Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

No, considering this is a world of ghost stories, is there something that has been forgotten, overlooked, or a crucial detail that has not been noticed?

{Is that thing targeting us, or you? Is it only watching you? Yotsuya, have you told the owner about this?}

Realizing something was wrong, Hayasaka quickly asked Miko through the mental link, but received no response.

{call……}

All that could be heard through the mental link was the sound of rapid breathing.

For some unknown reason, Miko was gripped by intense fear and seemed to have fallen into a state of mental confusion, to the point that she couldn't even hear her companions calling her name.

The situation is quite bad.

Hayasaka ran down the corridor, continuing to call out to Miko, but still received no clear response.

Buzz-buzz-

Amidst the increasingly piercing alarm, the fully armed black soldiers had vanished. The corridor, once teeming with those eerie soldiers, was now empty, leaving only Hayasaka running around.

When did they disappear?

Why did these things suddenly disappear?

Hayasaka Ai couldn't sense anything approaching, and no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't perceive any threat coming her way.

What should I do?

The girl hesitated for a moment, then looked down at the pistol hanging on her waist.

If there truly exists something I cannot sense, yet Yotsuya can clearly perceive it and it exerts a powerful effect from a great distance, then it must be a strange entity. Only a strange entity with a highly unique and extremely powerful form could possess such characteristics.

Perhaps Yotsuya gathered some information about that thing in the previous loop, leading to an informational connection between them; or perhaps Yotsuya's irrational perception caught her eye with something she shouldn't have been looking at, making her the target. Whatever the reason, the only thing in common is that the tracker isn't human—that's the only certainty.

Well then, let's give it a try.

Hayasaka Ai took a deep breath.

The next moment, a crimson light erupted violently from her body, spreading throughout the corridor in an instant.

This is Chiyo Hachiya's Crimson Domain, a blessing given to Takami, Hayasaka, and Kaguya by the core obsession of the little girl after the liberation of Hayate Elementary School. Incidentally, Akira Toyama, who won without any effort, didn't receive this blessing, since Chiyo Hachiya never saw him from beginning to end, and didn't even know there was a fourth player in the instance until her liberation.

Unlike Takahashi's vast domain, which constantly conjured illusions of mutilated corpses, Hayasaka Ai's domain was relatively dimmer in light, and its area was noticeably smaller than Takahashi's. Furthermore, the illusions appearing within her domain were different, resembling various animal cages, cat and dog corpses, and chains. Clearly, even blessings of the same strength will exhibit different power and outward manifestations depending on the user's fundamental qualities and personality.

However, that's not the point. The point is that thing, the thing that tracked Yotsuya Miko, will definitely be repelled by this domain. As long as that thing truly reaches the coverage area of ​​this crimson domain, then regardless of whether Hayasaka can see it or not, it will definitely manifest its corresponding form.

{Ugh...that thing...it's here...the thing in the blood pool...the thing in the blood pool...uh...my head hurts so much...}

Jianzi's voice became even more pained.

Noticing the mention of the "blood pool" in the other person's whisper, Hayasaka guessed that it might be the key element in the deaths of Takami and Miko in the previous timeline, and reached out to grab a small women's handbag hanging from his waist.

With Miko Yotsuya unconscious and unable to communicate, Takami was unaware of what had happened, and Miko was unable to act as a relay to transfer the obsession items. This meant Hayasaka couldn't obtain obsession items temporarily and had to rely on the ones he already possessed to fight.

However, precisely because of this, Hayasaka herself was prepared from the beginning. The vigilance cultivated by her rigorous training led her to immediately obtain several obsession items from Takami through Miko after escaping the cage. One of these, a women's handbag, was a spatial Dark Night-level obsession item. It had a square storage space of approximately 40 centimeters in length, width, and height, which could hold both obsession items and ordinary objects. But it was important to note that the cosmetics placed inside the handbag could not be touched under any circumstances. Even if they were not taken out, just accidentally touching them would cause the monster inside the handbag to immediately kill the user, making it a rather troublesome obsession item.

In fact, when this object of obsession was first obtained, the cosmetics that were originally inside were emptied when Mao entered Blood City because they weren't part of the object of obsession. If Aoyama Nanami hadn't promptly taken out a lip balm during the inspection and distribution of the objects of obsession, Takahashi would have been attacked the moment he pulled out the object of obsession. However, despite the considerable danger and uncertainty, the space inside the bag was completely independent of the outside world. Even if you carried the bag around like a windmill and tossed it several times, the contents inside would remain in their original positions without any displacement.

Therefore, as long as one has a strong enough spatial memory, one can accurately retrieve the desired item from the bag without touching the cosmetics at all.

Gao Hai packed three items he was obsessed with into the small bag, plus the mysterious toy box that Hayasaka threw into the bag when he escaped, so there were now four items he was obsessed with in total.

What she was reaching for was one of the items Gao Hai had given her as a source of obsession.

A Japanese sword that looks unremarkable, about 25 centimeters long, and is sheathed, resembling a toy.

chap!

In a blood-red field, Hayasaka drew his sword.

With a flash of cold light, she grasped a katana over 1.2 meters long and incredibly sharp. Near the hilt, the words "Bizen Osafune Genko" were even visible, written in crooked, childlike characters.

Chapter 105: The Distorted Frequency of Calls and the Unleashed Blade

【Bizen Osafune Genko】, this name seems to be imitating the name of the Bizen Osafune school of swords in the Japanese samurai sword school.

When sheathed, this knife looks exactly like a toy knife, resembling the cheap plastic knife sold in roadside shops. But once drawn, it instantly transforms into a 1.2-meter-long, gleaming, and incredibly handsome samurai sword, exuding a sharpness capable of cutting through anything just by holding it.

The source of this artifact is naturally those fanatical believers; it's one of the donated supplies, though it's unclear which one. As a Dark Night-level artifact, the katana's effect is quite simple and clear: it physically cuts enemies, directly severing the bodies of monsters or living creatures, thereby killing, temporarily weakening, or temporarily rendering them powerless. In a sense, it can be considered a lower-tier version of Gao Hai's Blood Saw.

As a Dark Night-level artifact, this thing would obviously have many shortcomings if used to fight against a Crimson Moon-level monster. However, Hayasaka currently has no better choice. With her comrades responsible for gathering intelligence in trouble and she forced to face an unpredictable predicament alone, this Dark Night-level artifact is the most suitable weapon for her. As for why those fanatics didn't use this artifact, which is clearly more suitable for killing, in the battle, the reason is quite simple: the driving condition for this artifact is strangely based on [willpower and a sense of justice], the latter being a condition that those fanatics could never meet.

This incredibly magical samurai sword, a memento transformed from a toy knife, can only be drawn under the following conditions: either to fight an enemy stronger than oneself or to protect the weak. The blade's power depends on the user's willpower and sense of justice, and it also enhances the user's swordsmanship. If the conditions are not met and the sword is forcibly drawn, it will inflict a fatal curse on the user. Furthermore, if the user is unable to wield the weapon, the strange creature within may possess the user's body and force them to fight. It is truly a rather unique memento.

"call……"

Take a deep breath.

He interlaced his fingers and gripped the knife tightly.

At this moment, Hayasaka, with his strengthened willpower and decent sense of justice, and in the face of a weaker opponent against a stronger one, has successfully drawn his sword. However, he has no idea whether he can successfully resist the unknown enemy.

{Ugh... Waaah... They've come from the blood pool...}

Seeing that the child's voice was becoming increasingly painful.

Hayasaka, enveloped in crimson light, finally began to sense a strange unease.

How is this going?

She looked down and found her hands were trembling slightly.

Fear seemed to be growing in my heart.

But even though she couldn't see or feel anything at all, she was suddenly overcome with fear.

Something is coming.

Even before one's senses have registered it, the body has already instinctively begun to feel fear.

where is it?

"Hu-hu-"

Hayasaka took several deep breaths, clenched his teeth, and tried to suppress the growing fear and anxiety rising from the bottom of his heart.

Where would that thing come from?

[Sizzle... sizzle...]

At that moment, static began to play in the communicator of the protective suit.

Hayasaka, however, no longer cared about checking if the frequency had automatically switched again. The fear brought by that thing that hadn't appeared yet was so intense that she had to stand still with complete concentration, focusing all her strength on controlling her muscles to calm down. She had no energy left to pay attention to anything else.

[Frequency Band 2: ...Hehe...It's here...]

[Frequency Band 2: ...Go...go see...it...hehe...take a look at it...hehe...]

[Frequency Band 2: ...and it...become one...forever...hehe...]

The jarring noises grew more and more noticeable and increasingly unpleasant.

A voice, seemingly delirious, was muttering incoherently, its tone neither clearly male nor female, attempting to utter something amidst broken pauses and stutters.

Then, suddenly, the sound on that frequency cut off, and then other sounds started.

[Frequency 1: Hello, is anyone on this frequency? Is anyone still here?]

This time it seemed to be the voice of a young man, his words filled with barely suppressed fear and despair.

[Frequency 1: Hello, please, please someone respond]

The trembling voice, tinged with sobs, suggested that the man in this frequency range had suffered a tremendous shock and his mental state had become very unstable.

[Frequency 1: All my comrades have disappeared. They all vanished after the alarm went off. I can't find them. There are only monsters here.]

He was muttering to himself, and occasionally you could hear faint, running sounds in the frequency range.

Hayasaka remained unmoved; she had no time to care about such things. She simply focused on regulating her breathing to ensure that she would have enough strength to fight back should the enemy appear.

However, no matter what she did, the sound from that frequency seemed to be determined to fight her, and it kept ringing out again without stopping.

[Frequency 1: I... I don't know where those things came from. This laboratory... Oh my god, what kind of experiments are they doing here? Why are there those things? They... they're like dissolved people, they're looking for me everywhere... No, survive, survive...]

The fear in the voice grew stronger, and the voice trembled more and more.

[Frequency 1: But why...why is there no sign of resistance? They should have been able to be repelled by gunfire, they should have been injured and died, but...but I didn't find any signs of resistance. Everyone just disappeared like that, leaving only them. Or was this place originally theirs, and I'm the intruder? No, no, no...]

The man seemed to be desperately trying to escape, and there were some noisy sounds in the background, like something was chasing him.

[Frequency 1: Please, if there are any living people, if there are any people who can hear this frequency, please, please contact me, please...please...don't look back...buzz...]

The final sound began to be disturbed by background noise, which grew increasingly louder, and then suddenly erupted with an indistinguishable sound.

Hayasaka's eyes widened at that moment.

She turned around abruptly to look behind her, and the frequency of the sound in her headphones changed once again.

[Band 4: It has been confirmed that the soldiers who came into contact with the leaked contaminants have been successfully dealt with. A total of 4 soldiers were lost in this leak, 3 of whom were shot and killed after encountering infected soldiers. Fortunately, we successfully carried out harmless treatment of their bodies before they began to decompose.]

[Frequency Band 4: The containment measures for the central blood pool must be strengthened. This is the second time this month that someone has become out of control. We cannot successfully control the situation every time. Significant improvements must be made to the existing experimental procedures for the safety of all of us.]

[Frequency Band 4: Yes, that's right, you saw it too, didn't you? You can't reason with this kind of thing.]

A calm male voice spoke in the frequency band, accompanied by the sounds of soldiers coming and going.

Just like with the previous frequency bands, Hayasaka didn't pay attention to what this thing was saying.

She simply looked at the thing that had appeared behind her.

She simply stared at the indistinct thing that had stepped into the crimson realm and was approaching her step by step.

Hayasaka still hadn't seen what it looked like.

What appeared before her was merely a humanoid silhouette formed by something squeezing the crimson domain, a transparent figure as if stained with red paint.

There was no breathing, no heartbeat, no footsteps.

Without this domain, it's certain that even if this thing walked right up to Hayasaka, she wouldn't be able to detect it at all. And even with the Crimson Domain activated, she could only roughly see the outline of this thing, unable to truly understand its true appearance.

However, for Hayasaka, this level of information was enough for her to figure out a lot of things.

She is under 1.6 meters tall, with a female build, and judging from her body shape, she is either naked or wearing a tight-fitting bodysuit. Her shoulder width, bust size, and the proportions of her body parts match the information about "Eriko Asamoto" provided by Ms. Goto Ichiri in her research materials at Yoruyama Middle School. Is this Eriko?