Originally these were 2 chapters, but as they're both very "explanation heavy", I decided to condense them into one. Enjoy.

Chapter 42

Life and the Moon

"You seem okay for now." The nurse said simply. I winced as the blood pressure armband squeezed tightly. "You should only be in there for a day at most, but we'll keep your fluids topped up."

"Thank you." I took off the armband and let out a sigh.

"We'll be dropping you in as close to Light's location as possible." The security team said simply. "As soon as our other guest is ready." I nodded, wincing again as some needles were put into my arm. "It will be unlikely he'll remember you, as his memories were blocked when he entered Underworld."

"It's fine…as long as he's alright." I shivered as the cold liquid seeped into my veins as some IV drips were attached to the needles.

"We're still getting a signal from his Soul Translator, so he's still alive."

The door opened and in came a girl. She had short black hair, and despite the bleak situation, wore a smile on her face. "Hey, you must be Holly."

I returned the smile. "I am…what's your name?"

"I'm Suguha, Kazuto's sister." She sat down on the other Soul Translator. "Looks like we'll be working together." She offered a hand towards me. Suguha was so much more lively than I expected. It was enough to pull me out of my bleak mood, a smile sneaking its way onto my face. I took her hand. "Let's do our best then, for our families."

Family… I looked at the ring on my finger. "Yeah, let's do it."

A voice came over the intercom. "You both will be using the goddess accounts Terraria and Lunaria. Leafa, you will be using the Terraria account." I looked at her, curious about the different name, but decided against asking about it right now. "The account can infinitely regenerate Life, so fortunately you won't have to worry about the system compromise. However, you will still feel every bit of pain inflicted on you, so don't rely on the regeneration." Suguha simply nodded. "Holly, you'll be using Lunaria. While the moon is in the sky or while in the Dark Territory, you'll have access to as many Spatial Resources as you wish, which can manifest into your spear that you'll have to create beams and barriers of moonlight. However, should you leave the Dark Territory or the sun comes up, you'll be unable to access your Spatial Resources, or even use the ones the system generates using the sun."

"That's a strangely specific set of rules…" I sighed a little.

The voice continued. "Your first objective will be to locate your friends inside. Unfortunately, we won't be able to pull you out unless we regain control of the Ocean Turtle, we won't be able to log you out from here. There's a console inside the World's End Altar at the southernmost point of the Dark Territory." He hesitated for a moment. "All the enemy wants is the fully developed AI we raised. We don't blame you if you want to just secure Kirito and Light, but this is important to us. So, your secondary objective will be to locate A.L.I.C.E and bring her to the World's End Altar with you and log her out too."

Suguha smiled a little. "I'm sure Kirito would want to help. We'll try our best."

"The translation software is loaded. System accounts Terraria and Lunaria are logged in. You can start whenever you're ready."

I looked at the machine I was going in. It was kind of daunting. I gave Suguha a small smile. "I'll see you in there."

She returned the smile and laid down on the Soul Translator. I removed the Amusphere and lay down. The machine slowly lowered itself over my head and I immediately began to feel claustrophobic. But in a few seconds, I'd see his face again…

Sorry to keep you waiting Light.

I stared at Holly for a few more moments, trying to figure out if this was just an illusion from the adrenaline. Or maybe I had entered heaven and somehow she was here. But as the moments when by, her laughter began to fill the air. "You know you're making this very awkward with everyone looking at us."

"Sorry…it's just…I never thought I'd see you here…" I felt a wave of relief come over me. "You…look well."

She almost leapt into my arms, wrapping hers around me. I gently patted the back of her head as she sobbed. "I'm so happy you're okay…"

"I always would be… I had you to come back to…" I just continued to stroke her hair, sighing contently, ignoring the confused stares I was getting. Guessing by her attire, she was the Moon Goddess Lunaria. But I didn't care about that. To me, she was Holly. That meant far more to me than being a goddess.

Unfortunately, soon I was interrupted by Bercouli tapping me on the shoulder. He had some sadness lingering in his eyes, but he looked focused. "I'm calling a War Council. As long as that barrier holds, we should take the opportunity to regroup and assess our casualties, and these two can explain their appearance." He nodded to Holly and the other girl Kirito called Leafa.

Holly smiled a little. "It will hold until morning. As long as the moon is in the sky, I can draw those…oh what did they call it…Space Resources?"

"Spatial Resources." I corrected her.

"Those. I can draw them from the moon and maintain the barrier."

Bercouli simply nodded. It was kind of haunting, seeing him without a smile on his face. He approached Ishkan who was looking at the Emperor's barge with anger. "You bastard…!" He held a hand over his right eye.

"You must be one of the Council of Ten." Bercouli said simply.

"Yeah…and Emperor Vecta just tried to kill us." He spat at the ground. "He doesn't care about loyalty…" He gripped his right eye harder, yelling out in pain. "What the hell is happening!?"

Eugeo approached him, gripping both his shoulders. "This is going to hurt a lot, but hold onto that feeling."

Ishkan looked at him, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"How that injustice feels. Keep focused on that, and you'll break free." Eugeo wore a gentle smile on his face. "I also know how that feels. It's not wrong to fight against that. If I hadn't, then I would've never found my friend again, and never regained the memories of my other friend." I looked to Kirito who seemed a little embarrassed.

Ishkan breathed heavily for a moment before letting out a cry of pain, his right eye exploding and spraying blood onto Eugeo's face. I instinctively turned Holly away from it. Ishkan dug his fingers into his palms and panted in pain for a few moments. "What…the hell was that…?"

Kirito walked up to him. "You're free to follow whatever path you choose. You don't have to follow anyone, no matter how strong they are."

The Pugilists looked unsure, worried about their leader. Ishkan stood up straight, looking at Bercouli. "Our Emperor just tried to kill us. He has shown he views us as pawns, not caring about us as…as people." His eyes sparked in determination. "We will join forces with you."

Bercouli had a ghost of a smile on his face. "I'm glad to hear that. Maybe after this war is over, we can talk about peace."

Ishkan nodded, smiling. "We'll make the Emperor regret his decision to throw away our strength." The Pugilists let out a war cry. I was glad that after the bloodbath, something good had come out of it.

"Then please, join us in our War Council." Bercouli gestured behind him, towards the supply unit. He looked to Holly and Leafa. "And I hope you two will join us too. After all, it's strange for two goddesses to just show up out of the blue."

"Of course." Holly did a small curtsey.

Bercouli began heading back with Sheyta and Deusolbert at his side. Ishkan led his Pugilists to the side and taking care of their wounded. I took Holly's hand in my own and took her over to Kirito, Eugeo and Leafa. "You all okay?"

Kirito chuckled a little nervously. "Not going to lie, I thought that was going to be it."

"Really?" Eugeo looked a little surprised. "You were just knocking them all over with your sword. In fact, you made it seem more like a club." He looked at the sword at Kirito's side. "In fact…was your sword thicker?"

"It might've been." Kirito frowned a little.

"Light…? Who is this?"

I turned to see Kimiko standing there, staring at Holly. I froze a little, immediately recognising the problem. Holly and Kimiko were like two sides of a mirror, the only difference being Kimiko's hair was pure white while Holly was blonde, and Kimiko was slightly shorter. Both were staring at each other with surprise.

I stood there, trying to think of an explanation. Luckily, Holly snapped out of her surprise and smiled. "Wow, who would've guessed…" She extended her hand to Kimiko. "I'm Holly. And you are?"

"Kimiko." She hesitantly took her hand. "H-how do you know Light?"

"We came from the same world." Holly said simply.

Lord Grant joined in. "But wait, you're the goddess Lunaria. Are you saying Light is…a god?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "No. We're from the same world as Kirito and…Leafa. Is that right?" I looked to the girl by Kirito's side.

"Yep, I'm Leafa." She beamed with the brightest smile I had ever seen. "And you're Light, the one Holly has come halfway around the world for."

A small blush appeared on Holly's cheeks. I decided to step in to avoid any more embarrassment. "We'll explain everything in the War Council. Come on." I started walking back towards the supply unit.

There was quite the crowd gathered for the War Council. All the Integrity Knights were there…apart from Fanatio. Her body had been moved to the camp, where some clerics were helping to keep her baby alive. Along with the Knights, there was Kirito, Eugeo, Alice, Leafa, Holly, Kimiko, Lord Grant and Ishkan. A crowd of soldiers had gathered around the edge, and in there was Luna, Ronye and Tiese.

I sat down on a stool that had been placed next to a bonfire, ready to have question after question thrown at me. Instead, Ishkan immediately stood up and looked over at Sheyta. "How the hell were you cutting my men?"

Sheyta looked at him, confused. "With my sword?"

"That's not a sword, that's a piece of paper!" Ishkan looked both impressed and furious. "You didn't even kill any of them."

"There was no need." Sheyta just stared at him with a deadpan expression. Both of them locked eyes, doing some sort of speechless, combat free battle. It was kind of funny, like the hottest flames was clashing with the coolest of ice. Soon enough though, Bercouli cleared his throat and both of them backed down.

Bercouli looked to Holly and Leafa. "So, before we go any further, who are you two and why are you here?"

Leafa jumped up. "I'm Leafa, and this is Flower. It's nice to meet you all." Her bright and bubbly attitude made me smile. It wasn't just me either. A lot of people had a smile on their faces. "We're both from the outside world, same as Kirito and Light."

Renly frowned a little. "Outside world?"

"It's a world connected to yours, but completely separate." Kirito jumped in. "We are humans, just like you. We just crossed between worlds."

"So we could come to your world?" Ronye said, almost excited.

"Actually, that's something we need to discuss." Leafa looked to Holly.

She nodded a little, standing up. "Is there someone called Alice here?"

Silence hung in the air for a while before Alice stood up. "I'm Alice."

I looked up at her. "Does this have something to do with the whole Priestess of Light?"

Bercouli frowned a little. "Sorry?"

Ishkan jumped in. "Yeah. Emperor Vecta wanted us to retrieve the Priestess of Light. A girl with golden hair and blue eyes. And she fits the description."

Holly sat there, thinking for a while. "The Ocean-"

A dark figure came from the crowd, speaking in a familiar voice. "I can explain it all."

Everyone looked at him with confusion except me, Kirito and Eugeo. Nightmare walked into the centre of the circle, holding his scythe. He gently stoked the fire with the end of his scythe, looking straight at me. "I'm surprised it took you so long to appear Garret."

He took off his helmet, letting it drop to the ground, his scarred face wearing a cocky smirk. "Yes, well considering I have all the pieces of your puzzle, I'd rather not sit in the background any longer and wait for you all to piece it all together." He walked over to an empty stool and sat down.

"And who might you be?" Bercouli asked him.

"A phantom. A ghost. A Nightmare…" He smiled a little. "But you can all call me Garret. I'm just here to stop this world from being destroyed."

A few hushed whispers ran through the crowd. "Destroyed?" Eugeo whispered.

Nightmare pointed his scythe to Alice. "You are the reason this war is being fought young lady. Emperor Vecta wishes to claim you for his side, while these two…" He points to Holly and Leafa. "…wish to claim you for theirs."

Holly immediately got heated, crossing her arms. "Hold on. You make it sound like we're just as bad as this Emperor Vecta."

Kirito sighed. "Alright, I think it's best for me to explain the purpose of Underworld."

"Oh sure, I'll just sit here and pretend to have never come out of the shadows." Nightmare leaned back, a little bit annoyed.

Kirito ignored him. "Underworld was created by the outside world in order to see if they could make a real person, who could have free will and be essentially like me, Light, Leafa and Holly. The thing is, the Taboo Index seemed to be preventing that. So, the people who created Underworld wanted some people from the outside world to come into Underworld and help…influence someone, anyone, to break the Taboo Index." He took a deep breath. "I was that person. And Alice was the first to ever break the Taboo Index of her own free will."

A few whispers began to fill the air. Deusolbert was the next to speak. "You mean we aren't…real? That we were just created?"

Kirito shook his head. "Of course not. You are real."

"But you just said we weren't."

"If you aren't real, then why am I sitting here talking to you?" Kirito stood up. His eyes were sparkling with passion, almost like this was something he had always wanted to say. "You are real. Just because this world was created by people from my world doesn't mean anything. I've spent hours in worlds that were created by people from the outside world, but never would I call a moment I spent in those world fake." He placed a hand on his heart. "You have everything you need to be real. You all love and grieve. You all laugh and cry. You are all real, because you have a soul."

Everyone was speechless, a little taken aback by his passionate speech. Almost immediately after Kirito stopped speaking, he blushed a little, clearly embarrassed. I smiled a little before speaking up. "He's right. When I came into this world, I had no memory of who I was or where I came from. Not a moment went by when I thought this world was fake. Every smile and every tear…they were shed because I loved the people here."

Everyone's worries seemed to fade away. Bercouli just nodded. "So Alice is just…a person from your world now?"

Kirito nodded a little. "So is Eugeo and Ishkan. And…so is Light I guess."

I was caught completely off guard by his comment. "Well of course I am."

"Somehow though, before you regained your memories, you broke the Seal of the Right Eye." Kirito spoke with some confidence, but he seemed just as confused as me.

Nightmare cleared his throat. "I'm afraid that's my bad. I inserted this Code 871 I found into his memory block, so when he tried to remember his past, it would cause the effect."

I sighed a little. "Of course you did…"

"Hey, the only person there to entertain me was Kayaba. I was also kind of hurt that you left me to fall into darkness forever."

"Kayaba…?" Kirito's eyes widened.

"Enough." A burst of wind seemed to go throughout the Council, though the flames from the fire didn't even flicker. I felt my voice get caught in my throat, and looking around, it seemed like everyone else seemed to have the same problem. Bercouli, the one who had spoken, raised a jug to his lips and drank. "We need to formulate a plan."

Holly timidly raised her hand and he nodded at her. "I think we can make Emperor Vecta retreat."

"How?" Bercouli took another swig.

"He's after Alice. There's a console at the World's End Altar in the Dark Territory that will allow her to travel to the outside world. Without Alice, Emperor Vecta will have no reason to continue his attack."

Ishkan smiled a little. "A small team of my Pugilists can lead you there."

Bercouli shook his head. "I'll sort out a strategy tonight. If you are taking little Alice to the outside world, I want her to have the best protection possible should the Emperor pursue her."

"Hold on!" Alice stepped forward. "I'm sorry…but I've only just met Kirito and Eugeo again, and I've only seen them for six months. Will I be able to see them again?"

"Alice…" Eugeo looked surprised, yet touched.

"Actually…I wanted to ask a favour if we're going to eject Alice from Underworld…" Kirito looked down. Bercouli remained silent, waiting for him. "I…I wanted to bring Eugeo to the outside world too."

Everyone remained silent for a long time. Leafa then shrugged. "Why not?" I couldn't help but laugh a little. It was such a simple answer, yet was the perfect answer. If Alice could go, why couldn't Eugeo?

Bercouli stood up. "Then it's settled. If the barrier is going to fall when the sun rises, then I suggest you all get some rest. I'll sort out a party to head into the Dark Territory for the morning." Everyone started to get up. "Leafa, Flower and Garret, I wish to talk to you three to enlighten me some more on our situation."

Holly looked at me, clearly wanting to stay, but I smiled a little. "Go on. We have the rest of our lives to talk." She laughed a little before heading towards Bercouli. Nightmare reluctantly got up too, heading over.

I walked away, heading to a quiet corner of the supply unit. It was next to the wall of the ravine, where very few tents were sitting. I knew I wouldn't be disturbed here by the regular soldiers. My mind was still racing. It felt like I had packed enough information into my brain to last a lifetime. This was a whole lot bigger than I ever thought impossible. And I still didn't understand everything. Who was this Emperor Vecta fighting for? Though…that did give me an idea.

I reached into my pocket and took out the small red crystal. I turned it a little in the light. Something shone in the reflection, and I frowned, studying it closer.

In the reflection was an eye, coldly staring at me.

I took a deep breath and smiled a little. "I guess you're Emperor Vecta."

"To the Fluctlights of this world." His emotionless voice sent a chill down my spine. "You survived my attack. That was unexpected."

"Yeah, we did." I leaned against the rock behind me. "Yet somehow you don't seem surprised."

"Do you play chess in this world?" He asked dully. It was almost creepy that his tone stayed the same no matter what he was talking about.

"I think they do, but I'm not from this world."

A slightly twitch in his eyebrow made it rise ever so slightly higher. It was the closest to an emotion that he had shown. "Interesting. And here I thought all your pieces were on the board. It seems the simple pawn might be a little more."

I smiled a little. "Even a pawn can become a knight."

"Indeed. But in the end, it doesn't matter." He leaned back in his chair. "Pawn or knight, I'll sweep this board clean and claim the Priestess of Light for myself."

"For yourself? Not your contractor?"

"Yes, myself." His eye showed a tiny spark of desire. "Your soul is curious… Maybe I'll take your soul too…"

It felt like an icy cold hand had grasped my spine. "What…?"

The eye in the reflection disappeared, obviously not interested in expanding on that. I stared at the crystal for a while before shaking myself out of it. Somehow I guessed despite all the new players that had moved onto the board, he was ten steps ahead of all of us, including the ones on his side.

I got up and headed back towards the camp. I needed to sleep…

Well, that was a lot to go through. I really don't like repeating information, so I did my best to explain the important bits while leaving out some of the more intimate details that aren't really too important. Holly and Leafa would've explained them to Bercouli, like why would the outside world want Alice if she's just like the normal people. And now Nightmare has finally joined the crew, for more reasons than just "I want to explain everything". But those will have to wait until later. Fun fact, the reason why Holly doesn't recognise him as the person who trapped them in The Land Beyond is because she never actually met him.

One of the goals I had with War of Underworld was to expand a little on Gabriel. I felt like he was a terrible final villain for Kirito to fight. They were telling each other their names during their final battle. So...slight spoiler, I want to build him up to be a villain for Light, and make PoH Kirito's final enemy. After all, if Light's need is to protect Underworld, and Gabriel is such a big threat to Underworld, it seems like a perfect match up. After all, PoH is the final representation of Kirito's trauma, and Gabriel is the only person who has the power to wipe out Underworld, which Light wants to protect.

Reviews:

kazukimirato: Thanks. I wanted to emphasise Light's physical style of fighting, and the Pugilists allowed for that. As I've said before, I'm not putting anyone new in the story, let alone a cameo for the sake of a cameo. Especially since literally only you would understand who it is.

blackbutterfly1313: I'm glad you enjoyed it so much sweetheart. I really wanted to write that battle out for you because you enjoyed it so much. Hopefully I'll be able to give you more scenes like the one at the end :)

Well, enough rambling. Next chapter will just be characters interacting, which I'm looking forward. How will everyone react to Holly and Leafa? How well will everyone get along? Let's find out next time. Until then, Stay Cool.