"What the hell does 'becoming one' mean!?" Kakeru Ryuen demanded, his voice thick with murderous intent.
The old man laughed. He laughed with great satisfaction and unrestrained joy. "This is exactly what I wanted to tell you! The sheer greatness of Mr. Kamo's research!"
Kenzo Masuyama turned, his eyes wide with fanaticism.
"Mortals cannot see. This was the First Law the notebook revealed to us. So, if a mortal does acquire the ability to see, they must face a terrifying problem: Facing 'Them'."
Masuyama stepped closer to a heavy steel door at the end of the passage. "When mortals can see 'Them', then naturally, 'They' can see the mortals as well. This leads to the Second Law derived from the invisibility of mortals: Mortals cannot touch. If you can't see them, they can't see you. And if you can't see them, you cannot touch them. But..."
Masuyama placed his hand on the heavy door.
"What happens when the First and Second Laws are forcefully broken by a mortal?"
He pushed.
The heavy door swung open, revealing a suddenly expansive scene. It was a high-tech monitoring room. Below them, separated by thick, blast-proof glass, was a sealed containment chamber equipped with heavy explosive deterrents.
Looking down through the glass window, Ryuen felt his breath catch in his throat.
A twisted creature—a massive, tank-sized vat of writhing flesh—was chained to the floor of the sealed room. Barbed, fleshy whips thrashed wildly from its body, slamming against the reinforced walls. A foul, corrosive blood mist was spewing continuously from the monster's gaping, jagged maw.
But that wasn't the most horrifying part.
Embedded across the surface of that pulsating mass of flesh were dozens of faces. Faces that Ryuen recognized.
The elderly members of the Visual God Cult were wailing in agony. It was as if their faces had been sewn alive into the demonic tissue. They were clearly trying to burst forth from the flesh, screaming silently, but their struggles only managed to create grotesque, stretching bulges on the monster's body before being sucked back in.
Ryuen's pupils constricted sharply. His heart seemed to stop.
A monster… a monster previously only seen in the darkest horror movies was now writhing right before his eyes!
Masuyama, however, didn't share Ryuen's horror and repulsion. Instead, he spread his arms wide and pressed his face against the glass in a state of pure ecstasy.
"If the First and Second Laws are broken by mortals, then mortals will become Them!"
Tokyo: The Metropolitan Police Department (Secret Meeting Room)
Dead silence. Oppressive silence.
Minister Daigo Fujiwara slowly removed his glasses, his hands trembling slightly as he wiped the lenses with a silk cloth.
A madman.
And a terrifyingly capable madman at that.
The moment that chilling mass of flesh appeared on the secure video feed broadcasted from Ryuen's hidden camera, Daigo felt as if the blood in his veins had frozen. His hands and feet turned icy.
What First and Second Laws? Utter, insane nonsense!
But the dark side of the world lay before him like irrefutable evidence. It was undeniable. Just looking at the screen, it felt as if forbidden "Knowledge" was forcibly drilling into his mind, threatening his sanity.
How could this be...?
How could this be real!?
However...
Deputy Commissioner Toshio Moroboshi remained completely calm. He sat across from the Minister, casually stroking the feathers of the Black Crow perched on his shoulder.
"Training for a thousand days, using it for one," Moroboshi muttered softly.
At first, Moroboshi had worried that this Cult was backed by another major Supernatural entity. But listening to Masuyama's arrogant speech, he realized the truth.
Turns out, it's just a nobody…
The Metropolitan Police Department already had records of this kind of knowledge. To Moroboshi, Masuyama was just a fool. Only a madman would risk his own life to blindly test these rituals without a powerful supernatural backer. After all, the Supernatural Realm is highly poisonous to mortals.
Simply put, it was the difference between an orthodox "Lineage" and a "Self-Taught" path.
A self-taught occultist, if he makes a mistake, will die a gruesome death or turn into a monster. A Lineage-trained follower, if something goes wrong, has a literal God to shield them from the backlash.
Moroboshi pressed the button on his wireless communicator.
"Target confirmed. The Visual God Cult. All tactical units, move out!"
The calm, decisive command caused Daigo's pupils to dilate instantly. He abruptly turned to look at the high-ranking police officer. In that single instant, a terrifying realization raced through the politician's mind.
"Deputy Commissioner Moroboshi, you… you already knew about this realm?"
Daigo's shocked yet cautious attitude made Moroboshi grin, unable to suppress the smug smile on his lips. As the second-in-command of the MPD, composure was an essential psychological quality, but the absolute dominance of his current position was intoxicating.
Moroboshi's calmness appeared unfathomable and deeply unsettling to Daigo. The Minister suppressed his panic, replacing it with a mixture of surprise and profound uncertainty. His initial eagerness to use this event to seize control of the Metropolitan Police Department vanished instantly.
Instead, a genuine, humble smile appeared on Daigo's face.
"Sir, my Fujiwara family has always treated the Metropolitan Police Department well. We have no ill intentions."
So he couldn't hide his submission anymore... Moroboshi wasn't too surprised.
Moroboshi looked back at the screen, mentally mocking Masuyama.
A self-taught method is still just a self-taught method. Your summary is incomplete. The First and Second Laws had their merits, but they lacked crucial context. It was true that mortals could not see naturally. It was also true that acquiring true "Knowledge" usually required innate Spiritual Vision.
But according to the doctrines provided by Lord Mizunotsuki, once mortals acquired true Knowledge, as long as they firmly believed the supernatural realm existed, they could essentially "see" it without needing innate Spiritual Vision.
However, simply opening one's eyes through forbidden Knowledge was extremely dangerous. It was like playing a psychic game of hide-and-seek halfway through and then suddenly giving up. The danger of natural clairvoyance is controllable—the monsters are unsure if you can truly see them, and as long as they are unsure, they usually ignore you. But if you pierce the veil solely through acquiring forbidden Knowledge, then in their eyes, you glow like a beacon. You become a target.
Of course, these were all low-level supernatural taboos. The Metropolitan Police Department, having witnessed the terrifying grandeur of Lord Mizunotsuki and the Ancient Masters, possessed a much higher perspective.
Stroking the Black Crow on his shoulder, Moroboshi sincerely marveled at the MPD's good fortune. They had chosen the right God to serve.
Meanwhile, Daigo remained silent, his eyes occasionally darting to the Black Crow.
Where did the Metropolitan Police Department obtain this information?
When did they acquire the secrets of supernatural beings?
As his thoughts raced, Daigo finally calmed down. He had many unanswered questions. But seeing Moroboshi's absolute confidence, the scheming words on his lips ultimately turned into a silent sigh of defeat.
The MPD has ascended to an extraordinary level... The Fujiwara family has arrived too late to control them...
Tokyo Outskirts: The Visual God Cult Underground
"BANG!!"
Missed!?
Ryuen was genuinely shocked by Masuyama's reaction speed. He had swung the heavy steel crowbar with all his might, aiming directly for the back of the old man's skull.
But with a ferocious expression, Ryuen wasn't going to let this inhuman bastard go.
Below the glass window, that pathetic, fleshy monster was Ryuen's eternal pain. The twisted faces embedded in the meat were still silently screaming Ryuen's name.
It was as if the old man and the congregation were still alive. Or perhaps, trapped in a state where they couldn't even die. The bizarre, tragic scene made Ryuen feel as if his soul had fallen into an ice cave.
"Hehe... hehehehehehehehehe...!!!"
Masuyama was laughing. Laughing wildly as he effortlessly dodged another swing. His twisted, manic expression was almost identical to the wailing faces on the fleshy mass below.
Even though Ryuen swung the crowbar murderously several times, he couldn't stop the old man's rampant laughter. On the contrary, Ryuen was the one suffering. Masuyama was an elite executive of the Black Organization; even in his old age, his combat experience and physical conditioning were not something a teenage street brawler could easily overcome.
After dodging a particularly vicious thrust, Masuyama kicked Ryuen in the stomach, sending the boy stumbling backward.
After laughing enough, Masuyama looked at the furious, panting Ryuen and explained his masterpiece "kindly."
"Ah... what are you so angry about, little mouse? You should be happy! You should be thanking me!"
Masuyama gestured grandly to the window.
"The ritual couldn't proceed before. No matter what I did, the fusion kept stalling because those stubborn old fools were clinging to their humanity! They were anchoring their souls by thinking about you, their precious little mouse!"
Ryuen froze, his breath hitching.
"But now that you're here?" Masuyama's smile stretched impossibly wide. "They saw you walk into the trap. Their hope shattered. Their anchor broke. Now, the ritual is naturally going smoothly! Look! Thanks to you, they are completely merging! They are becoming one!"
Thanks to me?
To hell with becoming one!
Upon hearing this cruel twist of fate, Ryuen was nearly driven mad.
Only now did he realize that this old devil had intentionally lured him in. It was all designed to make the old Cult Leader and the congregation completely give up their final shred of hope, fulfilling the psychological requirements for the dark ritual!
Gripping the crowbar so tightly his palms began to bleed, only one thought flashed through Ryuen's bloodshot mind:
KILL HIM!!
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