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A New Otherworlder Bursts Onto the Scene – Part 06

Let’s rewind a few minutes.

The lights went out, casting everything into darkness.

Oh no, a technical glitch, thought the admin of the Different World Verification channel. After hyping up viewers about the new otherworlder, the live stream began with a bizarre action scene.

The video quality wasn’t perfect, worsened by the restream from the original channel. Despite this, viewers stayed on because they trusted the Different World Verification channel—trust that there would be something interesting later, which only added pressure on the admin—and the realism of the stream.

Indeed, what was happening on screen looked realistic, simply because it was being shot with a single camera. Sometimes it veered off in the wrong direction, and raindrops stuck to the lens filter, causing distortion. Nevertheless, the camera diligently tracked a lone boy, whose movements exhibited a dynamism akin to that of an action star.

This kid… Yeah, who is this kid?

He was wearing an unfamiliar outfit, and his face was covered with a silver mask.

Common chat messages included:

“Is this silver-masked person from another world?”

“No way. He’s wearing a mask, but he looks Japanese.”

“It’s hard to tell without him using magic.”

Despite negative chat messages, some positive ones emerged.

“This channel is streaming it, so it might be the real deal.”

“He moves better than a pro, but it’s weird to me how the guys in ski masks suddenly act like they lose sight of him. By the way, I have experience in martial arts.”

“Why don’t you tell us what this is, admin?”

Ultimately, it all led to that one demand.

I would love to know that myself!

The admin checked other similar channels, but they were just as clueless. While admins from foreign channels made unique speculations and displayed them on the screen, the chat messages were negative.

“If you don’t know, don’t post, loser.”

“Get rid of the text on the screen. If you don’t know, just say you don’t know. Like Different World Verification.”

“Then go watch that channel,” the admin retorted.

“There’s a language barrier in the chat. I wanna go there, so identify the location as soon as possible. Got it? Now shut up.”

And thus, the chatters destroyed the admin.

I’m glad I didn’t comment. The Different World Verification channel admin felt relieved. I see. A lot of people want to go to this place.

Reading through the comments on foreign channels again, there were many such sentiments. The darkness and rain, coupled with the fact that it was a private residence surrounded by a fence, limited the information available in the video. Heavy rain was also falling over a wide area in Japan tonight, making it difficult to narrow down the location.

The people with ski masks firing handguns were presumed to be mafia from mainland China, and several mafia names were suggested based on the faint accents in their voices. Serious chats like ‘What is Japan’s police doing?’ or ‘This is a real incident. Has it been reported?’ stood out.

Japanese viewers, on the other hand, were skeptical, regarding the stream as a recording or an amateur tokusatsu¹ film. It didn’t occur to them that this was happening in real-time, and they could go to this place if they made an effort to locate it.

In the midst of all this, the video suddenly went completely dark, causing chaos in the chat.

“Wait, is that it?”

“Where’s the new otherworlder?”

Chat messages like these began pouring in.

What? They didn’t tell me this was it! the admin thought.

No one had actually told him anything, but this was beside the point. While the admin was panicking, the lights suddenly returned.

Thank goodness.

Then, there came a voice speaking in Japanese.

“I really don’t wanna help the guy who clobbered me, but motherfuckers messing up Fujinota pisses me off more!”

It sounded close to the camera.

The chat immediately filled with comments related to the town of Fujinota.

“Fujii… no what?”

“Fujinota in Y Prefecture?”

“So this is happening in Fujinota.”

“Trying to show off your hometown or something?”

While the name Fujinota was unfamiliar to foreigners, it was still the name of a place. Pinpointing its location was swift. Satellite images were thoroughly examined, and ten minutes later, the Doyama residence, the site of this battle, was identified.

The term Fujinota Town suddenly trended on foreign social media, but most Japanese were unaware of it.

A lot had happened in those ten minutes.

The masked individuals aimed their guns at the roof—in other words, the camera. The roof tiles right next to the camera were hit, and the microphone picked up the sound of shattering.

“Oh, shit. I jumped.”

“So realistic.”

While Japanese chats were calm…

“Judging by the muzzle flash, it’s a real gun. The shooter’s skill is impressive.”

…in foreign chats, the type of gun had already been identified.

The protagonist, the silver-masked boy, seemed to have cornered the enemy, but the enemy showed no signs of being perturbed.

Suddenly, the boy raised his right hand.

---

“What’s that signal for?”

The enemy leader looked puzzled, but Hikaru remained calm and simply raised his gaze. The leader followed his eyes and spotted someone standing on top of the fence.

She wore a cloak like the boy, but the low hood concealed her face. Judging by her physique and what seemed like a skirt, he assumed it was a girl.

“…”

The girl said something, but the mafia leader couldn’t understand the meaning behind the words. It was an unfamiliar language. Despite being a mafia figure with linguistic knowledge covering around 90% of the world’s population, he didn’t recognize the language.

This is bad.

Whether it was just intuition, or perhaps the occasional supernatural senses he felt, he didn’t know.

“Run!”

As the leader shouted, the girl extended her hand forward.

“Flame Wall!”

A wall of flames emerged with a whoosh on the few meters of space between the mafia and the fence. It was about 20 meters wide, instantly illuminating the surroundings. Not only that, but with the appearance of the flames, hot winds swept through, and several men tumbled on the spot. The rapid rise in temperature caused steam to rise.

“Wh-What is this?”

The leader stood in disbelief, gazing at a girl whose hood had been swept away by the hot wind, unveiling her face.

She had beautiful, flowing silver hair and mystic blue eyes. The flickering flames cast reflections on her silver mask.

“Like I said: you’re not going anywhere.”

By then, Hikaru had already taken down the gigantic man. Capitalizing on his vulnerability when confronted with the sudden wall of flames, victory came swiftly.

“You set a trap?! No, that’s not it. I don’t smell any gunpowder or fuel in these flames. And the color is that of pure fire. It isn’t possible. Don’t tell me… you’re from the other—”

The leader’s words were abruptly cut off.

An immense white fireball was hurtling toward him. Upon contact with the flames, a deafening roar erupted. The leader thought he heard a voice, but he never knew what it was.

Consciousness slipped away. Not just him, but everyone in proximity to the leader was engulfed by the flames and crumpled to the ground.

And there lay the bodies of the assailants, unscathed.

---

“A mage! Let’s gooooooooo!”

“Wait, legit magic? It’s gotta be some kind of special fx, no?”

“It didn’t look like explosives. Can flames just shoot out vertically like that?”

“I thought it could be a vertical nozzle from the ground releasing gas, but the color doesn’t match. It’s the color of flames you get from burning wood. And creating such a clean wall is impossible.”

“So, it’s magic?”

“A mage! Hell yeah!”

“Could it be Serika?”

“Huh? Hold on.”

“Hood.”

“I can see.”

“A girl?”

“Silver hair!”

“A silver-haired beauty wearing a mask!”

“Stunning and wearing a mask? Now we’re talking.”

“Zoom in with the camera!”

The chat buzzed with excitement, and the overseas reactions mirrored the fervor. Terms like “silver hair” and “female mage” flooded the conversation.

“H-Hold on.”

“Ahhh!”

“Rip bozo.”

“Reduced to ashes!”

As the assailants were enveloped in white flames, a cacophony of hellish screams ensued.

“What’s with that white flame? Is that even possible?”

“It has to be special effects. You can’t stream a murder.”

“Down and dead.”

“Reported.”

The admin of the Different World Verification channel silently pleaded to be spared from trouble. No, he was already pleading. If the stream was terminated, there could be penalties for running the channel.

Yet the admin—as well as the viewers witnessing the spectacle—couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

After the white flames dissipated, the attackers lay there unscathed, devoid of burns or wounds.