Chapter 20- Rush to Temporal Tower
The forest was thick and dark, making it nearly impossible to see. The only light the group had to see with was the light Mythra and Brighid provided. Marth, on the other hand, could see just fine thanks to his Spriggan magic granting him night vision. The forest was eerily quiet, making everyone on edge.
Marth, Zeke, Jin, Frank and Mythra were in the front while Malos, Meg, Brighid, Yuuki and Nia were at the back. Everyone else was in the middle.
"Hey, Yuuki, does this place remind you of the Dark Woods at all?" Marth questioned.
"Now that you mention it, it does," the Imp replied slowly. "Talk about weird."
"What are you guys talking about?" Ethan questioned.
"Just making a comparison between this forest and one in Aincrad," Marth answered.
"Aincrad?"
The Dark Swordsman let out a groan. "It's a long story."
"Anyway, how much longer until we're out of this forest?" Sonum asked nervously.
"If we keep up with our current speed, we should see the ruins in about an hour," Zeke replied.
Frank shuddered anxiously. "Good, the sooner we get out of here, the better."
Mythra chuckled in amusement. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from the scary dark."
Everyone, including Zeke and Malos, burst out laughing at Frank's reaction. As if to make Frank even more embarrassed, Marth then high-fived the female Aegis.
"Nice one," Marth praised.
"I couldn't resist," Mythra replied with a smirk.
Suddenly Marth, Jin and Zeke tensed up and froze in place as they sensed something nearby, causing everyone else to stop.
"What's wrong now?" Malos demanded.
"We're being watched," Marth said as he and the two masked swordsmen scanned the immediate area. For a split second, Marth saw a man in a black cloak, a hood covering his face, before the man disappeared into the shadows.
After a few moments, nothing happened.
"You must be losing it," Malos said finally. "There's no one here."
"Not anymore," Jin replied. "I sensed a dark presence lurking around, observing us."
"You too?" Zeke asked. Marth and Jin nodded in confirmation.
Ethan gritted his teeth nervously. "All in favor of getting the heck out of here, say 'Aye'."
There was a unanimous number of "aye's" before the group continued down the forest. As they walked, Marth thought about the cloaked man he saw.
"Could that have been…" was all the Spriggan thought before a blue light shone nearby in the trees.
"Now what is it?" Sonum said.
Yuuki instinctively grasped the hilt of her sword. "It could be monsters, or some of me and Marth's friends. We should go take a look."
Azurda, who was riding on Dromarch with Sonum, said, "I distinctly recall Klaus saying not to wander off in this forest."
"But if it is our friends, then we have to find them," Marth replied. "I won't leave anyone behind."
Zeke nodded in agreement. "We'll be fine if we all stay together. None of us can stand alone on this island."
The group then headed to the source of the light. In a small clearing, they could see two teenagers, one boy and one girl, along with a black-haired pixie wearing a pink dress. Marth and Yuuki recognized them immediately.
"Kirito! Asuna! Yui!" he exclaimed as he ran to his friends.
Kirito turned and saw his best friend with a bunch of people. "Marth? What are you…?" the Spriggan started to say when a flash of purple ran into Asuna.
"Asuna! You're here too!" Yuuki said as she tackled the Lightning Flash into a hug.
The Undine was surprised to see the Imp and said, "Yuuki? What's going on? I remember us being surrounded by that shadow and then I woke up here with Kirito and Yui…"
"Long story, but we're in another world called Alrest," Marth said hastily. "If we don't get back to our world soon, we're all gonna die."
"What?!" both Kirito and Asuna exclaimed in shock.
"You could have broken it to them a little more slowly," Yuuki whispered to her boyfriend.
"Yeah, probably should've," Marth agreed.
Suddenly the pixie flew over to the Dark Swordsman and hovered in front of him. "You're so mean, Uncle Marth!" the pixie scolded. "Making everyone worry like that! Don't ever vanish like that again!"
"Uncle?!" the Alrestians said in surprise.
Marth held his forehead in his palm. "These are my friends, Kirito and Asuna. The pixie in front of me is their adopted daughter, Yui, my adopted niece. And for your information, Yui, I wasn't planning on going to another world! It was out of my control!" He then spent the next five minutes introducing his friends to the Alrestians, and explaining the situation they're in.
"Okay, I think I understand what you're saying," Kirito said after Marth was done. "Basically, we need to get to this Temporal Tower ASAP if we don't want both of our worlds to be destroyed? Sounds easy enough."
Marth chuckled as he folded his arms. "Always the optimist. You never change."
Klaus cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "Do I have to remind everyone that we are on a time limit? We need to keep moving."
Ethan heard something behind him and turned around. He immediately jumped back when he saw a humanoid-lizard hybrid with a curved sword and shield. Soon they were surrounded by the same monsters.
"What the heck are they?!" Malos exclaimed as everyone, minus the Blades, Azurda and Yui, drew their weapons.
"Lizardman Lords," Kirito answered as Yui hid in his coat pocket. "They're monsters from our world."
Klaus gritted his teeth. "I was afraid this would happen. These are phantoms. They may not be the same monsters you fought, but they are just as powerful as the real ones."
"Be careful when fighting them," Marth warned as he parried an attack with his swords. "These things can use Sword Skills too."
"And how are we gonna deal with that?" Frank asked quickly.
"Keep an eye on their weapons," Asuna briefed. "When their weapons start glowing, that means they're activating a Sword Skill. Avoid the attack, then counter while they're frozen."
Malos smirked in anticipation. "You maggots wanna fight?!" he shouted. "I'll give you a fight!"
The Lizardman Lords charged at the group. Some of the monsters immediately activated Sword Skills, but thanks to Asuna's advice, the Drivers knew when to block/dodge the attacks before countering. Malos and Zeke proved to be quite the team, fighting against ten monsters like it was nothing. Malos held their attention while Zeke finished them off with blinding speed.
Marth and Yuuki worked in unison to defeat two Lizardmen. The Spriggan countered a Sword Skill with his own, allowing Yuuki to kill one using another Sword Skill. As the second Lizardman tried to attack the frozen Absolute Sword, Marth unfroze and killed it with a Sword Skill. The couple backed up to Kirito and Asuna, where they all covered each other's flanks, not letting a single monster pass.
Frank had Mythra switch to Pyra, who then used Flame Nova (which was a blast of fire) to torch three Lizardmen. Brighid followed it up with Will-o'-the-Wisp, burning the monsters even further. Pyra then switched back to Mythra.
"Go for it!" Frank exclaimed as he tossed her his sword.
Glowing green lines appeared around Mythra's body as she cried out, "Lightning Buster!" Mythra raised her sword up, extending the beam, before slashing it down at the Lizardmen and following it up with a spin attack, causing all the monsters to dissolve into shadow as they died.
"Nice Blade Combo!" Ethan praised as Poppi used Noponic Axion to kill another three Lizardmen.
"Dark Maelstrom!" Sonum and Dromarch shouted as they unleashed a blast of blue energy at five Lizardmen, leaving them vulnerable to Jin and Nia, who cut them down with no problem.
It wasn't long before all the monsters were slain. However, soon afterward, an earth-shattering roar echoed in the air.
"What the heck was that?" Malos questioned.
"I don't know but whatever it is, it's close," Zeke replied.
A loud rumbling could be heard, slowly increasing in intensity.
Yui popped her head out of her father's coat pocket. "Daddy, I'm detecting a powerful monster heading this way."
"Can you ID it?" the black-eyed Spriggan asked.
The pixie shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. It must be a monster that wasn't in SAO or ALO."
Ethan went pale. "Great. A powerful monster is coming, and we don't even know what it is."
Yuuki smiled eagerly. "We'll be fine," she said confidently. "Marth can easily obliterate it with his lightning magic. They don't call him 'the Stormbringer' for nothing."
Marth let out a groan. "No one calls me that," he replied.
"But they should!" Yuuki argued.
Before the couple could continue their "debate", a large dinosaur-like creature appeared. It had red leathery skin, was bipedal, and resembled a t-rex.
"What the heck is that?!" Frank shouted.
Even Klaus was shocked. "It can't be. That's a Primordial!"
"A Prim-what?" Kirito questioned.
"It's an ancient creature that once roamed the World of Y's before going extinct," Klaus explained. "Its skin is extremely thick so normal weapons won't injure it."
"Then it's a good thing that most of us here don't use normal weapons," Meg replied. "Let's go, Brighid!"
"Right behind you." Brighid followed her Driver as she charged at the Primordial. Soon the other Drivers and Blades entered the fray as well.
"Wait! Don't!" Klaus warned, but it was too late.
Ethan slashed at the monster's leg with his saber, leaving a small gash that drew blood. The Primordial screeched in pain before shooting a fireball at Sonum, but Dromarch protected her with his defense barrier.
"It can shoot fire too?!" Sonum exclaimed.
"Clearly this creature is very powerful," Dromarch remarked. "My lady, we must take extreme caution."
Frank sent a blast of light at the Primordial's head, getting its attention. The Primordial charged at the Aegis Driver and his Blade, both of whom jumped out of the way. The Primordial didn't relent, however, and kept pursuing the duo before Meg and Brighid stopped it with a wall of blue flames.
"Great," Mythra scolded her Driver. "You made it mad."
Frank glared at the blonde-haired Aegis. "I don't see you offering any ideas!"
Suddenly a blast of purple lightning struck the Primordial in the side, knocking it into the trees.
"What the?" Frank said in confusion.
"Can you two argue later?" Marth questioned as he approached the duo, purple lightning discharging from his body. "We need to focus on the fight at hand."
The Primordial got back on its feet and roared at the blue-eyed Spriggan in anger. It then charged at him, barring its teeth.
"Marth! Run!" Klaus exclaimed.
Marth, however, remained where he was. He simply raised his hand up as thunder boomed from the sky. "Raging Bolt!" the Dark Swordsman exclaimed.
He then swung his hand down, causing a large bolt of purple lightning to shoot down and strike the Primordial in the back, causing the monster to roar in pain.
"No way!" Ethan, Sonum, and Meg exclaimed in shock. Their Blades had the same reaction.
Mythra gritted her teeth in frustration. "Copycat," she said. "Two can play at that game." The crystal in her tiara, as well as her core, began glowing green.
Frank's eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do. "Mythra, wait!"
The Aegis ignored her Driver's protests as she summoned a golden particle beam down on the Primordial, greatly injuring the beast even further. This time the fairies were shocked at the display of power. Marth was the first to recover and gave Mythra a light-hearted smile.
"Cool," Marth said, sounding impressed. "You're stronger than you look."
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Mythra retorted.
"Can you guys save this discussion for later?!" Frank practically yelled. "You're both powerful, so why don't you work together to kill this thing?"
Mythra and Marth made eye contact, and both shrugged.
"You better not slow me down," Mythra said as she took the Aegis Sword from her Driver.
Marth smirked mischievously. "Oh please, speed is my specialty."
The Spriggan and the Aegis approached the downed Primordial, who was covered head-to-toe with injuries. The Primordial roared at the duo in defiance as it tried to get up but failed and collapsed on the ground. The duo felt pity for the mighty creature and decided to put it out of its misery. Mythra summoned another particle beam, while Marth released an electric blast from his swords. Both attacks struck the Primordial in simultaneously, ending its life.
"Whoa," Kirito said in awe. "I wonder what would happen if Marth and Mythra combined their powers."
"Mass destruction," Jin replied simply.
"I heard that!" Marth and Mythra shouted.
With the Primordial dead, the group continued towards the ruins.
"Akhos," Zeke said through his earpiece. "Give me an update."
"The rift is becoming more unstable," Akhos replied through the earpiece in Zeke's ear. "The energy readings coming from it are off the charts."
"Is it trying to destroy Alrest?"
"No. It's almost like something is trying to come through it. Something powerful."
Zeke relayed what Akhos told him to the group, making them all want to pick up the pace. As they ran past trees and boulders, both Marth and Frank felt a strange sensation, like they've been here before. Kirito, Yuuki, Mythra and Asuna also felt that they have been in the forest before as well.
The group fought a couple of monsters as they progressed through the forest. Soon, the trees began to clear up and revealed a ruined city with a broken wall. A large tower could be seen there, a great void floating at the top.
"Are these the ruins we're looking for?" Sonum asked.
"No," Malos said sarcastically. "These are completely different ruins that have no relation to why we're here in the first place!"
Sonum glared angrily at the male Aegis. "It was just a simple question. You don't have to be rude about it."
"Hate to break it to you, Sonum," Mythra said. "But kindness and Malos don't mix."
Malos scoffed in annoyance. "I can be nice if I want to. I just don't like it when people ask dumb questions."
The group then entered the city through a destroyed gate, there they saw in horror that the city was full of fallen buildings and debris. Scorch marks were everywhere, as if the whole place was on fire long ago.
"How awful," Meg said in shock.
"What happened here?" Asuna wondered. "There are burn marks and debris everywhere."
Mythra examined one of the destroyed buildings and found something strange. "These buildings are old, impossibly old. It's almost like they've been here since before Alrest even existed."
Klaus nodded. "This is the Umbral City," he explained. "And it is as old as time itself. Long before any of our worlds existed, there was only one world, its name long lost to history. This city existed in it. There was a war against mankind and monsters. This city fell before the Shadow Army and became the sight you see now. It was also…where they made their last stand."
"They…?" Meg questioned.
"This is where the Twilight Hero was born." Klaus pointed towards Temporal Tower. "That is where he and the Dawn Priestess made the ultimate sacrifice to stop the Shadow King and seal him away for all eternity."
"The War of Light and Shadow," Jin realized.
Nia looked at the masked man in confusion. "Wait, you mean that old legend actually happened?"
"Of course," Klaus said grimly. "Sadly the names of the hero and priestess were also lost to time. Many people live their whole lives, unaware that their worlds wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for those two."
There was a moment of silence. Ethan then broke it by saying, "I wonder what this city was called back then."
"Arc Sophia," Frank and Marth said in sync, causing everyone to face them.
"Creepy," Sonum said nervously. "How do you two know that?"
"I've been here before," Marth said, almost trance-like. "Long ago. Arc Sophia was under siege by monsters."
"They overwhelmed our defenses and razed the city," Frank took over. "They killed anyone they saw, tore down buildings and burned them down. There were hardly any survivors."
"Marth/Frank?" Yuuki/Mythra said slowly as they approached the respective teen. They both gasped when they saw that Marth and Frank's eyes were glowing silver and red respectively. Neither boy seemed to notice the girls beside them.
"Brother, are you okay?" Meg asked in concern as she waved her hand in front of her brother's face but got no reaction.
"If this is a joke, Marth, it isn't funny," Kirito added as he did the same to his partner but got the same result.
"Our parents tried to get us to safety," Marth said.
"But then he showed up," Frank took over. "And our parents gave their lives so we could escape."
Yuuki's eyes filled with worry. "What's wrong with them? Marth, snap out of it!"
"C'mon! Stop fooling around, Frank!" Mythra exclaimed. She didn't even try to hide her concern.
Both girls reached for the respective boy, hoping to snap them out of their trance. "Stop!" Klaus exclaimed in warning. "Don't touch them!?"
His words came too late as the girls grabbed the boys' hands. Suddenly an explosion of light and shadow erupted from the teens. When it cleared, only the two teens were standing, while everyone else was on the ground, though Marth had purple lightning discharging off him.
"What the heck?!" Malos exclaimed.
"What just happened?" Ethan asked fearfully.
Klaus wiped the dust from his glasses. "That was what I was trying to warn you all about. They're in a sort of trance, lost in long forgotten memories."
"Memories don't cause explosions!" Malos said angrily. "What the hell was that?!"
Klaus hesitated before answering. "There is a power lingering in them. Their mental state has caused it to surface and when they came into contact with those who possess a similar power, it triggered an explosion. I was afraid this might happen. They can't hear us in this state, there's nothing we can do to wake them up."
"That can't be," Yuuki said. "There must be something I can do." She rose to her feet and slowly made her way to Marth.
"Yuuki, no!" Klaus shouted in warning.
"Yuuki's right," Mythra said stubbornly. "Frank's my Driver. We share a core. If anyone can reach him, it's me." The Aegis began to approach her Driver.
Yuuki then grabbed onto Marth while Mythra did the same for Frank. Everyone braced for the blast when suddenly they were surrounded by an aura of light, shielding them from the explosion that followed.
"What's going…?" Nia said before seeing golden light radiate out of Mythra and Yuuki, though the Aegis's light seemed brighter for some reason.
"What the?" Yuuki said in confusion. "How did we do that?"
"No idea," Yuuki replied.
The duo then noticed the light in both Marth and Frank's eyes die down.
"Yuuki," Marth said slowly.
"Mythra," Frank added weakly.
"Yes," Yuuki cheered. "You're back to normal, Marth!"
"Don't ever do that again!" Mythra warned her Driver. "You had me… I mean everyone worried."
Both boys were clueless on what they were talking about, when suddenly the male counterparts began feeling very weak. Marth and Frank both then collapsed, luckily Yuuki and Mythra caught them before they hit the ground.
"Marth!" Yuuki shouted in worry.
"Frank!" Mythra cried out in the same tone.
"They'll be fine, now," Klaus said as he stood up. "I didn't think it was possible for you two to break them from their state. They'll need some rest to recover from that experience." Klaus spotted a (mostly) intact building to his right. "Let's bring them over there. We can rest up and get some cover while we wait."
The others agreed with the scientist. Yuuki and Kirito carried Marth to the building, while Mythra and Jin did the same for Frank. Zeke and Malos acted as lookouts while the unconscious teens were lain on beds in different rooms.
Yuuki refused to leave Marth's side, as did Mythra with Frank. Sonum, Nia and Dromarch made sure to check the teens' condition every half hour. Meg and Brighid were sitting on chairs by a dusty table while Ethan and Poppi sat on ruined couch. Jin and Klaus simply stood. Kirito and Asuna left to scout the area, with Yui tagging along.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Asuna asked her boyfriend as they walked around. "If you're worried about Marth, we can go back."
The Black Swordsman shook his head. "I am worried about Marth," Kirito admitted. "Why wouldn't I be? The thing is, I don't know what I can do for him."
"Daddy?" Yui asked in concern as she noticed the gloomy look in the Spriggan's eyes.
Kirito gave his daughter a forced smile. "I'm okay, Yui. Besides, someone had to scout the area to find the way to Temporal Tower. Who better than us?"
The Undine cracked a smile. "True."
The family navigated their way through the ruins until they saw a path leading to Temporal Tower.
"Well that was easy," Asuna commented. "Let's hurry and get back to the others."
"Agreed," Kirito replied before he suddenly tensed up as he detected movement.
"Mommy, Daddy, I'm detecting monsters coming this way," the pixie said. "A lot of them."
Kirito gritted his teeth in frustration. "Crap. We need to hide." The Black Swordsman quickly grabbed his girlfriend and pulled her into an alley, with Yui following close behind.
The trio stayed quiet as they saw a large group of monsters move past their hiding place. Once the monsters were out of sight, the family exited the alley.
"That was too close," Kirito said. "Thanks for the warning, Yui."
The pixie puffed her chest with pride. "You're welcome, Daddy," she said cheerfully.
"Let's hurry to the others before those things come back," the Lightning Flash suggested.
"Yeah," the Black Swordsman agreed. "Let's go."
They then hurried back to the house, which took them fifteen minutes to arrive. Once they entered the house, they found Marth, now awake, by the stairs with Yuuki.
"Marth!" Kirito cried out in relief as he hurried to his best friend.
The Dark Swordsman turned towards his fellow Spriggan and smiled. "Hey Kirito," he said casually. "How was your scouting?"
"Should you even be on your feet right now?" Kirito questioned.
"I can walk around just fine. I don't really remember what happened though."
"That's probably for the best," Asuna said. "Is Frank awake too. We need to brief everyone on what we found."
"We'll go check on him and Mythra," Yuuki offered. "C'mon, Marth."
The Imp grabbed her boyfriend by the arm and dragged him up the stairs before heading into Frank's room, where they saw that he was awake too. Mythra, Azurda and Nia were there with him.
"I attacked you?" the duo heard Frank say.
"In a way, yes," Azurda confirmed. "Everyone knows that you and Marth didn't mean it. You weren't in control of yourselves."
"But who was? I've never done anything like that before. Why did it happen now?"
"Who knows," Marth spoke up. The group turned and saw him and Yuuki by the door.
"So you're awake too, Marth," Azurda said.
Marth scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I was pretty out of it. Yuuki told me what happened, but I don't remember it either."
"What you all did was really weird," Nia added. "I've never seen anything like that before."
Yuuki nodded. "Me neither. By the way, Kirito and Asuna are back from scouting. Dromarch and Sonum went downstairs to hear what they found. We should go as well."
They all agreed and went downstairs, where they saw everyone else in the living room. Zeke, Jin and Malos kept looking out the window, expecting for monsters to attack at any second. Everyone turned when they heard the group come down.
"Finally decided to wake up, I see," Malos said smugly.
Meg walked over to her brother. "Are you alright, Frank?"
"Yeah. I slept a lot. Sorry for what happened earlier. I…wasn't myself."
"At least you're all okay. That's all that matters," Jin said. He looked at the top of Temporal Tower. "That rift has gotten larger while you slept."
"So Kirito, what did you find during your scouting?" Zeke questioned the scouting team.
"It's pretty much a ghost town," Kirito explained. "The entire city is in shambles. Though that's not much of a surprise."
"We did find a way to Temporal Tower," Asuna added. "If we cut through the market square, we should reach the tower in fifteen minutes."
"I also detected a large group of monsters nearby," Yui spoke up. "We managed to avoid them, but they're probably still wandering the area as we speak."
Marth folded his arms as he leaned against the wall. "I doubt we'll have to worry about those monsters if we run into them. We've got a lot of heavy hitters here. I say we head straight for the tower. There's no point in delaying it since we have to go there."
Frank nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan. Let's rest up for a few more minutes before heading out."
"I have something to add," Zeke spoke up. "A while ago, I had Akhos give me a status update on the rift. Not only is it increasing in power but Akhos also said that something seems to be trying to cross over through the rift. Something powerful."
"Well that's not terrifying whatsoever," Marth said sarcastically.
"Let's hurry and reach Temporal Tower before we find out whatever that something is," Mythra said.
Everyone agreed and they headed towards said tower. Right in front of Temporal Tower was a large group of monsters fighting against a small group of humans, which was none other than the remaining Alfheim Warriors.
"Klein!" Marth shouted in disbelief. "And Agil?!"
"Leafa! Thorrnn!" Kirito exclaimed.
"Sinon! Silica!" Yuuki cried out.
"Pina too!" Yui added with a smile.
"Liz and Celina too?" Asuna questioned.
"You guys know those people?" Ethan asked in confusion.
Marth nodded. "They're our friends and guildmates. We need to help them!"
Not waiting for a response, the fairies drew their weapons and ran to their friends' aid. The Alrestians quickly followed suit.
Klein was about to get struck by a monster's claw to the side when Kirito intervened and killed the monster with his swords.
"About time you guys showed up!" Klein said in mock impatience as he saw Marth, Yuuki and Asuna fight alongside the rest of the guild. "We've been fighting these guys nonstop for ten minutes."
"Well we're here now," Marth replied. "And with help."
"Huh?" Thorrnn noticed the Alrestians joining the fray. "Who are they? Why are there two of you?! And is that another me?!"
"Fight now, talk later," the blue-eyed Spriggan said.
"Uh, okay."
Together the Alfheim Warriors and the Alrestians managed to defeat all the monsters. They then had to do a long introduction between each other while also explaining the situation.
"So me and my brother have counterparts in this world?" Thorrnn asked.
"Looks that way," Meg said as she examined her counterpart. "I see we have the same taste in fashion. How skilled are you with fire?"
Thorrnn smiled with pride. "I mastered fire magic in about a week. It was super easy for me. What about you."
"About the same," the Flamebringer replied with a smirk.
Klaus cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. He then focused on Marth and Kirito. "Anyone else we should be looking for or is that it?"
Marth shook his head. "Nope, this is everyone."
"Let's just go inside and get this over with," Malos said impatiently. "The sooner you brats are gone, the sooner I can stop helping you."
"Rude much?" Celina asked.
"Ignore him," Mythra replied. "He's always like that."
"We've got a lot of people here," Frank pointed out. "We're almost like…"
"A raid group," Marth finished with a smile.
Frank nodded. "Yeah. We're like a raid group about to fight a boss in a video game. This is so cool."
Nia scoffed in annoyance. "Can you two stop making a big deal out of this? We've got more important things to do."
Both swordsmen scratched their heads in embarrassment. The group then entered the tower, where they were greeted by a large horde of giant toads.
"You have got to be kidding me?!" the Alrestians shouted in outrage.
Marth and Kirito, on the other hand, simply smirked in excitement.
"Thinking what I'm thinking?" the Dark Swordsman questioned.
"Whoever kills the most toads wins?" Kirito guessed. "You're on!"
Both Spriggans drew their swords and charged at the toads. The Alrestians watched in surprise as the duo began slaughtering monsters with ease.
"What are they doing?" Malos asked in exasperation.
"Competing," Lisbeth replied as if it was obvious. "They do this every time we run into a horde of enemies."
"Is it alright to let them do all the fighting?" Meg asked.
The Undine nodded. "Of course. Believe it or not, they actually enjoy this kind of stuff," Asuna answered.
Klein drew his katana. "Move over! I'm joining in!" the samurai exclaimed as he joined the fray, much to the spectators' dismay.
"No fair! I wanna fight too!" Yuuki said as she drew her sword and joined the fight.
"Talk about immature, right Frank?" Mythra said before looking to her right and saw that her Driver wasn't beside her anymore. Instead Frank had joined the fight, killing any toads he saw. "Seriously?!"
Malos chuckled in amusement. "You really know how to pick them, huh Mythra." The female Aegis promptly slapped him in the face, briefly leaving a red hand-shaped mark on his right cheek.
The others ended up joining the fight too, though only to make it end faster. After ten minutes, all the toads were slain. As usual, Marth and Kirito had an argument over who had the most kills but chose to call it a tie when their girlfriends threatened to leave them behind if they didn't stop.
Frank then took the opportunity to scan his surroundings. The tower looked to be in the same state of decay as Arc Sophia, with holes in the floor and ceiling. Everything was made of an unknown blue stone. The corridor they were in was large, with a questionably safe set of stairs leading up. Frank looked up and couldn't even see the roof of the tower.
"We have to go all the way up there?" the Aegis Driver said slowly.
"Yes. We will have to go through many floors to reach the tower's peak, all of which will have monsters guarding them," Klaus explained.
"You've got to be kidding me?!" Lisbeth exclaimed. "I can't even see the top! It'll take us forever to reach it!"
"Then we better get started," Zeke said.
The group then began the long, arduous climb to the top of Temporal Tower. They all sensed something ominous lurking in the tower, keeping them on edge.