Anomaly: Nightmare Singer

Thud—

A dull splash.

The orange taxi slammed heavily into the sea, and the tremendous impact made Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi feel as though her chest was about to shatter.

Tearing pain spread through every inch of her body.

But... what terrified her even more was the icy seawater rapidly pouring into the cabin through the gaps in the windows and doors.

"I don't want to die—"

"I don't want to die—"

Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi had never been so clear-headed.

The driver in the front seat, who had taken the direct impact, had already lost consciousness and lay limply over the steering wheel.

Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi struggled to control her limbs, which could no longer move from either unbearable pain or broken bones, and tried to push open the taxi door.

Clearly—

Newton of this world still lived on.

As the taxi continued sinking into the abyssal bay, with the cabin not yet completely flooded, the water pressure made Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's efforts utterly futile.

The freezing seawater rose over her neck and flooded into her nose and mouth.

Looking at the dark, bottomless seawater outside the taxi, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi felt death closer than ever before.

"I..."

"I don't want to die."

Gurgle, gurgle... her words became rolling bubbles.

Despair spread through the maiden's heart.

Along with that despair, the Black Gear that had slipped from the taxi driver's hand began spinning madly faster.

Finally... it spun its way into Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's chest.

The faint bloody line that Su Youzi had cut across the girl's chest with a single slash slowly began to glow in the dark, abyssal seawater.

Her orange-red hair began turning snow-white from the tips, inch by inch.

The slightly ill-fitting school uniform on her body was swallowed by a black aura as well.

Finally... it transformed into a Black Koi Skirt clinging tightly to the girl's skin, outlining her graceful curves.

Part of the girl's cleavage was exposed.

The inner curves of her breasts and her lovely toned waist were completely exposed to the seawater.

But... the most eye-catching thing was the slender red line stretching from where the girl's collarbones met all the way down to her lower abdomen.

That was humiliation—

And also a brand.

Dark golden vertical pupils opened in the deep sea.

Boom—

The orange taxi's roof exploded apart.

She looked up at the surface.

At that instant, she seemed to see the truth of the world.

Just as that taxi driver had said.

This was power originating from the very beginning of the world.

This was power capable of glimpsing the truth of this world.

What she saw... was the truth that allowed humans, allowed Altered Users, to stand in reality.

And now—

Upon the foundation of reality, she would build a future that belonged to her.

Her hand, wrapped in delicate black silk, clenched tightly.

Her snow-white hair bloomed like a Flower of Evil.

The crimson line across her chest blossomed with light.

At that moment, only one name remained in Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's heart—

"Su... Youzi."

—Anomalous: Full Manifestation—

[ Ding— ]

[ Warning... Warning... ]

[ Entering instance. ]

[ Entering instance. ]

If Su Youzi had still been awake, she would definitely have seen it.

Just like before, vivid red "Warning" notifications kept flashing before her eyes.

[... ]

[ Instance activated. ]

[ —Anomaly: Nightmare Singer— ]

Across from Su Youzi's room.

Scarlet eyes suddenly opened in the darkness.

Kujo Ryuko frowned deeply as she looked toward Su Youzi's room.

"Was that..."

"My imagination?"

For that brief instant, her Blood Hounds seemed to have caught the scent on an Altered User that she despised beyond measure.

But... that scent immediately hid itself in the darkness and vanished.

After buttoning up her pajamas, Kujo Ryuko rose, opened the door, and stood in the hallway.

She looked at Su Youzi's door.

Holding her breath, she listened closely to Su Youzi's steady breathing and heartbeat inside the room.

There was no "Calamity Domain."

There was no Altered User's scent.

Everything... seemed as though she had merely been dreaming.

The hand pressed against Su Youzi's door slowly withdrew.

After hesitating for a long time, Kujo Ryuko curled up and sat outside the girl's room.

She held out a hand.

A savage beast head emerged from the shadows, its scarlet eyes warily watching everything around it.

"Keep me company for a while."

"But..."

"Be quiet, okay?"

She could not disturb Miss Youzi's sleep.

The pitch-black world seemed on the verge of collapse.

A maiden wearing a Black Koi Skirt like a black evening gown walked across the sea's surface.

She looked up at the sky.

Unknown gray fragments, just as gray as the sky, continuously drifted down.

As those fragments neared the sea, they seemed to ignite and began burning, transforming into sparks that filled the sky.

This was a dream—

And also a "Calamity Domain."

A Calamity Domain belonging to a Dream-type Anomalous.

It was also a Calamity Domain hidden in the deepest darkness, the hardest to discover.

Once... the Seventh Sequence Calamity Beast, the Nightmare Deer Spirit, had descended without a sound. Like the Grim Reaper swinging its scythe, it harvested human lives in swathes.

In the end, the Witch who had crawled out from Hellish Famine sacrificed herself to perish alongside it.

They entered eternal death together.

"Su Youzi, So~ Yu~ Zu~~~" A songlike voice echoed slowly from the maiden's lips.

Within the domain of dreams, she captured Su Youzi's scent.

After entering an Anomalous state.

Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's ability had risen to Level 20, and she had officially entered the domain of Second Sequence Altered Users.

But... that also meant that Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, in her deeply Anomalous state, had completely lost the right to return to humanity's side.

However—

The blackish-purple eye-shaped totem drawn across the maiden's lower abdomen flickered with light.

Did she care about that?

Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi might care.

But Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi, the Altered User, absolutely would not.

She had only one goal now.

That was revenge—revenge against Su Youzi.

"Found you—"

Her pale lips curled upward.

Second Sequence Altered User attire was no longer uniformly black silk wrapped around the body. Even the nose and mouth were covered by black-silk-like Altered User material, like a mask or face covering.

Second Sequence Altered User attire had, more or less, begun to develop its own distinctive traits.

But... the evening gown-like Black Koi Skirt on Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi was still an exception.

Moving her legs, likewise clad in black silk, Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi slowly approached Su Youzi.

A distance of several kilometers in reality required only a few steps in a dream.

An attack from a Second Sequence Dream-type Anomalous.

Unless Su Youzi had a Second Sequence or higher Mental Ability User guarding her, there was... absolutely no way she could defend against it.

And Kujo Ryuko.

Judging from those scarlet eyes, utterly different from the dark red eyes of the Soga Family, and the lingering scent of blood on her body.

The chance of her being a Mental Ability User was minuscule.

"Su Youzi~~~" Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi called Su Youzi's name affectionately.

Then... the girl froze in place.

Black cracks suddenly appeared within the dream.

It was as if some enormous monster wanted to squeeze through the cracks and enter her Mental Domain.

Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's body trembled as she tried to resist in terror... but she was like a little girl whose entire body had gone limp and weak, her wrists and ankles seized as she was pinned firmly against a wall.

"Waaahhh!!!!!"

A nearly helpless, weak cry.

Fear filled her dark golden vertical pupils, and reflected in them was a black... enormous Thorn Throne wrapped in countless black chains.

A completely naked girl sat upon the throne, her pale calves swinging as they bumped together.

She looked down at her.

"I'm so hungry."

[ Ding— ]

[ Second Sequence Altered User · Nightmare Singer activated "Calamity Domain · Erosion Domain." ]

[ "Guardian of Domination" ▇▇▇ activated. ]

[ Beginning assessment— ]

[ "Guardian of Domination" ▇▇▇ activation successful. ]

[...]

[ The Second Sequence Altered User · Nightmare Singer has been defeated by you. ]

"Level 4 - Reverse Logic Hand" experience up↑↑↑

"Level 4 - Reverse Logic Hand" → "Level 7 - Reverse Logic Hand"

If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching for the author. It may have simply been renamed!