Suzuno sighed, and collapsed on her bed. She fished out a bottle of celestial force, and began to scan through the label on the back, just in case she had missed something. Slowly her eyes tightened as she reread the dosage limitations. What would happen if she did take too much? She asked herself. Suzuno shrugged the question off. Best not to test it. Suzuno stood, and walked out of her bedroom, eyes shaded. She slowed as she walked past the door to Maou's apartment.
Orange sunlight bled through the window, the sun sinking over the horizon barely visible from behind a thick layer of clouds.
Suzuno cringed, and continued out onto the stairwell outside. She walked down the wooden steps, gripping the railing, her palms sweaty. Her wooden sandals touched the soft dirt. She stood there for a moment, thinking back to when she had fallen down the stairs on her first day of residence. Maou had been there to catch her. Suzuno cursed herself, and wrinkled her nose, as she strode over to Dulahan, Maou's bike. He wasn't using it right now anyway. Suzuno dragged it out from under the stairs, and hopped on it. She frowned, her sandals not fitting over the pedals properly. She stood from the bike, and kicked off the shoes, before bending down and picking them up, tossing them into the small wire basket in the front of the bike. Suzuno hopped back on, shifting around in her kimono until it felt comfortable. She started peddling, and driving onto the road. She grit her teeth, balance uneasy. It was time to interrogate some people.
Lucifer followed Maou, as he walked down the dirt road, towards the forest.
Emi sighed and crossed her hands behind her head. "Shouldn't we be exploring… I don't know, the level we just unlocked?" Emi asked.
Maou turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. "We don't want people to know that we were the ones to defeat the boss, now do we? If we're caught already exploring the next level, we might as well shout 'hey! We're an in-human guild who knows the game master, so he gives us free stuff! Hate us, please!'"
Asuna and Kirito exchanged a glance.
"Mostly in-human," Maou corrected himself.
Emi blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I see your point," she said, still rather unhappy about having to contain her curiosity for the time being.
"What should we say when the other players go to the boss room and find that there's no boss?" Lucifer asked.
Maou placed a thumb on his lip. "They'll probably blame that Diabel guy, and say that he was wrong about the location of the boss room. Though, if we really want to cover our tracks, we might want to show up to the battle anyway," Maou suggested.
"Think we can still make it?" Lucifer asked, and glanced back at the tower.
"Doubtful. It's not worth it. We can just say that we chickened out. Surely we won't be the only people who don't show," Maou told him, following his gaze to look at where the boss room had been.
"Agreed," Lucifer said, and opened his menu, to check his clock.
"Hey, so you guys are in here to collect fear, right?" Kirito asked.
"Well, the demons are," Emi told him, arms crossed.
"In that case… do you think we should try to get Malacoda to turn our icons red?" he asked.
Lucifer turned to look at him, suddenly interested.
"I mean, if we want to scare people, convincing them that we're murderers might be a good way to start. Then you guys may have enough magic to beat this game! Once and for all!" Kirito proposed.
The guild grew very quiet.
"Depends. We would want to be able to turn it on and off, I would think. If the people around us refuse to interact with the guild, it could cause a lot of complications, especially as far as obtaining any useful information. Like, where the next boss room is, for example. On the other hand… we honestly don't want any more humans to figure out our little… 'Secret'. Scaring them away with such a warning may be a good idea," Maou said, thinking aloud.
"I honestly think that it would be kind of stupid. If someone sees us in the woods with a red icon, then at the inn with a green one, rumors might start to spread. We really don't want that, especially if we're trying to stay under the radar. They might think we've figured out some hack or something. Even worse, they realize were in cahoots with the programmer. They may even attack us out of a sense of justice or something. Anyway, it may scare some people, but I doubt it's worth it," Asuna declared.
The whole guild turned to look at her.
That was the most she had said since she had joined them.
"Asuna's right. It's more trouble than it's worth," Emi commented, glancing at Maou, partially preparing an argument.
"True. I doubt we could even manage to convince Malacoda to give us that kind of power. I mean, say we do kill someone. Would we still have the ability to turn it on and off? At any rate, it's just too risky," Maou decided.
Asuna smiled a little, proud of herself. She glanced up as the trail became shaded from the sunset, the group continuing to walk under a thick group of trees, and into the forest.
Maou's ears pricked up as he heard something growling, and running through the trees at him. Maou flicked his sword towards the creature, and before even being able to recognize what the thing was, demolished it.
Emi stiffened, not even sure what had exactly even happened.
"Any items?" Lucifer asked.
"Nothing," Maou replied, glancing at his inventory to see if any new items had been added to it. Like he had said, nothing.
"What was the thing?" Emi asked.
"No idea," he replied honestly, and continued down the trail.
Asuna shivered, crossing her arms under her cloak. She shook her head to flick her hood flicked back to reveal her face and hair. She glanced around her nervously, afraid that there might be more of whatever had just attacked Maou… and that she might not be as lucky.
Emi slowed her pace so that she could walk next to Asuna. "What is this place's problem anyway? Monsters who attack the devil himself? This game is more messed up then I thought," She said, eyes closed with her arms crossed behind her head. She opened her eyes a little, and glanced at Asuna to see her reaction to the joke.
Asuna pursed her lips, staring at the ground.
Emi's mouth wrinkled into an awkward smile. "I mean, he deserves anything they dish out on him! It's just kind of ironic, is all!" she tried to smooth over anything she might of said to offend the player.
Asuna forced a bit of a laugh, not really in the mood to make jokes.
Emi chuckled a little, deciding to try and change the subject. "What's your favorite and least favorite kind of monster? In the game I mean," Emi said, playing it off cool best she could.
"I really don't like those giant toad things," Asuna said. She hesitated, trying to think of a monster she liked. "The Lilac creatures are kind of pretty… and they usually drop pretty useful stuff," she recalled.
"Yeah, though the best kind of monster is a dead monster, am I right? That's what they told me back in Etna Isla, at least," Emi said, attempting another bit of dark humor.
Asuna smiled, and stared up at the leaves above them. "This place is beautiful at night, isn't it? There are so many stars in the sky. I lived in the city in real life, so you only got a star or two at night, if you were lucky,"
Emi followed her gaze, and stared up at a large cluster of stars. In Etna Isla, that constellation was referred to as Canis Major. Was the same in the human world? She asked herself, realizing she hadn't gotten to do any stargazing since she came through the gate.
"Tell me more about Etna Isla. It sounds interesting," Asuna suggested.
Emi sighed. "It's pretty much anything you could find out of your typical fantasy novel, I suppose. My job was to eliminate the devil… or Maou. I was called the hero, but I guess you probably already picked up on that. The church had more power than anyone there, with the inquisition on their side. Actually, I've been starting to pick up on a few signs that SAO was based on the place… starting with the currency. There are another few noticeable similarities… but I guess that Malacoda thought he could get away with that kind of thing, because as far as he knew, no-one from Etna Isla would be here. It's kind of funny, I suppose,"
Asuna stared at the ground, her eyebrows knitting together in an expression of pity. "Do you think Malacoda did this because he was homesick?" she asked.
Emi thought about it for a second before briskly responding with, "No. He did it to gain power. This place is like a giant generator for fear, or the magic he feeds on. If he wanted to go home, he could have by now," Emi announced. A thought suddenly hit her. What if Malacoda had gone back to Etna Isla? The church might as well have won the war, as far as they know. If Malacoda went back, it would be the perfect chance for him to launch a surprise attack.
But he still doesn't have his army-. Emi reminded herself. What did she care anyway? It would be great if he overtook the church! Emi swallowed, feeling a deep sense of self-betrayal.
Emi's eyebrows crept up on her forehead, a miserable expression forming on her face.
Asuna frowned as she read the hero's emotions. She bit her lip, and smiled, trying to reassure her friend.
Emi glanced up at Asuna, and grinned, pushing away her depressing thoughts.
Maou narrowed his eyes as he spotted something in the woods next to him. He strained his eyes, ears pricking up as he heard a wail echo from the area.
The rest of the guild turned towards the sound.
Maou felt more fear sink into his skin. He didn't make a noise as he ran towards the sound, feeling like it was familiar for some reason.
Lucifer was the next to follow him, the rest of the guild trailing after their leader.
Maou narrowed his eyes as he made out a girl, collapsed on the ground, with several huge monsters teaming up on her.
The girl…
"CHIHO!" Maou shouted, and picked up the pace.
The girl cringed, and turned towards the voice. Her eyes widened as she made out a black aura begin to surround the player.
Maou teleported forwards, above one of the monsters. He sliced his sword at it, making it dissolve into pixilated light. He then began flashing around to the other monsters, ricocheting between them like a bullet.
The girl managed to stand, trembling with effort, her heart pounding.
Maou took shallow breaths, glancing around him, eyes wild, searching for other monsters. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and turned back to who he believed to be Chi. His eyes softened in disappointment as he got a good look at her face. "You're not…" Maou cringed a little bit.
Silica felt her heart become heavy. "Thank you for saving me," she said quietly. Tears welled up in her eyes as she collapsed to her knees, gripping a small feather in her hands, the only thing that was left of her pet lizard.
Lucifer stopped in front of Maou, glancing down at the girl.
The others collected behind him.
Kirito made his way in front of the crowd, and crouched next to the girl. He flipped through his inventory, and pulled out one of his many, many healing crystals, and placed it in her had.
Silica's eyes softened. She shook her head, and tried to force it back in his hand, But Kirito refused.
"I don't need it, trust me," he told her.
Silica wiped some tears off her cheeks and slowly stood. "Thank you for saving me. I was stupid to think that I could make it through the forest alone," She said quietly.
Maou smiled a little. "It's no problem," he told her.
Silica clutched her feather, and began to cry again. "Pinna…" she trailed off into a sob.
Kirito frowned a little, realizing what must have happened. His gaze shifted across the other members of his guild. Quietly, he slipped behind some bushes, and made his way out of earshot from the other players. He glanced behind him to be sure he hadn't been followed, and bent down on one knee, placing his clasped together hands on his forehead, in a prayer position. "Malacoda. I have a request. If you truly are listening to me at this moment, then please, give me a revival item, to save the girl's pet," he said. He took a shallow breath, and slowly opened his eyes. Kirito lifted his head and glanced at his menu. He had a new message. Hands sweaty, he clicked on the mail icon, and then opened the message.
No prob. But, you'll have to give up a hundred of your healing crystals.
I seriously gave you way too many of those things. –
God. (Malacoda.((Kayaba?)))
Here's the link to trade for the given amount.
You're welcome.
Kirito sighed a little in relief, and clicked on the link, accepting the trade. He then went to his inventory, and found the new revival item. He clicked on it, and made his way back to the other members of the group.
"What'cha doin?" Urushihara asked.
Kirito decided not to answer him, at least not in front of Silica. He bent down, and offered her the revival item. "Take it. It can bring your pet back to life," he told her, voice soft and comforting.
Silica's eyes widened. "It will?" she asked hopefully.
Kirito nodded a little.
Silica carefully took it out of his hands, weighing her options. "I could pay you back…" she offered, hoping that she would be able to afford it.
"I can't accept that. Keep it, it belongs to you now," Kirito told her.
Silica nodded, smiling joyfully, and popped open the bottle. She hesitated, before letting Kirito place the feather in the flask. Her eyes lit up as her lizard formed on her shoulder once again. She bowed her head, extremely grateful. "Please, if there is anything I can do to make it up to you…" Silica trailed off.
Kirito frowned, and glanced at her. This girl kinda reminded him of his sister… he shook the feeling off.
Rosalia frowned, and placed a thumb on her lip. She adjusted her feet under her from her perch in the tree, watching the new players interacting with Silica. "Well, this is an interesting new turn of events," she hissed to herself. Where did that kid get a revival item? And how could he afford to be so generous with it? Rosalia narrowed her eyes. This guild was definitely worth following up on.
"If you don't mind, we should probably be going now. Would you like an escort out of the woods?" Kirito asked.
Silica rang her hands together. "I wouldn't want to be any more of a bother…"
"If you're not comfortable with that, could I just give you a teleport crystal?" Kirito said.
"You would do that?" Silica asked as Kirito summoned the item to his hand.
"Sure. But maybe you should type my name into your contacts, just so that if something happens, you can call me, and I'll be able to find you easily," he suggested.
Silica nodded, and went to her contacts. She glanced at Kirito's name tag, before typing it carefully in.
"We'll keep in touch, okay?" Kirito asked.
Silica nodded and waved, a large smile on her face, before using the crystal to dissolve into pixilated light.
Lucifer glanced up at Kirito. "Being so friendly with her might come back to bite you, you know," he commented.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take. If I can protect someone, then I want to at least try," He told the fallen angel.
Lucifer shrugged. "Whatever. But don't get too close to the girl. We don't want anyone else to be in on 'our little secret'," he reminded Kirito.
Rosalia bit her tongue, and shifted her weight. Who knew that following that little twerp into the woods would be so productive?
Maou glanced up at where Rosario was hiding.
She stiffened, and tapped her teleportation crystal, dissolving into light.
Maou narrowed his eyes.
"What is it?" Emi asked, and tried to follow his gaze.
"There was someone there…" Maou hissed.
The whole guild turned to look at the tree.
"I have a bad feeling about this… assuming that they were there the whole time, why would they just watch that girl dying?" Emi asked.
Maou glanced at her before turning to scan the area around him. "Let's go," he said at last, and walked through the forest, eyes gleaming. He and his guild couldn't afford to run after every other human in this game to help them. He grit his teeth and scowled. His emotions had gotten the better of him. He wouldn't let himself let that happen again. Their lives were the first priority. And their secret was their second.
(||IRL||)
"I am aware," Malacoda said over the phone to his colleague. "I'm going to have to relocate, humans keep finding the cave, and when I take care of them, more and more come to see what happened to those humans, and, and," Malacoda trailed off at the sound of helicopter blades outside the cave. "I'm going to have to call you back," he pressed a button on the phone, and flipped it shut in his hand, before standing, a green aura now beginning to surround him. The helicopter leveled with the cave, and shot a spot light into it. Malacoda squinted, and began to summon magic to his hand.
"Put your hands behind your head and lay down on the ground!" A man shouted from inside the copter with a megaphone.
Malacoda lunged forward, moving with the quick and aggressive steps of the demon he was. He vanished, and re-appeared, perching in front of the copter's windshield. He reached up, and let one of the helicopter blades slam into his hand, stopping it.
The man inside the helicopter cringed, heart racing as the copter began to plummet towards the ground. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asked his partner as the man flung open the helicopter door, and jumped out, tumbling against the mountain side. The officer looked back at Malacoda in terror, The demon's eyes now glowing with an eerie green. "Demon," he whispered.
A small smile formed on Malacoda lips as he ripped the helicopter blade straight off the axis, and jumped back into the air as the helicopter crashed into the ground. He floated in the air, staring down at the crushed and smoking vehicle, unfazed. He landed back on the roof of the car.
The officer clutched the radio transmitter in his shaking hand. He pressed the button, a harsh cough coming from his mouth.
"Officer Redman? What is your report?" The head of Tokyo police asked.
"The man… hiding in the mountain… -cough, cough,- he isn't… human…" The officer managed.
The head of police stiffened, ears pricking up. "Officer Redman!" she shouted.
Malacoda crouched down, and picked up the transmitter by the cord, dragging it from the fallen officer's hand. He pressed the button, and in the most demonic voice he could muster hissed, "Next time you try to peruse me, you better be sure as hell that you have a life insurance policy for your employees. That is all,"
The head of police stiffened as the line went dead. A shiver ran up her back, as her clutched hands began to tremble.
()*SAO*()
Asuna sighed, and collapsed on her bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she turned to look at Emi, who was scanning through her inventory. "Hey," she said.
Emi glanced at Asuna and smiled. "Hi! What is it?" she asked.
Asuna hesitated. "What did you think about Silica?" she asked and bit her lip.
Emi blinked and sat up. "Well… she certainly did remind me of an old friend I had in the real world," Emi's eyes glistened softly in the lantern light.
"Yeah… Kirito was certainly nice to her," Asuna said and sighed.
Emi hesitated. "Wait… do you… like him?" she asked.
Asuna stiffened. "I- I… I only just met the guy," she commented.
Emi laughed nervously. "Right… sorry about that…" she trailed off.
The two sat there in silence.
"Hey, do you want to practice sword work?" Emi asked.
Asuna looked back at the half angel, and nodded slightly.
Emi sat up, and equipped to her huge celestial sword and armor.
Asuna swallowed, realizing as she equipped her own items that Emi clearly had the advantage.
Emi blinked, reading her partner's expression, and shed her armor and sword. "If you want, you could have some of my weapons," she offered.
Asuna's eyes widened. "Really? You would do that?" she asked.
"My pleasure. Besides, I have plenty . And we're in a guild together, right? I wouldn't want a friend to die on me. Here, pick anything you want," Emi told her, and sat down on the bed, inviting Asuna to sit next to her.
Asuna folded her legs under her on the bed, and stared at the inventory list as Emi scrolled through it. "Wow, you have a lot of really nice things!" she commented.
"Thanks, I actually used to have most of this stuff in real life… well back in Etna Isla I mean," Emi told her.
Asuna didn't respond, and hesitated before pointing at a gold plated sword with silver engraved vines winding up the blade.
"That one? Sure!" Emi said and clicked on it, before handing the blade to Asuna.
Asuna weighed it in her hand. It felt perfect.
Emi tipped her head to the side. "Hey… do you think…"
Asuna turned to look at her.
Emi bit her lip.
Asuna frowned. "What is it?" she asked.
"Um… would you… like to try some celestial force?"
Asuna hesitated. "Celestial… force?"
"Yeah, it's basically magic in a bottle. Back in Etna Isla, humans could use it to fight... if you want I mean..."
"Yeah…" Asuna said and crossed her arms. "Yeah, I'd be willing to try it... could anything go wrong?"
Emi shifted her weight. "Well, I don't really know. It's supposed to be the opposite of magic, but because you're not a demon, I can't really think of any way it could hurt you."
Asuna tipped her head from side to side. "Sure. I'll try some!" she decided.
Emi went to her inventory, and double clicked the icon. Two bottles formed in her hands. She passed one to Asuna, and uncorked her own. "On the count of three?"
Asuna nodded, and popped open the flask.
"One…"
The two exchanged a glance.
"Two…" Asuna said.
"Three!" they said unison, and placed the rims of the bottles to their lips.
Asuna gasped, and placed the empty glass bottle down on the bed.
Emi finished hers quickly, and turned to Asuna in concern. "Are you okay?"
Asuna's irises began to shake a little as she clutched herself, surges of unfamiliar energy surging through her veins.
Emi kept a careful eye on Asuna's HP bar and summoned a healing crystal to her hand, just in case.
Asuna swallowed and slowly turned to face Emi. "I… I'm fine. Just a little… shocked," she said.
Emi sighed in relief and let her hand loosen around the healing crystal.
Asuna's eyes snapped to her menu as she saw that she had received a new item. She clicked on the icon, and covered her mouth with her hand as she saw that she had 2,000 bottles of celestial force.
Emi glanced over Asuna's shoulder, and blinked. "Wow! Seems like Malacoda gave you a present,"
"The game master?"
Emi nodded a little, smiling.
"Wow. So… what can I do particularly with celestial force?" Asuna asked.
Emi smiled. "A lot. In the past, I've used it to increase my battle strength, and fly. But try playing around with it, you might be surprised,"
Sweat beaded Asuna's forehead as she focused the new power to her palm. Her eyes light up as a small bead of golden light began to form in her palm. She smiled, eyes full of awe and wonder as she held her palm to her eyes.
"Be careful with it though…" Emi warned.
Asuna glanced up at her, and nodded, understanding. She clenched her hand again, and made the bead turn into light, and dissolve. She placed her hands together, placed them at her nose, and bowed to Emi. "Thank you so, so much," she offered.
"No problem! Just don't go over-dosing," she said.
Asuna frowned. "What is the dosage?" she asked.
Emi hesitated. "I can have two bottles a day… one in the morning, one in the afternoon… but I'm half angel, so I'm not sure the same rules apply to you. Just to be safe, you should probably stick to one bottle a day… at least for now."
Asuna bowed her head again. "I'm going to get to bed. It was a big day," Asuna said and stretched.
"Yeah. Well, see you in the morning," Emi said, and pulled the covers over her in a large swoop of her arm.
Asuna reached across her bed to blow out the candle and leaned back on the mattress. She smiled, and snuggled in under the heavy bed comforter. Suddenly… this virtual world was seeming to feel warmer.
(COMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEENT!... please.)