Streaks of colored lights filled the room. "Shit!" came a baritone voice. "Critical fail!" a panicked youthful voice said at the same time. Three sets of shimmering shields went up five, then ten layers deep. That was quickly followed by a similar looking box that appeared around empty space that very shortly after contained a glowing figure labeled "Mirror Purrcy". The heart of every Adventurer who saw it and had an inkling of what that meant sank into a deep pit.
"Time to death?" Shiroe asked in a rather resigned tone of voice. The shields were already steadily failing.
"Two...one..."
-:-:-:-:-
The pain in Tetorō heart was probably the greatest it had been in a long time. He lay on the ground, his arm over his eyes. How could he?! How could he have not realized that would happen beforehand? All because of one oversight on his part, the entire dungeon would have to be traversed again from the beginning.
"What the hell was that?!" came from the Minami side. The Adventurers of Akiba were silent. Most people were silent, actually. It had been a surprising sudden death, not accounted for in all the last five days of planning.
Finally, there was a sigh and a shifting. Tetorō raised his arm, knowing he was going to see Shiroe. He did. "No." Tetorō interrupted before Shiroe could answer. Shiroe paused and turned to look at him. Tetorō got to his own feet. He walked to where most of the Adventurers could see him, from both sides, and bowed very deeply. "I'm very sorry. That was my fault." He held it for a while, then rose. He was getting angry looks from Minami, confused ones from Akiba, and a sympathetic one from Shiroe that was mixed with his own personal guilt. He turned to face his guildmaster. "I'm sorry. I forgot I set it so she could see through Nyanta-san's eyes."
Comprehension came on Log Horizon guild member's faces. Shiroe nodded. "I didn't think of it either. I'm sorry also." He paused then gave an embarrassed sort of shrug. "Though, it was an interesting experiment."
"So what the hell did you bring with you that can cause sudden failure?" Nakalnad asked, folding his arms.
"Not yet," Akatsuki said. They all looked at her. "Nyanta-san's not back."
They looked around, seeing it was true. Tetorō considered that, then nodded. "He's been reinforced. He probably won't be able to defeat both himself and her together, though.
Shiroe went thoughtful, then nodded. "That will be essential data, when he does get back. We might have the ability to win through with one more try." He turned to look at Nakalnad. "That...was the key...and apparently the final boss to get into the last room." Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Actually, as Tetorō's said, it's a double boss room. Those two are from my party, and have to go in, but we need to fight them last, after we've defeated the rest of the mirror doubles. Is there a way to do that?"
This time the heavy silence was from Minami as the Akiba Adventurers waited to hear their past experiences. After the silence went on a bit, Shiroe said, "You've said that if they don't look into the mirrors the doubles don't come. How did you learn that?"
The Minami field monitor nodded. "We had an unconscious member that we dragged into the room with us and left by the door. We had to heal him up in the end to fight his mirror, too."
Tetorō relaxed. "We can do that," he said.
Shiroe nodded. "That's simple. You block her and then I'll put Nyanta to sleep. When the room's cleared, we'll wake them up."
"At the same time? Can you do them one at a time?" Nakalnad asked hopefully.
Shiroe shook his head. "The only one that can defeat her is him and the only one that can defeat him is her. The rest of us will be support roles."
"It's really that bad?" Nakalnad asked.
"I think it's set up that way," Shiroe said, wonderingly. "I don't know why, though." He shook his head, then sat down to take a waiting pose. "When we get Nyanta's report, I'll put my idea on the table."
There was silence for a bit, then Nakalnad shook his head. "No. That's not right. What is 'she', this key? One of the Vengeful Spirits?"
"I...suppose you could think of it like that," Shiroe said cautiously.
"You can't have it both ways, Machiavelli," Nakalnad said just a little impatiently. "Either it's a party member and it's in the room with Nyanta-san the same as Nyanta-san is fighting both mirrors, and they both die or they both defeat their mirrors...or it's the Vengeful Spirit and Nyanta isn't fighting a mirror Vengeful Spirit, though he may be fighting himself and all the other mirrors."
"That Vengeful Spirit very definitely was fighting us, and it wasn't the version locked down," Tetorō said definitely.
Nakalnad scowled, "Then, can the two of them fighting together take everyone down, including themselves? And...if not...can the one you brought into the room die? Or will we have three mirror Vengeful Spirits to fight when we get back?"
There was silence for a while. "I guess...I don't know," Shiroe finally admitted. There were groans of frustration. A little more loudly, to prevent too much unrest, Shiroe said, "But that doesn't mean we need to give up just yet. I want to see if Nyanta comes out and tells us what happened to him. Then we might know."
A little regretfully he added. "If we have to...since we have to start over anyway...we can leave the dungeon zone and come back in to reset that room. She's actually easy to defeat with Kannagi and Hacker shields, status effects, and a constant barrage of magic attacks. She can't get off enough spells if we pen her in and keep it up. We lock him down with a succession of Guardians and Samurai that pull out just before their HP goes out and hit him with Monks and weapon attack classes until she's down. Then the rest can focus on him to pile it on heavy. That initial attack spell we'll have to shield and defend from, but that isn't new to us anymore. And we have to have everyone else's double down before then or our mirrors will do the same thing. All of us from Akiba know that's how it's done."
"The most effective are reflective spells," Tetorō said calmly.
Nakalnad finally broke the next silence. "Fine. We'll wait to hear what Nyanta-san has to say."
From somewhere in the back of his group came a quiet, "I'm going to hope they take everyone down and get the work done while we sit it out. That was some massive spell - the second one."
-:-:-:-:-
Nyanta blinked and twitched his singed whiskers. "...Was that really necessary, nyan?" he finally asked plaintively. "Purrcy, mew'll have to take meowr double out, or make it so my hits do MP damage." He turned to defend himself from himself. He had one benefit from that one explosion. It had taken out all the rest of the legion, true, but it had also taken out all the legion mirror doubles except his and Purrcy's. He wondered if that was because as a solo, she never partied with anyone, so the blast had just removed everyone from the room except those who were "immune" to Hacker spells. He wouldn't be, in too much more time, he was sure.
[Nyanta...anything I do will be something I can't do next time. To create a spell to protect you other than what I've already done will steal HP from you and you'll drop faster. You don't have time to drink a potion. In getting rid of all players on the field...well...there's one thing I can try, but if it works it will be used against you next time...or me.]
"Then make it work this time," he answered, rather calmly, lashing out at his double to nick the arms of his coat, and dancing away from the double blades coming at him.
[Can you try negotiation?]
Nyanta raised an eyebrow. "Mirror me, could we call a truce for just a bit? Purrcy wants to talk." He didn't get much of a response, except another attack coming his way. He took care of it, then said, "Mirror Purrcy, would you be willing to talk?" He got nothing. "What if you try it?" he asked.
He was answered about a second later. [Odd. But no.] After about another two minutes of jumping around and wishing for more backup, suddenly the mirror Nyanta froze, then disappeared in a shower of bubbles of light. Nyanta turned and looked to the demarcated, and incidentally still boxed in, Mirror Purrcy. He was really surprised he wasn't dead yet, since there'd been nothing to distract it. Shortly thereafter it suddenly disappeared in a shower of bubbles as well. [Sigh. Well, I used a simple solution, but I won't be able to use it again.]
Nyanta paused, then sat down cross-legged. "If mew're the key, where's the door?"
[There wasn't an item drop.]
"Does that matter?"
[That's the pattern up until now...] She sounded uncertain.
He considered. "Myaybe mew have to be outside? ...That takes Tetorō-kun, though, doesn't it?"
[Yes.]
Nyanta called up the party chat. "So, we've defeated them. If mew want to work meowr way back here...I suppose mew could. No item drop, but myaybe releasing Purrcy would open the door?"
"...No...way," was said rather faintly...by rather a lot of voices.
"What did you do?" Shiroe asked with great surprise.
Nyanta asked Purrcy. [I put a modified drain on both of them to drain HP from the mirror Nyanta to Nyanta directly, and to drain the MP from the mirror Purrcy so I could cast larger spells, then defended us both until I'd used up the MP from the mirror Purrcy.]
Nyanta repeated it back for Shiroe. "I just danced with myself until myself disappeared."
"Did the mirror Purrcy possess the mirror Nyanta?" Shiroe asked.
"I don't know. It was still boxed in when it died." Nyanta put his rapiers away, then pulled out several potions and drank them down. He leaned against the wall. "We'll wait for mew here," he said tiredly.
-:-:-:-:-
Everyone in the re-spawn room blinked at each other. "Well...," Shiroe finally said, "we'll keep the other solution quiet just in case we need it for next time. They don't know it, so their mirrors won't either." Everyone nodded agreement with that idea, then stiffly rose. The rest of the dungeon was cleared and they could rest in that room as well as any. They needed to get the door open and research what came next...if it could be opened.
"...It seems somehow...anticlimactic," a member of the Minami half said, a little down, as they trudged their way down and around the maze to the inner circle again.
"Yeah," another one said. "Here we've spent all this time working to defeat that room, and suddenly we're shut out and two people who've never been in it before figure it out in one."
"You're assuming they've made it possible for the door to be found and opened," another one said practically. "If we still have to try three more times, that may be different."
They were silent for a bit, then, grudgingly, "True, but..."
"Well...it may be anticlimactic, but if it really worked...I think I'll be just as happy," another one said just a little wearily. "I feel like we've already paid our dues to repair the damage done long before now."
"True, 'dat, too." There were many nods of agreement to that sentiment.
"That may be true for you," said one of the Akiba fighting half, "but we worked our tails off this time with you and got blown away in one and nothing to show for that room, not even experience. I'd take another few rounds."
"You can have them," the tired one from Minami said. "I'll give over my slot."
"I'm already here," the Akiba fighter pointed out.
"Oh, right." A teasing grin went with the statement.
They filed into the last room, just a little nervous since they really didn't want any mirror doubles to show up last minute. Shiroe was standing over the Swashbuckler felinoid, shaking his shoulder. "Nyanta. We're here. You okay?" He motioned for the Cleric of his party to join him.
The Cleric cast a few healing spells on the recumbent felinoid, who then slowly woke up to look into Shiroe's eyes. "Councilor-nyan."
Shiroe's shoulders visibly relaxed. "I can't tell you how glad I am you're able to wake up," he said in relief. "After Alice in Wonderland, I was a bit worried you'd dropped into Rip van Winkle."
Nyanta sat up and smiled. "Nyan, thank goodness. I did spend some time in Through the Looking Glass at the foxtail's though." Shiroe and several others shuddered. Shiroe gave Nyanta his hand and helped him to stand.
"I see there's still no door," Nakalnad said dispassionately, leaning on his door shield and resting his hand on the pommel of his sword.
Nyanta nodded. "There wasn't a drop either."
"Nothing?" Nakalnad said in surprise.
Nyanta shook his head and turned to Tetorō. "Can mew let her out? Our only guess is that it takes having her actually present, meow."
Tetorō looked at Shiroe. "It makes sense," he said cautiously. He didn't want to make the final decision, though, they could all tell. Shiroe thought for a moment, then nodded. Tetorō held out his hand to Nyanta. Nyanta took the earring out of his ear and handed it to Tetorō, pausing just an instant before finally releasing it to the younger male. They shared a look, then Tetorō looked down at the earring in his palm.
There was a moment of silence, then the earring began to glow and rise into the air over the group's heads. Three other gold rings came out of it spinning slowly in the air with it. Suddenly there was a flash and the rings flew through the air with great speed, slamming into the mirrors on the walls in the room until only one wall of mirrors was left. Everyone ducked away from the flying shards of glass, some swearing, others jumping behind Guardians holding shields (Tetorō behind Naotsugu notably). For the most part, the shards of glass dissolved into sparkling lights before actually arriving at people. The four gold circles ended up hovering in front of the remaining mirror.
There was another glow that was brightly reflected by the mirror. When it was gone, there was a group of shadowy figures standing in front of it and glowing letters written on the top of the mirror: "Ultimate Sacrifice". The shadowy figures moved towards the mirror, then into it and disappeared, until there was only one remaining that hovered between the legion and the mirror as if waiting.
"You were saying, Nyanta?" Shiroe said wryly. There were unhappy chuckles around the room.
There was another unhappy sound - that of a sigh. "Haven't we already paid the ultimate sacrifice?"
Shiroe tipped his head, looking at the words. "Well, not really. The ultimate price will be not killing the boss in this next room. As I said in Minami, our price will be never actually completing this dungeon in the traditional fashion. We want to repair, not destroy." He looked at the mirror thoughtfully. "It also seems to me, that this is a very individual door. Everyone is going to have to step through this mirror individually, and like we had to fight ourselves in this room before we could get to this point, we'll likely have to face ourselves again to get through to the next one."
"So it will be like death, then," Nakalnad said.
Shiroe nodded. "I suspect." It was said quietly. There was silence for a bit. "I think...if you don't want to pass through to the other side...then don't. We'll make do with whomever does come through." He stepped up to stand next to the shadow, facing the mirror. Nyanta stepped up to the other side of the shadow calmly. Tetorō was next to him in two steps, and Naotsugu moved to stand next to Shiroe.
Akatsuki slipped between the two of them, and took Shiroe's hand. He looked down at her and gave one of his small smiles. She looked earnestly up into his eyes. She swallowed, then said, "I'll meet you on the other side." He squeezed her hand and nodded back, then looked into the mirror again, his eyes sweeping the people standing behind them. His eyes paused on Michael.
Michael nodded his head. "I'll be behind you," he promised. Shiroe nodded and stepped forward. His guild moved with him, the shadow going with them also, and they slipped into the mirror and disappeared to the room. Michael turned to look at the rest of them, "Our reward is worth it. If you think you've got one on the other side, we'd welcome you by our side," he said, then nodded his head, perhaps in farewell, turned back, and walked through after them.
Nakalnad blew out an explosive breath. "Well, damn," he whispered, putting his free hand on his hip. He glared at the mirror and the backs of those who'd left them. "I don't even know what I can do on the other side if I can't swing a sword, or do repairs, or heal anything." He glared for a bit more, then quietly said, "But...I've already sacrificed a whole damn lot to get here. It might...just be worth it to see...what's on the other side." He moved up towards the mirror, inspecting it all the way around. Finally he faced his own reflection, at first glaring at it, then relaxing to an almost sad, resigned look. He nodded at himself slightly, then stepped through. Slowly, others in the room began to step up to the mirror and disappear.
-:-:-:-:-
Stepping through the mirror was like stepping through an unmoving waterfall. Shiroe blinked his eyes to remove the film and fog from his eyes. His feet kept moving him forward. He really had expected to be walking the streets of his hometown again, but instead he arrived in a small glade surrounded by the fog he'd been walking through. In the center of the glade was a platform. On the platform was a winged sphinx. They stared each other down - him at the edge of the glade, it on the platform, unmoving. His brain quickly supplied what he knew about sphinxes. Mostly that they protected temples and knowledge, were supposed to be wise to the point of being all-knowing, and that they always asked a riddle you had to answer correctly or be eaten. If there was a final boss, this seemed to be a reasonable one.
He actually enjoyed riddles, but there wasn't anything to say what the question would be, unless it was related to the "ultimate sacrifice" written on the mirror...which it probably was. He sighed to himself. There was only forward, as always. He stepped into the glade and walked up to stand in front of the sphinx. "I'd like to pass, to repair the Adventurer Tree of Life, please," he asked very politely.
"Of course you do, Shiroe," the sphinx answered calmly. "Or so you say. Pass my test and I'll consider it."
He tipped his head. "Not good enough. I pass your test and you actually follow through. You've called us, after all. You can't get it fixed if you only 'think' about passing us through. You have to 'actually' pass us through."
"Except you aren't specifically needed."
Shiroe blinked. On one level it was true. "I may not be needed for my magic, or I may be. It's irrelevant. I'm specifically needed as a supporting member of my party, because it's together that we find the strength to continually press forward. I chose my path, and they have chosen to follow me. If I'm not there, they'll do their best without me, but it will weaken their hope and their spirit."
"Prideful words," the sphinx mocked.
Shiroe shook his head. "I used to think so. But they've shown it to me again and again. I'm needed. Because I'm needed, I want to be there for them...even if I can't do anything." Suddenly he had nothing but a bare minimum of clothing on his body. No magic items. He checked - he didn't even have a status screen. He blinked, but knew this was a world of magic. He shook his head again. "I'll still go. The 'things' aren't important. It's my friends that are."
"And what will you do if they don't arrive? If you're the only one to make it through?"
Shiroe paused to consider his answer. "I will hope for them, and do what I can with what I do have."
The sphinx looked at him, measuring him. He calmly looked back. He really was just a single man, young and inexperience in many ways. But he had a goal that drove him, friends who supported him, a reason for existing and moving forward. If this world had taught him nothing else, he had learned that. It didn't matter what was stripped from you, as long as there was a reason to move forward, then moving forward was what one did. And if there wasn't one, you moved forward anyway until you uncovered one.
The sphinx bowed its head slightly. "Very well. Answer my riddle then." It paused and blinked, then intoned, "What is set highest in the land, yet is the lowest of all; granted the most power, yet must take none at all; is gifted highest honor by all yet weighed down with the worst burden no one willingly picks up?"
Shiroe's eyes unfocused as he sucked in a breath. He knew the answer to that riddle with every fiber of his being. It was the thing he ran from daily. That answer twisted in his gut. He neither wanted it, yet it was essential. It made him face his own reason for walking forward and writhe. He had to answer it to walk forward, but he didn't want to say it, as if saying it made him admit he had to be it. The tail of the sphinx twitched. He wondered if there was a time limit. "It's the thing that is my own sacrifice," he finally admitted, "it is a leader, a king."
"Very good, King Shiroe," the sphinx said calmly. His heart clenched, but he looked the sphinx in the eye. "That is the sacrifice you have accepted to reach this point. What will you sacrifice to continue?" It waited silently.
Shiroe considered it. That was a rather broad thing to ask and the answer could be small to great. There really wasn't any reason to give up anything that he shouldn't, so he took his time thinking about it. Finally he answered, "I'll give up my reluctance to accept that role, and wear the mantle of duty without complaint."
The sphinx rose to it's feet and breathed on him. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was in a room that was circular and cavernous. It was the third time ever he'd seen the code realm overlaid over the real world. He could see pipelines and other similar almost industrial structures running up the outer walls and along the floors and ceiling. In the center were the life-lines, lightly glowing and pulsating, rising from under the ground and up into the ceiling, high above. He moved a few steps forward looking at the nexus and up, then around the walls until he looked around the open space to see what else living might be in the room.
He couldn't see any monsters at all. He rather didn't think there would be any. This nexus was protected from monsters, People of the Land, and Adventurers alike. There was one thing that he did eventually see moving - shadows of light, drifting near the nexus. As he looked, he could see they were near loose, cut lifelines. He nodded. The spirits of the Adventurers. He checked himself next. He was re-dressed in the clothing he'd passed into the mirror with, and had a status screen. That was nice, to get everything back again.
He quietly moved up to be closer to the nexus. Sometimes bosses showed up when you crossed a threshold, though he would have been really surprised to see one. As he got closer, one of the spirits left the nexus and approached him. He stopped and watched it. When it stopped in front of him, he said calmly, "I'm Shiroe of Log Horizon. Until others of my guild come through, I don't know which one you are, but we've come to help. Do you know which lines are yours so we can repair them?"
He followed the spirit until it stopped at a line coming from the floor that ended about four feet up from the floor. He pointed to it. "This one is yours?" It was hard to see a nod, but he thought it might have been one. Then it rose up in the air and hovered next to a line that was gently waving above his head. He sighed in relief. Even if they couldn't go up into the moon, the spirits knew. That would make the repairs much easier. He carefully inspected the lines around the cut line. They didn't looked cut, but they also didn't look terribly healthy. He put his hand out and cast a supporting HP increasing status effect on that part of the nexus. It seemed to help that general area somewhat.
There was a sudden breath of air next to him and he turned to his right to look. It was another spirit, but this one felt more solid, if such could be said of a spirit. "Purrcy?" he asked. It reached out a hand and put it on top of his head. He smiled. "Did you have to answer the questions, too?"
She nodded, then rose up to be next to the spirit still hovering over Shiroe. He watched them until Purrcy moved again, this time going away from the nexus. Shiroe turned to watch her flight, then saw who she was moving to. He smiled. "Glad to have you, Chief," he said. "It looks like Purrcy is, too."
Nyanta was smiling slightly at the spirit who'd arrived next to him. She gave him a "hug". "Meow. Thanks," he said softly. When she "let go" she moved slightly towards Shiroe and Nyanta followed her until they were standing together.
"They know which ones are their lines," Shiroe informed him.
Nyanta nodded and turned to Purrcy. "Where's meowrs, Purrcy?" She didn't move for a bit, then she slowly disappeared into the nexus.
"Oh," Shiroe sighed. "That might be a problem. How do we get into it? The ones outside will be simple enough, but I wonder how many are on the interior?" He looked at the nexus again. It was a very large bundle of life-lines. The ones on the outer perimeter were rather small in number compared to the total that made it up.
Nyanta put a paw on the nexus where Purrcy had entered it. It was rather solid, actually, in the base realm they normally existed in. Not surprising since in that layer it looked like a tree trunk. It rather was one when touching it. Nyanta looked up the nexus. "Purrhaps the Hackers can get in."
"Probably," came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Tetorō walking up to them. "We can make ourselves pretty small. What's inside?"
"Purrcy, and her line. Probably more than just hers, too," Shiroe answered.
"Let me go looking," Tetorō said. He held still and his eyes unfocused. He returned about a minute later. "Yes, I can get to where she is. There's damage to the surrounding lines, but her's is the only one cut where she is."
Shiroe nodded. "I noticed that with this one," he pointed to the one he'd been brought to before. "I cast an HP support on the area and it seemed to help."
Tetorō inspected that area, then nodded. "The damage inside's worse, but that's good, if that helps." He looked up the trunk of the nexus as well, looking up at the waving cut line with the spirit hovering next to it. His look turned quizzical. "How are we supposed to get them down here for the reconnection?"
Shiroe shook his head. "I don't know that yet. But they do know both ends of the line they belong to."
"That's a good start, then," Tetorō said, almost absently.
There was a sudden blip of motion and arms were wrapped around Shiroe's middle. He jumped just a little, then looked. He smiled slightly and put his hand on top of the black hair. "Was it scary?" he asked. Akatsuki held still, then shook her head. He wrapped his arms around her and held her anyway, just in case. "I'm glad you've made it, too. I hope you didn't give up too much. I think anything would have worked, but I could only think that we shouldn't give up more than was really reasonable."
Akatsuki blushed - he could feel it. She finally answered, "No. It was okay."
"That's good, then," he answered calmly, mostly to get her to calm down, and patted her on the head again. "We need to know how to get up to the upper cut lines and bring them down for the repairs. Can you reach them?" he asked her.
Akatsuki pulled away to look up and he pointed to the line above them. She let go of him and studied the trunk in front of her, then the line again. Walking to the trunk she touched it, trying to get a feel for the difference between the code side and the real side and what effects she could have on each. Then her face scrunched up just a bit with some internal effort. After a bit she relaxed and shook her head. "I can't 'intend' the lines down, so we'll have to go up." She continued to study the pathway.
Shiroe looked at Tetorō. "The internal lines, are they up high like this, too, or are they packed tightly enough the ends are close?"
"The ends are a lot closer," Tetorō answered right away. "They'll be easier to reconnect, once we can get to them and find them. It's finding them that's going to be hard."
Shiroe nodded. "I think I have a way to do that, but you'll have to come back out each time."
Tetorō shrugged. "Takes me less than a second your time for that," he commented dismissively.
There was a quiet step near them and they turned to see Naotsugu arriving at their group. He was dressed in the casual clothes he wore around the guild hall. Shiroe raised an eyebrow. "I gave up my armor and weapons for just this ending," he answered. "Don't need it for this part, I figured."
Shiroe smiled. "You did specify?"
"Of course," Naotsugu grinned. "I love the stuff, and I've learned my lessons from Hahaue."
"Good," Shiroe nodded.
Akatsuki planted herself in front of Naotsugu. He looked down at her with a surprised face and raised eyebrow. "What is it, Short Stuff?" he asked.
She scowled slightly, then said, "Throw me up there, so I can bring it down."
Naotsugu looked up the trunk to look at the waving line. He considered it for a moment. "Alright." They all moved out of the way to let the two of them get into position below the line. Naotsugu cupped his hands and bent his knees. Akatsuki stepped a foot into his hands and put her hands on his shoulders to balance herself. They both looked up, then Naotsugu counted. On three he tossed her up and she jumped out of his hands at the peak of the throw. She sailed up, caught the floating line, then "danced" her way back down the trunk of the tree. She had a look of great concentration on her face.
When she neared the bottom she said, "Intent, Pervert. Take it."
He reached up, being taller than her so it wouldn't have to stretch so far, and snagged the end of it. It took a couple of tries but he eventually had it, also concentrating hard. He pulled it down then grabbed the other lower end and pulled up on it until they were just about touching. Tetorō immediately put a hand at the join and cast a healing spell on them. They looked better but didn't connect. He switched to another spell and the ends began to grow until the space between was filled and they were reconnected. Then he cast another healing spell and Naotsugu let it go. The line held and everyone released the breath they were holding.
Shiroe looked for the spirit. It was hovering behind Naotsugu. "So, we've reconnected it. Can you get back into it and return? If you resurrect, contact Kazuhiko immediately. He'll let us know it worked. If we don't hear back in fifteen minutes, we'll assume you're still stuck somewhere and come looking for you."
Naotsugu moved out of the way and the spirit moved to the line. It slowly shrank, then disappeared altogether. They all sighed. Now it was wait to see if it had worked.
"What'cha got?" They turned and smiled.
"Hey, Michael," Tetorō said. "We just sent the first test spirit up."
"That's awesome," Michael said calmly, with a bit of a smile. "Do you know who it was?"
"Nope," Tetorō answered.
"I forgot to ask him to tag it before we let it go," Shiroe admitted.
Tetorō looked at the line, then shook his head. "Can't tell just by the line. I might have been able to do it looking at the spirit, but I don't know that."
"We need to do an external count and see how many more are on the outside," Shiroe said, "then we'll know how many are inside. It would be nice to have a few more outside ones to teach everyone what they need to do."
Akatsuki immediately went one way, Michael sauntered off the other way. Shiroe pulled out his list of missing Adventurers. He'd updated it with Kazuhiko before they left, and added Purrcy's name to it. He put his finger on the top name and the name glowed. About fifteen seconds later a spirit appeared in front of the group still standing around the tree.
Shiroe called that name and the spirit seemed to give a positive sign. "Tetorō, go follow this one in and find the line. Then we'll talk through what we can do for the inside ones." He turned to that spirit. "Tetorō's one of the ones that can follow you in. Please take him to your line so we can repair it."
"Go ahead," Tetorō nodded at it. "I'm not coming physically. I'll keep up with you, but don't lose me."
Nyanta grabbed Tetorō's body and lowered it to the floor, then held his head in his lap. Looking up at the others, he gave a bit of a grimace. "Nyot much else I can do to help Hackers. ...Shiroe-ichi, mew should know, Michael-nyan can fly. Mew can have two teams at once on the outside if Akatsuki-chan wants to keep flying and Meowtsugu's willing to be the wings."
Shiroe nodded. "It will depend on how many, but we might do that." He was looking towards the space where the entrance to this zone seemed to be. Another person had materialized. Coming towards them was Nakalnad, also missing armor and weapons. "I do hope you limited them to only this dungeon?" Shiroe asked.
"Yeah," Nakalnad answered. He nodded at Naotsugu, recognizing the same price given to arrive. "How's it look so far?"
"Not too bad. We've run the first experiment and are doing recon now for the rest. Some are inside and only the Hackers can get in, so far. Actually, I'm afraid most are inside. That will slow us down."
Nakalnad looked at the tree, put his hand on it, then pushed. His hand went in a few centimeters. "Well, if you think of it as a pile of spaghetti, you can get into it." He pulled his hand back out. "But...I'm not sure I'd like to go wading through that, then freak out and end up dead in the middle of a tree trunk."
Naotsugu nodded. "Crunchy-pasta-city."
"I think slow and steady's the way to go," Shiroe agreed. "I'm pretty sure there isn't a time limit at this point, unless the collateral damage is pretty bad on some of the surrounding lines. I've sent Tetorō to go looking at the first one lost to check on that."
"There was collateral damage, huh?" Nakalnad said softly, looking around the upper reaches and then the room. "Haven't seen a side boss, yet?"
"No," Shiroe said. "I'd be surprised if there was one. Anything in this room could damage it, after all. I'm only expecting some of the ones to come through to have been black-hearts to begin with and attack once they get here, though the sphinx should sort most of them out." He watched Nakalnad's reaction.
Nakalnad looked him in the eye. "I suppose I can't say. I just came through to see what this place is protecting with my own eyes, since I won't get any other rewards from it. I can at least say I was here and got to see it for myself - a thing almost no one will ever get to see."
The three men in front of him smiled. They understood the prize of seeing a vista never seen before. "That's a good dream fulfillment," Naotsugu nodded approvingly. "Debauchery Tea Party's favorite reward."
Nakalnad actually looked away and blushed. Shiroe raised an eyebrow at him, then changed the subject. "Would you be willing to sort people out that come through into new teams? I need one person with HP ups, one person with regeneration, and potentially one person with flight retrieval skills." When Nakalnad looked at him curiously, he pointed up. "On the outside, the upper ends are in the air, high, so we have to get them back down to attach them. And then we'll need one Hacker on each of those teams. I've already got one flight team and two Hackers here. When the Technicians arrive, on their teams I need a Druid and a Kannagi. We'll do the healings first, then build the structure of protection around it all."
Nakalnad looked at him curiously. "Who's your flight team?"
"Naotsugu throws Akatsuki up and she brings them down to his level," Shiroe answered with a shrug. "You know - we improvise."
A smiled cracked on Nakalnad's face. "Right. I get it." He turned and walked off towards the entry point, chuckling at the image in his head Shiroe's words had given him. Shiroe was glad Akatsuki wasn't there to knee him in the face.
Tetorō returned next, looking up at Nyanta in surprise. Nyanta patted him on the forehead. "Mew're a good boy, Tetorō. I'll watch over mew while mew work."
"Ah...thanks, I think," he said then looked at Shiroe. "Degradation's higher, but it doesn't look horrible. I think if it had been years, even one, it would be a lot worse. The cut's a little less refined so there's more damage to the ends, but I think we can work with that, too. I want to try just regrowing it first, and only cut off the ragged ends if we have to. Purrcy says if they won't regrow with a healing spell to be nice and even again, we'll have to cut them, or they'll be like festering wounds and not heal up right."
Shiroe blinked. "Can we use her?"
Tetorō tipped his head to see Shiroe a little better from his horizontal position. "Probably. She just needs an HP feed to someone."
Shiroe nodded. "We'll have plenty of those, I would think, if more of the fighters followed Naotsugu and Nakalnad in."
Tetorō nodded. "That would work, if they're volunteers - like blood donors." Shiroe smiled at the imagery of that.
"I want to have you feed the healing and regeneration spells in, too, not just do them yourself. We need to conserve you, too," Shiroe looked at Tetorō soberly. "We'll do that for all the Hackers, actually. Use the same method you used to funnel Isuzu's song to Quon."
Tetorō considered that. "Well, I was using the imagery of radio waves for that, since it was song, but I guess it was magic, too, wasn't it?" He went to thinking hard on how that could be done and Shiroe looked to check on Nakalnad. A few others had come through. That was a relief. Maybe some of the others they needed had decided to come. It made him more nervous about a traitor in the mix, but he really couldn't do much about that in the end, except protect what needed to be protected if one did show up. He wasn't sure when he'd gotten so cynical and untrusting, but in the matter of the Adventurer Tree of Life he was rather paranoid. All possibilities needed accounting for.
Akatsuki and Michael showed back up not too much later, coming together, and gave their reports. There were enough other outer lines to teach, which was good. It would have been a little more difficult if they had used the only one as their test line. They relaxed around the tree, waiting and were slowly joined by other groups sent over by Nakalnad. One was a set of four fighters who wanted to know what they could do. Shiroe explained they would need HP donors, if they'd be willing. He'd not have them go less than half at most and it would be a slow drain, so it wouldn't be as bad even as if they were being whaled on by a boss. They agreed to it readily and sat down to wait. While waiting they quietly got to comparing their experiences at the sphinx.
Shiroe listened in, curious. They were split evenly between Minami and Akiba. "I'd already known my sacrifice was not getting to beat out a boss," one from Minami said a little sadly. "That was an easy question to answer. The second was almost as easy. No point to bringing weapons in here, really, but I answered, 'I want to protect the Tree of Life'. I don't know where that's left me. I hope I actually get to go home." Shiroe hoped so too. That was a bit too open ended for this world. He did like that it also left someone in the room to have weapons if it was needed in the end. That part had been intelligent.
"Well, we didn't even get to fight in the last room at all, so completely missing out on any final battle at all was mine," one from Akiba said. "I think most of you could have yours and most of us could have mine, really," there were nods in that group and even in some of the other surrounding one's, listening in. "It was difficult to decide on a thing to give up next, though. There were a lot of things that I didn't want to give up and a lot that just seemed ridiculous when I thought of them. You know, like the American and European tradition, where they give up food for one month." He blushed. "But that stuck with me...so no Crescent Burgers for me for the next month."
The group laughed lightly. "Hey, but you know," the other one from Akiba said, "there are a lot of other good foods in Akiba, but that one's the most nostalgic." They both looked far away and drooled. "The first real food with taste after we got here." Others from Akiba nodded.
"Hey, Shiroe," a voice said at his shoulder.
Shiroe turned to look. "Rieze, glad you were willing to come," he said with a nod at her.
"Well...I almost didn't, since I'm not sure you need a Sorcerer, but I couldn't just leave Purrcy. Not when we're still trying to teach her what friends are." Her posture dared him to make fun of her. He didn't dare.
"Thank you," he said sincerely instead. "I'm grateful you were willing to give something up for that friendship."
She looked away and shrugged. He didn't press her. Like his, he suspected many of the upper level guildmasters and guildmembers wouldn't ever give away what their riddles and even sacrifices were. He had a good idea what Purrcy's was and Nyanta's, too, and an inkling of what Tetorō's might have been, but the rest he wouldn't know, and he wasn't going to ask. "Ains and Isaac are staying behind. They felt like someone in the upper levels should sit with the ones who were choosing to not come. If we need them, we can call them through, was the thinking. I've brought the Clerics and Kannagi of Akiba with me, since I know you need them if there's Hacker stuff here, which there is."
"Good. Thanks. Can we call out?" he hadn't done that yet.
Rieze looked at him just a little impatiently. "That's the other reason for coming. You don't always think tactically when outside the actual battle. Yes, I've gotten hold of them and they're waiting like we are at this point. They'll let me know when the last one leaves that room. We can't contact anyone in the Glade of the Sphinx, though."
Shiroe nodded. That made sense. "How many of Nakalnad's came?"
"We talked half the Technicians into it, the other half refused, not willing to give up any more than they'd already given up. Part of it was feeling completely left out already, I think, though that would likely have been their sphinx riddle's my guess."
Shiroe sighed. "Well, I did only need them for this part. Maybe I can get Nakalnad to talk them into coming, after we've done that experiment. If it works, they'll have a reason to come. But two might be enough, too, I don't know. Do you know how many Druids we've got?"
"Enough," she tipped her head over to two groups sitting. He could see the staffs of Druids being held by one member of each group and nodded. "It might be good to have a couple more of those in each group, if we can get them, especially since we don't have the Technicians, or go ahead and form up the third and fourth groups without the Technicians. We'll need to have them all around the trunk and just two groups will make that hard. Four is better, more if we can have them, I guess."
Rieze nodded and headed back to the larger group around Nakalnad to pass on the request. Shiroe looked at the groups in front of him. "Hands up for the healing round?" he asked. He got four groups worth, and sent one of each of the fighters in the group of four that had said they'd be HP donors to those four groups.
"Oiy, Machiavelli!" Nakalnad called out from his place, "You got a hit. Kazuhiko just called in. Ayumu arrived at the Cathedral and is apparently kissing the ground. They're taking him to medical for checking out and treatment if necessary." The whole room erupted into cheers.
Shiroe slumped in relief and crossed him off his list of missing Adventurers. "Well, if we wanted to know why we're here, there's the reason," Naotsugu said with a smile. Shiroe nodded agreement. He could see Rieze passing that on to the others waiting behind.
"Okay, we're ready to train the healer groups. Once that gets started I'll be back to explain to the Technician groups what I want. Michael, take us to the next outer line around." Shiroe requested.
-:-:-:-:-
Shiroe put one team on the outer lines and the rest on the interior. Tetorō handled teaching the other Hackers the code spell to bring the magics of the magic users into the place they were needed and they practiced that a time or two outside until they were comfortable with it. Shiroe showed one of the Minami Communication mages who'd come on the trip how to call out the spirits so the Hackers could follow them inside and handed his list over, then headed back to talk to the construction groups.
"So...what I want to do is put up a shield around the trunk so that it can't be axed any more, by code, spell, or weapons. We'll still need to be able to get inside for repairs, though, so there has to be a way to knock on the door and ask it to let us in, so to speak. I want you to work on possible solutions in your groups and then we'll discuss them. I anticipate using a combination of Kannagi protective spells targeted to the code realm life-lines first, then the physical tree second. The Druids can help with that most, I would think, in making the protections sufficiently organic."
"The Technicians will be the ones to layer it all together along the whole thing seamlessly, though it can start in pieces. You'll be working with magic as your material, is all, and making it permanent. You'll probably be the best for coming up with how to make it something we can still get through for repairs. If you need help, call back to the other Technicians for ideas, too. They don't have to come through, but we all know more minds are more creative."
"We've got enough groups total to go equally around the trunk and hold up the magic panels while the Technicians weld them into place, is kind of how I'm seeing it. And each panel should be able to be asked to come down until repairs are done inside, then be put back up. Remember, we might not be the ones coming back to do the repairs, so it should be easy to figure out how to get in and do that part - if you're really good hearted and not going to destroy the works when you get in. It might be nice to be able to see through it, too, so the repairman knows where the problem is quickly."
"I don't even know if this is possible. We're experimenting in this with something completely new, but we've already found that the creative mind makes things work here, and intent is often all that's needed to make changes. If we can't, we can't and we'll go home, but if we can, I'd like to, just to make sure something like this doesn't happen so easily again from this end. It's a bit hard to just come apply a patch anytime, after all. Let's do it while we're here, if possible."
The group members all nodded and got started putting their heads together. He walked over to the rest. "If there are any more volunteers to be HP donors for the Hackers, they could probably use at least one more per group. The more there are, the less each one has to donate, though I don't think the cost would be very high in the end." A number of people detached and headed for the four groups around the side of the trunk. The three internal groups had just sprawled at the place the training had been at. "Rieze," Shiroe asked quietly, "will you join the external group, please."
She gave him a look and he looked back. She nodded and headed around the trunk to find them. Shiroe stood by Nakalnad, the both of them looking back towards the Adventurer Tree of Life. "A different kind of battle, huh?" Nakalnad said.
Shiroe nodded. "A good kind," he answered quietly.
Nakalnad tipped his head at Shiroe. "You're pretty adept at this kind."
Shiroe pushed up his glasses. "Yes. I've had two years of practice heading this kind, and a great group of people to help me."
"Good," Nakalnad said with firmness. "Then when we get stuck, we'll be calling on you."
Shiroe looked at Nakalnad with wide eyes, then nodded at what he saw. "Okay. But you have to do what I say if you're going to ask for it."
Nakalnad gave him a long-suffering look. "There's no point to asking if we aren't."
"Exactly," Shiroe agreed. Then he sighed. "I hope I'm not too busy for that, too."
"You've already put your hand into it, Shiroe. You can't back out now."
Shiroe looked into Nakalnad's eyes. They were serious. Shiroe honored that. "You've sacrificed it already," he claimed. Nakalnad didn't answer, but the answer was there. Shiroe nodded again. "I have, too." He looked away from Nakalnad to watch the people in front of them. "They're worth it."
"It's because you think like that...," Nakalnad said, but let it hang without finishing. He didn't need to.
-:-:-:-:-
When all of the exterior lifelines were repaired, that group of healers was sent to sit with the others to continue working inside and Shiroe got the construction groups started on the far side. They could put up test shields on the far side while the others were still working. The last panel could be put on after the last line was repaired. That would be Purrcy's most likely. He watched until it looked like the Technician groups had worked out a solution everyone was happy with, then went around to the healer groups.
Shiroe held out his hand for the list and the mage handed it over. It was narrowing down nicely. "How do you know when Purrcy's ready for another one?" he asked.
"She shows up and hovers over me," the mage said wryly. "It was a bit hard to get used to at first."
Shiroe smiled slightly. "I need to talk to her when she comes out again, if you'll let her know." The mage nodded and Shiroe walked off a bit after handing the list back.
About seven minutes later, Purrcy showed up in front of him. "Purrcy," he said quietly, "when we get close to your turn, will you ask Tetorō to let you have some time? I'd like to talk to you before you go."
The spirit Purrcy put a hand on his cheek for just a moment, then floated back to the Tree. He hoped that was a "yes", or "okay".
He went and joined Rieze, sitting on the floor at a bit of a distance, watching the work. She'd taken to being the guard or overseer of the Hacker groups and Nakalnad over the Technician groups. They both understood he needed reliable eyes on the people, who he really did wish he could just trust, but just this shade of couldn't. Dungeons always had something bad happen last minute. That was why he wanted to talk to Purrcy.
"When it's Purrcy's turn," he said quietly to Rieze, "will you be in the group?"
Rieze looked at him. "You're worried?"
He looked down, then gave a brief nod. "I wish I wasn't."
"Well...it's healthy in the long run," Rieze said after a moment of quiet, looking back at the others in front of them again.
"I wish it wasn't," he mostly repeated himself. She just gave an understanding nod. They sat together, watching as the names crossed off the list in the Communication mage's hand moved farther and farther down the page. The protection spells on the trunk moved lower from the ceiling and farther around from the far side. The knots in Shiroe's stomach increased in number just as slowly and just as surely. He tried to remember to breathe full breaths to keep them from hurting too much. Finally Tetorō and Nyanta walked over. They sat down with the two guildmasters.
"I've got Purrcy here," Tetorō said calmly. "Do you want to talk to her directly?"
"Yes, please," Shiroe said. "You can listen in, if you want. I want you on the repair of her line."
Tetorō nodded and his eyes went distant. When they focused again, they were golden cat eyes. Shiroe smiled gently. "Hello, Purrcy."
He got a smile back. "Hello, Shiroe. Good work."
"Good work," he said back. She'd done more actual effort than he had this day. "How can we make sure you'll actually come back?"
"Aren't you already doing that?" she asked, tipping Tetorō's head.
"Somehow...I think you're a special case," he answered cautiously.
She smiled at him again, just a little. "I'm always an oddity," she admitted. She paused, then sighed. "Okay, I can answer you this much. I won't come back right away." Nyanta stiffened, but Shiroe wasn't surprised. "We've met all the external criteria once my lines are repaired. Even with the external patches, there have to be internal patches to the original programming as well. I have to code those first. Likely it will be a month, maybe more." She tipped her head. "Tetorō asks if he can help. The answer is 'no', I'm afraid not."
Shiroe nodded. "I understand. But I have a message for the Superuser, the World AI". Purrcy sat upright, her eyes not leaving his and opening wide. "It has to return you to us. You're our reward for doing this for it. And not just after this one's healed. I mean after each of them and when it's all over, too. It can't keep you for good, teasing us in between. You're also an Adventurer, not one of its constructs. You belong with Adventurers as your own free person, regardless of what status effect happened to you along the way. I will not be moved away from this. It will comply or I will fight against it instead of work with it." He let his darkest, most Machiavelli look pierce into her, and through her to that which was controlling her. "You're needed here for other things."
There was a pause, then she bowed. "There is no conflict of interests at this point," she answered.
"None?" he asked, his voice hard.
"No, Archmage Shiroe," she answered, looking back up at him again to look calmly in his eyes. "None."
"Let's keep it that way, then," he said firmly. "I'll be watching."
"Yes, Archmage Shiroe," she answered.
He nodded. "We'll expect you for the Fall Festival then. And there will now also be a delegation from Minami at the wedding. Please be looking forward to it." Nyanta's ears fell at that. Shiroe ignored it.
Purrcy sighed. "Yes, Guildmaster Shiroe."
"What's that?" he asked looking at her severely.
She swallowed. "Yes, Heika."
He nodded. "Very good." Rieze gave him the strangest look. He ignored that, too. He reached out and rubbed the top of Tetorō's head as if he was petting the kitten. "Hurry home," he said more gently. "We're already missing you." He dropped his hand and nodded back towards the Tree of Life.
The golden eyes slowly returned to Tetorō's new pale purple ones. He blinked a few times. "Was that harsh?" Tetorō asked.
"No. Necessary," Shiroe answered and rose. "Shall we go make sure nothing happens now? If a boss is going to appear, it'll be after that."
The four of them rose and walked to the Adventurer Tree of Life. Purrcy waited to enter her line until after the final panel was placed and the final test that future maintenance personnel could actually get inside was completed. Then she lightly touched each member of Log Horizon and Rieze, kissed Nyanta on the cheek, then slipped into the trunk of the tree. Michael and Tetorō both followed her in, by the far away looks on their faces. They returned less than a minute later. "She's on her way," Tetorō reported. Shiroe nodded and the room was filled with a warm glow. When the glow receded, everyone who'd been in the room with the Adventurer Tree of Life was outside it, back in the room of mirrors.
Those who'd waited there rose to their feet. Shiroe looked around. Everyone who'd left behind armor or weapons had them back, and the one who'd wanted to protect the Tree was with them. He was relieved, but expected if anything happened again, that Adventurer would be summarily removed from whatever he was doing and placed back in that room to take care of it - whatever 'it' was.
As they all cast the spell to return to the beginning of the dungeon, Nyanta put a restraining paw on Shiroe's arm. Shiroe waited until all the others had gone to allow Nyanta the privacy he was requesting. "I'm going to go," Nyanta said quietly. "I'll finish the work mew set me to, and find the rest of the beast-half villages. I'll return with Purrcy."
Shiroe put his hand on Nyanta's shoulder. "Okay," he said. "Keep in contact."
"I will," Nyanta promised. He paused, then cast the spell to return. Shiroe looked around the room one more time, then took a breath and cast the same spell, with the firm intention that he would arrive without incident. He was rather relieved when it worked and he did. He'd challenged the world, after all. But then...he'd been doing that from the beginning. And...so had Purrcy, and she'd just promised that it wasn't a conflict of interest with the world to do so. He mulled over why that was many times until she arrived back in Akiba.
