Demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters-they haunt the shadows, feeding on mortal fear.Lu Sheng was an ordinary civil servant living a mundane modern life-until a drunken haze stole him away to a brutal world ruled by dark forces. Here, terrifying supernatural beings prey on the helpless, and mortals are trapped beneath a suffocating veil of dread.But fate deals Lu Sheng a strange hand: a mysterious game mod he once designed in his past life awakens within him, granting the power to instantly master any skill-if he's willing to pay the price.Thrown into a nightmare where survival is a constant battle, Lu Sheng must harness this deadly gift and walk the razor's edge between salvation and damnation. His journey to power begins-along the perilous path of the Devil.-------

Taleria's Notes

Hello everyone!This is a translated novel. I do not own the original content—I simply love reading and wanted to share that passion with others. I've translated and rewritten parts of it to make the reading experience more enjoyable. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did working on it!

This story follows Mizuha’s daily life at her new high school, including her friendships and the challenges she faces. It also features the stories of her friends, exploring their backgrounds and past experiences.

Haii everyone. First of all, I hope you enjoy(ed) reading this story.

I got to this idea after watching the animes Another and Erased (also my inspiration for this story) and decided to write a horror story. It was also kind of a challenge with me and a friend to write a good horror story!Enjoy it (Read it at your own pace *sob*) <33

There was once a man who watched himself die — and said nothing.

He saw the blood, the silence, the end that should not have come. He buried it beneath purpose. Buried it beneath names not his own, blades drawn in defense of strangers, and the hope that maybe he could outrun what was already written.

But the scars remain. So do the ruins.

Across fractured skies and dying dimensions, groups gather. They don’t trust each other. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

But something hunts the remnants of broken worlds.

Something old. Something made.

In the ashes of collapsing realms, ancient machines stir and gods remain silent. And when the walls fall — when the line between past and future folds into itself — the man who watched himself die may have to decide if saving others means letting himself disappear entirely.

This is the story of when the stars went quiet… and the echoes began to speak.

Prologue

The sight of body after body streaming down from hundreds of conveyor belts all over the country as they enter the processor, then flowing into and filling giant tubes of the centrifuge for organelle purification has been nothing less than a nightmare. As a distinguished O.R.E. inspector with the highest level of clearance unknown to the public, I’ve had to visit and become part of various projects on black sites all over the continent. The numbing and constant desensitization is the least disturbing aspect of my job. After we turn on the centrifuge, we separate pieces of the organelles into fragments; the purified remains are used as samples for genetic splicing- -for the elites- -while the rest is for the creation of clean chemical energy C.C.E., which is the crucial component to the public as organic renewable energy or so-called, O.R.E.

A little over 250 years ago, around the 2050s' the world was divided into 195 countries, and their leaders and policies governed each. At the time, there were world superpowers: The United States of America, located in North America, Russia, and China were both located in Asia; they were the top three countries with a formidable military, economy, international alliances, and political influence. Other honorable mentions, such as Germany and The United Kingdom, are still around today and continue to reside in Europe. As you know today, six continents with countries within their borders still exist, but after the last World War, not many countries had much of a choice; they had to align themselves with one of the five superpowers. Most countries chose to side with the United States or China, some sided with Russia, and the remainder either went neutral or found themselves part of Germany or The United Kingdom.

As of today, in 2301, only one world government controls the world. The UN disbanded, and then a year later, Russia and China cyberattacked the United States, knocking out the entire power grid. Washington D.C. was the first location to get its power back up and running, and then the tech giants in San Francisco managed to be the first city. The top tech companies rebuilt and fortified every military, bank, and government firewall nationwide. Working on powering and protecting New York City was crucial due to the Stock Market plummeting. Individuals and companies lost so much money, and those who didn’t have cash were hopeless. The banks had no control or access to facilitate any form of business. Credit and Debit cards held no value anymore, plastic mementos with random numbers that used to mean something.

By the time the Stock Market was fully functional, which took 33 days, almost 10 million people committed suicide after 14 days, then another 40 million by the 30th day; in total, a little over 50 million people took their own lives. In Chicago and Los Angeles, grocery stores were raided, mass shootings skyrocketed, and homes/apartments were burned to ashes after the cash, food, and weapons were stolen. Several citizens in the cities throughout the country followed suit, and almost 100 million people fell victim to heinous crimes; at least 70 million people were killed before the military became involved. The police did as much as they could, but with their reputation in the eyes of the public tarnished, the amount of respect and authority dwindled after a couple of weeks.

Almost half of the United States population was decimated before the terrorist attacks on American soil. The country was in shambles, cities were burning, and the streets were littered with debris and the bodies of innocent victims. Unfortunately for China and Russia, the Allies joined forces. The alliance, which was formed during World War II emerged once again, but this time, they came in to assist and save the United States. The previous allied countries, the United Kingdom and France came together with Germany and Japan, the former Axis powers. Germany and Japan replaced Russia and China in this War and vice versa. Japan had boots on the ground in China 54 days after the cyberattacks, taking over the island of Hainan and then destroying a significant amount of their navy in Zhanjiang. As the Japanese continued their strike, the French, British, and Israeli Air Forces flew into Belarus and bombed their military bases out of existence. This is where Germany would take their tanks, artillery, and infantry into Ukraine as they made their way to Moscow. The Ukrainian Army gave as much help as possible even after the war with Russia. At the same time, the Polish armed forces sent their troops into Belarus to prevent any aid or communications with the Russian Military.

Once Belarus was out of play, the German and Ukrainian Forces began their march into Moscow. As they fought and gained ground,  making their way into the Capital, The British and the French Air Force got more reinforcements, ammo, and fuel in Belarus. After Poland had taken control, they helped clear the way for the German and Ukrainian infantry. Moscow was under the control of the Allies within days. Japan was doing everything it could to keep control of both naval bases, but they were fighting a losing battle. As they were retreating to regroup, then sending in a second wave to finish the job, Tawaiin’s navy showed up, giving the Japanese forces a massive boost in morale to propel them to take control over both Hainan and Zhanjiang, crippling China’s Naval Forces.

From that point forward, all the Allies needed was time and patience after a couple of years of fighting against the Axis powers. They were overwhelmed, and eventually, the confiscation of nuclear weapons gave their leaders nothing to threaten the world with; a treaty between the Allies and Axis powers was agreed upon and signed with several conditions, which took over 30 days to finalize. It seemed like for a few years, the world held its breath, waiting for the same countries to revolt and abandon the terms and conditions of the treaty, but for the next century, everything stayed the same. The world will always need opposition if there is only peace and no war. We will be left with nothing if there is only war and no peace. A balance, one way or another, must be sought and protected at all costs.

As the years passed, A.I. had taken over the world completely, but not in the way we all thought. Some robots became sentient, while others were confined by the strict boundaries that lie within their coding. As a species, we thrived even more than anyone could have imagined. Many of us, possibly the entire human race, had their bets on AI destroying and siphoning our lives from us for their benefit or vindication. Don’t get me wrong, several years were stained by the blood of men, women, children, and the essence of sentient beings, but in the end, the AI and humans created a symbiotic relationship that saved Earth and everything that had life from within. As more time passed, our civilization grew to a point where the world needed one governing body, one with humans and AI as one, making everything under the sun, shine as bright as the stars above when it sets.

A century has passed, and with the evergrowing success of our world government, EROS, we’ve performed what people a few hundred years ago would call miracles. Our civilization has colonized the Moon and reached undiscovered planets near the edges of the Milky Way and distant planets we could only see through telescopes of the highest caliber. Advanced forms of energy do not take and destroy the life filling our ecosystems but provide them with the resistance to elements that once plagued them. The life expectancy of humans has risen to almost 150 years of age. Diseases come and go because cures and treatments are so advanced that the deadliest illnesses and pandemics haven’t existed since the late 21st century. Hunger, the starving of nations and their people has almost vanished entirely. Technology flourishes like a plant that has control over the sun and provides its own warmth, waters that feed the soil where it grows, and the earth where the roots dig into building a foundation strong enough never to perish.

Fifty years after the cataclysmic Second Jewel War, the Land of Spade has flourished under the legacy of Kaipo Kasumi, its once-fractured realms now united in an era of peace. But peace is a double-edged sword, for in the shadows of tranquility, a new and insidious evil stirs—one that threatens to unravel everything the heroes of old fought for. As dark forces emerge from the cracks of a fragile peace, the next generation of mages must rise to confront an adversary unlike any before. Will they uphold the legacy of their predecessors, or will the weight of history crush them? The fate of five universes rests in their hands, and their journey will test not only their power but the very essence of who they are.PS: If you haven't read previous series of The Land of Spade, it's totally fine! You don't have to be caught up and can read this as a totally new story, because that's what it is!Edit (01.30.2025) - Here are the current STORY ARCS!!!Chapters 1-24 -The Gathering Shadows ArcChapters 33-47 -The Shattered Council ArcChapters 55-72 -The War of Fort Vigilance ArcChapters 73-Current -The Sentient Arc

A new adventure begins! Alissia and the Supreme Primordials depart from Earth, guided by a mysterious escort, while those left behind face their own challenges. Embark on an exhilarating journey with the Primordials as their universe unfolds in an epic new saga!

Book Two (Part Four): A Kingdom and its ‘Six Villages' in confusion relies on the assistance of the 'Demon Witch', Lady Rai, as their 'Imperial Hero and Ruler'. This is the story of how their 'Demon Ruler' changed and maliciously 'saved' these two hidden villages across the 'Eastern Ocean' and beyond the 'Rusty Gate'...in a strange way, again.

One of the oldest legends ever told is the war of crimson blood. The battle of the vampires and hunters that echoed through 500 years into history and the crimson Stone that followed.

After a misunderstanding with her boyfriend, Summer falls asleep with a heavy heart—only to wake up in the year 1770. Gone are the city lights and noise; in their place is a quiet village… and Dominador, a mysterious man with kind eyes and a calming presence.

As Summer navigates this strange world, she begins to question what’s real: the past she’s fallen into or the present she left behind.

Will she return to fix what was broken… or stay where her heart feels whole?

Some dreams feel too real—others, maybe, are meant to be lived.

Eliza or Liz, a highschool student of the prestigious Colegio Metropolitana de San Pablo, becomes an altar server like her love, Bennett. As Bennett disappears and with the mysteries happening around school, will she ever find him?

WARNING: INCLUDES MILD PROFANITY AND VIOLENCE.

UNDERTALE, in the shape of the roblox game… HOURS?

Long ago, two groups ruled over Earth: Hosts, and Enemies. One day, war broke out between the two groups. After a long battle, the Hosts were victorious. They sealed the Enemies underground with a magic spell.

Many years later...

[MT. Resident.]

Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.