With maintenance all but finished and the newest expansion pack pre-downloaded, Ryou was more than ready to dive into Emerald Odyssey and start streaming. He had made sure that his setup was in perfect order the night before—triple-checked it, even—which left him precious little to worry about now. With a few people buzzing about in the pre-stream lobby, the young man was more than ready to greet his viewers and dive into the new content with everyone.

The amount of congestion the servers had to face on patch day was oddly absent, though—a fact that struck Ryou as odd, but one that he chose not to question. After all, looking this sort of gift horse in the mouth was a bit rude, especially when it was most certaily in his favor. But as he moved to log in, his character selected and the loading splash screen appeared on his monitor...

White. His vision was overwhelmed in an instant by something far beyond what any sort of monitor could produce normally. There was no time to react or respond, and before he could even make a single sound in response——


"...Eh?"

Blinding though that all-consuming white had been, the young man found that both it and any aftereffects that it might have left were nowhere to be found. While that might have been reason to breathe easy, it took no more than a few passing seconds for him to realize that something was most definitely wrong.

After all, his computer and everything around it had been replaced by a simple wooden desk, and his room far less... 'Modern' than he last remembered. Though that oddity was at the forefront of his mind, nothing had truly quite processed yet—not until he got up and looked out the window. It was the middle of the afternoon when he had logged on, but with the amount of sunlight streaming through past the curtains, it felt more like early morning instead.

Of course, even a single glance outside the window would cause things to start falling into place. He had read enough stories to understand what had happened, and though he was still unaware of exactly why something like this had happened, it was almost undeniable that the world outside was undoubtedly a locale he was incredibly familiar with despite not being anywhere in Japan—or on Earth, for that matter.

"This has to be a joke, right?"

Though still somewhat in denial despite how his voice sounded slightly off, Ryou glanced around once before walking into the washroom, clinging onto some faint hope that this was all some sort of last-moment fever dream. But when he splashed water on his face and glanced at himself in the mirror, that hope, too, came crashing down.

After all, it was not the face of Sunohara Ryou looking at him, but that of Shokatsu Yu, his character.

"...I guess not."

Of course, it was not panic that overtook him immediately after; with a few deep breaths, Yu had shaken at least some of the chaos running through his head as he began to consider the implications of what his current position was. After all, with isekai settings having become so commonplace, it wasn't as if he was left without any direction to center his thoughts.

"So I'm in the world of the game as the character I main. There was no indication of what the cause was, nor what will get me to return immediately..." he muttered to himself, flicking the water off of his face as he left the washroom, "...Which means that the first thing to determine is whether or not I'm the only one in this world now."

Centered though his words may have been, though, Yu could feel his heart pounding as he promptly left the room and the inn proper; whether it was out of excitement or fear, even he couldn't quite tell.

---

Clean though the air on the streets of Aluvera were (or, well, as clean as you could expect), the state of the actual city seemed to be... Less than orderly. There was nothing like rioting or havoc on the streets, but the amount of people clearly trying to process the situation was more than Yu could count. In this case, though, that was probably a good thing; after all, that meant that he wasn't alone here. The grander implications of that soon crossed his mind, though, and before long, Yu found himself walking through the city, trying to find someone—anyone—that he knew among the crowd. All the while, of course, the young man began to half-awkwardly fiddle with the empty air with his right hand, hoping that at least some part of the game beyond his current personage was carried over. After all, finding something as basic as an inventory or friends list would be astronomically helpful at a time like this...

The fact that the servers were so clear was strange. Matsuo hadn't expected that. He'd managed to set aside time to try out the new expansion, but he really hadn't expected to be able to log in so easily.

Much stranger, however, was the flash of white light that filled his vision almost as soon as the loading splash screen appeared.

When it faded, the university student was in for a considerable shock.

He was no longer in his room, in front of his computer.

There was a wide street in front of him, blanked by various shops. Familiar shops.

Shops from Emerald Odyssey.

He'd logged off in the Aluvera shopping district. And now he appeared to be standing in it, surrounded by people going about their daily business. NPCs going about their daily business. Considerably more then filled the streets normally, but there was no mistaking his surroundings.

"Am I dre-"

Matsuo cut himself off, clutching at his throat.

His skin felt soft and smooth. His neck felt slender. And his voice...

That wasn't his voice. It was a girl's voice. That was absolutely a girl's voice. A cute, somewhat higher-pitched girl's voice. Shakily, the university student raised his hand harder, bringing both of them to his delicate chin and jaw, his soft cheeks, his dainty nose... running his hands through lengthy, silky blonde hair.

This couldn't be real.

Matsuo's heart was beating faster. His breathing was getting harder.

"N-no way, right?" he asked himself, in that voice that didn't suit his real life self in the least, "I'm dreaming. I have to be. There's no way. I fell asleep waiting for the expansion to drop. That has to be it."

Slowly, Matsuo located the nearest shopfront window. He had to see his reflection.

He found one to the right side of the street.

Looking back at him was the petite, slender figure of a small girl, with bright blue eyes and lengthy blonde hair. And pointed ears. In a blue Starlight Mage's outfit.

Matsuo slowly placed a hand to her cheek and pinched herself.

She didn't wake up.

"No way no way no way no way," she repeated to herself multiple times, shaking, "This can't be real! I have... I have university to... how?! I... wh-what kind of isekai setup is this?! I-I'm Sefira?!"

She took a step away from her reflection, her petite body shaking, blue eyes wide. There was no way something like this could ever happen. She felt certain of that. And yet this wasn't a dream. She felt pain. She felt a lot of things, the air on her skin, the ground beneath her feet, everything.

There was no way it was a dream.

Not only was Matsuo in Emerald Odyssey, but he had become his character, Sefira Sylvanbelle.

---

The sound of murmuring crowds both familiar and not so filled his ears, the bustling views of Aluvera were spread before him in a somewhat unfamiliar angle, and most importantly... He wasn't at home anymore. The immediate first thing he did in this situation was look around, before he'd start wandering. It would not be much longer than a dozen seconds before he'd notice the clothes he was in, what he was carrying, and then soon confirming his face in a glass window pane. He sighed, and then appeared to accept that this is what had indeed happened.

He looked around and began to wander the city streets, and... It was possible this might have been some strange dream. There were many others who reacted in varying ways to what appeared to be the same situation, based on some exclamations. Characters he recognized as part of the city's population, NPCs, did not appear at all alarmed.

Well, for the time being, he decided to get a handle on what was happening. By some miraculous feat, players were sent into Emerald Odyssey, all he remembered was logging in then looking away to grab his dinner. Not to mention, it seems people were now their characters too... He recalled hearing someone yell and reveal something to the extent that their character was not their gender. He looked down upon the two blades at his waist, so he is currently his main class Samurai. He was eager to see what this all meant for their skills and classes, but for now while he was here he should probably take stock of this situation as he continued to wander around Aluvera.

Aluvera
I'm young and cute again? Waaah, my ears are so soft!?

---

"Aaaaah~" Kosame, was tired, but when was she not tired? Haaa, being a blue collar worker working a dumb 9-5 to five job for a dumb company for just making a living was a ~total~ drag. "At least I got home in time for the Expac~" She'd excitedly giggle to herself as she'd open the door to her apartment, quickly throwing off her suit jacket and tossing it onto a nearby pile of clothes that really should probably be put in the washer, but eh, she'd clean it later. She didn't want to miss the start of the newest expac.

First though, food.

She worked straight through lunch to get home early enough. Nothing a bit of fancy ramen couldn't fix.

The company drone sit in her chair, practically vibrating from excitement. Probably a bit odd for a woman in her thirties to get that excited over a game, but did she care? Not a single bit. Aaaah, how many new little monsties were going to be in this expac? Which ones would she have to fight? Oh, and of course, what new classes? Maybe she could find something better suited...she wasn't really thinking about how easy it was to get in either. She was far too focused on just how exactly she was going to be proceeding. First she'd feed her current monsters. Harvest their materials. Make sure her player owned shop was up and still selling things on the market or whatever.

As soon as the servers would come online...Ah~!

"Here we-"

She'd login, selecting her character.

For a moment, she thought the bright light was either her excitement reaching supernova levels, but that was a silly thought. The next was that her computer had just went and died on her, but that too soon proved to be not what had happened.

---

"-gooo? eh?"

Looking around her, she was standing in what seemed to be a field. Rolling lush plains of grass surrounding her. Large city walls rose in the distance. Had she worked too hard? Did she pass out? Did she not get enough sleep? Was she have some sort of weird fever dream, because this looked suspiciously like the outskirts of Aluvera. For a few seconds, she'd just stand there, for a very few seconds in her life, absolutely stunned and not having any witty or silly quip to make, or someone to antagonize with her usual antics.

"...Okay Kosame, maybe you should have laid off the special coffee." She'd grumble, reaching up and scratching her head...only to find something fairly unexpected. "Fweh?! Soft?!" Taking her other hand, she'd quickly check to make sure she just wasn't imagining it. No, that definitely was some sort of...fluffy...ear? Wearing a perplexed expression, she'd quickly look down at her body, her concern only growing with each part of her she looked over.

"Weh? Smaller chest?" She'd pat the sides of her face. That wasn't her face. "Furry ears...no. No way. Really? For really real?" She'd twirl a few times, almost looking like a dog chasing its tail as she'd in fact, manage to just see a long, white tail sticking from her backside. Her hands would reach behind her, just to confirm. A quiet yelp later, and yep, that was firmly attached to her butt. This of course, was not a phenomena she was unfamiliar with, what with all the pop culture and manga surrounding it, but like...what? Just what? There was no denying it. From the way she was dressed, her younger, totally cute voice, soft fluffy ears and her amazingly cute self, she had quite literally, had finally gone completely bonkers from overwork, or had just become her Emerald Odyssey avatar - Kokoma.

"Is something the matter Kokoma-"

And it was increasingly looking like it was in fact, the latter.

Upon hearing a voice nearby her, Kokoma's ears would stand straight on end, she'd spin and find herself unconsciously reaching out and grabbing something.

"...soft." Ah. It was...it was her. The arachne. Tatl. She was...ah. And she had reached out and was currently just...cupping either side of her face with her hands. If she was here, then...ah. Wait, did that mean all her mounts and tamed creatures were here?

"A-ahem...M-miss Kokoma if you...could let go of my face..."

"Eeeh, why would I do that when you're so pretty. I made a good choice in a maid, heheh, that outfit looks great." In response to this, the Arachne would inhale, face turning a bright shade of red.

"I-I was...uhm, going to ask...if you were alright. You were spacing out a bit..." The Arachne would respond, adjusting her glasses slightly in an attempt to hide her mild embarrassment. "But I can see you are fine, erm..." She'd say, quickly pulling away from Kokoma. "A-anyways...are we-Ah! Wait! Kokoma!"

Before Tatl could finish her question, Kokoma had set her sights on Aluvera. The moment the Arachne's attention wandered, the Shenke was already making a beeline for the city, sprinting. A wide grin plastered on her face. The more and more apparent it was becoming this wasn't some sort of dream - and even if it was - she should enjoy this, right? There was no reason not too! So she'd run into the city, down its streets. She didn't really have a goal in mind, yet, or was even thinking of her other mounts, abilities, skills or whatnot.

But not thinking was pretty par for the course for Kokoma.

This is it! This is the day! Ooh, I'm so excited!

What day, you may ask? Why, the day for the new expansion of Emerald Odyssey, of course! I've been waiting for this day for so long you have no idea how excited I am right now!

Yasuho Tanaka was spinning in her room, her uniform skirt fluttering as she did. She had just gotten back from school and without even undressing, she booted up her PC with a kick of her foot.

As she waited for the boot-up to finish, she danced around, talking to herself in the process. It was what she always did whenever she got too excited. She needed to let it out of her system after all.

Only after she started to feel dizzy that she pulled her seifuku up her head and unzipped her skirt. Dumping both unceremoniously in the laundry bin, she sat on her lovely gaming chair and clicked on the icon for the game.

Perfect! It already updated by itself! Hehe, thanks to my genius that let it run all night yesterday!

Grinning, she clicked the Enter button.

The game loaded in an instant, shifting into the title screen with the logo for the game. She clicked log in, selected her character, and waited until the game finished loading.

Well, that's weird. No queues at all? On a release day?

And then, light enveloped her.

…

…

…

Huh?

She blinked.

Wait, what just happened?

She blinked again.

Her PC… it had disappeared, vanished into the void. There was now only a wooden chair in front of herself. Or rather, a dresser, as there was a mirror right above it.

Her eyes widened.

The face she saw in the mirror… wasn't her face in the slightest.

It was her character, Myrtle Bramblewood.

She yelped, her body leaning too much backwards that she and her chair fell.

"Miss Myrtle? Are you alright?"

She heard the sound of a door opening. Looking to her right, still upside down with her legs up in the air, she found that a maid was entering the room.



Her eyes widened once again.

That's Azure! One of my retainers!

In the game, players with sufficient funds could pay for NPC retainers to work for them. Azure was one of them. She dressed her up as a maid since it fit with the western mansion aesthetics that she used as her house.

"Miss Myrtle, how can you fall over like that? Here, let me help you up."

The maid bent over and lifted the chair back up. The weight of her mistress and the heavy chair didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.

"Hehe, thank you, Azure." Myrtle scratched her blushing cheek.

Wait, why am I talking so casually like this? I've been transported into the world of Emerald Odyssey! And my face! And this body! They all belong to my character, Myrtle Bramblewood! Somehow or the other, I have transformed into her!

Myrtle pinched her cheek. No dice. This really wasn't a dream.

She stood up to have a look at her new body better. Slim waist, flat chest, average height, pink hair — it really was the body of her character. It took her three hours to customize her appearance so there would be no chance she forgot how she looked.

She then twirled in place, her eyes locked to the hem of her short dress. Yep. This was also the outfit she had equipped for her.

"Milady, is something the matter?"

The voice of her retainer interrupted her thoughts.

"A-ah, nothing!" Myrtle smiled nervously. She couldn't very well tell her about this! Especially since she was supposed to be her!

The maid pouted. "I believe you need a rest, Milady. Shall we take a stroll outside?"

"Outside? Y-yeah, that's a great idea, Azure! We should do that!"

Myrtle praised herself for her swift thinking. Outside! Yes, she had to go there! She had to see if she really had been brought into the MMO world she loved!

"Very well, Miss." The maid smiled. "I shall pack a lunch and we can have a picnic together in the park." With a quick bow, she left the room, leaving me back with my own devices.

"Whew… that was… nerve-wracking… since when an NPC like her can act that intelligently?" She frowned. "Though if this is an alternate world of sorts, and not literally the world inside the game, that would make sense…"

She paced back and forth for a bit, squeezing her chin with her index and thumb.

Until she suddenly stopped and snapped her fingers.

"Well, time to look around this place! First, we'll start from this room!"

The place was big, a lot bigger than her room back in the real world. A large queen-sized bed was neatly tucked to the northwest corner of the room (if she were to assume the door was on the south). A grandfather clock stood proudly to the east, along with the dresser. A full bookshelf was placed to the north and a lit chandelier was hanging from the ceiling. There were two pairs of windows — one near the dresser and the other above the bed.

It was exactly like the bedroom she had designed inside the game.

A knock came from the door.

She jumped.

"Milady, I'm ready. We can depart now."

She turned in a flash. "A-ah, yes, excellent work, Azure! Let us depart then!"

She spared one last glance at the room before she left.

This was her room. No doubt about it. She imagined in her head that the room was to be used by her character when she designed it.

And now, it had become a reality.

Just what in the world was going on?

---

---

After a long day at the university, shopping for food, and getting some stretching in before her planned gaming binge, Akira was more than ready to flop into the chair before her computer. She had her water, snack, and comfy pajamas all ready, computed booted up, Emerald Odyssey ready to play.

She clicked on the game’s icon, and took out her phone. She checked to see if there were any in-game videos of the newest update, but it seemed like people were too keen to try it out all to have made any yet. Not too unexpected, given that it was launch day, and that the update had gone live within the last hour or so.

Akira tapped on her phone mindlessly as she waited for the game to load. She expected a significant wait when she clicked into one of the servers, but oddly, there was no waiting queue. Setting the phone aside, she readied her fingers at the keyboard and mouse, but then–

A blinding white light enveloped her.

One minute, she’d been in her room, and the next…She was standing in front of very familiar city gates. Aluvera. The city was distinct and familiar, and she recognized it immediately. She’d seen it often enough for one, and for another, it had been only a few days ago that she’d left her character her the last time she’d played.

Right. Her character. Could it be…? Akira looked down, and saw the familiar fashion, as well as the katana sheathed at her hip. Amazed, she touched the clothing, the hilt, the scabbard…It was immaculate, truly.

Making a final check, she pinched her cheek, and her eyes slightly watered. Well. It felt real enough, huh. But Isekai wasn’t supposed to exist outside of stories…

Looking around, the choice of whether to wander farther away into the wide stretch of grassland or to enter the safety of the city was an easy one to make.

As she passed through the gates, she caught sight of some guards, and approached. “Hey!” she greeted somewhat forcefully, and walked closer. They shifted slightly, and one of them nodded in invitation. “Do you know how I came to be here?” she asked.

“I…am unsure what you are asking, miss,” one replied. The guards glanced at each other, apparently deeming her as a weirdo.
“You must have travelled here,” another pitched in with a shrug.

Akira exhaled forcefully, brushing a hand through her hair. Even this minor gesture revealed something new – her wolf ears. She touched them cautiously, trying to look up to see, which was of course impossible.

“Ahh, I’d forgotten about this,” she muttered, removing the hand from her head, and looking round at her rump. A wide sweeping tail was there to meet her, black furred and swinging from side to side. These additions had been so natural, she’d not felt them at all till now. Also, her mind her been honestly too preoccupied by this whole situation to also remember that she wasn’t exactly human anymore.

“Miss?” one guard questioned, and Akira realized he’d been saying something while she was absorbed in her inspection. Seeing he’d caught her attention, he added, “Perhaps you should go see a healer. You do, er, seem to be…suffering from some memory loss, perhaps?” he suggested warily.

Akira scratched her – Nova’s? – ear ruefully. “Yeah, alright. Thanks for the help, mister.”

Then, she departed, weaving through the crowd as she walked briskly towards the town square. She saw plenty of players, all as confused as she was, trying to log out, or find people they knew…she could be doing that too, she thought, but there was one thing prior to that she wanted to accomplish.

Once at the town square, she approached the fountain, and peered into her reflection. “So, it is Nova,” she stated, unsurprised. She’d already concluded as much. Should I go by Nova rather than Akira, at least while I’m stuck here?

On the one hand, there were people who might recognize her by her real name rather than her game name, but the vice versa also held true. Regardless, her intuition said to go by Nova. Maybe it’d make it easier on her while she had to be in this world, too. And yeah, she was pretty sure there was no easy way out.

Still, she began trying to access the menu. “Options…log out…character select…exit…friends list...” she muttered a variety of ingame functions, starting with those that had enabled her to exit the game in the past, and proceeding to those one would expect to find in a game, such as the world chat window, inventory, or the skills menu.

"So that's how it's done, huh...?"

There was a bit of relief in Yu's voice as he finally managed to pull up his character information, his gaze panning slightly to the side as the familiar menu popped up in his peripherals. Finagling with some invisible, possibly-extant hotbar had been unnecessary, it seemed; simply desiring for the relevant information to spring up had been sufficient. Of course, where one success was found, others followed suit, and the young man quickly cycled through half a dozen other menus—none of which seemed to be able to access the usual system configurations, of course—before he paused, an odd shadow slowly creeping over the skies above.

Given how it had been broad daylight moments ago, the weather shifting spontaneously becoming overcast was by no means a good sign.

As he closed the windows to give him back full control of his vision, Yu slowed to a halt as he—and more than a few others who had already begun to gather—turned their eyes skyward, only to see those clouds shift to a dark black.

Any amount of hesitation in the air was promptly cut through as something immediately cut through the clouds from above, a gaping hole from which a single red light began falling—right onto the middle of the square. Those who were aware immediately began to move to make room for whatever was descending, and those who were not were promptly dragged away by the tides of people shifting to make room. Of course, no few number among them—Yu included—furtively drew their weapons in response.

The fountain in the center of the square, it seemed, had been the unknown assailant's target, and its subsequent destruction as they landed threw stone dust and debris all over. When it had cleared, however, what was left behind in the rubble was a brown-haired man, his bronze-colored armor twisted and worn as he knelt upon the ruined earth. The pool of blood forming under him showed no such promising future, but what was more troublesome were his words soon after.

"The gates... Have been opened..."

Whether those words were meant as a warning or as a threat mattered little—at least, compared to the creatures flying out from the clouds unto the city. As far as Yu could tell, they seemed to be a mix of griffins, sphinxes, and harpies—none of which he was pleased to see—and were diving towards the city at an alarming rate. There only seemed to be a few dozen in total, thankfully enough, but that small number was still more than enough to lay siege to the city if left unchecked.

As a massive sphinx swept down from the skies above to strike at him, though, Yu tumbled out of the way before looking back at the creature. Though he had no personal experience fighting with the weapon, it felt as if his body did. Hopefully that would actually mean something, given how it seemed to be moving around for seconds.

With his blade at the ready, Yu took a deep breath and focused his gaze upon the monster before moving into a more proper battle stance, his sword pointed forward as he struck out at its' wings in hopes of equalizing the battlefield——!

Myrtle's eyes wandered all over as she made her way outside with her maid. Everything, down to the tiniest detail, was similar to the mansion she had in game. She had pictures of certain NPCs hanging on her walls, NPCs she was quite fond with when she did her story quests with them. She also had all sorts of expensive furniture, paid by the income she got from her potion-making venture. The marble floor was clean, so much so she could see her own reflection on its surface.

Ooh, this is amazing!

Opening the oaken door, her maid beckoned for her to hurry.

"Yes yes, I'm coming!" She hastened her pace.

The moment she stepped outside, she was greeted by a pleasant breeze. Her dress fluttered in the wind as she gawked at her surroundings.

Wow, this is it! This is Sen Rynta!

Sen Rynta — the floating city in the clouds. It was the city she had chosen to be her homebase. Who wouldn't? It was easily the most beautiful city out of all of them. When she had enough money to purchase a mansion in the city's upper class district, she did it in a heartbeat.

Beyond the entrance was a small plot of land acting as a garden. And further away was the front gate, leading into the city proper.

“Shall we walk or shall I fetch the carriage, Milady?”

“Umm, we’ll walk! This is a really nice morning! We shouldn’t be cooped up inside a carriage!”

Azure took the lead, with Myrtle following behind, still looking around in a daze, with the latter nearly tripping in the process, thanks to a stray vine that had grown in the cobblestone road she walked upon.

Hmm, now I wonder… if the game is now like real life, does that mean the cities are a lot bigger? I mean, a city can’t just be a couple of screens in real life after all…

Yep, I think I should just stick with Azure. I know how to get to the park from here but if the city’s layout has changed, that’s a different matter entirely.

--------

Myrtle's trip through the city was enlightening, to say the least. She learned that it wasn’t only her that was transported to this world. Other players of the game had been forced to be their characters as well. Some panicked, yelling at each other for the unbelievable event that had occurred to them. Others were a lot more joyful, quickly embracing their new bodies, with some of the females openly exposing and groping themselves out in the open.

Hmph, she scoffed. They were clearly guys who played female characters. And now that they had female bodies, they were free to fondle themselves as much as they wanted. She was normally okay with guys doing that but not when they did perverted stuff like this. Had they no shame? Since they were girls now, they should know better than to do that kind of thing in public!

Eventually, they arrived at the park. Normally, it was a popular place for players to AFK in, so she believed it would be the ideal place to scope things out. And sure enough, there were a horde of players there, forming a crowd in the middle of the green field.

“Azure, stay here for a bit.”

“Miss, aren’t we going to—”

It was too late for the maid. Her mistress had already run away, heading straight into said crowd.

A frown appeared on Azure’s face. At this rate, their food was going to get cold!

---

The screeches of a few harpies cried overhead as a few running citizens scampered away in fear for their lives. One of which tripped and fell, a young child by the looks of it as the harpy talons borne swooped in, the child would recoil in fear for the inevitable, yet... It did not come. A flutter of feathers followed by the multiple thuds as something fell from the air. The boy would open their eyes and see a black cloaked man holding a katana in between them. One look from the man and the child slowly got up, before being ushered away by their parent.

"How curious, my body appears to simply move if I want to use my skills", he said to himself, as he made his way towards the city's square. Although... A monster attack in a sanctuary area, this was most certainly not part of the normal game, and the way the NPCs had reacted were far too advanced to be a scripted event, he had some knowledge of how games should work and... The technology should not be at this level yet.

As he slowly made his way towards the city square, he had the opportunity to test out his techniques and get a feeling for fighting. Given where they were, and assuming it was all 'real'... Fighting would be inevitable, made very apparent by this event. He can think about what has happened later, he thought to himself.

He soon found himself at the heart of the commotion, and there were already some people here fighting. Griffons and Sphinxes were present, a much greater foe than harpies. Given the strength of these enemies he should pick an enemy already being engaged with, and end them as soon as possible.

He looked around and saw another swordsman charging at a Sphinx, and took it upon himself to assist him.

Taking his katana in two hands he charged forward, "Myoujingiri!" He began to move quickly before disappearing into a blur, a flurry of slashes would make themselves visible followed by streaks of light lined up against the front legs and neck in various arrays, before he finally appeared at the front of the Sphinx. There was no tank holding the Sphinx's attention, and knowing that he aimed to end it as soon as he could.

Aluvera - City Streets

---

This was definitely Aluvera. The market, the sounds...ah, it was as if everything had gotten suddenly turned into glorious, 24k HD with photorealism. And it didn't seem like she was alone here either, if the perplexed gazes of a number of others were anything to go by. Still, she didn't pay them much mind as she'd sprint through the streets. She was just running from sheer excitement still at this point, not even bothering to register much of anything else. It wouldn't be until some minutes later she'd have finally managed to actually run out of breath, slowing to a walk as she'd still start looking in amazement at the city around her.

It really couldn't be a dream now, could it?

"Keaheheh~!" Kokoma visibly vibrated on the spot. If Tatl had been with her she'd probably have gotten whacked or something, if the spiders personality was anything like she imagined, but she couldn't help it. If her excitement levels were in fact, capable of going supernova, they definitely would have by now. "I...I can't...ahaah~" She was so caught up in her enjoyment, she hadn't first even registered the sky darkening.

Her laughter though, would be cut short by the sound of something rocking the earth in the square not too far away. Her ears flicked in the direction of the noise, her head soon following suit as she'd also, see the sky above splitting open, monsters spilling forth. Someone else may have hesitated, or found this entire situation to be absurd, but those people just overthought everything as far as she cared - more importantly...someone looked completely out of place and some harpy was about to try making a snack out of them it seemed like.

"Miss elf get down!" The smart, and logical thing here would be to attack the harpy with her spear...but Kokoma was completely forgetting she even had it. So instead, she'd focus on doing what she was attempting in a much more literal fashion - protect the cute looking confused elf. So instead of assaulting the harpy, she'd instead, seemingly assault Sefira. She'd tackle the elf, knocking the both of them out of the way of the harpy's talons, it screeching in mild annoyance as its prey would be taken from it.

"Whew, good thing I was just walking on by." Kokoma would say, laying atop Sefira, not bothering to get up as she'd let her head rest on the other girls chest. "Ehehe, you can thank me for saving that cute butt of yours." She didn't realize it, but her tail was wagging fairly frantically back and forth. "...Cute chest too. Mind if I lay here for a bit longer, eheh~?"

Matsuo-Or perhaps Sefira was more suitable at the moment-had only barely managed to tear her eyes away from her own reflection. To promptly stare at her own petite, slender, delicate hands in mute shock, but progress was progress. It was hard to do anything else. Her body had once been... well, a university-age man's.

And now... Sefira looked like she was somewhere in her teens. Petite and youthful, with a figure lacking any real maturity. This was all by design. Matsuo had modeled Sefira on some of his favorite tsundere characters. He particularly liked the short ones who got angry for being mistaken for younger then they actually were. Of course that wasn't the only reason he liked them, they still had to be developed characters beyond that...

But right now Sefira was cursing her own past decisions internally. Not only was she now female, but she was so small. It was going to be even harder to deal with!

So caught up in her own thoughts was the blonde elf that she only registered something was coming at her moments before it actually struck. A part of her brain actually capable of making rational thoughts realized it was the familiar winged shape of a harpy.

Another part of her wondered if she was about to get killed immediately after ending up in some kind of weird isekai scenario. If this was seriously going to be how her life ended.

Everything was happening all at once. It was too much happening all at once. A part of her just wanted to scream.

And then...

Someone tackled her to the ground from the side. Sefira yelped as she hit the ground, landing on her back as her savior landed on top of her, both out of reach of those sweeping, grasping claws.

For a few moments, Sefira simply laid there beneath her savior, her mind trying to catch up with the situation.

At least until said savior decided to make comments about her figure. Almost immediately, in spite of everything, her cheeks reddened.

"Wh-what are you, some kind of dirty old man!?" she shouted, unable to contain herself, "We're caught up in some kind of stupid isekai plot and now there's monsters, and you're... y-you're..."

Even thinking about her own body was embarrassing at this point.

"We need to g-get... just let me up! Gaaaah..."

Flustered, trying to collect her thoughts, Sefira glanced skywards. There really was a lot of other monsters, and the sky had gotten dark...

Wait.

If she was Sefira now, did that mean...?

@Rune_Alchemist

Aluvera - City Streets
@VitaVitaAR

---

"I'm adorable, thanks for noticing~" Kokoma would reply to Sefira with a impish chuckle, rolling off the elf and sitting on the ground next to her, tail still aggressively wagging. She seemed to either not hear or chose to ignore the old man comment in favor of completely missing the context of the 'you're' part of that sentence.

"But jeez, not even a thanks? That cute butt of yours was about to become harpy feed." A brief pout, ears drooping slightly. "I take cuddles, pets and any display of affection as payment. If you're feeling particularly frisky your body works too kehahah~" Her mouth would curl into a teasing grin. Despite her seeming nonchalance about this entire situation, Kokoma did in fact, realize the sort of danger they were in, which is why she as choosing to stay with this girl for the moment instead of running off. No cute girl was gonna get harmed on her watch, no sir~

"Hup," She'd jump up from her sitting position, looking towards the square with a bit of interest after finishing her teasing. "Eheh, you look like you could use Kokoma's protection, so I'll go with ya for now yeah?~ Don't worry, I'm good at that."

Upon realizing that she hadn't actually thanked her savior, Sefira quickly stumbled to her feet the moment she was free.

"Er... thanks," she said, averting her eyes as she spoke. The girl's bizarre behavior was still an enigma. Why would anyone be handling a situation like this... like that?!

Wait, what was that?!

"M-m-m-my b-body?! I-I... y-you... C-can't you take things a little more seriously?!" she cried, waving her hands in the air as if to gesture to the world around them, "We're in some weird isekai scenario, at least assuming you're another player, and I-"

She hesitated.

Saying she was actually a guy out loud would be way too much, especially when it came to someone weird like this and especially right now. She was barely managing to deal with that rather major change internally, if she tried to say anything about it there was no way it'd make it any easier if she blurted it out to the first stranger she ran into. Especially since the first stranger she ran into was some kind of weird pervert or something.

Sefira took a deep breath.

"N-nevermind," she said, her eyes turning skywards once more. There were monsters attacking from the skies. She recognized harpies like the one that attacked her, griffons, and sphinxes. Sphinxes? What were they even doing here?

"I-if we run, we'll probably just be attacked again," she said, trying to keep the subject off anything embarrassing and on the problem at hand as best she could, "Hmph, what the hell kind of game balance is this, just dropping monsters on a city..."

Then again, it was real now, so game balance probably didn't matter. What did matter was the clear and immediately danger to her and everyone else around her.

The blonde elf looked down at her delicate hands again. Maybe...

@Rune_Alchemist

---

---

Akira was in the middle of figuring if Nova’s – her – sheesh, that was still confusing – skills could be used normally. The game’s menus had showed up when she just concentrated on wanting one specific thing strongly enough, and she’d even been able to put items from her inventory and back in so far.

She wasn’t able to play test (was that even still the right word, if they weren’t in the game anymore, Akira wondered) anything, however, because the sky suddenly darkened. “Hm?” she looked up, startled, her sight still partially obscured by a skills and inventory screens. For now, she closed out of them all.

The clouds soon culminated into something yet more alarming; a falling red light. It was right above the fountain, and thus, above her head. Fuck, gotta be like Nova…think–No, act!

Moving as if she truly was her character, Nova rolled out of the way, then got dragged even further away by the receding crowd. Having been brought farther then intended, she elbowed her way back to the front, so she could see clearly.

A man had smashed into the mountain, armour all twisted and possibly squeezing his torso dangerously, bleeding as he knelt there. He uttered his message, and following it, several flying beasts emerged from the sky.

As some fled, and others chose to stand their ground, Nova eyed the descending monsters, and weaved her way left and right, evading their claws and beaks until she made her way to the kneeling man.

Opening her inventory with ease, she drew out a healing potion, one of the several she carried around. “Here,” she said, kneeling next to the man, handing him the flask. As she crouched by his side, ready to help him drink if he needed it, she kept a wary eye on the surrounding enemies.

When, as expected, one of them, a griffon, begun to descend upon what it’d judged as easy prey, Nova withdrew a bomb from her still opened inventory, and threw it right into the bird’s face.

“Let’s retreat,” she ordered, and crept closer, extending an arm to put around him. She’d half-drag him if she had to, but he kind of did have to cooperate for this part.

Though personally unversed in the ways of combat personally, Yu found himself leaping through the air, his body shifting slightly to avoid the sphinx's lionlike paw as it carved through the air where he had been moments prior. He was by no means certain as to whether or not he could survive a hit like that head-on, but given the circumstances, the young man found that he would very much prefer to err on the side of caution for the moment.

Fortunately, it seemed that his outstretched blade had met its mark, cleaving through the monster's wing and forcing it to drop back to the ground with one less limb for its troubles. With his coat trailing behind him, Yu took another breath and readied his weapon—

Only for a samurai to dash by to where he was standing moments ago, lacerating the sphinx's body in the process. There was a brief pause as Yu took stock of the situation before giving a wordless nod towards his sudden companion in combat and running a pair of fingers along the side of his sword towards its point.

"So skills carried over too, then?" he mused to himself, his weapon gaining a pale blue glow before he struck out. The sword effortlessly slid along the sphinx's torso, and with its attention split two ways between the pair of fighters striking it from both sides, the beast found itself hesitating; all the better for them, if anything.

"We can finish this one up and move to the next," the blademaster said towards the samurai, jumping to the side as another paw struck out at where he had ended his slash. "Less like AI and more like proper beasts with that sort of reaction, though... I guess that might mean decisive blows are worth trying for instead of whittling it down through raw power."

With that said, Yu immediately shot forward once more, aiming to deepen one of the wounds on the sphinx's neck that the other adventurer had made moments prior. Though the monster was already bleeding out quite heavily from its wounds, that slash seemed to cause the beast not only more pain, but a slight quiver in its motions. Would that it had the face of something other than a human, though, lest this fight feel less uncannily creepy in its resolution.

"Shokatsu Yu, by the way. Thanks for the assist."

@Sho Minazuki

---

The city around them was swept into a panic, and neither Sefira nor Kokoma would find themselves absent of trouble in the interim. While the larger two varieties of monster were lashing out at the larger groups or whoever seemed to be the biggest threats, the harpies flew around, aggressively screeching with ear-piercing volume as they swooped down to slash at their would-be prey—the stragglers, in other words—with wicked talons. The Shenke's collision had indeed caused one to miss Sefira, but as it seemed to think that was nothing more than a fluke, the monster turned around and dove once more in an attempt to pick up its seemingly-prone target.

It was not alone, though, as three more seemed to break away from circling the skies to follow suit, hoping to catch some unfortunate fool to pick them up and let them fall to their deaths in turn.

@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

---

The man, it seemed, had lapsed into unconsciousness after speaking his piece. His body as it was now was being held up almost solely by the armor he wore and his spear, planted into the stone as it was. The potion in Nova's hands was not without merit, though, as though only some of it ran down the man's throat, that which overflowed found itself slipping into the cracks and crevices of his crushed armor and into his wounds. While nowhere near as effective, that much at least seemed to help staunch the bleeding (obscured though that may have been), and the reflexive cough would at least make clear his continued survival despite the din of battle surrounding them.

The griffon that chose to pursue the wounded man, as it turned out, would find itself less pleasantly affected by the explosive lobbed at its face. The heat and shrapnel caused it to screech and rear back, lifting its body up in a mix of pain and rage as the smoke cleared. One eye had been destroyed, as luck would have it, though the other seemed none the worse for wear. Upon further inspection, though, various other open wounds would be visible upon the monster's body—signs of a recent skirmish, perhaps?—but they seemed to not be enough to stop its pursuit of its apparent target.

With the person she was trying to help still unconscious, though, it was on Nova to decide what to do from here. The griffon was still reeling from the surprise attack, but left to its own devices, the monster would certainly look for vengeance.

@SilverPaw

---

---

The crowd that Myrtle pushed her way through seemed to be centered around what could only be described as a heated argument between two adventurers. There was an unconscious man wearing simple plainsclothes lying on the ground between them, and with little else besides their current predicament to take in, rubbernecking over what seemed to be growing increasingly closer to a duel did well enough to take their attention away from their own problems for the moment.

"Look, if someone leers at you with that sort of look, I just think it's right to teach them a lesson!" one adventurer, a female Titan clad in chainmail said matter-of-factly. "Doesn't matter that I broke his nose or knocked him out, right?"

"I'll agree with correcting their behavior, but jumping straight to a knockout punch is a bit excessive. Even if he is an NPC, there's a limit to how far you should go!" the other, a rifle-wielding male Belva responded, his hands crossed in disapproval.

"All the more reason, then!" she spat back.

It was clear that both sides were losing their patience, though to what end all of this might lead towards was another matter entirely...

@Hammerman

“Out of the way! Out of the way, please! Hey, watch where your hand is going!"

Myrtle made her way through the crowd with some difficulty, owing to her small and thin stature. If she had to guess, there were about fifty adventurers or so there. Fifty PCs with the consciousness of their players. So whatever this was, it had to be really important. Perhaps it was the forming of a new guild, consisting of all the adventurers whose base were in Send Rynta. Yeah, that would be a great idea! Now that they all had been inexplicably put into this world as their characters, they really needed to stick together.

Only to find that it was an argument about a completely trivial thing.

Seriously? They're talking about that?

She rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe this, especially the Titan woman. She had just experienced a transmigration to another world yet all she cared about was an NPC ogling her.

Should she intervene? Maybe she should. This was definitely a bad start for their relationship with the natives. And since they were stuck here with them, that really shouldn’t happen.

"He's right. You shouldn't have done that to him."

Myrtle walked up to the large woman and looked her right in the eyes.

The woman was practically double her size, with her stomach being as tall as her. Not to mention her muscles as well. Her bicep was the size of her head. She could easily snap her like a twig.

And yet, she wasn’t afraid.

On her way here, she had accessed her status and inventory page. She was surprised they still worked but it could only mean that the logic of this world still followed the logic of the game. She could see her status as a max level weather mage. She could find her legendary staff unequipped, ready to be called upon whenever she needed it.

Now, she wasn’t a PvP savant or anything but she knew how her class functioned from top to bottom. She could execute her rotations and cast her spells even in the most dangerous situations. She might not be one of those weirdos either who would race to clear the newest, hardest content before anyone else but she had cleared every single one of said content, though it might take her months to do it. But she knew what she was — a competent player that could play both her combat class and her non combat class well. And so, even if she were to get into a fight, she was confident she could still remain victorious.

Not that they would get into a fight. The Titan woman couldn’t be that reckless, could she?

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, excuse you. You should’ve known better to attack that man. We have just been transported here yet you’re already causing trouble with the locals? Shame on you.” She shook her head in a sage-like manner. She then turned to the crowd and addressed them. “Hear me, adventurers of Sen Rynta. As a fellow adventurer like you all, and a resident of the city, I propose that we should be on our best behavior with the locals, or the NPCs as some of you call them. You see, they’re now unlike the programmed avatars that we encountered on our screens before we were transported here. They had gained intelligence and sapience of their own. And it would be beneficial for us that we cooperated with them instead of seeing them as merely vendors and questgivers.”

Whoa, that was quite the speech she just gave there. Still, someone had to do it, right? And she wasn’t the type that would just sit around, hoping others would do it for her.

She just hoped they would be receptive to her words.

---

Like a blur he would evade and strike incoming attacks for a short moment, cutting away at the front legs further, before the other guy would deal the killing blow. Dispatched rather quickly, as desired, so it seems, but this was just one of the many monsters already present, there was still work that needed to be done. If the information from observation was correct, it was possible to end even the biggest monsters present today with but a single stroke, if he knew where to place it. As he was turning to move to the next, the other swordsman began to address him, so he stopped and turned back.

"Ah... Itou-...", he gave it some thought, he was about to naturally say his real name, perhaps because the feeling was not like that of a game. After rubbing his chin for a moment he looked up again back at the one who introduced himself as Shokatsu Yu.

"Saito Souji", he answered.

"We should move onto the others quickly", they can think about what's happening after it's safe again after all.

---

---

The potion had worked, but regardless of how much Nova shouted in the man’s ear or tugged at him, he remained unresponsive. Unconscious. The griffon would soon be able to attack again, and while Nova could escape on her own, she didn’t think she could take the man with her. Maybe a skill…but then, those that would let her flee had only worked on her before, and even if she carried the man, there was no way to know if it’d still function as intended or not. And that wasn’t something she could afford to test just then.

Steeling herself, Nova prepared to combat the griffon. Protecting someone else while directly confronting her target really wasn’t her stile, as a ninja, but something she could manage against a single opponent. Usually, she was more of a harasser while in this class, but she knew that beyond the bomb she’d used so far, it’d serve her better to switch to close range than rely on mid-range. The latter moves were there more so for support anyhow, used to keep on the heat on an enemy when she had to move away from them. Of course, it also worked for surprise attacks, or just switching up tactics.

All that and more was a mere background consideration in Nova’s mind as she moved. She jumped up at the still reeling griffon, one arm ready at her weapon, other preparing to execute a certain skill. Midair, she jumped again using Heavenly Step, which brought her right to the griffon’s chest. With her left, she applied an Explosive Tag, and with her right, she drew out her blade to block the incoming attacks.

She blocked its claws, but the griffons’ beak skidded alongside her blade when she swung it in a counter-clockwise arc. Seeing that she was about to get hit, she activated Shadow Jump. Her body dispersed into a dark-grey smog, and she re-appeared directly behind and above the griffon. It was mildly disorienting, since she was now facing the other direction, but she quickly got her bearing, slicing at the griffon’s back as she descended.

Her bird enemy, in the meanwhile, was at first confused when its target disappeared from right in front of it. Then, just when Nova appeared above it, the Explosive Tag finally activated after a slight delay (of perhaps a second), exploding upon its chest. The creature shrieked its displeasure, but that was only the first in succession of many injuries it would suffer. Right after, it felt the base of its wings being sliced up, and twisting its neck around, turned to see where the danger was.

As the griffon turned to look at her, Nova landed right on its back. She performed a downwards thrusting attack, which scored a critical hit on the creature. While the katana was still lodged into its back, the griffon extended its neck. Recognizing what was to come, Nova freed her left hand from the hilt of her weapon, and materialized a kunai out of her inventory to deflect her opponent’s beak.

The block with the shorter sidearm was imperfect, and her forearm suffered a long gash for it. But it’d given her enough time to dislodge her katana. Nova pushed herself off the griffon’s back, sending the kunai flying with her left. The bird managed to block it, but it’d served as the distraction that she needed it for. Midair, she sheathed her katana, and performed a back flip, landing gracefully on the ground.

She grabbed a bunch of shuriken out of that interdimensional pocket of space known as the inventory. “Lightning charge…” she muttered – unnecessarily, really, but she was kinda getting into it. Burning some stamina and mana, the five shuriken sparked with electricity. She sent them at the griffon in quick succession. When the last one landed, she shouted, “…And Strike!” and electricity discharged from the serrated metal discs right into the flying beast. It was enough to finish it off, and with a gurgle, it fell to the ground. The thud of the body was heavy, and it raised some dust once more. Blood pooled from its body as it lay there, dead.

Nova looked away, wiping sweat from her brow as she re-focused on the unconscious messenger. Time to get him out, and lay low a bit. She hurried, grabbed the man underneath his armpits, and dragged him into the nearest alleyway. Nova hid them both amongst some trash. Once they were mostly safe, she slumped against the wall, head thudding on the concrete as she half-sat, half-collapsed onto the ground.

That fight had been…taxing. She’d not thought so before, but now it all came rushing back…the many times she could have been injured, the one time that she had been, the griffon’s corpse…She clutched at her left forearm, staunching the blood flow. Nova…No, she was definitely Akira just then, and she needed a breather. So, she stayed there, guarding the unconscious man as she calmed her breathing, glancing around every once in a while.

Aluvera - City Streets
@VitaVitaAR

---

"Hmm~" Kokoma would hum lightly, looking up at the sky. Jeez, this little elf was getting pretty worked up over this, wasn't she? Well, she was cute so she couldn't really say anything. "You think too much." She'd say as a group of harpies would break away from the group, heading for them more. The one she had avoided before was heading right to them, too. Hmm...this was an odd feeling, wasn't it? She wasn't feeling upset, on edge, or anything other than...excitement? Like the feeling before stepping into a new raid boss, or some other new as of yet experienced event.

Thankfully, this bit of danger would remind Kokoma she had a weapon with her. A fairly standard swordspear, bearing a red banner and a stylized image of a wolf, silver in color upon it. She'd pull the spear from the resting place on her back, grinning in excitement as she'd make move in front of the elf.

"Stay behind me, yeah? I'll make sure to protect ya~" She'd grin, as the harpy would start making a dive for her. Maybe this was a dumb idea, but if she had become her character...then she should be able to do everything her character could do, yeah? Then that meant...

"I can do this~!" Kokoma would lunge forward, thrusting her spear towards the Harpy. It had been a skill in the game, so that meant she could pull this flawlessly off too, yeah? The avian screeched, the blade meeting its feathered target, impaling it upon the long blade. "Ya-yeeet~!" A totally appropriate battle cry later, Kokoma would finish the move, spinning once, building up force and launching the harpy towards the other three that were closing in on them. "Hey feather brains! If you're looking for a cute girl, I'm right here!"

Watching Kokoma handle the harpy that had attempted to divebomb them once again confirmed it in her mind.

Sefira wasn't helpless. She hadn't just become her character physically.

She didn't just need to stand by and watch.

But she needed her catalyst first.

Raising her right hand in front of her, mimicking the animation for drawing a catalyst as a Starlight Mage, she couldn't help but feel a little excited as blue motes of light flickered into existence, immediately gathering in her palm and forming the shape of a staff witch a spherical head. In a blue flash, the physical form of her staff had appeared. The round translucent blue orb surrounded by two metallic rings... it was a Glasstone Staff, one of the best catalysts for a Starlight Mage.

Sefira, in spite of the situation, couldn't help but feel some confidence building, even if her heart was still hammering in her chest and she was still reeling from the fact she was now a girl.

If she could do this much, then there was no reason she couldn't do everything else!

Sliding one leg back, Sefira took aim skywards, towards the concentration of harpies that Kokoma had thrown their hapless attacker towards. She had no idea how damage would work, if it would be more like real life or the game. But running was just going to get them attacked more, and if she could do something about this...

Blue light began to build at the tip of her staff, a magic circle filled with shimmering blue stars around the inner rim expanding around it as they did.

Magical energy was flowing down her slender arms, through the Glasstone Staff. She could feel it. It was gathering, brighter and brighter, at the tip.

And now it was ready to be released.

"Starbolt!" cried Sefira. There was a crack like thunder, then a rushing sound, as warmth rushed back up her arms and a force lightly pushed against her small body. The bolt of blue light ripped through the air, tearing skywards and directly for the harpies!

@Rune_Alchemist@PKMNB0Y