When I opened my eyes, I thought I was dead.
For a moment, I expected light… peace… something. But instead, there was only emptiness.
Black skies.
White ground.
A world stripped of all color, like someone erased everything except the memory of existence.
My body felt heavy. My mind foggy.
I pushed myself up, breathing hard.
"Where… am I?"
The place was silent — no sound, no system UI. Just static air and the distant hum of broken data streams swirling like smoke above the horizon.
Was this the afterlife of SkyRealm? Or had I fallen into the cracks between worlds — the Void everyone feared?
I let out a shaky laugh. "So this is it, huh… the space between games."
I leaned back against a rock and looked up. Even the stars here were just white dots flickering inside black pixels. My arms trembled, and I could still feel the burn in my shoulder from earlier — no wound yet, just the memory of pain.
I should've died when the train plunged into the abyss. I remember the explosion, the screaming winds, the sight of the helicopter escaping with the hostages.
At least they made it out…
I smiled weakly, trying to find comfort in that thought.
Then —
Clang!
Something metallic slammed into the wall beside me, inches from my head.
Pain shot through my shoulder. I gasped, staring down.
A long black scythe blade had pierced straight through my left shoulder, pinning me to the jagged stone.
"Ah—aghhh!"
Blood splattered across the white floor, staining it red.
A shadow moved through the haze, limping closer.
Broken armor. A tattered cloak. The Reaper herself — SK.
Her breathing was rough, ragged. One of her arms hung loosely, armor cracked, but her eyes still burned with rage.
She grabbed me by the throat, lifting me despite her injuries.
Her voice shook, filled with venom. "Are you happy now?"
I coughed, choking — and still, somehow, I laughed.
"Haha… you're… still alive, huh?"
Her grip tightened. "You destroyed everything! You—"
Crack.
Both of us froze.
The faint sound of breaking twigs echoed through the void.
We turned.
A figure stood just beyond the white fog — tall, cloaked, masked. A sword rested on his shoulder. His armor was old, weathered — like it didn't belong to any modern game. The metal shimmered with smoke, its design closer to something from a medieval RPG than the digital worlds we knew.
He didn't move. Didn't speak. Just gathered wood from a pile as if we weren't even there.
"Who the hell are you?!" SK shouted, releasing me and yanking her scythe from the wall.
The stranger didn't reply. He just turned slightly, his mask glinting — then returned to stacking branches.
SK's eyes narrowed. "Fine. Ignore me then."
Her rage boiled. She swung her scythe, cutting through the air toward him.
I tried to shout — "Wait!" — but my voice cracked.
The moment her blade neared, the air rippled.
And then… he vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
SK froze mid-swing, confusion flashing across her face. "What—"
Before she could finish, a line of silver cut through her chestplate. The sound was clean, precise. Her armor cracked like glass, shattering to reveal her real form beneath — a young woman with long blond hair and furious, trembling eyes.
She dropped to one knee, coughing blood.
"H-how…"
The masked man reappeared behind her, sword drawn but pointed down, its edge faintly glowing.
SK tried to lift her weapon, but her vision blurred.
"Impossible…" she whispered — and fell,
I was frozen in place, breath shallow, every instinct screaming that whoever this man was, he wasn't a normal player.
He turned toward me and began walking — slow, deliberate steps echoing against the empty terrain.
My heart pounded. I tried to move, to summon a shield, anything, but my energy was gone.
The world tilted sideways. My vision blurred.
The last thing I saw before darkness took me was that faceless mask — staring right through me.
And then… nothing.
The helicopter soared through the endless plains, its engines whirring unevenly. Inside, the rescued girls sat close together, trembling but safe.
The red-haired girl looked toward one of the soldiers.
"Is your teammate… gonna be okay?" she asked softly.
The soldier hesitated. Before he could answer, the team leader spoke.
"She'll make it."
"But, sir," another soldier protested, "we lost contact with her after the train fell. We should—"
"Just trust her," the leader said, his tone firm.
"I know Ryze. She's not the type to die easily."
Silence followed.
The red-haired girl exhaled, finally allowing herself to relax.
The purple-haired one beside her managed a small smile. "So we can go home now, right?"
The soldier nodded. "Yeah. We'll escort you back to Countless Star. You're safe now."
For the first time in hours, laughter rippled quietly through the cabin. Hope — fragile, but real.
Then the cockpit alarm blared.
Beep-beep-beep!
"What the— incoming energy signature!"
A red beam of light shot from the clouds above, slicing past the rotor.
"Mayday! Mayday!" the pilot yelled. "Brace for impact!"
The world tilted violently as the helicopter spiraled down.
"Hold on tight!" the red-haired girl screamed, clutching her staff. A magic circle flared around her hands. "Protection Field!"
The barrier glowed just as the helicopter slammed into the ground.
Boom!
Metal crumpled. Dirt exploded upward. But somehow, the protective spell softened the crash. The soldiers groaned, shaken but alive.
"Everyone okay?" the leader coughed, checking his team.
"Minor injuries only!" one soldier replied, pulling a dazed girl from the wreckage.
Another scanned the sky. "What the hell was that shot? It came out of nowhere—"
Then the ground trembled.
A massive shadow fell across them.
Three colossal airships emerged from the horizon, hovering silently over the crash site. Their hulls were black and red, marked with a single emblem — the crimson symbol of the Empire.