---

---

The holographic clock in Kirishima's field of view ticked closer towards midnight, which was to be the time YGGDRASIL was to be shut down forever. There were several minutes left until the timer reached 0:00:00, where she and everyone else in YGGDRASIL would be forced to logout by the game system.

By now, the small handful of Seekers of Fate guild members who agreed to stay behind to join each other in the game's final moments were surely already gathered within the Throne Room of the Palace of Whispers. As the guild's leader, Kirishima had a responsibility to be with her guild members, especially during their final moments. Even if she was only a guild leader by title only, she was still their friend, and them to her. Therefore, it was her responsibility as their friend to be at their side.

However, Kirishima was still within the futuristically-styled Avalon Facility, her personalized domain within the Palace of Whispers. She had one other responsibility that she had to take care of before she left for the Throne Room. Behind her, where numerous NPCs of various shapes and appearances, most of which were designed by her own hands and effort. Unlike the human guild members, which would return to the real world after YGGDRASIL's shutdown, each of these creations would simply cease to exist the moment the holographic clock struck midnight. Kirishima could not bear to simply leave them where they stood within the Palace of Whispers without a proper farewell. Although they were artificial creations, Kirishima considered them part of the Seekers of Fate due to the long history and experiences they shared together. Each of these NPCs were unique and reflected upon certain qualities of their creators, therefore, each of these creations deserved their own farewell.

One by one, Kirishima issued a verbal order to each of the NPCs gathered behind her to stand upon the teleportation pad laid in the center of the wide room of futuristic holographic displays and high-tech computer consoles. As each NPC stepped upon the pad as ordered, Kirishima said her final farewells, referring to each NPC by their given name. As she touched upon the holographic panel, each NPC was bathed in a shimmering blue light as their bodies were dematerialized by the teleportation device.

Eventually, only four NPCs remained, each one towered above Kirishima's head. Each of these NPCs were obviously non-human, mounted upon horses of strange and unique design. These NPCs possessed the title of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing four of the Seekers of Fate's strongest NPCs. Unlike any of the other NPCs serving within the Palace of Whispers, each one of the four Horsemen had a unique history that extended before the time the original Seekers set foot upon YGGDRASIL. Kirishima would never forget each of their names and their history.

Conquest, the Deliverer of Promised Victory. Conquest was created in the image of the original leader of the Seekers of Fate. The leader of their group from the very first MMO the Seekers were established. His personality settings were designed to reflect upon the righteous and honorable nature of the original guild leader.

Next was Famine, the Scourge of Corruption. One could easily feel a strange, eerie aura emanating from him due to his strange design. Out of all the four Horsemen, the design of his character was the most featureless, but at the same time the most intimidating. Famine's personality design was based upon one of the most powerful PVPers in the original Seekers of Fate who was known within the group to complete lose himself in the heat of battle, becoming a "berserker" of sorts who fought against his enemies without any regard to his character's safety. Famine's Karma setting was nearly at the lowest possible value, reflecting upon the vicious and bloodthirsty Seeker he was based upon. Kirishima was silently thankful that Famine was merely an NPC that followed her orders and not a real living being.

The third was War, the Blade of Armageddon. Once could describe the Seeker he was based upon as the gruff "tough guy" that never showed any kindness or emotion, but was always loyal and protective of his friends to the very end. He was friends with the Seekers' guild leader in real life and acted as his faithful right hand in every MMO the Seekers played.

The fourth and the last was Death, the Harvester of Departed Souls. This last NPC was different from the others as it was the only female within the group of four. The Seeker this NPC was based upon was none other than Kirishima herself. In fact, each of the Four Horsemen's character designs were based upon the four Seeker's characters from their past MMOs, from their character's physical appearances to their weapon of choice.

In a way, each of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represented the long history of the Seekers of Fate. With the exception of Death, they represented long-lost friends that Kirishima would never meet again or have the chance to say their final farewells.

"...Goodbye." Kirishima managed to whisper out loud a single word of farewell as she was completely lost for words in this somber moment.

After a short moment of silence, it was then that Kirishima realized that she had been unknowingly hesitating. As the holographic clock ticked closer to midnight, Kirishima commanded the four NPCs to step upon the teleportation pad, then with a final tap upon the holographic panel controlling the teleportation device, sent the Four Horsemen to the Avalon Facility's storage area.

With the Avalon Facility now completely void of anyone's presence besides herself, Kirishima lifted the hand carrying her guild ring.

"Teleport destination: Throne Room."

---

As the sight of the Avalon Facility's softly glowing holographic panels faded from view and was replaced by the golden lighting reflecting off the Palace of Whisper's halls, Kirishima found herself standing before the grand and lengthy hall leading to the inner chamber of the Throne Room.

As she stepped towards the chamber where the last of the Seekers were waiting, Kirishima realized that she was not alone in the hallway as three shadowed figures stood silently before her, motionless. To her left was a female dressed in white cloth and a flowing white cape. It was Mercuria, her first created NPC within the Palace of Whispers. To her right was a cloaked figure dressed in a robe of green. Kirishima recognized the NPC was Gwydion, the human NPC she had created to commemorate the joining of the first non-heteromorphic players into the Seekers of Fate's membership. The sight of the third NPC who stood in the middle immediately sent involuntary shivers down her spine. The female's glowing-red eyes shone brightly within the dimly-lit hallway, illuminating the dried blood that stained the sides of her mouth as well as the front of her long leather jacket. Kirishima stood frozen in her momentarily stunned state, although in her mind she let out a little mental yelp.

Kirishima realized that she had neglected to store the NPCs of the Throne Room into the Avalon Facility's storage area. Sighing at her forgetfulness, Kirishima shook her head. It was too late to turn back and store these last few NPCs now.

"Mercuria, Gwydion, Erzsebet, follow me." Kirishima ordered the three NPCs as she walked past them, who then responded by trailing behind her in single file. As Kirishima lead the other NPCs towards the Throne Room, she tried her best to avoid glancing over her shoulder, knowing Erzsebet's glowing-red eyes and bloody grinning lips were just behind her.

As Kirishima and the other NPCs entered the main chamber of the Throne Room, Kirishima stopped for a moment to look upon the small handful of Seekers who had already gathered, seated around the round table positioned in the center of the room. For a moment, Kirishima's imagination took over, and for a moment, she thought she could see each of the original Seekers seated around the table, smiling and laughing at each other wholeheartedly as they conversed.

I wish I could see them all again, and say my goodbyes to each of them properly.

Shaking the imaginary sight from her mind, Kirishima turned to look at the NPCs behind her.

"Stand guard here and wait." Kirishima issued what was to be her final orders to her three creations. At once, each of them nodded their heads in acknowledgement, and stood in a new formation with Erzsebet standing in the middle, Mercuria to her right, and Gwydion to her left. Each of the stared ahead blankly into the distance, although Erzsebet's faint grin remained fixed on her bloodied lips.

Kirishima then took her place at the round table with the other gathered Seekers. With the Throne Room's extravagant size and grand design, the small handful of Seekers gathered around the table made the room seem incredibly abandoned and empty. Many of the guild members had already quit shortly after the announcement of YGGDRASIL's shutdown date, and this was all that was left of a once large and powerful guild.

Kirishima clasped her hands together upon the table before her as looked towards the other Seekers. She had never been one who was particularly good, or even barely adequate, at long and elaborate speeches, but she felt the need to at least say something to these friends that willingly stayed behind to enjoy their last few minutes together as a guild.

"Thank you all for being here on our last day. After today, everything we have accomplished together as the Seekers of Fate will be no more, and each of us will return to our everyday lives. We all knew that this day would come eventually, but none of us could have thought it would come so suddenly. So, before we say our final goodbyes, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for everything. Thank you for being my friends, thank you for staying by my side until the very end."

Kirishima looked up at the holographic timer in her visual interface. There was less than a minute left before the server would shut down at 0:00:00. The timer was now counting down the final seconds.

Kirishima leaned back into her seat at the round table as the clock ticked down to the end of YGGDRASIL.

Then the end came: 0:00:00.

But it didn't stop there.

0:00:01.

...

0:00:02.

...

0:00:03.

Kirishima was expecting to be forcibly kicked off the server by a forced logout, but she remained at the round table within the Palace's Throne Room. She blinked once, twice, but the timer continued to count upwards.

"What's going on? Wasn't the server supposed to be shut down now? Why are we still here?" Kirishima wondered out loud as her mind was expecting for her to be within the familiarity of her room in the real world. Then her mind began churning out several possible explanations, one after the other.

Did the server adminstrators really delay the shutdown, or cancel it altogether? It was impossible, there were many official announcements on YGGDRASIL's main website clearly stating the server's shutdown date and time. There was absolutely no way they would suddenly go back on their decision on such short notice.

Then her mind began formulating other possible theories. Ever since the first DMMO-RPG was released, there were many fictional stories about players being stuck within virtual worlds, or being forced to participate in a death game where death in the game meant the player dying in real life. These stories were popular and rather numerous, but as DMMO-RPGs became more widespread, these stories seemed more and more unlikely to happen.

However, did those stories just become reality?

Testing out what should be the most ridiculous of the possible theories, Kirishima waved her hand in the air to summon the control interface to manually log herself out from YGGDRASIL.

But no interface appeared.

Kirishima could barely hear the sound of herself uttering out several swear words as she tried frantically to summon some sort of control interface to log out or summon a GM for assistance. Despite her frantic movements, Kirishima could feel a strange lack of anxiety despite her current situation. There was no way that she could feel this calm while being unable to log out from the game.

"Lady Kirishima, is something the matter? Should you require it, I am yours to command." A calm male voice spoke.

"If there is a threat that needs to be dealt with, I shall take care of it by your command." Spoke a calm, emotionless female voice that flowed like cold metal.

"If something needs to be killed, I shall make the rivers run red with its blood!" Another female voice spoke proudly, although its speaker seemed like it was rather on the verge of insanity.

Kirishima was stunned to hear these voices that she did not recognize. It was obviously not from the other Seekers, who were probably in the same state of confusion as she was.

Then the source of the three voices became immediately apparent as she turned to face the three NPCs she had ordered to stand on guard minutes earlier: Gwydion, Mercuria, and Erzsebet.

Kaz had seen this coming. Really, it was hard to miss. He had always been a part of that end-gamer group sitting around the tavern where they did nothing but talk about random shit all day. The shutdown of YGGDRASIL had been the main topic for months. Granted, he spent more time with his guildmates now, but he still came over time from time, so he knew what was going down. Not to mention the uproar on the forum. They had dozen of petitions, even protests, marches, boycotts. All sorts. He helped with what he could, but deep down, he had always known it was futile. It irked him to end, obviously. This wasn’t something he could just beat into submission, which was why he didn’t know how to deal with it. He had seen it coming, but that didn’t make it any easier.

The tavern he frequented was deserted, as expected. Most of the regulars left long ago; no one wanted to stick around in a dead game. Gamers didn’t have loyalty; they had appetite. He would know. They were probably out there, surfing the web for a new game to dominate. Normally, he would have done just that. It used to be his routine. He didn’t do sentimental attachment and teary exchanges. He didn’t do goodbyes. Gods, the Seekers was a bad influence.

He had his own floor in the guildhall. Perks of being one of the highest ranking members in the guild. However, unlike others, he didn’t have any NPC of his own design. It was the same reason why he didn’t have a dog; he wasn’t interested in the responsibility. After his forth NPC met its end in combat, he had given up creating new ones altogether. He didn’t think too much about that anymore. At this point, he wasn’t sure what his guildmates were doing. They did mention a meeting in the Throne Room, but he didn’t feel like attending yet. There was still time left, he thought to himself as his guild ring activated, placing him on the carpeted floor.

His floor was nothing more than a glorified storage room, to be honest. He received complaints now and then, but he still couldn’t bring himself to care. It was, after all, his floor. He could fill the place with explosives and set everything on fire if he wanted. Actually, he did former already. Kaz didn’t have the habit of stacking his stuffs into storage units. Instead, he just literally left them lying all around. His floor was just a large, empty corridor, supported by cobble stone pillars with a granite passage in the middle leading toward a fancy throne. All around, piles of random junks were stacked high, some even touching the curved ceiling. There was a method in the madness though. The items was stacked quite neatly, if one ever took the time to look. He kept all sorts of things here, from weapons and armors to trinkets and junk items. There was also some gold scattered around in various chests and trunks around the place, but compared to what the Seekers had in their vault, it was just chump change. He didn’t have any security measures installed down here. Why bother? Asides from those creeps who were into playing with polished skulls and wearing leather straps, he would actually have to pay people to take these junks.

He thought of tidying the place up. Believe it or not, sorting through his stuffs always calmed Kaz down. Not that he was panicking or anything. Just indisposed. Slightly out of it. Irked. Irritated. Something along those lines. So he did just that. He sorted through his things. Wordlessly, he navigated the sprawling bowels of his quarters, making sense of the chaos in his own way. Time slipped by, and eventually, he surrendered with a sigh as he looked at the digital clock on his interface. It wouldn’t be long now. He stopped in his tracks, turning to look at his ‘hoard’. Everything he had fought for, every battle, every death, every enemy, every friend… he kept a memento for each and every one of them here. That was why he named this floor the ‘Hall of Memories’. Corny, he knew. But Kiri didn’t let he pick ‘Pussy Wagon’ or something equally embarrassing.

Speaking of the guild founders, he wondered briefly what she was doing at that moment. Probably holding a tea party with all her NPCs. After all, she was the sentimental type. The girl invested so much in this guild. He looked at the guild ring on the middle digit of his left hand, contemplating. He was planning to spend a bit more time in his floor, only planning on turning up at the Throne Room for a few last seconds. Goodbyes weren’t his thing. But in the end, he didn’t go through with his plan. In this situation, maybe he could afford some sentimentality.

The teleportation spell deposited him in the Throne Room seconds later, where he joined others at the round table. Kiri was nowhere to be found, so he assumed she was still having her tea party. The occasion called for alcohol, so he brought some, just small bottles of ale he had lying around, and passed them out. Not that they could get drunk or taste anything, but it was the thought that counted. He didn’t want to get shitfaced here anyway, at least, not yet. He would do that later, in real life.

He talked a little, keeping his conversations light since he figured it was better than awkward goodbyes. His guild mates deserved as much, for putting up with him all these time. Soon enough, Kirishima, the founder, arrived, along with her entourage. He eyed the three NPCs behind her, wondered briefly if they knew of their imminent end. Would they even care, had they known? He looked blankly at the NPCs, wondered what Kirishima put in their code.

When Kiri gave her final speech, Kaz grinned broadly, all teeth and no humor. She sounded awkward, but sincere regardless. If he weren’t such a coward, he would have prepared a speech of his own. But he was, so he didn’t. He just leant back in his seat, eyes skyward, watching the countdown with placid eyes. At the very end though, where it was at number 2 and falling, he managed five words.

“I will miss you guys.”

He didn’t think they would hear it. Because just as he finished, the clock hit zero. He blinked. Around him, YGGDRASIL persisted.

He bolted upright, sending the sword in his lap clattering to the marble floor. The clock was still running. This made no sense. He turned to Kirishima, but she appeared to be just as confused as he was. His other guild mates didn’t fare any better.

“The fuck?”- He blurted, attempting to log out to check the forum. Something like this would probably garner dozen of threads by now. However, the log out sequence didn’t work. In fact, nothing worked at all. He tried the friendlist, the cash shop, the in-game news, the trade chat, even the GM panel. Nothing worked.

He now had a reason to panic.

“Oh shit. You guys tried logging out?”- He turned to look at his guildmates, only to find that they were still around. Meaning they didn’t try, or tried to no avail. This was bad. He wasn’t sure how or why, but they were trapped. Funny how he used to spend hours on end basking in the familiarity of this place, but as soon as he realized he couldn’t leave, cold fear rose to grip his insides.

Amidst the rising panic, he heard the voice of Kiri’s three NPCs. And those weren’t their default lines. He looked at them, his eyes narrowing as he marched over, his strides uncharacteristically ungainly. He stopped in front of the vampire NPC, waving a hand in front of her face in order to get a reaction. –“You’re hearing this, Kiri?”- He basically shouted, his eyes wide like saucers. Then he paused, touching his own lips, feeling movement under his hands. Hell, he could even feel his own lips. His hands were colder than he expected.-“Shit. I’m talking. Like, really talking. God, look! ”

“Holy shit!”- Astonished, he began patting the red-eyed NPC on the head, feeling soft hair in his bare hand. It felt surreal, almost like a dream. Albeit a very, very realistic one. He had dreams before, but this certainly didn’t feel like one. He had checked, bringing his gauntleted hand up and pinching himself. It hurt.

For better or worse, this was real.

Silence, Yes this was what he would often do when he was thinking over his next course of action. It was the endless silence in his own chamber. A rather basic one at that. It held a bed, a weapon rack where he would place his weapons when he came into it. And of course the chair near a bookshelf. For him to at least have something to read. Though the game lore did intrigue him at times, it was merely so that he could keep up if they ever updated something new.

But this time it was difference. He moved his gauntlet from his face as he leaned back in his chair. It's Victorian like look was merely something to appease his own like in fashion. It was a blue-black color, and seemed to blend fit it's surroundings rather well. The stone wall, and the tapestry that was placed over the minor things like the small table in the corner with bread and ale on it. Yes, today was different. The end of a game he had spent much time on, one of the only games he didn't just play solo permanently on. A game that he truly enjoyed. Such a perfectly imperfect world. It's own lively twisted land, with it's own beautiful and fear inspiring creatures. Often made him wonder what life in such a world really was like. Sure, mankind had held it's hatred, it's racist antics and more. But in consideration with this world, it wasn't even close to the same. We had no orcs or elves, nothing of the such in our world. It was why games like this could exist. He tapped his left hands fingers lightly across the arm of the chair. Tapping the dark mahogany with his hand. Though he laughed at a moment, thinking about how toilets and other aspects had existed already in this world. Well....in this guild. Their leader was rather inventive to say the least. And they seemed to believe that having plumbing would be the perfect means of fun for their characters. It was hard to think about relieving yourself without it. It would dirty the outside that is for sure.

He sighed, looking over the list of people who where online in the guild. Most of them seemed to be the ones who joined way before him. Made sense, they were more valued in the end. The clock seemed to tick slowly in these last few moments. Almost like his mind was trying to take in all the last bits before it. The beauty that seemed to spread across the world. Of course, he was merely in his own room. But that didn't mean he couldn't think about the world. The detail that the guild went into in order to make this guild. He closed his eyes as the count down finished, taking a deep breath as he waited to be kicked from this world. As the server would shut down. Removing all the players.

He waited, and waiting some more before re-opening his eyes. There it still stood the server was still active the large door before him still stood closed, the altar (purely for looks and rp reason) still rested in the far right corner. He stood up, pushing himself up mostly with both his hands, pressing down on the arms of the chair. Though the sudden sound of a voice he knew all the well came invading into his head.

“Charlemagne~” it echoed lightly, a playful melodic tone. “What are you doing? Why don't you just bring me.”

Then came silence as he looked over to the weapon on the rack. He wasn't even actually going outside, yet it still called to him cause he stood up. What a needy weapon..he thought and turned to the alter for a moment only to see something rather odd.

What could only be called darkness mixed with blood began to pool before it as tendrils came down from the walls near it. Slowly white started to appear as bones began to form then from that a wave of red like substance flooded up, latching onto the bones like little hands as it built up the textures around the body, and then came the flesh. Ripping threw the muscle tissues as if being spewed out and covering the body. The red eyes appearing when she blinked. Her fangs, exposing as she opened and closed her new mouth and the black and red like clothing seemed to just flutter into her own existence.

“Transformation?” He stated as calmly as he could as he watched this being appear before him. Before the altar. “Is...is that you Ma – Lee?” He stated watching her carefully as the final pieces came together.



“Of course it is Charlemagne. I thought I would change my form~ what do you think? Better?” She seemed to be happy about her sudden transformation. But was she always able to do that? It was something to ponder. He looked to the ax. It still stood their hauntingly, nothing really changed about it. Looking back to the blood that seemed to be trickling all down the alter he just sighed. His mind still trying to understand what was going on. But to be honest, blood wasn't the issue...the transformation she decided to take, was very Halloween like he guessed, disturbing in it's own way. But why?

He looked away from her for a moment, and looked to the door once more. What was really happening? Why hadn't he been kicked? Surely he didn't need to log out himself...not like he could sleep anyways after that fun event. Though he had seen much in his time in service, among other things. Allowing him the luxury of not being too phased by it. It sadly didn't give him the...nerve to sleep properly. It wasn't until he thought about it that he noticed that her mouth was matching the words she was saying. Wasn't it normally just a generic animation? There was way to much. He remembered their people a notice about having to go to the round table in order to participate in that ending of the game event. He pushed open his wooden door and her the light trotting of feet behind him. Knowing it was his ever so fun curse that followed him. She seemed to be...real. This was annoying, it was best to see if their was a possibility of others...as such he began walking towards the room, down the hall with his Ma-Lee close behind.

"Shit. I’m talking. Like, really talking. God, look!"

Upon observing Kaz's surprised remark, Kirishima moved her hand to her mouth for confirmation. Contrary to what she had expected if she really was in YGGDRASIL, the first thing she felt was the sensation of her hand touching upon her chin. However, several senses did not exist in YGGDRASIL, and touch was one of them.

Although she was at a complete lost at whatever was happening to them currently, several theories floated to the surface of Kirishima's unusually calm and rational mind:

Theory #1. The developers of YGGDRASIL had accidentally released the successor to YGGDRASIL, a more advanced version with additional senses. That would explain the suddenly increased realism of their surroundings as well as the seemingly lifelike behavior of the NPCs' behaviors. The flaw with this theory: No mention about a YGGDRASIL 2 had been mentioned in any communication from the company. They were very clear that YGGDRASIL was to be shut down and no further releases were planned.

Theory #2. The YGGDRASIL developers had gone rogue or otherwise insane and trapped all players inside the game for whatever reason. That would explain why the Log Out, Contact GM, and every other system interface was currently inaccessible. However, that would not explain the sudden increase in realism of their surroundings. The flaw with this theory: it was based completely on past fictional stories about virtual reality MMOs and several anime shows and movies were created based on this exact scenario. The probability of the fictional death-game virtual MMO scenario was nearly zero.

Theory 3#. Everything around them was completely real. The Palace of Whispers was a real fortress, she was an actual Android, and Kaz beside her was an actual Revanant. And before them, was an actual master illusionist, a shapeshifting master assassin, and an incredibly powerful insane vampire. So far, there was no evidence to disprove this theory, although what could not be explained was "how" this situation came to be.

Further evidence to support Theory #3 became apparent when Kirishima realized just how calm and rational her mind had remained in this situation when she would definitely be panicking and screaming, or at least some sort of anxiety like Kaz had shown.

But there was none. Despite the completely bizarre scenario she had found herself in, she felt perfectly calm. In fact, she quickly realized she didn't feel much of anything at all, other than her physical senses. Had she really become her YGGDRASIL character, an android?

“Holy shit!” Kirishima heard Kaz exclaim as he had just used his hand to pat the red-eyed Erzsebet on the head. Glancing towards his direction, Kirishima caught sight of a creeping grin on Erzsebet's bloodied lips as the crimson glow in her eyes flared out.

In an inhumanly quick movement, Kirishima grabbed out at Kaz and swiftly pulled him back away from Erzsebet as one would quickly yank a friend out of the way of an incoming bus. As Erzsebet's creator, Kirishima knew certain things about the vampire that Kaz did not.

First, was that from what she observed, each of the NPCs was behaving exactly as she had written in their character descriptions when she created them. First, Erzsebet was designed to be incredibly dangerous with a mind on the verge of complete insanity, therefore her behavior had to be considered unpredictable and likely dangerous. Second, if the NPC's numerical statistics had carried over to this "new world", then she and Kaz were standing before the strongest NPC contained within the Palace of Whispers.

As the single strongest raid-class NPC, Erzsebet was designed to be strong enough to single-handedly defeat several hundreds of fully-equipped and well-coordinated level 100 players without any additional support. Not even the entire guild of Seekers of Fate could defeat Erzsebet without at least some preparation and strategy. However, in their current state of ignorance and confusion, the probability was essentially zero.

"Kaz, listen to me very carefully - you do not want to be that close to Erzsebet, never mind patting her on the head!" Kirishima quietly whispered to Kaz's ear, hopefully out of earshot of the other now very lifelike NPCs.

Looking back towards Erzsebet, half-expecting for the vampire to leap and attack them at any moment. However, Erzsebet had not even taken a step forward from where she stood. Instead, she was tenderly rubbing the spot on her head where Kaz had patted.

"Oh, to be granted a loving touch from a of the Supreme One!" A crazed wail escaped from the vampire's lips as her speech derailed towards unintelligible muttering about being "blessed", "undeserving", and several mentions about "Supreme Ones". By "Supreme Ones", did she mean Kaz? By the plural "Ones", did she mean to include Kirishima?

The thought then occurred to Kirishima that perhaps the NPCs were not hostile towards Kaz and herself. But the thought that they would be worshiped by her creations was completely unexpected. She had to confirm that they were loyal, at least to her.

"Gwydion, Mercuria, and... Erzsebet," Kirishima began speaking towards the three NPCs before her, trying her best to put forth the most authoritative voice she could despite knowing absolutely nothing about their current situation other than the few theories she had come up with.

"There is something I want to know from each of you. First, who am I to you? Second, to whom do you serve?"

The hooded Gwydion was the first to step forward, already bending at the knee which he rested his arm upon as he lowered his head.

"You are Lady Kirishima, my master and my creator. I, Gwydion, your Master of Illusions, exist to serve your will and that of the Seekers of Fate."

The second was Mercuria, who calmly strode forward in her thin robes of fine white silk. She too stopped beside Gwydion and took on the same kneeling posture.

"Lady Kirishima, you are my one true master, the one who has granted me the gift of existence and to serve your will and that of the Seekers of Fate."

The third and last was Erzsebet, who actually seemed to become somewhat more tranquil compared to her characteristic insane state, came forward and knelt before Kirishima and Kaz.

"Lady Kirishima, you are my creator and the only one I will ever call my master. I exist only to serve as your instrument of chaos and destruction."

If Kirishima was indeed still human, she would have undoubtedly recoiled in pure shock at the NPCs' fervent display of worship before her. To their eyes, she and Kaz were, in Erzsebet's own words "Supreme Ones", whom they regarded like gods.

However, it was somewhat calming to finally put to rest her previous concerns about the loyalty of the three most powerful of her creations. Now that she no longer had reason to regard the NPCs as a possible threat, she now had the opportunity to turn her attention to the surroundings beyond the Throne Room, and even the walls of the Palace of Whispers.

In this situation which she knew nothing of, knowledge of the unknown was of paramount importance. Before she could proceed with figuring out a plan to return to the real world, never mind if such a thing was even possible anymore, she had to learn whether or not there were any threats that existed in this strange new world, and whether or not she and the others at her side could defend against them.

But first, she had to establish whether or not there were any other Seekers that were still within the Palace of Whispers. If there were any Seekers that chose to spend their last moments in YGGDRASIL alone, then perhaps they were brought along to this new world as well. And if they were alone, they were likely to be scared and worried about being trapped.

Although the Contact GM function failed to work, perhaps the normal Message skill could successfully reach any other Seekers that were also brought into this world.

Not completely sure how she would activate such a skill without the assistance of a system interaction menu, Kirishima hoped that concentrating her mind on the concept of a "Message" skill would be good enough. Sure enough, in her mind, Kirishima could almost feel an invisible strand of her own consciousness reaching out into her surroundings, as if probing for something to reach out to it.

[Message: Guild]

"This is Kirishima to any guild members within the Palace of Whispers. If you can hear this, please do not be afraid. We have gathered within the Throne Room and are here waiting for you. Please come here as soon as you can, we have much to discuss about our current situation."

Imagining the strand of consciousness being severed, Kirishima ended the transmission, which she hoped would reach any guild members close by. With the concerns about her fellow Seekers now dealt with, the next issue was about the security of the Palace of Whispers, both within its walls and outside.

Kirishima then looked towards the three NPCs before her, who had all risen back to their feet and were waiting on her attentively as if expecting orders.

Kirishima knew that she would be safest with Gwydion by her side, knowing that with his highest Karma rating out of the three NPCs, he was the least likely to turn against them. Mercuria was a complete mystery as her facial expression remained constantly neutral and lacking emotion, so the probability of her betrayal could not even be estimated. Erzsebet carried the most red flags in terms of safety, and she could not be trusted to venture too far away from the confines of the Palace's walls due to her unpredictability.

"First, we need to establish an understanding of our current surroundings before we can decide our next course of action. Mercuria, I need you to leave the Palace of Whispers and patrol its surroundings. I need to know what is out there, and if there is anything that can pose an immediate threat to us. If you encounter any intelligent life, do not let yourself be detected under any circumstances. Do not interact with any people that may be out there. And Erzsebet, I need you to establish our current state of security within the Palace of Whispers. Patrol its halls and determine whether there are any invaders present or anything that can pose a threat. Under no circumstances are you to attack any of the Seekers."

All three of the NPCs bowed their heads forward in acknowledgement of the orders they were each given, and with the exception of Gwydion, each of them turned to exit the Throne Room and soon vanished from sight.

Now Kirishima had the confirmation she needed that this was no longer YGGDRASIL or anything that could be the result of a virtual MMO company gone rogue. Even the most advanced virtual MMO in existence could not produce any kind of AI able to follow the verbal orders she had just given. In YGGDRASIL, each NPC could only perform actions that they were specifically coded to do. In YGGDRASIL, Mercuria was designed specifically to assassinate high-threat caster-class players and could not be ordered to perform actions other than attack a target or prepare to ambush in a specific location. Likewise, Erzsebet was programmed to always stay within the boundaries of the Throne Room area to act as the Palace of Whisper's final boss. Now, each one of her creations truly acted as if they were independently-thinking living beings, although they seemed to regard her and Kaz as "Supreme Ones" on the level of gods.

The final task now was to establish whether she was still able to utilize magic and other abilities from YGGDRASIL in this new world. If she wasn't even able to cast a single magic spell, then she was truly hopeless to defend herself against anything.

Kirishima then proceeded to give Gywdion his orders.

"Gwydion, use your Illusory Sphere spell to create an environment suitable for a large-scale battle. I would like for us to test out the full extent of our abilities."

"Of course, my Lady, it will take only a moment." Gwydion bowed in response as he proceeded to raise a hand in preparation to cast his spell.

"[Illusory Sphere - Create Endless Battlefield]"

What happened first was the sight of the Throne Room rippling wildly, as if everything around her had been submerged within water and she was just noticing the water for the first time. Eventually, the ripples within reality began spreading, merging everything around her into one chaotic mess of shapeless colors.

And then, as if swept by an invisible painter's brush, the swirl of shapeless colors formed itself into an entirely different scene.

Kirishima found herself no longer surrounded by the vastness of the Throne Room, the cool breeze of wind rushing by made this fact incredibly obvious. Green grass was now beneath her feet instead of tiled floors, stretching in all directions as far as the eye could see. Where there were ceilings was now the endless expansiveness of a blue sky, lightly covered with approaching grey clouds.

It was truly was an endless battlefield.

"[Summon Greater Legion of Shadow]"

With Gwydion's second magical incantation, a bright white beam of light shone down from the illusory clouds above, sweeping horizontally across the endless grasslands.

As the beam of light passed, Kirishima could see new figures appearing upon the vast battlefield. Each figure was covered with heavy black plated armor and armed with a dazzling array of weaponry - swords, spears, bows, shields. Each of their faces were obscured by a matching black plated helmet with a thin eye slit that revealed nothing but darkened shadows.



"Behold, a truly mighty army worthy of testing the strength of the Supreme Ones. Although each soldier is but a forgery, make no mistake, within this Illusory Sphere, their illusory blades are as deadly as blades of forged metal." Gwydion's proud voice boomed over the sound of the light gust of wind roaring across the newly formed battlefield.

Although Kirishima's facial expressions displayed no visible reaction to this new sight, inwardly, she could not help but ponder whether or not she was ready. Her passive racial skill, [Analyze Target] automatically activated as she carefully inspected each soldier within the walled formation in the distance. Their figures were each clearly outlined by a red colored overlay, indicating they were hostile.

"Each of these soldiers is an NPC, with levels ranging between 60 and 80. Their numbers... is difficult to determine. I'm counting five thousand, no, six thousand, seven..." Kirishima said aloud to Kaz and whoever was also gathered nearby.

"Final count: seven thousand, five hundred soldiers. Average level: 70. If this was still YGGDRASIL, I would say that we could handle this without any problem. However, I don't know whether we still retain our powers and abilities from YGGDRASIL. So, we need to proceed with caution. In the event we are unable to use our magic to defend ourselves..."

Kirishima did not finish her sentence. It was obvious what the consequences were if they were unable to use any magic from YGGDRASIL to defend themselves against this summoned arm summoned army. While Kaz, as a melee-focused fighter, could manage to stand a chance against this army equipped with melee weaponry, Kirishima was a mostly caster-type build, and a poorly optimized build at that. Even if she was to bring out her Fallen Angel Scythe, she did not possess the means to withstand a prolonged close-quarters battle.

Now, if she could just find a way to access her character's inventory...

Acting more on instinct than anything, Kirishima did the first action that felt natural to reach for one of her stored weapons. Feeling her hand pass through some sort of empty void, Kirishima's hand easily found the object it was searching for: her most trusted weapon and the pinnacle of her achievement in YGGDRASIL, the Divine-Class Linearizer Mk II railgun she had constructed from a rare and expensive magical staff weapon. Her fingers quickly found and wrapped around the weapon's grip, pulling it out of the void that served as her inventory space in this new world.

The weapon carried some definite weight to it, but with her enhanced android strength, Kirishima pulled out the full length of the magical railgun, using her left hand to help support its weight. This was the first time she had actually felt the shape and weight of the weapon she considered her greatest invention, as YGGDRASIL never featured the sense of touch within the game.

Finding the switch that controlled the weapon's firing modes, Kirishima absentmindedly flicked through each one: from semi-automatic to burst-fire, to fully-automatic, then back to semi-automatic. Looking at the fully assembled NPC army in the distance and quickly confirming their vastly superior numbers, Kirishima flicked the switch back to "automatic".

"Gwydion, we're ready. Let us begin." Kirishima spoke to Gwydion with a glance as she balanced the length of the railgun against her shoulder, then lowered it in the standard two-handed grip.

"Very well. The battle begins - now."

At once, the entire assembled formation of soldiers moved together as one, first a single step, then two, then as they built up speed, they burst forward into a charge.

As billowing clouds of dust were kicked up by their movements, Kirishima positioned the sights of the railgun to her eyes. Using the flood of tactical information provided by her [Analyze Target] passive skill, Kirishima took note of each individual soldiers positions, speed, and distance. She could already feel the accelerated processing of her android mind sift through all the data at a rate that would easily overwhelm her normal human self.

The flood was immense and utterly indescribable in mere words. Although she did not truly understand how she was able to perceive all this data and successfully understand it, she could feel her mind already beginning to prioritize each of her targets.

The first priority target had already fallen as she pulled the Linearizer's trigger, unleashing a stream of mana-charged projectiles that let out a loud "buzz - hiss" sound as it charged up and fired. Then the second, the third. The barrel of Kirishima's weapon jerked from side to side as she lined up each of her targets, each pull of the trigger taking down at least one target each time, sometimes several if they were bunched up close together.

Within the first ten seconds of battle, she had already counted several hundred of illusory warriors downed by her weapon, which continued unleashing annihilation in projectile form towards the assembled army of thousands.

"[Linearize Magic: True Void]"

With Kirishima's magical invocation of her signature spell, the Linearizer suddenly surged with magical energy as the True Void spell manifested itself into projectile form. In YGGDRASIL, the True Void spell was a high-tiered area of effect magic spell that was normally ineffective against players with a moderate amount of resistance against Dark-type spells. However, against woefully-equipped players and non-boss type monsters lower than level 80, it was capable of instantly killing its target.

Pulling upon the trigger to unleash the Linearized spell, a projectile of pure darkness shot out from the railgun's two-pronged barrel directly into the center of the incoming line of soldiers. Upon striking the first soldier, the projectile silently expanded into an encompassing shadowy sphere that effortlessly swallowed up several hundred other nearby soldiers into a dark void, which instantly shrank back into nothingness, leaving behind a sizable gap in their formation.

For the first time since she had arrived in this new world, a very human thought suddenly crossed her mind.

Hey, this is actually... pretty fun.

Annwns head rested against the stone pillar he had sat in front of and propped himself against, with a slow rhythm he began to tap the back of his head against the virtual stone. Resting in his lap was the small form of the albino rat that was Gnash, it just sat there unmoving and unblinking, a hallmark of the non-combat pets which in retrospect didn't do much other than offer what was essentially a mobile set dressing. Still Annwn found he had grown attached to the little thing ever sense he picked it up off of one of the back pages of the cash shop, a last chance fire sale they had said. His mouth twisting into a smile Annwn reached out to stroke the rat's back, a meaningless gesture, but one he would be happy to share with the uncaring program as its world ticked down its final seconds to oblivion. "Whelp it been a fun run eh Gnash?" he said, expecting no response in return, an expectation which was met in full. Still he petted the rat and mumbled to himself as the last seconds drained away "It really has been one hell of a time."

Annwn sighed, he kept up what he was doing almost subconsciously, just waiting for the shutdown. Yet he remained, his armor pressing against him like a familiar second skin, the warmth of the small body that was now nestling in, enjoying the attention, a small comfort, the...... Wait. All of Annwn's thoughts vanished in a snap of the fingers, the weight of the armor, the warmth of Gnash, these were things that should not be happening unless he was hallucinating, and speaking of Gnash was it moving on its own? He glanced down quickly to the rat, who met the doppelganger's gaze with an almost indignant look at the sudden cessation of the attention.

Gulping down a bit of apprehension Annwn sat up straighter and scooped up Gnash in his gauntleted hand, before depositing it on the floor next to him. With that done Annwn stood up slowly, never taking his eyes off the rat, who made quizzical look towards it's keeper and moved forward towards him. Taking a step back Annwn kept his eyes focused firmly on the animal, who kept advancing, finding no alternative Annwn's mind flashed to the first thing he would do in a situation like this in Yggdrasil. Reaching out with an ease that was more akin to a second nature than a power, Annwn suddenly found himself on the top of a couple boxes, a thin vapor trail the only indication of where he once stood. "That was... what the... alright I have no idea what is going on anymore."

He was grasping at straws, and he had to be honest with himself, it was the best he could do given the circumstance. But as he debated with himself just what the hell was going on, the small white shape of Gnash sat down, its eyes transfixed on where Annwn used to be. It sat there for a moment before letting out a high pitched squeak, that somehow sounded mournful.

Turning his head towards where the rat sat, a good few meters away, Annwn couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret for the poor thing. Cursing himself slightly Annwn jumped off the boxes, a fluid motion and landing that was unlike anything he could do outside Yggdrasil "Good to know my Agility score still works" he thought to himself as he slowly worked his way over to Gnash.

As he got close Gnash turned it's head to peer at Annwn, who swore he could see it's tiny eyes light up. Gulping slightly, Annwn bent down and held out his hand, which Gnash began to slink towards. "Its alright, were just confused. Well im confused, I dont know about you, still I would- Hey!"

Annwn was cut off mid sentience as the rat suddenly bolted up his arm, only to stop at his shoulder, which it began to grip as if for dear life. Still it seemed comfortable and Annwn wasn't going to try to move it. "Alright you go there good to know now. Still- Annwn's voice trailed off as a message entered his mind.



Now normally Annwn would be slightly miffed at all the recent interruptions, but he was in no place to be very picky, and it was very very good to know that he wasn't alone. "Well that sounded... final. Shall we?" Annwn asked the rat on his shoulder with a tilt of his head. Gnash let out an enthusiastic squeak, and looked mighty pleased. Shrugging his non occupied shoulder Annwn started off in the direction of the throne room, at a quickened pace "Who am I to argue with a response like that?"

In truth he wasn't that far away and would probably arrive as the others did, even if he didn't hurry.

"This is Kirishima to any guild members within the Palace of Whispers. If you can hear this, please do not be afraid. We have gathered within the Throne Room and are here waiting for you. Please come here as soon as you can, we have much to discuss about our current situation."

“Fear” not something he'd particularily say he was feeling at the moment. More of a show of curiosity maybe? No, their was still some dread to some extent that Ma-Lee had decided to just follow him like normal willy nilly. Let alone decided that her 'former form' was not enough. Threw playing this game he had become so used to her being around that the fear factor of most things in this game couldn't really compete. Like having a stalker and a drug dealer at the same time Ma-Lee would become more menacing as the time went on. So long as he didn't 'feed' her. It was quite the annoying essence of it all but still something of a gift to remind him of his old omens. His sins.

His boots continued to click against the floor. Their metal material more then proving that at the moment hiding wouldn't even be a possible feat. Not that he would need to in their own hall. No, what mattered was why was he still active? How where they still here. He had spend many a time in situations wondering that in the real world. Never did it end right, often with one of his own dying. He looked back to Ma-Lee who smiled when she noticed he looked at her and waved while still keeping pace with him.

As they approached the doors to the Throne Room, a strange almost like light seemed to drop out around it's doors. Opening it lightly with his hand he looked in to see something of like a bubble before him. The occasional sound coming out of it from combat. Was this some sort of sphere of water? Maybe it was magic of some sort. He couldn't really tell. He looked around the room seeing that there wasn't too many people actually present at all. The Berserker was and he could only assume that maybe the guild leader was within the bubble before him. But was it something he needed to worry about?

“Hello, I heard the request to come here..but? What is with this thing?” He stated as he pointed to the illusion like sphere. Not talking per say to anyone. Merely talking in general as Ma-Lee walked up to the bubble. Annoyance on her face as she looked at it carefully.

Kaz stayed calm. He really did, to some extent. That was, until Kiri pulled him away from her NPC because apparently Erzsebet was some insane bloodthirsty vampire monster. He knew, of course; it was just that he never paid much attention to that fact before. They were NPCs. He knew they wouldn’t do anything without being specifically ordered to. But that was in the past. The old world of YGGDRASIL, post shut down. In this new one, there was no telling what would happen. So when Kiri’s grip on him loosened, he might have panicked. Just a little bit. His hand shot for the long sword, only to find it lying on the ground a few feet away from him, where he had dropped it in his surprise. That couldn’t be good. Still keeping his eyes on the vampire NPC, he slowly backed away.

Only to watch her squirming like a crazed fangirl at his touch. His jaw dropped as he watched, glancing between Kiri and her creation in search for an answer. She seemed surprisingly calm, all thing considered. Far calmer than him. Did it have something to do with her race? Lore-wise, androids were supposed to be emotionless and methodical killing machines, or so he thought. But did that he also become a real revenant? That couldn’t be good. He wasn’t very interested in the game’s lore and such, but he knew enough about his own race. Revenants were bodies possessed by vengeful spirits plucked from their home in the fiery Underworld, driven by rage and an insatiable taste for violence. That couldn’t be good. Not to mention his job classes, which included Reaper and Berserker.

He swallowed dryly, slinking away from Kiri and her NPCs, leaving the guild founder to her own device. His sword was still where he dropped it earlier, on the ground near his marble chair. He sat down, then picked it up, feeling the worn leather handle in his ungauntleted hand. The feeling was strangely familiar, and he could lift the sword so easily, despite the fact that it was described to weigh almost haft his weight in real life. To say that he was freaking out would be an understatement. It seemed the famed revenant strength had become real as well. He stood up, placing one hand on the marble seat. It was cool under his touch. With a brisk snap of his fingers, marble came apart like crackers. He looked at the marble dust in stunned silence, until Kiri’s words reached him. She took control of the situation, faster than he ever could. With less destruction of guild’s property, too. He turned to her slowly, contented to just watch for now. He was no leader. To be honest, this exceeded even his wildest dreams. He had no idea what to do.

Then Kiri proceeded to order her NPC to create an illusionary army for them to test their power. Despite the obviously proof earlier that he still retained his inhuman strength, the thought of testing his powers further hadn’t occurred to him.

“H-hang on Kiri. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea…”-He barely finished when the world around them wrapped and distorted into an open field. An army approached, out for their blood. Beside him, Kiri attacked first, pulling out her big gun and blasting away.

He was going to ask her to stop. He needed time, to calm down, to rearrange his thoughts, to come in terms with reality, to do whatever. There were a thousand of excuse on the front of his mind. But when the first wave of enemies perished, their life force bled from their scorched bodies, he forgot all about excuses. Reapers were at home where the fighting was the thickest, where the cries of the dead and the dying alike roared. He remembered the race’s description, but never really thought much about it.

In that single moment, though, he understood.

Somewhere to his right, the scabbard fell softly on the grass. He barely remembered lifting his sword, let alone charging head-first into the enemy’s formation. Even summons and illusions had some measure of life force in their bodies. Nothing comparable to those of living beings, but it was there, nonetheless. Usually, he could tell by looking at the life force gauge on the left corner of his screen, watching it slowly filled up as mobs died. That gauge was missing now, but he still knew. He could feel the life force ebbed and flowed in the air, thick and almost tangible like a miasma.

The rush was exhilarating. At least, that was what he thought, until his first swing found an opponent. It was a simple strike; a horizontal slash propelled by raw strength alone. He braced himself for the inevitable shock of metal striking metal. However, it never came. Armor felt like tin foil beneath the black blade, and flesh was rotten tomato. As his opponent crumbled, he stood, absorbing the life force. It was unlike anything he had ever felt. The closest thing came to mind was that first breath you took after a deep dive in the pool. It was what being alive felt like. But this. This was simply… divine. Words wouldn’t do it justice, so he didn’t bother. He simply carried on. A step here, a swing there, followed by a quick thrust. He had never touched a sword in his life, and yet, here, he knew exactly what he was doing. The armored knights before him were sluggish brutes; this one footwork was bad, the other one put too much strength into his swings, while his archer friend at the back didn’t even make an effort to keep distance. One by one, he took them down, the high of combat roaring in his veins like liquid fire. Adrenaline? Was that a thing in this world?

However, he felt that it could be so much more. It was like biting into chocolate chip cookies, only to find raisin instead. Edible, but could be so much better.

“Oblivion awaits!!”- A voice roared, distorted and amplified by magic. His.

The effect was instantaneous. His vision blurred, then sharpened, highlighting a number of figures around him. He then used Grasping Shadow to pull them in, then Dancing Darkness to finish them off with a twirl of his blade. It was far too easy. He felt the life force building, and he wanted more.

As Annwn entered the throne room he stopped short, the sudden jolt almost sending Gnash toppling from his perch on Annwn's solder. Squeaking in frustration the small creature clawed its way back onto Annwn's shoulder, and though it started chattering away at the perceived insult, Annwn barily registered the noise. Instead his focus was on the bubble of magic before him, his eyes tracking the flashes of light that emanated from its inside. A note of familiarity resonated in his memory, the sight of his guild in combat in one of the many skirmishes in Yggdrasil, the NPC's display of power.

“Hello, I heard the request to come here..but? What is with this thing?”

The sound of Charlemagne's question snapped Annwn's attention, swallowing dryly he stammered out an answer "I think that this is an illusion bubble, if..if I remember right. The only problem is I cant for the life of me remember the name of the spell." Reaching out he ran his fingers along the edge of the bubble, his hand effortlessly passing through the barrier. Slowly he made a movement towards it "In any case I think our illustrious founder is currently doing... something." Annwn took only a moment to consider his options before reaching up to place Gnash on the floor, where the rat sat back on it's hind legs and watched him intently. "Whelp, judgeing by what little I have to go on, I guess I'll see you inside!" With that Annwn's form blurred into the smoke, indicating he had just blinked to somewhere in the sphere.

Emerging from the blink smoke, Annwn drew Geri and Freki with a small flourish, as Song unwound itself from his waist. He slowly advanced in an animistic posture, the animate rope dart flicking this way and that. He was about to send off a message when the unmistakable sound of a magic amplified shout reached his ears like an avalanche. With a shrug Annwn began moving in the direction of the shout, thinking that it would lead him to someone who would know something about what the absolute hell was going on.

What he found instead was a brawl between two of his guild members and and illutionary army, which in turn, saw him. A squad broke off and headed right for the doppelganger, their weapons drawn and at the ready. Gathering that the illusions were not going to be very talkative, Annwn simply waited in his low stance, as the illusions came ever closer. Until they passed some range marker that Annwn knew by heart, after which Annwn launched himself towards them, smoke enveloping him. But unlike normal blink smoke, this smoke persisted and shot towards the illusions with a blinding speed. As it passed through a few of them, cuts began appearing all over the contact points, sending them to the ground. As Annwn appeared from the smoke on the other side of the illutionary squad, Song lashed out and impaled one in the neck before spinning its blade and returning to it's neutral state. Turning slightly Annwn noticed that a few of the illusions still stood, and were now barreling down on him. Panicking slightly, Annwn reached into his mind, almost instinctively and before he knew exactly what was happening he realized he was whispering

"Razor Cloud"

In an instant a cloud of hair thin wires sprung into existence around the remaining illusions, before whipping this way and that faster than could be tracked, effectively dicing the illionary soldiers. Annwn stood dumbfound for a second, only a "Huh" was all he could muster before he tore off towards the battle, a wide grin in his face, and his knives twirling. This was going to be fun.

Ma-Lee smiled at the answer that was given. Her eyes glittering with joy.

“Why don't we jump in too~” she spoke with a twisted grin on her face. He knew that she only wanted to be used, to kill things so she could consume their souls. But he was generally pretty sure that if this was what it was suppose to be. None of those things really had souls...well at least in the game, they couldn't be killed to get souls. Maybe they could now he didn't understand. But if this was some sort of test? Should he truly have just jumped in. Let alone, he didn't fully get the situation around him. What if he could be killed? What would that feel like.

He sighed as his grip tightened around the handle. “Fine lets go Ma-Lee.” He stated as he pushed his hand against the seeming bubble. It's magical texture seeming almost to ripple to him as his hand passed threw. The scream of glee that came out of Ma-Lee was both intimidating and motivating at the same time. He couldn't really express how it made him feel. But never the less he took a step into the playing field before him. Feeling the magical illusion nature ripple against his flesh, his eyes darted around him.

A battlefield loomed before him. With the members seeming to use their skills against the 'beast' before them. Each one being killed by another member of the guild. No, they weren't beasts merely seeming like soldiers. Of course he was no exception to the rule as when he stepped foot in he seemed to draw in their attention. The aggro of the near by ones made them charge him their levels probably ranged in the 80s? He wasn't entirely sure. He pulled his hand down on his Ax, holding it in it's appropriate way and entered stance. Reciting a little prayer, as he would normally in his role play sense before swinging it horizontally in a matter that cleaved threw the targets before him. The weight of them, his Ax. It all felt too real. The sensation was limited though, as he would have expected. It was, an illusion. His life would easily tell him other wise. Having been in some rather rough scenarios himself.

He jumped to the side as another came close, dodging the down strike while parrying another. Killing another 2. Ma-Lee started eccentric, glowing with joy, but soon came to realize she wasn't going to be eating anything. She looked bored. Her eyes just looked around the field of battle as she spotted the leader of the guild. And pointed at her. He looked to the area for a moment, when one came that was and began to work his way towards the guild leader.