Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the words I write and the characters that i create. Credit goes to the original creator of the SAO Universe.

Real Life Standard Time: [10:00] May 6th 2026

After training, we quickly transfer over to Alfheim Online so we can participate in the tournament. As soon as we enter ALO, we're teleported to a field outside the city of Aarun. I notice walls around us, forming a circle, with trace amounts of a transparent barrier on the roof. I see Hikaru, Katsuo, and Sylvia below me. I guess I'm standing on the transparent barrier above the field, and I see that the person on the other end of the barrier is Garter, the strategist for Team Viper.

There are three people on the other end of this plain area where Hikaru, Katsuo, and Sylvia are; I'm guessing they're the warriors of Team Viper: Salamandra, Anaconda, and Dugite. I look around further to see an array of what appears to be bleachers floating far from this barrier and floating above it, with hundreds of people watching our fight against Team Viper, all of them saying things along the lines of:

"Kick their asses Team Knights!"

"There's no way the group that cleared the Grand Quest would fall to a group of cowards like Team Viper!"

"Go Team Knights!"

I smile at all the praise my team's receiving, then I steel my heart to focus on the match.

"Looking at the stances of Salamandra, Anaconda, and Dugite, it'll be a cakewalk for us, though oddly the aura of those four seems familiar to me. I can't put my finger on it, but I know I've seen these auras before, but where?"

I shake my head to get rid of these distracting thoughts and am inspecting my surroundings when I see a virtual console open in front of me, containing various options that I'm going to inspect later. I open a communication channel with my team, spawning headsets for all four of us to go over the tactics to use for this match.

"Okay, take up a Flying Wedge formation for this match. Yamakage, take the vanguard and draw the attention of Salamandra, Anaconda, and Dugite. While you do so, Minatoya will strike from the right while Ulkaios strikes the left flank. Try to prevent their poisons from taking effect. The match starts in twenty seconds, so prepare yourselves!" I say seriously. Apparently, this conversation can only be heard by my team, since the channel has a closed combination lock image on the upper left end of the console.

"Hehehe...bring it on!" Katsuo says eagerly, flexing his knuckles.

The twenty seconds pass, with Katsuo quickly flying toward the group of three warriors and activating every skill he has to draw their attention, trying to buy time for Hikaru and Sylvia to begin their attacks. Katsuo's attacks have scattered Salamandra and Dugite, leaving Anaconda behind. He is attacked relentlessly by Katsuo, with Hikaru and Sylvia chasing after Dugite and Salamandra respectively.

Even though all three of the Viper members are receiving some sort of strategy from Garter, their poison effect magic advantage is being negated by our strategy which apparently intimidated them. With Anaconda slain, Katsuo goes to assist Hikaru in chasing Dugite down, with me watching from above the field.

I glance over to Garter, who is using the controls for a reason I don't understand. Maybe he's trying to open a communication channel. However, I quickly understand what he's doing when three Krabs with purple colored eyes are summoned into the field directly underneath Garter. As they spread out, I realize they're after Hikaru and the others when I look at their movements.

"Ulkaios, Yamakage, Minatoya, you've got incoming Krabs, prepare yourselves!" I say via the comm channel.

"We're busy trying to chase these two, Ash! Just summon some monsters to deal with them yourself!" Sylvia yells angrily, still pursuing Salamandra.

"I want to avoid summoning monsters unless it's absolutely necessary..." I say quietly, slightly miffed before coming to a decision. "No, I refuse to be seen as a coward who relies on XANA's monsters. We are the Knights of the Blood Oath and we will survive using our own power!" I say proudly, remembering our prowess in the last four years. "Yamakage, listen. You've got two Krabs on your rear. Deviate from your current flight vector and buy time for Ulkaios to get Dugite. Afterward, go after the one targeting Minatoya. Ulkaios, continue your course of action as planned-keep them from being stationary so they can't cast magic. Minatoya, the same!" I say proudly. If this new plan works, this match will be a cakewalk.

"Understood!" They all say in unison.

I see Katsuo breaking away from his pursuit of Dugite to fight the hostile Krabs, with the others continuing their own pursuits. Garter inputs some sort of command in his console, and I start to tremble, feeling weak for some reason.

"What the?! What's going on?!" I say angrily before collapsing. When I glance at my field of vision, I see the status ailment icons of poison, paralysis, and silence. "Dammit! I can't give any orders with these status afflictions, and I can't use any spells because of the silence...Damn you, Garter!" I say in my mind angrily.

Garter glances at me, smirking evilly, obviously amused about my current position, when a system message from Cardinal and XANA suddenly appears over the arena.

"There has been a deliberate attack on Team Knight's strategist. The strategist for Team Viper, Garter, is ordered to vacate the area immediately, and the warriors Salamandra and Dugite are disqualified for this deliberate attack. Team Knights wins the match by forfeit."

"So we won...that's great! But...I need treatment for these status afflictions..." I say to myself with a heavy gasp. This avatar may be virtual now, but...my mind still hasn't adapted to that yet, even after all this time.

After the announcement came of Viper's disqualification from how their team strategist poisoned, paralyzed, and silenced me. I'm going to have to be very cautious now if those controls can inflict such numerous status ailments. I then find myself and my team enveloped with a bright light, unable to see the surroundings.