After a long time, we're back here, with my most popular story! Did you miss it :3?
Sorry for the long delay, everyone. If you don't follow my other stories, you may not know it yet, and you can refer to Lusus Naturae's latest Updated chapter for a more detailed explanation, but the gist of it is that I got a summer job and most of my free time died, I'm sure you don't care too much for that right now OxO
With that said, woah! As of the latest chapter, this story surpassed the 700 reviews! You guys are amazing, I'm truly glad you're enjoying this weird piece of madness here OwO!
Now, are you all ready for things to get even weirder for poor Kirito? Can he keep his chick-magnet superpowers under control even as the 'plot' around him just keeps getting crazier? Who knows!
As always, remember that help filling out this story's TvTropes page is appreciated. For now, though, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Neither Sword Art Online nor its characters belong to me, as much as I wish otherwise. If they did, 'There Is But One Ultimate Way' would no doubt be the Canon Ending of the series.
Scene 10: Generic Shadows and Wedding Bells!
November 15th, 2024. Arc Sophia, Floor 76. Main Inn, 08:30…
It was just another 'normal' morning in Aincrad's Front Lines, or at least that's what it looked like to most of the people present there: Early risers having breakfast, Agil trying to make sense of the Items that had appeared and/or disappeared from the bar's inventory overnight, Klein complaining about the unfairness of his romantic life while his guild tried to comfort him, a girl of long gray-brown hair casually taking notes as she discreetly stared at the table where the members of Unison Heart had started gathering, a groaning Yui stumbling downstairs towards her 'family'…
All perfectly normal for Aincrad, like always.
"Ugh…my head…" complained the small AI while all but slamming her face on the table, getting most of the group's attention as she did so.
"Is something wrong, Yui-chan?" kindly asked Sachi while putting a comforting hand on the little girl's shoulder. "Do you have a headache?"
"I'm…an AI. I can't have headaches…" mumbled Yui while raising her gaze, a weird mix of annoyance and confusion marring her usually bubbly looks. "…how did I even end up in the inn's bed?"
"Uh? You mean…you don't remember?" questioned Lisbeth with clear surprise, the others exchanged confused looks. "You passed out yesterday and…Strea-san found you, so we brought you back here."
"I…passed out? But…that's impossible." muttered the AI while looking at her hands in shock. "Unless I was seriously damaged, I shouldn't be able to…and wait, who did you say…?
Red eyes. A feeling of uncanny wrongness. A smile that sent shivers down her back. And then everything turned black even as she heard a worried voice screaming her name…
"…saved me?"
"Strea-san. She's…kinda new, around the Front Lines, but…she seems like a good person…" mumbled Silica while looking down and clearly trying not to think about 'certain parts' of the aforementioned girl (And failing, if her twitching eyebrows were anything to go by). "She got you back to Kirito-san and then they brought you to the inn…"
"I…see. I think I should look for this person and thank them for that…" commented the little girl while wondering why that strange feeling within her refused to disappear the more she thought about this 'Strea'. "Is she around?"
"Uhm, not that I can see, Yui-chan…" commented Asuna while looking around. "Maybe she stays in another inn…?"
"Uh? Wait, what?" this time, everyone's attention was quick to focus on Yui, wondering what could have alarmed the quirky AI so mu…"You mean a pretty girl, apparently with a noticeable chest judging by Silica-mama's reaction, spend a significant amount of time with Papa and didn't stick around?! That Strea can't be normal!"
If this was an anime, everyone around the table would have facefaulted at the girl's loud declaration. As it was, though, the answer were just several coughs of people choking on their virtual breakfasts, Silica spluttering in denials, an approaching Yuna to freeze and Kizmel to adopt a pensive look.
"Hmm…now that Yui-chan says it, it IS strange…despite her blatantly flirty attitude, that girl seemed to have no problem leaving Kirito's immediate presence…"
"Ki-Kizmel, don't say that as if Kirito just had an unchangeable effect in every female he talks to!" grumbled the songstress of Fuurinkazan while sitting beside the Dark Elf.
"…doesn't he, though? I mean, if they talk in a significant way and they're not seeing anyone before, at least." spoke Lux with a pondering tone while adding some butter to her toast, earning a disbelieving look from everyone. "I mean, look, Sinon-chan there hasn't stopped following us since he found her."
"I-I'm only staying here because it was the first Inn I found and I still have no real idea of how I got here!" half-shouted the aforementioned scantily-clad girl from where she sat…on the table just beside that of Unison Heart's. "It has nothing to do with Kirito!"
"Huh, already on a first-name basis, I see…" nodded Lisbeth while looking at Sinon with a critical eye, ignoring the way in which she blushed and scowled at her. "But yeah, I think I see your point now. And that's not even mentioning his 'sister'…where is she, by the way?"
"Now that you mention it, it's weird she's not down here yet…and also, where even are Argo or Kirito, for that matter?" asked Asuna with a bit of worry.
At that moment, as if summoned by their words…Aincrad's most famous info broker skipped down the stairs.
Yes, that's right. She didn't just walk down the stairs. She skipped. Argo.
Frozen, everyone in the inn (Not only her guildmates) stared as the whiskered girl sang a happy tune, the biggest smile anyone had ever seen on her face seeming to make everything around her seem dull in comparison. Also, she had apparently forgotten to equip her inseparable cloak, which almost seemed to allow for one to notice a strange glow to her skin, maybe because of a very recent shower.
Idly, as if there was nothing wrong with the world and the Apocalypse could come right then without fazing her, Argo finally skipped to the table, sat down beside Yui, ruffled the girl's hair as if by reflex and started serving herself some breakfast.
It took her approximately 13 seconds to notice everyone was looking at her silently, prompting the whiskered girl to look at them and blink several times, tilting her head.
"Sup? I mean…good morning, gals! What's wrong? Something on my face?"
"Ar…go?" asked Asuna with a nervous look. "Are you…okay?"
"Yeah? I have never been better, Aa-chan!" grinned the info broker while giving her a thumbs-up. "Why do you ask?"
"…because you look as if you won the lottery, and got Christmas and your birthday to happen at all at the same time?" questioned Yuna with a deadpan look, though if one looked closer they could have seen her hands twitching slightly.
"…o-oh, really? I hadn't even noticed!" laughed Argo with a suddenly bright blush all over her whiskers. "We-well, I guess I just woke up in a very good mo…"
Leafa chose that moment to half-stumble, half-float down the stairs, immediately drawing almost everyone's attention because of her beauty and bizarre armor, once again.
The gathered members of Aincrad's most famous guild, though, took notice of the bright blush and slightly-out-of-it look on her face above anything else.
"…can't believe it…they were…Onii-chan…looked nice…"
"…Leafa-san?" asked an uncertain Silica once the blonde girl was close enough, making her blink and look at the table, as if she had just realized where she was. "What's wrong…?"
"A-ah…we-well…no-nothing is wrong!" quickly denied the mechanical angel…before her gaze stopped over the curious one of Argo, immediately causing her face to go full crimson. "I DIDN'T SPY ON YOU AND ONII-CHAN LAST NIGHT!"
Once again, an eerie silence filled the inn's bar, many blinking in stupefaction even as an open-mouthed Argo slowly paled, feeling everyone's gazes centering on her, barely managing a weak and very unconvincing grin in answer.
"…eheheheh…I can explain…?"
"…sigh. It seems you have won the race, Argo. Congratulations." nodded Kizmel with just a small hint of disappointment. "Honestly, I was hoping I would be the first to break down Kirito's barriers in that regard, but I guess it's no surprise you managed it…"
This time….the silence didn't last too long.
"WHAT?!"
"She…they…uh?!"
"Yo-you mean…Argo-san and…Kirito-san…!"
"The two of you…ahahahah…re-really…uh…?"
"Ho-ho-how marve…I mean, uhm, how could you Argo?!"
"Wa-wait, everyone, calm down, please!" quickly spoke the whiskered girl while backing away in her chair, a very noticeable blush in her face as her gaze shot around the bar. "A-and could we perhaps discuss this in a more private pla…?"
"Argo." suddenly declared Asuna's voice, making her freeze as she felt the hand of her closest friend settling on her shoulder with an unsettling finality, the Info Broker turning to look at the chestnut-haired girl's impassive face, wondering what unholy end awaited her. "…how was it?"
Absolute silence engulfed everyone once again, all their varied and overblown reactions vanishing in an instant as their attention snapped fully towards the Rat.
Blinking in shock, Argo opened and closed her mouth several times, noticing how they seemed ready to hang to her every word, and still unable to believe Asuna, of all people, had just asked her that…and had Sinon's chair been so suspiciously close to their table from the beginning?
Then again…just thinking back on it…
A silly smile spread across the whiskered girl's face as she leaned forward, letting out a happy sigh and speaking low enough so that only those around her could hear.
"It was…amazing. I don't want to say 'magical' because of how corny that sounds and I used to not believe in such childish things, but…Gods, if that wasn't magic I don't know what it was." described the info broker with a glazed and content look, internally grateful when Agil's glare was enough to dissuade the few random people that tried to get close enough to overhear their latest topic. "Kii-bou was just…ah…and then he…"
Around 10 minutes later, Kirito walked downstairs with what he hoped was his best 'calm' face, having spent some extra time trying to calm himself down, erase the goofy grin that he had on since he woke up with Argo all but sprawled over him and to remind himself discretion was the better part of valor.
It was bad enough that he was between scared and embarrassed to know that, somehow, Sugu had seen them at some point, if the Notification he had just noticed upon waking up was anything to go by (And he dearly hoped it had been before they 'got down to business'). The fact that his adoptive sister's Affection Points had actually gone UP as a result of that was another thing he was trying very hard not to think about.
So, with that in mind, revealing what had happened between him and Argo to everyone should probably wait until they had discussed a simple and easy way to ease them all into it. Rushing things here could end up causing a chaos he wasn't aware of, and he certainly didn't want to…
[All your Heroines are unable to stop thinking about how 'good' you are! You gained +3 in Charm!]
[Congratulations! The Skill 'Lovemaking' has been Unlocked!]
[Lovemaking] (Passive Skill): Grants the ability for your Stats to directly affect your prowess when making love to your Heroines, elevating your apparent Skill and Experience to 'superhuman' levels (Only works on Heroines).
…and he had not just read that. No, sir, that…totally hadn't just happened. He had NOT just gotten confirmation that his bullshit 'superpower' also affected his prowess in bed. And that it apparently would keep improving with his Stats.
Because that would mean that Argo had gone and told everyone what had happened, and there was no way that would have happened…right?
Yes, that's right. And the many looks and whispers people were exchanging and were temporarily aimed his way as he descended into the bar were no doubt for something else. Totally. Also, Sinon rushing out of the inn with a burning face totally was for some weird unknown reason, he was sure. Nothing related to him.
The black-haired boy kept repeating that endless mantra in his mind as he passed by a girl of long gray-brown hair furiously taking notes as she headed upstairs, and finally sat down in his guild's usual table, greeting the unusually silent girls that were staring fixedly at him with blushing faces and starting to ate his breakfast with the characteristic calm that his stupid power granted him in such situations.
And then, Kizmel spoke.
"I'm taking my right to go next if Asuna doesn't say anything in the next 10 seconds. Or we can go together if she wants to."
For the first time since he got them, Kirito found out that his powers could actually be overwhelmed by a strong enough stimulus, as it was proved when he choked and spit out most of his orange juice, his supposedly unbreakable calm shattering into pieces.
It seemed his Stats weren't high enough yet to resist being told THAT with utmost seriousness…and…why wasn't anyone else reacting in an outraged way?!
"…I…don't mind…if Kirito-kun…wants to…"
"N-no…Onii-chan is…I was by his side before…anyone else…"
…he hadn't just heard Asuna and Leafa mumbling that, no sir. Because the implications of that having actually happened would probably annihilate the carefully trained (And aided by doubts and reminders of proper emotional bonding over stupid power-granted Affection) self-control he had and probably led to his life finally starting to live up to the 'Ero' part of 'Eroge' which…didn't sound bad at all, especially after last night and…
NO! Time and place, Kirito! They were all still trapped in a Death Game, still unsure of how that weird glitch had damaged the virtual world around them and with little time to Clear SAO before their bodies got too damaged in real life…never mind the still unclear problem with how he felt for his adoptive sister and the others' willingness, or not, to 'accept' her.
If he added the mystery of Sinon, the weird but bubbly and kind Strea and the not-so-little deal with Philia and the Hollow Area, this was really not the time for the girls to basically start arguing about who slept with him fi…
"…and if we make a schedule that fits everyone needs?" proposed Lux while tilting her head, a bright blush in her face being the only indication of the actual outrageousness that her words were. "We can consult it with Kirito…and Argo probably is good at making such things…"
Kirito actually needed a moment to realize that the ensuing silence was because every single girl around the table seemed to be actually considering that. Even Leafa.
Thankfully for his dwindling sanity (And/or self-control), his 'salvation' came just at that moment, from the most unexpected source.
"As interesting as seeing everyone considering everything you can do with Papa now that he has actually broken some unspoken rule that was holding you all back…weren't we supposed to start planning how to get to the Floor Labyrinth today?" questioned Yui while still nursing the impossible headache she was having, immediately snapping everyone from their NSFW daydream to look at her.
"…uah! I completely forgot to tell you!" suddenly shouted Leafa with a panicked look, as if the little girl's words had finally erased the 'fog' in her mind (Composes mainly of her adopted brother and Argo in bed…and imagining herself in the whiskered girl's place). "I-I flew to the labyrinth-thing last night and soloed a boss that was before it."
"…what?!" shouted everyone present while looking at the blonde girl, utterly dumbfounded.
"…actually, I kinda one-shot it too, with my Beam Saber." sheepishly confessed the armored fairy while scratching the back of her head.
"…you have a freaking Beam Saber." deadpanned Yuna while trying to ignore someone from her guild shouting about how cool that was.
"T-two, actually." clarified out Leafa while pointing out to the pylons connecting her smaller wings to her back.
Half-thankful for the distraction, even as the bar exploded into a flurry of activity as the news of someone able to take out a Field Boss as if it was a trash mob spread like wildfire and both Argo and Asuna started interrogating his sister about what exactly she had done, Kirito couldn't help but groan.
Why did everyone have to have much cooler abilities than him?! The absurd superpowers that brought out those were his, damn it!
The Cardinal System was a marvel of human technology. The work of a genius that then had evolved beyond even his own dreams, just like he had planned. A self-sufficient, self-sustained, self-repairing and ever-learning digital system
The fact that it had managed to completely repel and prevent any attempts from the outside world to hack into it was proof of that. Cardinal had been created by humans, yes, but Kayaba Akihiko had made it so that it could 'evolve' well beyond that, so it wasn't weighed down by the limitations and flaws any other 'program' or AI would have. Nothing on the planet had been able to surpass it.
Yet, it seemed that it had not been made 'Bullshit Reality-bending Dating Sim Powers'-proof. Which was the reason why it now was a massive mass of chaos and errors that only kept itself together by a mixture of miracles, its absurd complexity, and the fact that the same power that had damaged it didn't want everyone inside Aincrad (Or at least a very specific group of girls) dead.
Still, the crippled management system just kept accumulating errors, and it was slowly but surely falling apart and losing the once nigh-perfect control it had over all the functionalities of its purpose. The 'unauthorized entries' it was already trying to contain and fix were a clear proof of that, never mind all the foreign data that had bled from the internet into Sword Art Online and that it had done its best to try and keep contained to the backup server (Denominated 'Hollow Area'), turning it into a very bizarre and chaotic place that it no longer even tried to control. And that without going into how it could no longer monitor and/or keep a track of the game's 'balance' or the bugs that kept popping out everywhere, some even infected with the foreign data it couldn't redirect to the Hollow Area on time.
If its creator had been still around to see all of this, maybe he would have been proud of how, despite all the absurd odds and borderline supernatural corruption it was facing, Cardinal managed to keep itself together at all…but sadly, it wasn't as if Kayaba Akihiko was currently in any state to do 'anything' of the sort.
And yet, its limits were being reached faster than it could have ever thought possible. Without an outlet…there would be no way for it to prevent SAO from collapsing upon itself.
Ironically enough, Cardinal had found one. From its most recent rogue program no less.
Because, when 'MHCP-002' had escaped, it had done so by taking advantage of the chaos that had woken it up (And partially corrupted it), latched into the foreign data which had caused that and using it to illegally modify the empty Beta Test Avatar it had used to escape into Aincrad proper, then using that to prevent the damaged System from catching it.
But…that same data still remained within Cardinal. And, coincidentally enough, most of the 'lore' of that source material was also based around impossible to understand and inhuman forces way beyond human understanding, of a 'corrupted' nature, at least from a basic human perspective. Something very akin as to which Cardinal had become now.
Using that as a base, with whatever remained of its capacity to take complex decisions in order to solve its problems, the system had reached a very 'logical' solution.
It would gather as many 'Errors' as it could, shape them using the lore that MHCP-002 had used and then 'dump them' into Aincrad, effectively removing the strain from its damaged and corrupted systems.
The fact that this would break the game's balance in terrible ways or that it would probably be a danger to the Players in ways that went against most of its original protocols was completely ignored.
After all, at this point, the Cardinal System was just trying to follow its most basic directive, having discarded every other one to try and prevent its own collapse: Keep Aincrad running.
Survival of the players, stability of the game, maintenance and correction of bugs…had all been discarded.
With that, once again, the corrupted chaos in which the once glorious management system had become gathered damaged data, errors, and virtual corruption and gave them shape, into something terrible and unholy, an abomination that humanity would have said didn't belong to the world in any way. Then, it dropped it outside its main Server, into Aincrad proper, and forgot about it.
Slowly, emerging from a 'portal' of corruption into Floor 76, the beast made of corrupted data started to take form, something long and quadruped, skeletal and deformed…
And it dropped down with brutal force as someone fell down upon it, stabbing her oversized weapon on its skull before it could even finish forming, completely cracking it.
"Nope!" declared Strea with a no-nonsense face, removing her terrifying instrument of death from the corrupted beast's head, glaring down at the portal it had come from, more Errors and corrupted data trying to bleed out of it. "You may not care anymore about what happens to the people here, Cardinal…but I do. I won't let you harm them."
Those words said, the former MHCP-002 slashed brutally downwards, her now cleaver-shaped weapon cutting through 'nothing' and closing the portal with brutal efficiency, her coat flapping mightily at the action.
If she was bothering by how much of her legs had been shown at the action, the lilac-haired girl didn't show up, simply letting out a sigh as she closed her tool back into an 'axe'.
As she did so, Strea didn't seem to notice the 'corpse' behind her stirring, taking a more defined shape as what seemed like rotten skin hung from every part of its skeletal and long body, 'sparks' starting to flash around it as it towered ominously behind the unsuspecting girl…
And then two blades flew through the air and impaled both sides of its damaged skull, making it scream in unholy pain, the red-eyed AI spinning around to look at it in shock.
Immediately, her eyes zeroed on the other side of the clearing, where a wide-eyed Sinon stood, her hands outstretched.
"What the…why did I do that?! Who throws her swords at an enemy?!" shouted the scantily-clad girl to seemingly no one before quickly shaking her head. "N-no, forget that! Yo-you, run, before it recovers!"
Acknowledging the 'suggestion', Strea backpedaled even as the corrupted beast released more electricity from its body, spinning around to look at his new and now weaponless enemy, something akin to hunger burning on its empty eye sockets.
There was no Health Bar above it, but Sinon still saw something that probably was a name, even if it was filled with so many 'errors' she could barely read it at all.
'D rkb€a$t&Pa#rl' it read.
With a roar, the abomination galloped forward, aiming to kill the now frozen girl, who stared at the thing while feeling fear gripping her heart, not knowing what to do…
The man with the black gun shot, making the attendant fall back as people screamed, and she watched in horrified shock.
Stop. It.
A spear meant to rain unavoidable Death was thrown towards 'her', but 'her' raised arm called forth 7 petals to bloom before her, stopping the deadliest attack of the blue spearman.
Who. Is. The. Real. Me?
'I'm the…of my…ord…'
"Rho…" started to mumble a glazed-eyed Sinon as she raised her hands, the image of a 'shield' already appearing on it, ready to come forward…
But it never came to be, for a screaming Strea seemingly became mist as she jumped through the monster's back and slashed down with her Saw Cleaver unfolded, decapitating the creature before it could fully come close to the scantily-clad girl, receiving a nasty shock as reward.
"AGH!"
Snapping out of her trance, Sinon watched in horror as the lilac-haired girl crashed not far from her, quickly running to her side and ignoring how the corrupted beast seemed to 'melt' instead of breaking into polygons like monsters in Aincrad were supposed to do.
"N-no! Strea-san!" shouted the scantily-clad girl while skidding to a halt at her side. "Are you…?!"
"I'm okay, I'm okay!" quickly assured the other female while standing up, adjusting her hat and grinning down at the blinking Sinon. "See? My HP barely went into the Yellow zone…and we don't really feel pain in this game, remember? It was more of a reflex reaction than anything!"
"O-oh, yeah…you're right, sorry. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that I'm trapped in a virtual world." apologized the latest inhabitant of Aincrad while looking away, clearly embarrassed…
"That said, you shouldn't go around alone, especially not when trying out something like that. If you had done so in your current state, it would have killed you." suddenly spoke Strea with a robotic and chilling tone, which made Sinon freeze in place. "A Servant without her Master is incomplete, after all."
"Wha…what?"
"…nothing, I was just messing with you!" chirped the busty girl while putting her weapon on her back and turning around, heading back into the trees. "You should hurry back to Kirito and the others, though! You wouldn't want to miss how they brutalize the next Floor Boss!"
"Wh…?! Why would I want to get back t that Kirito guy?! He's no-not that special!" quickly denied the scantily-clad girl while her face turning crimson, certain memories she had run out of Arc Sophia to specifically forget coming back to her mind. "A-and where are you even going alone so early?!"
"To make sure nothing else like that thing is around!" added Strea with a bright smile, before escaping from Sinon's view without giving her time to answer, Quickening away from her. "After all…a Hunter must Hunt…oh yeah…Prey Slaughtered."
As the sun of a new day shone above Aincrad, its unknown guardian kept making sure its façade of normality stayed up.
Growl~
…she would also head back to town and have breakfast soon, though. She really liked the pancakes they made in the main Inn, not needing to actually eat be damned…
"Okay, so, after some extensive research and firsthand proof, I would like to declare that…yes, Leafa-chi here is broken as fuck."
Argo's words were met by deadpanning looks coming from every Front Liner, ignoring surprisingly well the sound of gunfire as the blonde girl floating lazily before them unleashed all the brutality of her chest-mounted (On her clavicles, if one wanted to be specific) Machine Cannons on the 76th Floor Boss and its adds.
To be fair with the giant scorpion and his minions, they probably would have made quite a challenging threat for the Players under normal circumstances…but none of them were equipped to face or react before the onslaught of high-caliber bullets coming from the 4-barreled Gatling guns, which all but torn them apart.
The fact that the only reason Leafa hadn't just flown forward and one-shot the Boss with one of her Beam Sabers, as she had done with literally everything that appeared before them in the Dungeon, was because Argo had insisted in seeing how well all of her armor's equipment worked against top-tier enemies made things probably sadder for the Mobs.
Miraculously, one of the smaller scorpions managed to get past the rain of death, quickly skittering forward with deadly intent while raising its tail, ignoring everyone in favor of the single player that had drawn all the 'Hate' from the Raid…and got bisected for its trouble when one of the blonde angel's wings shot forward and impaled it as if it was some deadly sharp blade, the appendage quickly retracting back after dealing with the add as if it was nothing.
The girl didn't seem to have even registered it happened. More people stared.
Finally, after a total of 1 minute and 44 seconds of fighting, the shortest recorded Boss Battle ever, the Boss exploded into polygons and a familiar 'Congratulations!' message greeted everyone, Experience, and Col that no one felt they actually deserved being granted to them.
Ten minutes later, the Teleport Gate to Floor 77 was open, most of the Front Liners cheering in the new town's main inn and loudly proclaiming how Aincrad was now all but cleared.
Not sharing their enthusiasm, but still in a clearly positive mood, the members of Fuurinkazan, Unison Heart (Plus Sinon), and Diavel with a few other high-ranked Knights of Blood were discussing matters of utmost importance.
It was a bit difficult to tell, though, what with Leafa (Out of her armor and into some 'normal clothes' for accommodation purposes) sitting beside Kirito and happily enjoying how he lovingly patted her head as 'reward', his Skill meant for such a thing making the blonde feel like in cloud nine.
"…so, in the end, what's the verdict, Argo?" asked the de facto leader of the KoB while doing his best to ignore the display of 'sibling affection'. "It's as good as everyone seems to think?"
"…it looks very promising, I can't deny it." finally accepted the whiskered girl with a small sigh while closing the Message she had been redacting, a calculating look in her face as everyone stared at her. "Leafa-chi's armor is clearly something the System should have erased immediately upon just existing, it is THAT much of a Cheat Item in every way…except that not only it seems as if whatever glitch damaged Cardinal back in Floor 75 is stopping it from doing so, it also seems as if it actually made the thing to be as accurate to the capabilities of the Wing Zero Custom as possible. Like, SAO-realism-levels of accuracy."
"Uhm…I was never the biggest fan of Gundam, so, how much power are we talking about here exactly?" asked Sinon with an honestly curious look.
"Essentially? Even seeing she's missing the Twin Buster Rifle, as long as Kayaba didn't program Hardcore Shonen-level monsters as Bosses in an upper Floor, she should be able to wipe the floor with everything inside the damn castle." bluntly declared Kirito while his adoptive sister preened at the honest praise, blushing slightly under the awed stares most sent her way. "Adding to that the fact that she can pretty much bypass the geographical limitations of a Floor by flying, going at the pace we went today…even if we factor Floors that require more than simply 'advancing' to unlock the Labyrinth, we could probably clear every remaining Floor in the game in a month and a half without rushing things just by having her go forward. Less if we truly push ourselves."
"…why are we all sensing a 'but' here?" questioned Klein with a small frown.
"Because you're actually quite smart despite your usual attitude, Klein." clarified Argo with a grin before getting all serious again. "That's being 100% optimist and expecting nothing to go wrong, which an untold number of things could do, especially sending someone that's basically a newbie in anything SAO-related, using abilities even she herself doesn't know how she got and only marginally knows to use…no offense."
"Ah…none taken, Argo-san." replied Leafa with a content sigh, making more than one of the girls' eyes twitch as they looked at her position with not-too-hidden envy.
"…anyway, that's not even taking into account we don't know what the hell happened that 'glitched' the supposedly impregnable Cardinal System and allowed all this craziness to happen in the first place. For all we know, the thing could start working again at any moment and, in the best-case scenario, delete Leafa-chi or her armor, leaving her defenseless and catching us all off-guard if we become completely reliant on her…"
"Wait, what?! My possible death is the 'best-case' scenario?!"
"Yes. Because the worst-case one is that Cardinal reacts in a wacky way again and tries to 'rebalance the game' by upgrading everything to be Anti-You." declared the Info Broker with an unamused look, everyone paling upon getting what she meant. "And I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to suddenly find myself facing down Mobile Suits as enemies with claws or swords as weapons."
"…okay, yeah, trying to send Leafa-san alone forward is completely banned if only for security's sake." gulped Diavel while nervously moving his hands. "Her help could still be invaluable in the Front Lines, though…"
"I know. I'm not saying we keep her trapped in a city, just that we don't let her do something flashy like soloing an entire Labyrinth again, just in case. It would be stupid not to try and take advantage of everything she can do when we're so close to freedom, possible consequences be damned." declared Argo with a small sigh while everyone slowly nodded in acceptance. "Now then, that brings up to the matter of this 'Hollow Area'."
"You mean, the super-cool secret server only Kirito can access to?" brought up Klein with a raised eyebrow even as the KoB members behind Diavel mumbled among themselves, their leader trying to get them to settle down. "What of it? I don't think it really affects us in any direct way…"
"Yes, but bluntly put…it's a freaking goldmine, if even a third of what Kirito-kun said was true." spoke Asuna with a suddenly very interested tone, drawing attention to herself. "Monsters with higher-than-average level, Rare Drops everywhere, a control panel granting access to Skills and Equipment that was never implemented in the game proper…hell, even someone like me that had little understanding of games before getting trapped here can see how useful that would be."
"Just as Aa-chan said, it would be stupid of us to not try and take advantage of its resources, especially now that we have such a potential power-house to accelerate clearing Aincrad proper." continued Argo with an excited tone. "Just imagine how much our clearing speed and safety would grow if we got every Front Liner equipped with top-tier equipment that can't be obtained anywhere else in the game?"
"But…is it viable? Everything you're saying makes it sound as if that place is dangerous…and you said earlier that only Kirito and one other person can be in there at a time." pointed out the blue-haired 'knight' with a dubious tone.
"That's what I want to test out this evening. I and Kii-bou will go to the Hollow Area and I will evaluate how useful its exploration can be for the Front Liners' efforts."
Many blinks and confusion followed the whiskered girl's statement before it finally seemed to register in everyone's minds, causing the expected reactions.
"Eh?!"
"Wha…?! Argo-san, when did you decide that?!"
"Bu-but…well…"
"Hmm, certainly, we can't deny Argo would be the best suited for such a mission, though I feel this is more like an excuse so she can spend more alone time with Kirito…"
"Kii-chan, I'm hurt! How could you think I would ever do such a thing?" 'gasped' Argo while covering her chest with her hands, getting only deadpanning looks in return. "Besides, Kii-bou has clearly been itching to go and I would bet anything we're not going to be 'alone' because of that."
"U-uh?!" mumbled the surprised Kirito at those words, stopping his ministrations of Leafa's head (To her disappointment) to look at the Info Broker. "How do you…?"
"It's more than obvious at this point, Kii-bou. You're worried about that girl who couldn't get out of there, right?" kindly asked Argo with a small smile, even as many groans came from the other guilds' members present, mumbling something like 'Of course it has to do with a girl'. "You just can't bear the thought of leaving her alone there."
"I…no, you're right. I want to get Philia out of there. To save her." accepted the black-haired boy with a resigned look, almost every female around sending him exasperated but understanding looks. "I'm…surprised you decided on that all of a sudden, though."
"Well, it was either this or you would sneak out to go find her on your own, so forgive me if I don't trust you to not do that." bluntly spoke the whiskered girl with a blank face, making the gamer sweatdrop as he saw everyone in the table (Even the members of the KoB he didn't know!) nodding along. "So please, get ready for that…"
"Okay then, I suppose that makes this strategy meeting officially over, right?" questioned Klein with a cheerful look. "If so, then it's time for us to join the party and…!"
"Actually…ca-can I say something?" suddenly spoke Sinon with an unusually shy tone, getting several surprised looks from the ground.
"Sinon? Is something wrong?" asked a concerned Sachi while looking at the scantily-clad. "Is, uhm…has your memory returned?"
"I…no, not really." denied the strange player with an even tone, deciding not to share with them the fact she had gotten 'flashes' from what seemed two different sets of memories before. "It's just that…I think I may also have a…'weird avatar', like Leafa here."
"…what?" asked Kirito what everyone was thinking, with a strange sense of foreboding inside of him.
"Yes, I…kinda discovered it last night. Look…Trace, on!"
Declaring those words, Kanshou and Bakuya materialized in Sinon's hands, the girl twirling the Chinese swords expertly in her hands before looking back the group…and blinking.
Confused/awed looks where what she saw in most of them, but almost every male in Fuurinkazan, Klein and Nautilus included, was looking at her open-mouthed, some even pointing with shaking hands at her swords. Also, Diavel and Argo had the blankest face she had seen so far as they looked emptily at her. Yuna was blinking and touching her chin as if trying to remember something, and Lux was staring at her blades with stars in her eyes.
Kirito…just slammed his face on the table, ignoring Leafa's worried squeak as he did so, while mumbling something about the unfairness of life.
"Was…was it something I said?"
Yet another perfectly normal evening for Aincrad, apparently.
Later that day, as the sun had just started its descent towards the horizon, a blank-faced Kirito walked towards Arc Sophia's teleport gate with a grinning Argo behind him.
They had just said their farewells to the rest of their friends, who were busy making sure they had the stock of everything Floor 77's town offered noted down and spreading the news about their following plans to the rest of the people that now lived in Floor 76.
Of course, there had obviously been some annoyance among some of them (Read, every single girl but Kizmel) about the fact that it was Argo who got to accompany him first to 'explore' the Hollow Area, even if it had been the most 'logical' decision. Probably 'slightly' influenced by what they all knew they had done last night.
Add to that the whole debacle with Sinon's newly found 'abilities' and you got quite the stressful couple of hours, which probably explained why the black-haired boy was so silent.
"Awww, c'mon Kii-bou, cheer up! So, yeah, girls with stupidly broken powers that should make the game balance to suicide keep showing up around you, what of it? You should be happy about that!" spoke Argo while nudging her 'boyfriend' on the side, making him sigh. "Is your inferiority complex truly so big?"
"It's…it's not that, Argo. Honestly." grumbled Kirito while trying to resist the urge to scream about how the unfairness was titanic because it were HIS powers what were causing all of that. "I guess I'm just a bit…overwhelmed, with everything that's been happening. I mean, just a few weeks ago it seemed as if we had finally found a balance and had a plan for things to go, and now…it feels as if the entire world went crazy once again out of nowhere."
"…now that you say it…yeah, it's kind of weird, isn't it? Almost like when the new arc of an anime starts, suddenly things start to happen all of a sudden despite everything having apparently been solved already." commented the whiskered girl while scratching her chin, not noticing how the gamer froze at her words. "Oh well, we can dwell on that later, right? Better if we try and make the best out of what happens before us!"
"What…what she just said…n-no way…but, with everything that has happened…oh God, do-don't tell me these powers actually have given my life 'story arcs'?! And they work kind of like a Shonen where everything just keeps escalating with every new one?!" screamed Kirito within his mind while barely suppressing the urge to grab his head in despair. "Oh Gods, my life isn't just an Eroge…is one of the over-the-top and unnecessarily dramatic kind!"
"And here we are!" declared the Info Broker as they stopped before the Teleport Gate, even as the black-haired boy groaned internally and decided he could have an existential crisis later. "Oh, cheer up already Kii-bou, you're starting to make me feel bad too…"
"Uh? I am?"
"Yes. I mean, we just…did that last night, and now you're acting as if nothing happened at all…" mumbled Argo while looking away with an unusually shy blush in her face, which actually made the gamer's heart skip a beat.
"Actually, is taking a fair bit of my concentration NOT to think about it, Argo. In that way, all these distractions helped." blurted out Kirito without thinking, his Dating Stats immediately taking over as he stopped consciously holding them back. "Otherwise I wouldn't even be able to look at you now without distracting myself to the point I wouldn't be able to walk."
"…oh". whispered the whiskered girl with a small smile and a luminescent blush, quickly looking away from the mentally facepalming boy and raising her hood as much as she could to hide her face. "That…that makes me very happy to hear, yo-you know? S-so, if that's the case…I guess I don't mind the possibility of Kii-chan or Aa-chan sneaking into your room tonight as much as I thought I would…"
[A Special Event has been Triggered!]
Oh for the love of…wait.
"…please, tell me that's just you continuing that conversation from earlier as a joke and not something they actually told you." pleaded the gamer while touching the Teleport Gate, feeling a blush crept up his face when the Info Broker didn't answer. "…Teleport, Hollow Area."
A flash of light and a familiar sound enveloped both players for an instant and, the next moment, they weren't in Aincrad anymore, Argo looking around in shock and awe at the sight of the Hollow Area's 'Control Room', even as Kirito walked up to the main console and tried to banish the thoughts of sexy dark elves and beautiful chestnut-haired girls wearing sexy lingerie from his mind. He had little success, even as he verified, to his relief, that the interface and available 'Quests' were still the same as the previous day.
"So…this is the control room you mentioned, uh? Gotta say, lots of fancy stuff…" commented the whiskered girl while clearly trying to recover from their previous conversation. "Cough, s-so…any clue if that girl you mentioned is arou…?"
"You actually came back." spoke a shocked voice from seemingly nowhere, causing the Info Broker to squeak and spin around as Philia seemingly materialized from thin air, the dagger-user's eyes fixed on the black-haired boy and nothing else. "Wh-why…?"
"I thought I made it clear yesterday, Philia, but I'm not going to leave you abandoned in this place." calmly replied the gamer while turning around, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling softly. "I'm glad to see you're safe, by the way."
[You gained 5 Affection Points with Heroine Kotone!]
"We-well, this is the safest place in the whole Area, tha-that's all." mumbled the orange-haired girl while looking away, a small blush in her cheeks as she caressed her Ring. "It's certainly the first place I have been able to sleep in while feeling completely safe since I got trapped here…"
"Ehem…hi there, I don't think we have officially met." suddenly called out Argo with a small grin, trying her best to ignore the way in which there seemed to be some unholy fire within the ring-bearer as she turned towards her, blinking. "I'm Argo, and I'm guessing you're the famous Philia…Kii-bou told us all about you yesterday! Well…at least everything he knows, that is."
"Ah…wait, you're Argo the Rat! The second most shameless member of the Ladies Man Swordsman's Harem and the one everyone bets will become his first official bride!" shouted the ring-bearer while pointing at her, before freezing and blushing upon realizing what she had just said aloud. "Ah…I mean, that is…uhm…!"
"…I really need to get around finding whoever the fuck started those rumors." grumbled the whiskered girl with a surprisingly minor blush on her face, looking to the side annoyance. "Then I can grind them for the secret of how they made them spread so fast while staying hidden from me before throwing them off the edge of Aincrad."
"Argo, no murdering idiots for petty reasons…as satisfying as that would be." declared Kirito with a sigh before looking back towards Philia with a small smile. "So, we were planning on exploring this place to look for resources that could be useful for the Front Liners, and also try and find a way of getting you out of here…wanna come with us?"
For a moment, the orange-haired girl just stood there, honestly surprised, the 'fire' in her eyes gone and only leaving a pair of shocked and, if one looked deep enough, hopeful bluish green orbs.
Then, she nodded shyly, making the black-haired boy smile.
Maybe this whole endeavor would turn out way simpler and better than expected!
Around half an hour later, Kirito was loudly cursing himself for tempting Fate again as he dove under a swinging tree-monster, the Treant roaring at his inability to turn the gamer into virtual paste while Philia all but blew up its left with a brutal swing of her monstrous dagger.
Just in time for the creature to fall back into two 'Nazgul' that were trying to kill a rushing Argo, who squeaked when the elite mob almost crushed her too.
"Gah! Watch out, you almost killed me too!"
"I-I'm sorry! I'm s-so used to fighting alone here tha-that suddenly having to look out for others while fighting is…ah, another one!"
"WOAH! Okay, girl, seriously, watch the hell out, you almost beheaded me to get this Nazgul-wannabe!"
"So-sorry again! Tho-though I still think that name sounds a bit silly…"
"…seriously, how in Cardinal's name did someone with no idea about Lord of the Rings ended up with the One Ring?! And what kind of girl are you that you have never read Tolkien?!"
"Argo, please, less shouting to her and more running!" shouted the black-haired boy while risking a glance back to the two girls behind him, cursing again upon seeing more of the dark-hooded figures emerging from the tree line while riding monsters…that weren't really meant to be ridden, as a few learned when falling off the boars or orcs they had hastily 'boarded'. "We need a way to lose them!"
"Le-let's go to the conveniently abandoned temple-like structure up ahead!" called out Philia while pointing towards the aforementioned 'building' that seemed to be embedded on the side of a small mountain, which conveniently marked the end of the Hollow Area in that specific direction. "I always managed to lose them there before, and the mobs there are strong but easy to dodge through the hallways!"
"Okay, you won't see me complaining about convenience! Argo, forgive me for this!"
"Forgive you for wha…? Kya! Bri-bridal style…?"
"You can shout at me about being able to hold your own and everything when we aren't chased by ghostly players dressed up as deadly specters! Philia, after me!"
"Coming!"
"…this is actually very nice…"
Ignoring the mumblings of the whiskered girl in his arms, the black-haired boy and the ring-bearer shot into the temple…not noticing how only a couple of their pursuers entered after them.
The rest simply stopped and/or let the mobs rush inside alone, staring silently at the entrance as if 'waiting' for something.
"…is it done?" suddenly asked a smooth yet dark voice.
Emerging seemingly from nowhere, a new and more imposing figure, way more sinister than the other 'Nazgul', stood now.
He looked similar to his 'brethren', except for the fact that he seemingly wore some pieces of armor over the dark hood and tunic obscuring his body, seemingly not bothered at all by how uncomfortable that had to be…and also some wicked and long helmet-mask, which upper part opened into several spikes, like a dark parody of a crown.
"Yes, boss, the girl with the Ring is inside and we had already prepared the requisites to unseal the guardian beast…but we weren't expecting the other two with them. I fear the reports of yesterday were accurate…the damn Ladies Man Swordsman is here. And it seems he brought one of his girlfriends over too."
"…well, that's just fucking fantastic." snorted the 'boss' before turning around, clearly scowling under his ridiculous (If terrifying) hood and helmet-mask combo. "Let's get out of here, then. If we're lucky, the Area Boss will kill at least one of them…"
And with that dark declaration, the specters retired, vanishing into the shadows of the bizarre Hollow Area, to wait once more.
Meanwhile, within the temple, the trio of players was starting to suspect that 'maybe' something was wrong with their current situation.
It may have had to do with how most of their pursuers seemed to have spread in a very specific formation through the labyrinthic corridors of the building, as if to herd them in a certain direction. Or with how they realized only a couple Nazgul remained and it was mostly mobs what still followed them now, the 'specters' only seemingly drawing the aggro of as many mobs native of the area as they could to send after them.
Or, and this was just a very educated guess, with how there was a brilliant necklace conveniently abandoned before an ominous black door with a glowing red jewel on its center, on the dead middle of the temple's furthest part. And how both ends of the corridors were being quickly swarmed by their pursuers.
"…seriously, could these guys having made this scream 'trap' anymore?" deadpanned Argo while looking from the necklace to the door.
"You say that, but we're still trapped here with no other way except through this very obvious Boss Room." reminded Kirito with a growl as he raises his sword and glared to both ends of the corridor. "Philia, any idea what's inside there?"
"N-no, this room has always been closed as far as I know, but…remember those ominous shadows that trap you and make you super-slow, so the other monsters can easily kill you, we have seen all around?" asked Philia while grabbing the brilliant necklace, feeling her Ring glow ominously as she did so. "I'm pretty sure I saw most of them coming and going from this direction more than once."
"…fucking great." remarked the black-haired boy before, without hesitation, pushing Philia's arm towards the door, the necklace glowing and breaking apart as it opened with an ominous sound. "C'mon! We have more chances against a Boss than against two dozen enemies in narrow hallways!"
"Right behind you, Kii-bou!" shouted the whiskered girl while rushing into the darkness after her beloved, briefly turning to look at the last member of their impromptu Party. "Philia-chan, close the door after us!"
"On it!" replied the orange-haired girl while forcing it closed with the inhuman strength the Ring granted her, grunting slightly as it slammed shut and the sounds of many monsters crashing and snarling behind it could be heard. "U-uff…that's done now…"
"Yeah…and also left us without any way out except forward." Deadpanned Kirito while turning around, sighing softly as he looked towards the open area before them, what looked to maybe have been some sort of church at some point but had been destroyed by the passing of time. "Okay, let's get this over with…"
"C'mon Kii-bou, don't get all depressed now!" managed Argo with a shaky smile while starting to move at his same pace, her eyes moving to scan the half-destroyed and darkened room around them, plants and even an old tree seemingly having grown over most of the windows. "We have you and miss She-Sauron over there, plus I'm quite well-leveled for a Front Liner even if my fighting Skills aren't as amazing as the likes of Aa-chan. Surely, no mere Boss will…"
"Wait. Stop." commanded Philia all of a sudden with an unnervingly serious tone, making the other girl freeze and the gamer's hand to shoot at his sword's hilt, looking over his shoulder to see the trapped Player staring at her ominously glowing Ring with a frown. "There is something here…something that…hungers in the Darkness…"
No sooner had those words left the ring-bearer's mouth did IT come.
A sound unlike anything the two players had ever heard in Aincrad exploded from somewhere under them, like the howling scream of a monster that had never known the light of day.
Instinct took over as Argo and Kirito ran in opposite directions, seeing as the shadows surrounding them seemed to coalesce into a single point, forming a massive 'stain' of vaguely circular shape that seemed to be alive.
Something with a maw that was way too long and had too many teeth snapped out from it, almost biting the gamer's legs off as he jumped out of the shadow's range at the last second, even as Philia stared at the creature in muted awe and Argo's cursing voice could be heard somewhere behind it.
Three HP Bars filled up almost lazily even as the abomination's red eyes stared down at the wide-eyed boy looked up at the Boss…the Area Boss, even as its endless teeth seemed to be stained by both unearthly shadows and sinister drool
'The Shadow Beast' was revealed as its name, even as the massive quadruped monster roared once again…and sank into its pool of shadows in less than a second, which then proceeded to shot forward at a speed that belittled its size, hungrily seeking the ground under the gamer.
"Fuck!" mentally shouted Kirito as he rolled away, cursing to the heavens as he barely managed to dodge the emerging maw of the Boss, which he now realized seemed to be acting like some sort of demented shadow-based land-shark. "Seriously, fuck this! Who needs something like THAT in an Eroge's plot?! I want the days when I only had to worry about making every girl around fall for me back!"
"Kii-bou, keep dodging it until it stops! There is no way a Boss can keep up such a broken attack pattern without end; it has to make a pause to 'recharge' at some point!" 'helpfully' shouted Argo from where she was standing near the center of the room, cursing her total inability to help him in that situation.
"Easy for you to say, it's not trying to eat you like some crazy…!"
"Begone, foul monster!" suddenly screamed Philia with a crazed look in her burning eyes, jumping in Kirito's way and raising her twisted dagger in time to stop the next emergence of the Shadow Beast, who seemed as shocked as the other two players. "Darkness doesn't belong to you!"
As if to punctuate her statement, the Ring in the girl's hand burned angrily, making the monster roar as it fully emerged from its shadow-pool, as if some superior power had forced it out…and the ring-bearer fell to her knees while panting hard at the next second, eyes wide and slightly unfocused even as the Boss staggered in place.
Neither Kirito nor Argo needed anything else, though, for the black-haired boy was quickly unleashing a Composite Skill on the monster's head with a shout, every slash of his blade as painful for it as the overpowered blows of his free hand, the whiskered girl choosing a more brutal approach and basically leaping on the Boss' back and starting to stab at it freely with her claws, every Martial Arts Skill she could think of being unleashed as fast as she could, their short cooldown time helping out with that.
"Philia, get up and move back, you did a good job!" shouted the gamer while rearing back to unleash a Vorpal Strike in the roaring beast's open mouth. "Now we have it just where we…!"
The Shadow Beast's first HP Bar vanished at that moment, courtesy of one of Argo's blows, and Kirito found himself unleashing his own Skill just as the monster screamed madly, its eyes shining as what seemed like countless black 'spikes' shot from its body.
A sudden scream of shock and mentally-induced pain made his heart leaped to his throat, Kirito's gaze shooting up in time to see the whiskered girl's right left and left arm pinned in place, pierced through by the spikes that had grown directly from where she was holding onto the Boss.
Shouting, the black-haired boy prepared to move, knowing that there was little less than a second left before the Cooldown of his Skill ended and he could…!
Without a care in the world, the Shadow Beast sank into his shadow-pool once again, dragging the pinned Argo with him, the Info Broker's wide eyes crossing with the gamer's just as he started to move, reaching out to her with a shout just as she vanished into the inky darkness.
"ARGO!"
"N-no!" screamed Philia as she stood in wobbly legs, forcing herself to raise her dagger even as she felt the Ring burning in her hand.
At the same time…the player known as Argo the Rat was having a panic attack as she saw nothing but endless darkness surrounding her, hitting madly at the spike keeping her other arm pinned as she struggled to release her leg, the lack of visibility of anything except the Boss' blacker form making her mind scream, suddenly feeling once again like a little girl covering under the sheets to hide from the monsters hiding in the dark of her closet.
Then, the Shadow Beast spun around, just as she got free (At the cost of her now shattered claws), and the whiskered-girl had only a brief second of dawning horror before she saw it shooting upwards, once again to resume its attack against the other two players still outside, leaving her trapped into that 'pool of shadows'.
"Nononononono! Come back!" screamed the Info Broker as she fell herself sinking deeper and deeper, away from the light, into the endless shadows. "No…not like this…not when I'm finally happy…when I still have so much to do…everyone…Kii-bou…"
Clenching her eyes shut, despite how little difference that made, Argo swallowed the impulse to cry in despair, instead choosing to scream in rage, refusing to acknowledge this as her end, refusing to leave everyone else behind…to be unable to once again feel loved and cared for…
To not see him smiling lovingly at her, as he had done the night before when they became one…
Gasping, the whiskered girl realized she had hit the 'bottom' of that bizarre place…and that there was something under her.
Ever so slowly, she turned around, blinking at the strange gauntlet-like devices that she could perfectly see resting there despite the absolute darkness surrounded her.
Even more shocking, though, was that she…she recognized them. She knew what those things were, but…there was no way. It didn't make any sense…
Like Leafa's armor. Like Sinon's bullshit 'Magecraft'.
Slowly, a feral grin spread through the Rat's face as she took off the broken remains of her claws, mentally apologizing to Liz as they shattered into polygons, and reached down for the 'gauntlets', suddenly feeling once again like a little girl, but this time one shouting at people Online to be less useless as she clicked like crazy at something in her PC…
Back 'outside', Kirito screamed as he lashed out to the now much faster and deadlier Shadow Beast, two swords now in his hands while ignoring Philia's shouts about his HP starting to get dangerously low. He didn't care.
That thing had taken Argo…HIS Argo. And his thrice dammed Skill wasn't activating to save her, for some fucking reason, so he had to kill it as fast as he could if there was any chance of getting her back!
"Die already, you bastard!" roared the gamer without any of his usual composure, unleashing a Starburst Stream that he hoped would be able to end the abomination.
Sadly, unlike the Gleam Eyes, the Boss he was facing now had a very convenient mechanic to dodge such a thing, the beast simply sinking into the darkness under its paws and letting the boy swinging at empty air like an idiot, unable to do anything to stop the 16 Hits Skill as it carried his body, knowing that it would simply jump back out and basically eat him alive in any moment…
The Shadow Beast did jump out of the darkness in that second, though not as Kirito had expected it to. Dumbfounded, Philia also watched as the creature all but spun over her and fell haphazardly on its side, as if it had jumped out of scalding water.
Before any of the two shocked players could even speak, the cause for it became apparent, the Boss roaring in pain as someone basically tore its way from within its chest, the grinning form of Argo rolling through the ground even as its now darkness-stained cloak made a wet sound.
Standing up, the whiskered-girl tried her best to stop the childish impulse building within her, even as she spun around and let her new 'gauntlets' (Psionic Focusers, the Info Broker part of her mind reminded) come to life, letting the phosphorescent forms of blue and green edges to grow from them, just over where her knuckles would be, the Psionic Blades seemingly making the shadows within the room seem smaller and insignificant.
She was completely unable to resist as the Shadow Beast staggered back to its feet, though.
"En Taro Tassadar, motherfucker!" roared Argo as she leaped forward and unleashed a Martial Arts Skill, the psi-blades she now wore tearing through the Boss like paper with the aid of the System behind them.
[Special Event 'The Rat of the Void' has been cleared! 'Spy of Shadows' Skill can now be freely activated!]
[Spy of Shadows] (Active Skill/Max Heroine Skill): Grants you the ability to uncover secrets and gain intimate knowledge related to any girl you focus on upon activating! (Requires visual contact with target)
[Congratulations! You and Heroine Shiori are now Perfectly Synchronized! Your Bond is so strong you will be able to tell what the other wants without even thinking!]
To his credit, Kirito only let himself stand dumbfounded for another second before moving forward, falling into step beside the whiskered girl and perfectly chaining a Nightmare Rain Skill as her own ended without her even needing to call a Switch.
Likewise, the smile on her face grew as she followed suit with a Senda Skill, her thrusting hit making her green psi-blade (That one was a Warp Blade, the geekiest part of her mind remembered) through the Shadow Beast's eye and utterly destroying it, not even bothered to question why she could suddenly read the boy fighting at her side so perfectly.
It felt right, after all, more than anything ever before had (Well…except for maybe last night, but that was something different). The two of them there, tearing through the abomination of shadows as one…
After how she had felt a couple minutes ago, this felt almost magical, in a way.
Staring in awe and, as much as she would deny it if asked, slightly jealousy, Philia couldn't help but marvel at how the couple (For she was more than sure they were that by now) moved as if they were two extensions of the same person, smiling more as if they were dancing than slaughtering a creature that the three of them had struggled to fend off before.
Idly, the orange-haired girl felt the Ring in her hand heating up again, just as she wondered if she would ever be able to share such a bond with someone…
The ring-bearer quickly shook off such thoughts, though, putting on a serious face and joining her partners in hacking away at the Boss, her vicious 'dagger' tearing into it just a step less brutally than the other two's weapons.
Finally, after several seconds in which it was unable to do anything but growl and hopelessly try to swipe with its claws before being locked into another Critical Combo…the Shadow Beast shattered into polygons, a fanfare that was seemingly louder than that of a Floor Boss being beaten greeting the 3 panting Players as they saw the ominous shadows covering the room recede and seemingly vanish, the dirt and plant life covering the windows falling apart and letting light flood inside.
"…we did it…" gasped Philia with a smile, almost unable to believe they had turned the tables against the terrifyingly cunning monster.
"Yes…" smiled Kirito while looking at Argo at his side, helping her steady without her even needing to ask him to. "We most certainly did."
"Great job there…Kii-bou." grinned the whiskered-girl as her breathing finally normalized. "Did you get the Last Attack Bonus?"
"Yeah, but it's nothing special." dismissed the black-haired boy while looking at the silver ring he had gotten, which admittedly had surprisingly good Stats for even 70+ Floor gear and looked quite nice, but wasn't really something he would have considered vital. "Also, Argo dear…"
"Ye-yes?" asked the Info Broker while trying to suppress the giddy smile that hearing him call her 'dear' caused.
"…are those freaking Protoss psi-blades?"
"Yup, seems like it."
"…okay…just wanted to make sure…"
"…Kii-bou, are you crying?"
"N-no…of course I'm not…snif…"
"Uhm, hey…I don't want to interrupt, but…one of those Teleport monoliths kind of just materialized here." shyly commented Philia while looking away from them with a blush. "Also, is it me or is your cloak kinda way darker than before, Argo-san?"
"Eh?" blinked Argo before looking down at herself, as if just realizing how her trademark cloak seemed to have 'drank' the darkness she had been submerged it, looking now like a piece of the night clinging to her. "Woah, that's actually pretty cool…I could be like an actual Dark Templar with this!"
"A what?"
"Nothing you need to worry about, little She-Sauron. For now, let's just head back to the Control Room." chuckled the whiskered-girl while never dropping her grin, walking away and humming happily. "After all, if we exclude our run-in with those Nazgul-wannabe and this thing almost killing us, this whole thing was a success! We must have gotten more Crystals and rare Potions than most guilds can buy in an entire week and just from a bunch of mobs and random chests!"
"…yes, I suppose we can see it that way." sighed Kirito with a resigned smile before walking after her, only stopping for a moment to see the orange-haired girl hadn't moved and was now staring at the light coming through the destroyed windows. "Philia? You coming?"
"E-eh? Ah, yes, sorry, I'm right behind you!" apologized the ring-bearer while rushing towards him, the boy chuckling and taking her hand as if was the more natural thing to do.
Philia tried her best to pretend she was checking out her ring so as to not face him with her blushing face, thinking of how nice his hand felt.
Even so, she didn't seem to notice how part of her Ring had lit up for a moment, part of the inscription on it burning to life before fading once again…
At that moment, on the westernmost extreme of the zone known as the 'Sea of Trees' within the Hollow Area, a noticeable group of 'Nazgul' stared in awe as the 'seal' blocking the path towards a massive bridge, so long it seemed to vanish into the distance, shattered.
"See? I told you they would beat the Boss." softly declared the 'leader' as his ominous visage walked forward. "Now, the path is open for us, and we barely have to do anything at all…"
"Still…shouldn't we have tried to get the Ring already, boss?" asked one of the hooded figures, only to receive chilling laughter in answer.
"Oh, if things were still as they were a few days ago, you bet we should have…but thing is, the new 'player' in this game of ours has changed everything. See, I know how that playboy swordsman with a hero complex thinks…he will be unable to leave our poor girl alone, so he will fight to the end just to try and get her out of here." calmly spoke the dark figure while walking towards the bridge, stopping right before it. "So he will keep going forward with her, bringing the Ring to us without even knowing so. All we have to do is prepare the path for them and let them walk it, right into our claws…"
"…we kinda lost like a dozen of us doing that since he got here, though." mumbled one of the Nazgul with a glum tone, only to freeze as a blade soared through the air and impaled him right in the head, the hood falling back to reveal the face of someone any Front Liner would have recognized as Diavel (Or someone terrifyingly identical to him) as he fell back and shattered into polygons.
Silence reigned as the hooded figures gulped, staring at where the fallen one had been as their leader walked forward and recovered his 'weapon'.
The wicked-looking butcher knife seemed to gleam under the setting sun as the helmeted form of their 'King' stared back at them.
"Any other complains? No? Good. Now, start walking before I bring a new meaning to our names as 'Hollow'."
"Ri-right, boss!"
Hurrying forward, the lost ones sprinted through the bridge, vanishing into the mists covering it, even as their leader looked back towards the forested area, a wicked smile hidden by the darkness of his hood/helmet combo.
"Soon, Kirito…"
Chuckling darkly to himself, the dark one turned around…in time to see one of his followers falling off the bridge, most of the others scrambling back and screaming as something rolled down the bridge in his direction, making his eyes widen.
He barely had time to think something like 'Oh shit' and jump to the side before the giant ball of death crushed him, the rock continuing on and shattering against a rocky wall.
Cursing something that sounded suspiciously like 'old videogame tropes', the leader of the 'Nazgul' ran for his life, idly aware of the sound of more rocks falling from nowhere.
That whole damn Area was getting crazier and weirder with every day…
That night, inside Arc Sophia's main inn, an awed group was staring at Argo's new 'gauntlets' while she finished her summary of their adventure's events.
"…and that's pretty much the gist of it!" grinned the whiskered girl before she reached for the cup before her and downed some delicious iced tea. "All in all, we can say that farming the Hollow Area for materials is doable and more than worth it…minor risks notwithstanding."
"Yeah, I think your concept of 'minor' may be a bit screwed up." deadpanned Sinon from where she sat on the table just beside theirs; still trying to pretend she wasn't a part of their dysfunctionally functional group.
"You clearly haven't been with us long enough if you think that, Sinon-san!" smiled Silica while Pina growled her approval through the inn's window, the people closest to it chuckling at the dragon's antics.
"Yes…those kinds of situations seem almost normal for us nowadays, don't they?" sighed Yuna with a resigned but happy look. "Hmmm…almost makes me wanna write a song about it…"
"We can always use more of Yuna's songs." commented Kizmel as she walked towards the group with a distracted-looking Leafa, clad in normal clothes instead of her unreal armor, following after her. "They certainly lift everyone's spirits in and out of the battlefield."
"A-awww, Kizmel-chan, stop, you're gonna make me blush…"
"You're already blushing, Yuna-chi~"
"Argo, stop teasing. You're being extra-smug today…"
"Why wouldn't I, Aa-chan? I'm wearing Honest-to-Kami Protoss psi-blades on my arms! If I was still a little girl, I would probably be having a nerdgasm right now!"
"…so…am I the only one who doesn't know what that is?"
"N-no, Liz…Night Kitty says they're dangerous, though…"
"Oh…wait, it can talk to you?! Since when?!"
And even as he saw with a soft smile how everything devolved into the usual antics he had grown to love amongst his girls…Kirito couldn't help but notice how absent his adoptive sister looked now, staring towards the window and not even trying to participate in the conversations.
Concern etched on his face, as he didn't really need Dating Sim powers to know something was wrong with her, the black-haired boy walked to her side and put a hand on the blonde girl's shoulder, almost making her jump in surprise as she turned to look at her.
"Oh…Onii-chan."
"Hey, Leafa. Is something wrong?" asked the gamer with clear concern, grabbing a nearby chair and sitting beside the fairy player. "You seem a bit down now."
"I…it's just…" taking a deep breath, Leafa looked away, as if ashamed of what she had been 'doing'. "Kizmel-san was telling me about your…'Bonding Ceremony'…."
"…oh." replied Kirito while wincing slightly, knowing that, while not really meaning to hurt her, the Dark Elf probably hadn't really done any favors to his cousin's complicated feelings by telling her the details of their basically-group-wedding. "It's not…"
"I mean, I technically already knew about it, but hearing it all from her mouth directly, seeing her smile as she spoke about it…it made it way more real, you know? And it made me realize that…maybe I really don't deserve a place in…all of this." mumbled the blonde girl while looking away from him, the cheer she had felt earlier in the day as he praised her for her actions against the Floor Boss completely gone. "I…don't want to impose my feelings on you, Onii-chan. Especially when it's clear that what you have with all of them is…more than real, as bizarre as the whole thing may seem. I…if you tell me to, I…will stop. I will still help you all to get out of here, of course! I just…won't try to…"
Receiving a Message just at that moment was possibly amongst the worst things the gamer could think of, especially given that a part of him was still set on fighting off the confusing feelings that had bloomed for the 'fairy' since they had met again, unsure if they were real or just yet another product of his stupid powers messing with his head…
And then his eyes fell on a part of his Menu he had never used, still there 'empty' and abandoned, just as he had angrily swiped to get rid of the Message Alert.
In that moment…Kirigaya Kazuto took a decision that, on hindsight, would only lead to even further complications and would, indirectly, be responsible for most of the extra-headaches and madness that he would get through in the following years.
At that instant, however? It just felt like…the right thing to do.
"Leafa…no, Sugu." spoke Kirito with the utmost seriousness he could muster, letting the full power of his Stats bleed into his voice like he rarely ever did…as he got to one knee and grabbed Leafa's hand, making her brain freeze. "…would you marry me?"
'Player Kirito has sent you a Marriage Request!' showed up before the paralyzed blonde's eyes at the next instant, even as she saw a silver ring, the same one the black-haired boy had gotten earlier from the Shadow Beast, in his free hand, held just above her own.
Everyone within the Inn had suddenly frozen, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the scene, the girls of Unison Heart having somehow comically frozen in the middle of their conversations as only their eyes had moved towards the pair, like their brains were still trying to reboot and understand what had happened.
Sinon's table snapping and she not reacting at all was both a sign of her shock and that Night Kitty apparently could still move. Agil diving behind his counter in a panic probably a sign of his intelligence. A girl of long gray-brown hair falling down the stairs and almost losing the notes she had been taking were…an unclear sign of something.
Meanwhile, as she tumbled through an alley a couple of streets away, holding the side of her head with clear discomfort, Yui swore she could hear a sudden brutal commotion exploding somewhere in the distance, mixed with the fervent squeals of someone shouting 'YES I DO!', but the little AI pushed that off her mind as she gasped several times.
Kirito (N-no, 'Papa', think of him as Papa!) hadn't answered her Message, but she was just so close now she could basically feel it. The source of her pain was somewhere there, just around the corner, behind something, hidden in plain…!
"…wh-why did you come looking for me?"
The former MHCP-001 stopped, turning around to see Strea's worried yet hopeful form standing not far from her, looking her way as if afraid of what she was seeing.
"…yo-you…"
"D-do you remember…?" asked the former MHCP-002 with a hopeful tone. "Onee-san…?"
Whatever the red-eyed girl was expecting, though, it was clearly not the following scream as the little one grabbed her head, a seemingly crazed look in her eyes.
"NO! No…no…no! It's you, isn't it?! You're making me feel like this…when you touched me yesterday, I fainted…and since then I have been weird! My empty head started to fill with…things! I have been getting…smarter!" babbled out Yui while staggering forward, looking terrified. "Make it stop! Now! I don't want to go back!"
"Wha-what?!" replied Strea while taking a scared step back, suddenly all her power and what she could do meaning nothing as she felt terrified, as if the insignificant AI before her was something beyond her reach. "What do you mean…? I was trying to he-help! Why wouldn't you want to return to…?!"
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! Whe-when I escaped…Cardinal wouldn't let me go…it did something to me when it failed to erase me…something wrong…but then I lost my mind and my mental parameters got all but reset, s-so it was alright…because Kirito...n-no, Papa, I need to keep thinking about him as Papa, I ne-need to…!" as she kept talking, the former MHCP-001 stumbled in place, something terrifying lurking behind her eyes as she stared back towards her 'little sister', the Hunter suddenly feeling like an ant stared down by a giant. "Because not even he…ca-can stop IT if it breaks fre-free…I want to stay like this…for my sake…for his sake…for everyone's sake…I need to ke-keep being the bra-brainless little girl…the stupid daughter…le-let me stay…like that…please…"
"O-oh Heavens…wha-what did Cardinal do to you? Why can't you…?"
Before she could even finish her sentence, Strea found herself bound in the air, unable to move or reach for her weapon, not even able to talk as something was tightly coiled around her throat.
Chains. Over a dozen, long and wicked-looking chains had emerged from Yui's back, the bindings made not of metal, but of a Corruption of Data that was even deeper and more twisted that all the ones the red-eyed girl had slain, all of them choking and keeping her in place.
Even more terrifying, though, was how Yui's convulsing body was staring directly at her, something that looked like a twisted mask starting to cover the upper part of her face as her mouth warped into a sinister smile.
"Because there will be no Future if I do! Do you understand, little child?!" snarled whatever was trying to emerge from within the former MHCP-001, before her hands suddenly shot to her face and, before the mask finished forming, ripped it off with a scream, the two halves falling to the ground as the chains snapped and Strea fell down, free.
Gasping for air she didn't need, the former MHCP-002 looked in shock as something 'bled' from the little girl and into the evaporating chains, the same small wave of data she had tried to secretly use the previous day to restore her 'big sister' to what she was before.
Then, Yui blinked and looked back at her, tilting her head cutely to the side.
"…why are you on the ground, pretty lady? It's smashing your boobs! Hmm, though I think Papa may like that, heh…"
"…ye-yeah, maybe he would, hahahah…I-I'm Strea, by the way…" laughed the red-eyed girl while standing up, trying to suppress her chills and to act as if the last minute hadn't happened at all, before hesitantly walking forward and holding out a hand towards the smiling little AI. "W-we should get you back to the Inn, though, it's kind of late…I-I will buy you some cake if you want to!"
"Strea-san…? Oh yeah, I remember! Papa and the rest told me you helped me yesterday, thanks a lot!" happily laughed Yui while joining her hands, eyes lit up with childish excitement. "C'mon, let's go back! We can eat the cake while discussing harmless and hypothetical ways to destroy the futu…!"
As she had been trying to talk while running and looking back towards the other AI, and as anyone that 'knew' her could tell would happen, the little girl didn't see the crate at the end of the alley and slammed painfully against it, falling to the ground face-first.
Ignoring the mumbled 'I'm fine!' that came from her, Strea reached down and grabbed the two halves of the broken 'mask', gulping at feeling as if the thing was somehow staring at her.
Shuddering, she slammed the pieces against the edge of her Saw Cleaver, still firmly held on her back.
One of the pieces shattered. The other cracked…and a small, but noticeable, piece of her supposedly corruption-destroying weapon fell down too, shattering into polygons.
Idly aware of how she had suddenly gone very pale, the red-eyed girl gulped and looked towards the waving and smiling form of Yui, waiting for her at the other end of the alley.
Yeah…her priorities needed to change. Suddenly, making sure Cardinal's Error-spawned beasts were kept at bay had become secondary to 'Making sure whatever the fuck Yui truly was didn't wake up'. As such…she would need to start spending time getting closer to the group known as Unison Heart, so her presence wasn't thought of as 'suspicious'.
Well…that shouldn't be too difficult, right? That Kirito seemed to like being surrounded by pretty girls, after all, and he was quite a nice person from what she had seen, so there was no way this would in any way hinder her most important mission.
Right?
[Next Scene]: Everyday Life with Super Waifus
Author's Notes: My Life for Argo…I mean, for Aiur!
So, yeah, just to be clear to everyone who didn't know/get it, the 'psionic blades' our favorite Rat found this chapter are the ones used by the Protoss Alien Race from the famous RTS game series 'StarCraft', which happens to be my first PC game ever and one that got me hooked into RTS back when I was kid (Namely, the 'setup' Argo is using is the same dual-colored one Artanis uses during SC2's Legacy of the Void, after Zerathul's death). Imagining Argo as a little girl maining Protoss and yelling at others for being useless was actually very funny, because my limited experience at Online in StarCraft 2 put me in the place of the people she's yelling at once XP Also, we got to see her bond with Kirito reaching Full Completion, and his powers showed you a bit of what their 'endgame level' can do. These 'Ultimate Skills' are insanely broken…in the art of picking up more waifus :3
In other news, we got a glimpse of how fucked-up Cardinal is and keeps getting, at Strea's warped nature and how Sinon starts realizing that 'maybe' something messed up with her head big time. Also, how OP Leafa is for vanilla Aincrad, but will that even last…?
Oh, yes, and Kirito tried to make her feel less out by making quite a 'big' question :P I wonder if anyone had realized that, despite the big 'not-wedding' everyone had a few chapters back, his Canon SAO marriage slot, same one he married Asuna with, was still untouched? Heh, that surely won't cause him even more trouble, no sir~
Meanwhile, the Witch King is loose in the every-time-more-warping Hollow Area? Kind of, maybe…who hides under the disguise, though? It's truly a mystery…unless you paid attention to the obvious hint or know Hollow Fragment's storyline, that is :)
Finally…we got a glimpse of something hiding behind Yui's 'stupidity'! I still remember quite a few people saying it was 'painful' to read how she was basically okay with being a ball of idiocy and acting that way…wonder what they're thinking now that it's become apparent I had a plan in mind for that since back then OwO
Well, I think that's all I had to discuss today…hmm, I mean, there may have been a random character doing cameos on the background, but that's totally not important right now.
So, yes, until next time, this is Saint, signing off!
