Riku Sakamaki, a high school student, wakes up in a world where the sky glows purple. He has been transported to this strange place with no idea how or why. The first person he meets is a silver-haired girl named Vestia Zeta, an agent of a secret organization with the codename V.7. She wears key-shaped accessories and has access to data from the virtual world. Cool and mysterious on the outside, she also has a sarcastic, sometimes clumsy side that makes her oddly charming.
"[cold]You'll die her
Vestia Zeta: Heir of the Black Key - The Girl of the White Key and the Out-of-Range Law
Sakamaki Riku walked alone through the ruins of the dark period.
His ankle still ached. He limped along, favoring his left leg, but he couldn't afford to stop. It was dark. The faint light cast by the purple sky had almost completely faded now. Only the distant lights of a frequency tower flickered faintly.
In Riku's right hand, he clutched two black crystals—Noise Cores. They were the stones left behind after defeating that black mist monster. They pulsed with a faint, searing heat.
"I need to get somewhere safe... fast."
His voice was so hoarse it surprised even him. His throat was parched. His lips were dry and cracked. From running at full speed, the backs of his thighs and his calves felt like they were about to split open.
The glowing moss at his feet gave off a faint blue-green light. Riku used it as a guide, picking his way through the rubble.
That was when it happened.
That low, rustling sound.
It came from directly behind him.
Riku's feet stopped. His breathing grew shallow. Every hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
Don't turn around.
The alarm in his head screamed at him. But his body moved on its own. Slowly, he turned.
There it was—a mass of black mist.
About the size of a dog. No, slightly larger than the one before. Its form was unstable, wavering and shifting. Black smoke rose from its surface, spreading low across the ground like crawling tendrils.
It was looking at him.
Even without eyes, he could feel it. He was being watched. Targeted.
Riku took a step back. His foot crunched on rubble, sending a clatter echoing through the ruins. The mist mass reacted to the sound, inching closer.
"Damn it..."
He wanted to run. But his legs wouldn't move. The pain in his left ankle radiated through his whole body as a dull heaviness. More than anything, he was terrified. That power might go out of control again. He glanced at the back of his right hand. The black key pattern had faded for now. But deep beneath the skin, he could still feel a throbbing heat.
The mist swelled.
As if sensing Riku's fear, its body grew a size larger. Now it was the size of a cow. Then another size larger.
Riku's legs gave out.
He fell on his backside. He tried to scramble away on his hands, but his back hit a pile of rubble. There was nowhere left to go.
The mist loomed closer.
A black, mouth-like opening gaped wide.
I'm going to die.
Those words flooded his mind.
—The next moment.
A white light tore through his vision.
The brilliance forced Riku's eyes shut. Even the inside of his eyelids turned pure white. The light expanded in an instant, and then—it erased the black mist like dust.
Silently. Without a trace.
Riku slowly opened his eyes.
Silver.
Long silver hair that reached down to her waist. In the dark ruins, her hair alone glowed faintly, like moonlight. Bluish-silver eyes. Skin so white it was almost translucent. At her neck, a small key-shaped pendant.
A girl stood there.
White light patterns floated softly around her, still lingering faintly.
She looked a little older than Riku. Twenty-one. He hadn't heard it from her directly, but she had that air about her.
She looked down at him with cold eyes.
"What are you doing here?"
Her voice was low and composed. Unreadable. And yet, it carried a powerful resonance that instantly dominated the atmosphere.
Riku couldn't speak.
Fear and relief clogged his throat at the same time. He couldn't breathe properly. His eyes couldn't tear themselves away from her white light.
"Answer me. This is outside the boundary. Entering without authorization violates the Out-of-Boundary Travel Prohibition Order."
The Out-of-Boundary Travel Prohibition Order. He'd never heard of it. But the weight of it was clear from her tone alone.
"I... before I knew it, I was here..."
Riku forced the words out with a trembling voice.
"Your name."
"Sakamaki... Riku. Eighteen. A high school student..."
Vestia's expression didn't change. She simply let out a small breath after hearing his words.
"A high school student? Listen, if you were in school, you should have a bit more awareness than this. Standing around alone in a place like this—it looks like you came here to die."
Her tone was cold. But there was something mixed into her words beyond mere sharpness. Exasperation—and just a hint of concern.
"That's not it! I just found myself here... and that black thing chased me, and I twisted my ankle... I couldn't get away..."
"Black thing?"
"That... the mist-like thing."
Vestia's eyebrows moved just slightly.
"You mean Noise. You just fell into this world, and you survived? Well, I'm glad you're not a corpse."
Her way of speaking was prickly. But Riku got the feeling that this was just how she normally was.
Vestia looked at Riku's right hand.
More precisely, at the two Noise Cores he was clutching.
"...Two Noise Cores?"
A small note of surprise. It was the first time her emotions had surfaced.
"Um, when I beat that black thing, these dropped..."
"You did?"
"I think so... with my power. I don't really understand it myself."
Vestia stared at Riku's face. Those silver eyes seemed to pull him in.
"Show me the back of your right hand."
Her tone left no room for argument. Riku obediently held out his right hand. He opened his fist. The Noise Cores tumbled from his palm.
Vestia grabbed his wrist. Her fingers were cold as ice.
That was when it happened.
A black pattern surfaced on the back of Riku's right hand.
The shape of a key. It emitted a black light, pulsing and flickering on his skin.
Vestia's hand froze.
"The Black Key... no way."
Her voice trembled for the first time.
"You're... the Heir of the Black Key...?"
The Heir of the Black Key. Those words dropped into Riku's chest like a heavy stone.
"The Heir... of the Black Key?"
"You've never heard of it? Well, I suppose that's only natural."
She released his wrist. Then she gently touched the white key pendant at her own neck.
"...This is the worst. Meeting someone like you in a place like this."
She said it with a sigh.
Riku was confused. What was the Heir of the Black Key? Why was she so shaken? He understood nothing.
"Um... who are you?"
"Vestia Zeta. Agent of the secret organization Ortlink. A-rank. I don't have time to deal with a lost child like you."
Agent. A-rank. Secret organization. Nothing but unfamiliar words. But he could tell just from the way she stood that she was no ordinary person.
"This place is dangerous. It's an out-of-boundary area where the frequency tower's purification waves don't reach. Noise could appear from anywhere at any time. For now, we're moving to the safe zone. Can you stand?"
Riku nodded.
"I can stand. My leg hurts a lot, though."
"'A lot,' you say. You twisted your ankle, didn't you? Let me look at it later. If you can't walk, I'll have to carry you, and I'd really rather avoid that."
Sharp-tongued. But the hand that grabbed his arm and helped him up was surprisingly gentle.
"We're walking. Stay behind me and be as quiet as possible. Noise can sense our emotions. Especially fear. The more afraid you are, the stronger they become."
Noise could sense emotions.
Those words sent a chill down Riku's spine.
"The more afraid I am... the stronger they get?"
"That's right. That's why the one earlier reacted to your fear and grew that large. Ordinary small Noise don't swell up like that."
Riku clenched his fist. His fingertips were trembling.
(So I made it bigger.)
It was his fault. Again.
Not just the Black Key's rampage. His own fear had strengthened that monster.
Riku gritted his teeth.
The two of them began walking through the dark ruined city.
Vestia moved forward without hesitation. She was constantly alert, occasionally touching the white pendant at her neck.
"This place is the Void. A closed world, severed from reality. About two hundred years ago, a massive dimensional rupture called the Pulse Fracture split this world from the real one."
Pulse Fracture. Dimensional rupture. Closed world.
Riku turned the words over in his head. He'd never heard them in any class at school.
"As you can see, this world has no sun. The entire sky glows purple like that. Twelve hours of light, twelve hours of dark. It's near the end of the dark period now. The light period will begin soon."
"Twelve hours each..."
"So when your body gets tired, you sleep, and by the time you wake, it's bright again. That's how everyone here lives. Well, you'll find out soon enough whether you like it or not."
Riku looked up at the sky. A purple sky. No sun. And yet, it didn't feel oppressive—because that glow covered the entire sky.
"The safe zone is the area within range of the frequency tower's purification waves. You saw it too, didn't you? The tall pillar standing in the distance. That's a frequency tower. Thirty meters tall. The waves it emits suppress the generation of Noise."
"That... pillar was doing that?"
"Yes. There are about forty frequency towers in this world, but due to interference from the Duskbringers, the number of operational ones is decreasing. The safe zone is shrinking little by little."
Duskbringers. Another unfamiliar word.
"The Duskbringers...?"
"A group that systematically manipulates Noise to try to destroy this world. They have thirty to fifty members. Their base is in the northeastern collapse zone, a place called Phantom Reach. Their goal is to fill the entire Void with Noise. In other words, they want to kill us all."
Kill us all. The weight of those words made Riku catch his breath.
"Noise is born from people's negative emotions. Fear, hatred, despair. Those things accumulate in the air and become that black mist. The Duskbringers possess technology to artificially strengthen Noise. That's why every time they make a move, the damage from Noise expands."
"So... the darkness in people's hearts becomes the enemy."
"That's why, to survive in this world, you need to keep your heart as calm as possible. Fear, anger—all of it becomes food for them. Especially someone like you, whose key power reacts to emotions. You should be careful."
Riku fell silent.
His black key. When his emotions ran high, he lost control. Just earlier, it had rampaged out of fear. The aftermath had blown away the surrounding ruins.
(My power doesn't protect people—it destroys everything around me.)
Riku's steps grew heavy.
"Ortlink is a secret organization dedicated to protecting the safe zones of this world. It was established about seventy years ago, after the First Frequency War. Its primary missions are the defense of the frequency towers and information warfare related to Noise. You heard me mention the Out-of-Boundary Travel Prohibition Order earlier. That's a law forbidding ordinary citizens from leaving the safe zone. Violating it means thirty days of detention and a fine of five thousand credits."
Thirty days of detention. A fine of five thousand credits.
Riku felt a chill run down his back.
"Five thousand credits... is that the money here?"
"Yes. The smaller Noise Cores you're holding are worth about five hundred credits each. So for a commoner like you, that's a pretty painful amount. If you want to get through this unscathed, follow my instructions and quietly return to the safe zone. Understood?"
"Understood."
Riku nodded obediently. For now, he had no choice but to follow her.
When Vestia heard his answer, her lips softened just slightly. Or maybe he imagined it. She immediately returned to a serious expression.
"You're surprisingly obedient. Normally, people don't just say 'yes, ma'am' when a strange woman starts ordering them around."
"Well... I don't have anyone else to rely on right now. And you saved me. That alone is enough for me to trust you."
At Riku's words, Vestia stopped in her tracks.
She turned and stared at him. Her silver eyes wavered slightly.
"Aren't you a little too trusting? That's exactly why you almost got eaten by Noise so easily out here."
Her tone wa
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