Devils of Aincrad

by Punitor567

It was a unanimous opinion that Kayaba Akihiko, creator of the revolutionary NerveGear was a certified madman. What other reason would there be to trap ten thousand unknowing people of varying ages in an artificial world where they would live in fear of death every waking moment? What most of the world didn't know, was that Kayaba Akihiko was not exactly human. [Aincrad complete]

25. The Eight Warriors

WARNING: The following contains heavy doses of action and craziness, and I mean heavy. Consume with caution.

Once again, I had no idea how to start this one. I knew what I wanted to put in – and this time there was a lot I wanted to put in – but what opening statement was I gonna use? I just did not know. And on top of that, I was busy trying to think up a different story idea (not a fanfic, something else) and then family events and then more events and so on and so forth.

First thing I gotta clear up:

To dragon rider (and anyone else who's confused on the matter): Onmyouji are traditional Japanese exorcists, you could say. In their mythology, onmyouji were the exorcists of youkai, to put it roughly. Some good examples of onmyouji used in fiction would be in Nurarihyon no Mago and Shonen Onmyouji (it's even in the title). I'm gonna have to do a bit of research on that subject pretty soon, eh?

Also to dragon rider: A romance isn't exactly necessary, is it? If it is, there's Recon, yet another supporting character with loads of potential.

Guest: You know, courtesy and patience are both virtues. There were politer ways to phrase that question and a bit of patience on your part would have helped. Not to mention the very next chapter was the one where Issei appears

I like it/I knew it: Still waiting for that proper review :P

What I find surprising is that even though the DxDverse contains a youkai kingdom (Kyoto, basically, in volume nine) there has been no mention of onmyouji. That might be because the Jap word for exorcist is onmyouji, I don't know, and there are plenty of Christian exorcists. Especially in the upcoming Volume 19 if the spoilers on the wiki are true.

And that should be enough blabber, now onto more important blabber, aka the chapter. One could say that if my Aincrad arc was a three act story, this chapter is the finale of the second act. I've been dying to write this one ever since floor eleven (which would be the finale of the first act) because dammit it sounded frigging awesome in my head. Now if only I can translate that awesome onto paper… Well, here goes nothing.

Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own DxD or SAO. Or both. But I do own neither.

And damn, this chapter is a WHOPPER. So come prepared. I should have split this in two and if I did, I'd still get two pretty big chapters, that's how big this is. Pack your bags, people, you're gonna be here a while.

*~B~*

Chapter Twenty-One: The Eight Warriors

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Northern Dungeons. January 2024]

There are some things that you don't know you've been missing until you realize how long you haven't had them.

For example, I'd forgotten just how fun it was to annoy Asuna.

"Kirito-kun," she said through gritted teeth, "we are on our way to a boss battle. So would you care to be even the slightest bit serious?"

"What? Someone needs to keep the mood light," I said flippantly.

"All you're doing is attempting to annoy me!"

"Well … I can't really argue with that," I said, smirking. I heard someone behind me chuckle and another person laughing loudly.

"Perhaps, Asuna-san," Kiba said, trying to keep the smile off of his face, "you should be attempting to ignore him rather than responding."

Asuna shot him the frostiest glare she could manage – no, no wait, that's the second frostiest. The frostiest one is usually reserved for me.

"Oi, don't be a spoilsport, Kiba," Klein said through his laughter. "I wanna hear more of this. So, Kirito, exactly what did she try to do after you started digging through her materialized inventory?"

Asuna turned red – with embarrassment or anger, I couldn't say. I actually heard the rest of KoB quietly giggling too. And then the unexpected happened.

"Well, Kirito-kun? Why did you stop halfway through the story?" said none other than KoB commander Heathcliff the Paladin. Asuna wheeled towards him in shock. "Commander!" she protested, eyes wide with astonishment.

"Consider this training at maintaining your composure, Asuna-kun," Heathcliff said, that ever so slight smirk never leaving his face. Asuna turned even redder.

"Well, at first it looked like she was seriously going to kill me," I continued, picking up where I'd left off, "which made me think about how lucky I was that we were within the Area, and then when I dug out her sword she got this adorably astonished expression–"

A message window popped up. A duel request from – ah. Sorry, Asuna, but there's no way I'm falling for this again…

My hand got pushed towards the ACCEPT button and said requester grabbed me by the collar and flipped me onto the ground. EARLY ATTACK, MATCH FORFEITED said a message window that was almost nostalgic.

The entire forty-eight-strong entourage stopped to watch the show. "Don't assume you're fast enough to avoid it every time I try that," Asuna declared.

The loud laughter would likely attract a monster swarm so Heathcliff ordered us all to get a move on. KoB, Fuurinkazan and I took the lead of the group. As I passed Lind, I noticed his not-so-amused expression. That guy wouldn't know a joke if it was coming onto him.

I glanced to my right and, strangely, saw Asuna looking aside and … smiling? She caught me looking and instantly switched to a poker face.

Honestly, women are so weird…

*~B~*

Asuna almost did miss Kirito's inordinately annoying antics. Almost. Still, after the impenetrable depression he'd been under for half the past year, this was a very refreshing change.

If she allowed herself to be honest with herself, she was quite pleased to have the old Kirito back, and she knew that she wasn't alone in that sentiment. It wasn't hard to guess that Klein urged him to continue the story because he was afraid that if left alone too long, Kirito might slip back into a funk.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and scrutinized the surroundings. Arriving at a guess as to their approximate distance from the boss room, she began, "Alright, all of you, let's go over the boss information one more time."

The fifty second floor had quite the unique landscape. Right in the middle of the floor was the town of Vagaria. It was built of pure grey stone, and it had the looks of ancient ruins. To the north and south were woodlands interspersed with similar ruins, some of which were safe areas, some of which were traps and some of which were simply a change of scenery. To the far east was another town that few people had bothered yet travelling to, and it was cut off from the rest of the floor by several large water bodies. It could only be reached via strangely translucent ships that were occasionally infested with Dream Pirates, the same ones as those in the boss battle of the forty-second floor. Towards the west, beyond a few layers of trees were extremely large stone ruins that covered all of its quarter of the floor. Monster ambushes were quite common in that area. Trying to enter into the northern area the first time around had spawned the godforsaken Field Boss that had taken the entire clearing force all of their effort and more to bring down.

It was in the northern quarter that, after only a few minutes of searching, one would come across a dilapidated stone path that was almost straight, leading directly to the massive door beyond which waited the boss. So easy it was to find, that it hadn't taken any more than one day.

Floor 52's boss was called Rud the Twin Guardian. In appearance, it was almost as out of place as the boss of ten floors below, Morpheus the Dreamer.

Upon entering the boss room, the first thing that players would see would be a tall vertical rift in space stretching from five feet above the ground to several dozen feet higher. Once at least eight players had walked through the door, the room would begin to shake. Giant red hands would stretch out of the rift and grab the sides, pushing it open and the boss would drift through.

In build, it resembled Tregedor from the eleventh floor, except it was larger and red. The torso was as large as the fully opened rift, with only a few inches of space between the body and the edges of the portal. Only the upper body of Rud jutted out from the rift and no matter how carefully the scout teams had tried looking through the portal of shifting colors, they couldn't see where the body ended.

Rud's head was quite draconic. Large, sharply angled jaws made up its snout and its orange eyes angled sinisterly. Black nails extended from its fingers and its red skin was covered in sandpaper-like scales. A single brown-black horn extended from the front of its snout, reaching just a bit higher than the top of its head.

"Bit of a question, Vice-commander-sama," Kirito said, raising a hand. "Did anyone bother to investigate why it's called the 'Twin Guardian'?"

"Is that really important, Kirito-kun?" she said as icily as she could manage.

"When there's one boss and it's called a twin, I think it's supposed to be, yeah."

"Perhaps on a higher floor we may face a similar boss," Yuuto suggested.

"Or maybe we actually hafta face two of 'em right now. Maybe when it hits the last bar it splits into two and attacks from two sides?" Klein added.

"Yeah, that's the exact kind of information we should be knowing before challenging floor completion," Kirito muttered.

"It matters not, Kirito-kun," Heathcliff said. "Should there be any complication involved, then I trust all of us have a Teleport Crystal each to escape."

"It may not come to that," Asuna said.

There hadn't been a single redo of a boss battle since the fortieth floor. After the scout teams had done their job, every boss till now had been defeated on the first attempt. Asuna would like to keep it that way.

Still, there had been some floors where lives had been lost and those were the ones that Asuna wished to be able to go back and rewrite. But that was a pointless wish and she didn't have time to entertain pointless wishes.

Sometimes when she looked at Kirito she would still be able to see the last vestiges of his depression occasionally surfacing. She'd idly wondered what it was he may have wanted a second chance for. Asuna had asked Klein one time, back in October, but he didn't answer. He said that it was his business and his business alone. And then during the forty-ninth floor boss raid he seemed to have changed his mind and was about to tell her, but that was when the old annoying Kirito had walked through the teleport gate.

"I suppose having other people die because of you has that effect."

She remembered the words she had been told over half a year ago. Perhaps Kirito had lost someone very dear to him? But as far as Asuna knew, Kirito's only friends were herself, Klein, Agil and Argo. Of course, assuming she knew everything about that weird idiot was highly presumptuous and arrogant on her part. If she thought about it, that was the only thing that made sense.

Whoever it was, they must have been very close for their death to affect Kirito like that.

"It's still suspicious that we found the boss room on this floor so quickly, isn't it?" Kirito asked, jolting Asuna out of her thoughts.

"Why can't you just say that it's lucky, not suspicious?" Asuna sighed.

"Because luck is something you rarely come across here on Aincrad," he replied seriously. "The good kind, at least." There it was again, that trace of sadness.

Asuna couldn't deny those words. "Don't worry," she said, "you heard the commander: we can easily escape should things go south. Also, I've made arrangements."

Kirito narrowed his eyes. "What arrangements?"

"I've got the best information broker on Aincrad exploring the other side of this floor."

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Southern Dungeons. January 2024]

"Care to remind me again just why I'm here?" I asked querulously.

"Exactly how many times do you plan on asking that, Pervert?" said the culprit.

"Oh, I don't know, as many times as it takes for it to make sense?!" I shot back.

"You're complaining?! You might make sense but our presence doesn't add up at all! Why the hell are we here?!"

Argo the Rat sighed and turned to the source of that voice. "What're you two so scared of?"

"This is the freaking highest floor!" both Genryuu and I yelled.

"Keep it down, will you?" Rurin scolded. "You're going to actually get us into trouble with all that noise."

Let me recap: about an hour ago Argo came to us on the twelfth floor and asked us to help her out with something. Well, she asked me, but then Rurin asked if they could come along for training and after a bit of hesitation she said yes. Well, that was before she led us to the teleport gate and took us to the highest floor.

I mean, come on, maybe I was a bit more confident now, but what the blazing hell was I doing all the way up here?! I'd die in ten minutes!

"Alright, listen up," Argo said, back in the present. "Right now the entire clearing force is heading to the north of this floor towards the boss room. Now, since it was so easy to find where the boss was, Asu-chan asked me to investigate the southern region of this floor, see if there's anything else interesting around."

"Yeah, I get that," Genryuu said. "What I don't get is: why are we here?"

Argo gave him a look. "Didn't you two ask to come with us?"

"That was before I knew we were coming here! We're mid-level players! This place is way out of our league!"

Argo sighed. "Rurin? You keep up with the latest info, right? Would you care to tell him?"

"And I'm sure the Daily Argo doesn't exaggerate at all?" Rurin deadpanned. Argo switched the look to her. Rurin smirked. "Alright, okay. The fifty-second floor had an immensely tough Field Boss that took more than two hours to bring down and it nearly killed three players. But once it was defeated, the monsters of the dungeons that were beyond it were quite easy to take care of. All of them have pretty simple and easy-to-avoid attack patterns and they're all primarily adept in defense, so their offensive power is pretty low. Unless you go west or east, in which case there might be complications."

"Exactly. So there you go-nya. We're neither going west nor east. And while I'm here, you won't get into any trouble. Plus, this floor is a pretty good farming spot so while the clearers are busy on the other side, I'm sure you can raise your levels several times by training here," Argo said confidently. "Incidentally, what are your levels?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, mine's, uh … 49," Genryuu informed.

"I'm almost at 45," said Rurin.

Wait, seriously? Mid-level players my ass, they work just a bit harder and in a couple of months they'd be strong enough to hit the front-lines. Hell, Rurin for one worked way too hard. Weren't she and Genryuu at least ten levels apart when I first met them?

Then I realized everyone was staring at me. "What?" I asked.

"You haven't said yours, Pervert," Argo reminded me.

"Huh? Hey, you know my level, I'm on your friend list, aren't I?"

"Just say it," she said. Hey, weren't we in the same party? Couldn't we all see each other's levels?

"Well … I hit 50 yesterday." And speaking of which, I glanced to the corner of my vision. What was Argo's level…?

"Okay-a. And the reason you don't have to worry is: my level is 60."

All three of us stared at her. Argo actually glanced aside … wait, was that embarrassment? Argo the Rat, embarrassed? 'Tis the end times. "What?" she asked.

"Um, Argo-san, that's in the clearer range," Rurin said, amazed.

"You're good enough to easily fight on the front lines, aren't you?" Genryuu asked, also amazed.

"Don't you ever sleep?" I asked, also, you guessed it, amazed. She glared at me.

"Of course I sleep. What the hell do you think I am?" she asked indignantly.

"A workaholic?" I suggested.

She actually reddened. "I'm not … I don't work that much…" she muttered, staring somewhere to her left. Ookaay, what? Where did the usual acidic sarcasm go? Argo-san? Are you feeling alright?

Is it just me or has she been a lot more open and honest around me recently? I mean, sure, she doesn't miss an opportunity to take a potshot at me, but, I don't know, it's like she just took off a mask. Only half a year ago, I'd never have been able to imagine Argo getting embarrassed over anything, and yet here she was. It was actually kind of nice.

I saw Rurin giving me a strange look. "What is it?" I asked. "Oh, nothing, nothing," she replied, waving it off.

"In any case," Argo said, regaining her composure. "There are plenty of chances up ahead to train and while you're at it, you can help me look around and see if we can find anything unusual-nya."

It did kind of make sense. Back when I got Argo the Oracle's Cloak, Genryuu and I did find a then undiscovered dungeon in one part of the seventh floor, and that place was undiscovered only because the boss had been found and defeated in a short time.

Speaking of which, it seems finding the Goblin lair actually unlocked at least a dozen different mid-level quests. Also speaking of which, how come Argo's cloak hadn't lost all durability by now? I mean, since she was so busy, it should've become useless quite a while back. And I was pretty sure some better equipment was available in Algade on the fiftieth floor.

Then there was something else that wasn't adding up…

"You know, if your level is already so high, then since we're not exactly going to split up while searching around here, you don't really need us to help you," I voiced out my thoughts. "So why call us?"

"Hey, they did want to come," Argo shot back.

"They did, but you asked me," I reminded her.

For about two seconds Argo stopped walking. "Oh, let's just go-nya," she sighed finally, walking forward at a brisk pace. I heard Rurin giggle. Seriously, was there some inside joke here that I wasn't getting?!

Once again I remembered that sometimes I really didn't get Argo. One possibility could have been that she may have just wanted to spend some time with me. Hah! As if. I might be a good friend of hers, but she wouldn't normally ask me to help her out like this … would she? Maybe that's what a friend's supposed to do?

*~B~*

Argo couldn't exactly blame the idiot. After all, he was an idiot. Or could she blame him for being an idiot? Then again, she did tell him to never stop being an idiot, so maybe that was her fault.

She could blame herself for wanting to do something so illogical. The Pervert was right, and that was never a good sign. Why did she bring them here?

Stop worrying, she told herself. All of you have plenty of Crystals in case anything bad happens, and you can spot a trap easy. So there's nothing to worry about

Suddenly Rurin made a sound of surprise. "Arre?"

Argo glanced back. "What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, it's just that, I got a message alert back when we walked into the teleport gate and in all this commotion, I forgot it was there. Turns out the guild of a friend of mine is exploring the south of floor fifty-two."

"Hold on, you mean this area?" Genryuu asked. Rurin nodded.

"Hm? Wait a sec, how high leveled are these friends of yours?" Argo asked.

"Um, I remember her telling me two days ago that she hit level 50 and that's more or less their guild average."

"Then why are they all the way up here?" Argo asked incredulously.

"I don't know, she didn't say."

"And they don't have a clearer-level player with them, huh?" Ise remarked, sighing. "We gotta find them soon, don't you think?"

"…Actually, yeah. Um, Argo-san, I'm sorry but could we–"

"Whatcha apologizing for? Let's get a move on, then."

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd floor, Northern Dungeons. January 2024]

Kiba had to agree with Kirito's previous sentiment. Something just didn't feel right.

He hadn't been there for the seventh floor raid, so he wouldn't know, but finding a boss so easily should not have been possible. Maybe it was because of the immensely powerful field boss that this evened it out? Or maybe there was something else hidden in plain sight on this floor.

The sudden discovery of the Goblin forges forty-five floors down had thrown much of the populace for a loop. Suddenly low-level players had access to items that were exceptionally high quality for their levels.

Although it did have nothing to do with the very straightforward boss battle that had taken place on that floor. But Kirito was right. Why was the boss titled the Twin Guardian if there was only one of them?

Let's hope that Argo-san doesn't get into any trouble, he thought. Kiba did not know Argo the Rat personally. Of course, he did use the booklets she made – every player on Aincrad did. So he decided to trust Kirito and Asuna's judgment and focused on the task at hand.

"Well, here we are," Asuna said. Right in front of them was a large, intricately designed grey door. Two very tall pillars stood at its sides. The one on the left had a dragon-like statue on top. The one on the right had nothing.

"Alright, take a couple of minutes, make whatever last-minute preparations you have left," Asuna ordered. There was the sound of several player windows opening and being scrolled through. Kiba opened his own and equipped his trusty Crooked Ruin.

In all honesty, he did not expect the sword to last so long. Four other swords like his – that is, ones that could be leveled up – had been found and three of them were currently in the hands of shop owners looking to charge as high a price as they could. The fourth such sword, a katana named Sakurazan was in the hands of Klein beside him.

Speaking of whom, said person was currently staring at the dragon statue on top of the pillar. "What is it?" Kiba asked.

"Ah, nothing. Just wondering, does he watch us like that?"

"Does who do what?" Kirito asked.

"You know, Kayaba. Whenever we arrive at a boss battle, is he watching us through something like, I dunno, that statue up there?"

"Well, someone's forgotten he's in a game world," Kirito remarked. Klein shot him a glare.

"Kirito-kun is right, I suppose," Asuna spoke up, walking back to them. "He doesn't need some physical objects in a virtual world that's entirely under his control. The same rules don't apply."

"As far as that bastard's concerned, the sky itself may have eyes," Kirito commented.

"So do you think he's watching right now?" Klein asked.

"Well, it is his world," spoke up Commander Heathcliff, surprising them. "I'm sure he's watching most of the time."

"Yeah, well, Klein's got a point though. The guy definitely loves his flair," Kirito said, grinning wryly. Asuna gave him a look. "In fact, I've always wondered what it looks like: him fiddling with a thousand screens somewhere. Bet he even has a voice command system. 'Cardinal, I solemnly swear I am up to no good,'" he quoted in surprisingly fluent English.

Klein laughed at that while Asuna just looked exasperated. Kiba knew what he said sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. Heathcliff for a moment looked surprised, but it passed instantly.

"Commander, I think everyone's ready now," Asuna informed, giving the assembled players one last scrutinizing look.

"Indeed. Lind-kun, if you would."

DDA's leader Lind frowned slightly before walking towards the door with his entourage. Kiba did not get why the Commander always put DDA first recently. But it was the Commander's decision and Kiba did not ask.

The doors slowly swiveled inward. The room inside began to light up as flames sprang to life along the walls. A single long vertical line of light hovered in the air at the far end of the room. Kiba assumed that that was the rift.

DDA walked through and suddenly a mild earthquake happened. "Now we enter," said Heathcliff and the remaining players jogged through the doorway.

Dust began to fall from the high ceiling and the rift pulsed at shortening intervals. The last players walked through and a large arm punched through the line of light. As the second arm broke through, Kiba took a glance at the doors to the next area that was behind the rift. Slowly, the hands pulled the rift apart from the inside and the doors were blocked from view.

The borders of light faded away and all that was left was the giant opening in the air. It was like the world was a paper on top of a photograph and someone cut out a clean hole in that paper.

The red beast made its appearance by roaring through the portal. The multicolored dimension of sorts changed to just an outline around the upper body of the boss. Evil eyes glared down at them and thick powerful muscles flexed as it made fists with both hands – or rather claws.

Five HP bars appeared along with the cursor and the name floated in Kiba's vision. Rud the Twin Guardian roared and prepared to begin its assault.

Five HP bars is going to be a lot of trouble, Kiba thought. This was going to take a long, long while.

"Scatter into groups as planned!" Asuna ordered. "Get ready for the first attack!"

Seconds after appearing, the boss would launch its first attack. Kiba watched as Rud slammed its fists into the ground. Rocks and debris sprung up from nowhere and were launched towards all players in front. By scattering, it was easy enough to avoid. And that was where things would begin to get weird.

"Squads A to C, move now!" Heathcliff commanded. Eighteen players ran towards the boss, heading for their positions near the portal. These three groups consisted of mostly spear and halberd users, along with several tanks.

And then the weird began.

Small platforms began to appear in midair. They were about three feet by three feet, grey and translucent. They floated at different heights, some stationary, some moving about. One thing was for sure: they formed paths that a small number of players could jump through to reach the boss's head, which was clearly a vulnerable point.

"Squad D, move!" Asuna shouted, running forwards herself. Kiba, Kirito, Klein and three other forwards followed. Already some of the platforms were beginning to disappear and more were reappearing.

Kirito reached the nearest platform first. He jumped onto it and wasted no time in leaping to another one. Asuna had taken a different platform. Kiba and the rest followed in their wake as the boss began its next attack.

Two small portals appeared beside the boss's arms. Rud first threw a punch with its right arm into the portal at its right. Another portal appeared above the largest concentration of players, all of whom scattered away in time to avoid the red fist that came plummeting down. The hand retreated and Rud's left arm went through the other portal.

Kiba and Asuna landed on two platforms that were side-by-side. The portal appeared right in front of them and a fist shot out. Both of them leaped over it. Asuna turned downwards in midair and sent lightning fast stabs at the arm. Kiba spun and slashed downwards vertically and then stabbed Crooked Ruin deep into the boss's arm. Rud roared and the fist retreated into the portal very quickly. Kiba waited till the last second and jumped off, kicking off from the nearest platform and heading closer to the boss.

The three groups who were on the ground near the boss kept whittling away at its HP while tanks occasionally stepped forward and raised their shields. The portal's edges would pulsate at intervals, sharply damaging whoever was nearby. In fact, just touching the portal with any body part would cause a lot of damage. The forwards didn't move back for one simple reason: by letting the tanks step forward to take the brunt of the pulse attack, they could keep damaging the boss from behind instead of wasting even a few seconds of time dodging backwards.

"Breath attack incoming!" Asuna warned. Rud was about to take a breath. Fortunately, Kirito had reached it.

Before Rud could let loose, Kirito's new black sword, Elucidator – a boss drop from two floors below – glowed blue. The three hit skill Savage Fulcrum carved an Arabic 4 onto Rud's snout. Rud roared in pain and slammed its palms together at Kirito's position, like it was trying to kill a fly. Too bad for it, Kirito was too fast to be hit by that as he had jumped up the instant the hands came toward him and then –

And then he began running along Rud's left arm.

"Kirito-kun, what are you doing?!" Asuna yelled.

"Scoring a good shot, whaddya think?!" he shot back.

Kiba was actually quite relieved that Kirito had finally gone back to being the Kirito of old. Whatever had been plaguing him was gone now. Well, not gone. If Kiba was right in his guess as to what happened to him, then it would never be gone. But at least, it didn't hurt him that badly anymore.

He actually did miss watching Kirito's crazy antics that somehow were almost always successful.

Standing on Rud's shoulder, Kirito began to execute a large combo of hits at the side of Rud's head. On the other side, Klein had also arrived in range and was himself about to execute a high level skill. Asuna leaped from platform to platform, approaching Rud from the front. As for the other forwards, well, they were all DDA and they had all missed a step and had fallen to the ground. Kiba himself leaped to a different platform to avoid that same fate and sheathed his sword. I can't miss out, now can I? he thought wryly. The sheath glowed red and emanated sparks.

Elucidator glowed as it struck Rud with five stabs and three vertical slashes: Howling Octave. Sakurazan carved out the Japanese character Zan from the other side. Nebula Edge, Asuna's midnight blue rapier for the last five floors, stabbed forwards eight times in a star-shaped pattern: eight hit skill, Star Splash. Crooked Ruin launched its sheath forwards.

Rud roared and spread its arms. "Minion spawn!" Asuna yelled, recognizing the signs. Once they could move, Kirito, Asuna and Kiba jumped away to other platforms. Klein, on the other hand, had stayed on his platform too long and had fallen to the ground.

Thirty feet up the walls a ring of many, many small portals appeared. Winged red lizards flew out, screeching.

Winged Salamander. Their attacks consisted of charging the players, snapping at them with their jaws or breathing out a short concentrated beam of fire.

"Ground squads, congregate!" Heathcliff called.

"DDA, scatter and aim upwards!" shouted Lind.

Kiba, Asuna, Kirito and Klein – the four strongest forwards – leaped from platform to platform, slicing and stabbing away at every Salamander they came across. For some reason, Kirito was primarily using his left hand. Kiba was confused by that, but he set it aside. There were more important matters at hand.

The plan to deal with the boss at this stage was for the seven forwards of Squad D to circle around the platforms and exchange positions, getting rid of whatever minion mob fell in their way. Asuna had estimated that by the time all seven had congregated at the halfway point, the boss would launch its next attack.

As always, her predictions were spot on. Rud inhaled and let loose with a flamethrower – except it looked more like a geyser of glowing red energy. Kiba and Asuna leaped over it and barely managed to land on a higher platform. Klein simply stepped aside and dropped to the ground. And Kirito once again took the crazy option.

He leaped – and he grabbed hold of a Salamander. Kiba stared in shock as the screeching lizard flew in a curve, heading towards the boss with Kirito hanging on from a leg. The Salamander jolted and shook, but Kirito held on and kept slashing at it, each overhead slash cutting away at the Salamander's HP until he finally put it out of its misery.

"What the hell is with that crazy idiot?" he heard Asuna mutter. Kirito actually landed near the boss yet again and he began to execute Howling Octave yet again.

Kiba checked Rud's HP. The first bar had been depleted and they were well into the second.

He still couldn't shake the feeling that something about the fight was just too easy.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Southern Dungeons. January 2024]

Ten minutes into their trip and something began to bother Argo.

They'd battled through two different monster swarms and the other three had gotten quite a lot of experience from it. Even the pervert wasn't complaining much.

But something about the surroundings was giving Argo a bad feeling.

"You okay?" the pervert asked, standing beside her. Argo glanced up to meet his concerned gaze.

"I'm fine, it's just, something feels weird about this place."

"Really? It seems fine to me," Ise remarked, glancing around.

"I really wish I'd worked on my Tracking Skill," Rurin grumbled. "We'd be able to save a lot of time."

Argo heard her but didn't say anything. She was too engrossed in trying to figure out just what was giving her a bad feeling. When for half your life your mind's been telling you things it shouldn't possibly know, you either accepted you were crazy or you learned to trust your instincts.

Argo glanced around at the trees. Oh, what the hell, it'll hit me eventually, she decided before saying, "Right! Let's keep moving!"

It was only two minutes later that they heard a faint scream. All four of them stopped. "What was that?!" Genryuu exclaimed.

"Trouble, obviously! Come on!" With that, Ise was the first one moving.

"Hey, wait–" Argo said, but it was too late. She sighed and began running after him, Rurin and Genryuu following close behind. Honestly, he needs to look before he leaps! Then again, that's technically one of his good sides … Gokou Arisa this is not the time!

She found him standing frozen in front of two pillars. "What the hell?" she asked.

"… The boss room is on the opposite side of the floor, right?" the pervert asked in a trembling voice.

"Yeah, it is–" Argo stopped, finally taking a close look at what was in front of them.

Two tall stone pillars stood side by side. On top of the right pillar was a statue of a dragon. Argo remembered vaguely that the left pillar in front of the boss room had a dragon on it.

Between the pillars was what looked like an opening in space; a rectangular doorway in the air beyond which she could see seven players huddled, trying to fight off things.

Normally, this could've easily been just a trap room where a large monster swarm spawned. The portal-like entrance would just be a gimmick.

Except those were boss minions they were fighting and far in front of them, on the opposite side of the room that the doorway led to, was none other Rud the Twin Guardian itself.

"What the hell?!" Genryuu swore from behind them.

It hit Argo: the reason for her uneasiness. Fifty floors of exploration and trying to spot patterns had made her realize some things that would normally skip notice. The area within relatively close proximity to the boss room had little details that were subtly different from the environment of the rest of the floor. They were tiny things, unnoticeable unless you really looked for them. A slight change in the hue of leaves or rocks, the BGM changing to a very similar but slightly quieter and somber tune, etc. That was what she had subconsciously noticed a while ago. That was what had been giving her a bad feeling.

The logical conclusion didn't make sense. But of course, Argo realized, the name Twin Guardian had to have some significance, and this was it. She supposed this was the price of getting too overconfident, much like way back on the eleventh floor. They really should've investigated the floor more.

"Kyra!" Rurin called.

The lone female player among the seven in that room looked back. "What – what're you doing here?!" the black-haired girl yelled back.

"Just Teleport out!" Rurin yelled back. "Or just run out, now!"

Kyra was about to reply but a Winged Salamander flew straight at her. She swung her poleax at it, swatting it back temporarily.

"We need to help them get out. Distract the things while they can make a run for it," Rurin decided. She ran for the doorway. "Ruruko, wait!" Genryuu called, chasing after her. Argo did the same, having arrived at a very bad deduction about the situation.

They hadn't taken even one step past the portal when something very unexpected happened. Their inventory windows suddenly opened and blue sparks and polygons exploded from them. The bad feeling returned with exponentially multiplied intensity and Argo immediately turned and yelled at Ise, "Don't come in!"

Ise didn't move. Argo tried to walk back through the doorway but some sort of invisible wall stood in the way. "Dammit!"

"What the – our Teleport Crystals are gone!" Genryuu exclaimed.

Argo wheeled back. An Anti-Crystal Zone?! Impossible! She checked her inventory. No, all the other crystals were intact, but all the Teleport Crystals in her stock had vanished.

"Idiot, why'd you come in? Now we're all dead!" Kyra shouted at Rurin, swinging her poleax at several more Salamanders.

"I was trying to help!" Rurin shot back, instinctively getting into a fighting position. Genryuu unhooked his whip.

Argo tried to understand the situation. For some reason, there were two boss rooms. As far as she knew, the northern room where all the clearers were was a completely normal one. But this one, for some reason, couldn't be walked out of and while other Crystals presumably still worked, all Teleport Crystals were just gone. So there was no way out.

Argo looked at the boss again. Platforms floated in the air around it and…

Wait, what?

It wasn't attacking them. Rather, it was aiming its fists, through the portals and not, and other places around it. Same went for the Salamanders. They too were attacking at random empty spaces.

But what was hitting them back?

Damage lines appeared on the monsters' bodies continuously. Some Salamanders shattered. The lines on Rud's body strangely lasted a lot longer than on normal monsters.

Argo came to the astonishing conclusion that the boss and the minions here were probably making the exact same motions as the ones the clearers were fighting at this very moment. And that just meant that their fate rested in the hands of the clearers. All they could do was try and survive while the other side tried to finish it off.

Argo turned back to the pervert. "Get out of here, now," she ordered.

Ise was shocked at her words. "What?!"

"Go! Now! As long as you don't step foot inside here, you can still be safe! Use a Teleport Crystal and go to the Inner Area!"

"And leave you guys here? Like hell!"

"Dammit Ise, listen to me! I'm not sure whether the people in this room can survive long enough for the clearers to beat the boss. I can only do so much. If you go now, it'll be one less person I have to worry about – and at least one person that I know who would survive!"

Argo knew very well of Ise's fear of death. He tried to hide it and act confident, but it was still visible. He definitely could not be allowed to walk into an inescapable boss battle.

More than that, Argo just didn't want him to die.

"Argo, I can't just leave–"

"Please, Ise!" she yelled back. "Please…"

He stared at her for a few tense moments and then…

And then he stepped right through.

Argo stared at him in shock. "What – why'd you do that?!"

"Shut up! You're not the only one allowed to be worried about others!" he shot back.

"Goddammit, why don't you ever listen to me?!" she shouted at him angrily. Suddenly, Ise grabbed her by the shoulders.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not gonna be the only one who gets out. I don't want that. If there's something, anything I can do to help, then I'm not going to just run away! Not ever! So don't tell me to do something like that again!"

Someone laughed behind Argo. "Gutsy words, but you just stepped into your coffin by walking through that portal," said Rurin's friend.

"Maybe not," Argo muttered. She glanced at the boss before looking back at Ise. "…You sure about this?" she asked.

"Too late to turn around now," he replied, scanning through his open inventory and equipping Combat Blade.

"What if you die?" she asked.

"What if you do?"

For a moment Argo didn't say anything. She wasn't sure whether to feel grateful or annoyed. Ise suddenly let go, as if he realized who he was holding. Then she mentally slapped herself back into focus. There was a boss battle going on and she was the best player there. Someone had to lead.

"Why isn't the HP falling?!" Rurin asked, kicking a Salamander in the chin. Genryuu's whip snaked through the air and lashed its face, pushing it back farther. Argo turned towards the boss.

Sure enough, there were damage lines being continuously drawn across the boss, but while the top two bars were empty, it just wasn't going any lower.

Argo's beta tester side took over. She didn't take part in battles nowadays but back during the test, where there was no risk, everyone who was present did. And as a tester and an experienced gamer, there was only one possible explanation.

"We need to attack too," she realized. All eyes turned to her. "The other side could only deal two bars of damage. We need to get the rest – or maybe we need to get it down two more bars. And then the clearers might be able to damage it again."

"Are you crazy?!" a player from the other party said. "We ain't clearers! We'd die before we even got close!

"That's the only thing we can do!" Argo shot back. "Either we help out in some way or the clearers decide that they're missing something and teleport out. And that would leave us here. And I'm not sure whether there'd be a way out even then."

"There's gotta be!"

"This is SAO we're talking about," Rurin mentioned.

"Ugh, you've got a point," Kyra said. The tall girl's armor was cracked from damage – it was clearly reaching the end of its life, but that wasn't necessarily from this battle. "But what the hell can we even do? Only the clearers," she stopped, grunting as she stabbed another Salamander through the neck, "only the clearers have even the slightest chance of being able to do any significant damage on that thing."

"Is this really the time for pessimism, Kyra?" Rurin scolded.

"It's the perfect time, really."

"So basically, we just need to keep hitting the boss, right?" the pervert asked. Taking one look at him, Argo could easily tell that he was downright terrified. And he had reason to be: in such unpredictable boss battles, low defenses like his were practically suicidal.

However, the idiot was forcing that fear down. He was forcing himself to keep going, at least for the sake of everyone else in the vicinity.

What the hell is with that insane bravery, you idiot? Argo mused, smiling. "Oi. You've got the highest attack here. Do you think you can jump through those platforms and hit the boss all the way up there?"

The pervert exhaled shakily. "W-well, I gotta try my best, don't I?" he said.

"Don't worry, I'll cover you. Just make sure you can back up your cool act," she shot back. Even if the pervert was scared himself, it was like he exuded some sort of optimistic aura. Or maybe only Argo felt like that. "Gen-kun, Rurin, Kai-chan and you lot, deal with the minion mobs."

"Don't call me Kai-chain, Rat," Kyra said. Argo wasn't exactly surprised that she'd recognized her. After all, her appearance with the whisker marks and cloak were practically an icon.

"Whatever. You ready, Ise?"

Ise decided to reply in a different way. Seeming to prepare himself for the worst, he ran ahead, punching and slicing any monsters that he neared. Argo ran alongside him, claws sweeping through the air.

The long-lasting damage lines had given her an idea. Maybe there was some way she could contact the other side. "On second thought, Ise! Stay on the ground! Land a hit on the boss and then you cover me!"

"What're you planning to do?" he asked, jumping and kicking off a low-flying Salamander.

"Engage in a horror movie cliché," she replied, grinning.

*~B~*

[Ajuka Beelzebub's residence, Underworld. January 2024. Several minutes prior to the boss raid]

"Strange," muttered Ajuka.

In front of him was the holographic display of Aincrad that he had put together from Akihiko's old files. In the past two months, after some extensive research and experimentation, he was finally able to also track the positions of the Extra Hundred. He still could not identify which was which, but at least he knew where they were.

The Extra Hundred were shown on the holographic display as green dots. Two of them, Ajuka had marked blue as they was moving about anomalously.

From what he'd gathered from Akihiko's files, the Extra hundred had no freedom of movement outside of one opportunity. So it was odd that one of them was moving about all the time alongside a yellow dot – a player. Those two were currently on the thirtieth floor.

The other anomaly was even stranger. It appeared and disappeared at entirely random locations around Aincrad. It didn't stay in one position for more than a few seconds and moved around erratically and rapidly.

Judging by the fact that there were no Extras on the twenty-eighth and forty-second floors, Ajuka could only assume that those two were the ones from those floors.

What was even stranger was the Extra on the fifty-second floor. Ajuka had marked it silver. This one was constantly fluctuating and flickering. It kept switching between two positions on that floor, on roughly opposite ends. Sometimes it was at both places at the same time. Sometimes it was at neither for a few moments.

The strange part was in Akihiko's notes. The coding and spells he'd used – while all of them were unique on their own – were entirely different for the fifty-second prisoner than it was for all others. After careful perusing Ajuka had concluded that Akihiko had for some reason split that being's consciousness between there and … where?

"Ajuka-sama?" said a voice from the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Um, sir, I think I've struck upon something very … very important."

Ajuka glanced up. "Come in, then," he said.

The Devil who walked in was his primary assistant in dealing with matters concerning the human world – specifically, Japan.

"Sir, I think I've found out exactly who … or rather, what the fifty-second prisoner is," the Devil said.

This piqued Ajuka's interest. "Is that so?"

"Yes, but, um … no offense, sir, but I suggest you take a seat, sir."

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Northern Boss Room. January 2024]

The HP wasn't falling.

For the last five minutes every forward in the room – and even Heathcliff – had attempted to damage Rud. While the damage effects did show every time, its HP just wasn't falling.

"What the hell's going on?" I heard Klein say.

After all our attacks, we'd managed to bring down the boss's HP to the end of the second bar. However, it wasn't going any lower.

All the players were at the moment gathered in roughly the same location near the entrance to the boss room. "We're missing something," I said.

"Agreed," Asuna consented. "It was definitely not going to be this easy. Commander, I suggest we leave now and not risk any lives."

Heathcliff considered it for a moment. We'd taken care of pretty much every Salamander. Only around three or so were left and –

Hey, hold up a second. Those three Salamanders were somewhere at our right. If they're that close, then how come they're not attacking?

Wait. Wait a minute. They were attacking. I narrowed my eyes. They were clearly lunging and snapping their jaws – but there was nobody there!

Suddenly one flinched away. I thought I was seeing things. But my sight wasn't wrong – that was definitely a damage line on its body.

Rud roared and inhaled. "Commander!" Asuna insisted.

Heathcliff exhaled. "Alright. Everyone–"

Right then the boss flinched. The red shockwave effect of a powerful blunt impact emanated from Rud's lower torso. Rud roared and smashed its arms downwards. Slash marks suddenly appeared on its left arm.

And then, the fifth HP bar dropped slightly.

The Salamanders at our right all shattered. Asuna turned towards the noise. She stared and then looked back at the boss. More damage effects were occurring on it as the very last HP bar was gradually shortening.

"What the…" she muttered.

The answer came from an unexpected direction. Two slashes, diagonally downwards and inwards, left a mark on Rud's torso. No, it was more like six slashes, three parallel lines each. Only one weapon could leave a mark like that.

Three more lines were drawn vertically downwards between the first two marks and that formed a symbol pretty much everyone knew. It was on the cover of those little books every person on Aincrad looked through at one point or another. Hell, it was just like that person to make her signature or symbol something that simplistic.

"Okay, now that is weird," I commented. "Is it just me, or is that Argo's symbol?"

The lines faded away. Three parallel lines drew semicircles and then angled into a horizontal base – kind of like drawing with three pencils in one hand. That was unmistakably a '2'.

Asuna pieced it together faster than I did. "If that really is Argo doing that somehow, then does she mean…" Asuna's eyes widened. "No way. Two boss rooms?"

It clicked for me as well. "I told you the word 'Twin' had significance," I grumbled. "I told you, but no, everything was just fine and dandy." And for some reason, the boss and the other monsters were making the same movements here as it probably was there. That would explain the apparently inaccurate attacks and the damage lines that we weren't inflicting.

"The hell does she mean, two boss rooms?" Klein asked.

A rough plus shape was next carved into Rud's torso, with an arrow on the topmost point. A vertical cut on top and then the '2' again on the bottom. Guess all those elementary school days wasted trying to write with three pencils at once were finally coming in handy: it wasn't hard for me to read what that meant.

A sudden thought came to me and right there, in the middle of the boss room, I burst out laughing. This was too damn weird. I mean, seriously, it's like a cheap horror movie.

"So there is a second boss room in the southern area of this floor, then?" Heathcliff said. "I see."

"Quite a way to relay that information," Kiba commented, smiling wryly.

"Hold on, then why's she fighting the boss?" Asuna asked. "She could just escape, wait for us to come back and then inform us."

"And since she isn't, doesn't that mean, for some reason, they can't escape?" I said, frowning. "It's not impossible."

Asuna frowned as well. If they couldn't get out, then we couldn't just leave either and let them die trying to face the boss. Whoever they were, they couldn't be clearer strength, since we were all here. At most, they were mid-to-high-level players. Chances were that a small group had happened on the other boss room by accident and for some reason, couldn't get out.

I took another look at Rud's HP bar. From our side, we'd cleared the top two bars. There were five bars. From their side, Argo and whoever else was with her were also attempting to damage the boss, but this time the HP decrease began from the fifth bar.

Years of experience with gaming told me that the most probable scenario was that the other side would have to clear the lower two HP bars. Since it was an odd number, the middle bar could probably be damaged by either party.

I quickly relayed my guesses to Asuna, who didn't waste any time coming to a decision. Rud spread its arms and the minion portals appeared on the walls.

"Everyone, focus on the Salamanders only. Until the boss loses the lower two bars of HP, we need to ensure that whoever's fighting in the other room can focus on the boss alone. Stay in large groups so that the boss attempts to use the portal attacks on us and not them. Now go!" she ordered. Everyone obeyed, charging for the Salamanders. Asuna then turned to Heathcliff. "Commander, what do you think?"

"That was the right decision. It seems I don't really have much to do in the way of commanding with you around, Asuna-kun," he commented. True, Flash-sama was a damn capable leader and strategist in her own right. Nowadays even Lind didn't question her decisions.

"Kirito-kun, you heard me too," Asuna said. "Why are you just standing here?"

I sighed. I switched Elucidator back to my left hand and leaped, cutting through an approaching Salamander. Seriously, this is a really good sword. And black, too, so that's a bonus. Thank God I got the Last Attack on the fiftieth floor boss battle. I landed to see Asuna dash around me, rapier moving like lightning as she pierced nearby monsters. Even now, I sometimes had trouble seeing her sword. Just how fast was she?

Heathcliff joined the ranks of the rest of the KoB, his giant tower shield blocking pretty much anything the Salamanders tried to throw at him. I'd never seen him in a single battle to use even one potion.

Heathcliff the Paladin, Asuna the Flash, and Kiba the Crimson Knight who had a few times beaten me in duels. Man, KoB was full of monsters. Maybe I'd get the upper hand over them if I tried to use that new skill that popped up a while back, which was the reason for me fighting left-handed today. I needed the practice.

Rud the Twin Guardian inhaled and the red energy-thrower – it wasn't fire, I wasn't gonna call it a flamethrower – rushed at the KoB group. The forwards dodged aside just in time, the tanks knew they weren't fast enough, so they faced forwards with their shields. And it was Heathcliff who stood in front of them all and took nearly the whole force of that attack.

His HP still fell, sliver by sliver, but not very much. That Unique Skill of his was way too broken. Then again, once I level up my own, how game-breaking will that be?

Two Salamanders approached me from either end. I swung Elucidator in a wide arc and ducked. Shifting my right leg, I spun clockwise in that low position, swinging my sword upwards at an angle, slashing through the second monster's belly. I quickly jumped back to avoid their jaws before folding my arm back and using Vorpal Strike on the first one. The second one had by then recovered from its flinch and while I was frozen, charged at me.

Five blue bullet stabs saved me from being hit. I recovered in time to pay back the favor, killing the other Salamander with a Sonic Leap.

"You're welcome," Asuna said. She didn't wait for a response and just dashed away again.

I glanced back. Rud's HP hadn't yet reached the halfway point of the fifth bar. Claw marks, blunt impact effects and ordinary blade lines covered its torso.

Suddenly the boss crossed its arms. "Move away from the boss!" Asuna ordered.

Rud roared and spread its arms sharply. The edges of its portal pulsed and a large shockwave began to spread throughout the entire room.

This attack wasn't avoidable, said the scouts. It wasn't as strong, but this being a boss battle, it still did a lot of damage. The best option was for the forwards to take their positions behind the tanks and let them take the hit.

Unfortunately, I was a rebel.

The shockwave didn't emanate from the portal edges. Rather, it was the outline of Rud itself that let loose a translucent white energy wave. Therefore, the shockwave was in Rud's shape. So for a tiny window, there would be a gap between the arm-shaped wave and the torso part before the shockwave spread and those two parts overlapped.

The course of action was obvious: run like a madman and jump straight through the gap. So that's exactly what I did. I leaped forwards and ran, body angled as far down as I could. The two waves would meet right about –

I jumped through and for a moment a hilarious picture of a dolphin with my face jumping through a shrinking fiery loop went through my mind. I hit the ground, rolled once and got back to my feet.

I swear I could almost feel Asuna's stare of "Is this retard plain insane?" on my back. But those were thoughts for later times. I wasted no time in running straight for the boss, sword at the ready.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Southern Boss Room. January 2024]

Rurin should've been scared out of her wits by now.

If she'd accidentally walked into an inescapable boss room half a year ago, even if she was sufficiently leveled up to be able to barely survive, she probably would have just frozen on the spot and not even have had the sense to bring out and use a Teleport Crystal.

Of course, coming face to face and being possessed by a nigh-unstoppable killing machine would make one reconsider their perspectives.

She kicked away a Salamander and watched Ise and Argo dashing for the boss. Ise's right arm was drawn back and glowing yellow. As a Martial Arts user herself, she recognized the skill: Embracer.

The powerful skill, combined with Ise's immense attack power, caused a booming impact as Rud flinched away, the visual effects of the skill dissipating into the air.

"Red HP!" Gen called out. "Kill those Salamanders now!"

In response, Kyra swung her poleax down sharply, the blade glowing blood-red; the monster was slammed to the ground and it promptly shattered. Another member of her guild made four deep cuts in the second Salamander with his dagger. Fast, Rurin wondered, seeing that player's movements. She'd met the entire guild before but that guy was new. Rurin herself spun vertically in a front-flip, a deep purple heel smashing the jaws of a third Salamander. Intermediate Martial Arts Skill, Catapult. All of them were down.

Rurin glanced back at the boss just in time to see Argo carving her signature of sorts onto Rud's torso. For a few moments she simply stood dumbfounded. What the heck was she up to?

Her next action left her even more confused. Using her right claw, she drew what looked suspiciously like the Arabic number 2.

Finally it hit her. If they could see the damage lines the clearers were making, then that meant the clearers could probably also see the damage lines the players on this side made. So in that way, maybe they could contact the clearers.

A slight giggle escaped her lips as she thought about what the clearers could have been thinking, suddenly seeing slash marks in the shape of writing appearing on the boss.

"I always thought the Rat was at least a bit unhinged," Kyra commented.

"Said unhinged person indirectly helps ensure the safety of every player on Aincrad," Rurin shot back.

"Doesn't really make a difference."

Rurin frowned. "Hey, why did you come to the topmost floor in the first place?"

"Hm? Oh, Ghost here told us that it wasn't a particularly difficult floor," she said, pointing to the lanky newcomer. "That reminds me, you two haven't met, have you?"

Ghost didn't look any more than seventeen years old. His black hair was cut short and neat and his equipment set indicated his speed-based rogue-class build. At least four different dagger sheaths were visible on the belt and straps beneath the tattered-looking cloak. Whether the tatters were part of the design or due to low durability, Rurin couldn't tell.

"Kyra-san, I think introductions are best saved for after the battle," Ghost said, pointing his blade upwards. Numerous portals had opened up along the walls. Winged Salamanders began flying out.

"Tch. You're right."

The hordes came down upon them again. Rurin readied herself, preparing for another brush with death.

If she was honest with herself, then she'd realize that the incident with the Shinigami had dulled her sense of fear somewhat, instead of magnifying it. Of course, that was dangerous enough in its own right as that meant that sometimes she failed to realize that she should be running.

Of course, that didn't mean that she wasn't scared. But just like Genshirou behind her felt he had to protect her, she too felt that she had to protect him. And not just him: her friend's guild as well. It didn't matter that she was under-leveled. It didn't matter that she was terrified. Ruruko would have to force that fear down and focus on the task at hand.

The first wave approached them – and flinched away, blinded from Genryuu's throwing picks. The second wave was swatted away by his whip. The third wave met with the collective Sword Skills of Rurin and Hyena Pride as Kyra had named her guild.

Seriously, what kind of name is that? Rurin wondered.

The nine mid-leveled players stood in a rough formation that Rurin had hastily thought up. She, Ghost and another forward, a stout axe-wielder named Warren acted as the vanguard. Three tanks with large shields stood behind them, ready to switch at a moment's notice. In between those tanks were Kyra and a spear-user named Spyren as they had the ability to perform ranged attacks as support. Behind them all was Genryuu, who whipped away approaching monsters during the delay and attempted to blind them when he could.

All over the field, Salamanders were attacking and being attacked by invisible players. Those monsters were losing HP much faster than the ones Rurin and the others were facing. As I thought, we can't match up to the clearers. Still, Rurin couldn't afford to be discouraged.

The Runic Gauntlets she had bought a month back had proven to be very useful. While the only thing it did boost was her attack power, it made up for that with a suitably large boost. Also, being a very expensive item – she'd used up more than half of her money for it – it also had a decent durability. Semi-regular maintenance at a good blacksmith's would keep it going for quite a long time. And in her training with Ise, she'd managed to stock up just enough money to be then able to spend all of it on the complementary set of Runic Boots. Once she'd bought both, an extra paragraph had been added to the item description, saying that when equipped together one would be able to utilize its "true power."

Even Kayaba couldn't avoid clichés all the time. However, Rurin had yet to discover what that ability was. Maybe it was simply an additional boost to her attack power. That would certainly explain how much damage she was able to do to the Winged Salamanders despite being about five levels lower than them.

A Salamander approached her from her left. Rurin jumped and spun, a blue flying kick striking it in the face. That attack would have probably dislocated its jaw in real life. While its motions had slowed down as it tried to recover, Genryuu wasted no time in blinding it. Beside her, Ghost was weaving through the Salamanders with surprising finesse. He continuously unsheathed and re-sheathed various daggers, all of which seemed to have different effects. One of them inflicted Paralysis and the hapless monster fell to the ground, where Warren wasted no time chopping it to death, Kyra assisting from the side. Another inflicted a DoT – Damage over Time – effect which Ghost then ignored temporarily. A third dagger seemed to have a high critical ratio, on top of the fact that Ghost was accurately stabbing and slashing at the neck of the Salamanders.

Whoever that newcomer was, he was clearly very skilled. But what was it about him that gave Rurin some odd vibes? Was it the 'thief' appearance?

Another wave of Salamanders flew at them. At least three of them suddenly sported countless stab marks and crash-landed before shattering. Rurin smiled. That speed could only be one person. She'd never personally witnessed it, but there had to be a reason the Flash got her nickname.

In front of them, Rud inhaled and a red jet of fire – it was more like a flaming laser in Rurin's opinion – blasted at a spot to their far left. The jet abruptly stopped and spread slightly as if it had hit an invisible wall.

At that point, Ise, right fist glowing a deep orange, jumped high up and threw an uppercut at Rud's lower jaw. Somehow, Rurin could imagine Ise yelling, completely in character, "Shoryuken!"

That attack stopped the stream of energy. On the ground, Argo was slashing away at the torso, jumping back every few seconds to avoid the pulse attacks. Each and every time, she was never a moment too early or late in her dodging. Ise landed on a platform and leaped at the boss. The blade on his left arm stabbed into Rud's torso and drew a vertical damage line as he slid downwards.

"Strong," Kyra muttered. "That Argo probably goes without saying, but that guy … what skill is that?"

"It's more to do with his high attack stat," Rurin informed, avoiding the question of the skill. Ise wanted it kept a secret, so she wasn't going to spill without his permission. And it was always hilarious seeing Argo-san scold him for building up an attack stat that high.

"Still, why isn't that guy a clearer?" Kyra asked. Rurin glanced up at her and noticed her interested gaze. Immediately she thought, Uh oh. Does Argo-san have competition now?

At that moment the boss crossed its arms. Rurin kept up with all the new info that came out, which included boss attack patterns, even if she had no intention of ever using or even needing that info, as it would normally be out of the question for her. As a result, she knew what the boss was about to do.

"Shields forward!" she shouted. "Everyone else get behind them, now!"

Luckily no one questioned her. Six players gathered in a tight crowd behind the three tanks of Hyena Pride just in time.

Ise and Argo weren't as fortunate. Rud spread its arms and let loose the shockwave – and those two were in point-blank range.

*~B~*

I was sure I was screwed the moment the red bastard crossed its arms. As soon as it did so, I heard Argo shout, "Damn!"

I began jogging backwards at a fast pace, but of course my Agility wasn't high enough for me to go far back in a short time.

Then again, it really didn't matter for Rud's next attack. With a roar it swung open its arms.

A giant shockwave shaped like Rud itself spread from its body. It wasn't exactly fast, but not slow either. And it was everywhere! There was no damn way I could avoid it! And with my defenses –

I was dead. I was sure I was dead. That thought made my limbs lock up in panic and fear. Time slowed. At the sides of the room I saw part of the shockwave vanish as if it had hit something, but that opening was too far away for me to reach.

Something else came in front of me and the shockwave hit that person instead. Of course, the whole impact wasn't blocked, so I still lost quite a bit of HP. The slight Blowback made the person collide with me and we were both pushed back. I stumbled under the sudden weight and fell backwards, and the person fell on top of me.

"Are you alright?" she asked. It was Argo. I didn't answer and instead looked at her HP bar. It had hit yellow. "Hey!" she said loudly. "Don't bother about my HP, think about yours. Are you alright?" she repeated.

"Y-yeah, thanks," I managed. I'd need a potion, but at least I was alive. She sighed in relief. The sheer concern in her eyes shouldn't have thrown me off as much as it did, I guess. "You didn't have to take that hit for me, you know."

Argo frowned, looking angry. "Right. And your defense would have survived that?" she snapped.

Okay, I didn't expect her to get that angry. Heh. I was such a hypocrite. Didn't I do something similar back on the fifth floor? "Sorry. Thanks, Argo," I said, smiling.

Argo's frown disappeared and she exhaled again – and suddenly she froze up. Her face turned red and she quickly got off me and turned back towards the boss.

I didn't get her behavior at all…

I saw Rud raise both its fists high up. "Move back and prepare to dodge like crazy," Argo called over her shoulder. I got up quickly and ran backwards. Argo slashed at the boss one last time before running back as well, overtaking me with ease. She turned around again some distance ahead of me and looked straight at the boss, alert. I stopped in my tracks and turned as well, just in time for Rud's fists to smash into the ground.

Debris appeared from nowhere and sailed across the room in a slight arc. Seriously, what the hell?! The floor hadn't even cracked, so where'd all those broken stones come from?! Oi, Kayaba, a bit more accuracy here would be appreciated! Oh, wait, maybe a broken floor would impede movement –

Crap, crap, crap, the rocks had gotten close! Dodge!

In a panic I jumped aside to avoid one and quickly fell forward to let another sail above me. I considered just lying on the ground and waiting for it all to pass – I gave exactly zero shits about what that might look like – but a third rock hit the ground some distance from me and half bounced, half rolled onwards. I raised myself to a pushup position and bent my knees under me, kicking off and leaping away. The rolling rock grazed across my foot, which still dealt me some damage.

I turned my head to the left to glance at Rud's HP. There was about a quarter of the fifth bar left. And we still had to deal with one more bar after that. Sighing, I got back up.

The screech of a Salamander came from my left. I slashed at it in a yellow X-shape. It was already half dead from clearer attacks, it seemed, as my attack killed it.

I faced the damned red dragon thing again. This was gonna take a long, long while.

*~B~*

It watched.

All it was currently capable of doing was watching. So it watched, while at the back of its mind, it cursed like an angry truck driver at the punk who'd dared to prison it.

If it stopped to think about it, it would realize that it should've been practically and utterly impossible to trap it. And it was impossible. That was not what the man had accomplished.

No, somehow he had trapped just its consciousness. And it wasn't even that: the man had split its consciousness into three. One remained in control of its body, while the other two watched two different groups of humanoids attempting to destroy the other body it had been given.

Of course, since part of it was still in control, it wouldn't normally have hesitated for even a second to leave its domain and go blow the arrogant punk to smithereens. But somehow, the bastard had the ability to turn its power against itself. It hadn't forgotten the pain. If it didn't cooperate and give the punk what he had wanted, the bastard was perfectly willing to rip it apart inside out and do the job himself.

Of course, if it actually understood how other beings thought, then it would have realized that that was an empty threat. He could cause it pain, surely, but destroying it was far, far beyond him. It wasn't even only out of the question: the possibility was too laughable to be even considered at all.

But he had made good use of the fact that it was easy to enrage and therefore would not cool down long enough to actually consider its options. And consider it did not. It decided that it was too much of a bother. It could hold grudges very well, anyway. It would do as the punk said and, once it was all done and gone, once it was freed from the punk's control, it would destroy him and what he was making it help create.

"I know full well that given even the slightest chance you wouldn't hesitate to rip apart your chains. If I gave you the slightest opening, you would simply force it apart with your impossibly enormous power and turn on me at the drop of a hat. And so, it would be foolish of me to even consider giving you the little option I gave ninety-three others. The five on the topmost floors and the god aside, you are singlehandedly the most risky part of my plan. So giving either you or the other six that one chance at freedom would be utterly foolhardy."

Until it could atomize him, however, it would only watch. And so, that's what it did. It watched, vaguely intrigued by a total of nine individuals out of the fifty plus.

It wasn't easy to interest it. Compared to it, nearly everything else in the world were ants. But just as humans could find amusement and curiosity in watching ants go about their daily business, it watched the "players".

To an ordinary being, they would have been quite the assortment of people. One was the bastard himself disguised as one of them. Two of them were Devils. Four of them, one Devil included, were Sacred Gear wielders. The other three were human, but one of them had keen senses and some spiritual ability. As for the other two, they weren't much special. One would seem to the average being to have astonishing reflexes, the other was simply determined. Of course, it was no ordinary being. The only interest it had in those eight was the slightest of slight curiosity resulting from the bastard naming them some of his favorites.

And so, with the vaguest amounts of bored curiosity, it watched and it waited.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Northern Boss Room. January 2024]

At one point, I began to wonder: exactly how many players were on the other side, fighting?

They were definitely not high-level players aside from Argo. It was also likely that it was just one small party plus her, since the chances of forty-something players travelling through a dungeon without the intention of fighting a boss were very, very low. So say, eight or so mid-level players were trying to both survive the minion mobs and at the same time trying to land hits on the boss.

It was interesting how that few mid-level players could bring down the HP of Rud that quickly. Well, it was still like less than a fifth of our speed, but for less than ten players, it would've been a bit of a task.

Thing was, judging by the number of times damage marks appeared on the boss, the rough locations at which they appeared and the time between each mark, there were likely only Argo plus one or two others fighting the boss itself. And in that case that rate of damage was quite the feat.

… Okay, so maybe I had too much free time on my hands – or mind – to be able to think so extensively about this. Well, the Salamanders weren't really a problem so I was a bit bored.

And then at long last the fourth HP bar was depleted just as I took down one last Salamander.

"Everyone, form up! Now!"

Heeding Asuna's words everyone retreated hurriedly into a crude basic formation alternating tanks and forwards. She was right to make that call. Bosses went wild upon hitting the last HP bar. The most destructive example would have to be Morpheus the Dreamer ten floors below.

Thinking of that battle made me remember … less exciting things, like my attitude back then. My grip on Elucidator tightened. This was not the time. My job right now was to beat the bastard in front of me.

That's what I had decided back on Christmas. Every boss battle, every dungeon raid, I would give it my all. Never again would I allow the tragedy of Sachi to happen again. Never again.

Rud the Twin Guardian paused its attacks. Then it seemed to start grinning. There was a sound like the roar of a Formula 1 racecar at top speed and suddenly Rud's portal pulsed violently.

White energy swirled around it like a vortex, each wave of light seeming as sharp as a sword. Damn. So we couldn't hit it from below anymore.

The floating platforms all shimmered and then faded. Next second they were replaced by more but this time they moved about faster and faded away in less time than before.

Rud roared and this time it sounded like there was an angry howl mixed in.

A random fact suddenly came to my head. One of the English words for an unpredictable action was 'vagary'. The word also meant 'an unusual idea'. The main town on this floor was called Vagaria.

The train of thought grew longer. Dream Pirates in the east. Dream Pirates, the minion mobs of the forty-second floor boss battle. The forty-second floor boss battle, the most fantastical and unrealistic battle in all of SAO.

All this happened at the back of my head. All I was aware of at that moment was some very bad vibes. And they were unfortunately accurate.

An undulating blue ribbon of energy rippled into existence. It looked a lot like liquid light, if that was a thing. One end extended further, twisting and twirling randomly throughout the air in the boss room.

Strange. It almost looks like a –

Like a river. Shit.

A miniature spectral red ship appeared at the other end and then began speeding down the river of light at the same rate as it was extending. Said ribbon was approaching us.

"Split to the sides!" Heathcliff ordered. We split into two groups and moved away to either side. However…

The river twisted unpredictably as it neared our original position and sharply curved to the left, straight through the other group of players. About a dozen players were caught in it. There was a reflexive yell from them, but they hadn't seemed to lose any HP.

"Get out of the way! Hurry!" Asuna shouted. The ship was still barreling down the pathway. But the players caught in the river seemed to have their movements severely slowed down. They looked as if they were trying to move through treacle.

Nine of them moved out in time. The ghost ship rammed straight into the other three, hitting one of them directly and dealing a glancing blow to the other two. The two wheeled away and fell to the ground and the one hit directly was blasted about twenty feet away. Fortunately they were all tanks – if they had been forwards, they would have been out of the river by now. None of them died but all of them had to use potions immediately.

The river twisted and turned and kept going all around the place. A permanently active attack? Damn it, we'd have to constantly keep moving.

Rud wasn't done. It howled once again and a dozen small portals appeared in front of it. Twelve red swords flew out like missiles. And no, they weren't flying straight either. And, look at that: they had tiny HP bars. And they were called Swordys. Really? Really? Sometimes I don't know whether you've got a sense of humor, Kayaba.

"Kirito-kun, can you make it to the boss?" Asuna shouted at me.

"I can try!" I yelled back, switching back to a right-handed grip. No point trying to practice now. Two of the Swordys had chosen me as their target, since I was the closest. I took a position, body lowered slightly, and waited. They got close together, and then I charged. Elucidator glowed green.

I swung my sword down as I leapt forward. Sonic Leap was a useful skill, especially in times like these. I cut through the Swordys like butter. They snapped easily and each half careened to the sides and shattered. The Skill Delay held me for a while, and then I continued onwards.

Platforms appeared and disappeared like they were going out of business. I jumped for one and fell through it as it disappeared. A portal appeared directly in front of me and I sidestepped a sudden fist. I tried for another platform and again I struck out.

"Losing your touch, Kirito-kun?" I heard Kiba say. When'd he reach me?

"Ah, shut up," I retorted. "The timing's all off."

"Or perhaps you're just not trying hard enough," he replied, before jumping onto a platform and kicking off almost immediately, the moment before it disappeared. He kept it up, not stopping for even a single moment. "Show off," I muttered, fully aware of the hypocrisy in those words. All right. Let's show him.

The twelve portals appeared again and I got an idea. Okay, this was far more dangerous than grabbing hold of those Winged Salamanders, but I had to try. Actually, I didn't, I was probably just insane.

Twelve swords flew out and three went straight at me. Four more aimed for Kiba at point blank range – and he just finely cut them down with his ridiculous levels of skill. It was almost like one continuous slash.

Now, if my guess was correct, then those Swordys stayed on the same target until said target was hit. I saw them approaching and when they were barely a foot away, I ducked. I looked back to see all three curving either around the sides or upwards and then approaching me from three different angles. Okay, that was gonna make this hard.

I ran towards the boss. The instant I saw a platform appear right in front of me I jumped, but I didn't try to land on it. Thank God I trained my DEX stat enough. I grabbed onto the edge with my free hand and flipped myself upwards. I was upside down in the air. Sure enough the three Swordys angled upwards slightly to correct their aim. The two coming from the sides were slightly closer.

The next moments were a blur of concentration. I'd felt it a few times before on Aincrad, and I couldn't exactly describe. It's like whenever I'm fighting my best my senses seemed to slow down. Probably the combined effect of adrenaline and more than one year of fighting, honing my (virtual, but still technically actual) senses.

Upside down, my limbs all got into the same position as they would be when the right side up on the ground. Probably looked like I was Spider-Man or something. I cut through two Swordys with Horizontal. I kept turning in the air due to the momentum while the Skill Delay took effect. It was probably around then that I finally truly realized I was stark raving mad.

The third Swordy cut deep through my shoulder, falling just short of severing my entire left arm. My HP hit yellow. It passed onward and the instant the delay wore off my left hand shot towards it and grabbed the hilt.

That entire feat took place in about three seconds. My arm jolted and I probably would have painfully dislocated it in reality. Actually, I don't think reality would have even allowed such a feat to be remotely possible. Based on real physics or not, game physics were still a bit different. My weight pulled it down and the Swordy angled upwards, trying to ascend. I had to hold on very tightly.

Well. That worked out at least. The Swordy was carrying me straight to the boss, angling upwards so I reached its snout. At that point I jerked my left arm downwards and stabbed one monster with another. The Swordy shattered, having dealt very little damage, but its mission was complete. I wasted no time in climbing the head and jumping to the side, landing on its shoulder and beginning a Sword Skill. Once again, I carved deep lines into the side of Rud's head with Howling Octave. Oh look, there's Kiba giving me a look of utter disbelief. I know, man. I can't believe I did that either.

Both of us finished our respective skills and were inflicted by the delay.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Southern Boss Room. January 2024]

For some reason one of the 'Swordys' had suddenly aimed for and attacked the boss. Well, I wasn't worried about that.

What I was worried about was trying to stay out of that damn river thing! Seriously, why doesn't that thing stop?! And why is there a transparent miniature ship sailing through a river floating in the air?! Why are sword-shaped monsters attacking us like homing missiles?! Why am I still trying to make sense of this?!

"Get a hold of yourself, Pervert!" Argo called out as I frantically skidded to a stop, letting the river pass just in front of me.

"Easier said than done, dammit!" I shouted back.

She sighed. She sighed?! Hey, I'm trying to survive a life or death situation here! What the hell happened to you earlier concern, huh?!

"Calm down," she said, clawing through a Swordy and reaching me. "We've done our part. Now let's just let the clearers do theirs. Just avoid the boss's attacks and that's that."

"How are you so calm?" I asked. She smirked.

"Trade secret," she replied. "Rurin! You can't stay in that position any longer! You lot need to start moving-nya!"

"I know!" came the reply. All nine of them began moving in the safest direction: closer to the boss.

"Tell me again why we're safer closer to the boss," I said, watching the river continue through the room.

"The river's movement seems random, but it covers more area the farther it is from the boss. Meaning it comes close to the boss very rarely."

"And you know this how?" I asked. What was with her weird intuition.

She hesitated for a while. "Well, it does seem to move like I said," she said, "so maybe I noticed it, but honestly, I really don't know."

She looked troubled for a moment. Suddenly I got an idea. "Oi, Genryuu!" I called. "Do you have any skill that holds something in place?!"

It stood to reason that he should. I mean, a whip could hold someone in place like a rope, right?

"Yeah, what about it?!" he yelled back.

"Try holding that ship thing in place!"

Genryuu gave me a look, but then holstered his whip – actually, could you call that holstering? All he was doing was looping it and placing it on a hook on his belt – okay, okay, focus. He then quickly equipped a second whip, this one white in color. I recognized it even from this distance since, well, it was the only white whip he had. That was his previous weapon.

The ship was moving parallel and close to the walls. Pretty soon it would sail past behind the group.

It passed by and Genryuu stepped straight into the river and activated a Sword Skill. The whip curled around the ship twice and Genryuu grabbed the tip when it spun back in his direction. The thing was still moving, but this time like a snail, dragging him along as his feet slid on the ground.

Didn't really think that would work at all. Well at least that proved it could be stopped, even for a while. That should at least help.

"Get down!" I heard Argo say. I turned back to face a portal and hurriedly ducked under the fist that came through. Argo went to work on it, launching a multi-hit skill, half of which scored a hit before the fist withdrew.

Rud roared once more, and this time it was facing upwards, arms spread, as if it was venting its rage at the skies. Four portals opened up – one above Argo and I, one near Rurin's group, and two more elsewhere on the floor. Humanoid monsters fell from them and landed on their feet. They were basically humanoid dragons, wearing fur-lined scale armor. They each held a sword that vaguely resembled a cutlass. The name Red Draconian appeared above their heads. Hmm. If I remember, draconian meant … no, I don't remember. Argo snorted. "Can naming get any more obvious?" she remarked. Sorry, Argo-san, I didn't get it.

"Four of these means it should be tough, right?" I asked.

"You're probably right," Argo replied.

"You're faster than me, so you might as well get to work on the boss itself," I told her.

"Yeah, like hell. I'm not letting you face this thing alone, Pervert."

I sighed. Hey, why did I even tell her to do that in the first place…? I think I was forgetting the line between bravery and stupidity. "Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah, yeah. Shall we?" she said, grinning.

"Ladies first," I replied.

Holy crap, did she just pout? Don't do that! I might verbally let slip that that looked really cute and then you'd turn your cursor yellow by accident!

Argo seemed not to notice my inner turmoil as she dashed forwards, claws at the ready. The cutlass swung down and was blocked. She swiped both arms outwards, spun counterclockwise on a dime and dug several gashes by slashing through the monsters stomach with both claws. The Draconian stumbled and Argo wasted no time in activating a Sword Skill. The claws glowed a brilliant orange.

The right claw slashed downwards. The right arm retracted and the left claw stabbed into the Draconian's stomach. Oh, look, Critical. The left arm also retracted and then she slashed downwards and inwards with both arms and then slashed outwards, tracing that same X-shape. Finally, she stabbed at the neck of the Draconian at lightning speed. And look, another Critical. Seven hit skill, huh? She was also pretty awesome, too.

The Skill Delay took hold and the Draconian then raised its cutlass. That was my cue to rush in. Combat Blade glowed green as I brought my left arm to my right side. The cutlass came down and met the flat of Combat Blade.

Combat Blade wasn't a skill known for either its power or its speed. Okay, technically due to the low skill delay you could say its main characteristic was speed, but that's not the point. What set this skill apart from others was its versatility.

One time I'd gone through Argo's guidebook for Skills. Somewhere in the upper middle of One-Handed Longsword's Skill Tree was a skill in which you made the sword spin like a windmill, effectively acting as a sort of shield. Of course, that wasn't the only non-offensive Sword Skill in that tree, let alone other Skill Trees. I'd recently unlocked a Martial Arts skill called Sword Grab that allowed me to grab a stabbing attack and then elbow the opponent.

So of course, it stood to reason that Combat Blade should have one too. And that it did, and it was a pretty good one too. It was called Parry Swipe and it didn't have a delay. How it worked, from what Argo made out from the description, was that it used both your opponent's attack power and the user's. Depending on whose was higher and depending on the difference, either side of the clash would suffer a very small amount of damage. If the user's attack was higher, that effectively meant that the user could block an oncoming attack and actually deal a tiny amount of damage if the power of the user's skill was greater than that of the opponent's.

Argo had at one point begun rattling off some sort of calculation that I couldn't make heads or tails of, but she then said that most likely, both the attack stat and the skill's power played a part in the decision Which of course meant it was perfectly sensible for Parry Swipe to only have two bars – trying to block a Sword Skill would still probably result in a lot of damage on the user.

But it wasn't a Sword Skill I was blocking and my attack stat wasn't particularly shabby. So it was the monster that suffered a bit from the impact. The force of the collision made it jolt backwards and I made use of that window to activate Embracer, a high level Martial Arts skill. A yellow fist dug into the Draconian's stomach and its HP plummeted beyond yellow. I didn't give it a chance to retaliate, striking its neck with Relief Strike and then being frozen in double the delay time. "Switch!" I shouted.

Argo's cloak swayed behind her as she began shredding through the monster. Seriously, that looked ridiculously heroic, with that maroon cloak fluttering like a cape. I doubt anyone else could pull that off like Argo was doing.

The moment my long Skill Delay ended Argo finished it off. There was a shattering sound from far behind us. I turned to find that the ship thing had snapped Genryuu's whip and continued on its path of carnage. Was it a minute or so ago that he'd started? Meh, a clearer would've probably held it longer. No point complaining though.

Rurin and that guild were working great together, attacking and defending at the right times. Rurin and four others took turns attacking with Sword Skills and when the Draconian broke through the pattern, the three tanks stepped up front to take the brunt while the spear user and that other girl – tall and a bit busty, I mean, the half-broken chainmail she was wearing was a bit tight fitting – attacked from between the gaps, steadily bringing down the thing's HP. They were under-leveled a bit, but they made up for it with numbers.

The other two had already gone down quite some time ago. The might of clearers, huh?

I looked at the boss's HP bar. It'd hit yellow. Damn, still a long way to go, huh? The twelve portals opened again and the damn swords started flying out again.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Northern Boss Room. January 2024.]

~ Several minutes later~

Thanks to Kirito and Yuuto, the boss was steadily approaching the red zone. Asuna had pitched in from time to time, but she didn't think she was even needed there. Where she was needed, was in taking care of the Red Draconians.

She almost – almost was the key word – felt sorry for them as the players ganged up on the monsters, destroying them in no time flat. The Swordys were also taken care of quite easily and it was only the ship that was causing problems. Occasionally the boss did use its portal punches but only at Kirito and Yuuto who dodged them easily.

Speaking of Kirito, she'd almost had a heart attack when he attempted to up the ante on his already off-the-charts level of crazy. Something was definitely wrong with his brain.

And speaking of that ship, at one point, it had suddenly slowed down greatly as if something was holding it back. By now it was again moving at its normal pace.

Asuna's thoughts returned to the fight at hand. She stabbed two Swordys to death with ease and then saw the boss finally hit red.

Rud roared with ear-piercing noise. The entire room shook and players stumbled. A minor shockwave blew Kirito and Yuuto off their position on Rud's body. Asuna ran forwards and saw Klein doing the same from the left side of the room. All the platforms vanished. The edges of the vortex-like portal trembled and shook as Rud turned its head upwards and opened its jaws wide. A loud howl filled Asuna's ears.

She looked up and this time her heart skipped a beat. A tiny sun had formed high above their heads and it was growing steadily. It didn't look like it would stop any time soon.

At the same time several stationary platforms appeared. One was positioned one jump above the ground, right in front of Rud's lower torso. Others made two separate and distinct paths towards its head.

"We need to attack now!" Kirito said tersely. Asuna agreed. She, Yuuto, Klein and Kirito were the closest to the boss.

"Go! Now!" Heathcliff called from behind. She didn't have to turn to confirm what he meant. The four of them shared a look and they knew exactly what to do.

Kirito and Yuuto dashed for the platforms that curved towards Rud's head. Klein ran as hard as he could for the platform against its torso. Asuna ran alongside Klein. Above them, the sun kept growing larger.

This is one nonsensical boss, she thought. Its entire attack set changed when it hit the last bar, and now it's about to throw a sun at us.

They had to finish it and they had to finish it now.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Southern Boss Room. January 2024]

"What the hell?!" Ise cried out, staring upwards.

Argo shared that sentiment. The massive attack was steadily growing in size and it was already big enough to hit a large part of the battlefield easily.

Rurin and Genryuu came running up. At one point the river and the ship had faded away.

Platforms appeared in the air, replacing the ones that had vanished just seconds ago. Argo didn't take long to notice the pattern.

She knew that there probably wasn't enough time before that massive attack came down upon them. She also knew that not many clearers could get up those platforms in time, especially when the area was so limited. Only three or four clearers could attack and Kirito and Asuna were definitely two of them. A likely third was that Kiba Yuuto.

They could bring down quite a lot of the little HP left, but there might still be a tiny bit left. So Argo quickly thought up their next move.

"Ise, take the left path, hit the boss with your absolute strongest skill!" she ordered hurriedly. "Gen-kun, from the ground, your strongest skill! Rurin get to that platform directly ahead, and do the same, now!"

None of them argued. Argo herself dashed for the right path and began climbing.

*~B~*

I should've worked on my Martial Arts skill more! Rurin had almost caught up to me even after starting late since she had only one skill to really focus on.

As I ran up the platform pathway I hastily unequipped Combat Blade. I needed strength. And the skill I'd unlocked just a while back should be enough.

*~B~*

On two different battlefields, eight players unleashed their strongest attacks in a united effort to bring down their enemy.

Kirito the Black Swordsman landed on the platform nearest to Rud the Twin Guardian's head and his sword Elucidator stabbed it five times, then slashing up, down and up again. Eight hit skill, Howling Octave.

Asuna the Flash reached the base of the portal and jumped straight up, stabbing upwards at an angle. As gravity took hold Nebula Edge stabbed downwards, leaving six more marks on Rud's lower torso. Seven hit rapier skill, Meteor Shower.

Kiba Yuuto the Crimson Knight spun Crooked Ruin like a drill, his HP falling to the red zone itself. The sword blew a hole on the other side of Rud's head. High critical ratio skill, Jagged Drill.

Klein of Fuurinkazan carved the Japanese character Zan with his katana. Sakurazan's special skill, Saigo no Ken.

Argo the Rat slashed downwards, stabbed, carved an X-shape twice and stabbed upwards. Seven hit claw skill, Predator's Wrath.

Rurin struck with the back of her left fist and then a direct punch with her right. A spinning kick followed – then an upwards kick – and finally she slammed her foot against Rud's torso. Five hit martial arts skill, Dragon Assault.

Genryuu swung his whip four times – to the left, to the right, upwards and finally downwards. Four hit whip skill, Compass Lash.

And…

*~B~*

The other three had finished their skills just as I reached the boss. Dammit, my speed needs to be higher.

The clearers had probably finished their attacks too. There was still a significant chunk left. Even my high attack couldn't –

No, it had to. Caution and fear be damned. The gigantic fireball began to descend.

Dammit! I jumped with all my strength and drew back my right arm, fist clenched tightly. High level Martial Arts Skill, Comet Crash. Red and white light mixed together around my right fist.

The fireball's speed increased. Come on, reach it…!

*~B~*

It was fortunate that at that moment there was no one in a certain hospital room. Perhaps it was a dragon's luck that allowed it.

Had there been someone there, they would have seen, for less than half a second, something red encompassing the patient's left arm.

Had there been someone there, they might have heard at the edge of their hearing, a certain word.

[Boost!]

*~B~*

In the moment before I struck the boss, something felt weird.

And then my attack landed and I forgot about that entirely. Somehow, it was enough. With an explosive noise, the remaining amount of HP was depleted.

Above my head, the sun froze in position and dissipated. I saw Rud's arms go limp as I began to fall to the ground. All strength had left my body. I saw Rud slowly shrinking back into that rift.

And then for one terrifying moment, I got the feeling of being watched by something very big and very powerful.

*~B~*

Klein probably had his jaw hanging open like an idiot.

From an early age he'd been taught to be able to sense the flow of energy. In his hometown of Kyoto were several leylines and he had, after some time, found out that he was able to track their flow. That was a rare ability which earned him a high position among the onmyouji.

His exceptional sense regarding supernatural energies was something he could brag about. And because it was so exceptional he alone out of his group had been able to accurately detect just what Sacred Gear it was that the boy he'd met on the twenty-eighth floor half a year ago had.

It was also because of this exceptional sense that he could feel the utter power that was radiating from Rud all of a sudden.

No, it was more like a mind that had reestablished a link with its body. And that was what allowed all that power to leak into this world, somehow.

He knew who that immense power belonged to. The walls of the world had several times cracked in Kyoto's skies and that same power had leaked out, which he had felt many times before.

He glanced again at the two Devils. Judging by their expression, they hadn't felt it. Klein was sure that they still weren't able to properly use their senses here.

But just where was here? How did this place keep something like … that imprisoned?

Who the bloody hell is Kayaba Akihiko?!

*~B~*

Kayaba Akihiko was not the kind of man who was satisfied easily. Kayaba Akihiko was a dreamer, and he had the mind to be able to achieve all of his dreams.

Sword Art Online had begun as just a pet project; a virtual world that had no effect on reality. Kayaba only wished to play creator just one time.

But slowly he had begun to see the potential in that simple virtual world. He understood just how much change he could bring about with just a bit of effort.

No longer satisfied with just a virtual world, Kayaba continued to plan. He planned to bring the floating steel castle out of his dreams, out of computerized servers and into reality.

However, that needed far more power than he had. And that necessitated the death game aspect of Sword Art Online. While keeping them imprisoned, he could slowly, non-fatally drain the players' energy and use that to further his goals.

However, all his calculations led to one inescapable fact: that still was not enough.

It was then an idea came to his mind. It was an idea that could only be born in a mind like Kayaba Akihiko's. And with that idea in mind, he began to work backwards.

The final result was more than satisfactory.

The first step was to trap the ten thousand players who would buy Sword Art Online. The NerveGear did not, as human media stated, actually have a microwave strong enough to fry a human brain. Scientifically speaking, it wasn't plausible. It did have what looked like one in it to fool the human scientists, but that was actually a disguise for something else.

What it did do was, when a player died on Aincrad, it absorbed all of that player's life force and transmitted it to where he needed it to go. The transmission was accomplished by opening a tiny crack into the Dimensional Gap within the helmet itself.

And so it was with the energy of ten thousand players, dead or alive, that he could carry out the second step of his plan.

With all the power of ten thousand lives, he was able to capture, using carefully constructed spells, ninety-eight supernatural beings. Using a ratio of more than one hundred players to one being, it was more than sufficient to turn their own power against them and imprison them. These beings were wide in variety and mostly strong in power.

The third step was to use the power of these ninety-eight beings, added to the ten thousand trapped lives, to capture the Greek god of dreams, Morpheus. The same basic method applied and succeeded. Kayaba now had a god's power to work with.

Of course, it couldn't have been any god, otherwise he would've chosen one with much higher power, such as Odin or Zeus if he could. It had to be a god with the perfect synergy. It had to be a god whose powers matched with the final prisoner, the hundredth being he had to capture, the being that would become the lynchpin of all his plans.

It was for this reason he needed Morpheus. With all that power and Morpheus's synergistic strength at his disposal, he was able to bring under his will the Apocalypse Dragon, the Dragon of Dreams, Great Red himself.

*~B~*

[Ajuka Beelzebub's laboratory, Underworld. January 2024. Several minutes prior to the boss raid.]

Ajuka realized that he really should have followed his assistant's advice. After hearing his conclusion he could do nothing but weakly fall back into his chair.

"Great Red…?" he muttered. "Just how in blazes did he manage that?"

He glanced again at the holographic display. The silver dot kept flickering to and fro.

If he thought about it, then it made perfect sense. The Apocalypse Dragon was far too strong to be trapped by the same means as the others. So what he had done was simply genius.

A four step plan that resulted in him trapping Great Red's consciousness and his consciousness alone in Aincrad. He probably used the same tiny rifts within the NerveGear to both transmit energy into the Gap, and pull in Great Red's mind into the virtual world.

But Great Red was still the second strongest being in all of creation. The only being stronger than him was the Ouroboros Dragon Ophis, and that person's power could be defined as literally infinite.

So Akihiko chose a simple tactic: he split Great Red's consciousness into three by turning his own immense reservoir of energy against himself. Two were imprisoned within Aincrad while one retained some measure of control of its own body and powers.

But if Great Red didn't do as Akihiko wished, that would be pointless. So, since he had control of the dragon's mind, he was able to make it feel immeasurable pain, the kinds of which would destroy most beings' nervous systems. Somehow, he could use that dragon's rage against itself: the harder Great Red tried to break free, the more energy he would provide to Akihiko who would then use it to deal Great Red more pain.

So to conclude, what Akihiko wanted Great Red for, was to build him an Aincrad in reality. That was what was currently happening within the Dimensional Gap.

But some things still did not make sense.

"If what he wants is to make a real physical Aincrad," Ajuka thought out loud, "then why is he changing all the players? What is he changing them into?"

"There's more, sir. Just a while ago, Heaven sent us a message."

"Heaven did?!" Ajuka exclaimed. This was a day of surprises. Why would their complete biblical opposite, their antithesis, even try to contact them?

"Yes. They're saying that … none of the souls who have died on Aincrad have arrived there. It isn't likely that they've all come down to Hell, is it?"

"… No, it's not," Ajuka agreed.

Did Akihiko use up every vestige of the dead souls' life-force so that not even a fragment of their minds or their souls remained? What did he need all that energy for? Surely even building that giant structure would not require that much power with Great Red under his control.

Was he simply disposing of them because they had outlived their usefulness? Were the changes he was making to those who had so far survived just rewards simply for surviving so far? Did Ajuka remember him to be that cold?

Ajuka could no longer tell at all what went on in his creation's mind.

Does that mean all those vanished souls … they are all burdens on my conscience, aren't they?

Wearily, Ajuka leaned back in his chair. "Thank you, Shouzou. You've uncovered something very big. I think you deserve a vacation or a rest."

"But sir–" he protested. Ajuka raised a hand to silence him. "You did right in coming straight to me. Very few people need to know about this lest the entire Underworld and every other mythology go into a huge panic. Akihiko has just accomplished the impossible and you were the one who discovered that. I need you to keep this to yourself."

"Of course, sir."

"Now then, I believe you really should go home now, perhaps visit your daughter. You've done enough, Shouzou."

"… As you wish, Ajuka-sama. Thank you, sir."

*~B~*

Great Red was finally free of its chains. After a long, long time, he felt as though he was finally able to even think for himself again.

Something did surprise him in those last moments. One of the Sacred Gear wielders, the one who had landed the very last attack, Great Red sensed Ddraig's presence in him. So that meant he was the present wielder of Boosted Gear. That was interesting. Great Red now owed Lesser Red as he called him, a favor.

Great Red then decided to look more carefully at the other seven that Kayaba was interested in. There's another surprise: there was a tiny fragment of Vritra's consciousness in another Sacred Gear wielder.

As his virtual body began to recede into the virtual rift, Great Red expanded his senses. Sure enough, he did feel another dragon's presence about twenty 'floors' down. And … there seemed to be yet another one, more than forty 'floors' above.

Dragons were prideful creatures. Great Red was sure that he wasn't the only dragon who took his or her imprisoning as a great insult. Kayaba definitely wouldn't survive long when he left this make believe castle of his.

Great Red found he was able to send his divided consciousness to his original body and back. So that's what he did. His focus returned to what was happening in the Dimensional Gap. There it was, that bastard's prized creation. He tried to build up power to destroy it.

The pain flared again. Great Red roared in rage, the sheer sound of it cracking the Dimensional Gap. The bastard still had control?!

He focused again on his virtual body. He looked straight at the avatar the punk Kayaba was using. He was smirking, as if saying "I'm careful."

So Great Red couldn't do anything to him now. Neither could he pay back what he owed those eight who managed to at least free him from his virtual form before it had killed them. Perhaps it could return those favors if they ever met him again.

"Congratulations," said Kayaba Akihiko's voice in Great Red's mind. "You are now free from Aincrad. However, I will still require your services for a while longer. Now I am not unfair: you may freely roam the Dimensional Gap as you always used to. You may do whatever you wish, under two conditions: you may not destroy what I have made you create, and you will help me realize a few more of my plans. I only request for these little favors from you and once our work is complete, I shall never bother you again. Do we have an agreement?"

Great Red was not going to let Kayaba's machinations go. But he had made a fair deal. All Great Red wanted was to swim about unhindered, and Kayaba would allow him that much. So for now, he was content. Of course, the instant Kayaba freed him, he would eradicate the punk.

Great Red took one last look at Kayaba's eight playthings. Hrm? There was something strange about one. The virtual rift closed and Great Red's virtual body returned to nothing just as he figured it out.

The cloaked girl was slowly dying.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Northern Boss Room. January 2024]

As always, mass cheering erupted among the players. They had defeated yet another boss. They were one more step closer to freedom. But best of all: not one person had died.

Kiba glanced at Asuna and noticed that she was definitely pleased by that fact. Even though the boss had unleashed surprise after surprise, not one player had been lost.

He looked around again and found first Lind standing aside silently. Kiba didn't trust him at all. He reminded him of Kibaou. Lind was a smarter and more capable version of Kibaou, basically.

Klein was talking with the rest of his guild with a surprisingly serious expression. Kiba couldn't hear what they were saying, and he wasn't exactly the type to eavesdrop. So he turned away and this time found Asuna walking up to Kirito.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" she asked him. "There was no need for those unnecessary stunts!"

Kirito at first didn't hear her, seeming to be deep in thought while staring at the spot where the rift had closed seconds ago. "Are you listening to me, Kirito-kun?" Asuna said.

"Huh? Oh, sorry."

"Why are you always trying to take the stupid option?" Asuna asked.

"Hey, they work, don't they?" he replied, smirking.

"One day they might not, you know."

"That day isn't today."

Kiba had an idea as to why Kirito acted like that. He knew that whatever happened to Kirito would never disappear or be forgotten, no matter how long he lived. He knew that Kirito felt like he could move past it, but Kiba knew from experience that that wasn't possible. It was the kind of guilt that would haunt someone for life. And Kirito probably did not have the option to act on it and avenge the person or people who had died, outside of perhaps Kayaba Akihiko himself. So he had nobody he could lay the blame on except himself.

Perhaps subconsciously, Kirito felt that it still didn't matter if he died. Consciously, he would fight for survival, of course, but subconsciously that acceptance of death was what probably made him risk his life so much. Kirito himself probably didn't realize it.

"Alright, time to open the doors," Heathcliff ordered. Everyone instantly quieted down and gathered at the doorway.

"Floor 53," piped up Kirito, "here we come."

*~B~*

[Aincrad 52nd Floor, Southern Dungeons. January 2024]

"Ise! Hey, Ise!"

Argo wouldn't be the first to admit that she was panicking a bit. After landing that last hit the pervert had for some reason passed out.

The boss had drifted back through the rift and suddenly the entire boss room had vanished and they were back in the dungeons where the entrance to that room had been. Behind them were those two pillars where the portal of sorts had been. They were currently standing on a stone floor the same size as the boss room. Broken pillars and walls lined it, interspersed with vegetation.

"Is he dead?" said Kyra. Argo shot her a glare. She shrugged. "Just asking. And I know he's not, his avatar's still there."

He probably collapsed from sheer relief and exhaustion, Argo thought. But his lack of response was freaking her out – but just a tiny bit – no, a lot.

She turned back to him and shook his shoulders hard. "Wake! Up!"

Finally he groaned. Slowly he brought a hand to his face and opened his eyes. "…I'm dead, aren't I?" he asked.

Argo couldn't help it. She started laughing out of relief. "No. No you're not, but scare me like that again and you will be courtesy of me," she said, smiling broadly.

"… Well, I'm never doing this again," he said.

The pervert got up and suddenly Argo was aware of her proximity to him. She quickly moved away. Both of them stood up.

"Congrats, man," Genryuu said. "I think you got the Last Attack Bonus."

"Eh, seriously?" the pervert replied, opening his inventory to check. His hand froze. "What the – hey, everyone check your inventory."

Argo was confused at that but obliged anyway. "Ah," she said, spotting it. "Seems Rud-dono was kind enough to return our Teleport Crystals-sa. But anyways, Pervert, what did you get?"

"A crapload of Col, an armor, a few pieces of something called Salamander Scales and, um… a Swordy."

"…What," Argo said flatly.

"Well, it's called Rift Piercer, but the description says… you know what, have a look," he said, materializing what was definitely one of those flying swords from before. "Well, I can't use this," he said, rubbing the back of his head. He then handed it to Argo. "Here. Sell it or something."

"Eh? Uh, sure," she said, taking it and placing it in her inventory. I could sell it to Kii-bou. Maybe I could extort a ridiculous price for it too.

"Anyways," spoke up Rurin's friend. "Thank you. We probably wouldn't have lived much longer if it wasn't for you four."

"What were you lot doing all the way up here anyway?" Argo asked.

"Ghost here said it wouldn't be a problem," she replied, pointing at the player with all the knives. Something about him gave Argo a bad feeling. But her intuition or whatever it was didn't tell her anything beyond the usual.

Easily struck from his left.

That was all that was different. "Still, it was the topmost floor, you know," Rurin said.

"Says you. In that case, what are you doing here then?" Kyra shot back.

"… Bit of a misunderstood volunteering, I guess?"

Kyra sighed. "Whatever. That aside," she said, turning towards the pervert. "Are you a clearer?"

"Huh?! No, no, I'm nowhere near them," he replied. Argo could see his gaze flicker between her face and not her face.

Hmm? Hey, wait a minute, when did she take off that chainmail? Kyra's armor top was gone, leaving only a light grey shirt.

"You seem strong enough to be," she said, crossing her arms. Something about her mannerisms was pissing Argo off. "What skill is that anyway?"

"Well, um …" the pervert hesitated. "It's sort of unique."

"Seriously?!" the axe-wielder exclaimed. "Hey, that's just like the Paladin himself!"

Kyra raised her eyebrows. "Impressive."

"Yeah, thing is though, can you guys, uh, keep it a secret? I don't want people asking me 24/7 how I got it or anything so…" the pervert requested.

Kyra considered for a while. "Okay, fine. However," she said, in a tone that Argo really didn't like, "how about a favor in return?"

Argo twitched. She subconsciously compared herself to the tall and irritatingly buxom girl in front of her and the results did not please her. The fact that the way she crossed her arms emphasized that was just more fuel to the fire.

"Unfortunately," Argo spoke up loudly, "this idiot's a massive pervert so you can do much better."

Kyra gave her a look. "Oh? Well, what do you think?" she asked the pervert himself.

For some reason Rurin winced. Argo glanced at her and found her staring back almost apologetically.

She glanced at the pervert … who was obviously taken by that girl's looks. At least, that's what it seemed to Argo.

Once a damn pervert, always a damn pervert, aren't you…? Wait, why am I getting so irritated about this?

"Um, Kyra-san," the pervert began. "Exactly what kind of favor do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just a bit of talk. Maybe you could even give me some pointers on fighting."

We saved your damn lives and you have the gall to ask for a favor just to keep a secret? If anything, you owe him, Argo grumbled mentally.

Argo was sure he'd realized the implications of that statement. He probably didn't know about that little option in the menu though, but if things went far enough he might –

"Um, thanks, Kyra-san, but, uh, maybe some other time."

Argo stared at him in surprise. "Hmm," Kyra intoned. Argo looked back at her to find her staring at Argo. Then she smiled wryly. "Well, that's alright. In any case, I owe you one, so don't worry, we're not going to spill. Anyways, we shouldn't stay here any longer," she said to her guildmates. "Let's get going already."

Ten seconds later all seven of them had teleported away.

"Right, then!" Rurin spoke up suddenly. "Gen and I are gonna go shopping, see what we can buy with all the Col we got today."

"Wha – hey, when'd you decide that?" Genryuu protested.

"Just now. Now come on already." The next moment those two were also gone.

That left just the pervert and Argo. "We shouldn't be standing around here either," Argo said. "And I'm a bit hungry."

"The twenty-fourth then?" Ise suggested. That surprised Argo further.

"Uh, okay," she managed.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 12th Floor, Taft. January 2024]

The inn up in Panareze was packed. The first time I'd gone there was way past midnight, so I'd never actually seen it that packed. But this time there were quite a lot of people around. In fact, there was zero space left.

So we switched instead to the inn in Taft. We'd gotten a quick bite at an inn and at the moment we were both just standing against the edge of the town. The place was like a balcony. According to Argo people came around here during sunset just for the view.

"Ya know, you surprised me back there," Argo started.

"Huh?"

"I thought for sure you'd jump at the chance when Kyra offered you one."

Oh, that. Yeah, I'd known just what that girl had implied back there. Right now I was a bit surprised. Did Argo really have to ask that question?

"Really, Argo?" I grumbled. "Fine, maybe a whole year or so back I might've been enough of a perverted idiot, but come on. I might be a pervert as you keep reminding me, but I thought you knew me better."

I expected some light jabs in return. Instead, Argo just stared at me for a second and then looked away. "You're right. Sorry," she muttered.

Okay, something was definitely weird. "Hey, are you feeling okay?" I asked.

"Huh? Of course I am, why're you asking?"

"Because you've barely made a sarcastic remark at me the whole day."

Argo's cheeks reddened slightly. "Shut it. Maybe I'm just saving up for later," she replied indignantly.

Oh. Well, if that's the case, fine.

A thought from before struck me again. "How come you're still using that cloak?"

Argo actually stiffened. "Wh-what do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, you know, after all this time it's durability should have long worn out."

"Ah! Well, you see, uh, the thing is, I, uh…" she stammered. She stammered. "I've, uh, I've actually been using, I mean, I've used this cloak, that is…" she went on, backtracking every other word.

"You rarely use it so it's still intact?" I suggested.

"No!" she exclaimed, making me flinch. "No, that's not it at all, just…"

She was stammering and she looked very embarrassed for some reason. Argo the Rat was stammering embarrassedly, while pulling the cloak around her as if she was trying to hide. And damn if it didn't look ridiculously adorable. She met my gaze and quickly looked away. Why are you acting so flustered?! You're making me flustered!

"I, um, I might have used a … a Crystal of Invulnerability on it," she said, attempting to sound light. She still wouldn't meet my gaze.

The item didn't ring a bell … wait. Wait a minute. "… You gave it the infinite durability enhancement?" I guessed.

"What about it?!" she snapped.

Well, that pretty much floored me. She liked it that much? It made me a bit happy, too.

"But, you know," I began. "I'm pretty sure there're better cloaks available nowadays."

Argo glared at me. "… Too much of a hassle," she said, looking away. That didn't sound very truthful, you know?

"A-Anyways!" she said loudly. "You actually did do pretty good fighting that boss, you know? If I didn't know you, I'd have thought you weren't scared at all."

And now a compliment. What is going on?!

"I was scared as hell!" I protested. "But I didn't really have a choice, did I? I had to do what I had to do."

"That isn't fear, Pervert. That's flat out bravery," she remarked. "Idiotic bravery, sure, but that still took a lot of guts."

"What, trying to fight something that could kill me just like that and feeling that I might have needed an extra pair of pants? … I wonder if I actually did soil them in real life," I thought out loud. "But anyways, you can't call that bravery, that was just having no choice, really."

"You did have a choice," she reminded me. "I ordered you to escape right at the beginning, didn't I?"

"Yeah, sure," I snorted. "And leave you there while wondering whether you'd survived or not."

At that moment Argo smiled widely. "See? You faced your fear of death for the sake of the others in that room. You ask me, that's being pretty damn brave. Thanks for that, by the way."

Now I was getting embarrassed. "Well, if you say so. Thanks for what?"

"For not listening to me and staying there with m – with the rest of us."

"You know, the fact that you're praising me this much is really freaking me out a bit," I said. Argo laughed.

"Guess I'm just in that kind of mood," she suggested. She turned around and gazed at the unending sky. I could vaguely hear her humming and it sounded familiar. Sunset wasn't too far off.

We sat in comfortable silence for a while. Argo kept gazing at the sky while with one hand she fiddled with the Oracle's Cloak. I was left to look at her and think about the weird girl that she was.

Now that I thought about it, was there some other reason why I turned Kyra down…?

Around then I remembered something. "It's been about a year, right?"

"Hmm?" she uttered, looking back at me.

"You know, a year since that day we first met. No, hang on, that was back in December, wasn't it…?"

She grinned cheekily. "You mean that disastrous first meeting?"

"Well, yeah. I kinda said something about your–" I stopped and froze. "T-that is, I said something that pissed you off and then…"

"And then I flipped you face-first onto the table," she finished, still smirking. "That was in December, though, not January. January was when I decided against all common sense to go check up on you."

This time I chuckled. "Yeah. You know, if you'd turned me down on that first meeting, I'd probably be dead right now."

Argo seemed to consider that. "Actually … nope, you'd definitely be dead-nya."

"Yep. Where do you think you'd be?" I asked.

Argo raised an eyebrow. "Me? Let's see … I'd probably be dealing with a crapload of boredom."

"Huh?" I didn't get what she meant.

She sighed. "If I'd left you there and we'd gone our different ways, right now I'd probably only get my entertainment out of my work. So in other words, I might've been bored out of my mind and have only one person to regularly talk to. I might not have met Gen-kun and Rurin either. And I wouldn't have this cloak too."

Wait a sec. Was she saying that… "Are you saying that–"

"That there's never a dull moment around you? I guess, yeah," she clarified.

I probably sat there open-mouthed and dumbfounded. "Don't get a big head over it, Pervert. You're still an idiot among idiots," she continued, smirking slyly.

There she goes, finally. "Even my Unique Skill might've been with someone else, huh?" I wondered out loud.

"And that person might not have been able to save Gen-kun," she said. "… or me…"

"Sorry, I didn't hear those last words."

"Never mind."

Pretty sure she said something else at the end of that sentence, but whatever. "But man, I am never doing a boss battle again," I breathed out. "That was way too much pressure."

"You sure about that? You are strong enough, you know."

"Nah, I'll leave clearing to the actual clearers. I got way too lucky this time around, especially since you were there."

Argo froze. "Eh?"

"I'm pretty sure I'd have died several times over if it wasn't for you. That shockwave attack for instance. So, I guess I should be saying thanks."

"Y-you're welcome… doesn't that mean you owe me one now?"

"Huh? Wait a minute, I think we're more or less even now, aren't we?"

Argo smiled. "Maybe, maybe not." She turned back to the side.

"… I still owe you a lot…"

"Didn't catch that, sorry," I said.

"It's nothing," she said quickly.

Silence fell again. I thought back to our words just a few minutes ago, about where we'd be if she'd just said no way back then. So she thought I was fun to have around… Well, I know I'd be lost without her. I guess I did owe her.

"Hey, Argo?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad that you didn't walk out on me back then. I'm glad that we got to know each other better, I guess."

Argo didn't react immediately, but then smiled brightly. "That makes two of us, Ise."

*~B~*

[Interesting.]

Welsh Dragon Ddraig mused on the events of the day.

[It was quite the shock when I felt Great Red looking at me,] he thought out loud – for a given value of 'out loud'. Kayaba Akihiko's plans seemed to get farther and farther away from understanding the more days went by. However, that wasn't what Ddraig currently found interesting.

His possessor had subconsciously activated Boosted Gear and gone through one Boost. But strangely enough…

[His physical power levels did not change even the slightest bit. So exactly what was doubled?]

Ddraig wondered if somehow something about Hyoudou Issei's virtual body had changed. Perhaps the so-called 'stats' had doubled? Of course, he didn't exactly know much – or anything at all – about these gaming environments, but from what he had seen and heard through his possessor's senses, he'd gathered some bits of knowledge.

[Ah, it doesn't matter. I'd best just savor the fact that Great Red himself now owes me a bit of a favor.] That was what Great Red's silent message had clearly meant.

And so, unseen and unheard by anyone, Ddraig chuckled in amusement.

*~B~*

[Aincrad 100th Floor]

"Uhyahyahahahah! So you even managed to do that, hmm? Wow, I'm really impressed!"

"I did not do it for your amusement or entertainment."

"But it's still funny! Hyahahah! Hey, hey, what do you want me for, anyway?"

"A source of energy, and nothing else."

"That's mean, you know."

"You are one to talk."

"Hah! Hey, come on, let me walk around a bit. Pleeeeaaase?"

"I am not one to underestimate you. I cannot risk allowing you even the tiniest opportunity."

"Come on! I won't do anything beyond blowing up players! I promise!"

"I am not a fool, Rizevim."

"Pheh. You're boring."

*~B~*

[Aincrad 31st Floor. January 2024]

~Midnight~

A player in a tattered cloak hurriedly ran out of town to escape the guards. Normally, they wouldn't be a problem, but these guards were programmed to find and attack Criminals, and they were virtually invincible.

His name was Ghost and his cursor was yellow.

Several minutes later he arrived where the boss had told him to go. Sure enough, there was someone waiting, playing with a knife. His iconic poncho made him instantly recognizable.

Ghost ran up to him and stopped ten feet away. "It's done," he said.

He didn't understand. Why did the boss tell him to join some mid-level guild over a month ago and then, after that whole month of nothing occurring, tell him to end them?

PoH, leader and founder of Laughing Coffin didn't reply. "I heard something interesting, though," Ghost said. "There's a mid-level player out there with a Unique Skill. He's a friend of the Rat, it seems."

PoH didn't make any indication that he found the news interesting or surprising. Ghost wouldn't be surprised if the boss already knew what he'd just told him. He seemed to know everything.

"Did you get all of them?" PoH finally asked.

"Yeah. Sleep PK. Not one of them woke up. All of Hyena Pride is dead."

Ghost felt no remorse, no guilt. He was doing what he enjoyed. In fact, he did feel regret, but only because he hadn't gotten to see the betrayal and fear in their eyes when he had killed them.

"No," PoH said, the knife landing in his grip once more.

"'No'?" Ghost repeated, confused.

"Not all dead. Yet."

The knife flew faster than he could react, almost like a laser. Before he knew it, PoH's knife was in Ghost's throat. He quickly jumped back and eyed his HP – and turned as still as a statue.

The HP kept falling, and it was falling rapidly, with no sign of stopping. In two seconds flat, it had hit zero.

Ghost stared at PoH in abject shock and terror. "Oh, don't worry, you'll see me again," PoH said nonchalantly, sheathing the knife. His large cleaver-like dagger hadn't even been touched, and all of Laughing Coffin knew that that was his strongest weapon. But even if he had used that…

"How–" Ghost began, but then his avatar shattered.

Only PoH was left in that area. He sighed.

"That was quite the poor choice of last words."

*~B~*

This was GIGANTIC. Absolutely GIGANTIC.

The first apology I have to make: I know, I turned Kirito's crazy dial up to eleven. That's the result of watching The Matrix again, I suppose…

Second apology: I know, there was a crapload of action.

This took three weeks to write because, well, as you can see, it is flipping massive. Maybe I really should have split it into two or three pieces – or even six pieces like Floor 11. But meh.

I am not going to apologize for the several plot twists I pulled in this one chapter, no sirree.

I'm still kind of undecided on exactly which piece to write for the next chapter. Should I do the last part of Fina's story (which is basically the canon chapter Black Swordsman from a different POV), do I do part seven of Dragon and Rat, or is there something else?

I know, even when Kirito's in the spotlight, he hasn't done much. There was this really funny moment I wanted to put in regarding the word 'Scorptoise.' Make of that what you will, but couldn't place it in.

I called this one The Eight Warriors, but I only gave seven of said eight a POV segment. Well, the chapter was getting overstuffed anyway.

And 300 Follows! Woohoo! Next achievement: 200 reviews.

Either way, I won't be able to work on the next chapter until Saturday, so yeah.

Punitor567 out. El Psy Congroo.