"Rumble!"
Between the towering buildings, a massive swarm of tentacles surged forward like a tidal wave. Their target was incredibly clear: the three girls running desperately ahead—Ye Shiyu, Spencer, and Sakuramiya Hitomi.
"Hah... hah..."
Spencer sprinted anxiously with Sakuramiya Hitomi on her back. While Spencer herself wasn't even out of breath yet, Sakuramiya Hitomi's arms ached from struggling to hold onto her shoulders, leading the girl to pant uncontrollably.
'This won't work. We can't keep going like this. We'll never outrun these tentacles...'
Sakuramiya Hitomi glanced back at the rapidly approaching tide of tentacles, then at the towering structures beside them. She hastily cried out,
"Ye Shiyu! Spencer! Run inside!!"
"Awoo!"
Hearing the instruction, Spencer, who was running just beneath her, was the first to react.
However, just as Ye Shiyu, who had been running ahead, tried to turn her head upon hearing the shout, a massive cluster of tentacles ca howling from the front to flank them.
"Swoosh!"
With a sudden, violent downward snatch, the tentacles directly grabbed hold of Ye Shiyu before she could even react.
"!!"
Feeling a sudden tingling numbness where the tentacles touched her, Ye Shiyu's pupils shrank, shifting into a deep, eerie purple.
In the next second, the passive ability of her Index Finger activated, instantly biting through and severing the tentacles entangled around her body.
But just as the Index Finger feasted on the severed appendages, more and larger tentacles rushed in from all sides, swarming toward the already captured Ye Shiyu in endless waves.
One snapped off, and another imdiately took its place. An entire section was bitten away, only for another to replace it...
"Mmph!!"
As more and more tentacles wrapped around her, Ye Shiyu bit her lip, her complexion inevitably flushing crimson.
'It's the Superconductor Mode...'
With the multiplying tentacles, the Superconductor effect further weakened Ye Shiyu's will to resist. The Index Finger's frantic biting gradually slowed to a crawl.
Eventually, Ye Shiyu's body went limp. Her head drooped as she was thoroughly swallowed by the tentacles, vanishing without a trace.
"Ye Shiyu!!"
From Spencer's back, Sakuramiya Hitomi could not help but cry out as she watched Ye Shiyu completely disappear into the writhing mass.
Hearing her voice, Spencer subconsciously halted her steps, wanting to look back.
That single mont of hesitation was all it took. A tentacle shot out from a deviously hidden angle and instantly coiled around her ankle.
"Ouch!!"
Spencer stumbled and crashed hard into the ground. The montum threw Sakuramiya Hitomi off her back, sending the girl tumbling across the floor.
"Ugh... Sp... Spencer..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi had a fragile constitution. The heavy fall hurt so much that she could not get up for a long while.
However, when she finally lifted her head, the sight before her filled her with absolute terror.
The tide-like tentacles had already bound Spencer's limbs. No matter how much she unleashed her Golden Bull Great Strength, she could not break free and was frantically dragged backward...
Spencer gritted her teeth, her small face scrunched up in agony. It was clear she was suffering imnsely under the tornt of the Superconductor.
Despite supposedly having one hundred percent Resistance, she was now steadily losing ground to the pervasive Pleasure Manipulation that clung to her like a gangrenous sore. Gritting her teeth, she barely managed to pry her azure eyes open to look at Sakuramiya Hitomi.
"R-run quickly, awoo!"
"..."
Sakuramiya Hitomi's eyes widened, her heart practically stopping.
When she saw Spencer being dragged away, the very first thought that crossed Sakuramiya Hitomi's mind was:
'Spencer only got caught because she was carrying . I have to save her.'
'But...'
At this mont, her heart felt utterly crushed by fear.
It was not just the fear of the terrifying tentacles before her, but the traumatic mory of the near-tearing agony she experienced the last ti she unleashed her Room Barrier in the open air.
She never wanted to experience that kind of suffering a second ti.
Besides, her weakened body did not permit her to make any other choices.
"..."
Thus, Sakuramiya Hitomi sat on the ground, staring blankly as Spencer was dragged further and further away.
In the next second, without looking back, she mustered every ounce of strength she had and sprinted toward the indoor shopping mall.
"Hah... hah..."
"Slither-slither!!"
Behind her, the foul, blood-scented wind that had swept Spencer away refused to let things go, following closely on her heels.
It was just about to catch up to the agonizingly slow Sakuramiya Hitomi...
"Boom!"
Suddenly, lightning roared and crackled across the sky above.
Inside the Skytree, positioned high in the sky, An Le squeezed her eyes shut from the blinding flash of the lightning striking so close to her.
In that brief mont when An Le closed her eyes and lost her field of vision, the tentacles behind Sakuramiya Hitomi froze in place.
Taking advantage of the lightning flash and the tentacles' montary loss of control, Sakuramiya Hitomi finally dashed into the indoor shopping mall.
She anxiously searched for a confined room to deploy her Room Barrier, but glancing around, she only saw semi-open storefronts. Where could she find an enclosed room?
Just as Sakuramiya Hitomi pursed her lips, feeling her soul practically leave her body in terror, her gaze was drawn to a row of storage lockers placed near the mall's entrance.
"Slither!"
Without a shred of hesitation, she sprinted straight toward the lockers.
"Clack!"
The lockers were originally intended for travelers to temporarily store suitcases and other large luggage. Using one to fit a human was incredibly cramped.
Even with soone as petite as Sakuramiya Hitomi, she could only manage by curling her body tight and hugging her knees to squeeze inside.
Standing before the narrow locker, Sakuramiya Hitomi ducked down and wedged herself in, then peeked outside.
"Slither-slither!!"
The tsunami-like wave of tentacles ca crashing toward her, forcing Sakuramiya Hitomi to grit her teeth, squeeze her eyes shut, and violently slam the locker door closed.
At the sa ti, she activated her Room Barrier.
"Crack-crack-crack!!"
All around her, the already dark and cramped space grew even pitch-black.
It felt exactly like that wardrobe back at the Sakuramiya main residence, where she had been locked inside for an entire day and night many years ago.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
From outside the tightly shut door ca the sound of frantic, relentless slamming, as if malicious demons were pounding on the tal.
Inside the narrow, dark space, Sakuramiya Hitomi didn't dare look up. She simply squeezed her eyes shut and hugged her knees even tighter,
"Bang, bang... bang..."
The pounding grew quieter until it vanished entirely.
Yet, curled up into a tight ball inside the locker, Sakuramiya Hitomi remained completely motionless, terrified to move even a single inch.
She simply buried her head deep into her arms, her body trembling as she gasped for breath,
"Sob..."
Inside the Skytree, An Le narrowed her eyes. Through the extended field of vision from her tentacles, she stared at that locker door, which remained tightly sealed and seemingly indestructible no matter how fiercely it was battered...
Eventually, she directed her tentacles to slowly withdraw from the shopping mall.
At that mont, An Le recalled the words Sakuramiya Hitomi had spoken to her earlier.
'Never mind. Vice President Sakuramiya's situation is a bit different from the other Modifier Hosts.'
'Since that's the case...'
An Le shifted her gaze aside. Through her tentacles, she saw the unconscious, utterly defeated figures of Ye Shiyu and Spencer.
'There's still one more...'
'Bai Yi.'
An Le narrowed her eyes, peering at the street entirely overrun by her countless tentacles, yet showing no particular emotion.
Because Bai Yi was nothing to worry about.
Although the girl could activate Indifference and effectively freeze ti, An Le's tentacles had already carpeted the entire street.
Even if she could stall for ti, there was nowhere to run.
"..."
Sure enough, as ti slowly trickled by, a beautiful silhouette gradually materialized among the endless sea of tentacles in An Le's vision.
Without even sparing a proper glance in that direction, An Le instantly commanded the countless appendages to pounce.
"Boom!"
"Ugh..."
After a loud crash, amidst the billowing dust, Bai Yi was suspended in the air by countless tentacles, her head hanging limply.
And just like that, aside from Sakuramiya Hitomi, the other three Modifier Hosts had been entirely suppressed.
"Phew, finally..."
Seeing this, An Le, who had single-handedly steamrolled the entire battlefield in a one-versus-four, finally let out a sigh of relief.
All of Tokyo seed to fall silent. Only the rumbling thunder hidden within the clouds and the howling wind battering the windows of the Skytree remained.
"Tock~"
Before the window, Little Finger stared blankly out at the dim, gloomy expanse of Tokyo. It turned its head in sheer disbelief to look at An Le hovering in mid-air,
"You... you actually did it... You can actually withstand this level of side effects?!"
In Little Finger's widened serpentine eyes, An Le's head was lowered. Her entire body was now covered in snake scales as she gasped faintly for breath.
Little Finger truly could not comprehend where An Le found such imnse desire and endurance...
It was as if she were a black hole of desire, capable of endlessly pouring energy into the Modifier.
At this mont, such an exaggerated mass of tentacles—looming like storm clouds threatening a city—should have required a much longer channeling ti to manifest...
Yet sohow, under An Le's control, an overwhelming volu of tentacles had spawned right from the very beginning.
'An Le, you maniac...'
"Then, let's begin."
However, An Le had absolutely no intention of paying any attention to Little Finger.
With a pale face, suppressing the feeling of nothingness creeping across her body, she lifted her eyes to the three subdued Hosts before her and spoke softly,
"You three... please, relinquish all the Superpowers within your bodies... I'm begging you."
Her ethereal voice traveled instantly through the connected tentacles, reaching Spencer, Ye Shiyu, and Bai Yi.
Under the effects of the Superconductor Mode and the infused pleasure, her words carried an irresistible, magical weight.
It wasn't an order, but rather a form of gentle, thodical persuasion.
Only, amplified by the Superconductor, that persuasion acted like a potent poison, making it utterly impossible to refuse.
"Sob... I... I gi... I give up..."
Lacking any backbone whatsoever, Bai Yi squeezed her eyes shut and yielded the mont An Le spoke.
The instant she spoke those trembling words, an illusory croak of a toad echoed in response from within her body.
"Croak~"
A colossal, phantom image of a toad was painfully peeled away inch by inch. Its fragnted form was dragged out of Bai Yi's body by a supre, formless Great Power.
"Tock~"
Seeing this, An Le breathed a sigh of relief before turning to look at Spencer, whose eyes were shut tight.
"Spencer..."
"Mmh..."
Spencer had been struggling, but upon hearing An Le's ghost-like voice, she imdiately pressed her lips together.
Guilt, self-bla, and helplessness surged into her heart all at once, compelling her to speak,
"I... I'm sorry, awoo, An Le... I..."
"..."
"I... I give up... awoo."
"Crack-crack-crack!!"
The mont Spencer uttered those words, a massive, illusory phantom image of a scorpion was similarly dragged out by that supre Great Power.
No matter how unwilling it was or how much it wailed, it was of no use.
"Tock~"
Finally, An Le shifted her gaze to the last Host—Ye Shiyu,
"...Senior Student Ye."
However, unlike the other two, Ye Shiyu seed determined to resist to the bitter end.
No matter how intensely An Le applied the Superconductor, pumped her full of Pleasure, or actively tried to persuade her to surrender, Ye Shiyu remained perfectly still, her eyes firmly shut...
'She just refuses to give up no matter what?'
"..."
Seeing this, An Le narrowed her eyes, abandoning all rcy.
She instantly amplified the sensations injected by the tentacles and pushed the Superconductor Mode to the absolute limit, deciding to break her by sheer force.
She treated Ye Shiyu like a captive strapped to a pillar, blasting her with relentless shockwaves of euphoria.
"Ngh!!"
Ye Shiyu kept her eyes shut tight and gritted her teeth, looking as though she was in agonizing pain...
"I... I..."
Finally, when she could no longer endure it, Ye Shiyu strained to force out the words of surrender from her throat,
"I... I give up..."
"Crack-crack-crack!!"
In an instant, an enormous purple spider was violently squeezed out of her body.
"Tock~"
With the Modifier on the final Host suppressed, An Le gasped for breath and lowered her head.
'And then...'
'There's still .'
An Le took a mont to steady her breathing, looking down at Little Finger, who was staring back up at her.
It gazed blankly at the hovering An Le before sudden realization struck. Its expression shifted drastically, and it imdiately begged for rcy,
"An—An Le! How about we talk this over? I didn't an to lie to you earlier!! I... I was wrong!"
An Le simply shook her head, pursing her lips as she looked at Little Finger.
"Tock~" "From now on, I'll assist you wholeheartedly! I won't have any ulterior motives! Look, the other Hosts are all gone now, so you don't have to worry about a thing! You have self-control, and I promise I won't try to manipulate you ever again..."
An Le continued to shake her head.
"Tock~"
"What... what will it take for you to spare ? I... I'll do whatever you want. Isn't that enough?"
Looking at the panicked and helpless Little Finger, An Le pursed her lips and gave a resigned smile,
"Little Finger, I can't feel anything anymore..."
"Tock~"
"The mont Tentacle Purgatory ends, I... I'll likely disappear. When that happens, you'll still be alive, and you'll just go find another Host, right?"
Little Finger's eyes widened. It truly felt like things had taken a bizarre turn,
"I... you... How do you know everything? When... when did you figure it out?"
Hearing this, An Le offered a foolish, wistful smile,
"Because... you would never genuinely worry about the safety of soone like , right?
"So, earlier, when you tried to stop , it was only because you were afraid I couldn't handle the side effects. If I died, all your efforts would be wasted...
"And now, I'm about to give you up... so you have no choice but to settle for the next best thing. Even if your efforts are wasted, you still want to live. Isn't that right?"
Little Finger stared blankly at An Le, entirely speechless for a mont.
"Tock~"
It wasn't until a long while later that it hung its head, as if all the strength had been drained from its body...
However, before resigning itself to the slaughter, it flicked its tongue and muttered softly, completely devoid of energy,
"...At that ti, I really was worried about your safety... even if only a little bit."
An Le paused slightly at its words, but she soon broke into a beautiful smile,
"I see."
"Tock~"
One person, one snake, fell into a brief silence.
In the next second, An Le finally took a deep breath and lifted her eyes to the sky.
"Little Finger, this is the end... Do a favor and make a few calls for ."
"Mhm."
Knowing it could no longer stop An Le, Little Finger could only comply,
"Who do you want to call?"
"...Mama, I suppose."
"Okay."
Little Finger raised its tail, dialing the number for An Le's mother, before swiftly reappearing on An Le's shoulder.
"Beep~"
"Hello? Lele?"
It was An Le's father who answered.
"Father? Um, where's Mama?"
"Ah... your mother is in the hospital ward. The doctor said her pregnancy is high-risk given her age, so she has to be extra careful. This younger sibling of yours is nothing like how well-behaved you were. They've really been putting your mother through the wringer..."
An Le opened her mouth to speak, but finally let out a helpless smile,
"I see."
"Yeah. Well, Lele, have a good ti in Sakura Country. I... need to go get so food for your mother."
"Okay, Father."
Before An Le could say anything else, Little Finger took the initiative to hang up the phone for her.
"Tock~"
"..."
An Le pursed her lips, but smiled once again as she looked at Little Finger,
"Help make one more call... to Xiao Huan?"
"...Alright."
Little Finger lowered its head and dialed Yan Huan's number.
"Buzz..."
At that exact mont, inside the locker where Sakuramiya Hitomi was hiding, a phone began to vibrate.
Hugging her knees tight, Sakuramiya Hitomi jumped in fright. She looked down at the caller ID displaying the na "An Le", which nearly sent her into cardiac arrest.
"..."
After a second of silence, she gritted her teeth and hung up the call imdiately.
"Beep, beep..."
Little Finger stared blankly at the disconnected call and said awkwardly,
"He didn't answer."
"Tock~"
Looking at the failed call, An Le pursed her lips. She didn't show much disappointnt; she rely closed her eyes.
When she opened them a second later, nothing but pure resolve remained in her gaze,
"Little Finger, I'm... giving you up."
She declared in the very next breath.
"..."
Bizarrely, however, the Little Finger in front of her didn't exhibit any signs of pain. Instead, it seed to freeze entirely, its eyes staring fixedly into the void, utterly motionless.
'What's going on?'
"...Little Finger?"
An Le furrowed her brows, suspecting that Little Finger was trying to pull so sort of trick.
But as she watched, a look of elation slowly crept onto Little Finger's previously vacant face. It murmured,
"Di—Divine Lord..."
'Divine Lord?'
An Le paused, montarily stunned, before she could even react.
Little Finger's expression abruptly stiffened. A mont later, its face contorted into one of agonizing tornt,
"Ahhhhhhh!!"
Its piercing, mournful scream slowly grew distorted, leaving An Le completely at a loss for what to do...
"Tock~"
Right at that mont, an illusory, ceaseless tapping of a wooden fish finally rang clearly in her ears.
"Hum..."
A faint scent of Buddhist incense drifted past, slowly bringing warmth back to An Le's near-ethereal, fading body.
In a daze, the agonized face of Little Finger, the Skytree, and the countless tentacles before her all dissipated into thin air.
Replacing them was a vast, calm expanse of water bathed in golden light...
"Tock~"
An Le looked down in a stupor, realizing she had touched down at so point and was now standing directly on the surface of the water.
Another strike of the wooden fish echoed from behind, prompting An Le to slowly turn her head.
Before her eyes, a Bodhisattva with a kindly, benevolent face sat upon a lotus throne in the center of a grand temple, gazing down at her from above.
The Bodhisattva bore a compassionate expression. One pair of hands was posed to pluck a flower and hold a vase, while from its back sprouted four additional pairs—totaling eight arms in various distinct postures.
Beneath the lotus throne, a wooden white snake with a ferocious face lay twisted, crushed beneath the pink petals, seemingly serving as the pedestal itself.
To the left and right, vertical couplets were inscribed in order:
[Sensual Form Affirms Nirvana; Extre Bliss Originally Arises from the Void.]
[Joyous Union Breeds Wondrous Existence; True Emptiness is Ever Sought Within Desire.]
Directly above, massive golden characters, wreathed in an unclean pink haze, looked ready to swallow An Le whole...
The horizontal scroll read:
[Supre Pure Land]
"Tock~"
An Le stared blankly at the towering... Divine Lord before her, her gaze lingering on the ferocious white snake sculpture beneath His throne.
For a mont, she was completely robbed of speech.
Just then, a gentle, compassionate voice echoed from the depths of her mind,
"Are you confused as to why you failed to give up the Modifier that belongs to you?"
"You..."
The Bodhisattva gazed down at the bewildered An Le and couldn't help but chuckle,
"Even the most brilliant minds are bound to overlook a single detail.
"This is a competition, yet you tried to save Yan Huan from suffering by simply defeating the other contestants...
"Little did you know, all that accomplished was guaranteeing your victory in the ga."
Hearing the Divine Lord's words, An Le's eyes widened. She stared at her own hands in sheer disbelief.
'I...'
'I still failed...'
With that thought, An Le collapsed to her knees as if all the strength had been siphoned from her bones, struggling to breathe.
At that mont, the Divine Lord lowered His head slightly and spoke with profound tenderness,
"I have always been generous to the victors.
"Especially for soone like you—who should never have been a Host to begin with—to claim the ultimate victory. It is truly impressive.
"So, speak your desire to , and I shall fulfill it."
However, despite His grand offer, An Le remained utterly listless, offering no response whatsoever.
"..."
"Everyone who reaches this point possesses an insatiable chasm of desire. Those without such greed could never make it this far. Why pretend to be noble?"
Seeing this, He couldn't help but laugh softly. Gripping the purifying vase, He gently flicked a willow branch.
Droplets of water, swirling with that unclean pink hue, splashed down, blooming into countless vivid images right in front of An Le,
"You went to such extraordinary lengths all for that Yan Huan, did you not?"
"No... I..."
The mont she heard the na "Yan Huan", the lifeless An Le finally showed a sliver of reaction.
She lifted her eyes, only to see Yan Huan already standing right in front of her.
"Rustle... rustle..."
Without a single word, he began to undo his clothes.
Then, he knelt down gently and opened his arms wide to An Le.
"..."
An Le stared at the Yan Huan smiling so warmly at her, yet her eye sockets slowly began to turn red.
anwhile, the Divine Lord's gentle coaxing continued,
"To obtain his body, you didn't even hesitate to drug him. You fought the other Hosts to such a bitter degree, enduring such colossal side effects...
"Now, if you only wish it, he will be yours forever, at your absolute rcy..."
Yet, despite these words, and despite "Yan Huan" striking provocative poses right in front of An Le, the lake water around them remained perfectly calm.
The pool of desire did not ripple in the slightest.
"..."
Looking at An Le, who was rely staring blankly at the illusion of "Yan Huan", the Divine Lord laughed softly again,
"Fascinating..."
He lightly sprinkled water from His vase. From the unclean pink mist, countless forms of carnal and material pleasures surged forth.
In a flash—beautiful n, stunning won, boundless wealth, crowds of groveling worshipers, absolute authority, a divine kingdom...
Numbing euphoria, electrifying excitent, raw addiction...
Everything and anything that could possibly elicit the sensations of lust and desire ca rushing in like a tidal wave.
Surrounding the seated Bodhisattva, it was as if the Heaven of Free Manipulation of Others' Emanations had descended, swirling around An Le, who remained sitting blankly in place.
But no matter how wildly these illusions evolved, the water beneath their feet stayed completely still.
This caused the Divine Lord's hand to subtly stiffen mid-sprinkle.
In the silence, He finally let out a sigh. Leaning forward, He closely examined the young girl who hadn't moved an inch,
"To have made it this far, your desire cannot possibly be this bland..."
"..."
"An Le, tell . What is it you truly crave from Yan Huan? Or perhaps... you do not even know what you want yourself?"
Hearing this, the head-hanging An Le visibly trembled.
After a long silence, she finally began to murmur,
"Before... I truly didn't know. I thought that as long as I could get Xiao Huan's body, it would be enough...
"That's why I drugged him. That's why I went this far for him. It was all in the hope... the hope that I could trade all this effort for his body...
"I thought this was what I wanted. As long as I had Xiao Huan's body, I would be satisfied...
"But it's not like that... It's not..."
As she spoke and lifted her eyes, what the Divine Lord saw was her reddened eye sockets and a face twisted in anguish.
"What I truly want from Xiao Huan...
"Isn't sex. It's love."
The instant An Le spoke those words, a single, crystal-clear tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
It traced slowly down her cheek—a cheek twitching in the throes of tornt and an impossible yearning—before finally dropping downward.
"Drip..."
As that teardrop struck the perfectly placid surface of the lake beneath her...
Instantly, the entire world seed to riot. Surging with torrential power, it roared like a collapsing mountain and a crashing tsunami.
That was...
An Le's true desire.
"Rumble!!"
That terrifying desire cascaded upward through the water, surging straight into the body of the Bodhisattva.
In the very next second, intricate webs of cracks began to spiderweb across His originally benevolent, compassionate face...
"Crack! Crack!"
The Bodhisattva kept His head bowed, but the fissures marring His body only multiplied...
"To think... that the desire that called out to ... is sothing so remarkably awake, so pitifully small, and so incredibly tragic..."
The next second, beneath the deity's still-gentle voice, He slowly sat up straight.
"However, you no longer have a say in the matter... An Le."
"Crack-crack-crack!!"
As He spoke, stretching out from behind the splintering facade of the deity's benevolent visage...
Were soft, writhen white tentacles.
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