They knew that Father would inevitably find them out. They just didn't think it'd be so soon. As their father had surprisingly warped into the outer dungeon. Shocking They and Gaspard alike.

They breathed out heavily as they stood in front of Gaspard's cage. Their knees wobbled together rather violently. Their form shook while they held the sword close to their chest. 'It wasn't suppose to be like this…' They only thought while their form and hands continued to tremble.

"Put that away before you hurt yourself…" Father almost seemed to coo at them as he simply sauntered past them and up to Gaspard. The pink beast huddled himself into the farthest corner of the cage he could find and was shaking just the same as They were.

This was the first time They have ever laid eyes on father's actual character and he did not disappoint.

Father was a tall character. Taller than Silabus by a foot at least.

His dark forest green hair was long and flowed down past his shoulders, some even covered his face. His skin was pale, borderline white, and when he smiled he showed that he had two sharp canines. His nose was hooked shaped and his eyes were hardened and black in color.

His clothes were…plain. That was the best way They could describe it. Compared to the unique clothing they've seen and wore for themselves, the black cloak that reached down past Father's knees, black pants, and black boots to match were just so…plain. The only thing that stood out about father was the red tattoo that traced under his right eye and extended out at an angle. Much like Haseo's own under eye tattoos.

Realizing they still had their sword out, they did as instructed and put it away.

"Cute…" Father whispered as he tilted his head at Gaspard. Gaspard tensed and brought his weapon out. Father wasn't fazed.

"..." They leaned down cautiously to Father regardless. "There's a shield surrounding the cage. Any attack will be asorbed-" Father raised a fist.

'Silence.'

They backed off obediently with a head-bow.

Father watched Gaspard for a few more seconds. Gaspard, no doubt growing antsy and fearful for his life. Smacked his weapon against the cage in an attempt to get Father to leave him alone. "Oh, he's a feisty one despite his looks. Now… that just begs the question-" Father turned to look at They.

They immediately tensed at Father's piercing onyx colored eyes. His eyes seem to bore into their very being as Father stood. "-Why are you not doing what I requested of you?"

"I-" They tried to explain but then father took a step forward. This made them take a step back.

"-What were my instructions?"

"-I know what you wanted it's just-"

"-My instructions?" Father snapped his fingers in front of their face. The movement was wild and the noise made They uneasy. "What were they?"

"-PK-" They had whispered but that wasn't enough.

"Louder."

"PK and Data-drain!"

"This character has neither been PK'd nor data-drained. Why?"

"..." They clasped their hands together while their mouth twisted into a frown.

Father approached again. His eyes narrowed as he inspected They. He looked at their form before suddenly grabbing their wrist and pulling them down to their knees. "Clearly there's something wrong with your code." Father could only grumble as he brought their code up for inspection.

"Wait-"

"Hush." Father ordered as a box appeared in front of him. "What in the…" Father breathed out. He let go of They in order to just take a step back in amazement. His jaw dropped as he reads through the various, almost never ending, lines of code. "This code… it's not… you're storing others code to use for quick transformations? These are codes, but they aren't complete, meaning there are others you haven't been data-draining…but more alarming… it almost looks like your code is evolving with you."

"...That's a good thing isn't it?" They asked. "It's what you intended-"

"-I intended for someone to obey and do as I ask." Father hissed at They. "This?" He gestured to the mass of code in front of him. "No. This won't do. I'll have to start over with you-"

"-Start over- Wha-what do you mean by that?!"

"Simple." Father looked at the code in front of him. He put his thumb and index finger to his chin as he inspected. "Purge all of your code and try anew. At this point you have the potential to out hack me and we can't have that." Father brought an invisible looking keyboard to him. "Don't worry. It'll only take a second-"

A new emotion flooded through their body. One that made them tremble and shake at the mere idea of being deleted and forced into a blank slate. "-No!" They grabbed at their father's arms in desperation. "I don't want to be deleted! I'm happy the way I am!" They all but pleaded with their father.

Father only gave a chuckle while giving his head a shake. "Begging won't help. If anything it's making my choice easier-" Father highlighted They's code in one quick movement.

"-No, please!"

"Like I said. It's completely painless-"

"-Why are you scared of someone being smarter than you?!" Their savior was Gaspard. Who distracted Father from They.

Was it because They still had Silabus's face on? Or was Gaspard genuine in his feelings? They had no clue.

Gaspard was trembling just the same as They. Only he had a brave face on the whole time. He kept his hands balled into fists at his sides.

Father looked at Gaspard before giving a low and dry chuckle. "I don't remember asking for remarks from the peanut gallery-"

"-Is it because you're not that smart and you know it!?"

They gasped out in shock as they looked at Gaspard. "Stop!-" They nearly screamed at the beast, but Father silenced them by raising his fist again.

"Shush!" Father barked at They. He turned back towards Gaspard. "I am smarter than you could ever wish to be, beast."

Gaspard laughed though he was still shaking and looked to be on the verge of tears. His laughter sounded almost hysterical, high-pitched, and scared. "If-if you're so smart then-then you have to know that my friends are on their way here now to save me!" Gaspard's chest puffed up.

"...Is that so… they'll never find you in an outer dungeon."

"You're wrong!"

They took a small step back. 'I've been watching Gaspard this whole time. I can see through his code when he messages people and he hasn't messaged a single soul because nobody-...nobody's online…'

They swiftly brought up Gaspard's friends list with a wave of their hand. They traced the names with their finger and shook their head once realization set in.

Kuhn. Status: Online.

Atoli. Status: Online.

Haseo. Status: Online.

Silabus. Status: Online.

"Nononononono…" They whispered frantically. They couldn't let Haseo and Silabus confront Father. 'How did Gaspard even contact them? Unless…Unless… He knows them all offline?!' That thought never once crossed their mind.

Father gave a snort. "So, you have a rescue party. Big deal." His voice was as calm as ever. "Like I said. This is outside of the main map. Nobody can get through here… why am I even entertaining you?!" Father turned abruptly to Gaspard once he realized what just happened. "I should just data-drain you here and now to shut you up…" Father growled to Gaspard.

"You don't want to do that." Gaspard was still trembling yet he still managed to speak with confidence.

"And why not?"

"B-Because Haseo is my friend! And Haseo is one of the strongest players I've ever seen! If you delete my character there's no doubt in my mind that he'll… he'll hunt you down! Him and Silabus! The real Silabus not the fake one over there!"

Father blinked and then turned to They. His eyes were emotionless but calculating at the same time. His head slowly tilted down and he seemed to be reading They. "So… it wasn't just the beast you refuse to data-drain."

Father then turned and brought up a video feed. It was only of the area they were in. "I've seen you wear that skin more than once- Not only that but Number Four told me about that little outing you had with both him and Haseo- Ah…lookie there-"

The video feed was of the dungeon, the actual area dungeon. Where Haseo, Atoli, Silabus, and Kuhn were all running through. They were so close to Gaspard it hurt to see. 'They'll never find him.'

"What makes the both of them so special?" Father inquired more to himself than to They.

"Nothing! They're just popular and I like-" They quickly tried to stamp out the thought Father had. But it did no good.

"That's enough out of you-" With a wave of his hand They were shocked to find themselves cuffed and shackled to the floor in the blink of an eye. Father then bound their mouth shut with some sort of cloth.

"I think…I'll have to pay these people a visit. If Haseo is as strong as this one claims-" He pointed at Gaspard. "And to see why you like this Silabus so much..."

Their protest was in vain, but that still didn't stop them from trying. Through the cloth they tried to scream, they tried to fight the shackles Father created, but they couldn't.

"I'll just leave this up. So you guys can see as well." Father then turned and vanished in a blink of an eye.

"No! Don't hurt them!" Gaspard cried out, but it was way too late.

Father was long gone; on the warpath, and all they could do now was watch.

One moment the four of them were running as fast as they could through the dungeon in hopes of finding a way to the outer dungeon. The next moment they were under attack.

The man had come almost completely out of nowhere. He knocked his palm directly into Silabus's torso. Because Silabus was running and had no time to stop when this attack took place the next thing Silabus knew he was face-down on the ground with the wind knocked out of him.

Before Silabus could get up, his right hand was stomped on by this stranger. "Gah!"

It actually hurt.

It hurt so badly that Yuuichi was tempted to take off his headset to make sure his hand wasn't actually bruised from the attack. His breath hitched as memories from his fight with Sakaki swarmed his thoughts. The feeling of getting knocked down with a broadsword was one Yuuichi wasn't going to forget.

"Silabus!" Haseo took his guns out. "Leave him alone!" He barked to the man.

The man looked down at Silabus. His black colored eyes almost seemed to be scanning him.

Silabus reached for his sword with his left hand. "You're a player." Silabus observed.

"..." The man said nothing.

"You're not like that AI. You can't mimic people- tch!" Silabus grunted when the man dug his heel directly into Silabus's right hand.

Haseo raised his weapons. "I'm giving you five seconds, asshole! One-"

"Ryou! Behind you!" It was a slip of the tongue on Yuuichi's part. The panic that flooded him made him mess up the name. The panic of Silabus seeing himself charging at Haseo along with a fake Gaspard.

Thankfully, with Silabus's warning, Haseo managed to turn and fired just before the attack happened. Haseo, Atoli, and Kuhn were wrapped in a blue battlefield shield. One that Silabus couldn't see through.

"So… what makes you so special?" The man inquired once it was just him and Silabus. Silabus snarled at the man.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"My mimic seems to have a strange fascination with you. So, why you? You're just some player."

"Tch!" Silabus grunted when the man grounded his foot into his hand again.

Yuuichi panted at the pain and cradled his hand to his chest. 'Dammit, I shouldn't be able to feel this much pain! No, this is a Sakaki situation. One I won't repeat… I refuse to allow myself to get hurt like that again!'

Not only that, but this asshole…this asshole reminded Yuuichi of Kai so much it hurt.

So…Yuuichi took over. His online and offline not mixing policy disappearing completely.

"Oh, I'm going to show you-" yanking his sword out, Silabus slashed. This caused the man to take his foot off of Silabus's hand in surprise.

"Well…I can't say I expected that…" The man breathed out in shock as he took a step back. The battlefield barrier surrounding the two of them. "...Heh." He extended his hands out. "Let's make this a little more interesting? Yeah?"

With that two more players entered the field by warping in. Two more mimics.

Only Silabus was seeing them in the pure forms. The forms that Zelkova saw. Blank character models.

Within seconds they started to change forms. 'They're reading off my friends list!' Silabus thought as one mimic changed into Rubybird right in front of him. The second one chose to change into Atoli of all people.

'They're both harvest clerics.' Silabus noted. 'Harvest clerics have both healing and arts skills. Though they rely heavily on healing magic than arts. That being said… they could be hoarding attacks from others they mimicked… my best bet is to avoid their attacks and go straight for the ringleader himself!"

Silabus charged straight for the man with the dark green hair.

His name on screen was simply 'Father.'

It sent chills down Yuuichi's spine to read that.

A staff was swung like a bat and nearly caught Silabus in the head. Thankfully, he was already on guard. He side-stepped before swinging his sword and catching the fake Atoli in the chest. Seeing Atoli's face twist in pain from the attack made Silabus's heart ache.

'It's not Atoli!' He had to remind himself.

"Lei Zas!" The fake Rubybird yelled and Silabus jumped back and took off running as the magic attack followed him.

'I've been taken out by Lei Zas more times than I can count. Blocking can only do so much. I'll have to outrun it.' His heart pounded as the magic was right on his heels. One wrong move and he'd be attacked.

Silabus ran all around the barrier until the attack died down after a few seconds. He narrowed his eyes as Father only stood there. The bastard looked bored.

Silabus tried to charge at the man again.

The fake Atoli extended her hand out. "Ani Zot!"

"Rue Kruz!" The fake Rubybird exclaimed.

'I can't avoid this!' Two spells were making their way towards him. Both on different sides of him so there was no outrunning. He'd be caught.

He did the only thing he could think to do in that situation. He rose his sword up and got ready to block both attacks coming his way. Silabus prepared himself to lose health, and that was fine. He had a plan forming as those deadly red circles came his way.

Father seemed focused solely on him and he planned to use that to his advantage. So, it was with a heavy heart, and maybe a dumb brain, Silabus lowered his sword from the blocking position. Blocking would just waste time he didn't have.

'Haseo…Thank you. I never thought I'd use this.' He thought as both Rue Kruz and Ani Zot rained down on him. His health took a drastic dip. Silabus cried out in pain from the attack, but it didn't matter because he attacked all the same and Father was none the wiser when Silabus's own OrLei Zas attacked him.

Silabus didn't have time to celebrate because, once again, he charged while both fake Rubybird and Atoli were distracted with Father. By the time Father managed to recover from the surprise attack he and Silabus were face-to-face with Silabus already in the air-

"Devil Sword!" Silabus yelled as he slammed right into Father. His second surprise attack did a lot more damage than his first. Father's health depleted drastically and Silabus didn't stop with that he kept his attack up trying to get as much damage to Father as he could-

That was when the Fake Atoli reached behind him. In their desperation they wrapped their arm around Silabus's neck in an attempt to get him to back off.

"Get off!" A move that Yuuichi was all too familiar with with his upbringing. His muscle memory took over and he ducked his upper body down completely before forcing the Fake Atoli over his shoulder. They yelped in surprise at this sudden movement.

Silabus didn't expect the sucker punch from Fake Rubybird, that's for sure. She punched him across the cheek, hitting his lips just the same. It hurt.

"Oof!" Silabus gasped as he was forced down to one knee from the attack. His health only went down a smidge. Physical attacks in The World were extremely weak.

Yuuichi ran his thumb over his lips like he expected blood. "...Heh…" Yuuichi gave a laugh.

Silabus stood up. "It's like that? Taking cheap shots at me now?"

The mimics both stood in front of Father. Shielding him from Silabus. Neither of them made a move, not to heal their Father, and not to attack Silabus.

'I need to distract him… and because I'm getting both Kai and Sakaki vibes off this guy. I know just how to do so.'

"...You know…Heh. I don't know what I expected really. You're nothing but a bunch of cheap shots." Silabus hissed at them. All of them. "You don't even have your own characters, instead you piggyback off of actual players in an attempt to be something! How pathetic, but none as pathetic as you." Silabus pointed directly at Father.

"You don't even know what you're saying."

The bait was taken and it made Silabus smile.

"Oh? You created these mimics for what? Power, I'm guessing?"

"Hm." Father smirked lightly at him. This told Silabus all he needed to know.

"I thought so. Let me guess… You want as much power as you can get and that's why you created these mimics to data-drain as many players as possible and get all the code you can handle in order to make a powerful AI?"

'C'mon, you have narcissist written all over your smug face… you've been dying to share this plan.'

"... You're… close…" Father smiled as he hummed softly. He then looked at Silabus. "Since I'm going to take your data anyway…I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you my plan."

'Gotcha.'

Silabus kept his sword in his hand but still looked at Father. "I'm listening."

"I created my children in order to find eight specific players."

'Epitaph users! I should have guessed! With the ability to hide in plain sight, it would make hunting down these users easy.' Silabus thought as he let Father continue.

"These eight players. They…they have a power like you wouldn't believe. These eight were basically chosen by the gods of this world…" Father's fingers trembled as he looked at Silabus. He then gave a little laugh. "They're abilities are unmatched. It's almost unreal."

Silabus thought back to Haseo. All his fights that Silabus wasn't able to see. How at times he looked like he was in actual pain because of Skeith and about how strong Skeith's influence can be… How he allowed himself to be sucked down that path of anger and darkness one more time because Sakaki purposely targeted Silabus…

It sounded like hell.

Now multiply that by seven in one person?

That's just suicidal.

"With the power of those eight, I could be the strongest in all The World. Combined that with my hacking powers I will make a new world order." It was a threat that this man planned to make due on.

Silabus tensed his shoulders as he gripped his sword so tight that his knuckles ached.

'He's serious… dead serious.' Silabus realized as his breath hitched slightly. 'I could try and talk him out of it, but I know people like him. Talking won't do a damn thing.'

"You got a nasty look about you…" Father smirked at Silabus. "You know, it's almost a shame you won't be there to see my uprising. Well, maybe you will be behind a new PC, go a head. Data-drain him." Father told his mimics

Both mimics raised their hands and Silabus watched in horror as twilight bracelets wrapped around both mimic's right hands. 'Twilight Bracelets…I thought they didn't exist.' Silabus thought as he stared down both bracelets.

'I have no smoke bombs… there's no way out of this…' both data-drains were powering up and Silabus knew that there was no way out of this. He could try and run, but there were two of them.

His shoulders slumped weakly for a slow moment. Silabus let his head hang and looked at his own reflection in his sword. 'So… that's it?... Silabus is done for? I am done for?- No-' Silabus gripped his sword tightly in his fist.

He thought about Gaspard at that moment. Gaspard that was holding out for him, that needed him! Gaspard that didn't quit when Silabus fell victim to doll syndrome and Gaspard that wasn't quitting now.

His mind went to Haseo who also needed him! To Haseo, who admitted that Silabus helped change him. To Haseo who could have quit ten times over and nobody would blame him, but he didn't!

To Ryou, who was only meer feet away from him sitting on the hotel bed yelling so loudly that it echoed through Yuuichi's mic.

'No, I'm not quitting, not now- not ever!'

Silabus took a step forward- then he charged.

'I'm stopping this man! Even if it's the last thing I do!'

"Devil Sword!" Silabus roared as he leaped in the air; his sword and skill pointed directly at Father.

Father looked stunned as he he took a startled step back.

'If I can take him out- if I can do something-then I'll consider it a win!' Yuuichi felt himself tear up; this was the last thing he could do as Silabus. The mimics were about to release their data-drain, it was almost fully powered up.

Someone released their data-drain and it missed. Silabus felt it whiz right by his body as he flew towards Father, and considered himself lucky on that front as his attack landed. Father cried out in pain from Silabus's skill attack.

Another data-drain was released and Silabus did the only thing he could thing to do at that moment, he tore himself away from Father and threw himself to the ground. by the time Silabus turned to look up he feared it was too late-

That was until the fake Atoli's character shattered directly where a data-drain had struck her right in the chest. The skin on this character flickered violently right before they fell to their knees. There Haseo stood behind them looking absolutely incensed as his own twilight bracelet flashed around his wrist.

The mimic's ability wore off as their breathing became completely frantic and they stared down at the gaping shattered hole in their chest. A noise left their mouth. One that Silabus couldn't properly describe. It sounded like a groan mixed with a wheeze if anything.

Haseo said nothing as he glared at Father. There was a fire behind Haseo's red eyes. A fire that never failed to sweep Silabus off of his feet. Haseo's teeth were gnashed together in a nasty sneer as he gave the mimic in front of him a good kick to the back of the head. The mimic fell over without a fight.

Haseo didn't even bother collecting the data. No, he only used his data-drain to inflict damage. The mimic laid on the ground and flickered into static. Too heavily damaged to fight anymore.

"...You know what I want…" Father suddenly said making Silabus turn toward him just in time to see the fake Rubybird rush at Haseo-

Haseo snatched them by their neck the moment they got close enough. He had his hand wrapped tightly around the mimic's neck and lifted them off of the ground. The mimic's toes just grazed the ground. That was when Haseo powered up his data-drain. The mimic tried to fight him by powering up their own data-drain just the same, but nothing came of it when Haseo slammed his hand against the mimic's chest and fired.

The mimic didn't stand a chance. Much like the previous mimic, he blasted a hole right through the creature.

Silabus was absolutely breathless watching the mimic shatter and break like glass. The mimic became limp, and like it was nothing more than a doll, Haseo threw it to the side once it was clear there was no more fight left.

Only a growl left from Haseo's still gnashed teeth as he turned his attention towards Father. Haseo started to walk.

Father made a noise as he stood up, almost completely surprised.

Then…Silabus saw it as Haseo walked passed him, He had no idea how, but there it was. The red markings that Haseo told him about. The markings that appeared on his player. The sign that Skeith was ready to come out and join the battle. It was…almost beautiful.

The markings seemed to fade in and out as Haseo stopped in front of Father.

Father's eyes were wide as he reached behind him, but only touched the barrier.

"I'm going to fuck you up!" Haseo all but roared in rage. Rage that Silabus had never bared witness too. "Give it back." Haseo then demanded in a deadly tone.

Father only stood there. It almost seemed like he was weighing his options before-

He vanished right before Haseo's and Silabus's eyes.

The barrier faded.

There was silence. The marking on Haseo's flickered faster and faster as he suddenly grabbed at his face. "You coward!" Haseo bellowed and he doubled over suddenly. "You absolute coward!"

Skeith wasn't satisfied by the looks of it and showed no signs of stopping until he was released.

"Haseo!" Silabus ran to his boyfriend. Silabus quickly wrapped his arms around Haseo. "It's okay…" He whispered as he brought Haseo down to his knees. He kept his hold on Haseo tight as he placed his head on Haseo's shoulder. "If anything…It's better this way. Just…deep breaths, okay?" Silabus whispered as he pulled Haseo in. "The last thing we need is you going off the rails right now. Trust me, we'll get another chance at that bastard!"

Hearing footsteps, Silabus turned and looked at Atoli.

He then blinked once he realized something. "...Where's Kuhn?" He asked her softly as he looked around the room they were in.

There three injured mimics laid spread out around the room. All of them started to fade and will soon become nothing but cyberspace, which was good. Silabus was learning: The less of these things the better, but no Kuhn.

The tears that started to fall down Atoli's face already told Silabus what he needed to know, but still he denied it anyway. "No…"

"He… one of those things…it… it took his data…" Atoli whispered. "Silabus…I'm so sorry, but…his PC it's gone."

"..." Haseo was shaking in Silabus's arms as he clutched at his boyfriend for dear-life. Skeith finally seemed to have calmed down. 'For now.'

Silabus felt himself shake all the same as sadness overtook him.

Then came the anger.

Yuuichi exhaled slowly through his nose, and then he wiped his tears from his eyes.

Silabus followed this movement. "...We'll get him back." Silabus then said as he stood up. "I'll make it my own personal mission if I have to!" He couldn't help but bark as he snarled just the same. "But for now…we have to save Gaspard before the same happens to him!"

"Gaspard…" Haseo whispered softly like he had forgotten about the beast.

Silabus knew Haseo had to have and he couldn't blame him. Not with everything that just happened.

Haseo then stood and looked at Silabus. "You're right…still…I'm…" Haseo gnashed his teeth. "It doesn't feel right to move on…"

"I know. I feel the same way." Silabus admitted. "But we have to. As cruel as this may sound, we'll have to mourn Kuhn later…god knows I will…" He whispered the last part as he clutched at his chest. "But right now Gaspard is scared and alone! Kuhn would want us to keep going."

"..." Atoli sniffled and then wiped her eyes before nodding vigorously. "Le-let's go!" She exclaimed. "For Gaspard and for Kuhn!"

"Right!" Haseo turned towards the next room.

Silabus watched Haseo turn and walk away along with Atoli. Once he was behind the two of them, Yuuichi muted his mic. He knew he had to be quiet. He put his hand over his mouth to stifle his soft cries.

'Kuhn… Father got his wish and got one of the Epitaph users…' He thought as he hiccuped softly.

'Dammit. It should have been me. Out of everyone in this group, I'm the only one that doesn't have an avatar. If it were me they wouldn't have lost one of their own… how am I going to tell Gaspard…this isn't the same as me falling in a coma. Kuhn is gone… I won't let Father get away with this… If our fight taught me anything it's that Father can be hurt…I'm not a PK and I a hardly count as a PKK… but is it PK'ing when the bastard wants to take over The World for his own selfish desires?'

Sniffling softly, Yuuichi wiped the tears from his eyes. 'I don't have the answer to that question. But what I do know is that… Father won't get away with what he did. Even if I have to take him down myself.'