The final notification flashed across the inside of Kai's VR visor: SESSION TIME EXPIRED. LOGGING OUT...
Kai didn't bother opening his eyes. He felt the heavy, exhilarating thrum of exhaustion that only an eighteen-hour, caffeine-fueled grind could deliver. As a professional Divine Ascension Online (DAO) player and a university student in Tokyo, this was his life: endless study during the day, endless raids at night, barely enough money to keep the lights on and the gaming capsule humming.
Another forty million gold secured. Time to crash, he thought, pulling himself free of the soft, pressurized foam of the gaming capsule.
The air in his cramped apartment felt suddenly thick, wet, and heavy. He took a staggering step onto the cold floor, intending to collapse onto his futon. But before his brain could process the simple motion, a wave of crushing weakness hit him.
His chest seized up. It felt like someone had wrapped a chain around his ribs and was tightening it with malicious intent.
"Wh... what the hell?" Kai gasped, doubling over.
His limbs went instantly numb, heavy, and cold, refusing to obey his commands. He tried to reach for the emergency button on the capsule, but his fingers were slow, useless lumps of flesh. He crumpled to the floor, the sudden, sharp pain in his chest eclipsing everything.
I... I can't breathe. This is it? A heart attack? Right after grinding the new raid? Seriously?
The last thing he saw was the flickering green status light of the capsule, before the world went black, silent, and infinitely cold.
"WAKE."
A deep, sonorous echo rattled through the dark, massive space.
Kai shot upright, his body moving with a speed and grace that felt entirely alien. His heart—which he was certain had just spectacularly failed—was pounding, but with a terrifying, rhythmic strength, not panic.
He wasn't on the cold wood floor of his Tokyo apartment.
He was sitting, impossibly, on a throne carved from what looked like polished black obsidian. The room was immense, a cavernous hall stretching into gloom, lit only by pools of violet and emerald light that seemed to emanate from the very stone. Intricate, sinister patterns snaked along the walls—patterns that looked familiar in a chilling, profound way.
Wait. Where... is this?
His voice, when he tried to speak, came out as a low, resonant baritone, a voice that tasted like smoke and power.
"Silence," he commanded, the single word echoing like a declaration of war.
He stared down at his hands. They were long, slender, and impossibly perfect, with skin the color of pale moonlight. They were not the hands of a sleep-deprived student. They were gloved in dark, scaled armor that tapered into razor-sharp claws.
Panic threatened to overwhelm him, but a deeper, colder impulse—something primal—forced him to remain composed. He slid off the throne, his new height shocking him. He towered over the platform.
He walked to the nearest surface, a massive, unlit brazier, whose bronze surface was reflective enough to serve as a mirror. He looked at the reflection and gasped, all composure shattering.
That's... me?
The face staring back was impossibly handsome, with razor-sharp cheekbones, a cold, aristocratic jawline, and eyes that glowed with a faint, internal crimson fire. But the most shocking feature was the pair of enormous, jet-black, leather-like wings, folded neatly and perfectly behind his back, easily spanning ten feet across.
"The Black Winged Tyrant. Asmudeus," Kai whispered, the name of the final boss of Divine Ascension Online leaving his lips. "I'm... in his body. I died, and now I'm the last boss?"
He studied the room again. The Dark Castle Hall. The seat of the Black Winged Tyrant.
It can't be. It was just a game.
He tried to recall the command. It was ingrained in every DAO player's muscle memory, though in the VR capsule, it was usually a verbal command or hand gesture.
He tried the gesture. Nothing.
He focused his mind, imagining the familiar UI overlay. Still nothing.
He grit his teeth. "Status window," he commanded, his new voice vibrating with urgency.
Failure.
He took a deep breath, concentrating every iota of his will, channeling the sheer, arrogant authority this body seemed to demand.
"STATUS," he roared, the sound splitting the silence of the hall.
Shing!
A translucent blue screen shimmered into existence before him. Kai's eyes immediately widened, drinking in the impossible data.
NAME:
Kai (Asmudeus)
RACE:
Ancient Black Winged Being
TITLE:
The Black Winged Tyrant, Last Boss, Sovereign of Ash
LEVEL:
∞ (Unquantifiable)
HEALTH:
∞ (Unquantifiable)
STRENGTH:
5000 (MAX)
AGILITY:
5000 (MAX)
DEXTERITY:
5000 (MAX)
MANA:
INFINITE
SKILLS:
[Redacted], [Redacted], [Redacted]... (999+ entries)
Kai let out a slow, controlled breath, the sound whistling slightly through his teeth.
"Five thousand max. Infinite Mana." He chuckled, a dry, cold sound that echoed the menace of his new form. "This isn't the game's Asmudeus. His stats capped at 999. His mana was substantial, but definitely quantifiable."
He remembered the old DAO lore, the whispers of a hidden world beyond the game's servers—the world of Ingrasia, with the three forbidden continents: Arcadia, Hermes, and Draconia. Continents that never existed in the official settings.
"I died in Tokyo, only to wake up as the undisputed top dog in a world that is supposedly a 'game,' but is far more real and far more powerful than the original settings allowed," Kai mused, flexing the powerful, winged muscles of his new back.
He walked back to the throne, not to sit, but to stand before it, looking out into the shadowy, expectant hall.
The old Kai is gone. Heart failure. Dead. But the new Kai—Asmudeus—is here, and he has infinite mana and maximum everything in this new reality.