Changed the scene in the arena to better reflect the timeline. Added a scene with Dale and expanded the scene with Iseyer slightly. Moved the Ancient Laboratory exploration and Underground Cavern scene to next chapter for ease of reading/digestion.

"...?"

"I don't like thinking about that sort of thing. Obviously everything has an expiration date, but if I pay attention to that I get all mopey and depressed. It's a lot easier for me to just take every day one by one and try to make the most of it."

"..."

"Yeah! Like a clock. Perpetually ticking until something stops it. Wait, you don't normally suggest something unless you're trying to lead me somewhere. Let's just get straight to the point."

My finger tapped to a silent beat, each pulse a whispering reminder of the rules of combat. Never become overconfident. A fight is never over until all enemies are contained. Relax only when at a designated safe zone. Clear your designated area before assisting another.

Most of those weren't applicable for my current situation, but the words served well to maintain my state of mind.

It hadn't truly registered the day before, but fighting against another player was perhaps the most efficient way to spend time. Here in the colosseum you would gain a large portion of experience the first time you fought against somebody, and then a smaller amount for each fight after that. It was a good analogy for the practical, unquantifiable experience that came from any sort of clash. You could refine your major points, learn what your weaknesses were, and along the way get rid of any pent up stress.

"Okay, I'm ready!"

The duel request I had ready was sent off, my opponent taking a moment to set the rules. Ten minutes, first to 50% loses. No restoratives or consumables. Winner received 1,000 cor. When the countdown timer popped up I pulled my weapon out, a long dagger just a few inches shy of being called a sword. Long and fairly wide with a deep fuller I vaguely remembered as causing profuse bleeding, the dark purple and black blade was of Fallen Elf make and it carried a side effect of causing stabs to deal an additional 5% damage of Bleed

Without the «Dagger» skill and a meager Strength stat I was lucky to deal over two hundred damage with a critical, but with how often I could punch holes into somebody's opening the effect occurred fairly often.

Twenty seconds. As with my three fights before, I began stalking towards my target. As before, they turtled into a defensive stance, falling back onto instincts rather than trying to be proactive and break through my assault. Sorry, kid. You already lost.

Five seconds. Had I access to it, this far away it was better for me to Sprint in rather than use Reaver.

Three seconds. I took a breath. The world moved.

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Yet another fight ended. After my hour of refamiliarizing myself with knife play, a handful of other Swordsmen had taken it upon themselves to mimic my explosive style. None of them could hope to achieve my level flexibility on my approaches, but I would freely admit that every time a forced critical, grapple, or otherwise unconventional attack landed a small spurt of pride blossomed.

"Enjoying yourself, Lady Asasaki?"

"Mm. It's nice being able to let loose without much worry. Plus, even if they aren't much better than the monsters, at least they put up some resistance." Legs clad in light green armor decorated with thin waves of black streaks took post at the corner of my vision. "How's the new armor treating you?"

Forged from the smelted ingots of the equipment I'd originally picked up from the sixth floor, the Jet Breeze equipment melded together the agility values of the Ardent Breeze gear with the inherent defensive capabilities (alongside some undecipherable effects) of Tolbanian metal. Minus the helmet crest and the pauldron extensions, Yamaguchi was rather reminiscent of the evil knights residing in a world besieged by twilight.

"Lighter than my previous set. Truthfully, I find myself missing it. Ferghus promised me that this suit is much stronger though."

I nodded. "I used to run around in the gear some of those ingots came from." On a whim I winked and formed a V with my fingers opening towards my other eye. Gotta admit, it's a little cringy but 10 points for the cute factor.

"I shall endeavor to defend my torso more than usual then."

I let out a short laugh. Dick! "A shame we couldn't upgrade your weapon though."

"I have very specific requirements for my personal weapons," he responded. "Mayhaps by the end of the month I will have acquired enough materials for the smiths to forge me something new."

"I hear you on that. It always takes me a week or so to find all the items I need for somebody to adjust my weapons to my preferences. This one right here," I flipped the dagger once, catching it by the handle, "is light enough that I don't need to find any Quickness materials and instead can focus on finding Sharpness and Accuracy."

"You believe in your own speed that much?"

"Pssh." I waved the dagger around dismissively. Perhaps a poor habit to have allowed, but it wasn't as if a stray hit would end me. "Captain, have you seen how fast I move?" The sound of his faceplate being pulled down resounded, Yamaguchi clinking away towards the center of the arena. In his wake a lone window stared at me.

#Captain Yamaguchi of Tolbana wishes to test his skills against yours. Do you accept? Y/N#

I sat frozen in that position for a few moments. When the realization that Mr. Mountain of Death himself was asking for a spar hit I quietly hit accept, sirens of panicked screams blaring in my mind.

His presence as commanding as ever, Yamaguchi stood in the center, blade and shield resting in the ground.

"So how we doing this, Old Man?" I called out. He likes wide attacks. He's more than capable of changing momentum on a dime. Stay close, watch every limb. Damn, that armor really hides his body well.

"Battle until one side yields. No killing blows."

"But that's like half my repertoire!"

"Then as your youth are so fond of saying, get good." Yamaguchi waved one of our observers over, leaning over slightly to whisper something. The teen nodded and jogged off to the side, seeming a little jittery. "This one will start our match. Unlike the duels mandated by your magic, no repositioning shall be allowed until we start."

"Sounds good to me." I gave my dagger another flip and entered a ready position. Slouched over slightly and with my weapon in a reverse grip, ignoring my Valkyrie-Atlantean style armor I was the very picture of a stereotypical rogue.

"Have you seen that NPC before? He doesn't look like he's from around here."

"Yeah, that's Captain Yamaguchi. I saw him yesterday. You know they say he's from Tolbana, back on the First Floor."

"What? An NPC from the First Floor is here on the Seventh?"

"Crazy, isn't it?"

If only you knew.

"Combatant Two, are you ready?"

I jumped slightly and voiced my affirmative. When both the audial and visual signal was given, I shot forward, my body at a steep angle to the ground. Vastly slower than me, Yamaguchi jogged forward and met my charge shield first, sword already pulled in for a strike.

The edge of his shield jabbed forward. Easily side stepped. The follow up stab danced under and guided away with my blade, a wide sweeping slash treated like a bar in pole vaulting.

I surged in, eyes falsely focused on his left pit. I stepped to his right and brought my dagger to bear, tip aimed just underneath his rib cage. The two handed thrust landed only in air, Yamaguchi having reacted fast enough to step away. His side kick came out faster than I expected, sending me stumbling back several steps.

Got it. More grappling strikes than stand alone. I tossed my dagger back and forth between my hands a few times as I slowly approached, taking in his stance. Not once during a duel had I ever seen the man lead sword first. Against monsters where he didn't need to care about defense, sure, but against people who could think he prioritised the defensive-disruptive offense nature of the shield.

The moment I got within range the two of us blurred. Over and over I tried to get within range as I parried and evaded each strike, but each time I got in reach a knee or pommel strike would force me to break away. Fine. I guess I'll just have to trade more than percents to do this.

A failed approach and a shield bash later, my dagger had sunk into Yamaguchi four times before I was forced to retreat, only one of them failing to ring out the oh so sweet sound of a critical. Okay. Just ten thousand more of those and I might have a chance.

But then again… This far away Yamaguchi was more than fond of his stabs turned into a wrist rolled slash. The delay between the actions was insignificant to the point of nonexistence, but a few gambles revealed that he had to wind up to correct if he ended up moving the wrong way.

Old geezer's got too many years to let me do this more than once. Another tenth of my hp was shaved away trying to get the situation to happen again, Yamaguchi ignorant of my plans amongst my different engages. Stab dodge left. Side step opposite side. Before he could pull back I moved in with a full body Sprint, «Stygian Curse» punching through his elbow. A half moon pivot and repositioned hand later, Yamaguchi slammed onto the dirt covered floor, armor and all. I followed after him with a well practiced aeriola and straddled his chest. Punches, palm thrusts, elbows, and pommel strikes rained upon his head with impunity, the slightest movement I noticed in his arms sending me twitching forward into a somersault.

Yamaguchi rolled onto his feet, blade lashing out in a wide arc in anticipation of a follow up. "Very good. I hope you know that won't work again."

"What do you take me for, an amateur?"

60%. I'd become no closer to breaking through his defences. Guess it's time to be a little more aggressive. I dropped into a crouch, flat of my blade deflecting his sword away. The slightest tilt forward. Three thin streaks of red blossomed on Yamaguchi's thigh. Dirt shot up with every step. Another two slashes. His three part elbow-pommel-diagonal slash was charged under, my dagger finding purchase in his side.

Barely a thought later and I found myself standing upon his right pauldron, a reverse spin slamming a heel kick into the back of his head. Moving purely on instinct, I found myself pilfering his absurdly long greatsword, diving for my discarded dagger after throwing his blade as far as possible. "Just like one of those wasps in the forest, ain't I, Yamaguchi?"

"Smaller, but yes." The man entered into a simple punching stance, one that seemed grounded in nothing more than pure basics. Basics could still be scary though.

I closed the distance between us, pulsing to an ever changing beat. Swordless, Yamaguchi was more than content to wait for me to approach, his responses easily overwhelmed by my flurry of strikes essentially ricocheting from his limbs. Each exchange I would end up retreating from a kick or knee, leaving the insides of his arm and chest a cutting board of red.

On my fourth retreat Yamaguchi chased after me, edge of his shield catching me in the chest just before I landed. My vision momentarily went black, falsified blue sky visible for only a moment before the tingle of the system took over and forced an ukemi. "Nice shot-" I ducked underneath another swipe, giving one of my own to his stomach. Another knee was leapt back from.

I grabbed onto his right cross with my left hand, his arm dipping slightly as I swung underneath and planted a sidekick onto his abdomen. A quick drop and roll later and we were back how we started, each starting to approach the Yellow.

With a visible flare of his nostrils, "You talk far too much during battle, Lady Asasaki." The man dropped his guard and reached into one of his pouches, chugging down a potion.

"Yeah, well, it's how I keep people off balance." I flourished my weapon and sheathed it, my lip involuntarily twitching into a smirk at the familiar motion. Amidst the cheers and awe inspired gaping I retrieved his sword, grunting as I hefted it into my arms. Seriously, this thing is damn near one and a half of my height. Making sure it wasn't dragging along the ground I offered it back to the man, Yamaguchi offering an appreciative (and dare I say impressed) nod. "Good fight, Cap." I patted his forearm, sporting a grin at both the rush of adrenaline and rewards from the impromptu quest. When the surrounding players began approaching us, I directed all of them towards the Tolbanian, offering whatever excuse came to mind to get the attention off me.

"Magnificent fight, Miss Asasaki!"

"Thanks. Been ages since I got to play around with a dagger." I grinned at Sir Fists-a-lot. To the elder of the cestus wielding man, "How's it going, Gramps?"

"Miss Asasaki, please, I'm not that old."

"Uh, white hair? A little wispy? Plus you got that whole air about you." I gestured at Heathcliff with my hands. "Really, if Nervegear was better at replicating our physical bodies I'd bet a good amount of cor you'd have wrinkles."

"She has you there, Captain." Hara-something turned to look at the second coming of Yamaguchi. "Ever since I met you your hair was like that. Even with the gear you had that first day I don't think you could have had enough money for a dye."

"Genetics do play a factor in appearance, Haregi," he answered a little tiredly.

I guess he has the same issue about his age as I do with people being so respectful towards me. Stupid cultures. "So what are you two- err, three, doing here?" Distracted by the two as I was, I failed to notice their quiet companion, a woman dressed in rather smart navy blue clothing. Or at least as smart as the current fashion available to us to could get. She looked more like some sort of medieval enforcer group backed by the major religion of the area.

"Argo asked us to-"

"Ahem." Said female interrupted rather loudly, fixing the brash cestus user with a glare.

"We need to power level rather quickly," Heathcliff explained, an amiable smile on his face. "We're too low leveled to grind on monsters, but here in this arena we're free to fight as much as possible, our only risk being cor for repairs and potions to duel quicker."

I nodded. "Well, if a certain someone's asked you to do something for her, far be it from me to pry. I'm sure if I grease her fingers a little she'll tell me." I took a step forward and extended a hand. "I don't think we ever properly met by the way. I'm Asasaki. I was there on the third floor when Teotihuacan appeared."

"Minerva," She answered simply, reciprocating my greeting.

"I'll leave you three to your training then. Oh! You get a decent chunk of experience the first time you duel somebody new. It resets each day so if you keep coming across the same people it might get you an advantage. Good luck!" I waved goodbye to the trio as I took a few steps backward, hands clasped behind my back when I spun forward. I could do with a meal.

Awass Town hadn't changed one bit in the past two days. With the eighth floor the new frontier, it'd gotten a little busier, but I never felt like a fish in a can. Concerning as it was, I even saw a few teenagers running about, more than once being invited to join in on the ball game they were playing.

A tall figure moving through the crowd caught my attention, the twisted cloth of a bandanna confirming my suspicion. I waved a sauce flecked hand and called out Dale's name, the man searching around and giving a greeting of his own when he spotted me.

"How's your day been going, Asasaki?"

"Pretty good," I answered, sucking some of the slightly spicy marinade of my fingers. Bless Kayaba for having the foresight to make flavors in this world so varied. "Just got done with some training in the arena."

Sitting down on the bench beside me, "You win all your fights?"

"All but one, though that one was technically a draw if we're even counting it. It was Yamaguchi, by the way. He strolled in while I was taking a break and challenged me. I'm pretty sure I won but since he ended it without saying anything I don't think I can mark it."

"Yeah, the Captain does tend to do that." The two hander laughed softly. "You know, I really appreciated your help the other day in the kitchen. I'm actually planning a bit of a party tonight; would you mind helping me out again?"

"Of course." I wrapped my food up with the cloth the stall had provided and deposited it in my inventory. "Still hate that I can't do more than prep stuff. Or that cooking is nothing more than pressing some buttons."

"It might have been nice if that were possible, but I don't think we'll get any sort of game like that until a couple years down the line. If Full Dive games even get continued after this."

"I'm sure they will. It might take a couple years, but the militaries will love having this sort of thing. Eventually that'll trickle back into the civilian sector and enter the world of commercialism."

Only able to rent out inns, Dale and I had to use a communal kitchen. It wasn't as furnished as the kitchen I'd watched Hibiki work in back on the third floor, but it was more than adequate for our uses. Claiming two workstations as our own, the two of us quickly got set to work on preparing all of the ingredients.

"You know, this really is a lot of stuff. What's the occasion?"

Dale smiled. "I'm getting close to a milestone for cooking. Everything here will be enough to push me over the edge and then I can unlock something special."

"Something special can mean a lot of things." A head of what seemed to be cabbage was quickly quartered and sliced down into strips, the leftover base tossed into the air and slashed through, turning it into particles of data. "For me that would mean a tray of baklava."

"Baklaba?"

"Baklava," I corrected. "Its a desert with multiple layers of bread, almost like paper thin wafers, that has chopped nuts sandwiched between each section. Honey gets drizzled over it and let to soak in with another sprinkling of nuts on top of that. Sometimes it's a little too sweet, but since I don't often have it I'm willing to put up with the taste."

"You don't like sweets much, do you?"

"Not really." Three carrots were skinned and diagonally cut. Perhaps a bit unnecessary, but practicing whatever skills I could for the eventual return to reality would only help me on the road to recovery. "Really I think it's the sugar or overly processed sugars, syrups and what have you that I don't like. Stuff I make on my own is usually fine." I set my knife down and leaned on my hands. "Then again, I could just be over thinking it." I smirked. "Wouldn't be the first time I claimed I didn't do something and then later found out something I loved had some of it. Meat dishes especially. Honestly thought I would never be able to do horse meat but then Satoru," I swallowed and forced myself to continue, "brought me to a sushi place a couple times that served it. Lo' and behold, I ended up loving the stuff."

It almost felt like a thick blanket draped over me. Colors, sounds, thoughts. All of it became muffled. I raised my head and looked around the kitchen. Ingredients half prepared covered the counters. Dishes, complete and in the process of being cooked lay scattered about.

Once, I would have entered in here to make something for a celebration. Now, I entered because of dates I could never forget. Dishes and meals would spring forth from my hands only for their recipients to never touch them.

I hate this.

"Sorry Dale. I uh," I untied my apron and held it out for him. "I think I need to step away for a while."

"Don't worry about it. Just let us know where you end up staying, okay?"

"Yeah." I took in a slow breath, fighting to keep the tears and shaking contained. "I'll message Klein."

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Why do I always find myself here?

The dirt in the amphitheatre was almost like the sand on a beach. Given time, marks left behind would fade away, only those who had made them away that anything had happened. Once, so very long ago, plays must have occurred here every week. Bards singing tales from far beyond, actors bringing stories of ages long past back to life. The tears had since stopped, and the questions that had come had left frustrated understanding in their wake.

My pains and anguish were never properly dealt with, and what Haru stated what felt like so long ago held true. In this world where we had to put our lives on the line to escape, I would never be able to fix myself. Mend or contain myself sure, but to actually take time and play nice with every single devil inside of me?

I turned my gaze skyward. Blues and whites were safe. I held no connotations about anything with those. Not like empty benches and stairs. For a time I got lost in my breathing. Perhaps I was emotionally spent. It wouldn't be the first time I'd dealt with this state of apathy.

Footsteps approaching me were ignored. Red cloth bobbed through my vision and settled beside me.

More time passed. Klein and I lay down in silence, the quiet only broken by my soft question for permission to hold his hand.

Eventually I ended up falling asleep, a heartbeatless chest underneath my head and fingers stroking my hair.

When I woke up the sun had gone from its zenith to somewhere three notches southwest. Klein was nowhere to be found but he had left a bundled up blanket under my head and a message.

#The party's going to start at 6 at our inn. You should come by. Everybody's going to be there.#

# ( ´ ▽ ` ) #

Part of me felt hurt he hadn't stayed, but these days we were all busy. As much as Klein claimed he and the others would be taking it easy, they still trained as if we were properly on the front lines. I sat up and took a deep breath. "Alright, that's enough of that." I patted my cheeks twice and took another breath. Hands raised slightly above my head, I turned them into fists and brought them in, a resolute expression on my face. "There's a party tonight and those lil' junebugs need somebody to teach them how to do it right."

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I downed the rest of my mug, growing the small pyramid before me by another container. At the other end of the table Issin and Dale whooped their support. Across from me, Rhaagaar slammed his mug down a bit harshly, adding to his collection arranged in a vague circle. "Give it up, club. You aren't beating me in this."

"This Rhaagaar think Swordsman Asasaki too cocky!" The goblin sneered at me, his companions mimicking the hyping jeers Fūrinkazan often did whenever they competed against each other. "This Rhaagaar can drink any Swordsman under table!"

I cackled. Thanks to the more than grateful elves, the goblins had been introduced to the world of booze, eagerly taking up the flavored drinks in place of overly sweet juices and bland, tasteless water. "You keep saying that, but give it another ten drinks. We'll see how you start feeling then."

As we'd learned early on, digestive byproducts didn't occur in this world. If you ate or drank yourself past your limit, sickness and discomfort would overtake you rather than coming back up. In that state, the usual solution was either curling up into a ball and bemoaning your mistake or laying your head down and vowing to never do it again. By the time Rhaagaar reached that state my tower had reached four levels high, Klein and Asuka expressing a mixture of awe and concern. My raucous laughter died down to mere chuckles, the latter pouring me a small amount from her bottle at my request.

"What brought this on, Asasaski? I don't think I've ever seen you drink this much."

I ignored Klein's worried glance. "I got told there was a party tonight and decided that I might as well show everybody how to actually do it." I swirled the wine around a little and sipped at it. Just a bit sweet and so very rich on the way down. Must have been one of the top shelf bottles I needed a chair to reach. "Don't worry, this won't be a regular thing. I don't mind mead much, but I'm a much bigger fan of whiskey or rum. I could happily sit on those the whole evening."

"Oh, and here you were getting on my case for drinking too much."

"Hey." I pointed a finger at him. Grinning, "I know my limits and what I like. Plus, don't forget you're still six years younger than me. You're basically a kid and I have to be the responsible adult and make sure you don't develop bad habits."

The festivities continued on for another hour before it started winding down. Klein and Issin ended up challenging me to a drinking match but both failed. Right on time, truthfully. One more mug I would have had to tap out.

It's nice, being able to wind down like this.

"It is, isn't it?"

I blinked and stared at my leader. Did I-? Whoops.

"Especially with everybody together like this. Between the quests we run with the Ol'dekhaan, your quests with the Elves, and everybody's personal business, it's not often we get just enjoy ourselves."

"I'm sorry, Klein."

"Don't mention it."

"What?" I laughed. "I was talking about that from earlier, you ass." I whapped the back of my hand on his arm. "I'm talking about how I'm always off on my own."

He chortled. "And again, don't mention it. You're our little ninja. You running about doing stuff we have no clue about is what you do. And at least now you're actually letting us know about where you're going."

"Yeah." Eventually some of the staff began wandering about to collect the dishes. I offered them a quick apology about my pyramid of containers and tried to help them out, easily dissuaded by numerous variations of 'it's our job, don't worry about it'. After yet another failure to lend my aid, I returned to Klein's side and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna go for a walk. Between you and me," I looked around mischievously before leaning in to whisper, "I was really close to having to tap out when Issin called it."

The brunet broke out in laughter and waved me off, a wide grin on his face. "Just don't stay out too late, alright? We're going to be hitting up a dungeon that just got discovered and we're going to need our Evasion Tank on her A game."

Compared to the rowdiness of the tavern, the peace and quiet of the town was incredibly jarring. Gravel crunching under my steps, the food coma I was nursing beckoned me to return to the inn and curl up in my bed, straw filled as it was.

"Lady Asasaki."

God how I hated that honorific. "Sup?" I paused and turned to face Iseyer, the elf lacking any of the armor he usually sported.

"Might I accompany you on your walk? There are things I wish to speak about."

I let out a slow breath of air at the marker that appeared over his head. God fucking dammit. "Sure. Company's always nice." With the sun long gone, the majority of businesses had closed up for the day. Only the major services along the main roads were still open alongside the other eateries. "It sure is nice tonight. Not too cold, a gentle wind." I smiled softly. "Almost makes me want to go camping."

"We both know these woods are far too dangerous to do that, Lady Asasaki."

I chuckled. "Well, that's why we make a lovely thing called Watches."

Iseyer shared in my laughter, placing a hand on my shoulder and steering me towards the western gate. After a bit, "Perhaps it might be for the best if you put on your equipment, Lady Asasaki."

Reluctant as I was, I did as requested, shivering when the my helmet materialized. The fang like protrusions running along my jawbone never failed to incite that response if I didn't warm it up first. "You know I'll have to message Klein if we're going to be out long, right?"

"We should be back before then." I purposely made no comment on his soft 'I hope'. "As you know, yesterday I sent Alduin and Heivaar as well as the other men under my command to send word to the elven settlements on this floor. They returned earlier today and what I have received is most concerning."

"Iseyer, concerning can range from 'people are being kidnapped and used for experimentation' to 'everybody is dead and we have yet to find the remains. Lay it on me."

"The Spirit Trees here have been destroyed. The Dark and Forest Elves have banded together in an attempt to stop the Fallen Elves from utilizing the magic spells somewhere in the underground caves for their own devices."

Oh, how lovely. Charging a fortified, enemy encampment. I'm sure that will be filled with puppies and baby seals. Hey, me? Where's my golf club? "Give me a minute. Processing some stuff." I slunk off to an out of the way alley, sliding to the ground. When the sheathed Barbed Sabre caused me some issues, I untied it and placed it between my legs, letting it rest on my shoulder as I leaned on my knees.

The significantly taller man (and wasn't everybody just so lucky to be taller than me) took post at the entrance. "If you don't wish to assist, I understand. Violence is never welcome by the sane. Even if you are more experienced than the others, as a Swordsman you have no obligation to lend us your aide."

"War is my trade, Iseyer. It's my trade as much as business is Mitsui's. I hate it, but fighting is what I know." I shut my eyes and began regulating my breathing. "This was supposed to be my vacation," I mumbled. "I was supposed to enjoy myself, take time off, see the sights, get drunk off my ass and apologize to whoever was putting me up for whatever messes I'd caused." But nope. Instead I had to get stuck in this hell hole of life and death. Had to go and rope myself in with a war. I took a short breath and exhaled long and hard, pushing the memory of my lung capacity to the limit. "Alright," I said tiredly. "So what's the plan?"

"The only entrance to the underground tunnels are in Stonemire Village,"

"All the way nestled in the northwest part of the floor, past a dense thicket of woods and craggled hills. Yeah, I went there two days ago." I clicked my tongue. "So what, get in, roll some heads, get out?"

"That would be the general idea, yes."

"No scouting done?" I pressed. When Iseyer answered in the negative (even if his reasoning regarding the lack of time was sound) I scoffed once more. "So walking into unexplored, hostile territory with two rival clans working together against a common enemy. Why yes, I'm sure this will go just well. No one will have any arguments and at the end of the day we will be frolicking in a field of sunshine, daisies, and unicorns." I rolled onto my feet, resecuring my sword to my belt. "Sorry about that. I like verbalizing my irritations where I can. Figuratively expels all the negativity. I'm sure we can make this work."

"If it's any consolation, Lady Asasaki, all our comrades in this region have kept their skills sharpened. Their teachings to the native humans have seen fit to that."

"Well that explains why the fighting styles of the natives seemed so familiar." I sighed and joined him at the edge of the street. "So that's it then. Get in. Get out. Hope we get back home before morning."

Iseyer hummed in response and led us out into the woods. The rest of our trip went by in silence, the monotony of walking broken only by the arrival of Iseyer's companions from the third floor. Wordlessly they held out his updated armor for him to put on, a fancier version of their own gear. The simple pieces of metal that once covered only the essentials was now layered, a thick looking yet freely moving fabric acting as the base. The moment he slipped everything on (pausing to tie on the leg guards) his every movement became significantly more silent. If he wasn't in my field of view (the others forming up on either side of me) I might have entirely forgotten about his presence.

"Lady Asasaki."

I twitched at Alduin's soft voice. One, stop calling me that. Two, can't you guys make some noise? Three, I'm not a damsel in- wait, back up, what was that about my actions?

"Your name is of some renown amongst our people. Should you wish it, we, Dark Elves included, would be more than willing to follow your command."

"How many people do we have?" The peat and other detritus under my feet rustled with every step. The chirping of insects croaked through the air, their creators unseen. Though no wind blew in these woods, the warmth from the day still lingered underneath the canopy, and any chill that did occur was quickly warded off by our walking.

"Not including ourselves, twenty four strong, all volunteers from this floor."

"Only four teams, huh? " A puff of air was expelled through my nose. "What happened to the other men?" I grimaced. "Don't tell me-"

"The others are fine," Alduin answered. "They're escorting those unable to fight to a secure location. Tomorrow when we meet, we'll be discussing what to do in regards to their relocation, if they decide to travel at all."

I sighed in relief. "Start breaking things down for me then. Armor, weapons, who's worked with who. The other Swordsmen might be able to get away with 'group up and hit it 'til it dies' but I refuse to do something so utterly insane only superior numbers could handle it."

From the Forest Elves, we had four shield and sword users (one of which utilized a curved blade over a straight edge), two one handed axe users, three spear users, and for some odd reason one of the elves was hefting a maul around. From the Dark Elves, five shield users with varied bludgeoning and crushing weaponry, two dagger users, and three one handed sword users.

When they'd assembled before me at the entrance in the hillside I immediately knew asking them to work together was worthless idea. The twelve elves each kept a clear distinction between each other, only their shared hatred of the Fallen Elves binding them together.

Uncovered stone pressing against my back, I opened my eyes and looked over our gathering. "I don't know if there's anything I could say that you yourselves haven't said already. We might not all like each other, but I think we can all agree that there's a mutual dislike resting inside this cavern." I should message Klein. "We get in hard. We kill them harder. And then when we get out, we party even harder." I flicked open my friend system, sending off a simple message regarding my activities. "Don't let your rage blind you though. This is going to be their turf, so we'll have to be careful." I picked up my helmet from the stone beside me and slotted it on. "Don't let your brothers deaths be in vain." A walking fish, Iseyer had once described me. A bipedal fish that could simultaneously be both an angel and a demon. A dichotomy that only existed depending on which side I was on. If he had ever met one, I'd no doubts he would have meant shark.

This chapter has been updated on March 26, 2019.