Episode 14: A Cold Reunion

"Dante, open the door!" I heard a few knocks coming from outside. A woman's voice.

Shut up...

"Dante, open the door this instant!" The knocking got louder as it turned into banging. "Dante!"

SHUT UP!

"Dante? Are you even here?" The voice suddenly turned into that of a high pitched boy's. My eyes blinked as I realized I had fallen asleep with my AuraSphere right beside me. Groaning, I headed towards the entrance. Another round of knocks occurred before I unlocked the door and found a short kid with neatly combed hair standing in front of me wearing a black and white school uniform. In his right hand was a plastic bag with freshly bought items from the nearest convenience store.

"Akira-kun? Didn't your parent teach you to respect your superiors?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and smiled.

The kid laughed. "Like you deserve that kind of treatment."

"Come in, make yourself at home. If you can…"

He stepped into my cramped apartment and sat on the bed. Glancing at the AuraSphere I had left lying, he snatched it and examined it closely.

"Why's yours blue? I don't remember hearing about any special colors."

Crashing into my computer chair, I leaned as far back as I could. "I don't know. Must mean I'm special."

Akira just smirked. "Yeah, right."

"Anyway, why brings you to my fortress, Kage the Dark Ravager?" Grinning, I teased him.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that in real life." His squeaky voice was a big contrast to the deep one he had in AKO. "And for your information, big sister was worried about you. She asked me to check in on you on my way back from summer class."

"Summer class?" I whistled. "How do you Rintaros work so much?"

"The work will pay off when I get into a good high school. I'm not planning on dropping out like you did."

Ouch. Below the belt much? "You don't need to bring that up."

"I actually think I do. She's worried you've gotten too attached to VR again."

"Hey, I'm taking breaks just like she wanted me too."

"Oh yeah? Then what's that?" He pointed at my computer screen which still had the unfinished panel displayed.

"It's uh… not due till next week!" I immediately spun around and minimized the drawing application.

"Liar." He pouted.

"Can I ask what's in the bag?" I gave him my best smile.

Akira ruffled through the items in the plastic bag and pulled out a sealed Curry bun as well as a bottle of cold Oolong tea. "Big sister mentioned you like to skip meals."

"Hehe… thanks." I gladly accepted the food and drink as the kid pulled out a chocolate bar and a can of soda for himself. "This is kind of nostalgic actually. The last time we saw each other was when…"

"Big sister left."

"You miss her, don't you?" I smirked as a shade of red fell over his face.

"Not as much as you, I assume. You guys are so lovey dovey, it makes me sick." He took a sip of soda.

"It's mostly her fault though." Laughing, I took a bite out of the Curry bun. It had a nice flavor to it.

"Hey, Dante?"

"Dante-san"

"No." He said with a straight face. "Can you really run AKO all by yourself?"

The smile on my face disappeared as soon as I head that question.

"Big sister told me everything you said. You want to stop other people from becoming admins?"

"I'm... I'm the only one who can do this." I took sip of the tea and gulped it down my throat. "Besides, it's not like I'll be completely alone. I have you and Ari-chan to back me up. I may be the one with power but the game belongs to us."

I really meant those words. This game was too broken to be our perfect world. Someone had to do something.

"I was given a special gift, Akira. No one else has power like that so that must mean I was destined to be something greater."

"No one except Wairuzu." I hated hearing that name now.

"Wairuzu's a lost cause. We need to shift our focus on the game." I finished my bun with a few more bites and chugged the whole bottle of tea. Exhaling, I threw both of them into my already overflowing trash can. "Speaking of which, I think my break's over. Hurry on home so you can join us."

"Dante…" He sighed. "You're not changing your mind, are you?"

"Nope." I took my AuraSphere from the kid and put it on. "After all, it is the role of a Creator to make order out of chaos."

Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka

The cold winds hit us like a wall as we slowly made our way up a snowy mountain. Despite the shield spells Megumi cast, the gales never ceased to push against us. It was a lot colder than we were used to but it wasn't cold enough to stop us in our tracks. Although, I had to admit, Blizzard Berg really lived up to its name.

"This snow is hard to walk in…" Megumi lifted her foot up and shook the snow from her boots.

"D-do you want me to carry you...?" Soran sheepishly asked. I didn't know if it was the cold making him stutter or if it was just him.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the offer though." The adorable Sorcerer smiled and waved. She took that surprisingly well.

"Daize." Our valiant party leader called my beautiful name. "Did you contact the others already?"

"M and Orha said they're busy investigating a dungeon." Wairuzu clearly made a distressed face hearing that name. Those two weren't on the best terms to nowadays. It's a miracle I even got M to keep playing with us in the first place.

"Wait!" I stopped us from progressing since I was at the front as always. "Wairuzu, where are we even going?"

"To the dungeon…?" He wasn't sure where it was, was he?

"Yeah but which dungeon? Each map has more than a dozen obviously."

"The top one of course. It should be on the top of the mountain."

"Should be? Are you even certain it exists?" I tilted my head.

"Well… it makes sense for a Gaia Key to be on top of the mountain, doesn't it?" The Ronin crossed his arms.

"So you're saying we scaled this mountain on a hunch?"

"Yes…?"

All of a sudden, a bright blue light shot out from the snowy valley below us. It was coming from an area with a lot of holes. These holes were what I would assume to be caves.

"Oh, well would you look at that." I chuckled.

"Shut up Daize."

Our footsteps echoed as we entered the caverns. According to the map data we were given, this place was like a maze. We had run into some low level monsters so far but thankfully they weren't a problem for us. As we walked, I noticed that the walls were completely covered in ice while the floor was stone which was surprisingly not that slippery. As we moved forward, we were met with a fork in the road.

"Richter?" Taito came up to me with his pistols in hand. "Which way do we go, man?"

Scratching my chin, I called out to our Archer. "Rai, take a look, will you?"

Tugging at the cloth covering his mouth, he pulled it down and sniffed the air. For some reason, he chose to level up his tracking skill but that also meant he was also a very accurate scout.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" A woman's scream resonated from the right path as Rai pulled his mask back up and pointed at said direction.

"Okay Rangers, move out!" Our party hurried down the right corridor which seemed to be getting narrower as we progressed. The ice on the walls became thicker each step we took as we felt a chill crawl down our spines.

Finally, we made it out into a large ballroom like area where a girl with two giant shurikens was on the ground while a guy with a familiar looking great sword was defending her from what looked like a giant albino snake. White mist was coming from the snake's mouth as it let out a beam of ice that knocked the swordsman into the wall. Before the beast could lunge at his partner, I dashed in between and blocked it's fangs.

"Jean, heal them both! Everyone else, on me!" Parrying the beast, I slashed at its eye as it staggered back. Rai and Taito began firing at it to get its attention. Thankfully, it worked. The snake slithered towards the two but was stopped in its tracks by Chuu who had stabbed it in the head from above.

I placed the Shinobi class player beside the Crusader and began my healing spell. With my harp, healing was a cinch, however, I had to sacrifice my offensive side for that. That was always okay with me since I wasn't that much of a fighter.

"Who… who are you guys?" The boy spoke up.

"We're part of the Cobalt Rangers. Everything's going to be okay now." I grinned.

"That guild? You're not player killers?" The Shinobi girl asked.

"Only on PVP maps." Standing up, I brushed my hands together. "Okay, all healed. Now if you'll excuse me…"

I spied the rest of the party engaging the giant snake. Some of their healths were getting low. It was a good thing I was here.

"This was a bad idea!" I screamed as I held onto my shield.

"This was an amazing idea!" Megumi, who was in front of me, laughed and pressed against my body as we sled down the mountain. Thanks to my feminine figure, we both managed to fit on the shield but that also meant we were hurdling towards the cave at an alarming speed.

"Woohoo!" Daize and Wairuzu followed behind us, sliding down the slope while using their weapons to steer their bodies.

"You guys look ridiculous!" The Sorcerer laughed as they exerted as much effort as they could to prevent themselves from toppling over.

"Megumi, don't turn around too much!" Blushing, I struggled to balance our weight on the shield. Her hair blew into my face as I swiped it away. It actually smelled pretty good. This is probably the closest I've been to a girl. Shaking my head, I brushed off any thoughts that came to mind.

"Soran?! I think the caves are coming up! Can we slow down?!" She shouted.

"Um!" Thinking fast, I unsheathed my sword and dug it into the snow. The good news was that it definitely stopped our descent. The bad, the force toppled us over and sent us rolling down the slope.

"Hey! Watch-" Daize collided into me which created a chain reaction that toppled Wairuzu as well. Our entire party snowballed towards the cave entrance where we managed to land. The ice hit hard as I opened my eyes to the sight of Daize who was on top of me.

He grinned as he stared into my eyes. "If only you were an actual girl..."

Sitting up, we glanced towards the other two who were in the same situation as us, the Sorcerer's face inches away from the Ronin's. Daize and I glanced at each other then looked back at them before they burst out in laughter to our surprise.

"Y-you're covered in snow!" Megumi shouted.

"Me?! What about you? There's no trace of purple left in your hair!" Wairuzu laughed.

"My hair!" She frantically combed the snow out of her hair with her hands which made the Ronin laugh harder.

"He's having fun again." Daize smiled.

"Yeah."

"Just a little bit more, guys!" Swinging my Holy Sword up, I slashed the snake through its neck. Chuu followed up by throwing a power thrust from the right. Two shurikens came crashing from the sides as the Shinobi leaped into the air and retrieved them, landing elegantly on the ground. Her partner swung his sword at the beast as well, dealing a large amount of damage with a single charged hit. All the while, Taito and Rai were providing buffs and debuffs while jean consistently kept our healths up.

"Hey, you got Smiter's Edge on that thing?" I asked as the other swordsman stood beside me.

"Are you kidding? Of course I do!"

"Right! On the count of three!"

One.

Our swords charged up with holy light as we raised them in the air.

Two.

Chuu strafed throughout the snake's body, dodging any ice attacks it threw at him. Meanwhile, Jean casted a binding spell as soon as the beast crossed into our range. It roared as it struggled to get out of the spell.

Three!

"Smiter's Edge!" With a gleam, the two of us brought our swords down and sent a huge amount of light energy crashing into the snake. It immediately faded away after the impact as we took a minute to breath.

"Thank you..." The swordsman turned to me. "If it wasn't for you and your party, we would've ended up back in town."

"Anything for a fellow Crusader." I saluted. "You two alone? This is a dangerous dungeon for just a duo party."

"We were hunting Gaia Keys. This is actually the tenth dungeon we've been trying to clear." The Shinobi said.

"Gaia Keys? You two are in a guild then?"

"No..." The Crusader laughed nervously as he scratched his head.

"No?" Chuu leaned on his lance.

"We thought about that joining your guild at first, actually. But we also thought that if we did that then we wouldn't stand out from the rest of you." The Shinobi girl was twiddling her fingers. "So we decided to make our own guild after we retrieve a Gaia Key. After all, we would be popular if our leader was one of the admins of AKO!"

"That's certainly a possibility." Jean chuckled.

Holding onto the hilt of the sword on my back, I pretended I was just scratching my head. Arryn sent specific instructions saying that we had to get the Gaia Key no matter what.

"So, I'm ashamed to ask this but can you guys help us clear this dungeon?" The boy pleaded.

Letting go of my weapon, I smiled. A little help could make things easier. I'll just have to find a way to swipe away the Gaia Key at the end. "Sure thing. Let-"

I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder. Turning around, I found Rai holding onto me with a finger over his mouth. He then pointed it towards the direction of the corridor we came from.

"It's him, isn't it?"

"We should've taken the left one." Wairuzu said.

"No, I'm certain we took the right one." Daize chuckled. "Get it? RIGHT?"

A chop hit the Archer on the neck as the Ronin reeled back from his attack which made me smirk. I held my tome tightly as we made our way down the corridor, watching the ice get thicker and thicker on the walls.

"So, what happens when we get a Gaia Key?" I asked.

"We wait for the event. Once the tower raid begins at the end of the month, we clear all the floors." Wairuzu answered.

"Right. End of the month, huh…" Oh crap! Isn't that when I'm moving? I completely forgot about it again. Talk about bad timing. "D-did they specify a date?"

"I don't think they did." Daize scratched his chin. "The old man just said end of the summer. We can check the forums after logging out though."

"Speaking of which, we should probably meet up before then. In real life I mean!" Soran ecstatically said. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah it has. What do you say to that, Wairuzu?" The Archer put his arm around the Ronin's shoulder which made him a bit uncomfortable.

"Do whatever you want…" He looked away, pouting.

Silently smiling, Daize glanced at me. "Of course, you're welcome to join, Megumi. If you ever decide to share such information with us."

"Maybe…" Although I had my insecurities about revealing real life info, this was something I was seriously considering. When our walk ended, we were met with an extravagant room covered in ice. At the center, a single person stood with a Holy Sword on his back.

"Well, Jayce was right." The figure turned around. "You are stubborn."

"You…" Wairuzu pulled out his tachi.

"I'm guessing you saw the light too. That's an annoying system, to be honest. Just makes every dungeon one big PVP area."

"Jayce sent you to get the key? I thought he wanted to do this himself?"

"Jayce… Jayce is a busy man. Trust me, I'm more than capable of retrieving the key by myself."

"The hell you are, Richter!" I stepped forward with a determined look. "Where's the rest of your team? I know you never leave without them."

"Megumi... To think you'd side with him. You'll break Jean's heart." He gave me a pitiful smile.

"Wait, you know these guys?" The Ronin turned to me.

"I may have run into them when I visited Jayce's Guild..."

Richter chuckled. "I guess there's no hiding now."

In a second, the remaining members of the Cobalt Rangers' elite squad jumped down from nearby ledges along with two more players who I didn't recognize.

"You're outnumbered. Better get out of here while you can. Unless of course, Wairuzu would like to show these two what a true demon looks like."

"I'm not a demon…" He gritted his teeth.

"We'll see about that!" The Shinobi threw her shurikens at us only to be deflected by Wairuzu's sword. The blades flew back into her hands as the Ronin charged forward.

'Wait. Why aren't they moving?' I noticed that they hadn't moved an inch from where they were standing.

"Wairuzu wait!" My hand reached out to him as he turned around and met my gaze. In an instant, he disappeared in a white flash.

"I can't believe that worked!" Richter laughed. "Jean, Taito, keep our new friends safe. Chuu, you're with Rai."

The Archer and Lancer nodded like they knew what their roles were before Richter even spoke and proceeded down the corridor at the back of the room. The enemy leader then proceeded to step into another teleport glyph on the ground. He was gone in a flash.

"Right. You're not going any further!" The Crusader class raised his Holy Sword.

I grunted as my body hit the snow and rolled back. Lifting my arms up I found the man Megumi called Richter walking towards me.

"It's a good thing we had Jean set some teleport glyphs outside the cave. We were going to use them for a quick escape but this will suffice."

"Do you even know that Jayce plans to keep the admin powers to himself?!" I shouted, standing back up. "You're wasting your time if you think you can have power when he's in reign!"

"He's not keeping it to himself. He's keeping it for the guild." He said. "He'll rule with us by his side."

"Do you really believe that?" I smirked.

"We have faith in him that he'll do what's necessary to save this game." He pulled out his sword and pointed it at me. "Can you say you're capable of the same? That you're worthy to rule the land?"

"No. No I can't. But I do know one thing…" Holding my tachi with both hands, I activated Enhance. "…there's no way in hell I'm letting Jayce keep all the keys."

Somersaulting across the room, I dodged between the flying shurikens that zoomed past us. Pulling back on my bow, I released an arrow that knocked the Shinobi back. She fell right into the Bard's healing circle which started to raise her HP up. Soran, on the other hand, was busy dealing with the attacks the Crusader was pulling on us while Megumi returned fire with her light bolts. The Gunslinger and Bard sent more projectiles headed our way. Leaping into the air, I targeted them and fired a flurry of arrows. Each met with the blast and collided, leaving a bright explosion. Getting caught off guard, the Shinobi closed the distance between us and slashed at my back. Staggering to the side, I ran towards our healer who responded with a glow of green healing energy.

"We can end this peacefully guys!" The Bard halted the strumming of his harp as the rest of us took a moment to breath. "Megumi, I thought you were going to join us! Why did it turn out like this?!"

"Jean, I'm not joining your guild. I'm sorry." She replied.

"Yeah, dude. Back off!" I readied another arrow and pointed it straight at him.

His eyes quicky turned into a look of anger. "Wairuzu has brainwashed you! He just wants all the power for himself! Can't you see that?!"

"You should look in a mirror." Firing my arrow, I managed to breach the shield around the Bard. The magic shattered as I yelled out. "Soran! Go!"

With his dash skill, our valiant Knight rammed into the Crusader and knocked him out of the way. He then raised his sword and screamed as he slashed the Bard diagonally. The latter fell to the ground with a thud. His eyes were teary not from the fear he felt but from the anger.

"That's what you guys do, don't you? Pick on the weakest?" He said before Soran was hit by a blast from the Crusader's sword.

Stepping back, he raised his shield and gritted his teeth. "No… that's not who we are!"

My sword barely hit Richter as he ducked in between the swings. No matter how much I swung, all he did was either dodge or party with his Holy Sword. Spinning behind me, he dealt a strong kick to my back which made me stagger.

"Don't you think I've learned since our last fight? I know how your overpowered skill works."

Breathing heavily, I sighed. "Then why call me a demon then? Doesn't Jayce have a similarly overpowered skill?"

"You see, Jayce actually uses his ability to help others. You, on the other hand, only use it for yourself. That's what differentiates him from a demon like you!"

Bringing his sword down, I caught it in the middle of my tachi and threw it back. With a single slice, I managed to hurt him quite a bit. Richter grunted at the damage he received before going back into the fight.

Trying my best to parry the slashes the Crusader was throwing, I was forced back into a corner. My shield blocked most of the attacks but I was still receiving most of the damage from the Gunslinger as well. In the corner of my eye, I spotted Megumi and Daize facing off against the Shinobi and Bard players. I knew we wouldn't be able to last long like this. With all my strength, I raised my sword and furiously slashed at the Crusader, sending shock-waves that interrupted the Gunslinger momentarily. Using the window I had created, I rushed towards my team with my shield raised. Blocking the attacks from the Shinobi, I dashed towards the her and managed to land a kick to her stomach. The force of my attack knocked her into the Bard.

"We need to retreat!" I told them sternly.

"Ha?!" Daize gasped. "But what about the key?!"

"He's right." Megumi agreed. "We're outnumbered without Wairuzu. We have no choice."

"Soran, we can't just run away!" The Archer glared into my eyes.

"We can't just die meaninglessly either!" Standing my ground, I sheathed my weapons. "I won't say this again. Retreat!"

Running back down the hall, the Sorcerer followed me while Daize cursed under his breath.

"Damn it!"

"How long can you keep this up, swordsman?" Richter laughed as he continued his strategy of dodging every attack I threw at him. After a couple of minutes, my head started to get heavy.

'You use up too much energy in your attacks. Without learning how to properly wield this gift, you'll never beat me.' Jayce's words echoed in my head. He was right. I had no idea how to control the energy I was outputting like he did. In that moment, I decided to deactivate the skill. I knew using it right now was too much of a risk.

"Oh? Giving up already?" Richter laughed before charging towards me. Little did he know that that was all I need him to do. Stepping to the side, his sword crashed down onto the ground. This allowed me to leap over him and drive my tachi across his body.

"I am never giving up!" I said. He threw another set of swings at me while I defended with my sword. Our roles switched as I parried each attack he threw at me. Shifting to the side, I landed my blade on his hilt and drove it into the ground. Immediately, I raised my fist and punched him square in the face. The recoil hurt my hand a little bit but it was worth seeing him flop on the ground. However, I didn't expect him to be giggling silently.

"What's so funny?!" I took a step closer to him.

"You're already too late, Wairuzu."

Glancing behind me, I noticed that the bright blue beacon over the cave had collapsed into itself. 'Wait, the other two Rangers!'

"Two down. Six more to go."

Ending: Shirushi by LiSA

Next Episode: A Change of Fate