[ Warrior…... how long ago did I started to be enamored with the idea of being warrior? When I was a child, I saw a TV show filled with warrior of old, fighting on the battlefield, one man vs an army. To be frank, it was a wonderful romantic notion; to be fight on the battlefield, surrounding by guts, glory and honor, and to be sure with a long and sharp weapon as well. However, it was only a mere dream for in this time and era where chivalry of a warrior is long forgotten, most people would prefer to use a gun. Gun are so impersonal, there's no emotion within them, just cold steel and lack of empathy. For as long as I can remember it, in every game that I have ever played, I always choose the warrior class. I would drowned myself in the pleasure of jumping into the fray, sword brandishing, striking enemies left and right. One man vs many, I would be.

A gun, or in some case artillery, are like magic, and the people who used them are like magic caster. I detest magic caster, they always seem so confident to pick on the poor warrior running around in the battlefield. Muhahaha...I always love to imagine of seeing their faces when they realized they couldn't do a dent to me in PvP battles, right after I got up close and personal with them of course. Man…that was fun. They always seem to rage chat afterward, and for a time, it gave me great pleasure seeing their wonderful reaction.

However, every dream must end and reality beckon. For a mere mortal like me, there are responsibilities, there debts to be paid, there are bills to pay. I must wake to eat, to take care of my body functions and to go to work, as dreadful as it was in this environment. The air is thick with dust, the sky is heavy with smog and smoke, and the rain are always acidic. Why did I go to the city? I often wonder, but I always seem to forget the reason…..

Oh! what great news, what wondrous news, for all my hard work it seem that the heaven have answered to my call. No more articles on clothing coverage, no more need to talk to upstart brats who couldn't seem to understand the reality of hard working people, no more spending hours upon hours to wait for a reply from some stupid upcoming designer who obviously couldn't pick a decent looking set of clothing even if it was shove up their ass. Well….it's time to throw all that shit away, good bye gloomy old me in the office desk, good bye stupid clothing designer, and hello the battlefield of Wallis and Futuna . To be honest, if I have to spend one more year in this stupid position, I'd probably go crazy…..

….Hahahahaha *sob* Hahahaha…fucking fate, fate is fucking real piece of work. Just when I think I have gotten a dream job position, it went and fucked me up, sideway and behind. Why, why oh why, why did I choose to go on that wretched mission with the mercs? Why couldn't I stay back in the village and report the casualties of war from the safe comfort of my inn? This is why I hate artillery, they're good to be sure, but only if you're not the one being shot at. One shell to ruin my life, one shell to reduce a perfectly able-bodied person into a cripple…..this is too funny that I can't even laugh at it.

….Laying up in this bed looking to the smog filled sky, I wonder if I could ever walked again…..perhaps….

…..How could I have ever forgotten, my old account should still be around, it's been ages since I have logged on…..I wonder if anyone still remained with the Guild…..Last time I logged on was almost two years ago…..

Teiju Yamamoto Signing off…]

In the hospital bed, the man sign as he finishes speaking into the recording screen. Thirsty, he grabs the water bottle nearby and drank the content before exhaled a sign. The man on the bed is name Teiju Yamamoto, a war journalist. The year is now 2138 AD, it has been a few month since the man was bedridden due to his war injuries, he is currently awaiting for the day of surgery where his simple prosthetic legs will be replace by a more advance fully functioning bio-legs, courtesy of the Toha Heavy Industries. On the table to the right of the bed, there was a flower vase, next to the vase was a wood framed photo, if you look closer you can see that the photo was taken in some unknown battlefield. There were a group of men and women, which also include Teiju Yamamoto. The women were hanging around a green and blue MSDF Type 303 Armored Mobile Suit [1] while the men were sitting on top of a blue color tanks with six legs and four cannons. There was a black flag behind the group, billowing in the wind with the words " Le Béhémoth 201st" painted in white.

Now, should we turn our attention to the left side of the bed, there is a black frame about 100 centimeters wide rested upon a stand of some sort. On the side was a remote control and power cables, resting on a wheeled, two-layered table. These were the only things in the room, apart from a calendar on the wall. Teiju struggle to sat up, grabbing his special made wheelchair, he hoist himself into it and drove it to the table. A few moment of tweaking and adjustment, Teiju can now use the table for whatever suit his need without much discomfort. Teiju picked up a black power cable, which was connected to a wall outlet and removed the protective plastic covering on one end of the plug, revealing a plug that was roughly three centimeters across. A silver gleam blended with the liquid glittering of the slippery protective fluid. He held the cable in one hand and lifted up the hair on the back of his neck with the other. The subdued glint there came from the man-made object embedded in the nape of his neck.

With practiced ease, he opened the roughly-three-centimeter cover on the back of his neck. The sliding motion exposed the socket hidden beneath it. He pressed the plug home, without any hesitation. "….Ohh…I've missed this…"

In time with his quiet sigh, he could feel light moving through his body, as though his blood vessels were filled with radiance. The room had not changed, but his field of vision was different now.

Several windows popped up within his line of sight, showing him the information flowing into the processor within his brain.

He began operating the CPU. A little time passed, Teiju then picked up the helmet that almost covered his entire head as mandated by the computer laws, connected another wire to his neck and linked it to the helmet, then put it over his head. Within the screen before his eyes, he clicked the window named Yggdrasil.

—The vision went dark

A bright light flashed up and His cerebral nanomachines began their computations, disrupting his field of vision and taking control of his voluntary nervous system, and everything changed.

An empty void extended in all directions — no, there were things sparkling in the darkness like stars — like space. Among them floated a gigantic tree that seemed to encompass everything. Part of his visual field flickered, and if he tilted his head to the side, he could see something.

It was a monster.

No, to be more accurately it was a monstrous Samurai

White teeth baring against the world that look almost like a smile, with two tusk protruding from the either side of the mouth, and two horn protruding from the head.

The creature skin or perhaps carapaces was white in color, eight black eyes shine with obsidian luster

The creature resemble that a humanoid insect, all the while looking rather fearsome.

He reached out a hand — and in the moment that he touched the creature, his point of view changed once more.

Countless lines of algorithms swept across his vision, and they vanished in an instant. They seemed to have some significance, but since he knew nothing about them, they were meaningless to him. Besides, not knowing them would not inconvenience him in the slightest.

However, there was one line that he recognized.

It was on the bar at the top of his view. If the number on the right did not reach 100%, the adventure would not begin. With nothing to do, he looked at his hands. They were now carapace, covering in shell like texture, inhuman hands in its place.

He clenched his fists and opened them again. While the sensations were dull, it was close to reality now.

He looked down and feel his feet moving, for while he had almost forgotten that in real life, his leg are no longer there, but here in this place, in this dream, he can walk, he can run and he can leaps by miles if he so wishes.

The number on the top row became the 100% he was somewhat hoping for, and several icons appeared. The one he selected was composed of a triangle joined to a rectangle.

In other words, the HOME button.

If he clicked it, it would in turn change shape into a bar that represented a waiting area.

The 2/30 on it represented that out of the maximum of 30 people, there were 2 already there. However within a short time, the number immediately reduce to 1/30, that mean someone had just logged off.

Teiju hid his growing excitement and disappointment under his unmoving, insectoid looking face, and then touched it with a carapace hand. After that, he selected YES when he was asked "Are you sure?" by a female voice from somewhere unknown.

—Please stand by.

The female voice coming from beside his ear had a musical quality about it, and sounded like a human speaking. Of course, it was electronically generated.

The world of darkness filled with light.

It was a strange feeling — though he closed his eyes, it felt like they were still open — but after it passed, he found himself standing in a room within a building. The brief disorientation he felt as his mind switched over to a fictional world quickly faded away.

He carefully looked around his surroundings.

The room was made of some kind of gray inorganic material, which looked like concrete, and it had a high ceiling. Though there were no obvious light sources, a side of the ceiling glowed with white light.

Teiju open up his friend list, and within it, most the names on it are in black, barely visible except one.

[Momonga]

[Location: Great Tomb of Nazarick Meeting Room]

…Oh my, I didn't think anyone would still be here…Momonga…..should I give him a message or should I not….no, I think I'll give him a visit to surprise him. I'm going to walk there, it's been so long since I actually get to feel the sensation of walking.

Teiju beginning to walk through the hallway, absentminded eventually he came up upon a heavy mahogany like door, it was somewhat open, peeking in what he saw was a person.

Whom was clothed in a magnificent black academic robe, edged in violet and gold. The collar seemed excessively gaudy, but somehow it fit the overall design.

However, the exposed head was a bare skull. Points of dark red light glowed in its large orbits, and behind that skull glowed a halo of black radiance.

He was not at all confused or afraid by the inhuman being that was in there. Naturally, it was because that creature someone he knew, plus the fact that monster do not exist but merely illusion made up of data within the system matrix. The skeletal being was muttering to the open air.

"Today's the last day of the game, I know you're tired, but we'll never have a chance like this again, why don't we stay together until the end—"

"Haahh."

Momonga's sigh with a sound that only those who have ever overwork would ever know and would make anyone heard it to sympathize with him.

"Let's meet up again somewhere… huh."

"When and where will we meet again—"

Momonga's shoulders shook violently, and the words he could no longer hold back exploded forth:

"—Are you kidding me?!"

He pounded the table as he shouted.

"This is the Great Tomb of Nazarick that we built together! How could you abandon it just like that?!"

After he shouted the words in his heart, the only thing left in there was emptiness.

"...No, that's not right. They didn't abandon it lightly; they simply made the choice between reality and fantasy. It couldn't be helped. Nobody would betray the guild. Everyone who made that decision must have found it painful…"

Momonga muttered like he was trying to convince himself, and then he stood up. He walked toward the wall, where an elaborately decorated magic staff was kept.

While Momonga was facing away from the door, Teiju step in and spoke

"Hey there boss! It's GREAT to see ya again."

Hearing a voice from behind, Momonga turn and saw a familiar figure

"Warrior Takemikazuchi?"

[1]

The 303 is used by the Japanese Coast Guard and Navy. The suit is equipped with one 20mm Machine Cannon and one 40mm Grenade Launcher. This 303 is the premier top Arm-Slave model in service in the GSDF and found circulation throughout the globe. It's weapons are hand held and, as a result, can be swapped with relative ease. The suit is controlled from direct physical input through mimicking identical appendages the pilot's arm goes through. These smaller appendages have hands as well and the "strings" can be cut from the slave arms to control just the small master ones. There is no strength bonus to the smaller masters. The suit also has therm-optic camo. [fictional]