1 Darkside: Elements

"Thank you Daisho, if not for your help we would have already failed this raid and died to Demon King Cipher's General.", is what was being said to him. However, the recipient of those words of gratitude looked decidedly dissatisfied to be on the receiving end of it. In truth, he is unhappy because he knows that he shouldn't be the one they thank, instead, he looked at the back of the crowd where an onyx black-haired girl was being attended to by her party members.

He knew that the girl should be the one who gained the recognition, he knew that his contribution in finding the crucial weakness of the boss was minimal to nonexistent and yet, each time he tried to tell other people the truth-

"Please Daisho, I don't want to be put into the spotlight, please take the achievement so that I don't have to deal with the attention."

...the brat's bright, wide and glistening green eyes keep up popping in his mind as she asked, no, pleaded to him to take away her achievement so that she can stay anonymous and not have to deal with the paparazzi that would swarm her and ask her questions that she wouldn't feel comfortable answering.

... Okay, now he can kind of understand why she doesn't want the attention but still, why him? Why not some other poor chap?! Then again, thinking about her caused another thought to come unbidden inside his mind.

'She, really had come far, hadn't she? From the helpless girl that used to cry a lot to one of the strongest players we have... You had changed from the girl that needed my help in learning the basics into someone that can stand on her own, Tama.', pride welled up in his chest as he thought about how she had changed since the first time he saw her.

Then he felt bitter as he remembered exactly what forced her to grow up so fast in just two years. 'This accursed game, is it worth it to rob kids of their innocence to fulfill whatever goal that you had in your twisted mind, Shuwan?'

___________________________________________

It is currently the year 20XX, the world had long since accustomed themselves to the Virtual Reality(VR) technology. Business contracts, military training, studying, many things had tied themselves to the technology and there are even new professions that exist entirely revolving around the VR technology.

It was predicted that the world technology would stay stagnant for at least the next four decades, this was the case until one day, a genius was born. His name was Shuwan Kumo and he is the type of genius that excelled in everything, he excelled so much that at the young age of 15, he had graduated from the world's best university with the highest degree possible in every field.

He is the type of genius that only once every 10 000 years... Or a story. To be honest, that should have been the first thing to tip all of us but no, we were all just so caught up in the fact that such a genius exists that we didn't notice anything wrong until it's too late and we noticed it too late indeed.

To everyone's confusion instead of going into the most profitable profession available or the one that should interest an intellectual most he had instead looked into VR technology, a field that was so common these days that many people were caught off guard by it. When asked for his reason he had simply said that he wanted to make a game that everyone could enjoy and be beneficial to them. This had confused everyone more than before, especially when he refused to elaborate on it.

That should have been our second clue. Shuwan is many things but a liar he is not. Avoiding the truth? Sure. Giving vague details? Sure. But never had anyone who knows ever seen him lie so for him to refuse to elaborate his reasons even a little? When there had been reported cases that described him as someone who liked to boast about his accomplishments? It was so different from his normal modus operandi that it should have tipped us off. But nobody noticed anything and so many people paid the price.

5 years after he graduated, he finally released what he had been on for so long. Dark Inherition Online, a VRMMORPG unlike any other. It is a game made from cutting edge technology and system that are two decades ahead of the rest of the world, not just a normal two decades, no, it is something that surpassed what could be made two decades AFTER the world stopped being stagnant. Moreover, it is managed by an AI personally made by Shuwan himself. Not only that, according to Shuwan, the equipment to play the game would ensure that our real-life body would grow to match our avatar, even if it would take time.

That should have been our third clue. Something as big as this managed not by even one human and the AI itself made by Shuwan? That level of caution is more akin to one that would be expected from a paranoid person, not a genius like Shuwan, at least not if he didn't plan to do what he did next. As the saying goes, if something is too good to be true then it is very likely that it isn't.

On the 31st of December 150000 copies of Dark Inherition Online were sold all around the world, 20000 of which was sold in Japan, his country of birth with the server starting at 6.06 pm. The bastard must have a sick sense of humor to start up the server at that time, I bet it was started exactly six seconds after the aforementioned time too.

Everyone was very excited to play the game as it was made by the Shuwan himself and indeed it did not disappoint, at least not until we find out the truth of the game. Eventually, someone noticed that they couldn't log out even if they had pressed the button. At first, everyone thought it would just be a temporary bug until about three hours later, not even one response about the bug was given.

This caused unrest to start appearing among the players until, at exactly 12.00 am, all of the players were teleported to the Dawn Hall, the place where all players were first spawned at. Then, after almost a minute of waiting, a bright pillar of light appeared the avatar of a single person.

- Shuwan -

His avatar was wearing a white cloak embroidered with gold, his face concealed by the hood and under the cloak, he was clad in jet black colored armor with gold linings. His appearance at first caused everyone to calm down. Before he opened his mouth anyway because what he said next made everyone panic even more.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to the real version of Dark Inherition Online, a game of life and death."

There was chaos everywhere after the words were said, some people even attempted to attack him to no avail; everything just goes through his avatar like he was a ghost and he just continued to speak like he was not standing in the middle of pure chaos created by his words.

"From now on none of you can log out of Dark Inherition Online until the game is cleared, which can be accomplished by killing the ALL of the Demon Kings that existed in this game. Other than that, all of you can't respawn anymore, the only way to revive is by using certain items or magic under a set time period. Don't worry, even I'm not that cruel to just let you all die without warning. Those that had died before this announcement can still respawn but after this, if you die. You. Will. Die."

That answer sends shivers down my avatar's body.

"And not just death in-game too since from now on those that die permanently in-game also die permanently in real life. I hope all of you make yourself comfortable during your stay here, what I had told about your body growing to match your avatar is the truth and so, do try to grow up your avatar to reap the most benefit out of this game when you get out."

His piece said, the jackass turned to get ready to teleport his avatar away before suddenly somebody shouted after him.

"Wait!"

Shuwan turned back to face the person who shouted for him to wait, even though I couldn't see his face I could see from his stance that he was intrigued that someone would actually want him to wait. As if to meet Shuwan's expectation the person proceeded to question him about something that would forever stay with me, along with Shuwan's answer to them.

"Wh, why did you say when we get out, not if? And, and, why do you do this? Why make this death game?"

I don't know the person who asked that question and I don't know how they were able to notice the word Shuwan had used and how they were able to keep his composure enough to ask those questions but I decided at that moment that I will forever respect him even if I started to focus my attention on Shuwan's answer.

"Impressive, to be able to notice the wordplay I had used. I don't blame you for thinking that this is something as simple as a death game even if I am a little irked that it was referred to as that. To answer your first question, it is because I believe in humanity's ability to grow under duress. Something as simple as my game would never be able to kill all of you before you cleared it."

It was something simple, a mere offhanded praise to humanity as a whole instead of some earth-shattering revelation like before but the sheer faith in his words astounded me. 'If that was true, then, why did he even turn Dark Inherition Online into a death game?' the question that suddenly raised itself in my mind caused me to eagerly wait for the answer to the second question.

However, as if to disappoint me, Shuwan's avatar turned again, light surrounding his body, the telltale sign of him teleporting making me think that he was trying to get out of answering the second question which made me panic internally. It's not only me too, around me, I can see a lot of people also having expressions of alarm on their faces. The panic almost caused me to miss Shuwan answer, but I didn't miss it, none of us did even though it sounded as if he had just whispered the answer but all players heard it. And, for some reason the simple answer caused me to feel a sudden wave of chill each time I remembered it.

"As for the second question... The answer is, to prepare."

And just like that, he was gone, leaving us with more questions than answers. 'To prepare'? To prepare for what, and why did it sound so ominous? With those questions lingering in our mind, that is how our first day in the death game Dark Inherition Online, also know as DIO and our first day of the new year went.