Chapter Text
"Do you see now? You can't run from us."
My eyesight returned, as if I had only just remembered how to see. It was cold, despite very little wind. I took a step back, almost tripping over a root sticking out of the ground. Since when was I outside? Last I remember, I was…
"Ah~ Technically speaking, I can tell you that our master's plan doesn't really break any of the City's Taboos."
I looked up, finally registering the three figures looming over me.
"It's just the kind of thing that... no one has ever dared to even consider attempting, you catch my drift?" The person speaking was the tallest of the trio, with a large scar scored on the side of her face and two steel gauntlets. She seemed oddly familar, as if I had seen her somewhere before.
She suddenly stopped speaking, looking at me in surprise. "Huh, would you look at that…"
"You managed to get a different head in so fast. Are people like you always prepared for anything?" A drowsy looking man carrying a battle axe chimed in, eyeing my head. Unfamilar hands that were both mine and not mine shot up to my head, but instead of feeling skin, my fingertips grazed a round, hard surface.
<What?> No voice came out, only the faint ticking of a clock.
Instantly, hundreds of memories that were not mine flooded through me, then left within the same second. I attempted to hold onto one of them only for it to slip through and disappear into the abyss. In its place, was a pounding headache as brand new information flooded my brain.
I knew where I was. I know these people. I know these hands.
"Haha, I guess that new noggin doesn’t come with a mouth, huh?" Lion chuckled, flexing her fingers and cracking her knuckles. I looked up, and to my surprise a holographic slab opened next to her in the form of a window. However, I did not manage to get a look at the information listed.
"Yep, all I can hear is the clock ticking. You think they’re screaming on the inside?" The third person finally spoke. Wolf stepped forward, and without warning, used her sword to slice into my arm.
<What the hell?!> I stumbled back, clutching my arm as pain bloomed across half of my body. Blood seeped through my gloves, darkening my cloak.
"Hmm. The ticking's gotten faster, so I guess they can still feel pain." Wolf eyed me the way a predator would watch an injured fawn struggle to stand. I backed against the tree, squeezing my arm in an attempt to lessen the bleeding. A new tab opened up in front of me, but I couldn't make out the words through the blur creeping into my vision.
"Huh, they’ve gone quiet already. Let’s get this over with." Wolf raised her sword again, but was stopped by Lion.
"No one ever comes here, Wolf. There are no eyes on us. So what's the hurry?" Lion waved her aside, stepping forward. She fixed me with a grin.
"We must follow her teachings. No wasting time." Wolf gave Lion a sharp look, readying her sword once again. The moonlight glinted off of the silver blade, with remnants of my blood trailing down the edge.
"Yeah, but… haah, can't we just savor the moment? We're not going to get another chance to off someone of this caliber." Lion stretched languidly. I stayed frozen to the spot, blood still trickling down my arm.
Panther finally spoke, moving forward to join the other two. "You have a tendency to grow far too emotional on a job, Lion. Don't mix business with pleasure." Lion scoffed, looking annoyed but made no further attempts to object. Finally, all three of them focused on me.
"Shame—I so wanted to have a look at your face. I reckon you won’t tell us where your star is, yes?" Panther's eyes narrowed.
The window in front of me buzzed.
[Welcome, new Manager, to orientation.]
Orientation my ass.
"… Right. No mouth. Meaning... this one can't tell us how to find it."
"Can I end them now?" Wolf asked impatiently.
"Sure… Hm?" The three turned their heads to the forest surrounding them. A loud rev of an engine echoed out from the foliage.
[Thus, begins your introduction. Please wait patiently whilst synchronisation begins.]
"Hey, what’s that noise? You let yourself get tailed, Panther?!" Lion accused Panther, trying to zone in on the source of the noise. By this point, my entire arm was numb.
Panther tensed, both from the accusation and the threat of being discovered. "No, there wasn't anyone who could've tracked me. Just a wild animal, perhaps?" He attempted to reassure himself to little success. Two beaming headlights gradually made themselves clearer and clearer.
"That doesn't sound like any animal I can think of. That's..." The engine rumbling got louder, as finally, the source of the noise made itself clearer. "A bus…?" Wolf finished.
[Synchronisation has begun. Please refer to the orientation guides for further information while waiting. Tutorial will begin automatically.]
"How did it even end up here?" Panther took a step back.
"Must've taken a wrong turn?" Lion flexed her gauntlets, revealing the clawed fingers. "Hoo, they're about to pay quite the hefty price for that wrong turn..." She stepped out confidently, but the bus did not slow down. The cowcatcher rammed directly into Lion, sending her flying with a sickening crack. Panther and Wolf stood, stunned for a moment.
"… Did Lion just get pushed back?" Wolf dashed in the direction of where Lion landed, followed closely behind by Panther.
The Bus halted in front of me, and the door slid open with a loud exhale. There, stepped out a white haired woman, trailing a great sword behind her.
[Manager. You will not fail to reach the port of glory.]
"If my eyes are still right, then you will not fail to reach the port of glory." She gazed down at me, offering me a hand up. I took it, pulling myself into a standing position. I read the tag, even though I had no need to. Faust, sinner #02.
[You've lost your way, yet you were not overcome with fear.]
"You’ve lost your way in a dark forest." She continued. "Yet you were not overcome with fear. Why was that?"
[Simply lift your head to find the star.]
<Because I…> The words tumbled out for me, instinctually. <Because I could simply… lift my head to find the star.>
"That's right. Now, keep revisiting that image and let your heart speak these words aloud." Faust paused, taking a step back.
[Synchronisation complete.]
"Follow your star."
[Follow your star.]
<Follow your star.>
My head gave a chime, as the golden hands started rotating uncontrollably. I stumbled, chains shooting out from nowhere to pierce right into the sides of the clock. The pain rivaled the earlier headache from when I first entered this body, forcing my knees to buckle. Faust simply observed calmly as I sank back down to my knees.
"Please don't worry. Your heart is still functional, though it may feel otherwise." Faust's voice dragged me back to the world under my feet. "With this, the pact is sealed. Dante, from this day forth, we are bound to your time. I hope you’ll make a fine leader."
If had a mouth, I would've been gasping and panting like my life depended on it, which sure felt like it did. I attempted to stand back up, forgetting that one of my arms was weakened and unceremoniously buckled, leaving only one arm left to make sure I didn't slam my face to the ground.
<Uhm… Faust? Would you->
"Is that really everything?" A woman with an ungodly amount of flowing, orange hair interrupted, stepping off the bus and coming to a halt beside Faust, followed by a few more. She tapped her mace to the ground, barely sparing me a glance.
"A single apple has fallen." One of them spoke in a solemn tone, as if mourning something.
"… This guy’s still not making any sense." Ishmael sighed, finally taking a proper look at me on the ground.
<Could you… maybe help me up?> I asked weakly, which she relented and offered a hand.
"Geeeez~ The wait was killing me! Are we finally getting some action?" A sing-songy voice floated towards us as I managed to pull myself up.
"Well, a little warm-up wouldn't hurt." A gruff voice replied. The two, Rodion and Gregor, were walking towards the group followed by a stern-looking woman who gave me a sharp look.
"What's that miserable thing? Are they to be the newest addition to this squad?" Outis barked sharply, crossing her arms.
"Uh… You might wanna watch your language… I heard that’s our soon-to-be boss…" Gregor mumbled to Outis, trying to keep his voice down.
Faust finally spoke up again, drawing the attention back to her. "It must've been an instant ambush—yet you still managed to hide your head."
<Ah… uhm…> I faltered. I've been given no time to process everything that's happened.
I had been placed into the Project Moon universe, in the form of Dante.
[Caution, new Manager. Note that your choices matter.]
Was it warning me against making my situation known? I mean, of course, it would be suspicious wouldn't it be? This isn't my universe. It's basically a hellhole with no chance of survival if I wasn't guided along by someone.
Assuming my stuttering was because of my confusion, which isn't entirely wrong, Faust continued speaking. "We are the heralds of justice who have come to aid you, and this is the magical bus that can take us wherever we wish to go."
<Heralds of justice on a magical bus.> Despite everything currently happening to my body and a group of people scrutinizing me, I found it amusing. Magical bus? Really?
Faust gave an uncanny pause, staring at me intently. I wasn't sure if she could detect amusement from my tone, if I had one at all."Is that not what you wanted to hear? You will feel more at ease that way. We’re racing against time, and the situation isn’t in our favor, so let me explain this once."
<Isn't there more urgent matters? I feel it would be better to explain later… and I have a slash across my arm that has been free bleeding this entire time.>
Faust gave an uncanny pause again. Before she could speak, Ishmael had already ripped a piece off of her cloak and was by my side, holding my arm out and wrapping it quickly. "Hold still, this is a pretty nasty gnash."
"We'll provide proper medical treatment later." Faust recovered. "I will shorten the explaination. Dante, you are the executive manager and we will fight for you as long as you give us the correct orders."
<Right…>
"Clo… Ahem." Outis cleared her throat. "I'm not sure how to address you. Would "Commander Clock" suffice…? In any case, we await your orders!"
<Dante is just fine…> I felt slightly off using a name that didn't originally belong to me, but this character is Dante.
[Correction, you are now Dante.]
Right, I am now Dante.
"Eh, do we really need orders? Seems like going one-on-one is the only way." Gregor snuffed out his cigarette by letting it fall on a dry patch of dirt before stamping it out. He smirked, but not exactly out of eagerness to fight, rather to settle into a familar rhythm of the City. The rest of the sinners were already getting ready to battle. In fact, one of the sinners carrying a large, metal bat pushed through the crowd and headed off, to the direction of the trio that attacked me.
"Huh?! H-Hey!" Ishmael was the first to follow suit, running after Heathcliff.
"You lot, quit your prattlin'! We just need to crush 'em all!" Heathcliff yelled back, sounding pissed.
As the rest of the sinners followed, Faust nodded to me. "… Please do your best, Dante." She murmured, leaving me to catch up.
What a way to introduce the new manager, who's currently injured and confused.
[Tutorial is beginning. Please catch up.]
Even this… what even is this? No matter, I only have one path I need to follow.
By the time I managed to drag myself there, the sinners and the enemy trio were locked into battle. They were, to say the least, struggling. I stopped at the edge, closer to the trees to avoid being in the way.
[Manager, upon beginning combat, your dashboard will automatically open.]
A new flood of windows opened up around me, each displaying walls of texts. I could only skim through a bit of them before everything shut off except one, the combat dashboard.
[For simplicity, you will only need to focus on this window for now.]
Two weapons clanged against each other in the distance, followed by an angry yell. A body barreled towards me, and I barely leapt out of the way. "Uwa~ sorry about that." Two mismatched eyes stared at me with keen interest, before leaping back into the fray.
[You can give orders to the sinners by chaining skills on the combat dashboard. Use the gear on the left to do so. But of course, you already know how to play, don't you?]
<What…?>
[Play the game, Manager. That is your duty. The tutorial will be located in the top left corner if you wish for a refreshener.]
The tutorial tab shut off, and information windows flooded around me again. They detailed each of the sinners' weakness, resistents, sins and abilities. I waved them aside to focus on actual combat. The healthbar and sanity levels of each sinner flashed across their head as they slammed into both the enemies and each other. There was no coherent stratergy to it, nor any team work.
[Manager, the sinners await your command.]
Ahhh dang it.
I slid my finger across the dashboard in a straight line, connecting the chain to the end gear and letting go. The sinners regrouped, then launched a semi coordinated attack. Lion laughed, dashing forward, deflecting most of their clashes and punched them back. I couldn't see the sanity levels or the health on the enemies, nor predict their attacks.
As I stood watching, Panther and Wolf had already launched their attacks, reminding me that this wasn't some turn based game where you could wait infinitely, this was real. The sinners were barely holding on.
I swiped across again, in a straight line.
Slowly, I saw the healthbars of the sinners drain. They were beginning to look visibly weary now. The dashboard reset, allowing me to chain again. I spotted a lineup of gluttony skills.
[Hint, chaining the same sin affinity skills in a row activates sin resonance, making your attacks stronger.]
I took that chance, connecting the three.
Lion was pushed back, staggered. She stumbled, and a timer ticked above her.
[Chain the attacks before the timer runs out, or the enemy will regain their footing.]
I didn't argue, letting sinners wail against Lion. However, before they even could, Wolf stepped in and deflected the oncoming attacks.
"I don’t get it. These nobodies managed to take Lion down?" Panther looked bored. At this point, most of the sinners had already sustained critical injuries.
Gregor stepped back, raising his insectoid arm in defense. "W-Whoa, hang on!" He protested,
I know this is kinda weird coming from someone you were just fighting, but I’m pretty sure we can talk this ou—" The sentence ended in pained gurgling as Panther dashed around him and pierced his heart with the top of his battle axe.
Yi Sang watched his comrade fall, simply accepted his fate. "This… is not ideal."
Ishmael, who was beside him, also lowered her weapon. "Hah. I knew it was a ridiculous idea to put up a fight against them."
Wolf sliced their bodies cleanly in two before any more words could be spoken.
Rodion looked over her shoulder, seeing everyone die one by one. "Are y’all kidding? I haven’t even started…" She called, and was quickly bashed in the head by Lion.
Faust was the last remaining. She had backed all the way to me. I turned to look at her, unable to bear looking at the bloodshed and organs that now decorated the opening.
<Faust, you're going to die.> I tried to warn.
"And so I will." She said plainly in a calm smile. Panther stabbed into her heart right after she said that, leaving only me witness the life leaving her eyes. I felt like hurling.
[And that concludes the tutorial phase.]
Lion grabbed me up by the collar, shaking me. My knees buckled, making me helpless.
"Is this supposed to be a mass suicide or something? It's a rather unpleasant display." Panther shook off the blood and flesh from his battle axe, looking quite miffed.
They closed in on me, ready to take my life.
"Deliver this message to the Serpent, false lion." A low, gravelly voice came from the shadows. Two, glinting, red eyes shone, locking in on the three. "This is a flow that cannot be stopped."
He exerted an overwhelming amount of pressure. With one dash he sliced off Lion's arm, the blade leaving an orange after image. Lion's grip loosened, dropping me to the grass and she clutched whats left of her arm.
"The Red...? But why?" Wolf backed away, raising her blade. She was too late, and the Red Gaze simply cut through her.
He turned to the only one unharmed. "Do you know why I only had those two dismembered? Because one of you needs to be intact to carry the rest and scram pell-mell out of here. And you’re the only one left to offer them any help."
Panther glared at him, hand tight on his battle axe. "… The Red Gaze." He hissed.
"Don’t glare at me like that. This is nothing compared to what you did. With wounds like those, I’m sure your boss will recognize the effort you put in. Consider them a badge of honor. Unless…" The red glowed more brightly. "You want to meet your end here."
The silence stretched for a few moments, only broken by Panther cautiously stepping forward to take the two bodies of Lion and Wolf, dragging them away.
The man, Vergilius, finally turned to me. He didn't offer me a hand up, and I didn't request for one either.
"Dante."
<…> I hauled myself up. There's a lot of me being knocked to the ground and picking myself up, huh? <The… Red Gaze.>
Vergilius looked past me to the bodies of the sinners strewn everywhere. "Hm. We only need… a little time to rewind."
[Commencing automatic rewind.]
<Huh?>
I toppled over, my entire body stiffening then buckling. I felt every single one of the injuries sustained by every sinner, reliving the entire battle. I writhed and spasmed uncontrollably, letting out chimes of pain. Voices began piping up from the formerly dead sinners all around me. The last voice I heard was Vergilius, a hint of cold amusement in his tone. "You're in for one hell of a painful ride from here on out, Dante."