"Next time I'm coming with you."
Agil watched with amusement - and from the relative safety of the common area couch - as Asuna scolded Kirito for what happened last night in the 15th floor dungeon. Quite harshly, actually. There was no room for disagreement here. To say that the Renegades were worried and outraged at the thought of three of their number almost dying would be an understatement. He felt a twinge of pain; it reminded him too much of Trish, and how she'd worry when he worked himself too much at the bar.
He missed her nagging.
"Asuna, we were fine." Kirito tried to reassure her. "We had teleport crystals and if that axe hadn't hit Leonn, we wouldn't have even needed…"
Agil almost choked on his drink. The glare Asuna was giving Kirito right now...
"... Fine." Kirito muttered, crumbling under the gaze of his girlfriend. "We'll bring you next time."
"Good." Asuna grinned, placing her hands on her hips. Oh, she looked smug right now, and Agil couldn't blame her. Kirito told him once that he chose Asuna as his vice-leader to keep him in check.
Yeah, she was doing that pretty well right now.
Agil looked over to the other side of the room, where a very different reaction to last night's escapades was playing out. Nautilus hadn't taken Yuna's close call very well either, but his reaction was more protective than assertive. He was practically hovering over her now, but doing his best to make it look like he wasn't. The result was a lot of awkward shifting on behalf of the swordsman as he tried to give her a respectable amount of distance but also keep her within arm's reach. Yuna, for her part, didn't seem to mind one bit, so that was good. She actually seemed to be enjoying it.
Leonn was not so lucky.
When they'd learned, Sinon and Liz had very different reactions. Sinon just gave him a slap upside the head and told him not to be an idiot, which wasn't much of a surprise there. Sinon always struck Agil as something of a reserved, no-nonsense woman. If you were being an idiot, she'd tell you, but after that she'd drop the subject. She was straightforward and direct. Straight as an arrow, one might say.
Oh god, was Leonn's love of puns rubbing off on him?
Liz was markedly more heated in everything she did, which included her worry. After scolding Leonn for being reckless, she had begun to fuss over him, asking about the durability of his armor and his maul. To that end, she had begun work on forging a new maul for him. She couldn't forge him any armor, but she promised to find some for him. Even Agil could see that the worry was for Leonn, not his armor, yet the maul wielder wasn't seeing that. Was he just dense?
Lokuss plopped down on the opposite end of the couch and seemed to scroll through his notes. Agil arched an eyebrow at how focused the loremaster seemed to be right now. What had the normally loose and casual boy so serious all of a sudden?
"What's up, Lokuss?" Agil prodded. "You look intense."
"Hmm?" Lokuss hummed, angling his head towards Agil, yet his eyes never left his notes. "Sorry, just looking through my notes."
"Any luck with the guild base?" Agil asked as he reclined in his seat. Lokuss, as well as Wolfgang and Mako, had been absent for many of the grinding sessions over the past week. Probably working towards their purported new guild base, he guessed.
"Some." Lokuss muttered, manifesting some pastry from his inventory before he began to idly munch on it. "We're making some progress, but it might be a couple of floors before we can get to it. It's definitely not on any of the floors we've unlocked so far."
"How can you tell?" Agil asked, wondering how the loremaster's thought process went regarding these things.
Lokuss absent-mindedly pointed at Agil. "Because we've looked. What few references I can find about the place reference geography and terrain not found on any of the floors we've been on so far. It could be on any of the floors above us, but I'm hoping we find it sometime soon."
"You think it exists?" Agil asked, glancing over at Kizmel, who was talking with Geeou on the opposite side of the room. "Kizmel doesn't seem too convinced."
"I sure hope so, or I'm gonna be fuckin' pissed." Lokuss said with a pained chuckle. "That'll be at least a week of my life I'm not getting back, if that's the case."
Agil couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the situation. One might argue that they were already losing time, the longer they spent in this game, but he supposed it was all a matter of perspective. At least on some level, they were still living, even if their bodies were wasting away in the real world. It could be worse; they could be truly comatose and be truly unconscious for years at a time. At least they were aware of the time lost in the real world, and at least in here they were making friends and growing as people.
What he wouldn't give to see his wife again, though.
"Yeah, I'm aware of the irony." Lokuss chuckled. "You get what I mean, though."
A comfortable silence followed as Lokuss went back to his research. Agil, having nothing else better to do, looked around the room and engaged in some good, old-fashioned people watching.
Kirito and Asuna had since stopped their couple's squabble and were sitting on another couch together. Asuna had her menu pulled up while she leaned against Kirito. Her menu was set to visible, and Kirito was actively reading over her shoulder, offering his two Cor every so often.
Silica had wandered over and was sitting on the ground next to where Lokuss was lying on the couch. She made no effort at conversation, instead opting to sit and play with Gryd and Pina in comfortable silence.
Yuna was practicing her songs, filling the common area of the tavern with the sound of music. A quick glance at his HUD informed Agil that the current song was giving a minor heal over time effect to everyone in the vicinity. She'd already gathered a small audience around her, to the surprise of no one.
He wondered how the Clearers would react to the appearance of Unique Skill users. Jackasses like Kibaou would undoubtedly call foul, but Agil held out hope that at least Lind would see the merit of such powerful tools in play.
"Time to go, everyone." Asuna said, gathering the attention of all of the Renegades in attendance. "The strategy meeting's starting soon."
Agil sighed. He supposed he'd be learning of their reactions sooner than he thought.
"Before we start, I got something to say!"
Geeou groaned. He was really hoping Kibaou would wait on the dramatics until they at least went over strategy, but of course the ALS leader decided to stir the pot again.
"Well that's awfully familiar…" Sinon grumbled, earning a chuckle from Agil. The merchant Clearer, for his part, looked amused as he sat and crossed his arms.
"Need me to step in again?" Agil joked.
"I hope it doesn't come to that…" Asuna replied with a pained smile.
The amphitheatre grew quiet shortly after Kibaou's declaration. The ALS leader marched up to center stage and placed his hands on his hips, staring accusingly at the crowd. Geeou heard a sigh escape Kirito's lips.
"We've all heard about these "Unique Skill" people during the past week!" Kibaou cried out, complete with air quotes. "And how they have "no idea" how they got these skills! Well I think that's bullshit! I think they're a bunch of Beater scumbags who don't want to share! Again!"
An odd mixture of groans, sighs, and murmurs of agreement rippled through the amphitheatre.
"This man never ceases to irritate me." Kizmel grumbled from a seat behind Geeou.
"You and me both, sister." Argo quipped from nearby.
"Looks like I'm gonna need to step in again…" Agil sighed as he started to stand up.
"Excuse me."
Before Agil could fully stand up, all eyes shifted to the west, which was noticeably much more white and red than the rest of the amphitheatre. From there, an older man, possibly Agil's height and heavily armored in white and red plate, stood up. The man cleared his throat, all but demanding full attention to himself. To his credit, his presence alone did that, as he gave off the airs of someone with many years of military experience. A calm, collected strength that clashed directly with Kibaou's hot-headed nature.
"Who the hell are you?" Kibaou asked, his face twisted as if offended.
The man gave a curt nod in greeting. "I am Heathcliff of the Knights of the Blood Oath. We're new to the front line."
"Don't be rude, Kibaou." Lind scolded from the side. He turned to face Heathcliff, looking up into the stands. "Was there something you wanted to add?"
"It seems to me that no matter how they got these skills, this can only be a good thing for the front line." Heathcliff said. "If our players are stronger, then we clear this game faster, right?"
"True, but - "
"Then why are we trying to vilify them when they could help us?" Heathcliff pressed. "Shouldn't we be trying to get on their good side? Making enemies of them will only weaken us."
"If they want to help, then why don't they share their secrets?!" Kibaou cried out, irritation clear on his face. "You're right in that they could be a big help, but they shouldn't keep those secrets away from the rest of us!"
"What if they're telling the truth, though?" Heathcliff asked neutrally. "It wouldn't be the first time Kayaba has changed things. What if these skills are unique?"
"Where's the proof?!" Kibaou shot back. "Show me where it says they're unique!"
All eyes watched with some confusion as Heathcliff walked over to the staircase, descended it, came to the ground floor, and finally ascended the short flight of stairs leading to the stage. Kibaou reflexively took a few steps back, but ultimately stood his ground. Heathcliff walked up next to Kibaou, shoulder-to-shoulder, and opened his menu. After a moment, the menu blinked into visibility while Kibaou stared up at Heathcliff incredulously. Finally, it seemed Heathcliff found what he was looking for, since he then gently turned Kibaou's head to face the menu while he pointed at a single line of text.
"Y-you're one of 'em!" Kibaou almost screamed as he took a step back. "You're a Beater!"
"No, not a beta tester." Heathcliff calmly denied. "Just someone who found themselves with a Unique Skill, that's all. Ask anyone in my guild; they'll vouch for me when I say that I woke up with this skill. I did nothing special to gain it."
Geeou leaned back and smirked. Whoever this Heathcliff guy was, he was quickly and calmly dismantling Kibaou's argument. He could only assume Heathcliff showed Kibaou the line of text on a Unique Skill that identified it as such. Geeou had seen it himself four times, so he knew it existed.
Now, he presumed, so did Kibaou.
"The whole thing still smells like bullshit to me, but whatever." Kibaou grumbled. Lind hesitantly stepped up to the stage.
"Well, thank you for that, Heathcliff, and welcome to the front line." Lind said, nodding towards Heathcliff. "While we're on the subject of these Unique Skills, it might be a good idea to determine who has them and what they're capable of. Perhaps we can start with you. What does your Unique Skill do, sir?"
Heathcliff smiled and gave a courteous nod. "My Unique Skill, ((Holy Sword)), lets me switch between offense and defense at will. It lets me shift my defensive stats towards offense, and vice versa."
"That makes you quite the versatile tank, I imagine." Lind mused.
Heathcliff hummed in affirmation. "Indeed. The downside is that when my stats are shifted like that, the other stat suffers. If I am in full defensive mode, I have no offense. If I am in full offensive mode, I have no defense."
"I see…" Lind murmured. "Still, that makes you a very good tank for hard-hitting bosses. Thank you. Would anyone else be willing to come forward and share their Unique Skill?"
There was an uneasy and palpable tension in the amphitheatre as everyone nervously glanced around, curious to see who else would step forward. After Kibaou's little stunt earlier, Geeou wasn't sure if his friends would even step forward at this point. After a few moments, someone did stand up.
"Silica?" Lind questioned, a look of stunned confusion evident on his face. "You have a skill?"
"Yep." The young dragon tamer replied. "It's called ((Beast Master)). It lets me tame a second familiar! I don't have a second familiar yet, though, so until then I guess it doesn't count."
"Well… uhh… thank you anyway, Silica." Lind awkwardly replied, clearly not having expected that. Geeou felt a protective twinge at how patronizing the DKB leader sounded towards someone he viewed like a little sister, but shrugged it off for now. He could feel bitter later.
Klein was the next to stand, who explained his Unique Skill ((Battoujutsu)), which allowed him access to unique katana skills that involved sword-drawing strikes. Lind and Kibaou didn't seem too bothered by it since the skills were just a stronger form of damage-dealing katana strikes.
Everyone was impressed with Yuna's, once she stepped forward with hers. She even did a live demonstration, much to everyone's enjoyment. Lind and Kibaou started getting a little too friendly with her after that, and Geeou could practically see the steam coming out of Nautilus's ears. To her credit, she politely rebuked their advances and quickly returned to her seat next to Nautilus shortly thereafter.
Once Liz explained hers, she was unofficially enlisted by the combined Clearer force to begin forging advanced weapons for them. After some very steep negotiations - during which Agil, Wolfgang, and Mako stepped in to assist with the haggling - they were able to come to an agreement that not only ensured everyone would have access to top-of-the-line weaponry, but also helped line the Renegades' guild coffers a little bit.
Leonn's caused some public outcry, unfortunately. Kibaou was the most outspoken critic of the skill, calling it overpowered and unfair. The idea that someone could, with the proper skill level, simply ignore damage was unnerving to someone with a fragile ego like Kibaou. There were more than a few disgruntled… well, grunts, coming from the crowd, but also a handful of impressed looks.
Kuroi, oddly enough, was next up as she demonstrated her Unique Skill, ((Shurikenjutsu)). With an expert throw, she showed her impeccable accuracy with her new ranged skill. Geeou had to hold back a laugh when the first shuriken landed squarely between Kibaou's legs, causing him to shriek out in a very undignified fashion at how close he'd been to losing something very important.
Lastly, Kirito himself walked up to the stage, eliciting a cry of indignation from Kibaou.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Kibaou shouted. He looked absolutely red in the face. "You mean to tell me the Beater's got one of these damned skills too?!"
Kirito simply nodded, but remained silent.
"Ignore him, Kirito." Lind sighed. "Though I admit it is a little odd. What's your Unique Skill?"
Kirito simply pulled open his menu and equipped his second sword. When it came into existence, strapped to his back, Geeou snorted in amusement as every sword user in the audience attempted the same thing. Just as it had happened with him and Nautilus, the second sword replaced the first and a synchronized groan of disappointment rang out.
"It's called ((Dual Blades))." Kirito explained, unsheathing both swords and giving them an experimental twirl in his hands. "It lets me dual wield and comes with a handful of sword skills unique to wielding two weapons at once."
"That's not so bad, I guess." Kibaou grumbled. He eyed Heathcliff and Leonn. "I've seen worse."
Geeou heard some grumbling from behind him, but didn't have the nerve to turn around and see who it was. After that veiled insult to Kirito and Leonn, it honestly could have been any of the Renegades at this point.
"Wait a second!" Kibaou cried out. He pointed a finger at the five Unique Skill Renegades. "There's five of you!"
"Oh good, he can count!" Someone shouted out from the stands. It sounded like Klein, actually. The amphitheatre erupted in chortles and stifled laughter at the heckler.
"Shut it!" Kibaou yelled at no one in particular. He turned his attention back to Kirito - who was still on stage - and the Renegades as a whole. "Your guild has five Unique Skills! That's bullshit! How is that fair?!"
There was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere as many in the stands came to the same conclusion. Geeou could already see some glares thrown their way. Some of the more feisty Renegades, like Liz, Asuna, and Nautilus simply shot glares back of equal magnitude. Silica shrank down on herself while Yuna placed a consoling hand on her shoulder.
"Spill it already, Beater!" Kibaou demanded, stomping up to Kirito. He jabbed a finger into the Black Swordsman's chest. "Where'd you get these skills, huh?! Five of you in one guild, you can't tell me that's just chance!"
Geeou looked over at an absolutely irate Asuna, who was actively being restrained by Kizmel and Sinon. The elf and archer were visibly struggling to keep the Renegade vice-lead contained.
"Calm yourself, Asuna!" Kizmel whispered urgently. "I understand your pain, but causing a scene will do nothing to help your beloved!"
"How dare he?! It's about time someone put him in his place!" Asuna hissed under her breath, ultimately ripping free and beginning to stomp down the stairs, only to be caught by Leonn. He simply lifted her off her feet by the back of her tunic, halting her advance. "Let me GO, Leonn!"
"No can do." Leonn said, dragging her back to their seats. He sat himself down and pulled her down into the seat next to him, keeping a strong hold of the back of her shirt to keep her from bolting back up. "Kizmel's right. Let cooler heads prevail here. You killing Kibaou isn't going to help things."
Asuna finally stopped squirming, opting to instead cross her arms in a huff and try her damnedest to glare Kibaou to death. To her credit, it seemed to have some effect, as Kibaou took a step back upon seeing her expression. Some of the non-Renegade players nearby shifted in their seats, subtly trying to create some distance between themselves and the furious fencer.
"I already told you, Kibaou, I don't know how we got these skills." Kirito attempted to assure the ALS leader. To the surprise of no one, it didn't seem to work.
"Bullshit!" Kibaou cried out. "I don't need to be a math whiz to know that something ain't right there. Five in one guild is way too suspicious, Beater. You're hiding something. Spill!"
'Now wait just a minute, Kibaou!" Agil shouted, standing up from his seat.
"Shut it, Agil!" Kibaou roared back, pointing an accusing finger at the merchant Clearer. "You're obviously in on this! You're in his damn guild!"
"Excuse me?!" Agil shouted back as his momentary shock gave way to outrage. Wolfgang and Mako shot out of their seats, fuming at the tone Kibaou was taking with their friend.
Geeou could only watch in horror as the entire amphitheatre began taking sides in this debate, some defending Kirito and the Renegades while others began pointing accusing fingers at them and their defenders. Even some of the smaller guilds, who often stayed out of guild politics entirely, were taking sides. What had started as a heated discussion quickly became a shouting match as either side tried to make their point and shut down the opposition.
"I am sick and tired of you Beaters hogging all of the good stuff!" Kibaou practically screamed, pointing a finger at the Renegades as a whole. "How are we supposed to clear this fucking game if you won't share?!"
"There's nothing to share, Kibaou!" Leonn said, raising his hands placatingly. Yuna was right at his side, her face full of worry and stress. "Why is that so hard to believe?"
"Cause you damned Beaters don't care who dies!" Another voice called out.
"That's not true!" Yuna denied. Geeou sneered as he saw her eyes start to water. This was not going to end well at all, especially if Nautilus saw her present state. Fortunately - or unfortunately, perhaps - he was standing behind her and couldn't see her almost in tears.
"You and the hammerhead can just go and fuck off!" A voice on the opposite side of the amphitheatre jeered.
Geeou shut his eyes and winced. He knew exactly what was coming. Now, Geeou was not one to curse or use profane language unless the situation demanded it, and those instances were far and few between. Here, though?
Shit had officially hit the fan.
"Oh, THAT'S IT!" Liz and Nautilus roared out at once, bounding out of their seats. Leonn caught Liz as she leapt out of her chair, but was too slow to catch Nautilus. Kizmel raced off after him in a desperate attempt to rein in the livid swordsman. With her captor otherwise preoccupied keeping ahold of the blacksmith, Asuna was stomping her way down to the stage, her eyes set on Kibaou in particular. Agil was already down there and giving Kibaou a piece of his mind, while Sinon was trying her best to comfort Silica in the midst of the chaos while glaring daggers at the crowd.
Kirito and Lind, oddly enough, were trying their best to try to de-escalate the situation, though their voices of reason were easily drowned out by the sounds of angry, opinionated Clearers.
Geeou sighed. At this rate, Aincrad wasn't going to kill its captives. No, they were doing a pretty good job of that on their own.
"ENOUGH!" A firm, authoritative voice roared out, accompanied by the sound of heavy metal striking stone.
All eyes whipped over to Heathcliff, who - despite his outburst - looked remarkably calm and collected as he stood at the forefront of his guild, poised stoically behind his massive tower shield. He slowly surveyed over the scattered Clearers, meeting the gaze of many and silencing them with his stoic expression. He ultimately looked back at Kibaou, who was still red in the face.
"May I speak?" Heathcliff calmly asked.
"S-sure." Kibaou stammered, clearly not expecting such a polite question with everything going on.
"Thank you." Heathcliff replied. "Let's think about this for a moment. I will admit that it is rather suspicious that the Renegades hold five out of the eight known Unique Skills. Statistically, it is rather unlikely."
"See?!" Kibaou shouted, gesturing towards Heathcliff. "Finally someone speaking some - "
"I wasn't finished."
Kibaou's mouth hung open for a moment before clamping shut. He gave a meek nod toward the KoB leader to continue.
"So my question is, why are the remaining three not in his guild?" Heathcliff continued. "It stands to reason that if he knew the secret to unlocking Unique Skills, he would equip his entire guild with them, correct?"
A murmur of soft, albeit reluctant, agreement rippled across the stands. Geeou gave out a sigh of relief. Maybe this boss strategy meeting wouldn't devolve into a brawl. There was hope.
"Now, I could see him sharing the secret with Klein." Heathcliff admitted, nodding over to the Crimson Samurai, who had stopped mid-swing from decking an ALS guild member across the face when Heathcliff took command of the discussion. A look of betrayal crossed Klein's face for a moment before Heathcliff raised a placating hand. "It's no secret that the two of them are close friends and allies, but then why wouldn't Kirito also share the secret with Orlando and the Legend Braves? They're allies as well, no?"
Orlando and his guild were definitely caught off guard, having the attention of the entire amphitheatre thrown their way so suddenly. Orlando simply raised his hands. "We don't have any Unique Skills, I swear!"
"More to the point, if Kirito knew the secret, why would he share it with myself and Kuroi?" The KoB leader pressed onward. "I've never met him before, and my understanding of Kuroi is that she's a fairly reserved individual."
Kuroi simply nodded in silent agreement.
"It seems to me that if Kirito did know the secret, he's gone about this all wrong." Heathcliff looked over at the Black Swordsman in question and gave a faint smirk. "He doesn't strike me as an unintelligent individual, so perhaps I'm biased but I'd believe him."
"You make a solid argument." Lind admitted, looking over at Heathcliff almost appraisingly.
Kibaou grumbled, evidently unable to offer any counter of his own.
Giving a nod to Kirito, Heathcliff took his seat and the overall atmosphere of the meeting simmered down considerably. Lind was able to wrest control of the meeting and get back on track, fortunately. Whether that was because of how sound Heathcliff's point was or how humiliated Kibaou was at being diplomatically overpowered, Geeou wasn't quite sure.
It was still appreciated, though.
The rest of the Unique Skill briefing went smoothly enough, all things considered. Yuna was immediately relegated to the task of lead support for all of the various support players; her skill was so incredibly powerful for healing and buffing that no one could really replicate it. Some of the other guilds even offered up players to act as her bodyguards during the fights from now on. Nautilus was obviously one of them, and took it upon himself to lead the efforts towards defending his childhood friend. There wasn't much of a change in role for Kirito; if anything, his Unique Skill only made him a stronger and more versatile damage dealer, so his role as a leader was unaffected. Silica and Liz were, for obvious reasons, unaffected entirely, the former since she hadn't found a second familiar yet and the latter because her skill just wasn't applicable in combat. Klein and Kuroi were likewise not impacted since their skills just made them better damage dealers.
Heathcliff and Leonn, however, were the most capable tanks among the Clearers now. While most hadn't seen either in action just yet, the general consensus was that the two would rotate, trading off as the main tank during any given boss fight. Heathcliff's ability made him an impenetrable wall that could weather nearly any attack behind his tower shield. At least that was the idea, anyway. Geeou would wait to see the new frontline guild leader in action before making any sort of judgement. Leonn's skill, while more risky, made him the best player for grabbing and maintaining aggro since he could constantly attack through boss attacks. All things considered, the addition of the Unique Skills didn't have as great an impact on the overall raid dynamic as anyone would have expected.
Yet another example of Kibaou's want and ability to blow things out of proportion.
The rest of the meeting went about as well as it could have. In accordance with the raid leader agreement on the 10th floor, leadership of this floor boss raid was given to a smaller guild. Klein and Orlando agreed to jointly lead this raid on behalf of Fuurinkazan and the Legend Braves, and while neither of them were the raid leader Kirito, Lind, or Kibaou were, he was confident that between the two of them they'd be able to get the job done with no casualties.
"Well that was… interesting." Geeou whispered to Kirito as the latter sat back down nearby. The other Clearers were beginning to funnel out of the amphitheatre, the meeting having come to a well-enough conclusion.
Kirito shrugged. "That was definitely blown way out of proportion. Heathcliff shut him down pretty quickly, though."
"I've got a feelin' ol' Heathcliff's gonna be a big name among the Clearers soon." Argo whispered.
"You know him?" Geeou asked.
"Oh yeah, we go way back." Argo waved him off. "Okay, maybe not that far back, but I've known the guy for a while. He's got a good head on his shoulders. He runs his guild kinda like the ALS, but without the ego and the stick up his ass."
"That's a good thing, I suppose." Asuna mused. "Hopefully he turns out to be a good leader here on the front line."
"I hope to live up to your expectations."
Everyone turned to see Heathcliff striding up to them, his guild just behind him. Geeou's brow furrowed as he scanned over those trailing behind Heathcliff. He could have sworn he saw…
The leader of the KoB offered a friendly smile and a hand towards Kirito. "I'm afraid we never got the chance for proper introductions. I'm Heathcliff."
"Kirito." The Renegade leader replied in kind, taking the handshake offered. "Nice to meet you, and thanks for the save back there."
"Of course." Heathcliff said, his gaze intense but not hostile. "It's a pleasure to meet the Black Swordsman in person. You and your Renegades have made quite the name for yourselves. Many of my guild started because of what they saw you accomplish during the boss broadcasts."
Kirito seemed taken back by the compliment as he scratched his cheek. "Glad to hear it… I guess."
Heathcliff chuckled. "My apologies; I didn't mean to make things awkward. Rest assured that we're not like the DKB or the ALS. We want to foster favorable relations with the Renegades, if that's alright with you."
Kirito's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Sounds good to me. We'd be happy to have another guild to call our friends."
"Of course." Heathcliff said, offering a slight bow of his head. "I'd like to send you a friend request, if you're willing."
As the two leaders exchanged friend requests, the two guilds began to mingle between themselves. Geeou was able to meet the KoB's officers, Godfree, Daizen, and Uzala. Each was friendly enough, though none of them really stood out to him much. They made polite conversation, nothing too serious, but then he was interrupted by a gentle, yet firm hand clasping his shoulder. He glanced over to see it was none other than Heathcliff offering him a friendly smile.
"Pardon the intrusion." The KoB leader apologized. He gave a nod to his officers, who seemed to take a hint and departed. "We're getting ready to leave for the night, but I wanted to make my rounds and meet the Renegade officers as well. I just finished speaking with Asuna and Leonn, so I figured I would go find you next. You've done a fantastic job at helping Kirito with leading the Renegades."
Geeou awkwardly chuckled. "Oh, it's nothing, really. Kirito does all the leadership; I just give him help when he needs it."
"In any case..." Heathcliff pressed. "I'd still like to thank you for your help in keeping the frontline together. You may be playing a minor role, but it is a significant one nonetheless."
"Oh. Thank you, sir." Geeou said, not quite sure how to take the compliment.
"Think nothing of it." Heathcliff waved him off. "Were you able to meet all four of my admins, then?"
"Four?" Geeou asked. He'd only spoken with three of them.
Heathcliff nodded and pointed past him towards a blonde girl sitting by herself. "My last officer, my vice-leader, is sitting off to the side over there. Perhaps you'd like to introduce yourself?"
"Uhh… sure, I guess." Geeou said hesitantly. Something about this seemed off. Not suspicious, necessarily, but why was he feeling pressured to go and talk to this girl?
Heathcliff clapped him on the back. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Geeou. I suppose I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you then." Geeou waved as he made his way over to the vice-leader of the KoB.
As he approached, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Never mind the strange way he was asked to go and say hi to someone who, by all rights, probably should have been mingling with the rest of the guilds. Instead, they were sitting here. Waiting. More than that, she looked familiar somehow. Had he met her on the 1st floor before? There were a few people he'd partied with prior to meeting and sticking with Silica, after all. Maybe this was a former party member of his? That would be an awkward conversation. He took a seat next to her and when she turned to face him, he froze in place.
No. What was she doing here?! He was glad to see her, make no mistake, but this was the absolute last place he ever expected to see her again.
"A-Alice?!" Geeou stammered.
Alice, clearly different since he last saw her, gave him a tearful smile. His heart clenched at the sight of it, reminded of days long past. Ever since she moved away all those years ago, he never thought he'd see her again. When she opened her mouth to speak, any doubt was immediately dispelled. Even if it was a little different from last he heard it, he'd recognize that voice anywhere.
"Hi Eugeo."
A/N:
Finally! I've been sitting on this reveal since CHAPTER 8. Yes, as many of you have already suspected, Geeou is in fact Eugeo from Alicization. I've been dropping hints ever since his introduction, so if you didn't catch them all, here's a quick breakdown:
- In his intro scene, we first saw him sitting under a massive cedar tree. He was going to use an axe as his primary weapon, but wanted to become a swordsman instead.
- He's been described as having flaxen hair and blue eyes, and his in-game name is an anagram of his real one.
- After he met Kirito and joined the Renegades, it was hinted that Kirito was teaching him how to be a better swordsman.
- Sugu's forum lurking revealed that many people considered him Kirito's apprentice.
- The few times I've described his attire, whether it was regular clothing or formal, he always had blue as a predominant part of his color palette.
- He and Kirito have the beginnings of a brotherly-like relationship, as seen during the Elf War.
- His sister's name is Sulinea. While she didn't make an appearance in the anime (to my knowledge), a quick internet search revealed that Eugeo's sister's name was Sulinea, so I used her as a minor character for Sugu to befriend.
There was even one time I accidentally slipped when writing one of his scenes, during which I wrote his real name and didn't catch it before I posted. Someone pointed it out to me and you better believe I quickly edited the post as soon as I could.
If it wasn't already obvious, Alice and Eugeo are real people in this story, not AI. As such, their characterizations are going to differ a little bit from canon. These iterations never grew up in a fantasy setting in the remote village of Rulid; they grew up in the real world. This means that this Alice was never abducted by the Integrity Knights and brainwashed; this is an Alice who had the chance to grow up normally. She's still headstrong like her younger self was portrayed to be in the anime, just more mature and experienced. Eugeo is largely the same, minus the devastating experience of watching his best friend get carried away by a dragon. Instead, she just moved away when they were young. Sad, but not traumatic.
Well, I hope I caught some of you off guard with that reveal, and hopefully it makes sense! I am curious how many of you thought Alice was referring to Kirito instead when she mentioned to Heathcliff about meeting an old friend. Let me know your thoughts!
'Til next week!