Max’s view turned to black, before fading in to the inside of a lavish throne room, where two individuals appeared to be engaged in fierce battle. The sound of swords clashing reverberated between the walls and filled the room with a solemn intensity. This was probably an introductory cutscene, common at the start of MMOs to introduce new players to the game’s lore.

‘Wait!’ Max blinked in surprise. ‘I know this place! This is the Demon King’s Castle!’

The final battle in Virtek’s first ever capsule game ‘Hero of Liberation’ was against the game’s main antagonist, The Demon King, who was considered the root of all evil after sending legions of his followers to subjugate human cities and spread terror across the land.

This was until the humans used an ancient holy relic to summon a hero from another world. This hero was the playable character Valerius, whose objective is lead the People’s Army, gaining strength from his unique levelling system to liberate the humans from the enemy’s tyrannical rule.

“Argh!” A well-placed slash from the hero inflicted a deep wound on the Demon King, returning Max’s focus.

“You... *huff* You still don’t understand, do you hero? Do you understand?! Even if you defeat me here, your actions here will affect nothing! They are FUTILE!” The Demon King withdrew and took a glass vial from his waist, crushing the glass in his fingers and dripping the contents onto his lacerated arm. “No, not only futile; they will exacerbate your plight! For if it is not me, it will be another, and that other will be much crueller and more vicious than I; they will have no honour in the way that they-”

“Do not speak to me of honour! The hero roared in anger. “You do not know what that word means. I have watched as your underlings raped and tormented innocent women and children. I have seen them burn homes to the ground. I have seen them feed on the blood and flesh of my comrades as their eyes filled with mirth and ecstasy. YOU MONSTERS KNOW NO HONOUR!” The hero swung with greater force, causing the king to be knocked back into his throne.

“Do your words not exactly demonstrate my mercy?! Those humans went through hardships, yes, but those who did not resist me were permitted to live! They were allowed life under my reign! I am a leader of MERCY. My death will not bring about an era of peace as you have so deluded yourself into believing; it will only invoke more death! Is that what it is? Do you desire more death, hero?!

An implacable sense of loathing entered Valerius’s eyes as he stared at the demon across from him. “As expected, you know not of mercy either.” He activated a rune on his sword’s pommel, causing it to blaze with heat. “There is no mercy in perpetual suffering.” He spat. “Be glad that I shall spare you of that realisation.”

The Demon King was unable to react as Valerius instantly gained speed and stabbed the sword into his side. Shocked, his eyes widened, and his own sword clattered to the floor. A blue light reflected in his eyes as he caught notice of an agility rune carved in the other side of the hero’s pommel.

Valerius adjusted his sword to the Demon King’s heart and pierced it without hesitation.

“Hell is not warm enough for you bastards.”

He retracted his sword with a spray of blood, and moved past the corpse to the inner castle, purple blood dripping down the tip of his blade as he walked.

‘Too cool.’ Max thought to himself. He’d never seen Valerius from a third-person perspective before, but that looked really awesome; it was like a movie.

Unexpectedly, a ripple occurred in the floor before the throne as the ground became transparent. The Demon King’s corpse was sucked underneath and caught by another demon, who was dressed like a butler.

‘Eh? Th-That’s what happened?!’

In the original game, The Demon King’s corpse would disappear when the player left the room, and there was never an explanation as to why. There wasn’t any underground floor in the castle either, at least not one the player could access.

Overtaken by curiosity, he jumped into the ripple to investigate.

To his astonishment, there was a massive space under the castle, packed with demons in all directions. He appeared to be invisible to them, so he investigated with interest. These were likely the remnants of the Demon King’s Army, composed of a diverse range of species. From undead liches, lesser and demi-demons, to subordinate species such as vampires, werewolves and even demonic beasts. It seemed as though there were a few of everything gathered here.

They all seemed to be moving in one uniform direction, so Max followed with his eyes to find the destination.

‘Ah.’

Of course, It was a portal. The demons were moving in droves toward a swirling purple rift in the air, as they were ushered through hurriedly by their comrades. This was an evacuation.

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“FATHER!” A child-sized demon ran into Max, passing straight through him as she reached the butler who was holding the Demon King’s body.

“Don’t look, child. Your father wouldn’t want you to see him in this state.”

“What state?!” The little girl was in tears. “He’s okay, right? He’ll be fine?”

“...Yes, princess. Your father will be fine. He just needs some time to heal is all. Now be silent. If the hero hears us down here it will be our demise.”

The girl looked like she was about to cry, but nonetheless nodded and became quiet.

After some time, the pair went through the portal and disappeared from view. Not having anything else to do, Max followed them through.

The scene changed to a clear glass platform in the sky, positioned above a vast gathering of demons. Rather than coming out of the portal exit, he seemed to be looking down upon it.

“Hello, person from another world.” A soothing voice entered his ears. Max looked up to see a beautiful and elegantly dressed woman standing across from him. “The scene you just saw is the story of how demons invaded our planet.” She sat down on the platform and cradled her knees as she gazed down at the ground with a melancholic expression.

“After the hero Valorius defeated the Demon King in another world, his followers came here. Though few in number, they were strong and managed to easily overpower the weak humans living in this world, firmly establishing footholds for themselves.”

The surroundings changed, as time seemed to accelerate and flicker through numerous fierce battlefields.

“It was a massacre. Humans were slaughtered by the hundreds of millions over the span of several centuries. I was able to give them a fighting chance, but it was barely enough for them to survive, much less retake their homelands... They came at the worst possible time.”

The lady then turned to look at Max. “I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Lucia, or as the people of this world call me, the ‘Goddess of Life’.” She smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Now that you know that, the next part should be a bit easier to understand.”

Max didn’t say anything and just listened along quietly. He loved lore in games.

“When the demons invaded, it was during a time that the gods of this world were embroiled in a civil war. Well, rather than a civil war, it was more like one of our own turned traitor and wished to seize power for himself.” She swished her hand to change the surroundings again. This time the location appeared to be a sort of underground paradise, with beautiful wildlife, magnificent architecture, and warm light coming from an unknown source. Max could actually feel a force in the air which exuded a tangible soothing sensation on his skin.

“That traitor was the God of Death, Obitus. To put it simply, he was delusional. He believed that if he absorbed the abilities of all the other gods, he would set foot into a realm of further transcendence, beyond the dominion of deities.” Lucia shook her head. “And so he started attacking the other gods one by one, corrupting their nervous systems with his magic and absorbing their abilities. To be clear, gods are a form of spirit life, so absorbing their abilities is tantamount to killing them.”

Max nodded to indicate that he understood. Not sure what he would do with this information, but now he knew.

“Noticing the plight of the humans on the planet surface, I used a unique application of soul magic to strengthen their souls, allowing them to grow strength beyond biological limitations through absorbing soul fragments from the enemy army.”

Max raised his eyebrows. Was she saying the NPCs could also level up? If so, that would be pretty awesome.

“Unfortunately, that spell took a lot out of me, and I was forced to sequester away in a safe location while my comrades fought against Obitus. In the end, they lost, and he killed all of them, absorbing all their abilities.”

“I’m sorry.” Max finally spoke to offer his sympathies.

“Don’t be. They lived long and good lives.” Her face brightened a bit.

Max was a bit surprised at how responsive she was to his comment. Was the AI a bit smarter in this game, compared to the previous one?

“Anyways, Obitus found me eventually, and was presumably drunk on his newfound powers because he took me lightly. My powers are mostly focused on healing and purification magic, and I’d only recently learnt soul magic, so he didn’t even put me in his eyes as a threat.”

“I managed to take him down, but he wounded me in the process, and it was a heavy blow. Having used nearly all of my magic power at the time, I was forced to use the remaining amount to stay alive and was left in a weakened state for about two-hundred years. For the following century, I pieced together enough mana to perform a summoning spell, bringing you here, among others.”

“I’ve copied a small part of your soul in order to bring you here and create an astral duplicate of your body, and I also imbued it with the same soul magic which should allow you to absorb the essence of any enemies you defeat in battle. I hope you can aid me to purge the demons from our world and restore peace, as a hero of the people.” Lucia smiled brightly.

Max smiled in response, while internally wondering if she was actually happy due to his arrival, or happy from the fact that she’d finally finished that massive monologue.

“I understand that was a lot to take in all at once. Do you have any questions, hero?”

‘Questions...’ Max thought for a moment.

“Are you okay?”

“Eh? Am I okay?” Lucia appeared completely taken aback by the question.

“I mean, all of your friends are gone, you’re alone and you had to go through all of this hardship by yourself... It would be normal to feel overwhelmed by all of that, right?”

“...Ah, you’re right. I just didn’t expect that sort of question.” Lucia took a moment to gather her thoughts, before flashing a radiant smile. “I’m okay. I can speak with the humans on the planet surface through prayer, so I haven’t been completely alone.” She looked at Max with an unknown emotion in her eyes. “Thank you for thinking about me though. You seem like a kind person, Gun. I wish you good luck on your adventures.”

“...”

‘Aaaand my immersion is ruined. Terrible game. Uninstalling.’

With that horrible ending to the game’s introduction, Max was transported to the surface and the game’s live service began.