A/N: Well readers, it's time for the battle royale you've been waiting for. This round will last a few chapters, but I'm sure you will all enjoy it. Look forward to some amazing fights.

Also, Ion and Angel do not belong to me, as I'm sure any of you that read Arctic Swordsman knows. Both of them belong to Marcus Cersey.

"And then Rin swept under Rose's legs, and then she finished her off! It was so cool!"

Alicia giggled as she listened to Luna's description of Rin's fight yesterday while she and her family sat at the kitchen table of their house. "Sounds like you've got a big fan, Rin."

"Well Luna's cheering definitely helped." Rin said with a smile.

"Oh yeah! Lilly made me this really cute cheerleading outfit!" Luna added.

"Technically I didn't make it. I got a custom order." Lilly admitted.

"Oh really?" Alicia asked as she tried to picture Luna as a cheerleader. The adorable picture in her mind made her giggle. "So you kids are fighting in the next round today?"

Lilly nodded her head. "Yep. It's gonna be a full on battle royale."

"Sounds exciting." Dan said as he took another bite of his lunch. "Good luck."

Rin showed a confident grin. "Just you wait, dad. We're gonna make it through this round with flying colors."

"I know you will." Dan nodded with a smile.

After Rin and Lilly quickly finished their lunch, the two girls headed upstairs. "We're going on ALO now. Wish us luck."

"We'll be rooting for you two." Alicia called to her girls as they ran to their rooms. Seeing her two daughters so excited like this reminded her of when she was around their age. "Sometimes when I look at those two, I see so much of us back in the day."

"Like the world tournament Alfheim hosted?" Dan said. "That was certainly a lot of fun."

"I just hope this one doesn't have any plots behind it that deal with the fate of the world." Alicia pointed out, remembering the incident with Gabriel Miller. "I'd rather avoid those girls having to bear such a heavy responsibility."

"I'd rather them avoid a lot of the things we went through." Dan nodded. "Especially having to fight for two years in a death game."

Alicia nodded her head in agreement. "It wasn't all bad though. At least we found each other in it." As she and her husband finished their lunch, a thought came to her mind. "Hey Dan, you're off today right?"

"Yep. Today's my day off. You need help with any chores?" Dan asked.

Alicia shook her head. "No, I had something else in mind." A grin came to her face. "Why don't we give Luna a hand with cheering?"

Rin stretched her arms out as she landed on the stadium docks along with the rest of her team. Luna was in her Navigation Pixie form and was riding on Nikko's back.

"So where exactly is this special field we're all fighting on?" Naoki asked.

"A remote area apparently, not anywhere accessible on the map." Yui stated. "When the battle royale starts, everyone competing will be automatically teleported to a random spot in it."

"And I'll be with Tetsuya and Sayaka cheering you all on!" Luna said enthusiastically as she raised her fist into the air.

"Good thing the event will be broadcasted in all of the arenas in the stadium." Tetsuya said. "Otherwise, finding seats would be a nightmare."

Lilly looked at her menu, which showed a list of all the teams participating in the third round. "There's a total of forty-one teams in the third round. All we need to do is stay alive until only sixteen of them are left."

"Forget just hiding around and staying alive. I wanna fight some strong players." Strea grinned.

Lilly sighed and shook her head. "I'm not acting like we'll be able to go the entire time without fighting someone, but I don't think looking for fights is our best option."

"It's a two way deal." Yui said as she thought to herself. "It all depends on a player's confidence in their fighting ability. They can hide and wait it out. Or they can go out and fight to lower the number of teams left quicker."

Lilly looked at the teams on her menu. "Well as long as we avoid any top-contenders I guess we'll be fine."

"Were you able to find out much information on who we should look out for?" Yui asked.

Lilly nodded her head. "Research is my specialty, that's why you asked me after all." She took a look at her list and scrolled through it. "Well there's obviously Miku and her group, Team Mighty Five. We already know first hand that they're strong. There's also Team Moonshadow, who made it through the first and second rounds with just two of their members, Shade and Kamui. But there's one team on here that concerns me."

"Team Demise, right?" Yui guessed.

Lilly nodded her head. "According to the results of their matches, they won the first and second round with only their leader, Lucifer. He beat every single player he went up against."

"So we have no clue just how strong the other members are." Yui realized. "But what we do know is that Lucifer is someone not to be taken lightly."

"We should try and avoid a fight with any of them if we can help it." Lilly said, closing her menu. "The entire third round is going to be broadcasted. We should be able to watch videos later and see how the rest of Team Demise fights then."

Yui nodded her head in agreement. "That sounds like a good plan."

Rin grinned excitedly. "Alright, let's do this! We're gonna kick some butt, right Luna?" The female Salamander looked towards her sister, only to see her staring off into the distance. "Luna?"

Luna pointed over to two players flying over and landing on the docks near them. "Look."

The group all turned to where Luna was pointing and saw Ren and Alice waving over to them. "Hey kids."

Luna quickly flew off of Nikko's back and turned back to her human form, running over to her parents. "Mama! Papa!"

Alice smiled as Luna jumped into her arms. "Hey Luna. How's my little girl?"

"Um…" Rin began. "Not to be rude or anything mom and dad, but what are you doing here?"

"We all thought we'd log in and cheer you on instead of watching on tv." Ren explained.

"All?" Lilly questioned.

Almost on cue, two other couples landed on the docks. The first were Kirito and Asuna, while the second were Helios and Dagger.

"Surprise!" Dagger said with a smile. "We all came to root for you kids."

Naoki, Yui, and Strea all widened their eyes in surprise at seeing their parents suddenly appear. The three of them had known their parents wouldn't be working this afternoon since it was Sunday but it was still somewhat surprising to see them here.

"We should probably try to find some seats." Asuna suggested. "How much longer until the next round starts?"

Yui looked at the clock on her HUD. "About ten minutes."

"We better hurry then." Ren said. "Good luck kids."

Yui and the others watched as their parents headed off to the stands with Luna riding on Alice's shoulders. Tetsuya and Sayaka waved goodbye to their friends. "We should probably try to grab some seats too."

Left alone again, Naoki let out a sigh. "Man, I swear if my mom goes and embarasses me during this..."

"We'll just have to make sure we fight even harder." Yui said to her team. "After all, we're the ones that are gonna win the championship." She raised her fist into the air. "Team Black Firestorm, let's do this!"

The rest of the team all replied with a nod while showing eager grins. No way were they planning on losing this.

The main arena was filled with talk and cheers as everyone anxiously awaited the start of the third round. The actual fights wouldn't be taking place in the arena, but there were plenty of screens in the air, allowing the crowd to watch what went on. Players were also able to look at certain parts of the feed through their menu.

Ren and the others stood at the railing area at the end of the arena seats. It was the furthest away from the center of the stadium, but it gave them a good view of all the screens.

"Should be starting any minute now." Alice said.

"I can't wait to see Yui and Strea in action" Asuna smiled. "They're gonna do great."

"Heh, the real spotlight's gonna be on Naoki." Helios smirked. "After all, he IS the son of the Unrelenting Psychopath."

"Not to mention the Ripoff Merchant." Dagger added.

Suddenly a new voice spoke up. "Well, look who it is." Everyone's heads turned to see two players walk towards them.

The first of the duo was a male Undine wearing a white sleeveless waistcoat with a short collar around his neck. The coat had dark blue trims all the way down to his waist. On his lower body were a pair of white pants and boots of the same color. Grey fingerless gloves were on his hands. At the back of his waist was a golden hilted estoc. The one at his side was a female Spriggan with long black hair. She was wearing a soot black jacket over a short black crop top. Both her pants and boots were also a black color. Strapped on her back was a black colored spear with a golden blade tip and handguards over the grip.

"Ion! Angel!" Alice waved. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Same thing you guys are I'm guessing." Ion said with a grin. "Great minds think alike I suppose."

"Is your sister coming to watch too?" Ren asked Ion. "Neko's fighting in the tournament too, isn't she?"

"Sad to say, but Emma's out of town." Ion explained. "Being a music star is busy work after all. But she said she'd be watching the round on tv."

"I know a few people that aren't too busy with work though." Kirito mentioned, pointing over in the distance. "Look."

True to the Black Swordsman's word, two more players caught sight of the group and walked over towards them, Klein and Leafa.

Surprisingly enough over the years, Klein had actually managed to find a woman that fell in love with him named Sari. Their son, Ronin, was on the Mighty Five team under the name of Jinketsu.

Leafa and Shinichi had finally become a thing in their later years of high school and married not long after they got out of college. Leafa had taken the kendo world by storm and was now a professional athlete. Perhaps it had been the reason for her daughter taking up the same sport.

"Hey guys." Klein greeted with a wave. "I can't wait to see Ronin out there. My boy's gonna rock."

"At least your kids told you they were competing in this thing." Leafa said. "Erika didn't even mention it to me. I had to hear about it from Kazuto."

"Maybe she just didn't want her mother embarrassing her by cheering." Asuna suggested with a giggle.

"Maybe…. I dunno." Leafa said with a sigh. "That daughter of mine acts so distant sometimes. I wish she'd talk to me about what's bothering her."

As the group chatted amongst themselves, the timer finally hit zero, signalling for the third round to begin. Everyone cheered for the start of the excitement they had all come to see. Everywhere around Alfheim, all of the competing players were simultaneously teleported to the special area set aside for the third round's battle royale.

A lone female announcer stood on the ring and called out to the crowd. "It's time for the third round to begin everyone! Are you ready for some action?!" The response she got was an echoing cheer throughout the arena. "I'm Haruka, and I'll be your announcer for the entire round. Now allow me to explain the details of the third round." On cue, all of the screens in the arena showed a zoomed out view of a large island. "The battleground consists of several types of terrain, from lush forests, to barren desserts. Each player's starting location is completely random. The battle royale will continue until only sixteen teams remain. During that time, it's anything goes."

It was clear the crowd was getting excited. Everyone was ready for the fights to start. Haruka grinned and raised her fist into the air. "Alright then! Let's get this party started! Let the third round begin!"

As soon as she opened her eyes, Kagero found herself in the middle of a mountain range. She quickly looked around and saw that there weren't any players she could see. Normally, a good strategy would be to lay low and wait for the initial skirmishes to settle down. But Kagero was not the patient type. If no one would come to her, then she'd come to them.

The female Salamander ran through the mountain range. She was too high up to use her wings, so she had little other choice.

"Found you!"

Kagero glanced to her side as a Sylph player sped at her with a sword drawn. She quickly unsheathed her sword and blocked the attack, letting the Sylph's sword skid across her blade. They both jumped back and stared each other down as they stood across from each other.

"I'll finish this quick, Salamander." the Sylph said as he rushed at her. He went in for a swing of his blade, but Kagero didn't even blink as she quickly ducked under the slash and went in at her opponent while they were wide open.

Kagero's sword lit up as she performed four consecutive slashes for the sword skill Horizontal Square. She sheathed her sword back into its sheathe, with her opponent turning into a remain light as it clicked in. 'Amateur.' With her opponent defeated, she continued running in search of players to take down. 'But of course, that'd be nothing for you either, would it mother?'

Ever since she was little, Kagero remembered how graceful her mother was when doing kendo. She adored watching her, and soon started taking up the practice herself. Suguha had taught her everything she knew, and her skills were just as sharp as her mother's.

But when she started competing in tournaments, she realized the downside to being the daughter of such a well-known athlete in kendo. It came to her after she won her first tournament.

"That Erika Kirigaya sure is something."

"What'd you expect. She is the child of Suguha Kirigaya after all."

She had dismissed it as simple gossip at first, but she soon started hearing it more and more. People weren't looking at her as Erika, just the daughter of her mother. All her accomplishments seemed expected. And whenever she failed, people looked at her as if she had disappointed her mother. Of course, Suguha never showed any of this. She had always supported Erika, win or lose.

But she still hated it all. Was it so wrong to want people to see her as an individual, rather than someone else's second? That was what she loved about Alfheim Online. In here, no one knew who she really was, outside of her friends and family. It allowed her to become a well known warrior in her own right, as well as sharpen her skills for the real world.

Her mother had told her all kinds of stories about her days in ALO, especially about her battles against Salamanders when she was a part of the Sylph military. That was one of the reasons she had become a Salamander. She wasn't her mother's daughter in here. She was her enemy.

'And one day, I'll make sure to surpass you mother.' Kagero told herself as she ran. 'Then they'll all see me as a person.'

"Woo! Go Kagero!" Leafa cheered as she watched her daughter make quick work of her opponent. "That's my girl!"

"She's really skilled." Kirito commented. "You sure taught her well, sis."

"Most of it was her, really." Leafa said. "She's got one hell of a drive."

"It's only been ten minutes, and already players are starting to drop like flies!" Haruka announced, seeing several remain lights on screen. "No teams have been eliminated yet though, but it's only a matter of time at this rate." Suddenly, her eyes became fixated on one screen in particular. "Oh, looks like we've got two players coming close to each other now."

Ren and the others watched as an Undine player walked through the wood area, unaware that he was being watched. Suddenly, he froze as something zoomed right past him. He glanced to his right, seeing a kunai lodged into the trunk of a tree.

Before he could even make a move, two more kunai were thrown from his left and right. He stood completely still, scared to move a muscle as he tried to figure out who had thrown them and where they were coming from.

"Show yourself!" the Undine shouted. "Stop hiding and fight me!"

Soon a giggling sound could be heard all around him. "The fight's already begun. And you've already lost."

"Big talk for someone with no aim! You haven't even scratched me yet!"

"Such are the words of a blind fool." Finally the player revealed herself as a female Imp stood above the Undine on one of the branches. She quickly brought out several kunai knives and threw them all the Undine. He quickly tried to jump to the side to avoid them, but he felt something stop his body and push him back. As he was pushed to the other side, another force stopped him. The kunai knives flew past him, above and under his arms. He was about to move his arms, but he soon found them immobilized by invisible forces as well.

"What the hell is going on?!" the Undine exclaimed.

The Imp giggled to herself as she waved her hand in the air. As her fingers passed by one point, a vibration could be seen from a thin line. The vibrating line stretched out, passing by the Undine's waist where he had felt the force push him back earlier.

'Wire?!' the Undine realized.

"This entire time, you've been caught in my trap." the girl said with a grin. "My kunai are wrapped with extremely thin wire, barely visible to the naked eye. And even if you could reach your weapon with your arms, my wire is extremely durable. Regular slashes won't cut it."

The Undine player struggled to move, but to no avail. Wire had him trapped in every direction. As the Imp smirked at him, she brought out the bow attached to her waist. Pulling out an arrow from her quiver, she aimed a shot right for her opponent's head. "Tell your friends the name of who beat you." she said as she fired the arrow, piercing it right through the Undine's head. "Kaguya of Team Moonshadow."

As the Undine player burned away into a remain light from the headshot, cheers spread throughout the crowd. Haruka called out to the players. "Now there's a girl with some tricks up her sleeve! Show 'em what girl power's all about Kaguya!"

Ren smirked as he watched Kaguya hook her bow back behind her waist before moving on. "She's a clever one. She's mixed knife throwing skills with archery skills by using wire to trap her opponents."

"She'll be tough to beat in the woods like that." Dagger commented. "But will that tactic work in the main rounds where all they have to use is a simple fighting ring?"

"I'm sure she's got some plan in mind." Ion said.

Angel quickly pointed to one of the screens. "Look! Neko's fighting now!"

The group looked towards the screen Angel was pointing towards and saw the young Cait Sith currently locked in combat with a large Gnome player wielding an axe. The Gnome swung his axe down at her, but Neko quickly backflipped away.

Neko smirked as she twirled her two daggers around in her hands. "Come on big guy, that all you got?"

"Rrrgh! Cocky little brat!" the Gnome growled as he went in for another strike. He swung his axe sideways, but Neko managed to duck under it.

The dagger in the Cait Sith's left hand lit up as she performed a skill, sending five thrusts directly at his exposed stomach. As the skill ended, she found herself stuck in place while the Gnome stood over her.

"You're mine now!" the player grinned as he swung his axe down.

Asuna gasped as she watched the axe come down towards Neko. "Look out!"

To everyone's surprise however, as the light from her left dagger died down her right-handed dagger began to glow. Neko let out a roar as she leaped up, dodging the axe while performing three continuous spinning slashes in the air. The Gnome fell back from the damage and looked at Neko in shock.

Ren and the others were just as shocked too. Ion looked towards Kirito. "Wasn't that your Skill Connect technique?"

Kirito nodded his head while trying to contain his surprise. "I think it was. But I can't believe she was able to pull it off. Even Yui hasn't been able to master it yet."

"She's good, no doubt about that." Alice said.

As her opponent got back up, Neko felt her body regain the ability to move. She lunged at him, bringing both her daggers to the Gnome's neck.

"Damn you…" he growled.

"Sorry. Maybe next year." Neko smirked as she decapitated her opponent. She jumped off him and walked away as he fell over and burned away into a remain light. "Though with your skills, you're still a decade away from being on my level."

The crowd cheered at the surprising display from the little Cait Sith. Ion smiled at his niece, but still shook his head with a sigh. "That girl's ego is as big as ever."

"Not as big as a certain someone though." Angel pointed out, eyeing Helios.

Alice let out a giggle. "Thank god for that."

"Well that was quite a surprise." Haruka said. "It just goes to show that size indeed isn't everything. Now let's take a look at one of the top contenders for the tournament after the first two rounds, Team Demise's leader, Lucifer."

As the announcer said this, one of the screens changed and showed a feed of Lucifer walking through a field of flowers. To his side was the forest area, but he stayed clear of that. Instead, he walked along the border between the two areas.

"Well this is boring." Klein said. "Nothing's happening."

Suddenly, an arrow came flying out from the woods, going towards the back of Lucifer's head. The male Imp didn't even bother to look, simply dodging the projectile by tilting his head. The arrow flew past him, impaling itself into the ground.

"I was wondering when you'd finally make a move." Lucifer said, casually unsheathing the sword from his waist. "It was starting to look like you'd spend the entire third round stalking me."

Quickly emerging from the trees, multiple players spread out and quickly surrounded Lucifer. He counted four in total, with a fifth most likely still in the trees.

"My, my, it seems like I'm quite at the disadvantage." Lucifer said with a shrug. "Whatever am I to do?"

Haruka looked at the screen, seeing Lucifer's dire situation. "Well folks, I think we all know where this is headed. It seems an entire team has managed to regroup and now has the leader of Team Demise at their mercy."

"So much for him." Helios said. "Oh well, I'm sure the rest of his team will manage to pull through."

"I'm not so sure." Ren said. "Something doesn't feel right."

"Come on Ren, it's four on one. And these guys don't look like pushovers."

Ren still wasn't convinced. He kept his eyes on the screen showing Lucifer and the other players.

"Look!" Luna exclaimed. "Lilly's fighting!"

"Really?" Alice looked in the direction Luna was pointing. True to her word, Lilly was in the middle of a fight against a female Leprechaun using a pair of battle axes. The two of them were locked in combat near a cliff at the edge of the map.

Lilly jumped back as her opponent swung one of her battle axes down at her. She quickly snapped her fingers, sending a blast of fire at the Leprechaun. "Take this!"

The female Leprechaun managed to keep her body low and duck under the flames. She swung her axe at Lilly, sending the girl back towards the edge of the cliff. Lilly felt her feet reach the cliffside, with only the ocean below to greet her if she fell. The Leprechaun went in for another strike. "This is the end!"

Having no other options, Lilly quickly dived under and headed for the water. As she fell, she brought out her wings and prepared to fly away, while chanting her Elemental Pistol spell for another round of ammo.

"Not happening!" the girl said as she took one of her axes and threw it at Lilly. The Cait Sith gasped, quickly pulling out her sword to deflect the weapon. The axe bounced off, but Lilly's opponent had already closed in. She swung her axe down at Lilly and dived down under the water with her.

"Lilly!" Luna gasped.

Everyone watched silently at the water surface, waiting for one of the two girls to come up. Out of nowhere, a wide stream of lightning spread around the water, creating a huge splash around the area. A few more moments of silence passed before a player surfaced, dragging themselves up to the rocky cove next to the cliff. Alice and the others breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the player was Lilly.

Lilly pulled herself up and laid down on the rock, gasping for breath while electricity racked her body. "Can't believe I actually used a lightning blast underwater. Man, that was a desperate move."

It was clear that the Cait Sith's HP was in the red. But that was to be expected. Lightning spells were far more powerful underwater, but they also damaged all players in the area, including the user.

"Just… gonna take a quick rest now…" Lilly breathed heavily. "Yeah… that sounds good…"

"Yay Lilly!" Luna cheered, jumping up and down while waving her pom poms. "You show 'em sis!"

Alice smiled as she watched her daughter. 'You definitely inherited your father's brain, Lilly. But it also looks like you inherited his recklessness too.'

"Looks like Lilly's going to be fine." Ren said with a smile.

"She's not the only one." Kirito said in a serious tone. "Look at Lucifer's screen."

Everyone's heads turned to the screen that had been showing Lucifer and gasped. The entire field was filled with remain lights scattered around. But Lucifer seemed perfectly fine as he sheathed his sword at his waist.

"What a horrendous melody." Lucifer said, walking away. "I was hoping for a player that could help my blade truly sing."

Ren and the others weren't the only ones that had taken notice of Lucifer's surprising win. Many players in the audience were stunned into silence. Even the announcer Haruka needed a moment to compose herself.

"This is incredible folks! I have no idea how, but Lucifer seems to have beaten all of the players that had surrounded him and then some!" Haruka said. "Clearly, Lucifer is a force to be reckoned with." Several screens changed, showing feeds of some of the other members of his team. "And it's not just him. Team Demise's kill count is rising fast. The team of five has already killed ninety-seven players in total."

Everyone in the arena gasped at the shocking number. "Ninety-seven?!" Asuna exclaimed.

"The kids might have their work cut out for them." Ren said. "This Team Demise group is strong."

"They're not the only ones." Kirito commented. "Check out the screen at the top right."

Everyone looked towards the screen Kirito was talking about and realized what he meant. There was another fight about to start deep in the forest area. A battle between two Spriggan players.

Yui and Shade.

A/N: Hope you are all enjoying the battle royale so far. There will be several fights that go on throughout it, so be ready for some action.