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of-B'lack-M'agick- Feel free to knock yourself out writing that. I don't mind people playing around with this little monster I've created at all!

His jaw tightens as the situation sinks in, as he realizes he's getting further from his goal, "... Well, the event might take us back in that direction?"

It was a long shot, and they both knew it, but his sister thankfully chooses not to point that out, "... It's a possibility." Then her eyes widen, "Though, if we're going in the opposite direction, then..." Without finishing she turns around quickly and looks up before gasping in astonishment, "... The pictures don't do it justice…"

He turns to see what's got his sister's attention, only for his jaw to drop. Ahead and above them dangling from the roof, was a large structure of ice, absolutely massive branches, or rather roots were woven around it holding it in place. He could just barely make out several pinpricks of light seemingly trapped inside the ice, creating the illusion of a massive majestic eye.

He stares at it with wide eyes, "What…. What is that thing?"

Leafa's tone is breathy awe when she replies, "They're the roots of the World Tree or at least some of them. No one really knows what the icicle is supposed to be, but look, do you see? You can just barely make out what looks like corridors. It's speculated that the icicle is a dungeon of some sort, but since you can't fly here, no one knows for sure, because no one has found a way to get to it, and there's been nothing from the developers either…" She sighs lightly, "Which means that this… Evil God… is taking us to the center of the world. It's technically our final destination, but…."

Kirito sighs, "Since there's no way up, we'll have to backtrack to get back up to Alfheim, and then head to the World Tree. It does us no good to go to the center of the world in Jötunheimr."

His sister nods reluctantly, "I'm sorry Onii-chan. I wish it were as simple as that, but the center of Jötunheimr and the center of Alfheim aren't directly connected to one another to my knowledge…"

He grins lightly at her, "Leafa… Do we have to have the 'who's to blame' conversation again, because I will tickle you mercilessly."

That gets a small smile out of her as she shakes her head, then she focuses on something behind him and stiffens. Turning to see what it is, he tenses up as well when he realizes that there's another Evil God not even twenty meters away, staring at them. It wasn't like their jellyfish friend or the giant, but it was definitely a beast type, rather than a humanoid type. A moment later he's absolutely baffled when it just turns and walks away.

He shares a look with his sister, then hesitantly throws out, "Maybe it's because we're with this Evil God? As in, while we're doing the event with Tonkii they won't attack. If that's the case though, it would be really useful if it was going the other way…"

His sister tilts her head thoughtfully, "I guess so…." Then she suddenly frowns, "Hey…" He turns to look at her, and she returns his gaze with utmost seriousness, "Let's give it a name! It's gotta be cute though." He gives her a baffled look, unsure how to respond to that, so she hurriedly explains, "I mean, we may have saved it, but it saved us too, you know? And it's been so friendly… It just doesn't feel right to call it 'this Evil God'." He nods slowly then starts wracking his head for a name that would fit a jellyfish. His sister seems to be going from the other angle though, as she starts muttering, "Elephant-like… Elephant-like…."

As he shifts his thought process to elephant names, he recalls a book Sugu used to own that their mother read to her, and without thinking about it, blurts out the name, "Tonkii."

His sister looks at him blankly for a second then seems to recall the book in question and grimaces. Not that he can blame her, he'd winced almost as soon as the suggestion had left his mouth. The story of Tonkii the elephant had not been a happy one. The story was that at the end of a long war, an order was given to dispose of the fiercer animals at the zoo. The crying zookeeper put the poison into the animals feed, but the smart elephant Tonkii refused to eat it, eventually starving to death.(1) Their mom always cried when she'd reached that part of the story, and he honestly hadn't understood why, amidst all the other more normal children's books they owned, she'd chosen to read something like that to Sugu, who was just a child. He'd asked once, and her response had been that she wanted to teach Sugu that there wasn't always a happy ending, that life wasn't always fair. Of course, his next question had been why she'd never read anything like that to him, why she'd only read optimistic happy stories to him. She'd smiled with a touch of bitterness and told him it was because he already understood that, even without her telling him.

His sister shakes her head slightly, "... I don't think that name will bring us any luck…"

He nods lightly, "Yea, but it was the first thing that came to mind…"

Leafa furrows her brow in thought, then sighs, "I can't think of anything else either… Tonkii it is then!" His sister smiles cheerfully as she runs her hands over the fur beneath them, "Hey, Evil God-kun, from now on, we're gonna call you Tonkii, ok?"

Of course, it doesn't respond, but it also doesn't protest the name in any way, so they both just choose to assume it's accepting of it. Yui flies down to be in front of its face, then happily greets it, "Hello Tonkii-san! It's nice to meet you! Please take good care of us!"

As though it understood, though it was probably just good timing, Tonkii moves the gill flaps on either side of its head. Yui drifts back up to him happily and climbs back into his pocket. For a while they simply continue on, occasionally coming across more Evil Gods, but much like the first they'd seen since Tonkii had picked them up, they just stared at them for a moment before ambling off. They didn't come across any more giants, thankfully, but they did come across a couple more like Tonkii.

After a solid twenty minutes, Kirito begins to doze off again, but only a couple seconds later something cold is shoved down his shirt and he jumps to his feet in surprise, "Cold!" His sister chuckles lightly, and he glares at her a bit, "That was mean."

She shrugs, "It's what you get for dozing off… Anyway, I noticed that none of the other Evil Gods are attacking Tonkii, but that brings up the question of why the giant did."

He tilts his head in thought, "... Did you see anymore humanoid Evil Gods? I didn't before I started dozing off…"

Leafa shakes her head at that, "No… Do you suppose that's what it was? That the only ones that fight each other are the humanoids and beast types?"

He nods slowly, "It's a possibility… It could also be that the giants only attack Tonkii's type… I don't know about you, but I haven't seen that many like Tonkii around, and I haven't seen any more giants, so there's really no way of knowing…. Unless you've heard something about this event before?"

His sister shakes her head though, "No… As I said earlier, Jötunheimr is new. Not to mention… With its difficulty, only the best players hunt here. If a normal hunting party had come across Tonkii's battle with the giant, they likely would've just watched the fight, then fought the giant after Tonkii was killed…"

Kirito nods at that, "Then only the designer and Tonkii know how this event will end, so I suppose there's nothing to do but let it play out."

His sister nods but doesn't say anything, so he simply flops back, using his arms as a pillow. A moment later, he feels Yui fly out and land on his chest, mimicking his position, and his lips twitch up slightly in amusement.

Leafa sighs, "... If you fall asleep again, I am going to hit you with an ice spell."

He yawns, "Yeah, yeah… Can you really blame me though? It's already three in the morning."

His sister makes a sound of surprise, "Is it really?" There's a pause, likely her looking down and to the right at her clock before she sighs again, "It really is already three…."

He cracks an eye open to glance at her, "Is there a problem with that? I didn't think you had plans tomorrow."

His sister shakes her head, "I don't, it's just… I've never stayed on past two before…"

He hums lightly as he closes his eye again, "I see…. Well, first time for everything I suppose…"

His sister shrugs lightly, and they fall into a comfortable silence, and it's another ten minutes before Tonkii abruptly stops. He sits up in curiosity, Yui flying up to land on his shoulder. Seeing that his sister had moved to Tonkii's head and was now gaping down at something in amazement, he moves forward as well. His eyes widen in surprise at what lays below. Simply put, it was a hole, but it was the sheer size of it that had them wide eyed, considering it was so wide that due to the way details were lost in the distance, the other side a vaguely defined misty blue that blended with the snow on the other side well enough to make it difficult to tell where the edge was. Down into the hole itself, the sheer cliffs were covered in thick snow and deep ice that was nearly transparent at the top, but gradually faded into a light blue color, then threw the shades of blue into indigo, before eventually fading into inky blackness.

No matter how much he started or tried to focus, he couldn't see the bottom, "... I wonder what would happen if someone fell down that…"

Yui frowns seriously, "The bottom of this structure is not defined in the map data I can access."

He raises an eyebrow, "So, what you're telling me is that it really is bottomless…"

He shares a nervous look with his sister before they both carefully move away from Tonkii's head, despite Tonkii still being a bit away from the pit. As though realizing his passengers had finished their observation of the pit, Tonkii suddenly starts moving again, even closer to the pit, making both Leafa and himself tense up. However, after a minute, Tonkii simply settles down near the pit with a thud and a quiet chirp, and after curling up its long nose, it stops moving entirely.

He shares a brief look with his sister, then they both carefully climb off Tonkii's back, on the side opposite the pit of course. Backing up a few steps, he observes Tonkii, who no longer looks like either a jellyfish or an elephant. With all its limbs and its trunk curled under it, it looks more like a massive bun laying in the snow than anything.

It's also not moving whatsoever, which leaves them entirely unsure of what the next step is. His sister moves back over to Tonkii and lays a hand on its fur, "Hey Tonkii, what are we supposed to do?" Of course, Tonkii doesn't respond. A moment later though, their eyes widen as they realize that Tonkii's fur is beginning to harden, and his sister gasps, "Don't… Don't tell me… He died when he reached his objective?!"

His sister sounds genuinely saddened by that, but he has no idea of how to console her. Thankfully, Yui shakes her head, "No. He's still alive." His sister sighs in relief, but Yui frowns and continues, "It's strange though… Tonkii-san's code is changing rather drastically..."

Leafa seems unsure of what to make of that, and to be honest he doesn't really know either, so she tilts her head unsurely at Yui, "So… Tonkii's just… sleeping?" Yui tilts her head in thought, then nods slowly, and Leafa huffs, "Oh, honestly… Sleeping when we've been working hard all night…"

She pouts at that and he huffs out a small laugh, his gaze drifting upwards in thought before his eyes widen, "Leafa, look! The icicle, it's amazing!"

His sister lifts her head in confusion, only for her jaw to drop. The massive icicle and the roots of the world tree had looked impressive from a distance, but standing almost directly beneath it was amazing, and the structure inside was now much clearer. It was strange, but it kinda seemed like the bottomless pit was what was directly beneath it, and furthermore, the icicle and the pit actually seemed to be the same diameter. That only made the idea that it was a dungeon kind of terrifying in Kirito's opinion. A dungeon suspended over a bottomless pit? It's kind of obvious where that is going, the dungeon would obviously break apart and fall into the pit under specific circumstances.

His sister tilts her head at the structure, "Really amazing… If this is all part of one dungeon, there's no doubt in my mind that it's the largest in ALO…" His sister sighs and reaches a hand towards it, much like she reached for the sky back on the tower when they left Sylvein. Of course, there was still a distance of at least two hundred meters between them and the bottom of the icicle, and after a moment she lowers her hand sadly, "How do I get up there..."

Before he can even begin to think up a response to that, Yui shoots up from where she'd been sitting on his shoulder, "Papa! There are players approaching from the east! One a bit ahead, likely a scout, followed by twenty-three others!"

Kirito shares a look with his sister. It was obviously a hunting party. Originally when they'd ended up here, that had been exactly what they'd been hoping for, but now that they were with Tonkii… After a moment, he just barely made out the sound of footsteps in the snow with the Listening aspect of the Scanning skill. It was kind of impressive really, that he could barely hear them at all, considering both his Scanning skill and the sub skill Listening were both fully leveled. However, his brow furrows as the footsteps stop, they should be about ten meters away in plain view, but… His sister raises her hands in preparation of a spell, but a moment later the space the person should've come to a stop in shimmers and a single male player appears, and Kirito almost wants to smack himself for the oversight. Magic. He'd been hiding with magic.

The player had pale skin and light blue hair that was customary to the Undine if he remembered correctly. The player had a sharp glint in his eye as he nods at Tonkii, "That Evil God, are you hunting it or not?"

Kirito shakes his head, "No, we seem to have accidentally triggered an event of some sort with it. It's been very friendly and brought us here."

The player stares him down coldly as the rest of his party catches up, "Then get out of the way, or you'll get caught up in our long ranged attacks."

Anger bubbles up at that, "You-! Were you not listening?! It's friendly, part of an event!"

The player raises an eyebrow, "So?"

Kirito glares at the player, "So? So?! There are plenty of other Evil Gods for you to hunt, and you don't exactly have competition for them, now do you?! There's absolutely no reason whatsoever that you have to kill this one!"

The player stares him down, unaffected by his outburst, "On the contrary, just a little while ago we were wiped out by a particularly strong Evil God. It was hard to collect all of the Remain Lights and restore our party. If it's friendly, as you put it, it isn't likely to fight back, and we'd be foolish to let easy pickings like that go. Since I'm a nice guy… I'll give you ten seconds to get out of the way. Mage team, begin casting support magic." He waved his hand and the players in the back row began casting, one after another, the Warriors lit up briefly with what was likely stat boosting spells, and the player pulls the bow from his back and notches an arrow, pulling the drawstring back and pointing the arrow at them as he begins his countdown, "Ten…. Nine….. Eight….."

He was likely no match for this particular party, given that they were undoubtedly much stronger than Eugene and his men, but nevertheless his hands shoot up to grab his swords in anger, and more than one of the Undines raise an incredulous eyebrow.

However, his sister grabs his arm and drags him out of the way, "Come on Onii-chan, there's nothing we can do…"

The scout watches them move away, then with no fighting spirit whatsoever, calmly finishes his countdown and give his instructions to his party, "Three…. Two…. One. Commence attack."

There was an explosion of noise as the mages unleashed the spells they'd begun after buffing the warriors, and the spells loud explosions as they slammed into Tonkii. Only a couple seconds later, the warriors descended on Tonkii like a pack of ravenous wolves, viciously attacking Tonkii despite the fact it wasn't fighting back, just crying out feebly. The Warriors back off momentarily so that the next wave of spells can slam into Tonkii, the explosion completely engulfing Tonkii. With that, ten percent of Tonkii's health was already gone. Tonkii's cry was even weaker and more tragic sounding than when the giant had been beating it up, though maybe it was just Kirito's own feelings that the Undine party was being unnecessarily cruel that made it seem that way.

It takes him a minute to realize he was clenching his fists tight enough to make it uncomfortable, which meant that if his avatar was capable of feeling it, his clenched fists would be in pain. They may not have Tamed Tonkii, but much like Silica and Pina, Kirito found that despite the short time they'd been together, he genuinely cared for Tonkii, whose progressively weaker cries stabbed at his heart.

As Tonkii's health reached fifty percent, Kirito made up his mind, "Leafa-"

However, at the same time, his sister speaks up, "Onii-chan-"

They both cut off and turn to one another, and after a beat, his sister continues, "... I'm going to help."

Kirito nods solemnly, "Same. I… I want to help Tonkii too."

His sister gives a slightly bitter smile, "... We're at the center of the world, and yet your goal of reaching the top of the World Tree has never been further away… If we interfere, we'll undoubtedly be dead in ten seconds or less, and your dragon form will only be more of a hindrance here, seeing as it will give them more surface area to attack… They'll kill Tonkii anyway, once we're dead, so it will end up being meaningless, in the end…"

Kirito nods again, "I know. I can't just stand by and watch though. Tonkii may just be a bunch of code amongst the sea of code that is ALO, but Tonkii is our friend, and I can't just abandon it."

His sister nods firmly, "We'll have to start back over from Sylvein, but I'll help you travel to Alne again, Onii-chan."

He gives her a brief grateful smile, then turns his gaze down to his daughter. It tugs at his heart when he sees that she's wiping away tears that she must've been shedding for Tonkii, and his resolve grows, "Yui… I'm sorry, but it's gonna be a bit longer before we see Mama. Make sure you hide, ok?"

Yui nods firmly, "I understand, Papa. Good luck!"

Without another word, she dives into his pocket as deep as she can. With Yui safely out of the way he shares one final firm look with his sister that conveys an unspoken agreement to go after the low defense mages first, they both draw their swords and charge in. At the sharp metallic sound, the mage closest to them turns with a questioning look, only to be met with Leafa's Katana biting into his shoulder and reducing his health by thirty percent, and his follow up slashes with his swords finish him off.

Without hesitation, he and his sister turn to the other mages, ready to take out their next foe. By now, the mages have realized something is wrong and had turned to them, staring with dumbfounded expressions before one of them bursts out, "Are you serious?!"

He glares at them, "Nooo, of course not, we just like to go around killing one party member of groups that could probably wipe us out in less than a minute just to see how they react! Of course we're serious, you moron!"

Without another word, he and his sister dash forward, picking out new opponents. The mages, finally snapping out of their shock, let out various curses before quickly switching from the spells they'd been using against Tonkii to different ones, not that Kirito knew enough about magic in the game to be able to tell the difference between them before these spells are released. That said, he figures it's probably not a good idea to just stand there and take whatever they're throwing at him, so he takes advantage of his newest opponent and uses him as a shield for what turns out to be high-speed short range spells.

Most of the spells simply graze their clothing, as Leafa had followed his lead and used her opponent as a shield, though two of them turn out to be homing spells that score direct hits. Ignoring the damage as best they can, they both take out their makeshift shields, and move to take out their next opponents, but just then a silver arrow lodges itself into his shoulder.

He turns to see the leader of the party, the scout they'd initially run into, staring them down as he readies another arrow, "Warrior team, fall back! The mage team is under attack!"

The second arrow shoots towards his sister's chest. Not fast enough to dodge it entirely, she lifts her arm to block it, and it sinks in, mercilessly taking ten percent of her health with it, and while she's staggered, a high-pressure stream of water that seemed more like a laser tears a hole into her leg. He wants to move to her aid, but he's busy finishing off his third opponent and if they're going to die anyway, he's going to damn well inconvenience them as much as possible by killing as many of them as he can before he goes down.

At least, that was his thought, but he's already at only fifty percent of his health and a moment after he has that firm thought, a tornado of ice erupts around him, taking another ten percent. His sister moves over, raising a hand as though preparing to heal him, but then she notices the preparing of what even he could guess was likely large scale magic, and the warriors rushing back with furious looks. This was undoubtedly the end for them, but they'd lasted a full minute and taken five of the mages down, so he felt that they'd done good, considering the odds. At the very least, Tonkii should forgive them.

His sister seems to come to the same conclusion and simply rests her head against his chest in silent acceptance. However, before the mages finish their spells, or the warriors reach them, and even before an arrow can slam into them, Tonkii's formerly weak cries suddenly become incredibly loud, drawing his and his sister's attention.

His oval body had many hit marks still on it, but one was especially long and deep. Even as they watch, it extends until it goes straight through, from one end to the other. His eyes widen and his sister gasps. They'd both expected to see the same black blood from when Tonkii was getting beaten up by the giant, but instead pure white light poured out before it suddenly exploded in a wave. As it crashed over the warriors, the faint light of the support magic that had been cast on them suddenly turned to smoke, and as it reached the mages, their spells fizzle out.

His sister gasps again, "Dispel Field…"

Considering the way his sister and the Undines stare in frozen shock, Kirito is rather sure that a mob like Tonkii isn't supposed to be able to do that. Not even a moment later the hard husk that had been Tonkii's fur blows apart as the light shoots up in a spiral before fading away, revealing Tonkii, who had become a bit smaller, and more streamlined, his twenty thick tentacle limbs being replaced with numerous smaller ones that lacked the clawed tips they'd once had, the hard round discs on either side of its head had become frilly looking things, though they were probably still gills, and Tonkii's health, which had been at less than ten percent, was now fully recovered. The biggest difference though, was the eight large wings now sprouting from Tonkii's back.

His sister trembles, and when he glances down he sees tears trickling from her eyes, "Tonkii…"

As though hearing his sister, Tonkii suddenly dips into a dive before leveling out ten meters above where he'd poetically originally been laying, lifted its long trunk, and fluttered its ears before chirping out its strange battle cry, "Yurururururu!"

Then it suddenly started glowing blue, much like it had when it had shocked.. the…. giant…. He lets out a nervous laugh, "Ah…. That's bad…"

Seeing the light begin to travel down to Tonkii's many tentacles, he grabs his sister by the waist and throws them both down into the snow. Only a second later, Tonkii releases truly massive lightning strikes from each of its legs, one after another. Without even being given time to scream, the Undines were struck and blown apart, the majority of the mages and archers were taken out almost immediately, but a few of them, and the warriors, survive the first wave.

The leader, apparently realizing they'd lost all chance of recovery, quickly cries out, "R-Retreat to the bottom of the hill! Close combat formation for healing and support!"

The group flees down the slope, and the warriors build a wall of their shields as the mages start chanting, but Tonkii just glides through the air, quickly catching up and once again releasing a wave of white light, disabling any active magic they had managed to get up in that short time and turning the incomplete spells to smoke.

Their leader finally seems to lose his composure at that, "God damn it!" He raises his hand towards the sky, and arrows of smoke burst forth, hiding the Undines in a smoke screen, "Retreat! Retreat!"

They fled rapidly, and soon disappear over a ridge in the distance. Of course, seeing as Tonkii had wings, it could likely chase them down with ease, but it simply lifts its trunk and issues a victory cry, then flapped four of the wings on one side to change direction. It flew over slowly until it hovered just above them, it's gaze shifting down to them.

He tilts his head slightly, "Sooo…. What do we do now?"

As though choosing to answer his question, Tonkii reaches its trunk down in a slightly familiar manner and picks them both up, setting them down on its back once more. His sister laughs lightly, "That's what I figured!" They share a small grin, then sheath their weapons, and his sister runs her hand over Tonkii's longer and thicker fur, "... After all that, it's good to see that you're still alive, Tonkii."

Feeling a shift on his chest, he looks down to see Yui poke her head out with a smile, "I'm really glad too! Alive means good things will happen!"

Kirito smiles lightly, "That would be nice, after the day we've had so far…" Tonkii drifts towards the massive hole, then with a loud chirp, begins to head up in a loose spiral, towards the icicle and the roots. Kirito grins slightly, "Hey Leafa, I think you got your answer. This is how you're supposed to reach that dungeon."

His sister smiles widely, then turns her gaze out over Jötunheimr in awe, and he smiles as well at the sight of the beautiful but deadly icy Jötunheimr stretching out around them, "Wish I had some way of taking a picture…"

His sister glances at him, "... Perspective views can be preserved through screenshot items, but the mood can't be recorded. The sorrow, joy, and feeling of freedom that mix together with wonder would be lost."

He nods, "I know, but it's still beautiful…. Especially since I prefer cold snowy climates like this."

His sister smiles lightly, then opens her menu and materializes something from her inventory before tossing it to him, "Then here. It's a screenshot Crystal. Use that and three images of what your avatar it's seeing will be saved to whatever computer you're using to dive from. I actually have a poster of my character flying that Recon captured my first day in Alfheim and had printed out for me. It's on the ceiling above my bed."

He nods idly as he carefully looks around until he finds the perfect view to screenshot. Not even a minute later his sister gasps from behind him, and he whirls around. What she was staring at was the bottom of the inverted ice pyramid wrapped in the roots of the World Tree. As they had barely been able to make out from the ground, the inside was divided up into several sections forming a dungeon.

His sister suddenly raised her right hand and chanted a short spell, causing water to gush from her hand and immediately freeze into a flat crystal. He moves over to her in curiosity, "What is it?"

Leafa holds the crystal closer to him, "It's a type of distance viewing magic made with an ice crystal. Here. Look at the tip of that huge icicle, I saw something shining there…"

They both lean closer to get a better look through the lens, though the image was blurry at first, it steadily cleared up until they could see the clear image of a golden sword stabbed into a pedestal, and his sister gasps, "No way!" He looks at her unsurely, and she rushes to explain, "It's the «Holy Sword Excalibur»! I've seen pictures of it on the official ALO website… It's the strongest sword in the game! No one has known where it was until now though..."

Even though he's currently only in the game to save Marzanna and Asuna, his gamer instincts kick in at those words and he immediately leans forward to examine the dungeon already trying to find the path through as Tonkii circles the icicle, rising in a spiral. Inside he sees giants, exactly like the one that had tried to kill Tonkii, and understanding washes over him. If this was less like a quest and more of an event, which as his sister had said were more like dramas, then it would make sense that the giants and Tonkii's type were natural enemies of some sort. Which explained why Tonkii's species was responsible for transporting players here, likely in the hopes of finishing off the giants, and why the giant had been trying to kill Tonkii. He's pulled from his examination when his sister makes a noise of surprise, and after glancing over and seeing her looking up, he turns his own gaze skyward.

The first thing his eyes see is a platform of some sort protruding from the middle of the icicle. Tonkii's flight path would pass right by it, close enough that it would be easy to jump to it. However, a split second later he notices a specific root hanging from the very top of Jötunheimr that had stairs carved into it. The stairs kept going up straight into the ceiling, making it obvious that it was some sort of path right up into the center of Alfheim. In other words, a passage either straight into his destination of Alne or at the very least close to it. That said, there was no connection between the stairs leading to his destination and the balcony leading into the dungeon. If they jumped off at the balcony for a chance at Excalibur, then there would be absolutely no way to get to the stairs.

His eyes flickered between the balcony and the stairs for the briefest of seconds. His instinct as a gamer was to jump at the balcony, and it was true that having the most powerful sword the game would help in their self-appointed task, but that was only if they could actually make it through the dungeon and get it, and they likely couldn't. With that in mind, the choice was incredibly simple. Saving his mate and their friend was far more important than any sword.

When it reached the platform, Tonkii leveled out and slowed down a bit, clearly giving them a chance to go to the dungeon and backing up his earlier statement that this was how one was supposed to get there. His instincts as Marzanna's mate made the choice easy and held him firmly in place, but his sister trembles with the effort to ignore her own gamer instincts, and he's entirely sympathetic to her plight.

As Tonkii seems to realize they aren't getting off there and speeds back up in its journey towards the exit his sister gives him an embarrassed smile. He gives her one of sympathetic understanding in return, "I've made up my mind. When everything with SAO is settled and everyone is finally home, I'll contact a GM and explain the situation with my character so they can reset it and possibly help me fix any problems. We'll play together honestly and come back here at some point, though probably with more players. Even with my SAO stats, I doubt we could make it through that dungeon with just the two of us, never mind if I have to honestly start from the beginning."

His sister gives him a beaming, "Yea! I'm looking forward to it Onii-chan!"

They share a smile, then Kirito glances down into the dungeon. It also explained why no one had found a way into the dungeon or realized Excalibur was here. As his sister had said earlier, a regular hunting party likely would've just watched Tonkii's fight with the giant play out, then killed the giant after Tonkii was dead. That also made it unlikely that the event to get Excalibur would be figured out before he could grind his character to a sufficient level to go with his sister and a party to get it.

Just then, Tonkii approached the staircase carved into the root of the world tree. With its familiar chirping Yururu, Tonkii spread its wings out further and slowed down before coming to a stop in front of the stairs and hovering there before extending its trunk and winding the end around the bottom of the root like a rope. Standing up, he climbs over Tonkii's head, then takes his sister's hand to help her over and down onto the stairs.

Tonkii shakes its body a bit once they're off, then uncoils its trunk from the root. His sister suddenly steps forward and grabs the tip of the long receding nose with one hand, "... I'll come again, Tonkii. Take care until then. Don't let the other Evil Gods bully you."

His sister lets go, and his own hand shoots out to grab it, as he smiles warmly at Tonkii, "We'll be back at some point buddy, but I'm sure you can take care of yourself until then, seeing as you kinda evolved into a badass."

Yui flies out of his pocket to grab onto Tonkii's fur and adds her own promise with a smile, "We'll talk a lot again, Tonkii-san."

Tonkii gives a happy little Fururu as though it understood them, though Kirito honestly doubted it, it was a nice thought nonetheless. Turning away, Tonkii folds its wings and dives down with tremendous speed, shrinking into non-existence within moments.

His sister tears up a bit once Tonkii is out of sight, but quickly wipes them away and grins at him, "Let's go! I'm pretty sure Alne is directly above us!"

He chuckles lightly as they turn and start up the stairs, "I guess this means you were wrong. There is an exit from the center of Jötunheimr to the center of Alfheim."

Leafa shrugs, "I said to my knowledge there isn't, but one-way secret passageways aren't unheard of in ALO, and we've already gone over the fact that no one had discovered the jellyfish/giant/Excalibur event."

He nods lightly, then tilts his head, "You know, when you put it that way, jellyfish/giant/big hole/Excalibur, this event actually escalates pretty quickly doesn't it? One minute you're saving a poor jellyfish mob, then you're riding the jellyfish, there's a big hole, jellyfish evolves like it's a freaking Pokémon, then you're riding the evolved Pokémon jellyfish, and BAM, there's Excalibur."

His sister laughs a bit, "Yea. For the most powerful sword in the game, it does kinda just come out of nowhere, doesn't it?"

He nods, then sighs, "Anyway, let's hurry up and finish the last leg of this journey. I'd really like to log out in Alne already so we don't have to worry about starting over from Alne anymore, and so I can just go to sleep… Although, when we get out of here, we should probably keep what we know about Excalibur a secret if we want to be able to go after it sometime in the future…"

His sister nods, "Yea, I know, I'm not naive enough to go blabbing something like Excalibur's location and how to get there. But ooh, sleep, how tempting that sounds at this point…"

He nods enthusiastically at that, and he can all but hear Marzanna laughing and fondly calling him a sleepy head. His mood plummets as he realizes that depending on how this rescue mission of theirs goes, it may be quite a while before he hears her laugh or call him sleepy head or worrywart. After a moment, he shakes that thought off. No matter what it took, if she and Asuna were here, he would save them.

The journey up the stairs takes more than ten minutes before they finally see a thin streak of light ahead of them. He shares a glance with his sister, then with a sudden burst of energy, they rush up the stairs two at a time. Pausing at the top, they share another look they push on the panel and pop their heads out to make sure it's safe, and as soon as they confirm that the pathway did, in fact, lead into town, they step out. Immediately the hidden panel slides shut, but they had both figured it was a one-way passage anyway, so they simply take in their surroundings. They were on a stone terrace probably halfway up the beautiful, majestic city built on the roots of the World Tree and the large slope leading up to it.

There were stone buildings of various sizes spreading out in all directions. Being night, the yellow fires from street lamps, blue lights that seemed to run on magic, and pink lights that seemed to come from some sort of mineral twinkled everywhere around them. There didn't seem to be any particularly prevalent race amongst the players walking through the streets, nor did those players seem to have any care about race.

Kirito slowly lifted his gaze, following the massive trunk of the World Tree upwards. Above them, there was no night sky, just a massive canopy of branches stretching out for miles, "... The World Tree…"

His sister beams happily, "Yup! No doubt about it. This is Alne! The center of Alfheim, and the biggest city in the world."

Kirito nods, "Yea… We're finally here…"

Yui pokes her head out of his pocket with a huge smile, "Wow… I've never been to a city this size! There are so many people!"

Leafa nods lightly, "Me neither. The ore light looks like stardust…"

A moment later, a loud gong like sound cut through the air and their happily victorious moods, before the same female voice from the character creation menu announces, "The server will be down today, January 22nd, from 4 am to 3 pm for scheduled maintenance. Players are asked to log out ten minutes in advance."

The system began to repeat the message, but they tuned it out. His sister stretches and yawns, "That's all for today, huh? Let's find an inn and log out."

Kirito understood that server maintenance was important, but it was still immensely frustrating to realize that his self-given quest was being delayed again, "... Yea…" Then he shakes his frustration off and turns to his sister with a grin, "Well, let's find an inn. Like I said, I kept the equivalent of ten mithril pieces, and any excess that would've made my donation to the Lords an odd number, but I'd prefer to keep as much of it as possible just in case, so let's go somewhere cheaper."

Leafa sighs, "You've got that much Yuld and you're still being cheap? Ah, whatever, I suppose it doesn't hurt to be careful with your money, just in case." Then she turns to Yui, "You heard your papa. Is there a cheap inn nearby?"

Kirito can't help but smile a bit at the fact his sister has become completely accustomed to Yui's presence in a day. Yui furrows her brows and frowns lightly, then smiles brightly and points down the street towards the World Tree, "Yes! There's a super cheap one down that way."

His sister gives Yui an unsure smile, "S-Super cheap?"

Yui nods, "It seems the inn doesn't have rooms, the upper floor is just one big dorm like room."

Kirito chuckles lightly, "There's no need to go that cheap Yui, I'd at least like a room of my own, and I'm sure your aunty Leafa would as well."

Leafa nods quickly, so Yui furrows her brow in thought again, before nodding, "Ok! I've got one!" Yui flies out in front of him, then turns with a smile, "Follow me, I'll show you where it is."

Leafa follows with a smile, and with one last glance at the World Tree, he trails after them.

January 22nd, 2025

Kazuto steps out onto the porch and takes a deep breath of the crisp morning air. A thin layer of snow covered the ground, the cold air nipped at his body and bit at his lungs, but still his residual grogginess shrouded his mind. He'd been hoping that would be enough to wake him up, but since that wasn't the case it was time to move to plan B.

With that in mind, he moves over to the outside faucet that was about two feet off the ground and had a large bowl under it, rolled up his sleeves, turns it on and splashes his face with the ice cold water. That wakes him up quickly, and he briefly marvels that the water hadn't frozen entirely before splashing his face a couple more times.

Having suspected that he'd need to use such measures given that he was a sleepy head, as Marzanna liked to call him, on the best of days, much less when he stays up to nearly four in the morning, he already had a small towel draped over his shoulders. As he wipes his face with the towel, the sliding door into the porch opens. Lifting his head, his lips twitch up slightly in amusement as he sees Sugu stumble out, rubbing at her eyes. Usually, his sister was an energetic morning person from the moment she climbed out of bed, but today she was bleary eyed and groggy, though that was understandable after the day they had in Alfheim yesterday.

He smiles warmly at her, "Good morning, Sugu."

Sugu walks towards him on unsteady feet, "Morning, Onii-chan."

He turns to her as a thought strikes him, "You alright there? I realize you're not really as used to pulling all nighters for games like me…"

His sister nods slowly, "Yea, I'm fine. Tired, but fine…"

Remembering something from last night he does his absolute best to contain a grin and speak in a casual voice, "Hey, Sugu. Turn around for a second."

Still only half awake, and far too trusting when it comes to him, she only briefly tilts his head in question before doing it, "Like this?"

Quickly cupping his hand and gathering some water from the bowl, he stands and moves the couple steps to be behind her as quickly as he can without losing the water faster, then promptly pulls the neck of her jersey down and drops the nearly frozen water down her back.

She shrieks loudly then turns and smacks him on the arm angrily, "Onii-chan! What on earth was that for!"

He rubs at his now sore arm and struggles to get his words out through his laughter, "Th- That was- for- last night! You- you shoved ice down- down my coat!"

She pouts at him adorably, "Onii-chan! That was because I was trying to keep you from falling asleep and automatically logging out! You're just being mean!"

He chuckles at that, then pats her head with a mischievous grin, "You didn't have to shove ice down my shirt though, which means you were pulling a prank on your poor old Onii-chan. Never pull a prank on the Black Swordsman. I'll always get you back. You won't know when, you won't know how, but I will get you back, even if you are my little sister. Honestly, maybe you're just too trusting when it comes to me."

Her pout deepens and she whines out, "Onii-chan, you meanie!"

He lifts his hands in surrender, "I'll tell you what, why don't we go to that restaurant nearby later and I'll buy you a raspberry cream parfait to make it up to you."

She gives him a suspicious look, "... You promise?"

He nods with a slight smile, "Promise."

Her eyes narrow, "And you aren't going to try anything else mean?"

He laughs lightly, "I know I said you're too trusting, but you don't need to be that suspicious. I already got you back!" Seeing her eyes narrow further, he sighs, "I won't try anything. I promise."

She stares at him for another minute, then smiles, "Ok! Then you're forgiven. Anyway, it's my turn to make breakfast, but I want to at least do some stretching and a little exercise, seeing as I woke up so late I probably won't end up doing Kendo practice today."

He nods lightly, but sighs. His wallet wouldn't really like this solution, as though Sugu loved the parfait in question, it was a bit expensive by his standards. At least he wouldn't be entirely broke and had a source of income doing tech support online. He'd had to get caught up on the changes that had taken place in the two years he was in a coma of course, but seeing as he'd had nothing to do but work on recovering until recently anyway, it's not like there'd been anything vying for his time.

Before he'd gotten trapped in Aincrad he'd already been doing a bit of tech support, but had mostly been relying on his allowance for games and other minor expenses. After how self-sufficient he'd been in Aincrad, that hasn't set right with him though, but his mom had been incredibly understanding and helpful in getting him caught up in tech changes so he could earn his own income that way. He didn't make a lot, but it was enough for him to have a bit of spending money without it grating on him for taking handouts, even if it was just from his parents.

It's half an hour later, after Sugu had roped him into helping with breakfast 'for being a meanie', when his sister suddenly pauses and turns to him, "Onii-chan, what are you planning to do today? Before we log into ALO I mean, seeing as we can't get on until after three."

He pauses in his task of washing the tomatoes, his mood dropping and that damnable void in his mind throbbing as it always did at the idea of being around his comatose mate, "... I was going to visit Marzanna today…"

His sister's mood seems to drop as well, "Oh… I see…" She turns back to her task of breaking up a head of lettuce, her chipper mood gone, "Hey, Onii-chan… Could I go with you?"

The request takes him by surprise, and he stops cutting the tomatoes again as he turns to her. After a moment, he smiles lightly, "Oh? Yea, sure. I'm sure that will make Marzanna happy. While we were in Aincrad we talked a lot about our real lives with one another. She really wanted to meet you and mom, so even if she's still… Well, I'm sure she'll be happy if you visit."

That last bit seems to take his sister by surprise, "She… wants to meet me? Why?"

He smiles at her, "Isn't it obvious? You're my precious little sister that I talked about a lot, of course she wanted- wants to meet you."

His sister is silent for a moment, then nods with a slight smile. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but there seemed to be a hint of sadness in her smile. However, before he could get a good enough look to be sure one way or the other, his sister scoops up the tomatoes he'd finished, drops them into the large bowl of salad, then quickly turns away to take it to the dining table.

By the time she sets it down on the table with a smile, the sadness is long gone. Observing her for another moment, he shakes it off, deciding it must've been his imagination.

With his sister's sudden decision to come with him, he'd forgone using his bike and chosen to take the bus with her instead today. It's just as the bus arrives that his sister decides to drop the admittedly important question on him, "Hey, Onii-chan, what are you going to do about school?"

Distracted by thoughts of Marzanna, he doesn't quite catch what she's trying to say at first, "School?"

His little sister persists though, "You were supposed to start high school last year, right? You can't just drop out of school."

He sighs again as he takes a seat and puts an elbow on the windowsill, "Well, now that you mention it… I was more focused on Marzanna at the time, but I recall Kikouka saying something about using one of the school buildings that had been abandoned due to unification and reorganization as a temporary school for the students who came back from SAO… There's no entrance exam, and after graduating, we'll be qualified to take college exams."

His sister nods, "I see. That's good to hear…" Then she looks away with a bit of worry, "But they'll be lumping lots of different students together. It seems like... I don't know, but it seems kinda…

He chuckles humorously, "You've got good intuition. On the surface, it sounds like what any good government would do after a crisis like SAO, but we 'SAO survivors' spent two years living in a brutal death game. They have no idea what that did to our mental health. So they're throwing us all together so they can keep an eye on us and be able to manage us easier."

His sister turns to him in astonishment, "Seriously?"

He nods lightly, "Probably. That said, despite that part of the reasoning behind it, I have to thank them for the safety net. If I wanted to get into high school the normal way, I'd have to start from scratch and spend the whole year at cram school. Of course, it's not compulsory for us to go to this temporary school, we can choose to study for exams ourselves if we want to."

His sister smiles at him, "I'm sure you'd do fine. Your grades are good."

He gives her a bemused smile, "They were good. Past tense. I haven't studied for two years."

His sister is undeterred though, and simply gives him a stubborn but warm smile, "Then I'll tutor you!"

He gives her a sly smile, "Oh? Then maybe you can help me with math and information processing."

His sister recoils at that a bit, seemingly at a loss for words, and he chuckles, then turns his gaze out of the window as silence descends over them. To be honest, until Sugu brought it up, school had been the last thing on his mind. Marzanna, Asuna, recovering, and patching up his relationship with his mom and sister were all that had been occupying his mind as of late.

In the two months since he'd returned to the real world, he'd felt incredibly uneasy without his beloved swords on his back. He fully understood that this was the real world, that there were no monsters that wanted to attack and kill him, yet that didn't lessen his uneasiness.

The rest of the ride to the hospital and up the elevator is done in almost total silence, and when they reach the room his sister tilts her head at the nameplate next to the door, "Sparda Marzanna? I know you said she's American, but that name is a bit weird isn't it?"

He glances at his sister, "A bit. According to Kyrie, the wife of Marzanna's cousin, Sparda was supposedly a demon who turned on his own kind in favor of the humans and angels, and Marzanna once told me her name comes from a goddess of witchcraft, death, and winter that is also associated with nightmares." He chuckles lightly, "It's actually a bit of a pet peeve for her, that her mother gave her brother the rather normal name Mike and she got something like Marzanna. That's actually apparently why she chose the character name Hanna. It was a private joke to herself because Hanna is a goddess of life. At least she wasn't like Asuna though, who used her real first name for her character."

His sister gives him an unsure look, "Really?" At his nod, she becomes a bit incredulous, "Who gives their daughter a name like that? I mean really, naming the baby girl you just gave birth to something associated with things like death and nightmares…"

He chuckles again, "The Sparda family is a bit… strange, I might even go so far as to say eccentric, I'll give you that, but they're good people and really nice... for the most part anyway."

His sister gives him a nervous look, "For the most part?"

He grimaces slightly, "... Marzanna's dad and uncle keep giving me dirty looks, but Kyrie says that's mostly because I'm Marzanna's boyfriend rather than anything to do with how they are."

His sister gives him surgery unsure look, "... I see…"

He shakes his head, "Anyway, enough procrastinating."

With that said, he opens the door and heads inside, his sister following nervously. Lily was once again visiting and gives him a warm smile, "Hello again Kazuto. How have you been?" Her gaze drifts to Suguha, and she tilts her head, "Who's this?"

Most of that greeting is routine. Lily is always warm and welcoming, and she always asks him how, partially in regards to his recovery in general, partially due to the emotional strain of having his mate be comatose, and partially to make sure the Dementor's Blood isn't getting to him too badly. He returns the smile the warm, if strange, woman gave him, "I'm fine Lily. This is my sister, Suguha. She came to visit Marzanna with me today. Suguha, this is Lily, Marzanna's mother."

His sister nods in greeting, "H-Hi. It's nice to meet you, Lily-san."

Lily turns that warm smile to his sister, "It's nice to meet you too dear, but please, just call me Lily. On that note, do you mind if I just call you Suguha? Despite living here for two years I'm still not really used to the honorifics."

His sister blushes lightly, but nods with a smile, "T-That's fine…"

He moves over to a chair by his mate's bed and sits down before gently taking one of her hands into both of his. He rubs his thumb over the back of it as he gazes at his mate, and despite his recent suspicions regarding ALO, he can't suppress the hope that she'll just wake up.

After a minute his sister shuffles awkwardly, then she suddenly moves forward and picks up one of the vases of flowers, "I-I'll just, err, change the water for these."

She begins to retreat to the faucet behind the curtain, and Lily smiles lightly as she picks up the other two vases and follows, "Let me help."

It's only once the water has been turned on and is helping to drown out the sound of their quiet voices that Lily speaks up, but even the water and the low volume of her tone doesn't stop him from being able to make out what they're saying. Though admittedly it would've two years ago, his hearing seemed to have become sharper since he woke up, so he can hear what Lily says easily, "It's alright you know." His sister makes a confused and slightly nervous noise, so Lily elaborates, "None of us have said anything to him, but the way he looks at her makes all of us uncomfortable sometimes, like we're intruding on something sacred."

There's a beat of silence before his sister responds with an equally low voice, "... O-Oh. That. Of course. It- it's nice to know it's not just me then…"

There's a pause, then Lily hums lightly agreement, though there seems to be a touch of confusion to it. Not that he can blame her, Suguha's response was a bit… strange. It was obvious something else was bugging her. It only served to make him think that perhaps he hadn't been imagining the strangeness to her behavior recently. It made him a bit worried about her, but there was little he could do without knowing what the problem was, and Suguha could be very stubborn about keeping secrets to herself.

He sighs lightly. He supposed all he could do was wait until she either decided to tell him what the problem was, or unless whatever it was came to a head and she needed his help. He was getting sick and tired of having to 'wait and see' lately when it came to helping the girls that mattered to him.

(1): I just want to say, I did not come up with that messed up idea. That is legitimately where Reki Kawahara says they got the name Tonkii from in the light novels. I don't know if it's an actual book in the real world, but either way, it kinda messed up. Still, messed up or not, I saw no reason to change this, just clear it up that this messed up idea isn't mine.