"Fall back! There are too many of them!" shouted a soldier clad in iron armor. "We can't hold this line, we need to retreat!" he turned around, running from the horde of lizard-men chasing them. Further back in the labyrinth, a young man, with short black hair and piercing green eyes was slowly making his way down the hall, his footsteps echoing in the silence. Attached to his waist were a set of scythes, the blade protruding out of a black dragon's mouth. The black blade laced with emeralds, glimmering against the fire light.
"This is a fairly new style, I don't know if anyone else has it… but… who knows." He gave a slight smile, hearing some screams coming from a corridor. "The hell is going on?" he said, taking a turn and running down the hall, grabbing his scythes, flicking them open, holding them reverse-style. A couple of seconds later soldiers came running from the opposite direction, chased by a pack of lizard-men. "Tch… and they call themselves the Liberation Front?" He dashed forward, pulling his scythe through the stomach of one of the monsters, digital shards floating in the air as it exploded. "Are you guys men or bitches?" he yelled, offing a few more. The soldiers watching in awe as the mysterious boy was easily taking care of the monsters.
"Hey… who the hell is this kid? Where did he get dual scythes?" said one soldier, as another opened up his character page, revealing his name as Hitenshi. "Hitenshi huh… where did this kid come from?" he finished his sentence as the last lizard-man fell. "Hey kid… who are you… and where did you get your weapons?" Hitenshi turned around with a smile, and a warp crystal in hand.
"Just your average player." He said as he warped out of the dungeon, leaving the soldiers there to talk amongst themselves. "Pathetic…" he said, landing in front of a house on floor 22, walking inside. It was a small, 1 bedroom house, with a fireplace and wooden rocking chair. The cookware was mostly for show, never used, and dust covered the entire house. "I hardly ever come here" he said with a slight laugh, touching a picture of a young girl with red hair. "Kyrie, I wonder if you're alright…" he said to himself, before getting a knock at his door. "Hmm? Whose this?" He opened his door to a beautiful young woman with bright orange hair, and a man with short black hair standing next to her.
"Hi, I'm Asuna, and this is my husband, Kirito, we just moved out here, and we didn't know that someone else lived here. We thought we'd say hi." she said with an earned smile, that felt familiar to him.
"H… Hi… I'm Hitenshi." He said, returning with a fake smile, beckoning them to come in. "I'm sorry about the way the place is, I don't stay here enough to clean. Would you like some tea or anything?" he asked, going into his kitchen, to retrieve some tea pots.
"No, we're fine, thank you." Replied Kirito, grabbing hold of Asuna's hand. "So Hitenshi, what kind of weapon do you use?" Hitenshi's eyes growing wide at the question.
"Um… ermmm… just a regular sword, nothing special…" He said, returning to the living room, sitting across from the couple. "So, you guys are newlyweds?"
"Yeah, we're taking a break from the front lines." Replied Asuna, "Well we best get going, sorry for the intrusion."
"Oh it was no problem at all." Replied Hitenshi, standing up to walk them to the door." Asuna noticing the picture on their way out. "I'll be seeing you guys around sometime then? Nice to meet you!" he closed the door behind them, his face falling to a face of sadness.
"There was a picture of a girl on his table, did you see it?" said Asuna, leading the way home.
"Yeah… I saw it, think it could be someone he lost?" replied Kirito, looking up into the sky.
"By the look of his house, I'd say it was his wife or girlfriend." She said, turning towards her husband. "You think he goes through dungeons at all?"
"Who knows, why, were you thinking of inviting him to go with us on one? We're on leave, remember?" replied Kirito
"Yeah, but something just doesn't feel right with him." She said, staring back at the 1 room cabin.
"Well, I should be on my way." Thought Hitenshi, as he finished a loaf of bread, changing back into his normal attire, his khaki pants turned black, boots replacing his normal shoes. A black sleeveless shirt replaced his white t-shirt. A white coat with black lining crystallized over his shoulders and down his arms. "Should I wear the mask?" he scrolled through his menu, materializing a metal mouth cover in his hand, attaching it over his mouth, teleporting from his home. He landed in front of a dark dungeon on the 70th floor. "Well, let's see if we can clear another floor." He said, opening the door, wind hollowing into the cavern, blowing his jacket as he walked inside, the door closing behind him.
"Kirito, we've been called to the front lines, it's an emergency" said Asuna, changing into her white Knights of the Blood Oath clothes, Kirito changing into his black cloack, reluctantly. The two teleported to the 70th floor dungeon, hearing screams coming from inside.
"What the?!" shouted Kirito, dashing into the dungeon, watching players die left and right. "What's going on here!?"
"They were ambushed!" shouted the masked Hitenshi, pulling his scythe through a monsters stomach.
"By who? And what are you using?" shouted Asuna, drawing her sword.
"Dual Scythes, don't ask me how or why, but I can use them." He said, spinning one of his scythes at a monster, gutting it from the inside out. "Just hurry up and help me kill these things!"
"Right!" agreed Kirito and Asuna, dashing forward with their blades brandished. AO