Right, where the hell was I? Now that I stopped and talked about that stupid carnival, I've completely forgotten what I was talking about before that. Let's see... I talked about the hunt, dropping Serra off, the raid... oh yeah, that's right. I was about to talk about attacking the 74th Floor's Labyrinth. Right.

Ahem.

Floor 74: October 18th, 2024

So of course we get swarmed by like five Lizardman Lords the second we step foot in the 74th Floor's Labyrinth. Story of my life.

"Shit!" Raph cried out. I spared a glance from my own enemy to find that he had been struck in the side by the Lizardman Lord's attack. These things were really damn fast and we were finding ourselves in a lot of trouble. Even Raph, our fastest player, couldn't keep up with them.

I growled under my breath and shoved my Lizardman Lord away with my trident. "This isn't working, Mao!"

"Give me a second," he snapped back. He was busy with his own enemy, although with the wide swings of his axe he was holding his own really well. "I'm thinking!"

I glanced over at Gain and Uri; they were doing fine on their own. Their shields gave them the best chance of blocking the Lizardman Lords' attacks, although Gain's tower shield blocked more of them. Still, even with the superior defense we were all slowly being whittled down. My health was almost in the yellow range, and I could see that the others weren't doing much better. "Mao, if you've got something now is the time!" Uri called out.

"I swear you two just keep ganging up on me," he grumbled. "Hey, wait. That's it!"

"What's it?" Gain asked. I heard a clang as he blocked another strike meant for his side. "Got an idea?"

Mao grunted. "Kinda. Boss, duck!" I obeyed him without question - as the best fighter here, he knew what he was doing. The second my knees hit the ground, an axe whistled over my head, slamming into the neck of the Lizardman Lord in front of me. It lurched sideways under the impact, but didn't die; I took the split second advantage to thrust forward with my trident and pierce its hide.

Squalling in pain, it shattered into blue polygons; I grinned as one floated past me. "Got one of the bastards," I crowed. Freed from having to deal with my opponent, I could help out the others. So that was Mao's plan; gang up on them one at a time until we were clear.

Glancing at the health bars in the corner of my vision, I realized that Raph was in the most trouble. I moved over to cover him; as I approached, I saw the Lizardman Lord raising its sword to strike at him. Raph had been knocked off balance somehow - he was reeling and in no shape to block the attack. If it caught him... but I wouldn't let that happen. I swung my trident at the Lizardman Lord's sword just as it started to descend, catching the sword between the tines of my weapon. With a twist and a jerk, I disarmed the Lizardman Lord, giving Raph just enough time to recover his footing and slice out with his dagger; the Lizardman Lord's life was summarily ended. I nodded at him and he grinned - he went off to help Mao and I went to help the other two Horsemen.

Uri and Gain had gone back to back to maximize their defense and chances of survival. I watched the fight for a second, and then jumped in. I snuck up behind the Lizardman Lord Uri was fighting and used my trident to pull it off balance. Taking advantage of its brief moment of weakness, Uri thrust forward with her longsword; I pulled in my gut with a small squeak of surprise as the longsword burst through the back of the enemy in front of me and almost skewered me along with it. "Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry, Boss!" Uri called out. "No time for subtlety." I just rolled my eyes and jumped away from the Lizardman Lord that Uri was fighting. She could handle it from there.

I looked around and suddenly we had everything under control. Mao and Raph were wiping the floor with their shared enemy, Uri was carving chunks off of the Lizardman Lord, and Gain had managed to beat his enemy through sheer luck. Typical. I relaxed slightly, grinning to myself; we worked well as a team.

Suddenly, something caught my attention. It was the sound of boots; boots meant feet, and feet meant people. Or more enemies, but the footsteps were coming from a place we had already cleared out - there shouldn't be mobs there yet. I triggered my «Searching» skill and my eyes widened at what I saw. "Masks, everyone. We've got company." The Horsemen nodded and pulled the masks out of their belt pouches, placing them on their faces and equipping them. We'd gotten plenty of practice with this move; since we weren't hunting down player killers, we were running into other players a lot more often. We had decided to stop hiding from the public eye if possible, so I would just go about my business whether someone was there or not. When they saw the masks, most people bolted.

The raid party members had spread the word.

Finishing up with the enemies, the Horsemen drew closer around me. I counted the number of green cursors I saw and swore under my breath. "That's a lot of the bastards," I muttered.

We waited with bated breath for the players to come into eyesight. Eventually, they did, accompanied by a large amount of clattering armor. I took in the details - to be fair, there weren't that many details to take in. Every player was dressed in the same outfit, a set of heavy plate mail with a helmet that hid any trace of personal identity. The only player with any sort of unique marking was one in the front with a red sash.

Mao swore, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Gain blanch. "The Army..." he whispered.

The player with the red sash held up a hand and the company halted. "Identify yourselves!" he bellowed. No inside voice with this guy.

I snickered. Might as well play up the orange player angle - the Army wasn't exactly tolerant to anybody with a cursor color that wasn't green. I slammed my trident into the ground and spread my arms wide. "I am the Fallen Angel, Asmodeus!" I called out, my voice ringing through the suddenly silent air; apparently, the script I had used for greeting the raid party was part of my style now, so I had to introduce myself like that every time. It got kinda annoying. "These are the Four Horsemen! We have no quarrel with you. Let us leave and you won't regret facing us." I heard a snort from my left; I glanced out of the corner of my eye to glare at Uri. I hadn't actually seen her do it, but she was probably the one that snorted. Boasting was definitely something I needed to work on.

The Army player with the red sash gritted his teeth. "We will do our duty as members of the Aincrad Liberation Front and capture any and all orange players!" he bellowed. "Give yourselves up peacefully and your lives will not be in danger."

I frowned slightly. "Hm, I don't really feel like giving myself up. I have this thing about older men, you know? Or maybe it's just men in general." Oh, this was fun - I could hear the player's teeth grinding from where I was standing. I turned to the Horsemen. "Any of you feel like submitting?" They shook their heads, and I nodded. "Gotcha." I turned back to the Army squad. "Sorry, but we're not giving ourselves up today. I think War has a date later and I promised I'd drop him off, maybe embarrass him in front of the lovely lady. You know, things that his wingman would do." This time there was an audible snicker from Mao's direction.

I think I understand why witty banter is so much fun. I mean, people look so funny when they're raging impotently, right?

"Then you leave us no choice!" the Army player roared. He drew his sword and pointed it at us. "We will capture you with force! Soldiers, forward to battle!"

I shrugged. "Nothing to worry about yet." The other Army soldiers drew their swords and started running toward us. "Ah. That's something." I turned and bolted, the Horsemen already running. "Thanks for waiting, guys."

Raph glanced back at me. "Hey, they only want you, not us." They wouldn't leave me behind, no matter what they said. I trusted them.

I rolled my eyes. "So Uri, is there a safe zone nearby?" We rounded a corner to see a crossroads ahead.

Uri swiped open her map as we approached the branching paths. "Take a left!" We all took the turn pretty well - except Gain in his heavy plate armor, but he didn't stumble or anything - and kept running. I spared a second to look behind us to see the Army members chasing us; fortunately, though, they seemed to be falling behind. Must be tired.

Uri continued to give us directions, although they mostly amounted to 'Keep running forward!'. After a while, I saw the safe zone up ahead; Mao glanced at me. "There's players in there, boss! About eight, I think. Maybe more."

I sighed. "Let's just hope they aren't more Army members." That would just be perfect, wouldn't it? I shot another glance behind me to judge how far the Army soldiers were. They were still pretty close, so I gritted my teeth and swore under my breath. People still honored the convention of sanctuary, right? I asked for safety, they gave it to me, they didn't send me out to the wolves? I hoped that was still a thing.

As we burst into the safe zone, I cried out, "Sanctuary!" It was kinda like calling 'base!' in a game of tag - we were safe so long as the players couldn't physically force us out of the safe zone. "...er, please?" Interestingly enough, this was the only type of safe zone I could enter. Still not a good idea to sleep in one alone, because some enterprising player could take it on themselves to lug my motionless body out of the safe zone and then kill me.

I looked around and six players were standing in a semicircle, staring at me. They were all wearing pretty similar armor - like something out of a samurai movie - so I figured they were all part of the same guild. One guy with red hair held back by a bandana stepped forward. "Hey, you okay?" The Horsemen were all doubled over, panting from our mad dash to safety, and I wasn't in much better shape. I looked up and shrugged with a tired grin. "Hey, what the- you're an orange player!"

I sighed. Great. "And you have red hair. Can we stop talking about the obvious?"

Someone laughed. "He's got you there, Klein." Oh, shit. I recognized that voice, and by the sudden stiffening of the Horsemen, they did too. Kirito walked around the players to see what was going on and stared in shock. "Asmodeus? And the Four Horsemen?"

The red-haired guy - apparently his name was Klein or something - stared at me and my group. "Wait, you're Asmodeus? The Fallen Angel?" He took a closer look. "Now that you mention it, I see the masks. And he does look kinda like how you said, Kirito."

"Step aside."

At the sound of the cold voice, I froze and my eyes widened. "Fuck. Me." The six samurai players moved out of the way to show a lithe female figure with long chestnut hair, dressed in red and white. I gulped. "Er. Hi, Asuna?"

She didn't respond. She just drew her rapier and pointed it at me.

I didn't take my eyes off of the blade. "So, that's a definite yes on the whole killing me thing. Cool. I can live with that." I kinda have this habit of mouthing off when my life's in danger. Normal situations, I can't think of anything to say, but point a sword at my chest and boom! The words come flowing from my mouth.

Granted, I usually get myself into more trouble that way, but at least I'm kinda witty. Now, if only I could figure out how to work it when I wasn't about to die...

"You won't live with it for much longer." Her voice was frigid; anything liquid in about five meters froze solid. Well, at least I wouldn't piss myself - silver lining and all that jazz, right?

Now, I could say I courageously defused the situation by offering myself to her in the hopes that the Horsemen could escape. I could also say that I fought my way out of the Labyrinth, killing the Floor boss as an afterthought. Neither one is true, of course, but I could say that. Both of them are cooler than what actually happened. Can we just skip this part?

...no? Fine, then.

I whimpered slightly. "Please don't kill me." See, there's a reason I wanted to skip over this part. Whimpering doesn't exactly fit with the whole 'badass motherfucker' vibe I've been trying to give off.

Asuna tightened her grip on her rapier - it was a new one, I noticed. The things you pick up when you're about to die. "You should have thought of that before you started killing." Oh god I was going to die and I hadn't killed PoH and wow I was hungry. Screw you, stomach. Be hungry when I'm not about to die.

Suddenly, Kirito stepped between us. "Asuna, it's all right."

"K-Kirito?" I'm not sure which one of us was more surprised, me or Asuna.

I slumped to the ground in relief, and in the background I could hear the Horsemen collapsing as well. "Holy shit, I'm alive. Wow. This is surprising." I looked up to see Asuna staring at Kirito. They were talking about something quietly, and by the hand gestures it probably had something to do with me.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of armored feet approaching from behind us and I swore. In the sudden commotion with Asuna, we had forgotten about the Army. Scrambling to get as far away from the entrance to the safe zone as possible, the Horsemen and I pressed ourselves against the far wall. Of course, that did put me closer to Asuna, but frying pan versus the fire, I think I made the right choice. Kirito evidently could keep her from killing me, at least for a little while, while the Army would lock me up without a second thought.

The squadron of Army players entered the safe zone and stood there, panting. The guy with a red sash turned around. "At ease," he barked. Immediately, every other member of the squadron collapsed, dropping where they stood. After racing after us, they were entirely wiped out. He turned back to the six players that the Horsemen and I were hiding behind. "Give the orange player and his friends to us."

Klein's eyes narrowed. "C'mon now, buddy. There's no call to be rude. What's your name?"

He growled under his breath. "I'm with the Aincrad Liberation Force. Lieutenant Colonel Corbatz." Neat. Don't care.

Kirito stepped forward. "I'm Kirito. Solo."

Corbatz grinned. "Sure you are. Now, give us the murdering scum you're protecting!"

"Um, as the murdering scum in question, I'd like to request that you not do what he says." I said. Klein glanced at me, and I winced. "Just asking."

Klein grinned. "Kirito will take care of this. Don't worry." Yeah, sure. Don't worry. Easy for him to say - he wasn't the one being hunted. I had Asuna on my left and these jerks in front; there was no way out for me. I did have the Corridor Crystal, but it would be almost useless since they could just follow me. But I could just go hidden the second their eyes were off me... Food for thought. If things went ugly, that would be my escape plan.

Kirito glared at Corbatz, but when he spoke his voice was calm. "How about we make a trade?"

"What did you have in mind?"

Kirito swiped open his menu. "I've cleared out the area up ahead and I have a map with directions to the boss room." Wait, what?! They'd found it?

And he was going to give it up for me? What was this, Opposite Day or something?

Corbatz hummed in thought for a second. "Right. Our orders were to find and attack the boss room, after all." He raised his hand, palm up. "Hand over that map and we'll be on our way."

"What?" Klein exclaimed. "Kirito, are you sure?" He glanced at me, but didn't say anything else.

Kirito grinned at Klein. "I've got this, Klein. Besides, it's always a good idea to help someone out when they need it." He turned to Corbatz and started the transaction. "Will you leave them alone after this?"

Corbatz studied the data he had received thoughtfully. "Hm... So long as we don't see them again, we'll consider this a settled matter." He turned and started walking back to his troops. "Thanks for cooperating."

"Hey, I just took a look inside that room, pal," Kirito called out. "And you can't beat that boss if your troops are half-dead! Look at them! They're exhausted!" So he was concerned about other people, too? How noble. And here was little me thinking I was special.

Corbatz whirled angrily. "Nonsense! My men are tougher than that. They won't quit until I say so!" He turned back to his troops. "On your feet! C'mon, move!" Groaning with exhaustion, his men staggered to their feet.

We all watched the small platoon walk out. "Oh, man," said Klein. "Are those guys gonna be okay?"

I didn't know what to say to that, so I decided to change the subject. "While I'm grateful for your rescue, Kirito, why'd you do that?" He glanced at me. "I mean, map data is a lot more valuable than some piece of shit, player-killing scumbag like me." He winced slightly at the bitterness in my voice; but hey, if they were going to call me that, I'd make them squirm to hear it. I mean, it gets a little tiring hearing the same thing over and over again. I killed for a damn good reason, and it was for a good cause.

Surprisingly, Kirito laughed. "When Asuna and I got back to town I was gonna go public with the map anyway. It's cool." He didn't exactly answer my question. "Besides, it's always better to hear the other side of the story too. After all, you saved me before." Oh, right. That.

Pushing myself to my feet, I waved the Horsemen to theirs. "So, thanks for the help. We'll be out of your way as soon as-" My words were cut off by a very prominent rapier at the center of my chest. "Or, whatever you think works is cool. No problem."

Asuna was staring at me, eyes deadly. "I told you the next time I saw you I was killing you, no questions asked." Suddenly, she sheathed her rapier. "Lucky for you, I'm taking the day off." Whatever Kirito said must have helped calm her down. I didn't care either way; my head was still attached to the rest of me. "But I don't feel comfortable just letting you walk loose in the Labyrinth with us. I'd feel better if I could keep an eye on you." And kill me if it looked like I was a player-killer at heart. But she didn't add that part.

Kirito was staring after the recently-departed Army members. "Maybe we should keep an eye on them anyway." He glanced at Klein, who grinned back at him. He sighed. "I don't know who's nicer, you or me."

Klein chuckled. "What are friends for, right, buddy?" He slung his arm around Kirito's shoulder. "Me and the rest of the guild were going to fight some mobs anyway." So those other guys were part of his guild? Huh. Neat. Klein eyed me and the Horsemen before looking back at Kirito. "Say, you two want to join up with us? We can all keep watch together."

Oh, very funny.

Kirito laughed. "Sure, why not. I think there are some Lizardman Lords over on the east side." I was going to say that the Horsemen and I had gotten enough fighting in for one day, but I was very aware of Asuna's glare at my back. I couldn't exactly get away from them.

So we ended up fighting with Fuurinkazan, Klein's guild, and Asuna and Kirito for a while. The Horsemen and I watched on the sidelines as Klein fought the last mob. Raph leaned over. "Is this really the smartest thing to be doing?" he whispered.

"She's not called the Lightning Flash for nothing, Raph," I whispered back. "If we run, she'll catch us. And then we all die."

Gain shuddered. "And I don't really want that to happen."

Uri poked Mao in the ribs. "Do you really have a date, or is that just something Boss made up to mess with the Army guy?"

Wow. Mao's eyeroll was audible. Talk about beyond the impossible. "What do you think, Uri? When have I had time to set up a date?"

Uri laughed. "Just messing with you. Lighten up."

Suddenly, a scream rang out. Kirito and Asuna shot off toward the west at a dead run - I figured that was where the boss room was located. Made sense; the only people that would be screaming on this floor would be the Army guys. Klein and his guild made to follow, but stopped when they saw we weren't moving. "Well? Let's go!" he called out.

"Do we really have to?" I asked plaintively. Klein patted the butt of his katana and I nodded. "You make a valid and persuasive argument." I turned to the Horsemen. "Let's go." Groaning, they followed me as we all ran after Asuna and Kirito.

When we reached the boss door, I stopped in shock. This was the first time in over a year that I had seen a boss up close and personal - for kinda obvious reasons, right? - and it was just as terrifying as the ones I had fought. It was tall with blue fur; its back was towards us, but I could still see the goat horns and the gigantic fuck-off sword it was carrying. "That's a sword, all right," I muttered. Something moved toward us, and I blinked in shock. The fucking thing had a cobra for a tail!

The boss swiped with its gigantic sword, sending several players flying; it had managed to somehow trap them all on the other side. Klein ran up to Kirito's side. "Hey! The hell's going on?" He gasped as he took in the scene.

"They're insane..." Kirito muttered. "They can't use their teleportation crystals..." Huh. That was new. And absolutely, terrifyingly ironic. Seems I was better prepared than the others were. Heh. If it weren't so sad I'd be laughing.

Klein stared at the situation. "But... Isn't there something we can do?" Kirito could only grit his teeth.

"Ready? Charge!" That shout belonged to Corbatz. Great, he was attacking instead of getting the fuck out. Idiot.

Kirito stepped forward. "Don't do it!"

The boss reared back and did something - it looked like it shot lightning from its mouth. Whatever it did, the entire formation of attacking players was suddenly flattened. With the players stunned, the boss drew back its sword and slammed it into the ground, dust filling the air; several players were sent sprawling on the ground, but none burst into polygons. Suddenly, the boss whipped around and sliced upwards, and I saw a figure wearing a red sash come flying towards us.

Corbatz crashed into the ground right outside of the boss room. "Hey!" Kirito shouted, and raced to Corbatz's side. "Hang on, Corbatz!" Corbatz's helmet shattered. He could only make choking noises as Kirito knelt by his side.

"I can't believe it..." Corbatz managed to choke out. His eyes opened wide and his body shattered into polygons. He died.

He died and it was my fault - if I hadn't forced Kirito to give up the map to save me, Corbatz wouldn't be dead. It was all my fault. Again. Someone else died because I couldn't do anything to protect them.

Her face flashed in front of my eyes, her piercing green eyes holding accusation and blame. ...stared at my hiding place as she...

It was only when Uri gently touched my shoulder that I realized I was staring at the ground and trembling.

Suddenly, Asuna's scream shattered the air. "No!" It was a long, drawn-out scream as she rushed into the room, rapier drawn, to attack the boss. Kirito screamed out her name and lunged forward as well.

Klein sighed. "Ah, what the hell," he muttered. He rushed forward, his guildmates following him.

"What do we do, Boss?" Raph asked quietly. "With them busy in there, we can get out if we have to."

"No!" I snapped. "Nobody else is dying because of me. We need to get the players out." The Horsemen nodded and rushed into the boss room as well. They were following Klein and Fuurinkazan's lead.

I needed to find some way to help as well. Asuna leaped into the air, her rapier flashing out and slamming repeatedly into the boss's back. I glanced at its information; according to the HUD, it was called The Gleam Eyes and her attack...didn't do anything. Shit. Roaring in pain and anger, The Gleam Eyes spun and lashed out with its sword. Asuna glanced off of the claymore and spun in midair; The Gleam Eyes reared back and hit her with a straight punch, sending her flying. Without thinking, I jumped forward, catching her and absorbing some of her momentum as she fell toward the ground. When we landed heavily, she looked down in surprise. "What..."

I grinned weakly. "What can I say, old habits are hard to break. I've got your back on this one, Asuna."

She frowned, but didn't say anything else. Suddenly, the gigantic sword slammed past our bodies and smashed into the floor. I looked up; Kirito was standing in front of us. He had probably managed to shift the strike just enough that it had missed us. "What are you waiting for? Get out!" he screamed. He didn't have to tell me twice; I pulled Asuna to her feet and turned to get out of range.

From behind me, I could hear Kirito screaming in rage. I turned back to see that Kirito had attacked The Gleam Eyes to prevent it from killing the wounded soldiers from Corbatz's party. The soldiers were walking away slowly, supported by the members of Fuurinkazan and the Horsemen, but they were targets - Kirito had probably saved their lives. The Gleam Eyes turned slowly; Kirito had finally gotten its attention. With a blur of metal and flying sparks, I watched helplessly as The Gleam Eyes fought Kirito one on one. They both took damage, but it was still amazing; I was seeing the Black Swordsman at his finest. He blocked a heavy overhead strike with his sword, but I could tell it was still doing damage.

"Kirito!" Asuna cried.

"Get out of there!" Klein shouted.

I gritted my teeth and lunged forward, drawing my trident as I went. Planting one end in the ground, I forced it under the lowest part of the sword and pushed up; my trident had just enough reach that it let Kirito find the strength to knock away the claymore. He turned and ran, not a moment too soon. I pulled out and followed his lead; behind us, the heavy weapon slammed into the ground. "Second time I saved your life now," I panted.

Kirito grinned. "Yeah, but I saved you back in the safe zone. So I only owe you one, now."

After taking a deep breath, I grinned back. "Fair enough," I gasped out. I moved over to see how the Horsemen were doing in getting the players out of danger; it wasn't so good. Fuurinkazan and the Horsemen had only managed to get a few to safety; the majority were still lying on the ground. The Gleam Eyes turned back to the wounded soldiers and I swore under my breath. I stepped forward, intending to attack The Gleam Eyes, but Kirito put his hand out and stopped me.

"Hey Klein, Asuna, listen! I need ten seconds. Keep him off me!" He called out. He looked at me. "Think you can help?"

I sighed. "If it keeps the Horsemen and the others safe, I'm game."

"You got it!" Klein and Asuna rushed forward; as they passed me, I joined in the rush. Klein looked over. "I remember you now! You were the Knight's Angel! That guy who dressed in all white." Hell of a time to bring that up.

I groaned. "Yes, yes, whatever. Can we just focus on not dying, please?" Suddenly, The Gleam Eyes knocked him away with an unexpected backswing. I only barely managed to get out of the way in time, but I was too far away from the boss to help Asuna as she closed in. She sidestepped another strike as she desperately tried to get close enough to attack with her rapier. I couldn't really help all that much; my attacks were usually used to irritate or pick off the weaker enemies, and The Gleam Eyes had me beat when it came to range.

"Okay, I'm ready!" I heard Kirito shout from behind me. Asuna countered the Sword Skill of The Gleam Eyes with her own, knocking it off balance. "Switch out!" We didn't have to be told twice - we jumped out of the way, landing next to Klein. As the boss thrust forward, Kirito parried it with his black sword. With his other hand, he reached out, a blue light forming on his back. Another sword appeared, and he drew it.

He slashed at The Gleam eyes with a Sword Skill, the two swords biting into its flesh and leaving twin red marks down its chest. I heard Klein gasp beside me. "Two?" I didn't say anything; I was too busy staring. The Gleam Eyes tried an overhead smash again, the thing that almost got Kirito the first time; however, this time Kirito crossed his swords and caught the claymore between them. With a scream and a burst of strength, he knocked away the claymore and lunged, leaving more red marks on the boss. I watched the fight in amazement as the Black Swordsman started chewing through the boss's health, fighting it one on one and winning. The Gleam Eyes tried another smashing attack, but Kirito dodged to the right and charged a Sword Skill.

"Starburst Stream!" I heard Kirito shout. His black sword licked out to slice the belly as he led into a thrust that ripped upwards with his other sword. Spinning, he sliced the area where the wounds crossed two more times. Bringing his swords together, he left a gigantic gash on the creature's stomach; it roared in pain. Kirito's skill still wasn't finished, as he slashed diagonally in both directions, leaving an X-shaped trail of red lines. He then slashed upwards along those same lines, cutting the boss twice. I watched the health bars drop like a stone - this was the most amazing fight I had ever seen.

"What the hell kind of skill is that?" I heard Klein mutter beside me. I ignored him, watching Kirito's movements. He was amazing, and I couldn't believe I had saved his life twice. He used all of his strength and speed, increasing the rate of attacks. He slashed downwards then led into a straight thrust with his Elucidator as his moves got faster and faster. I could tell he was concentrating as hard as he could to keep his footing and fight as fast as he could. The Gleam Eyes shifted slightly, charging a skill. Kirito spun in midair, using his momentum and the blue sword to parry The Gleam Eyes's claymore. He swapped grips, flipping the swords around and boring into the stomach of The Gleam Eyes. He took a right cross to the face but ignored it; I was starting to get worried. Nothing would stop Kirito now, not even his health. I looked – he was in the yellow zone. Kirito somehow managed to start moving even faster, slashing in every direction with both swords with abandon. The entire Sword Skill hadn't finished yet, and it still looked like a graceful dance. The two fighters traded blows back and forth for what seemed like hours; suddenly, The Gleam Eyes grabbed Kirito's black sword. Its health was in the red on the last bar, but Kirito's health was only a sliver. The Gleam Eyes lunged forward with its claymore – beside me, I saw Klein and Asuna start to race forward.

I was half a second from following them when Kirito ducked under the blow and thrust forward, his left sword piercing deep through the boss. I watched as its health bar drained to zero - its body glowed with blue light and burst into thousands of tiny polygons. He remained still as the results screen appeared and disappeared; however, none of us paid any attention to what we had received. I think I levelled up, though. "Is it...over?" he whispered into the silence. Suddenly, he toppled over backwards; he had passed out.

God. Damn.

Once that happened, Asuna and Klein had managed to shake off their paralyzing surprise and rushed over to see what had happened. "Kirito!" Asuna screamed, as if by calling his name he'd wake up. "Kirito!" When I walked over as well, I could see tears in her eyes; I had never seen her cry before, not even when she threatened to kill me. I mean, you'd think that the second-in-command would feel something when she was about to kill me, but nope. Nothing.

Klein walked over next to me. "Thanks for your help out there." I looked over to see the Horsemen standing next to the other members of Fuurinkazan; Gain waved. "The guys said that the Four Horsemen gave everything they had. And you saved Asuna and Kirito." He looked at me thoughtfully. "Maybe those rumors are wrong about you." I felt a small chill run down my spine; I had thought he was just a careless gamer, albeit one good with a katana, but he was sharp.

Before I could think of something to respond to respond to that - remember, my life wasn't in danger - I saw Kirito sit up. He raised a hand to the side of his head. "Man...my head..." He dropped his hand and looked around, probably realizing that he and Asuna were the center of quite a bit of attention. "That was too close..." he said. Asuna rubbed at her eyes. "How long was I out for?"

"Just a few seconds..." Asuna's voice shook. She lunged forward to grab Kirito in a tight embrace. "You reckless...idiot..." She finally lost control and started sobbing into his shoulder.

Kirito gasped, and then smiled. "Jeez, don't hug me so hard. I'll lose the last of my HP."

Klein walked over. "Corbatz and two of his men were the only ones who didn't make it." I gritted my teeth; three people had died because I couldn't help them. I was the cause of their deaths. My fault.

Kirito looked down. "We haven't lost a player in a boss fight since Floor 67..."

"That wasn't a boss fight, that was suicide." There was an odd note to Klein's voice; I couldn't tell if it was admiration, fear, or pent-up emotion. "Corbatz was a damn fool." He waved over to the remaining soldiers. "There's no point to any of this if you die!" He realized how he sounded and shook his head. His smile was back. "You're not off the hook either, Kirito, what the hell'd you do just now?"

Kirito looked at his friend. "I don't think you wanna know."

"Oh come on! I've never seen anything like it before!" Klein exclaimed, waving his hands wildly. Neither had I, although I really only saw player killers. But my point stands, damn it.

Kirito sighed and looked to the side. "It's an extra skill I picked up. Dual Wielding…" Hot damn.

At once, everyone gasped and started shouting questions - how he had unlocked it, what the fighting style was like, things like that. Klein stepped forward. "Dude, are there prerequisites?"

Kirito grinned. "If I knew that, I'd have shared it by now."

Klein pulled up his menu and started scrolling through the skill list. "It's not on the info broker's skill list..." He paused. "Hey, you've got a Unique Skill! Way to stay on the down-low, Kirito." Huh. A Unique Skill? Come to think of it, Heathcliff - the leader of my former guild - had one of those things too. Neat. "How can you keep an awesome secret like that from your buddies?"

Kirito spoke up. "About six months ago, I was scrolling through my skill menu. And it was just... there. Dual Wielding. But..." He looked down. "If anyone else found out I had a skill like this..."

Klein placed a hand on his chin. "They'd get pissed because you had something they didn't."

Mao shifted over near me; the Horsemen had gotten close during the clamor over Kirito's skill. "That was when the Laughing Coffin started up," he murmured in my ear. "A bunch of other red players showed up around then, too." Good to know.

I realized Klein was still talking. "... are like that, but not me." Klein said defensively. "You're right, though. People would definitely be jealous you had that." He leered at Kirito. "And that..."

Asuna was still clinging tightly to Kirito's body. I know people always talked about how cute she was, but to tell the truth, he could keep her. I really didn't want to be murdered today, thanks.

Klein still had a smug grin on his face. "Well, they say your character is built by life's challenges, so keep soldiering on, young man."

Kirito looked to the side. "Easier said than done."

"We're going to go trigger the warp gate." Klein turned to look at me and the Four Horsemen. "You coming?"

My eyes widened and I swore. "What names get put on the monument?" The names of the clearing group got placed on the warp gate in the nearest town. If it was the name of every person in the fight, we had just given away the identities of the Four Horsemen.

Klein grinned. "Just the names of the party leaders." My heart started beating at a normal speed again. Oh, thank gods.

I shook my head. "I can't enter a town, remember?" Klein's eyes flicked up slightly before meeting mine again.

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that. But your name will still be on the monument, so that's cool, right?" He turned to Kirito. "How about you, buddy?"

Kirito shook his head. "Nah. I'll catch up later. I need to rest for a bit."

"I heard that. Have a safe trip back." Klein started walking away. Before taking more than three steps, he stopped and turned back to Kirito and Asuna. "Oh, by the way... You know how you ran in there, to rescue those Army guys like you did?" Kirito made a sound of confusion. "Well... you know... glad you did." Klein wiped his face. From where I was standing I couldn't see what he was wiping away, but I did see something fall from his hand when he brought it down. Probably a tear. "Anyway, I'll see ya." He waved without looking back. The Four Horsemen and I started walking up the stairs, approaching the newest floor. "Hey. Asmodeus."

I stopped at Klein's voice. "What is it?"

He grinned. "You're not such a bad guy after all. From those rumors, it sounded like you were some angel of death or something. Killing orange players... Why do you do it?"

"I have my reasons." I needed to kill PoH, and the quickest way was to just kill every player killer I came across. Sooner or later I'd get the right one.

"Hey, do you still accept friend requests?" Klein asked. Okay, that was out of left field.

I stopped and stared at him. "...I guess. It's been so long since anybody's actually wanted to friend me that I really haven't thought about it."

Klein grinned. "Mind accepting mine?" At my incredulous stare, he laughed. "You seem like a good guy down under the, you know, murder and everything." I raised an eyebrow. "Don't think I didn't see you protect Asuna and Kirito."

"Oh." I didn't have a response. "Like I told her, old habits die hard." Okay, I lied about the not having a response thing. But it made it seem more emotional, right?

"So what about the old habits of making friends?" Klein pressed. I sighed and accepted his friend request. "Thanks, Asmodeus."

I grimaced. "Just don't use it to track me down, okay? I kinda like not being targeted when I'm out in the field. And for the love of god don't tell Asuna." Just thinking about her having a way to track me was chilling.

Klein grinned. "You got it." He walked up the stairs to the waiting floor, his friends following him.

I just stood there while the Four Horsemen looked at each other. "Well, that was bizarre," I said.

"Why'd he do that?" Gain asked Raph under his breath. I pretended I didn't hear them - they were speaking quietly and it would be rude to say anything.

"I think he recognized someone else who cares about their friends," Raph replied equally as quietly.

Hm. Someone who cares... That was certainly true a long time ago. But was it still true now? I didn't know.

I think it's probably clear what happened in the past, but hey, maybe I'm wrong. Who knows.

Many thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed. Special thanks goes to Alicornation and JdkLeBleau728 for being dedicated reviewers.