On Today's Episode: The Knights of the Blood Oath are hosting a little training session to prepare for what awaits the players on floor 76 and beyond, but it seems that one of their guildmates has sinister intentions of their own, and that may spell trouble. Add to that a strange girl that seems to be following the Sleeping Knights around, and the beginning of SAO's final quarter is already bringing mysteries by the boatload...
Episode 12: The Girl of Morning Dew
October 23rd, 2024
5:00 P.M. Aincrad Time
Floor 55, Grandzam
Knights of the Blood Oath Headquarters
"Hey, Asuna, where'd you go?!" Yuuki called out through the throng of players that had gathered just outside the KoB headquarters. And there were quite a few players here. "Come on, please tell me you're actually here and I didn't get that invite for nothing..."
"I'm right here, Yuuki!" Asuna exclaimed, waving to Yuuki and the rest of the Sleeping Knights as they approached the crowd of people.
"So, what's the big occasion, Asu?" Yuuki quipped. "The invite sounded important, especially if you wanted all of us to show up."
"Apparently, the commander has an announcement to make about how we're going to handle the final twenty-five floors going forward," Asuna responded.
"We're in the final quarter of this game, so things are probably going to get a lot harder," Nick stated. "Heathcliff probably just wants to make sure we're all ready for whatever lies ahead."
"It sounds like it's gonna be pretty interesting," Lisbeth admitted.
Only a few moments later, the noise from the crowd went silent as Heathcliff himself appeared in front of the players.
"Thank you for coming, everyone," Heathcliff proclaimed. "As you all know, we have at last reached the final quarter of Sword Art Online. I will not lie to you, the road ahead may well be more treacherous than ever before, but that is no reason to give up. If we persevere and keep our spirits high, then this game will fall before us and we can all return home."
Heathcliff glanced around at all of the players that had gathered here today, smiling when he noticed the Sleeping Knights in particular.
"Now, on to why I have called you all here," Heathcliff continued. "All of you standing here today are just a fraction of the brightest minds and strongest players in Aincrad. However, considering that we know not of the dangers that await us, I wish to test your skills and make sure you are all prepared for anything that may stand in your way. I will split you all up into different groups and have you train under the tutelage of some of the Knights of the Blood Oath's best, to sharpen and hone your skills so that we may best this game."
"Kinda figured it was gonna be an extended training session," Yuuki quipped.
"Hey, we're being trained by the best of the best," Silica stated. "That can only help us."
"There's probably a lot we can learn from them," Sachi admitted.
After Heathcliff had finished his explanations, he began assigning different members of the KoB to different groups of players and sending them out to various dungeons to build their skill.
Sadly, Nick and Yuuki weren't able to be together for this one, as Yuuki has been assigned to a different group with Aiko under Asuna's tutelage, while Nick was paired up with Lux under the tutelage of a player named Godfree.
"I guess our luck of sticking together had to expire at some point, huh?" Yuuki giggled.
"Yeah, I know it sucks, but what can you do?" Nick replied before leaning in to kiss Yuuki. "I love you, Yuuki. You know that, right?"
"Of course I do, Nick," Yuuki responded. "And as long as I'm still breathing, that's a fact that's never gonna change. I promise."
"Okay, you two lovebirds, let's hit the trail already," Aiko teased.
"And you don't have to worry about a thing, Nick," Asuna proclaimed. "I swear I'll keep your girlfriend safe from whatever terrors await us."
"See that you do, Vice Commander!" Nick exclaimed rather dramatically, causing Asuna to giggle as she escorted Yuuki and Aiko to Grandzam's Teleport Gate.
Nick then turned back to address Lux. "So, Lux, you ready for this?" Nick asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Lux replied, making sure she had everything she needed. Thanks to tagging along with Nick on a grinding session in the field dungeon of Arc Sophia the other day, she was now currently level 77, and even though she wasn't fully confident in her own skills just yet (no thanks to what Laughing Coffin had done to her), the support of her new friends in the Sleeping Knights were slowly rebuilding that lost confidence.
As Nick and Lux walked over to where Godfree was waiting for them, Nick also noticed someone else was standing next to Godfree, and the mere sight of that person put Nick on edge.
"Okay, um, Godfree?" Nick quipped. "I've got, say, a small question for you. What the hell is Kuradeel doing here?!"
"Honestly, I did hear about your squabble before the battle with Dharkon," Godfree proclaimed. "And I figured, as long as we're all going to be working together, I could help smooth out any problems you two might have had with each other."
"'Squabble'?! He broke into Asuna's house, remember?!" Nick shot back. "I don't think a bodyguard is supposed to do that! As far as first impressions go, you're not exactly batting a thousand here."
"I-I do apologize for how I acted back then," Kuradeel replied, bowing slightly to Nick. "My actions far outstripped my duty as the vice commander's bodyguard. I hope you can accept my apology for acting out of line."
"Well, so long as you don't pull anything like that again, I guess we're good," Nick responded.
"Yaaaay," Lux giggled.
"Onward, then, my brave knights!" Godfree exclaimed as the four of them headed for Grandzam's Teleport Gate, no one else noticing the subtle, sinister smile on Kuradeel's face.
October 23rd, 2024
6:27 P.M. Aincrad Time
Floor 55 Labyrinth
"Gotta say, I was not expecting to come back to this place again," Nick admitted as he and Lux followed Godfree and Kuradeel to the halfway point of floor 55's labyrinth. "Normally, most players wouldn't want to come back to these places once the boss has been defeated unless they're looking to grind or they have a strange death wish."
"It's good that the boss won't respawn, right?" Lux asked.
"Yeah, that's the last thing we need right now," Nick laughed.
When the quartet stopped walking, they were at the halfway point of the labyrinth, situated in the middle of a large canyon. Naturally, the monsters of this labyrinth were really no match for Nick and Lux at the levels they were, so the trip had been mostly smooth sailing.
As they all sat down for a food break, Godfree passed out rations of food to keep them all full and fed (Nick imagined that, if she were here, Yuuki would complain about how plain the food was; Fortune's Market really spoiled that girl).
Nick took a drink of his water, glad to have some hydration in a place like this, given the desert-like setting of this labyrinth. Only Lux wasn't having anything to drink, as she wasn't thirsty at the moment.
And that lack of thirst may well have saved her life.
As he continued to drink, Nick looked around the area, only just noticing that Kuradeel was grinning in a rather sadistic way.
Having realized the implications too late, Nick tossed the canister as far away as he could before his body refused to respond to his movements, the canister hitting the ground and exploding into glowing polygons. Looking up at his health bar, Nick saw that he'd been affected by a paralysis effect, as had Godfree, who was collapsing to his knees.
Lux slowly backed away, scared as to what exactly was happening while Kuradeel simply began laughing like a crazed lunatic.
"G-Godfree, you've got the Antidote Crystal," Nick gasped. "Use it quickly!"
Kuradeel intercepted that plan by jumping forward, unsheathing his new broadsword and slashing it across Godfree's back. Nick and Lux could only watch in horror as Kuradeel's cursor turned orange. Kuradeel landed two more slashes before jamming the blade of his sword straight through Godfree's head, dropping his health to zero.
Godfree could only utter the word "Run" as his body exploded into a shower of glowing polygons.
When Kuradeel finally stopped laughing, he glared back at Nick and Lux, who were still unable to move, Nick because of the paralysis and Lux because of her fear.
"Here's how this is going to go down," Kuradeel chuckled, his voice low and sinister. "We were all ambushed by a pack of orange players. Though you three fought bravely, you were killed by them. I, the lone wolf still standing, fought all of the orange players off and single-handedly returned. How does that sound?"
"Y-You're insane," Nick growled. "You seriously want to kill me just because of how I beat you in our duel last week?"
"Tempting, but no," Kuradeel laughed. "Your reckoning comes for a much greater sin."
"Wouldn't you be more at home in one of those player killer guilds?" Nick quipped. "Oh, right, they're gone, aren't they?"
Kuradeel simply laughed again before revealing a strange tattoo on his left arm. And when Lux saw that tattoo, she nearly started hyperventilating.
It was the guild logo of Laughing Coffin.
"I-I-I th-thought the Clearers had d-destroyed your guild," Lux gasped.
"Only their leader survived," Kuradeel explained. "And when he told me that he was going around to recruit more members in order to rebuild Laughing Coffin... well, it was an offer that I'd be a moron to refuse."
Lux tried everything she could to clamp down on her fear, but to no avail. How long was this accursed murder guild going to haunt her?!
"Now, little girl, you'll get your turn soon enough," Kuradeel cackled, causing Lux to fall to her knees in fright. "I have to deal with this little brat first."
Kuradeel crossed the distance between them and jammed his sword into Nick's thigh, causing him to gasp in pain.
"That's right, boy, there's nothing you can do anymore!" Kuradeel laughed, taking out his sword and slashing Nick twice across the chest with it, then stabbing him in the upper thigh. "Just lay down and die!"
Nick tried to resist as best he could, but with the paralysis still in effect, there wasn't much he could do.
God, is this really how it's going to end?! Nick thought. No. I REFUSE to lay down and die here! I won't allow it!
Meanwhile, both sides of Lux's mind were in conflict. One side was paralyzed by her fear of Laughing Coffin, but the other part argued that if she didn't do something, Nick was going to die.
Kuradeel sliced his sword across Nick's legs, causing his health to drop below the halfway mark, and that stirred something in Lux. Realizing that Nick's fate currently rested in her own hands, that got Lux to move, drawing her sword (one that Nick had bought for her, no less) and rushing forward to slash Kuradeel across the back.
Thankfully, her cursor hadn't turned orange, which meant the system recognized that she was attacking an orange player, but that still caused Kuradeel to turn around and strike at her, catching her in the chest and sending her stumbling backwards, a long red line cut across her chest and a fourth of her health bar gone.
"Oh, I guess you do want to die, huh?" Kuradeel proclaimed. "Well, then, I'd be happy to oblige. You betrayed Laughing Coffin, after all, and now you'll pay the ultimate price."
As Lux slowly backed away from the approaching Kuradeel, only one thought kept screaming in her mind.
Why am I still such a coward?
Kuradeel raised his sword to deliver the killing blow, as he was actually a higher level than Lux, so this would be more than enough.
Lux covered her eyes as Kuradeel brought his sword down...
CLANG!
A few seconds passed, and Lux uncovered her eyes to see that, against all odds, she was still alive.
When she looked up, Lux saw Yuuki standing in front of her, Elucidator and Dark Repulser crossed in front of her to block the strike that would have killed Lux otherwise.
"What are you doing here, Zekken?!" Kuradeel shouted. "This was just a training accident, that's all. We were simply ambushed by a group of..."
Yuuki cut off Kuradeel's sad excuse for an excuse by stabbing him in the chest with both of her swords, then unleashing a Starburst Stream on him, his health rapidly depleting with each strike.
When the attack was over, Kuradeel dropped to his knees, only a small fraction of his health bar remaining. Yuuki aimed Dark Repulser at Kuradeel's face, her intent obvious.
Yuuki just sighed in exasperation as Kuradeel began begging for his life, even promising to leave the guild if she spared him. Like she was really going to believe that crock of lies.
Yuuki cast a glance over to see if Nick was all right, and that gave Kuradeel an opportunity to knock her away with a dagger strike. It barely did any damage to her, due to being way higher level than Kuradeel, but he took advantage of this opening to rush towards Nick, who was still paralyzed.
"Don't you dare!" Yuuki shouted, only to feel someone rushing past her.
"If I have to die, boy, we're going together!" Kuradeel wailed, hacking and slashing at Nick with wild abandon and dropping his health to its limits with each strike.
Eventually, Kuradeel raised his sword and aimed it for Nick's throat. "I'll see you in hell!" Kuradeel bellowed, laughing like a crazy lunatic as he brought the sword down.
The blade stopped just inches from Nick's throat.
Thankful that the paralysis was finally starting to wear off, Nick looked upwards to see who or what had saved him from imminent death.
He expected it to be Yuuki.
But, to Nick's surprise, it was Lux, who had charged forward and jammed her sword straight through Kuradeel's chest, dealing the killing blow and dropping his health to zero.
Even in his death throes, Kuradeel couldn't help but get one last word in.
"You murderer."
And with that, Kuradeel had spoken his last, his body exploding into glowing polygons.
Despite her burst of courage, Lux dropped to her knees upon hearing Kuradeel's final words, her body shaking in disbelief. Yuuki snuck a glance at Lux's cursor, relieved to see that it was still green, before rushing over to Nick and using a Healing Crystal on him to get him back to full health.
"Lux?" Nick asked once he was back on his feet. "Is... is everything okay?"
"I... I was right," Lux cried, tears falling from her eyes. "I'm just... I'm just a burden to everyone around me... If I'd just been a bit braver, this might not have happened... why am I such a coward?! Even after everything I've done to get stronger, I'm still weak!"
Suddenly, Lux gasped in surprise as Nick hugged her tightly.
"Lux, you are not weak," Nick proclaimed. "I don't know who put those thoughts in your head, but they're lying. Truthfully, if it wasn't for you doing what you just did, I might not even be here giving you a hug right now. Lux, you saved my life. That's not cowardly to me."
"B-But... I was still s-scared out of my w-wits..." Lux admitted.
"And that's perfectly okay," Nick responded. "We all have our fears, Lux. It's what makes us human. My sister said something once. She told me that 'true courage is not the absence of fear, but how you choose to overcome that fear'. I don't blame you for being scared, Lux, especially considering what you've already been through. You think I wasn't scared back there? Hell, I was pretty sure I was about to breakfast with my maker when Kuradeel first hit me with that oversized butter-knife. We all have our own ways of overcoming fear. And you overcame your own fear of Laughing Coffin just enough to save my life."
"Yeah, I may have incredible reflexes, but I'm not lightning fast like Asuna is," Yuuki admitted. "The only reason I made it here in time to help was because I had a bad feeling about seeing Kuradeel in that crowd of players, so I decided to book it to you guys."
"See, Lux? You're not weak just because you're afraid of things," Nick stated. "I definitely have my own fears, too. But we should just focus on overcoming those fears and not letting them consume us. And, like I said, if it wasn't for you, I'd most likely be dead right now. So..."
Nick tightened his hold on Lux slightly. "Thank you for saving my life."
And that was all Lux could take, her walls shattering as she hugged Nick back, her cries becoming full-on wails of sadness even as Yuuki hugged her from behind.
"Th-thank you," Lux cried. "I just... don't want to be a burden..."
"You're not a burden, Lux," Nick answered. "Especially not to us."
Now it was Nick's turn to be surprised when Lux leaned over and kissed Nick on the cheek out of sheer gratitude.
"You're our friend, Lux, and nothing will change that, 'kay?" Yuuki proclaimed. "So don't ever think you're being a burden to us."
And finally, finally, that traitorous voice in Lux's mind was completely silenced.
October 30th, 2024
7:38 P.M. Aincrad Time
Floor 27, Dahngrest
"Ah, that was incredible," Yuuki giggled as she, Nick, and Aiko left Fortune's Market after enjoying their latest meal.
"You say that every time, Yuuki," Aiko laughed. "I think we all understand how you feel about Fortune's Market food by now."
"We really need to see if they'll hire Asuna one of these days," Yuuki proclaimed. "With her maxed-out cooking skill, one can only dream of the possibilities!"
"All right, Yuuki, reel it back a bit," Nick quipped. "You know Asuna's too busy for that right now, considering a lot of the work she's been doing ever since last week."
Indeed, Asuna was now more heavily involved in her duties as the vice commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, thanks to Kuradeel's treachery, which left her little free time otherwise.
Yuuki would have responded had she not noticed a strange sight nearby. A strange, glowing figure was walking into the alleyway between two nearby buildings.
"Um, you two saw that, right?" Yuuki asked. "Was that... was that a ghost?!"
"Oh, please, Yuu, you seriously believe that story?" Aiko retorted.
"Could I get a footnote on this whole 'ghost story' thing?" Nick asked.
"There's been rumors of a strange, ghostly figure skulking around Dahngrest at night," Aiko explained. "Normally, I'd say that's impossible in a game like this unless the ghost is part of a quest, but you all still remember Griselda, right?"
"How could we not?" Yuuki replied. "I say we go check it out!"
Her mind made up, Yuuki dashed off after the 'ghost', leaving Nick and Aiko to quickly catch up until they all found themselves at the end of the alleyway, with the ghost girl standing right in front of them.
"H-Holy crapbaskets, it's real?" Aiko gasped.
Suddenly, the ghost girl wobbled in her spot before falling unconscious, though Nick was able to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Huh. That's weird," Nick quipped.
"What's up, Nick?" Yuuki asked.
"She doesn't seem to have a cursor," Nick stated. "I don't know if it's because of a glitch or something, but I can't target her."
"Yeah, that automatically rules out her being an NPC, since there's no harassment warning or quest notice," Aiko replied. "But... that means she can only be a player."
"But she looks so young," Yuuki quipped. "And doesn't the NerveGear have an age restriction on it?"
"Regardless, we should probably get her back to our base," Nick stated. "Hopefully we can figure this out in the morning."
October 31th, 2024
8:31 A.M. Aincrad Time
Floor 27, Dahngrest
Sleeping Knights Headquarters
Yuuki stretched a few times as her mind once again readjusted to the waking world, then turned around only to find the 'ghost girl' was in her bed, wide awake and staring intently at her. That was enough to startle Yuuki into a loud yelp, which managed to wake up Nick as well.
"Talk about a wake-up call..." Nick groaned as he sat up to see what had startled Yuuki. "Everything okay there, Yuuki?"
Nick looked down at the 'ghost girl', now able to see her clearly. She had long, dark hair and bright black eyes and was wearing a one-piece white dress with a ribbon tied around her waist.
"Well, well, good morning to you, too, sleepyhead," Nick chuckled. "How'd you get in our bed?"
"And for that matter, what's your name?" Yuuki wondered.
The 'ghost girl' glanced around for a few seconds before answering. "My... my name is Yui. That's all I can remember..."
"Oof, got hit by the old amnesia cliché, huh?" Yuuki quipped. "Well, my name is Yuuki, and this is my boyfriend, Nick."
Yui looked at Nick and Yuuki and attempted to pronounce their names, only to have some trouble doing so.
"Yeah, I know it's tricky sometimes," Nick laughed. "Believe it or not, I had some people calling me 'Ned' for two years back in middle school."
"What would you prefer to address us as, Yui?" Yuuki asked.
Yui thought long and hard for a few seconds before staring at Yuuki. "Mama."
And then, she looked at Nick. "Papa."
Of course, that surprised Nick and Yuuki to no end, and the thought that ran through both of their minds was basically the same.
How did we get a kid when we're just dating?!
But after glancing at each other, Nick and Yuuki realized that, if nothing else, they should play along for Yui's sake. So they did.
"That's perfect, Yui!" Yuuki giggled. Naturally, Yui was happy to hear that and leaped over to hug her 'mama'.
Later that day, after another 'fulfilling lunch' at Fortune's Market ("Sending her into the cook's den already, huh?" Nick has teased), Yui had fallen asleep on the couch in their headquarters, leaving Nick and Yuuki to discuss what they were supposed to do next.
"This is all very uber-surreal, you know, Nick?" Yuuki quipped.
"What about this freakin' game isn't?" Nick responded. "But, in all seriousness, her real parents are probably worried sick, wherever in this game they are. Where do you think we should look?"
"I think we should start in the Town of Beginnings," Yuuki answered. "Then we'll go up the floors and work from there."
Yuuki scooted closer to Nick and rested her head on his shoulder, and Nick responded by putting his free arm around her.
From the couch, Yui partly opened her eye and smiled at how romantic her 'mama' and 'papa' were being, and decided to not ruin the moment for them.
October 31th, 2024
1:15 P.M. Aincrad Time
Floor 1, The Town of Beginnings
"Well, Yui? Does anything about this place ring any bells for you?" Yuuki asked once she, Nick, and Aiko appeared in the Town of Beginnings' Teleport Gate Plaza. Yui was currently hitching a ride on Nick's back.
Yui looked around the town before shaking her head.
"Well, don't let it get you down, 'kay?" Nick quipped. "I'm sure we'll get your memories back eventually. I'm willing to bet that one specific memory will trigger all the rest."
"You so stole that from Kingdom Hearts, you know," Aiko giggled.
"H-Hey, it actually is relevant to our current situation, Aiko!" Nick sputtered.
Before they could move on, though, a loud scream caught the group's attention.
"Uh-oh, that sounds like trouble," Yuuki quipped. "Let's go investigate, shall we?"
The Sleeping Knights all dashed off towards the source of the disturbance, eventually finding themselves in front of a large church-like building, where a young woman could be seen arguing with what appeared to be several members of the Aincrad Liberation Front, more commonly referred to as The Army.
"Unpaid taxes?!" Sasha gasped. "You can't be serious! They're just children! What you're trying to do is just insanity!"
"Lady, what we're doing is our job," one knight shot back. "We were going to ask you nicely, but now we're done asking."
"How about this? You take all the equipment those kids have and give it to us as payment," a second knight laughed. "Otherwise, you might not know what we'd do..."
"Oh, is that a fact?" Sasha taunted, ready to draw her own sword.
"Those sons of..." Nick growled, stopping himself from actually swearing since Yui was with them. "Who do they think they are, harassing children like that?"
"You wanna go teach 'em a lesson, Nick?" Yuuki quipped, a cat-like grin highlighting her face.
"Oh, you know it," Nick responded. "Aiko, look after Yui for us until we get back, okay?"
"Don't you worry," Aiko proclaimed. "Auntie Aiko has everything covered."
Aiko held Yui close to her while Nick and Yuuki marched over to the two knights.
"Hey, jerks!" Yuuki exclaimed, drawing both of her swords. "You two must really have nothing better to do if you're trying to harass kids for their taxes and lord only knows what else."
"We'll give you a chance to back away," Nick proclaimed, unsheathing Star Cluster. "Otherwise, you might not like the consequences."
"And just who the hell are you to tell us what to do, Zekken?!" the first knight shouted. "You really think that just because you're one of the strongest players in the game, you have the right to harass whoever you want?!"
Yuuki just smirked, her blades glowing brightly.
"Oh, look who's talking," Yuuki shot back as she unleashed a Final Revolution, a Sword Skill where she swung her swords outwards to create a cutting circle of light around her.
Though players' hit points wouldn't decrease in a town due to the Inner Area Barrier effect, the feedback of Sword Skills would still hurt, as evidenced by the knight that Yuuki had attacked going flying backwards, crashing unceremoniously near the plaza.
While the second knight was distracted by that, Nick moved in and whacked the second knight with a Drop Dash, sending him flying right into his buddy.
"Now beat it and stop harassing these poor kids unless you want another beatdown," Nick proclaimed.
That was more than enough to get the two knights to retreat.
"Wow," Yui gasped. "Mama and papa are so strong."
"No kidding," Aiko laughed.
Once that was all over, after getting a boatload of thanks from the children of the orphanage, the group sat down with Sasha so she could explain what was going on. Basically, this church was, indeed, an orphanage for the children who had unwittingly gotten themselves trapped in SAO, as Sasha felt it was her duty to look after them until the game was cleared.
"Okay, then, since you look after children, have you seen this little cutie anywhere before today?" Yuuki asked. Yui was currently sitting in her lap, gazing around at the other children, muttering something about "their hearts".
"If only I could be of some more help," Sasha admitted. "But I've never seen her before."
Before Aiko could ask a follow-up question, there was a knock at the front door. Standing there was a rather tall woman, with long, silver hair tied up in a ponytail, and shining sky-blue eyes. She was wearing an iron-gray cape on her body, under which she wore a dark green coat with leggings well-fitted for her thighs, and gold earrings. Yuuki immediately recognized it as a uniform of the Aincrad Liberation Front. She had a short sword on the right side of her waist and a curled up whip on her left.
"Hello to you all," the woman proclaimed. "My name is Yulier, and I am the vice commander of the Aincrad Liberation Front. Despite what you may think, I'm not actually mad that you just trounced two of my fellow guildmates. In fact, I'm actually happy that you put them in their place."
"Okay, that's a first," Aiko stated.
"I came here because I heard the Sleeping Knights had come to this floor," Yulier stated. "I came to request your assistance."
"What exactly do you need our help with?" Yuuki wondered.
"As you are most likely well aware of, the ALF has been slowly becoming more and more corrupt," Yulier stated. "This is due to the efforts of our former sub-leader, Kibaou."
Nick and Yuuki both gasped in surprise when they heard the name of the same snarky jerk who had tried to call for a witch hunt of SAO's beta testers way back on floor 1, even accusing the Konno twins of being beta testers after defeating Illfang.
"Hold on, that jerk dip?!" Yuuki exclaimed. "How the heck did mister 'HRR GRR I HATE BETA TESTERS GRR' take over the ALF?!"
"When Kibaou came into power, he started collecting taxes from people here in the Town of Beginnings, as you no doubt noticed," Yulier explained. "Because of this, many people were led to believe that no one cared anymore about clearing the game. In an attempt to stop that line of thinking, Kibaou sent Corvatz and his men to challenge the floor 75 boss."
"Wait, is that why that battalion was there?" Aiko gasped. "I hope that jerk Kibaou knows that his reckless actions got Corvatz and three of his men killed fighting Dharkon."
"Oh, trust me, the guild did figure out, and they planned to exile Kibaou for what happened," Yulier answered. "But Kibaou became desperate to hold on to his power at any cost, and so he lured our guild's actual leader, Thinker, into a high-level dungeon without any equipment or crystals. Kibaou's excuse was that he wanted to apologize for that incident, but he simply left poor Thinker to die down there. When I heard that a group of very high-level players were here on this floor, I came to find you. Please, will you help me rescue Thinker?"
"I'm worried about something, though," Yuuki quipped. "If Thinker's stuck in a high-level dungeon, this may well be a trap."
"She's telling the truth," Yui proclaimed, causing Nick, Yuuki, and Aiko to glance at her. "I can tell just by looking at her."
A few seconds passed before Yuuki stood up dramatically.
"Well, my daughter's assurance is all that I really need," Yuuki proclaimed. "Let's go assault this dungeon and teach that jerk Kibaou a lesson!"
Yui smiled at Yuuki's gung-ho attitude. Despite her missing memories, she knew she'd made the right choice in staying with them.
"Let me just put in a call to the rest of the Sleeping Knights," Nick proclaimed. "If this is a high-level dungeon, we may need some backup for this one."
October 31th, 2024
1:15 P.M. Aincrad Time
Floor 1, The Town of Beginnings
Secret Dungeon: Black Iron Depths
"Whoa, this is freaky," Yuuki quipped as she and the rest of the Sleeping Knights made their way through a secret waterway outside the Black Iron Palace on floor 1 and into the secret dungeon, the Black Iron Depths. "I never knew this was down here!"
"Yeah, from what I heard, this dungeon definitely wasn't in the beta test," Aiko proclaimed. "Which just raises further questions..."
"Speculation was that this dungeon was unlocked when the Clearers were making progress on the higher floors," Yulier answered. "Of course, Kibaou wanted to take over this area for the ALF's benefit, but the monsters down here were far too strong for him to handle."
"Really?" Aiko quipped as she swung her rapier to slash two Scavenger Toads in half. "These toad things aren't too much to deal with."
"Well, duh, you three are in the hundreds level-wise!" Lisbeth laughed.
"Yeah, but we're not that far behind, you know," Sachi responded, twirling her staff around in her hands.
"This place definitely has the dark and creepy aesthetic down pat," Nick stated. "One false move and you might go hug someone, huh?"
"NICK NEEDS A HUG!" Strea shouted as she lunged forward to envelop Nick in one of her famous crushing hugs.
"R-Really necessary now, Strea?!" Nick gasped.
During all this, nobody noticed that Yui was absent-mindedly staring at Strea, wondering why she seemed so familiar, even with her missing memories.
Eventually, the entire group made their way to a long corridor that led to what seemed to be the dungeon's safe zone. Nick glanced ahead, using his Searching skill to confirm if Thinker was in there somewhere, and indeed, he was. Of course, Yulier was overjoyed to see that he was all right, and began running towards the safe area.
Nick, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about this. If this was a dungeon, where the hell was the boss?
Nick got his answer when he looked back at Yulier, and to the northwest of his heads-up display, he noticed that a nametag had just appeared.
The Fatal Scythe.
"Nick? What's wrong?" Silica asked when she noticed how tense Nick suddenly looked.
"Oh, crapbaskets," Nick gasped as he charged towards Yulier, lunging forward to shove her down to the ground.
It turns out that Nick had acted just in time, as a gigantic scythe blade swung down and crashed into the floor where Nick and Yulier had just been only a second ago.
"Holy...!" Lisbeth gasped.
"Yulier, get Yui to the safe area and teleport out of here!" Aiko exclaimed, tossing a Teleport Crystal to Yulier. "We'll handle this thing!"
"All right, Sleeping Knights, to battle!" Yuuki proclaimed, and the Sleeping Knights all drew their weapons and faced down the Fatal Scythe.
"Just what is this thing?!" Strea wondered. "I can't identify it!"
"I wish I knew, but I can tell that it's probably as strong as the floor bosses of floor 90 and onwards," Nick stated. "Just by looking at it, I can tell it's bad news."
"How fitting for a boss that looks like the personification of death itself!" Lisbeth shouted.
"Do you think we can take this thing on all by ourselves?" Lux wondered.
"Guess we don't have a choice in the matter, do we?" Sachi proclaimed, aiming her spear for the Fatal Scythe. "But we can do anything together, right?"
"Spoken like a true Sleeping Knight, Sachi!" Yuuki exclaimed. "Everyone, let's take 'em out!"
With a shared battle cry, the Sleeping Knights all charged into battle, but the Fatal Scythe had other plans, swinging its scythe in a horizontal attack that actually caught every single one of them and sent them flying into a nearby wall, at least half of their health bars drained by that one attack.
Seeing this, Yui made up her mind and, even though Thinker and Yulier had already teleported out, started moving towards the boss.
"Oof, that smarted," Lisbeth groaned.
"It took out half of our health with one hit..." Silica gasped as Pina flew around to heal everyone. "How strong is this monster?!"
Yuuki was getting ready to unleash a Starburst Stream when she saw Yui walk in front of them and spread her arms out, as if attempting to protect them from the Fatal Scythe.
"Y-Yui, what are you doing?!" Yuuki exclaimed.
"It's all right," Yui answered. "You don't need to worry about me."
The Fatal Scythe took this as a challenge and swung its scythe with every intent of cutting Yui in half.
Instead, its blade was stopped by an invisible force that eventually repelled the Fatal Scythe and pushed it away.
A purple information window popped up above Yui that read [IMMORTAL OBJECT].
"W-wait, wait, what's that mean?" Lisbeth wondered.
Yui started floating into the air, and she raised her hand, streams of data converging on her hand until it formed into an oversized, flaming, crimson-red greatsword with a purplish cross-guard and pommel, and a dark red grip. Despite how gigantic the sword was, Yui seemed to be able to lift it effortlessly.
"I warned you," Yui proclaimed before jumping towards the Fatal Scythe and striking it in the head with the Object Eraser, consuming the boss in a large sphere of fire that eventually exploded outward and left absolutely nothing of the boss behind.
Once the Fatal Scythe had been deleted, a strange ring of glitched tiles spread out across the immediate area. It didn't seem to affect any of the Sleeping Knights...
...except for Strea, whose avatar started bugging out much like it tended to do when she got too distressed.
"Holy crapbaskets, Strea, are you okay?!" Nick gasped as he rushed over to grab Strea before she could fall over.
"She should be all right," Yui answered. "...I imagine you all have some questions, so let's get into the safe room. I will explain everything there."
Though still very confused, the Sleeping Knights all agreed that a safe room was better than standing in a hallway where another boss like that could possibly ambush them, so they all moved into the safe zone so that Yui could explain what she knew.
"Nick, Yuuki, to start, thank you for helping me," Yui proclaimed, actually correctly pronouncing their names. "As you have probably already guessed, I am not a normal player. When the game started, the Cardinal System, the AI that regulates the entire SAO server, created a highly advanced artificial intelligence known as a Mental Health Counseling Program. I am its first prototype, codename Yui. I was given emotion processes in order to be more at ease with the player base, and thus, I was supposed to take care of players' mental health if needed."
"And I'm willing to guess that something in that process went horribly wrong, right?" Yuuki quipped.
"Perceptive as ever, Yuuki," Yui chuckled. "On the launch day of Sword Art Online, the Cardinal System ordered me not to interact with any of the players, effectively forcing me to merely monitor their emotions without being able to help them. As player after player perished, I gradually fell into despair, knowing that there was nothing I could do to help anyone."
Despite this, Yui still smiled. "But then, I found you. Both of you, as well as your friends, were still enjoying yourselves and having fun despite the connotations of this death game. I wanted to experience that as well."
Nick instinctively took a step forward when Yui started crying. "I... I don't understand," Yui cried. "I'm just a program, so... why am I thinking like this?"
That was all Nick needed to rush over and hug Yui. "Hey, you're not being controlled by the Cardinal System anymore," Nick proclaimed. "And that means you're allowed to think whatever you want to. So, tell me, Yui, what do you want?"
Yui looked up at Nick and Yuuki, who were giving her big, goofy smiles. And that easily made Yui smile.
"I... I want to stay... I want to stay with you forever!" Yui exclaimed as Yuuki joined in the group hug.
"You will, Yui," Yuuki responded. "I promise you that. And we never break our promises."
After a few seconds, Yui glanced curiously back at the large black cube that she was sitting on.
"What is it, Yui?" Yuuki wondered.
"That... that is very strange," Yui admitted. "I regained my memoires when I touched this cube. It's actually a GM console, and so I used it to generate the Object Eraser in order to delete the boss you all faced. However... this should have alerted the Cardinal System to my presence, and because I disobeyed its orders, it should have recognized me as a 'foreign object' and flagged me for deletion. But... none of that has happened yet."
"Do you think it has something to do with that glitch wave that spread out across the dungeon when you destroyed that boss?" Nick wondered. "Because it sounds like it might have caused a glitch in the Cardinal System. And speaking of glitches, what exactly did that do to Strea?!"
Yui looked over at Strea, who seemed very confused.
"It would seem that Strea is another Mental Health Counseling Program like myself," Yui answered, causing everyone to gasp in shock. "From what I can tell, she has merged with the body of an unused player model, which is how she can interact with all of you as a player character."
"W-What?" Strea gasped. "I'm... I'm just an AI like you? But... then why do I have so many memories of life outside the game? I remember my mom and my dad, and... w-what's going on?"
Yui walked up and placed her hands on Strea's head to verify. "Odd," Yui admitted. "These are false memories implanted by the Cardinal System... why would it do such a thing, though?"
"I sincerely hope the Cardinal System's not gaining sentience or anything like that," Lisbeth proclaimed. "I would not want it going all Skynet on us."
A loud sob caught everyone's attention, and Nick was the first to notice that Strea was crying.
"S-Strea?" Nick asked. "What's the matter?"
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Strea shouted, unsheathing Invaria and swinging it so hard that its impact with the floor caused the ground to crack. Nick had wisely jumped away just in time.
"All this time... I've been living a lie..." Strea sobbed. "I... I really thought I was your friend..."
"You are, Strea, you are," Yuuki responded. "Just because you were created by the Cardinal System doesn't mean that..."
"Everything I've been feeling is an absolute lie, isn't it?!" Strea wailed as she ran out of the safe room in tears before teleporting out of the dungeon.
The Sleeping Knights could only stare in shock at what had just happened.
To be continued...
On the next episode...
Nick: Any sign of her, you guys?
Yuuki: Where the heck did she go?! We haven't seen hide nor hair of Strea for the past ten floors since what happened in that hidden dungeon!
Silica: She looked so sad... I really wish we could have done something to help her...
Aiko: And not helping our problem is this jerk-o. He looks like one of those types that's incredibly powerful, but can't really fight for crap. After all, power is useless without a mind to guide it, right?
Nick: And the way he's acting, too... I think something's up with this guy.
Yui: Please be careful, papa. I do not like the vibes he gives off.
Nick: Don't worry, Yui. I'm pretty sure I can handle a pompous blowhard like him, but we'll probably have to continue our search for Strea next time on Sword Art Online: Twin Memory, "The Darkness of Eternity"!
Nick, Yuuki and Aiko: This may be a game, but it's not something you play!