Real knife

real knife is a melee item in item asylum. It is a knife with a crimson blade, a black cross guard and grip with a crimson aura surrounding it.
== Functionality ==
Having real knife in the player's inventory causes their head to twitch periodically, playing a static sound effect. While real knife is equipped, it will play Megamayo Strike Back, which gets interrupted by each head twitch's static. This does not apply to other items that play music, such as 9mm.
Attacking with real knife causes the user to swing the knife in front of them, alternating between left and right swings. Each swing deals 25 damage and applies slight knockback to enemies. The knife also has a red trail that follows it every time it is swung. The item's swing damage is increased by 1.25 per kill, up to 35 damage after 8 kills.
Entities directly killed by real knife will have a unique death effect in which they turn into a pixelated heart of varying color that shatters after a moment. This is shared with chaos saber.
real knife has a unique "Lv." system; with each real knife kill, the item's Lv. increases by 3 or 2, alternatingly.This is likely caused by each kill incrementing the Lv. by 2.5, rounded up; thus, on odd-numbered kills, the Lv. appears to increase by 3, and on even-numbered kills, the Lv. appears to only increase by 2. The user's current Lv. is announced by pixelated text that appears above their head after a kill. The Lv. correlates with several kill-based mechanics of real knife, though the Lv. itself has no direct effect on the item.
=== Determination Slashes [E] ===
The user rapidly slashes at the air, dealing damage equivalent to the item's base slashes and creating stationary slash projectiles in front of them. Once all projectiles have been created, the user's right eye will briefly flash red. After a short delay, the projectiles shoot in the user's point of aim, unless they are using shift lock or first person, where they will fire in their facing direction. Each projectile pierces through players and walls, travels at roughly 150 studs per second, and deals 15 damage. The amount of slashes and projectiles created starts at 4 and increases by 1 with every 2 kills gained by the item, up to 11 slashes and projectiles after 13 kills. Determination Slashes has a cooldown of 7 seconds.
=== [ERASE] [R] ===
Unlocked upon reaching 4 kills with real knife. On use, a SOUL briefly appears in front of the user. If the user is attacked while the SOUL is visible, the attack's damage is nullified, and the user teleports behind the attacker and slashes their back, dealing 40.5 damage and inflicting the victim with hitstun for 1 second. [ERASE]'s damage is increased by 1.6875 per kill, up to 47.5 damage after 8 kills. [ERASE] has a cooldown of 12 seconds.
If [ERASE]'s damage is greater than or equal to the victim's health, [ERASE] instead deals 999999 damage and evaporates the enemy in an effect identical to mori. The victim has their screen turned black while a pixelated red slash slowly swipes down their screen. Once the slash is finished, the victim sees the user as pitch black with a red outline. This effect ends once the victim respawns.
=== true love ===
Getting 8 kills with real knife will reward the user with another item: true love. true love has no appearance while equipped. Upon use, true love increases the user's max health by 50, restores any lost health, and causes an explosion around them that will launch away nearby opponents, consuming itself in the process. The explosion uses the legacy hitbox system, allowing it to hit enemies who are invincible or performing counters. After true love is consumed, the user's left arm is imbued with red and black particles, their head twitches at a much faster rate, and the item's music is played at 0.8 speed.
If true love remains in the user's inventory upon their death, it is used automatically, reviving the player and enacting all of its normal effects. true love may not be obtained more than one time in a single life.
=== Effects based on kills ===
real knife kills	Lv.	Base damage	Determination Slashes projectiles	[ERASE] damage	Notes
0 	0 	25 	4 	— 	Default state of the weapon
1 	3 	26.25 	5 	— 	—
2 	5 	27.5 	5 	— 	—
3 	8 	28.75 	6 	— 	—
4 	10 	30 	6 	40.5 	Unlocks [ERASE] ability
5 	13 	31.25 	7 	42.18 	—
6 	15 	32.5 	7 	43.87 	—
7 	18 	33.75 	8 	45.56 	—
8 	20 	35 	8 	47.25 	Grants true love
9 	20 	35 	9 	47.25 	—
10 	20 	35 	9 	47.25 	—
11 	20 	35 	10 	47.25 	—
12 	20 	35 	10 	47.25 	—
13 	20 	35 	11 	47.25 	Final state of the weapon
Unlike most items, real knife's effects based on kills share through multiple copies of the item. If another copy of real knife has been obtained, each real knife will level up with eachother, but only one real knife will have true love's slowed music. If another real knife has been obtained after a previous one was levelled up, the new real knife will start at its base form, and will become permanently locked out of certain Lv, depending on which Lv. the old real knife had when it was obtained. The new real knife may also lock the old real knife out of certain Lv. if alternating between using both copies.
=== Synergy ===
Equipping real knife with ultra instinct active instantly clothes the user in a black and gray striped shirt, brown parts, a heart-shaped red locket and black shoes. A "Lv. Drip" effect will appear when worn. Additionally, the item's passive music while held will be changed to Megalo Drip Back, which is also interrupted by each head twitch's static. While this synergy is active, the item's base damage is increased by 6.9.
== Tips == 
* Despite having a fast attack rate, real knife's range is relatively short and its knockback can potentially shove players out of range.
* real knife is best when paired with items that slow players down or items that grant bonus walkspeed, allowing the user to close the gap and make it harder for potential targets to escape the knife.
* The projectiles from Determination Slashes, being able to phase through walls, can be used to surprise unaware players.
* To cover more area with Determination Slashes, the user should strafe to make them cover a rectangular area.
* Thanks to its ability to be used while stunned or ragdolled, true love can function as a medkit. Its knockback effect can also be useful for securing kills on precarious maps like baseplate.
* dunk users can instantly kill real knife users, assuming they have no defense buff.
== Gallery ==
Real knife swing.gif|real knife being swung.
Determination slashes.gif|Determination Slashes in effect.
True love usage.gif|true love in effect.
Real knife.png|Ditto, but static.
Erase.gif|[ERASE] in effect.
Erasexcution.gif|[ERASE]'s kill effect.
Real Knife Hitbox (Updated).png|real knife's hitbox.
=== Miscellaneous ===
Synergy.png|real knife's synergy with ultra instinct.
LvDRIPUI.png|The "Lv. DRIP" message with the ultra instinct synergy.
Golden Real Knife (New).png|The golden variation of the item seen during GG.
Golden Real Knife Erase (New).png|The golden variation of [ERASE]'s SOUL.
STOP BULLY.png|A crop of real knife.
real knife old.png|real knife's old appearance.
OldRKProjectile.png|real knife's old projectile appearance.
ERASE.gif|[ERASE]'s former kill screen effect.
BEN drowned? No he was murdered.png|real knife's old kill effect.
Real Knife.png|real knife's appearance as a Steam badge for UNDERTALE.
== Audio ==
<tabber>
Current=
Song Info	
 	Megamayo Strike Back
File 	
BPM 	85 - 172
Key 	C# minor > A minor
Time 	1:58
Remixer 	Aden Mayo
Composer 	Toby Fox
Reference	Megalo Strike Back
Note 	Plays while the item is held.
Song Info	
 	Megalo Drip Back
File 	
BPM 	160
Key 	C# minor > A minor
Time 	1:30
Remixer 	Aden Mayo
Composer 	Toby Fox
Reference	Megalo Strike Back
Note 	Plays with the item's cosmetic synergy with ultra instinct.
|-|Old=
Song Info	
 	
Megalo Strike Back
File 	
BPM 	140
Key 	D Minor
Time 	2:29
Composer 	Toby Fox
Reference	Megalo Strike Back
Note 	Plays while the item is held (skipped by 42 seconds in-game)
Song Info	
 	Megalo Strike Back (Drip)
File 	
BPM 	140
Key 	F# minor
Time 	2:38
Remixer 	Drip Chara
Composer 	Toby Fox
Reference	Drip Chara ThemeMegalo Strike Back
Note 	Plays with the item's cosmetic synergy with ultra instinct.
</tabber>
Sound 	Sound
Use 	
Hit 	
Kill 	
Lv. 20	
== Trivia == 
* real knife is reference to an item in UNDERTALE with the same name.
** real knife's appearance is based on its sprite as a Steam badge for UNDERTALE, as the game itself does not have a sprite for the item.
** Its ultra instinct synergy is a reference to Chara, a character associated with the real knife.
** The knife being held in the user's left hand is also a reference to how it is implied that Chara is left-handed. This is because the slash effect in UNDERTALE has a movement that would only be natural for someone who is left-handed or ambidextrous; it is also implied that Chara is the one who deals the final blows against the last enemies in UNDERTALE.
** dunk instantly killing a user with real knife is a likely reference to the special game over screen in UNDERTALE caused by sparing Sans, where he immediately kills the player and tells them "geeettttttt dunked on!!!".
* The weapon model is a retextured Bombo's Survival Knife.
* Formerly, those that died to real knife would instead have a large, red gash on their torso and text reading "999999" above their head, referencing how the player defeats Sans in the genocide route of Undertale.
* real knife is the only item to have an upgrade that does not replace it upon being used.
* real knife's twitching head effect can alter the aim of brimstone and king tusks.
* real knife is the first upgradable item to be added to item asylum.
* Formerly, upon kill, [ERASE] covered the screen of the victim with pixelated number 9's.
== Changes ==
* v1.7.0 [🎂]
** Determination Slashes now fires in the user's point of aim, unless using shift lock or first person, where they fire in the user's facing direction.
* v1.6.0
** Reworked item. Base attack now gains damage per kill. Damage dealt is announced via pixelated red text above the victim.
** Each kill now increases the item's Lv., announced via pixelated white text above the user.
** ultra instinct synergy now increases base damage by 6.9. Causes white text to appear above the user stating "Lv. Drip".
** [ERASE] ability added.
** true love is now used automatically upon the user's death if unconsumed, reviving the user.
** real knife's head twitch static now interrupts the item's passive music.
* v1.5.6
** Reverted v1.5.5 changes.
* v1.5.5
** Appearance changed: it lost its stripes and it became a lighter shade of red.
** Base attack now deals 4 damage.
** All audio is distorted.
* v1.5.0
** Added special interaction with dunk users.
* v1.4.0 [🎃]
** Reduced Determination Slashes' initial projectile count from 6 to 4.
* v1.3.3
** Determination Slashes' scaling effect increased to increments of 2.
* v1.3.0 [🌴]
** Now plays Megamayo Strike Back.
*** Music is changed to Megalo Drip Back with its ultra instinct synergy.
** Determination Slashes' scaling effect reduced to increments of 1.
** Now makes the wielder unholy.
* v0.8.0 [☀️]
** Now plays Megalo Drip Back. Previously played Megalo Strike Back.
** Updated the item's projectiles into an ability, Determination Slashes.
** Updated the item's kill effect.
** Updated swing animations.
* v0.6.0 [🎃] 
** Updated projectile visuals.
* v0.1.0
** Added true love system.
** Added projectile system.
** Remade swing animations.
Category:Items
Category:Melee Items
Category:Based on media
Category:Items with upgrades
Category:Unholy
Category:Items with abilities
Category:Inflicts knockback
Category:Inflicts hitstun
Category:Items with synergies
Category:Items that alter the user's appearance
Category:Blinds players
Category:Counter Items
Category:Items that play music