Motivation is such a great feeling. I'll see you at the bottom.

Chapter 34

Familiar Faces

Luna suddenly tackled me, wrapping her arms around me tightly. Silent tears dropped from her eyes as I patted her head. Soon after, a hearty laugh came from behind me as a tree trunk of an arm wrapped around me from behind, while his free hand ruffled my hair. "It's been too long my boy!" Lord Grant sounded as cheerful as ever.

"It has been sir." My cheeks were beginning to hurt from smiling too much.

"If anything, I should be calling you sir. You're an Integrity Knight now!" He grinned brightly.

Luna squeaked slightly, letting me go. "Sorry, I should've controlled myself better."

I shook my head. "It's okay. I'm so happy to see you both again."

Luna hadn't changed much since the last time I had seen her. Her purple hair had gotten very slightly longer, and she was now in an Elite Disciple Uniform, her chosen colour being lilac. It seemed she had endured a lot in the time I was away. Despite her eyes glistening with joy at that time, a lot of pain was buried underneath it.

Lord Grant hadn't changed at all, maybe a little bit more muscular if anything, his bright red hair still slicked back. However, he was now wearing a set of heavy silver armour with a family crest on the breastplate.

For just a moment, I felt like the other Light for just a moment.

"I'm really glad you both came." I patted Luna on the head.

"Well, I was coming to defend the Human Empire, but then Miss Regal here informed me that you had been taken by an Integrity Knight, and if they were all here, you must be as well." Lord Grant chuckled. "Miss Regal was fidgeting the entire way here."

Luna's face turned red. "I-I was not! I was just…really hoping he'd be here…" Her tears started anew. "I kept having nightmares of you being taken away…" I smiled sadly as I continued to pat her hair, trying to calm her down.

The commander's tent opened, and Bercouli, Fanatio and Kirito exited. The trainee with brown hair immediately ran towards Kirito, diving into his arms. "It's okay Ronye, I'm okay."

Bercouli saw the little crowd that had gathered around me and smiled. "Old friends of yours Light?"

"Sept Grant, at your service milord." Lord Grant placed a fist on his heart.

"Good. We need every able fighter on our side." Bercouli nodded. He looked down at Luna, who had replaced her sadness with anger, which caused him to be confused. "What's wrong little one?"

"You took Light away!" She yelled at him. I quickly grabbed her to stop her from lunging at Bercouli. Fanatio was already in her path, but I knew Luna's impulsiveness often overtook rational thought, even if that included going against the Taboo Index.

Bercouli nodded. "Aye, I did. And I would do it again, knowing the swordsman he is now."

Luna paused for a second, which I was thankful for. She had a lot more strength than her smaller figure would imply. "What?"

"Your mentor is an exceptional swordsman, and I couldn't be happier that he is standing with us during this battle." Bercouli smiled. "And I'm looking forward to seeing what he has taught his pupil."

Luna seemed to lose all the strength she had at that moment, slumping in my arm. She suddenly began to look embarrassed. "Th-thank you sir…sorry…"

"Don't worry little one." Bercouli looked straight at me. "Light, I need you and the other Integrity Knights to gather."

"Don't we have a few days still?" I frowned.

"No. The Life of the Gate indicates it will fall tomorrow as Lunaria reaches her highest point. You'll have plenty of time to spend with your friends later. After all, they need to unpack in their own tents." Bercouli said simply. Even though he said it so casually, his voice carried a lot of authority behind it. It…kind of reminded me of Leon. Without any more protest, I nodded. "Eugeo and Alice, I want you both too."

For a moment, I had hope I would be able to pull Kirito to the side. But it was likely he wanted to spend time with Eugeo and Alice. I said goodbye to Lord Grant and Luna before I followed Fanatio, who began to walk towards the war room.

There were already a few Knights there. Eldrie was sitting at the front, turning to look at Fanatio, but then glaring, disgusted as he saw me, Kirito and Eugeo. From what I knew, Alice was his mentor when she was an Integrity Knight, but now he hated us for, in his own words, murdering her. I couldn't blame him. The other two knights were Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven and Sheyta Synthesis Twelve. Both were frozen by Chudelkin before Kirito and Eugeo's assault on the Central Cathedral, and were unfrozen by Bercouli, wanting as many people as possible to defend the Eastern Gate. A lot of Integrity Knights were patrolling the End Mountains, making sure the Dark Territory invaders didn't attack from another entrance, so I couldn't blame Bercouli for unfreezing them.

I sat down at the front, the opposite side to Eldrie, and right next to Sheyta. She had a reputation for remaining silent, so I was grateful, as I didn't fancy making much conversation. Renly sat on the other side of me, beginning to mutter to himself.

The room began to slowly fill up. I saw several people clad in armour, only a few bearing crests from noble families. Just behind me sat Kirito, Eugeo and Alice, and were soon joined by two nobles, a girl with a long brown ponytail, and dark purple eyes, who certainly carried herself with pride and nobility, but didn't have that snobby, entitled aura some nobles had. The other I recognised immediately as Golgorosso. I suddenly had the desire to find Lord Grant after this just to see their interaction.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity, as a yell came from the entrance. "Cousin Golgorosso! What are you doing here!?"

Golgorosso jumped up. "Sept! You made it. I was wondering if your pride had recovered after you got beaten during the Four Empire Unification Tournament."

Lord Grant made his way next to Golgorosso. "Come here!"

The next thing completely took me off guard. Lord Grant and Golgorosso grabbed each other by the back of their heads and slammed them against each other. Both staggered back a bit, Golgorosso almost crushing the noble girl behind him. "Still steadfast as a rock Sept!" Golgorosso laughed.

"And you are still as strong as a mountain!" Lord Grant let out a hearty chuckle.

I looked to Eugeo, who looked exactly how I felt. "He hasn't changed at all…" He muttered.

"Well, at least life wasn't boring while we were their pupils." I smiled.

"True…I just wish they realised how embarrassing this is…" Despite his tone, Eugeo began to smile with amusement. "So did you study the Baltio Style?"

"Only one move, which was something called Storm Wave."

Kirito laughed. "Eugeo learned that move well."

Eugeo blushed slightly. "I don't even remember using it against you. Was it really that-"

Bercouli cleared his throat at the front of the war room. "This war council is now in session." He turned to Fanatio. "Vice Commander Fanatio will now begin to go over the strategies we've considered for the coming conflict."

I turned back around to face the front. Fanatio pinned a map onto the board behind her, allowing everyone to see it. "In the past four months, we've considered all kinds of strategies, but have concluded that it will be difficult to repulse an all-out attack at our current strength." She moved to the side, pointing to the narrower side of the Eastern Gate. "On our side of the End Mountains, there's nothing but grassland and rocks for ten kilors in all directions. If they force their way in this far, then we'll be surrounded and massacred by the enemy. Therefore, we have no choice but to fight in this narrow ravine." She ran her finger along the map. "That's 100-mel wide and 1000-mel long."

I frowned, trying to translate that distance into measurements I understood. "A mel is a metre." Kirito whispered from behind me. I nodded my thanks.

Fanatio began circling the area in front of the gate. "We'll set up a defensive position here and relentlessly repel the enemy's advance and strike them down." She turned her attention back to us all. "That will be our basic strategy throughout this operation. Any questions so far?"

Eldrie was the first to come forward, raising his hand into the air. "The enemy forces include Ogres units equipped with longbows, as well as the even more dangerous order of Dark Mages. What are we going to do about their long ranged attacks?"

"You can use a shield unit." I muttered out loud. I hadn't meant to say it, but I tended to find my thoughts reached my mouth before I realised.

Despite the look of annoyance that came my way from Eldrie, Bercouli took notice of my suggestion. "Unfortunately, the armoury in the Central Cathedral only had a few dozen shields, nowhere near enough to hold off an arrow storm."

"Instead, we'll be taking a gamble." Fanatio took over again. "There's no sunlight in that ravine, even during the day, and not a single blade of grass on the ground. Which means Spatial Resources are sparse there. If we can consume every last bit before the battle starts, in theory, the enemy won't be able to launch any powerful art techniques." A gasp came throughout the room, and I knew why. Fanatio confirmed my suspicions a few seconds later. "Needless to say, the same is true for us. However, we only have a hundred or so Sacred Arts wielders on our side. Should we find ourselves exchanging art techniques, the enemy will be sure to consume far more resources."

Deusolbert was the next to speak. "I see. I believe you are right Vice Commander. But if the resources are consumed, won't we be unable to restore the life of the wounded?"

"That's why I said it was a gamble…" Fanatio looked disappointed.

I looked down at my hands. I hated this so much. On one hand, we can prevent the enemy from launching powerful attacks, but on the other, we could sustain more losses over time that could've been prevented. This is war…people are going to die…

Fanatio continued. "We've brought all our high-level reagents and healing potions with us. If we restrict all art techniques to healing arts, and use our medicines to assist, the reagents should last for at least three days."

"However, there is one more problem." Bercouli brought up. "Spatial Resources have been building up in the ravine for years. And we need a way to get rid of them." He looked behind me, to Kirito.

"Huh? Why me?" Kirito looked surprised.

"Your blade ate away at Stacia's holy light at the same rate that my Heavenly Piercing Blade could generate it." Fanatio said, a small smile on her face. "That should be enough to eat away at all the leftover Resources."

Kirito frowned for a moment. "It would take a while for it to eat up all the Resources there. And I'd need to positioned right at the front, so it doesn't try and take the Life of anyone in the army."

"That's okay. You can be right beside me boy." Fanatio gave him a teasing smile.

"And I'll be there to defend him." Eugeo insisted.

Bercouli nodded. "After the teamwork you both displayed during your latest escapade, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Light, you will be on the right flank with Deusolbert." Fanatio said calmly. She then began going over positions for other members, which gave me a much needed break. I hadn't felt this exhausted by information ever since I had to plan for the raids in The Land Beyond. Leon often had to reexplain stuff to me before we headed inside. Probably explained why I was so bad at relaying information.

A few minutes later, the war council concluded and I slowly began to leave. I was beat after today, wanting to just collapse on a bed and sleep. I slowly made my way back to my tent, which fortunately was reserved exclusively for me. I'd go and find Luna tomorrow, spend some time with her before the battle started tomorrow night.

I took off my sword and placed it next to the foot of my bed. I kicked off the metal greaves, and just collapsed onto the soft mattress. I let out a sigh of relief, sleep becoming a more favourable option every second that went by.

I was so tired, I didn't even hear the flap of my tent open, or the footsteps that approached from behind. It was only when the mattress sagged that I was aware of her presence, and then her arms wrapped around my chest. I immediately knew who it was, and the tears began to form in the corner of my eyes.

"Just let me stay here…just for tonight…"

"Of course Kimiko…" I let out a sigh of relief, feeling happy she was safe.

The minutes ticked by, and I could hear her soft breathing confirming she had fallen asleep. I turned over to look at her. She looked so thin…almost like she hadn't eaten since the last time I had seen her. I just watched over her for a while.

"Good night Holly…"

Well, I regurgitated quite a lot from the original scene of the War Council. But I hope the new parts kept you excited for what's to come. After all, Alice can't nuke the Dark Territory forces anymore. In terms of combat now, she's basically the girl she was seven years ago, before she was synthesised. So hopefully Kirito can make up for that with his Night Sky Sword.

Luna, Lord Grant and Kimiko are all back for the War! It's been a long time since we've seen them, especially Lord Grant. I know that some people really enjoyed him. I also hope the little moments with the SAO cast were done well. Golgorosso and Grant's relationship will be a prime source of comedy during the next three chapters. Well...maybe not the next one.

Reviews:

kazukimirato: Who knows, maybe they will have a sparring match. Though I don't really know what the outcome could be, considering neither of them would be fighting at their hardest. I'll always strive to make this the best possible.

blackbutterfly1313: Be careful what you wish for sweetheart, you might tempt me to draw it ;) I'm glad you enjoyed though, and I'll do my best for you.

dndkeg: Thank you. There will be a lot of changes, don't worry. Stay safe yourself :)

ZelotArchon: The SAO side of things has stayed the same up until the beginning of Alicization (Aincrad to OS are the same), where Light was brought onto Ocean Turtle. Light being there caused the timeline split. This is following the anime, as Augmas have been mentioned.

Well, time to wrap up. Speaking of Holly, it's been a while. Shall we check up on her...tomorrow? I kind of already wrote Chapter 35, but I don't want to overwhelm you all. So, I'll upload that tomorrow.

As always, thanks for reading, reviewing, favouriting etc. And as always, Stay Cool.