Disclaimer: I don't own SAO or Touhou

"It's finally time..." Cirno muttered as she picks up her sword. "Are you ready Dai-chan?"

"Yeah. Heathcliff-san said that the boss' room is an Anti-crystal field. Cirno, do you know what that means?"

Daiyousei looks at Cirno questioningly who is checking the content of her inventory for the last time.

"Of course! I'm not an idiot... It's those fields that disable the use of crystals like this." Cirno held a red crystal in front of Daiyousei who seems to be wondering about what it is. "You haven't seen a crystal yet Dai-chan?"

"Not yet... Kirito-san and Asuna-san didn't let me hold anything other than this rapier. So does that crystal have any effect?"

"Eh... This crystal is for healing... There are others for curing and teleporting. But since the dungeon we're going disables the use of them I'll be leaving most of mine."

Daiyousei claps her hands cheerfully as she understood the use of it. The two set themselves one last time before heading out.

"(It's kinda weird teaching Dai-chan like this... She's usually the one who teaches me in Gensokyo.)" Cirno quietly thinks as they go to the teleportation pad. "(Oh well... When we finish this game, we'll be going back to our normal lives.)"

-Guildmaster office-

"We need to get going soon huh?" Kirito flatly stated as he looks at Asuna who is sitting on the table.

"Of course, the others are waiting too we shouldn't be standing around here idling too much."

"I know that but Asuna..." The raven haired boy locked his gaze at Asuna making the latter flinch and blush. "Have you ever thought that it's just better this way? Better if we just live in that house of ours, not thinking if the game will be cleared or not?"

Asuna only stares back to Kirito's eyes before replying in a gentle manner.

"Of course I think that way sometimes. But..." She wraps her arms around Kirito's head and strokes his hair softly. "I also realized a lot of players need our help. We all want to get out of here Kirito-kun, live happily, laugh heartily and even feel reality."

"But, if we want to get out of this game some needs to sacrifice their efforts. Maybe even die in the frontlines for them."

At the moment Asuna mentioned the word "die", Kirito's face suddenly turned into a despairing one and hugs Asuna tightly.

"Kirito-kun... I'll protect you so in return... Protect me?"

"Yeah... I'll protect you Asuna and..." He looks at his wife and holds her hand. "I promise... I'll get us out of here! Klein, Egil, Silica, Lizbeth, Alfredo, Kuma, Daiyousei, and Cirno. I'll get everyone out of here for sure!"

The two smiled at each other for the last time and headed out to the field.

-Floor 75-

"Woah... There's a lot of people in here..." Daiyousei gasps in amazement at the number of people in the plaza. "Hey Cirno, is that boss very hard to clear that we need these many?"

"It's a floor boss Dai-chan! Of course it'll be hard!" Cirno huffed at the question of her bestfriend. "But it's nothing compared to Gensokyo's yokai! We'll beat it like those three in the great fairy wars!"

"You had a hard time though beating Marisa-san..."

"I also had a hard time beating yours... Seriously, why did you change patterns?"

"There's always room for change right?"

Daiyousei flashed a smile at Cirno who immediately blushed at the cute sight. She turned away from her thinking 'being that cute should be a crime...' while the green-haired girl has no idea what is her best friend thinking.

"Oh? It's Daiyousei! Heeey! It's been a while!" A red-haired not-so-handsome man walked up to the duo with a large man behind him. "Oh? So this is your friend huh? You're both cute!"

"Hey Klein, stop hitting on a girl the moment you see her!"

"Egil is so mean..."

The large man grunted and lightly flicked Klein's forehead.

"Ah! Klein-san! And umm..." Multiple sweat drops flicker out from Daiyousei as she looks at Egil.

"Ah, we haven't met yet before right? I'm Egil, I work as a blacksmith down at the lower levels if you have any weapon you'd like I'll be happy to make it!" Egil smiles at the two earning a different response ranging from deadpan and utter admiration.

"Egil here is also a kind hearted giant! He gave out new weapons for the newbies in those floors even if he could make a fortune out of it." Klein happily says all of that to Cirno and Daiyousei who are curious now.

"Wai- Klein! It isn't that big of a deal..."

"Egil-san is a really gentle person!" A certain green-haired girl chirped.

"I wish I could have tried out his weapons then..." A certain blue-haired girl followed.

"It seems fun in here." A raven-haired boy walked to the group with his wife hand in hand. "Good morning, Klein, Egil."

"Yo Kirito!"

"Hello Kirito."

"So... Are you four prepared? Especially you Cirno and Daiyousei, it'll be your first time fighting a floor boss." Kirito crossed his arms around his chest while looking intently at the two. "Daiyousei... You could always stay behind; it might be too much for you."

"No! I want to be together with Cirno!" Daiyousei speaks up in a loud voice causing the ice fairy behind her blush furiously. "Hm? What's up Cirno? You're all red..."

"N-Nothing of importance..."

As the group continued on chatting with each other, another group of red-clad knights came out of the teleportation pad earning gasps of awe from everyone in the plaza.

"...Here he comes." Kirito tightens the grip on Asuna's hand and Asuna responds by tightening her grip too.

Heathcliff reach under his cloak and brought out a purple crystal.

"Corridor open." The Guildmaster spoke flatly as a gap begin to appear in front of the crowd. The gap continued to spread until a gate is visible on the other side. "...Let's go."

-In front of the floor boss room-

The party looked at amazement on the large door in front of them. They all gripped their respective weapons tightly as they await the leader's orders.

"Just by looking at this door... It gives you a feel of dread right Cirno?" A brown haired boy tapped his friend's shoulder catching her attention.

"Yeah... It's a little nerve wracking..."

Kuma held Cirno's shaking hand and squeezed it tightly.

"We can do this!"

"...Yeah!"

The atmosphere thickens as they all prepare to what they see. Heathcliff, who is at the front most of the group, pushed open the great door greeting the party with cold and terrifying aura.

"Attack!"

"Uoooooh!"

-Inside the room-

The group enters the room with their senses heightened at the incoming danger. A few minutes passes and nothing happens.

"W-Where..." A random party member blurted out.

"There's nothing here..." Alfredo said as he tries to lower his guard.

Asuna, despite the emptiness they are seeing, kept her vigilance up until she sensed something from above.

"Everyone! Get away from the middle of the platform!"

At its cue, the floor boss dropped down from above like a spider nearly killing half the party and slain 2 unfortunate late reactions.

"It came from above!?"

"And it killed those guys in just one hit..."

"It can one hit high level players!?"

"No way..." Kirito jaw dropped at the sheer absurdity of its size and power.

The boss let out a roar and showed its name, Skull Reaper, and its 5 HP bars. It walks around in a circle for a brief second and stands up in its towering height.

A few agitated moments lasted until one panicked member let out a shout and blindly rushed in.

"A-Argh!"

"Wai- That's dangerous!" Klein shouted towards the member who rushed in blindly. "Dammit!"

The random member began flailing his sword at the monster's leg. The Skull Reaper howled loudly and drops its scythe on the member until a blue blur grabs him to safety.

"H-Hiii!"

"Geez... Are we going to defeat this thing or stare at it all day?" The blue haired girl unsheathes her sword and grinned widely. "It might be huge... But nothing will happen if we continue gawking like this!"

Cirno charges at the floor boss with a large grin at her face. The Skull Reaper turns its body and swings one of its scythes at the blue fairy.

The blue-haired girl only widened her smile and ducked under the scythe just in time. She continued to dodge the whole length of its rushing body and proceeded to deliver a large slash to its right side.

"Gyaaaaaaaaah!" An ear-piercing scream was let out by the floor boss as a large icicle shot out from its wound. The Skull Reaper slashed its other scythe at the blue fairy only to be dodged by her high jump and be counter attacked while Cirno rides on top of the scythe.

"A-Amazing...!" A party member exclaimed as he watched Cirno single-handedly doing small damages to the incredibly humongous boss. He looked to his side and sees a certain green-haired girl charge at the boss in the same fashion Cirno did. "Wait!"

Daiyousei quickly got to the left side of the Skull Reaper although she dodged a few stray rocks here and there. She clung on one of the rib-like feet of it and pierced its leg using her rapier.

Cirno glanced at Daiyousei who is starting to gain her momentum in damaging the boss. She smiled widely and shouted in a loud voice.

"What are you guys waiting for? Attack!"

The party let out a roar of adrenaline and everyone charged at the boss together. Large axes and thin swords clanked loudly as they try their best to damage the gigantic Skull Reaper.

"Well... I guess I'm not the one in charge now." Heathcliff shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and rushed towards the Skull Reaper. He intercepted the scythe that was going to hit a party member using his shield and counter attacked with his own sword.

Kirito and Asuna looked at each other briefly and smiled before joining the party in the once dreaded battle now an enjoyable battle. The black haired swordsman went behind Cirno who was doing her own momentum and blocked the scythe that was going to hit her.

"Argh... Strong..."

"K-Kirito-san!"

"Hey... At least... Watch your back if you're going to do some DPS!"

Cirno continued on watching at the struggling Kirito and snapped out of her gaze as brown-haired girl helped her husband parry the large scythe.

"Me, Kirito-kun and Heathcliff-san will take care of the scythes! Do the best that you can do in damaging the boss!"

Asuna declared to the whole party as they retracted their swords at the scythe's sharp blade. Cirno nodded and took a large breath before going back to her once fast momentum.

The large party of 20 people continued on slashing and shaving off the HP of the boss out of its bar. They proceeded to slash the boss down its health at the temporary protection of the KoB's efforts of baiting the scythes to them.

Alfredo and Egil, who decided to tag team with each other being two same tanks, rushed around the boss keeping its flailing tail from killing more of their party members.

"Get back!" Egil shouted as he pulled a member out of danger zone by his collar. He looked at the fast approaching bone tail at them before being parried by Alfredo's large sword.

"Tch... This monster is just one huge pain in the ass..."

"You can say that again..."

The two grinned at each other in their mental connection and they held their humongous weapons as it glowed in yellow light. They joined again at the party's main fighting and delivered a burst of damage at the monster's spinal bone.

Meanwhile at the Skull Reaper's legs, Kuma and Klein continued on their newly formed tag team strategy of giving tiny but fast swipes at the monster's body.

They both held to their short and thin swords as they went under the boss and slashed from below. The two quickly went out of the rib cage as the Skull Reaper collapsed under Egil and Alfredo's heavy blow from above.

"W-What is it with you two!? We were almost crushed there!"

"It isn't our fault if you chose to do it under there!"

"Who said we were doing that under there!?" Klein gave off a blow from his sword while his face is beet red.

"(Your emotion is just crumbling the defence Klein-san...) Kuma silently thought at the short comic relief and returned to their serious business of dealing damage.

Minutes passed on as the group damaged the boss little by little. As the 2 HP bars has been cleared red, Cirno and Daiyousei leaned at each other's back watching the whole action happen before them.

"This is like... A fairy swarm in Gensokyo..." Cirno remarked as she panted for her breath while parrying some debris flying to them.

"Yeah... I'm happy I could fight together like this with you Cirno-chan!"

"Ugh... Don't say those kinds of things in here... It's distracting..."

"What?"

"Whatever... Hey Dai-chan, do you still remember a golden rule us small fairies know since we are born?" Cirno looked at Daiyousei who gave a knowing look back at her.

"Of course... It's one thing fairies must never ever forget in order to live in battles..."

They both took a breath and synced their thoughts with each other.

"The larger the yokai is... The larger its hit box is!"

The two fairies smiled as they both leaped to their action. Daiyousei continued on her before momentum of slashing at the near front part of the boss while Cirno strengthen her grip at her sword as she activated a skill in it.

"Icicle Frost Columns! Sword Freezer mode!"

Cirno leaped at a height and activated the Sword Freezer and Icicle Frost Columns mid-air. She lets out a shout of force as she sliced through a leg of the monster before a titanic size iceberg grew out of its wound.

"(She's starting to get serious...)" Heathcliff mentally thought as he saw the almost per second iceberg growths around the boss, impending its dangerous movements at it.

"Wow... Cirno's working hard." Kirito commented as he continued to struggle on the boss' scythes even with Asuna's help. He pushed back the blade with his strength and glanced slightly at Heathcliff. "Huh...?"

"Kirito-kun!"

"W-Woah!"

Asuna grabbed Kirito's collar and they both ducked down at a fast swipe of the scythe. Thankfully, none was hit by that swipe they failed to parry.

"What are you doing? We need to do our job here!" The brown haired girl reprimanded the black haired boy at his slight distraction. "Kirito-kun, are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine... Sorry Asuna..."

Kirito turned to the battle seriously again with his mind playing with various thoughts.

The battle continued to rage on with the boss at its remaining two and a half lives. Most of the party members delivered damaging blows to the huge bone monster while Heathcliff, Kirito and Asuna parried its blades for the safety of the majority.

The team upped their damage by releasing their most damaging skills in order to hasten the boss' death.

Crippling, heavy damages came from above and below by the axe wielders and painful, fast slashes came from both of the boss' sides by the katana and one handed sword users.

Egil and Alfredo held out to their duty as HP built characters by pulling out most of the party members out of danger as they took the blow for them.

Meanwhile, Klein and Kuma continued to do their part as the heat of the battle grows ever large.

Daiyousei continued on supporting almost half of the party in their damage but she mostly supported Cirno almost in the same way Asuna supports Kirito in parrying.

As for Cirno, she continued on impending the boss' movements using her freezing skills though most of the ices are broken off the Skull Reaper's legs by strong jerks of its feet or sliced off using its long tail.

Cirno gasped for air as she tries her best to keep her momentum at steady. The energy toll of keeping Sword Freezer active slowly burdening her agility and reaction time.

"(Damn...)" The blue-haired fairy mentally cursed at her energy slowly being sucked out by most of the skills she's using. She rushed to the boss once again while dragging the large sword behind her.

She lets out a shout of courage and inflicts a heavy blow at the right side of the Skull Reaper making it lose its balance slightly. Shards of icicles slowly creep out from the part where Cirno slashed the boss.

"Haa... Haa..." Cirno stuck the Sword Freezer to the ground as a cane to support her exhausted body. She rested for a few seconds until a large shadow came over her small body.

"...Wha...t...?"

The Skull Reaper, now with one-half HP bar left, let out a shrilling scream before shaking the platform and tossing everyone away from its body.

"Agh!"

"Waaah!"

"W-What's happening!?"

Everyone let out each one of their personal exclamations as they flung away from monster's body. Some grabbed onto the ground in order to stop their velocity, others used their swords and axes as a handle while some unfortunate party members fell to their deaths off the platform.

"(It changed its attack patterns!? How!?)" Heathcliff thought as he grabs on to his sword and shield in order to prevent flying away from the platform. He tries to look at the currently rampaging boss while his shield protects him from the debris flying towards him.

"...!? That's...!"

The gray haired man widens his eyes at the figure dangerously near the Skull Reaper. In the center of the circle the boss is currently rampaging around, a blue haired girl is currently struggling with the force of the boss and her own exhaustion.

Rolls of sweat drops from Heathcliff's cheek as he watched Cirno helplessly hold on to her sword for support. After a few seconds a brown-haired figure comes rushing towards to Cirno in an attempt to help her.

Heathcliff... no... Kayaba Akihiko didn't know why the boss was currently rampaging like it was right now and he also didn't know how Kuma had enough strength to struggle on that critically dangerous sandstorm while he himself can't move an inch. But as he watched Kuma take Cirno to his shoulders and carry her away from the boss, a certain blonde woman's voice echoes throughout his mind.

"Those two are skillful enough to survive in this game. But I wonder if their emotions might get in the way?"

"...Yukari..."

"Cirno hang in there! I'll get you out of here!" Kuma carefully drags the blue haired girl away from the bone centipede monster. He looked around the place while waiting for a time to get out of the monster's rotation. "Wha-!?"

As the brown-haired sweeper watches his surroundings, a dire situation plays out before his field of vision. The Skull Reaper, no longer rotating like an Ouroboros, starts to go on rampage on each of the members by using all of its body parts.

Its scythes, its tail, its feet, its face, everything that can hit and kill a player will try and slay the hapless individual. Screams of terror echoes throughout the platform as they try to dodge the multiple bones waiting to crush them.

"(Klein... Egil... Alfredo... Even Asuna and Kirito-san are having a hard time.)"

He watches momentarily as the scenes of struggles act out at his sight. Members scrambling away from random spikes of bones coming from above. Alfredo and Egil doing their best to shield the party members beneath them. Klein scampering away from that dangerously swinging tail. Kirito and Asuna pulling each other out from the swipes of its scythe.

"Ku...ma?"

Cirno weakly speaks as she leans more to Kuma's back. The brown-haired boy glanced momentarily to the girl behind him before inhaling a large amount of air in order to muster up his courage.

"Don't worry! We'll get through this!"

Kuma shouts out loudly before charging out of the maze created by the Skull Reaper's gigantic body. He swiftly dodges the multiple bones of feet waiting to crush him if ever he took a misstep.

Rampaging sounds and shrilling screams filled Kuma's ears as he runs far away from the boss. He ducks down from the occasional stray swipes trying to behead him and Cirno coming from the Skull Reaper's tail.

The boy continued on passing through the spaces between the monster's bone legs until he finally got out of the boss' maze.

"(I got out... Now...)" Kuma thought before he sensed a fast moving object from behind. He turned quickly at his heel and faced a bladed tail that moves in a terrifying velocity.

"Cirno-chan! Kuma-san!"

"Dai-chan!"

"Daiyousei-san!"

Time seemed to slow down from Kuma as Daiyousei approached them with a worried expression. Seconds remain until the monster's tail hits him yet the world seemed to do him a favour and slowed it down to minutes. He gritted his teeth and pulled Cirno to his front suddenly.

"Eh...? Kuma?"

"...Sorry Cirno."

Kuma released all his strength to his limbs and threw Cirno away from him towards Daiyousei.

"K-KUMA!"

"Kuma-san!?"

The brown-haired boy managed to smile at the two before the dreaded tail of the monster hit him fatally at his back. He looked unsteadily at Cirno and Daiyousei, static filling his vision while his HP gradually drops down to the red area.

Kuma mouthed once again to Cirno before he disappeared into blue crystals.

"I'm sorry Cirno... and I love you."

Cirno watched from the ground as she saw the blue crystals from Kuma's former body break and disappear once it touches the ground. Tears started to form around her eyes as she clutches the chest part of her shirt. Uncontrollable emotions started to do a dance of storms inside her until she snapped and let out a scream from the top of her lungs.

"C-Cirno-chan...?"

"DAMN. YOU. BASTARD!" Cirno lets out a scream of rage as the Sword Freezer unsheathed glowed blinding blue light. She charges at the still rampaging boss with a raged frenzy and started attacking all out.

Multiple icebergs shot out from the ground in a second immediately slowing down the monster's attacks. Fans of ice shards sprout out from the boss' legs as it lets out a scream of pain.

The remaining party looked at the movement impended boss and took it as their cue to gain the momentum they once lost. Everybody started attacking the boss without care or concern as long as the boss is still locked down by Cirno's icicles.

"Damn you... DAMN YOU!" Cirno shouts at the Skull Reaper expecting no words or phrases as response. She continues on blindingly damaging the monster while her thoughts rushed of her and Kuma's time back in the guild.

"Hey Cirno, want to take a walk around guild?"

No...

"C-Cirno... Want to share this bread with me? I baked it myself!"

Why...

"The moon is pretty in here even if it's the digital world right?"

Don't...

"Cirno... Let's get out of here together! With me, Alfredo and everyone else in the guild!"

KUMA!

"Cirno-chan, snap out of it!"

Cirno faces towards the source of the voice, the light returning back to her dimmed eyes.

"...Dai-chan?"

The blue-haired girl faces the rushing green-haired girl towards her. Cirno smiles gently as she saw her beloved Dai-chan's face until...

"...!?" The ice fairy widened her eyes at the fast approaching bone tail flying towards her friend. Acting out of pure instinct, her legs started moving as fast as it can to reach the green haired girl. She looked at the tail briefly and looked back to Daiyousei.

And as she closed in to her, Cirno jumped to Daiyousei in the last second with her last ounce of strength.

"Cirno-cha-!?"

Cirno didn't mind Daiyousei's surprised grunt and held out the large slab of sword in front of them.

"Icicle Frost Columns!"

The blue-haired fairy shouted in desperation and a large iceberg morphed in front of them in an attempt to block the rushing tail, flying in to kill them.

Unfortunately, the fragile mountain of ice did almost nothing in stopping the dreaded part of the monster. Cirno and Daiyousei looks at the bladed bone with a horrified expression as it comes into contact with the Sword Freezer still protecting the duo.

The large size and force proved to be impossible to parry at the fairy's strength as they were flung away to the very far end of the platform. The two fairies gasped in pain as they held into each other to prevent from separating.

The blue ice sword transformed back into Icicle Fall before falling out of Cirno's grasp and disappears into blue crystals.

The boss once again howled that sent the early chills and dread back to their spine and faced the two fairies at its back. Its deadly parts still crushing the other party members beneath its titanic size.

Cirno opened her eyes slowly and looked at the boss' last HP bar in the yellow zone. She looked to her side and sees the fainted Daiyousei's HP bar at the red zone and finally she looked at hers which is in the same color with her friend.

As the floor boss faces them and towers them with a terrifying sight and height. The ice fairy finally closed her and thought to herself as she waited for the scythe to hover over them.

"It's over..."

Cirno managed to think one thing... A feeling that she always experienced in the harsh world of Gensokyo. The feeling that she always experiences no matter what cycle the world goes into. The feeling she is never afraid yet she still dreaded it. She once again breathes in the digital air of Aincrad for the last time as the floor boss' blade strikes the two in one shot.

"So this is how it feels... to die in this world."

Author's Note:

Surprised? I updated in less than a year! Though the chapter isn't that good. Basically because I suck in writing battle scenes and this chapter... isn't really good... I mean... 2 deaths in one chapter? How is that a good thing?

Anyways, anyone happily watching GGO arc in SAO II? Well I can't say anything about it yet since I don't know the plot of it (o A o;;;) I told you I don't read the light novel... I never had an aptitude for reading that's why I suck in writing too~ Shino is cute though.

Being in college strangely filled me with lots of inspiration... It's fun in dormitories too.

Last 1 or 2 chapters? Last 1 chap to go! Let's finish this!

Here's extra stage~ And hohoho... try finding out what Yukari is planning now C: Yeah Shikieiki-sama wouldn't be happy about it.

Extra Stage

"System Log 127202413:51:08: Player "Daiyousei" has disconnected."

"System Log 127202413:51:09: Player "Cirno" has disconnected."

A blonde woman sighed as she took off her headphones. She glanced at the two beds beside her with two girls wearing peculiar helmets at their heads.

"So it happened... huh?"

"Yukari-sama, I had that thing you requested for."

"Oh? What did Yuyuko say about it?"

"She said its fine... Actually she seemed eccentric about it... Though I don't think the Enma would be happy about this..."

"I'll deal with that shorty later Ran. Let's go..."

"Umm... Where?"

A portal with multiple eyes appeared in front of the woman as she took her parasol and put her foot in it.

"To the outside world..."

-End-