"Alright. We have arrived." The Voice announces to my relief as the boot finally pops open, letting in a gust of warm, stale smelling air.

I stretch my legs, hearing audible pops coming from the joints and relishing the feeling of blood moving in them again. The sensation of both my legs having fallen asleep quickly passes and I climb out of the boot. Getting my bearings, I realize that The Voice had brought me to an underground parking garage, a large one in fact. From the number of parking lots available, I presume that this parking garage is part of either a mall or an office complex. The thing is, all the lots are empty. The only vehicle parked presently parked in the garage is the black cab. We must have gotten here really late in the evening, or really early in the morning.

"There is an unmarked door a short walk to your right." The Voice says, "Make your way there."

Following The Voice's instructions, I begin walking in the prescribed direction, my footsteps echoing throughout the empty garage. In no time at all, I find myself before a large metal door that has been fitted on to the wall before me. The wall itself appears to have been extended using new construction, carving out a room from the garage. Curious. As I approach the door, I hear the sound of it unlocking. Guess this must be the hideout then.

Opening the door and stepping in, I see that the room is literally two completely different locations crudely bolted together. On my left, the room is decorated in the style of a cubicle drone's office, with the usual desk and chair combo coupled with a familiar looking laptop sitting unobtrusively on the desk. There have been a few additions, most notably a mattress placed carelessly across the floor, a wardrobe crammed into the corner and a small fridge situated under the desk.

On my right, however, is a public toilet. Yes. A public toilet with a pair stalls. Along with the stalls, is a sink with a mirror for washing up. Checking the stalls out, one appears to be used for taking a shower and the other for taking a dump. My mind is completely boggled at this odd set up.

"What in the world is this place?" I ask The Voice.

The Voice rasps, "Welcome to the pit. A somewhat dirty secret that has been swept under the rug by the company Belial Logistics. Originally, someone had rented this part of the garage to run a car wash and waxing service. When that venture failed, the building management repossessed the lot, but left the electrical and water connections undisturbed. When Belial Logistics, who have their corporate office in the floors above us, heard that the lot was once again available for rent, they took it off the management's hands, built the wall you see around it and refurbished it as an executive office and public latrine."

"That, that makes no sense at all." I protest incredulously.

"Oh it does, once you know that Belial Logistics takes pride in providing its employees with jobs for life, in return for them working in near unacceptable conditions." The Voice replies, "The grand bargain Belial Logistics had made with their staff made it impossible to sack redundant employees. Therefore such employees had to be provided with certain incentives in that direction. The pit is one such incentive."

Yeah. Its starting to make sense now.

"Employees that have been earmarked for redundancy are promoted to an executive position and granted this personal office. At the same time, other members of the staff would be instructed to drop by during the day to relieve themselves in front of their colleague or to take a shower before going home." The Voice continues, "As all staff of Belial Logistics have the personal responsibility of keeping their workplaces neat and tidy, guess who has to clean up the public latrine?"

I shudder. I had heard about stuff like this happening occasionally back home, but this is the first time I am seeing the set up for the practice. "Even if Chad Thunder Dump decides to show up?" I ask.

The Voice laughs, "Especially if your hypothetical Mr Thunder Dump decides to show up. Not many employees can tolerate this kind of treatment and the pit has a close to one hundred percent success rate in encouraging departures from the company."

"So, why not one hundred percent?" I query.

The Voice rumbles, "Eventually the pit became host to a member of the staff who could tolerate this level of treatment, as he was waiting for the clock to run down to the date he can cash out on his company benefits for long service. Belial got wise to this and sacked him for an alleged case of poor performance, on the ground that the latrine was apparently not cleaned properly. A court case was brought against Belial by the employee and the court decided in the employee's favor, ordering Belial to pay the benefits and additional damages. The myth of the pit was broken and the other staff came to know about how to get the better of it. Belial then had the place locked up and handed it back to the building management where it has laid abandoned until today."

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Nice story." I remark, "So this is going to be our base then?"

"Yes." The Voice says, "I have prepared your dinner and left it in the fridge. Feel free to clean yourself up and fill your stomach. When you are ready to continue our discussion, turn on the laptop."

....

The laptop boots up and starts playing what I assume to be an ad for a visual novel.

"Winner of Otome Game of the Year Award for XXXX. Winner of Moe Game of the Year for XXXX. Runner up for best VA of the year for XXXX." The laptop proudly announces.

Uh, ok? I am assuming that this VN is some kind of propaganda put out by Fate maybe?

"Now released in HD edition!" The laptop squawks, "The legend comes to life!" Sure. Fine. Just get to it.

The laptop now displays an anime cut scene of a young lady in an aristocratic getup being chased by orcs or goblins. Well, indeterminate fantasy monsters. The monsters quickly grab the lady and prepare to drag her off to the rape dungeon. But before that happens, a trio of ridiculously good looking men show up and start beating the shit out of the monsters. As the camera pans towards the action, it begins to focus on each of the men in turn, giving the name of the character and the identity of the voice actor portraying him, followed up by a vocal clip of the character speaking.

A knight looking guy decked out in heavy armor holds back multiple opponents with a double handed sword. Sir Castiel is his name, according to the ad. "I am the princess's sword and shield. I will protect her to the end." The serious looking blond man intones.

The next character immediately gets my attention. A savage looking man with cat eyes and flaming hair rends apart multiple monsters with claws growing from his hands. The name Prince Enma is emblazoned across the screen as the bloodthirsty nut goes to town. "Her highness showed me a better path, gave me the chance to be a better man. None of you will get past me!" he shrieks like a loon as blood stains his expensive looking clothes.

No way. The similarities with Chance are uncanny. Chance even mentioned the same name during our fight. But before I can ask The Voice any questions, the ad continues, this time showcasing a slight looking man with gentle features, fighting back the pack of monsters with a simple dagger. Instead of giving a name, the ad just identifies him as "Servant".

"I'm not strong, but everything I am belongs to the princess. Even my life." the nameless man over dramatically declares.

"Legendary heroes, fighting to protect the world, to protect their love!" The ad continues enthusiastically, "But will it be enough to stop the darkness in the South?"

Yes. I am guessing yes narrator guy. Otherwise there would not be any point to the game, right?

The ad now shows a scene of a man dressed completely in black robes cackling while presiding over an army of monsters. At a gesture from the obvious villain of the game, the monsters begin dragging screaming men and women up to a sacrificial altar. The villain draws a bloodstained knife from his robes and gleefully begins the slaughter. Just before the knife strikes home, the scene fades out to a splash screen of the Princess and the three Heroes posing together with the game's name proudly on display.

"Legend! Now on sale at all major distributors." narrator guy concludes.

I just can't help myself and begin to snigger uncontrollably. "What is so funny Transmigtator?" The Voice asks.

"You," I respond between giggles, "Fate turned you into an anime villain. That's what that entire ad was about right?"

"The best is yet to come Transmigrator." The Voice says, "You will get a laugh from this. I promise."

The laptop loads up a fresh video and I hear narrator guy again, "Years after the great war, in a time of peace and prosperity..."

Another anime cut scene is displayed, this time showing a bustling medieval city before moving on to bountiful fields of crops and ships calmly passing each other by at sea. All in all, some kind of fantasy utopia. However, the sky gradually begins to darken and the scene shifts to the Princess sitting in a throne room, her face filled with worry.

"Darkness rises again." Narrator guy continues. The black robed villain from the earlier ad tears himself free from being buried under a mountain and as the ground trembles at the villain's awakening, monsters begin to spawn out of the fissures forming in the earth and assemble into neat ranks like an army.

The ground shifts once more under the villain's feet, forming into a viewing gallery that towers over the army, allowing the villain to inspect his troops from a lofty vantage point. One of the monsters, clad head to toe in armor and riding a black horse, trots his horse towards the gallery and gives the villain a salute.

Then it hits me.

The guy on the horse, its an anime representation of me. The armor, while having all the anime frills and embellishments that you would expect, is clearly based on the cop uniform I have been using. The guy's weapon load out is roughly the same as well. A sword strapped on his back. A mace hanging on the belt, probably standing in for the baton. And a pistol in its holster. The horse must be a representation of the bike. I can tell because the horse is fully clad in barding which mimics the bike's distinctive paint scheme.

The villain gestures to anime me who in turn leads the army on an attack against a village. While anime me is busy killing random townspeople and burning the place to the ground, the cut scene shows a small group of warriors managing to smuggle something out from the village underneath my nose.

Its the warehouse attack. There's nothing else that this scene refers to.

The scene fades to black as narrator guy concludes, "But there is still hope. The princess calls for heroes. Heroes who can take up the mantle and ascend to become legends."

I swallow hard as the ad concludes with a "Coming Soon" splash screen.

"I do not hear you laughing, Transmigrator." The Voice rasps.