Chapter nine is out! I'd like to think all my readers and especially my reviewers out there, thank you so much! Your support means a lot to me.

Whelp on with the story... wait. A quick disclaimer, this story holds a bit more gore than my other chapters. I'll explain a few things at the end of the chapter.

Her eyes fluttered open as a strange sensation filled her nerves, causing a faint smile as she realized her fiancee was holding her forearm gently. As he noticed that he was waking up, his green eyes brightened and a light smile crept up on his face. "My arm," he whispered teasingly, pulling it gingerly to him.

"No, that's my arm!" She protested meekly, before smiling at him indulgently. "But... you can hold my hand if you promise to be gentle," she added, her brown eyes shining with happiness.

He smiled, letting go of her forearm and entwining his fingers with hers as they stayed in the bed, enjoying each others company. "I wish we could stay like this all day," she sighed longingly, remembering back when they where in sword art online they could take almost any day off they wanted provided they didn't neglect their grinding.

"Well... I'm suppose to get a report from miss Kirigyra and Asada today, so if everything goes well... how about I take tomorrow off." He suggested.

She smiled even more, before glancing up. "Aacob's been wanting to visit her friend's house again, so maybe we could see if she wanted to go for a sleepover?" she suggested.

His eyes widened. "We're not going to try it now are we?" he gasped.

She shook her head. "It's not you, it's just that I'm still to weak physically to have a guy on me, even if he's only 140 pounds at the moment." She sighed wistfully. "Though I do want to, and not just because mother won't let us get married until we do," she added. The act she had been referring to had been number ten on her bucket list, however due to her missing left arm she never thought she'd find the guy who was right for her. And now that she had, she was being forced to wait.

He proceeded to twisted over and gingerly wiped a tear from her face. "Hey, don't worry, we'll get to that point later," he smiled."

"Promise?" She asked, her eyes hopeful.

"Promise," he added sincerely. Smiling, she closed her eyes and fell back asleep. I couldn't have asked for a better help meet, Acer thought as his mind flew back to how he'd managed to free himself and his family from the game early.

Seven months ago

"Go go go!" He glanced at his timer, the ten minuet countdown blaring in his sight. Rushing at the floating stone panel, he let out a war cry, startling the Laughing Coffin members who where on guard.

One of them sent a message, presumably to his fellow guild mates, before joining the rest of his squad. Acer let out a grunt before charging in on his own, his Legionary's shield blaring in front of him.

Hitting a knife wielding killer with his Sonic Shield , an advanced stun skill for those with the offensive shield unique skill, he sent the assassin straight over the edge, to his death. Smiling at the thought of one less murderer in the world, he jabbed at the next guy, the strikes from his gladius rivaling the speed from the rapier strikes of the Flash.

Unbidden, his mind flew back to when he was back on his old world, to a mission he and his adopted mom and dad where on. Fifteen of his group had been dispatched to rescues the girlfriend of a suspected farmer. However half way through that mission, it turned out the farmer was just the bait of some street gang, and though his group ultimately remained victorious, it had cost him seven of the group.

None the less, once the group arrived at the building it was already too late. Acer remembered the scent to this very day as he opened the doors to the hanger warehouse, his hands clasping over his nose at the scent. Five girls where hanging suspended from the ceiling.

The main rope was tied around their hands, arms, feet, and legs, which would have made the torture session all the more horrible. The rope had cut through the girl's skin, leaving pools of rotting flesh and blood around the floors. Their faces still held the look of a silent scream, mixed with horror and agony in equal measure.

His team attempted to cut the girl's down so as to give them the proper burial they deserved, but by that time it was too late, their bodies must have been tied up like that for at least half a month or so, maybe more. Burying them was impossible, so they just burned down the building. He would always remember the somber look on his teammate's faces during that moment.

These murderers are no better than that group, he swore to himself as he preformed a back flip, dodging a spear user before slamming his shield down forcefully, his gut twisting for the first time as he heard the combatant scream in agony. However, the Roman Instructor was used to such battles, having to deal with the impossible since he was ten back in his old world.

He was once again thrown back into the past. His memories now place a rather disturbing scene from what was suppose to be from a movie, but ended up happening in real life. Arriving at a warehouse, he decided to sneak ion a bit to see what they where dealing with.

Unforgettably, it would become his worst nightmare. Peering in at an over-walk, he had shut his eyes as he saw a teenage girl, tied up to a crane. Her screams filled the building, as the crane dropped her onto a conveyor belt. He could only watch as her screams for mercy went unheard, only to stop in a loud shrill as her face was crushed in a compactor, followed with the rest of her body.

He shuddered mentally as he could remember seeing her mangled body come out, the images of her hair still clinging to a portion of her skull clinging was the most potent memory in his mind, and sometimes he would have nightmares about one of his friends being the one crushed in that crusher machine.

Shards shattered as he jabbed his sword into the cloaked one, before he glanced at his timer. "Six minutes," he mummered, before charging back into the fray. "Nine more to go," he added breathlessly, before taking on the next member.

There are times when I think that I wish I could make these Coffin members scream like that, to make these bastards feel the pain they've caused everyone here. But... that would make me just as bad as those back on the old planet, he mused silently. He could condone killing murderers, but not torturing them.

"Thirty seconds," He whispered, before finally managing to take out the last member. Sighing, he slumped down, before feeling a slightly weird sensation as his body flashed.

Looking around, he could see the floor below him. Standing right beside him was the creator of the game himself, Kayaba. "You've performed well, Acer. Now let us see how well the assault teams handle this. They'll be here in five minuets, so if there's anything else you need to do, do it now."

He glanced at Kayaba hopefully. "Are you sure you can't log Leopon out along with us?" he asked, hoping he would change his mind.

Kayaba shook his head. "No, that is something I can not do. If I did that, then people would come after her for having an unfair advantage. Believe me, though. I do care for my daughter, and would have loved to have logged her out now," He explained before sighing. "However, I will permit you to pass on your unique skill to her, if you wish."

Acer nodded, quickly performing the transfer before gazing out at the arena.

"Remember, the red samurai is mine," He grunted, before raising his Katana in the air, signaling the counter charge. He smiled as the Assault team was completely unawares, before homing in on his target. "When I get back to the real world, I'll be killing my wife and daughter, but for now..." he mused, before aiming right for the red samurai.

Rising his sword, he began with a basic slash. But the skilled samurai dodged, just like the man assumed he would. Acer as taught you well, Klien, he mused, following up his slash with a horizontal, his blade work being countered by a vertical from his opponent.

Dodging his attacks while on the edge of the plain, he managed to knock the samurai off the edge, leaving the red haired player dangling by his hand. No!, I can't kill him like this, he thought, before grasping his opponent's hand, and flinging him over the edge to safety. However, this was not a show of mercy, as Klien would find out.

"Why?" Klien demanded, "Why would you save me like that?" He asked. Unfortunately for Klien that mistake would have been his last, had a purple haired girl not pushed him out of the way. Turning, he quickly sliced at her, managing to slice off her left forearm in the process.

"Yolko, get out of here," A female screeched, prompting the girl to take a teleport crystal out and warp out with nanoseconds to spare as his blade zoomed over where her right arm had been in the air. "I'm going after you later, Yolko," He growled, before turning his attention back to Klien, who at this point was charging at him.

He attempted to dodge Klien's attack, but it was too late.

As Klien dug into the LC member, his rage threatened to take hold of him. That bastard nearly killed Yolko, he thought to himself, only just remembering Acer's advice to avoid letting anger overtake him in battle. He took a deep breath as the murderer recoiled from his strike, his health in the red.

However before he could strike, the enemy held his hand up, before taking off his masked leather helmet. Amber eyes shone with utter disbelief as he gazed at the man, betrayal aching in his heart.

Father? What the hell is he doing in this game, much less a member of Laughing Coffins? As he was dumb founded, his father gave a hearty laugh.

"Well well son, you've done well, though you where more sloppy than I expected considering the youngest super veteran trained you," He chided.

"Father... how... how could you?" Klien asked, his voice shaking almost as much as his sword. All he got was a small smile and a quick charge. Klien realized all to late that he had let his guard down, and that he had no time to react. He bowed his head, unable to go on.

"Klank!" Opening his eyes, Klien gasped in astonishment as his father's Katana lay slanted against a cross shield similar to the one held by commander Heathcliff. The wielder of this blue shield had blond hair which reached nearly to her waist, and as she opened her eyes, they expressed a light blue-gray color.

"Now is not the time for self pity," she ranted, before striking at his father. He was still stunned at her choice of weapon, a rapier along with a heavy shield. However her strikes where true, incredibly swift dispute the heavier than normal load out for a rapier user. None the less he joined in, and the two where able to make quick work of the traitor.

However, they where not done yet. Klein engaged with member after member, the blond fighting along side him. As their numbers dwindled, many laughing coffin members began to back off, though there where certainly plenty of fanatics. A scream interrupted his thoughts and he glanced over to see an assassination about to take out his companion.

"Stay away from her!" He shouted, knocking him backwards, before handing her a teleport crystal. "Get out of here," he told her.

She gratefully took it with her remaining good arm, as her other had been cut off during the attack, pausing to give him a look of gratitude and relief. "I won't forget you," she whispered before vanishing in a blue light as she successfully teleported out of the blood-bath.

It was over in a few moments. With a heavy heart he walked up to Dale. "Can you handle the debriefing... I... I think one of the coffins who died was my father." He admitted.

Dale padded his back sympathetically. "Of course boss, just remember to come back, we need you." He whispered Klien understood the implications. "Don't worry, I'll be back, I just... need some time to clear my head.

Acer couldn't stop staring at Klien through the whole match. "Poor guy, finding out his father was one of the bad guys and then having to face him in a life or death struggle." However, before he could say anything else, his body enveloped into a blue light.

Leopon found herself resting in Asuna's place. After the battle, she had tried to contact Acer, but had no luck. She had then tried to contact Ksachi and Aacob, but no luck either. Asuna held up a cup of water for her to drink, and the exhausted knight gratefully gulped down the whole cup.

"Leopon... I think... Somehow I think they may have logged out," Asuna admitted quietly. Leopon nodded in agreement. I suspected it, really. Blaze and Ksachi are just to careful to have been killed and the fact that their status in the monument say offline yet their names are not crossed out seems to prove that. But I'd like to know how they did it.

Sighing, the blond knight feel asleep, her mind too tired to continue anymore coherent thoughts.

Well, like I said, I'll be explaining a few things. But first, the latest reviews.

FailtasticBelt: I greatly appreciate your review, and those pointers you've given me. As for the Harem... they'll still be those moments, though with Leopon it's going to get interesting. Especially when she starts confronting Kirito about it later on in the story.

Thunderwolf7226: I thank you for your encouragement, it means a lot to me. As for the other Earth, basically, it's kinda like a parallel Earth, but one where everything goes humanly wrong in society, making the worst of the situation. The method he used to travel is to the SAO world is... complicated, but it's somewhat similar to the Autobot's ground-bridge in Transformers Armada, except it's used to travel long distances in space instead of just on the Earth, low Earth orbit, and possibly the moon.

Themasternat: Thank you for your review! Don't worry, the next few chapters will be out pretty quickly, expect the next one by the 26th of this month.

Now, for said explanations.

For starters... Kayaba allowing three players to log out. I'm not going to list all the reasons here because they are explained as the story goes on and we'd be here for an hour. However, there's three parts to it, one being the information Acer knew, his and Sachi's medical conditions and finally the service Acer did for the SAO players. However, Acer is going to have a very large role in future chapters, particularly in chapter 11. This is also where Acer explains his relation with Kayaba.

His memories of the girls getting killed are flashbacks of the war as he called it, but it's more appropriately a sin fest rather than a war given how much torture and murder was committed. That's also why he was willing to take on the Laughing coffins for ten minutes in return for logging out. If he succeeded, than his girl friend and adopted daughter would be logged out along with him, in addition to posibibly bring himself some closure for failing to save so many from his old world. And if he was stricken down during those ten minutes... well... you'll just have to read chapter 11 when it comes out.

And lastly, we have Klien VS his father. Perhaps it's a tad chiclé, but it is going to play a very important part in chapter ten and eleven. I won't spoil what happens, but I'll give you a small hint... it involves someone unexpected dying in game.

That should cover it. Please let me know what you think, and feel free to favorite and or follow if you are liking this story, that way you'll know when new chapters are coming out.