Episode 14: A Cold Reunion

"Dante, open the door!" I heard a few loud knocks coming from outside followed by a woman's voice. She sounded like she was infuriated.

Shut up...

"Dante, open the door this instant!" The knocking got louder and louder as it turned into banging. Her voice was starting to sound like it was coming from a loud speaker. "Dante!"

SHUT UP!

"Dante? Are you even here?" The voice suddenly turned into that of a high pitched boy's. My eyes blinked as I realized I had fallen asleep with my AuraSphere right beside me. Groaning, I headed towards the entrance. Another round of knocks occurred before I unlocked the door and found a short kid with neatly combed hair standing in front of me wearing a black and white school uniform. In his right hand was a plastic bag with freshly bought items from a convenience store.

"Little Akira? Didn't your parent teach you to respect your superiors?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as the kid laughed at my question.

"Like you deserve that kind of treatment." Ouch. There were other ways to let me know he despised me but he went straight for it.

"Come in, make yourself at home. If you can…" I waved for him to come into my mess of a home. Akira followed as I stepped aside to let him in. Glancing at the AuraSphere I had left lying on the floor mat I called a bed, he snatched it and examined it closely as he sat on one of the pillows.

"Why's yours blue? I don't remember hearing about any special colors." Akira asked as he examined the device I had received from my pre-order.

Crashing into my computer chair, I leaned as far back as I could to help myself relax. "I don't know. Must mean I'm special."

Akira just smirked at me. "Yeah, right."

"Anyway, what brings you to my fortress, Kage the Dark Ravager?" Grinning, I teased him with his in-game avatar.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that in real life." His squeaky voice was a big contrast to the deep one he had in AKO while his height was an even bigger contrast. "And for your information, big sister was worried about you. She asked me to check in on you on my way back from summer class."

"Summer class?" I whistled as I remembered how much of a hassle classes used to be. "How do you Rintaros work so much?"

"The work will pay off when I get into a good high school." Akira gave me the same statement he had told me every time I brought that question up. However, he decided to add one more remark this time. "I'm not planning on dropping out like you did."

Damn… below the belt much? I stopped leaning on my chair as I sighed. "You don't need to bring that up."

"I actually think I do. She's worried you've gotten too attached to VR again." The kid glared at me as I wondered if his big sister sent him here just for that.

"Hey, I'm taking breaks just like she wanted me too." Although, to be honest, I tended to pick and choose which breaks from the schedule I wanted to follow.

"Oh yeah? Then what's that?" He pointed at my computer screen which still had the unfinished manga panel displayed. As I spun my chair around, I reached for my mouse and quickly minimized the drawing application it was showing from.

"It's uh… not due till next week!" I blurted out loud even if I knew that the deadline was in a few days.

"Liar." He pouted at me with a harsh but fair accusation. The brat never believed anything I said anyway.

"So… can I ask what's in the bag?" I tried to change the topic with my best smile. Luckily, it worked.

Akira ruffled through the items in the plastic bag and pulled out a sealed curry bun as well as a bottle of cold Oolong tea. It was clear that he had stopped by the convenience store that was on the ground floor before heading up. "Big sister mentioned you like to skip meals."

"Hehe… thanks." I gladly accepted the food and drink as the kid pulled out a chocolate bar and a can of soda for himself. He could never eat those kinds of junk food at home with his parents around so he saw this as an opportunity for him as well. "This is kind of nostalgic actually. The last time we ate together was when…"

"Big sister left." Akira immediately answered before taking a bite out of his choco bar. From the look on his face, he seemed a bit down.

"You miss her, don't you?" I smirked as a shade of red fell over his face which almost made him look like a tomato.

"Not as much as you, I assume. You guys are so lovey dovey, it makes me sick." He took a big gulp of soda as I laughed at his comment. The only way we got him to leave us alone every time Ari and I were together was to act all affectionate until he had enough.

"It's mostly her fault though." It was nice to reminisce about the time before Ari had left for college. Taking a bite out of the curry bun, I noticed it had a nice flavor to it.

"Hey, Dante?" The kid asked me with a soft voice.

"Dante-san" I tried to correct him.

"No." He said with a straight face before continuing with his question. "Can you really run AKO all by yourself?"

The smile on my face disappeared as soon as I heard that question. I wondered if he was starting to doubt me.

"Big sister told me everything you said. You want to stop other people from becoming admins?" He must have been briefed by Ari regarding the plan I had to take full control over the AKO servers.

"I'm... I'm the only one who can do this." I took sip of the cold tea as I contemplated the responsibility before me. I knew even if I was the strongest player in the game, I didn't want to rule it by myself. "Besides, it's not like I'll be completely alone. I have you and Ari-chan to back me up. I may be the one with power but the game belongs to us."

I really meant those words. This game was too broken to be our perfect world. Someone had to do something. If I could gain the power to change the way things worked, I could make Aura Kingdom Online our own save haven. "I was given a special gift, Akira. No one else has power like that so that must mean I was destined to be something greater."

"No one except Wairuzu." Akira said as I realized that I hated hearing that name now. The player I tried to talk to. The player I tried to understand. In the end, he turned out to be a selfish person.

"Wairuzu's a lost cause. We need to shift our focus on the game." I finished my bun with a few more bites and chugged down the whole bottle of tea. Exhaling, I threw both of them into my already overflowing trash can. "Speaking of which, I think my break's over. Hurry on home so you can join us."

"Dante…" The kid sighed as he got up from my floor bed. "You already have your mind set, don't you?"

"Yup." I took my AuraSphere from the kid and put it on. The blue dials fit snuggly on my head as I opened the menu. "After all, it is the role of a creator to make order out of chaos."

Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka

The cold winds hit us like a wall as we slowly made our way up a snowy mountain. Despite the shield spells Megumi cast along with the defense buffs from our local Guardian, the gales never ceased to push against us. It was a lot colder than we were used to but it wasn't cold enough to stop us in our tracks. Tugging on the bowstring wrapped around my body, I was as determined as our Ronin to see this through. Although, I had to admit, Blizzard Berg really lived up to its name.

"This snow is hard to walk in…" Megumi lifted her foot up and shook the snow from her boots.

"D-do you want me to carry you...?" Soran sheepishly asked her. I didn't know if it was the cold making him stutter or if it was just him.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the offer though." The adorable Sorcerer smiled and waved back at him. She took that surprisingly well.

"Daize." Our valiant party leader called my beautiful name from the back of our formation. "Did you contact the others already?"

"M said they're busy investigating a dungeon." I told him as Wairuzu made a distressed face from hearing that name. Those two still weren't on the best terms. They tolerated each other but I could always feel the animosity between them every time we partied up.

"Wait!" I stopped us from progressing since I was at the front as always with my mini map out on display. "Wairuzu, are you sure we're going to the right place? Do you even know where the Gaia key is?"

"In a dungeon…?" He wasn't sure where it was, was he? All this time, I had assumed that we had to climb the peak of the tallest mountain in order to reach the next Gaia key.

"Yeah but which dungeon? Each map has more than a dozen obviously." I wondered if I needed to explain the intricacies of map design to him.

"The top one of course. It… should be on the top of the mountain, right?" He was definitely unsure about the key's location.

"Should be? Are you kidding me?" I tilted my head as I realized that we might have climbed to this peak for nothing.

"Well… it makes sense for a Gaia key to be on top of the mountain, doesn't it?" Our Ronin crossed his arms as he glanced at the other two who remained silent as the winds whistled.

"So you're saying we scaled this mountain on a hunch?" I couldn't believe we had gone through all this effort for nothing.

"Yes…?" Wairuzu nervously smiled as he realized the stupidity of what we just did. However, before I could react in a sarcastic manner, a bright blue light shot out from the snowy valley below us. It was coming from an area with a lot of holes. These holes were what I would assume to be caves.

"Oh, well would you look at that." I chuckled as I turned to face our Ronin who had a disappointed look on his face.

"Shut up Daize."

Our footsteps echoed as we entered the caverns. According to the map data we were given by Jayce himself, this place was like a maze. I wondered why he had sent my team to retrieve the Gaia key instead of going himself. However, right now I wanted to focus on the mission. We had run into some low level monsters so far but thankfully they weren't a problem for us, especially with the new white and blue great sword I received from our armory. As we walked, I noticed that the walls were completely covered in ice while the floor was made of stone which was surprisingly not that slippery. Moving forward, we were met with a fork in the road.

"Richter?" Taito came up to me with his pistols in his hands. He was clearly eager to fight again. "Which way do we go, man?"

Scratching my chin, I called out to our Archer who was touching the ice cold walls that surrounded us. "Rai, take a look, will you?"

Tugging at the dark blue cloth covering his mouth, he pulled it down and sniffed the air. He had chosen to prioritize levelling his tracking skills first before any of his bow skills but that just meant he was a very effective scout.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" A woman's scream resonated from the right path as Rai pulled his mask back up and pointed at said direction. I figured that any of us could have known where to go from the scream alone.

"Okay Rangers, move out!" Our party hurried down the right corridor which seemed to be getting narrower as we progressed. The ice on the walls became thicker with each step we took as we felt a chill crawl down our spines.

Finally, we had made it out into a large ballroom area where a girl with two giant shuriken was on the ground while a guy with a familiar looking great sword was defending her from what looked like a giant albino snake. White mist was coming from the snake's mouth as it let out a beam of ice that knocked the swordsman into the wall. Before the beast could lunge at his partner, I dashed in between and blocked its fangs.

"Jean, heal them both! Everyone else, on me!" Parrying the beast, I slashed at its eye as it staggered back. Rai and Taito began firing their ranged weapons at it to get its attention. Thankfully, it worked. The snake slithered towards the two but was stopped in its tracks by Chuu who had pierced its head from above with his lance.

I placed the Shinobi class player beside the Crusader and activated my healing spell. With my harp, healing was a cinch; however, I had to sacrifice the power of my offensive spells in exchange. That was always okay with me since I knew I wasn't that much of a fighter to begin with.

"Who… who are you guys?" The boy spoke up as I gave him a gentle smile.

"We're part of the Cobalt Rangers. Everything's going to be okay now." I assured him as he smiled back.

"That guild? You're not player killers?" The Shinobi girl asked as I nervously laughed.

"Only on PVP maps." Standing up, I brushed my hands together for a job well done. "Okay, all healed. Now if you'll excuse me…"

I glanced at the rest of the party engaging the giant snake. The flurry of attacks between them and the monster was like a lightshow; however, some of their health bars were getting low. It was a good thing I was here to help.

"This was a bad idea!" I screamed while I held as tightly as I could onto my shield. My hair violently blew back thanks to the strong winds we faced as I realized that we were going way too fast for my taste.

"This was an amazing idea!" Megumi, who was in front of me, laughed and pressed her body against mine as we sled down the mountain. Thanks to my feminine figure, the two of us managed to fit on the shield but that also meant we were hurdling towards the cave at an alarming speed.

"Woohoo!" Daize and Wairuzu followed behind us, sliding down the slope while using their weapons to steer their bodies. It was like they were skiing at a resort.

"You guys look ridiculous!" The Sorcerer shouted with a laugh as they exerted as much effort as they could to prevent themselves from toppling over.

"Megumi, don't turn around too much!" Blushing, I struggled to balance our weight on the shield. Her hair blew into my face as I swiped it away. It actually smelled pretty good. This was probably the closest I had been to a girl. Shaking my head, I brushed off any thoughts that came to mind.

"Soran?! I think the caves are coming up! Can we slow down?!" She shouted as she leered at the area in front of us. Unfortunately, I could barely see through the snow and hair blowing into my face.

"Um! Hold on!" Thinking fast, I unsheathed my sword and dug it into the snow. The good news was that it definitely stopped our descent. The bad, the force toppled us over and sent us rolling down the slope.

"Hey! Watch-" Daize collided into me which created a chain reaction that toppled Wairuzu as well. Our entire party snowballed towards the cave entrance where we managed to land. The ice hit hard as I opened my eyes to the sight of Daize who was right on top of me.

He looked disappointed as our eyes met inches away from each other. "If only you were an actual girl..."

Sitting up, we glanced towards the other two who were in the same situation as us with the Sorcerer's face inches away from the Ronin's. Daize and I glanced at each other then looked back at them before they burst out in laughter to our surprise.

"Y-you're covered in snow!" Megumi shouted as Wairuzu got off and sat next to her.

"Me?! What about you? There's no trace of purple left in your hair!" Our orange Ronin laughed as he pointed to the Sorcerer's newly dyed head.

"My hair!" She frantically combed the snow out of her hair with her hands which made Wairuzu laugh even harder.

"Looks like he's having fun again." Daize smiled as he whispered to me. I couldn't help but smile as I stared at the two of them giggling in the snow.

"Yeah."

"Just a little bit more, guys!" Swinging my great sword up, I slashed the snake through its neck. Chuu followed up by throwing a power thrust with his lance from the right. Two shuriken came crashing from the sides as the Shinobi leaped into the air and retrieved them, landing elegantly on the ground. Her partner swung his own great sword at the beast as well, dealing a large amount of damage with a single charged hit. All the while, Taito and Rai were providing buffs and debuffs while Jean consistently kept our health bars up.

"Hey, you got Smiter's Edge on that thing?" I asked as the other Crusader stood beside me.

"Are you kidding? Of course I do!" He grinned as I knew what I wanted to do.

"Right! On the count of three!" I told him as we readied up our attacks.

One.

Our swords charged up with holy light as we raised them both in the air.

Two.

Chuu strafed throughout the snake's body, dodging any ice attacks it threw at him. Meanwhile, Jean casted a binding spell as soon as the beast crossed into our melee range. It roared as it struggled to get out of the spell.

Three!

"Smiter's Edge!" With a shout and a gleam, the two of us brought our swords down and sent a huge amount of light energy crashing into the snake. It immediately faded away after the impact as we took a minute to breath.

"Thank you..." The other Crusader turned to me with a faint smile. "If it wasn't for you and your party, we would've ended up back in town."

"Anything for a fellow Crusader." I saluted him with my right hand. It felt stupid but I was proud of it. "You two alone? This is a dangerous dungeon for a duo party."

"We were out hunting Gaia keys. This is actually the tenth dungeon we've been trying to clear." The Shinobi said with a tired look on her face.

"Gaia keys?" I raised a brow at her statement. "You two are in a guild then?"

"Well, no..." The other Crusader laughed nervously as he scratched his head. I wondered why they were hunting for Gaia keys despite not having a guild.

"No?" Chuu leaned on his lance with curiosity.

"We thought about joining your guild at first, actually. But we also thought that if we did that then we wouldn't get to stand out from the rest of you." The Shinobi girl was twiddling her fingers as she spoke. "So we decided that we would make our own guild after we retrieve a Gaia key. After all, we would probably be pretty popular if our leader was one of the admins of AKO!"

"That's certainly a possibility." Jean chuckled even if he understood what that meant. Holding onto the hilt of the great sword on my back, I pretended I was just scratching my head. Jayce sent specific instructions saying that we had to get the Gaia key no matter what.

"So, I'm ashamed to ask this but can you guys help us clear this dungeon?" The boy pleaded as I let go of my weapon and smiled.

I thought that a little help from them could make things easier. We would just have to kill them and swipe away the Gaia key at the end. "Sure thing. Let-"

I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder. Turning around, I found Rai holding onto me with a finger over his mouth. He then pointed it towards the direction of the corridor we came from. From it, I heard a familiar set of voices. One, in particular, was louder than the rest.

"It's him, isn't it?"

"We should've taken the left one." Wairuzu told the Archer as I followed right behind them with my book held closely to my chest.

"No, I'm certain we took the RIGHT one." Daize chuckled at his own joke which made me smirk a bit. "Get it? RIGHT?"

A chop hit the Archer on the head as our Ronin reeled back from his attack. I was still smiling as we made our way down the corridor, watching the ice on the walls get thicker and thicker as we passed by.

"So, what happens when we get a Gaia key?" I asked Wairuzu as he replied immediately.

"We wait for the event. Once the tower raid begins at the end of the month, we clear all the floors." He was certainly sure about what he wanted to do.

"Right. End of the month, huh…" I replied before realizing when exactly that was.

'Oh crap! Isn't that when I'm moving?' I completely forgot about it again. Talk about bad timing. "D-did they specify a date?"

"I don't think they did." Daize scratched his chin with his eyes closed, trying to recall the information we received from the Bishop's public message. "The old man just said end of the summer. We can check the forums after logging out though."

"Speaking of which, we should probably meet up before then. In real life I mean!" Soran ecstatically said out of nowhere. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah it has. What do you say to that, Wairuzu?" The Archer put his arm around the Ronin's shoulder which made him a bit uncomfortable.

"Do whatever you want…" He looked away, clearly embarrassed by the sudden invitation.

Silently smiling, Daize glanced at me as well. "Of course, you're welcome to join, Megumi… if you ever decide to share such information with us."

"Maybe…" Although I now had my insecurities about revealing real life info, this was something I was seriously considering. When our walk ended, we were met with an extravagant room covered in ice. At the center, a single person stood with a great sword on his back.

"Well, Jayce was right." The figure, clad in blue armor, turned around as we all reeled back in shock. "You are stubborn."

"You…" Wairuzu immediately pulled out his tachi and prepared to fight. If I remembered correctly, his name was Richter. He was one of the Cobalt Ranger's top players. To be honest, I had completely forgotten that he was part of Jayce's guild until now.

"I'm guessing you saw the light too." The Crusader was already cracking his knuckles in a menacing manner. "That's an annoying system, to be honest. Just makes every dungeon one big PVP area."

"I should have figured the two of you were in league with each other. Your personalities are similar, after all." Wairuzu said as he furrowed his brows in frustration. "I'm guessing Jayce sent you to get the key? I thought he wanted to do this himself?"

"Jayce… Jayce is a busy man. Trust me, I'm more than capable of retrieving the key by myself." He grinned as he unsheathed his great sword with a smile. I felt uneasy as I realized that he was unusually alone.

"Yeah right!" I stepped forward with a determined look as the rest of my party members glanced at me in surprise. "Where's the rest of your team? I know you never leave without them."

"Megumi... To think you'd side with him. You'll break Jean's heart." The Crusader gave me a pitiful smile.

"Wait, you know this dude?" Our Ronin asked as he turned to me.

"I may have run into them when I visited Jayce's Guild..." I guess that was one detail that I had forgotten to mention to them before.

Richter chuckled in response. "Well, there's no hiding now then."

In a split-second, the remaining members of the Cobalt Rangers' elite squad jumped down from nearby ledges along with two more players who I didn't recognize.

"You're outnumbered. Better get out of here while you can." The Crusader laughed in a confident manner as we realized that he was right. "Unless of course, Wairuzu would like to show these two what a true demon looks like."

Our Ronin gritted his teeth as Richter waved at the two unknown faces behind him. "I'm not a demon…"

"We'll see about that!" The Shinobi threw her shuriken at us only to be deflected by Wairuzu's tachi. The blades flew back into her hands as the Ronin charged forward with his sword at his side.

'Wait. Why aren't they moving?' I noticed that they hadn't moved an inch from where they were standing as I realized that something was wrong.

"Wairuzu wait!" My hand reached out to him as he turned around and met my gaze. In an instant, he disappeared in a white flash.

"I can't believe that worked!" Richter laughed with his great sword on his shoulder. "Jean, Taito, keep our new friends safe. Chuu, you're with Rai. You two know what to do"

The Archer and Lancer nodded like they knew what their roles were before Richter even spoke and proceeded down the corridor at the back of the room. The enemy leader then proceeded to step into another teleport glyph on the ground. He was gone in a flash just like Wairuzu was.

"Right. You're not going any further!" The other Crusader class in the room raised his great sword at us with a determined look on his face.

I grunted as my body hit the snow and rolled back. Lifting my arms up I found the man Megumi called Richter walking towards me after appearing out of nowhere.

"It's a good thing we had Jean set some teleport glyphs outside the cave. We were going to use them for a quick escape but this will suffice." He already had his great sword out as I grabbed my tachi from the patch of snow beside me.

"Do you even know that Jayce plans to use the admin powers for himself?!" I shouted at the Crusader, standing back up with the help of my blade. "You're wasting your time if you think you can have any freedom when he's in reign!"

"He's not using it for himself. He's using it for the guild." His statement made me click my tongue in frustration as I realized how stubborn he was. "He'll rule with us by his side."

"Do you really believe that?" I laughed at the thought of Jayce caring for people like him.

"We have faith in him that he'll do what's necessary to save this game." With a single swing, he pointed his great sword at me. "Can you say you're capable of the same? That you're just as worthy to rule this land?"

"No. No I can't. But I do know one thing…" Holding my tachi with both hands, I activated my special ability as orange flames surrounded my body. "…there's no way in hell I'm letting Jayce keep all the keys."

Somersaulting across the room, I dodged between the flying shuriken that zoomed past us. Pulling back on my bow, I released an arrow that knocked the Shinobi back. She fell right into the Bard's healing circle as her HP started to rise up. On the other side of the room, Soran was busy dealing with the attacks her Crusader partner was dishing out while Megumi returned fire with her light bolts from afar.

The Gunslinger and Bard sent more blasts headed our way as I leapt into the air and targeted them, firing a flurry of arrows. All of the projectiles met and collided, leaving a bright explosion in the air. With my guard down, the Shinobi closed the distance between us and slashed at my back. Staggering to the side, I ran towards our healer who responded with a glow of green healing energy.

"We can end this peacefully guys!" The Bard halted the strumming of his harp as the rest of us took a moment to breath. "Megumi, I thought you were going to join us! Why did it turn out like this?!"

"Jean, I'm not joining your guild. I'm sorry." She replied sternly as the Bard had a disheartened look on his face.

"Yeah, dude. Back off!" I readied another arrow and pointed it straight at him.

His eyes quickly turned into a look of anger. "Wairuzu has brainwashed you! He just wants all the power for himself! Can't you see that?!"

"You should look in a mirror." Firing my arrow, I managed to breach the shield around the Bard. The magic shattered as I yelled out to our Guardian. "Soran! Go!"

"Lightning Flash!" With his dash skill, our valiant tank rammed into the Crusader and knocked him out of the way. He then raised his sword and screamed as he slashed the Bard diagonally. The latter fell to the ground with a thud. His eyes were teary not from the fear he felt but from the anger he had towards us.

"That's what you guys do, don't you? Pick on the weakest to make yourselves feel stronger!" He shouted before Soran was hit by a blast from the Crusader's great sword.

Stepping back, he raised his shield and gritted his teeth. He knew exactly who he was just like we all did.

"No… that's not who we are!"

My tachi barely hit Richter as he ducked in between the swings. No matter how much I swung, all he did was either dodge or party with his great sword. Spinning behind me, he dealt a strong kick to my back which made me stagger forward.

"Don't you think I've learned since our last fight, demon? I know how your overpowered skill works." He swung his sword around in a cocky manner.

Breathing heavily, I sighed at the stupid grin he had on his face. "Why are you acting like I'm the only demon? Doesn't Jayce have a similarly overpowered skill?"

"You see, Jayce actually uses his ability to help others. You, on the other hand, only use it for yourself." I wanted to puke from all the bullshit that was coming out of his damn mouth. "That's what differentiates him from a demon like you!"

Bringing his great sword down, I caught it in the middle of my tachi and threw it back. With a single slice, I managed to hurt him quite a bit. Richter grunted at the damage he received before yelling back into the fight.

Trying my best to parry the slashes the Crusader was throwing, I was forced back into a corner. My shield blocked most of the attacks but I was still receiving majority of the damage from the Gunslinger as well. In the corner of my vision, I spotted Megumi and Daize facing off against the Shinobi and Bard players. I knew we wouldn't be able to last long like this.

"Delta Waves!" With all my strength, I raised my sword and furiously slashed at my opponent, sending shock-waves that interrupted the Gunslinger momentarily. Using the window I had created, I rushed towards my team with my shield raised. Blocking the attacks from the Shinobi, I proceeded towards her and managed to land a kick on her stomach. The force of my attack knocked her into the Bard.

"We need to retreat!" I told my part members sternly as they looked back at me in confusion.

"Ha?!" Daize shouted with his bow lowered. "But what about the key?!"

"He's right." Megumi agreed as she stepped back from the fight. "We're outnumbered without Wairuzu. We have no choice!"

"Soran, we can't just run away!" The Archer glared into my eyes as I glared back. I wasn't going to let them throw their EXP and gold away.

"We can't just die meaninglessly either!" Standing my ground, I sheathed my weapons as the enemies started recovering. "I won't say this again. Retreat!"

Running back down the hall, the Sorcerer followed me while Daize cursed under his breath.

"Damn it!"

"How long can you keep this up, Ronin?" Richter laughed as he continued his strategy of dodging every attack I threw at him. After a couple of minutes, my head started to get heavy.

'You use up too much energy in your attacks. Without learning how to properly wield this gift, you'll never beat me.' Jayce's words echoed in my head. He was right. I had no idea how to control the energy I was outputting like he did. In that moment, I decided to deactivate the skill. I knew using it right now was too much of a risk.

"Oh? Giving up already?" The Crusader laughed before charging towards me. Little did he know that that was all I need him to do. Stepping to the side, his great sword crashed down onto the ground beside me. This allowed me to leap over him and drive my tachi across his body.

"I am never giving up!" I shouted in defiance. He threw another set of swings at me while I defended with my sword. Our roles switched as I parried each attack he threw at me. Shifting to the side, I landed my blade on his sword's cross guard and drove it into the ground. Immediately, I raised my fist and punched him square in the face. The recoil hurt my hand a little bit but it was worth seeing him flop on the ground. However, I didn't expect him to be giggling silently.

"What's so funny?!" I took a step closer to him as he faced me with a suspicious grin.

"You're already too late, Wairuzu." He spoke in between breaths as he lay on the snow. Glancing behind me, I noticed that the bright blue beacon over the cave had collapsed into itself.

'Wait, the other two Rangers!'

Richter laughed again as he saw my face tense up. "Two down. Six more to go."

Ending: Shirushi by LiSA

Next Episode: A Change of Fate