Hi everyone, SemiInsaneCentipede here (finally) with the twenty-ninth chapter of Player Killer Killer! I made a significantly longer chapter this time, partially as an apology of sorts for the wait, and partially because I want to finish this series on a nice round thirty chapters. I do not own SAO, I only own my OCs. Please enjoy.

Player Killer Killer

Chapter 29

I slide Marmatrix from its sheath and hold the its glittering blade before me. Shin-Jin and Ereni also draw their weapons. Six players with various arms and armours spill out of the cave and stand in a semi-circle around the entrance. All of them have green player markers, I notice, but I'll wager they weren't always that way. "What do you three want?" One of them asks brusquely. Their feign at ignorance confuses me briefly, but I soon understand. No-one between our two groups has openly said that my friends and I are here to kill them, so why would they jump to the conclusion that we are here to kill them when it is still within their cards to play innocent? That way it looks like it's my group that are the bad guys. Very well, that card can be played from my hand as well.

"What we want shouldn't be a concern." I reply lightly. "After all, no-one owns that cave, it seems that your lot should have no issue with my friends and I entering."

"Yeah well… We're looting this dungeon now, and we don't want to share!" the same player who spoke before answers. I raise an eyebrow. "How courageous. Looting a safe zone. Are you proud of your achievement?" Ereni snickers, and notably, so do two of the other players blocking our way.

"W-well maybe I am!" Comes the reply after a moment, followed by one of the other players muttering: "Smooth…"

After that small humiliation, the one who appears to be their leader sniffs indignantly and attempts to regain some face. "What are you three here for, anyway?" He sounds miffed.

"The same reason you're protecting it." I answer. If they are – or are hiding – player killers, then this should put an end to all subterfuge, if not, and they actually are here to loot a dungeon, then this whole conversation is very stupid, and I will bitch-slap Ereni a new mouth for his mistake in leading us here. "Huh, who are you with?" They ask. "I've never seen you lot before- oh, oh I see." The player laughs after a quick glance over my head. "Well, Rin, we've been instructed that should you appear, we were to let you in."

Everyone sheathes their weapons as we are lead into the cave. The path starts as a stone tunnel with rough walls that curves slightly to the left, but it then opens up to reveal a large cavern lit up by huge, curiously pale blue crystals that jut out of the walls at irregular intervals. The cavern must be seventy-five metres deep from where we are, but I can't tell you how far it was from bottom to top as the ceiling is shrouded in darkness. The bottom appears to be a small, clear – but stagnant – lake, I'm guessing that it runs fairly deep as floor cannot be seen beneath it. In the middle of the lake there appears to be a small island of brownish rock with a stone monument on it, the details of which I am unable to discern at this distance.

Shin-Jin, Ereni and I are directed down the path that follows the vaguely circular shape of the area. Looking ahead, I can see that the path descends slowly, but only reaches halfway to the ground. It reaches its end with a wider chunk of rock and continues through a tunnel that has been cut into the cavern's walls. Below the entrance to the tunnel, there are several metre-wide 'natural' stone bridges that span the width of the cavern, I can see several players walking along them, so clearly the tunnel system is quite expansive and provides a whole extra layer to the structure.

We are lead into the tunnels and through a confusing series of corners, all ultimately leading downwards, until we finally emerge at the bottom. We didn't pass anyone along the way, but I can feel the eyes of many onlookers on the back of my neck. Shin-Jin also seems suspicious; his head faces forward, but his eyes are darting in every other direction. "Ah, if it isn't Rin." My attention snaps to the front and I see two people standing on the small island at the centre of the lake and we are lead across a narrow wooden bridge to cross the lake. Our six escorts rearrange themselves behind us, blocking off our escape route back over the bridge, leaving Ereni, Shin-Jin and I trapped between them and…

"Rivan. Rosalia." I greet the two standing before us.

"I believe this is the first time we have officially met." Rivan tells me. "A little birdie told me that you wanted me dead." I fix him with my best condescending and cynical glare.

"Please, you're nothing special. I want everyone in this cavern dead, minus myself and Shin-Jin here." Ereni's expression suddenly becomes extremely concerned.

"Hey! What about me?" He cries indignantly.

"Decision pending." I snap sidelong at him before giving my attention back to Rivan. "My point is: you can all consider your lives to be at an end as of this day."

Rosalia steps forward, her chosen weapon, a lance, is strapped across her back, the silver blade glinting softly. "It appears to me that you are out-numbered." She chuckles, and I turn my gaze to her. "It seems you finished your prison term." I say. "Tell me, are you out of practice?"

"Hmhm, far from it, boy." She replies. "After your visit and my release, we of Titan's Hand merged with Laughing Coffin, since then we have had no shortage of… entertainment." I regard her darkly.

"It seems you've only degenerated further." I tell her. "Good. Now any shadows of doubts I might have had have been obliterated. You can consider that ten second head start I promised you to be over."

"Tch. You think that you'll be any match for an entire cavern of foes?" Rosalia asks me scornfully. I open my menu and push a few buttons. "Yes. Now, let me show you this so we can instil a pecking order." I reply and reveal my level to everyone. I hear the six players blocking us off gasp and Shin-Jin follows my lead. Ereni tries to get in on our fear-mongering, but his level seventy-six doesn't quite have the same effect as two level eighty-eights. "Well, Poh did say that a fight would be unavoidable," Rivan speaks up "however, I feel inclined to ask you three to simply give up your lives and save me the trouble. So, surrender?"

"That is a good joke." Shin-Jin tells him.

"I had figured as much." Rivan replies, turning around and walking towards the squat stone monument that had previously been hidden behind him.

"This trap is rather predictable." Rivan calls back to us as he circles around the monument, which consists of a pedestal with a golden goblet sitting atop of it. "It is painfully obvious as to what will happen if I remove the goblet, this place being a safe zone only confirms my suspicions." Everyone watches Rivan closely, even Rosalia seems on-edge. Delicately, he plucks the goblet off of its pedestal and instantly the whole cavern starts shaking. I widen my stance to avoid losing my footing and look around. Dust falls from the darkness of the ceiling, the luminous crystals' light flickers and the water around us turns to a caustic green. "Interesting!" Rivan calls out above the noise of the rumbling cavern. I unsheathe my weapon and Shin-Jin does the same, flowed by Ereni a few seconds later.

A distant but thunderous roar can be heard coming from the darkness above. Gradually, it gets louder, as if something is falling. "Brace yourselves." I mutter, but not with any volume. A dark figure falls down from above, narrowly missing some players on the thin stone bridges as it passed them. It lands and crushes the monument into rubble. It rises, it's humanoid… well, vaguely, I don't know of any humans with arms a metre thick. Its skin is rock and has glowing blue crystals all over its body. In one hand it holds a giant club that is at least four times the size of me. It reaches its full six metres of height and from its asymmetrical rocky face erupts a guttural roar. I hear cries of alarm throughout the cavern above and briefly glance up to see a myriad of different rock monsters emerging from the walls, some land on the bottom floor, but the large one before me now is the only one that appears on the island.

Shin-Jin and Ereni both whip around to face the colossus to our backs, but I remain facing Rivan and Rosalia. The safe zone icon disappeared the moment the goblet was removed, so now everyone essentially has free reign and I refuse to trust at my back two people whose modus operandi for the last two years has been to kill other players. Everyone else draws their weapons simultaneously, and at Shin-Jin's cry of "Rin!" I leap to one side as the rock monster – whose name take reads King Rocker - brings its club down on where I had just been. The grating sound of the club on the ground lasts for a second, and from the point of impact a large swarm of dust and sand shoots in all directions and engulfs me entirely.

Picking a random direction, I leap from my crouched position and roll away as I hit the ground again. I stand up and find myself between Rosalia and Rivan. I raise my blade to strike one of them down, but Rivan speaks first. "How about we become friends until this is all over?" He asks. I pout and look back to King Rocker to see Shin-Jin leap out of range of a sweeping attack while Ereni opts to flatten himself on the ground to avoid it. "Alright, fine." I agree begrudgingly. "This is your fault." I mutter for only myself to hear. "Then let's go help." Rivan says as he rushes forward, closely followed by Rosalia. I fall in step and as we draw close and Rivan takes up a stance, I step diagonally towards Rosalia and, with a quick strike, take her head clean off.

The sound of a player shattering is louder than I remember and Rivan turns his head as Rosalia's body disintegrates. "Wha-?" He begins to cry out, but we both have to scramble away as King Rocker slams its club down once again. I slash with the Marmatrix to dispel some of the dust around me. "Traitor! It hasn't even been ten seconds!" Rivan screams at me from the sand cloud. The rubble clears and I glare at Rivan, who is sprawled out on the ground and slowly rising. "Ironic, coming from he who betrayed everyone in the game by becoming a player killer." I tell him. Before he can stand fully, Shin-Jin runs into view and cuts Rivan along the base of the ribcage as he passes. "What?" Rivan manages as his arms below his elbows fall to the ground and shatter while his head and upper torso fall backwards and explode into red polygons. "It would seem that nothing obstructs the initial objective." Shin-Jin comments as he crouches athletically to run again.

"Got that right." I agree and we both sprint at King Rocker and the two surviving player killers, the other four, I assume, where killed by King Rocker.

Shin-Jin runs in a wide arc around King Rocker while I run directly at it. It swings with another sweeping blow, but I'm already too close to the enemy for the club to hit me without it hitting King Rocker as well. I see Ereni trying to stagger out of the monster's range, one of his hands completely ripped off. King Rocker raises one foot and it's almost too late that I realise that it is intended to crush me. My left foot shatters to nothing as I leap away and my chest hits the ground. I am once again engulfed in sight-obstructing dust. "Damn it!" I groan, reaching for the potion of bodily perfection that I have taken to keeping at my hip. The potion shatters and my foot regenerates. As I go to push myself up, the dust clears enough for me to see the shadow that has darkened the world around me. I roll to the side and the foot crashes to the ground not a centimetre from my elbow.

"This is ridiculous." I grumble as all I can see becomes a brownish haze. I reach out with my left hand and claw at King Rocker's leg until I can get a handhold. It doesn't take long; its limbs are largely just a heap of differently shaped rocks connected in a line. With the Marmatrix between my teeth, I do the same with my right hand and find a suitable nook for my fingers just as the leg begins to rise again. I grunt as I struggle to ascend to the knee. The foot comes down and I yell out a wordless curse as I am thrown back to the ground and become blinded once again. "I've had it with this sand!" I cry out and prepare split lunge. The dust and sand settles once again and I aim my attack high and release it.

My attack puts me high above King Rocker's head and I fall down and land on its shoulders, one foot either side of its head. Raising the Marmatrix high above my head, I plunge it down and skewer the monster's malformed head. The geological nightmare's entire form begins to glow a bright yellow and seems to inflate slightly before exploding into red crystals beneath me. I drop to the ground and turn to face Shin-Jin. "Well that was a minor distraction."

"Hm." He responds. "Where's Ereni?"

"You mean this pathetic little boy?" Shin-Jin and I snap our heads in the direction of the overly-cocky sounding voice. The two remaining player killers have Ereni pinned to the ground and one of them has his sword to Ereni's neck. He whimpers weakly.

"I saw what you two did back there, killing Rivan and Rosalia." Ereni's captor tells us, just in case we weren't aware of our own actions. "I'd say I'm well within my rights to kill this here lad, don't you think?" I laugh. A loud, clear, humourless laugh that stands out from the chaos of the rest of the cavern. Even Shin-Jin looks a little uncomfortable. "What's so funny?" The second player killer barks at me and I wave his question away. "Oh, sorry, you see, you said you were 'within your rights.'" I chuckle before dropping all pretence. "You see, you're a murderer; you forfeited any rights to rights you had when you went and killed someone."

"Oh, and you're much better?" The one on top of Ereni taunts and I stare directly at him, into him.

"No, but if the trash cleans up the trash, then no-one clean has to dirty their hands." I reply with utmost sincerity. "You're being an awful smart-arse for someone who's friend's life is in my hands."

"If you were really so hell-bent on getting revenge you'd have already killed him." Shin-Jin cuts in.

"Oh? Well then, I might just do that." Comes the chilling reply.

"Hey!" I exclaim, taking a step towards Ereni, a hand outstretched desperately, pleadingly. But it was too late. The blade was already halfway through his neck. Ereni's eyes seemed to ask 'why?' I dropped to my knees as Ereni's head shattered out of existence on the ground. With a roar of rage, Shin-Jin launches himself at the two player killers. His first strike splits the one that killed Ereni from head to diaphragm and his second cuts the other one from shoulder to the opposing hip. "Damn it." Shin-Jin hissed through grit teeth. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have goaded the bastard."

"Why?" I mutter, remembering Ereni's confused expression at death. "Why does someone clean always have to die? Shino… why?" I feel tears well up in my eyes. Ereni never killed anyone, he didn't deserve this!

"Arise, Rin." Shin-Jin commands and I look up at him standing over me. I can only imagine how pathetic I look, helpless, weak, ineffectual… useless. "Stand up, Rin, get back on your feet."

"I… I…" It's all I can manage. I try to rise, but my legs won't move. I end up feebly sliding to one side. Shin Jin walks behind me and forces me to rise by lifting me up by my left elbow. "Stand up, Rin, or what you just saw will be repeated again and again." No. No, I can't let that happen. I cannot sit idly by and watch as people like Shino and Ereni are killed. Here, of all places, in an artificial game especially. We don't even die under our own names here, we are only remembered by a misnomer, our username, a false identity. I would rather die as Rin than be killed as Rin.

"Get off me." I tell Shin-Jin roughly as I stumble away from him. I straighten up and sheath the Marmatrix. "L-let's go." I managed.

"Rin, you're crying." Shin-Jin tells me bluntly. "If you can't go on-"

"Why wouldn't I cry?!" I yell at him. "Someone innocent had died!"

"Rin!"

"Someone… someone has to cry for the innocent." I stutter. "The weight of such a pure loss must be felt." I cough, it is a raw, painful cough, one that scrapes the sides of the throat sadistically as it leaves. That wasn't the game's doing, it can't make you feel pain, I felt that, that was a product of my mind. Is this what I should be feeling? "Rin…"

"Why don't you cry, Shin-Jin? Aren't you sad? Are you unaffected by the death of our ally?" I interrogate, but he remains cool. "I will cry later, when I am in a safe place to do so. I will ensure that I am alive to honour their sacrifice." He replies. I turn my eyes to the ground, rub my knuckles into them and sniff loudly.

"Alright. I'm good now." I say after a few more seconds. I draw the Marmatrix again and look up at the bridges stretching across the cavern's maw, they look clear. "I suppose the fighting's gone inside." I muse. Shin-Jin opens his menu and looks around.

"It's still a danger zone, so there's definitely monsters still around. Human and not." He informs me.

"I'd suggest that it's safe to say that the entrance is blocked off until all monsters are cleared." I say, then adding: "Well, I hope the entrance is blocked."

"Yes." Shin-Jin agrees, almost purring "We wouldn't want anyone guilty getting away."

"Indeed. We are trapped in here with them as much as they are trapped in here with us." The ground floor looks to be safe. Well, as safe as a cavern-turned-bloodbath can be; there are no monsters or player killers here. Shin-Jin and I begin walking quickly, heading towards the tunnel we used to get down here. "It's the only tunnel to the ground floor." Shin-Jin tells me. "I didn't see any offshoots on our way down the last part, so no-one will be able to flank us."

"Perfect." I respond as we confidently stride through the tunnel's mouth. (Wait, this is the end of the tunnel, isn't this its backside? Never mind, a thought for another time)

Ten paces into the tunnel and the roof collapsed on us. Shin-Jin leapt forward to avoid the debris while I leapt backwards with a yelp that made me question my progress through puberty. The dust falls and is illuminated by the pale blue glow of a large teardrop shaped crystal. "What?" I hear Shin-Jin mutter from the other side. The glow momentarily subsides before shining again, this time with even greater radiance and I hear a slight krik! "Is that going to…!?" I begin but am cut off by the crystal exploding. I drop to my knees as most of the pale shards rocket over my head, but a low-flying one jams itself into my left shoulder, dealing small damage. I stand again to see what looks to be a sphere of jumbled grey wires. A health bar appears above its head, naming it The Awakened.

The Awakened slowly expands, the wires loosen and float for a moment, still obstructing the object at its centre, if there even is one. "Oh no." I mutter as I realise what is about to happen. I start slashing wildly with the Marmatrix as wires come lashing at me. I cut many down, but lots of them still hit me. The damage they give is minute, but it will wear down my health if I don't pay attention. A continuous, wordless roar rising in volume tells me that Shin-Jin is also fighting on the other side. Each wire curls back maliciously before it strikes, each action they make accompanied with the sound of a whip cracking. I manage to protect my body well, most of the hits I receive are to my outer arms and legs, which wouldn't be a problem if there weren't more than seventy of them. I sever one, and then three in one slice. The Awakened's onslaught continues for another twenty seconds before I hear Shin-Jin's cry halt abruptly, only to resume with a short, definitive "HRAGH!"

The Awakened shatters into nothing and I see Shin-Jin standing in front of me looking exasperated. "I killed it." He realises, opening his inventory for a health potion. I do the same, damn monster was giving me bleed damage. "What the hell was that?" I ask. "I thought this was supposed to be a low-level dungeon."

"Maybe it's difficulty is scaled to the players within?" Shin-Jin suggests. I nod.

"It must be. How did you beat it?"

"I hit the thing in the centre." He tells me. "It's easier with my kind of sword, your rapier is more suited to poking." I grunt agreement.

"Let's not get separated like that again. There will probably be more of them." I grab a few more potions and crystals out of my inventory and attach them to my belt before we move on.

The tunnel turned upwards rather steeply and when we were halfway up the incline, another Awakened dropped down in front of us. "Here we go." Shin-Jin mutters.

"We've only fought one, but I'm already sick of them." I say. Pulling a crystal from my hip. The Awakened's shell explodes and the wires begin to separate from the core. "Yeah, yeah, let's try this." I mumble, pitching the crystal at the monster. It shatters on contact and erupts into flames with a deafening bang! The smoke clears shortly, leaving no trace of the monster to be seen. Shin-Jin chuckles. "I didn't know you had grenades."

"Excuse you, that was a 'Potent Crystal of Spontaneous Inflammation and Force.'" I correct him with a posh falsetto. Shin-Jin snorts. "So, a grenade then?"

"A grenade." I agree. We continue up the path, encountering two more Awakened, which I dispose of in identical fashion, before reaching our first room.

Four players stand in the centre of the room panting. "Let's pretend we're one of them." I whisper to Shin-Jin as we approach. "What were you doing down there?" One of the players ask as we approach. "No-one's supposed to be down there."

"We got knocked off a bridge, fell into the water." Shin-Jin answers easily, saving me from staggering over my words as I would have undoubtedly done. I simply nod agreement. "Huh." Comes the reply. The hell am I supposed to make of that? Is that belief? Disbelief? Acknowledgement? I cough before speaking. "W-what happened up here?" I stutter. Fighting appears to tax my speaking capabilities. One of the players waves a hand vaguely. "Ton of monsters fell from the roof." Shin-Jin nods and one of the other players call out to us. "Either of you two got a health potion? I'm all out."

"Sure." I reply, opening my inventory and tossing them a potion.

"Than-wait, this isn't for health."

"I-it isn't?" I stammer, walking over as they present the item description for me to read. "W-well, it would seem I have mistaken a Potent Poison of Grievous Harm for a health potion." There is total silence. "W-who'd have th-thought?" I add lightly. Silence resumes and one of the other players takes a half-step towards me, slightly raising their hand-axe. "Hey, are you-" They don't get much further as Shin-Jin cuts off their head and turns to face another player wielding a sword. I poke my rapier through the player I tried to poison's throat and turn to face the fourth and final player, who jams their lance into my chest. "Rude." I tell them, unclipping a grenade and throwing it at their chest. The player explodes just as Shin-Jin steps past his opponent's defences and slices off their sword arm before rending them in half horizontally.

Shin-Jin walks over to me. "So, which way?" He asks and I look around at the two passages that exit the room excluding the one we entered through. "Left or right. Do we have the dungeon details?" I ask and Shin-Jin shakes his head. "We only have map data for the parts we came down through."

"Great." I mutter. "Go over to that tunnel, tell me what you hear." Shin-Jin does as I say while I do the same with the other tunnel. "There's fighting up there." Shin-Jin calls out.

"Alright, let's go that way, I'm getting nothing over here." I reply. The sounds of fighting gets louder as we march through the left tunnel, thankfully no more Awakened drop in on us and we reach the other end of the tunnel unmolested. We are confronted with one of the thin bridges that span the width of the cavern. A few player killers are up ahead combatting a tall monster composed of crystal limbs and holding a long, glowing rapier. "Just wait, I think." Shin-Jin says and we simply watch the player killers shatter one by one before the monster whose agility betrays its size. The last player killer has a large shield and blocks several attacks, being driven back a few steps. The monster, seeing that their current method was not working, changed tack and struck with a wide, sweeping blow at chest height. The player saw the attack coming and moved their shield to intercept and blocked the attack flawlessly. However, the momentum behind the strike sent them flying out into the air with a surprised scream. Shin-Jin turns to face me. "So, how are we going to go about this?" He asks. "I'm sure we'll work it out." I respond.

"That's awfully carefree of you."

"Yes, that'd be because that thing's almost on top of us."

"So it is." Shin-Jin notices as he turns back to the front, taking up a stance as the monster, which I can now identify as Crystal Dualist runs towards us with almost silent steps. I throw a grenade at its feet, but the explosion doesn't even make it stagger. I leap backwards behind Shin-Jin as he steps forward to intercept the Dualist before it can get off the metre-wide path and onto our wider space at the mouth of the tunnel. Shin-Jin slashes with animalistic intent, blocking every strike that comes his way with force, changing his stance frequently so that he always had a foot behind him to counter the momentum of each strike. But he's all defence. He is unable to approach the Dualist, its arms are too long and its rapier is at least one Rin in length. I need to do something. Should I stay low and try to cut out its legs? No, it'd be too easy for the Dualist to run me through before I even made it halfway there. An idea springs to mind.

"Shin-Jin! Stay still!" I yell at him. The Dualist switches its attack from a thrust to a low sweep which Shin-Jin jumps over. "No, I really don't think so, Rin!" He calls back.

"Get low, I'll spring off of your back!" I call out, already running up to him. Without a response, Shin-Jin follows my instruction and I jump, planting a foot on his shoulder and launching myself skyward as he stands up, grunting as the Dualist strikes his lower torso. I prepare and release Split Lunge in the air, the Dualist is too far away for me to catch it within the 'split' range of my lunge, but my force drives it backwards and reeling. As I drop to the ground, I lose balance trying to maintain my grip on the Marmatrix as the Dualist twists and begins to fall over the edge. I curse loudly as I begin to fall with it. Time seems to slow as we descend. My face goes below the level of the path, I can still reach out, but I'm too slow and my torso falls below the path. Maybe a foot? I kick out trying to hook my foot onto the ledge, but my leg isn't long enough! I drop helplessly, unable to stop my fall, the Dualist hits the ground and my head smashes into red as it rams into the crystalline monster's body at breakneck speed.

Or so I envisioned. I feel a strong grip wrap around my ankle and tighten, halting me abruptly. The Dualist continues to fall, a savage jerk running up my arm as the Marmatrix rips free. I'm panting heavily, eyes wide and heartbeat at deafening volumes, suspended upside-down in the air. I am pulled upwards, or is it down if I'm upside-down? Shin-Jin lets out a lion's roar as he yanks me to safety. He stands up while I shakingly make my way up onto all-fours. "I-i-i-i-it was a-almost ov-over for m-me." I stumble erratically.

"It can't end for you now. Not when we're so close." Shin-Jin pants heavily, lowering himself to sit down. We are silent for a minute or two. "Th-thanks…" I manage eventually, colour creeping to my cheeks. "No… no problem." Shin-Jin responds after a few seconds. A minute later I sit back on my knees before slowly rising to my feet. "This is getting intense." I mutter as Shin-Jin rises.

"Y-yeah." He agrees.

We slow our pace to a walk as we cross the path, encountering no more enemies on the way. Another room awaits us, this one splitting off into four directions. Shin-Jin opens up his map. "Right, we came through that way," he points ahead "so which one are we going through?" We repeat the exercise we did with the last room. "Fighting through all of them." I conclude when we meet back up. "Should we split up?" Shin-Jin asks, but I deny him before he even completes his suggestion.

"No!" My voice comes out high and shrill, I clear my throat before repeating myself in my normal tones. "No. We shouldn't take that risk." He nods understanding. "Let's go with that one." I say.

"Any special reasoning?"

"I've decided. Also, that one over there is the exit, we don't need that just yet."

"Apt."

Our next tunnel has us fight two more Awakened which I dispose of with grenades. "Really, they've just become nuisances." I scoff to Shin-Jin after the second. The sound of fighting becomes louder as we press on, but suddenly, just as the tunnel's exit came into view, it stopped. We halt abruptly and look at each other. "I think someone won." I say.

"Well, it's either player killers or monsters, so it's little victory for us." Shin-Jin responds. Peering into the room, we see a colossal, pale blue… thing. It is a jagged-teardrop-shaped thing with four crystal legs, one in each cardinal direction. Each leg is massive, shaped like a spike, the point skyward and expanding as it goes down, ending in a giant hammerhead about a metre in diameter. The body of the monster is like a tall square-based pyramid, held up by its legs more than two metres above the ground. Jutting out from beneath the body is a strange black contraption. "That looks like a lot of trouble." Shin-Jin whispers to me.

"Let's hope it's really slow." I respond in identical fashion.

We carefully creep into the room. I maintain a low stance as I approach what looks to me more like a fortress with legs rather than a monster. It stands with perfect stillness, and in this earthy underground environment styled as a natural phenomenon, such a mechanical quality is unnerving. Sometimes I forget this is all a game, with your life on the line, this is truly as immersive as things can get. With your mind so focused on staying alive you must see everything as real. In reality, this is all intangible, yet it can do the very tangible action of killing you. I take a deep breath and hold it. This is all intangible; it technically doesn't exist. If it doesn't exist, then it has no norms to follow, with that being the case, this machine-monster should not look out of place in these surroundings. I release the breath and take another step. That it looks strange should not concern me, especially after the innumerable other strange things I've encountered up until now. Shin-Jin is a few metres to my right and is stepping as softly as I am, his eyes are focused, his lips are parted in anticipation and his breathing is inaudible. He is the epitome of calm and violence. I tighten my grip on the Marmatrix and step again. I cannot help but feel… watched. An odd feeling manifests below my diaphragm. Players cannot feel sensations as a result of the game's processes, so this is something more akin to an instinct.

We each take another step and the crystal monster comes to life. Its body jolts slightly and it begins to glow with vitality. I hear Shin-Jin curse quietly, and I assume a stance from which I can easily leap in any direction. The monster, now able to be identified as a Refractor shuffles around a bit, turning on the spot, its steps sending a rumble through the ground as its long health bar manifests showing a slightly depleted green. I exhale shakingly. We're both too far away to be able to do anything of effect to the Refractor, and we still don't know what this thing can do. There is silence after the Refractor settles – I think it rotated forty-five degrees – and we wait for something to happen. Shin-Jin goes for another step and-

We both leap in opposite directions as a blue beam of light shoots out of the Refractor at us, the beam has enough breadth to have been able to hit us had we remained still. I turn my dodge into a roll and rise back up to my feet running. I decide to approach the Refractor in a circular manner while getting closer. I see Shin-Jin opting for a more direct approach, running directly at it. He dodges another beam of pale light, but not perfectly, as it takes out a chunk of his left arm. Before I have time to check if he's okay, I'm confronted with my own assault. Blue crystals come flying in my direction with the velocity of bullets and the quantity of a bee swarm. I grit my teeth and ramp up my pace as the crystals stick in the ground where I was not half a second ago. I hear the VWOMMMM of the light beam fire again, but thankfully it's not in my direction. I keep running, my progress towards the centre slowing as I can only turn so hard at this pace without losing my grip on the ground and falling. I could change tack and imitate Shin-Jin's direct approach, but that would mean I would have to stop, or at least dramatically slow down, to change direction so drastically, and with the Refractor's crystals almost stabbing my heels, that's just not an option right now.

I keep running while trying to think of a way to combat the colossus. The shooting stopped for a second… or so I thought. Maybe I imagined it? Maybe I briefly heard what I wanted to hear rather than what actually happened? Can't be sure, the shooting has started again, if it ever stopped. I haven't seen Shin-Jin for a while. Is he dead? I hope not. I've had too many friends die already. The thought did occur to me that I had at one point ran past Shin-Jin and had him killed by the crystals meant for me, but I really don't want to think about that possibility. I thought I heard the shooting stop again! But surely I'm wrong, the crystals are back again, not that I'm certain they ceased. I see up ahead many crystals stuck in the ground. This must be where I started, a quick glance further ahead confirms it; the crystals follow my earlier path. I need to approach the Refractor, I can't afford to step to the outside of the circle I've already made, chances are that if I step on the crystals in the ground, I'll get stuck.

I step inside the circle and something catches my eye up ahead. Is that… a gap in the crystals? I run past it, it is a gap? I risk a glance over my shoulder to confirm my suspicions. The spot where the crystals had stopped firing earlier was the same as where they had stopped this time around. I start running even faster to get to the next gap, putting distance between myself and the onslaught. I reach it and skid to a stop. The crystals are catching up, they're metres away, I'm poised to jump, ready to run again and… they stop. An eerie hush falls over the battlefield. I look up at the Refractor. Well, no wonder it can't shoot me, I'm in line with its legs! It can't see me! That must mean that the crystals and light must be coming from the monster's black under-carriage protrusion. I approach the Refractor, keeping in line with one of its massive legs as I do so. As I get closer, I see Shin-Jin's head poke out from behind another leg.

"Oh good, you worked it out." Shin-Jin calls.

"Eventually." I respond, now standing next to the leg that had stopped the onslaught. "I don't suppose we can wear down its health by hitting its legs, can we?" Shin-Jin shakes his head.

"No, I tried already. Your sword will just bounce off." I grunt irritably. "What surprises me," he continues, "is that it hasn't moved its legs again to try and find us."

"Strange. Maybe it only did that as its opening animation?" I muse.

"I highly doubt that." He replies. "The opening animation would have played when the Refractor had appeared to fight the player killers here earlier." I nod understanding.

"That sounds about right." I concede. "More importantly, what do we do from here?"

"Well, kill it, presumably." Shin-Jin mocks before becoming serious. "I think the black bit at the bottom is the weak spot; it's the only area that isn't covered in these crystals we can't break." I go to the edge of the leg I'm hiding behind and peek around it, jerking my head back as a barrage of crystals flies at me. "Well we're going to have to be quick" I comment.

"Can't you just use your split lunge?"

"Probably, but… at what angle?" I consider. "If I go straight up I'll die because I'll end up inside the damn thing."

"I didn't think of that. Hmm…" Shin-Jin trails off.

A minute passes. "Well, I'm probably the best bet for hitting the weak spot." Shin-Jin speaks up finally. "So you've got a plan is what you're saying?" I ask hopefully and he nods.

"Somewhat." He admits. "The under-carriage is fairly high up, so if you run directly beneath it and I use your shoulder as a launchpad, I can get the height I need to cut it. I would say for you to jump off me like last time, but my sword is more suited to slashing effectively."

"What do you mean, somewhat? That sounds pretty well thought out." I tell him and he smirks.

"Yes, but it's what we do after that bit that has me worried. Does it die? Does it fall and crush us? Do we rinse and repeat?" He waves a hand with exasperation.

"Well, that is a way to find out." I say. He looks up into nothing for a moment.

"Let's go."

We found out what happens after you hit the under-carriage. Our plan proceeded quite well, and the answer to Shin-Jin's queries was none of the above. I ran out and knelt beneath the Refractor, as it turns out, it cannot shoot straight down. Shin-Jin followed, I rose as he jumped off my shoulder and successfully landed a deep cut on the under-carriage. The Refractor did not die, nor did it fall on us and we had no reason to repeat our actions. This was because the monster, with a sudden show of vitality, leapt up some fifty metres and stuck itself to the angled ceiling with the spikes atop its legs and begun to move around like a four-legged spider. I remain silent with my jaw slightly open in disbelief while Shin-Jin stated with absolutely no enthusiasm: "Awesome."

I imagine that my pasty pale face went even paler when the Refractor started firing its crystals again, but I didn't really have the time to check. This time multiple streams of projectiles emerged from the Refractor, one followed me and one followed Shin-Jin while three others shot out crystals without any specific directive. The ensuing chaos was characterised by Shin-Jin and I screaming while we frantically ran, dodged and jumped over crystals that came our way or that were already stuck in the ground. "How the hell do we beat this?!" Shin-Jin cries out as he leaps over a line of crystals. I gasp as I have to use split lunge to escape from two incoming streams of crystals as well as the one following me. "No… idea…" I manage to splutter back. I grimace with concentration as I come to a part of the floor that is entirely covered in crystals eager to pierce my feet. Unable to identify a better route in the second that I have to observe the situation, I desperately tip-toe my way between crystals while trying to maintain my pace. It works for the most part, but I reach the other side of the area with about ten sticking out of my calves.

Abruptly, the shooting stops and I slow to a light jog to watch what's happening. The Refractor has stopped moving around on the ceiling and walls and now its under-carriage begins to glow. This thing had better not start taking pot shots at us. The light begins to shape into a ball which then begins to grow in volume. "What is that?" Shin-Jin asks incredulously as I start running again. The light turns into a beam that strikes the ground. Unlike the other times it has fired, this beam lasts longer than a second and runs in a line along the ground, destroying everything in its path. Shin-Jin curses and the second attack barely misses him. Another two fire before one comes remotely near me. "It's firing randomly!" I shout to Shin-Jin.

My statement turned out to be more true than I had initially realised. The beams were now abruptly switching between curved and straight paths, even scorching the walls as its violence intensified. I let out a wordless yelp as my foot vanishes into nothing from one beam and fall to the ground, my head almost landing on a spike. I drink a bodily perfection potion and slowly rise. "Nothing to do except wait it out." I murmur. I could try and use split lunge to get up to where the Refractor is, but that would make it even easier for that thing to kill me. Not only that, but split lunge is also only available to the fastest player in the game, a title whose holder constantly updates. There was a time while imprisoned that I lost the move, but I regained it using the merits from the other skills I'd trained while in there. If there's no other way for us to attack the Refractor at the moment, then there will be in the future. In the past, even seemingly impossible to defeat monsters showed weakness to the efforts of perseverance. No monster would be made so that only one person could defeat them. If that were the case we'd likely only be up to floor thirty.

My suspicions prove correct, with the Refractor ceasing its barrage and jumping down to the ground. I approach it with caution while Shin-Jin runs at it full-pelt. The Refractor's stance… it seems… tired. It holds its body lower to the ground than it did before, its legs are at a wider angle. Half its health remains, but it already looks defeated. Shin-Jin cuts through the under-carriage once more with a roar followed by a gleeful cry as the Refractor's health jumps to zero. Something's odd. It hasn't shattered yet. "Shin-Jin!" I call out as the Refractor begins to glow. Shin-Jin curses and begins to sprint towards me. "Of course it has to exp-" the rest of his sentence is swallowed by the explosion he sought to describe. While I am outside of the explosion's radius, the wind it causes does lift me off my feet and send me flying backwards. I hit the back wall with a thud and cry out as Shin-Jin lands on me. We both tumble to the ground.

"W-well," I stammer after Shin-Jin climbs off me "if I'd known explosions killed it, I would have thrown a grenade." I take Shin-Jin's offered hand and he helps me to my feet.

"If we come across another one of those," he sighs "I'm not interested." I nod agreement.

"Too much trouble." I look around the room. It looks much larger now that there is no longer a grotesque centrepiece dominating the space. "We came in that way, right?" I ask, pointing.

"Yes," Shin-Jin confirms "now look opposite."

"Ah, our way forward." We approach the unexplored tunnel and find that it has a steep incline about a metre in that goes high enough that we cannot see over it. Wordlessly, we climb the gradient carefully. Shin-Jin, the taller of us, peers over the top first. "What am I seeing here?" He muses quietly. Curiosity piqued, I take another step forward and look for myself.

The tunnel doesn't go very deep and comes to an end ten metres past the top of the rise. Chained to the back wall are seven players, all green. There doesn't seem to be a pattern among them, they're all from different guilds judging by their armours. One of them spots us and whimpers pathetically. "I think we're just more red players to them." Shin-Jin whispers to me.

"I don't suppose we can just leave them be?" I respond hopefully.

"Rin, we're the good guys, of course we can't." I groan at this, a distant memory stirring at the back of my mind. "Fine." I surrender. We mount the rise and approach the players, some of which try to scramble away and merge with the wall while others appear to have accepted their fate and stay silent. "Calm down, we're here to free you." Shin-Jin says in an attempt to placate them, but it only sends them into new hysterics. "I think 'free' has multiple connotations." I tell Shin-Jin and he groans. "Whatever, just cut them down." One of the players screams upon hearing this and I snicker as Shin-Jin hides his face with a hand. "Let's just be done with this." Another player screams in distress and Shin-Jin snaps. "SILENCE!" He thunders. The screaming stops and dies down to a low murmuring. "Just…" Shin-Jin tries to articulate his words so as not to set them off again.

"It's alright, I know what you mean." I say.

Three of the seven imprisoned players sprint away the moment they are freed. "Some appreciation please!" I call after them with no reply. The remaining four still appear suspicious of us, but they don't run away. "What are you going to do with us?" One of them asks after a minute of silence. Shin-Jin shrugs. "Nothing, you're free to go."

"You're here to set us free?" Another asks me.

"W-well, not specifically." I admit. "You were just, s-sort of, along the w-way." We leave the players with some potions and Shin-Jin gives them some of his spare weapons, something I don't carry as the Marmatrix has infinite durability because of its dual role as the key to an underwhelming treasure trove. "Be careful," he warns them "it's gone to hell out there." We walk back with them until we reach the crossroads room. Shin-Jin opens up his map. "The exit's that way. Always take the path directly in front of you" He directs them. Three of them thank us and jog in the direction Shin-Jin indicated, but the fourth stays.

"You, Rin." The fourth player says to me. "I'm a member of Angelic Light. Did you ever help a player named Marine?"

"Yes, I did." I confirm.

"I'm a personal friend of hers. I'd like to thank you for that." My face reddens.

"Oh… That's alright… um… do all of Marine's friends get captured like she did?" I ask without thinking. "Rin!" Shin-Jin hisses, but the player, Diver, laughs.

"Well, it would seem so." He chuckles. "As thanks for my friend, let me help you." Both Shin-Jin and I grimace at this. "Appreciate the offer, but maybe not." I reply.

"Yeah, I really don't think you want to get involved in this." Shin-Jin agrees. Diver hesitates.

"Why, what are you here to do?" Shin-Jin and I look to each other awkwardly. There's really no nice way to put it. "To kill everyone." I eventually confess. Diver is silent.

"I think you're right." Diver finally breaks the silence. "I think I'll go with the others."

"That would be for the best." Shin-Jin latches onto his suggestion gratefully. Diver begins to head off but looks back when he reaches the entrance to a tunnel. "Rin, Marine said you were a good person, so I'm sure that you have your reasons for doing this." Diver turns completely to face me, shrugging helplessly and holding his palms to the ceiling. "There's always another way." With that, he turns his back on us and leaves. Shin-Jin and I are silent for a moment. "Maybe he's right." I mutter. "Maybe there is another way…" Shin-Jin looks over at me cautiously.

"Rin…" His voice trails off, leaving me with no clue on his thoughts on the matter.

"But," I announce to the space where Diver had stood "I don't want to find it just yet." I could say that I was sated, but that would be a lie. At heart, I am still incredibly livid about what happened to Shino. "Rin?"

"Shin-Jin, we continue." I command. "There's only one pathway from here that we haven't tried. Let's go."

"Heh, I never doubted you." Shin-Jin chuckles.

"Anyone would think you relish killing." I snipe at him.

"I'll admit: I get a rush from it. But mostly I just have a soft spot for vigilante justice."

"You're sick in the head." He snickers at this.

"Lead on, O brother in illness."

The unexplored tunnel takes us through some more rooms that have one path leading on from them and sometimes a dead-end alcove in one side. We don't encounter any more monsters. "The lack of action suggests that Laughing Coffin won these fights." Shin-Jin tells me and I nod agreement.

"We'll have to be careful, these ones will be stronger than the others we've fought."

"You say that, but I thought Rivan was supposed to be tough."

"You caught him by surprise. He was a fool to trust his enemy blindly."

"Figures." He scoffs. We continue journeying through the caverns, after a while, the tunnels begin to become more inclined than before and we no longer come across larger rooms. "Must really be in the tunnel system now." I mutter to myself. Our tunnel comes to an end with a bridge. The bridge is about halfway up the main cavern's height and appears deserted. Silently, we cross. I walk behind Shin-Jin in case we need to pull off the manoeuvre we did with the Crystal Dualist earlier. We both scan the other bridges for signs of life, but find none. It's eerily quiet. This cavern was rumbling with energy about half an hour ago, yet now it is the absence of such vitality that is unnerving. We reach the other side of the bridge without a hassle. "Good." Shin-Jin sighs. "It's normally when it gets quiet that the trap triggers."

More tunnels contribute to the growing sense of unease in my gut. Our path begins to turn downwards and I am unable to ignore the feeling that things will soon reach their climax. My fingers shake, not with nerves, but anticipation and my eyes begin to dart around to every nook and cranny in what seems like a fit of hyperactivity. Shin-Jin also seems to be feeling something similar. His mouth is set in a straight, firm line, but his eyes stay rock still, unwaveringly watching the path before us. The end of the tunnel looms before us and, without a word, we both stop and crouch before proceeding. In contrast to our silence, a wall of noise hits us as we peer into the cavern beyond. Players, lots of them, talking, milling around, on guard, standing… waiting… and I'm willing to bet that there's not a green marker to be seen. "Do you think we should try to blend in?" Shin-Jin whispers to me and I shake my head. "No, everyone here will know me by name and possibly you as well." I look out again. "They're watching the entrance, so we will be seen going in. The only reason they haven't seen us is because we're in a shadow right now." Shin-Jin grunts agreement.

"Let's retreat a little so we can discuss this properly."

We walk back up the path about twenty metres and crouch back down beside each other. We are silent for a moment, considering our options. I finally break the silence. "I can't see a way for us to sneak in."

"Yes, and it only takes one to sound an alarm." Shin-Jin says, rubbing his chin. We are silent again before Shin-Jin abruptly chuckles. "Something funny?" He waves dismissively.

"Well, I was just thinking… Have you read a great deal of fantasy novels or stories, Rin?" I blink a few times out of confusion. "Uh… well, yeah, I've read a few… not for the last two years though, I'm only fif-" I stop myself and come to a sudden realisation. "Oh god, I'm seventeen…"

"Right, well, if you read a lot of fantasy, or any action-based fiction, really, you'll come across the notion of 'dying with honour' or for what you believe in." Shin-Jin explains.

"Martyrdom, yes, I know what you're talking about."

"I was just thinking, in today's world, this is one of the only situations where one could die fighting."

"There are still wars and people dying in fights in the streets… probably." I add the last part as I realise the world will have no doubt changed when I get back to it. If I get back to it. "Yes, but wars are more often than not about the people in charge than the individuals fighting it and street brawls lack the class of the sword."

"So… you want a classy death?" I ask, still not sure where this is going.

"That's beside the point. I guess I was laughing at the irony of us having so much modern technology that we want to play games where we reduce ourselves to medieval technologies."

"I see. I guess that's amusing, but it's the sort of thing I'd laugh about after I finish the game, not while it can still kill me." I muse. "Did this relate to our strategy at all or…?" I trail off as Shin-Jin gives a smile that is a mix of excitement and insanity. "I'm saying we just walk in and wreak havoc." I stare at him for a good minute. "You are insane. Now let's do it before I come up with something even stupider."

"This was a stupid idea." I state bluntly as player killers surround us in a circle like pack animals.

"Yes," Shin-Jin agrees "but it is terribly exciting." He's at my back and the Marmatrix is in my hand, which I point threateningly at anyone who gets to close. "Hey Shin-Jin, has your sword got a name?" I ask quietly.

"No, why?" He returns in a similar manner.

"You fool, you talk about dying a death like in a fantasy novel and you don't even have a named weapon to do it with." Shin-Jin lets out an explosive bark of laughter. His sudden jubilation cuts the tension and shatters it. The whole room is silent, except for Shin-Jin. I didn't think what I'd said was terribly, but Shin-Jin doubles over with laughter. Just as the player killers look like they're about to take advantage of the opening, the laughter stops. "Well, I'd better not die then, eh?" I hear him mutter. I go to look back at him, but he's gone. The clash of sword of shield tells me where he went and I sigh.

I run in the opposite direction. The player directly in front of me has a lance, but before they can use it, I run into them, driving the Marmatrix through their stomach and using them as a battering ram to break through the wall of players that is at least three layers thick. I throw off my meat shield and slash its throat, turning around to clash blades with a sword user. Using my free hand, I push up from below their weapon, forcing both our arms above our heads and launch my knee up into their stomach. I break our swords' contact as they bend over reflexively and fall to the ground. A quick jab in the back of the head ends our fight and I have to rapidly backpedal in the same instant to avoid the swing of a large axe. A polearm rockets towards my chest, but I twist my torso savagely to avoid it. I grab the weapon before the user can pull it back and yank it further forward. The owner, who was not about to let go, loses their balance and I drive my right elbow up under their chin and we both grunt, me with effort and them in surprise. With my elbow under their jaw, it's only a short and sharp twist of my shoulder to slice their throat with my rapier. As the player bursts out of existence, an axe – the same one as before – falls past my face, narrowly missing my nose, but severing the front half of my left foot.

My retaliatory flick of the rapier ineffectually nicks the axe-user's wrist as I awkwardly stagger backwards. I grab the bodily perfection potion from my hip, but before I can drink it, the axe is swung again, horizontally this time. I drop down to one knee, my intact foot planted firmly on the ground, and raise the Marmatrix. Using my hand with the potion to support the blade, I manage to deflect the oncoming blow. The moment the sparks appear and the axe passes by, I bring the potion to my lips and stand on two complete feet once more. The axe-user grits their teeth as they try to halt the momentum of their weapon to swing again, but I've already covered the distance between us. I stab my weapon through their throat and leap away as attacks from three other players come my way. The sea of player killers is too thick, I can't see where Shin-Jin is. I can hear the commotion he makes, so I know that he still lives.

This particular cavern is different to the others, something that I hadn't noticed before. While still largely circular in overall shape, the floor is divided into four tiers that rise up and are accessible by stairs. The bottom tier – where I am – is the largest and occupies about a third of the ground space, the second tier rises with a steep slope, but with stairs at either end. The other two rise from it after a few metres of coming to a plateau. I set about making my way towards the second tier as I don't expect Poh to be among the masses. I've come to the conclusion that he is a rather egotistical person and thinks himself above others, however, this could merely be a machination of my own mind to make him easier to hate. Regardless, as he is the leader of Laughing Coffin, I expect him to be separate from the masses of his guild.

It's fairly easy for me to dodge all of the oncoming attacks as all of my assailants are trying to hit me with special moves. As we came to the later floors, a new style of fighting emerged among the high-level players, and that was to avoid the use of special moves. The thing about most of these moves, is that once you activate them, you are locked in place until the end of the move's animation, an obvious exception being my split lunge. With the enemies becoming more complex and dangerous, this style of fighting became vital to staying alive and forced players to develop actual skill with a weapon. These player killers… very few of them are or have been front-line players. They have not had to develop or adapt to be better. Shin-Jin and I outclass them spectacularly.

I'm only a few metres away from the second tier now. I've decided not to use the stairs as there are groups of players waiting atop them for anyone stupid enough to challenge them. I might outclass everyone, but I still have to look out for any stray blades that could reach my neck even accidentally, I'm determined not to underestimate anyone here as it could prove fatal. I prepare split lunge to launch myself over what would normally be unscaleable incline to the second tier. A particularly quick mace user jumps before me to attack, but I release my attack and shatter them into red. I land on the second tier and sprint towards the third to mount it in an identical fashion. Tier three sits higher than tier two did over the first, so I run at it, plant my left foot in a crevice, launch myself upwards, push off the rockface with my right foot, backflip in mid-air and use split lunge to make up the rest of the distance. I only just manage to make it, grasping onto the ledge with my left hand, I manage to clamber up, my feet scrambling around for purchase on the sheer cliff.

"Gah! Rin?!" I hear someone exclaim and a quick glance confirms them to be Poh.

"Hello there." I grunt as I pull myself to my feet. Poh's surrounded by lackeys bearing a wide variety of weapons. I step sideways into a classic fencing stance and level the Marmatrix at him. "I should have known that everything going to hell would signify your arrival." He tells me. "I thought Rivan was supposed to dispose of you."

"Yes, well… he didn't." I reply, annoyed that I couldn't have come up with something a little more dramatic. There is silence between us, with only the sound of Shin-Jin's commotion to be heard until Poh finally sneered at me: "I can't say I haven't been prepared for you to find me." He admits. "But I will say that I didn't expect it to take you this long to find me again."

"Yes, I had some obstructions before I could track you down." I respond, only half focused on the situation at hand, half trying to wok out what the deal was with the lackeys. Why would he choose these particular ones? They must be special.

"What's wrong, Rin? You seem distracted!" Poh taunts. "Do my associates here make you nervous?" The lackeys, six in total, all grin and begin to approach me. "They should," Poh continues "because they've been training to be kill you since our first meeting!" Yes, I had thought they seemed oddly confident. I open my mouth to retort, but I don't have anything to say, so I shut it again. How skilled can these players be? Have they really been studying me? If so, how? It doesn't make any sense, I haven't ever had contact with any of these people! Have they been watching me? When? From where? While I'm busy thinking all these questions, one of the six almost catches me in the arm with their lance, but I jerk out of the way just in time. I go to jab back in return, but my heart isn't in it and my blade doesn't even reach them. They laugh. "This is going to be easier than I thought." They stab at me again and I step back to avoid it, I don't feel any ground with my heel, the sheer drop to tier two is right behind me.

I duck beneath the third stab and stand up straight again before they can pull their weapon back, knocking it off-target. "You're not actually very special, are you?" I realise, grabbing the lance and pulling the user onto my blade. "What?" They manage to get out before I twist and push them off the edge. I step away from the ledge to face the other five. "Yes… none of you are actually special, right? You're just strong. Did you spend some time at the front lines?" I receive no reply. I look for Poh and see only his disappearing figure as he runs up the stairs to the fourth tier. "You'll have to excuse me-" I say as I begin to follow, but a giant, double-headed axe crashes into the ground before me. "We're not done, pipsqueak." Grumbles its owner, clearly proud of their two metres of height.

"Good grief, you'll go down easily." I inform them. "You're all just distractions, look, Poh's already run off on your sorry arses." I address this to the whole group. "I'd pity you all if your existences didn't bring the taste of bile to my tongue." There is quiet for a while, even Shin-Jin's racket has died down.

The axe is lifted from my path. "Go." Its owner tells me. I look up at them with a mix of anger and confusion. "That's not the way this works." I tell them. "You don't get killed because you're in my way, you get killed because of what you've done." I raise my rapier to their throat and look into their eyes. "Your only salvation is in your death. You can choose not to fight, but that would only change this from a slaughter to an execution." I run my blade through their neck and they shatter. I turn to the remaining four. "Now, will you lot fight or line up?" I ask. Before anyone can speak, one of them is cut diagonally from shoulder to hip. "Shin-Jin!" I call out, but what greets me is more akin to a wild beast that my friend. His hair is dishevelled and chunks of it have been cut out haphazardly. Red marks cover his body and clothes where he has been hit. A quick look at his health bar shows him to be in the yellow zone and bleeding, poisoned and with four separate de-buffs. "Oh, good, you're still alive." He says, clearly not aware of how dead he looks.

"You're…" I think about berating him, but decide against it, instead continuing: "…really going for that 'warrior's death,' huh?" He laughs at this.

"Yes… I suppose I've become worse than what I'm killing."

"Well…" I pause, but Shin-Jin fills the gap.

"Just trash killing the trash, right? No-one else has to dirty their hands, yeah?" The sound of my own words stings a little. "Yeah, I guess so." I eventually manage. "The leader ran off, I'm going to follow them." I tell Shin-Jin, who nods understanding.

"And you'll leave all these for me? How sweet. See you on the other side." No sooner than these words had left his lips he started another fight with one of the 'elite.' "Yeah, see you there." I reply weakly. The other side of the battle? Of the game? Of life? I turn and follow Poh.

The unease in my stomach has faded into something I don't recognise. It's still uncomfortable and awkward, but there's no fear. It's like anticipation, but I don't know what I'm anticipating. I climb the stairs five at a time and find nothing upon the fourth tier except for a tunnel leading out of the cavern. I'm getting sick of these things. I sprint down through the tunnel. The path winds slightly but has no major directional changes and no enemies jump out at me. The tunnel ends in another cavern. This one is long, not as high as the previous and has a thin path that leads over a pit that appears bottomless. Poh's on the other side of the path. He must have heard me coming because he's turned around with the most delicious look of fear on his face.

I halt my approach abruptly. A delicious look of fear? No. No, no, no, no. No, I can't think that. I can't relish so maliciously in another's fear, no, I shouldn't. There is no doubt that what Poh has done is wrong, so why do I hesitate to close the distance between us? He deserves death, of that I am convinced, yet if I strike him down, what will it mean for me? Well, victory, for starters, and I've killed many just to get here, so I must strike him down to make all my efforts mean something. I think the reason I stopped is… because I fear becoming him. I do not want to be Poh. I do not want to kill for fun. No, his look of fear cannot become something I delight in, for than I will enjoy the murder. No, for this, for me, I must bear no hatred and no ill will. I am simply doing what must be done to save others. I must become the factual and emotionless greater good and strike him down without feeling.

I move. One foot after the other, I approach Poh on this path that only results in a dead end. My movements lack life and my eyes only observe, they do not contain emotion. He doesn't draw his weapon and hold his arms up before himself. A plea for mercy? I don't hear it, I don't see it, I am not Rin in this moment, merely a vessel… or possibly a husk. I stop before him, hardly a metre between us. I raise my arm. His eyes seem to be trying to reach me, but the message never reaches me. I slash my arm across down to my opposite hip. The blade whips through Poh's neck and comes out with a thin trail of red polygons in its wake. Poh's body begins to glow, the prelude to shattering into nothing. Something appears before my eyes. A message.

Game Over. Logging out…

My senses return to me for a final cry of outrage. "WHAT?!"

And then…

Nothing.

Hello again. Finally finishing this chapter feels great and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm intending for the next chapter to be the last, so if you have any questions, please, ask away and I'll answer them at the end of the final chapter (I mean, yeah, there's always PMs, but doing it in the fic feels more special). A big shout-out to MindsandMirrors for the kick up the backside I needed to reinvigorate my commitment to this fic, I appreciate it greatly. Thank you for reading the babblings of my mind!