An invisible and intangible wave of drowsiness, yet so massive it covered the entire barrier, swept through the dense crowd in the center of the playground like a deep-sea tsunami. The exclamations, crying, and commotion came to an abrupt halt.
Nearly a thousand girls, whether they were excited, confused, or terrified before, lost focus in their eyes at this moment. Like puppets with their strings cut, they collapsed softly to the ground, falling into an absolutely deep dream constructed by magic.
In the center of the playground, only the sound of even breathing remained, like a sleeping ocean.
Immediately after, Kanjuro's body began to undergo a terrifying change! His originally handsome and slender figure expanded and twisted violently under the wash of magic! His school uniform was suddenly burst and torn, turning into flying fragments.
What was exposed was no longer human muscle lines, but a demon's body covered in dark red scales, entwined with pitch-Black Magic patterns, and filled with explosive power!
Barbs grew at his joints, the phantom of bone wings covered with membranes extended from his back, and curved demon horns protruded from his forehead—he revealed the true demonic form hidden beneath his human skin, which he had obtained when he signed the contract with Nyarlathotep!
This was also a form that Kanjuro would never show to others.
"Roar—!" A non-human, low-pitched growl of destructive impulse escaped Kanjuro's throat, vibrating the barrier.
He didn't waste time. His demonized body turned into a streak of dark red lightning and rushed into that sleeping "ocean." The authority of [gospel of luke: Time Manipulation] was pushed to the limit by him, and the flow of time within the barrier completely derailed from the outside world!
The next three hours (subjective time within the barrier) might only be a split second for the outside world, but within this Dark God Domain, a plunder that could not be described in detail with words took place.
In his demonic form, Kanjuro was like a tireless Demon God of Destruction.
The entire playground was enveloped by a massive, suffocating magic vortex of intertwined pink and black, and the torrent of energy let out a deafening roar. The air was filled with a thick scent of blood, musk, and a certain dark, fallen sweetness.
Beside the ritual platform, Reika Kitami, bound to the crystal coffin, closed her eyes in despair, her tears having long since run dry. She could clearly feel that the dark magic, which had gathered the life essence of a thousand women and was massive enough to distort reality, was surging into the crystal coffin beneath her like a hundred rivers returning to the sea. Through some eerie link, it was being forcibly poured into her body, which was on the verge of collapse!
This feeling was not healing, but a violent flushing that wanted to completely tear her apart and reshape her!
Saeki Kaori looked at this sight, which was like a miracle (or rather, a demonic miracle). Feeling that vast and boundless magic, she trembled with excitement and involuntarily knelt on the ground, bowing in worship toward Kanjuro's demonized figure, chanting under her breath with fanatical devotion.
Finally, the pink and Black Magic vortex in the center of the playground slowly subsided.
Kanjuro's demonized body gradually shrank and transformed back into human form. He still had that peerlessly handsome appearance, but the dark pressure emanating from his body was more than several times stronger than before! His eyes were as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice, showing no sign of fatigue, only a sense of absolute control after satisfaction.
He stepped forward, walking past the sleeping crowd toward the ritual platform, toward Reika Kitami, whose eyes were wide with rage on the crystal coffin.
"Now, there's only one last step left, Kitami." His voice was calm, yet it carried the weight of a final judgment.
His gaze swept toward Imari Kurumi, Minase Aoi, and Shiraki Rie, who were standing by with "firm" eyes.
"It's your turn, the 'Core Hubs.' Dedicate your everything to this final ritual."
Under Saeki Kaori's fanatical gaze and Reika Kitami's desperate watch, Kanjuro began the "sacrifice" of the last three core "offerings" right in front of Kitami.
When the final contract was reached in the most primitive and darkest way, the "sense of mission" and "trust" constructed by lies in the eyes of Imari, Minase Aoi, and Shiraki Rie finally shattered completely, turning into endless emptiness and silence. Their life and soul essence, along with the power of the thousand people gathered earlier, were completely ignited and refined at this moment, turning into three brilliant yet desperate pillars of light that crashed into Reika Kitami's body and the crystal coffin below!
"No—!!!" Reika Kitami let out a heart-wrenching scream, but her voice was completely drowned out by the massive energy fluctuations.
The light swallowed everything.
When those three desperate pillars of light, formed by the distortion and ignition of the purest "trust," "reliance," and "sacrifice," carrying the majestic life torrent of a thousand women, completely poured into Reika Kitami's body and the crystal coffin, an indescribable, blazing intense light erupted inside the entire barrier, as if a dark sun were being born here!
Reika Kitami felt as if she had been thrown into the core of a cosmic furnace. Countless strange and fresh life forces surged, boiled, and reorganized wildly in her withered meridians and decaying soul! It wasn't a gentle healing, but a violent and overbearing process that crushed every one of her cells and then reshaped them! The pain exceeded the limit, yet it was strangely accompanied by an unprecedented, filling "vitality." She seemed to hear the unconscious murmurs, heartbeats, and breathing of countless girls in their dreams... Their life paths were forcibly tied to hers in this cruel way.
At the same time, at the brightest point of the light, at the top of the barrier's firmament, a huge book, with a cover that seemed cast from solidified darkness and star fragments, slowly emerged—it was the true body of the dark bible! It emitted a dark aura that was infinitely purer and more ancient than the copy in Kanjuro's hand, as if it were the source of all distortion and fall. The pages moved without wind, and forbidden truths originating from the dark side of the universe flowed upon them.
"It appeared! The true Holy Scripture!" Saeki Kaori was so excited she almost fainted. She gazed at that scripture obsessively, thinking this was the ultimate goal she had pursued all her life, the "truth" Kanjuro had promised her.
Yui Yuigahama, Yukinoshita Yukino, and Miura Yumiko stood quietly to the side. They watched their father's demonized figure gradually retract in the light, returning to that familiar, handsome human appearance, their gazes complex and difficult to discern. They were those in the know and also participants. The blood connection and long-term obedience made them unable to resist, but the scene before them, which surpassed imagination, still left an indelible mark in their hearts.
Kanjuro ignored the true dark bible in the sky as if it were just an insignificant background. He walked straight to his three daughters and opened his arms, gently pulling them into his embrace. His embrace was still warm, but it carried a hint of the non-human coldness that had just dissipated.
"It's over," he whispered in their ears, his voice calm and rippleless.
Just as his voice fell, another change occurred!
The huge barrier covering the playground shattered silently like a popped bubble. The true body of the dark bible in the sky trembled slightly and quietly faded into the void as if it had never appeared, disappearing without a trace.
The light dissipated.
Reika Kitami slowly sat up from the crystal coffin with a hint of unbelievable daze. She looked down at her hands—her skin was smooth and full, brimming with youthful vitality. The sense of decay and intense pain that had plagued her for eighteen years had vanished without a trace, replaced by an unprecedented, surging vitality! She... was really "saved"? In this way that she most despised and resisted?
But something that made her, and everyone else, feel even more hair-raising happened—
On the playground, the nearly one thousand girls who were originally lying all over the place in a deep coma now, as if they had received a silent command, stood up slowly in unison! Their eyes were hollow, their faces expressionless, like puppets controlled by invisible threads. They silently picked up their scattered clothes and mechanically dressed themselves. The entire process was silent, as if the thrilling plunder and sacrifice just now were merely a vague, negligible dream to them. After finishing all this, they began to leave the playground silently and orderly like a tide, returning to their respective classrooms or dormitories, as if they were just dispersing after attending an ordinary collective activity.
Within a few minutes, the entire playground returned from extreme chaos and fall to a strange, spine-chilling "normalcy."
Imari Kurumi, Shiraki Rie, and Minase Aoi also woke up one after another. They looked around blankly. Their bodies seemed fine, and they even felt energetic, but the memories of the specific process of the ritual in their minds were a mess, leaving only some broken fragments about "jointly fighting evil" and "making sacrifices" instilled by Kanjuro, along with a mysterious sense of emptiness. They looked at each other, and all saw an incomprehensible helplessness in each other's eyes.
"What happened... was the ritual... successful?" Imari murmured to herself.
Kanjuro looked at all this indifferently as if everything was under control. He let go of his three daughters and his gaze finally landed on Reika Kitami, who had just been reborn but was full of shock and daze.
"You see, Kitami," his tone carried a nearly cruel calmness, "I said I would save you. Now, you have a new life, a brand new, vibrant life. And those 'contributors,' they won't remember specifically what happened; they'll just feel like they had a dream, and life will continue as usual. No one was 'truly' harmed, were they?" He lightheartedly twisted a monstrous crime into a "no-one-was-harmed" salvation.
Reika Kitami looked at his face, which was still handsome but seemed incredibly strange at this moment, and a chill surged from the depths of her soul. He had achieved his goal in the darkest way, yet erased all traces, letting the crime disappear under the surface of "normalcy." This was more terrifying than simple destruction.
Just then, Saeki Kaori let out a breakdown-like scream!
"No—! The Scripture! Where is the true dark bible?! Where did it go?!" She searched around frantically, lunging toward the place where the Bible had just emerged, but only caught a handful of air. She finally realized that from beginning to end, she was just a pawn being used! Kanjuro never intended to share any truth with her; he was just using her to gather the offerings and complete his goal of saving Kitami! That true Bible might have just been a phantom temporarily drawn out by Kanjuro's power from the start, or perhaps it simply didn't deign to stay here.
"You lied to me! Kanjuro! You've been lying to me all along!" Saeki Kaori was like a madwoman, pointing at Kanjuro, her eyes filled with the despair and madness of being completely betrayed.
Kanjuro only gave her a cold glance, as if he were looking at a noisy insect.
"Lied to you?" He gave a light laugh. "I gave you the chance to touch the extraordinary, let you experience the taste of power, and also let you participate in this... great 'redemption.' As for the rest, it was all your own wishful thinking."
His words were like a final sentence, shattering all of Saeki Kaori's illusions. She slumped on the ground, lost and dejected. The blow brought by the collapse of her faith was far more painful to her than death.
Sunlight once again filled the playground, dispelling the haze of the night and illuminating this land that had just experienced a silent catastrophe. Students were still walking and talking in the distance, as if nothing had happened.
Only a few insiders stood in the middle of the empty playground, feeling this false peace and "happy" ending built upon the "dreams" of a thousand plundered women.
Kitami gained a new life but was burdened with an eternal moral shackle; Kanjuro achieved his goal and his power grew further; while Imari, Shiraki, and Minase Aoi continued their manipulated lives in chaotic memories and emptiness; Saeki Kaori completely fell into the abyss of madness and despair.
A grand dark ritual came to an end in such a seemingly "peaceful" yet actually more distorted and suffocating way.
And the true shadow had already been deeply planted into the destiny of everyone involved, never to dissipate.
Kitami looked at Kanjuro with an incomprehensible gaze. She was alive, and Kanjuro hadn't committed any act of harming others. Was this still the Kanjuro she knew?
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