A/N: Hey everyone. Was able to get this chapter out early thanks to my good friend and fellow writer Marcus Cersy. Thanks for the help man.

Ion, Angel, Melody, Kione, Mars, and Cyrus all belong to Marcus Cersy. I know I've said this in previous Author's Notes, but I highly recommend checking his story Arctic Swordsman out. It's a fun read.

Ordinal Scale: Chapter 6

The karaoke rooms were all filled with people singing songs together one after another. In one of them, the duo of Asuna and Alicia were currently singing together. Keiko was inside with them. The rest of their friends were standing outside chatting.

"So what have we been able to gather so far?" Shino asked.

Dan let out a sigh. "Not much, outside of the fact that more and more victims are popping up, and every single one of them is an SAO Survivor. I did some research into Dr. Shigemura, the creator of the Augma. I couldn't find much out about him, except for one thing that stood out."

Hyde raised a brow. "And that would be?"

"He was Kayaba's mentor."

The entire group gasped, with the exception of Kazuto, who had already been informed by Dan about the fact. "I sat in one of his lectures and talked to him afterwards. I couldn't get anything out of him that would lead me to believe he'd want to do any of this. But…"

"But…?"

"I saw a picture of a young girl in his office." Kazuto explained. "I don't know where, but I feel like I've seen her somewhere before."

Lilina let out a sigh. "So we're still basically at square one."

"Yeah…" Dan said with his head held low. He looked into the karaoke room Alicia, Asuna, and Keiko were in through the window and smiled. "At least their spirits seem to be getting better. Taking them here was a good idea."

"It really was." Shino nodded. "Asuna and Alicia really look like they're enjoying themselves."

"Especially with that duet they're doing now." Rika added. "Who'd have thought they'd have such great singing voices."

"I doubt they're as great as MY melodious voice." Hyde said with a proud smirk.

Rika rolled her eyes. "Somehow I seriously doubt that."

Soon the doors to the room opened and Keiko came out. "Those two are amazing. I can't even compete."

"I think I'm up next." Rika said. As she was about to walk in though, she found herself blocked off by Hyde.

"Not so fast." Hyde said. "I'm going to show you just how great a singer I truly am."

"Oh really?" Rika questioned. "This I gotta see."

The group watched as the two walked into the room where Asuna and Alicia were. The door closed behind them as the group stared at each other.

Kazuto looked at Dan curiously. "You've known Hyde the longest. Exactly how 'good' is his singing?"

In response to the question, Dan held his hand up, counting down from five. The doors to the room opened simultaneously as his hand reached zero. The three girls were covering their ears.

"No more… It was like a banshee shrieking." Alicia said.

"Even I didn't think it was going to be that bad." Rika added.

"Screw all of you." Hyde said from the room. "Your eardrums just aren't cultured enough to appreciate my singing."

Lilina let out a sigh. "And this is why I don't go on karaoke dates with him."

The girls and Hyde argued amongst each other. As Dan watched this, a small smile came to his face. Things were finally starting to be normal again amongst the group.

'If only everything really was normal.' Dan thought. 'But Eiji's still out there, and whatever he's planning hasn't slowed down in the slightest.' Thinking about Eiji, made him shiver for a moment, reaction that made him curse out at himself. 'Damnit! Why am I so afraid of fighting him again?!'

Another hour passed by before the group left to go home. As they were all leaving, Alicia pulled Lilina to the side.

"Lilina, I need a favor."

Dan typed away on his laptop in his room. He had headphones on as he listened to music while researching as much as he could about the Augma and Shigemura. He had tried looking up some stuff about Eiji, but there wasn't much to tell. He was only well known in OS, nothing pertaining to his background information or anything of the sort.

Even though Alicia had managed to somewhat overcome the loss of her memories, Dan still refused to participate in the raids in Ordinal Scale. Having Alicia happy again had done wonders for his spirit, but he didn't want to risk losing his memories too. It was one thing that ate at his mind.

'Everything changed for me after I entered SAO. I met Kirito, Asuna, all of my friends. But most importantly of all, I met Alicia. What will happen if I forget all that. What will happen if I forget Alicia entirely?'

His train of thought was cut off as the sound of the doorbell was heard. Juna went to answer the door. Dan then heard the sound of footsteps coming upstairs. He wondered if it was Hyde again, here to tell him off. But when the visitor entered his room, Dan was surprised at who it was.

"Hey Dan. What's up?"

"Marcus!" Dan said, getting off his bed and walking over to his friend. "How's it going man?"

Marcus Cersy was an SAO Survivor, much like Dan and the others. In the time of the death game he had gone by the name of Ion, with the title of Arctic Swordsman. He was a fast AGI player, almost tied with Dan in terms of speed. The two had often been rivals, trying to be the fastest swordsman in all of Aincrad. Because of that, they had become good friends.

"How's the bakery been?" Dan asked.

"It's been well. Emma's helping out Warren and Amy right now. Business has been running smoothly." Marcus said. "How about you?"

Dan frowned slightly. "Things have… they've been better."

Marcus nodded his head. "I heard about what happened to Alicia. I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Dan sighed as he sat down on his bed. "That Eiji guy. I know he's rank 2 in OS but his power is insane. No human should be able to move like that in the real world."

"Dan… I also heard you haven't been taking part in the OS raids." Marcus said. "Why is that?"

"I just… I feel that trying to find out what information I can would be better. The raids aren't getting us anywhere."

Marcus looked at his friend. "Dan, I've known you long enough to know when you're making excuses. What's really going on?"

Dan looked away from his friend. "Just forget about it."

"Dan-"

"I said drop it!" Dan shouted. "You can't beat Eiji! It's not just the stats from his ranking, he's too strong!"

Marcus saw through his friend's words. "So that's what it is. You're afraid of running into Eiji again."

"...Yeah." Dan admitted. "Marcus, I saw him take down Alicia and have her lose her memories. None of us have even come close to beating him." He held his head low. "Outside of VR, we're powerless against something like that."

"So you're just giving up?"

"What would you do if you forgot about Sarah?!" Dan asked. As the words escaped his mouth, he instantly regretted them. "Sorry. That was uncalled for."

Marcus sighed and turned around. "Dan, I get that you've gone through a lot recently." he said. "But if you won't take action, I will."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dan asked.

"It means I'm not going to act like the coward my rival is being right now."

Dan watched as Marcus walked out of his room. He fell back on his bed and stared at the ceiling, feeling nothing but anger at himself. Because he knew Marcus was right.

'Marcus, just be safe. I don't want to see what happened to Alicia and Asuna happen to you.'

Marcus walked downstairs. He thanked Dan's mother for letting him talk to Dan and left the house. As he walked away, he knew what he had to do. He was going to put an end to this once and for all. For his sake. For the sake of his friends. And for Dan's sake. Because he wouldn't forgive anyone who messed with his friends.

"So how are we going to stop this guy? You heard Kirito and Ren, he's got godlike reflexes and amazing physical abilities." Melody asked.

The group of Ion, Angel, Melody, Kione, and Aurora were seated in Ion and Angel's player home on Floor 23 of New Aincrad. Melody's real world identity was Emma Cersy, Ion's little sister. Angel's name in the real world was Sarah Radcliffe, Ion's girlfriend. Kione had the same name in the real world as her avatar and was Angel's younger sister. Aurora was different than the others. She had been Ion's familiar back in SAO, an ice wolf. After being converted to ALO, she was reborn as a Navigation Pixie.

"Beating Eiji is going to be tricky. Hmm..." Ion said as he thought to himself. He looked over at his Navigation Pixie. "Aurora, I hate to sound... demanding, but can you access the OS system? I have a possible idea how to find him."

Aurora frowned. "You mean… hack in? That's always been Yui's thing, but I'll try..." she nodded.

"While she's doing that, I have an idea how we can stop him long enough to get a hit in maybe." Ion said. He turned to Melody. "We need to change your hair color and find a way to hide your Augma from view until you strike." he told her.

"I can dye her hair, what color do you want?" Angel asked.

"Nothing too drastic, but I think this guy may have a list of those that were in SAO, maybe he's been keeping tabs on all the big faces like me, Ren, Kirito, Asuna, Klein. If so, he may know the faces of our family and friends."

"What are you going to make me do?" Melody asked.

"We need to stop him for maybe a minute, long enough for me and Angel to get into position." Ion said. "So, we're going to disguise you so you can distract him, maybe ask directions for somewhere."

Kione seemed extremely worried about this plan. "Why do you guys have to go down this path? This guy's dangerous, you heard how Klein and his team went down." she asked.

"Kione, he's a threat to the gaming world, he's hurting our friends, and since Kirito's looking for answers and Ren's… indisposed right now, it's up to us to stop him." Angel said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Ion looked over at Aurora and Kione. "I have an important job for the two of you. I need you to have Kazuto's number ready, in case things get bad. He'll probably be nearby at one of the raids."

"So you don't know if you'll win?! And remember, if you lose…" she frowned.

"We'll disconnect from the OS system by taking off our Augmas if things get bad, don't worry, he won't erase our memories." Angel smiled.

"Ion, I'm in the system, what are you looking for?" asked Aurora, a complex menu before her.

"Good job kid, can you access the individual player database?" he asked.

"That's easy."

"Good. Look for name Eiji, rank 2."

Aurora input some commands, and Eiji's records were shown. Ion noticed something else. "Bingo." he grinned.

"We have his exact position, as long as he's wearing the Augma, now we can figure out where he's going next and plan our ambush. Aurora, do you have Yui's map of floor boss appearances?"

"I predict he'll be heading here." Aurora tapped a location. The park on the south side of the mall.

"Emma, are you in position?"

"Yeah. I'm ready to go anytime."

"Understood. Standby until I give the signal." Marcus said. "Judging by his position now, and the time it'll take to get there…" Marcus did some mental calculations. "I know when we need to be ready for the fight." he said to the full group.

Aurora poked her small head around the corner, looking out for their target from the cafe on a raised walkway. "Nothing yet guys." she said into the mobile phone next to her. Kione, wearing a black coat, was sitting nearby. She wanted to be able to help her sister and friends in the fight, but she had been unable to fight in OS. She was blind IRL, and couldn't even go anywhere without her guide dog Lex, who was at her side. She couldn't help but worry about everyone.

"Are you sure this is the best move?" Kione asked.

"I know you are worried Kione, but this guy needs to taste dirt after what he did to Sora and our friends." her sister said.

Kione groaned. "I have a bad feeling about this..." she said to Aurora.

"Contact." Aurora said, seeing their target had shown up. "He's right on time."

"Copy kid, you and Kione get clear. Sis, it's your move." Marcus said, standing on a raised walkway. He watched through his binoculars as a girl with dark blue hair covering her eye walked around the corner, looking as though she was lost.

"Excuse me sir, sorry to bother you, do you know the way to the train station? I've lost my bearings." Melody said, approaching Eiji. He nodded and opened a map on his Augma.

"It's not too far, just a couple streets away on the other side of the mall, if you find the leisure center, then you've missed it." he said, tracing his finger along the route.

"Thanks for your help, here let me thank you." she said reaching for her bag.

Marcus spring into action, leaping down from the walkway, hopping off the side of a fountain, and shooting towards the man. "Ordinal Scale, activate!" he yelled, a thin estoc appearing in his hand.

Eiji quickly responded by calling out the same words, his black and purple battle suit materializing around him and his longsword catching the incoming blade. Ion flipped back and snarled.

"Look here pal, I don't know who you are and I don't really care, but what I do care about is that you're hurting my friends, physically and emotionally!" he snapped.

"You are the Arctic Swordsman... The one called Ion." Eiji observed. "It is not time for you to be sacrificed."

"Sacrificed?" a female voice asked in disbelief. Eiji barely turned in time to see a blonde young woman hop off a street lamp, holding a long spear. She yelled as she slashed at his avatar with her weapon and landed with a roll, coming to a halt next to Ion. "What the hell does that mean?!"

Eiji turned to the young girl at his side. "Miss, you need to leave." he told her. His eyes then widened as she gave him a dark grin brushing back the hair over her left eye to reveal an Augma.

"Ordinal Scale activate!" she yelled, her outfit and a huge greatsword materializing in her hands, which was coming down from above. Eiji twirled left, dodging the massive blade, then ducked under Ion's estoc.

"Here's the deal pal! We beat you, and you tell us what the hell happened to our friends and how to fix their memories!" he growled. Klein and Furinkazan, Mars, Alice, Asuna, remembering all of his friends that had apparently forgotten everything that happened during SAO.

He hadn't even known about Sora, or Mars as she was better known in the virtual world, until Cyrus had told him she had apparently forgotten everything they had gone through together.

"You won't beat me. You aren't strong enough to defeat me." Eiji replied.

Ion glance at his friends. "Remember, he took down the entirety of Furinkazan, including Klein. Be careful." he told them before he charged at Eiji with a roar.

Eiji dodged the sword, and grabbed Ion by his arm, throwing him aside. He then whirled around, blocking a fist that came from Angel, and tripping her over with his leg.

"Take this!" Melody grunted, her sword coming around horizontally, intending to slash through his torso. Eiji leaned back, ducking under the large sword and landed a vicious punch to her gut, causing her to yelp in pain.

Kione heard Melody's yelp and grew worried. "Aurora, I'm calling Kirito."

"No, Ion said for that to be a last resort." Aroura said. "They won't go down after one hit."

Another cry of pain was heard, this one coming from Ion. Kione pleaded with Aurora. "Please Aurora! I don't want my sister or my friends to suffer!"

"But-"

"Please!"

Aurora saw tears roll down Kione's face. The Navigation Pixie sighed and nodded. "Alright."

"Thank you." Kione said gratefully. "Ok, tell me where my fingers need to go."

"On the table. It's right in front of you."

Kione felt around the table and found her sister's phone that had been left with her. She quickly followed Aurora's instructions and called Kirito. Several rings came one after another. Kione pleaded for Kirito to pick up, but after a few more rings, it went to voicemail.

"Damnit!" Kione cursed out. 'What do I do now? I need to get help!' Suddenly a thought came to the girl's mind. She contemplated on whether to do it or not, but hearing her sister Sarah scream made up her mind. "Aurora, I need you to help me call Dan."

"Dan?" Aurora asked. "But Ion said he-"

"I don't care! I can't think of anyone else that can help right now!" Kione shouted. "He's our only hope! Just help me call him!"

Aurora nodded her head. "Alright."

Dan was walking around the mall, wandering around with no particular destination in mind. He pondered about going to the game store. His mind drifted to what Marcus had talked to him about earlier that day and sighed.

'Please don't be stupid, Marcus…' he thought before he heard his phone ring. Pulling it out, he saw the caller ID as Sarah. He took the call and brought the phone to his ear. "What's up, Sarah?" he asked.

"Dan! It's Kione and Aurora! We're near Yatsobara Park! The others… they're fighting Eiji right now!" Kione's voice came through the speaker. "You need to come and help them!" A scream that sounded a lot like Sarah was heard in the background. "Hurry!"

Just like that, the call ended. Dan couldn't believe what he had just heard. All of his fear about Eiji instantly disappeared when he thought about Marcus and the others in danger. He quickly took off running towards Yatsobara Park."

'Let them be alright!' Dan begged. 'Please let them be alright!'

Melody swung her sword at Eiji, but the slash was easily dodged as he leaped up and delivered a kick across the young girl's face. The hit knocked her over as she fell to the ground.

"Emma! You bastard!" Ion snarled, running back in with his estoc coming back up from below. "I'll make you pay!" He weaved around a series of super fast jabs and slashes that Eiji threw at him. Then he deflected another two slashes and attempted to land a spinning kick at the speedy foe's head. Eiji grabbed him by the leg and whirled him around, throwing him into the fountain nearby. He groaned in pain as he laid in the water.

"Ion!" Angel called, gritting her teeth as Eiji ran at her at impossible speeds, grabbing her leg and inverting her body so she was upside down.

"You will never be as strong as me." he muttered before breaking her leg by delivering a speedy kick of his own. The feeling of a bone breaking caused her to cry out in pain and black out, making her disconnect from OS.

Ion sat up, soaking wet from the fountain. He saw Angel lying unconscious on the ground and gasped in horror. "SARAH! NO!" he roared, pulling off his Augma and charging at Eiji with his fists. He launched several punches and jabs, but Eiji dodged every single one with little difficulty.

"Give it up, Arctic Swordsman."

"What did you do to her?!" Marcus yelled, pausing to catch his breath. "Tell me right now!"

"Ordinal Scale is designed to safely disengage the player if they fall unconscious. She won't be sacrificed yet, it is not her time."

"Again with that 'sacrifice' bullshit! Tell me what that means! NOW!" Marcus roared, backing up to stand protectively over his girlfriend. Nearby, Emma was lying on the ground, pain apparent on her face.

"You'll find out soon enough." Eiji said. "But I think you need to realize your folly." He glanced over at Emma and began to walk over to her.

"Eiji!" Marcus yelled. "Don't! You! Dare!"

"Which will you protect, Arctic Swordsman? The one you're currently standing over? Or the little girl here?" Eiji asked, approaching Emma.

Marcus felt his entire body shake in fear. What was he going to do? He couldn't protect them both. The second he moved into protect Emma, Eiji would easily just move over to Sarah. And in the condition he was in, Marcus doubted he could take Eiji either way.

"Ordinal Scale! Activate!"

Both Eiji and Marcus gasped as a new arrival suddenly appeared, speeding at Eiji. He dodged just in time to avoid a slash as Ren appeared and stood between him and Emma.

"Dan?!" Marcus gasped in shock. "What are you doing here?!"

"So, the Crimson Flash appears again." Eiji said. "I haven't seen you since the Berserker Lotus was sacrificed."

Ren's entire body shook. A part of it was out of fear in front of the terrifying opponent in front of him. But there was another reason for the shaking, one that far exceeded the fear. Rage.

"You're fighting me now." Ren said.

Eiji seemed barely interested in Ren's fierce determination. "There's an awful lot of flies buzzing around. Perhaps I should rid myself of one of them and sacrifice you now."

"Go ahead and try."

Eiji let out an amused chuckle. "Is the sight of your friends here not a clear indication of how this will go down?"

Ren's glare didn't lessen. "Why don't you come over here and find out?"

In the background, Kione heard Ren's voice. "Is it him? Is he here?" she asked Aurora pleadingly.

"Yes." Aurora confirmed. "It's Ren."

Kione breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Are Sarah and the others alright?"

"..." Aurora fell silent, not knowing what to say.

"Aurora…? They're alright, aren't they?" Kione asked.

"... None of their HP is at zero." Aurora said.

Kione didn't know what to make of Aurora's behavior. Terror was etched on her face.

Ren stood protectively in front of Emma with his sword in hand. Eiji observed the teen before rushing at him with his blinding speed. He thrusted his sword forward at Ren's waist, but he managed to see the attack coming in time and sidestep to avoid it. After dodging Eiji's attack, Ren swung his sword and slashed Eiji, taking out a small chunk of his HP.

As Eiji passed by him, Ren noticed something glowing near the back of Eiji's neck. His eyes narrowed, wondering what the suspicious glow was that seemed to be the source of the violet lines going along his outfit.

Eiji skidded to a halt, mildly surprised that Ren had managed to not only dodge him, but also hit him with a counter attack. "Impressive. You're fighting differently than before."

"I may not be used to fighting players that can outspeed me by such a large margin" Ren said "But I have fought plenty of players that can move at high speeds. And as an AGI player myself, I know where their most vulnerable. Counter-attacks."

"Is that so?" Eiji questioned. "But can you keep it up?"

Without warning, Eiji sped once again at Ren. This time, Ren didn't dodge. Instead, he let Eiji sword hit him, depleting his HP drastically. But he returned the favor by sweeping under Eiji's legs and tripping him over. Eiji gasped as he fell over. Ren took the opportunity and delivered a powerful blow to the back of Eiji's neck, landing a direct hit on the violet glowing object.

"THIS IS FOR ALICIA!" Ren yelled.

Eiji slammed into the ground painfully. He quickly got up and jumped away from Ren before the teen could impale him with his sword. Eiji prepared to charge at Ren again, but he felt a small tinge of pain from his back. A small shock of electricity came from his neck.

'Damnit! Did he damage it?' Eiji asked himself. He looked back over at Ren. "I'll spare you for now. But the day will come when you are sacrificed for her."

'Her?'

Eiji quickly took off running. Ren wanted to give chase, but his presence was needed there with how injured Marcus and the others were.

"Sarah?! Sarah, are you alright?! Answer me!" Marcus begged.

"Ugh…" Sarah slowly opened her eyes. "Marcus…?"

"Sarah! Thank goodness." Marcus sighed with relief. "Are you alright?"

"My leg…" Sarah mumbled. "It hurts…"

Marcus looked down at his girlfriend's left leg, seeing it was clearly broken. He cursed himself out for letting her get hurt this badly.

"Emma's not too severely injured. Just a few bruises." Dan said. "But the three of you need to get to a hospital."

Marcus nodded his head reluctantly. As Dan called for an ambulance, Kione rushed over to her sister and friends. Her guide dog Lex whimpered as it licked Sarah's hand.

"You watched over my sister for me. Thanks Lex." Sarah smiled as she patted the girl's head.

A few minutes passed before the ambulance arrived. Sarah was loaded onto a stretcher while Marcus and Emma sat in the back with her. Dan and Kione also traveled with them as they made their way to the hospital.

"What were you thinking?!"

Dan yelled this at Marcus as they stood outside of the hospital. In the lobby, Kione was sitting with Lex faithfully at her side. Emma was also with her, having been examined and found to have no serious injuries. Marcus had needed a few bandages wrapped around him, but for the most part he was alright as well. The most seriously injured out of the group was Sarah, who's leg was broken. She was still with a doctor at the moment.

Marcus held his head low. "We were trying to put a stop to Eiji and what he was doing."

"Yeah, and look how it turned out!" Dan told him in a harsh tone. "How could you be this stupid?! Fighting against Eiji was suicide! You guys are lucky he didn't finish you off and take your memories!"

There was little Marcus could say in his defense. He had wanted to help his friends and keep them from suffering more than they already had. That was the kind of guy he was. But all he had done was get his sister and girlfriend hurt.

"I just can't believe how badly he beat us." Marcus growled in disgust. "I thought we'd at least be able to do something to the guy. But we barely laid a scratch on him. It was his victory, hands down."

Dan let out a sigh. "Well… that's not entirely true."

Marcus blinked in confusion at his friend. "What?"

"Marcus, what you did was reckless, dangerous, and downright stupid." Dan told him. "But… two good things did come out of it."

"And those would be?"

"First of all, I may have managed to figure out the source of Eiji's strength, as well as its weak point." Dan explained. "It's not definitive yet, but it's something to go on. And considering how we didn't have many solutions on how to beat him earlier, having anything is a godsend."

Marcus thought to himself. A weakness. If it was really true, and they had a weak point to exploit, it might actually be possible to take down a monster like Eiji. He just wished it hadn't taken Sarah getting a broken leg for it to happen. If he were able, he would trade places with her in a heartbeat. "And what about the second?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to start fighting in the raids again." Dan sighed. "I know I won't be able to beat Eiji, but I can still help Kirito raise his rank so he can fight Eiji in the end. And if it comes down to it, I'll be there to fight at his side." He stared directly at Marcus. "You helped me get over my fear. You went out and directly confronted him, even though your chances of winning were slim. I think seeing that made me want to fight giving it my all too. So even though I should tell you off for all the stupid stuff you pulled tonight… thanks. You helped me more than you know."

Marcus nodded his head. "Anytime. We're friends after all."

Dan nodded his head. "Well I'm gonna head home. Tell Sarah I wish her a speedy recovery."

"I'll be sure to do that."

Dan walked away from the hospital and headed home. The Arctic Swordsman had lit a fire in the heart of the Crimson Flash. One that would continue to burn until Eiji was taken down for good and whatever he had planned was stopped. Not just for Asuna and Alicia, but also for Marcus and his friends.

A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter. Things are going to nearing the finale now for this story. For all of you that have seen the movie, I'm sure you know what I mean. For those of you that haven't... Why are you reading this and spoiling the movie for yourselves!?

Hope to get out next chapter quickly. See you all soon.