Hollow

Lucifer exited the hotel and was taking a stroll through Neo-Tokyo.

The day wasn't particularly warm, nor was it dark. The city of neon lights was quite lively this time of day. The sun was just rising up on the horizon, even then, the sunlight barely came through.

He glanced around, the place was bustling and full of people. There were all sorts of people out and about. Some in a hurry, some wandering about. Some out for a morning jog or a bit of exercise. He himself was walking quite leisurely, without a destination.

"So this is a normal day in a city 85 years in the future..."

He mused internally.

Lucifer's gaze took in the people around them. The ones that caught his eye were the augmented among them. He saw all sorts, those with eyes replaced with cybernetic ones, those with metal arms, legs, and all sorts.

The whole city was dominated by the cybernetic revolution and pollution.

As he walked, Lucifer glanced up into the sky, at the polluted air. The smog was so thick, it completely hid the sky and one could barely make out the glass dome covering the city.

The air had a slight smell to it, a mix of pollution, chemicals, and smoke, yet no one seemed to mind. It was normal, they were clearly used to it.

He could feel his lungs burning, even though they weren't as he wasn't affected by pollution, which was a real status effect in hollow which he had immunity to thanks to a item. He walked past a café on a corner. A few patrons were drinking coffee outside. Not far away, a cyberware stall had opened early.

Lucifer glanced at the wares on display. Cybernetic eyes, arms, legs, implants of all kinds. They were displayed in glass cases, in all their shiny glory, as if on display.

"How strong are they.."

He muttered to himself.

He was genuinely curious about how strong a person with maybe a fully cybernetic body or a cyborg would be. While continuing his stroll, Lucifer mulled over the cyberware and the augments he had seen on display, but he didn't know the details.

The technology really has advanced.

There were so many kinds of cyberware.

Arms, legs, eyes, internal organs, bones, all of them could be replaced with cybernetic ones. And the most expensive and powerful ones weren't even sold on the open market, probably.

He was curious about how strong a military grade cybernetic body would be.

Would it rival a blood knight' in strength?

Can cyberware bypass his physical attack resistance?

He shook his head, such a thing is impossible.

No mere cybertech could hope to even scratch him. Even then, a cybernetic body would still be far more powerful than any human who uses them like a level 1 player wearing a legendary set of armour.

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He was very curious about how the technology worked.

How did the cyberware work in conjunction with the human brain? How did the person control the cybernetic parts of their body? How was the communication link achieved? All these questions flooded his mind as he kept walking. He was very interested in the development of technology, and in his era, such technology was considered impossible but now the impossible was possible, right in front of his eyes.

Speaking of cyberware, he was reminded of something.

Oh yes, how could he forget.

He needed a computer but sadly for him, there weren't any available. No one used computer's nowadays, well, they did but not the ones he was familiar with, not to mention Hiroshi had told him how during world war III — most of the world's internet had been lost, thus an entirely new global net called GBI (global internet) 2.0 was made.

What he really was after was information about Hollow.

Hollow.

The game from which he had been transmigrated from to the future.

He had been teleported 1 year after hollow had been out in the public but it had enough content to last for ten more years.

If he could discover more information about it, he would maybe have clues to what happened to him but it was really a futile hope.

Anything from before 2040 had been wiped and there was no way hollow would last 17 years. He sighed, the game's developers were long gone, the company as well most probably.

It was hopeless, he had almost accepted that fact, though a small part of him was holding on to a shred of hope.

He was just being idealistic.

Of course, he had already accepted the idea that he couldn't go back but it couldn't hurt to try, to atleast find closure, to find out why he was here.

And, he already had an idea for what he wanted to do since he — an immortal being — as higher demons don't age — will fix this world.

And by "fixing" he didn't mean going on a rampage and committing genocide, he just wanted to get rid of the pollution. But, this was a second option.

His first option was just to find if anyone from his time was still alive and spend time with them.

However, the world has already changed so much, he doubted that anybody he knew would have survived for so long, still, he couldn't give up.

That's why all ten blood knight's which he had created were spread out all over japan and their leader was dark — the level 60 doppelganger which he had summoned.

He could always create more later but they should do fine for now. After all, the person whom dark was imitating was the smartest person Lucifer knew — Loncinate.

One of his friends and the main strategist for angels of hell.

He chuckled.

The man was a master strategist but outside that, he was an idiot.

He had no idea how to interact with people and was a shut-in, he was good at nothing besides war and he lived to wage war.

It was ironic how someone so good at war and so good at planning was so bad as a human.

He was basically a military genius and absolutely nothing else, he could have had a very good carrier in the military if not for his cerebel palsy, because of that he didn't have many friends and so his closest friends were him and other people from AOH.

Loncinate had a knack for predicting enemy movements, he could basically read his opponent's like a book and predict how they will act based on their previous battles and their personalities. This was the reason he was known as the "Military genius."

Lucifer thought about all those times he had to get Loncinate to socialize. The man was like the embodiment of a NEET but was too smart for his own good. Thinking about him made Lucifer want to laugh.

He was one of his best friends after all.

And so he did.

To anyone walking by, he'll probably look like a weird cosplayer but meh.

Who cares.

The more Lucifer thought about his friends and his past, the more nostalgic he felt. He wanted to see them, he wanted to see them so bad.

"I hope you all are fine. I'll find you guys, eventually. Just wait for me."

Having muttered that to himself in a somber tone, he looked around.

He was lost.

He'd been so lost in his thoughts that he had completely neglected his surroundings and now, he had absolutely no idea where he was. He had no idea which part of this city's streets he was in. He was completely aimless and wandering aimlessly like this will bring him nowhere. Looking around and seeing that the roads were clear, he walked into an alley, and then:

"[True teleportation]."

He disappeared.