Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

Logically speaking, any enemy who loses the power to resist and is corrupted by the dark matter can be transformed into her shadow servants. However, the reward for this daily task is two "Striker" shadow servants. Kurosawa Shizuki suspects that the system may have transformed the two priests of the Divine Age she corrupted into special supernatural beings called "Strikers".

Regardless of what kind of being the Striker is, it must possess some special and powerful traits that are different from ordinary Shadow Servants.

It would be best to completely erase their independent will during the transformation process. Compared to those who have consciousness but disobey her orders in various ways, Kurosawa Shizuki would prefer to have more puppets who absolutely obey her orders.

[Do you wish to perform Black Matter Erosion on Takasaki Ryo? Your Black Matter Spirit Growth has decreased by 0.8%, and the current success rate is 85.56%.]

Without unexpected interference, the probability of black matter erosion is not low, unlike the disastrous erosion of Yamashita Makiko that happened before.

Kurosawa Shizuki began to infiltrate Takasaki Ryo with the black substance, just as she had infiltrated the mountain before. The mud crawled all over the enemy's body and began to devour him in an extremely painful way. However, this time Takasaki Ryo had almost completely lost his free will and had no chance to resist. His body was covered with wounds, which allowed the black substance to enter his body more quickly and control his will.

Soon, Takasaki Ryo slowly got up again. He opened his deep black eyes, which were not as lively as Nakamura Yukise's, and appeared somewhat stiff and rigid.

P.S., this part is excessively long, and I don't know how to cut it. If the battle against Kirigakure were written at this pace, it could easily fill twenty or thirty chapters...

PS2, it's almost the end of the month. If you still have any votes left, please cast them. If not, that's fine.

Section 76, Chapter Seventy-Six: My Enemies

[Congratulations on acquiring the Blue Shadow Servant, Awakener Takasaki Ryo. Even in death, Takasaki Ryo could not forget Lei Ming's beauty. Physique: 26, Spirituality: 21, Rationality: 35...]

“Master,” Takasaki Ryo knelt before Kurosawa Shizuki, “thank you for giving me a new life.”

"Hmph, a freshman..." Nakamura looked at Takasaki Ryo with great displeasure, "Scum like you doesn't deserve to be a freshman!"

“Yukise, we should make use of all available resources,” Kurosawa Shizuki comforted Nakamura. “Of course, you are much more important to me than he is.”

“I know, Holy Maiden, you don’t need to care about my thoughts. The truly important figures in the Order must have many Shadow Servants. We are just insignificant members among them…” Nakamura lowered his head and muttered these words, sounding just like a resentful woman in the harem.

Kurosawa Shizuki didn't know how to comfort her. Nakamura seemed to have retained more wisdom and free will than the other Shadow Servants, almost exactly the same as when he was alive. Was this a good thing or a bad thing?

Takasaki Ryo, however, remained calmly watching Kurosawa and Nakamura speak with emotionless eyes, making no attempt to interrupt them. It's likely that if Kurosawa Shizuki hadn't given the order, he could have stood there for another hundred years without blinking.

Takasaki Ryo's compatibility with Kurosawa Shizuki was obviously not as high as Nakamura's, and his corruption did not involve sharing any dark techniques with him like Nakamura did. However, Kurosawa Shizuki was still quite satisfied with his abilities. As a third-tier esoteric practitioner, he was still a core member of various esoteric sects, second only to the saints and leaders. He had mastered the fifth or sixth level of secret teachings, so he couldn't be that bad.

Kurosawa Shizuki glanced at Takasaki Ryo's stats and, as she had expected, he was a Shadow Servant who was very good at strengthening and supporting his companions.

[Secret Transmission: The Awakening Chant VI, who can remain unmoved after hearing it? The sleeping? The departed? The earth and the sky?]

Awaken the Sleeping One: Only effective on those below the fourth rank, lasting ten minutes. The strength of the enhancement depends on the caster's physique. It partially enhances their physique while awakening their hidden potential, bloodline, and forgotten memories, granting them temporary immunity to sleep, hypnosis, dizziness, and fear.

Awaken the deceased: Make the heart of the dead beat again. You can manipulate the body to come to life and talk to it. The duration depends on the spirituality of the person releasing the body.

Awaken the Earth and Sky: Trigger small-scale earthquakes or guide lightning to strike enemies on rainy days; the intensity depends on the caster's rationality.

The secret technique was quite comprehensive, especially the first one, "awakening the sleeping person," which particularly appealed to Kurosawa Shizuki. If it weren't for the fact that it only worked on beings below the fourth rank, Kurosawa Shizuki would have been tempted to have Takasaki Ryo try the technique on her, hoping it might awaken the "forgotten memories" remaining in the original owner's body.

As for waking up the deceased, it's somewhat similar to the psychic abilities in fantasy stories that allow communication with the dead. In fact, it overlaps with Kurosawa Shizuki's abilities. As long as the corpse is relatively intact, Kurosawa Shizuki can transform it into a shadow servant and preserve most of its consciousness from its previous life. She can easily communicate with it or even read its consciousness directly.

However, Kurosawa Shizuki's Shadow Servants have a limited number. Each conversion into a new Shadow Servant consumes precious Dark Essence Growth Points. If too many growth points are wasted on Shadow Servants, who knows when she'll ever have a chance to grow her Dark Essence to the fifth tier. So, occasionally, she can still rely on Takasaki Ryo to awaken the dead and obtain information. Speaking of which, her art style is indeed becoming more and more like a necromancer.

As for the final ability, awakening the earth and sky, it's considered Takasaki Ryo's combat skill. However, the intensity of the lightning and earthquakes he summons isn't particularly impressive by Kurosawa Shizuki's standards. Nevertheless, the technique combining lightning with shattered rocks is quite lethal, a finishing move developed by Takasaki from his own secret techniques. Kurosawa Shizuki, on the other hand, seems least concerned about this ability. Perhaps someone possessing a higher level of inner power could summon even more dangerous lightning.

The secret teachings of the Heart School seem naturally linked to lightning and earthquakes, using the tremors within the human body to resonate with the entire world. This inexplicably reminded Kurosawa Shizuki of the typhoon forecast by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. It seems that Kirie's power could indeed cause such terrifying changes in the heavens and earth? The heartbeat of a god triggering a typhoon sweeping across the world—that makes perfect sense.

Just like when she read Yamauchi's memories, Kurosawa Shizuki placed her hands on Takasaki Ryo's temples, extracted the dark, viscous memories, and began to consume them.

Kurosawa Shizuki's main objective this time is to obtain the plans of the Shindai-kai's higher-ups. Presumably, Takasaki Ryo, as a high priest who is a rank higher than Yamauchi, will have access to more confidential information within the Shindai-kai.

Kurosawa Shizuki first received information about the major spiritual fields of the Divine Society in Heikyo—every time Muko devours a Chosen One, she grants that Chosen One, who is now only an outer skin, a higher rank, and creates a spiritual field centered on that Chosen One that constantly produces the Kirigakure Familiar and the Red Mist. Currently, Kirigakure has found four Chosen Ones, but one Chosen One was temporarily killed by the Anti-Extermination Bureau, and Kirigakure has only successfully devoured three of them.

Each of these three individuals has become close to immortality, occupying a spiritual field. These include the Jade Head Park where the nun resides, the Heijing sewers where the beggar lives, and the Grey Shrimp Wharf where the sailor works—all seemingly areas with large bodies of water nearby. These spiritual fields are currently under the control of the Anti-Extermination Bureau, which has invested significant manpower and resources to temporarily suppress their influence. However, once Mist Spring Child returns and the Chosen Ones possess the status of immortality, the Anti-Extermination Bureau's defenses will likely crumble at the slightest touch.

However, if Kurosawa Shizuki could destroy one of the esoteric spiritual fields before Kirizumi's arrival, it might further weaken Kirizumi's power upon arrival. But achieving this is extremely difficult. Even with the Extermination Bureau's strength, limiting the spiritual fields is already its limit. Without simultaneously gathering a large number of fourth-tier or higher transcendents to storm the spiritual fields, it would be difficult to eliminate the ascended chosen ones within the spiritual fields at their source.

Compared to eliminating the Chosen Ones who have already ascended in the Spirit Field, it is indeed more worthwhile to kill the Chosen Ones who have not yet been devoured in advance. Unfortunately, the only Chosen One that Kurosawa Shizuki has confirmed is herself. She is not so enlightened as to be willing to sacrifice herself for humanity. After she dies, the great flood will have nothing to do with her.

However, through Takasaki Ryo, Kurosawa Shizuki finally understood the criteria by which Kiriezuki determined the chosen ones, although the criteria were still a mystery to Kurosawa Shizuki—only those who offended the heavenly wicked or were the children of the divine wicked would be chosen by Kiriezuki.

Kurosawa Shizuki remembered that Kurosawa Ai seemed to have mentioned the term "one who offends the heavens" in a dazed state of prophecy, but Kurosawa Shizuki did not know what the term meant. Was she herself "one who offends the heavens" or "the child of the gods"? The heavens sounded like a very serious sin. What kind of god was Kirie, who specifically chose sinners to become the chosen ones?

In addition to information about the Chosen Ones, Kurosawa Shizuki also confirmed how terrifyingly powerful the enemy she was currently facing had become.

Just as Kurosawa Shizuki had worst-case scenario in mind, the Kamishiro faction had allied with the Purifiers, their archenemy.

Lady Fujiwara, the fourth-tier Flesh-Shedding Woman of the Divine Society and also the biological mother of the Apostle Muko, spent a great deal of time hiring a powerful ally from the Purifiers—a mysterious man known as "Scarface Lieutenant".

This person seems to have mastered the advanced secrets of both Blade and Winter, and has stepped into the Blood Gate. Even within the Fourth Tier, he is an extremely dangerous existence. In his long career, he has even spearheaded assassination plots against the Immortals. The Falconer I killed earlier was merely a subordinate of Lieutenant Scarface.

Lieutenant Scarface brought five dependents with him to Pingjing this time. They were all elite warriors who had followed him in countless battles, each of whom was well-versed in the skills of warfare and assassination. Lieutenant Scarface himself was also a high-ranking member of the Purifiers, entrusted with a portion of the Ashes Ledger by the Great Enemy, possessing the power to steal and store time...

Kurosawa Shizuki never expected that her first confrontation with the henchmen of her formidable enemy would arrive so soon. Come to think of it, did the scarred lieutenant come to Heikyo really only because of Lady Fujiwara's invitation? Kurosawa Shizuki suspected that they had indeed obtained some intelligence related to her. The scarred lieutenant and his assassination squad were merely scouts. If the authenticity of some intelligence was confirmed, then the formidable enemy would probably descend upon them in person.

Kurosawa Ai once said that three months ago, an apostle of the Great Enemy had visited Heijō. Was she referring to this scarred lieutenant? Or was it someone else? If the Purifiers had already discovered the original owner's existence three months ago, how did the original owner manage to survive unharmed until now? Just how far have the Purifiers gotten in their intelligence?

Kurosawa Shizuki currently knows too little about the Purifiers; the enemy is completely hidden in the shadows. If she has the opportunity to kill this scarred lieutenant, Kurosawa Shizuki might be able to glean more information about the enemy's movements from his mind.

Perhaps a formidable enemy has long been lurking in the darkness of Heijō, merely watching her helpless struggles and performance with amusement? The thought of this possibility sent chills down Kurosawa Shizuki's spine.

The threat of the Purgers was ever-present, but the enemies of the Divine Society were not to be underestimated either.

Kurosawa Shizuki calculated the information she had gleaned from Takasaki Ryo about the powerful members of the Shindai-kai, and immediately felt a terrible headache coming on—

The Heijing Divine Society once had two leaders of the Flesh-Shedding Class, one of whom was known as the "Centipede Sage," but his whereabouts are now unknown.

The other is Lady Fujiwara, who fell in love with the "Centipede Sage" thirty years ago and gave birth to Muko. Muko was raised as an apostle of the gods from birth, and her growth was extremely slow. The Centipede Sage mysteriously disappeared five years after Muko's birth, and it took Muko thirty years to grow into a normal five or six-year-old child.

It seems the Shindai-kai should have waited at least ten more years before starting the descent of the gods by Kirigakure, but due to certain reasons, they had to start the descent in a very rushed manner. If it were a normal descent ritual, the Shindai-kai would not need to search for the chosen one in all of Heijō, but rather the chosen one should be called by the gods and voluntarily offer himself in the ritual. It was precisely because the Shindai-kai was not well prepared that it gave other secret sects and the Anti-Suppression Bureau the opportunity to fight against Kirigakure.

Kurosawa Shizuki had some guesses about why they were in such a hurry to start the séance. After all, the so-called "doomsday" was less than two years away, and there was no way to give Muko ten years to slowly awaken into a complete divine apostle.

With Lady Fujiwara and Lieutenant Scarface, the Shindai-kai already has two enemies at the pinnacle of the fourth tier. As for enemies at the third tier, if we include Lieutenant Scarface's five bodyguards, the Shindai-kai actually has fifteen experts at the third tier!

Kurosawa Shizuki had just fought with all her might and only managed to kill three of them. The Kamishiro Association was clearly a terrifying force that she could not fight alone.

And we must also consider Mu Zi, who already possesses the rank of an immortal; Mu Zi alone is enough to threaten the entire Heijing. Not to mention, Mu Zi also created three Chosen Ones whose ranks are infinitely close to those of immortals!

According to the information Kurosawa Shizuki saw in the original owner's secret cult files, even the largest anti-suppression bureau in the past only had three permanent witnesses and a maximum of seven knowledgeable individuals. And the Hei-kyo Black Sun Cult, before Kurosawa Shizuki advanced to the fourth rank, only had four third-rank members, including herself.

The Divine Society now possesses one immortal being, five witnesses, and twelve knowers.

The power of the Divine Society has undoubtedly expanded to the point where a single cult can contend against all the esoteric sects in the entire Heijing!

Kurosawa Shizuki realized that she might have to find a way to actively weaken the power of the Shindaikai. If she allowed the Shindaikai's power to grow indefinitely, when Kirie truly descended, even if she gathered the entire defense and suppression forces of Heijō and all the secret sects, she would still have no chance of winning!

P.S., I've been brainstorming complete character designs for the main antagonist lately... the more I brainstorm, the more excited I get! Sigh, I should have just made the antagonist the protagonist. Such a charismatic guy, yet he ends up fighting the protagonist to the death.

Section 77, Chapter Seventy-Seven: Scar and Fujiwara

Mu Zi hugged her slender knees with both hands, huddled in the darkness, almost naked, her body covered with strange, creeping growths. Her unblinking eyes were like gray-yellow stars, shining brightly even in the pitch-black darkness.

She hung upside down on the dome of the rock wall, where gravity seemed to be reversed. In a half-dream, half-awake state, she felt the rhythm of the entire city of Pingjing. The world seemed to be breathing with her, surrounding her in a specific rhythm.

The forests of the eternal night grow lushly, with beautiful winged creatures gestating within their ovaries. Underground waterfalls cascade from the earth toward the dome, and aurora-like ribbons flow through the dark valleys, each seemingly possessing its own life.

However, Muko didn't care about the rhythm of the world. What she cared about more was something happening rhythmically in the luxurious camphor wood office of the owner, Mrs. Fujiwara, inside the molting club above her.

"Mom, are you scared too? Is that why you crave this false warmth..." Mu Zi listened to the groans that rose in a strange rhythm, but her little face remained unmoved, though the black pearl-like features at the corners of her eyes shone brightly.

"This is so boring."

Mrs. Fujiwara's office.

The album features ancient music with a Middle Eastern pagan feel, noisy and clamorous drumbeats, and a male singer's husky and melodious chanting.

Inside the incense burner burned a strange, fishy-smelling incense, with red smoke drifting out and flickering incessantly.

The dull, enclosed, and cramped little house had countless small pendants hanging from the ceiling. These pendants were all made of clay figurines and had a primitive, fertility-worshiping feel to them.

The woman who never blinks has striking gray hair and a marble-like body without a single wrinkle. She uses her legs to hold the waist of a man whose body is covered in scars.

On the large bed covered with deep red silk, the curtains swayed, revealing the intertwined figures of a man and a woman.

She clung tightly to the man's neck, her voice rising higher and higher: "Come on, conquer me, change me, my invincible general!"

The middle-aged officer with a scar on his left eye opened his iron-gray eyes and let out a rapid, muffled groan. He began his assault on the beautiful woman beneath him, followed by incredibly violent thrusts.

The flickering oil lamp cast the two figures' frenzied figures on the wall, but their shadows twisted and distorted on the wall, like two wild beasts entangled together, licking each other's wounds.

The man's muffled groan had a metallic, scraping quality to it; the violence he was inflicting was so intense that it nearly tore the woman apart.

But he still didn't stop. His whole body was sharp as knives, with hundreds of scars, each oozing blood. The blood was like the fangs of a wild beast gnawing at the sweet and juicy woman. The woman entangled with him was indeed being cut by hundreds of knives at the same time. Countless centipede-like wounds twisted and appeared on the woman's body.

"I will conquer you, Lady Fujiwara. I will not only conquer you, I will penetrate you, dissolve you, and tear you apart!" The man laughed wildly and unrestrainedly.

The woman was indeed torn apart by the unparalleled violence emanating from the man. Her spread legs extended all the way to her lower abdomen, a huge gash was ripped open, and blood, flesh, and internal organs splattered out. The man was not satisfied. His steel-like arms reached into the woman's horrifying wound, and along the edge of the wound, he pounded into it, tearing it even wider.

Steaming hot internal organs were now fully displayed before the man's eyes. He buried his head in the woman's ruptured chest cavity, greedily licking the blood and entrails.

Countless moths emerged from the woman's abdomen, swirling endlessly in the cramped room. They swarmed against the man's body, but their fluttering wings only fueled his excitement. The woman, oblivious to the violence he inflicted upon her, her face flushed crimson with extreme arousal, and she let out a giggle.

"Lieutenant, do you really want to see my deepest parts?"

"What a beautiful body, it's been so many years since I tasted you again..." The man held the woman's still-beating heart in his hands, his hazy gaze filled with madness and pleasure. He tore the heart off and held it high above his head, letting the scalding blood gushing out flow over his entire body. His metallic body became even more vibrant under the bath of blood. The man, whose face had been stiff as steel the whole time, had finally become like a greedy monster.

"Where were we last time? London, Seoul, or Isfahan?" the woman asked in a daze. The horrific wounds on her body were reopening and healing rapidly at the same time. Several moths had gathered there, dissolved, and solidified into a new heart, just as her heart had been removed.

"You're getting more and more confused, my dear lady. The last time we were together was in San Francisco." The man, his face covered in blood, kissed the woman's lips, his tongue probing inside. The lieutenant fed back the blood he had sucked from Lady Fujiwara's body into her.

"Unfortunately, this is the last time, Lieutenant, so please love me to your heart's content, and give me everything you desire." Lady Fujiwara looked longingly at the Lieutenant's angular face, gently stroking his cheek. So many years had passed, yet he had never changed, while she was already standing on the verge of destruction.

“I will always remember you, my dear lady,” he charged forward with even greater madness and obsession, “I look forward to the new world you want to create.”

"Oh? You're expecting this? I think the ruler behind you probably doesn't believe we can win this time at all." The sorrow in the woman's smile grew deeper.

"The chances of winning are slim for anyone. We're just putting everything we have on the table, all in!" the man chuckled. "If you win, we'll change ourselves and integrate into your new era; if you lose, we'll take over your legacy and make you the cornerstone of our great cause."

"Truly worthy of being called liquidators; every business your master invests in never loses money." The woman's laughter was ambiguous, whether it was approval, sarcasm, or both.

"However, even though you are willing to dedicate yourself to your cause, what does Muko think?" A strange melancholy appeared in the lieutenant's eyes. "Her life has just begun. She has nothing to do with the grudges of the previous generation. Is she really willing to become the cornerstone of the new world you are building? We all know what kind of ending she will face if the great cause is successful."

“We never had a choice, and Mu Zi never refused me. She knew that she was born for that cause, and that was probably her wish as well,” the lady’s voice trembled slightly, her gaze wandering. “Perhaps she just wanted us to be reunited as a family, even if only for a moment, she would be willing to give everything for it.”

"It sounds really sad. He really is just an innocent and ignorant child. Teenagers in their rebellious phase never think about the consequences of their actions, something our leader knows all too well," the lieutenant said with deep emotion.

"Let's not talk about those boring topics anymore. In these last precious moments, let's enjoy each other's warmth to the fullest." The lady didn't want to continue on this topic.

Over the next seven times, the enraged man tore the woman apart seven times, but each time she would heal and her new body would become even more delicate and alluring. By the seventh time, Lady Fujiwara was as sweet and lovely as a young woman of sixteen.

However, both the lieutenant and his wife knew that such beauty was nothing more than a fleeting moment. Two days later, regardless of the success or failure of their mission, the beauty would turn to bones, leaving no trace in this world.