Chapter 3

As soon as the first floor was cleared, hope of actually beating the game came to many people and the ranks of the frontline swelled from a meager force of 30-40 players to 500-600 players. At one point of time before the 25th floor the frontline force had been well over 1000 players, but when the 25th floor boss wiped out an entire squad of some of the Army's best players, they retreated back to the first floor and began managing their base of operations in the Blackiron Castle in the Beginning City. After the Army made their hasty retreat from the frontlines, the number of frontliners dwindled down to a range of 500-600 players left on the battlefield.

True to my word to Kirito and Asuna, I appeared at every boss battle and when it ended, disappeared before many others could notice me. I lived a solitary life and leveled up continuously by completing quests meant for large parties, soloing dungeons never explored before, and trained for hours on end in the floor labyrinths. Ever since the 8th floor, I made sure that my player level was at least 20 levels above the current floor number. I trained and trained, day and night nonstop until I couldn't hold back my fatigue any longer. Then I'd go back to the inn that I rented and sleep until I felt like my body was replenished with energy again.

Due to my constant mysteriousness, secrecy and power, rumours had begun to spread throughout the player base. According to Ashley, my old title 'Beater' had been replaced with 'Fallen Angel Lucifer' due to my black-and-violet color scheme, incredible power, and 'dark' past in the game. The terms that they used to describe me were 'fast', 'powerful', 'overpowered', 'insane', and 'Demon'.

Periodically I'd stop by Liz's place or Ashley's place to get weapons repaired or better, new clothing to wear. Otherwise, I was cut off from the rest of the world. Currently the only things that mattered to me were training, fighting, and surviving. The current frontline floor was the 28th floor.

Bright sunlight filtered through the glass window of my room as the sun rose into the sky, indicating the start of a new day. A little chiming sound went off as a little notification told me of a new message.

Slightly curious, I opened up the message and read its contents.

Hey Krystor!

Yeah, so anyways, you know how you advised me to join a guild and stuff? See, actually I was invited to join a guild called 'Knights of the Blood Oath' led by a man named Heathcliff a month ago, and I'm enjoying it a lot! The Commander (Heathcliff) just asked me to be his second-in-command! Umm… but I'm not sure if I want to just yet… could we meet up at that restaurant and talk a bit?

Thanks!

~Asuna

I sighed. Lately Asuna had been pestering me about lots of random stuff lately. Like two weeks ago she messaged me asking if I could sample some of the dishes that she had been crafting together. Granted, since her cooking skill wasn't superb, her dishes weren't all that great, but they were certainly better than the NPC stuff sold in regular restaurants and vendors. In order to get high quality meals from NPCs I had to go to the most expensive and fancy NPC-run restaurants that cost almost 5,000 col a meal. At least those meals tasted good.

Anyways, I quickly swiped open my inventory to see my current stats- I hadn't checked them in quite a while now.

Krystor: Lv. 52 HP: 51,500 Agility: 68 Strength: 44

Skills: One-handed sword, Auto-Battle Regen, Daggers, Acrobatics, . Searching, Hiding Col: 1,431,560

I sighed offhandedly and closed my player menu. I quickly changed from my bed clothes into the casual clothes that Ashley had insisted on giving me as a 'present'.

When they materialized onto my virtual body, I marveled at its beauty. Just like any other piece of cloth that she made, this outfit consisted of very high-quality work. It was a black shirt with thin violet strips going down the sides, followed by a casual jacket that had glittery red-and-violet outlines on its sleeves. A pair of black pants with purple stripes going down that was topped off by a pair of black combat boots that apparently also gave speed buffs. Huh. Interesting.

With my attire on and my things all checked, I headed out of my inn room on the 29th floor and went to the fanciest restaurant. Almost no-one went there except for those who were extremely powerful frontliners and had enough col to waste for 5,000 col per meal.

When I got to the restaurant I saw Asuna waiting outside with a worried expression on her face. It was then that I decided that I would give her a little scare before formally greeting her. I crept up on her when she was looking in the opposite direction, got next to her ear, and whispered, "Thought I wouldn't come?"

Which, of course, resulted in an extremely flustered Asuna, a slap across my face, and a lot of attention. When I recovered from the sudden numbness of the slap, I saw a hand in front of me. I looked and saw a slightly amused Asuna with an extended hand. I grabbed it and pulled myself up, well… I tried to. What really happened was that my strength parameter was apparently stronger than hers, so instead of her pulling me up, I ended pulling her onto me, which resulted in us both falling onto the floor in an awkward position and garnering even more attention from passersby.

Asuna was blushing profusely at the awkward position that we were in, and I was desperately trying to free myself from this tangle of limbs, hair and bodies. By the time we untangled ourselves from each other, a large crowd had formed. They had jealous faces and were looking threateningly at me.

A man wearing a white-and-red uniform came up to me. He glared menacingly at me and asked, "Who the hell do you think you are, doing such scurrilous activities with our beloved vice-commander?"

I blinked once. "Huh? Oh… so you're also from that guild, Knights of the Blood Oath? Interesting."

His face turned to rage. "Watch your own mouth, boy, before you regret it."

Now the flames of anger began to spark in me. But unlike others, my flames are cold. Freezing. My voice began to show that iciness.

"Make me regret what? You can't do anything about what I do, and you've got no strength to make me bend to your will. Now, if you've got good sense, bug off. I have business to attend to." My span of patience was clearly almost over.

The response I got was in the form of a duel request. I coldly gazed at his fiery glare and pressed the accept button. I then chose the mode: Half Health.

A hand landed on my shoulder gently and I turned to see Asuna with a worried expression. I smiled at her and whispered, "Don't worry, I won't hurt him much. Just shake him up a little. We'll go talk about what you wanted to talk about later after this, ok? Just stand over there and watch this match. It'll be over soon."

She nodded timidly and sat down on the steps of the restaurant to watch.

Meanwhile I equipped my full combat regalia, which was an enhanced version of my outfit for the first 25 floors from Ashley, my two fully upgraded A-Rank daggers and fully upgraded B-Rank sword.

A few gasps escaped from the crowd, and even my opponent visibly paled when he realized who I truly was.

KRYSTOR VS. MAX

"It's the Demon… I heard that he conquered party-sized dungeons single-handly…"

"No way… that's insane!"

"I know, but look at that equipment! It's gotta be the best out there right now!"

"Oh, man. Max's gonna get his butt handed to him on a platter…"

"But he's really strong! He's one of the strongest players in the guild!"

"Yeah, but on the other hand…"

I shut out all external noises around me and quickly focused my mind and analyzed my opponent.

He's a one-handed sword wielder, so he'll either strike at me fast or strike at me with power. His gear is good, but not as good as mine. I'd judge his sword to be almost on par with my own, but with my daggers…"

I was brought out of my thoughts as the countdown timer ticked down to 0.

Begin!

When the fight began the man, Max, came running at me and put his sword in a position to activate the sword skill Sonic Leap. It was a good starting move, as it decreased the distance between the opponent and the attacker in an instant. However, due to the fact that I knew that he was going to activate that skill, I leapt back a great distance and waited to him to execute his attack.

There!

The minute Max attacked and missed, I activated the dagger skill Acupuncture on both daggers. The light glowed in my weapons as I delivered 14 precise and powerful hits on Max's temporarily stunned avatar.

The sounding of a bell rang out, signifying me as the winner and the time it took me to beat him: 10 seconds.

Loud cheering for me exploded from the crowd as I waved once and dragged a stunned Asuna into the restaurant with me. When Asuna finally came to her senses she wiggled herself out of my grasp and demanded, "How did you beat a powerful frontliner in a mere 10 seconds?!"

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I didn't expect it to be that quick either. I was expecting a little more challenge than that petty fight. I mean, I don't even think it qualifies as a fight in my book, he was way too weak."

Asuna huffed in annoyance. "You do realize that you just beat the 4th best K.O.B. player in 10 seconds, right? A Lv. 38 player?"

I laughed. "No wonder he was so weak. Asuna, my level right now is 52. I think beating a Lv. 38 player is a piece of cake.

"And when exactly did you reach that insanely high level?!" Her voice was laced with surprise and doubt.

I scratched the back of my head. "Eh… I think it was because I trained once in the highest levels of the 25th floor labyrinth for 3 straight days without stopping for more than 2 hours at a ti-"

SLAP

I groaned and clutched one side of my face pitifully. "That hurt, Asuna!"

She huffed and crossed her arms together. "It's your fault for telling me such worrying things! You could have died there! Do you realize that?!"

I nodded frantically and tried to get her accusing glare off of me. "A-ah, ok Asuna! I get it! I won't do anything like that again!"

She frowned and gave me a sideways glance. "Promise?"

I smiled genuinely and said, "I promise."

Then she smiled and said, "Oh! Yes, the thing I wanted to talk to you about! How much do you know about Heathcliff, and how much do you trust him?"

I thought about it. The man had appeared on the 5th floor, saving me from a near-death experience by blocking the boss's attack with his massive crucifix shield. Ever since then he had been almost as much as a help to the frontlines as I was; he was a great tank, and I was the best DPS. It was thanks to the two of us that the 25th floor boss was defeated at all. However, he never quite explained who he was and how he had gotten so powerful even without being on the frontlines for the first few floors. Nevertheless, I trusted the man enough that I'd allow Asuna to stay in his new guild and become its second-in-command.

I grinned. "I think you'd be great as Heathcliff's second-in-command. Next to me, you're a really good DPS, and you're almost as quick as I am, so I think you'd be fine. I trust Heathcliff enough to guarantee your safety and health in his guild. I'm sure it will become the best in the game in no time."

Asuna laughed and said, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too; I just wanted to double check to see if it was alright with you as well."

I frowned. "Asuna, you know that you don't need my approval for whatever you do." Asuna mirrored my frown. "But you're the strongest player in Aincrad! Who else should I ask for advice?"

"Kirito" I replied without hesitation. "He's almost as good a player as me, and he's a reliable player—more so than I am."

Asuna pouted. "Yeah, I know that, but still…"

I glanced at Asuna and noticed a slight glimmer in her eyes. "You ok, Asuna?" She nodded and tried to cover up her true thoughts with a smile, but I knew that it was fake.

I looked worriedly at her. "Asuna, tell me what's wrong. You're almost never like this. Let me help."

Asuna sighed. "I-it's Kirito. Two days ago he contacted me, saying that he found himself a guild and that he was going to miss the floor 27 boss fight because of something."

I nodded—I had noticed that Kirito was missing from the fight, which was something that I didn't understand. Other than myself, Kirito one of the strongest DPS players that we had, if not the second strongest. The fact that he decided to skip out on a boss was huge, and it had me worrying too.

"So that's it? You're worried about him because he missed that boss? It shouldn't be that big of a deal. I'm sure that he'll be there for the 28th floor boss."

Asuna shook her head. "No, that's not the problem. It's the guild that he joined. They're a really low level guild made of only one party. Their averages, excluding Kirito, are around the mid 20's. And their base is on the 10th floor."

My eyes widened slightly at that. "W-what?! Are you serious Asuna? You know how much Kirito doesn't like to interact with others, let alone those of lower levels than him!"

Suddenly, a ping sound went off, indicating a new message. It was from Kirito. I quickly swiped open my messages tab and read the message. When I was done my eyes widened and I shot out of my chair, yelling at Asuna that I had business to take care of and to reschedule a later time to hang out. I quickly payed the tab and rushed out the door. I pulled out a teleport crystal and shouted, "Teleport! Wyvern!"

The minute I appeared in the city on the 27th floor, I ran in the direction of the labyrinth. While I ran I mentally replayed what I read in the letter.

Krystor,

Krystor, I have a problem. I believe you heard from Asuna one way or another that I joined a guild. Anyways, they're about to tackle the floor 27 labyrinth and I don't think they're ready for it yet! Could you please come and provide backup for us? We're heading out now, please hurry!

I cursed mentally. What the heck had Kirito gotten himself into now?! I pushed my sprint skill to its limits, racing through the fields that lay between the labyrinth and the city. By the time I finally reached the area that marked the beginning of the labyrinth, I didn't see Kirito or his guild anywhere. Then, with my tracking skill, I picked up a set of footprints, probably Kirito and the guild. I ran in, following the footprints and tearing through any opponents that foolishly tried to obstruct my path.

Finally, I heard a voice, then a shout. A door somewhere in front of me opened, and then…

"No! Stop! Get out of there!"

My blood froze—that was Kirito's voice, no doubt. I dashed once more, and a door appeared in my vision. I saw a flash of black—Kirito. I saw the door about to close, so I slid and managed to slide through just as the door slammed shut.

When I had my vision back again, I saw a shocked group of people around me and Kirito. Judging from the group's gear, I could tell that they were all beginners at fighting and had no right to be fighting so close to the frontlines.

Then my gaze fell on Kirito. He was still dressed in all black, with a sword drawn and a worried/relieved expression on his face.

"Thank heavens you made it, Krystor! I thought you wouldn't have made it!" Suddenly, the room turned red and alarms started blaring. Panicking, Kirito's party members glanced around the room wearily. I drew out my two daggers, seeing as they dealt more damage than my sword.

As if at once, rock elemental monsters and goblins with pickaxes began appearing out of the walls of the room, swarming us. I narrowed my eyes and cursed. There had to have been at least 40 or 50 mobs now, and more just kept coming.

Without a second thought I lunged into the throngs of the monsters and did what I did best—fight like a demon. In a mere minute or two, my entire sector was clear. Unfortunately, that also let me see the death of one of Kirito's guildmates. He tried to use the teleport crystal, but when it didn't work, he panicked and got cut down.

Then, as if a chain reaction had been set off, each of the guild members got cut down as well, one by one. It was when the last member, a girl of about 14, got sliced in the back and died that Kirito went berserk and fought at a level that signified complete and total rage. I tore my gaze off of him as monsters started surrounding me again. I snarled—they would pay dearly for this. I screamed and threw myself at the monsters, tearing them apart in batches.

At the end, my health was at 60% and Kirito was at 24%. I looked at him worriedly. Ever since the monsters had been destroyed Kirito was very quiet. He got up silently and moved toward the door. I hurried up to him and followed him out the door.

By the time we reached the city, both his and my health regenerated back to full, though Kirito payed it no mind. He walked up to the teleporter and muttered, "Teleport, Town of Beginnings."

I sighed. Kirito sounded so broken right now, and I had to stick around him to make sure he didn't do anything rash. So when he teleported away I also stepped up and said the same thing. In a flash, I appeared in the teleport gate in front of the plaza that I was in on the day of first launch. I spotted Kirito off to the left, walking towards the western area of the city.

I sucked in a breath. That was where many people had once jumped off to commit suicide—I couldn't let that happen to Kirito!

I followed him from a distance, until I saw him meet up with another player, perhaps another member of his now-disseminated guild. I heard them speak a few sentences, saw the other player step back in shock, speak a few words, and jump off the edge.

Kirito merely said nothing, acknowledged nothing, and teleported away. Though I was too far away to hear the floor, I knew what he was planning, and it was literal suicide.

I pulled out another teleport crystal and shouted, "Teleport! Mordred!"

The minute I appeared on the 28th floor I looked around frantically. Nothing. No sight of Kirito. I grumbled and ran in the direction of the 28th floor labyrinth, activating my sprint skill. When I reached the labyrinth, I raced inside, not surprised to find the corridors completely devoid of any mobs—Kirito was indeed here, and recently too.

When I finally heard sounds of combat, I stumbled across a strange scene. Kirito was tearing into a group of 20 mobs and took them out quickly. He then strode away, into the darkness. I heard the creaking of a door, and my eyes widened. I knew it! He's going to try to solo the floor boss!

I heard the roars of the boss, and sprinted towards it. When I emerged on the scene, I saw Kirito face off against a humanoid boss; a very similar-looking King Arthur. I was relieved when I saw the boss's low health. With a combo attacks from me, that boss could be defeated very quickly. I almost doubted that it was really a boss until I saw it dodge a swing from Kirito and in turn slashed Kirito across the chest. I gasped when I saw his HP plummet from full down to the half-way mark.

No way… I muttered. Kirito was a very high level, probably only 5 or 6 below me. For such a player like him to get knocked down to half from just one slash… I knew that this boss was going to be much tougher than I thought.

I immediately jumped into battle, pulling out both of my daggers. I charged at the boss, whom had at this point noticed me and was running at me. I blocked the boss's powerful blow, but staggered under it. Exactly how much power does this guy have?!" I gritted my teeth and slashed at it with a combo, damaging it down to the red zone.

At that exact moment, the boss changed. Now, instead of a look-alike Arthur, there was a look-alike Mordred. Judging from past knowledge about the King Arthur stories, I knew Mordred was definitely more powerful than Arthur, even if they both died at the end of the story.

Mordred took out his new blade, a wicked gleaming saber 3 feet long. He raised the sword to skewer me until…

Shling!

Mordred's sword arm was sliced off and shattered, leaving the boss seemingly defenseless. Behind Mordred, I could see Kirito's outline moving in for another strike.

Suddenly, another sword materialized in the boss's other arm and Mordred swung around, slashing Kirito across the chest and sent him flying back. I growled lowly. Even if I couldn't see his HP bar, I knew that he wouldn't be able to survive another direct hit like that.

I looked at the boss's HP bar. Still 20% left?! I need at least 2 combo hits with my daggers to kill it off!

I then looked at my own HP bar. The yellow that filled my HP bar indicated that I still had about half health left.

I gritted my teeth. I had no guarantee of surviving, but it was to save Kirito, I would be willing to take the risk!

With a massive roar, I leapt up and swung my daggers at the boss, connecting for a brief moment before it knocked me away and smashed me into a wall. With a strangled gasp, I briefly watched as one of my daggers broke, turning into brilliant flashes of light before fading away, forever.

I snarled savagely at the boss. He's just a program! JUST A PROGRAM! HOW COULD IT BEAT ME?! It was then that I decided that I would defeat the system that bound me here, bound me to these rules of death and fear. I would oppose the very system in which I was trapped in.

I still had one dagger left and had my sword on my back. Slowly, I got up and watched Kirito fight against the boss once again. My right hand reached for the sword on my back, and my left clutched the dagger tightly. Suddenly, my thoughts became clear. I would fight the system, and WIN!

Some sort of dialogue box appeared in front of me at the time, but I swiped it away without paying it much mind. The only thing on my mind right now was to kill that boss and later on, Kayaba Akihiko himself, the creator of this death trap.

With a roar much fiercer and louder than the one previous, I leapt forwards to engage the boss one last time. The boss saw me coming, however, and knocked Kirito away before turning to face me. I growled savagely and launched myself at the boss. The last thing that I remembered before fading into darkness was my blades lighting up with the color of a sword skill.

That's strange…

And my mind faded away, with Kirito frantically calling my name over and over.