Wyvern's Inferno stood outside the gates of Castle Polusca. Despite it already being a rather eventful day, it was still only around 5 pm. Normally they would have decided to stay the night in the castle and set off the next morning. But the front lines were already well ahead of them, and they needed to make tracks if they wanted any hope of making it in time for the boss fight.
"Are you sure you must depart so soon?" Saripha asked.
"Unfortunately." Alice told her. "But even leaving now, I'm not sure we can catch up to the others in time before they go into the labyrinth tower."
Ren had already sent a message out to Argo, asking for where the frontlines were. He was surprised to find out that the ALS and DKB were on their way to the fifth and final area of Floor 6, which was where she was right now. Apparently, the two main guilds had gone back to Goskai to refuel not too long ago while she had gone on ahead to scout things out. There should have been a field boss in between the mountain range and the town, but when Argo had arrived there was no sign of it. Instead there was a pile of tiny cubes, which they could only assume had been the boss's body.
In other words, there were no roadblocks to slow down the ALS and DKB while Ren and Wyvern's Inferno caught up.
Saripha reached into her pocket and pulled out a bottle. "Here. Take this. It should help you reach your comrades quicker."
Ren took the bottle and widened his eyes as he recognized it. It was the same Drops of Villi that they had used earlier that day to cross the lake in the middle of the floor. Using these, they would be able to skip right over the fourth section and make their way straight to the fifth. "Are you sure about this? Isn't this a great treasure of your people?"
Saripha shook her head. "Compared to what you all have done for us, this is nothing." she said. "You helped me expose more of the dark secrets my people are hiding. It is unfortunate what happened to Lord Polusca, as he cannot tell us more now, but now I know things are not so black and white as I once believed."
"It was our pleasure." Riku said.
"We'll be sure to see you on the next Floor too." Mai told her. "After we kick the guardian of this floor's butt."
Saripha let out a giggle. "Very well. Then I will eagerly await our next meeting."
The guild began making their way out into the fields of the third area. They waved goodbye to their forest elf companion and began making their way to the center lake.
The forest elf higher ups secretly colluding with the fallen elves was certainly a cause for concern. But there was something else that was troubling Ren as they ran. There were players at Castle Polusca with the fallen elf. Members of the PKer group at that. There had been no specific time requirement for getting the Agate Key, meaning they must have gone there on their own quest. It was extremely unlikely that the fallen elf murdering Polusca was how the original quest line was supposed to play out. Despite that, the window for clearing the quest popped up soon after the death of the fallen elf.
Was it possible for the Cardinal System to change quest details on the fly? Was it the work of Kayaba himself somewhere? And even more pressingly, what other dangers might the team up of the PKers and fallen elves present in the future? There were too many questions and nowhere near enough answers.
Wyvern's Inferno thankfully managed to reach the lake in just under an hour. They applied the Drops of Villi onto the soles of their boots and carefully stepped onto the water. They had done it just hours ago, but the threat of the starfish monster waiting at the bottom of the lake was more than enough reason to use extreme caution.
Step by step the party of five slowly made their way across the lake. Just as Ren felt he was getting a good rhythm going however, he was startled as a message window popped up before him. He nearly lost his balance and broke the water surface, but managed to recover just in time. After making sure none of his guildmates had been startled by it either, Ren opened the message.
[Where are ya right now? -Argo]
Ren narrowed his eyes. Usually it was him asking Argo the questions, not the other way around. On top of that, it wasn't like her to ask his location. But given that it was Argo, he decided to just go with it and answer.
[Should be in the fifth area within ten minutes. Taking a shortcut.]
Not even a minute later, a reply came from Argo.
[Meet up in the village there. Currently waiting with Ki-bou and Asuna. I'll explain details when you arrive. P.S. You better give me the details on that shortcut later. -Argo]
Ren couldn't help but be curious as to why Argo wanted to meet with them, but as her message stated all would be explained once they arrived. They quickly - yet very carefully - continued their trek across the lake, and once they were safely on land they hurried across the desert land of the fifth area.
Between running and fighting the lizard and snake mobs that appeared every so often, it took Wyvern's Inferno roughly forty-five minutes before they finally arrived at the village of Murutsuki. It didn't take them long to locate Argo as she was sitting at a food stall with Kirito and Asuna. With them however was someone none of them recognized. It was a young girl who seemed to be around Mai's age, possibly younger. She had short blonde hair and she seemed to have some sort of mask resting on top of her head. But the interesting part was the yellow cursor above her head, signifying that she was a NPC.
"Yo." Ren greeted with a wave. "Hope we didn't keep you guys waiting too long."
"Well you all got here before ALS or DKB so that's something at least." Argo told them. "Alright, let's make trails. We'll explain to you on the way."
"Seriously? We just finished walking across a freaking desert." Helios groaned. "Where the hell are we going in such a rush anyway?"
"The labyrinth tower." Kirito explained. "We're a little short on time, so the explanation will have to come on the road."
Reluctantly, Wyvern's Inferno gave in and after a quick resupply the group all began hurrying to the labyrinth tower. As promised, Kirito explained what they had been up to on the sixth floor so far.
The NPC girl, whose name was Myia, was the daughter of Cylon, the NPC related to the main quest of the Floor. The reason that Wyvern's Inferno and several other latecomers had trouble proceeding with the quest was due to Cylon being killed by Morte and another PKer during an attempt on Kirito and Asuna's lives. In a normal game, it would have only affected Kirito and Asuna's quest and Cylon would simply respawn at his mansion for everyone else. But as it turned out, SAO had somehow used Cylon's death to alter the quest for them, which resulted in them meeting Myia. It had come with the unfortunate consequence of ruining everyone else's chances at the quest, but there was no helping that at this point. Currently, they suspected Myia's mother - a woman named Theano - was taking a cube item that the quest revolved around to the labyrinth tower, though for what purpose they still didn't know.
The alterations to the Cylon quest gave Ren's theory of the Cardinal System somehow being able to change quest details on the fly a little more ground. He told them about their encounter with the PKers during the elf quest and how the main storyline must have changed for it to still be cleared. According to Argo's knowledge of the elf quests from the beta, it was indeed different than what was supposed to happen, but Saripha was already such an unknown factor that she alone had already been creating slight changes to the beta plot.
Before long, the group finally arrived at the labyrinth tower. But as they went inside, they were treated to an unexpected surprise.
In accordance with the aesthetic of the Floor, the labyrinth tower had several puzzles players needed to solve in order to unlock the way forward. Or at least, that was supposed to be the case. But the first door set as the puzzle in the tower was completely disintegrated. As they proceeded further, the same held true for the other puzzles in the tower as well. They could only assume it was the work of Theano, who was also likely responsible for the field boss of the fifth area being destroyed as well.
Not having to solve the puzzles was an unexpected bonus as the group simply followed the opened corridors, fighting the weaker mobs that appeared along the way. Despite looking like a frail little girl, Myia turned out to be stronger than any of them there, sitting at a level of 23. Ren and the members of Wyvern's Inferno were only around level 18 themselves.
Alice for one was grateful to the mobs as they allowed her to regain the familiar feeling of her Sparrow's Light sword that she had recovered. Although the Cruel Cutlass she had swiped off Davide on Floor 5 had served her well, Alice greatly preferred her own weapon. The PKer using it had gotten it upgraded by 1 point to Heaviness since taking it from Alice, an upgrade she personally didn't care for, but with it currently being at +4 she still had plenty of other upgrade chances left.
After fighting their way up nine floors of the labyrinth tower, the group finally arrived at the tenth and final one, which mostly just consisted of the boss room. And just as expected, Theano was running up towards the door.
Myia called out to her fellow NPC. "Mother!"
Hearing her daughter's voice, Theano stopped and turned to face the group. "Myia… Kirito… I had a feeling you would chase after me, but I did not expect you to actually catch up."
Kirito stepped forward. "Theano, I don't know exactly what it is you're trying to accomplish, but please don't charge in recklessly alone. If not for our sake, then for Myia's."
Myia stared at the group briefly before focusing on her daughter. "You've gotten so strong, Myia. I'm sorry for disappearing without a word… but this is my role." She held out a small cube in her hand, presumably the same one that Kirito had mentioned was tied to Cylon's quest. "As long as this cube exists, the cursed puzzles of Stachion will never disappear, and the bloody battle over inheritance will continue. With Cylon dead, there is no one to break the curse. It must be destroyed."
"But how?" Kirito asked. "What are you going to do with it?"
"The cube cannot be destroyed in this state. But if returned to the place it originally belonged, the power that protects it will vanish."
"The room where it belonged…?" Asuna questioned. "Is that the boss chamber… the room where the guardian resides?"
"Not quite.." Theano explained. "The place where it belongs is not in the room, but the creature itself. This cube was originally part of the guardian."
"Hang on a sec." Argo interrupted. "What exactly will happen when we return that cube to the guardian? You don't think it'll get super tough that it'll be impossible to defeat, do ya?"
Theano looked at Argo and Wyvern's Inferno. "You are all adventurers, correct? I presume you are planning to defeat the guardian and move on to the next floor. In that case, you should have no cause for concern. Returning the cube will cause the boss to move and attack, but that is a good thing for you. For without the cube in its body, the guardian is protected by an unseen charm that protects it from all harm."
"... WHAT?!" the group exclaimed in unison.
It was surprising information to be sure. Without the cube, beating the boss would be impossible. Ren couldn't help but wonder if a similar situation to this was supposed to play out in the original quest line. Would Myia and Theano still have come to this place? Or perhaps the players that completed the quest would gain the cube themselves. Regardless, it was fortunate they had caught up with Theano in time.
"In that case, let us help." Kirito told Theano. "We'll all work together and destroy the guardian and cube once and for all."
Theano nodded her head. "Very well. I had planned to take on the guardian alone, but I can see now that was foolish of me. I will gladly accept your help."
Soon after, faint voices were heard from lower in the tower. "Sounds like the ALS and DKB are catching up." Argo said. "We might as well wait for them to give ourselves a full raid party."
"Sounds like a plan." Ren nodded.
Fifteen minutes passed before the two major frontline guilds finally arrived. After they did, Kirito gave Kibao and Lind a brief explanation of the situation. They then began working out formations and a strategy.
According to Kirito, the boss in the beta had been a giant rubix cube known as The Irregular Cube. The strategy to beating it was relatively straightforward. Attacking areas of the boss would move it around just like a normal rubix cube. Once the cube was "solved", the boss would be in a heavily weakened state. Of course, all of the bosses in each floor so far had changed in some way or form so it was foolish to expect it to be exactly the same. But they would simply have to figure it out as they fought.
Once everyone was set, the group entered the room. Theano had joined Kirito and Asuna's party, sitting at an incredibly high level of 32. If nothing else, her presence would make defeating the boss significantly easier.
Sitting in the center of the room was a black cube, about half a meter long per side. On one of its faces was a small opening, likely where the cube Theano had was supposed to fit. A quick look around from Argo told them that a similar opening was present on the other side as well.
Theano cautiously inserted the item into the cube. Then, suddenly, the air began to ring. Everyone moved back quickly as the boss's body began to levitate into the air. It gradually began to spin, starting slow and then speeding up to where it was spinning rapidly like a top. A series of cubes began to appear out of thin air and covered the boss's body. Twenty-six in total. They formed a golden exterior. Lines of light showed their perimeter, forming nine squares on each side of the boss. Next, numbers began to appear on each square. A name formed above the boss's head.
The Irrational Cube
"So much for the rubix cube style." Helios groaned. "What the hell are we supposed to do now?"
"Maybe we're supposed to make each side have the same number rather than color?" Mai suggested.
"Won't work. The numbers go up to nine." Argo pointed out.
As the raid party wondered what to do, Three of the boss's eight corners shined with a pale gray light. It formed lines across the room.
Oh shit. Ren realized. "Evade!"
The players near the lines quickly acted and moved. Just in time too as seconds later read lasers shot out along the gray lines. Small explosions occurred at each point of impact.
"Seriously?!" Riku exclaimed.
Seeing an opening to attack, one of the players rushed in and assaulted the boss with a sword skill. But the attack failed to do even one tiny pixel of damage. Instead, the numbered cubes along the line of attack each rotated. Gaining hate from the boss, the player that attacked was soon on the receiving end of a laser attack, dealing massive damage to their HP.
Ren considered their options. Given how different the nature of this boss was, it was probably best to fall back for now and go over potential strategies of what they were supposed to do. But as he turned around, he was greeted with an unfortunate surprise.
The doors to the room were shut tight.
"Well that's going to be a problem." Ren muttered to himself.
Just as he was beginning to wonder what they should do however, the two large closed doors shined with light. A series of 9x9 grids appeared on the doors, with some having numbers filled in and some blank. Kirito and Asuna were also staring at the door and came to the same conclusion Ren had simultaneously.
"Sudoku puzzles!"
Ren took a quick look at the doors. Going off a quick count by multiplying the rows and columns, there were a total of 729 puzzles on the doors. "So we need to solve these to even have an option of escape? How long will these take?"
"Going at a glance, these seem like maximum difficulty ones. It'll probably take on average twenty minutes per puzzle." Kirito estimated.
Asuna quickly did the calculations in her head. "That's nearly ten days! Even if we got ten members to work on them simultaneously, we'd have to hold out for a full twenty-four hours!"
The situation was gradually getting worse. Taking away ten players from their raid party alone was going to make things difficult, but on top of that the remaining players would need to keep aggro off of them for a full day? Would it even be possible for them to dodge the lasers for that long without losing focus?
Just as their chances were beginning to reach an all time low, a new voice spoke up. "We'll do it." The three heads turned to the NPC duo with them. Theano and Myia. "Leave the puzzles to us."
"You… You two are sure you can solve these?" Ren asked.
"No problem." Myia said. She walked up to the door and quickly began working on one of the puzzles. Kirito had estimated each one would take nearly twenty minutes, but to their shock and awe, Myia had completed it in just ten seconds.
Kirito gasped in amazement. "No way… How did you solve it that fast?"
"Well, I did grow up in Stachion. Solving puzzles has kind of been a way of life." Myia explained.
Ren did a quick calculation. Assuming ten seconds per puzzle, it would take a total of a little over 120 minutes, so roughly two hours. If Theano was as fast as Myia with these, the two of them together could solve all of the puzzles in about an hour. It would still be tough, but he would take having to occupy the boss for an hour over a day anytime.
"Alright, we'll leave it to you then." Ren told them. He turned and shouted out to the raid group. "We have a plan! Hold out for an hour, and the doors should be open! Keep the boss away from the doors at all costs!"
Needless to say, morale was not exactly high after hearing that. But they didn't have much choice in the matter. Those that had a stronger will like Kibao and Lind gave an affirmative nod and started ordering their parties accordingly.
Kirito rushed into the fray, planning to keep some of the boss's aggro on him and off the other raid members. As Asuna was about to join him, she felt Ren grab at her arm. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Retreat or not, I have a feeling changing around the numbers on the individual cubes must be key to beating the boss." Ren told her. "In that case, memorizing the numbers of each cube is going to be important."
Asuna nodded, understanding where he was going with this. "Can we leave that to you?"
"Memorizing every single one is going to be tough for me, even assuming we can ignore the middle one on the top and bottom faces each." He pointed his sword at the boss. "How does two faces each sound?"
Asuna replied with a nod. "Leave it to me."
With that, Ren and Asuna split up. Ren rushed over to his guildmates. Alice was the first to speak up. "What's our game plan, Ren."
"Theano and Myia should have the puzzles on the doors solved in roughly an hour." Ren explained. "Asuna and I are going to try and memorize the number patterns on the exterior cubes of the boss in the meantime."
"Got it. In that case, you hang back while we reveal those numbers." Mai told him. She pointed her rapier at the boss. "Alright, Wyvern's Inferno! Time to crunch some numbers!"
A long pause of awkward silence fell among the party of five. Helios responded by mockingly patting the little girl's head. "Maybe you should leave the one-liners to the pros, squirt."
"Just shut up and let's go!"
Ren watched as his four guildmates charged at the boss together. While he wasn't a fan of letting others brace danger while he stood safely in the back, he knew how important it was to memorize the cubes if they were going to increase their chances of defeating the boss.
The hour that followed felt like the longest one the members of the raid party had ever experienced. Not being able to damage the boss or flee was irritating beyond belief, but they held their ground. The laser attacks of the boss brought their fair share of trouble. Those that were injured retreated to the outer wall while those still able to fight did everything they could to keep the boss's attention away from those at the wall. Slowly but surely, Myia and Theano worked their way through the numerous sudoku puzzles, Theano doing the higher ones and Myia doing the lower ones.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a shout came from Myia. "This is the last one!"
Seconds later, Myia put in the last number for her final puzzle. As she did, the numbers on the wall began to glow. A line shined down the center and a rumble went through the entire room before finally a click was heard, as if signaling that the doors were finally unlocked.
Lind shouted to the group. "Alright, everyone into the hall! Players still healing go first!"
Ren breathed a sigh of relief. Now that they could escape, they could catch their breath and potentially try again later if need be. However, as players began to rush for the door, a shout was heard from Kirito.
"Wait! Stop!"
The infamous beater quickly rushed to the front of the group. The other players stared at him in annoyance, wondering what was going through his head. But it turned out Kirito had been right to tell them to pause their retreat. Over half of the numbers on the door burned away and soon the grids reformed into something else. It didn't take long before their new form was revealed.
Nine new sudoku puzzles. The same as the number of cubes on a single face of The Irrational Cube.
Lind quickly realized what was going on as well and gave new orders. "Retreat canceled! If you're still healing, continue to do so! Those that aren't, remake the formation!"
"Myia! Theano! Handle those puzzles as well!" Kirito told them. The two NPCs nodded and went right back to work.
Thankfully, with their same speed as before, the mother and daughter finished the puzzles in a little over a minute. After that, one number from each puzzle shined brightly. It wasn't hard to guess which face they were supposed to line up the numbers on. After the original 729 puzzles had been solved, three of the four vertical faces of The Irrational Cube had grown limbs made of cubes as well, while the last face shone brightly.
The glowing face was one of the ones Ren had memorized. He and Asuna shared a quick glance before nodding to each other. They both moved towards the doors. Asuna quickly told Ren the numbers
"From left to right starting at the top, it's eight, three, four, one, five, nine, six, seven, two."
"Got it." Ren confirmed. He took a look at the glowing face of the boss, doing his best to remember which numbers were on each face. After a few seconds, he called out orders. "Don't attack them randomly! First rotate the top left one to the right!"
A short silence followed, but soon after a collective roar sounded throughout the room as everyone charged. The parties worked together, rotating the numbered cubes as instructed.
Bit by bit, Ren gave out orders. Asuna stayed with him to give him reminders of numbers as needed. It had been a long fight so far, but if they could complete this, the end would be in sight. They just needed to hang back and tell the other players how to attack the boss.
Of course it couldn't be that easy.
As if somehow able to realize what Ren and Asuna were doing after over half of the puzzle had been solved, The Irrational Cube focused a number of its lasers on the two of them.
"Oh, son of a-" Ren complained, not bothering to finish as he and Asuna quickly evaded the lasers. "I guess this is what we get for sitting back the whole fight so far."
Ren ducked under an incoming laser with a roll. But the boss seemed to have anticipated his dodge as a second laser fired in the area he was headed.
"Augh!" Ren cried out as he took the brunt of an explosion from the laser. His body tumbled along the ground and he watched his HP bar plummet straight into the yellow.
As he was picking himself up off the ground, another laser honed in on him. Luckily, Asuna acted quickly and sped in, grabbing him and pulling him away before the attack could hit him.
"Thanks, Asuna. I owe you one." Ren said with a sigh of relief.
"Don't mention it." Asuna told him. "Now come on. We've still got a job to do."
Ren nodded and the duo took off running. They did their best to evade the lasers and continue their teamwork in solving the puzzle. Ren quickly guzzled down a potion to start recovering some of his lost HP.
Bit by bit, the raid party continued to attack as directed by Ren and Asuna. Finally, there was only one movement left to make.
"Last one! Center column! Strike all blocks down!"
"Got it!" Lind and Kibao shouted simultaneously. The two swordsmen charged forward together, clearly not willing to let the other have the glory of the final move. They leaped up together and swung their swords down the center column of cubes. Just like that, the final ones clicked into place.
The numbers on the face of the boss shined brightly as everyone was forced to shield their eyes. Seconds later, the exterior blocks shattered away. All that was left now was the original black cube they had seen upon first entering the room. The Irrational Cube grew out new arms from each of its sides, all of which let out an ear-piercing shrieking sound.
"It's the home stretch! Let's finish this!" Ren shouted as the shriek finally died down.
"YEAH!"
With the boss finally able to be damaged, everyone charged. They dodged the arms and assaulted the boss with sword skills. The boss's health dropped rapidly, balancing out the fact that they hadn't been able to do a thing to it for the past hour or so. In less than ten minutes, the boss's HP was already in the red.
Just as there was a single pixel of health left however, The Irrational Cube went berserk. Its six arms swung around wildly, while lasers were being fired from all eight of its corners. After a few seconds, the attacks died down and the boss fell quiet.
"Is… that it?" someone asked.
A single player rushed in, likely aiming to get the last attack bonus. They were dressed in silver and blue, signifying that they were a part of the DKB. It was a bit reckless, but as long as they finished it off, the long battle would finally be over.
However, they didn't go for their main weapon. Instead, they pulled out a silver key. Moving to the side of the boss opposite from the golden cube Theano had first inserted, the player stuck the key in the opening. A faint click was heard as the golden cube fell out from the boss.
Ren couldn't figure out what he was doing. Without the cube inside the boss, it couldn't be damaged. It made no sense. It was completely counter-productive to winning the boss fight.
And then Ren realized it. That was the point.
They knew already from their clash at Castle Polusca that PKers had infiltrated the front lines. He just hadn't expected them to try pulling any obvious stunt during a boss fight. But of course, that had been naive of him.
Kirito and Theano had already realized the danger and were rushing forward. Just as Ren was about to join them however, the player grabbed the cube, lifted it into the air and shouted.
"Bind!"
In that instant, Ren suddenly felt his feet glued to the floor. He looked down and saw that cubes were covering his feet, trapping him and keeping him immobilized. It wasn't just his legs though. His entire body felt like an immovable stone statue all of a sudden. Next to his HP bar, he saw a new debuff icon of a human figure trapped in a cube. Glancing around, he saw that everyone else was in a similar situation.
Having inflicted a debuff on an entire raid party of players, the one holding the cube gained an orange cursor and his name became visible. The name read Buxum, which Ren couldn't recall seeing before. Buxum drew his longsword and began walking towards Theano.
He's going to kill her?! Why?! She's a NPC!
Ren tried to move with all his might, but to no avail. Buxum probably wasn't going to stop with Theano. With the entire raid party bound like this, nothing could stop him from easily murdering every single person there, NPC or player. Perhaps he was just getting rid of the enemy with the highest level first.
Was this really how it was going to end? Were they all going to die in this convoluted plot by Buxum and his pals? Ren racked his brain for some sort of plan, but nothing came to mind. Unless he got rid of this debuff, he was stuck.
Just then however, Ren noticed a slight bit of movement from Kirito. It was faint, but Kirito was slowly managing to move. Then, out of nowhere, the cubes at his feet shattered and Kirito lunged forward, sword drawn.
"Raaaaaahhhh!"
With a clean slash, Kirito cut off Buxum's arm holding the sword. Buxum, as well as everyone else there, gasped in shock. Before Buxum could attempt to reapply the debuff to Kirito, the black-haired swordsman dashed past Buxum once again, severing the arm holding the cube. Realizing his plan had failed, Buxum rushed for the door.
"Oh not you don't!" Kirito shouted, but as he took a couple steps, he fell over. Clearly it had taken a lot out of him just to break through the binding debuff, however he had managed to accomplish it. Buxum kicked the door open and just like that he was gone.
Buxum escaping had been unfortunate, but at least everyone was safe. Kirito walked over to the cube, picked it up, and reinserted it into the boss's body. A single hit from the pummel of his sword took out the last pixel of remaining HP and just like that the boss shattered. The cubes binding everyone's feet also broke apart with it and just like that everyone was free.
A collective cheer sounded through the room. Ren let out a sigh of relief, glad that they had all managed to survive even with the stunning development at the very end.
A window popped up in front of Ren, detailing the experience and drops he had gotten from the raid, as well as the fact that he had risen to level 19. But he quickly closed it and walked over to Kirito. Like him, the black swordsman seemed more tired than celebratory.
"Kirito… we can't keep this a secret anymore." Ren told him. "We have to tell the main guilds about the PKers."
Kirito nodded his head, a serious expression on his face. "I know."
A/N: And with that, Floor 6 is over. Next up is Floor 7. Though I will be keeping the setting for Floor 7 the same as the light novels, I will be starting to deviate from events involving the original cast being relatively the same as in the light novels and moving onto more original stuff on the side. But before we move onto Floor 7, I have a little something special planned for next chapter. One involving a character that anyone who's read I Will Not Bow will remember but has so far not made an appearance in this Progressive version. See you then, readers.