2 Welcome To Cyberzone

As soon as both Paimona and Lumine opened up their eyes, they looked around in surprise to see that they were no longer lying down in the cabins, but instead were now in the middle of a white void of nothingness, standing on top of a metallic platform within the ether.

"Woah, how did we get here, Lumine?!"

"This should be a virtual world..." Lumine muttered as she crouched down to touch the platform they were on. As she felt the cold surface, Lumine couldn't help but be dumbfounded at how real it felt. "It's incredible!"

"Paimon still doesn't understand what you mean by a virtual world, but this place does look amazing..." Paimon spoke up again as she looked around curiously. "Though, why is everything just white? What are we supposed... Lumine, look!"

Hearing Paimon's voice, Lumine blinked before standing back up to look at what Paimon was now pointing at. When she did, Lumine blinked her eyes in surprise as she saw a floating holographic screen in front of her.

"Choose a legacy... oh, this must be the character customization!" Lumine lightly tapped her fist onto the palm of her other hand as she came to this realization. "So, it really is like the beginning of a video game. Don't worry, Paimon. I know what to do!"

"Paimon sure hopes so, cause Paimon certainly doesn't..."

.

『Please Choose A Legacy』

● Swordsman - [Striking the opposition with cold steel, becoming both swift and fierce through the battlefield of roses]

● Archer - [The coming storm of arrows, a graceful and elegant figure conquering both the field and sky, striking from the distant horizons]

● Gunner - [Raining down metallic storms without mercy, an agent of chaos rushing through the battlefield with chaotic celerity]

● Shielder - [An unmovable wall of perseverance, fighting not because of those in front, but to protect those standing behind them]

● Berserker - [The chaotic beast of madness, rampaging through the crimson field to deliver brutal judgment onto the opposition]

.

After reading each of the classes, or Legacies as the game called them, Lumine ultimately decided to go with the simple 'Swordsman' Legacy. She was a swordsman, so choosing this one was the best choice, she didn't have much experience with any other weapon.

After choosing her Legacy, a new screen soon displayed in front of them.

.

『Character』

● Name: Lumine

● Level: 1 - [EXP: 0/100]

● Legacy: Swordsman

● Health Gauge: 100/100

● Energy Gauge: 220/220

● Equipment:『None』

● Techniques:『Flash Strike』『Triple Axis』

● Skills:『None』

Parameters:

『Points: 10』

● Attack: 0 [+0]

● Energy: 0 [+0]

● Agility: 0 [+0]

● Defense: 0 [+0]

.

"Okay, so this must be the part where I can allocate my starting points..." Lumine muttered to herself as Paimon just looked on with confusion, scratching her head as she tried to understand just what was happening. "Attack and speed a probably the most important..."

"Um, Lumine...?"

"Quiet, Paimon! I'm thinking."

"..."

After a bit of thinking, Lumine eventually made up her decision before finally allocating the points she was given to start with.

.

『Character』

● Name: Lumine

● Level: 1 - [EXP: 0/100]

● Legacy: Swordsman

● Health Gauge: 120/120

● Energy Gauge: 220/220

● Equipment:『Basic Sword』

● Techniques:『Flash Strike』『Triple Axis』

● Skills:『None』

Parameters:

『Points: 0』

● Attack: 4 [+0]

● Energy: 1 [+0]

● Agility: 3 [+0]

● Defense: 2 [+0]

.

After nodding her head at the newly updated table of contents, Lumine confirmed her choices as the screen displaying her details quickly disappeared. Soon after, another menu popped up to show another selection screen.

"Paimon, I think this is you."

"Eh? It's Paimon's turn?"

.

『Please Choose A Legacy (Companion)』

● Healer - [The saint of the battlefield, tending to the wounds of their allies, let them be severe or minor]

● Flagriser - [The charismatic uprising figure on the field, and with their inspiring cries, can give their allies the upper hand by improving overall power and defense].

.

Unlike her own screen, the Legacies available for the companion member only had two available options. Despite how simple both of the Legacies were, both were very useful in their own ways, so either one personally worked for Lumine.

"Lumine, what should Paimon choose...?" Paimon scratched the back of her head as she looked at the screen. "Paimon's confused."

"I think you should choose Flagriser."

"Flagriser?" Paimon blinked as she looked at the mentioned option. She then gave Lumine a confused look. "Why not Healer? Wouldn't it be better if Paimon could heal you whenever you got hurt? That way you won't die!"

"That's true, but being able to improve both attack and defense is really good as well." Lumine responded calmly. "Plus, if my knowledge of video games serves me right, I'm sure that we'll be able to get our hands on plenty of healing items, so you should focus on making me stronger!"

"Well, if you say so..."

From what Lumine was aware of, healing items tended to be much easier to find and/or obtain compared to items that would temporarily boost your capabilities. Plus, using them would make them disappear most likely, so having a companion who could repeatedly buff you was very appealing.

.

『Companion』

● Name: Paimon

● Level: 1 - [EXP: 0/500]

● Legacy: Flagriser

● Health Gauge: 100/100

● Energy Gauge: 100/100

● Equipment:『Basic Flag』

● Skills:『Rise Up』『Stand Tall』

.

The major difference between Paimon's character screen and hers was that Paimon didn't seem to have any parameters, which meant that Paimon probably couldn't improve her physical prowess, though she wasn't sure whether or not her health or energy would increase as she leveled.

"Wait a minute! Why is Paimon's screen so much smaller?!"

"Well, you're supposed to be the side support for me, right? I don't think you really need it."

"But still-!"

"Calm down, Paimon. Let's just start the game."

Although upset, Paimon gave a sigh before nodding her head. Smiling at this, Lumine clicked on the confirm button as Paimon's character screen closed down. Soon enough, they watched as a string of messages soon appeared to them.

『Character Customization Complete』

『Companion Customization Complete』

『Starting Game Now』

『...』

『Welcome to Cyberzone』

With that, both Lumine and Paimon soon found the white void around them slowly fading away into darkness before eventually all they could see was black. Paimon was beginning to panic, but stopped once a strange voice soon began to sound in their eyes.

As the voice began to speak, they soon realized that the voice sounded like it belonged to a male, a male with a rather deep voice that was accompanied by a following echo that made his voice sound a bit mysterious to them.

〖???: I'm sorry it had to be like this, if only I knew I could've...! No, I doubt I could have done anything even if I had any idea. But rest assured, everything will become clear one day. However, today is not that day...〗

〖...〗

〖???: When the time comes, I know you'll make the right decisions. I know that you'll be able to put an end to all this madness, but that time is still oh so far away. For now, this is goodbye〗

〖...〗

〖???: But remember this, there is more to a rose than just its beauty...〗

Before either of them could say anything in response to those words, they gradually regained their visions to see that they were now seemingly hovering in the air. Looking down, they saw that they were now floating above an incredibly run-down city.

The more proper word would probably be slums, the small buildings that were all rather cramped together looked incredibly worse for wear. The buildings were crudely made using both metal sheets and wood, and the streets were anything but clean.

Looking upwards, they saw that it was night-time, which was probably a good reason for why they probably didn't see anyone out and about. Their attention was soon forcefully brought down towards one of the streets that seemed to be leading out towards a surrounding dense forest.

"This is a cutscene!" Lumine soon realized. "That explains the cinematic panning."

"What's a cutscene?"

"Don't worry about it, just keep watching."

Although confused, Paimon did as told as both of them watched as a figure walked out from the forest and onto the streets of the slums. Looking closer, the two of them could see that it was a figure wearing mainly dark-colored clothes.

Covering the person's entire body was a body-tight black leather suit with silver accents, along with a pair of black leather boots with metal soles. Over the top of this outfit was a grey-colored hooded cloak, which did make it hard to see the clothes underneath.

As the figure stopped walking, they could see the person's head looking around as if assessing their surroundings. Slowly, the person reached for their hood before taking it off, allowing the cloak to simply rest on their shoulders.

"Wait... that's me?!"

"Lumine?!"

Lumine and Paimon cried out in surprise as the person underneath the hood was indeed revealed to be none other than Lumine. Since this was a cutscene, it was pretty understandable, but it was still surprising to be watching herself from a third-person perspective.

Soon enough, both Lumine and Paimon found their visions descending down to where the other Lumine was located. They floated behind the other Lumine before seemingly phasing through, the thing was that the 'true' Lumine soon found herself in a strange situation.

"Did I... take over the other me?" Lumine muttered to herself as she looked down at her body to see that she was now wearing the same clothes that she saw her other self wearing not too long ago. "I guess cutscenes are in third person while actual gameplay is first person, that's pretty cool."

"Lumine, Paimon's wearing new clothes!"

Lumine heard Paimon's voice and turned her head to see her companion flying as usual, but the major difference was that Paimon wasn't wearing the strange attire that she usually wore. Instead, it was replaced by a black and white cybernetic bodysuit, along with a small flagpole attached to her back, with a metal pole and a hologram for the flag itself.

"Paimon feels really weird like this, these clothes are so strange!" Paimon exclaimed as she flew around. "Paimon's glad she can still fly though, she wouldn't know what to do if she had to walk on the ground like you do."

"It's not that bad." Lumine shrugged as she heard this. She then looked around, her head tilting a bit as she did so. "What do we do now...huh?"

Just as Lumine asked this question, she and Paimon heard a dinging sound before seeing a holographic notification popping up in front of them. It didn't say much at all, it only showed a single line of text.

『Prologue - City Of Despair』

Soon after the title card disappeared, Lumine was greeted with the sight of one of a video game's most common features. The essential part of knowing what to do in a video game, something to finally get the ball rolling.

That's of course... a mission!

.

『Main Mission』

● Objective: Ask someone for information about your whereabouts

Rewards:

● 10 Points

● +20 Character EXP

● +10 Companion EXP

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