Sonya was silent. She stared at this woman. Everyone however was not so calm. "

Who?"

What? Where did you come from?"

"This chick came from out of no where!"

"Miss, how did you get here?"

"You are not apart of the simulation, are you Aerith?" Sonya asked after everyone else calmed down.

"No, I'm not." She said. "You are rather astute, Miss Birinte."

"So, how did you get inside the simulation?" Uta-san asked.

Aerith smiled, her eyes gazing at the bow hero with thoughtful eyes. "It's a secret." She said. "But, I came to convince Fain to let you all go. We... Came to a compromise. One, final battle. But, I have to take you there to him. The forest isn't going to let you through, and the harp is hidden away."

None of these words made any sense. To anyone else. Sonya nodded. " Lead the way, Gainsborough-san." Sonya said.

The girl shook her head. "I know you are from a different world, but Ms. Is preferred... Or just Aerith. San is... a weird thing to add on." Aerith said.

And so she lead the way to an ancient and forgotten city. Through a path of an old and broken road.

"It almost feels like we are underwater. Or that all of this was." Arashi-san said looking at everything around them. "How did Fain think up something like this?"

"He didn't. You can feel it can't you? The chill in the air? This is to surreal to be a simple simulation anymore. This... Is apart of his memory. Like most of those things we fought." Sonya said.

"Fain... Has troubles with moving on. He's always been like that." Aerith commented. "Silly Shally dilly dally."

Sonya closed her eyes and reached out and grasped Siorradh and Sioc's sleeves. They seemed surprised, but readily allowed her to be lead like that.

"Do you know our Master, Lady Sonya?" Sioc asked.

Aerith shook her head. "No. This is the first time we have met. But I think we both know of each other." Aerith said with a smile.

They came to a giant conk shell. Some image of a giant fish blocked their way. Aerith shook her head and reached out. The fish faded away to reveal a staircase that looked as if it was made of glass.

"He's waiting down there at the altar. This is as far as I go. Good luck to you all." Aerith said and patted Sonya on the shoulder. "It will be okay."

And then she was gone.

A few people gasped. She had walked just out of view and had disappeared.

It was a long moment of silence. Ishiku-san looked down at the staircase. "Man. I can't get excited about this at all." He said and walked down the stairs.

"Sonya-san... How do you know that woman?" Uta-san asked.

"She's a ghost. And this is where she died. At the altar that we will probably meet Fain at." Sonya said. "These memories of his. Are to a game I heard about. Some of my classmates had played it. I watched. To the very end."

"So. He lived it." Arashi-san said. "It is strange how worlds mix and collide. But, we can't go back to ours until everything is said and done. We have to defeat Fain first." He went down after Ishiku-san.

"I think... I can understand how you feel Sonya-san... But we have to go forward." The bow hero said. Sonya nodded. She followed the other heroes and their party down. It was beautiful. More beautiful then she remembered or could have imagined. But... She took a deep breath to steady herself and slapped her cheeks. This was a battle ground.

They found him easy enough. He was curled up on the altar alone. He wore a blue jacket, a straw hat with a yellow feather stuck through it, and tattered pants.

"Fain. We're here. One last fight. This time, fight fair. No cheating." Sonya said.

He remained curled up like that. It was difficult to see if his eyes were even open.

"Hey you asshole! Get up already! I'm going to beat the crap out of you for that first battle!" Ishiku-san yelled.

"Mmph..." Was his only reply as he stretched on the altar.

"I think we should take this time to prepare." Arashi-san said calmly. "He's going to be a difficult opponent even without using the simulation's resources."

Sonya nodded. She looked around them. "It is going to be difficult for all of us to fight here. There isn't a lot of space."

Fain hopped down from the altar, pillars that were once a bridge were ignored in favor of open water. Instead, he landed on the surface and it froze around beneath his feet.

"Well, that solves things." Uta-san commented.

The heroes and their party took their time buffing, Fain in the meantime waited. He sat on the handle of what looked like a scythe.

Sonya looked to everyone else. Were they ready? Their was a round of nods. "Tanks form up on me. This time, it will be different." Sonya said. "Shield Wall!"

And that was the beginning of the last battle with Fain. Uta-San took refuge with the rest of the archers, gunners and attack. They wasted no time shooting at him. This time though, they had guards to help keep Fain from massacring them.

Fain was not slow. Not in the least. If this was his standard level of abilities, he was impressively fast. But he wasn't attacking. He was simply circling around them... "Ishiku-san! You're up!" Sonya yelled.

"Yeah! Chaos Spear!" He yelled. Fain doubled back using his weapon to skate across the surface of the ice. Ishiku-san didn't follow. He wasn't exactly having it easy standing. He wish he could skate across the ice as easily as this fox kid.

The sword hero was not so keen to wait this one. He saw an opportunity. "Hundred sword dance!" Arashi-san yelled as he sent swords of energy firing out at Fain. Sonya watched. He was forced back again. When he crouched down for a moment there was a moment of calm silence. Everyone was watching him. An HP gauge appeared in here screen along the bottom. It was small. He had about 500 HP... It was kinda ridiculously low. "He's a speed tank?" She blurted.

"Explain." Ishiku-san said.

"He's using his speed to avoid being damaged altogether. His HP is too low to-" She began, but that was when she was struck. It barely did any damage but she found herself sliding backwards on the ice.

"You-" Ishiku-san started but had to cut off when Fain swung his sickle. He fell over. Another spearman lashed out at the boy but the spear was batted aside.

"Faust earth shower, all" Fain yelled.

That was when everyone had to shield themselves as they were being peppered with... pebbles. It stung a little. But it didn't exactly do any damage. He casted it several times. It stopped the joined groups from acting, but otherwise it was more an annoyance than anything else.

Sonya took a step. She could walk. Which meant they all could. Why would Fain give up a mobility advantage? "Ishiku wait!" She yelled but the spear hero did not heed her. Things changed. She noticed. Fain's movements had gone away from sporadic to rhythmic. Every movement he made was almost like a dance. The result was that he was now spinning clockwise and counter-clockwise to slash, stab and spin out of the way. The spear hero, who had tried to go for an opening was forced to block, and he was only somewhat successful.

But Fain was not waiting anymore for them. He persisted almost like he was on auto-pilot? No. He replaced one movement for another, an attack for a parry... But it was all in a rhythem. She watched intently.

"Sonya-san, you picked up something?" Arashi-san asked.

"He's just like a Dark Souls Boss. Just with different added stats. Ishiku-managed to damage him a little but his health regenerates quickly, and he has some kind of damage reduction measure. It is almost as if he was listening to a song."

The sword hero looked at everyone. People didn't know what to do. If they got close, they would get slashed, shoved back. "We have to put a monkey wrench into his gears. Tanks, move in slowly and circle him, warriors, don't let him get past.

Fain stopped. He lashed out when he was stabbed at. He had made a mistake. He allowed himself to be surrounded. That was when he was shot. It made him hiss. He was aware that his HP dropped significantly. He moved out of the way of another barrage of bullets and arrows into a wall of waiting swords. He used the shield carried by a warrior as a platform to stop himself, forcing the wielder to crouch.

But he was damaged even more. He hopped off and used his sickle to vault past the charging spear hero. Damage.

He growled. It was not a growl that inspired fear but when he shouted, "Zviet Lightning Aura!" The large arks of lightning were inspiring fear. He lashed out aggressively felling a unfortunate rogue. "Zviet Vampirism." Fain growled.

Sonya's felt dread. The damage he did was large, and the small amount of HP he gained back was double the amount he lost. Her heart wrenched when she saw the effect though. Thorn aura was still lacerating him. Even though it was a simulation. Even though he was being healed. It was obvious he was in pain. Watching gashes appear and then promptly be sealed up again.

Ishiku managed to finally stabbed him in the back, Arashi-san ran him through the heart. "Z-zviet fire." Fain coughed and grabbed Arashi-san's face. The sword hero's HP zeroed out. He lashed out at Ishiku-san who was forced to double back. Fain took a deep breath. Sonya charged. "Shield rush!" She yelled. She knocked him over and knocked the wind out of him. Everyone else leaped in to hold him down. "Don't let him cast another spell." Sonya yelled.

Fain looked like a corned animal at this point. He bit at an armored glove and tried to thrash. He was panicking. Ishiku-san looked down at him. He was angry. He grabbed a woman's arm who was about to stab Fain. "Don't." The spear Hero said. Vampirism and Lightning aura had already timed out.

Sonya knelt straddled over his stomach. "You lost Fain. The battle is over with. You can stop now. We'll be okay." She said simply. Fain looked her in the eyes for a long moment. He stopped struggling. The last thing she heard was a deep sigh.

And then it ended. They returned to their bodies. It was a strange sensation. No time had passed, but they were all very tired. It was a mental shock. Fain seemed unaffected and readied a transportation scroll. The groups staggered to their feet.

"Fain... How strong exactly are you in this world?" Sonya asked as she held her head. She wanted to ask if he was okay. He was silent for a while. She watched him shift gears. She was more concerned now. He looked like he was contemplating it.

"Not very. I'm fast. I have a high aptitude in magic. I have a large inventory of items. But physically, I don't have the highest damage output without some kind of augmentations. Aegis. I wouldn't be able to have been able to take on that giant like I did without it. But it wears off after a few minutes and it requires me to take damage." Fain answered. "I have a lot of upsides and downside."

Sonya looked at the other heroes and their groups. They looked at him wearily. Some were obviously angry at him.

"Relax. I'm not going to drill anyone outside of simulation. That's dangerous, and costly. And I don't want to be hated anymore than I already am. Congratulations on graduation Camp Idohagonam Foit." Fain said with a sheepish grin.

Sioc looked at the fox kid with a expression mixed with annoyance and confusion. "What is 'Idohagonam Foit?" the wolf demi-human ventured.

"I don't have a good name for it." Fain said simply.

Sioc looked at the fox like he was going to hit the kid.

And then they were in Siltvelt.