/I shall liberate you from this place./

It wasn’t just the conference hall where the man’s voice buzzed in everyone’s ears.

“Mom! My teddy bear is making strange noises!”

“Why is the connector making weird sounds all of a sudden?”

“Honey. Don’t you hear a sound coming from the TV? It’s not even turned on, right?”

“What’s wrong with my radio?”

People from all over the world were having similar experiences. The man’s voice rang out from the DIO connector, TVs, radios, PCs, electronic clocks, and even mechanical dolls—basically any electronic device that was capable of making sounds. Right after the man finished speaking, the world fell into silence.

Except for a very small number of people who lived deep in the mountains with no electronic devices nearby, almost the entire population of humanity was forcibly connected to DIO.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

“My God! I was in the middle of driving!”

“I was on a plane! Is it okay for me to be here?”

“No, wait… Why can’t I log out!?”

Upon arriving at Starting, Merlin ignored the panic-stricken noises the users were making and headed straight for the Guardian Tower at the center of Starting’s central square.

“Dang, it’s...