"…ungh…groan…"

The high pitched 'ping' sound has continued to echo in Tsukasa's mind. His avatar lay in the dungeon where he fell unconscious. One minute he's near a girl, the next minute everything just sort of went blank. The other sound, which resembled a whale crying, was the other thing Tsukasa heard before blacking out. To him, it seemed strange, but during his slumber, he seemed to remember something, but what?

As Tsukasa mumbls incoherently, he hears the 'ping' sound no more. It got quiet at the dungeon. There were no portals, which meant no monsters. There were no glitches in the system when he got up from off the ground. However, this didn't matter as when he opened his eyes, he notices some people were standing in front of him. They looked in confusion as to what's he wearing. He took notice when he got himself up. He was no longer wearing a knight's armor with a cape. He was now wearing a pale yellow hoodie over an oversized brown long-sleeved shirt. On top of his head was a hat with jewels embedded on it. The only thing that remained with him is his sword, though it was considerably smaller than what it was earlier. He heard people that were near him, whispering about him.

"…I've never seen that type of outfit before…"

"…Is he trying to pull off that R1 Wavemaster look..."

"…Wouldn't he get in trouble?"

"…I heard he got permission from CC Corp to use this outfit. They don't let anyone use this type of outfit anymore since…you know…"

"…You mean since the first version of the World got deleted?"

Tsukasa didn't know what was happening around him. All of the sudden, these players began talking about the World and himself. It was confusing to him.

What are these people talking about? Am I some sort of celebrity to them?, Tsukasa thought as he stumbled away from the group of players. He just wanted to get out of the dungeon as soon as possible.

Where the group of players was, one of them made a suggestion to the others.

"…I heard this guy is really powerful with magic attacks. Let's see what he is really made of." said a player with an evil grin.

They all agreed to this as they crept to Tsukasa near the exit. Their weapons were firmly grip as they surrounded Tsukasa, blocking the exit in the process.

"So where do you think you're going? Do you want to swordplay with us? Come on, it'll be fun. Heh heh." said the leader of the group.

"Uh well, I have to log out right now. So to answer your question, I'm not interested in your challenge." replied a timid Tsukasa.

Realizing his shutdown from the white haired Wavemaster, the leader of the group watched Tsukasa make his way to the exit. To justify this, he jumped over the rest of group and right to the exact spot where Tsukasa is.

"Tsk tsk, why don't you want to accept the challenge, my friend?"

"I told you, I'm not interested in fighting you."

A evil smile creaked across the leader's mouth. "My friend, you will know that I won't take no for answer!" said the leader as he swiped his sword at Tsukasa's body.

"AAH!" screamed Tsukasa as blood flew from his body. Other players joined in the fray, with one of them knocking Tsukasa's small sword out of his hands. Soon, after his sword was knocked away, they continuously attacked him with relentless power. Each strike they landed dropped Tsukasa's HP down. He tried to defend himself, but this ambush was too much for him.

"Ungh! What the hell; am I able to feel pain in this game? Is this really just a game?", he kept asking himself as he continues to receive damage from his adversaries. "This pain…why is this hurting me? Why the hell is this hurting ME?"

Tsukasa struggles to get out of the frantic madness coming from the group. As his HP got lower and lower, he could've sworn he heard his heart pulse in horror. Could he really die in this game?

As he lay breathlessly, the leader walked up to Tsukasa with a bloodied sword in his hands.

"I thought you were more powerful than this. I thought Magic Users were more powerful when they are alone. Meh, I was wrong." laughed the leader as he raises his sword to deliver the final blow. However, something had happen. Monsters began appearing at an abysmal rate. Ranging from goblins to ghosts, they started attacking anyone at sight. Not minding the monsters, the leader raised his sword to finish Tsukasa.

SHINTK!

Just as the sword descended towards Tsukasa's head, the sword dropped from the user's hands. Tsukasa then saw a bloody axe that pierced through the leader's body. The next thing is that his body was glowing red as a gelatinous substance came from the axe that stabbed him. The other players stood in shock as Tsukasa continues watching the screaming from the stabbed player. His body fell to the ground and the color of his body is now black and white. What's floating over the dead body is the red jelly-like substance.

"This is getting strange, guys. What the hell is happening?" asked one of the players as he slowly back away from the group. His trembling hands tried to grasp his weapon, but the monsters got closer to them.

The players except Tsukasa swiped the monsters with their weapons in all their might. No matter how many slashes each of the monsters receives. Their flesh resurfaces as each slash continues to damage them. There was no way these monsters can die from the viewpoint of the players. It's as if these monsters were immortal.

Finally, after much bloodshed the monsters had received, they lunged at the group and attacked them fiercely. The players were screaming in agony as bloodshed took hold of the area. After the gruesome end to the group, the monsters looked at Tsukasa with fear.

"Why don't they just finish me off?" he thought as the monsters continue looking at him in a strange way. Tsukasa then looked at the red energy orb that's still floating above the dead carcass. The red glow reflected on his ghastly purple eyes. He didn't know what to do with it, but he was interested in this orb of energy.

"I better get out of here." he thought otherwise.

But, when he moved his tired legs, the orb reacted very wildly. It started swirling around the dungeon with a dark force trailing it. The fast speed of this energy eventually stopped Tsukasa in his tracks. It then placed itself on Tsukasa's hands with a warm feeling.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" he quietly said with his purple eyes having sight of the orb. "Should I go further into the dungeon? You say there's something for me to see? I see."

The energy orb then surged itself onto Tsukasa's face. He yelled in pain as the force stung his face with great energy. It then filled his body with unknown power. The cuts that covered his body were now healed a little bit, but Tsukasa could still feel his body ache. His face now had red boomerang-like marks. His hands were glowing with dark red energy. He could feel this power flowing inside of him.

The energy inside him was talking to him, telepathically.

"Tsukasa, do you remember me?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I'm asking you as a friend, do you remember me?"

"No, I don't remember you. I don't even know if I can even see you nor did I remember having you as a friend."

"Defeat these monsters and find my statue deep in the dungeon. Only then will you know who I am, Tsukasa. I am a friend that helped you escape this virtual prison 11 years ago."

"But how, I don't know any spells."

"Just raise your hand and concentrate."

"Just raise your hand and concentrate."

Tsukasa did what the voice in his mind told him to do. He raises his arm and closed his eyes. Suddenly, lightning shot from his fingertips, electrocuting every monster that surrounded him. He took them out in very few seconds.

He, however, noticed that each monster he defeated spewed out an energy orb similar to the first he received. These orbs flew straight towards Tsukasa's chest.

"What? This can't be happening. I don't want anymore of this happening to me!"

"Tsukasa, do not fear these substances. These are yours now."

Tsukasa listens to the words and accepts these spirits of the monsters as his own. To him, it didn't really hurt him. It felt more like healing him. His body still aches though, due to the earlier attack. He decides to walk further into the dungeon in hopes of finding a statue. As he walked on, he ran into more monsters along the way. Utilizing his newly found powers, he picked up his sword and sliced every one of the monsters. Ranging from the ability to engulf his sword with flames to temporarily enhancing his stats, his trek towards his destination was a little easier for him, though his did lose some HP.


Finally arriving at the statue, Tsukasa gazed at the statue and its features. It appeared to be a young woman. She had wings that resembled those belonging to an Angel and had short hair. She was had on a long flowing dress. Below was a slate that stated:

"The Blue Haired Angel: Leader of the Crimson Knights. May she rest in peace. 1996-2012"

Tsukasa read what it says and could not believe this.

"Is this person talking inside of me, the same person here? Huh."

"Tsukasa, I am so glad you here. As you can see, I died eight years ago. But, you don't know why, do you?"

"No, but I don't really want to. It's just too sad."

"I see."

The statue started to crack open, shaking the room violently in the process. Tsukasa felt energy escaping his body and going inside the glowing statue. After a few minutes, the statue crumpled, revealing the young woman in the flesh.

"...Just tell me, who are you…?"


A few feet away, someone was looking towards the white haired wavemaster with intrigue. He chuckled to himself in a dark tone, "So, he finally has returned…Just my luck, hehehe……."