57th level, «Marten»

The sun radiated brightly and Kirito drifted in out of consciousness, while the gentle breeze ensured that the temperature remained perfect. Suddenly feeling the warmth of the sun leaving him, Kirito lazily opened his eyes and found Asuna, the sub-leader of the KoB, staring down at him with a frown on her face.

"What do you think you are doing? Sleeping in middle of nowhere, shouldn't you be training with your guild?"

"I ditched them for a bit, the weather is just too perfect… it called to me." Ever since the incident at the 48th floor and Kibaou's subsequent arrest, and his where the army's sub leader was found guilty of committing murder, the army had changed its attitude by publicly announcing that they would be returning to clearing floors.

With Kibaou branded as a crazy psychopath and many of his supporters, who in the past advocated self strengthening of the guild over that of clearing the game, now actively denounced their former leader in a desperate attempt the save themselves.

Consequently, without any opposition there had been a steady increase of army players actively participating in clearing the floors, a number of which had now grown to such a degree that its size rivaled that of the entire clearing group put together. Even though most of the army player were not yet strong enough to participate in clearing the boss itself, it would only be a matter of time.

Returning his thought back to the beautiful player standing in front of him he patted the ground next to him. "They'll be fine. Why don't you sit down and take a nap? It feels soooo good." Kirito said, half expecting the female player to walk away.

But to his surprise, Asuna joined him on the grassy hill by lying down next to him staring at the moving clouds. "You know I appreciate what you've done. I don't know how you did it but it's good to have the army fighting with us again."

After a moment of silence, Kirito while studying a particularly fascinating shaped cloud responded. "It wasn't me, I just did my part." It was the honest truth, while many might consider his actions being responsible for bringing back the army to the clearing group, he doubted it. If anything the credit went to the poor private who died exposing Kibaou. For several minutes Kirito watched players walk by, some of whom appearing amused by sight of the two players lying on a grassy hill doing nothing. Tilting his head towards his companion he found her sleeping soundly, unable to do anything else and feeling responsible for getting her to fall into sleep in the first place, he silently watched over the sleeping player.

After several hours of guard duty, the chestnut hair next to him stirred.

"Sleep well?" he said.

Asuna realizing what had happened, blushed. "You-you should have waked me."

Shrugging his shoulders, Kirito smirked, "I don't think I could have. You were sleeping like a baby…. and it seemed like you could have used a bit of rest."

"...One meal."

"What?"

"A single meal. I'll buy you one meal then we call it even."

Delighted at the perspective of having a free meal, Kirito dusted the pieces of grass that stuck to his clothing. "Great! I heard that a NPC restaurant on this floor serves some delicious meals."

When the two of them entered the town of «Marten», Kirito saw people running towards the northern part of the plaza in a hurry. Feeling curious Kirito looked towards the plaza and spotted a player dangling from a rope tied to the second floor of the church. At first, the sight was so ridiculous that Kirito thought it to be a prank of some sort, since it was impossible for a player to die from suffocation.

However, upon closer inspection Kirito noticed that the hanging player had a short black spear delivering the constant «Pierce DoT» effect rapidly draining the terrified player's health.

Rushing towards the dying man with Asuna, he shouted out, "PULL IT OUT NOW!"

The horrified player upon hearing his advice tried to remove the spear but failed as either the spear must have been embedded too deeply into his body or because he was too gripped in fear to focus his strength and pull the weapon out.

But in the end the reason for his failure did not matter. Immediately after his futile attempt to save himself the dying player screamed in agony until it was cut short by his body exploding into glittering fragments. In response to his death, the spectators below screamed in horror.

Kirito seeing the death immediately looked for the other player who had participated in the duel.

During his search Kirito found and roared at a group of confused army players with their mouths wide open. "Find the system window that shows the winner of the duel!"

Upon hearing his command, the army players burst into action by fanning out and looking for the system window. Leaving the army players to their task, Kirito faced and addressed the spectators. "Anyone saw how this happened? If you saw anything out of the ordinary or knew the victim then please step forward now!"

The large crowd of player, most of them who must have arrived at the scene of the crime in its last moments began to disperse, each one of them trying to forget what they had just witnessed. A few seconds later crowd finally dispersed a sole player, a female player with curly deep-blue hair, remained standing in front of them with a frightened expression. When he tried to approach her, the girl involuntarily took a step back. Giving Kirito a disapproving look, Asuna walked towards the female player and spoke with a gentle tone of voice.

"Sorry to ask you about it after seeing something like that but your name is?"

"My name is Yolko I...I...I'm a friend of the person who was just died. We agreed to come here to have a meal today, but we got lost here...and...and then..."

Shocked by the death of her friend in such a tragic way, it seemed that Yolko couldn't continue on as she tried to keep her emotions reined in.

Asuna gently patted Yolko's trembling shoulders and brought her into the church, where benches were lined together and Asuna placed Yolko on one of the benches before sitting beside her. Perhaps feeling a little bit calmer inside the safety of the church, Yolko whispered quietly.

"His….his name was Caynz."

1st floor, Black Iron Castle, «Monument Of Life»

Originally she had planned to ask the «Monument» keeper, a player by the name of Apate to find out the details of the player that Kirito had asked her to look for but she could not reach the keeper by messaging. So after a short detour to the «Hill of Memories» where she made a flower bouquet from the flowers she picked, Yuri headed down to the 1st floor. After arriving at the «Monument of Life», she found no sign of Private Apate or anyone else inside. Seeing no other choice she began scanning through the names and after a rather extremely extensive search found the name she was looking for.

Kains, Died on the Month of Sakura, day 22, 18:27, Cause of death 'Continuous Pierce Damage'

Yuri took the time to make sure every detail was correct, before sending the message to Kirito. She couldn't understand why he would an interest in taking care of a murder case in the 57th floor when it should have been left to the floor's garrison to deal with. Sighing heavily, she stared at her system window as she thought about dropping her grudge for his insane actions in the 48th floor.

Turning her attention back to the «Monument», Yuri tried to find her brother's name. Though, his body was probably buried in the real world, the monument was the closest thing to a memorial for the players who had died within the game. She should have visited this place a bit sooner but events had kept her away.

Carefully looking through the names across the «Monument» she found many of the names she recognized, almost all of them dying during the battle on the 25th floor. Feeling slightly guilty about forgetting them, she tried to remember individual faces and began paying homage to all the army players who had been killed.

After several hours, she continued to stare at the long list and found that she nowhere near her brother's name. Sighing heavily as she realized just how many people in the «Army» had perished since the start of the game, Yuri returned her attention back to the monument and tried to remember the face of an army player whose name she stared at. Before her mind could provide the necessary answers, a message interrupted her homage.

Feeling slightly annoyed, she placed flower bouquet next to the «Monument» and opened the recently arrived message from Kirito.

Are you sure about what you found? Also can you check up on a player called Yolko? She was the latest victim to the series of murder that is going right now.

Frowning at the message, she checked the time of the death of Kains and found it to be correct. Feeling suspicious at why Kirito would want her to double check on a name of a dead player, she hesitantly looked for the second name that he had asked for. But to her surprise the name Yolko was not crossed out, indicating that the player who Kirito had claimed to been killed was in fact alive.

Puzzled at what she found, Yuri quickly tapped out her findings into a message and asked Kirito why the second player he wanted her to find was still alive. For several minutes she waited for Kirito to reply back, but after a while it appeared that he must have been caught up in something else.

Feeling anxious, she twirled her hair while staring at the black slab of the «Monument» as she began once more trying to distract herself. But before she could get far from the name she started from, a hand gently tapped her from behind. Whirling around in surprise, she pulled out her Katana in one fluid motion and pointed her sword squarely at the intruder.

"Sorry to startle you Miss, but you can't be here." Politely smiling Apate, the monument keeper, took a step back from the sword pointed at his face and picked up the flower she brought, handing them back to her. "If you have any inquires please ask me, and I will get back to you… but you cannot be here."

Feeling a bit curious, especially after Kirito's message that asked her to see if a player victim of a serial killer who actually turned out to be alive, she asked. "Why?! Anyone can visit the monument."

"Be-Because-" Apate surprised by her obvious question stuttered. Suspicious at the keeper's behavior Yuri carefully studied the nervous player, who upon noticing her staring at him made what appeared to be a split second decision by reaching for his sword, but before he could draw his weapon out a familiar voice echoed through the hall.

"And that's exactly why you shouldn't have visited, Yuri. The neighborhood is just full of dangerous people these days." Turning to the source of the voice behind her, Yuri saw two players walking towards her. One of them was an army player while the other was female player with a halberd, a long two handed weapon that was a combination of a spear and axe but despite their differences both players had orange cursors floating on top of their head. The army player, who Yuri assumed to be the one speaking, glanced at the keeper. "Apate, your cover is blown. Meet us back at the safe house."

Drawing his sword out, Apate screamed. "No! I can just kill her and she won't be able to say a word to anyone."

The army player appearing not too concerned with the drawn weapon grabbed Apate by his collars and lifted the monument keeper high into the air.

"We are inside a city I doubt you can kill anyone. This is not the Black Iron Castle's dungeon where the prisoners are thrown into."

Staring into the Apate's eyes, the army player spoke slowly, choosing each word with care in an effort to deliver his deadly intent. "If you try or even think about harming her, you are going to be one saying nothing to anyone…. I don't need a lackey who can't obey a simple instruction…. do we understand each other?"

After a few seconds, the message appeared to sink in as Apate paled and nodded his head vigorously. "I-I-I understand!"

"Good… off you go then." Satisfied with his work, the army player released Apate and allowed him to teleport away. Turning his attention to Yuri could not understand what had just happened, the stranger raised his visor and smiled as he reached for the bouquet, "Are those flowers for me? Awww you shouldn't have."

19th floor, «Hill of the Cross»

Kirito drove the horse as fast as he could while trying his best not to be thrown off from it. He couldn't understand how some players in the army voluntarily chose to ride horses and chase down orange players, to him it was difficult enough just to keep his balance let alone fight on horseback. Scanning the area in front of him he spotted seven players, four green players and three orange players. It appeared that his theory regarding Yolko and Caynz faking their death seemed to be coming true.

Once spotting the six players next to a large tree, where three orange players and two green players stood facing each other with one other player lying on the floor, Kirito pulled the reins hard in an attempt to slow down. Sadly the horse, instead of coming to a slow stop, came to an immediate stop and Kirito felt himself being flung into the air, landing on his butt with a loud thud. Quickly pulling himself up and pretending as if nothing embarrassing had happened, he greeted the orange player. "PoH. Long time no see. I see you are still wearing those strange clothes."

Appearing annoyed at his criticism, PoH spoke with a hint of threat, "I don't want to be told that by you."

Johnny Black noticing his arrival stepped forward and grinned, "For an army player, you sure are dumb. Where's all your friends? What happened to strength in numbers?! Don't you know the situation you're in!?"

PoH lifted his left hand to stop his subordinate and raised the chopper in his right hand onto his shoulder, lazily tapped his weapon against his body.

"It's just like what he said Kirito. Falling off horses might be funny and all, but that doesn't change the fact that you are alone….. hahahah."

Kirito calmly answered with his right hand on his sword, "For now…. but once reinforcements arrive, you will be finished. Personally I don't think the three of you can take on a group of army players headed this way right now."

But contrary to his expectations, PoH upon hearing his ultimatum snorted. "If you had said that you were bringing players from the clearing group I would be worried but from what I hear your mighty army can't even keep your sub leader safe from being framed for murder."

Frowning Kirito stared at the orange player, "What? Framed?"

Smiling at his ignorance XaXa replied, in his hand an estoc shined brightly, "You don't need to know that. Just remember that this is the part where you fall down and bleed to death."

Before XaXa could come at him with his sword, PoH raised his hand once more to restrain his subordinate, "No, no XaXa…. Keep an eye on the prisoners…. I'll take care of this army lap dog by myself."

Nodding to his subordinates, PoH snapped his finger and in response the two orange players respectively took a green player as a hostage. "Don't feel too bad, the boss will get back to you once he takes care of black." Johnny said, and gently pressed his dagger into Caynz's neck.

After glancing at the two hostages, PoH smiled coldly at him and approached Kirito with his dagger drawn. Though it shouldn't have been different than any other fight, Kirito had a strange feeling that unlike the other orange players he had fought against before there was something incredibly evil oozing from PoH. Even his sword, instead of the usual bright glow of the sword skill, seemed to be devoured by a cloud of darkness. Before he could understand why, PoH positioned himself into his combat stance and activated a sword skill that Kirito had never seen before. Unsure on how to react to this, Kirito tried to meet his attacker by parrying his weapon but when his sword met with PoH's «Mate chopper», the cleaver simply passed through his sword and landed on his shoulder.

Wincing in pain and unable to understand what just happened, Kirito jumped back and readied his blade. "How!"

PoH replied with a chilling smile, "Surprised? It's part of a neat little extra skill I picked up called «Darkness Blade» Hahaha!" Brandishing his meat cleaver the orange player rushed towards him.

Kirito anticipating the strike attempted to block PoH's attack once more but as before, the dagger simply ignored his sword and sliced away at his body. Grasping the fact that his sword was unable to block the orange player's attack, Kirito gave up on all attempts to parry the cleaver. Instead he focused his attention on dodging the blows by keeping himself moving and utilizing his superior speed he attempted to land an attack of his own whenever an opportunity presented itself.

After several minutes of playing the deadly game of Cat and mouse, PoH screamed in frustration. "Stop moving and stand still!" Stopping in his tracks, PoH held up his chopper high into the air with both his hands and the meat cleaver began to glow darkly as black smoke exploded outwards from the dagger, contaminating the nearby area with a low hanging dark fog. Once the dark fog reached his legs and engulfed it, Kirtio felt the lower part of his body responding to his commands sluggishly.

"What? What is this?!"

"A sword skill called «Lunar Eclipse». Think of yourself as a fly caught in a spider's web. Hahahaha"

PoH appearing unaffected by the fog casually walked up to Kirito. "Let's see if you can dodge any more attacks, when you can barely crawl."

Seeing no other choice Kirito drew his second blade, hoping that the presence of two swords would confuse the orange player as it had done in the past.

PoH while appearing to notice the second sword, his face betrayed no surprise. Unwilling to give his opponent a chance to figure out his extra skill, Kirito despite his relatively slow movement speed charged at PoH and unleashed his sword skill, «Sword Storm» but the orange player, effortlessly blocked every single attack as if he had anticipated the move.

Smirking at his opponent PoH laughed like a lunatic, "I know all about your little «Dual Blades» Kirito! A little birdie bitched and moaned about it to us for weeks!"

Kirito confused by what he heard, Kirito blurted out the only name that came to his mind, "Orion!?"

"The very same! Too bad his sister isn't here…. he would have been delighted to have us take her to 'safety'! HAHAHA!"

"That's impossible!" PoH without bothering to answer him, rushed at him once more and took another swipe, slicing off the tip of his hair as the blade skimmed past his head as Kirito managed to duck just in time.

PoH disappointed that his attack had missed, raised his chopper. Readying himself to strike another blow.

"Stop right there! We have your surrounded." An authoritative voice yelled and PoH glancing towards the direction of the voice, stopped and looked around trying to find the source of the voice. "Put your hands up! And we won't stick you with shit load of knives."

"What?!" Looking around in confusion, PoH brought his dagger to his side and with that the dark cloud surrounding them disappeared. Once the fog dissipated, Kirito could see Johnny and XaXa with their hands up, their weapons lay on the ground and with dozens of army players surrounded them.

PoH seeing himself surrounded by an even larger group of army players, holstered his dagger and raising his arms into the air. His maniacal glee disappearing and the reality of the situation settled in. Looking at Kirito, the orange player sneered. "This isn't over…"

"Sure it isn't….. You should have ran when you had the chance." Kirito remarked as he sheathed his swords. "Now… tell me why you are here and I'll make sure that you are treated fairly."

Johnny without hesitation answered. "A nice man by the name Grimlock told us to come here."

XaXa mortified to hear his friend blab, tried to kick Johnny. Unfortunately for Johnny the army players subdued and held him down. "Idiot! Don't just tell him things!"

Exhaling loudly, PoH looked at his subordinates with conflicted emotions, "For all we know, Grimlock could have sold us out to the army."

"And Orion he is alive?!" Kirito asked, in hopes of Johnny answering the question. "Where is he right now?"

However, before Johnny could speak a glare from PoH silenced him. Seeing as he would get no additional answers, Kirito gestured to the army players, "Take those three down to the Black Iron Castle."

A/N Happy New year.

Quotation Fixes: 1/10/2013

Small Edits: 1/10/2013

Major Plot/Character/Grammer restructuring: 1/18/2013~ 1/19/2013