Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

“That’s right. Just as we believe the whole world should return to the Black Matter, the Kamishiro believes the whole world should return to the Red Mist, where beautiful winged creatures can fly freely. So from the very beginning, we’ve been locked in a life-or-death struggle. The enemy’s ideology must be absolutely denied and obliterated,” Asakura said decisively, giving Kurosawa Shizuki a meaningful look. “So, don’t hold back later.”

"What a joke! Why would I hold back? If they want to kill me, I'll kill them too. It's only right." Kurosawa Shizuki sneered. Since she had been semi-forced into an ambush by the Shindai Society not long ago, and had already personally killed a large number of Shindai Society members, she had no reason to be merciful now that she had started. Moreover, she felt no psychological pressure killing these crazy people from the Shindai Society who were pursuing transformation to the point of madness.

In the shadows of Asakura and Kurosawa Shizuki, their respective shadow servants were poised to strike. As they entered his molting club, they were mentally prepared for the ambush and surprise attack that the Kamishiro Society would relentlessly lay in the next instant. However, it seems that, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the Kamishiro Society did not recognize them and launch an attack on them.

However, the female singer inside the club was still singing, her voice natural and elegant:

"I am the Queen of Illusions, drawing upon your desires and passions, making you thirsty and restless~"

The electronic sensor door leading to the lobby opened automatically, and Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura entered the main hall of the Shedding Club, where a performance was taking place.

Completely different from the nightclubs she had imagined, filled with noise, sweat, and hormones, Kurosawa Shizuki's first impression upon entering the Strip Club was one of silence.

The entire molting club was enveloped in a deathly silence. The lighting in the darkness was extremely dim. Hundreds of club guests wore all sorts of bizarre masks, some luxurious, some terrifying, and many more comical. The masks ranged from anime and religious symbols to parodies of popular political figures. However, everyone concealed their true faces and kept their identities a secret, immersing themselves in the club's mesmerizing and psychedelic atmosphere.

The most eye-catching feature is a statue of a woman in the very center of the ballroom. This bronze statue of a dancer is over ten meters tall, with a graceful and alluring figure. She is waving her arms and making a spinning dance pose. Her gauze skirt sways, presenting a unique dynamic beauty, as if a pair of wings were really unfolding behind her.

A woman was suspended from a great height by an extremely thin steel wire hanging from her back. She was a female singer humming a mysterious song, and her silver-white skirt fluttered, making her look like a butterfly dancing in the moonlight.

"Pleasure me with honey, drink poison, whisper softly in my ear, and murmur in a daze." With a captivating smile and alluring eyes, every move she made was both sweet and poisonous. The female singer's moon-white butterfly mask reflected an eerie light, shining brilliantly.

The female singer landed naturally under the raised left arm of the dancer statue, her legs swaying beneath her skirt. Although she wasn't wearing any amplification equipment, her voice still drifted clearly to every corner of the undressing club.

Surrounding the statue of the female singer, countless dancers wearing masks symbolizing various animals moved to the rhythm of the song, sometimes dispersing and sometimes gathering on the dance floor, like a strange and beautiful flower.

"Immersed in pleasure, the illusion lingers, breathing, touching, licking, panting~" The female singer's voice became increasingly delicate and moving, making it difficult to distinguish whether she was singing or panting.

Kurosawa Shizuki could hear another thunderous magic hidden in the female singer's voice, wave after wave like a surging tide. She could actually take the audience into another world with just her voice.

"Your wet fingers taste my lips, a black fish in the fish tank looks at me with pity in its eyes..." As the female singer's voice rang out, countless phantoms were actually projected into the air by the projection inside the molting club. Black and red fish swayed freely in the air. For a moment, Kurosawa Shizuki thought that Asakura had thrown the goldfish formed by the condensed yang flames into the air again.

"This song is really nice, it's right up my alley. Let's listen to it a little longer, the show tonight should have just started. The night is still long." Asakura also showed an interested expression, and Kurosawa Shizuki had to admit that the performances in the molting club did indeed have a peculiar magic.

"I have no objection." It was also Kurosawa Shizuki's first time entering such a place. Before they actually began searching for the entrance to the forest territory, perhaps they could watch the performance to relax.

Asakura held Kurosawa Shizuki's hand, and the two found a seat at the back of the semi-circular audience area surrounding the central stage, where the view was relatively good. Although it would be very difficult for ordinary people to see the dance in the center of the stage from here, the two of them, whose eyesight had been enhanced by the power of the black matter, could see everything that was happening on the stage in great detail.

After the first female singer's performance, Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura watched a magic trick where a beautiful woman turned into an insect inside an iron box; next was a man dressed in Middle Eastern attire, writhing on the ground like a snake, constantly pulling swords, crowns, and diamonds from his mouth and throwing them into the audience, only to have them dissipate into smoke in mid-air; the third was a solo dancer, her entire body tightly wrapped in red bandages symbolizing tendons, which were unwrapped layer by layer, until finally her bones were as pink as peach flesh and her organs as densely packed as grapes...

Finally, the grand finale dance arrived, and Shizuki Kurosawa realized that after this dance ended, something very strange might happen.

The scarlet curtain was lowered and then raised again. This time, the performance actually had a set design, with corals, strange rocks, and countless phantom fish projected in mid-air, seemingly simulating an underwater scene.

The stage, bathed in a tranquil, deep blue light that makes one feel as if they are underwater, truly evokes a unique sensation that draws one in, both physically and mentally.

The male catcher, dressed in black hunting attire, moved with sharp and decisive movements. He seemed to be chasing something, displaying a posture of swimming, struggling, and nearly suffocating underwater.

Around him, countless graceful female dancers, dressed in dark blue leaf-patterned dresses, swayed and moved with beautiful movements. The female dancers sang in unison, their voices hoarse and melancholic, like willow branches swaying in the wind. This was a "whispering maze" formed by the dancers' bodies, and the male catcher was wandering through this maze, lost and unable to find a way out.

Deep within the labyrinth, he chased after a woman with deep purple gauze wings, beautiful as a dream. The female dancer tightly hugged herself, her expression sorrowful and resentful. She was bound in a dark golden birdcage, and she stretched out her fair left hand to the male catcher as if calling for help.

The birdcage was suspended by a long steel wire from the fingertips of the high-standing dancer statue. Inside the statue, there was even a mechanism that made the joints of the statue twist and turn, making a creaking sound, just like a real person holding a birdcage that imprisoned the gauze-winged dancer.

The entire peculiar dance depicts the male catcher's constant attempts to approach and rescue the veiled woman in the birdcage through various means. However, whenever they are about to touch each other, the leaf-clad dancers around them, who form a maze with their bodies, use various forms of physical art to create conceptual barriers, pulling the male catcher, who is constantly approaching his lover, back to the nearest point. It is like fate displaying an irresistible violence, dragging the desperate male catcher back to the distance.

No matter how much they struggle, lovers can never touch each other. Fate seems to be toying with everyone, constantly giving you that faint glimmer of hope that you can reach out and warm each other, only to extinguish it in the next instant, revealing an even more cruel and indifferent reality.

“Interesting, very interesting. It seems this dance is their real highlight tonight…” Asakura muttered to himself, stroking his delicate chin with a playful gesture. “It’s more like a tantric ritual than a performance.”

Although it was her first time seeing this dance, Shizuki Kurosawa was drawn into the atmosphere created by the seemingly magical dance in the center of the stage within seconds. She watched in a daze, and indeed, every dancer in the molting club displayed masterful and wonderful dance steps.

Kurosawa Shizuki seemed to see in this dance a protest against an unjust fate and a futile struggle bordering on despair...

No, Shizuki Kurosawa shook her head. She didn't think the male dancer was pursuing the female dancer for unrealistic "love." He wasn't accusing fate; what drove him was an incredibly strong desire.

The female dancer imprisoned herself in a cage, not as a cry for help to her lover, but rather as a seduction.

The male dancer wants to merge with the winged dancer, to become one, he is chasing after...

It is actually a process of integration and transformation.

Chapter 96: The Carnival of Metamorphosis

A bizarre atmosphere, accompanied by strange dance steps resembling raindrops and thunder, spread throughout the molting club, as if a grand drama was unfolding, and the story, amidst one twist after another, was finally reaching its climax.

“It’s hard to imagine what the person who created this dance must have gone through in the beginning,” Asakura said with a smile. “But I’m sure the creator must have lost something very important, but was willing to do anything to get it back.”

"These dance steps feel familiar, everything seems so familiar." Kurosawa Shizuki watched the gauze-winged woman struggling and spinning in the golden cage, her deep blue eyes becoming somewhat dazed. She recalled the story she had read in the original owner's novel, about Matthias being skinned alive, and the amethyst adult insects that collected Matthias's fragments...

If the male hunter is Matthias, and the caged gauze-winged dancer is the amethyst adult, then why is it Matthias who ventures into the whispering labyrinth to save the amethyst adult in this dance? The story is told in a different way, but it shows a completely different direction. Matthias is not trying to save the amethyst adult, but rather to merge with her.

On stage, after overcoming numerous obstacles, the male hunter finally traversed the maze formed by the dancers' limbs. The other dancers smiled and retreated, their dark green leaf robes disappearing into the darkness, their swaying shadows distorting and spinning.

He leaped into the air, displaying an incredible leap amidst the gasps of the crowd, precisely clinging to the edge of the golden cage in mid-air. The spotlight shone on the male hunter clinging to the golden cage and the gauze dancer inside.

Seemingly a pre-designed mechanism, as the male dancer leaped into the air, the golden cage swayed dramatically from side to side in mid-air, reaching a height of over ten meters. Yet, the male hunter, without any safety measures, displayed incredible physical strength and balance, not only firmly gripping the cage's bars but also continuing to wave his arms and legs outside the cage, using body language to tell the story.

Kurosawa Shizuki felt that the male dancer seemed to be trying his best to rescue the woman with veils from the golden cage, but with his physical strength, it was impossible for him to dismantle the metal cage.

If you can't open the door, then adapt yourself to the gap.

Therefore, after several leaps and turns, the male dancer actually shrank his body and squeezed into the gap of the golden birdcage. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Kurosawa Shizuki would never have believed that a human could shrink and fold his body to such an extent. Even the "collarbone technique" in martial arts novels wouldn't be this exaggerated, right? It was like shrinking the entire human body to the thickness of a noodle.

“Such a unique body must have undergone more than one transformation, and perhaps this performance is definitely not just a performance…” Asakura frowned, as if she had noticed something was wrong. “The dancer is witnessing her own ‘transformation’ through the audience.”

"What will happen if he completes his transformation?" Kurosawa Shizuki asked anxiously.

"I don't know, I've never participated in the ceremony of the Age of Gods, but it's definitely not a good thing," Asakura replied uncertainly.

However, Kurosawa Shizuki wasn't asking Asakura. Asakura Yuki was somewhat surprised to see the head of a pale-faced boy slowly emerge from the shadows at Kurosawa Shizuki's feet. Takasaki Ryo's expression remained stiff as a statue, yet he answered in an unquestionable voice:

"Next, a red mist will spread, triggering the parasites in the guests' bodies. Everyone will become an ovary, controlled by the amethyst worms, and begin a life-or-death struggle. The only 'adult worm' that survives will be absorbed by the dancer, and Kondo will leap to the position above the high priest."

"The position above the high priest, you mean the Flesh-Shedding One? Are you kidding me? The Age of Gods can use this method to quickly create Flesh-Shedding Ones?" Asakura seemed to have heard a fantasy.

"The existence of the fourth class must be very rare, right? If the Age of Gods held more of these ceremonies, wouldn't you all have become flesh-shedding beings by now?" Kurosawa Shizuki looked at the audience and saw that there were only a few hundred people here. Sacrificing a few hundred people to create a fourth-class flesh-shedding being would be an extremely profitable business for the esoteric sect. Isn't that a bit too perverse?

"However, such a ritual has a huge hidden danger. The winged creature that Kondo transformed into is named Zandgir, which means endless love. It is a high-ranking member of Kirieko's family. This is something that is not recognized by the rules of the mortal world. If it is forcibly kept in the mortal world, it will only survive for half a day at most before turning to ashes."

“So after Zandgiel is born, you will open the forest gate and guide him deep into the forest to preserve him…” Yuki Asakura said uneasily.

“That’s right. Once Kirie truly reshapes history, all winged creatures will be able to soar freely in reality and live on as ‘angels’.” Even though Takasaki Ryo had become a Shadow Servant, he still seemed to have a deep affection for Kirie. When talking about Kirie, his eyes still shone with fervent light.

"This won't happen. You can leave now." Kurosawa Shizuki coldly glanced at Takasaki Ryo. Takasaki Ryo's head sank back into the black matter. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Takasaki Ryo. Kurosawa Shizuki was somewhat surprised to see that Takasaki Ryo's face was covered in strange wounds, as if he had been whipped. Was he still "fighting" with Nakamura Yukise in the black matter? Kurosawa Shizuki was certain that he probably didn't get along well with Nakamura, but surely he wouldn't be bullied by Nakamura?

However, since Takasaki Ryo seemed to have no objections, Kurosawa Shizuki was too lazy to care about the matter between him and Nakamura. She wasn't the principal of an elementary school and had to mediate conflicts between students. Takasaki Ryo might become cannon fodder and be drained of his life force one day, so who cared what kind of pain he was enduring in the dark matter?

"It seems our dancers have begun to transform," Asakura said warily, pointing at the swaying birdcage.

The male dancer, whom Takasaki Ryo calls Kondo, held the female dancer, Satchi, tightly in his arms, a crazed smile on his lips. They kissed passionately, the man letting out a chilling laugh, while the woman groaned repeatedly, ultimately reminding Kurosawa Shizuki of the painful cries of a woman giving birth.

Under the psychedelic lights, their bodies seemed to merge together, their outlines blurred in the halo, indistinguishable from one another. Kurosawa Shizuki was certain that this was not her illusion, because the bodies of the male and female dancers were actually dissolving under the mesmerizing gaze of the audience!

The two heads, which were kissing, became more and more inseparable, their bodies intertwined and enveloped in the thick, sticky fluid flowing from their bodies. Finally, the female dancer's entire body was absorbed into the male dancer's body.

The newborn creature, emerging from the slime, clutches its head and emits a strange growl. The bulging skin on its back bursts open, and the newly formed wings slowly unfold, with a pair of slender tentacles growing from behind its head.

Its body is mostly human-shaped, but it has both male and female features. Its face is indistinguishable as either beautiful or handsome. Its deep red eyes are bloodshot. This newborn monster has a strange smile on its face. Its body is covered with black scales, and its purple wings shine brightly on its back.

"Under the full moon, ruby-red flowers bloom," a strange voice, similar to that of the female singer before, drifted from the monster's mouth again, "bloodthirsty insects fall into the sweetness of nectar."

The beautiful winged creature tore apart the sturdy golden birdcage with its bare hands, sending iron bars and the base flying everywhere and crashing into the crowd. Several spectators who couldn't dodge in time were crushed to death on the spot. However, all the spectators seemed to have lead in their feet, and not a single one of them tried to run away.

Because the deep purple winged creature had fully spread its four pairs of wings and opened its arms, it looked like a fallen angel descending to earth.

"At this moment, paradise is within reach! Get a little closer to me, and you will reach heaven," it proclaimed to the reveling crowd.

Amidst bizarre singing and music, the newborn monster continued its mysterious dance in mid-air, its limbs tracing perfect arcs. As its body spun, countless shimmering red scales fell from its wings, and within a few breaths, the dense scales covered almost the entire Shedding Club.

"Let's go to the Pure Land together!" Almost all the audience members took out various medicine bottles from their pockets, backpacks, or handbags, poured out dark red pills from the bottles, and swallowed them all without hesitation. It turned out that they had all brought the Bonding Pill.

Bathed in crimson scales, everyone wore fanatical and jubilant smiles, as if they were believers receiving baptism. They spread their arms and began a chaotic, demonic dance.

"Abandon the inferior physical body, praise the great transformation!" Almost everyone who inhaled the red mist began to tear at their clothes, creating a series of blinding and unbearable scenes. It seemed that an uncensored assembly was about to begin.

"We... need to evolve... get rid of this wretched body!" Someone scratched their entire body, digging their fingers into their skin, actually trying to tear their skin off with their hands.

"Cough, cough, cough—how wonderful, so you were already living inside me all along." Someone coughed up countless black beetles that crawled all over the ground.

"Fly, cute little creature, let's fly together~" Someone climbed over the railing from the second-floor stands, spreading their arms as if trying to fly towards the winged creature above, but instead fell straight down into the crowd and was trampled into a bloody pulp by the chaotic crowd.

"Love me, love me, and then we become one!" Some even began to have intercourse on the spot, their bodies drenched in bloody sweat, and then they actually started tearing and devouring each other's flesh with their mouths...

Countless white, red, and black fleshes were entangled in the red mist, their arms, feet, and heads twisting in the sea of ​​human bodies, truly resembling waves.

Kurosawa Shizuki instinctively wanted to cover her mouth and nose, but when she turned her head, she saw Asakura just watching everything unfold expressionlessly, completely unmoved amidst the purple insect mist.

"You don't actually think this kind of inferior insect fog can harm us Sun Apostles, do you?" Asakura was indeed completely unaffected by the purple smoke. Kurosawa Shizuki had already inhaled the scale powder and only smelled a series of pleasant sweet scents. She didn't feel any harm at all. On the contrary, she felt that her mind was clearer and her perception of the environment was more sensitive.

"Are all the performances at the Shedding Club this exciting? Would any normal person dare to come here?" Kurosawa Shizuki watched as the Shedding Club's situation spiraled out of control. This was the kind of pre-apocalyptic revelry that could only go so far. Yet, these mortals, who had completely lost their minds, felt no fear whatsoever. They were completely immersed in this terrifying atmosphere, ecstatically welcoming the erosion and transformation of the red mist. Perhaps from the very beginning, every guest who received an invitation to the Shedding Club was destined to be parasitized by the Amethyst Worms.

Every guest tonight is a sacrifice offered by the Shedding Club for its transformation. Perhaps that is why the waiters at the entrance let Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura in without checking them at all. In their eyes, anyone who enters the Shedding Club tonight is a human sacrifice prepared for the ritual.

“They would never have gone this far before, but the Shindaikai has completely lost their minds. After all, Kirie is about to descend, and what's happening now must be a very special spectacle. Should we say we're lucky or unlucky?” Asakura could still manage a carefree, bright smile.

Amidst the chaotic, hellish scene of demons dancing wildly, Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki stood out conspicuously, unaffected by anything. The half-insect monsters around them quickly turned their gazes toward them, their eyes filled with undisguised killing intent and bestiality.

Why don't you join us?

"Can't you feel ultimate pleasure?"

"Why would outsiders who don't want to transform come to the Transformation Club? Are you enemies?"

There was nowhere to hide in such a place, so Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura were completely surrounded by the impenetrable half-insect creatures, with no chance to escape.

"This is troublesome, but I don't have the mind to get rid of the bugs right now..." Asakura frowned, her white skirt untouched by any dirt from the place.

"What should we do next?" Unbeknownst to them, facing this dangerous situation, the black matter behind Kurosawa Shizuki was already poised to be unleashed. Should they unleash the power of the black matter and force their way in?

“There’s no need for us to fight these scumbags. It’s pointless and will only alert the managers of the Shedding Club… Let’s hide in the shadows.” Asakura Yuki reached out and grabbed Kurosawa Shizuki’s wrist. Bubble-like glare rose behind her and enveloped her and Kurosawa Shizuki in the blink of an eye.

Countless golden fish, formed from illusions woven by the sun's rays, fluttered into the red mist, diverting the attention of these completely beast-like monsters.

P.S., the discount was quite effective; subscriptions increased, although not by much... I guess most people will just keep subscribing until the end of time.

Chapter 97, Section 97: Vanishing into the Shadows

Almost no visible light can penetrate the glare; the glare absorbs all the light. To others, Asakura Yuki and Kurosawa Shizuki are as if they were erased by an invisible eraser, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye, as if they were wearing an invisibility cloak.

The half-insect, half-human monsters that were about to charge at the two girls looked puzzled and surprised. However, they did not lose their vigilance completely. Instead, they sniffed at the ground like hunting dogs, seemingly tracking the scents of Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura.