“Black Spades? Who are they?”

“The Black Spades is a gang that resides in Gael. They were originally a group of small-time punks, but they’ve evolved into a powerful gang under new leadership.”

Momo explained to Miko.

“And you want me to fight them? Why?”

“The gang was originally known for petite crimes, but under their new leader, they now focus on one thing; fighting strong opponents. They hunt down strong fighters, challenge them, and take them down.”

“And they exist in the virtual world too?”

Momo nodded.

“I don’t know if it’s their obsession with fighting or something else, but they’ve formed a team and entered various games to hunt down its strongest players.”

“The Black Spades are famous on the Northern Silver Continent Gamestar server for their impressive fighting skills. Especially, their leader who holds the top spots on almost all the games.”

Tia added.

“You guys did your research.”

“To tell you the truth, I’ve witnessed their leader fight in a game once. Even I was blown away by his skills.”

“Then he must be strong.”

“At least when it comes to street fighting. When you enter the virtual world everyone is put on a leveled playground. Your power is sealed and you’re left with your basic skills. Because of this, you can defeat a god-level being if you’re a better fighter than them.”

“Sounds like you got your ass handed to you, Tia.”

Miko smirked.

“It’s not my fault that I was born with immeasurable magic power! I had no reason to train myself in martial arts or weaponry! I could just blow everyone away with a single breath!”

“We’re going off track.”

Momo gently slapped one of the machines.

“Our current objective is to have you hone your basic fighting skills. These games are perfect for that.”

“I admit this training regiment does sound fun. Particularly, the Black Spades thing. You want me to level up through the game and put whatever I learned in it to the test against seasoned fighters, right?”

Momo nodded.

“And if I’m far stronger than them in real life?”

“At that time, you’re forbidden from using mana or Vita to fight. Use only your natural strength to win.”

“Sounds fair enough. But is this okay? I’ll be fighting criminals you know? What if they cook up some dirty schemes and try to kill me?”

“That’s even better.”

Tiamat smirked.

“The war for the throne is a dirty, immoral war where anything goes. If you can’t survive a war with a mere gang you might as well end your life before the gods’ Proxies start hunting you down.”

“Thanks for your words of encouragement…So what games will I be hunting in?”

Tia smiled and pointed at a large machine in the back of the arcade. It had eight large capsules that were over 6 ft each, a large monitor in the middle, and a lot of weird-looking wires and pipes connected to it.

“That is a Dream Scape that’s connected to a game called Gangster’s Paradise. It’s popular among local thugs and criminals because it grants them the experience and insight they would need to survive in the crime world.”

“So, I go in with seven others and fight them?”

Tia shook her head.

“The Dream Scape is connected to a global network called Dream Sphere. There, players from all over the world can compete against each other in various games. So it won’t just be 8 of you, there will be countless people competing at the same time. Naturally, you’ll find members of the Black Spade too.”

“Your objective is to defeat them in the game and draw their attention. After that, you’ll declare war on them and take them on in the real world. Also, these types of games are dangerous if you stay too long. There’s a chance that you’ll lose touch with reality and won’t be able to differentiate the game from real life. So you can only use it 4 hours a day just to be safe.”

Momo explained.

“Sounds simple enough. Let’s do it.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

“You two are playing too?”

“Of course. You can’t be the only one having all the fun.”

The three of them entered a capsule where they each had their bodies scanned and were put to sleep by nonlethal gas. The moment they closed their eyes, they could feel the sensation of having their minds dragged somewhere far away.

“This must be the work of some spell. They incorporated spells into machinery. Impressive.”

Miko slowly fell asleep.

“………”

When he opened his eyes he was standing in front of some kind of interface that was asking for his name.

“A name huh? Then let’s go with Morana.”

The name Morana appeared above his head.

“Customize your character?”

He got different instructions from the interface.

“Hmm….Since I’m here to train, I think it’s best to be as realistic as possible. But I should also make it so that people don’t recognize me.”

Miko made his avatar to match his body type perfectly, but changed the hair and eyes to black, and put on a face tattoo. He dressed his avatar in full black with red gloves and boots.

“Now I get to choose a weapon?”

Miko saw endless weapons in front of him.

“For starters, lets' go with a sword. This way I can train my swordsmanship, which I haven’t done in years.”

He picked a huge broadsword and equipped it with his avatar. After that, he was sent toward a bright light.

“Woah.”

Before he knew it, Miko was in a barren wasteland with no one in sight, only dead trees and charred grounds.

“A city?”

He looked around and saw what seemed to be a city in the distance.

“I wonder if I should go there?”

(Miko, do you hear me?)

He heard a voice in his mind.

“Momo? Where are you?”

(I’m in a city. Tia said that since we came through the same console, we should be near each other. Do you see a city near you?)

“Since when is Tia a gaming expert? I’m starting to think that woman came to this world just to mess around.”

Miko mumbled.

“Yeah, I see the city. I’m heading near there now.”

(According to Tia, this city is where she hangs out the most and since we came in with her while being newbies, we’ll appear either in it or near it. I’m in it, so I’ll wait for you at the entrance.)

“Alright.”

Miko headed towards the city. He kept a close watch of his surroundings as he walked. He soon made it to the city that he saw from afar. It was pitch black, gloomy, and looked like it could fall apart any second.

“This place really gives off that apocalyptic feeling.”

He stopped at the entrance and began to look around.

“Miko, I’m here.”

Momo appeared from behind a boulder that was near the entrance. Other than her clothes, her character was identical to her.

“Wouldn’t your adult form work better here?”

“With this form people will underestimate me and try to attack me. When that happens, we can slaughter them without mercy.”

Momo laughed evilly.

“I see that you’re getting into this.”

Miko looked around.

“Tia?”

“She said she had something to take care of, but she’ll be here pretty soon.”

“Oh? What’s this?”

A group of thugs appeared from inside the city. They all wore intimidating expressions and were dressed quite ruggedly. They were also equipped with various weapons.

“These two smell like fresh meat.”

Said the one at the front.

“You smell that boys? We got a couple of virgins here.”

“Hahahaha! Virgins can’t enter this unholy city.”

“Should we do them a favor and deflower them? With bullets of course.”

“Hey, that sounds great!”

“Let’s use our biggest bullets just to make sure.”

“And knives too.”

The men spoke vulgarly with smirks on their faces.

“I doubt they’re with the Black Spades.”

Miko was unimpressed by their intimidation attempt. He smirked.

“They smell like a pack of wild dogs. I say we put them down.”

Momo cracked her knuckles.

“I agree.”

“Oh, Boss. Looks like they want to fight.”

“Hahaha! Aren’t they brave? Teach them a listen boys!”

“Yes!”

The men pointed their weapons at Momo and Miko with savage expressions.

“Die!”

“What is going on here?”

Before the men could make a move, they heard a rough and deep voice and halted. They quickly turned around a saw a huge, muscular, middle-aged man dressed in a red three-piece suit with two gigantic machine guns strapped to his back and a cigar in his mouth. He had gold eyes, black hair that was swept back, and a thin beard.

“City Don?!”

The men turned pale at his appearance. The man remained nonchalant towards their fearful expressions and took the cigar from his mouth, and blew out some smoke.

“You little shits have some nerve trying to act important at the gate of my front yard.”

“We didn’t mean any disrespect! We were just messing around!”

“Yeah! Some harmless fun! So-”

With an explosive sound, the two who spoke had their heads blown off. The one who did it was of course the City Don, who drew a handgun from inside his jacket.

“I didn’t ask for an explanation. I have eyes, I could see that you were messing around, idiot.”

He put away the gun.

“Don’t insult my intelligence.”

“We’re sorry!”

All the men bow and apologized.

“So you’re sorry?”

The men nodded desperately.

“I see.”

He put the cigar back into his mouth while taking something from inside his jacket.

“Here’s what I think about your apology.”

He threw something which the men caught. Their eyes widened. It was a bomb.

*Boom!*

The bomb exploded and killed all the men. The man walked past their blown-up bodies and took a puff of his cigar.

“Apology accepted.”

He approached Miko and Momo.

“You guys sure picked some boring avatars, Momo and Miko.”

“…….Wait, it can’t be…”

Momo’s eyes slowly widened.

“Tia?!”

The man took out his cigar and smiled.

“In here it’s Jack Matters, Don of this city. Nice to meet you.”