The Prime Minister of Japan was in a meeting with the current Health Minister. The Health Minister was a little shorter and younger than the former, but otherwise they were both quite similar in upbringing, dress, and mannerisms.
"Sir, we are having great trouble keeping up with this," the Health Minister said. "First of all, we don't have the resources to keep this farce up. We ran out of personal protective equipment in these last two days alone."
The Prime Minister frowned. "Are you telling me that we managed to spend our whole stock in two days?"
"Well, not exactly," the Health Minister replied. "We still have our emergency stock ready with us- but we can't use it when there's not an actual pandemic going around! What if later on, it turns out there's an actual emergency? Or if let's say, the Chinese try to use a bioweapon against us?"
The Prime Minister shrugged nonchalantly. "This isn't a time for us to debate what-ifs. There is a situation now, and we need to handle it."
"That's not the only problem," the Health Minister said. "We don't have the facilities to handle so much biomedical waste right now. And that's just the beginning."
He sighed.
"I think we should tell the public the truth," the Health Minister said. "I have had thousands of calls from physicians demanding more information on this virus- and we don't even have a name for this thing yet! People are going to start asking questions, and with all due respect, there's no way that we can keep this under wraps for so long! The Kenpeitai are running overtime already and are starting to rope in local law enforcement agencies into their operations just so that they can keep up with their own lack of manpower! So rather than wasting resources on a fake flu scare, we should just put the information out there! It's only going to get worse the longer we keep it hidden."
The Prime Minister had been listening to this rather passionate outburst with a stoic expression on his face. "Are you done? If so, good, because we will not be changing our plan. Do whatever you need to do to keep this under wraps. If you think it's a waste to start distributing hand sanitizer and safety gear, don't do it. Tell the workers they'll have to do without."
"They might strike if that happens," the Health Minister replied.
The Prime Minister smiled. "We're rather efficient at dealing with strikes in this day and age. Handle it."
The Health Minister did not voice his highest concern.
Namely, that the Kenpeitai were only truly discovering a fraction of the incidents that were popping up. That there were likely ten times as many people who had powers who were either not using them, or were hiding them very effectively. As such the amount of missed cases would pile on eventually until the news would break out like water through a crack in a dam. And it would be all the worse for them if that happened- they could get ahead of the situation by coming clean right now.
Case in point, the Health Minister himself.
He knew that he could use magic of the first tier- whatever that was supposed to be- deep in the recesses of his mind. He had not tried to use it up till now and refused to inform anyone that he had been granted powers as well. He would most likely end up being dissected or whatever else it was that the Kenpeitai did to people in order to figure out what was causing this strange phenomenon.
In reality, the Kenpeitai had not resorted to such means yet. They were using non-invasive methods such as real time MRIs to map out the suspects brains and to see what areas lit up when they used magic.
Of course, the Health Minister knew nothing of the Secret Police's going-ons, and so let out a heavy sigh of resignation as he got up to leave.
Hachiman didn't go to Suzuki's apartment directly- he had never actually been there and as such teleportation would not work.
For the time being he once again went back to his apartment to do a little bit more of intelligence gathering before he set out.
Highest up on his list was examining the storage devices he had managed to nab. They were marked with serial numbers but that didn't help him at all. He couldn't even figure out what kind of device was supposed to read these things.
Ah, forget about that.
He went onto Google Maps and searched up Suzuki's address.
Unfortunately he forgot that the Internet had been taken down.
He took a good fifteen minutes to cuss both the government and the MegaCorps as much as possible for finding yet another way to ruin his life. He then remembered he must have an offline one downloaded somewhere on there.
"Hey!" Hachiman called out to one of his favorite demons, a grotesque creature with five heads. He had forgotten its actual name and just called it 'Fido' in his head, as one of its heads was that of a dog's.
"Is this good enough to teleport there?" he asked. He transmitted his thoughts and described the rough location of where the apartment would be based on the information on his phone. He couldn't get an actual picture of the building, unfortunately, which would've made it far easier.
If Hachiman had any other frustrations, it was the fact that he couldn't cast spell by himself and had to rely on others to do it for him. It was definitely annoying, but the only thing he could think of to rectify this was to have his summons kill some people. That would grant him experience points, or at least it would in Yggdrasil.
But, he wasn't sure if that would work. And regardless, he didn't really have it in him to kill someone.
It was a fact that kind of put a damper on his plan to conquer the world- or at least forge his own country. He doubted anyone would just lie down and take it without challenging him- but he reasoned to himself that if peaceful negotiations failed, he would willingly go to war in that case.
It wouldn't be like he would be the one doing the killing, regardless.
As he thought about this, it made even more sense for him to rope in members of the old guild. If he was to establish a nation where people could generally be happy and live their lives separately from the greedy MegaCorps, he would first have to show them that life in his newly established country was better than the current status quo.
To do so he would need to show that the people living there would be happy- but to form his country he would first have to find an isolated patch of land, such as an unclaimed island and there would be no one there. As such, who would he have to show that he wasn't a raving lunatic?
Most people would shudder at the thought of living under the reign of a hoard of demons. Unless of course they knew Hachiman and were willing to trust him. As such, his country could start with the members of his old guild. They would at least understand what he was doing.
Well, maybe he wouldn't have to go down that route. If he brought out what the MegaCorps were hiding about Bellriver, perhaps the system itself would collapse and he could seize power from the inside.
Even then he would need loyal team members.
As Fido nodded in affirmation to Hachiman's question, Hachiman grinned and told them all to go there with Greater Teleportation and to then hide themselves.
They teleported outside the apartment.
The streets were mostly clear kudos to the quarantine.
"I know his apartment number," Hachiman said. "Third floor."
His summons understood even without him saying anything.
Only half of them could probably fit in a narrow corridor comfortable though, so the rest of them went back to his apartment to act as backup.
Once he was actually outside Suzuki's door though, Hachiman was unsure of what to do.
There was even a slim chance that this was no longer Suzuki Satoru's apartment anymore. He had not been in contact with the man for several months, and there was no way to contact him given that most of the Internet was down. He didn't have the man's phone number either.
As such, it was possible that Suzuki had died or just moved somewhere else and he was standing looking at someone else's apartment.
Even if that wasn't the case, how should he try to get into there?
None of his demons had any abilities that could pick locks.
As such, he could tear the door down, knock on it, or teleport inside directly.
He chose to knock first.
Though Hachiman didn't know this, there was someone inside the apartment.
Nigredo.
Her ears perked up when she heard the knocking. She had been tasked with guarding this apartment by Momonga-sama himself, but the thing was that even if one were quite generous the fact was that Suzuki's instructions to her had been quite lacking in terms of detail.
What was she to do now that there was a visitor?
She shuffled her legs slightly and cast some of her divination magic to see who it was.
There was a human surrounded by several demons in the hallway outside.
She shuddered now- she knew those demons were stronger than she was, and they outnumbered her.
Not good.
She sent a Message to Albedo immediately describing the situation and demanding reinforcements.
All she got was a confused reply.
Hachiman, by this point, had gotten impatient.
"There is someone inside though," one of his demons told him. "One I can sense."
"Whatever," Hachiman said. "Let's just break in. But make as little noise as possible."
One of his minions cast Silence on the area, which would cancel all noise there.
Magic truly was wonderful, Hachiman thought. If only he could use it himself...
His bitterness was exacerbated by the fact that in the game, he had been the strongest magic caster in his entire guild in terms of offensive ability. If he had power like that in real life- it would make even this demon army seem tame by comparison.
Another one of his soldiers made a hole in the door, and using this stuck a hand inside and opened it.
I'm sorry if this frightens you, Suzuki-san, but I have lots of things to do and little time to do it.
Surprisingly, he heard no sounds of alarm even as he and his posse entered the apartment. If there was someone inside, shouldn't they have screamed when they saw the demons? Or was this an effect of the Silence spell?
"I thought there was someone here," Hachiman said with a frown as he came upon an empty apartment. And it was almost completely empty- it looked like Suzuki had indeed either moved away or died.
Before he could think anything else, a hand grabbed him and before he knew it he was pinned against the wall with something cold tickling his throat.
But that wasn't what made his blood freeze.
No, it was the face in front of him.
A horrible, twisted face which had no skin at all. The muscles and blood vessels were clearly visible.
It didn't even matter that he knew he had seen that face somewhere.
He screamed, but his voice did not carry down the hallway kudos to the Silence spell.
"Call your summons off," Nigredo said. "What are you doing in Momonga-sama's room?"
Takeshi was quite relieved when Suzuki finally arrived. There was another person with him in tow and that beautiful woman who was an NPC. He guessed, given the appearance of the human by Suzuki's side, that this might've been a guild member who had not transformed.
They had been shepherded to an area by the lake where one of the elf twins had made a makeshift podium.
It was kind of odd for a person to be relieved on seeing Suzuki in his skeletal form, but the fact that it was a game avatar put Takeshi's heart somewhat at ease.
Faces like that were common enough in Yggdrasil, and although this was far more detailed with the added dimension of real world sensory inputs such as touch, it was still easy enough to imagine this to be a somewhat more detailed DMMORPG.
"Welcome," Suzuki said, spreading his hands.
Though no one could see it on his skeletal face, Suzuki was racked with nervousness. This was like giving a huge presentation during a board meeting- except he knew none of the members surrounding him. And the crowd was larger than any he had ever faced. His nonexistent stomach ached. He was glad he had Hiroshi by him, so that he had some backup- but with the way that Albedo, Pestonya, and Mare all fixed their eyes on him he was even more afraid that he might slip up. He did not want to lower his image in the eyes of the guild's NPCs.
"I am Suzuki, the owner of this guild base," Suzuki said before rapidly correcting himself. "Or at least, one of the owners."
Oh no- why had he used the word 'guild base' already?
He was rather unsure of how he should start.
"How many among you have heard of the term- DMMORPG?" Suzuki asked.
Several hands went up. Well, that was nice.
"Have any of you played the DMMORPG Yggdrasil?" Suzuki added.
No hands went up except for Takeshi's.
"Ah, well," Suzuki began. "You may be aware that there was a large wall of light that enveloped the world a few days back- which also granted some of you magical abilities. Though this may be difficult to comprehend, the world in the game Yggdrasil was brought into the real world. I, am actually a human, but was transformed into my Yggdrasil avatar. What you see before you is my avatar, but my consciousness resides in this skeletal form. I am a human, much like all of you."
Suzuki cringed at how he said that last line. It sounded like something someone who was an alien would say.
"I do not know why this happened," Suzuki continued. "But since this coincided with when the wall of light enveloped this world, I can only assume that they are connected somehow. I also don't know why some of you were granted powers and not all of you. Regardless, the government clearly is trying to cover this up, which is why they wanted to take you all to what I can only assume is a concentration camp."
"So this is some sort of isekai?" someone in the audience shouted.
Albedo grimaced at the interruption of Momonga-sama's speech and was about to say something, but Suzuki waved her down with a hand.
"Well, I suppose so, yes," Suzuki said. "Everything you see here was my guild base in the game of Yggdrasil, and almost everyone here is an NPC. Given these circumstances, I hope that all of you can understand why you cannot return to Japan, or your homes. The government will still be after you, but you will be safe here."
"What about the pandemic?" someone else shouted.
Suzuki said, "There is no pandemic. It was a lie fabricated by the government in order to prevent mass panic from spreading."
It was at this moment that Albedo suddenly twitched. She had received a Message from her sister.
Something about a visitor at Momonga-sama's apartment. She frowned.
This was supposed to be a task to waste Nigredo's time- but why was there an actual visitor to his apartment?
She looked around. Pestonya and Mare seemed to be slightly confused with what Momonga-sama was saying- they would both need to have everything explained to them later on.
Given that Momonga-sama was in the middle of a speech, she thought it would be rude to interrupt it by telling him of this. She also didn't want to walk away- that might also distract him.
She just told Nigredo to handle the situation on her own. After all, it was probably just a few humans. Something she could handle on her own for now.
Suzuki continued, but then Albedo got yet another Message from Nigredo. Telling her that there were demons who had intruded in the room.
Albedo wavered.
She was unsure of what she should do. Given the circumstances Nigredo was describing, she clearly needed reinforcements. As Guardian Overseer, this fell perfectly into her purview. But she had a feeling that Momonga-sama would also want to know about this.
"Momonga-sama!" she called out an pulled on his sleeve.
Suzuki, bewildered, turned around. "Yes, Albedo?"
"A situation has developed with Nigredo," Abledo said.
"Ah, apologies," Suzuki muttered to the crowd before turning to the side.
In his place, Hiroshi stepped up and introduced himself before continuing with the conversation.
"Some intruders have come to your apartment," Albedo said.
Suzuki was shocked. No one should have been visiting him- that was why he had given Nigredo that location to stay in the first place!
Or had the police somehow gotten wind of his activities and his real life identity?
"Several of them are demons," Albedo said. "All of them seem to have been summoned by a single human. They are too strong for her to fight, but she has taken their summoner hostage for the time being. However, she will be quickly overwhelmed if we do not send in forces and reinforcements arrive."
Suzuki racked his brains for a solution. "All right, let us go then. Bring Mare along as well."
"Understood," Albedo said.
Suzuki didn't bother explaining himself as he grabbed onto Albedo and Mare. Mare seemed confused, but Albedo quickly told him they had to go on a mission.
Suzuki sent a Message to Hiroshi telling him that he had to go somewhere.
Once Hachiman was done screaming- at the end he was sure he had damaged his vocal cords in some way- he was able to process the fact that Nigredo, an NPC of Nazarick, was standing over him.
Granted she was no sight for sore eyes even when she wasn't trying to be terrifying- and as such her current malice only added to the fear he naturally felt when seeing her hold those scissor blades two millimetres away from his eye sockets.
"You picked the wrong house, fool!" Nigredo said.
"Eh, eh, Nigredo, it's me, Ulbert, chill, chill!" Hachiman said and winced as he spoke those words. Talking hurt for some reason- yeah he had definitely damaged his vocal cords.
Nigredo normally would've carved up his face at pretending to be one of the Supreme Beings- but then she recalled how Herohero-sama was also a human. So there was a slight possibility this person was telling the truth.
She was currently surrounded by demons who outnumbered her and would have been able to defeat her were it not for the fact that she had taken their summoner hostage.
For a while they just stared at each other, with Hachiman realizing the fact that Nigredo's face did not become easier to look at the longer you saw it. No- it just got worse.
Eventually after what felt like an eternity a dark void opened up in the apartment and a familiar face walked out of it.
Hachiman couldn't help but smile.
He had thought that he had been lucky when he had stumbled on the World Item.
But he had been wrong.
Clearly Momonga had been the lucky one.
"Is this all?" Hayato asked as he put on the mask handed to him. "I got a full biohazard suit yesterday."
"Sorry," the supplier said. "We're reviewing how the virus spreads and how deadly it is, and a mask is precaution enough. A biohazard suit is only needed for those interacting intimately with patients."
It seemed to be odd to Hayato, but he put on his mask and went on his way.
The location was buzzing with police and there were even some members of the Kempeitai.
It looked like some major crap went down here.
Hayato only let the fact that this was the development center for Yggdrasil linger for a moment before reporting to the officer in charge.
"Talk with them first," he motioned to the Kempeitai. "They're explaining what happened."
Hayato was led to a room where there were a few other officers. A Kempeitai officer walked in and removed his helmet.
"I don't have a lot of time to waste, but I need to catch all of you up to speed," he said. "Without a doubt though, I should tell you that whatever you're hearing is absolutely classified. If any of you leak out this information-"
He didn't even need to finish his sentence.
"There is no real virus," he said. 'It is a cover by the government for the real problem- several days back people all over the world have been developing strange magic powers."
A chill went down Hayato's spine as he thought about Draudillon. Hayato raised his hand as if to ask a question, but the officer looked at him as if Hayato had insulted his mother so Hayato put it back down.
"We have reason to believe that this facility here was involved somehow, though unfortunately everyone here was found dead due to as of yet unconfirmed causes," the officer continued. "However, an unknown perpetrator broke in and took two of the bodies as well as some evidence."
A television was wheeled in and a recording was played.
There were some people examining what Hayato guessed was the crime scene when out of nowhere several figures appeared in the room. One of them was masked and looked sort of human, but the others were definitely either monsters or very good cosplayers.
Within a span of fifteen seconds they were also gone.
"Now, the pieces of evidence that this perpetrator took thankfully had tracking devices on them," the officer explained. "Unfortunately, it is rather hard to hunt this group of individuals down given that they seem to be capable of teleporting anywhere at will."
Hayato had to admit that it was unlikely that these people would ever be caught if that was the case.
"As such," the officer said. "We are going to be stationing you at various marked intervals throughout the city. When he stops long enough at one place we'll find him and you will go to wherever this criminal is and apprehend him. Any questions?"
The last statement was clearly rhetorical but Hayato put his hand up anyway. The other regular policemen there looked at him if he was crazy, but he wanted some answers.
"Yes?"
"What sort of powers do these people have?" Hayato asked.
"We've had tale of various things- healing injuries, flying, shooting fireballs, creating electricity, and as you can see- teleporting."
Hayato put his hand up in the air again.
"Yes?!"
"If this person can teleport even if we confront him, what can we do?" Hayato asked a rather obvious question. "He'll just run again."
"We kill him," the officer said. "Given that we can't seem to be able to contain him, that is all we can do. You'll be with other members of the Kempeitai where you're stationed."
Hayato still had a question- namely why the officer seemed to think the perpetrator was a man but he didn't raise his hand again.
"Understood? Good," the officer said and left as each of them were handed envelopes.
Ivangorod was a village near the prior Estonian border in Russia. Even before China's civil war, Russia had declined in population, wealth, and power. This had only continued after the war.
Still, it was a mildly popular tourist center at certain times, although most of its scenic beauty was gone it still housed a large museum with historic value.
The residents enjoyed mostly peaceful lives and tried to eke out as much out of life as their situations would allow.
That was, until tonight. For tonight was the night the wall of light had changed the world forever.
Every single resident, at 8:06 A.M. local time suddenly erupted into wave of severe, agonizing pain.
Many of those who were driving crashed their cars. Many of them died instantly, while those who survived found that the pain from their new injuries were nothing compared to the pain that they were feeling.
Those who were still religious prayed for god, for anyone, to take their pain away.
Those who had access to painkillers found they did nothing, not even narcotics could dull the pain they were feeling.
Eventually all of them passed out.
Around 150 kilometers away was the city of St. Petersburg.
Three days after the incident in Ivangorod, one of the city guards noticed something odd on the horizon.
The panic regarding numerous people suddenly gaining magic powers had not set off any major alarm bells in Russia as of yet. Things all across the country were shut down, of course, but other than that things were mostly peaceful.
This was about to change.
"Eh? Why is there a crowd of people milling about?" one of their superiors asked.
Traffic was mostly closed across the country. But these people were travelling on foot.
The guards thought little of this but couldn't help but look on as the crowd drew closer and closer.
Who were these people? There were over a thousand of them based on appearance.
"If they draw any closer, we'll have to shoot them," a voice said.
The guards thought this was rather extreme given that these were most likely civilians, but they would comply with the orders nonetheless.
Looking through his binoculars, one guard noticed something odd about the crowd.
"Are they... crawling on the ground?"
Their motion was rather odd, and within minutes they were almost at the barricades which had been erected for the quarantine. They seemed to move faster and with more purpose the closer that they got.
"Do not let them in!" an officer shouted.
Now, it was plainly obvious to anyone who had eyes that these were not normal people.
Their skin was ashen and their eyeballs were a shade of dark black. Drool dripped down their chins and with a sudden rush of speed they ran towards the guards.
"Fire!"
Some of them began to fire, but strangely enough bullets to the legs and arms seemed to do nothing to slow these people down.
One guard was down- and the others watched out of the corners of their eyes as the attackers bit at the officer.
There was only one way to describe such people- even though no one wanted to give voice to what they all feared deep inside.
Zombies.
They all began aiming at the heads of these assailants.