That moment you re-read the last chapter and figure out you made quite a big mistake in it. Whoops. _

Anyhow, I'm back with the next chapter of this story. Please R&R and enjoy!

Chapter 3: Dai Saigai III (The Apocalypse Part III)

The following morning, Shiroe and the others found themselves once again walking down Akihabara's main shopping street. Akatsuki led the group, followed closely by Shiroe and Naotsugu, while Kanami and Sakura brought up the rear.

"Is it just me, or aren't there more People of the Land around than before?" Naotsugu remarked as they walked past the lined-up stalls.

"It seems like it, doesn't it?" Shiroe replied, looking around at the mix of adventurers and Landers that were mingling in the area. What was interesting to him was the number of shops owned by Landers that were running perfectly normally, just like in the game.

"Want to buy something, guys?" called out one female shop owner to Shiroe and his group; right on queue to what Shiroe was thinking.

"You mean we can actually eat these?" Naotsugu asked as the group wandered over to the stalls to look at the wares (food and fruit). Just then, while the group was looking at the (somehow sparkling) food, someone's stomach started growling from hunger. A quick look at the group revealed three culprints: Naotsugu, Shiroe, and a very sheepish-looking and nervously-laughing Kanami.

Noting his own stomach, Naotsugu turned his glare upon the food in the stall once again.

"No time to waste thinking about it!" he exclaimed, raising his hands in an apparent attempt to grab as much food as he possibly could carry.

"I'll take rice dumplings and green tea." Came Akatsuki's voice from behind them. Quickly turning around, the rest of the group found that Akatsuki had gone ahead to one of the other stalls without telling the others and was already ordering.

Shiroe sweatdropped at the sight.

The amount of food in front of the group was a sight for sore eyes. Cake, pizza, turkey legs, sandwiches, cola; the amount was basically enough to feed an entire family of six and still have some left over.

However, as was evident from the anime-style tears that were leaking down the faces of those eating, the food itself seemed to be an issue.

"What is this…" Naotsugu managed to remark while munching half-hazardly on a hamburger.

"They all taste the same…" Shiroe added from where he was nibbling on another hamburger.

"This…" started Akatsuki from her position munching on a rice dumpling.

"It feels like a soggy cracker, without salt." Sakura finished, putting down her dumpling, apparently not being able to stomach any more.

"And all the drinks taste like water." Kanami remarked from where she was unhappily putting down a bottle of green tea. "They expect us to live on this?!" she flailed her arms about in obvious unhappiness, causing the rest of the group to sweatdrop while watching her actions, which resembled that of a small child.

"It could be worse…" Shiroe remarked as he put down his burger. Just then, a sound ping rang out in his ear, causing the enchanter to look up suddenly.

"Eh? What's up?" asked Naotsugu, who had noticed Shiroe's reaction while attempting to force down the rest of the hamburger.

"Someone's calling me." Shiroe replied, bringing up his menu screen and looking at it. "Who is it?" he asked himself while pressing the 'incoming call button' that was flashing on said menu screen. As he did so, a small popup appeared, showing the name, guild, and a small chibi figure of the person who was calling.

Shiroe's eyes widened as he looked at the name on the call screen.

"Ah!"

"From Marielle-san?" asked Naotsugu.

The group had finished up as much of the food as they could possibly stomach (which didn't even amount to 20% of the total original food supply) before heading off toward Akihabara's guild building after Shiroe's call. From the enchanter's look during the call, the rest of the group could tell it was about something serious and didn't question Shiroe's motives in leading them toward the building.

"Yeah," Shiroe replied to Naotsugu's question as the group walked through the doors of the guild building and past the bank. "She leads the guild known as the Crescent Moon Alliance."

"I see." Sakura replied.

"Still though," Naotsugu remarked while looking all around at the guild building's interior design. "It's weird how the guild building consists of nothing but doors."

"Each guild hall has its own zone." Shiroe explained, utilizing the knowledge that he had picked up when chatting with Marielle earlier.

Naotsugu sighed at his response.

"Only the really weird stuff is still like a game." The guardian remarked as Shiroe stopped at a certain door and grasped the handle. Opening it, the group walked in to find themselves standing in the middle of a lavishly decorated room, complete with stuffed animals lining the fireplace's mantle and a large picture of a dog above it (that Sakura personally found somewhat creepy and/or disturbing).

"How cute." Akatsuki remarked while looking at the picture, causing the gunner to give her an 'are you serious' look from behind her.

"This is the guild master's room?" asked Naotsugu, looking around at the room's interior.

However, before Shiroe could reply, a female voice called out to them from their left, causing the entire group to turn their attention in that direction:

"Shiro-bouuuuuuuuuu~!"

A very well endowed, blonde-haired woman came running from a side door at the group.

"Marielle-san!" Shiroe managed to call out, before being crashed into by said woman, the force causing him to crash into the wall and make a loud sound from impact. Kanami and Sakura laughed loudly at the sight.

"Are you ok? You must be hungry." Marielle continued on as she rubbed her cheek against Shiroe's face. "Eat something…not that it has any flavor!"

"Calm down, Mari-nee…" Shiroe managed to grasp out, as Naotsugu and Akatsuki watched the sight from the sidelines. Marielle complied, lifting her up off of Shiroe's lifeless form and turning to face the rest of the group.

"Ara? What do we have here?" the woman remarked as her attention turned toward the rest of the group. Akatsuki felt herself backing slowly away from Marielle as said girl's attention turned to focus directly on her.

Her instinct was well documented, as not one second later, Marielle crashed into the assassin in the same running glomp attack that the group's enchanter had befallen a few minutes previously.

"Do you have a girlfriend now, Shiro-bou?" Marielle called out as she rubbed her cheek against Akatsuki's face. Kanami gave a start at the question, but as she was standing behind everyone, nobody noticed.

"No!" Shiroe replied quickly and decisively, picking himself up from where Marielle had sent him into the wall. However, it was apparent that the blond woman was not paying attention, as she ignored Shiroe's words and sat down quickly, Akatsuki resting like a doll (complete with lifeless eyes) on her lap.

"You're so adorable!" Marielle called out as she stroked the assassin's hair. "Want a lollipop?"

Akatsuki's only reply was to groan.

Meanwhile, at the same time, Naotsugu leaned his face in towards Shiroe.

"Where were you hiding this hot chick?" he asked. Shiroe sighed at the guardian's question.

"I haven't been hiding her anywhere." He replied. Just then, Marielle let go of Akatsuki and bounded over to where the two of them were talking.

"Who's this?" the woman asked as she pointed to Naotsugu. The guardian's response was to strike a pose and give her a thumbs up.

"Naotsugu!" he replied.

"Nice to meet you!" Marielle quickly answered, waving her hand in gesture as she did so. Shiroe quickly backed away from Naotsugu, knowing what was coming next.

There was another loud sound as Marielle threw herself onto Naotsugu as well, causing an impact in the wall from the force of the collision.

"Naotsugu, huh?" she exclaimed as she did so. Naotsugu felt the air being forced out of him from the impact and was unable to quickly respond.

"Wha-, what-" was the only thing the guardian managed to say as Marielle rubbed her face against his own. Not two seconds later, the guardian found himself back on his feet, and Marielle was now patting his armor from all around.

"You're pretty buff!" the woman remarked as she continued patting Naotsugu's armor. "You play sports?"

"No, um…I mean, this is armor…"

Shiroe chuckled a bit while watching the two act out what was pretty much a comedy love scene.

"What's her problem?" said guardian called out to Shiroe as he fell victim to yet another one of Marielle's glomps. "She's scaring me!"

"Marie, stop it."

Shiroe turned around to look at the new voice, finding himself looking at yet another familiar face to him.

"Another one!" Naotsugu called out as Marielle slid off him shoulders, allowing the guardian to rise to his feet. "Hot girls everywhere!"

"Henrietta-san!" Shiroe called out, acknowledging the new arrival.

"Oh dear," Henrietta remarked, pushing her glasses back up into place. "I apologize for calling you here, Shiroe-sama." She turned her attention to the enchanter before continuing with the next remark:

"Given what is happening here, I'd like to exchange information…" However, Henrietta got no further, as she suddenly stopped as her gaze shifted onto both Akatsuki and Sakura. Dropping her notes, she starting walking toward the two in a very strange way, causing the two in question to sweatdrop and start backing away slowly.

"K-kawaii~!" was the only thing Henrietta remarked, her eyes sparkling. Alarm bells went off in both Akatsuki's and Sakura's heads and the two started walking backwards even faster, as Henrietta started following close behind. At the same time, Marielle took this as a cue and began to chase Naotsugu around as well, causing a scene of circles and pandemonium within the room, with Kanami and Shiroe in the middle looking at it all.

At the doorway, a small group of guild members stood, watching the scene as well.

"There they go again…" one of them, a blue-haired kid remarked.

Shiroe sighed as he took in the entire situation.

"Do you want to share information?" he asked.

A few minutes later, after all the commotion had settled down, the two parties found themselves seated on two couches. On one side, Marielle sat with Henrietta standing close behind her. On the other side of the table, Shiroe, Naotsugu, and Akatsuki were sitting. As the couch was too small for any more, Kanami was standing directly behind Shiroe and Sakura was beside the window, looking out at Akihabara and apparently not interested in the discussion in progress. A young, female member of the Crescent Moon Alliance was serving tea to both group while the blue-haired boy from earlier was standing off to the side, while still paying attention to the conversation.

"Then how about the Crescent Moon Alliance members?" Shiroe asked.

"Including myself, nineteen are online." Marielle answered, taking a sip of tea. "Of those nineteen, eighteen are currently in Akihabara."

"Eighteen of nineteen…" Shiroe muttered to himself. Just then, the blue-haired boy spoke up from the side:

"I'm told that, along with Akihabara, the other four major cities on the Japanese server, Shibuya, Minami, Susukino, and Nakasu are all in the same shape." He remarked. "The inter-city transport gates are also offline. In other words, teleporting elsewhere is impossible."

"The Akihabara adventures, just like us, are all meeting with their guilds, just like we are." Henrietta added from where she was standing. "Some guilds are also looking to recruit."

"At a time like this, the more people on your side, the better." Marielle picked up.

"But even if this isn't our world," Naotsugu cut in, "we're all very familiar with Elder Tale."

"Not necessarily." Shiroe pipped up, causing everyone to look at him. "You remember the new expansion, right? The Novasphere Pioneers."

At this point, from where she was standing near the window, Sakura's ears perked up and she started listening in, while not giving any indication that she was doing so.

Naotsugu clicked his fingers as he understood what Shiroe was trying to say.

"I get it." He said. "If they've added that new expansion, then monsters, items, and quests may all be different."

Shiroe nodded at Naotsugu's remark.

"This world might not be the Elder Tale that we know." The enchanter added, shifting attention back onto himself once again. Sakura turned away from where she was listening, clenching her heart and grimacing as she did so.

There was a moment of silence as the other members present in the room took in what he had said. Fidgeting nervously, Marielle broke the silence.

"H-hey, Shiro-bou." She said, causing the enchanter to look at her. After a moment's hesitation, the Crescent Moon Alliance's guild leader continued: "I know you aren't the biggest fan of guilds."

At this point, Shiroe's head looked down, causing Akatsuki, Naotsugu, and Kanami to look at him.

"But…would you like to join ours?" Marielle continued. Henrietta looked at her.

"Marie…"

"Debauchery Tea Party is gone, right?" Marielle continued, unfazed by Henrietta's confusion. From behind Shiroe, Kanami looked deep in thought as she continued to look at the back of the enchanter's head.

"And right now…"

"I'm sorry, Mari-nee."

Shiroe's voice cut off Marielle from what she was saying, giving her a start in surprise. A small, reluctant smile was on Shiroe's face as he replied: "But I can't, yet."

After the meeting had ended, Marielle was standing by the same window Sakura was at earlier, looking at the retreating backs of the group that she was talking with just a few moments before.

"That's a great guild master." Naotsugu remarked as the group walked away from the guild building. "It's all she can do to stay in control, but she's still acting so friendly."

Back inside the guild building, the blue-haired boy spoke up:

"Wasn't the Debauchery Tea Party a legendary guild that expanded?" he half-asked, half-remarked, causing both Henrietta and Marielle to look at him.

Marielle shook her head in response to his question.

"No, no. Debauchery Tea Party wasn't a guild."

"It was a small group that never formed as a guild," Henrietta continued Marielle's explanation, "but managed to complete several large-scale battles called raids. And Shiroe was their strategist."

At the end of that statement, Henrietta adjusted her glasses, looking deep in thought.

"Now that I think of it, that girl standing behind Shiroe seemed very familiar as well, as did the one standing by the window. I know I've seen them somewhere, but where?"

Both Kanami and Sakura sneezed as Shiroe's group was once again walking through the throng of depressed adventurers on the main street.

"A cold?" Shiroe asked, looking at the two of them. The two shook their heads in a negative reply.

"How long will they just sit around there?" asked Naotsugu, looking around at the crowds of adventurers that seemingly hadn't moved in several days. "Die and you can escape. In stories like this, that's pretty common."
Shiroe and Akatsuki both looked up at Naotsugu at that remark.

"And sometimes, if you die in the game, you die in real life." Shiroe countered, causing Naotsugu to grimace.

"When it was just a game, you'd revive at the Cathedral." Akatsuki said from where she was sitting on the fence.

"But we can't very well experiment." Sakura pointed out.

"But even if you do revive, what about your penalty?" asked Kanami, looking deep in thought. While the others went into deeper thought from the monk's words, Shiroe gave a start as two familiar young figures went by in front of him down a perpendicular street, being surrounded by a shady group of other adventurers. Noticing Shiroe's look, Akatsuki looked a bit concerned.

"What's wrong, my lord?" she asked.

Shiroe adjusted his glasses before he replied:

"Let's try it."

That night, the entire group was gathered in a certain location that Shiroe had guided them to.

"The Archive Tower Forests?" asked Naotsugu, a little confused.

"We're level ninety." Shiroe explained. "The old level cap before the expansion. Sakura here is level 100, the new level cap. Normally, low-level monsters would ignore us, but in this area, the monsters will agro on sight."

"So it's the perfect place to try it huh, Shiro-kun?" said Kanami, slamming her metal gloves together excitedly.

"Are?" just then, Naotsugu spoke up from where he was fiddling with his menu. "You can't use your mini-map in outside zones." Just then, a sound from ahead of the group startled them, causing them to look up.

"Briar Weasels…" Akatsuki remarked, her hand dropping to her sheathed dagger.

"Level 28, huh?" Sakura added, pulling her rifle out from where it was slung over her back.

Naotsugu drew his sword as he stepped to the front.

"These guys are nothing!" the guardian said, pulling up his skills menu. However, as he tried to select a skill, the menu continued to expand as the monsters got closer and closer.

"Huh?" Naotsugu remarked in surprised as the monsters quickly closed the distance.

"Naotsugu?" asked Shiroe.

"It's hard to enter commands while monsters are running at you!" Naotsugu replied, panic edging into his voice.

Shiroe adjusted his glasses.

"Get into formation, as discussed." The enchanter said. The other complied, Naotsugu taking the vanguard, followed closely by Kanami. Akatsuki shifted out to the side, while Sakura was in the very back, behind Shiroe.

At this point, the weasels had gotten into attack range, and were freely attacking Naotsugu, who was struggling to deal with his menu. Kanami, right behind him, was in the same predicament, as all she could do was dodge while fiddling with her own menu. To the right, Akatsuki broke off into a ruined building, engaging several weasels, while in the back, Sakura was having major problems with other weasels that had attacked from the side and gotten within her minimum range.

Watching the hp bars of the entire party, Shiroe thought to himself:

'It doesn't hurt as much as I expected…but unlike when you play the game, trying to fight monsters in the front, while keeping an eye on your party and overall situation…"

Akatsuki jumped down from the ruined building, landing right beside Naotsugu.

"This won't be easy." The guardian remarked. Just then, a gasp caused the two of them to look up, just in time to see Shiroe being easily manhandled and thrown away by a monster plant.

'In order to survive in this world, we need to hurry and learn its rules and how to fight. But how?'

Just then, Shiroe's attention was distracted as a shot rang out. The plant staggered back, hit, and quickly exploded into a bunch of coins and shiny fragments. Looking behind him, Shiroe saw Sakura in a kneeling firing pose, her rifle leaking a bit of gunpowder smoke.

"Sakura…chan? How did you do that?" Shiroe asked. Sakura herself didn't even look sure, looking down at her weapon in surprise.

"I don't know…I just saw my strategist being thrown apart and I just…acted. My body moved on its own." The gunner replied to the enchanter's question.

"Eh?"

Shiroe adjusted his glasses once more as he heard the gunner's explanation.

'So that's it.'

"Naotsugu! Kanami-san! Akatsuki-san!" he called out to the other members, who stopped what they were doing temporarily to listen. "Don't use your commands! Try to use your body to feel the motions!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Naotsugu replied, a little in shock.

"Just do it!"

"I don't get it, but fine!" the guardian shouted back, reading his shield. To his right, Kanami had begun swinging punches in a random pattern and order, with quite spectacular results. To his left, Akatsuki quickly dispatched another monster plant easily with a single strike.

Readying his shield, Naotsugu swung it forward.

"Shield Swing!"

The guardian's shield glowed green before making contact and instantly killing the three weasels that were charging at him. The weasels exploded into coins as Naotsugu looked at the results of his action.

"My strategist, this is…" Sakura remarked. Shiroe adjusted his glasses once more as he saw the battle coming to a close, Kanami easily annihilating the rest of the monsters remaining, laughing as she did so (a little disturbingly, Shiroe thought to himself).

Elder Tale.

An MMORPG with over twenty million worldwide players.

Without warning, an estimated thirty thousand Japanese players alone, and several hundred thousand worldwide, were trapped in a world just like the game.

Later, they would come to call this day…

Dai Saigai (The Apocalypse).

That Night

The sound of a young girl's crying echoed out from the speaker.

"Serara!" Marielle called out. "What's wrong? Say something!"

Outside in a dark alleyway, hiding behind a barrel, a young girl clutching a staff was sitting down as she replied:

"Marielle-san…I…"

"Found her! Over here!"

Just then, shadows approached the alleyway's entrance, causing the girl to clutch her staff harder and run away in panic, the figures who had spotted her quickly giving chase.

"Serara!" Marielle's panicked voiced called out from the now-broken call.

Unknown to everyone there, the entire situation was being watched closely from the shadows by a cat-like figure, who dropped his hands to his weapons' hilts as he continued watching.

And this chapter is finally done, and with it the first episode as well. That was longer that I was expecting it to be. I'm not happy with how long I took between chapters though, which is something I hope to work on sooner rather than later.

However, I hope you enjoyed reading and please R&R if you have the chance!

See you in the next chapter: Roka no Sogu-sen I (The Roka Encounter Battle Part I)