S2E1: The Mysterious Woman / Whatever Happened to the Nine? / Shurilesian Chaos

Season Two: The Tale of Shurilesia / One Wise Woman's Struggle

A mysterious woman slowly navigates through the snowy plateau of the continent called Shurilesia.

She wears the typical sailor-type school uniform, but wears a black special legging on one leg and a black woman's sock on the other.

She also has a strange arm, which can explain her mysterious aura.

The woman brings out her binoculars to see if anything goes wrong.

She sets her sights on Dillington High School, which is a considerable distance away.

"Still normal and unharmed," she reports to herself.

Then, she focuses on Padronas Twin Towers.

"Nothing out of the ordinary."

After that, she aims her sights on Shop 'n' Get Out.

No sooner does she elicit a gasp.

"What? It changed?"

Using the binocular's zooming function, she inspects the interior of the supermarket.

"Hmmm... there are people shopping inside. It looks like business is back to normal. That means, someone must have saved it from The Movement."

Next, her focus is on the ruined Carmealla Gonzalvo's Dungeon.

"As I have suspected... the dungeon is destroyed, and the undeserving leader of Dillingtonlandia is dead."

After some minutes of observation, she puts away her binoculars as she sighs.

"I must have been too slow to go to Dillingtonlandia. It is two oceans away. But never mind. What happened, happened. For now, I must find a way to wipe out the rest of that organization."

She finally leaves the plateau, disappearing into the snowy forest.

***

Meanwhile... in a strange castle that resides in the middle of the continent...

A mysterious robed woman lets out her ails.

"Just my luck. Now that my fellow, Carmealla, is dead, our organization is now inoperable in Dillingtonlandia. To prevent that atrocity from ever happening to me, the sovereign upright leader of Shurilesia, I must tighten security and extend my power to beyond this minuscule continent!"

She then calls her subordinates through the castle's advanced communication system.

"Attention, all of my subjects! There is an urgent meeting!"

Minutes later, her subordinates, who are approximately 15 in number, appear before her.

She starts, "My subjects, there is an important concern that I must discuss."

A subject who looks like a stereotypical demon asks her, "What is it, milady?"

Another subject whose appendages are nothing but tentacles follows, "Do we have to produce more of our spores?"

The woman blurts outright, "No! Do you ever know what happened to our organization's operations at Dillingtonlandia?"

Yet another subject, who is a monstrous clown, states his cluelessness.

"Uh... I don't."

"Silence! The correct answer is: It's already sabotaged!"

The fourth subject, who is a dullahan, inquires, "Whodunnit?"

"According to a credible source of ours, the ones responsible for wiping out Carmealla Gonzalvo are a group of nine people. One is Agaton Muller, Carmealla's estranged husband. The rest are all teenagers who have powers just like ours!"

The fifth subject, who is an echidna, asks in a stuttering way, "T... then, w... what do we do?"

"Tighten up security in every nook and cranny of Shurilesia. And make sure the spores still appear at the towns of Splendido and Sant-Diegol!"

The sixth subject, who is a futakuchi-onna (two-mouthed woman), reminds her master, "B... but what about Jaxton School?"

"Oh... oh, I forgot. There are rumors that the security there's really tight. But never mind! Through deception, flattery, and dirty tricks, you will help me, Maryam Quintana, in conquering that school and the rest of Shurilesia! Ahahahahahaha!!!"

All the subjects follow her and her devious laugh, "Ahahahahahahaha!!!!!"

***

Four hours later, in Jaxton School...

The school's quadrangle is teeming with students who are preoccupied with their individual undertakings, taking advantage of the long lunch break.

What the students don't know is that the central fountain has a long tube attached, which will be used for unleashing the deadly dance-inducing spores on the whole campus.

And the inevitable eventually happens.

The spores are brought out.

Monsters appear.

The students are terrified and powerless to hold them off.

Later, the school's security department springs into action, but they are eventually outnumbered.

This is just one of the many inhumane acts made by the hands of The Movement, Shurilesia Chapter.

***

Now, what is happening to the nine who painfully landed on the grasslands of the snow-laden continent?

Well, Agaton is the first to recover.

Using his resourcefulness and creativity, he sets up a camp made out of leftover parts of the damaged gunnery vehicles.

He then takes the eight to his temporary shelter, and faints soon enough from loss of stamina.

Thirty minutes later, Nolan wakes up and observes his immediate surroundings.

"The others are asleep..."

After releasing a sigh, he wonders...

"Now where are we?"

***

The rest, me included, then wake up.

"Hmm... It's morning. Oh, yes. Good morning, everyone!" I greet everyone. "Say, why is Agaton asleep?"

"Did... he... build this shelter for us?" Jurina asks something more important.

"I think so. He must've used up all of his energy, so he went to dreamland as a result."

"What a huge sacrifice he made," Nolan comments. "After he was traumatized by the loss of his beloved wife, he strove to make up for that painful event by helping us out. After all, as John 15:13 says, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'"

"Well, I'm gonna ask something," I segue to another matter. "Listen, CJ, Christian, Juniper, and Bearwin. Due to the chaos we've been experiencing lately, I forgot to ask this: How did you land in this game?"

"A game? You mean this world is inside a game?!"

"I never thought of that!"

Jurina and CJ are pleasantly surprised.

"I became a REAL military officer in this so-called game? What is really going on?" Christian exclaims.

"So, that building is just a part of this 'imaginary' game," Nolan reacts.

Gershwin then mediates, "Listen, everyone. We are stuck in a big world called Daig'digaia. And we cannot simply get out, unless we unite with forty-two other chosen classmates of ours and defeat a big, big threat plaguing this world. Now then... please explain how you got here into this world in the first place."

Christian volunteers to answer first.

"I came here by a whimsical phenomenon. I was simply watching my friend's favorite anime, which is based on a popular visual novel."

What? One of my favorite anime of all time is the deciding factor for him coming here? How strange.

"When the ending credits rolled, something spoke to me. It said: 'Commencing the inclusion of Christian Eamon Rhames to port 0423, Shurilesia server, domain: Daig'digaia.'

"The next thing I knew, my body was floating inside a big, dark place. And I then woke up beside a lake. A man wearing a military-like uniform approached me and said, 'You are homeless, are you not? Then this lake shall be your new home.'"

CJ interrupts, "Wait a minute... that lake... that was... Lake Stynx. Something is hidden well beneath the lake."

Christian then continues.

"Correct, milady. It is Lake Stynx. I confess... that is the default headquarters of the Ishi-shiro."

I bespeak, "Then... why were you sent to Dillingtonlandia along with CJ and the guards?"

The big man answers without hesitation.

"The Supreme Leader told us to investigate the source of those strange spores that are possibly the source of disorder here in Shurilesia. He recommended that because the Ishi-shiro ran out of medicine, he should append a specialist in healing magic along with four bodyguards to my party. And so began the rest of the story."

"Quite impressive for a hulking giant like you," I commend. "Now, CJ, since you're a princess, after all, can I call you as such now?"

She readily answers, "I don't mind."

"Alright. I'll ask the same question to you. You've heard of it, right?"

"Thank you for your time," CJ replies. "The first thing I knew, I watched a popular princess movie on Blu-ray. When I opened the Blu-ray player to watch another movie, that... that... player just 'vacuumed' me. I fainted... and the next thing I knew, I woke up somewhere in Dillingtonlandia.

"And then... I saw the fantasy version of Dillington High. Once I explored more of the place, I came across a kingly figure named Tristram Sotnas, who told me that I am the successor to his throne of the Kingdom of Dillingtonlandia, and accompanied me to his castle. He also told me that his life was in grave danger from an agent of The Movement.

"The day inevitably came. The agents of The Movement, led by none other than Carmealla Gonzalvo herself, invaded the castle itself, and she then killed the king in cold blood.

"I was then forced out of the castle, and The Movement claimed it to be theirs.

"Seeing as I wanted to give the slain king an honorable burial, I did so with my own two hands.

"And from that point on, I met Christian and the guards."

No matter what fate dealt to her, she still lived up to the honorable reputation of the quintessential princess.

"Well then, let's head on to Juniper and Bearwin's chronicle, shall we?" I mediate.

Juniper is the first to talk.

"Actually, we went to an arcade and challenged each other to a popular fighting game. Shortly after the seventh stage, the monitors sucked us out!"

Bearwin is next.

"Yeah! And... and we woke up on a big grass field. Our costumes then changed; and sadly, all we had were our weapons. No food, no money! After some minutes of thinking, we decided together that we'll steal from anyone, regardless of gender or origin. That's all, folks!"

"Wait a sec," I interrupt. "What's that floating contraption on your head, Bearwin?"

"Huh? THAT one?" says Bearwin as he points his finger to the floating "hands" hovering above his cap.

"Uh, these are magically-controlled hands. I know how to use them, but I dunno where they came from."

Jurina concludes, "Uh-huh. So... never did it cross my mind that some weird things can happen in this 'game'. Now what do we do? We're in a thick and foggy field, Agaton's still fast asleep, and I fear we'll be butchered by monsters!"

"No need to fear," Nolan reassures. "With the power of divine passion, we will find a much safer refuge."

"Looks like we have no other choice but to move on to the nearest town," Gershwin finally states.

And so...

We are pushing on this brand-new journey on a brand-new continent, all carrying the still-asleep Agaton on a makeshift hammock.

We trudge the dangerous foggy field, slaying monsters getting in our way.

Finally, after roughly thirty minutes of walking, we finally see a town.

A town enveloped by thick fog.

Monsters proliferate every corner.

The doors of every house are tightly sealed shut.

"Ugh... Is this what we call a refuge?" I state with disgust and dissatisfaction.