Reika Kitami was pinned down on the cold Stone sarcophagus, her limbs firmly restrained by several female cultists, leaving her without even a margin for struggle...
She turned her head with difficulty, her tear-filled eyes looking toward Kanjuro. Her gaze was a mix of agony and a final sliver of hope, as if pleading for this man, who had once given her warmth, to step in and save her.
However, Kanjuro simply stood silently to the side, his expression terrifyingly calm.
Aozaki Sakuya frowned as she watched the scene, unable to understand why Kanjuro was so composed—
Did he not know the consequences of the sacrifice completing the ritual?
But on second thought, in the face of the President's terrifying strength, Kanjuro was indeed powerless.
The sharp crucifix stabbed ruthlessly into Kitami's fair abdomen. Blood gushed out instantly, blooming into a jarring red against her pure white skin.
Kitami's pupils contracted sharply, and she let out a suppressed cry of pain.
The entire basement suddenly went dark, as if even the light was being swallowed by some kind of power.
Kitami felt her consciousness falling into an endless darkness; her once pure heart, after her body had been defiled by Kanjuro and her soul betrayed by him—
She was completely twisted.
As the blood flowed, surges of black energy billowed out from the wound in her abdomen.
The "dark bible" on the table burst forth with a dazzling black light, and a slimy tentacle slowly reached out from the pages, twisting and dancing in the air.
"Finally... I've finally waited for this moment!" the President shouted fanatically, beginning to chant forbidden incantations.
She was willing to pay any price to exchange souls with Kitami—only a vessel as pure as Kitami could gain the true recognition of the "dark bible."
Kitami's mental world completely collapsed. Kanjuro's cold expression during his betrayal and his heartless act of pushing her into the abyss flashed through her mind scene by scene.
Extreme pain and resentment grew wildly in her heart, and dark energy surged into her body like a tide.
"Ah—!" Kitami let out a heart-wrenching scream. A powerful dark shockwave erupted from her body, blowing away all the female cultists who were holding her down. Even the President was forced back repeatedly by this power.
She slowly sat up, the wound on her abdomen healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Her blood-stained skin shimmered with an eerie luster in the darkness.
Step by step, she walked toward the "dark bible," instinctively longing to merge with that power.
The moment before she touched the bible, she suddenly looked back, her cold gaze piercing straight at Kanjuro.
And Kanjuro actually returned a mysterious smile.
Seeing this, the President hurriedly cast a Mind Control Spell to try and stop her, but at this moment, Kitami was no longer something that mundane power could restrain.
"Get lost." With a casual wave of Kitami's hand, the President was sent flying, crashing into the wall and coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Kanjuro suddenly moved.
He dashed forward swiftly, blocking the path between Kitami and the "dark bible."
"Why did you betray me?" Kitami's voice was as cold as ice.
"Every man for himself, or the heavens will destroy him." Kanjuro shrugged. "You should understand this principle by now, right?"
"You dare to smile even when death is at your doorstep?" Kitami narrowed her eyes.
The President struggled to get up and actually knelt piously on the ground: "Noble Lord, Great Existence, I am willing to become your most loyal slave, Lady Kitami!"
She gazed obsessively at Kitami, whose temperament had changed drastically, her eyes full of fanatical adoration.
Kitami glanced at her contemptuously and gave a casual wave, causing the President's body to float into mid-air.
With a crisp sound of bone snapping, the President's head separated from her body and rolled to the ground, blood staining the stone floor red.
The surviving female cultists trembled in fear, staring in horror at this young girl who had already transformed into a demon.
Kanjuro began to back away slowly.
"You're next, Kanjuro," Kitami sneered as she approached. "Since you pushed me into the darkness, don't think you can get away unscathed."
At this critical moment, Kanjuro suddenly turned and lunged toward the "dark bible."
The black tentacles in the book seemed to sense his arrival and actively reached out to him, while the blood-colored tentacles that were originally on the ceiling tried to block him.
As it turned out, the black tentacles corresponded to the compatibility with Kanjuro, while the blood-colored tentacles corresponded to the compatibility with Kitami—
Kanjuro had seen through this long ago.
Kitami sensed something was wrong and immediately unleashed a blast of dark energy. However—
Kanjuro was already tightly entwined with the black tentacles.
The world suddenly plunged into absolute darkness.
When Kanjuro regained consciousness, he found himself standing in an eerie space that defied description.
This was the crack between time and stillness, the boundary between reality and nightmare. Countless tentacles churned in the void, and various dark creatures beyond human comprehension roamed around.
He stood before a temple composed of distorted geometric structures. Every inch of this building was covered in bloodstains and slime, emitting a nauseating stench of decay.
Severed limbs and internal organs decorated the porch, as if telling the tragic fates of countless victims.
Before him was an incredibly massive door, inlaid with organs that were still beating and bloodshot eyeballs.
Kanjuro took a deep breath and pushed open this door to ultimate horror with force.
Inside the door was a chaotic void, where an entity that constantly changed its form floated.
At times it appeared as a tall, thin figure in a cloak; at other times it transformed into a cloud of black mist shimmering with eerie starlight; finally, it settled into a strange species with a manic grin, smiling at him.
But the malice contained in that smile was enough to make any rational being collapse.
"Welcome, Kanjuro." The entity spoke, its voice sounding like a chorus of thousands of people yet also like the piercing noise of metal scraping. "I am Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos."
Kanjuro felt his sanity crumbling, but he forced himself to stand firm: "You are the source of the 'dark bible'?"
Nyarlathotep let out a hair-raising laugh: "The bible? That is but a toy I discarded at will. You... are very interesting. To not hesitate to betray your loved one for power and to stain a pure thing black—these are exactly the qualities I admire most."
Following the evil god's words, countless pieces of indescribable knowledge were forced into Kanjuro's mind.
He saw the truth of the universe, saw the insignificance of humanity in the grand narrative, and saw countless possibilities for his own future.
"Sign a contract with me, Kanjuro." Nyarlathotep reached out a hand that was constantly changing form. "You will obtain power that transcends the 'dark bible.'"
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