Prologue
Facing the young girl and her little sister, the armored knight raised his sword.
To have mercy was to take away a life in a single strike. Struck by the sunlight, the sword glistened high up in the air.
The girl shut her eyes and bit down on her lower lip. Her expression showed that she never wished for this situation. She was simply accepting it since there was nothing she could do. If the girl had power of some sort, she would have used it on the man before her eyes and ran away.
But— the girl had no such power.
Thus there existed only one conclusion.
The girl would surely perish here.
The sword struck down…
Yet she did not feel any pain.
The girl opened her tightly shut eyes.
The first thing that the girl saw in her world was the sword that had stopped in its path downward.
The next thing that entered her sight was its wielder.
He had stopped in motion as though he were encased in ice. The knight’s attention was no longer on the girl. The completely defenseless state of the knight clearly revealed the shock that surged inside him.
As though led by the knight’s gaze, the girl also turned her face toward the same direction.
Then— she saw despair.
There was darkness.
Pure darkness as thin as paper, yet of an unfathomable depth. It had emerged from the ground in an ovoid shape with its lower section cut. A scene that evoked mystique with indescribable apprehension.
A door?
That’s what the girl thought after having seen it..
Then after her heart beat once more, her thought was verified right.
*Drippp*
Something fell from the darkness.
The instant she realized what it was—
“Hiii!”
— The girl let out a piercing shriek.
An existence that no mortal could ever overcome.
Red orbs swayed like turbid flames inside the hollow orbits of the white skull. As it looked at the two girls, they felt as though it was staring coldly at its prey. In its hands, devoid of flesh and skin, was a sacred yet fearsome staff of sovereign beauty.
It was as though Death itself, draped in an ornate, jet-black robe, was born into this world with darkness from another world.
The air froze in the blink of an eye.
It was as if time itself had frozen before the advent of an absolute being.
The girl had forgotten to breathe as though her soul was stolen
In this situation, where even sense of time seemed to have vanished, the girl began hyperventilating and breathed as though gasping for air.
— The Grim Reaper has come from the otherworld to take me away.
That’s what the girl had thought, but she soon felt something was amiss. The knight that was after them had stopped moving as well.
“Urghh…”
A quiet groan was heard.
Who was it from? It felt like it could have been from herself, as well as her shivering little sister, and the knight with his sword raised before her eyes.
Ever so slowly, its fingers, destitute of flesh with only their bones, reached out and pointed — not at the girls, but at the knight, as if to grab something.
She wanted to stop looking, but she was too scared to do so. She felt she would witness something far more terrifying if she were to look away.
<—Grasp Heart>.
The death incarnate made a clasping gesture, and a loud metallic noise rang right next to the girl.
She was afraid to avert her eyes to Death, but pushed by the tiny curiosity from her heart she moved her gaze and saw the knight laying on the ground. He was no longer moving.
He was dead.
Yes, dead.
The life-threatening crisis that had closed in on the girl disappeared just like that as if it was all a joke. However, she could not rejoice since Death had changed its shape and manifested itself in a more apparent form.
Receiving the girl’s frightened gaze, Death moved towards the girl.
The darkness gathered in the center of her view rose.
— It’s going to envelop me.
Thinking that, the girl hugged her little sister tightly.
The thought of escaping was nowhere in her head now.
If the opponent were a human, she could have taken action with a shred of hope. But the thing before her eyes was an existence that easily blew away such notion.
— Please at least let me die a painless death.
Praying was all she could do.
Her little sister was clinging to her waist, quivering in terror. She wanted to save her, but she couldn’t. She could only apologize for her powerlessness. She simply prayed that she wouldn’t feel so lonely, for she was going with her.
And then…
Chapter 1
The end and the beginning
Part 1
It was the year 2138 A.D., and the term DMMO-RPG was not only in existence, but also becoming more common.
Being the acronym for <Dive Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game>, it described an interactive game where one was able to play in a virtual world like it was real life, by connecting a dedicated console to the neuron nanointerface — an intracerebral nanocomputer network composed from the quintessence of cyber- and nanotechnology.
It was as though you entered the game for real.
Amidst a myriad of DMMO-RPGs that were developed, there was one title that shined brilliantly.
Yggdrasil.
It was a game that a highly-regarded Japanese developer released twelve years ago in the year 2126.
No matter which DMMO-RPG it was compared to, Yggdrasil was a game that offered an immensely high level of freedom to the players.
The number of classes that formed the basis of the game easily topped 2000 when you added up the normal and high-rank classes.
All classes had a maximum level of 15, meaning a player had to have at least 7 classes or more to reach the overall level cap of 100.
Furthermore, you were able to just have a taste of various classes as long as you satisfied this overall condition. Although it was inefficient, it was possible to have 100 level one professions if you wanted.
In other words, it was a system where it was impossible to have completely identical characters unless you intentionally made them so.
This level of freedom also applied to the visuals. If you used creator tools that were sold separately, you were able to alter appearances of weapons and armor, interior data, character visuals, and detailed settings of a player’s home.
What awaited the players who set off for adventures in such a world was a colossal map. Nine homeworlds consisting of Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.
A vast world, innumerable classes, and fully customizable visuals.
It had ignited the artisan spirits of the Japanese players and caused a phenomenon that would later be called ‘visual popularity’.
With such explosive popularity behind it, it had reached a level of acclaim where Yggdrasil and DMMO-RPG were considered as one and the same in Japan.