Hajime stood there with his arms up to protect his face and his eyes tightly shut. The world around him seemed to have stopped as he waited for something to happen, but nothing ever did. Finally, when a few minutes passed with nothing trying to kill him he slowly opened his eyes.

Looking around in shock and amazement, the first thing to catch his eyes was an enormous mural. It stood about 10 meters tall,and in front of it stood a statue with androgynous features and long flowing blonde hair. The mural itself was drawn with grassy plains, a glimmering lake, and towering mountain peaks that were almost real enough to touch. The statue stood their both of its hands extended like it was waiting for a hug as light from the windows above created a halo around its head. It was a beautiful mural, but something about the statue's cold eyes sent a shiver down his spine.

When he looked around again, he noticed that they were in a massive marble hall with towering stone pillars holding up the dome shaped ceiling. The whole place looked like a great cathedral or some famous house of worship, but the entire place was chilled by a solemn atmosphere.

It seemed that Hajime and the rest of his class were at the top of a marble pedestal that held them two meters above the floor. His fellow classmates looking around with outrageous expressions at what they were seeing. Apparently, everyone that was present in the classroom at that time were caught up in… whatever that light was.

Hajime glanced behind his back and caught Kaori, Kouki, Shizuku, and Ryu all with the same deer-in-headlights look that decorated everyone’s face.

Looking down, Hajime saw people surrounding the pedestal. All of them wore frilly white robes embroidered with gold, and staffs that spread out like a fan at the tip. At least 30 people were surrounded them, all on their knees in prayer to some unknown god.

One priest who looked to be about 70 years old and wore some formal hat that stood 30 cm off his head stepped forward towards them. He wore a flashy robe that wouldn’t have stood out in a lord of the rings convention and his staff glittered with the golden disks that hung off its fan. He might have passed for someone doing a cosplay in his other world, but judging from the groveling of the priests near him, he was a man of importance here.

With the staff in his hand the old priest spoke to them with the clear and calming voice of a grandfather.

“Welcome to Tortus, our Hero and his fellow countrymen. We welcome you all. I am called Ishtar Lombard and I am the Pope of the Church of Saints. Please, let’s get along.”

After he introduced himself, he showed a smile that looked like he'd stepped on a lego.

* * *

Hajime and his classmates followed the strange priest through the great hall of what he assumed to be a church to a roomed lined up with tables and silverware, the dinning pavilion apparently. Nobody made any noise as they were guided to their tables and sat down without any protests. Their minds to busy trying to work out what happened to them to question why the “priest” who had kidnapped them has serving them lunch. As He looked around, Hajime could practically feel the bewilderment of his fellow classmates. Even Kouki, with his EX Charisma and uncompromising bravery, was silent and rigid as a plank of wood. Aiko-sensei had tried to gather the students as best she could, but as far as he could tell, if Ishtar didn’t explain the situation soon, he was going to have to deal with a mob of panicked high school students.

When everyone was seated, a group of maids entered pushing carts. The majority of the class boys stared at them, their adolescent minds getting the best of them even in a life or death situation. Though the girls were sending cold glares at them.

Hajime watched one of the one’s serving the drinks and wondered why they were only slightly less rigid than the students…but for some reason he felt a chill down his spine. When he tried to fight the direction it was coming from , all he saw was the “priest” smiling at him. So, he decided to stop looking before he got hurt.

Ishtar then started his explanation after he confirmed that everyone had gotten a drink.

“I’m sure you are all confused. I will explain first, so please listen till the end before asking any questions.”

After that, Ishtar arbitrarily explained the fantasy situation they were in, at least to Hajime’s mind, like he was reciting some lines he practiced in the other room.

In summary.

First, the world was called Tortus. They were specifically on the "holy continent", where there were three major races contesting for ownership of the entire landmass. The Humans, The Devils, and the demi-humans all claimed their own chunk of land and were trying to were trying to either steal everyone else's or were guarding theirs with paranoia. The Humans ruled over the north area. The Devils ruled over the south area. The demi-humans lived in the wilderness to the east.

Of these, the Humans and Devils have been in a war for several hundred years. Devil's as a race were much stronger than a Humans and some could live for centuries, but Humans were larger in number and controlled most of the continents wealth and metals. Both sides have been in several large-scale wars over the centuries, but they have always been in a cold war during times of peace. Recently there has been abnormal amounts of wild monsters, and the Humans think the Devils are getting ready for war.

Monsters are said to be wild animals that were exposed to massive sources of magic and were irreversibly altered. They became violently uncontrollable, gained powers similar to the magecraft, and some would even gain a higher (albeit warped) intelligence. Until now there have been very few people that could control them. Many monsters for the most part, are untameable and would just as well eat anyone as befriend them. Even with the ones that were tamable, the most talented human tamers could only control 1 or 2 monsters at most without risking their lives.

The opposite was true for Devils though. A Devil’s connection with magic allows even the youngest and most untalented devil-child to keep useful monsters as pets.These monster-pets are called familiars, and due their connection with a source of magical power, they become many times stronger than any natural monster. This meant that the Humans no longer had their number advantage in battle and have been forced to used "other means" to keep the stalemate.

“The one who summoned you here wass Eht-sama. He is the god that protects our race, the highest god worshiped in the Church of Saints and the creator of this world. Eht-sama has realized that if things remained as they are, his most beloved race would face destruction. For this reason he chose to summon you, his chosen, to do his work in this world. The world you come from is of great wealth and knowledge, such assets would be invaluable to the cause of fighting the demon scourge.

With your powers, we will overthrow the Devils and save the Humans race, by the will of Eht-sama!”

Ishtar said this with a very rapt expression. He was most likely giving a speech he'd already said a hundred times before, but most of the students were still to shocked and confused to care. More than 90% of Humans followed the teachings of the Church, and that its power spans the length of the human kingdoms. Though Hajime knew from experience on his world, the only way to get so many people to follow one religion is if those who questioned the church were frequently wiped out in some “crusade”.

Hajime wondered if that was also the “Will of God”. He felt that Ishtar wasn’t telling them everything about the world or what they faced, though, it was probably in the churches best interest if they didn't. He was spinning a convincing enough tale for many of the students here, who were would probably believe anything in this situation.

“Please don’t joke around! You’re asking children to fight a war! I won’t allow such a thing! I will absolutely not allow such a thing! Please let us return! Surely, their families will be worried about them! What you have done is merely kidnapping!”

Aiko-sensei yelled out in a furious tone. Kowadoni Aiko was a social studies teacher, she was 25 years old and had been a part of Sando high of almost 7 years since her internship. She had a baby like face, stood 170 cm tall, her hair was done in a bob cut, and she was about as intimidating as an angry puppy, but for her student’s sake she always tried her best. She would more often than not try to protect her students from things like bullies or over-zealous parents even though she wasn’t any physically stronger than the average person.This had earned her the respect of her students and the nickname Ai-chan around the school, even if she got angry when they referred to her as such. She was a dignified teacher and the person in front of her was putting her students in danger.

“I sympathize with your feelings. Unfortunately we have no way to return you.”

Silence filled the halls. I was like a cold wind blew through the room as everyone gazed at Ishtar, not knowing what to say to that.

“That’s impossible, what do you mean you can't send us back? If what your saying is true, you teleported an entire class filled with people immeasurable distance between planets, and you expect me to believe you can't send us back!”

Aiko-sensei shouted in indignation.

“As I said earlier, it was Eht-sama that summoned you! The magic that interferes with other worlds is a magic we humans cannot use! Whether or not you can return it is left up to Eht-sama to decide!”

“It's not possible…”

Aiko-sensei lost her strength her chair like a stone. The students started to get agitated.

“Lies! Why can’t we return?”

“Iyaa. I just want to go home!”

“Don’t even joke about that! Don’t mess with us, how can we fight a war!”

“Why, Why, Why…”

The students started to panic at the situation. Hajime looked around the room and thought to himself, “the poor guy dug his own grave”. He and some other classmates however, being exposed to anime and manga, had read many stories about situations like this one. He was shocked at first, just like everyone else, but as the priest started explaining about this world he recognized these patterns. It was just like a manga, and he wasn’t the only one to realize this. Looking around the room he saw Shizuku was animatedly trying to comfort a girl looked like she was about to cry. Halime could see that familiar glint in her eyes like they’d just announced a new season of her favorite samurai fanfiction.

While the people around him began to panic, Ishtar was just calmly watching the students’ reactions and choose to let it flow naturally. However, Hajime could see that behind that calm expression there was contempt for them. The priest was probably thinking that they should be honored to be picked by his lord Eht-sama.

Still, the panic didn't settle down that easily. Kouki stood up, slamming his fist into the table with a bang, and earned the surprised attention of everyone in the room. When he confirmed that he had everyone’s eyes, Kouki started Speaking in a tone that reminded Hajime the speech from Pacific Rim.

“Everyone, there is no reason to make so much noise in front of Ishtar-san. He had nothing to do with it. The people of this world are facing a crisis, that much we all know. For me that’s enough, I cannot ignore their pleas for help.…Me, I’m going to fight. If I was summoned to save humans, I want to help them, and if we help them together, we may be able to return to our world. Ishtar-san, how about it?”

“Right, Eht-sama will answer the wishes of the Saviors.”

“We all have special powers right? Since I came here I’ve been feeling this sense of power.”

“Yes, that’s right. Roughly, each of you have powers several times stronger than in your old world. The mana in this world should bring them to the surface with proper training.”

“Then it’s okay. I’ll fight. I’ll save people, and then we can all go home. I’ll save the world and everyone, you’ll see!”

Kouki gripped his fists tightly as quoted the epic speech from the reincarnation themed video game they played last week. Though when he showed his bright, sparkling smile, there was no doubt that his EX charisma had worked its magic. The students that were losing their minds just moments ago began to calm down and looked almost invigorated. Kouki’s eyes shined so brightly they seemed to radiate hope to many of his onlookers. Half of the school girls sent him admiring glances.

“I thought you'd say something like that. If I left you alone, I'd worry about you. Count me in.”

“Ryutaro”

“This is the only thing we can do at the moment anyway. You wouldn't mind adding one more right?.”

“Shizuku”

“Eh, If Shizuku-chan is going I’ll go too!”

“Kaori.”

The 4 high school heroes of japan were the first to put up their name to the cause and the rest of the classmates seemed to get caught it the flow. Aiko-sensei tried to dissuaded everyone, but against Kouki’s display it was useless.

It seemed that everyone was going to participate. Hajime’s classmates did not truly understand what it was meant to go to war, but no one could blame them. This fantasy situation was hard to take seriously. They most likely they agreed even without Kouki's performance, but now they were at least more motivated. Hajime just observed Ishtar while thinking these things. The priest had a satisfied expression on his face.

Hajime did however notice that while Ishtar was giving the explanation, he observed Kouki closely. He calmly waited for their reaction to his story, and would glance in koukis direction every now and then while they panicked. With Kouki’s strong sense of justice, it was easy to see his reaction to anything that seemed evil, even if it was probably just propaganda.While he spoke about the Devils, Ishtar specifically emphasized their cruelty and ruthlessness as they destroyed human villages. Their resident star of high school couldn't help but step up to take the role of hero, and the resident "priest" got all the soldiers he needed. Ishtar probably had good insight, he could easily see who had the most influence in the group.

It was probably natural for someone in the world’s largest religion, but what a crafty person. Hajime marked Ishtar as someone to be careful of in his head.