"Finally, it's coming to an end..."
Staring into the bonfire—no, the First Flame—Lloyd's gaze was layered with emotion.
How long had it been since he arrived in this world? He couldn't quite recall.
He only remembered that when he transmigrated, a sharp "ding" rang out in his mind, and something called the "Dark Souls System" appeared.
A Dark Souls System—and he'd been farming souls when he crossed over. That basically confirmed it: he had landed in the world of Dark Souls.
Logically, finding himself in a game he both loved and knew well, with a system to boot, should have made him ecstatic. But...
You get it, right? It's Dark Souls.
Grotesque monsters lurking everywhere, deranged man-eaters roaming freely, ambushes from the shadows, traps and jumping puzzles lying in wait to deliver endless surprises...
Just when Lloyd was at his wit's end, another "ding" sounded as the system activated.
[Detected that this world is extremely dangerous and the host's combat capabilities are insufficient. The system offers a one-time simulation as a beginner's guide. Death will end the simulation, but all gains during the simulation can be retained. Accept?]
Without hesitation, Lloyd hit "Yes"—and was thrown into this world.
At first, he wasn't optimistic about the simulation.
Sure, as a veteran "Souls 5" player (a term for those hopelessly hooked on Souls games), he had confidence in his skills. He wasn't the best, but clearing the game at level one with no upgrades? Doable.
But gaming is gaming, and reality is reality. No matter how good you are, you think you can roll through real life with invincibility frames?
"You're kidding me, right?"
After dodging a Hollow's strike with a perfect roll, Lloyd was dumbfounded.
Never mind how he even managed to perform such a nimble roll—just look at what happened during it.
He saw it clearly: the Hollow's straight sword had visibly plunged into his body mid-roll, swinging clean through.
In the real world, that would've split him in two—or at least sliced him in half.
Lloyd had braced himself for death... but when he snapped back to his senses, he realized he wasn't even scratched. Not a tear on his clothes.
After running several more tests, he was sure of it: it wasn't luck. He really had invincibility frames during rolls.
And it wasn't just that.
His rolls were picture-perfect—precise timing, fixed distance, adjusting only based on his equipment load.
Enemy behavior was rigid and predictable. Hollows and monsters moved exactly like their in-game counterparts.
Maps, items, even the scenery—it all mirrored the game. NPCs didn't react much either, repeating the same gestures and lines just like they did in-game.
This wasn't so much a simulation—it was like playing a VR version of Dark Souls.
Which meant... Lloyd was in his element.
He still didn't know why things were like this, but he hadn't forgotten what the system said: [All gains during the simulation can be fully retained.]
So...
Staring at the shambling Hollows in the distance, Lloyd tightened his grip on the straight sword.
What he needed to do next was obvious.
...
How much time had passed since then? Lloyd couldn't remember.
All he could recall was the killing—endless killing.
Undead, wandering souls, knights...
Humans, dragons, gods...
He slaughtered everything in his path that could yield souls, draining every last drop from them through relentless combat. Then, through the Fire Keeper's ritual, he converted those souls into his own strength.
Daggers, straight swords, greatswords...
Weapon Arts, Sorceries, Miracles...
He kept learning, his arsenal growing more powerful by the day. His inventory went from empty, to sparse, to overflowing—so much so that if he didn't clean it up, he'd have to start tossing things on the ground. Honestly, he probably had enough to last a lifetime.
But still, he didn't stop.
Even after losing track of time, even after forgetting how many he had killed, he still remembered—this was just a simulation, a false world.
Not because he was especially resolute, but because the world itself kept reminding him. The monsters followed rigid behavior patterns. NPCs repeated the same lines. And the more he killed, the more those soul-depleted undead turned into hollow phantoms. Entire zones even disappeared after enough clearing...
Everything pointed to this being fake—and as he grew stronger, the world around him was crumbling.
Until now.
After defeating the Soul of Cinder one more time, even that became a phantom.
And the final soul it dropped? Just enough for one more level.
802—that was his level after the last upgrade.
All stats at 99. Maxed out. No room left to grow.
He glanced down, opened his inventory, and scanned the fully upgraded weapons, the complete collection of spells, miracles, and items.
"Finally, it's over..."
With nothing left to gain and everything else faded into illusion, staying any longer was meaningless.
Yet before he reached toward the bonfire that symbolized the First Flame, he couldn't help but look back.
Standing there was a woman in a black dress, wearing a silver blindfold, her long hair a pale gold.
The Fire Keeper—the woman who had accompanied him all this time, helping him level up.
But she, too, was just a "phantom."
Just like every other NPC, repeating the same lines.
"I'm leaving now."
He knew she was just an illusion, but still, he felt compelled to say goodbye before the end.
"Thanks for looking after me all this time. When I return to reality, I'll find you right away. Though... you probably won't recognize me then."
As expected, no response.
Lloyd didn't dwell on sentiment. He reached out toward the bonfire.
But just as the flames wrapped around him, a sudden realization struck.
Wait... the condition to exit the simulation was death. He'd taken the Link the Fire ending. He never summoned the Fire Keeper. So then—she...
"Goodbye."
With that gentle farewell, the flames swallowed his consciousness.
...
When he opened his eyes again, Lloyd jerked his head around.
But behind him was just a wall—no familiar figure, no sound.
Was that... a hallucination?
He wasn't sure. After all, in that world, he was the only one with full awareness. No one could talk to him. And while killing and growing stronger gave him some sense of purpose, he'd long suspected his mind wasn't all there. Sometimes he'd hear voices. Sometimes he'd even see things that weren't real.
"Probably... just my imagination?"
He wasn't entirely convinced, but didn't dwell on it.
Because right now, something else needed his attention.
"Where... am I?"
Looking at the surrounding walls and the maiden corpse nearby, Lloyd was stunned.
Wasn't he supposed to wake up in the Cemetery of Ash? How did he end up here?
From the architectural style, it didn't resemble Lothric, Anor Londo, or any location he remembered.
Was this even Dark Souls anymore?
With that question in mind, Lloyd pushed open the room's door.
Outside, broken structures stretched before him. The scenery felt oddly familiar, but didn't match any place he could identify.
Well, might as well look around.
With that thought, he descended the stairs, crossed a suspension bridge, and stepped into an open area. In the background stood what looked like a statue of a goddess. Lloyd raised an eyebrow.
He'd never seen this place before. He had no idea what was going on. But something about it...
Don't tell me a boss is about to fall from the sky. One of those "fight-or-die" intros...
Bang!
Before he could even finish that thought, something crashed down—a massive, crab-like creature wielding a sword and shield, its body grotesquely stitched together from countless human limbs.
But instead of fear, Lloyd's eyes lit up.
Now this felt right!
He had no idea where he was. It didn't seem related to Dark Souls at all. But just from that one moment, he knew—
All his old experience was still going to pay off.
And even though nothing around him matched his memories of the Souls games, considering how long he'd been stuck in that simulation space, it was entirely possible this place belonged to a Souls-like he never got to play—maybe Souls IV, or even Souls V...
No, this wasn't the time to dwell on that.
Staring at the monster in front of him as it assumed a battle stance, Lloyd raised his head. A pitch-black greatsword materialized in his hand.
What he needed to think about now was how to take this thing down...
Boom—
A golden meteor came crashing down from the sky, slamming into the Grafted Scion's head like a beam of divine light. It didn't even have time to scream before it melted and vaporized on the spot.
From within the light stepped a young girl with pale golden hair, dressed in a silver-gray robe. Her delicate features were expressionless, her eyes cold and deep, as if containing countless stars. She glanced around briefly before her gaze settled on Lloyd, brow slightly furrowed.
This one... is strange.
She hadn't paid attention to this place in a long time, but she still had some memory of it. And no matter how she looked at him, there was no way someone like him could have been born in the Lands Between.
That soul—so dense it had taken physical form, twisted and mad, an unspeakable thing wearing human skin...
As she observed Lloyd, he too was watching her closely. His expression grew tense, and at some point, the Black Knight Greatsword in his hand had been replaced with a dark red coiled greatsword.
Unlike the stitched-together beast from earlier, this girl—who only looked like a girl—gave him a very real sense of threat.
He'd thought the Grafted Scion was the classic "boss-at-the-door" opener, but it turned out that was just part of the spectacle.
Weird. In the past, Miyazaki's intro bosses were tough, sure, but usually manageable by midgame standards, and beatable with some effort. But this... this felt different. You're not supposed to throw something like this at the player right out of the gate.
Flames ignited along the coiled sword in his hand. At the same time, a greatsword appeared in the girl's grasp—glimmering with starlight, its hilt resembling a cosmic void.
But in the next second, her sword simply vanished.
"Why are we fighting?" she asked suddenly, her tone puzzled.
She honestly didn't get it. They'd barely seen each other, hadn't even spoken, and he was already geared up for a fight. She had just fallen from the sky herself and hadn't figured out what was going on.
Lloyd froze.
Why fight?
Well... isn't it obvious? This felt like a boss arena, right? Of course you draw your weapon and go for it...
Wait.
A sudden realization struck him.
This isn't a game. It's not a simulation. This is reality!
That monster earlier came at him swinging, so retaliating made sense. But this girl? She'd done nothing to him. She even helped him take that thing out. By all logic, there was no reason for them to be enemies...
Wait again.
He looked at the girl in front of him, then at the surroundings, and finally up at the sky, where the last remnants of the meteor's glow were fading.
His expression shifted.
From the moment he saw the Grafted Scion, his gamer instincts had kicked in—he thought he'd entered the starting sequence.
But seeing this girl's behavior, recalling the earlier scene, and taking in the eerie calm of the environment... he suddenly realized:
This might not even be the beginning.
This could just be a prelude. A cinematic cutscene.
If that's true...
Lloyd lowered his weapon and dismissed the Firelink Greatsword, his gaze toward the girl changing slightly.
Could it be... she's his Fire Keeper?