Late at night, the rapid-fire notifications of a college dorm’s WeChat group lit up the dark room.
Fourth: “Damn it!
That bastard Ululu spawn-camped me again!
I’m done with this trash!
Guys, log on to Soul Knight!” Eldest: “What are you going crazy about at this hour?” Fourth: “Got bridge-camped.
(Sad face)” Fourth: “Come on, four-player Soul Knight coop!
Let’s go!” Second: “How many are we missing?
If it’s just one, I’m not joining.” Fourth: “Missing three!
(Righteously)” Third: “Nice.” Second: “You haven’t even gathered a single person yet?” Eldest: “Not playing.
Last time you played the Special Forces and died before we even started.
I have to blow my skills to save your ass every single time.” Fourth: “I feel so safe with Eldest tanking in the front!
I’ll play Vampire this time, I swear I won’t slack off!” Fourth: “Second resurrects the minions, Third releases the bear, and I’ll gracefully output damage from the backline.
It’s a solid comp!” Third: “…Why does a third-skill Vampire need to output damage from the back?” Second: “Whatever, I’ll just craft a red-tier weapon.” Amidst the laughter and casual banter, four game icons lit up on their respective phone screens.
Inside the pixelated Dungeon, the Paladin stood at the vanguard, raising a heavy shield.
His character model was equipped with a molten, lava-like skin.
The Necromancer followed, glowing red magic eyes floating ominously around her figure.
The Druid transformed, blowing a horn to summon a massive beast, while the Vampire brandished a wicked, oversized scythe.
They cooperated smoothly, tearing through the pixelated hordes.
Finally, the boss shattered into loot, and the four avatars stood victorious before the glowing magic stone.
Fourth: “Perfect!
My hands are burning hot right now!
I’m booting up Arknights to do a ten-pull!” Eldest: “Here we go again…” Third: “Stay calm when pulling the gacha…” Second: “Do you guys hear the wailing that’s about to happen?” Fourth: “Relax, relax!
Watch me perform a miracle!
I will definitely come back fully loaded from this new banner!” Warp — — 54 Warp — — 67 Warp — — 72 Fourth: “…” Second: “Is your living allowance still going to cover food this month?” Fourth: “Hypergryph above!!!
I am willing to sacrifice the lifespans of my three sons!
Exchange it for my ten-pull, full potential graduation!” Eldest: “…You dog.” Third: “…That’s crossing a line…” Second: “…The sum of all our lifespans probably isn’t enough to pity that banner.
To get the rate-up, you’d need to add your own share too.” Fourth: “Second, you’re even more ruthless than me!
Fine, fine, then add mine to the pyre…
What the fck?!” Before he could finish his sentence, the screen violently glitched.
There were no ordinary white or purple sparks.
Instead, ten blinding, rainbow-colored golden lights instantly erupted, completely occupying the display.
One ten-pull.
A true, impossible full-potential drop.
“It…
it actually came out?!” Fourth’s voice cracked, pitching upward in extreme shock.
But before the ecstasy could even register, the golden light on his phone screen suddenly expanded, violently swallowing his entire field of vision.
In three other dorm beds, the exact same blinding radiance erupted, enveloping the remaining roommates simultaneously.
In the voice channel, only Fourth’s sudden, echoing exclamation remained before the digital connection snapped, plunging everything into dead silence.
“You brat, what are you howling about!
Let me…
wait, where did he go?” a sleepy dorm monitor muttered, pushing the door open only to find an empty room.
Terra, Year 1090, Rim Billiton.
A wise man pulled a young Cautus girl from the wreckage, taking her hand to begin a long, arduous journey toward Kazdel.
At that exact moment, high above the atmosphere, four crimson meteors tore through the dark night sky of Terra, splitting apart and crashing toward four distant corners of the continent.
Columbia, Rhine Lab.
“How is the test subject?” “Vitals are currently stable.
There is a high probability of survival.” “Is that so…
Then increase the dosage.
They’re just consumables anyway.
We might as well test the extreme drug resistance of different races.” Strapped to a cold metallic table, the man referred to as a mere ‘test subject’ stared blankly at the sterile ceiling.
His eyes were dull, the casual, cruel conversation of the two researchers filtering clearly into his ringing ears.
It hurts so much…
Anyone…
please, just kill me…
BOOM—!!!
A deafening roar shattered the silence of the Columbian night.
A blazing meteor plummeted from the heavens, tearing straight through the reinforced ceiling of the towering laboratory, instantly vaporizing the cruel machinery and the researchers within.
“Cough…
cough…” Eldest barely clawed his way back to consciousness, his mind swimming in the dizzying aftermath of the impact.
He shook his heavy head, struggling to push himself up from the epicenter of the smoking crater.
What happened?
That blinding light just now…
He instinctively raised a hand to rub his groggy forehead, but his fingers brushed against something entirely wrong.
Hard, unnaturally warm, and strangely curved protrusions jutted from his skull.
His movements froze.
Heart pounding, he brought both hands up, frantically groping along his brow.
Hideous, sweeping horns—feeling exactly like solidified, jagged lava—were rooted firmly into his head.
The tactile sensation was obvious.
He could even feel a terrifying, scorching heat pulsing rhythmically inside them.
An absurd, horrifying realization exploded in his mind.
“Holy fck!” he blurted out.
His voice was deep, distorted, and rumbling with unnatural bass.
“I’ve turned into a monster?!” Almost simultaneously, three other voices—equally laced with absolute terror and disbelief—detonated directly inside his mind via a mental link.
Second: “Holy fck!
I turned into a woman?!
This body…
these massive jugs…
what the hell is going on?!” Third: “Holy fck!
My…
my head…
how did it turn into a deer head?!
And what is wrong with these claws…?!” Fourth: “I…
wait, I seem to be just as handsome—hm?
These pointed ears…
this high-collared cloak…
holy crap!
I’m even more handsome!
Wait…
this heavy scythe—is this Death’s Breath?!?” The chaotic, overlapping voices collided and intertwined within the invisible mental network.
Eldest tuned them out for a second, looking down at his own hands.
They were no longer human.
His arms were entirely encased in dark, craggy lava armor, glowing with an inner, molten fire that contained explosive kinetic power.
He clenched his fist.
The scorching energy surged through his veins, feeling entirely unfamiliar yet instinctively natural, like a muscle he had always known how to flex.
Glancing at the scorched earth beside him, he spotted a massive, familiar cross shield lying half-buried in the rubble.
“Brothers…” Eldest called out through the mental link, his new voice heavy and commanding.
“Are you all still alive?” Second’s voice echoed back, thick with the verge of tears: “It’s gone…
my little brother is gone…” Third was bordering on a full panic attack: “Where are we?!
How did I become like this?!
Eldest…
Eldest, where are you!?” Fourth’s voice, however, sliced through the collective hysteria with an eerie, forced calmness: “Brothers…
look up at the moon.” The moon?
The abrupt, specific command forced the group to pause their spiraling panic and instinctively comply.
Eldest raised his heavy, demonic head toward the shattered ceiling of the facility.
Third tilted his massive, antlered skull upward.
Second fought through the extreme dysphoria of his new anatomy to gaze at the sky.
Then, the mental chat fell dead silent.
High above, suspended in the dark expanse, hung two moons.
Twin celestial bodies, their pale radiance intertwining as they bathed this strange, ruined land in an alien glow.
It was a cosmic impossibility.
A sight that could never exist on Earth.
Their minds plunged into a prolonged, suffocating silence.
The sheer weight of reality pressed down on them.
For a long, long time, no one spoke.
Finally, Fourth’s voice broke the quiet, completely stripped of its previous cocky bravado: “Brothers…
it seems we’ve transmigrated.” The word dropped like an anvil, crushing their last, desperate shreds of denial.
“Transmigrated…” Eldest murmured, his glowing eyes scanning the floating ash, the pooling magma, and the twisted metal ruins of the laboratory.
He felt the immense, fiery strength coursing through his monstrous frame.
Everything perfectly aligned with Fourth’s grim deduction.
“Not just transmigrated,” Eldest corrected, forcing his tone to remain steady and grounded.
“We…
have literally become our characters from Soul Knight.
We even have our equipped skins and weapons.” “I’ve become the Paladin.
And it seems I can manipulate raw fire.” “I’m the Necromancer…” Second’s voice trembled slightly.
“My weapon is right next to me.
And…
there are corpses everywhere!” Third’s voice cracked into a whimper.
“We…
did that ten-pull sacrifice us to this place?!” “Damn it…” Fourth hissed, unsure if he was cursing his own toxic gacha luck or this twisted stroke of fate.
“So…
are we actually inside the world of Soul Knight right now?” Eldest asked, analyzing the situation.
“Do any of you see any iconic buildings or landmarks around you?” Second: “No!
I just told you, I’m surrounded by a sea of corpses!
Wait…
these bodies…
they have horns on their heads?
And tails!” Third: “I’m in a snowfield!
An endless, freezing snowfield!” Eldest narrowed his glowing eyes, peering through the thick, choking dust of the collapsed lab.
It obscured his vision.
He raised his molten palm, willing the energy within.
A burst of scorching flames erupted from the cracks in his lava armor.
The resulting shockwave violently cleared the air, blowing away the debris to reveal a massive, scorched corporate logo painted on a surviving wall.
Eldest: “I have a sign here.
It’s a ♦ symbol…
with a plus and a minus sign inside two circular cutouts.” Fourth: “Holy fck!
Eldest, are you absolutely sure you didn’t misread that?!” Eldest: “I’m sure.
It’s massive.
Do you recognize this logo?” Fourth: “I recognize it!
Of course I recognize it!
Brothers, this isn’t the world of Soul Knight.
This is Terra!
The Terra of Arknights!” The pale light of the twin moons shone coldly down upon the four strangers, now scattered across the unforgiving corners of a new reality.
As the initial shock began to fade, the chilling truth swept through their hearts like a bitter winter gale.
They were no longer casual gamers controlling digital avatars from the safety of a screen.
They were the avatars.
And this world was an absolute meat grinder.