Alina Ashcroft. Young lady of House Ashcroft. A woman that hid only one secret. A secret that is kept in the depths of her heart...that seemed to be in the clutches of a certain evil villainess...?
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[Loading....creating major system components....healing predecessor's body....healing complete....update complete.]
[Recalibrating...uploading files...loading visuals...]
[All major systems online.]
[Welcome back to the realm of the living, Alina.]
A young woman laid on a bed covered in rich silk and animal fur, her black hair splayed out and her eyes soft and uncertain.
The girl opened her eyes and saw three panels hovering. Seeing the screen, only one thought ran through her head as her lips curved in an wry smile.
'What is happening...' The girl thought as she grazed her abdomen.
Moments before she awoke in this...body, she had suffered a deathly blow through her abdomen from a hit and run. Feeling the soft skin under the silk, she knew one thing was for sure.
She was given another chance to live.
This time...she'll live it fully to her heart's content.
At least...that was what she wanted to do.
She looked up at the ceiling that had stars that seemed too realistic and back to the balcony at the bedside where tall skyscrapers stood.
Two "Suns" were raising, casting the sky in a soft yellow and orang hue. The bed was impossibly soft under her, and it felt like she could just melt in it and never wake up.
'Weird, this world really looks like that otome game I used to play when I was like, 16...what's the name again? Vanishing...Vanishing Tru- wait...there's no way...right?' The woman thought as she walked to the mirror, her steps staggering as she got used to her new height.
Looking at the mirror at the vanity table strewn with makeup and facial care products among other things, what she expected to see, brown hair and dark pupils and...her C-cups, was gone.
Instead of brown hair and dark hazel pupils, she was met with a girl that had stunning ocean baby blue pupils and smooth black hair. Her skin was soft and alabaster, unlike her previous tanned skin. Her chest seemed like it was smaller and felt visibly lighter.
'D-cups? Where did...y'know what, I'll take it. It's better than going through that situation. Also, did I get...taller?'
The girl thought, suddenly thinking about a certain black haired girl in a novel she once read in an app called Webbnov.
The story was about a girl that reincarnated as a snow girl and had all her bust gone, replaced by a runway. A story that had her sobbing for a whole week because of the ending.
She shook her head and decided to take things in a positive sight, even though her bust had downgraded.
'At least I got taller,' the girl sighed as she touched the black hair that flowed like silk over her shoulders.'
Just then, she looked back in the mirror before getting stunned. Soon enough, she came to a not-so-shocking realization as she stared her new face in the mirror.
The face that was staring back at her looked extremely familiar. A pit grew in her insides, churning as she trembled lightly.
"Have I reincarnated into...N-no, NO WAY", the girl practically squealed out of shock and...excitement?
Once again, shocked from the light and soft voice that came out of her mouth instead of the gruff and low tone she adopted by drinking and smoking too much.
'This means I, Selene, truly am in the world of Vanishing Truths. That otome game that had me spending money carelessly just to reach all the endings and achievements with the characters.' Selene smiled wryly as she went through her memories of Vanishing Truths.
Vanishing Truths was an otome game about a girl attracting affection from many potential partners, men and women alike, while going on adventures and perilous events.
That main character had beautiful and stunning emerald eyes and curly pink hair- a trait that only those blessed by the Goddess of Affection had. Basic otome-harem adventure game plot.
With her charm and character, she garnered affection points from her 'friends' and would be the one to lead them to victory against the villainess, Estelle Killian.
The daughter-heir of a renowned family known for their...assassination work.
With her party, the main character would defeat the evil villain and save the world from total destruction.
In Vanishing Truths, adventure and love go hand in hand to create a new experience that not even teenage her was ready.
Downloading the game has caused her to lose money, cry over sad scenes, squeal and kick her legs on her bed over cheesy character lines. And now? Now she has the chance to experience it all again.
And the characters in the game...
"Hehe...I can finally interact with those characters and...h-hold hands...", the girl grinned as she thought about the characters in the game she used to play as a teenager years ago.
The thought of the characters in the game and their stunning visuals even in pixels, made the girl blush and fangirl for another few more moments, wondering how they will look now, as real people that she can touch and feel...before turning her attention back to the character she was currently inhabiting.
"Black hair, red eyes, and...a charming voice."
Selene spoke as the tips of her fingers grazed her lips and her eyes looking back up at her figure in the mirror.
"And the screens called me...Alina?"
Selene muttered as she tried to look back at the screens that appeared in the field of vision when she first woke up. As if it could sense her intentions, the screens reappeared in her sights.
It was black and red. The white letters in normal font practically blared at her from how close they appeared.
Selene jerked her head back as a subconscious response before cursing the floating panels under her breath.
"F*cking hell!!"
The sudden appearance of the panels almost made her stumble to her backside. Luckily, Selene was quick to calm down. As she placed her hand on her chest to calm her otherwise racing heart, she took a deep breath and held back her anger.
'Now is not the time to be mad at the system for blasting my sight with panels. What's important it that I...'
The girl's thoughts trailed off as she started to read through the messages.
[Loading....creating major system components....healing predecessor's body....healing complete....update complete.]
[Recalibrating...uploading files...loading visuals...]
[All major systems online.]
[Welcome back to the realm of the living, Alina.]
[Please activate the system by selecting the options below.]
[Dream Chaser System] - [Accept] / [Decline]
[Absolute Lover System] - [Accept] / [Decline]
Deciding to ignore the last three panels, she coughed into her fist and smiled wryly as she closed her eyes and took a seat on the soft bed.
'A-anyways, who's Alina again...?' The girl frowned as she tried to think back to her teenage years. Ten years have passed since she first played that game, and her mind felt extremely cloudy on the topic of this specific otome game.
Scanning through her memories, she finally found a reference. She froze in shock as she once again inspected her person.
'This...can't be. There's no way I have reincarnated into...her...right?'
The person she was talking about was no other than Alina Ashcroft, the hidden end boss of Vanishing Truths.
This girl was a background character at the start, never getting too close with the main leads, so everyone, including the players and even herself at some point, thought that she was just a random NPC that was just there to fill the room.
However, when Selene was playing another round of Vanishing Truths, she wanted to try and beat the game without triggering any achievements, which was hard.
Well, hard was an understatement. Not getting any achievements meant not interacting with the main characters and getting any powerups, using only easter egg gifts and the current starter skillset, which she can't even advance without triggering the said achievements.
The reason she decided to put herself through months of torture is because she had once read a challenge in the official website forums.
It was saying that the game producers would give a hundred grand to the person that could beat the game without achievements or interacting with the main leads, which was equivalent to ignoring half of the purpose of the game.
Encouraged by the money and a reason to keep playing the game, she steeled herself and started playing the game again.
When she got to the boss room, she was not met with the cold, black haired villainess. Instead, she stumbled upon Alina, a random side character, killing the villainess with a powerful swing of her pitch black sword.
But other than that event, the hidden end boss remained an NPC until the player decides to barge into the boss room without their 'companions' and op gear.
'Alina Ashcroft, the developers' favorite jump scare to all the players that attempted the Achievement-less run. She could kill the player with insane speed. Speed that is always higher than the player, no matter how many relics the player had bought and/or equipped.'
'Beating her was next to impossible. I couldn't have done it without doing countless runs and buying my way out of death each time I died. And now...'
Selene looked at the mirror, seeing the frail girl staring back at her. She seemed smaller than how the original Alina looked in the boss room. Skinnier and...weaker?
'Now I'm her.'
There was no doubt now. She can't possibly return to her Earth, since her body there was stabbed during the hit and run, meaning she's probably dead there.
This is her life now. Her new one. And she's going to live quietly as a side character, admiring the main leads from afar (totally not simping over them) and avoiding as many main events as possible.