It was supposed to be over.
Suzuki Satoru sat alone in the throne of the Tomb of Nazarick, staring blankly at the countdown.
00:00:0300:00:0200:00:01
"Well, that's that. Time to log out… go home. Sleep. Maybe some cup ramen."
He didn't expect fireworks.
Just the familiar fade to black.The logout screen.A dull click, and back to real life.
Except… that didn't happen.
00:00 — ???
Instead of his apartment's soft humming or the stale warmth of a computer room...
He heard something wrong.
Steam hissed. Alarms blared. Metal groaned.Green light pulsed beneath his feet — giant pipes throbbing with energy like veins in a dying beast.
This… isn't Earth.It's not Yggdrasil either.Then... where the hell—
He looked down at his hands.
No bone. No gauntlet.Just smooth, pale skin. Ornate rings. Silken black gloves.
He turned toward a flickering pane of metal.
In the reflection, he saw a tall man — noble and cold. Crimson eyes. Silver hair tied neatly. Elegant robes with faint magical shimmer.
Wait... this form... this is my human disguise.The one I built for diplomacy events.Why am I...
Then, it clicked.
[Developer's Gift: Humanize Form]A cosmetic racial skill for heteromorphic races.Automatically activates when entering neutral or peace-only zones.Optional in-game — but forced when the system detects cross-server displacement.
So when I was forcefully pulled from the server… this triggered.And now I'm stuck like this?
He flexed his fingers.Cold. Controlled. Unnatural — but human enough.
Better than showing up looking like a skeleton king in an industrial warzone.
Footsteps.
He spun — and nearly cast a spell out of reflex.
"Area appears secure, Momonga-sama."
A tall armored woman stood beside him, her voice robotic and calm.
Narberal?!
He didn't understand how she came with him — only that she had.
Emotion suppression dulled the panic. His thoughts raced, but his face stayed calm.
Don't break character. Don't show weakness.
"You're stable?" he asked.
"Yes. No Nazarick connection. Systems intact."
"Good."
But if I'm going to survive here… I can't be 'Momonga'.
"From this point forward," he said calmly, "you will refer to me as Revenhart."
She bowed. "As you command, Revenhart-sama."
A new name for a new world.
00:03 — Reactor Depths
A vent exploded above them.
A man dropped onto the catwalk in a crouch, sword at the ready.
Cloud Strife.
Spiky blond hair. Cold Mako-blue eyes. Dangerous.
"…Who the hell are you?"
Narberal raised a hand.
"Insect—"
"Stand down," Revenhart interrupted.
Cloud kept his blade raised. "Not Shinra."
"Correct."
"Not Avalanche."
"Correct."
"Then why are you in a Mako reactor?"
"Miscalculation," Revenhart said simply.
Before Cloud could respond, static burst from his radio.
"Cloud! Reactor's gonna blow — upper path is sealed!"
Cloud clenched his jaw. "Damn it."
Revenhart stepped forward.
"I can extract us."
"You what?"
"Teleportation: Local Displacement."
A violet circle lit the floor beneath them.
They vanished.
00:07 — Sector 8 Platform
They reappeared on a rusted platform near a broken train gate.
Tifa, Barret, and Biggs turned, startled.
"Cloud?!"
"They helped," Cloud said. "Got me out."
Barret's arm cannon trained on Revenhart.
"You Shinra?"
"No."
"Then who are you?"
"Revenhart. This is Narberal. We're not your enemies."
Tifa stepped forward, eyeing him. "That teleport... that wasn't materia, was it?"
"No."
"Then what was it?"
He gave a faint smile.
"An older art."
00:20 — Seventh Heaven Bar
The tavern buzzed with tension and oil-scented air.
Revenhart sat in the corner, slowly rotating a glowing orb of green materia between two fingers.
So this is what passes for magic here...
Narberal stood behind him, arms crossed.
"These creatures lack subtlety."
"Patience," he murmured. "They don't know what they've invited in."
00:23 — Shinra HQ Surveillance
The feed replayed again.Cloud — then a figure in black robes.No entry point. No scan. No data.
Reeve frowned. "Who is that?"
Hojo smiled faintly from behind.
"…A disruption. How interesting."
00:35 — Rooftop Over Sector 7
A silver-haired figure stood on a pipe, watching the bar below.
Eyes narrowed.
Sephiroth.
"…He does not belong in this world."
And then, he was gone.
To be continued...