I could already tell from the first glance that the knife had changed. A bloodthirsty aura seemed to emanate from it, and I could feel sweat forming at the back of my shirt.

"....."

Staring at it in silence, I then turned my attention back towards the Realmwalker.

It stared at me in silence, not saying anything.

One glimpse at the loyalty tab and I knew why. I started to scratch the back of my head, pursing my lips at the same time as I started to speak.

"The situation was outside of my control. It was the only way for me to survive."

"....."

"I understand that you've died multiple times, but you were of great help."

"....."

"If you think about it, if I die, you die. At the end of the day, you can say that you did this to protect yourself."

"....."

"It won't happen again."

"....."

"I—"

Pausing, I frowned.

Why was I making so many excuses? There was no need for me to make any excuses. I did what I did in order to survive.

...I didn't regret my actions one bit.

"Show me the knife. Let me have a look at it."

Thankfully, the Realmwalker's grudge wasn't too deep. Its loyalty dropped all the way down to 42, but this was still not low enough for it to revolt against me.

Swooosh!

The moment I grabbed the knife, a window appeared in front of me.

———

[Bloodthirsty Butcher's Knife]

Fourth Order:

: Through repeated killings, the knife has absorbed vast amounts of blood essence, awakening into a bloodthirsty butcher's knife. The blade now exhibits autonomous predatory traits, granting it several abilities.

Ability 1: Butcher's Instinct.

: While wielding the knife, the user gains heightened perception of vital points of anomalies.

Ability 2: Meat Sense

: Passively detects living creatures within a short radius, revealing heartbeat intensity, injury severity, and what type of living being they are.

———

"Hiss."

I drew a deep breath the moment I caught a glimpse of the new abilities of the knife. They were far beyond anything I had expected.

Just the Butcher's Instinct alone made all the effort worth it.

'It's good that I didn't forget to use the knife at the end.'

Knowing that I would eventually swap places with the doppelganger and that I would have to kill the Jester, I had deliberately left the knife behind for that moment. The goal had been to use the opportunity to feed the blade, to turn it into something I could wield without issue.

This knife...

This 'Bloodthirsty butcher's knife' was the result of my effort.

Holding onto its wooden shaft and gripping it tightly, I raised my head to look at the Realmwalker.

The moment our gazes met, the Realmwalker took a step back.

"I'm not going to cut you down."

The Realmwalker took another step back.

"....."

"Stop moving back."

Its back was now pressed against the wall.

"What sort of..."

In the end, I tried my best to ignore it.

'Let's test this new ability out.'

Taking a deep breath, I activate the first ability: Butcher's instincts.

The effect was immediate. The moment it activated, the surroundings seemed to bleed red, every sound around me sharpening and rising as it flooded my mind.

"Haa... Haa..."

Most prominent was the sound of my very own breath.

Each breath echoed loudly inside my mind as I looked at my surroundings. Everything was the same, but as opposed to before, all colors had faded, completely taken over by a muted red. Slowly looking around, I eventually settled my gaze back towards the Realmwalker, and it was there that I spotted the series of red dots scattered around its body.

Four...? No, five.

I could see five of them.

The hand gripping the knife twitched, a sudden urge to cut down the Realmwaker surging through my mind as I struggled to restrain it.

'Deactivate.'

Only when I deactivated the skill did I finally regain a sense of myself as the colors returned.

"I see."

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath.

I now had a better understanding of how the new skill worked. This was definitely going to help me out a lot in the future.

'That's good.'

I handed the knife back to the Realmwalker.

"Keep it for now."

The Realmwalker grabbed the knife and faded into nothing shortly after that. It looked too eager to do that, leaving me at a complete loss.

'At least I can now use the Realmwalker to store items.'

I no longer needed to carry items with me. By giving it to the Realmwalker, I could practically have it keep the item for me, and whenever I needed it, I could call for it to give it to me.

"It certainly makes my life a lot easier."

Stretching my body, I sat down on the bed and took out my laptop. My real laptop. Of course, I had Mr. Jingles do a check-in to make sure everything was okay before turning on the web browser and searching for "Hot Horror Games right now."

The system's words, a while back, had never left my mind.

For the past several weeks, they had been nagging at the back of my mind continuously.

What did it mean by its words?

Was it hinting at the fact that I wasn't the only one?

That there were other people like me?

"...I wouldn't be surprised if it's the case."

The doppelganger's attitude had made it clear to me that the system had planned to dump me because of my actions. I could also tell that it wasn't too worried about discarding me. Thinking about the demon that I fought against and the possibility of the system trying to hunt down such demons, I quickly realized that I alone wouldn't be enough.

'Is the system trying to create a sort of army to deal with the demons?'

The thought settled in my mind for half a second before I discarded it. No, this made no sense.

If that was truly the case, why would it try to make me develop games...?

There was more to it. I was sure of it.

'From the way it spoke, this also seems like a sort of competition. If there truly exist other beings that have the same system as I... then there's nothing that guarantees that they are going to be on the same side as me. In fact, it looks more likely they will be against me. Just what is this weird system planning?'

The more I thought about it, the more lost and confused I felt.

I really didn't like this feeling...

"Ah."

As the page in front of my computer loaded up, I paused, my eyes falling on the result that came from my search.

[Horror Games Surge as the Industry's New Trend, with Multiple Island Studios Entering the Spotlight.]

[From Niche to Mainstream: Horror Games Dominate Upcoming Releases Across the Islands.]

[Rising Fear: Island-Based Horror Games Poised for Silver and Gold Awards This Year.]

[The New Wave of Horror Gaming: Upcoming Titles from Multiple Islands Draw Award Buzz.]

"....."

Seeing the numerous results in front of me, I took a deep breath but didn't react. Instead, I pressed on the links and dived deeper. I checked the date at which the trends started and what sort of results the games created.

I hoped...

I prayed that it was nothing.

However, the more I researched, the clearer it became to me.

"There's no doubt about it."

My expression turned grim.

"...This is no coincidence."

It was very likely that my previous guess was correct. I wasn't the only one who had the 'Horror Developer System.' Furthermore, judging from the awards some of the games were receiving, I was lagging quite a bit behind.

I didn't know the purpose of all this, but I grew even more apprehensive about the situation.

Just what was the system trying to do?

And... what exactly was its end goal?

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