"Honestly? The soundtrack slaps. Like, genuinely slaps."
"Wow, great analysis, Maverick. 'The soundtrack slaps.' You should write for IGN."
"Holy moly, I'm actually getting goosebumps! If the gameplay is half as good as this music, we're eating good tonight."
"Wait, shhh! The narration is starting. Is this... mythological history?"
Even immersed in full-dive VR, Maverick had his streamer overlay active. The chat comments floated in the corner of his vision like spectral text. He usually ignored the spam, but that last comment caught his attention. He focused, letting the game world wash over him.
But even with the chat's warning, nothing could have prepared him for the sheer weight of what came next.
"We shall eradicate all the evils of this world."
It wasn't a narrator. It was a vow. Three voices—two male, one female—layered perfectly on top of one another. The audio quality was terrifyingly crisp. It sounded less like a recording and more like three people were standing directly in front of him, swearing a blood oath that vibrated in his very bones.
The camera pulled back slowly, revealing three hands intertwined in a pact of desperate hope.
As the image faded, a deep, gravitas-filled voice took over the narration.
"To achieve the Third Magic and reach the Root of Akasha, the founding families—Einzbern, Tohsaka, and Matou—initiated this ritual under the gaze of the Wizard Marshal, Zelretch."
"The Holy Grail War. Seven Magi command seven Heroic Spirits in a battle to the death. The last pair standing will claim the omnipotent chalice, the granter of wishes."
"And now... you stand at the precipice of the Fourth War. Tell me... do you have what it takes to claim the Grail?"
The narration swept Maverick away. The visual style shifted, painting scenes that looked like moving oil paintings, dark and rich with detail.
First, a haggard man in a trench coat, his face etched with a profound, weary sadness. Surrounding him were three women, ethereal and blindingly beautiful. Their expressions were filled with steel determination, contrasting sharply with the man's grief.
Cut.
A high-spirited, arrogant man in a suit, practically vibrating with magical energy. Next to him, a woman looked around nervously, while a third figure—a devastatingly handsome man wielding two spears—watched her with adoration. The arrogant man looked at the woman with love; the woman looked at the spearman with admiration.
A twisted love triangle, conveyed in three seconds of silence.
Cut.
An ancient, dusty mansion. An elegant, calm man kneeling in fealty before a figure clad in blinding golden armor, radiating the aura of a king who owned the world.
Cut.
A dimly lit church. A bewildered, lost-looking man followed by shadowy figures that seemed to be made of living black mist.
Cut.
The open sky. A massive muscular man roaring with laughter as he drove an ancient Greek chariot through the clouds, lightning crackling around the wheels. Beside him sat a small, scowling... boy? No, a young man.
Cut.
A sewer, dark and dripping. A man, battered and bruised, crawling through the filth, his eyes burning with a terrifying need to survive.
Cut.
And finally, a man covered in blood, laughing hysterically at the sky, his sanity long gone.
The seven scenes flashed by like a high-budget HBO trailer. It was cinematic storytelling at its peak. Maverick was stunned into silence, but his chat was absolutely losing its mind.
[Battle_Royale_King]: Wait, so it is a BR game? Just with magic? [Lore_Master]: I don't care about the genre, that world-building is insane! "Reaching the Root"? "Heroic Spirits"? Inject this lore into my veins! [Simp_Nation]: Yo, can I play as the first guy? Did you see those three waifus? [Feminist_Killjoy]: Just reporting in—why are all the main masters men? Misogyny much? [Based_Department]: ^ Relax, look at the Saber-face girl later. [Wallet_Warrior]: I'm worried. The game is free... are the characters paid DLC? [Microtransaction_Hater]: Oh god, please don't be a gacha game. $100 for a 0.6% chance to pull the Golden Armor Guy? [Genshin_Refugee]: Don't you dare speak that evil into existence.
The chat argued about monetization, but Maverick couldn't hear them. He was too busy processing the sensory input.
In other VR games, "immersion" meant high-resolution textures plastered onto a screen inches from your eyes. You still felt like you were watching a movie.
This was different.
When the chariot scene played, Maverick felt the wind whip past his face. When the sewer scene flashed, he could smell the damp, metallic tang of rust and blood. When the haggard man appeared, he heard the faint roar of a plane engine in the distance.
The audio-visual shock was total. It was less like playing a game and more like stepping into a dream.
The trailer ended, and the main menu floated into view.
[STORY MODE][SINGLE PLAYER][MULTIPLAYER]
In the top left, a [SHOP] icon and an [INVENTORY] icon sat greyed out, secured with a padlock graphic. Clearly, he needed to earn his way in.
Maverick stared at the menu for a heartbeat. Then, he let out a low chuckle and moved his cursor.
He completely ignored [STORY MODE].
He clicked [MULTIPLAYER].
[Chat]:[Noob_Slayer]: LMAO. Classic Maverick. [Speedrunner]: Tutorial? We don't do that here. [Team_Carry]: RIP to his teammates. He doesn't even know the controls. [Farmer_Joe]: He's gonna rage quit in 5 minutes. Should have played Happy Harvest. [Corn_Hub]: ^ Get out of here with your farming propaganda!
Maverick cleared his throat, addressing the chat as the character selection screen loaded.
"Listen, chat. A true gamer learns by doing. Tutorials are for people who read instruction manuals for toasters. We figure it out on the fly."
The screen displayed the seven Masters from the trailer. However, six of them were silhouetted and locked. Only one was available: The haggard man in the trench coat.
Kiritsugu Emiya.
Maverick grinned. "Looks like we don't need to swipe the credit card. Characters unlock through Story Mode or the shop. But honestly? I'm cool with this guy. He looks depressed, he's got a trench coat, and he hangs out with three supermodels. He's basically me."
He selected Kiritsugu.
[Loading...]
The world twisted.
Maverick blinked, and suddenly, he wasn't in his gaming chair anymore.
He was standing in the middle of a vast, white forest.
A biting, freezing wind slammed into him. Maverick actually gasped, his body shivering involuntarily.
"Whoa..."
In standard VR, 'cold' was just a blue filter on the screen. Here? He could feel the temperature drop on his skin. He could feel the individual snowflakes landing on his nose and melting.
He looked down at his feet. He was wearing heavy boots.
The HUD was minimal. No giant arrows, no flashing waypoints. Just a subtle pull in his gut telling him to move forward. Through the trees, he could see the spire of an old, gothic castle—the Einzbern Castle.
He took a step.
Crunch.
The snow compressed under his boot. He felt the resistance. He felt the shift in weight.
Maverick stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes went wide.
"Holy crap, chat," he whispered, his voice trembling with genuine excitement. "You guys aren't gonna believe this. This isn't just a game. The tactile feedback... I can feel the snow. I can feel the wind. This is... this is next level."
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