I, the Lord of the Fifth Throne, am the source of all things!

As the chairman of a well-known pharmaceutical company, Red Spider comes into contact with Honjo Keiichiro, who is just a medical student studying abroad. By promising Keiichiro wealth and reputation as a foothold, Red Spider develops Suwahara City into a medical industry city.

For this reason, the management rights of Suwahara's businesses almost entirely belong to Red Spider, and the real, secret ruler is also Red Spider.

Red Spider first worked in the United States for decades, and from there began to influence Suwahara City for decades.

Over the long years, Starscream's original ultimate goal, the alchemy of gold, posed a huge threat to the 'kingdom' he had unknowingly built.

Therefore, in order to prevent the gold from being made, Starscream secretly devised countless countermeasures.

One of these plans involves having co-researcher Takazo Ayase conduct grueling research on the prototype, Ren Fujii, and then using the resulting somatic cells as a basis for creating a clone.

Red Spider originally planned to secretly build a force using clones of Fujii Ren, but abandoned the plan due to the clones' flaws.

In the game and anime storylines of Dies irae.

Although Red Spider is a shrewd and intelligent person, he adopted the most foolish strategy towards the protagonist, Fujii Ren, which was to engage in threatening cooperation.

Using a symbol of everyday life that the other party values, Ayase Kasumi threatened him as a hostage, which directly enraged Fujii Ren, who then entered the [Form] rank and killed Red Spider.

The reason why Red Spider acted so irrationally was partly due to Duanmu Lian's influence.

Considering that Red Spider treated Fujii Ren like an experimental animal in the past, and that the clones were all his tools, it's understandable that he would look down on the protagonist, Fujii Ren.

...........

"From today onwards, you will keep an eye on these two brats, report all their information to me in detail, and obey my orders at any time."

Having arrived ahead of schedule in Suwahara City, which was still under construction, Red Spider handed two photos to Duanmu Lian in an office in a company building and gave her instructions in a detached tone.

"I understand."

Duanmu Lian reached out and took the two photos. The photos showed two very young girls.

One of them had short silver hair, light purple eyes, and very fair skin; you could tell from their appearance and hair color that they were of mixed race.

As for the other little girl with black hair and black eyes, she is clearly of Asian descent, and is even a native of Japan.

Duanmu Lian's eyes, reflecting the two little girls, remained calm and undisturbed, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

Both of these little girls are the female protagonists of Dies irae.

One is Himuro Reia, the Sun Princess of the Black Round Table, whose foreign name is Theresa.

Whether the Black Round Table's long-desired gold alchemy can be achieved depends heavily on Himuro Reia, the Sun Princess.

The other little girl is connected to two members of the Black Round Table.

The other party is the second-ranked member of the Black Round Table, Cain the Death Eater, the younger sister of Sakurai Kai, named Sakurai Hotaru.

Hotaru Sakurai's older brother, Kai Sakurai, is under surveillance by Beatrice, the fifth Valkyrie of the Black Round Table.

However, nowadays it's less about surveillance and more about them living together.

Sakurai Kai and Beatrice are lovers. To Sakurai Hotaru, one is her brother and the other is her sister-in-law.

Red Spider's purpose in having Duanmu Lian monitor these two figures who had close ties to the Black Round Table is self-evident.

In order to stop the gold alchemy process, they could naturally work on the Sun Prince, who exists at the core.

However, as the Princess of the Sun, Himuro Reia has always been protected by the members of the Black Round Table's Holy Communion Cup and the Great Yin Woman.

Red Spider couldn't possibly reach out to the Sun Prince under the noses of these two.

So, when I saw that Duanmu Lian was still somewhat useful, I came up with this idea.

He used his subordinates to arrange for Duanmu Lian's 'parents' to move to Suwahara City, and then he planned to have him enter the school to carry out surveillance operations.

P.S.: Please vote, recommend, and tip!

There are pictures here, which can be viewed after the updated version

There are pictures here, which can be viewed after the updated version

Chapter Seven: Cultivation Filled with a Sense of Premonition

"A male student has transferred to our class today. Everyone should get along well with the new student."

"it is good!!"

Hearing the students' young but incredibly spirited response, the male homeroom teacher, who was in charge of teaching a class in elementary school, adjusted his glasses, then turned to look at the blue-haired boy in the hallway outside the door, and nodded to signal him to come in.

Amidst the varied gazes of the children, Duanmu Lian calmly walked in, stood on the podium, and wrote her name—Fujii Lian.

Red Spider originally wanted him to use a local alias.

But after much thought, he decided to use the name Ayase Takazo gave to Zarathustra, which is Fujii Ren.

After all, E-413 doesn't need much time to operate, and Fujii Ren will arrive in this city sooner or later. As long as the information issues are handled properly, there won't be any problems.

As the true ruler of Suwahara City, Red Spider is absolutely capable of accomplishing this.

"Fujii Ren, that's my name. I look forward to working with you from now on."

Duanmu Lian's eyes were like an ornament, lacking the vitality and liveliness that a child should have.

After introducing himself, he politely bowed to the group of elementary school students below the stage.

Judging from the calm tone of his self-introduction, not only the teacher standing on the podium, but even the children below the stage could sense that this new student had an indescribable feeling about him.

Difficult to get along with? Reclusive?

No, it's far more heterogeneous and frightening than that adjective suggests.

However, from her appearance, Duanmu Lian and the real Fujii Lian have a gentle and beautiful appearance that makes many students subconsciously mistake her for a girl.

It was those empty eyes, more terrifying than those of a dead person, that gave off a feeling of not caring about anyone.

In conclusion, Duanmu Lian left the elementary school students in this class with the impression that she was 'difficult to get along with'.

"......"

Meanwhile, the silver-haired little girl sitting by the window in the audience is none other than Himuro Reia, the target of Duanmu Lian's surveillance.

The other person looked at the blue-haired, blue-eyed little boy on the podium with a somewhat bewildered and strange expression.

Elementary school students haven't yet learned or understood many adjectives.

Therefore, Himuro Reia did not know that when she looked at Duanmu Lian, it was a strange feeling called looking in a mirror.

Because of her circumstances, Himuro Rei often had suicidal thoughts.

From a young age, she knew she had no future. Because she feared her fate as the Princess of the Sun, she wished she could be as indifferent to everything as a stone.

You could say it's a form of self-anesthesia; as long as you have no attachment to life, you won't have any fear of death.

However, Himuro Rei didn't achieve what she envisioned at such a young age.

But now, seeing Duanmu Lian on the podium, Himuro Reia felt that the other person was the complete form of the kind of emotionless state she had imagined, no, it should be said that it was the ultimate form.

"There are still some empty seats in the classroom. Fujii, please go and choose a seat yourself."

At the teacher's prompting, Duanmu Lian stepped down from the podium, not even glancing at Himuro Rei, and sat down in a seat that was neither too close nor too far from her.

The elementary school students on either side of Duanmu Lian couldn't help but glance at him.

The children's innocence made them sense an indescribable alien feeling about Duanmu Lian when they were close to her.

This feeling isn't exactly pleasant.

In addition, Duanmu Lian gave people the impression of being difficult to get along with, so even during breaks, no elementary school students would approach her.

Duanmu Lian did what he was supposed to do. Apart from the tasks given to him by Red Spider, he was more concerned about how his subconscious self was doing in his cultivation within the spatial realm.

..............

Rumble, rumble! ! ! ! !

Within the training space, thunderous roars, like the howling of angry dragons, resounded continuously.

Under the moonlight, Duanmu Lian wields her sword and fights against an enemy she once knew, who is none other than Isshin Ashina from the game Sekiro.

Blindingly bright lightning struck Ashina Isshin's blade, and the continuous barrage of Tomoe Lightning seemed to surround Duanmu Lian's location like a lightning net, aiming to kill him mercilessly.

Within the training space, one can transform the characters they have seen into projections and engage in battle with Duanmu Lian.

Duanmu Lian, who once visited the world of Sekiro, became the apprentice of this Warring States swordsman by chance.

Duanmu Lian had already defeated her fellow disciples Yongzhen and Sekiro, as well as their adopted grandson, Ashina Genichiro.

As for now...

"puff----!"

Seizing the opportunity, Duanmu Lian deflected Tomoe's lightning. Taking advantage of Ashina Isshin's momentary paralysis, Duanmu Lian's figure blurred into a phantom as she lunged forward, plunging her katana deep into his throat.

Fresh blood gushed from the other person's wounds, as well as from their mouth and nose.

Duanmu Lian, expressionless, continued her actions without stopping. She gripped the hilt of her knife and pulled hard, the force of which directly severed the opponent's neck, sending the head flying.

"Do you remember the feeling of fighting... Lotus..."

Ashina Isshin's face showed relief as his head flew up and fell back down. In the training space, he had 99% of the memories and impressions of Duanmu Lian, so he naturally had thoughts, memories, and personality, rather than just being a puppet.

A man who spends his life pursuing death has no fear of death, after all, there is no story that doesn't end, and no life that doesn't fade away.

Moreover, this body is merely an illusion.

Even though he wasn't the real Isshin Ashina, he couldn't help but feel happy and gratified to see his former disciple's excellence.

"Next......."

Duanmu Lian ignored Ashina Isshin's words, because there was nothing to say to a fictional character.

After defeating his opponent, he instructed the training space to select stronger opponents from his memory to train him in combat.

Unlike her previous life when she was missing a leg, the physically healthy Duanmu Lian can be described as very active and combative.

Currently, he has not yet chosen a cultivation system, as he has not yet fully mastered the power he has acquired.

Don't bite off more than you can chew; take things one step at a time, and walk steadily and surely.