YEAR 1703 — THE DEMON GATE
Before it was known as Tokyo, the city was called Edo. A port city in the east, built upon old marshlands and lands believed to be haunted by ancient spirits. Edo was a place where the sky hung low, and the earth still remembered the footsteps of gods. The city grew slowly, shaped by human hands, bamboo, and hope. Paper lanterns swayed along the streets, mist danced above the Sumida River, and in the distance, the beat of taiko drums marked the changing of the day.
Spring had just arrived. Cherry blossoms were starting to fall, dancing with the gentle night breeze. It should have been a peaceful night. But that night—everything the world knew\... crumbled.
The sky didn't thunder. It didn't crack with lightning or storms. It simply... opened.
Like skin being sliced, the night sky tore open into a pitch-black wound. No sound. No tremor. Only dark light—black that glowed like embers that refused to burn. And from it, something fell gently. It didn't crash into the earth. It didn't explode. It simply hovered—floating—in mid-air.
A gate, as tall as a temple tower, black and silent. Its carvings were not Japanese. Not of this world. Strange symbols like bones wrapped in threads, patterned like spells but felt like curses. Above it, five points of light blinked—stars that should not have been in that sky. They didn't shine. They... stared.
THE PEOPLE OF EDO WERE SHAKEN.
They gave it many names:
Yomotsu Kado — Gate of the Underworld.
Aka-no-To — Tower of Blood.
Ma no Tobira — The Devil's Door.
Priests from ancient temples climbed the mountains to pray. Onmyouji summoned guardian spirits and sealed the city with old wards. Samurai of the Tokugawa clan stood guard. But none could approach. Any who got too close... vanished, as if swallowed by the air. No trace. No sound.
Three days after its arrival, a tower emerged—right in the middle of Nihonbashi. It wasn't built. It grew. Like bone piercing the skin of the earth. It was cold, alive, and pulsing.
The tower obeyed no worldly logic. Gravity warped around it. Time felt uncertain. Some claimed to see their own faces speaking from the shadows. A child lost her shadow and never spoke again. Animals fled. Fish died in the rivers.
Then the voice came:
[Gate activated. Time remaining: 167:43:00.]
No source. No direction. Like the whisper of a dead god. Not everyone heard it—only the chosen. And with that, fear grew. What did the timer mean? Time until what?
No one knew—until the countdown ended.
---
THE FIRST GATE BREAK
When the final number reached zero, the world was given no chance to ask.
The gate opened.
As if something inside it pushed outward, slowly, patiently. Not an explosion, but a birth. What emerged wasn't yokai, or oni, or any creature from books or folklore.
They were pure horror.
Nameless beings. Their bodies looked like living charcoal, their skin melting like burning wax. Their mouths made no sound, but their screams echoed in the minds of those who saw them. Their eyes were hollow—like dolls—but any who met their gaze died in terror before being touched.
The Edo district fell in 27 minutes.
Homes burned. People ran. City walls collapsed, and rivers of blood replaced the streets. Samurai fought—and died. Priests prayed—and shattered. The night sky turned red, and a living city became a mass grave.
That night, history changed.
In the future, it would be called:
"THE DEMON GATE"
---
THE FIRST AWAKENING
Amidst the fire and ruin, something awoke within humanity.
A few people—not many—suddenly saw what others could not:
Transparent windows appeared in the air.
A foreign voice spoke inside their heads.
And before them, another door opened—not the great one in the sky, but a small one, just big enough for one person.
A personal door.
A Thresis.
Above the door, the words appeared:
[Choose: Enter... or lose everything.]
Those who stepped inside... were tested. Within, time and reality twisted. They fought, endured, and—if they succeeded—emerged changed. They became Players.
Not heroes. Not saviors. But weapons. Humanity's last hope.
Those who failed... were thrown back like hollow shells. No memory. No name. No tears. No death.
---
YEAR 2030 — THE PLAYER ERA
327 years have passed.
But the first wound never healed.
Gates... still open.
Towers... still rise.
And Thresis... continue to appear before the awakened.
The world is no longer as recorded in books. Everything has changed—not due to time, but because the world chose its new form: a reality where humans are no longer the sole rulers.
---
A WORLD SPLIT IN TWO
Now, humanity lives alongside forces greater than itself. Not everyone can see it. Not everyone can understand it. And not everyone is allowed inside.
There are two kinds of people:
1. Those who live ordinary lives.
They still work, study, love, raise families. They watch the news from afar, witnessing ruins and rebirth, but never participate. They are the majority, but no longer the center of the world.
2. Those who are "awakened."
They see the door. Not just any door, but a Thresis—a personal door that appears to only a chosen few. That door is no invitation. It is a trial, a filter, a sign that the person has been chosen to stand at the threshold between this world and the one beyond.
---
GOVERNMENTS NO LONGER HOLD FULL POWER
Now, Players are the pillars of strength.
They control three irreplaceable aspects of the new world:
Economy — through artifacts, mana crystals, and loot from Gates.
Security — with powers capable of destroying or saving a city alone.
Military — with Guilds, massive organizations rivaling national strength.
Governments still exist, but more as honored spectators. Many countries, including Japan, now depend on cooperation with Guilds and Player institutions.
In major cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, special Player districts have been built—complete with artifact markets, training zones, and even hospitals that use magic as therapy.
---
PLAYER ACADEMIES
Ordinary schools are slowly vanishing across half the world.
Children who show signs of a Thresis are immediately transferred to Player Academies, where they are trained from a young age:
Not just in theory.
They train in Gate-world combat simulations.
They study tactics, Roles, magic, weapons, even diplomacy with foreign entities.
Because once a Thresis appears, their life can never return to normal.
---
GATES AND TIME
Gates are no longer rare events.
They appear regularly—above cities, in oceans, even underground.
Each Gate has two markers:
Star Rating (★ to ★★★★★) — shows difficulty.
★ is for beginners.
★★★★★... only the strongest Players dare enter.
Floating Digital Timer — time before destruction.
If time runs out before it is cleared → Gate Break.
If all Players fail → Gate Break still happens.
Gate Break means local disaster: monsters spill out and destroy everything. Sometimes an entire city vanishes overnight. Sometimes just one district. But the damage is irreversible.
---
NEW CURRENCY: MANA ENERGY
Mana energy (Mana Crystals) from within Gates is now more valuable than gold.
Magic crystals, Time Fragments, monster bones, and artifacts from Tower floors—all worth millions of yen.
The government pays well.
The black market pays more.
Even private hospitals compete to buy healing fragments from Tower floors.
Many Players make a living here.
But many die for the same reason.
---
THE FIRST TOWER: UNREACHABLE CURSE
In the heart of Shinjuku stands a tower that has never moved since 1703.
The First Tower — often called 'The Mother of All Towers'
It is not just a building. It is a symbol. A curse. A mystery.
Since its appearance, the Tower has revealed hundreds of floors.
But no one has ever reached the top.
Each floor is a world of its own.
Sometimes a medieval fantasy world.
Sometimes a cyberpunk future dimension.
Sometimes a void world with a single blue sun and broken physics.
Some floors have their own civilizations.
Cities, villages, faction wars, even Players who choose to stay and become part of that world.
But no one has reached the final floor.
Because at the top, it's said that the answers lie:
Who created the Gates?
Who built the Towers?
And what is the purpose of the System?
---
Tokyo, Year 2030
Rain fell gently against the window of a fifth-floor apartment. Its patter tapped the glass like a reminder that the world outside still existed. But for Sakuraba Itsuki, that world had long ended.
His small room, six tatami in size, was warm not from a heater, but from a body used to surviving the cold. A dim fluorescent light flickered on the ceiling like a dying heartbeat. The air was damp and dusty, with peeling wooden walls. This apartment was no longer a home—just a pile of memories refusing to collapse.
The boy sat cross-legged on the floor, body hunched. In his hand was an old nylon cord—pale, dirty, still damp from the leak above. He didn't tremble from fear. But from cold, and exhaustion of holding on alone.
He was 15. Sakuraba Itsuki, a 10th grade student. He should've been studying, joining an art club, or complaining about homework. But that was a life from another world. The world before the fire.
A month ago, a ★★★ Gate appeared at the edge of this district. There was a warning. But people were used to threats. They thought it could be handled. A local Player—a hometown hero—went in too early, too confident. He never came back.
The timer ran out.
Gate Break occurred.
Monsters emerged—tall, burning charcoal bodies, long teeth, blank white eyes. They didn't kill. They erased. Homes, roads, people—all turned to dust and bone shards. The city couldn't respond. The government was too slow. The Player network wasn't strong enough.
Itsuki survived by hiding under his bed. He heard his mother calling from the other room, her voice frantic, then fading... then gone.
Since then, the world was different. No full electricity—only hours per day. No hot water. Aid came via drones once a week. School? No longer mattered. Friends vanished, one by one. Some became Players. Some became numbers in casualty reports.
Today, Itsuki decided: enough.
He stood slowly, dragging a small stool to the center of the room. The cord was tied to a ceiling hook. He didn't know if heaven existed. But he knew his mother was there. And that was enough.
His hand grasped the knot. Eyes closed. A slow breath...
Then—the world exhaled.
WUUUUUMMMMMM...
A deep sound, like a broken sky echo, filled the small space. Cold wind blew from nowhere—though all the windows were shut.
Itsuki opened his eyes. He stumbled backward, body shivering from the strange light that appeared before him.
In the middle of the room, a door stood.
Not a normal door.
Not wood. Not metal.
It was... a holographic door, made of fragmented light. Its colors like broken rainbows, spinning gently like quiet flames. In the center, five white stars glowed, pulsing like a heartbeat. A thin golden handle shimmered, too delicate to be real.
---
[THRESIS AWAKENED]
[Candidate Found: Sakuraba Itsuki.]
[Choice: Enter — or disappear forever.]
---
He stared at the door.
And the door... stared back.
---
To be Continued..