Chapter 36 is here folks. (- is that even a word in this day and age?)

Okay first I'm should start saying this and from now on more but very grateful to Aaron the Wise 91; Epic Zealot Productions; Ghostdance 01; Silverstone564; TrimusicDrag00n90; shadowmwape; WolfArisen and Hotshot 6 for following/favouring my story. Thank you guys. I really appreciate it.

Real talk time: (I know most of you don't care but I'm asking you to read this. Especially if you got this far.) Readers. I'm very, VERY discouraged as of late and feel VERY LITTLE to NO motivation to continue with this story. I'm happy views are up. I really am. But when there are no reviews, a follow/favourite once in a blue moon and the fujo dream site known as Wattpad isn't touching this, I'm considering dropping the story.

It is slowly starting to feel like a chore to write this and when I see people reach until the end but have nothing to say about it…my mood goes down a mine shaft. I'll continue writing but it gets harder every day when it looks like I'm staring at the same thing.

Anyway, let's get back to the story.

Disclaimer: SAO is owned by the godfather of good-timing known as Reki Kawahara. Final Fantasy is owned by the company I sold my soul to: Square Enix. If you've played more than one FF, your soul is sold.

Chapter 36: Sceptre of the Pious

Year 2023 June 27 8:00am

Location: Reisen Haven

"Morning," Lily greeted.

"Morning," Tsukino greeted back. These two were always the first two to wake up followed by Kizuna. Lily would help Tsukino ready the breakfast for camp.

"What do you think we're going to do today?" Lily asked.

"I can't really say. I guess I just hope it isn't too tiring."

"Yeah. I'm pretty worn out myself."

"That's because of your mad dash around Aincrad for a gift," the white haired cook mumbled just loud enough for the mage to hear. "You mumble in your sleep so may I ask when?"

"…July 10th."

"You weren't planning to tell us?" she asked frying the egg.

"Well…I was planning to tell you when I found a gift and when the others weren't around," Lily said setting the utensils next to the plates.

"I see what you mean. I guess Ronen and Yami can keep it and there isn't much use telling Kizuna but the rest I wouldn't trust with a secret. Maybe Lumino, he's pretty good with hiding things," she said butchering a piece of shrimp like she needed effort to cut it.

"What is it that you have against him?" the mage asked.

"Let's just say, I have a…'special' place in my heart for those who withhold information," Tsukino answered with the murderous smile. Lily decided to be quiet and wait for her to finish cooking.

-x-

7:15am

"*Yawn* Man, I'm tired," Lumino said returning to camp with Kizuna. You didn't need an expert to tell they were awake for hours. HOURS! They left saying they needed to 'check something out'. That was the previous day at dusk.

"Welcome back you two, where were you?" Tsukino asked as Lily put the food in the dishes. The others were awake and also were curious to their whereabouts.

"That's what I wanted to talk about. Kizuna, can you handle most of the info?"

"Got it." Everyone sweatdropped.

'Like a King and his Advisor'

After being seated with breakfast, the six were all ears. "Okay, first of all, what is the highest floor we've reached thus far?" Lumino asked.

"26 right?" Raiden asked remembering the brutal battle against Saori.

"Wrong. The highest floor currently is 29," Kizuna informed. There were shocked expressions that were found in the group.

"There's been a new guild that has risen from floor 10. In the time it took us around 5 months to reach just level 50, it took them 2 months. They've been raiding dungeons higher than their level and hunting only at night. They're called the Slayers," Lumino informed.

"Heathcliff sent Lumino a message to find out how we've cleared 3 floors in just a few days. That's why we were gone. Aria has informed me that there have been a few imperial bases that have been destroyed overnight. I tried to see if the same applied to floor bosses. I was right," the blonde said.

"So…" Scarlet said.

"We found them in the floor dungeon at 3am. Luckily we weren't spotted and I assume they found the boss room by 5am."

"You didn't follow them?" Raiden asked.

"That would run the risk of being spotted. Spawn rates are higher and monsters are more powerful in the dungeons at night," Yami explained.

"The labyrinth was also a puzzle so it ran the higher risk of being separated. We couldn't have that so we left after we found them. We identified them with the help of some townsfolk and moogles," the raven explained.

"That face is telling me there's more to it than that Lumino," Ronen observed. There was a distant, hateful look on Lumino's face.

"Their leader, Falcus, was a beta tester like us. Him and I don't get along very well," the raven said.

"Getting along being an understatement," Kizuna added shoving a spoonful of the omelette in his mouth. "We had to postpone the floor five boss raid so Lumino could regrow the gaping hole in his chest and Falcus could get his arm back."

"Jeez."

"Why did you get angry again?"

"That pole fighting jumping jack tried to use us as decoys to make up for the lack of shield users. We die, he profits," the raven answered shoving another bite of breakfast into his mouth, clearly not in a good mood.

[Floor 30 Achieved]

[Key Item: Cell phone]

"Well, they cleared it. Took them a while to," Kizuna said scrolling to get his key items. The 8 summoned a cell phone, a smartphone actually.

"This will help to communicate without the need for the messaging system now," Lumino said. He found that everyone on his friends list had been on his contacts.

"This is still risky for eavesdropping though so the messaging system is still useful." Yami said sliding the phone into her pocket. She felt it disappear the minute it slipped in.

"Okay, where should we go today?" Tsukino asked.

"Bed." The two betas said in unison.

"…anywhere else?" she asked ignoring the two exhausted beta's.

"If we can just relax, or have fun, I'm okay," Raiden said.

"Yeah. I think I've had enough of gods for a long time," Scarlet said.

"We second that!" the beta's cried out.

"I think we should do something productive. We can't just be wasting around in bed," Yami said.

"I second that. Can't let the Slayers get too much of an edge," Ronen added.

"Traitors!" the beta's yelled.

"How about Nautilus?" Lily asked making the whole party turn to her. They had never heard of such a town. A town where someone could relax or have fun. I-I mean…everyone's been so stressed lately that I just…wanted to find a place where we don't have to fight anymore."

"What else do you know about Nautilus?" Kizuna asked with a yawn.

"It's a theme park called the City of Dreams. They have rides, casinos and hot springs there as far as I know."

"Sounds like a plan," Raiden said.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Scarlet cheered.

"Also…" Lily said getting their attention. "Nautilus hasn't been reached yet. We can't teleport there. We need to cross a dungeon to get to the port that takes us there."

"Well, it's something that can give us EXP. Where is this dungeon?" Yami asked.

"The Riparian Corridor on floor 29."

"You knew about the floors?" Lumino asked.

"When the moogle told me, yes."

"Alright then, let's go," Kizuna said standing up and crushing a black can into crystal particles. Wait…when did?

"Cheap move Kizuna!" Lumino yelled.

Kizuna had just drank a can of Ebony Coffee, his favourite drink. The coffee could wake anybody up and you would crash at about midnight. Now, just because Kizuna liked Ebony Coffee didn't mean he shared what he had. He had gained an addiction to the drink and nearly burned Raiden's hand off because he 'wanted to know what it tasted like'.

Keep in mind: Just because the others had Gil in their pockets, didn't mean they wanted to spend it to taste Ebony when their friend already had a stash.

"Just drink the regular coffee."

"We're out," Raiden said as Tsukino confirmed with a nod.

"Are we? Well that's too bad," the card thrower replied getting out a teleport crystal.

"We'll get you coffee in town so quit whining," Ronen said.

9:00am

Location: Sunleth Waterscape

Scarlet inhaled and exhaled deeply. The Sunleth Waterscape was a forest of some kind. Trees as far as the eye can see, the greenest of foliage and some parts of the ground wet with the refreshing smell of recently fallen rain. (Thanks Ramuh) There was nothing remotely man made for miles. So this would be Scarlet's element.

"So this is the Sunleth Waterscape. I love this place already," Scarlet said eager to explore the place.

"What about it?" Raiden asked.

"It's all nature-y! I love nature."

"Of course you do. You're best friend is an animal."

"All my friends are animals," she said. …That wasn't untrue.

"As much as I'd love to stop and smell the roses, let's get to Nautilus while we still have daylight," Lumino said stretching. He still felt fatigued from the earlier day so leading wasn't something he wanted to do. He looked at the others but stopped at Lily. He'd always been observant and knew there was something bugging her…and what it was.

"Lily, today you're the leader," the raven said.

"W-wha? Why me?"

"Lumino, it's a bit reckless to be putting her out front don't you think?" Yami asked.

"You make it sound like she's going alone."

"That's not the point she's trying to make," Kizuna said.

"Lily has been struggling with her confidence for a while now. If we put her out front and make her leader. We can fix that. Beside, you can't get stronger in the back. So we're counting on you Lily," he explained.

"Think you're up to it?" Kizuna asked.

{Final Fantasy XIII: Sunleth Waterscape}

Lily nodded as the group set off into the forest. She felt nervous leading her party as she felt they were all stronger and more qualified to lead than her. Maybe another problem to fix.

The enemies encountered were…flan? Apparently they were the equivalent of slime monsters but they weren't weak and were edible? Why Kayaba. Lily felt this was an unfair dungeon as the flan were nearly immune to physical attacks giving her the edge.

"Stay calm and focus. It's also good to plan ahead for threats," Kizuna said. The group had been giving them a few tips as they had all lead or played on their own at some point.

They had reached a dead end, or a trench of some sort. "Great, now what?" Ronen asked rhetorically.

"Turn back?" Raiden asked. Lily was about to give an answer turning to Scarlet but the ground started shaking. "Whoa. Huh?" the group looked to see a giant monster made of wood. It had lots of foliage on its back that was like fur and a metallic looking face.

"Come on. I don't think we can fight that," Yami said.

"Hello!" Scarlet yelled.

"Don't encourage it!" Kizuna scolded.

"No, I see what she's doing. Hey fur ball, up here!" Raiden yelled with the redhead.

"We need help through this valley! Can you help us?" Scarlet called. It let out a bellow. The rest of the group looked confused. Scarlet jumped down onto the beast while Raiden followed suite.

"Bouncy," Raiden commented jumping on the grass. The beast bellowed in what seemed to be pleasure.

"Come on, get on before he leaves," Scarlet called. The other six sighed and jumped after the two. The beast turned around and walked through the valley and the ground shook with each step. Raiden took photos in awe of the valley.

"Get a shot of those little guys," Lumino said referring to the mini flan. None of them thought they would find a beauty or cuteness in flan. Strange since some flan were daemons. Sunleth was a unique place.

For now…

They reached the end of the valley but the shaking didn't end. They saw that the beast that gave them a ride wasn't walking so…

{Switch: Final Fantasy XIII-2: Limit Break}

"Oh no," Lumino whispered as he ran up the tree path. The others followed him until they saw…a giant flan. There was also around 30 people gathered around it fighting the flan.

The flan brought up its giant hand to bring it down on the mass of people. Ronen appear just in time to intercept it. Lily shot a fire spell on the flan to draw its attention.

"Get out of here," Lumino ordered the group.

"No! We stay and fight!" a voice yelled Lumino knew was familiar. When he heard it, he immediately knew this group were a part of the Slayers guild.

"Fine. We beat it together. Li-" a flute song was heard and everyone was buffed with Enfire.

"Kizuna, can you help me with the other mages in the back. I have a plan. Keep that thing off us," she commanded. Lumino smirked as he didn't need to say anything. She was leading quite well.

Everyone attacked the flan more vigorously, enraging it as it poisoned everyone. Lily's song was heard and the toxin faded away. "What's the plan?" Kizuna asked.

"Remember what we did to stop Titan's arm? We'll do it again but with fire."

"We'll burn the whole forest down."

"Not if we aim for its mouth. Now let's get everyone a spell," she said running to the others.

The flan started to swing its arms around swiping everyone. Ronen blocked the first arm from hitting one side but dreaded as the other side came. Lumino warp stepped through the dust and blocked it with Blade of the Mystic. "Alright, we got a clear path," Lumino said.

Tsukino hit it with a heavy slash while Yami followed up with a heaven's charge. The girls swiped a consecutive blitz with each other and kicked up a lot of flames.

Scarlet jumped with one of the Slayers' spear users and stabbed the oversized jelly bean from above. Not stopping there, she ran behind and slid down the back by driving the blade of the spear into its 'skin' and dragging it down. Her pole got stuck halfway so she swung on it and propelled herself to a tree branch.

Raiden used Sagefire on the flan burning the bottom area. "Rairai!" he heard as Scarlet jumped down the tree down to the field. He kicked off the monster and caught her hand to throw her back so she could use Dragoon Drive and stab the flan back.

The jelly bean wasn't having any of it and swung both its arms down to kill the redhead. Raiden switched to Sagespark and blitzed to grab Scarlet and move her out of the way.

"Jelly bean is ticking me off," he whispered.

"Alright. Throw it! Lumino! Link!" a rain of fire spells came from the 10 mages at the back. Each landed in one of the mouths of his Royal Ripeness. Lumino smirked and ran up to the flan.

"Time to fly!" he yelled summoning his mace and smashing the bean heavenward. "End it!" he yelled. Tsukino fired her gun while Scarlet through her spear.

Three cards hovered in the air. "Alright."

"Jackpot: Fire!" Kizuna and Lily yelled blown back by the impact of the improvised move. A flame hit the flan with pinpoint precision like a sniper and the bean exploded with multiple burnt flan falling.

{End of Soundtrack}

The guild roar as the flan was defeated. The mages of the guild ran to help and compliment Lily. Some of the mages helped to heal Kizuna's hands which had a few burn marks.

"Nice one Lily," Lumino said.

"T-Thanks. Maybe you can-"

"Nope, you're taking us all the way to Nautilus."

"So that's why you're here," the voice the ordered them to stay said. Lumino turned to see a man in dark armour with black hair that covered one eye and green eyes. "I never took you for one to wield secondary arms. A mace no less, duck ass," he said. That insult name was clear. He was insulting Lumino's hairstyle.

"Is your dignity that low that you resort to name calling Falcus? Sad to call you a leader," Lumino said. "What are you doing in Sunleth?"

"If you must know, we caught wind of something special in this forest from the moogles. A grave or something. Like it'll be any use to-"

"Actually, that's a great help. I'll be taking the tomb off your hands." Falcus was shocked for a second until he burst out laughing hysterically.

"Go ahead, we already took what was inside!" the others were shocked but not much visibly.

"Is that so? May I see the item?"

"Please. Like I would."

"Show it to me."

"You better watch your tone duck ass. If we fight, I guarantee it won't end like last time," he threatened. The king wasn't fazed.

"Hard way it is then," Lumino sighed. He closed his eyes and started whispering as crystal lights started surrounding the area.

"A thief has taken the glaive of a ruler."

The area started to get darker as a blue aura around the floor.

"Restore to me the weapon as Chosen King.

Allow me to bond with the soul of my predecessor."

'Chosen'

'You seek out my power yet allow my glaive to be taken by a thief.'

"My apologies. I shall deal with the thief so grant me your power to slay the Accursed."

'Is such an unreliable king such as yourself fit to have my power?'

"Your opinion of me is misplaced. If you do not trust me, the give me time and I'll prove my worth. If you deem me unworthy, I'll face your judgement."

'Hmm…very well young king.'

Falcus started to glow and fell to his knees feeling an intense burn. A sceptre was burning its way out of his back. It shot out and hovered, flying into Lumino as the other royal arms appeared.

'My power is yours to use young king. Rule well and pure our star of its blight.'

The area faded and Sunleth seemed back to normal.

"I will," Lumino said.

[Sceptre of the Pious x1]

"Lumino, what was that?" Tsukino asked.

"That is what I see whenever I let one of those things stab me. Why it doesn't take long is because it's like it pauses the rest of Aincrad. Check your clocks and you'll see." Everyone checked to see their clocks had jumped forward by two minutes. "Well the secret is spilled!" he said shocking the party.

"What the hell was that?!" Falcus asked holding his back.

"You wouldn't have gotten burned if you just gave it."

"Enough of the bullshit, duck ass!"

"I thought you would know. You have an Ultima weapon as well, Falcus. I don't want to discuss this anymore. Let's go guys," Lumino said as the others followed him.

'Six. My eyes didn't lie to me. I saw six of those weapons!' Falcus got angry and decided to attack Lumino. The raven summoned Blade of the Mystic and swiped the sword up cleaving Falcus' arm off.

"Consider that punishment for stealing the royal arm." The party left as the guild went to tend to Falcus' wound. The dragoon glared at the raven with an intense hatred and jealousy.

"Let's go," Falcus said getting up.

"Are you sure?" one of the Slayers said.

"Yeah. I won't let it end here though."

I knew exactly why I hated Falcus. He was reckless and took risks that would cost someone dearly. Although I questioned and knew I did the same unconsciously. Slowly I began to think that…we were similar.

They were nearly through the dungeon. The party had discovered that there was a device capable of changing the weather. They kept it rainy since Lily's favourite and strongest element was water. There were less flan in the rain and she was using the weather to her advantage.

"Alright we're nearly out," she said. The party were in a valley waiting to find the port.

{Final Fantasy XIII: Can't Catch a Break}

They crossed the corner and saw two monsters. It looked like the giant that got them across the valley earlier. These two were smaller though and one of them had blue grass on its back instead of green. Both were asleep.

"What do we do?" Raiden asked.

"Let's try sneak around it?" Lily suggested as the group crouched to move slowly and silently. They moved around two steps but Scarlet didn't crouch or move. She knew that they got caught because of one element they didn't account for. Smell.

The two beasts shifted sniffing and got ready to attack. "Damn," they cursed.

"Is it too much to ask for a break!" Raiden moaned. He looked to Scarlet who had a smug look on her face. "What's that look for!"

"Nothing!" she said summoning her spear and attacking them.

Lily used Libra on them. Enki and Elil. Tree beasts that controlled lightning and water. She gulped wanting to stay away from Enki who controlled lightning. Although Elil absorbed water damage. It's a lose-lose situation for her!

"Guys, kill Enlil first!" she yelled. She knew exactly what she had to do. She started charging up some magic. A wall was summoned in front of her.

"Focus on gathering that magic. I won't let them get close," Kizuna said. She nodded but got distracted when she saw Lumino fighting with the Sceptre of the Pious. It was a sceptre yet he was using it like a sword. The blade was mage of light magic. She shook her head and focused.

'Damn, the damage is more punishing than the other arms. So this is how you want me to prove my worth.' Lumino thought. Elil cast watera but he managed to dodge and form an axe of light to counter. Tsukino gave him a Hi-Potion.

"Don't get reckless," she said.

"Right. My bad."

Enki cast Nature's Blessing healing Enlil. Scarlet snapped Enki spun around and hit it like an axe stunning Enki. "Kill it faster!" she yelled. Grey magic hit Enki keeping it frozen.

"I'll keep it still. You kill it faster!" Kizuna yelled.

"Aim for the head!" Raiden yelled throwing his daggers at its head.

"Alright!" Ronen yelled using Dawnhammer.

"Got it!" Yami yelled. She slammed her katana into Enlil's neck and used [Ascend] to cleave its head off. Enki got enraged fast and lightning started to shoot and strike everywhere.

"Alright, finish it," Kizuna told Lily. The mage swung her staff casting Waterga and a wave of water hit Enki killing it.

{Final Fantasy XIII: Vanille's theme}

"Finally," Lumino said. "Next stop Nautilus."

"We aren't out of the woods just yet. Let's get to the port," Tsukino said. The team exited Sunleth and found themselves at a boat port. A port leading to Nautilus. Mission complete.

Once they reached the port, Lumino left to get the tickets for the boat which was on standby, seeing as they were the only players there.

Lily fell giving into the effects of stasis. She used too much MP casting Waterga. Kizuna caught her though before her face hit the ground. "You have got to stop doing that," he said.

"Sorry…"she said weakly.

"You did well."

"Huh?"

"A-as a leader and as a fighter today…I mean," he said. It was strange hearing Kizuna stutter but it was stranger hearing a compliment. He always felt like he knew they were capable so a compliment wasn't needed. Lily blushed at the sudden compliment but saw he had a small one too.

"He never knew how to deal with people, accepting everyone but being rejected by everyone and he was stubborn to a fault."

"As awkward as always…"

"What?" he asked as she finally passed out causing him to stumble from the sudden weight. He sighed and shifted her to give her a piggyback. "She could have warned me."

"Kizuna! Come on!" Raiden called from the boat. He nodded and went after them.

Lily floated in an endless expanse of water. She knew she was dreaming and she knew why she passed out. Strange thing about her dreams was that she could talk to her personalities in her dreams. It was a pretty messed up way of lucid dreaming. Something was off though.

Natsumi (Atsui), Fuyumi (Samui) and Aki were gone.

She was about to call out to them but choked remembering she was underwater. She swam up and inhaled sharply.

Parts of the water was on fire though. Flames endlessly burning but dying out at the same time. She didn't want the flames to die though. She swam to a fire as it became a little flame. Everything became cold when the fires died out and it was a small flame in her hands.

It went out. Something was coming.

Something big approaching from the water beneath her. She looked underwater but saw nothing. A shadow came to view from within the deep, expanding the closer it got. Lily panicked.

She started swimming away. "Natsumi! Fuyumi! Aki! Help me!" She swam faster. The shadow was approaching. Getting closer.

"Somebody please!" The surface of the water started shaking rapidly as the shadow was near the surface. It was going to attack her. She knew it would. She had no control over this nightmare. She couldn't wake up either. "Kizuna!" she called out unconsciously but the jaws of the shadow shut around her and everything faded to black.

The screams of a friend was heard in the darkness

As a sharp red line split into two.

Alright. Finally got this done with a new guild to add to what I'm (maybe) going to call the Elite Ten guilds. This is the 6th one.

Please review, vote, follow and/or favourite.

Next time: The City of Dreams