Joan settled herself into the plush module. The chair gripped each of her limbs, measuring her height, weight, and muscle mass.
A large hood drooped down over the top of her chair, providing her an immersive view of the game.
On it, in flashing lights, was 'Welcome to Mortal Strike: Battle Royale'.
Even though Joan knew about the existence of Mortal Strike, she didn't know the details of the game.
"How do you play this?" Joan asked.
"It's a battle royale with 100 people. Try and be the last one standing," Pablo explained as he settled himself into his own module.
The arcade had a total of 10 modules, five of which were already occupied.
As Joan settled into her chair, an automated helmet came down to cover her head. When she tried to move her body, she found she was paralyzed. She was frozen from the neck down.
But instead of her body moving, she saw the character on screen move. The character's body shape was simulated after Joan's after the module's scan. The character customization seemed to be rather lacking, and the girl on screen merely wore a gray jumpsuit.
She moved her character's hand to press 'Play'.
The interface prompted her to create a free account, and Joan followed its instructions.
'Enter Username:'
Username? Joan pondered for a moment, before entering her name: Joan. Since she was Rem in this world, she could be Joan in Mortal Strike's virtual world.
"Are you guys ready?" Joan asked.
"Yeah, add me. I'm Idol King," Pablo said.
"I'm Xyfen," said Viktor.
"Mumu."
Joan typed their usernames into the search bar and added them to her lobby.
When they joined, she immediately pressed, 'Enter Game'.
A loud ding sounded in her ear, and a plane popped up on the hood's interface.
"What do we do now?" Joan searched for a button to press on her screen. Her finger hovered slightly over the button with a parachute, questioning whether to press it or not.
"Master, have you never played a Battle Royale?" Turner asked. "It's a lot of fun! We're in teams of four, so there are 25 total teams. We choose a place to drop off the plane and collect weapons and try to be the last one standing."
"So, if I press this." Joan pressed the parachute button. "I jump?" Her character jumped out of the plane.
"Wait! Why are you jumping now?" Turner cried. "Wait, wait, wait for us!"
Shortly after, the Grimm Bros jumped out after her.
"Rem, where are you going?" Viktor called out.
"Don't know. Wherever I land."
The wind whipped and howled in her ears, and as she neared the ground, she pressed the second parachute button.
A parachute exploded from the confines of the backpack on her back, and she slowly drifted to the ground.
When Joan set foot on soil, the parachute vanished into thin air. Looking around, it appeared that they had landed in a small village.
"Where to now?" Joan asked the Grimm Bros who were just now landing.
"Go raid some of these houses. There'll be bandages and weapons."
As a group, the four made rounds throughout the village, looting the insides of the homes with their bare fists. On her way, Joan picked up a Full-Size Pistol, bandages, and a 28-inch shotgun.
As the group moved to their next house, Joan spotted another group out of the corner of her eye. "What do you get if you kill someone?"
"I think you get their items," Turner said. He seemed to be the one most familiar with battle royales.
Joan lifted her rifle, aimed at one of the enemy group members, and fired.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She missed.
"Huh, it's different than firing in real life," Joan noted to herself.
"Rem!!! Why would you do that! Now they know where we are! Let's run!" Turner scolded while taking off in the other direction.
"What happened to Master?" Joan teased. But although she had a lighthearted tone, her expression remained as frigid as ever.
The barrage of ammunition from the enemies trailed them. A bullet struck Joan's character in her shoulder, and her character lurched forwards, losing balance.
A vibration reverberated throughout her chair, simulating the wound without any physical pain. But a third of her health bar had vanished.
Annoyed, Joan frowned and pulled her shotgun from her inventory. The enemies seemed to be too far away for a pistol to accurately strike them.
She turned, ignoring Turner's incessant shrieks and Viktor's barrage of questions.
Although Mortal Strike was a game, it gave a surprising amount of freedom to the player. One had control over how to hold their gun and how much strength they put into a punch or a throw.
Holding the standard grip with her forehand, Joan placed her weak hand on the fore-grip. She brought the gun to the pocket of her shoulder and firmly pressed her cheek against the stock.
Although Joan had experience in shooting real guns, the difference in perspective in the game had thrown her off at her first. But after missing her first few original shots, she felt that she had a decent grip on the controls.
Ignoring the bullets that narrowly missed her, she aimed and fired off several rounds.
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain Yuji.'
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain uwuxd30.'
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain Pox.'
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain Yanny.'
Four shots. Four kills.
The recoil of the gun had sent vibrations through her right shoulder, and with it, a thrill of excitement. This game wasn't too bad after all.
"Let's go get their stuff," Joan smirked and dashed off.
Viktor, Turner, and Pablo froze in silence.
"W-W-What just happened? There's no way she hasn't played a battle royale before," Pablo stuttered.
"Master just has some crazy beginner's luck!" Viktor forced out a nervous laugh as he ran after Rem. "Just beginner's luck," he repeated to himself. There was no way this newbie was better than him. He played these types of games before after buying a computer using a year worth of money extorted from his fellow classmates.
But Joan's rampage continued relentlessly.
'Headshot!'
'Headshot!'
'Headshot!'
Even with mediocre weapons, Joan still managed to mow down enemies. Her kills had reached a staggering 25, and now, there were only 3 teams left in the game. By herself, Joan had slain a quarter of the players.
The inhabitable zone had shrunk to a minuscule circle at the corner of the world, and twelve players were stuck inside.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Someone fired at their squad, and Joan immediately ducked into a small house, ushering her teammates to come inside.
Suddenly, Pablo, the last one who still stood outside, was struck by a bullet to his chest.
'Critical Shot!'
'Blackwolf has critically wounded Idol King.'
The shots continued to fire, aimed at Idol King who had fallen to the ground and was restricted to a mere crawl.
Pablo was a lost cause. He'd die within the next few seconds. Joan intended to leave him there and shut the door to the home, but before she could, Viktor rushed out.
"Yah! What are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed!" Joan scolded. "Come back!"
"No," Viktor arrogantly refused. "I ain't leaving one of my Bros behind." He knelt down to bandage Pablo, while the onslaught of bullets continued.
Joan frowned. She didn't want to help them but decided that losing two teammates would be too detrimental.
She pulled a Long-Range Sniper Rifle from her inventory and rushed to them, using Viktor's body as a meat shield. She set the rifle on the ground, assumed her position, and found the enemy team.
They were shooting at them from the window of a house.
She took aim and shot the first bullet.
Bang!
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain Andivion'
One down. Three more to go. She moved her rifle and aimed at the next sitting duck.
Bang! Bang!
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain Badger'
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain Popanda'
The last teammate, Blackwolf, seemed to have got the hint and disappeared from the window. "Wimp," she spat. She had missed the chance to shoot the last one, and that annoyed her. If only she was slightly faster.
By now, Viktor had finished healing Pablo, and the three rushed back in to join Turner who had stayed put in the house.
"C'mon bro," Viktor raged at Turner. "Do something!"
"Sorry," Turner muttered weakly.
Suddenly, a shot sounded, and Joan's upper back was shot. The wound narrowly missed her head. Her body lurched forward, and the movement was transferred to her body in the module.
'One Shot One Kill has critically wounded Joan.'
"Ugh! Close the door before he shoots again!" she yelled, and Turner obediently followed her command.
In another arcade, Isaac Louise, the leader of the Immortals grunted. "Ah, shit. I missed the headshot."