*Clang!*
The sound of weapons clashing together reverberated in a giant battlefield.
On a grim night, countless dead bodies lay motionless across the vast, barren land. The blood pooled beneath the corpses, painting the whole field crimson as a thick metallic stench filled the air.
The sounds of battle continued to echo throughout the whole field from afar. As the battle continued between the humans and the monsters, corpses kept gathering one after another.
"Another D-Rank... fucking hell!"
Amidst such chaos, a voice—barely above a whisper appeared from a rather distant corner of the blood-soaked land.
It was a young boy who seemed to be no older than 17 years of age—Kai Evernox. Draped in black robes, he stood atop a mountain of corpses.
With a frustrated look on his face, Kai slid his blood-coated hands through his long white hair—adding a hint of crimson to his hairs.
His cerulean eyes drifted towards the night sky as a deep sigh escaped his lips.
"Tsk, he took everything precious again!"
As he was mesmerized in his thoughts, a sudden, abrupt voice jolted him awake from behind.
His eyes widened as he realized that he had been followed all along. He quickly turned around and saw a group of 15 people—clad in all sorts of partially broken armor.
Kai's face remained calm and decisive, unlike his mind which had fallen into a turmoil of thoughts. His eyes swiftly scanned the entire vicinity, but no one else could be found.
"Uhh, excuse me, sir, do you have any business with me?" He asked in the most casual voice possible.
His hand slid behind the back of his head almost immediately while he slightly lowered his head. It was a humble greeting, or so, it seemed.
Even though he had lowered his head, his eyes remained fixated—noticing even the slightest and the most subtle change up front. Unbeknownst to them, his hand was already holding onto his blades hidden beneath the robe.
Looking at the youngling bowing his head towards them—the shady guys who've been lurking around, following him amidst such chaotic circumstances—bursted into laughter.
Thinking that the Young-un had finally lost it, they unconsciously lowered their guards.
A grin slithered onto Kai's face as he noticed it. Just as he was about to launch himself towards the men, his survival instincts screamed of danger.
It was an instant reaction; his body froze, and his blood ran cold while his breathing grew rugged and uneven.
As he panicked, his eyes noticed that those who had been acting cheeky all this time had bowed their heads and fallen silent.
While the senses returned to his body, he widened his eyes in shock as he felt an arm wrapping around his shoulder.
"Quite a weapon you had in the hiding." A calm yet eerily authoritative voice appeared right beside him.
Kai rolled his eyes towards his right only to find a masked man clad in shiny, black armor balancing his blade on his fingers.
Completely baffled by what he was seeing, the young man tried to grab his weapons but was quickly humbled as he realized that the blade in the man's hand was indeed his.
"Why..." Horrified by what he had witnessed, a word escaped his lips, his voice wavering.
"Hmm.. I wonder..." The man who stood right beside him dozed off in thoughts.
This was the last opportunity he could've gotten to escape. He knew very well that this man was well beyond powerful than what he was capable of handling.
As he was about to take a leap of faith towards 'not dying', his vision changed instantly.
Rather than the normal view, what he saw was an upside-down view.
Soon, he saw his own body standing right where it was supposed to be—Although, headless.
His head had already been cut off, yet he still couldn't feel anything at all. That's when he noticed the blade in the man's hand was covered in blood.
"Let's just say that I, as a villain, just love to kill." the masked man's voice entered his ears, his tone a mix of excitement and happiness.
"You... Are... Wrong..." Even though his end had already come, Kai blurted his last words even in the face of his death, even though unconsciously.
His vision blacked out. Although, he did not care about it at all, as if death meant nothing to him.
***
He opened his eyes, only to see a small glass shield in front of him. He pushed it open with his hands and came out of a giant human-sized capsule.
On the top of the capsule, a word was engraved in bold black letters: Calamity.
Calamity—a simulator capsule dedicated to experiencing the world's first and most advanced VR game, The Seven Calamities.
The game was far from anything simple. 7 years ago, the game was released into the market by an unknown creator and took over the world like a catastrophic storm.
As far-fetched as it may sound, the governments of all the world combined launched a search to find the whereabouts of the so-called creator of the game, yet found nothing even to date.
Why was the government getting involved in the matters of the game?
Simply because they desired the technology of the game. Unlike normal VR where the player could only see the world in a 3D situation and experience its walkthrough, 'The Seven Calamities' offered sensory touch that allowed the player to live the life of its character as if it was the reality itself.
Even the concept of time and space changed inside the game. And if that wasn't enough, even the NPCs had a will of their own, which differed according to their personalities.
Each year, the game would remove its previous world and settings completely and replace them with a completely new concept of powers.
Kai looked at the small Calendar that hung on the worn-down wall of his room.
It was 12th January today, and just like the whole world, Kai awaited the last Update of the game.
The room wasn't any luxurious either. It was a worn-down, compact room where even a few steps would mark the entire space available.
A computer screen casted a soft glow, lighting the dark room.
He came out of the capsule and looked at his room with regretful eyes.
"I guess, I'm about to get homeless pretty soon.." he muttered to himself as he approached the computer on the other side of his room.
"Hmm?"
As he was slowly stepping toward the Computer, the screen started to flicker indefinitely.
A single window popped up over and over. Confused, he tried to read the content only to get completely flabbergasted.
The screen read:-
The Unknown Creator of the Popular VR game, 'The Seven Calamities,' calls in a press conference right before the last game update!