. Tears once again welled at the corners of his slender eyes. His effort to escape the situation somehow was tear-jerking. The actions that occasionally burst forth from that innocent face were, without a doubt, the tricks of a fox.

At a glance, from his demeanor, it’s as if he’s begging me to hurry up and shove it in. Does he even know that his already spread thighs have opened even wider?

“Are you scared, Tadeo?”

“Aghk…, Bell!”

When Bell put his arm under the crook of his knee and pulled with frightening strength, Tadeo collapsed limply again. Pushing up the pale thigh, he shoved one finger in at once. His flailing hands crumpled the sheets tightly, and his lower abdomen, stiffening, jumped slightly.

“Ngh, there, ah, it hurts…!”

“Don’t make a fuss over just this one thing.”

“Please… ugh!”

“If it were any other human, I would have shoved it in right away, whether they ruptured or not.”

The finger that had invaded deep inside began to draw circles. The finger that had been stirring relentlessly, like stirring hot tea, suddenly increased in number. Along with that, he pushed his hand in up to the knuckles. His bent knees trembled in midair. The deeper spot was even tighter, the inner mucosal walls clinging like suckers.

“It’s commendable of you to do something so audacious.”

“Ugh, heuk…”

“If you do something commendable, you should be rewarded.”

As Bell pressed and pushed the plump flesh, Tadeo stopped trembling at one point and arched his back.

“Ah! I-it’s strange…!”

It was a more sensitive reaction than when he had ejaculated.

“Th-there is strange, it’s strange, I’d rather it hurt, just let it hurt…”

Tears stained the end of every broken-off word. You don’t even know what you’re saying right now. Bell slightly raised his eyes. He could see a face biting on a clenched fist, tears streaming down its temples. Watching that face, Bell silently pulled his hand out. The face that contorted sensuously as it let out another moan made it impossible for him to tear his gaze away.

Bell began to unbutton his own clothes. Through the collar that opened up with each unfastened button, a pale light skimming over pale skin leaked out. At the same time, he lifted his lower body, which had been resting on his heels. The bulge at his front, sticking out from under his robes, was visible beyond the triangularly spread thighs.

“What…”

“Keep your legs open.”

His crossed arms pulled his clothes off over his head. His long hair flew messily around him. His straightened upper body, with its tapered back, was covered in thick muscle everywhere. The light, flowing with myrrh and frankincense, settled on the thick trapezius muscles connecting his broad shoulders and neck.

“It’s quite deep in there. It’s fine. It’ll be just perfect to reach.”

Bell said, hooking his thumb into the waistband of his pants and pulling them down. A penis as thick as an ankle popped out with a thwap. The erection, springing up with elasticity, immediately hit his navel.

“Bell, please…”

Tadeo, frightened, scrambled to his feet. The body that pushed off the sheets and fled reached a dead end. When his back hit the headboard with a thud, he began to beg with his hands clasped.

“I was wrong, Bell! I’m sorry for hurting you, hiccup, I wasn’t trying to kill you!”

“I know that.”

Bell answered with a placid smile. His spine, with the yellow sunlight sliding down it, slowly bent forward.

“But you’re not deaf, are you.”

A voice as gentle as his smile seeped into Tadeo’s ear.

“Hold your thighs and spread them properly. If you don’t want to be torn to shreds.”

🦇

The morning sun in Joseon was exceptionally harsh. From the snow that had fallen overnight, the octagonal tiles of Jejungwon, with its gabled roof, glittered white.

A nun was running across the front yard of Jejungwon, her pure white veil flying. She threw off her shoes, whose patched cloth was soaking wet, and jumped up onto the low-foundationed traditional Korean house. Not only her shoes, but the hem of her skirt was also dusted with snow, but she seemed to have no mind to brush it off.

“Father Pedro! Are you inside?”

Her stockinged feet, which had been treading on the glossy wooden floor, stopped in front of the paper-lined door. When she knocked on the door, Pedro opened it from inside. It was the office of Allen, the founder and first director of Jejungwon. Sabina checked her surroundings once and hurriedly entered.

“It’s that image again. A black cross with a rose bush.”

“Allen must have seen it too.”

“Yes, he did.”

Pedro, who had been standing with his hands clasped behind his back, turned around, rubbing his dim eyes.

“…Things have come to this, and the Vatican is being too complacent.”

“But since we’ve never seen a demon leave a mark before, they will surely accept the request for dispatch.”

At Sabina’s words, Pedro gave a small nod. Pedro’s eyes, unlike before, bore the traces of past years. One of his eyes, its color strangely faded, looked as if a white opal had been set in it, which Allen had diagnosed as having a touch of cataracts.

“This is not a simple mark.”

The hand that had been rubbing his eye was clasped behind his back again.

“It is the symbol of an antichrist group. The crest of the Rosicrucians.”

At that, Sabina asked in surprise.

“But wasn’t the Rosicrucian Order just a baseless rumor, a kind of ghost story?”

“Who knows. It may not be a ghost story anymore.”

Pedro’s face looked extremely weary. His eyelids, weighed down by the years, blinked several times. He was currently residing at the Franciscan monastery located near the Russian legation. He had been planning to return to his home country for a few years due to poor health, but the bizarre incidents occurring in Joseon had him properly tied down.

“I wish Tadeo would arrive soon…”

“You… mean the priest who was recognized as an exorcist at the youngest age?”

Sabina asked again at his sigh-laced words.

“Yes. I have never seen a child like him.”

Pedro nodded. He looked around the room, where the bright winter sunlight streamed in, then looked up at the rafters.

“If it’s that child.”

The lips that had opened softly closed for a moment. After moistening his drying lips, Pedro continued.

“I have a feeling that child might be able to do it.”

A thick cluster of clouds, moving with the blowing wind, covered the sun. Presently, a shadow darker than twilight fell over where they were.

🦇

“Ah, hngh, ahheuk!”

“Hoo, hooh…”

A port city on the Shandong Peninsula. The day in Weihaiwei was already passing. As Bell, who had been lying there exhausted, thrust upwards with all his might one more time, the body that had been limp like a doll finally sprang to life. Tadeo, who hadn’t closed his mouth for hours, only letting out heated breaths, watched the flames of the sunset die down and shed a fresh new tear.

“Can you hear it?”

His raised buttocks were a messy tangle of chaotic fluids. Letting out a low breath, Bell pushed his penis in once more, pushed back his fallen hair, and asked.

“The sound coming from your body.”

“Aah!”

Squelch, squelch. Along with the added words, the sensation of his forearm-sized member pulling out sent a thrill through his insides. Even though the movements were repetitive, Tadeo still couldn’t get used to it. The hole, which had become so soft and stretched to fit his size, easily accepted Bell, yet his face contorted in shame. He let out and let out again the moans he must have cried out dozens of times at the penetration that felt like it was piercing his entire body.

The sun was hidden by the fast-moving clouds so many times, Bell.

How many times did I reach my climax?

I can’t even count. I can’t even remember anymore.

“Ahn! N-no, ah, not there again, no!”

His fingers, which had been put in his mouth to be bitten, at times crumpled the sheets and pillow, and at other times clutched Bell’s muscular shoulders, this time flapped in the air.

“Haha… Where, is it… good…?”

“S-stop! Stop! Why, ungh, do you keep, ah, only there… heek!”

Bell laughed lowly and seized the wrist that was suspended in the air. The hand, pulled all the way to his wide-open groin, clasped his as if it were a lifeline. The hip movements, which had been moving with a gap, now thrust up ceaselessly. The force, pouring out like a rapid-fire cannon, relentlessly stormed him. The small penis, which had been flipping around in his lower abdomen, quickly became engorged with blood.

His buttocks, soaked and messy with semen, repeatedly slapped against his thighs. The splashing sound was like stepping in a puddle of water. Bell was relentless. After discovering the source of the deep-seated thrill, he had thrust into that spot over and over again.

Even when he sobbed that he was going crazy, that he was losing his mind, that he might die from this, he was shown no mercy. His plea to please not cum inside was mercilessly ignored. Bell would typically thrust in the wrong places, then, just when he seemed about to let go and Tadeo let his guard down, he would pull him into a sloppy kiss and shove in his once-again forearm-sized erection.

“Hah… Didn’t it hit the mark exactly, just now?”

“I’m, gonna, die…”

“Oh, so was I.”

Tadeo could hardly even let out the choking sobs. The tip of his sharply raised chin trembled toward the ceiling. The light in his eyes, which had been taken over by a white night, would not fade.

“Look. You said you felt like you were dying, but in the end, you got hard.”

Bell said, flicking Tadeo’s tautly swollen penis with his fingertip. The teasing tone was so humiliating that Tadeo finally covered his face.

“Say it again.”

From the penis that had reached its end, hot fluid was still gushing out, and,

“Do you still want to get away from me?”

The fluids that had filled the red passage were pushed out and dripped onto the sheet. Because his knees had been pressed down until his hip bones touched, his legs, which hadn’t been able to close once for hours, now couldn’t even feel the pull of the inner thigh muscles.

His body, divided at the buttocks, was clearly separated into upper and lower parts with and without sensation. His two legs dangled and convulsed on their own. The only thing he could feel in his seemingly paralyzed lower half was Bell, settled deep inside his ass.

As his thoughts reached this point, hot tears began to burst forth and pour down again. He felt like he had truly become strange. Something was broken, and it was seriously broken. It was shameful and scary. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to hate the one who had made him this way.

“…Yes.”

Actually, no.

“My answer will always be the same.”

Bell, why were you not an angel?

Tadeo said, wiping away his tears. The sound of him gagging, ‘Ugh, ugh,’ as if his throat was blocked, filled the spaces between his words. His shoulders, which seemed to have shrunk by a hand’s breadth, were hunched and trembling pitifully. Still, being a man, his fully-grown hands were more than enough to completely cover his face. Bell’s expression, looking down from above, was frozen solid.

How much will you grow, you. When will you be fully grown and face me as an equal? Will this hand ever grow enough to cover mine? He remembered the old days, when he would knead the child’s fern-like hand and imagine a future he couldn’t quite picture.

Bell’s face contorted into a deep frown as he lowered his head. His face, the space between his brows severely narrowed and even his nose wrinkled, was thrust forward, creating a small breeze.

“Then does that mean.”

The fallen golden hair fell over the back of the hand placed on either side of the slender neck. Brushing past the prominent collarbone and the flushed earlobe.

“I’m asking if those were just words you said.”

Bell asked, roughly tearing away the hands that covered his face. The face, which had been chapped from dried tears, was wet once more.

“What words. I don’t remember… Ngh!”

Yes, you finally make me explode. The hand that had been holding his two wrists flung them away and seized Tadeo’s throat. The neck that fit so perfectly in his grasp offered a fresh sensation, filling a strangely contorted and twisted corner of him. It emptied as soon as it was filled, making him crave something more and urging on a morbid pleasure.

It was hateful how those eyes, never dry of salt, looked up with a pitiful light. He had been ravaged by this soft, mushy face all this time. By this face, which had the eyes of the same innocent child from over a decade ago, and which, free from all filth, was like that of a flawless saint.

By this face, which at times even forgave his very existence, an existence that could only survive by cruelly fanning the flames of hatred toward humans.

“I’m asking if it was a lie you told, swept up in the mood…!”

“Keoheuk…!”

‘What’s important to me is that it’s you, Bell. Even if you are a demon…’

“Answer me.”

‘You are my angel, Bell.’

Crack, the sound of a twig snapping came from the tightly gripped neck. It was clearly the sound of a neck bone, one that protruded with just a slight tilt of the head. The whites of his eyes, bulging as if to pop out from the increased pressure, were as shiny as marbles. The tongue that stuck out from between his red lips was plump and looked delicious. The impulse wells up to open his mouth, suck that tongue in, and devour it in one bite.

“You… deceived me too…”

The words he barely managed to answer fell like the last leaf. The strength that had been put in to the point that every knuckle turned white drained away. The snare that had been tightening securely had loosened.

“Right. I forgot.”

Bell slowly rose. His bent back straightened, and his stooped neck was lifted. His sweat-glistening shoulder blades and wings stirred, and the narrow path of his spine straightened out.

“That I deceived you first.”

He said, sweeping back his hair that fell without a set part.

“And I came to find you like this. I, you.”

When their gazes met, his looking down differently from his forward-facing chin, a sense of déjà vu that made his hair stand on end washed over him.

“There was no need for that.”

Bell grabbed his forearm and pulled him up forcefully. Tadeo tried to resist, but frightened by the pain of his shoulder popping, he pushed off the sheet and sat up.

“Wh-what are you, no, don’t turn me over!”

The body, flipped over with ease, ended up face down under Bell, who stood firm. His chest, smeared with semen that had splattered everywhere, felt sticky pressed against the sheets. Tadeo wriggled, heaving his body a few times. Perhaps his nicely toned buttocks had naturally swayed once, because a low laugh drifted over from behind, crawling over the nape of his neck.

“Aghk…!”

The moment his face, which had flared up in a blaze, tried to turn around fiercely, Bell mercilessly pressed down on the back of his black head. His face, slammed down hard, hurt. For a moment he frowned deeply as the bridge of his nose ached, but then he couldn’t breathe and his arms flailed wildly.

Fingertips tickled his exposed neck vertebrae and slid down his spine with a slither. The cold air met his sweat-soaked back, and a chilling shudder wracked his body. Above his flushed red buttocks, the small indentation of his tailbone was visible.

His hand fumbled over the bewitchingly slender waistline, then flattened out and pressed down firmly there. Then, his waist naturally lowered and only his buttocks were lifted high. The curved line of his waist formed a breathtaking vista, and his concave spine looked as if it would shine like the Baengnokdam crater lake if it were to hold water.

“Bell, stop! I hate this position…! Aaaah!”

Bell once again gripped his buttocks and thrust in with all his might. His rising shoulders pitched forward. At the force of the suddenly clinging mucous membranes squeezing him, Bell gently bit his lower lip. He lifted his upper body, which had been bent so low it nearly touched his back, and looked down at the hole that had grown to fit his size perfectly.

On the inside, it was squeezing him frantically, yet on the outside, the clearly visible entrance was taut and relaxed without a single wrinkle. His heart thumped once more. The blood that had gathered in his head rushed to his lower abdomen in an instant, reaching the tip of his penis. When the cock, which had swelled in size inside, gave a single bob of its shaft, it must have poked a certain spot, because Tadeo’s eyes rolled back in his head.

“Aren’t you curious what this precisely means?”

“Ahheuk…! D-deep, it’s deep… Heuh, huhh…”

As if swallowing it to the root wasn’t enough, the hole was busy smacking and puckering. The hand that had been toying with his faintly reddish nipples tapped the black cross engraved on his chest. Tap, tap. He had asked in a rather affectionate tone, but vexingly, there was no answer. He set his teeth into the soft earlobe he had been holding only with his lips and bit down. Along with a crunch sound, a short scream shot out.

“No matter how good it feels, open your ears and listen properly.”

Bell stuck a finger into the mouth from which saliva was dripping. Drip, drip. As he rubbed the tender flesh, one of his slender cheeks bulged out. When he lightly touched under the tongue that was panting to cool the heat, saliva poured out in torrents.

“It’s a kind of territorial marking that demons leave, Tadeo.”

“Aht, ng, ngt! Ugh, uungh, Bell, Bell!”

“A territorial marking left on the female who will carry the demon’s seed.”

“Ahheuk!”

The buttocks he had thrust into all the way were buried in pubic hair. His agape lower jaw trembled, and his eyelids, lifted toward the ceiling, blinked crazily.

“Of course, you’re not a female.”

“Ah, ah… Aah…”

“But I don’t discriminate against males either.”

The body, fully savoring the afterglow of the hotly ejaculated seed, convulsed intermittently. The lips whispering in his ear curled up in a smirk, and the demon’s tongue that shot out between them delved into his ear canal.

“I have been eagerly awaiting the days when my seed would be conceived in your belly.”

“A… lie.”

“And now, you have finally come to carry that seed.”

The tongue that had tickled his earlobe and been sucked in stealthily touched his eardrum. The face that had been trembling with excitement was momentarily crushed in pain. Finally, after swallowing down the long tongue, Bell gave a chilling smile.

“What a shame. That you’d rather die than become my bride.”

“…”

“You were already a dead man seventeen years ago.”

The wide black eyes rolled to their very edges, turning towards Bell who was whispering in his ear. Bell grabbed that face and turned it. He made him look squarely into the eyes that were full of shock and couldn’t even shed a tear.

“That selfish Lord God. Knowing full well that you wouldn’t live long before you kicked the bucket, He himself erased this.”

He said, tapping the black cross enveloped in the rose bush once more. Tap, tap.

“Must be nice to be loved, Tadeo.”

“…”

“Now, choose.”

The hand that gripped his jaw until his cheeks hollowed shook him coercively.

“Will you let me leave you, or not.”

His pouting lips tremble continuously.

“You have things to do in Joseon, don’t you?”

And in the end, you’ll give me a satisfactory answer.

“I, I can’t… die here, Bell…”

“That’s right.”

“I, I was, wrong…”

The corners of his slender mouth curled up in satisfaction.

“Yes, and what else.”

“D-don’t leave, Bell…”

He let go of the face he had held so tightly it made his jaw ache. The limp, naked form collapses onto its side. The twisted waistline formed a soft curve, and the ribs, falling at a diagonal, sloped like the eaves of a roof.

His unfocused eyes, unable to even blink properly, were staring at a point somewhere in the air. His chest, which had been rising and falling shallowly, became breathless, and soon, overcome with sorrow, he began to spout whatever words came to mind.

“I, I, I can’t die here…”

“…”

“I… hiccup, have to… go to Joseon…”

‘So, so,’ his festering inner sobs burst forth like a flood, and his words broke off. Drip, drip. He bit his clenched fist and kept muttering to himself, just like a child.

“I’m going to Joseon… Father Pedro… Father Pedro…”

“Tadeo.”

Bell, who had been silently watching with an indifferent face, grabbed his shoulder and called his name, but Tadeo just repeated the same words.

“So just until then…! Haht!”

When Bell once again slammed himself into Tadeo’s body with a thud, his willowy frame flinched greatly, like a fish that had been thrown onto land. The lips that had been muttering like a child with only his butt in the air clamped shut, and he blinks repeatedly as if seeing stars before his eyes. The vacant pupils that emerged from under his fluttering eyelashes slowly find their focus.

“Look at me properly.”

“Ught…!”

Bell thrust his face right in front of his and murmured lowly.

“Tell me who I am.”

As his words ended, he thrust in again with a thud. A suppressed moan escapes in place of a sob.

“Be, Bell…”

He kisses the lips that are mumbling to answer, then cradles the head that is bumping against the headboard and asks again.

“The person on top of you, nngh, who is it.”

“Aahht, Bell…!”

“Your master, haah, who did you say it was?”

Golden hair stuck to his sweat-beaded forehead. The hand that had been stroking his glistening face pushed that hair back and braced itself on the sheet again. Instead of an answer, his thin eyelids tried to close, so his gently moving hips thrust up again as if to pierce him through.

“Bell…!”

His hand, springing back to life, came to rest on the chest of Bell, who was trapping and embracing his whole body. Tadeo, who had screamed his name in a cry that was close to a shriek, finally lost consciousness. The hand that had been pressed to his chest slides off and falls onto the bed.

The face, fallen into a deep sleep, was tranquil and serene, as if it had forgotten even the moments of heated congress. Bell, who had been watching that face for a while, silently kissed his cheek and lips. Mwah, mwah. The sound, clinging as if moist, echoed in the silent guesthouse.

When he took out his tongue and licked over the parted lips, he felt a suitable saltiness. It must be the taste of bodily fluids mixed with tears and sweat. When he pulled out his penis, which was smeared with cloudy white semen, the unconscious body trembled once with a shiver.

For some reason, that small act moved his heart. Bell had to soothe his heating lower body by kissing Tadeo’s lips once more.

“Well done, Tadeo.”