Before we begin, I just wanted to say that the term "point blank range" technically means any range where the bullet doesn't drop off away from where the sights are pointing. For a correctly sighted pistol and a decent caliber, this would be over sixty feet away. Go correct your friends so that they too can give you that look that everyone always gets whenever I start a sentence with technically. Though, much like how literally now means figuratively depending on context, I don't think anyone will kill you for saying "point blank range" and meaning about a foot away.

Oh, and a warning. There's some touchy stuff alluded to in this chapter. Prepare your mental fortitude or abandon all hope.

Now that I got that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

(Kirito's Perspective)

Klein wakes us all up, we get our bags packed, ready our weapons and head out. It's only about an hour and a half to the chamber we expect to find the monster barring our path. Sure enough, we arrive and get a vaguely nostalgic feel. These doors seem to be similar to the boss doors in each dungeon of Aincrad, built into the metal around it and seeming so out of place in an otherwise randomly twisting dungeon. I look around and see only determined faces. Everyone knows their roles, and it's time to roll.

Klein steps up, presses on the door, and it swings in of its own volition.

We all peer into the darkness.

Two great big red glowing eyes open up and glare at us. A wave a foul smelling hot air blasts us as the creature hisses.

Klein gulps. "Alright, let's go!"

As we had discussed the evening previous, Klein and Hisashi charge in, Assault rifle and twin SMGs roaring at the nebulous creature. Then Lizbeth, Peyton and Silica follow behind them. Lastly, Henrietta and I deploy to just inside the door. Chris is standing between us, ready to provide support where it's needed.

What greets my eyes is quite amazing. Beyond the black veil covering the door is a great beast, at least twenty feet from paw to shoulder. The front of its body is a lion's, from its massive head to about midway down its back. Then a goat head pops out of its spine halfway down its back. The rear feet are goat's hooves. Finally, the tail is a snake's head, curling around independently and hissing at us.

I had reclaimed my visor for this effort, which means Yui is currently with me. "That's a Chimera. It's one of the nastiest beasts on this server. All three of its heads have their own attack patterns independent of each other, so it's like fighting three beasts at once."

I raise my M95 and start looking down the scope. "What am I aiming at?"

"Its weak points are its three heads. The body can absorb a lot of damage, so it isn't worth firing at its core. However, the heads move erratically, so it is much harder to target them."

Beside me, Henrietta fires a round from her rifle. It nails the lion's head right in between its eyes. The beast roars and lowers its head like a bull getting ready to charge.

Klein calls from his position to the left of the creature. "Scatter!"

I dodge to the left, tucking my shoulder down to roll and come right back up to my feet. The chimera blows past me hard enough that the force of the wind off of its body almost makes me lose my balance. I raise my massive firearm and hardly need to aim before pulling the trigger.

The report reverberates around the chamber. I take a quick glance at the health bar in the top corner of my vision.

Only a tiny chunk has been removed. So tiny that I have to be looking for it. This is going to be a long battle.

Peyton seems to have come to the same conclusion. He puts away his pistol and pulls out a grenade. He pulls the pin and lobs it at the goat head protruding from the chimera's back. The small cylindrical object explodes midair and another small chunk of the beast's health bar goes away.

"Use explosives!" He screams to all of us over the gunfire.

Lizbeth curses loud enough that I catch some of it and she drops the pistol she had been using to unsling the grenade launcher she had left equipped and at the ready. She lines up a shot and squeezes the trigger, launching a grenade high into the air.

The chimera spots it and crouches down, allowing the relatively slow projectile to sail right over its goat head.

That means, being on the opposite of it from Lizbeth, the live round is heading my way. This time, I have to dive to get out of the way, and the blast still hurls me a good fifteen feet before I come to a complete stop. My side feels a bit shattered, so I pry open one eye and look at my health. One hit and I'm already half down. Good thing I moved too. Normally Friendly fire is turned off for groups, but explosive do damage to whoever's within the blast radius indiscriminately.

I need to get myself a grenade launcher. Those are way overpowered.

I roll to my stomach and press myself off the ground, getting my feet under me just as the snake head strikes at my position. I reflexively kick out and the long neck-tail.

That was a mistake. The snake whips around and latches onto my extended leg. One huge yank later and I'm being dragged around the room. My health quickly fades down to single digits.

The snake whips me in Silica's direction. The surrounds blur with the speed that I'm being sent at her. At the last second, she dodges towards the creature.

This may seem like a stupid move, but anyone who's ever fought with something long knows that there's less force closer to the center of rotation than at the tip. When she stepped closer to the base of the tail, she effectively lessened the speed of the object hitting her.

And then suddenly I'm sailing through the air Snake head still lodged into my leg. I see that the neck of the creature had been slashed apart by Silica's blades, freeing me.

I hit the wall at a tremendous speed and almost black out. One hit point left. I quickly pull out a med pack and apply it to my person as quickly as I can, since one errant strike sends me back to the surface. I watch my hit points climb instantly back up halfway- and then they start to drain away again at an even pace. I pull out another med pack and apply it, but the steady hit point drain doesn't stop. I pull out yet another healing item before I notice what's going on.

The snake head is still alive. The one eye I can see is glaring up at me. Its jaw is still gripping onto my leg. I drop the health kit and grab for my rifle. It's a few feet away, seeing as I lost it when I slammed into the wall. I crawl to it as fast as my numb legs can carry me, finally reaching it and bringing it to bear on the snake head.

Three shots at point blank range. The head doesn't look like anything anymore, and certainly isn't moving. I let go of the massive weapon with my left hand and pluck what remains of its fangs out of my leg.

My hit points are still going down. I watch helplessly as it ticks down to one... and then stays there. A purple droplet appears next to my health bar.

I look back to the chimera to see how much health it has, only to find that I don't have my goggles anymore. I look around for them, but they're somewhere I can't readily see them. There is quite a lot of debris scattered around, so it's probably behind something.

I whip my rifle around to look at the main creature.

Lizbeth is now landing shot after shot, yelling something incomprehensible. Chris has placed down a mobile turret which starts to chew into the beast with a steady stream of bullets. The three members of the Spec Ops branch circle it to distract its two heads and keep it confused. I can't see Klein or Henrietta.

I quickly reach back into my menu and search around for an anti-venom. My heart sinks as I find the spot it would be in, yet it's not there. I switch from my inventory to my stats screen. There I can see the details of the poison effect. It's going to still be applied to me for another three minutes.

For those three minutes, I'm going to be one hit point away from death.

I take cover behind an unidentifiable lump of metal and poke only enough of me out that I can set the M95's bipod onto the mound. I peer through the scope and find another thing to add to my list of problems.

Without Yui's ability to enhance my aim, I'm having trouble trying to acquire and keep a target. The chimera dances in the viewfinder and I find myself looking away from the scope to see what's actually going on.

I wait for what seems like a good chance and pull the trigger. The rifle jumps due to the recoil.

And then I realize I have no idea if it hit. I re-steady the rifle and look through the scope. Without a damage indicator, the only sign I hit would be a red mark where the bullet penetrated.

That proves to be a fruitless search as the beast is covered in the red glow of multitudes of successful hits.

The others continue to fire on the chimera, explosion after explosion drowning out all other noises. The air smells of gunpowder and the smoke from so many weapons and explosives of varying types.

I stand back up. If the creature sees me, it's a bit too busy to track me. I pull the weapon up close to my chest and take a deep breath. Reload it. Pull one special piece of equipment out of my bag and attach it to the side of the rifle. One hit point. One mistake, and it's all over.

Then I charge the chimera. The goat head notices me and spits some sort of goop at me. I let my legs buckle and slide under the blast before continuing with barely a second's time lost. The goat head bleats again and the lion head turns to me. It leaps into the air and lands facing me, immediately taking a swipe at me with its claws.

I skid to a stop just in time, the massive claws raking through the air in front of my face. I aim the rifle upwards, past the creature and pull the trigger on the gadget I had stuck on it. The grappling hook pays out, the spear-like point burying itself into the wall high off the ground. I hit the button again and it yanks me upwards. I release the grappling device from my rifle mid-air, carefully timing the release to land on the chimera's back.

And then one of Lizbeth's grenades impacts the lion's face. The chimera rears back and makes it impossible to land properly. I hit the beast's flank and quickly scramble with my free left hand to grab onto the matted fur underneath me. I get a secure handhold, but the goat head now has me in its sights. It rears back to spit more goop at me.

The sound of Henrietta's rifle comes in slightly louder than the rest of the cacophony. A terrifying bleating noise assaults my ears and I can see that Henrietta managed to get on of its eyes. A very impressive shot, considering how much the chimera moves. I'll need to thank her later.

I toss my rifle straight up into the air as far as I can and climb three handholds before I have to reach out and snag it.

The chimera's back legs kick out and they manage to plow straight into Hisashi. He goes flying and hits a wall pretty hard. I don't have time to see if he's alright since the Chimera decides to start bucking around wildly, possibly to shake me off.

I use the momentum from the movements to swing the rest of the way onto its back, right between the lion's mane and the goat head. The goat notices me with its good eye and it tries to do the goop thing yet again. I take two steps right up to it and jam the barrel of my rifle into its mouth.

Now would be a good time for a witty one liner, but I didn't have anything prepared and I'm not good at making them up on the fly. Instead, I just pull the trigger five times, expending all the rounds in the M95's magazine.

Its one good eye bugs out and it tries to scream, but my rifle is blocking its throat. I whip out my pistol and fire it less than a foot away from the goat's good eye, almost guaranteeing a good shot. I expend all of the ammo in that weapon as well.

Somehow, it's still making those noises and trying to spit out my rifle despite now being completely blind. I scramble at my sides to find if I have something, anything, to end this thing's life.

I draw the knife I had fought Silica with a week ago in reverse grip, blade down. The blade is thrust down hard into the chimera's goat skull once, twice, and three times.

It gives one last strangled gasp and the chimera's back legs give out.

The lion whips around and I get tossed off of its back onto the ground.

Well, I'm not dead. That's a good sign. I look up to see the beast staggering around, having a very problematic time trying to maneuver and swipe with its claws.

Those that had been busy circling the chimera to distract it disperse. As I try to get to my feet, I can see Chris heading toward where Hisashi was thrown. Peyton and Klein rush over to me.

"Kirito! Are you alright?" Klein asks after he reaches me.

"I'm alright. I was poisoned by that snake head, but my health isn't dropping below one hit point."

He glances away from the monster occupying the center of the room. "You we're at one hit point before you attacked the thing?"

I shrug. "The medkits wouldn't keep my health up and I have no antidote."

"Which means you ask one of us for one." Peyton hands me an antidote and a medkit. "Preferably before you charge something five times your size and your teammates panic while looking at your health." He pokes a small glass screen on the side of his head. I guess those serve the same function as the goggles?

"Right." I look back at the monster and up to the now dead goat head. It still has my rifle jammed down its throat. "How much health does it have left?"

"Less than fifteen percent." Peyton says, eyes flicking to the small screen. "With it so slowed down, we'll be able to take it out in about, oh, two minutes if we stay cautious."

"But you lost your weapon. Stay. Here." Klein tells me firmly. I raise my hands in defeat, still holding onto the medical supplies Peyton had given me.

They both turn and head back towards the chimera. I take the antidote and down the foul tasting liquid. After a few seconds the little drip icon next to my health bar goes away and I apply the medkit. My health restores to just over halfway.

I get to my feet and peek over the rubble around us.

Lizbeth is just finishing loading grenades into her launcher. "This is the last of my ammo!"

"Make it count!" Klein bellows back.

Silica dashes up the struggling creature and slashes at its leg with her dual blades. It tries to swipe at her, but it has to shift its weight first which gives Silica a large opening to retreat.

Lizbeth fires a grenade into the chimera's mouth as it roars and the round goes off in its throat. A gout of flame escapes its jaws.

Chris comes back from the direction Hisashi had been flung and brings a huge pistol to bear. He squeezes the trigger three times.

The lion gives off one last pained roar before it collapses to the ground.

For a second, everything is silent. Then cheers break out.

I slowly walk towards it and start looking for a way to retrieve my weapon.

"That was awesome!" Silica cheers. Lizbeth gives her a high five.

Klein sits down on a chunk of rubble and takes a deep breath. "Good job everyone." He brings up his menu. "We have four hours until Kuradeel's deadline. Ammo check?"

Lizbeth's cheerful smile turns downwards. "Only five grenades left for my launcher. I'm down to the last of my other explosives as well."

"I used up everything but a case of pistol ammo." Silica says. "I still have my blades though."

Chris appears once again with Hisashi in tow. He seems to be walking, but Chris is definitely steadying him.

"I spent less than two magazines of my rifle ammo." I say. "And one magazine of the pistol ammo."

Peyton opens his menu. "I didn't use much. I have five frag grenades left and all my SMG rounds."

Klein nods and looks at me. "And what about you?"

"I already told you-"

From right behind my sitting position come's Henrietta's voice. "I used one magazine of rifle ammo."

I slowly turn around to find standing right behind me. If I had leaned back, I would have hit her stomach with my head.

"Okay, you don't have to stand so close to me." I mutter.

If she hears me, she shows no signs of it.

"Chris?" Klein calls out.

"I'm good. Hisashi?"

The man shakes his head back and forth. "I spent most of my ammo distracting it. I'm down to twenty rounds of nine millimeter."

Klein nods. "I'm hurting for ammo too. Now, we need to make a plan."

Chris arches an eyebrow. "Aren't we going to rush the plane?"

Klein shakes his head. "Too risky. Kuradeel might decide to pull the trigger early."

"Then, what is the plan?" I ask.

"Well..." Klein begins.

(Asuna's Perspective)

Kuradeel paces back and forth in front of the screen he had rigged up, probably for my benefit. He had been staring at that screen since he had made that threat to the heads of the military branches.

He does occasionally stop to talk at me, but for the most part he just stares at his screen, chewing his thumb and giggling to himself. Well, he did leave for a long while right after the threat, but not since then. He also never lets go of that briefcase.

Just as exhaustion starts to overtake me again, he turns around in his chair and strides right up next to the bed and leans down so his eyes are right on level with mine. His are completely bloodshot and open wider than you usually see.

"Asuna, it seems like those in charge aren't willing to let us rule the world together. A shame, really. I'll just have to pull this little switch," the suitcase pops open. "And press this button, then this one and this one. And then everything for a mile around will go up in flames. We'll be alright, since we have extra lives to spare. According to all the information I found, the surface of this world will destabilize. That will throw everything into confusion. In the mass hysteria, we will become the next rulers of this reality!"

He started to stare off into the distance during that, but he refocuses on me before continuing.

"Just you and me, Asuna. We're going to make this place our own. Nobody else but us on this server. For ever and ever."

I can't even muster the energy to respond. Hunger has gnawed out a cavern in my stomach and effectively robbed me of any response.

"I'm glad you agree! Too bad we're both going to have to die before I can make our perfect world."

He turns away back to his screen, but turns right back. "Of course, before I detonate the bomb, why don't we have a little fun?"

A chill runs down my spine as his hands head for me...

(Klein's Perspective)

"Everyone ready?" I whisper to those around me.

"Affirmative." Lizbeth says. It's echoed directly into my ear by a small earpiece that Peyton "just happened to have lying around in his inventory."

The others respond in kind.

"Kirito, are you ready?"

His voice comes across the comm units. "Almost. This place is a maze- WAHHHHGG-"

I quickly rip the device from my ear. Once the noise buzzing out of the earpiece stops, I carefully put it back it. "Kirito?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just broke through a rusty grate." A few grunting noises come through. "I'll be back in position in five minutes, according to Yui."

"We'll be going ahead." I say.

I stop paying attention to the earpiece and head towards our target.

We stand at the edge of the biggest cavern I have seen since Aincrad. The full length of an aircraft carrier serves as the floor of the cavern, with a sparse few vehicles strew about it. The ceiling is made of the typical jumble of metal, but seeing it so unsupported is more than a bit unnerving.

"Our target is the large blue and white plane in the middle of the flight deck," I remind those around me. "We're going to approach as fast as we can without breaking stealth."

A chorus of faint murmurs is my only response.

We head towards the plane, sprinting from cover to cover, using predetermined hand signals to point out a route. It's a good thing we came up with hand signals for 'trap', 'bomb', and 'holy shit' before-hand. Kuradeel is fascinated with bombs alright, and after the welcoming party on the surface Chris had warned me of I decided to be a lot more cautious.

From the map data the Army sent us, this aircraft carrier was supposed to be entirely clear. That was the first cue that something was amiss, but all the things rigged to explode if someone bumps into that sheet of metal over there or doesn't see the almost invisible wire stretched between two cars when they try to pass between them.

I hold up my hand and everyone stops behind me. I point down at yet another tripline. I wait for a response and then carefully step over it.

Something snaps. All my muscles tense up for a fraction of a second.

We all dive in a random direction, and I barely cover my head before a bomb goes off.

I stay down for half of a second before leaping to my feet.

"Kirito, we've been made. Hurry up on your end." I draw my assault rifle. "Everyone else ready to go?"

The rest of my team slowly climbs to their feet. All of them look alright. Silica gives me a "v for victory" gesture.

"Alright. Battle positions. Make sure you don't trigger any more traps. Let's go."

(Asuna's Perspective)

A loud boom sounds through the walls of the plane we're on. Kuradeel stops moving his hands, gets up with a sigh and looks at his monitor. "Looks like someone's here to ruin our fun. I'll take care of them, and I'll be right back."

He exits the room for the first time in... well, he said he'd give the leaders a week to respond, so a week?

He had removed all my bonds, but I'm too weak to fight him. That was a well-timed explosion in that it just barely saved my modesty.

Something inside me tells me to get up, get a weapon and fight him. I muster all my strength, but I can barely move my arm. There's no chance of me being able to fire a weapon accurately in this state.

If I had some of his explosives, I could threaten to blow him up. Or I could attempt to blow myself up. That sounds like a mercy at this point.

With great effort, I lift my head to look around.

I don't see anything I can use. Only a chair, a dresser, a briefcase-

Briefcase?

(Klein's Perspective)

"Klein! Here he comes!" Hisashi's voice comes from over the radio.

The door to the plane opens and Kuradeel steps out.

"Yeah, I see him." I respond.

He lifts up his right hand. "Hello, guests. I'm so glad you decided to knock before you barged in. Now, I have no idea where any of you are, but this remote that I have in my hand will make all the bombs on this aircraft carrier detonate if I let go of the remote. If you shoot me, I'll lose my grip, so I suggest you all do as I say."

He looks all around, grinning. "Now, why don't you all come on out? I know that there are seven of you, so if I see any less I'm going to be mad, and I might just drop the remote on accident in my fury."

The only one of my squad I can see is Lizbeth. We exchange a look.

"I'm waiting. You have until the count of three. One. Two."

I take a deep breath and step out into the light from a spotlight mounted outside the plane.

Kuradeel turns to me. "Klein? Is that you?" He laughs. "They sent you? That's just too funny. How've you been buddy?"

I just stare at him. He shrugs and glances around as a new face enters the light.

"Lizbeth? Does that mean that Silica's here too or would it be too much to ask for a reunion of the Aincrad survivors?" He looks around expectantly.

Silica steps into the light, followed closely by Hisashi and Peyton.

"New faces, too. Unfortunately this is only five of the seven people I know are down here. Why don't you have the other two come out?"

I carefully reach for my radio. "Come out. Right now, it's in our best interest not to tick him off."

Henrietta slinks out from the shadows, soon followed by Chris.

"Ah, good. Now I don't have to blow everyone to little bits." Kuradeel leaps down from the wing of the aircraft and casually leans on the landing gear. "I knew the military was going to send some people down here. Do you want to know how I know this?" He smirks. "This plane has some really nice gear on it. I hear all sorts of things I'm not supposed to. Like, how panicked the generals are. I managed to hear that they were sending a group down to retrieve me, but I wasn't privy to the specifics. This is quite a nice surprise to be honest. I get to see you all one more time before I become the ruler of Gunstorm."

"Do you really think that we're going to let you?" Henrietta growls.

Kuradeel turns to her and bows theatrically. "Ah, we haven't met. My name is Kuradeel. I'm the one with the massive bomb and lots of smaller ones scattered around you."

Henrietta's fingers flex, but she restrains herself from drawing her pistol. Her teeth are grinding loud enough to be picked up by the earpiece though. I'm so very happy she didn't kill us all.

Kuradeel turns to Hisashi and Peyton who each have a hand on one of Silica's shoulders, which are shaking. "Looks like you've got some new friends, hmm? All of you in the Special Ops branch and you still somehow didn't disarm and neutralize all my bombs. I applaud you general incompetence." He turns to Chris. "You... I have no idea why you're here. You look like a mechanic."

Chris grunts an affirmative reply.

"Not very chatty. Oh well." Kuradeel looks down at the remote. "So boring. I thought they'd be better entertainment."

"I still don't understand you plan. Peyton speaks up. "Can you tell me how this is going to work?"

Kuradeel's face lights up. "Really? You're interested? How wonderful! I won't have to kill you just yet."

A shiver runs down my spine. I hope Kirito's job is going better.

(Kirito's Perspective)

Interesting thing to note about aircraft carriers: They are fricking huge. Without Yui I might've wandered around under here for days before finding an exit with the sheer volume of corridors and rooms. As it is, with the decay and other obstacles that presented themselves, I'm just glad I got out of there none the worse for wear.

I climb out onto the deck right on the opposite side of the pane from the direction the others came in from. I can't see anybody, but that just means they're doing their job and staying hidden. I slink up to the landing gear and start testing handholds on the various surfaces before I start to climb.

Klein had been given some schematics of this plane and we figured the best point of entry would be through the landing gear bay. Though it's normally sealed off from the rest of the plane, this version has an emergency escape hatch for in case the plane is ever under siege. Thankfully, Kuradeel doesn't seem to be guarding this entrance too closely.

I make my way into the bay and start working on unlocking the panel when a detonation goes off outside of the plane.

I don't know what happened, but I can bet you it's not good. I redouble my efforts and manage to poke my head through the hatch just in time to see Kuradeel head out the door and start talking. I don't listen to his words at all, instead heading away from him to find the briefcase and possibly Asuna.

"Yui, do you have any idea where we're going?"

"No. We were only given a small piece of the plane to work off of, so it is hard for me to find a precise location. However, this plane is relatively small and should be searched quickly."

Alright. "Lead the way."

I currently have my pistol drawn and ready to go in case there's someone else down here, though I severely doubt it. Yui leads me through tight hallways that seem to twist around themselves, making sure I can't find what I'm looking for.

"Yui, I think we've been in this room before."

"Yes. We have backtracked to where we opened up the floor to gain access to this aircraft. Unfortunately, these plans are outdated, seeing as they say that a corridor exists back the way we came, yet we encountered nothing but bunk rooms."

"I guess it doesn't matter." I look up at the flight of stairs curling down to the first floor of the craft. "I'm going to try the second floor, okay?"

Yui nods. I creep up the ladder to find a kitchen area. It doesn't look like it has been used at all, lots of random junk piled around.

"Okay, next spot."

I clear a few more rooms before stumbling across something of note. I almost passed it over, but through the mostly shut door I can see the blue glow of a screen. I carefully budge the door open. I walk up to the monitor after deciding that there aren't any traps lying around. The monitor has three scenes on it. One that shows the camera feed from outside. Kuradeel seems to be having a chat with everyone. The second display shows a basic outline of the plan and a few "more valuable" items that Kuradeel was looking up. Finally, there's a screen with what seems to be recordings of the higher ups, specifically their tactical data.

None of the key prompts make any sense, so I just press a few buttons to see if I can change anything. Nothing happens as far as I can tell.

A noise from behind me catches me off guard. I whip around, pistol in hand.

Behind me, through a doorway I hadn't seen on my way in, is Asuna sitting on a big bed. She looks weak and tired, but she has that glint in her eye that shows she's going to go down fighting. She doesn't seem to be wearing all of her clothes, and of the few she still has on, most of them appear to be halfway to off. Lots of rope pools around her, presumably her bindings. In front of her on the bed is a black leather...

Oh, shit.

I slowly put the pistol down and tuck it into the holster on my belt. For some reason, she's not lifting her head up. I softly call out to her. "Asuna? Are you alright?"

She starts. Well, kind of. A small muscle spasm traverses her frame. After a second, and as if it's taking all her concentration to do it, she lifts her head up.

"Kirito?"

For a second, the expression on her face is one of unhappy surprise mixed with relief.

Then the bag in front of her beeps. "Detonation in five minutes."

(Klein's Perspective)

Having gotten bored of telling us of his plans (three times over) Kuradeel decided to ask us about how we got down here.

He asked Silica to talk.

"Well, we were on a different mission and then the general sent us the message you sent them. Then we got ordered down here to stop you."

"All seven of you were on a mission? That's odd. What were you doing?"

"We were hunting down Kirito." Silica says.

Kuradeel seems to ponder this for a moment. "So Kirito got into this server as well. I'll have to make sure to kill him a few times and make sure he doesn't mess up my plans. How many times did you kill him?"

Silica shifts her feet. "Once."

Kuradeel freezes. "Once? Only once? That means he could be anywhere!" Kuradeel's right eye develops a constant twitch. "That means that asshole could be following you down here. He'll kill me and then take Asuna away from me again." He hand grips the device harder.

What happened next might have been avoidable if there was only Silica or only Henrietta, but with the both of them I was unable to silence either.

Silica says, "He promised not to kill you before he gives you a chance."

Henrietta says, "How dare you talk about him like that!"

A wave of terror spreads through my body as the silver haired man slowly turns to the two girls. "What did you say? He promised you what?" He turns more towards Henrietta. "You don't want you target to be disparaged? Somethings not right here."

Then the light comes on in his brain. "He's on the plane, isn't he."

The dead silence serves as enough of a confirmation.

Without so much as a glance backwards, he hauls himself onto the wing of the plane and dashes inside.

The rest of us aren't far after him.

Well.

That concludes chapter 25, and possibly the last chapter I will post during this semester. I know, cliffhangers suck.

I noticed that when I sort stories in the SAO category by reviews, I am now on the front page. Thank you to everyone who helped get me there.

We're entering the endgame as far as this fic is concerned as well. I'm thinking probably another five chapters or so.

Thanks for reading, and I hope ya'll stick around until the end.

P.S. I think I turned Lizbeth into Nora Valkyrie in my head somewhere along the way. This is disturbing me greatly.