Transformed into the leader of an esoteric sect in Japan

P.S., I'm so sorry, but I just can't write it. I've clearly planned out what I'm going to write next, but I still can't get it to come out.

Chapter 153, Section 155: You can give up.

A dramatic transformation is taking place within Ai Kurosawa, yet Shizuki Kurosawa can only helplessly watch it unfold. This is Ai Kurosawa's choice, and Shizuki has neither the ability nor the inclination to interfere. Shizuki understands that without mastering true power and following in her footsteps, everything loses its meaning for Ai Kurosawa.

Therefore, all Kurosawa Shizuki could do was pray for Kurosawa Ai's future fate, praying that Kurosawa Ai could get what she wanted from her deal with Theresa, that she could maintain her complete sanity under the erosion of the power of the Crimson Death and not completely collapse, and that she could wake up in a new form in the near future and face everything that was about to happen with Kurosawa Shizuki.

Dark red membranes grew on Kurosawa Ai's body, which was torn open by countless red rats, dripping with blood, yet it pulsed with incredibly vibrant heat. It was clear that no ordinary person could survive such injuries, but Kurosawa Shizuki did not sense any signs of death in Kurosawa Ai. On the contrary, every second, Kurosawa Ai possessed an even more vigorous life force. She was like a blazing torch, constantly radiating a terrifying flame of destiny.

At the same time, her eyes and brows exuded an increasingly eerie aura, reminding Kurosawa Shizuki more and more of the mischievous, eerie, and wicked brows of Theresa in her dreams. Was Kurosawa Ai really going to become the next Crimson Death? Like the blue-haired girl in another history who made a pact with a horned god? To become a greater life, one must first embrace death; death is merely a temporary pause before the arrival of a greater life.

Countless protrusions appeared and disappeared on Kurosawa Ai's body, as if countless tiny creatures were crawling beneath her skin. Her body decayed and regenerated, a sight that was chilling to behold. Countless dark red threads wove and covered Kurosawa Ai's body like a spider web, coiling and wrapping around her. In just a few breaths, they covered the entire bed, and Kurosawa Ai's body was hidden deep within the red velvet. The velvet emitted a strange, sweet fragrance, smooth and delicate, even more tender than a young girl's skin. Kurosawa Shizuki, however, had no intention of touching it. Kurosawa Shizuki silently walked out of Kurosawa Ai's bedroom. There was no need to disturb Kurosawa Ai any longer; once Kurosawa Ai's fusion began, it could not be stopped.

Kurosawa Shizuki needs to focus on her own affairs now.

After escaping from the woods, Kurosawa Shizuki's condition never improved. Overusing the filthy power of the shadows was certainly not a good thing. In this world, power is also a curse. Every being who studies the art of the invisible walks on the edge of rationality and collapse. Once out of control, they will suffer incredibly terrible consequences.

She entered the bathroom and took a quick shower, but Kurosawa Shizuki felt that the filth inside her body could not be washed away no matter what. Bathing in hot water, she could not feel the temperature rise at all. On the contrary, she only felt waves of nausea. Kurosawa Shizuki stood in front of the mirror by the sink, her hands supporting her on the edge of the sink.

Gussing and gagging made Kurosawa Shizuki feel something stirring in her throat. She wanted to vomit but couldn't. She had barely eaten anything all day, but now she didn't feel hungry at all. Part of the reason was probably because the monster in her shadow had eaten too many random things—Cultists of the Age of Gods, Thunder Warriors, winged creatures, forest spiders…

On the other hand, her body, which had only recently been forcibly rebuilt with black matter, was finally on the verge of collapse.

Kurosawa Shizuki looked at herself in the mirror. The girl with dark blue eyes was pale from head to toe, looking increasingly sickly and weak compared to herself not long ago. She scooped up a handful of cold water with her hands and splashed it on her face, but felt no stimulation at all. She touched her cheeks and found that her hands and face were icy cold.

The girl's exquisite face in the mirror was half-submerged in shadow. In a daze, she felt that the face in the mirror was gradually distorted in the shadow, and the whole body seemed unreal. In the end, the face became completely unrecognizable to her. She saw countless cracks rapidly extending on her face, body, and wrists. From the cracks in the girl's porcelain-like body, black matter seeped out in thin threads, making Kurosawa Shizuki feel as if her whole body was about to shatter into countless pieces like the mirror.

Kurosawa Shizuki felt as if countless tiny ants were biting and crawling in and out of her body, the dark beasts gnawing at her like they were eating away at her. Just as the power of the Crimson Death was eroding Kurosawa Ai's body, this kind of thing probably had already happened to Kurosawa Shizuki a long, long time ago. When the former owner of this body possessed it, she began to embrace the power of the dark matter without any restraint. The former owner didn't even care whether she could continue to exist, let alone expect her to maintain the state of this body. She probably only knew how to recklessly abandon everything to pursue power, and she didn't care about any price.

For a long time, Kurosawa Shizuki's body had been on the verge of collapse. For those who wield the power of the dark matter, once they completely lose control, their fate will be like that of the King of Blazing Sun, who will be completely transformed into a dark matter creature, lose his own mind, and be enslaved by the Black Sun for all eternity. If something even more terrible happens, he will fall into the Netherworld and never be able to get out of it.

Kurosawa Shizuki overused the power of the Black Matter. She had only been gritting her teeth and holding on, but now she could no longer maintain it. The uncontrollable Black Matter began to rampage once again, and every inch of her body was being eroded by it. It seemed that Kurosawa Shizuki was undergoing a transformation similar to that of Kurosawa Ai, except that this time the Black Matter was no longer a tamed beast, but a monstrous beast that would kill its master, turning Kurosawa Shizuki herself into a monster without free will...

Fortunately, Shizuki Kurosawa still had one last straw to grasp.

The fragment of the Black Sun Divine Stone on his chest once again shone with a deep black light. The fragment pulsated in front of Kurosawa Shizuki's chest like a second heart, and waves of warm and scorching power continuously flowed into his body, dispelling the suffocating chill. Even the black matter that had completely invaded his body gradually calmed down under this light. No, rather than being calmed down, it was more accurate to say that it showed submission to the will of the superior being within the Black Sun Divine Stone.

Just as Suzuki-senpai once said, Kurosawa Shizuki, who was given this fragment of the divine stone, can already be considered as another nascent form of the Black Sun God. Possessing the Black Sun, she will neither succumb to the will of the Black Sun of the Netherworld, nor will she be completely corrupted by the black matter within her body and become a monster. The fragment of the Black Sun God Stone is probably the reason why the original owner was able to use the forbidden power of black matter so recklessly.

Kurosawa Shizuki remembered that Suzuki had also mentioned that this divine stone was a gift from Mr. Shibasaki of the Anti-Suppression Bureau to the original owner. This peculiar divine stone with such effects seemed to be tailor-made for the original owner. Kurosawa Shizuki couldn't help but suspect that the divine stone also contained the Anti-Suppression Bureau's methods. However, if she wanted to continue to grow stronger and use the power of the black matter to fight against her powerful enemies in a short period of time, she would have to use the power of the divine stone again and again, which would be tantamount to drinking poison to quench her thirst for Kurosawa Shizuki.

Looking down at the fragment of the divine stone that shimmered with an eerie light, Kurosawa Shizuki had no good feeling. If things continued like this, sooner or later something even worse than being swallowed by the black sun or turning into a black monster would happen to her.

"Are you scared?" Just as Kurosawa Shizuki was about to fall into doubt and panic again, someone suddenly hugged her from behind. The hug was devoid of warmth, only making her feel a bone-chilling cold. But for some reason, under this coldness, the uneasy feelings in Kurosawa Shizuki's heart were slightly dispelled.

Kurosawa Shizuki saw a shadowy girl rising from the viscous black matter, embracing her intimately, like the closest of sisters. However, in the mirror, there was nothing behind Kurosawa Shizuki.

"If you don't want to continue, giving up is fine too~ Since I've already given up, no one will blame you if you want to become like me. After all, we're facing such a desperate situation. Giving up is obviously much easier than gritting your teeth and continuing to walk down that eternal night path where you can't see any light." The shadow girl said softly behind Kurosawa Shizuki, her cool breath hitting Kurosawa Shizuki's neck, raising goosebumps on Kurosawa Shizuki's skin.

"All we need to do is unlock this fragment of the divine stone. Trust me, Kurosawa-kun, everything will be quick, just a moment." The shadow girl whispered like a devil.

P.S., after New Year's Day, I'll be going to work in Ningbo by myself. If nothing unexpected happens, I might settle down there. I'll have to find an apartment, adapt to a new work environment, and deal with all sorts of other things... so updates might be infrequent... Sigh, right now I just hope I can settle down there soon.

Chapter 154, Section 156: Miss Ando Arrives for an Audience!

Kurosawa Shizuki didn't remember how she fell asleep that night, or even whether she managed to remove the strange fragment of the divine stone. But when she woke up, she saw wisps of morning light shining on her bedside, and outside the window behind the curtains, the sound of endless storms could be heard, as if the whole world was roaring.

"Thump thump thump—" One dull sound after another made Kurosawa Shizuki feel her eardrums vibrating and her ears ringing. Kurosawa Shizuki sat up from the head of the bed in a daze and found that she had changed into her pajamas. She had obviously slept very badly that night. The bedding was full of messy wrinkles and the blankets had been thrown off. She looked down at her hands and did not see any cracks.

She turned to look at the shadow, which remained quietly hidden behind her as always. The dark power seemed to have fallen into dormancy again, and it probably wouldn't flare up again unless Kurosawa Shizuki consciously stimulated it.

What exactly happened last night? Kurosawa Shizuki looked around and found the bedroom in a mess. The dressing mirror was full of cracks, the wardrobe was split open, Kurosawa Shizuki's clothes were scattered all over the floor, the desk lamp lay limply on the floor, and various books were piled up haphazardly on the desk. Even the computer Kurosawa Shizuki used to type on was emitting black smoke, and the main unit was obviously beyond repair. Fortunately, Kurosawa Shizuki's manuscripts should have been backed up in the cloud.

It was as if a terrible beast had roamed the house all night. If Kurosawa Shizuki wasn't mistaken, that beast was herself.

"Thump thump thump—" The somewhat unfamiliar sound rang out again stubbornly and firmly, with a monotonous and definite rhythm, only now it was a little faster, showing a hint of impatience.

Kurosawa Shizuki finally realized that it was the sound of someone knocking on the door, and the knocking was quite forceful, carrying an air of undeniable authority, as if fate itself was knocking. Who could it be? Kurosawa Shizuki stepped barefoot onto the cold floor, and was startled awake. She hugged her arms to her chest, and the wind outside the window rustled incessantly, the whole world resonating and echoing with it, as if the whole world had become a seven-stringed lyre in the hands of a god, being played with the most exquisite skill.

Kurosawa Shizuki remembered that there was a typhoon today, but was it really a typhoon? Kurosawa Shizuki smelled that familiar yet nauseating fishy smell in the air, the thick and heavy air. She had smelled this kind of atmosphere in the woods before. The sound of feathers swirling and fluttering around her was indistinguishable from reality, lingering in her ears. Was this a hallucination?

Kurosawa Shizuki clutched her head, feeling a renewed headache, as if her head was about to split open. She seemed to hear the shadow girl whispering in her ear again, asking if she should give up. What was the point of her persisting? She had almost no chance of winning. Such intense and powerful malice awaited her. She was just a mortal, perhaps with a split personality. Even if she possessed the power of a monster like the Black Matter, it wouldn't make her any greater; it would only push her closer and closer to the abyss.

"Knock knock knock knock knock!!!" The knocking was so loud that Kurosawa Shizuki suspected that her door was about to be smashed down, but she still wondered if she was hallucinating, because even at this point, Kurosawa Ai, who was far more sensitive than her, still didn't open the door. If it were Ai, she would definitely teach the incredibly rude visitor outside the door a good lesson.

Wait… Ai, Kurosawa Shizuki thought again of that face from last night, so disfigured by the power of Crimson Death, the girl who had fallen into a deep sleep wrapped in crimson velvet—how was she now? Could it be that she was already…

Kurosawa Shizuki rushed out of her bedroom and ran to Kurosawa Ai's bedroom. She looked in the direction where Kurosawa Ai had slept the night before. In her memory, that bed should have been covered with bright red silk threads.

But now, the bed is empty. No, it's not completely empty. On Kurosawa Ai's bed, there is a pool of dark red liquid that has begun to solidify. Sticking to the bed are clumps of still-active dark red flesh. Between the flesh are countless disgusting mycelia. Between the flesh, you can vaguely see the outline of a slender human figure. That is obviously where Kurosawa Ai once lay.

Kurosawa Ai's room was also a mess, but the traces here looked like countless rats had scurried and climbed over it. There were black holes and eyes everywhere, and countless doors, riddled with holes, yet there was no sign of it collapsing. Although Kurosawa Ai was not here, a strange power remained, holding this home together that should have fallen apart.

Kurosawa Shizuki saw a thin, blood-red footprint extending from Kurosawa Ai's bed toward the door. The footprint almost left a corrosive mark on the ground, but the person who left the footprint walked out with a firm and resolute gait. Was that Kurosawa Ai? Judging from the appearance of the footprint, it was indeed completely identical to Kurosawa Ai's.

The trail of blood-red footprints disappeared beyond the entrance of her own home, crossed the threshold, and left her house. If it really was Kurosawa Ai, where would she go at this critical moment? Today, Hirakyo is likely to be more dangerous than ever before!

"Knock knock knock knock knock—!!!!" Kurosawa Shizuki felt the ground beneath her feet and the entire room tremble. This time, she was finally certain that the knocking was not her hallucination. The part of the sound that was a hallucination when she first woke up had long since disappeared, but this knocking was always incredibly clear and firm. It was obvious that the visitor outside was almost running out of patience.

Kurosawa Shizuki walked nervously towards the door. Who was this guest she had been neglecting? Should she open the door? Could someone who would come to visit her at this critical moment truly be a friendly guest? What would she see after pushing open the door? Would she be seeing a completely inhuman woman with a beautiful cloak on her back? Or a formidable enemy with eerie blue eyes? Or… even further, would she see the eternally burning black matter within the Ghost Realm?

Just as Kurosawa Shizuki was walking towards the door, the knocking suddenly stopped. The once incredibly noisy house fell into a brief but suffocating silence. Kurosawa Shizuki's hand, which was reaching for the doorknob, froze in mid-air. Why did the knocking stop again when she stood in front of the door? Was this just another hallucination caused by her making an unusually loud noise? Had her mental state really deteriorated to this extent?

"Boom—!" A thunderous roar suddenly rang out from outside the door, an unparalleled violence, like a battering ram charging head-on at a steel city gate, was applied to the security door of his own house without reservation.

Faced with the massive, completely deformed metal door looming over her, Kurosawa Shizuki's body reacted even before her fully conscious mind, instinctively dodging backward. At this point, her house was probably completely destroyed, even the front door, which had remained intact, was now crumbling.

Kurosawa Shizuki saw a bouncy black ponytail outside the door and a pair of eyes that seemed like an ever-burning beacon of vitality. Now, the owner of those restless eyes was filled with irritability and anger. Without any politeness, she strode through the kicked-down iron gate and into Kurosawa Shizuki's house. Her beautiful legs, clad in mid-length black over-the-knee stockings, moved with light steps, making a crisp clattering sound as she walked.

She carried a small black leather backpack on her back, which was bulging and filled with unidentified objects. A peculiar ornament hung from the bottom of the backpack, which seemed to be a chibi version of a female protagonist from a superhero and magical girl manga.

"Hey, hey, hey~ Kurosawa-kun, don't blame me! I've been knocking on the door for so long! You just stood there and didn't open it, so don't blame me for using such a simple and crude method to open it?" Ando Chinatsu crossed her arms over her well-developed chest, almost pushing open her neckline to reveal her fair skin. She played with the ponytail that kept bouncing behind her head with her fingers. She didn't look like a guest who had come to visit at all, but rather like a queen who was re-inspecting her territory.

"Ando-san, what... how did you get here?" Kurosawa Shizuki was completely stunned. She never expected that after such a terrible night, the first person she would see when she woke up would be Ando Chinatsu, the president of the jokingly frivolous club she had joined.

She clearly has absolutely no interest or time to continue playing those ridiculous club games with Ando!

Chinatsu Ando walked past Shizuki Kurosawa without any ceremony, striding into her living room, which was in complete disarray. She sat down casually on the only relatively intact half of the sofa in the messy space, looking around with a "I'm curious" expression on her face.

"Kurosawa-kun, I heard that you and your sister have always had a very good relationship, but... is your relationship really this good? You would secretly play this kind of game at home?" It wasn't until Ando Chinatsu saw the very obvious trail of bloody footprints running through the center of the living room that she realized, "This trail of footprints extends far outside. It's very, very worrying. Could it be that someone escaped from this terrifying apartment, which is like a demon king's lair?"

"Are you guys really playing a game? Why do I feel like... this is more like a murder scene?" Ando Chinatsu shivered, as if remembering something. She jumped up from the sofa, crossed her arms over her chest, and assumed a strange fighting stance. "Kuro, Kurosawa-kun, I'm warning you! I'm very strong, you know. If you dare to mess around, I won't be polite!"

Despite having just kicked open the Kurosawa family's incredibly sturdy security door with an inhuman kick, Ando's expression now seemed somewhat fierce but actually cowardly. How could someone like her be afraid?

P.S., we don't know when the next update will be, and we dare not say.

Section 157 Notice

The author has moved to Ningbo for work and is still looking for a place to rent. They also don't have a computer available for writing right now. Updates will resume once they settle down and buy a new desktop. Please wait a little longer. Sigh, writing alone really can't make a living. They need to find a stable job. The new job supposedly has a 9-to-5 schedule with weekends off, so they should have time to write again.

Chapter 155, Section 158: Ando Sees a Small Flower in the Mud

"Ando-kun, whatever you're thinking, I have to say, things are definitely not as you imagine..."

Kurosawa Shizuki cleared her throat, trying to appear calm and composed. Ando Chinatsu's appearance was completely unexpected, but what she saw in Kurosawa Shizuki's house had clearly made Ando's emotions very unstable. Kurosawa Shizuki could see the uneasy light surging in Ando's usually energetic eyes, which was reminiscent of... a volcano about to erupt.

Kurosawa Shizuki was certain that this was not just her inexplicable feelings. As Ando Chinatsu's emotions changed, Kurosawa Shizuki felt the air temperature in the room rise by several degrees. The invisible power of the lamp was stirring. If she was not careful, Kurosawa Shizuki might witness firsthand the unparalleled violence that had been dormant within Ando Chinatsu.

"Huff, huff, huff," Ando Chinatsu sat back down on the sofa, took several deep breaths, patted her chest, and her face turned a little pale. "Kurosawa-kun, the environment here is giving me a headache. I keep remembering some strange images. What exactly happened here?"

"There's nothing particularly noteworthy to say, it's just that my sister and I had a fight, and things got a bit... intense. She's probably upset right now and ran away from home. As for these footprints, don't worry about them, they're just spilled red paint." Kurosawa Shizuki smiled somewhat reluctantly.

"Is that so?" Chinatsu Ando blinked her big eyes, looking completely bewildered, then her expression changed. "Do you really think I'm some kind of brainless little brat? What kind of sisters would tear the whole house apart when they're arguing? And how could something like that be red paint!"

Chinatsu Ando pointed to the blackish-red liquid that covered the walls of Kurosawa's house. Kurosawa Shizuki herself hadn't noticed that her ceiling was completely covered with countless bloody chunks of flesh. These chunks of flesh were still wriggling like living things, and just one look at them was enough to make anyone's sanity plummet.

Just then, another howling wind blew outside the window, and dark clouds briefly obscured the sun, plunging the room into a fleeting darkness. Kurosawa Shizuki quickly seized the opportunity, and during those few seconds of darkness, the black matter behind her immediately began to clear the area. The black matter split into countless tiny spiders, which quickly climbed up the wall and began to fight against the clumps of blood-red flesh.

These chunks of meat seemed to be formed from the remnants of power left behind by Kurosawa Ai when she awakened the power of Crimson Death. With Kurosawa Ai's departure, they all turned into water without a source. Faced with Kurosawa Shizuki's attack, they only put up a token resistance a few times before being completely devoured by the black matter. The power of the black matter was more efficient than any cleaning equipment. In just a few seconds, it completely swept away any traces left in the messy room.

"Ando-san, what are you talking about? I didn't see anything! Ando-san, are you hallucinating?" Kurosawa Shizuki looked up, feigning confusion, and followed the direction Ando Chinatsu was looking, but there was nothing there.

"How could this be? Are you kidding me? It was clearly that big just now—" Ando Chinatsu looked like she was questioning reality, rubbing her eyes repeatedly, then a suspicious expression appeared on her face, "Wait a minute, something's not right!"

Kurosawa Shizuki noticed something that caught her attention behind Ando Chinatsu. She hadn't noticed it before, but seeing it suddenly startled her. There was a human head hanging on the pendant on the back of Ando Chinatsu's small backpack!

Long, black hair coiled around Ando Chinatsu's body, dripping wet liquid as if she had just been pulled from a sewer. Seemingly aware that Kurosawa Shizuki was watching her, she grinned at him.

"Gagagagagagaga—" It made such an unpleasant sound, its mouth splitting open to an unbelievable arc, as if it wanted to bite off Kurosawa Shizuki's head.

With an expressionless face, Kurosawa Shizuki reached out and gently patted Ando Chinatsu's back. Her fingertips silently brushed across the gaping maw of the head, and black matter seeped out without a sound, piercing through the gaping mouth and forcibly tearing the entire head off Ando's back, dragging it into the shadows, and then dissolving into the depths of the black matter in a flash.

"Ando-san, there's no time to waste! Let's go!" The longer we delay, the more problems will arise. Without waiting for a reply, Kurosawa Shizuki grabbed Ando Chinatsu's wrist and dragged her out of the house. "My sister has run away from home, and I still don't know where she's gone! I'm so worried! Let's go find her!"

"Your sister... I think I met her once before. She's a very pitiful child, but surprisingly sensible. To argue with her to the point of driving her to run away from home, it seems you did something quite awful to her." Ando looked at Kurosawa Shizuki with the cold eyes one would use to look at a criminal. As expected, she still hadn't noticed that Kurosawa Shizuki had already gotten rid of the "tenant" on her.

"The situation is complicated, there's no time to explain! Let's chase after them!" Kurosawa Shizuki had no mood to continue explaining to Ando Chinatsu what had happened, and Ando Chinatsu had no need to know about the connection between Kurosawa Ai and Theresa.

Closing the door behind her, Kurosawa Shizuki hurriedly led Ando Chinatsu downstairs, following the blood-red footprints in the stairwell. Kurosawa Shizuki was not surprised to sense the chilling aura of a ghost in the stairwell, which was undoubtedly a takeout delivery that had come with Ando.

The small, black shadows gathered around the blood-red footprints left by Kurosawa Ai. They were all child-sized spirits, covered in layers of fine bumps, with most of their bodies on the verge of decay. They lay between the stairwells, licking the remaining bloodstains with their long, sticky tongues, as if the blood dripping from Kurosawa Ai was an unparalleled delicacy to them.

"Hoo hoo hoo, the day of our final demise is approaching, and we will also usher in eternity!"

"Hiss... Delicious, a supreme treasure, new life."

"Has anyone seen us?"

Kurosawa Shizuki had no desire to continue playing with these brats. As she passed by, the restless black matter had already annihilated them all, like waves disappearing into the surging tide in the blink of an eye. Kurosawa Shizuki, who had been severely injured, finally recovered her strength a little, all thanks to Ms. Ando for bringing the goods to her door.

Outside the window, dark clouds covered the sky, their color a deep, almost bleeding red. The entire city of Pyeongsang was shrouded in a deathly silence, making it hard to breathe. Yet, there was neither wind nor rain, as if the typhoon reported yesterday was just a joke. However, for some reason, the streets were deserted, as if everyone had sensed an ominous atmosphere and had all gone into hiding.

At this time of year, acting rashly could lead to very unforeseen and potentially disastrous consequences.

Kurosawa Shizuki and Ando Chinatsu, however, did not consider all that. They left the apartment building and followed the blood-red footprints all the way to a small alley just across the street, where they were met with a shocking mess.

The wall was covered with scratch-like cracks, as if a terrifying beast had once ravaged the area, suggesting a fierce battle had taken place there, but the outcome was now certain.

The three male corpses had turned into a paste, their clothes and flesh stuck together to the wall, making them completely unrecognizable as human, let alone their identities. The only reason they were identified as men was because their clothing appeared to be men's suits.

On the corpse, strange, dark red, mushroom-shaped growths could be seen, with red mycelium weaving together like a network, firmly sticking the corpse to the wall, reminding Kurosawa Shizuki of the corpses in the woodland that had been ravaged by the Red Death.