Chapter 465: Apparition: Steel Lady Nanase! Sakuragawa Rikka!
Iwanaga Kotoko, who understood, was unusually calm. "But I've been investigating an apparition that can directly harm people."
"Can it affect reality? What is it?" Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Steel Lady Nanase."
As the name came out, he already knew what it was, an apparition from In/Spectre. "Is it her?" he asked, his gaze shifting to her side.
A faceless woman in a seductive red dress, with rabbit ear decorations, holding a steel bar, stood there eerily.
"Steel Lady Nanase!" Kotoko, who recognized her, felt a ripple in her left eye. "How did you do that?!"
"Is it difficult?" Ren acted nonchalant. "This is the one you want me to deal with, right? Just kill her."
"Simple?! How can you make it sound as simple as eating?!" she complained.
"Isn't it?" he said, with Nao adding, "If it's Master, it is indeed very simple."
Kotoko was speechless. "Tsk, it seems I still underestimated your thick skin."
"The feeling is mutual."
"Sigh, never mind. Let's talk about her," Kotoko earnestly explained her origin. Steel Lady Nanase was an apparition born from online language, originating from a deceased idol named Nanase Karin. After her father's accidental death, the public baselessly accused her of murder. She suspended her activities and, not long after, also died in an accident, crushed by falling rebar.
Ironically, this made her famous. People on the internet made up stories, creating a website and an image for "Steel Lady Nanase." More and more people believed in it until it absorbed enough imaginative energy to truly appear.
Nao summarized, "In this era of information explosion, it's hard to distinguish truth from falsehood. If people mistakenly believe rumors, then the truth becomes a rumor."
"So online information facilitates the birth of anomalies," Kotoko said, then began to talk about eliminating her. "She cannot be killed; the rumors must be stopped. Or use fictional reasoning—fabricate lies to conceal the true data." This was what she had always done.
"An interesting method, but I don't need such trouble." Ren merely pointed into the void. Steel Lady Nanase's body instantly disintegrated. He had too many ways to deal with her.
"…" Kotoko would not be surprised now. She only felt numb. He became increasingly omnipotent in her eyes. "What is it that you can't do?" she cried out.
"There's quite a lot I can't do," he replied, not as complacent as she was. Who knows what outrageous things might pop up in this world.
However, Steel Lady Nanase was a minor issue; the mastermind was the one who should be dealt with. He remembered a woman named Sakuragawa Rikka, who had eaten mermaid and kudan flesh, gaining the ability to decide the future. Since she knew how to create anomalies, she might cause trouble again. He decided to solve it once and for all.
He instantly sensed her presence and pulled her over. Sakuragawa Rikka, originally in a hospital, now looked bewildered. "What is this place?" She had a stunningly beautiful face but wore a hospital gown, her body extremely emaciated.
"You are Sakuragawa Rikka, correct?" Ren asked softly.
"I am."
"You intentionally created Steel Lady Nanase, didn't you?" he asked again.
The question made both Kotoko and Rikka surprised. The former at the accusation, the latter that he knew the truth she had hidden.
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