Disclaimer: We do not own Sword Art Online
Wolf is owned by Dark Wolf Knight3
Oblivion is owned by Urolutze
Roxas is by the 2 tailed fox
"Who dare touch my prized possession!" A loud voice yelled, and Artemis scrambled to get to the hammer, but right when he was close, he heard a loud slam right behind him, it was a gigantic foot.
He slowly looked behind and upwards, to stare into a face that was riddled with rage, the giant's hand wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides, "Well shit, looks like Frosty balls has picked me up, what're ye gonna do then, squeeze me?"
"Little fairy, you come into my throne room, and dare attempt to steal my treasures, I'll do more than squeeze you, I'll crush you," He then proceeded to slam Artemis into the ground repeatedly, causing great pain, but somehow Artemis endured it, even though the pain was nowhere near as great as SAO, he hadn't felt pain like this since he was run over.
Soon Artemis broke, and he cried out in pure agony, a sound Wolf never wanted to hear again, as he was there the day of Artemis's death, and his anger was slowly building, with each slam, each cry of pain, only increasing his anger, but as he was about to charge, the giant Ymir, stopped his pummeling, and left him on the ground, but when Artemis recovered and began to stand, the giant stomped on him, causing Leafa to cry out, and the monster began repeatedly stomping him, until the giant stomped him and cried out in pain, recoiling and everyone saw Artemis, with Shadow piercing the giant's foot, healing him, preventing the death that was sure to come soon. His face was a mask of rage, none of which anyone in the group had seen before, it scared even Wolf, who was always stoic with his emotions, never being swayed by fear, though this time was different, as the anger played clearly across his face showed that he was gonna go all out, something he never did, even in SAO, or in any other situation, for every other time it was fun, now it wasn't Artemis meant business, and that scared everyone for none of them knew his full potential, but with the restrictions of the game, Artemis was forced to forgo skill connect, due to the lag it caused, though the lag only occurs when using elemental skills.
Artemis screamed, and before the foot could crush him again, he darted out from underneath the giant Ymir. He slid to a stop, instantly turning around and charged the monstrous figure, he sliced the foot a few times, doing more damage than normal due to Hellfire and Shadow, the damage boost from the elemental damage that was infused in the blades was especially useful to him, because ice is weak against fire, and Hellfire gave him the advantage for that, and being humanoid, Ymir was weak to his life drain, Shadow couldn't drain life from golems and other creatures made without flesh, fleshy beasts were susceptible to life drain because they were true living beings, not kept alive by enchantments.
Artemis stabbed the giant in the ankle with Shadow, causing his health to fill completely, and he proceeded to climb the beast, using his swords like ice picks. He ascended the beast quicker than any would imagine a man, even in a game, could do, and as he reached the face, he yanked both weapons out and spun like a tornado, denying the monster any chance of grabbing him, and he slowed down for a slight second to wind up an attack aiming directly for his eyes, he swung, slashing both of Ymir's eyes, before once again winding up an attack, but this attack was different, it was his Black Flame Flurry, and the group could see this, as well as see the giant was distracted, and they all attacked, Wolf using Blood Wrath, Oblivion using Blur of Aura, and Kirito using Starburst Stream. Leafa went for the hammer Mjolnir, and Freyja followed, though along the way she was casting spells, at Ymir, as they reached the Mjolnir, Freyja grabbed it, and instantly was swarmed by lightning.
By now the giant was hurting, it was screaming out in pain and rage, and then it felt lightning energy nearby and knew Mjolnir was taken, he furiously shook everyone off him, and spotted a peculiar sight, Thor was standing in front of him, and Freyja was nowhere to be seen, though the giant king didn't care too much about that, he cared to know why there was a god in his room.
Thor went on the attack, swinging Mjolnir with such strength, but sadly, he was blocked by Ymir, who summoned a frost axe right before Thor attacked. The two began swinging their weapon at each other, never landing a blow, except for punches, which still made the ground shake beneath their feet.
"Guys, it's time we helped Thor out and distract that bastard, what do ya say?" Artemis said, raring to go fuck frosty balls up a little more.
"Hell yes! He's fucking dead!" Wolf said and Oblivion nodded, feeling no obligation to speak as Wolf seemingly read his mind.
"For what he did to you, friend, there's no way I'm holding back now," Kirito said.
"I must help, I feel terrible for sitting back while you were being smashed to pieces," Leafa said with tears in her eyes.
"You did exactly as I would have wished, I didn't need you dying on me now, it would take too long to respawn, and get back here," Artemis said, "And I'd rather not have your death on my conscience."
"Thanks, that makes me feel better," She said, readying her katana.
"Can we stop yaking and start smashing!" Wolf said, agitated.
"Right," Artemis said, before charging the giant, before stopping and keeling over.
Everyone other than Asuna and Leafa continued the charge, knowing they could handle it, "What's wrong, you're not in pain, right?" Leafa asked, concerned.
"A little too much, when I was run over by that fucking truck in my last life, that's about the amount of pain I was in during the beating I took, and now it's coming back to me," Artemis groaned, "and because of it, my heart's racing a little too fast, and since I'm still using my Nervegear rather than an Amusphere, I may still have a heart attack due to my heart beating so fast, I mean I'm getting the warning due to the game, but I'm not gonna be kicked off due to the Nervegear not having that function."
"Oh shit, you gotta log off, before you hurt yourself," Asuna urged him, before tossing out a few heals to the rest of the group.
"Naw, I'm fine, I mean look at me, I look like I've been in a train wreck, and I feel like shit, but I won't pussy out because of the threat of a heart attack, but still, I need a breather." Artemis said, as the other's finally distracted Ymir into looking away from Thor, allowing the Thunder God to land a heavy hit on the giant king's head.
Ymir went down, and he then began covering himself in ice, saying that he'll be back, when Thor answered by slamming his hammer down once more, ending the frost giant's life.
"I thank you for allowing me to retrieve my treasure, now I must reward you for releasing me from my prison of ice," Thor then raised his hammer, and a beam flashed on Klein's hands, and it formed a hammer, he was given Mjolnir, a legendary weapon, though he had no hammer skill's thus it was useless to him.
In the end he gave it to Lisbeth under the promise she wouldn't turn it into materials, and she accepted the offering, and gave her most sincere promise, that she would keep it safe.
"Um… guys, the quest ain't over," Artemis said, "We still have to retrieve Excalibur."
"Oh, right," Kirito said, and they all began searching the room for an exit, one Yui quickly found, and they descended the stairs to Excalibur.
Artemis gesture to Kirito to take it, and Kirito grabbed hold of the handle of the sword, and he struggled to release it from it's place in the ice, but once he did, the whole place began to shake.
"Oh shit, forgot to tell you guys about this part," Artemis said, "The whole ice temple is melting rapidly, so hold on, and Kirito, I'll hold onto that, your strength isn't enough to let you jump with it, so I'll carry it across."
"Across to where?" Kirito asked, before a loud trumpet sounded below them, but right then, the supports holding the place they were standing afloat, shattered, and they began to fall, Kirito quickly handed Artemis the sword, and everyone began to jump on Tonky, who had began to fly alongside the falling platform.
When they were all safely on the tentacle elephant, Oblivion shook his head, "What a fucking ride that was."
"Couldn't agree more," Wolf said, but then they saw everything melting around them, and they stared at all the players who were doing the kill quest, the surprise plain of their faces.
The group looked at Artemis, who was clearly still in pain, lying down on Tonky's back, breathing heavily, "Never been good with heights," Artemis said, huffing.
The group laughed but then a light flashed behind them,it was Uror, but this time she had her two sisters with her, "We thank you for saving Jotunheim from the frost giants, I have brought my sisters who wish to thank you themselves."
"Hello my name is Veroandi, I thank you for saving my friends," The girl on Uror's right said, smiling.
"My name is Skuld, and I too thank you for saving my friends," the girl on Uror's left said.
"And our reward to you is the Holy Sword Excalibur, please keep it safe." Uror said before she and her sisters flew away.
As they were flying away, Klein got up and rushed to the edge of Tonky's back, "Skuld!" He called, and the girl turned and stared at him, "Can you give me your number or something to remember you!" To answer the girl waved at him, sparkles floating from her hand, and resting in Klein's, he held them to his heart as Skuld flew away.
"Sometimes, I really admire you Klein, your passion knows no bounds," Lisbeth said.
Artemis opened his menu and pulled out a home teleport, and teleported to his home in New Aincrad, or rather the new Headquarters for the SWC, the previous headquarters from his days in SAO. He then sent a message that he'll meet everyone at the Dicey Cafe later, and logged off.
He awoke if pure agony, it seemed that the pain he received in game affected him more than he thought it would. He got up, and pain spiked in his back, he groaned, and texted everyone he was on his way.
He hopped into his '64 Mustang Boss, and drove off. As he drove, he felt as if he was hit by a truck, again, and he kept shifting in his seat.
When he got to the Dicey Cafe, he got out of his car and walked in, everyone was there, eating a large meal.
"Hey guys," He said as he walked in, trying to hide the pain he was in, suffice to say, it didn't work.
"You look in bad shape, here take a seat," Andrew said, pulling up a spot to sit right next to Suguha.
"Are you okay, you look terrible, like you've been-, Oh shit! That beating you got in the game did this, didn't it?" Suguha asked worriedly.
"Well, turns out that pain in game turns into pain IRL if you're not careful, I feel like I've been hit by a truck, and believe me, I know how that feels," Caleb joked, before groaning again and shifting in his seat.
"Maybe you should go home if you're in this bad a shape," Owen said, looking at his friend.
"Naw, I'm good, it just fucking hurts, I shouldn't have let him man handle me like that, but what could I do, I was helpless, even when being stomped, I couldn't move, at least until I felt numb enough to stop feeling pain, for a moment anyways, now, I can't feel my arms or legs, but I do feel my back, and it fucking hurts," Caleb replied, smiling, and he grabbed himself a plate of chicken, and dug in.
"Well, at least you're hungry," Wolf laughed, before eating his own plate of steak.
"I've heard Excalibur called Caliburn before, in many books it is referred to as Caliburn," Asada said, surprising Suguha.
"You read mythology books too?" She asked curiously.
"Back in seventh grade, I used to live in the library," Asada responded, laughing, "I love the word calibur because it can be used to describe the length of a gun barrel or the quality of a person."
"So you're saying that to have Excalibur, you'd need to be an exceptional person?" Lisbeth asked.
"Yes, in terms of speaking," Asada said, smiling.
"So exceptional in fact, that he'd not think twice about paying for such a wonderful meal with all the money he earned in GGO, right?" Lisbeth said, looking at Kazuto.
Kazuto stood up, and stuttered before saying, "O-of course, I was gonna use that for a surprise, but sure, dinners on me."
Caleb leaned over and said, "I'll pay you back for my part."
"Really?!" Kazuto was shocked, as he thought Caleb would just accept his offer and continue enjoying himself.
"Of course, I'm rich, I come from a rich family who sends me like 1,000,000 yen per week, I'm perfectly able to pay for my part," Caleb said, smiling.
"Thanks man," Kazuto said, relieved.
Caleb looked off to the distance, these next few weeks will be uneventful, but soon, he knew, he will meet Zekkon, The Absolute Sword.