Vol 2 CH 7 - Reunion V2

"Here." Leafa handed Kirito a cup of tea. "Sorry. It's a little stale."

"Thank you." He replied, gingerly taking the cup from her.

She nodded and sat beside him. "I...didn't expect you to be…" She trailed off.

"Neither did I." Kirito replied. "I mean, what the hell are the odds?"

It was shortly after the revelation. It took quite a few moments for the two of them to calm down. Riwet and Yui were present, but they stayed far away enough that they wouldn't hear the conversation.

"...I'm sorry for not telling you that I've been messing around with the virtual world." Kirito started. "But I have a lead and I'm running out of time." He then proceeded to tell her the picture and the engagement.

Leafa listened intently and nodded. During the first night that they met, she was obviously suspicious of an extremely powerful but modestly-equipped Spriggan who was a long way from home and asking her for directions. His further elaboration cleared most of her questions. "I believe you." She affirmed, her gaze towards Yggdrasil. "And I will continue helping you to get to the top of that tree."

Kirito breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Sugu."

Silence permeated between the two for a moment, and then broken by Leafa. "You know...I think I was starting to fall in love with Kirito-kun." She admitted.

"Eh?" Kirito's eyes widened. "Wh...why would you feel that way? Even if we weren't related, all I did around you was act around like a dumbass."

"Really? Then what was that about me leaping onto your arms as a show of gratitude for rescuing me from that group of Salamanders?"

"A...way to break the ice?"

Leafa crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "It's not good to play with women's hearts, you know!" She huffed.

"But yo-...I'm just...I'm sorry." Kirito was at a loss for words, so the best thing that he could do was to apologize and shut up before he could dig himself a deeper hole.

After all, he was this close to sarcastically joking that Leafa was still a brat and not a woman.

"...pfft!" The blonde elf couldn't keep a stern face and laughed. "Hehehe...well, at least this got out sooner rather than later. It would've been really bad."

"I agree. Again, my bad. If I had just told you Asuna's name in the beginning, things would've probably been less awkward."

"It already happened, so there's nothing we can do about that." She replied before she turned to the horizon. "You know, the biggest reason I was getting attracted to you was that I felt at ease when you were around me, even though I thought we had never met before. Now I realize that feeling is not romantic. It's familial." Leafa let out a smile and her eyes went distant. "It reminded me of the time when we were kids and wanted to go on 'adventures' all the time."

Kirito cleared his throat, embarrassed by the memory. "Um, I-um, you...uh, you remember all of that, huh?"

"Who would forget if their older brother declared that they're the hero of justice and would vanquish all of the world and underworld's demons?"

Kirito rested his face on his palms. "Someone kill me…"

"Don't say that. It's not like I hated it. Why'd you think I love kendo so much?"

Kirito's eyes widened at what she had said. That was the reason? He thought, a sense of guilt sinking at his stomach.

He had that much of an influence on her dreams. If he had left her alone, she would've found another dream to pursue. Worse, he abandoned her the moment he learned that they were not siblings.

"I'm...sorry." Kazuto started, his words slowly trickling out of him as he mustered the courage to inform her of their relationship. "I know that I've been distant to you this past couple of years. It's not because I hate you or anything like that...it's...it's because…" He trailed off and clenched his teeth.

"It's because you discovered that we aren't siblings, right?" Suguha concluded.

He froze. "...eh?"

She took a deep breath. "I already know. Mom told me the whole story while you were trapped inside SAO. I...planned to tell you after you came back home, but the whole situation with Asuna-san happened. I know that you have a lot on your mind, so I felt that this could wait."

"I see…" He looked at the horizon. It was still sunset, but he was starting to see stars in the sky. "...I admit, when I realized that I was an outsider, I started distancing myself from all of you. But living in Aincrad changed my perspective on some things. Now I know that even when we don't share the same parents, we're still family." He turned to her. "I've missed you, and Aunt Midori, and Uncle Moritaka."

"We've missed you too, onii-chan." She came closer and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm glad to have my brother back."

He let out a smile. Even though she was leaning on him, he felt that a huge load was taken off his shoulders. "...I'm a little surprised that you're playing a VRMMO." He pointed out.

"I wanted to understand what you were going through. A while back, there was a demo for the AmuSphere. I tried it, but it wasn't enough. So, I bought one. As I played, I understood why you wanted to be here in the first place. Take away the death and imprisonment, and it almost becomes paradise."

"Yeah. That's how it should've been in the first place."

"It makes you wonder why that person did that to you all…"

"Believe it or not, I was able to have a conversation with him."

Leafa turned to him. "Eh? Really?"

"Yeah. It was when we finished SAO. He appeared and congratulated me. I think if it were anybody else, they would've shouted or cursed him. But at that time, all I could ask was...why?" A pause. "He wanted to make his dreams become a reality. When he was a kid, he was haunted by dreams of a floating castle, and he created Aincrad in that image. Comparatively, creating a virtual world and building a floating castle inside that is significantly more attainable than building a floating castle in real life."

His face darkened. "But he wanted it to be as real as possible, so he added the death penalty. And worse, Maybe it was because I wanted to hate him, but all I heard was apathy in his tone. It's like he was beyond caring that he held thousands of lives hostage for his dream. Because of him, thousands have died, and the VR industry has quite the black mark already even though it hasn't been around very long…"

He looked up. "Fortunately, the world's learning. Even coming from someone like me, I'm happy that the Virtual Reality industry survived the SAO Incident. Even beyond entertainment, I feel like it has the potential to contribute to humanity's advancement."

"I agree." She replied. "There's already some breakthroughs in the medical field thanks to it."

"Really? I'll have to read up on that."

The siblings enjoyed one more moment before Leafa turned to look at Kirito. "It's getting dark. I think we should go and find a town to sleep and set our spawn." She suggested.

Kirito nodded. They called the over. When they got closer, they shared a nod. "I think it's time for a more formal introduction." He pointed at Leafa. "It's a little complicated, but we're siblings. Her name's Suguha, my younger sister." He then pointed at Riwet. "Sugu, he's my buddy, also from SAO."

Riwet bowed. "My name is Mizushima Rin. I look like this in real life, except for all the red. It's complicated."

Leafa bowed back. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Aunt Leafa!" Yui beamed.

"A-ah... nice to meet you too, Yui-chan…"

"I can tell that you're overwhelmed from all of this. How about we talk on the way to the nearest city?" Riwet suggested.

"That can work." She brought up her map and urged them to come closer. "I haven't been to Arun, but I've consulted many top players. We're here, and the closest town that's on the way to the World Tree is over here. As long as we keep an eye out, we should be able to get there without running into issues."

"...the town's in the middle of quite a big forest." Riwet pointed out.

"That's right. I'm worried, too." Leafa admitted. "When I asked the top players about it, they just gave a smile and said to enjoy my time there. Sounds a little suspicious."

Kirito stretched his limbs. "Well, that's our best bet. If it turns out to be a dud, then we get out and go somewhere else. Besides, what's the worst that could happen.

Loading...Complete

"Gotta be honest, that's gotta be one of the worst things that could've happened to us right now." Kirito sighed. "Who would've thought that the whole village was a mimic?"

"It was really convincing, too." Riwet added. "A giant earthworm-like monster using illusion magic to make a town, then positioning itself under the inn it created before it threw us here…"

"From what I can tell, that was a scripted world event. Not one monster is capable of doing such a nuanced illusion over such a scale. And if you think about it further, if it was a monster, then we would've been in its stomach right now, not on another dungeon." Leafa elaborated." I wonder why the top players didn't tell me this."

"Well, in their perspective, that'll be spoilers." Kirito weighed in. "If we weren't under this specific circumstance, I would be happy that I get to experience something new. SAO was thankfully not sadistic enough to throw this at us."

"Yeah. The closest it got was that house mimic from whatever Floor it was, and that was a cakewalk."

Kirito chuckled. "That's right. To be fair, they moved fast and hit hard. Man, the hours I spent grinding those for rare materials…"

The four of them were currently taking refuge in the ruins of a small shrine. After the trap was sprung on them, the party expected to be in the monster's stomach and having to find their way out while trying to avoid being digested. Instead, the monster acted something similar to a water slide - albeit a disgusting one filled with slime instead of water.

The party slid down its body at an alarming speed, unable to stop or slow down because of the slime and the worm's smooth interior lining. Eventually, they reached the end and were thrown out to a desolate landscape filled with snow.

After spending some time evading some monsters, they found the ruins of a building - a shrine of some sort, considering the remnants of stone statues present.

Looking up, many lights were shining beyond the dim sky. Just like the Legrue Corridor, one can mistake them for stars. However, they were countless icicles emitting a faint phosphorescence. The party couldn't even correctly judge

They were at the bottom of a dungeon so unbelievably large that they couldn't see the ceiling, just the icicles. Surrounding them were countless carved cliffs and ravines, lakes, and mountains - as well as a fortress and castle-like structures - all painted white with blistering snow. Faintly visible in the distance was a large coiling structure, reminiscent of tree roots.

"Jotunheim." Riwet read the dungeon name on his Player Menu. "I'm not too knowledgeable about Norse mythology outside of Marvel's interpretation…"

"In classic Norse lore, Jotunheim is one of the nine worlds." Leafa explained. "It's home to the frost giants called Jotun - hence the name. In ALO, this place is an endgame area filled with deadly monsters. I haven't been here yet, but the highest-leveled players were constantly talking about how difficult it is even for them, but is the best in terms of farming for loot and money if you're strong enough. It may look like we're all alone here, but it's only a matter of time before we run across another group, which may or may not be beneficial to us."

"Sounds like an adventure for another time, but a pain in the neck right now. By the way, how long are the two of you gonna be able to stay online?" He asked. "When I logged out a bit earlier, I explained the situation to my family, and they were alright with me staying for quite a bit more."

The two looked at each other. "We'll be fine with staying. Our parents are away." Leafa replied. "Besides, we don't have much of a choice since we weren't able to sleep and set our spawn on Legrue. If Kirito-kun and I die, we'll respawn in Swilvane. If you die, you'll respawn in Gattan. That's a lot of progress wasted. Furthermore, it's a bad idea to log out for more than 10 minutes outside of safe zones. After that time passes, the character's gonna get a debuff that'll attract monsters, and they'll most likely die."

"I see. Well, since we just got out of that mess, can I log out just for five minutes? I need to talk to my family."

Kirito nodded. "Go ahead."

"Alright. Be right back." With that, Riwet's avatar slumped, but it didn't take long for him to come back. "Phew…"

"How was it?"

"They agreed to give me an extension, but I need to check in after two hours, or they'll start to think that something's gone wrong."

"Alright." Kirito stretched his limbs and yawned, his consciousness slipping slightly. "Ugh…"

Sitting beside him, Leafa poked his side. "Hey. I know I said to relax, but we can't sleep here."

"I know, I know..." He nodded over to Riwet. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm alright. You know how I am with the cold." He looked around. "So, what's the plan? We keep moving while laying low?"

"That's our best bet." The blonde-haired elf nodded to the faraway pillars. "I don't have the map data, so we can try to get to those pillars and climb it or something."

"Well, if everyone's ready to go, then let's sta-"

"BORURURURU!" A thunderous roar shook the area nearby, before being followed by the sounds of combat.

The three froze. After a moment, Riwet made eye contact with the rest before he very slowly inched away to check out what was happening. He pressed himself against one of the ruin's pillars, peeked out, and then motioned the others to follow. They did so, and the party was in the position to get a close look at all the fuss.

One one end was a humanoid-shaped monster. It was enormous, standing the same height as a six-storey building. Its body was muscular - with its legs the size of tree trunks - and it had four arms, each wielding a gigantic sword.

On the other end was a beast-like monster, standing half as tall as its opponent. Its body resembled a giant jellyfish with dozens of tentacle-like legs supporting its body, while its head resembled an elephant complete with a long trunk.

"I guess monster infighting happens here in ALO as well." Riwet quietly pointed out. "Also, I think the jellyfish is losing to Goro over there. If we let things be, then the humanoid monster's gonna finish the job and move on."

Leafa observed the scene. Indeed, the beast monster was losing. No - to describe it that way would be an understatement. It was more like a predator trying to finish off its half-dead prey. "Yururururu!" Pained cries emanated from the beast monster, its body spewing black liquid as the humanoid monster carved deep wounds into it.

"...let's help the monster." Leafa said. Her eyes widened once she realized what she had just said.

Kirito turned to look at her, bewildered, but before he could say anything-

"Sure. Why not." Riwet promptly accepted.

Kirito turned to him. "Are you two serious?"

The Salamander smiled at his friend. "Hey, we're already here."

"..." Kirito bit back whatever retort he had, opting to observe the scene. "There's something about that monster's shape…" He muttered to himself before his eyes lit up. "Yui, is there water nearby? A river or lake is fine!"

Yui's head popped up from his breast pocket. "There is one around two hundred meters away, but the top of it is frozen solid."

"Even better. Send us the location. Right...so, the three of us are gonna bait the bully to come after us. We'll lure it to the river and hope that it's heavy enough to break the ice and drown. Everyone onboard?"

The other two nodded. Riwet then walked up and started incanting. Leafa recognized the spell as a basic offensive fire spell - so elementary that its incantation was extremely short and didn't even need a wand to cast it.

When Riwet finished the spell, he stretched his hand out, and an orange ball of flame about the size of a tennis ball appeared in his hands. Then, he made a finger gun by closing his other three fingers, pointed it at the humanoid monster, and moved his thumb to simulate a gun hammer activating.

The projectile flew from his hand, an orange line trailing close behind it before it hit its target. Despite dealing minimum damage, it did, however, cause the giant monster to become aware of their presence as it abandoned the beast monster and ran towards them.

"Let's go, let's go!" Kirito once again took their hands, and they once again ran in unison.

The three were running at a fast pace, but the giant was keeping pace just because of how long its strides were.

Eventually, they reached the river. Behind them was the monster, so focused on them that it didn't notice the ice-filled ground straining to support its weight.

There was a thunderous crack. The three turned around, witnessing the monster being plunged into the river. Water spewed out as the monster thrashed about in surprise. The party kept going until there were quite a bit of a distance away since the monster was also breaking the ice in a large area around it.

Leafa had hoped that the monster would just freeze up and drown, but it was not to be. As expected of one of the denizens that could call this frozen wasteland its home, it was able to keep afloat despite its massive weight.

Beside her, Leafa saw Riwet grin at it. "Get ready for round two, you bastard."

She didn't know what he meant until she saw the jellyfish-like monster that they were protecting plunge its body into the water. She had thought that it would've ran away from them, but it turned out that it was also chasing after them.

The battlefield had changed, and so did the rules of engagement. The beast monster, which was sluggish above ground, moved like it was right at home in the water. All the arms that were supporting its body were now freed from the weight and were attacking simultaneously, wrapping them around its enemy's body. Conversely, the humanoid monster was struggling as two of its arms were dedicated to keeping it afloat, effectively cutting its effectiveness by half. Worse, its attacks were further slowed by the water, decreasing it so much that it bounced away from its target.

The fight was a sight to behold, with water and ice being thrown about away from the epicenter. However, it was clear that the beast monster had the upper hand. In a decisive show of superiority, it let out a roar and released a torrent of electricity at its enemy. Amplified by the water, the attack cut through whatever defenses the humanoid beast had and was enough to deplete its HP to zero.

"BORURURU-" The humanoid beast's death throes were cut short as it exploded into polygons large enough to cover the area.

Silence returned to the area for but a moment, then the beast monster turned to face the three. There was a moment of tension as its three pairs of eyes peered at each one of them. Then, it let out a sound. "Yurururu…" It was a much calmer sound, unlike its intimidating vocalizations during the fight.

Riwet relaxed his stance. "Well, it doesn't seem like it wants to hurt us."

"Onii-chan's right. This child is not angry." Yui added.

He snickered. "Leave it to the brat to tell us what another kid is feeling."

She puffed her cheeks. "Hey!"

The monster swam away from the water and approached them. It stretched its long nose to the closest player - Riwet - and started to wrap it around his body. Instead of panicking, Riwet straightened up and spread his arms wide. "Mind the stick. It's sharp and pointy." He muttered while moving his halberd away.

The monster raised Riwet high, and for a second, it looked like it was going to put Riwet in its mouth. Fortunately, the monster raised him higher and dropped him on its back. A few seconds later, Riwet peered out from the monster's back and waved at them.

The monster then reached for Kirito and Leafa, opting to grab both of them at the same time. Kirito let out an uncomfortable yelp, while Leafa stayed as still as possible as to make it easier for the monster.

They landed at the monster's back with Riwet, and they could see that it was completely flat and covered with gray hair.

"Yururu!" The monster let out a pleased sound before moving along as if nothing happened.

"..." Leafa and Kirito looked at each other, at a loss of words.

Beside them, Riwet was peeing at the distance. "We seem to be heading towards one of the pillars. We're going the same way, so we can keep on riding it." He let out a smile. "No good deed goes unrewarded, eh?"

"It's remarkable that you were able to quickly understand the monster's intentions." Leafa commented. "Are you a Beast Tamer?"

Riwet pursed his lips and pondered. "Technically, yeah." He looked around. "We're moving at a reasonable pace, I think. Slower than a full sprint, but faster than walking, or even a light jog."

"Still, it's quite strange that a normal enemy would interact with us like this." Kirito expressed. "Did we stumble upon a quest or something, even though it didn't show up on the Player Menu?"

"I wouldn't rule out that possibility." Leafa replied. "There was one time where I was farming for maps in one of the areas in Sylph territory. One day, I saw what appeared to be an old, hooded figure sitting on one of the tree stumps. I approached her, and she gave me a series of quests. I had suspected her the moment I saw her, but I went along just for curiosity's sake. However, at the end of the questline, I kinda made the wrong choices. "My vision cut off and I respawned at home, but it was heavily implied that I was boiled and eaten."

"Wow, that's rough. I guess boundaries get pushed a lot when you don't die in real life." He looked at the monster. Anyway, what do we call it? I'm not the best at naming stuff, so..."

The siblings frowned in contemplation, before thinking of something and snapping their gazes towards each other. ""...Tonky?" Kirito said slowly.

Leafa's smile widened. "That's right!"

"...I don't get it." Riwet said.

Kirito turned to him. "It's from a children's book. I'll try to find it and lend it to you when we're all done with this."

"Sounds great." Riwet looked over to Tonky. "Hey, you hear that? Can we call you Tonky from now on?"

"Yururu!" 'Tonky' replied with a light tone.

"Well, Tonky it is, then."

"So, why did you agree to help this monster so quickly?" Kirito spoke up. "I know that Su-Leafa here felt bad and wanted to save it, and since you have Pina, I think you could relate. But is that the whole reason?"

Riwet pursed his lips and opened his Player Menu, looked at something, and nodded. "Because I attacked it, I got the loot for it dying, even though all I did was essentially poke it. No EXP though, which is a little strange. Anyways, If Tonky decided to be ungrateful of its rescuers, then we can just run away. It's not the fastest when it's on land." He turned to Tonky. "No offense!"

"Yururu!" A soft sound was the reply.

"Thank you!"

"You say that, but you're all buddy-buddy with him." Kirito pointed out.

He shrugged. "All's well that that ends well."

They continued on silently. Kirito was struggling to stay awake while Leafa kept him from sleeping. She also tried to heal some of Tonky's wounds, but she realized that it lost an enormous amount of HP. She was surprised that it was still standing, but she remembered one of video game's most prevalent quirks whereupon anyone - be it player or monster - can fight to their fullest potential even when they've lost almost all of their HP. Fortunately, she had a healing spell ready - something that didn't give any immediate healing, but a constant regenerating effect.

When all that was done, her eyes went over to Riwet. He was facing to the side, staring at the horizon. Just like her brother, while his gaze was seemingly distant and unfocused, she could tell that he was alert, and she was proven right when he turned to her and tilted his head. "Something wrong?" He asked.

She shook her head and smiled. "It's nothing."

He returned the gesture before looking at the horizon once again.

They stayed like that for a while before Tonky suddenly stopped. It tucked its legs inward like a ball.

The three dismounted and looked at the monster. "What's happening to it?" Leafa asked.

"Maybe it's taking a rest." Kirito said. "It's an aquatic monster after all, and it did take quite a beating."

It was curled up like a ball, its eyes closed. Then, its body was covered by light, and when it dissipated, Tonky's body had changed - or rather, it was encased in an egg-like ball.

"Maybe it's evolving?" Riwet pointed out. "Do monsters do that?"

"...I don't know. I'm sorry." Leafa admitted. "...what should we do then? Do we wait, or do we leave it alone?"

He looked around. "He blends in pretty well, to be honest. And...if someone did come, I don't we can"

"Everyone." Yui spoked up in a worried tone. "I'm sorry, but because of all the snow, I didn't notice earlier. There's a group of players over there. 23 in number, and they're directly walking towards us."

"Well, shi-shhhhame." He caught himself before he turned to face the newcomers.

Up ahead were the group of players. The ones walking at the front were clad in blue armor while the others hanging back were clothed in robes.

"This is bad…" Leafa muttered. "They're Undines. I can tell by their faces and armor. Considering that ALO has incentives for PVP, they have a lot to gain by killing us."

"Well, they already saw us, so no use running." Kirito resisted the urge to grimace. "If they wanted us dead, then they wouldn't be approaching us like this. We're gonna have to either talk or fight our way out…"

Riwet stepped up. "Good evening. Thank you for not killing us outright."

One of the players in the group signaled the rest to stop before he stepped forward. "You're welcome. We're trying to focus on farming this area, and are actively avoiding any conflict between players." He nodded over to where Tonky was. "Are you going to kill that monster?"

"We'll get to it eventually." Riwet replied coolly. "We're just catching our breath running away from a monster - the one with big swords."

"You don't need to worry." He replied. "We've come across another evil-god class monster in that state a few days back. It won't fight back, so it's easy pickings."

Kirito didn't even need to look at Leafa to notice the change in her demeanor. Obviously, she wasn't pleased with what she heard.

Meanwhile, Riwet simply nodded and smiled. "Thank you for telling us."

"..."

"..."

"...so what are you waiting for?"

"...that monster over there helped in our escape. We did not and will not harm it as a show of gratitude."

The Undine stifled a laugh. "Gratitude? You're kidding me. And even if that was true, they don't deserve anything. They're just mindless monsters, and you're lucky it didn't kill you."

"Yes. We are indeed lucky." Riwet wouldn't budge.

The Undine leader waved his hand dismissively. "This is ridiculous. Do you know how much XP and Yurudo these guys are worth? We've had bad luck in our farming run tonight, so we need everything we can get. If you're not going to kill it, then we will. But since I'm such a nice guy, I'll give you ten seconds to get out of the way-"

"This is what's gonna happen, Niceguy." Riwet cut him off, his polite tone turning cold and harsh. "I'm gonna give you ten seconds to fuck off. If you don't, then I'm gonna bash your face in so hard that you're gonna shit your teeth out by the time you respawn."

Kirito subtly went into position. Riwet was usually the more diplomatic of the two, or at the very least, more willing to do the social song and dance just to avoid kicking up dirt.

Taking his previous statement to mind meant that negotiation was well and truly out of the question. Though admittedly, Kirito would've snapped much sooner.

Apparently unfazed by the threat, the Undine leader merely scoffed. "Do you honestly think you can take us on? There's a whole group of us, and only three of you. Your gear isn't even on our level yet, and you have the gall to-...are you even listening?" He cut himself off when he noticed Riwet yawning.

"Sure I am, sure I am."

"You know I can kill you where you stand, right? I'm starting to regret not killing you and just getting this shit over with."

"See, that's why you're not getting the good stuff. Your parents won't be happy that you've been staying up all night playing video games."

"Aren't you the sa-" The Undine leader cut himself off. He gave Riwet a hard stare before sighed through gritted teeth. "Ten...nine...eight…" He started counting.

"Eh, fuck you." Riwet said before he drew his polearm from his back and swung.

Upon seeing the attack, the Undine Leader merely raised his gauntleted arm in a halfhearted manner to defend. It didn't take much observation to note that the Salamander was sorely ill-equipped, and in normal circumstances, the attack wouldn't do much.

However, he was caught off guard when the blade sank deep into his gauntlet. In a moment of panic, he shoved his arm away to get the weapon away from him, only for his enemy to punch him in the head so hard that his helmet caved in slightly.

He staggered away, and his eyes widened when he saw the Salamander gather himself for another strike. The Undine leader would've been in worse trouble had it not been for one of his party members who stepped up. Gritting his teeth, he pointed at their enemy. "KILL THEM!" He shouted.

The rest of the Undines quickly went into position. The mages started incanting their spells while the rest brought up the front and began surrounding them.

For a split second, Riwet looked behind him and made eye contact with Kirito. Kirito started running towards him before he jumped, using Riwet as a springboard.

Kirito soared above the frontline enemies and dove right into the mages, breaking their formation and causing them to fumble their spells. Leafa stood with Riwet and helped him from being surrounded.

Despite being outnumbered, the three of them fought the party to a standstill. Kirito weaved enough confusion that the mages couldn't cast their high-end spells, forcing them to use high-speed, quick-cast spells that were either too slow or didn't hurt very much.

Meanwhile, Leafa and Riwet were holding back about a dozen frontline players all by their lonesome. Leafa already knew that Riwet was strong, and fighting side by side with him further cemented that idea. He wasn't as fast as Kirito or her, but the amount of punishment he could take was insane, even when facing enemies armed to the teeth and with him only having basic equipment. Sure, she knew of others who were more resilient than him, but they were built to tank damage, and couldn't do much else.

But despite all of that, it still wasn't enough.

"Grh!" Kirito gritted his teeth. One mage had finished casting something and threw it towards him. He planned to dodge, but unexpectedly, it hit the ground near him and exploded, splashing water in his direction. He got it by it, and his eyes widened when they rapidly cooled and he realized that his movements were becoming sluggish. Up ahead, he could see some of the casters winding up for a big one.

Meanwhile, Riwet and Leafa were slowly losing. They weren't getting hit by outright lethal attacks, but the wall of blades was relentlessly chipping away at their defenses. Worse, their enemies had them surrounded, and even though both of them had their backs against each other, the two of them found it hard to coordinate their movements. After all, they've only known each other for a short time.

In normal circumstances, the three of them would eventually lose when faced with such adversity.

Fortunately, karma saw fit to even the odds.

The party heard a giant cracking sound, reminiscent of rolling thunder. All of them stopped and looked at the source.

It came from the egg-like enclosure. A long crack ran diagonally against it. Then, it started cracking even more, web-like lines spreading throughout its surface before it exploded into a plume of light. When it dissipated, a familiar jellyfish-like monster stood in its place.

Tonky's scarred skin was gone, replaced by a new one that looked pristine but formidable. Much of its body structure remained unchanged, except that it now had three pairs of wings on its back. Even then, through its innate magical prowess that was bolstered by its evolution, it was hovering in the air even though its wings were still.

The beast monster looked down, its massive body towering over all of them. Then, it started to glow.

"Uh oh." Riwet whispered before he grabbed Leafa and threw both of them to the ground while Kirito also hunkered down.

"YURURURURU!" It let out a mighty roar, and the whole area was bathed with lighting.

The Undine mages were instantly vaporized, only their Remain Lights reminding the rest that there were once players standing on those spots, while the rest of the group survived with barely any HP left. Miraculously, the three were unharmed by the attack, and sensing the momentum turning, Riwet began to finish people off.

"Retreat! Retreat!" Regaining his bearings, the Undine leader shouted before he realized that he was the only one left, and the Salamander was running towards him. He turned tail and started to run, but something grabbed the back of his helmet and shoved him head-first into the ground.

He hit his face hard on the ice-covered floor before he was forcefully rolled over. The red Salamander stood looming over him. "To be fair to you, I now know what you meant about going after easy prey. Laters." He said before he raised his leg and stomped on the Undine leader's face until his HP was depleted.

With that, the battle halted. "Well, that was fun." Riwet let out a sigh before he nodded over to Tonky. "Lookin' good over there, Tonky! I hope the racket earlier didn't disturb you too much!"

"Yurururu!" Tonky roared before it landed. From the looks of it, it was slightly winded.

"Let's take a breather." Riwet suggested.

The rest nodded and relaxed. Leafa called them over and performed a wide-area healing spell.
"It's now clear to me that the two of you are woefully underequipped." She said. "Our first order of business is to make sure the two of you have the best weapons and armor the money could buy. Actually, since we've defeated all of those people, we should have some loot in our inventory. Let's go check."

"Good idea." Kirito commented, opening his Player Menu. "Leafa, I know we get stuff from winning in PVP, but I don't know much about the specifics. Can you elaborate on it?"

"Let's see…" Leafa pondered. "When a player dies and another player contributed, that player would gain a portion of that player's Yurudo and EXP. As for items, they take random items from the player's inventory to give away, but not the ones in their person. Now, one thing to note is that there's a free item and Yurudo banking system only accessible to players when they are inside cities, but not outside. Taking all of this into account, this means that the Undine group lied about not being able to find good monsters to kill. They've been filling their pockets to the brim all night and I think they were on the tail end of their farming run before they saw us and got greedy."

"Well, screw them even more, then." Riwet spoke up.

The three pored over their new items and shared with each other. Kirito found a sword. It was the same design as the ones that the humanoid monster was wielding, but drastically reduced in size for player use. After swinging it around, he was satisfied with how it felt, and placed its sheath on his back, creating an X alongside his first sword. Unfortunately, it seemed that he didn't find much in terms of armor.

Riwet found pieces of armor that he could use - a breastplate and a pair of vambraces that were a nice upgrade to the ones he already had. He also found a new polearm - one which had a shorter shaft and higher overall quality.

Leafa didn't find any better equipment but she was able to obtain catalysts for many of the high-end spells that she frequently used. This would help the party as she was currently the only one that was well-versed in magic, even though she was mainly a swordswoman.

A few more moments passed before Tonky stood up. "Yururu!" It reached for them and placed them in their back once again. Then, it spread its wings and took flight.

"Wow…" Leafa muttered, staring at the horizon. Flight was not allowed in Jotunheim, so she knew that it was a privilege to see Jotunheim in all its cold and deadly majesty.

Beside her, Riwet pulled a crystal-like item out and clicked on it, the item making sounds akin to a camera. "Taking pictures?" Kirito asked.

"Yep. Don't worry about me. I'll share it with you later. Just enjoy the view."

"Thanks…"

They continued their slow and constant ascension, but Tonky suddenly slowed down and stopped. Then, it diverted its course slightly before continuing on.

Suddenly, something caught Kirito's eye. "Guys, look." He said as he pointed at a specific part of the World Tree's roots.

It looked to be a massive transparent crystal cone, inverted and embedded in the roots. Looking even closer, they could see that its sections were divided - it was most likely a giant ice dungeon.

Kirito squinted. "There's something shiny at the bottom tip, but I can't make it out…"

"Yururu..." As if replying to him, Tonky slowly went closer to the bottom part. The source of the light became clearer and clearer, until -

"Whoa, What?!" Kirito exclaimed.

The shining item was a golden sword, embedded into the ice. It was not reflecting any light - instead, it gave off its own golden glow.

"I've seen that sword before…" Leafa muttered. "Only in pictures...but I've seen it…"

Kirito turned to her. "What is it? Is it any good?"

"It's called The Holy Sword Excalibur… it's rumoured to be the strongest sword in Alfheim Online, surpassing General Eugene's Gram. It only existed as rumors, with only dataminers proving its existence."

"Oooh…" Kirito felt the hairs on the back of his head crawl, and he let out a grin.

"Mixing Arthurian legends with Norse, eh?" Riwet spoke up. "You know, I'm still a little confused if Excalibur was the sword in the stone or the one that the lake-lady thing gave to King Arthur."

"Me too…" Leafa admitted. "I'll have to look into that sometime."

The sword was at the bottom of the dungeon, so if someone wanted it, then they would have to fight all the way to the end.

Tonky moved again, rising and flying to the side of the ice structure. With the new vantage point, two locations came into view.

The first was a platform attached to the side of the ice dungeon. The second was - they assumed - would be the way out. They were high enough that they could see the ceiling, and hanging from it was a root with stairs carved into it.

With this, the three came to the same conclusion.

The two locations were far apart from each other, and without Tonky, they could only access one location. So the question is - where would they go?

Kirito bit his lip. He really wanted the sword. Not just because it was cool and strong, but because it will help them in their Grand Quest. However, they would lose a lot of progress if they attempted to clear the dungeon and they died.

As if reading Kirito's mind, Riwet spoke up. "We should at least set our spawn first. That area's gonna be crawling with baddies, and we're gonna need way more than three...well, four people."

Kirito slowly nodded after a few seconds. "You...you're right…" He said, regret palpable in his voice.

Riwet let out a smile. "Although, imagine how awesome it would be to wield ALO's depiction of the Sword of Promised Victory."

"..." He audibly groaned.

"Think about it, though. If we were to come back here with a full squad armed to the teeth, it's not a guarantee that you'll get it. Imagine the feeling of discovering such an item...only for another jackass to take it away from you."

"Hey, Onii-chan! Stop teasing Papa!" Yui pouted.

"I'm serious, though...well, mostly. Besides, if he really wants to, then I'm with him all the way."

Kirito gritted his teeth. Riwet's words rang deep into his soul, beckoning him to go all out in acquiring this item. Tonky didn't help either, as it was hovering at the dungeon entrance.

But in the end, he relaxed his stance. "...we can't…" he muttered, his tone defeated. "We've gone this far now. The monsters inside that dungeon would be tough, and I don't even know if it's tied to a quest that we have to find out. This is a bad, bad deal." he composed himself. "But one day, I'll be back for that."

"Alright then." Riwet turned to Tonky. "Hey, Tonky! We can't do it right now. Get us to the other balcony!"

Tonky complied, flying away from the ice dungeon and onto the exit. Kirito took one last look towards the dungeon before he turned around and focused on their destination.

When they were close, Leafa realized something, and she found herself stroking the fur on Tonky's back. After they go through the stairs and into Alne, what would happen to it? Would it stay safe, or would it fall victim to something else and just pass away alone?

Would it even remember them afterward?

"Leafa." She looked up when she heard Riwet call her name. "I know what you're feeling, but don't worry. Tonky knows our scent now, so it'll come back to greet us when we return. I don't know much about this world, but...that's how I feel." He shrugged. "But…I don't know. I've been wrong before.

"You don't need to doubt yourself, Onii-chan." Yui added before she turned to Leafa. "Onii-chan's right, Aunt Leafa. Even if we will be apart, we will meet this child again. After all of this is done, I will do my best to make sure that will happen."

Leafa smiled at them, her worries alleviated.

They reached the stairs and jumped off of Tonky's back. "Yururururu!" Tonky roared before it slowly backed away.

Leafa waved at it. "Stay safe out there! We'll see you again!" She shouted.

"Yururururu!" It replied before it turned around and flew away.

The three watched it disappear into Jotunheim's horizon. "...let's move." Riwet finally said.

They climbed the stairs, eventually going past Jotunheim's ceiling. From then on, they were in an enclosed and rather spacious stairway, spiraling upwards for what felt like a while. Eventually, a streak of light appeared ahead, signaling that they were close to the exit.

When they emerged on the other side, they found themselves standing on a stone terrace, on their last legs. This had been a very long night for everyone.

Fortunately, the view on the horizon reassured them that they had made it.

It was a beautiful city, combining scale with nature. Some of the World Tree's roots ran right through the middle of the city, but its designers built around them. Despite the late hour, it was brimming with lights that almost hypnotized the exhausted party.

Like moths drawn into a flame, the party entered the city. There, they realized how massive it was. The interior road was made primarily with stone, as well the buildings that surrounded it. They were in the central area, and it was bustling with activity. Merchants and vendors were showing off their wares, which ranged from delicious street food to shiny and wondrous trinkets. And of course, the large variety of weapons and armor shops.

Kirito stifled yet another yawn. "Let's find an inn and sleep. I'm too tired to even digest what I'm seeing. Yui, can you help us find one?"

"I already found one. I've marked it on your minimap." Yui replied.

"Good job."

"Thank you!"

They started walking. "So, when will everybody be okay to log in?" Kirito asked. "I'm visiting Asuna tomorrow, but I'll be back home around 2. Hopefully, the Sylphs and Cait Sits are ready by then."

"Kiri...Onii-chan..." Leafa spoke up. "Can I come with you...to visit Asuna-san?"

Kirito smiled. "Of course." he turned to Riwet. "You?"

Riwet shook his head. "Sorry, there's something I have to do, so I can't come with you. I'll be done by 2, though."

"No worries. For now, let's just call it in for tonight."

Eventually, they reached the entrance of the inn. Before he went in, Kirito took one last look up at the World Tree. He couldn't see anything, partly because the night sky obscured everything and partly because he was exhausted.

He took a deep breath and nodded to himself. "Hang on, Asuna...we're coming." He muttered before he followed his party.

Loading...Complete

"...what?" She asked.

Yuuki Asuna's last memory was lying at her bed and trying to sleep. Earlier in the day, Sugou, not fully understanding the virtual world's intricacies, unknowingly revealed her door's passcode. Upon seeing that, she decided to rest as much as she could before attempting to escape a handful of hours before noon, where Sugou usually didn't bother her.

However, when she woke up, she found herself in a very familiar place.

She was sitting on a sofa. Looking around, she saw a wood interior, filled with furniture that she had personally bought with the help of her husband. She stood up and walked around, eventually going to the bedroom where it even had the photo wall with their pictures on it.

There was no mistake.

It was their log house.

Asuna was in a daze as she relived the days past. Memories of her and Kirito playing around without a care for the world, then meeting and losing Yui, and then reuniting once again along with Strea. Her vision started to blur, and she almost broke down as her emotions were threatening to overwhelm her.

As she stood there, she was snapped out of her reverie by a familiar sound. She recognized it as someone teleporting in, and the source seemed to be outside. She rushed out the door, and was surprised at how her feelings blinded her to her immediate surroundings.

While the inside was familiar, the surrounding area was quite different. The forest around their house was gone, along with the land that it was planted on. The house was essentially standing on a floating piece of rock, in an area where nothing else existed, only the sun that was halfway setting.

But that was the least of Asuna's concerns.

For a familiar lavender-haired girl was standing near the edge, looking at the horizon.

"...Strea?" Asuna asked, finally finding the voice to speak.

The girl slowly turned to her and smiled. "It's been a while, Asuna."

Chapter End

A/N: God. You'd think I'd pump these out sooner because of the pandemic forcing me home. I have no excuse other than using this time to improve myself as a person.

As for this chapter, this took a bit of time. This part of the story was cut in the anime, only giving a brief rundown at the start of the Holy Sword Arc after Phantom Bullet. The worldbuilding was great, but it didn't do much to progress the narrative or develop character, so I'm not surprised that they cut it. Now, I know that this part showed Leafa becoming closer to Kirito, but that has been done on the previous ones as well.

Speaking of character development, I wanna talk about the previous chapter's cliffhanger. By making Leafa realize earlier on who Kirito was, she didn't yet associate the feelings she had towards him as romantic love. Instead, it allowed her to contextualize her feelings. Another factor would be Riwet's presence. Since they weren't left alone, it felt less intimate. The conversation at the beginning of this chapter was a culmination of all of those changes, resulting in what I think is a respectable way of sinking their ship.

As someone who likes shipping, I feel a bit bad whenever I have to sink one. So far, I've sunk four - KiritoxLiz, KiritoxSachi, KiritoxSilica, and now, KiritoxLeafa. And there will be more to come.

However, please remember that this is just my fic. You're free to ship anyone to anybody. Throughout my time on this website, I have come across extremely fun-to-read fics that focus on ships other than KiritoxAsuna. But just keep it civil, alright? No shoving of headcanon onto other people. I've seen drama within communities involving all of that, and I don't want to contribute to it.

Finally, I wanna talk about something I tweaked in this Chapter. In the original novel, Leafa used a spell that essentially worked as a telescope when they were trying to look at Excalibur. I removed that since if you think about it, if such a spell existed, then the ones who took Asuna's picture would have had no problem supplying a high-quality one and thus taking the whole arc in a very different direction.

That's it for now. Thank you very much, and have a good one.