Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

The scenery on both sides of the Scroll River is no longer the monotonous woodland landscape it once was. Now, Kurosawa Shizuki feels as if this canoe is sailing into a watercolor painting. The bright red sky is filled with blood-red paint, and the countless ancient trees on both sides are all outlined by the painter with simple strokes. The occasional forest totems are like children's simple drawings. The fish jumping in the Scroll River are also made entirely of ink and paint, and when they fall into the water, various colors of paint will spread out.

Kurosawa Shizuki looked down at her arms, and something even more alarming happened. As she got closer to the upper reaches of the River of Painting, Kurosawa Shizuki felt as if her body had passed through a wall, and her arms had become something made of lines and colors... She touched her body, and although she felt no change, everything was already changing silently.

Kurosawa Shizuki scanned the bodies of Asakura Yuki, Eiko, and Sako, and came to an utterly absurd conclusion.

"Hey, Kurosawa-kun, you're from the 2D world, and so am I. It seems like everyone's become 2D now, huh?" Asakura Yuki could still laugh without a care in the world.

That's right, the art style of the whole world has changed now. Everything has become something drawn with a paintbrush. Although the art style is still relatively realistic, if you had to describe it, it would be similar to the "budget-burning" style of anime and manga that Shizuki Kurosawa remembers Makoto Shinkai from.

However, Shizuki Kurosawa was certain that the art style would soon become increasingly chaotic, because she could now clearly see the castle in the painting belonging to the fairy in the forest.

The art style there is like stepping directly into a brightly colored Disney animation, with the princess's castle standing on the edge of the world, bright and beautiful like the most innocent dream of a little girl.

The colors are distinct, fresh and natural, like the castles in fairy tales where princesses and kings live happily ever after. The surrounding scenery is as beautiful as a classical oil painting. The decaying woodland has been transformed into vibrant evergreen trees. However, Kurosawa Shizuki can sense the darkness and decadence hidden beneath the vibrant appearance of this world.

Kurosawa Shizuki's fingers brushed across the water of the Scroll River. She watched as her fingertips traced a mesmerizing path in the beautiful, multicolored water, her fingers stained with various colors of paint.

She saw her own reflection in the river, and her entire appearance changed from a realistic style to a style reminiscent of an anime, with her features exaggerated in various anime-style ways—big eyes, a small nose, and various missing details. The closer she got to the fairy's castle, the more she resembled a two-dimensional character. Kurosawa Shizuki could even smell a strange paint odor, and she couldn't immediately tell if it was an illusion or reality.

It was as if everything around us had truly been drawn by a highly skilled painter.

"Sago and Eiko, is this really okay? Will we be like this forever?" Asakura pinched his cheek and said with some disgust, "Although I and Kurosawa are both super good-looking in our anime art style, what if we go out into the world and everyone else is in three dimensions while we're in two dimensions? That would be too weird, wouldn't it?"

"What are you talking about, sisters?" Sako and Eiko looked at Asakura Yuki with puzzled expressions. "What's with this 3D and 2D stuff?"

"We're talking about the art style of the entire world! Haven't you noticed? Ever since we got closer to the fairy's castle, we've all turned into an anime-style art style," Kurosawa Shizuki said, somewhat exasperated.

“We’ve never watched cartoons, and we don’t know what cartoons are like. To me, my two older sisters are no different.” Shazi’s image has become increasingly childlike and childlike, a typical loli character from anime.

“From birth to death, the whole world remains unchanged. I cannot understand the changes you speak of,” Yongzi replied, puzzled. She was still playing with the golden branch in her hand, using it as a paintbrush. She dipped the branch in the water of the Scroll River and kept drawing all sorts of random things. Sometimes she would draw a few white doves, sometimes she would outline a few flowers, and sometimes she would depict a few cute little elves with dragonfly wings.

Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki exchanged a glance, both seeing thoughtfulness in each other's eyes.

"Could it be that this is a change that only outsiders can perceive? The natives living in the forest have been assimilated by the forest and are unaware of their own situation?" Yuki Asakura speculated.

“I feel that the closer we get to this area, the more unstable the entire forest becomes. The world's rules here are becoming disordered to some extent, and all sorts of things that are completely impossible in reality are happening here,” Kurosawa Shizuki frowned. “Clearly, the forest we were in before was of a higher status, and this world is heading towards collapse…”

"Heh, are you trying to say that the woodland here is being turned into two dimensions?" Yuki Asakura said jokingly. "Did someone drop a two-dimensional foil here?"

The closer Kurosawa Shizuki got to the fairy's castle, the more incredible things she saw—

Someone was carrying a bucket, constantly splashing water from the scroll river and randomly throwing it onto the roadside. The river water miraculously transformed into all sorts of strange and messy shapes on the ground. A rabbit wearing a top hat kept glancing at his pocket watch and then ran away.

Mr. Rabbit was halfway there when a caterpillar crawled out of the bushes and flattened him with its fat body. This huge green caterpillar was wearing a funny straw hat. It sat on the grass by the bank, stretching its body leisurely and blowing out smoke rings of different colors. The smoke rings turned into mischievous little elves, causing trouble everywhere.

The soldiers, whose bodies were made of playing cards and who were armed with spears and shields, chased after the mischievous elves. Many of the playing card soldiers raised their longbows to shoot down the elves, but they were all using the "Sunset Red" technique.

A beautiful long-haired girl was sitting on the bank of the River Scroll, washing her hair, which was at least three or four meters long, with the river water. Several card soldiers chasing the elves were tripped by the girl's hair, and the girl screamed at the soldiers.

Along the lush green apple trees on both sides of the river, countless cartoonish winged creatures were startled and took flight at the girl's scream. These winged creatures were much cuter and more lifelike than those outside, dressed in various medieval-style costumes with vivid and exaggerated facial expressions. The winged creatures flew around in the air like headless flies, falling into the river like rain.

……

The whole world seems to have gone mad, with all sorts of random characters randomly stuffed here, without any logic or coherence, like the most absurd and whimsical dream of some little girl.

P.S. I'll be working overtime like crazy for the next few days, so updates will probably be unstable again, maybe only once every two or three days. I'm so tired, so very tired.

Chapter 119, Section 120: The GM's Account Was Banned

The little girl was watching a blurry black and white television screen, which was filled with static. She sat cross-legged on the sofa, and her pale, delicate legs seemed to shimmer faintly in the darkness. The black facets at the corners of her eyes sparkled with a crystal-like light.

She watched the live broadcast on TV with great interest, constantly stuffing her hands into the snack bags in her pockets and taking out one wriggling newborn maggot after another, stuffing them into her mouth and chewing them.

"How exciting! They've finally entered my golden palace. How will Mother entertain them?" the little girl laughed sweetly.

She watched as everyone stepped off the canoe, which lay aground on the dock of the Scroll River, like a stranded whale.

"I had prepared all sorts of hardships and dangers for them along the river, but they suddenly had the idea to draw a boat. Sure enough, can't a divine item like 'Golden Branch' be given away so easily in the early stages of the game?" The girl pouted in dissatisfaction. "How annoying, Theresa! Who knew you would bury such a divine item in the early map! It's forbidden for beta testers to provide items to open beta testers! I shouldn't have let those two beta testers with fake accounts join the game in the first place!"

The canoe was then submerged and destroyed by the surging River, but the four of them had already walked up the steps on the dock toward the back door of the castle, completely unaware of what was happening behind them.

“‘Golden Bough’ is too powerful and is affecting the balance. It needs to be limited, otherwise the game might be too easy to complete,” the girl said thoughtfully, stroking her chin. Then she made a decision. “There are several ways to weaken an item—either release more and stronger items, or secretly change the data, or add some restrictions… The third one is the simplest and most direct. In addition, cheaters need to be punished.”

Clapping her hands, the girl casually made this announcement to the audience on television:

“I said, Theresa Aquino is an exiled being from the Woodland. Her power is not recognized in the Woodland, and cheating is not allowed.”

“I said, Eiko and Sako, they broke the rules of the game and exploited loopholes, so I stripped them of their intelligence and forbade them from continuing to disrupt my game rhythm.”

"I said, let's start the game progress of Fairy Tale Castle ahead of schedule so that my mother can properly entertain the players."

Her eyes became listless:

"Mom, you understand, right? If you can't bring me enough joy, you and Dad can just die together. Anyway, this fake dream is about to end."

Her voice wasn't loud, but as she announced it, something unseen seemed to move through the air, and she gave a sly smile.

"My dear 'heroes,' we are finally about to assemble. What will you do in the next scenario?"

She bowed her head and feasted heartily, swallowing one wriggling white worm after another with satisfaction. With a crunching sound, the countless gears of the entire temple continued to turn ceaselessly under her will.

--------------

In the fairytale castle, the group walked on the magnificent red carpet, with all the decorations on both sides as beautiful and fantastical as those in fairytales—blurred portrait paintings, gleaming knight armor, and moth-shaped coats of arms pasted on the walls.

Upon entering this passageway, the candlelight on the lampstands on both sides seemed to come alive and ignite on its own.

However, after entering the castle, the group didn't see anything alive. Although everything looked brand new, as if it had been made just yesterday, Kurosawa Shizuki could constantly smell a lingering stench of decay and decay as she walked through the castle.

It was as if they were walking inside the stomach of some giant beast waiting to be digested.

“The Golden Branch and the Holy Skull, their power has all fallen into slumber.” Yongzi and Shazi suddenly stopped, their voices becoming very mournful.

Both Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki could easily see that the two golden branches in Eiko's hands had turned into two unremarkable arm bones, and the dark golden light flowing over the skull in Sha Zi's arms had completely disappeared. The two doll-like little girls who had previously posed a deadly threat to them had completely lost their fighting power. Kurosawa Shizuki felt that the light of wisdom in the eyes of the two little girls seemed to have dimmed considerably.

"Why did this happen?" The vulnerability shown by the two little girls seemed to make Yuki Asakura restless again. If she didn't suspect that Eiko and Sako were just putting on an act, Yuki Asakura might have directly taken action to snatch the golden branch.

“We are being watched by God, she hates us, Sister Teresa.” Sand’s voice became broken and intermittent.

“God is watching us now, and she forbids us to… say it…” Yongzi’s voice became increasingly strained as she spoke.

The two little girls seemed to have truly become emotionless dolls, and it was impossible to tell that not long ago, they were beings that were almost indistinguishable from living people.

"Hey, hey, hey? What's going on?" Asakura Yuki waved her hand up and down in front of Eiko's eyes, but Eiko didn't react at all. Asakura tentatively reached out and, surprisingly, snatched the arm bone that Eiko had been coveting from her hand without any resistance.

"Tsk, they really just turned into two useless bones." Asakura Yuki disappointedly threw the two arm bones into the blazing sun behind her.

Kurosawa Shizuki hesitated for a moment, but still took Theresa's skull from the seemingly completely powerless Sand's arms. The skull was smooth and delicate in her hand, as if it did not belong to someone, but was made of the finest crystal. Touching the skull felt like touching silky satin. She held up the dark gold skull, and the skull's eye sockets were aligned with her deep blue eyes, as if she were reuniting with an old friend she had not seen for a long time.

The moment the skull entered her hands, the system read its data, and what she saw startled her:

The skull of the Crimson Death Woman (sealed), an orange item. Due to the fact that this item has been sealed by an unknown force, you cannot view its specific data at the moment.

She chased after the red death and arrived in the woods, as she had hoped. Death was already her most familiar friend, and she accepted everything that happened with equanimity, for she knew that every death was merely a prelude to a greater rebirth.

This is the first orange item she has seen since coming to this world! Although she can't see any effect yet, the fact that Sand used it to directly obliterate the worms inside the Centipede Sage proves that it definitely possesses terrifying power!

What intrigued Kurosawa Shizuki even more was the identity of the skull's owner, the girl named Theresa. What kind of being was she? Her skull alone was an orange-grade item; what terrifying status did she possess when she was alive? And what was this "every death is merely for a greater rebirth" nonsense? With only her skull and two arm bones remaining, how could she possibly be reborn?

Like Yuki Asakura, Shizuki Kurosawa threw the skull into the black liquid behind her. Just as she looked at Yuki Asakura, she found that Yuki Asakura was also looking at her with ill intent.

"I know what you're thinking, and you probably understand what I'm thinking too, right?" Asakura still had that cheerful smile, but Kurosawa Shizuki could see the fleeting malice in her eyes.

“There’s no need for us to argue over bones that are temporarily useless in this place.” Kurosawa Shizuki suppressed the greed welling up inside her for the two arm bones in Asakura’s hands that could turn into golden branches, but she still couldn’t help feeling uneasy. She was the mole, and if she didn’t intend to betray the organization, even if Asakura Yuki got along well with her now, she would eventually become her enemy. Was it really okay to let Asakura Yuki take away the two golden branches that were so powerful?

“I agree with your idea. Destroying the forest is the top priority right now. We can consider dividing the spoils after we escape the forest,” Asakura Yuki said with a smile, playing with the long hair hanging down beside her ear. Kurosawa Shizuki was sure it wasn’t her imagination. Ever since Asakura Yuki was reborn from the centipede sage’s body, every move she made had a strange sharpness to it.

This reminded Kurosawa Shizuki of the sharp cracks in shattered glass. Was Asakura Yuki really alright right now?

"But these two suddenly stopped working. Without their help, do we really have to continue with these three trials?" Kurosawa Shizuki looked at Sako and Eiko, who had been silently following behind them but showed no signs of life. They were like two puppets controlled by an invisible force. No matter how Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki called out to them, they didn't respond. Their faces, which looked almost human but were actually created by a puppeteer, were so uncanny that they made people feel the uncanny valley effect when they looked closely.

“We’ve come this far, and whatever we encounter, we can only grit our teeth and keep going,” Yuki Asakura said, looking at the incredibly tall and magnificent golden gate at the end of the castle corridor. “Moreover, if the ruler here really is the Fujiwara we know, killing her here might be the only way to dismantle the entire power of the Age of Gods.”

"Is it really possible that we'll encounter the real Lady Fujiwara here?" Kurosawa Shizuki was uncertain. Having come this far, she naturally understood that everything in the forest might just be a fabricated illusion. Even the centipede sage who had been parasitized by the worms, Kurosawa Shizuki couldn't say for sure whether he was the real person or some false existence in the forest's dream.

"Whether it's true or not, I'm certain that if we can destroy this damned forest, it will inflict crippling damage on the Age of Gods!" Yuki Asakura placed her hands on the golden door and pushed it open without hesitation. Behind the door was a vast hall that resembled a king receiving his subjects. "We might even be able to end this war before it even begins..."

P.S., lalala, I'm out of drafts. From now on, all chapters will be written and published as they come~

Chapter 121, Section 120: Before the Queen's Throne, Suzuki and Shibasaki

The moment Asakura pushed open the golden door, a chorus of applause erupted throughout the vast hall.

Kurosawa Shizuki looked around and saw that the entire hall was like a grand theater, wide enough to seat tens of thousands of people. Countless ghostly figures filled the audience seats, each with a blurred face, like an obscure shadow.

The semi-circular theater evokes the elegance of ancient Greek theaters. Indeed, everything within the hall is constructed of classical, solemn marble, with exquisite stone carvings and reliefs everywhere. However, the subjects of these sculptures are all the same: winged men, women with insect heads, asexual beings stripped of their skin, and countless intertwined, writhing limbs, illustrating a yearning for carnal desire and metamorphosis.

Yuki Asakura strode ahead, followed closely by Shizuka Kurosawa, and then Eiko, who had lost her will, and Sako walked on the carpet without making a sound.

The path that Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki found themselves on after entering was also covered with a bright red carpet woven from some unknown material. The carpet was sprinkled with silvery-white petals, and petals that shimmered with a strange fluorescence kept falling from the sky.

"Woo woo woo woo—" The sound of countless people blowing trumpets echoed throughout the theater, as if welcoming Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki's visit. The applause from the audience from all directions became even more cheerful and rapid, inexplicably reminiscent of war drums.

Kurosawa Shizuki and Asakura Yuki walked side by side toward the center of the hall. They could see at the end of the red carpet and at the top of the steps a tall, blood-red throne. On the throne sat a huge, bloated figure, a mountain of flesh five or six meters tall, a woman made up of layers of fat, and a pair of breasts even larger than half of Kurosawa Shizuki's. Her original appearance was completely unrecognizable, and most of her body was hidden in shadow. On her head, she did wear a crystal crown shaped like a moth.

She wore a deep purple gown, adorned with layers of feather-shaped patterns, the nature of which was unclear—whether they were decorations or real—that swayed up and down with her heavy breathing.

She held a pure gold wine glass in her hand, the wine inside of which was an incredibly deep color.

What concerned Kurosawa Shizuki even more were the two figures beneath the throne who seemed to have been waiting for her and Asakura Yuki to visit.

She recognized one of the figures all too well—

A slender girl dressed in a light-colored sailor uniform from school, with short brown hair, a cool demeanor, and bandages wrapped around her brow, wrists, and ankles, seemed to notice Kurosawa Shizuki's gaze and turned her head to glance at her.

"Suzuki-senpai?! What are you doing here?" Kurosawa Shizuki asked incredulously.

Not long ago, she had been giving Suzuki Machiko, a second-year student in the Ghost Club, the Anti-Extermination Bureau agent who had been giving her the Anti-Extermination Bureau's mission in the coffee shop. Kurosawa Shizuki really didn't expect to run into her here.

"My teacher and I visited here, of course, to kill the bugs."

The Suzuki-senpai here, like Kurosawa Shizuki, has been turned into a two-dimensional character, but her temperament remains the same. However, the way she looks at Kurosawa Shizuki is full of aloofness, as if she were looking at a stranger.

Another figure appeared in the woods, which was quite strange. Standing beside Suzuki was a light yellow Akita Inu with a collar around its neck inlaid with black pearls like stars. The Akita Inu looked up at them, its eyes sparkling with a wisdom like that of a human. The Akita Inu stuck out its tongue and kept wagging its tail, lying on the ground in a very lazy posture.

"What, is this someone you know? She exudes the annoying aura of the Anti-Corruption Bureau from head to toe. The insignia of the Tribunal on her body is just too conspicuous." Yuki Asakura stood next to Shizuki Kurosawa, looking at Machiko Suzuki with interest, or rather, looking at the graceful curves of Machiko Suzuki's chest, half of which was bandaged below her collar.

"She's just an acquaintance from a club I joined at school..." Kurosawa Shizuki answered somewhat nervously. In front of Asakura Yuki, she certainly couldn't appear too familiar with Suzuki Machiko. If their relationship were exposed, Kurosawa Shizuki, the mole, would have no chance of continuing her work.

"Heh, I heard that the reason you're at Hikoyama High School is because of that club, right? It seems there's an unawakened vessel for an immortal being hidden within the club, and it seems everyone in that club joined the Ghost Club for that power?" Asakura Yuki knew even more than Kurosawa Shizuki. So the original owner really did join the Ghost Club to plot Ando's power? "If we can leave the forest alive, I might join that club for fun too."