The girl had surrendered to despair. Despair in life, in fate, and in one of the many tragic endings so common to this world.
She was the daughter of a traveling merchant. Her parents had been exceptionally cautious, even hiring adventurers for protection. The problem was that those adventurers were in league with bandits. Her father was the first to fall, murdered by the very man hired to protect him. While her mother was being violated before her husband's severed head, she managed to bite a piece out of one of the bandits. It was a final, desperate act of defiance, but it only earned her a slow death as the infuriated man stabbed her repeatedly.
The bandits watched it all and laughed, as if they were enjoying a captivating performance.
As for the girl, she was marked for death. Selling her into slavery was too risky—she could be traced—so they decided to dispose of her.
"I'm bored with this one today, so I’ll deal with her tomorrow!" one of the bandits declared. With that, they severed the tendons in her arms and legs. To ensure she wouldn't bleed out before they were finished with her, they crudely cauterized the wounds with burning wood snatched from the campfire.
She was kept alive just enough to suffer, yet rendered utterly unable to flee.
As the girl stood on the precipice of this agonizing end, a Spirit reached out a whimsical hand of salvation.
『Will you offer everything to the Spirit?』
"..."
『Will you offer everything to the Spirit?』
"...give... I'll give it all... so..."
She thought she was hallucinating.
It was only natural that the girl felt no hesitation in grasping that hand. Whether it was a delusion or not didn't matter in the least.
"Anything... I'll give you everything... just... kill them... kill them all...!"
『O-o! Her default face is actually pretty good, da-o! But I think I'll go all out on the Character Creation this time, da-o!』
After an entire night spent painstakingly remodeling her body, the girl was no longer the same person.
"Phew, even I have to say the quality is top-tier. A magnificent piece of work, da-o! Copyright-character reproduction: successful, da-o!!"
She now possessed long black twin-tails, pale skin, and deep blue eyes. A blue, flame-like Halo floated behind her head. Not a single trace of her original form remained; it was as if her severed tendons had never been more than a bad dream. Even the rags barely covering her body took on the appearance of some kind of edgy, punk fashion.
"My name is Ma... mm-mm, that’s a bit much as it is. Let's tweak it a bit—Alto! It’s Alto-chan, da-o!"
The Spirit had descended. The girl's body now belonged to the Spirit, in both name and reality. Ownership of her physical form had shifted to the entity; the girl, now reduced to a Halo, watched blankly as her new body moved. So this is what it means to be Spirit-possessed, she realized.
Suddenly, she noticed she could no longer recall her original name. But then, that was something Alto no longer needed.
"Oh? A Tutorial. Exterminate the bandits... ho-ho! Come to think of it, Alto-chan’s backstory was that she was kidnapped by bandits, da-o!"
The Spirit laughed—"Ah-ha-ha!"—while testing out the body's movements.
Alerted by the laughter, a bandit kicked the door. "Shut up in there! It's too damn early for this! You gone crazy?!"
Such threats meant nothing to the Spirit. In fact, they were quite the opposite.
"...The game begins, da-o!!"
With a twisted grin, the Spirit manifested a massive black mass from thin air. He slid his hand into the cylindrical object, braced it, and aimed at the bandit through the door.
"Bang!!"
A boulder shot from the black mass, obliterating both the door and the bandit behind it.
"Oh, the kill count advanced, da-o. 1 out of 11! Only 10 more to go, da-o. Ah, but first, I should check the controls, da-o."
With those words, he began stepping briskly from side to side.
Drawn by the noise, another bandit... no, another mob, and then another, crowded into the room.
"Whoa! What the hell is this...?!"
"W-what’s she doing? Why is she hopping back and forth so fast? Hey, wasn't this where the girl was locked up?"
"Rapid-pressing gives me a Quick Step, and jumping is... Ah, can I use Controller Controls for this too, da-o? Also, Rolling is..."
Ignoring the bandits who were keeping a wary distance, the Spirit began performing forward rolls.
"N-now she’s rolling around?! Right toward the wall!"
"Has she lost her mind? Wait, where did this girl even come from...?"
"Oops. Looks like they're gathering, da-o! Excellent service, da-o!"
With a metallic click, the Spirit casually aimed the black mass—an Ancient Civilization Weapon that functioned like a gun or a cannon—at the group.
The girl had already realized the terrifying nature of this weapon. To be fair, it was impossible to miss. By simply moving a finger, he could end a life.
"Bang!!"
Just as expected, with a simple flick of a finger, the bandits were blown apart with spectacular ease.
"Hyah-ha! Trash! Total trash! Only 6 left!"
"S-she’s Spirit-possessed! You’ve got to be kidding me! The girl became Spirit-possessed! This is bad, run for it!"
"No escapes allowed, da-o! You're all fodder for my Tutorial, da-o!"
"Uwaaaaaa!!!"
The bandits scrambled in a panic.
A few brave souls tried to charge, but the Spirit merely aimed the weapon with cold precision. "Is this a QTE, da-o?" he asked, before blowing them away.
When some tried to hide in the shadows, the Spirit tracked them down with a terrifying, predatory smile—though her face remained that of a peerless beauty. "You're totally visible on the map, da-o. Found you!"
One man managed to scramble out of the shack and paused to catch his breath, thinking he was safe. The Spirit glanced toward the window and fired.
"Hmph. Another worthless thing shot down, da-o..."
The bandit's head vanished, and his body slumped to the ground.
Watching from the Halo, the girl was undoubtedly laughing. It was a very, very entertaining show.
Once the bandits were exterminated, the Spirit thoroughly looted the hideout. He found the bodies of her parents along with various stolen goods, which he promptly stored away into the void.
Among the loot were many items and mementos that had belonged to the girl’s parents. Naturally, the rights to these items now belonged to the Spirit. She had offered him everything, after all. She had no complaints about how the Spirit, who had granted her revenge, chose to use them.
She felt no resentment, though a faint pang of loneliness lingered.
"Oh, this black belt looks useful, da-o! Hmm, it’s stylish. I’ll pair this with the coat for a while, da-o!"
The Spirit wrapped the belt that had once belonged to her father around his waist. He seemed quite pleased with the find.
As he hummed in satisfaction, the loneliness the girl felt faded just a little.