Sword Art Online

After The Incident

Chapter 44 – Yui, The Pixie Queen

~That following morning, at the cabin. Kazuto's POV~

As much as a strain on my body and mind I knew it was, I couldn't help but sleep in the cottage that night, holding Yui close to my chest. Sadly, as much as Asuna wanted to do the same, she told us she simply couldn't. Her mother was very against her even playing VR games at all between the SAO incident and my ALO kidnapping, and everything in-between, so just the fact that she could even go online was beyond lucky.

In return, she promised Yui and I she would be online early to cuddle with us and wait for us to wake up. And I did indeed look into her deep chestnut eyes the moment I opened my own raven ones.

"Good morning…" I said with a smile "How long have you been awake?"

"I woke up at 8 this morning" She said with a giggle "I only took a shower, before jumping back in my Pj's and logging in"

"Well, at least you still tend to personal grooming" I said with a smirk, before leaning over and pecking her lips.

She hummed silently against my lips before I pulled away and gazed down at Yui, who was comfortably nuzzled between the both of us, a happy sigh escaping from her lips as she held onto my shirt a bit tighter.

"Daddy…"

I smiled and kissed her scalp softly.

"I'm right here sweetheart" I whispered, running my fingers through her beautiful jet black hair.

"How long has it been since last we woke up like this?" Asuna asked, a gaze of nostalgia filling her eyes.

"More than 2 and a half years" I mumbled back as I continued to pet Yui gently "Do you miss it? SAO I mean?"

"As much as it hurt everyone…" She mumbled, her gaze falling "It still brought so much happiness to my life… Meeting you, getting to meet Yui… All those wonderful people… I would never have met my many friends, or you, or Yui, if it had not been for the commander…"

That was true. As truly sinister and completely insane Kayaba was, with the evil he had created, he had, subconsciously maybe, created a virtual world where people lived just the same as if they had lived in the real world, where their bodies were made of flesh and bone instead of a bunch of data, 1's and 0's.

People began adapting, developing, getting used to this new lifestyle. As much as people hurt, cried for the loved ones they were missing on the other side, as much as they fought to escape, they also lived as if Aincrad had been their home all along. There really was little to no difference between the virtual and the real world.

And even though Kayaba had not been able to remember the reason he would trap 10000 people in a virtual world, maybe that had been the point he had been trying to set. That the difference between reality and fiction, between real and virtual, was minimal. And that the human mind is able to adapt, no matter which trials it would be faced with.

As I finally let go of my thoughts and my mind returned to my bedroom in the cottage, Yui was slowly beginning to stir, opening her eyes and yawning quietly as she gazed up at us with a cute smile.

"Good morning, mommy, daddy" She said silently as she sat up between us, hugging us both close.

"Good morning Yui" Asuna whispered softly as she pressed Yui's body close to her own "Did you sleep well?"

"Well, as an AI," Yui said with a smile "I would only let my data flow pause for a moment… But it does give me relief of earlier exhaustion"

"Well, that's the fancy way of saying yes" I said with a laugh as I patted her head silently "Hey, what do you guys think we should do today?"

Yui put a finger to her chin and smiled a little, deep in thought, before she smirked and looked back up at me.

"I thought maybe we should test out this new program of yours" she said mischievously "Maybe we should try spawning a dungeon and challenge it!"

"It wouldn't be worth much if we come up with all the monsters and attack patterns ourselves though" Asuna mumbled silently as she thought it over.

"Oh I know!" I snapped my fingers as an idea began forming in my head "How about we create a dungeon, and get our friends to try it out!?"

"OH! That's a wonderful idea! " Asuna said excitedly "And we three could act as the dungeon's final bosses!"

"That sounds like an amazing idea!" Yui said as she raised her arms and acted as if she had claws "I'm gonna be a big scary monster! Rargh!"

I chuckled at her cute behavior and patted her head, ruffling her hair a little.

"Alright, let's make up stuff as we go" I said with a smirk "Asuna, we should log off for now and get some breakfast. While you invite our friends, Yui and I will form the dungeon"

"Sounds good. Yui, we'll be back in a bit, okay?" She said softly as we got up from the bed.

"I'll wait right here" Yui said, striking a salute before we logged out.

~That same evening, Kazuto's POV~

It had taken all day working all the details into the dungeon that Yui and I had created. We had used one of the basic dungeon forms, a decently challenging one, 5 stories deep, and with at least 10 monsters on each floor, mostly making them fairytale creatures and stuff of the like, in something that was supposed to look like a deep cave biome, the entrance opening up to a beach and the sea.

On the second-last floor, Yui had insisted that she would design her own mini-boss room, and I had reluctantly agreed to it. Since she was an AI, I had no idea what she would make out of the powers I had just given her as a dungeon creator and designer.

Since she had never used the sandbox program's interface before, I had thought I would have needed to explain how you'd operate it, but to my surprise she figured everything out relatively quickly. Within about 10 minutes she had created her own mini-boss room, the walls glittering and shining as they were made up of some of the prettiest stones and crystals I had ever seen.

The sides of the of the room had been decorated with big stone pillars, a couple of snakes made out of iron twisting their way down on each their own sides of each pillar. The ceiling of the room was dark, but spots of light could still be seen from the many sparking stones that had been embedded in the rock, almost making it look like a night sky in the real world.

A big carpet was rolled out from the door and up to a huge golden and sapphire embedded throne, where Yui's mini-boss avatar would welcome any player who dared step foot inside her territory.

"I have to say Yui, you've done a nice job with your boss room" I said with a smirk as I gazed over at her "I didn't expect you to get the hang of it so quickly"

"I am an MMORPG AI after all, daddy" She said with a sweet smile "Even though I'm a health counseling program, I have observed SAO for more than 2 years."

"Guess you would learn a trick or two about game design by that" I said with a nod "Anyway, let's get the others! The main boss room is done too"

"Good. I can't wait!"

~Later, in the dungeon. Klein's POV~

"Seriously, why did they have to make this place so creepy?"

I mumbled under my breath as the gang and I was walking over the cold ground of the cave that Kazuto and Yui had created. This was beyond uncomfortable. The monsters in here weren't so bad, but the cave itself was giving me the creeps. Who knew what messed up things Kazuto had laid in store for us?

"I'm starting to regret having helped Kazuto with this project" I said softly as I walked behind Lizbeth and Sinon to cover their rear ends.

"Come on Klein, don't be a wuss" Lizbeth teased with a glance back at me "We've dealt with things worse than this!"

"I know, but…" I hesitated a little. In the corner of my eye, it had looked like something had moved, but nothing now "I've been a target of Kazuto's cruelty before… That boy can be messed up when he wants to be"

"You're making him sound like some evil mastermind or crazy man" Sinon said coldly as she readied an arrow on her bow "He isn't that bad"

"I know but…" I mumbled silently "I still have this weird gut feeling…"

"You're thinking too much of it Klein" Kyouji said with a chuckle "I'm sure it'll be fine"

Ever since he and Sinon had hooked up, he had been joining a lot of our group online sessions. I didn't say that I had anything against the guy but… Some things are hard to forget just like that.

I frowned and huffed a little.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with and go home" I mumbled silently as I looked around the cold cave walls "I've gotten just about enough of this place-! L-Look out!"

I widened my eyes and immediately drew my sword to barely deflect an arrow, flying straight for Lisbeth's head. I did manage to deflect it somehow, but a few others was close behind, and with those I weren't as lucky, as they quickly pierced my shoulder plate and my shinguards.

"K-Klein!" Lisbeth yelled in surprise.

"Argh, damn…" The pain shot through my body weakly, but still enough to send me to my knee "He's even put on damage simulation… Level 2 or 3 I think…"

"Dude, are you okay?" Lisbeth mumbled worried as she helped me up.

I nodded silently and smiled.

"I'm fine, just need a potion" I mumbled as I rifled through my inventory.

As I was busy saving my own skin, the others had drawn their weapons and stood around me protectively, just as three enormous harpies swung down from the roof and began attacking with deafening screech-like screams. By the time I had recovered the others were taken quite aback, so I quickly jumped up and with a quick swing of my sword, decapitated its head and killed it, leaving us with only two more.

"Nice fighting Klein!" Sinon yelled this just as she firmly planted an arrowhead deep in the forehead of one of the other harpies, killing it as well.

It was rare, and nice, to get a compliment from Sinon like this.

"Damn, Kazuto isn't messing around" I mumbled as we finally disposed of the last harpy with our teamwork "Wonder what the boss battles will be like?"

"I'm a bit surprised Kazuto actually decided to implement pain in the dungeon" Silica mumbled as she put away her dagger "Maybe we should give up for now…"

"No, I'm not giving up now that we've come this far" I said with a frown "As much as I'm nervous about going forth, I'm determined to let Kazuto know I'm serious"

"Right, can't let him surpass us after all" Lisbeth said with a smirk "Come on Silica, we can still go on right?"

She patted Silica's back softly and earned a slight smile.

"Alright, let's get it over with…" She finally mumbled.

~Later, before the mini-boss room~

"We're finally here" Silica said with confidence in her voice "The last few floors haven't been too bad… Maybe this isn't all that hard after all"

"I don't know, something ain't right" I mumbled in response "No matter what, we gotta be careful"

"Yeah" Everyone agreed and nodded.

I put a hand to the door and got a surprise beyond surprises when the doors swung open to reveal a big open room, and a carpet leading up to a massive throne, with Yui sitting on it.

"Y-Yui!?"

"Welcome to my domain!" She said with her best attempt at an evil laugh "Hope you're ready for a battle of the century!"

"Woah, woah, woah, I'm not hitting kids!" I objected, but this only made Yui's smile brighter.

"It'll just make it that much easier for me to defeat you then" She said with a smirk.

The air suddenly began picking up and shifting around us, and tens of pixies suddenly began spawning all around her.

"Minions, protect your queen!" Yui yelled, as the forces moved forward, weapons raised.

"Holy hell!" I yelled as I grabbed my own weapon "Look out! They might be weak monsters, but they're great in numbers!"

We began scattering and took care of our own little group of pixies, ending up with about 5 or 6 pixies each to deal with, besides the queen herself, or Yui in this case. She had suddenly grown taller, and resembled an older version of herself, an around 30 year old woman with long back hair and glowing dark eyes as pixie wings suddenly began growing out of the back of her graceful long green dress.

Everywhere around me, my friends were dealing with their own problems, so when I caught a chance, I dodged out of the way of one of the pixie's attacks and charged straight for the queen.

"Take this!"

Just as I swung my sword, a barrage of pixies shielded Yui, just as my attack almost connected to her three-barred life points. They had completely blocked off my attack, on behalf of a few pixies, who slowly after began drifting to the ground and exploded out of existence.

"As long as I have pixie minions, you will never get to me!" Yui said with a laugh "No wonder father battles all the time, this is fun!"

Just as the pixies blocked my attack, they send me flying with their own attack, and I hit the opposite wall with a heavy thud.

"Aow…" I mumbled, my life bar had taken about 20 percent damage "AS much as you praise your pixies, they're not exactly capable of one-hit kills"

"That might be true, but there's more where those came from" Yui said with a smirk "Every 5 minutes, another 20 pixies will spawn. So you would better get to slashing, my dear Klein"

It almost seemed like her entire personality changed when she transformed into The Pixie Queen. Instead of a timid and cute little girl, she had now become a confident fighter, and this new personality apparently liked toying with it's opponents.

"Oh I will" I turned to the others "Make sure to kill as many pixies as quickly as possible. Forget about Yui for now!"

"Got it!" Sinon and Ryouji had turned teamed up, and every time Sinon had to draw a new arrow, Ryouji was there to cover for her with his blade. They had a pretty good teamwork between them, so they held their own.

Lisbeth, Scilica and Pina had teamed up as well, and as soon as Scilica had exterminated a few pixies with the quick cuts of her dagger, Lisbeth was there to take out huge groups with her hammer. And the ones she missed, Pina would take care of with her water breath.

Which left Agil and I to team up, as we pressed against each other's back, being surrounded by about 20 pixies. We nodded to each other and began fighting as if our lives depended on it, Agil's axe chopping down on one pixie after another, quickly exterminating them, and with a quick few swings of my swords, my group was also gone within an instant.

The others had quickly been worn down though, and I turned towards the queen, charging directly at her. Yui shot a few magic shots my way, but I either dodged or deflected them with my sword. Within a few seconds I was within reach, and began attacking visciously, chipping away at her life points.

She didn't seem to feel any pain though, and when I swung downwards towards her head, she simply grabbed my blade, and yanked it out of my grip.

"Dammit!" I just managed to choke out those words before she blew me away with her magic, and sending me flying.

"KLEIN!" A scream rang through the battlefield, and Lisbeth immediately charged towards Yui in retort.

Her swings were much slower than my own though because of the weight of her hammer though, and when Yui was about to blow her away as well, Agil rushed in and blocked with the broad side of his axe blade. Scilica, Sinon and Pina were in hot pursuit, Pina and Sinon each delivering their own shots of attacks while Scilica rushed in and placed a few well-placed stabs to the queens legs with her dagger.

This was immediately followed by Kyouji's lightning quick stabs with his rapier, and I immediately finished off the group attack with my own precise sword skill, Finishing Poison Blow. I managed to connect though it didn't finish her off, and she growled as she pushed us all off of her with her magic. We were blown away, and landed several meters away from her, and each other.

"Simple-minded fools" She said challengingly "You mortals stand no chance against me!"

"Hehe, I wouldn't be so sure…" I mumbled silently "Take a look at your healthbar"

She raised an eyebrow in confusion and gazed up at her lifebars. Her second lifebar was depleted, and she only had about 30 percent life left in her last lifebar.

"Yes? I have 30 percent life left in my lifebar, so what?"

"You fail to realize which sword skill I used on you" I said with a smirk "I just used Finishing Poison Blow. It can only be activated when your opponent is below 5 percent HP left, and if you don't manage to kill me, your life will deplete, until you are killed."

"No matter, I will just heal and-!"

"Don't think so." I said with a smirk "Healing items and spells don't work as long as the sword skill is in play. It took me weeks to farm for materials to get this skill, and it's all paid off!"

"Darn, so you tricked me!"

"Damn straight I did!" I said with a laugh "You'd better find out something, and fast. Or else you can kiss your lifepoints, and the victory, goodbye!"

A/N

Hey everyone! Thank you for reading!

Sorry, once again, that this has been on such a hiatus. I had a hard time coming up with any kind of plot for this story just yet, and I'm trying to come up with a nice transition for the next amount of feels and drama, so you guys better watch out! Just a few more chapters of filler, I promise! xD

Once again, thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time.