A/N: See first chapter for disclaimer. Here is the first, short, canon interlude folks. This time it features our favorite Spear Ears. I will admit the reason why I delayed this chapter is because of the new Dark Elf army book coming out and I would like to be up to date on the wargame fluff and rules. So here you are ladies and gentlemen Kirito and Asuna.

Also a special shout out to Older Than Time who has launched his fan fic Destiny Online, the second Warhammer/SAO crossover on the site. This deserves special mention because not only is it a good story but it is partially inspired by yours truly. Recursive Fan Fiction at it's best baby!

/

Half a mile off the Coast of Nagarythe
Mid-Morning of December 17th, 2022

The small Dark Elf galley rose and fell amongst the rough seas of the mid-December morning. The galley was 30 yards long and 5 wide, it's hull a midnight black with a metal ram below a carved hydra's figure head. Though it's dragon like sails were billowing from a northern wind, below the decks NPC slaves rowed the vessel to the shore, the ship cursing at a very high speed. Upon the top deck there was a reaper bolt thrower and NPC Dark Shard crossbowmen walking along the wooden planks.

The ship was not a rouge Dark Elf raider though, the vessel was owned by a small crew of three Dark Elves. They included a ranged build Dark Elf, he was an Indian in his early twenties with the name of Sanjay. His hair was black and curly underneath his helmet, which framed his angular high cheek bone face fairly well. He was armed with a repeater crossbow and sword, which had a minor rune of strength. His armor consisted of black metal chain mail over a purple robe. Around his body was a bear pelt that helped to keep him warm in the chilly weather.

Then there was Silith, he was a white American with short cropped blond hair, his eyes a light green. He was broad shoulder with powerful limbs, his build made him look squatter then his actual size was, but still he was proving to be popular with the ladies back in Hag Graef. He was wearing a heavy open felt robe over a black tank top and pants. At his hips were a pair of red jewel encrusted daggers. Despite his gender and appearance, which would have had many mistaken him for an Assassin build, he was in actuality a Witch Elf Sorceress. Due to his real gender being a male, but having decided to play as a female Witch Elf, the hand mirror that Kayaba had given out really screwed around with the game system and until he was able to afford proper clothes his manhood.

The last member of the small party was a young teenager, yet he was the captain of the small ship. He stood at the bow of the ship, his left leg on the ships railing and looking out to the land of the High Elves. He was dressed in the light armor of a Dark Elf Corsair, upon his back a black sea dragon cape that billowed with the northern wind. Upon his back a pair of wickedly curved blades rested below his cloak. He was helmetless, exposing his young face to the wind. He was Japanese; his long pointed ears jutting out of his black hair, his eyes were dark brown in color. This was Kirito, captain of the Midnight Shark.

The trio were an odd bunch of players, driven together by the circumstance of dungeon delving, but now felt the need to explore beyond their chilled shores.

/

It was a month ago that they met at a tomb of a long forgotten Dark Elf noble in the Iron Mountains. They had entered the tomb at different entrances, Sanjay with a large guild, Silith with a small coven of Witch Elves and Kirito all by himself. When they met in the middle at the nobles they were reduced to only three players. Sanjay was the last of his guild, the rest dying at the hands of tyrogytes and monsters, the same for Silith who lost his party along the way. Kirito, having been a beta tester, was able to find a secret entrance to the tomb and only fighting a splattering of tyrogytes.

The trio then met at the sarcophagus of the noble, the three doors from the tunnels opening to the sanctuary of the tomb to reveal each other. Of course when they saw each of the other dark elves they had raised their weapons to defend themselves. It was quite a shock after all to suddenly find yourself looking at two other gore drenched players while looking for loot. The trio shuffled into the sanctuary their weapons still drawn, untrusting of the other's. Back stabbing among players was common, but amongst the Dark Elves it was supposed to be part of the fluff and there was no telling how much of a RP'er the other person was till it was usually too late.

As they approached the sarcophagus, the doors behind them slammed shut leaving them trapped inside. When the doors were closed the players all jumped a little, including Kirito who had explored this dungeon when it was in beta. 'That didn't happen in the Beta,' Kirito realized with a start.

Then the sarcophagus itself was beginning to be surrounded by a dark mist, which spiraled from the base of the tomb upwards. The players followed the path of the darkness with their eyes and Sanjay's crossbow. The mist exploded above the sarcophagus and showered down, taking the form of a ghostly figure. It was a black, but still translucent, Dark Elf in the armored vestments of a noble, armed with spear and shield.

The wraith stood upon it's sarcophagus and bent it's legs, the bosses shield braced in front of it and spear held underhanded. The title of the boss appeared above his head.' Dethna Felbane.' Followed by a trio of health bars under it's title.

Before anyone could get in a hit the boss pulled back it's ethereal spear and stabbed at Silith. He was quick, like all other Elves, and dived below the stab. He then brought his dagger's up to slash the ghostly spear away. His blades passed the spear and the wraith pulled it's weapon back for another attack. Sanjay saw an opening and unloaded two bolts Dethna's head, the projectiles passing through and hitting the stone wall next to Silith.

Kirito saw this go on, even as he dodged a spear thrust. Like the last time he was here the entity was unable to be harmed by mundane attacks, but there was a way to defeat him… the problem being was did he want to trust these other players in helping to defeat the boss? The answer came to Kirito quickly in that he rationalized that he would rather deal with the players when they had a chance to sort out what had happen, instead of dying from the boss.

Kirito pointed one of his swords at Sanjay." Pull the torch" He then shifted the his point of the sword away from the player to a torch next to him. Sanjay listen to him, deciding 'what the hell, were dead anyway' and pulled the unlit torch down.

Above the sarcophagus, at the top of the tomb, stone work began to rumble and high above the players the celing began to move. Sunlight poured into the chamber illuminating Dentha." Attack him! He is vulnerable in the sun light!" Kirito shouted, getting the attention of the boss by hitting his spear with his blade.

The other two needed no more convincing. Silith ran behind the boss and slashed with his twin daggers behind him. Before as Dethna turned to face Silith, he was shot multiple times by Sanjay in the back. The boss was distracted again and again, his health being whittled down by the constant attacks from the living Dark Elves. When Kirito unleashed his last attack the boss's spirit fell backwards, it unleashed a powerful scream exploding in a shower of black mist as it hit is sarcophagus.

That left the three players, who were forced together to survive, alone in the tomb with a casket full of loot. It could of turned violent, each of the players killing the others off… but it didn't. Instead Kirito stepped up and said." I've got the last attack bonus. You two can have whatever is in the sarcophagus." Kirito meant that as a way for the pair to turn their attention to each other if they were going to fight over the loot. Silith and Sanjay looked at each other.

Sanjay spoke first." I think I can give up a little silver for a fellow fighter." He then lowered his crossbow.

"Like wise." Silith said, getting out of a fighting stance.

Kirito then asked." So you two aren't going to fight?" His blades lowered.

Silith nodded." No, I don't want to kill people unless I really have to."

To which Sanjay added." In fact with my guild dead, I'm going to need a new party if I'm going to be on the front lines at all. Are you two interested in joining me? We seem to work well together."

The silence was so deafening that a pin drop would have been the same as a pistol shot. Then after a minute Silith was the first to speak." Sure I'll join up."

Kirito took a moment more of thought… this was a game where you survived by working in and creating your own army. If it was just a regular MMO then he would say no flat out… but he couldn't, not in this game." I will as well."

And thus their party was formed.

/

Now a month later they had shed blood together, both the mobs and their own. They had found that they worked well together and had pooled enough cash to pay for a small galley which would take them beyond the barren land of the Dark Elves for more loot… and not to be so close to a polar climate in the middle of winter. Kirito opened his menu and looked at his mape, he then made a slight adjustment to the ships course which an NPC helms man made.

He closed his menu and walked away from the bow of the ship. He then said to Silith and Sanjay." We'll be in the ruins of Anlec in twenty minutes. Get your coven and Darkshards ready." They then set to work on getting the landing party ready, the first invasion of Ulthuan by players was about to start.

/

Half a mile from the Coast of Nagarythe
Mid-Morning of December 17th, 2022

The group of four High Elves, along with their small force of AI controlled troops, made their way to the cost over the rocky, tree covered land of Nagarythe. Three of three number were from Saphery and swordsmen build while their forth member was of Chrace and a White Lion Build. The White Lion was a man who's gamer tag was Godfrey and armed with the characteristic great ax and white lion skin which draped around his shoulders. Two of the Saphery elves were of the same Sword Master build, though only at an 'initiate' level, they were armed with greatswords and had the same scaled mail skirts and armor but that was where the similarities ended.

Peter was the tallest of the four, towering above his comrades who were themselves a head taller than their human versions, he was broad shouldered and possessed a wrestlers physique with black hair done in a pony tail. Kurt on the other hand was the second shortest in the group, he was also the most with real world weight on him weighing in at around 250 LP, which didn't matter since they were in a game world where the stats was all that matter and he had proven himself to be an extremely good player. Like Godfrey he was red headed, though his personality was more dour since his wife had been in the game… just as a dwarf in the old world across the ocean.

The last member of the group and their surprising leader was an auburn headed teenaged girl called Asuna. She, like her male companions from Saphery, was a head than she actually was in real life and was of similar armored build to them. Unlike the others who favored greatweapons she was instead armed with a rapier. Though it did not grant the strength bonuses that the weapons the boys carried it allowed her to strike at such a higher speed and with pin point accuracy. She had proven her ability on the battlefield by going after field bosses, which were admittedly, weaken by her comrades, and be able to deliver a critical strike to a vulnerable area which usually killed them.

The reason why she was here was to get into contact with the Shadow Land tribes players in the area. Her superiors in Saphery had sent her and her two guards to the north of Ulthuan to get into contact with the guilds of the other High Elves players across Ulthuan to start building a united nation. There were two other expeditions, one to the south and that was crossing the inner sea. They planned on meeting in Caledor and then journey back to the East.

Along the way her group picked up Godfrey who volunteered to go with the Sapherians when they reached Chrace. They were earning a lot of XP and skills along the way and they were all in the mid to high teens in levels because of the grinding.

Asuna stopped for a moment and consulted her map." Hmm… there's a ruined city about a Kilometer North. It's called… Anlec? We can rest there and hopefully find some shadow warriors that have taken refuge in it's ruins."

Her boy's nodded, Kurt saying." Work's for me Asuna." They followed her lead to the ruined city.

/

Anlec-Ruined City of the Dark Elves
Noon of December 17th, 2022

As the galley pulled up to the jetty NPC crew men leapt off the small sea going vessel and with ropes that tied the ship to the dock. With the ship secured a gangplank was lowered and the first Dark Elves off the boat were Kirito's Corsairs like all elves units they were a small bunch of only 15 warriors which corresponded to his level. When he reached level twenty then the unit recruitment would double and he would be able to hire a second unit of Dark Elves. Next followed Sanjay along with his 14 Darkshards and then Silith with his 15 Witchelf Coven.

Kirito looked out at the city of Anlec and appraised it. The city of Anlec, as it stood now, was the ruins of the Dark Elves attempt to rebuild their capitol on Ulthuan, the original city having been destroyed by the cataclysmic civil war that divided the elves thousands of years ago. Instead this city was built up from two black arks and expanded by slave labor over hundreds of years… but then forced to be abandon when the dark elves were kicked out by the high elves.

The city was much like a dark elf city, with it's towers, black stone work and seemingly spikes of villainy where ever it was deemed appropriate. But while it did have the athstetics of a dark elf city, what separated it from the other dreary city's was that this place was dead. It was in ruins, it's black stone work cracking, it's towers collapsed inward and overgrowth was destroying the rest of the city where war did not. It was also in these ruins that Kirito and his party hoped to find some long forgotten loot and to rest before continuing onto the Old World.

Kirito then pointed to a tower along the docks, the tower was partially collapsed with its roof caved in." Lets start there. We can get a good view of the city from up top." He then walked with his corsairs to the tower, his party member's following suit. Little knowing that they were already being watched.

/

Anlec-Ruined City of the Dark Elves
Noon of December 17th, 2022

Asuna and her party enter the city through an over grown gate. Upon entering she felt that there was something… wrong about the city. It wasn't just the fact that it was in ruins, it was the eerie silence. She was born and raised in the city where back ground noise was the norm, even the high elf cities had that though being a fraction of the size than Tokyo. This city though was dead, there was no ambient noise, no animals or the sound of footsteps save for the boots of her party. It was a creepy feeling that she couldn't shake.

The small force she had at her command should of given her security, but they hardly did. It was a well-balanced force to, Asuna and Peter each had 16 spearmen under their command, Gofrey had another 14 bowmen and due to money restraints Kurt had 7 Silverhelms. Each of the units was commanded by an NPC champion which was unlocked at level 10 and could make some tactical choices if not given commands by its player. The champions also allowed their commanders an extra pair of eyes, such as able to announce an 'look out sir!' or be able to map out the location of other players, units or mobs. They were nowhere near as good as an actual player and in fact like all AI they could do some very stupid things.

But none of them, not the players or the bots saw what came next. Revealing himself from a darken alleyway from, hidden position, a shadow warrior player stepped forward, to the side of the players. " Hello there travelers." He spoke, causing the players to jump at his presence. Their swords and Godfrey's great axe were in their hands in a flourish of steel.

The player, a stealth build shadow warrior, smiled and raised his hand up in peace." Whoa, I'm just here to talk to you. My name is Kilkin and I'm the leader of the Midnight Bows guild." Kilkin said to the four of them. He was in his mid-twenties and fit the bill of a stereotypical elf ranger. He was tall with slim limbs and a thin face with high cheek bones, he had a pair of almond shaped blue eyes and long straight black hair. He wore a black cloak over dark leather armor, he was armed with a bow and several daggers at his waist.

They kept their weapons raised as Asuna spoke." My name is Asuna, I'm a messenger from the city of Saphery and I've been sent here to get into contact with the Shadow Land guilds. Why didn't you show yourself earlier?" Her eyes darting back and forth looking for more players.

Kilkin answered her question, lowering his hand." I had to be sure that you were not Dark Elves… my guild has been under attack by them for the past day." He then snapped his fingers and half a dozen more players revealed themselves, dressed similarly to the guild master, though they all had the lower half of their face covered and with orange markers above their heads.

Asuna's sword point didn't waver." Why are the Dark Elves attacking you?" She asked Kilkin.

He shrugged." We havn't been able to capture one yet. But they came in the dead of night two days ago with three ships. I sent some of my guild mates to talk to them… but they were killed. We've been fighting them for the past few days and were able to kill most of them and sink two of their ships. We have suffered though, there were originally 30 members of my guild when the Dark Elves came, now we are down to only 8 with only a few units of bowmen left. The Dark Elves have the run of the docks and we think they're going to push into the city and hunt us down before claiming it as their own."

Asuna lowered her rapier as she Kilkin's face didn't show much remorse… either he was harden to the loss or he didn't care." Do you have enough men to face them and drive them out without losing more people?"

Kilkin shook his head." No. But actually as fellow High Elves we were hoping that you could help us? After all if the Dark Elves gain a foot hold in Ulthuan they would be one step closer to destroying the Grand Temple of Sigmar while leaving us here in the game."

Asuna raised an eyebrow." How sure are you that they will try for the Grand Temple?"

Kilkin pointed to his guild mates." 22 players would like to disagree with you if they were alive. Eliminating these Dark Elves would be for the best fir all of us." He said somewhat impatiently.

Asuna bit her lip before looking back at her comrades. Peter and Godfrey nodded to her, either trusting her to make the choice to join Kilkin or believing in his story. Kurt's expression though showed that he was not pleased with what Kilkin had asked. But he was out voted by the two and she turned back to Kilkin." Fine, we'll help you."

Kilkin smiled, his plan coming together… while at the same time unknowing that the girl was also forming her own strategy.

/

Kirito hummed to himself the Legend of Zelda theme as he marched down the main street of Anlec along with his party. Due to his current appearance and the fact that this place looked like a ruined Hyrule, his predicament reminded him a lot of when Nintendo decided to go with a post-apocalyptic LoZ release. Like in the other game there were large area's were there weren't any mobs… only for them to come out of no where to attack them!

The thing was there wasn't any mobs and even after their short trip to the tower to do scouting they were unable to see any other sigh of inhabitation. That seemed to go against game principle since gamers were meant to fight against monsters and enjoy themselves. Kayaba may of screwed the gamers over but at least he kept to that principle while making the game. So the lack of mobs put Kiito on edge and he was using his search skill to find any sort of life.

That was when he noticed them. They were outlines, in the alleyways, behind windows hiding in the shadows, they were 8 cloaked figures.' Why is it that cloaks are such a fashion statement in this game?' He internally groaned before focusing on the task at hand.

He stopped walking and said to his guild." Raise your hands up slowly. We're surrounded." As soon as he finished he lifted his hands up and the sound of movement could be heard. From the clopping to hooves as the silver helms were reveiled from a street parallel to the main road, to the rustling of chainmail as spearmen cut off their escape from the other streets and the pull of bow strings.

The cloaked figures reveiled themselves and pulled their own bow strings back and were about to fire when suddenly there was a seemingly flash of white that appeared before Krito. Kirito saw the point of the raiper infront of his eyes and after a moment for his eyes to focus he saw her. She had auburn colored hair that fell to her waist, her eyes were of a light brown and she would have had a cute face if it wasn't furrowed in anger." How many High Elves have you killed?" She demanded.

Kirito gulped." Umm… you're the first one I've seen so…." Her face changed instantly from anger to questioning to understanding.

" How long have you been here?" The girl asked. As Kirito was about to answer he saw one of the cloak figures wave his arm down and his bowmen let go of their draw strings. Acting instinctively he pulled the high elf girl to the side before a pair of arrows whizzed by where both their heads used to be.

Arrows whistled around them, one hitting Silith in the hip, which he was still able to move away from the kill box with a few quick steps and another two arrows were stopped by Sanjay's armor. He was able to get a bead on one of his attackers and fire three bolts at him. One of the bolts missed, one embedded into his armor and a final fatal bolt shot the player in the throat causing him to fall from his perch onto the street below.

The dark elves were not the only targets though, the shadow warriors fired their bows at the high elves along with their small forces of bowmen. Some of the lightly armored bots fell from the arrows while the players remained largely unscaved, this was due to their better armor. Though it also helped Kurt that he was able to block one of the arrows by slicing it in half with his greatsword, Peter on the other hand was hit twice in the gut where his armor was weakest but he seemed to hardly notice the arrows instead he roared and went after shadow warrior bots. Godfrey, after having a trio of arrows embedded in his lion cloak, directed his bots fire at the shadow warriors troops.

After the initial volley Kirito and Asuna had separated, the pair going against the shadow warriors their own way. For Asuna she supported her group by going after the bot's and directing her player's to where the Shadow Warriors were. Kirito though went on a more proactive hunt for the player's themselves, using his search skill to find them and attempt to knock them out. His success rate for knocking them out was low and he killed one of the players.

As soon as the ambush started it ended with the shadow warriors breaking and running for their lives. They left their bot's behind to slow down the other elves. Asuna saw one of them break and run down a street, he was moving fast like all elves were but he was ahead of them and could disappear into a side alleyway. She needed one of them alive to get the full story on why they had led them into this trap. She lifted her hand and spoke aloud." Thra Em Mov!" The runner's speed slowed down to a crawl and she ran towards him.

Asuna's skill with hand to hand combat was very low in comparison to her other skills. But with her speed adding to the mass of her right fist against a target which was Moving at less than half his average speed, her punch delivered a blow to the Shadow Warriors skull which knocked him out. She moved infront of him as he fell and threw him over her shoulder. She was going to have some answers and she was going to have them soon.

/

The Dark and Southern High Elves were now gathered inside a building on the street that they were ambushed on. There was no plan for it to happen, Silith had just decided to rest in there to regenerate followed by Peter who was in just as bad shape. The rest followed afterwards.

Asuna was the last in the building with the knocked out Shadow Warrior, who she threw onto the ground." Tie him up." She told Godfrey, who did as his commander told him to.

As the Shadow Warrior was tied up Kirito walked up to Asuna and spoke." I got to say thanks on blowing the ambush wide open there miss…?"

She nodded to him and said." Asuna and your welcomed."

" Name's Kirito. I have to ask but why is was it that you and your party were working with the other elves?" The corsair asked.

Asuna shrugged with a sigh." It's because most of my group believed them, that they were under attack by you and you were the last of an invasion force. I had my suspicions though and when I saw that you and your group didn't have orange reticles I knew I had to confront you before your group was killed." She inclined her head to the still unconscious shadow warrior." I don't know the exact reasons why they had set the ambush up but he's going to tell us why."

It was Kirito's time to nod." Alright. Also that was an interesting spell that you used, but you're not a wizard build so I wonder how you used that. A ring of shadow?" He asked her.

She shook her head." No, I'm actually a Loremaster of Hoeth. I learned about the sub class from one of the players back in Saphery. Its… difficult to learn the signature spells and fighting skills at the same time, but it's worth it." Asuna ended with a smile.

Before Kirito could ask her anymore questions the shadow warrior awoke." Sorry but bigger fish to fry." Asuna said before going over to question the player.

After an half an hour of interrogating the prisoner and with a few threats to his HP, the elves now understood what had transpired to cause the Shadow Warriors to attack the two parties. The story began three days ago when the Midnight Bows fought against themselves in a brief power struggle. Kilkin was the guild master and wanted to turn the guild into a full time bandit enterprise and half f the then thirty person guild didn't want that, instead to work with the other tribes to eventually escape the game. When this disagreement erupted into violence two nights ago it was brief but devastating to the guild with over two thirds of it ding, but with Kilkin and his seven supporters still standing.

When Kilkin's scouts reported seeing both the Southern High Elves and the Dark Elves approach the city he came up with a plan to deal with both groups. That was by pitting both them against each other and when they were reduced to the remaining few players the Midnight Bows would move in to rob the survivors and then kill them. The plan was simple and had almost worked, if it wasn't for Asuna to be suspicious of their story.

Asuna and Kirito stipulated, after conversing with each other about the situation, that Kilkin had also gone through with the plan because it would give him vindication. After killing so many of his fellow guild mates about what direction they should of taken he needed to prove to the remainder of the guild that they were in the right. But now that it had fallen through with more of his guild dead.

With some extra information from the Midnight Bow member, at which point his worth was spent in intelligence, Asuna said to Peter." Get him out of here and cut him loose. We don't need him anymore."

As Peter took the Player outside and far enough away from the building to put on his own spin of 'cutting him loose', Kirito asked Asuna." So what are you going to do now?

"I'm going to write out a report and send it to Saphery. Then I think my group will rest here tonight and head out to search for friendlier guilds in the morning. What about you?" She asked the Dark Elf.

" I'm going back to the ship with the rest of crew and were going to head out to sea. After that were going to Chrace and then the Old World." Kirito told her.

Kurt turned his head to Kirito." You're going to the Old World?" He asked with hope in his voice.

Kirito answered him." Uh yeah, I just said it."

Kurt then asked a question." Do you have room for another party member? I promise I won't take up much room or my Silver Helms."

Asuna rested a hand on the older man's right shoulder." Kurt you sure that you want to do this? I'm sure that there'll be people from our nation that will want to go to the old world as well."

Kurt shrugged her off." Asuna between now and then either I or Desiree might die. I need to find her, please let me go find my wife."

Before either Asuna or Kurt said anything else, Kirito stepped in." We have room for him, if he wants to see his wife I can't stop him."

Kurt smiled widely and wrapped Kirito in a bone crushing bear hug." Thank you, thank you, thank you! I mean it your so awesome dude, thank you!"

Kirito coughed as he struggled to breath." H…HP bar!" He managed to get out.

"Oh, sorry." He let Kirito go. After that he open his menu and pressed a button, leaving Asuna's party. Then he sent an request to Kirito to join his party, which he did accept.

Kirito then smiled to Asuna and extended a hand to her." Well in the future I hope that we'll be able to work together."

Asuna took the hand and with a smile said." I hope so as well Kirito." Kirito decided that yes, Asuna's face was so much prettier when it did have a smile on it.