She was being hunted down, so she became a magical girl.

"Huff... Huff..."

The cult leader scrambled into the secret room, locked the door, and his fear only grew stronger.

He gasped for breath, looked at the dark red stain on the floor in the center of the secret room, and gave a sorrowful laugh.

"Why...did I get involved with that kind of monster?"

"She clearly doesn't know anything."

The red-eyed woman didn't have a brain-computer interface installed, so naturally she couldn't use a prosthetic body.

However, her speed and strength clearly met the standards of a prosthetic body, easily overcoming the defenses of the Gifted Cult.

Adding the two together, we can only arrive at one conclusion.

She is a magical girl.

Years ago, when he first heard the name "Dead Sea" from before the Blackwater Gang was founded, he thought the Dead Sea had gone mad from watching cartoons.

But after he met with the Lord of the Night and received His blessing, the cult leader understood—

Magical girls do exist.

Moreover, they are the common enemy of all Doomsday believers.

More than a hundred years ago, gods from beyond the realm descended upon the world.

He recruited apostles, created evil beasts, and intended to conquer the world.

Then, just like in the anime, a group of girls stood up to stop Him, and in the final battle, both sides were badly injured.

The gods from beyond the realm were destroyed by the magical girls, and the magical girls' top combat power was also wiped out. Human civilization was ultimately destroyed by out-of-control evil beasts, and several city-states, such as the City of Hell, were eventually built on the ruins.

After the gods fell, magical girls gradually disappeared. Only a very few magical girls remain in the entire city of He, belonging to the Heavenly Will Group, but they have not forgotten the blood feud from a hundred years ago.

Once they discover that someone in the Doomsday Cult truly possesses power bestowed by the gods, they will do everything in their power to kill them.

This is also why the cult leader, despite possessing divine power, always resorts to tricks like blue smoke and hacking techniques to feign divine abilities.

The pain continued to emanate from my injured arm.

The cult leader concentrated his mind and mobilized the power within his body.

Invisible needles and threads stitched up the wound on his arm according to his wishes. In no time, the bullet hole disappeared, leaving only a shallow scar.

This was a blessing bestowed upon him by the Lord of the Night many years ago.

He was stabbed several times by his enemies, and it was the Dead Sea that completed the bestowal ceremony for him, allowing him to survive.

He never held another investiture ceremony in all those years afterward.

He worried that receiving too many blessings would attract the attention of magical girls and lead to a tragic end.

But things are different now. The magical girl has come knocking on his door, and he has no chance of survival if he holds the bestowal ceremony immediately.

"The Great Lord of Never Sleeps."

He walked to the center of the dark red mark—the blessed magic circle—covered his face with his hands, and only exposed his eyes to the air.

Although the posture is strange, it is required by the ritual.

"You are the King of Fear, the Source of Dreams, the Ruler of Calamities in This World, and the Respected Father of the Million Sleepless People."

"I beg for your glance as your loyal servant."

"I pray for your blessing, that you may help me fight my enemy—"

The leader's voice abruptly stopped just as the ritual prayer was being recited.

He looked at his body in horror; all the scars on his body were now burning with pain, and reddish-purple pus was seeping from them.

The pus-stained skin swelled rapidly and quickly developed into a purple sarcoma.

He screamed in terror, but due to the changes in his body, he couldn't make a sound.

In a daze, he heard a voice that seemed to come from a distant dream.

"Defeat the great enemy, and the curse will be lifted."

Kill the magical girl, kill that red-eyed magical girl.

The cult leader's murderous intent occupied half of his mind.

The other half is the thirst for fresh flesh and blood.

......

"They're back."

The third attempt to break into the dark corridor failed.

Xu Ting looked at the scene before her with distress. Every time she tried to enter the cult leader's hiding place, there was only one path to take, and following that path to the end would always lead her back to the beginning of the dark corridor.

Helpless, she left the corridor and looked at the cult members in the basement.

The cultists affected by EMP gradually awoke, and their reactions upon awakening were all the same: they launched an attack on Xu Ting.

Xu Ting responded in the same way, activating the magic power within his body, glaring at them, and ordering them to stop.

Those who become cult members are mentally fragile individuals, and they have already met the condition of being "in fear" by inhaling blue smoke that induces fear.

Therefore, Xu Ting's innate magic "Eye of Fear" can be used on them, forcibly issuing commands to them.

However, there was an unexpected incident.

Luo Ruowei's mother.

She showed no fear of Xu Ting, but instead went on a rampage, hurling insults at everyone.

She insulted Xu Ting, attacked the cult leader, and disrupted the ritual that could resurrect her husband;

He insulted Luo Ruowei and Luo Ruoshan for being ungrateful and insisting on resisting the etiquette system, which also attracted the hateful Xu Ting.

He insulted other believers for their poor performance in battle, saying that even though he was bathed in God's protection, he easily lost to a little girl.

He had insulted Luo Ruolan, calling her a coward, but she was so frightened by Xu Ting's words that she lay prostrate on the ground, too afraid to move...

Xu Ting couldn't stand her any longer, so he ordered several followers to tie her up and gag her.

Just when Xu Ting thought this would calm things down for a while, she saw him causing trouble again as soon as she stepped out of the corridor.

She actually knelt on the ground with the chair on her back and started banging her head against the ground, as if this would demonstrate her fierceness and indomitable spirit.

Because Xu Ting only ordered Luo Mu to be tied up, the few believers who tied her up did not stop her.

This is also a major limitation of the Eye of Fear.

Those controlled by the Eye of Fear will lose their initiative and can only mechanically carry out the orders arranged by Xu Ting.

Just like Luo Ruoshan, who had followed Xu Ting closely before, Xu Ting only said "Come with me," so all he did was follow her.

"Luo Ruoshan, go and take your mother aside and let her calm down."

Xu Ting was utterly helpless, so she had no choice but to entrust this task to the only person she could trust on the field.

Unlike the cultists controlled by the Eye of Fear, Luo Ruoshan genuinely stood by Xu Ting's side.

After successfully transforming, Xu Ting's innate magic no longer went out of control, and he would no longer accidentally turn Luo Ruoshan into a human-machine controlled by the Eye of Fear.

Upon hearing Xu Ting's words, Luo Ruoshan nodded heavily.

He looked at his older sister, who was still asleep on the high platform, at his younger sister, who was trembling with fear on the ground, and at his mother, who was tied to a stool and was frantically hitting the ground.

Then, a heavy step was taken.

After settling the troublesome Luo's mother, Xu Ting asked the crow again:

"Is there really no way to kill him before the cult leader converts?"

"You should have the ability to break the spatial distortion, right?"

The crow shook its head:

"The cult leader is the core of the spatial distortion; the closer you get to him, the more severe the distortion becomes."

"I can break through the outer distortion to let you escape with your people, but I can't break through the inner distortion to let you get close to him."

"After all, my current strength is still too weak."

"Once you become stronger, and I make a few more magical girls under my contract, I will be able to do what you want me to do now."

He's just making empty promises to me again...

Xu Ting was about to speak when she suddenly sensed an evil aura emanating from the deep corridor.

Without the crow's explanation, she could understand what this meant from her own instinctive hostility.

"It seems the transformation is complete."

Xu Ting and Crow said in unison.