Yumi rose from her chair. Her magical staff lifted off the ground with a soft hum, following her like a loyal shadow—silent and slow. She walked toward the wide arched window in the middle of the hall.
Outside, there was silence.
Nothing had changed.
Dark clouds still gathered across the sky, illuminating the land with the occasional flash of lightning. Around the guild fortress stretched a massive ring-shaped wall, with guards standing motionless upon the ramparts—precise, programmed, unwavering. Beyond the wall spread an endless swamp, dark and wet, with occasional islands of green fading into the mist.
Kamikaze approached and looked out in the same direction. Nothing suggested that anything had changed. And yet... both of them felt that the world around them was too real—far too real.
"Maybe some kind of bug… or the system just registered the territory as permanently owned," Yumi said with a nervous smile, letting out a thin, hollow laugh that disappeared into the quiet of the hall.
Raiden frowned and opened his player panel. He slid his finger across the transparent interface and tapped the "Call GM" button several times. Nothing.
He tried again. And again.
Then he froze.
"Yumi…" his voice trembled. "The system isn't responding. No reaction. No menu, no GM… nothing."
Yumi slowly turned toward him, doubt flickering in her eyes.
And then—a loud shout from outside.
"To your positions! Everyone to the walls!"
It was the voice of the guard captain.
An NPC.
An NPC that had never spoken before. Even though it was an advanced AI, in Eterna Skirmish Online, it never spoke.
More shouts echoed along the walls; heavy footsteps thundered through the stone corridors, as if the entire fortress was waking up.
Raiden and Yumi stood frozen in place.
Then—knocking.
Tok, tok, tok.
Yumi and Raiden exchanged glances.
The silence of the room suddenly felt heavier—Raiden felt something strange.
A flash of cold crept down his spine.
The air had a scent—chilled, metallic, with a hint of ozone.
Yumi's breath turned to mist.
That couldn't be real… it was impossible…
"Enter,"
Yumi said calmly, though her voice trembled.
The door slowly opened, and a maid stepped into the hall.
Her footsteps echoed across the marble floor—echoed, truly echoed, not as a programmed sound effect.
She wore a black gothic dress trimmed with white lace and gold embroidery. Her face, however, was hidden behind a silver mask—frozen in a twisted smile, exactly like the uniforms of Kuro no Tenshi's servants.
The maid bowed deeply.
"Your Excellency,"
she spoke clearly, her voice bright and human.
"The captain of the first defense line reports that the outer wall is under attack by unknown entities. He requests your orders."
Yumi and Raiden stood in shock.
Raiden turned to her slowly, disbelief flashing in his eyes.
"She… spoke? That's impossible…" he whispered.
Yumi nodded faintly.
"That's impossible… NPCs can't talk. There's no voice module. Not even an AI advanced enough to do that…"
Her words caught in her throat.
The maid stood before them, waiting with perfect obedience and grace.
Raiden took a deep breath and stepped closer.
"Very well. Tell the captain to hold his position. Summon reinforcements from the second defense line—but only the soldiers of the old guard. Neutralize the attackers… and if possible, capture one of them alive."
The maid bowed again.
"Understood, my lord."
When she left, Raiden sat down, staring blankly ahead.
"What kind of monsters?"
he muttered quietly.
"In Eterna Skirmish Online… there were no such attacks. At least, not against our guild."
Yumi turned toward the window, where flashes of lightning revealed shadows moving along the walls.
"Raiden… maybe,"
she said slowly,
"this isn't Eterna Skirmish Online anymore…"
Raiden was silent.
His thoughts swirled like a storm.
"That… can't be," he whispered. "Surely…"
Then he stopped. A spark of realization lit up in his eyes.
"Yumi… do you think we've… ended up in a world like Eterna?"
Yumi nodded silently. She already knew. From the moment the maid had spoken with a human voice, when she had felt the cold air, when everything began to behave differently—she knew.
"Alright, stay calm, Raiden," she said softly, pacing the room. Her staff floated after her quietly, almost as if alive. "First, we need to figure out what's happening. We'll check the territory, the situation at the walls… and most importantly, whether there are any other players here."
Raiden nodded.
Though fear coursed through him, deep inside he felt a surge of excitement—
a twisted sense of rebirth.
The first thing they agreed on was to strengthen their defenses.
If this "Eterna" was real, then their lives now depended on their decisions.
They had to confirm the strength of their NPCs, the state of their magical barriers, and whether their divine and world-class items still functioned.
In the original game, activating an item took only a click.
But now… no one knew how it worked.
And no one was sure what would happen if they used an artifact in a world they could feel.
"We need to test whether magic still works," Raiden said. "And check if our artifacts are secure in the treasury. Let's go to the training grounds."
"Alright," Yumi nodded. "I just hope everything still functions properly."
Outwardly, she sounded calm.
Inside, uncertainty gnawed at her.
She felt that returning might no longer be possible. Yet she forced herself to appear composed—for Raiden, for the guild, for the dignity of Kuro no Tenshi.
At first glance, she might have seemed kind and gentle, but those who knew her knew the truth.
Behind that smile lay a mind cold and calculating. She was kind only to her own—to the guild and to her created NPCs.
Everyone else were merely pieces on her board.
Raiden was different.
To him, friendship meant something. He believed in honor and compromise.
But if anyone threatened what he protected, he could be crueler than the demons he summoned himself.
In the real world, he was an empty man—no friends, no family, no purpose.
Here, he was someone.
Slowly, they opened the doors and stepped into the corridor.
The maids standing along the walls bowed deeply.
"Glory to Kuro no Tenshi!"
their voices echoed in unison, reverberating through the stone halls.
Raiden merely raised his hand, and Yumi nodded.
The maids fell in behind them, walking silently, their footsteps now real.
Every click of a heel, every rustle of fabric was tangible.
Raiden glanced back—he couldn't help it.
Everything felt more alive than ever before.
Yumi walked beside him, her staff glowing faintly as she murmured incantations under her breath.
Her eyes gleamed with focus—she was analyzing the flow of magic around them, searching for any sign that could explain the change.
They reached the end of the corridor.
A staircase led downward, covered by a crimson carpet trimmed in gold. Torches flickered on the walls, their flames swaying in an invisible wind.
Before them stood a massive iron gate.
On either side stood two guards.
They were giants clad in black armor studded with horns.
Their helmets hid their eyes, but from beneath the visors glowed a dim red light.
In their hands they held massive greatswords that shimmered faintly with magical energy.
The moment they saw Yumi and Raiden, they dropped to one knee.
"Welcome, lords of Kuro no Tenshi," they spoke in deep, metallic voices.
Then they rose—and with a slow, heavy rumble, they opened the gate.