Okay, this was a very short chapter. But I didn't think it would fit in with the previous chapter, or with the next one, without shortening it. And all this information is important. So, I'll see you at the bottom.

Chapter 35

Invasion on the Ocean Turtle

I slowly awoke on the sofa in the Rath lobby. The only thing covering me was my jacket. The heaters had ensured the lobby was warm, but even so, I still felt this chill running down my spine, like something had happened.

"Can we do anything from this side to stop the enemy?"

The room that I had talked with Asuna and Kikuoka in before was buzzing with activity. I sleepily rubbed my eyes, putting back on my Augma. Yui was sleeping soundly on the cushion I had made into a pillow.

I got up and headed into the room where and looked up at the monitor. It was lit up, showing a map of Underworld, and four active devices. I hadn't had time to get familiar with all the stuff on the screen, but before, there had only been two active, which I guessed was Light and Kirito. "What's going on?" I muttered sleepily.

Nagisa, the man who was in charge of the Minato Ward, turned to look at me, putting the phone he was holding onto the desk, pressing a button to put whoever was on the other end on loudspeaker. "It's nothing to worry about." He put on the worst fake smile I'd ever seen. I didn't buy it for even a second.

"Who is this enemy?" I glared at him. Leon had often said that my death stare could make the strongest people crumble.

To my surprise, it wasn't Nagisa who spoke next, rather Kikuoka's voice came from the phone. "A group of mercenaries have invaded the Ocean Turtle, and taken control of the Main Control Room, and are now launching an operation inside Underworld, presumably to capture our prototype for the world's first bottom-up AI, A.L.I.C.E."

I immediately became alarmed. "Is Light okay?"

"Yes. Both Kirito and Light are safe." Kikuoka sighed. "Unfortunately, from here, we have no way counter the enemy's invasion." The sound of a frustrated punch came through the phone. "All we can do is sit here and pray they don't get A.L.I.C.E…that Kirito and Light will be enough to stop them. No way to contact them…no way to prepare for them…" A nervous chuckle came from him. "Never before have I felt so powerless, and I'm aboard my own research station."

Even though I didn't trust him, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Kikuoka. I knew what it was like, waiting to hear that everything was okay. I had done it countless times when Light and Leon had gone into the Black Castle. I just had to sit there and wait for them to come out…or not. It crushed my heart, that cruelty only letting go when I saw them again.

I sighed as I looked up at the screen. The four lights on the monitor…I wondered who the other two were, what did they want out of this? I often found myself like this, wondering what drove certain people. Leon wanted to protect everyone, which eventually cost him his life. Light wanted to protect me and Leon…then the memories we had in Infinity's worlds. Asuna wanted to protect Kirito. So what drove these two?

My eyes drifted downwards to the bottom of those four lights and frowned. "Hey, there are two not active."

"Those are the two here." Nagisa said, leaning against the console. "We have no authority to use them, nor the experience."

"Why? What's so special about them?" I asked.

"No one here has experienced Fluctlight Acceleration or VR. They took a gamble over there at the Ocean Turtle to put Light in. I suspect the two members of the enemy squad have experience in VR, which means they could adjust quicker."

A crazy plan began to form in my head. "Couldn't you send me in there?"

The room grew silent. Eventually, the sound of a throat clearing came from Kikuoka. "It's certainly possible. Though I would advise against it…"

"Why?"

"The Final Stress Test is about to begin, which means all out war between the Human Empire and the Dark Territory. We'd be sending you in with a basic account, and without the auto translation software we gave to Light. You won't have any sort of combat experience or understand anyone there. In the middle of all out war, that is not safe, especially with how the STLs are now…"

That last bit worried me immensely. "What do you mean, how they are now?"

There was silence before Higa's voice joined the call. "Tell her Kiku. It'll only be worse if something happens…"

Kikuoka let out another sigh. "Something has happened to the STL's safety features. Infinity kind of…interfered with it…or someone inside Infinity broke something. It's basically turned all the STLs into a NerveGear."

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means if your Life drops to zero while using one, it will fry your brain."

My blood froze and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. "You mean that Light could die in there!?" Panic and fear took over my mind. The silence confirmed my fears. "Why…why again…?" I could feel my heart racing. I took a few deep breaths, leaning against the console. I never wanted to experience this fear again…

And I didn't want to sit here and watch.

"Send me in…"

"We can't, it's-"

"Which is exactly why I want to be there." I took one last deep breath before standing up again. "I'm not going to sit here, waiting to hear if Light is dead or not again. I won't let him go into another death game without someone to protect him. And I don't care if it's with an account that's guaranteed to die."

Silence gripped the room again, before an uncomfortable chuckle came from Higa. "The lady has spoken Kikuoka. We need someone to tell Kirito to take A.L.I.C.E to the World's End Altar anyway as all communication has been cut off between us. And we have those accounts still."

Kikuoka let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't want to follow in Kayaba's footsteps. I don't want to put more people in danger… Kirito has already been put in more danger because of me than I ever wanted. And I don't want to send Flower in alone…"

"I'll get back up!" Yui suddenly appeared next to my shoulder. "Mummy can't help right now, but I know someone who can." Almost immediately, she disappeared in a flash of light.

I could hear Kikuoka's eyes roll. "It will take a while for us to transfer the account data to the STLs from here while keeping under the radar of our attackers. It should give plenty of time for Yui's back up to arrive." He hesitated. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes. I don't want Light to go through another death game alone." I reaffirmed my answer. "I'll bring him back. I'll bring both him and Kirito back."

The rattle of a keyboard came through the phone. "Let's see…" Higa began muttering. "The safest bet would be this account. It has infinite regeneration, which means the user is guaranteed to survive the war. The only issue is that you will still feel every bit of pain that is inflicted. The power of flight might be useful too, keeping you out of danger. But I suspect you'll want to be right at Light's side… Stacia would be extremely useful, but it would cause extreme headaches…and then there's…"

Higa paused. I didn't know why he was hesitating to talk about the final account. "What is it?"

"It's an account that was never used before. We just made it just in case the others needed help creating Underworld."

Nagisa began to type on his console. The four accounts displayed themselves on the large screen. The final account was blacked out, like an anomaly.

Its name was Lunaria.

Some of you might be curious why I added back in the Death Game mechanic back. In the original War of Underworld, Kirito was in very serious danger of dying and never waking up, being in the middle of the battlefield. I wanted to keep that sense of dread. It puts the lives of anyone who is in an STL in danger. I think it will also add a sense of finality to the villains if they are defeated, which are of course Substilizer and PoH.

As for who will be joining Holly inside Underworld...well, it can't be Asuna until later of course. After all, anything from the attack group is unaffected by Light being there. Light is using the STL she would've used to log in as Stacia. So it's either Sinon or Leafa...and I've already given the hints needed to put together who.

Reviews:

blackbutterfly1313: I'm even more curious who you were thinking then. Maybe I might've taken a few bits of inspiration from different sources ;) And...you know better than most the pain Light has buried underneath. I'm glad I'm still conveying that in this story. He needs Yasenka to pull him out :)

It is a short chapter, but hopefully having 3 chapters 3 days in a row can help alleviate that. As always, thanks for reading, favouriting, reviewing. Until next time, Stay Cool.