Jaymes

"You're becoming paler and blurrier like you're getting further away. Eventually, you'll lose your color too, so raise your flag engraved with the proof of your existence..."

Feet back on the ground, I reach for the sword on my back as my eyes bear down on the white-haired woman in front of me. She has her left side facing me, her face angled towards the treeline. She sings a tune to herself, one I recognize as the one she always sings to herself, and allow her to hum in peace as I pace around her.

Eydis meant to draw me out alone, that I know. She knows Medina and Ilia will chase after me, but that might be to my benefit or to the enemy. I don't see the other two figures Medina described, so either they're hiding their presences nearby or they're watching out of my range of sensitivity of ten or so kilors...which I guess is equivalent to the measurement it is named after. I haven't asked Kiirto, and usually, I forgo speaking the Underworld system of measurements. I care not to learn it.

I keep my eyes on Eydis, taking in her appearance. It's as Medina said, her knight's armor is gone, her hair and limbs are covered by a strange coloration from chalk-white to pitch-black, and her eyes show no signs of the jovial "big sister" of Alice Synthesis Thirty. I can't tell if they're cold, murderous, or both, but I do know that when she faces me, I will feel my spine shiver in fright.

Not once in the past four years (in real-world time) have I felt this way when confronted or drawn into a one-on-one fight before the fighting began. The last time I felt a powerful dread was against Quinella after we entered the Main Visualizer and she made herself invincible to any sword not made of Orthinanos blood. Her weapon was made from the blood of Medina's ancestors, preserved as crystals, while Medina sacrificed herself to become a sword for me. Fighting Vecta... No, with respect to the fact Commander Bercouli defeated the Vecta account, fighting Subtilizer didn't scare me. I was enraged when he threatened Sinon, revealed himself as the man responsible for an incident in GGO last year before the Death Gun incident, and discarded his loyal AI companion Lievre aside when she went to reunite with him. By the time I caught up to him, right when he caught up to Alice, any fear I could've had subsided.

Yet Eydis had crossed the line too, and knowing me, I should be angry. Not many things make me angry, but after Koharu's "death" in SAO, I found I have a trigger that draws a rageful, murderous side out of me, and it comes when a friend of mine, especially a female, has their life endangered or taken. Annihilator, who killed Koharu and nearly raped and killed Lisbeth as he did most of his other victims, and a few other members of Laughing Coffin died at my hands because of it. I almost killed Itsuki when Kureha and Zeliska's lives hung in the balance. I went into a fit when Quinella struck down Medina, even though it was to my benefit, and as I said, Vecta had done what he did to Sinon, Alice, Lievre, and, indirectly, Kirito as the cause of his comatic state. Oh, and I shall not forget PoH, but that bastard is getting off easy being a giant tree in the Dark Territory. Had Medina not stopped me, he would've been sawdust right now.

Eydis had attacked Tiese, Ilia, and Mia back in the Forbidden Valley. She brought Medina to the brink of death. She allies herself with the people responsible for the sickness Alice's hometown suffers. I should be angry...but I can't summon that rage. I don't know why it isn't coming up. I've done it before to the very redhead I'm protecting now when she betrayed me and Eydis, yet the other woman doesn't ignite the same fire.

No, I know why. Unlike everyone else who drew that side of me out, none of them could end my life as easily as Eydis could. All she needs is one fatal swing through my sword and armor, and it's over. For the first time since Itsuki betrayed and trapped me, Zeliska, and Kureha with NerveGear on our heads, I fear for my life.

"So don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Because whatever darkness you're been swallowed into, time and again, I'll hold out my hand to you..."

Still, I hold Falchion tightly as I stop behind Eydis and interrupt the girl's singing. "Eydis."

Eydis ceases her song but keeps her back to me, her gaze skyward. "You followed me alone. I figured you wouldn't do something like that, knowing it could be a trap."

"You know me better than most. I don't willingly enter into traps."

"True... So, Jaymes, what do you plan to do with me? Kill me as you would've Medina for betraying you? I did strike her down. Your disciple and the other girls as well. Or do you plan to arrest me and question me about what I know of the First Children?"

I purse my lips. I do want information, but I doubt she'll be as forthcoming as she was to Medina. But there's only one thing I want to know more about. "I want to know why you side with them."

Eydis lowers her head and slightly looks over her shoulder at me. That single dull left iris makes my skin jolt. "Didn't Medina tell you? Wouldn't be unlike her to run to your side like a child to her father...oops, forgot about that."

"Leave her out of this. Tell me yourself."

Eydis scoffs and turns away. "Protecting her as you always have. What did you say that one time, when we fought against the dark knights at the eastern gate? Not during the war, but during the Clamp Crisis? That if it came to it, you would protect her over me. You're doing pretty well with that nowadays."

I remember the exact conversation, that was almost two years ago, at a spring in Eastavarieth. Eydis was unhappy that I went to Medina's aid when Hersyrian attacked her and murdered her wayfarers during the Wesdareth campaign, believing I'd protect Medina over her if I had a choice. In a way, she's right, I would have done that two years ago, but now I don't know. Medina has the skill and abilities of an Integrity Knight, but Eydis is a knight.

But since the end of the crisis, I hadn't acted to protect Medina once. Aside from one instance during the war, I didn't fight alongside Medina at all, whereas Eydis and I fought a group of assassins together (which Medina came to our aid at the very end, making that the one instance). The next time I saw Medina, she calmed me down from my lumberjacking and collapsed in my arms from her injuries and exhaustion. And during the rebellion, we led the attack on the Norlangarth castle, where I came to the aid of Ronie, Ilia, and Tiese who made it to the emperor's location first. My presence in the empire is because Medina asked me to come, but this is not for her, but for the empire as a whole. The empire Eydis should be protecting more than anyone.

I know what she's doing. Using Medina against me to get me to attack her with the side of me that's mysteriously taking a break right now. "Leave her out of this, Eydis."

"Then let me kill her."

"...What?"

Eydis fully faces me, her face blank as a fresh sheet of paper, her voice as cold as the Snild Snow Fields in the northern region of Wesdareth. "Let me kill her. Let me take someone precious to you as you have from me. Or whoever is equal for Alice's disappearance. Who do you care for so much... Mia? No... Oh, how about Kirito or Asuna? I can send either one of them back to your world early. Or if I pray hard enough, maybe Lady Lunaria might descend from the sun again and-"

With incredible speed, I cross a four-meter gap to Eydis and grab her by the throat, then take us into the sky as high as the treeline. Finally, the other side of me, the one that made the Crimson Warrior a murderer, appears as I push my thumb against Eydis' trachea. I'm sure my brown eyes are boiling red-hot right now. "You can threaten me, Asuna, or Kirito. I'll allow you to cross the line with Medina or Mia, but don't you dare speak that way about Koharu..." At that moment, I realize that Koharu or any of the goddesses sans Stacia aren't in this world. My anger is misguided, still fresh from the encounter with Vecta, that I'm distracted from Eydis' movements.

Not only is she not showing signs of trouble breathing, but an invisible blade pierces the left side of my abdomen. Shocked, I release and drop back down to the ground, quickly healing with one hand while Falchion is drawn with the other. Eydis lands on her feet, and with speed to match my own, holds her Dark Slash Sword for an overhead strike. The two blades ring against each other with a clang, a sharp relief for me. That mental distraction once again works against me as Eydis swings his sword, but not directly to hit me. She combines it with the power of the Aerial Element, sweeping me off my feet with the strength of a tornado. My back pummels through trees like I'm in a superhero movie and just got punched through buildings, and by the time I finally lose that momentum and drop to the ground, my body is beyond sore.

"Hnnng..."

"Come on, Mister Mage Knight. Fight me like you fought Medina if you want to protect her from me. If it wasn't for the First Children, I would have killed her then and there, but after watching her writhe from the agony of what lies in the darkest parts of her soul."

Eydis' voice is so cold and robotic, yet I can sense her normal prodding nature within. Whatever this side of her is, whatever made it appear, I have to defeat it. Standing up, I shake my head of any distractions and hold Falchion in front of me. Vindica will remain on my back for now, as holding both my sword and shield might be my undoing against a sword that can pass through metal.

True, I won't kill Eydis, and I doubt I have the fortitude to beat her like she's a Quinella, Subtilzer, or PoH, but I never back down from a fight, no matter who it is.

I see the debris from the trees breaking and dropping to the forest floor shift and angle my sword and body to block and avoid Eydis' sword. Once again, our swords collide like normal. I try to read her eyes, but they're so lifeless I'd do better looking at a corpse. Why isn't her sword passing through mine? It should. I haven't "reconfigured" Falchion to be uncuttable by the Dark Slash or Sheyta's former blade, the Dark Lily, and there's no indication she's holding back that power. All I can do is fight back and let our blades dance.

I do feel sorry for the forest, though, but I can't hold back my power and neither is Eydis.

"Shaaaaa!"

Eydis swings for my head, so I fly back to the edge of the river cutting through the woods. I land and hold my left hand out towards the flowing waters. "Generate Aerial Element. Combine Aqueous Element. Sphere Shape." Spherical pockets of water rise from the river, forming "bubbles" in the air between me and Eydis. Eydis sees no danger and launches toward me, and I burst the bubbles in response. She yelps as water sprays all over her, and that's when I make my next move.

Or I would've, had not an arrow-shaped mass of dark magic appeared from above me, piercing through the armor and flesh of my right arm. "Gah!" I drop Falchion, too enveloped in pain to care about it. It hurts worse than I expected, and I've had my fair share of arrows and other projectiles rip my body. But unlike ALO and GGO, there's no mechanism for blocking pain to the brain in the Soul Translator. So what might feel like a prick to the arm in those games feels nothing like being actually shot here in the Underworld.

But I've experienced my fair share of pain here too, but this feels like both body and soul are being attacked and ripped apart. For some reason, I don't think Eydis is the creator of the attack. Upon a second inspection of the arrow, it is not a dark arrow made of the Umbral arts, else it would have vanished by now, but a physical arrow surrounded by a dark aura.

Who the hell shot me? No, that's obvious as to who shot me, an ally of Eydis, but where the hell is the person who shot me?

Speaking of the Knight of the Abyss, she reappears as I leap to the far bank of the ten-foot river. She glances down to her feet, sees the discarded Falchion there, and picks it up. For a moment, a foolish one at that, I thought she'd throw it over to me, but that doesn't happen. Instead, she tosses it strongly to the east. I try to fly after it, but the pain tearing through my arm attacks my mental commands so unbearably I can hardly stand up, let alone fly.

Eydis, however, doesn't care. Soon as Falchion leaves her hand, she crosses the river on foot, stalking my retreating, wounded form like a lion to a wounded antelope. I can't focus long enough to create a substitute Incarnate Sword, let alone think long enough to project it. I do have short enough thoughts for fire off Thermal Arts, but the cold woman deflects them with peerless skill. I even try to create some space by bringing a tree down between us, but then she finally displays the fearsome power of her sword by thrusting through it and nearly impaling me. I'm saved by a few millimeters of air between my left arm and the tip of her sword. So she was holding back in that aspect. But why?

With no other option available to slow Eydis down, I make the assumption that she's not going to close the distance anytime soon. With that, I do the only thing I can do; remove the damned dark arrow from my arm. Flying back into a clearing, I create some space and get to work. Thinking hard enough to overcome the pain, I form an Incarnate Sword of sorts, though its better if I call it an Incarnate Dagger, and cut off the part of the shaft on the back of my arm. Dropping that arrow piece to the ground, I grab the arrowhead and pull it out. I thought it couldn't hurt more, but the entire sequence elicited a blood-curdling scream of agony.

But I feel my mind and body restored as one, and all I can think about is just how pissed off I am.

I strap Vindica to my left arm and glare at Eydis as she enters the clearing, the woman many decades my chronological senior staring icily with her crimson eyes. She knows, based on my tight right hand, I'm holding an Incarnate Sword, and that brings her advantage to null. I cannot speak for the Sheyta's sword, but the Dark Slash Sword can only cut through physical things. The Incarnate Sword is made of Incarnation, so there's no way her sword can phase through it. However, she's now stronger than me physically, and she lets me know that as she launches herself again at me. My shield vibrates from the impact, my weakened body almost not holding up, but once more I'm surprised Eydis' sword acts as a normal weapon. This time I don't let it get to the forefront of my mind as I leap into the air. Eydis leaps and ascends higher, knocking me down to the ground. I adjust to land on my feet at the last second, in time to block a third powerful strike from her. Sliding on my feet, I grit my teeth and hold my left hand forward, calling forth the maximum number of crystalline arts I can concentrate on. Forty or so spears appear around us, all pointed at Eydis. She pauses with a frown, probably wondering what I'm going to do.

I said I wouldn't kill her, but I never said I won't hurt her, and the way I'm feeling now, I can't take it out on anyone else.

"Discharge." All forty spears fly towards Eydis at once. I expect her to destroy a few of them, but there's no chance she can escape harm, so I relax and watch as she prepares to take on the spears. Then she does the unexpected.

"Enhance Armament."

I don't know if it was one swing or a series of swings, but as I see the purple light of Eydis' sword swirl in one spot, my jaw drops as all forty spears are destroyed without as much as a scratch on Eydis. No, she didn't cut them down, that was Sheyta's thing. The darkness that flows out of Eydis' blade swallows resources around it; she engulfed the spears into the darkness of her sword. My brave composure falters at that very moment. I've lost my weapon, and at the moment, that was my best-sacred art attack. Just...what is this side of her?

Eydis turns to me, and I shake my fear off, holding my shield up as she assumes a thrusting position. My attention to the tenth knight, my mind wavers just as a powerful presence enters my range of sensitivity. Eydis is right in front of me, Kirimai remains skyward and stays away from the fight, and though I sense them too, it's neither Medina, Ilia, nor anyone else I know. The presence is not just one person, but three in total, and I can sense their vile intent.

And the very next one is not someone's level of power, but a very painful, chilling sensation resulting from it. I look forward just as Eydis holds her sword up, the Dark Slash Sword surrounded by a dark blue aura and several holographic panels that indicate a Perfect Weapon Control maneuver. I hear two words escape from Eydis's mouth for the first time ever. "Release Recollection."

Before I realize it, I'm surrounded by darkness. But not just any kind of darkness, but a type of darkness that not even light can penetrate. I can't see the sun despite it being the middle of the morning. I can't see my hands, not even my nose. And far worse, it's not just dark...it's cold. Frigid. And it's heavy, like hundreds of feet of pressure are pushing me down. If this is where the stone from the bottom of the lake that makes the Dark Slash Sword was like, I hate it. It's too heavy that I can't move, too cold that I can't think about anything but moving, and too dark that I fear moving.

"Eydis... Gahhhhaaahhhhhhh!" After what feels like the inside of my body just exploded out, my head and chest pounded like a drum. Sinking to my feet, I groan and clutch my shoulder as the pain intensifies due to the arrow wound. The dark elements suck out the resources in my blood, weakening me to the point I can barely breathe.

"I was told this move was too dangerous to use. Once, it almost swallowed me, the cold, heavy darkness that is the power of this sword." That icy voice echoes in the darkness, but I can't tell where it comes from. Even if I tried, it was hard to move. "Welcome to the place where not even the light of Solus can penetrate. The abyss of your soul. I wonder what it will show you..."

Medina

Ilia and Medina hear the flapping of wings as traverse through a trail of fallen trees, shattered earth, and brunt grass. Gazing up, they see Kirimai, the dragon landing not too far away. "Come on Ilia!" They cross a small stream and continue running until arid air enters their nostrils. Not hearing the sounds of fighting, the disciple and page unsheathe their swords as they come to where Kirimai landed.

On one end of the wrecked woods kneels Eydis, the girl holding her head, gritting her teeth. She holds onto Kirimai's snout, struggling to stand up. Medina ignores her, searching for Jaymes. She hears a second series of grunts, coming from a tree. There, Jaymes lies, alive, unconscious, and far from well. Medina runs over to him, seeing he bears an open wound to his abdomen, a gash in his right arm, and is very pale for his dark complexion. "Ilia!"

"I got it." Medina's junior takes out her new dagger and holds it over Jaymes, using its power to heal his wounds. The bleeding stops, but his paleness and unconscious state remain.

Anger builds up in Medina as she reaches for the Mirage Blade and charges the now-standing Eydis. The Integrity Knight is warned too late by her dragon as Medina calls forth her petals, combines them into a whip, and ties them around Eydis' waist, yanking her back. Eydis rolls on the ground, grunting as Medina mounts her and grips her neck with her gloved hands. "Why! Why did you do this to him of all people?"

"Me...Medina..."

"He chose you, dammit! He chose to stick with you, and you've betrayed him far worse than I have! We are a team! You were my sister, my friend! Eydis! What did you do to him? Why are you against us? Why would you of all people harm Alice's hometown?"

"...Meddie..." Medina's rage takes a hit from hearing that form of her name come from Eydis' mouth. She blinks through her tears, seeing that Eydis' eyes are brimming with their own moisture. The cold eyes that she saw the other day are replaced by a regretful sadness as the tenth Integrity Knight tries to speak. "Medina, I'm so...so sorry."

Medina loosens her grip, surprised by the turn of events. "E-Eydis?"

"...Falchion. They wanted Falchion. Everything...has been to gain Jaymes' sword-Ahhhhh!" Eydis yelps and squirms underneath Medina, causing the noblewoman to stand suddenly in confusion. Just before she can ask what is wrong, she feels three strange presences approaching and draws her sword.

"Ilia, get Jaymes out of here!"

"No." Medina hears a sharp whoosh breeze past her left ear, then the following cry from the younger girl behind alarms her. Ilia's right shoulder has been punctured by a dark arrow, dropping her down to her knees. When Medina turns back, three figures that weren't there before stand around the writhing Eydis. She can see them so clearly now; a man in golden armor and blonde hair, like a male Alice; the dark-haired woman in silver armor; and now a second woman in lighter, emerald armor. Her short, greyish hair and dark eyes are trained on Medina as she holds up a bow with a sickening black aura. She shot Ilia, and based on one of his wounds, Jaymes as well.

"Well, well, Lady Orthinanos, you live," the man says. "A mongrel, just like your ancestor." He cuts his eyes to Jaymes, clicking his tongue. "A pathetic display from the man who bested both the usurper and the one who claimed to be Father, right?"

"Who are you?"

"Right, we didn't introduce ourselves when we last met, did we, Eva?" The man steps up and bows in a manner that reminds Medina of the defiler of her bloodline and his mannerisms. "I am Primus, the first son of this world. With me is my beloved Eva and my dear sister Stella, the first and fifth daughters born of this world, when the four gods lived here."

Medina almost denies Primus' claim outright, but those accusations hold in her throat., His acknowledgment of Jaymes and Matthew, the progenitor of her bloodline, calling Quinella a "usurper", she cannot deny what they hypothesized earlier that morning. But the question is how?

Jaymes says the Underworld, from the real world's perspective, is beyond four centuries old. He is more or less correct, as the Human Empire itself is 382 years old now based on the calendar. Quinella's reign came shortly after the formation of the empire and preceding that was the original presence of the Lord of Knights. That means Primus, Eva, and Stella were born long before then...the first children, taken care of by the gods long before the empire. That's how the stories of the realm's beginning go, and if what they claim is true, they are those very children, the sons and daughters of Stacia, Vecta, Solus, and Terraria.

Yet how are they still alive is the question. When Cardinal explained to her how Quinella became Administrator, the demigod was at the end of her natural life before she found the spell to revert to the beautiful, youthful form Medina knows. Blinking and taking a deep breath, Medina pushes those thoughts aside as she hears her disciple's pained voice. She can figure out the puzzle later, she has to get Jaymes and Ilia to safety.

"What... What do you want?"

Eva rolls her eyes. "What do we want? Like you deserve to know... Simply put, we're taking back what's ours. The empire. The dark world. We are the inheritors of the Underworld, stolen by that child and then by these outsiders. And we'll do anything possible to achieve it. Like turning friends against each other."

Medina gasps as Eva kneels beside Eydis and reaches for her. "Don't touch her! Haaa!" Medina charges and leaps in the air, her blade turning on fire as she spins. The Mirage hits steel instead of flesh, and not just any steel. Medina looks beyond her red blade to the one opposing it, from the familiar gleam in the sunlight down to the eight stones representing the elements of the world, and the golden hilt they occupy. Standing before her is Primus, and in his hands is Falchion.

"Let's test this Falchion. What's the spell word for the sword's power? Oh, right." Primus swings up, causing Medina to stumble back on her heels. Primus pivots on his heels and holds Falchion horizontally in line with his chest. "Enhance Armament!" Falchion impossibly responds with a heavenly glow, and he thrusts forward for Medina's exposed torso.

Just when Medina can feel the heat from the blade, time seems to slow down as Falchion is pushed upward. The earth rises in the space between Primus and Medina, projecting a wall between them. Falling on her back, Medina wonders what saved her as she hears thunder in the clear sky, followed by a series of flame arrows and beams of white light from the sky down to the other side of the wall.

And landing from the heavens is a chestnut-haired girl in a white dress, followed by a girl in grey light armor and red hair. Medina gasps as she recognizes them. "Asuna, Tiese..."

Asuna first looks towards Jaymes and Ilia, and Medina swears she sees a tinge of rage build up as she turns to the wall of earth and the bright mixture of light and flames beyond it. "...Tiese, grab Ilia and Jaymes, get them on Sir Renly's dragon."

"Yes ma'am!"

Asuna, with a fierce glare in her eyes, glances away from the wall to Medina and helps her to her feet. "C'mon, Medina. We have to go while we can." Medina wishes to argue that they have two very valuable possessions on the other side of the earthen wall, but Asuna's right. Their lives are far more important now. Saving Eydis and retrieving Falchion can come later. She and Asuna climb aboard a knight's dragon each, two of Fanatio's subordinates, and they take off in a hurry after Renly and his dragon. As Duesolbert and Fanatio's assault ceases, Asuna gives the order to return to Centoria, and the dragons fly southward.

Medina keeps her eyes on the ground, seeing the results of the two Integrity Knight's power. The enemy was kept in place, but it looks like they protected themselves. As the wall crumbles, the three figures face the retreating men and women. Furthermore, standing with the trio is Eydis, who reverted back to her new self.

For just a moment, she had her friend back, and it was taken as quickly as it was returned. They threatened her homeland, both Norlangarth and the empire as a whole, and harmed the hometown of Eugeo and Alice. And if that didn't cross the line, twice they hurt Ilia.

But they made one mistake, a mistake only held back by the urgency of the situation. They harmed Jaymes, and Medina, angry in her own right, now understands how fearsome the woman with the power of Stacia can be, and once Kirito hears of this... It will be a war. War for the right to control both the empire and the dark world. War between those born and raised by the gods versus those who descended from another world.

"Ah, they got away, and to think we got the knights to show up." Primus sighs and twirls his new blade in his fingers. "Thanks for protecting us, Eva."

"My skill in the arts needs its chance to shine. Using it to separate and isolate is boring." Eva crosses her arms and glances at Stella. "How's my little brother?"

"Father's favored child is doing well in the other realm. Made the dark worlders raise a little hell, but the swordsman delegate still lives. But that shouldn't be a problem now, right?"

"Heh, I don't think so. The arrow you shot him with contained just a fraction of his art as well as yours. Once he taps into it and sees what plagues the emperor's soul, we'll use it against him. You continue with your mission."

"Yes... And big brother, what is our next step? You have the sword."

Primus grins as he holds the sword up in the sunlight. "If the realms want to stand united, they will fall united. Now that I have this sword, we will continue taking what's ours. The world, both the light and the dark, will bow to us...or be destroyed and reborn. As the mothers and father will it."

"As the mothers and father will it."

"As the mothers and father will it."

The next day

Kirito steps outside of Medina's manor, coming out to an evening sky at the peak of sunset. Asuna sits below him on the steps, her face transfixed on the southern horizon where the capital city lies. He takes a seat beside her, wrapping his right arm around her shoulders and bringing her close. The last thirty or so hours have been stressful for her, and he only arrived back home just a couple of hours ago.

"...How is he?"

"He's slightly responsive, but otherwise not as bad as I was. But no matter what we think of, nothing is working."

Asuna sighs. "Then...the only person who can help him may be Eydis... Do you believe what Medina said, that she's being controlled, not aligned with the enemy of her own free will?"

Kirito nods. "Yes. If Medina believes that, I will too. But in case Medina is wrong, we'll stay vigilant. If we can capture her, we'll learn the truth. And speaking of the truth, it is true that the council had no idea about the bluethorn sickness despite several requests for aid. That does mean we have a mole in the cathedral. It's just a matter of finding out who."

"...We have to find and beat them, Kirito. I fear whatever the First Children are planning is not just to split the two worlds apart, but something far worse. We can't allow that to happen."

"Yeah. This battle is just beginning."

"Battle?" The voice of Medina says softly from behind the pair. Her eyes lift up from them to the southern horizon, then shifts to the east. "Just a battle, you say? No, Kirito, this is not a battle. They've made their move on both sides, and we have to make ours. The war for the Underworld has begun..."

"I wonder what lies in the darkness of your soul, boy. And once I find it, how fun it'll be to change those memories to suit our purpose..."

My eyelids shoot open, seeing the darkness around me has disappeared. I'm in a forest, but it's not the same forest as the one south of Rulid Village. No, this one is too familiar... From the wooden porch, the lone rocking chair, the exterior of the wooden cabin as a whole... This is the cabin Asuna and Kirito have bought twice over on Old and New Aincrad.

Wondering how I'm here, I walk inside. The lit interior is furnished as I remember it. The only thing missing is the fairy forms of Kirito, Asuna, the rest of the gang, and Yui seated on the couches. As I put my hand out over the back of a couch, I notice my elbow is covered by a long-sleeved black shirt and chainmail instead of being bare. Looking down over the rest of my body, I realize my armor is that of my final Sword Art Online set, the one created by Lisbeth before I rejoined the front lines on the fifty-six floor.

"Welcome home, Jaymes."

That voice... My eyesight lifted from my feet towards the kitchen area. It targets a raven-haired girl with emerald eyes glancing back at me with a happy smile. She wears a maid's attire and sets down a tray of bread and a pitcher on the nearby table.

"K...Koharu?" My surprise freezes me as she walks over to me and takes my head in her hands. Unable or unwilling to react, I feel my cold lips embraced by the warmth of Koharu's, and that thaws the ice in my body. I reciprocate the kiss, no longer caring about what is going on in my mind. I no longer care that Koharu and I are mysteriously in the cabin of Kirito and Asuna alone. I no longer care that I shouldn't be on Aincrad, that Koharu (to most of the world) should be dead, and that I spent two years lamenting her death. I no longer care that Kirito, Asuna, and I should be in a place called Underworld, and I just fought and lost to a woman named Eydis.

Right now, all that feels like a bad dream. No, it is a bad dream. Those events that I remember-SAO, ALO, GGO, SA:O, OS, Underworld-are all the memories of another version of me.

I let her lips go but keep our foreheads close together. I raise my hand to her lengthy hair, reaffirming what I feel is real. "Is this...not a dream?"

"What do you mean, dummy?"

"I... I thought, by now, you'd be dead..."

"Not yet... Though you've protected me from everyone who has sought to kill me. Ever since I got the curse on the sixty-first floor, I've been scared that someone would end my life, but you've killed them all. Even some of our friends too..." I feel a liquid heat in my hands and on my abdomen. My attention is first on my hands as I remove them from Koharu's head. I can barely make out the leather black gauntlets that cover them as a seemingly endless amount of blood flows from my palms. Yet before I get a chance to freak out, my peripheral vision spots a similar color coming from Koharu's abdomen.

"K-Koharu!" She falls weakly against me. I drop down to the floor to hold her up, then hold my right hand up in the air and swipe to the right to bring up the system menu. Yet it never appears, frustrating me as I look down on her pale face. "Stay with me!"

"It's...okay..."

"No..." Who could have done this? It wasn't me, my sword is on my back. Who could have done this?

My eyes see a thin trail of blood coming from Koharu's body. I follow it, and the next thing I see is a dark broadsword held by a boy wearing all black and a thin, glistening rapier held by a girl in white and red. My fright immediately switches to rage as I glare at the remorseless black and brown eyes bearing down on me and Koharu. "Kirito... Asuna... I'm going to kill you both!"

"And kill them you shall, as the mothers and father will it."

I previously planned for two separate stories, but I've decided to combine the two parts into one story, so War of Underworld: Revenge of the First Children will begin in the next chapter. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.