Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online

-/-

I stood stiffly, bow in a death grip, staring ahead onto the large and ominous gate with scrutinizing - albeit somewhat fearful - eyes.

"Kazuto..."

"I know."

This gate brought back memories, of a time when we weren't locked away in this death game - memories which were by now blurred away and filled with grey discontent. It has been about three months, give or take a few days since the... incident. I am not even counting time anymore, it simply doesn't matter any longer. I try not to think about it.

Even still, things had changed. The people I knew were no longer the same, the players which in the beginning were scared, yet had some semblance of hope, were now all dulled out, all but the strongest and most stubborn stood in the front lines, the rest lied in shadows, back at the start.

Sachi had grown colder for one - She has conviction, an absurd amount of it, I doubt she would give up willingly, but yet, she is completely emotionless. I see her face stuck in a dead emotion, I look over my shoulder, she stands straight in a battle-ready pose, holding a shield as large as her in one hand, and a lance almost as twice as tall her, a set of heavy armor covers her completely, her eyes barely visible through the thin slit in her helmet.

Asuna, similarly, had turned a dark path, she used to be quiet and anti-social, but she had opened so much to us and everyone else, but now, the only people she even dared speak a word to were us. One could feel the constant hostility and hatred that seeped out of her, and every conflict, she ended it the same way - quickly, seamlessly, efficiently. Coldly.

Kirito, however, while also more reserved, he was the one that held up everyone together - he was our pillar. Without him, we would fall apart. He was our leader, and above all, he was the one which once inside a battlefield, became a creature so hell-bent in destroying his opponents that nothing could stand in his path. He was always in front of everyone, imposing his authority, planning ahead and leading us to victory.

And of course, there was me.

My style and choice of apparel didn't change much, I wore a light leather armor with a cloak on top. I'd replaced my bow for a higher-leveled one, which, while particularly slow to draw, was still as agile and deadly as all the other ranged weapons.

There were so many thoughts wandering inside my mind, the ones which weren't self destructive or cynical criticism, were of how pathetic I was -

'You couldn't save them, You betrayed them. It is your fault'

My hand tightened its grip, and I made a low whimper that could easily be confused with a growl.

It was my fault, I knew it, But I couldn't even think about it and they would rush back - and I would just remember and then came their screams and then they would just disappear and then we told Keita and he killed himself-

"Gah!"

The others slowly turned to me, eyes full of curiosity, as my grimace deepened and I made way to the front of the group, jumping over a rock laying nearby as a detail to the cave-themed dungeon.

I then turned back, The forms of fifty or so people looking to each other and chatting idly in the dark corridor; "Listen up!"

They all turned to me with quiet murmurs and questioning gazes, I narrowed my eyes and glared death to those who gave me weird looks - not too uncommon, considering our status.

"This is the highest boss reached in the Beta, After this, Everything is unknown" I said angrily, crossing my arms "I can't guarantee everyone is going to get out unharmed, I can't guarantee you'll even come out alive" I glared to a few that dared not pay attention. "You all know what you have to do, Watch each other's back and don't die"

I jumped off the rock and walked ahead, just in front of the door, as my companions stood side-by-side, We gently pushed the door, and it opened with no effort, making way to the large circular room, illuminated by a single point of light in the center, coming from a hole in the ceiling, large boulders in the corners of the room leaving a large amount of dark space and blind spots.

In the beta, getting here was much easier; In the beta, Monster health was smaller, and weapon damage was higher, overall, the game was much easier; We'd reached this same point in the last day of the beta, the sixth week- well, it was in fact me and Kazuto grinding wildly, rushing forwards, sometimes without even exploring the newer floors, since floor 20, everything that came up in the new floors was pretty much new, with the exception of the bosses and dungeons.

Floor thirty-one in the newer, deadlier Aincrad...

It was almost Christmas; It had been seven months since this started.

If it took us seven months to regain what we had beaten in the beta over the course of a month and a half, how could we even dream of reaching the hundredth floor?

We walked in on inside, the group coming together, as a few shield-wielding soldiers made their way up front, making a barricade of sorts, as a figure could slowly be made out in the shadows.

We stood quietly as a low growling sound could be heard, the figure in the shadow slowly rose, and walked up to us.

This figure was very familiar to me, after all, Muxmalog, The Giant Champion, was the one who finally ended my spree back in the beta.

It let out a mighty roar holding up his two-handed battleaxe, stomping ahead and into the light, his bright silver armor contrasted wildly against the dark walls of the dungeon, and the shine slightly stunned the ones who looked too directly.

The huge monster swung his axe back;

I grinned and jumped off, And before any eyes could make it out, I was one with the shadows.

-/-

It had been almost a hour now, Out of the now-counted fifty three players that entered the dungeon, fourteen now were dead, others were slowly succumbing to their fatigue and the agony of seeing their friends being slain.

We only lost three people in the last floor, this was ludicrous.

I watched as the beast's health bar slowly diminished, Muxmalog was definitely a tough nut to crack, if his high health already wasn't enough, his armor blocked out most damage.

Thankfully, We'd already made it to its last health bar, the giant now showed some level of exertion, pieces of its armor falling apart, and several cuts across his body.

'Soon he's going to let out that roar and everyone is going to get the Dread effect...'

Surely enough, he stopped for a moment, and roared loudly- however, he also raised his battleaxe high up above him - "this wasn't in the beta" - I panicked some and looked back to my group, Kazuto looked like he had the same conclusion as me; and in a split second he quickly jumped back, dragging Sachi and Asuna with him, The beast swung his weapon down with its flat side, slamming it against the ground, as a wave of dust and wind rose, knocking away all other players, as they flew and crashed violently against the rocks.

A few of them died just then and there- the impact being too much for the already damaged players, I grimaced a bit, and saw as Kazuto and the others tumbling, Kazuto found his footing and quickly stood back up.

I looked around - the other players weren't getting up, they looked unconscious.

Asuna and Sachi continued tumbling for some more, they also did not get up again, a small icon appeared besides their health bars in my HUD

'Knocked Out'

My heart sped up, my breath getting ragged, I picked a arrow from the quiver in my back and drew it on the bow; I looked back to the monster, as it looked menacingly to the one non-affected player, Kazuto, and prepared to slash.

"Kirito! Watch out!" I said, As I released my grip on the arrow, as the string shone a bright red "«Piercing Shot»!" The arrow flew precise, piercing the left eye of the iron-clad giant that stood in front of us, as it let out a roar of anguish

"Thanks Sinon!" He yelled back, before he pivoted on his feet and lunged at the monster "«Horizontal»!" And then he slashed with his blade, entirely removing the monster's left hand from his body, leaving a red stump in its place, as the hand itself popped away in a burst of red polygons.

The monster let out a mighty roar that made my ears ring, as I felt the slight debuff of the 'Dread' status affect me, We finally beat it to its critical health, his last few hitpoints.

The Giant monster looked straight at me with angered eyes, raising his weapon with his unharmed right hand.

This was just like last time.

Me, Kazuto, A terribly strong boss.

He lunged at me and the world turned slow motion, I heard Kirito yelling to me, and while I couldn't make out what he was saying, I remembered exactly.

Kazuto rushed madly at me, the weapon slowly making its way to me, and much like last time, Kazuto wouldn't be able to make it in time.

The monster was so close now.

Last time when it hit me, I couldn't feel the pain, how much would it hurt to be hit by it now?

I dodged its first swing, the weapon swooshing in front of my face, leaving me disorientated, the monster twirled and turned, and slashed me with his axe once more, the world got even slower, as I washed the weapon slowly approach to end my life.

In the last few milliseconds I had left before the weapon reached me, I decided to do something.

So I jumped.

The axe swooshed down from my side, passing just below my feet as it embedded in the wall, I landed in the monster's arm as he tried to swat me away with his stump; I rushed up his arm and leaped in his shoulder, and continued rushing towards his head; Once again, I drew an arrow, pulling strongly against the string until it shone purple;

The monster twirled wildly, its code being probably confused by the unforeseen circumstances, I jumped once more, looking down to him, he stopped and looked up to me with angry eyes.

"Game over." I released the arrow, it flew with absurd speeds, leaving a black trail behind its path, The arrow tore through his entire body, until it came to a halt in the ground, as it pierced the huge monster the entire way through, «Power Shot».

I landed to the side, tumbling some, eventually stopping near Kazuto and the others, as he looked me with disbelieving eyes.

The monster then shattered into thousands of polygons, the players all started waking up again as loot windows popped up for everyone.

"Sinon..."

I looked over to Kazuto, as he stared at me with wide eyes, He then broke out of his stupor and tackled me in a hug.

"That was great."

-/-

This somewhat marks the end of a Arc, I guess.

Thanks for reading, leave a review if you enjoyed, And sorry for the unannounced delay.