italics - Thoughts

Bold underlined - Spells/Sword Skills

[Bold] - Ddraig

[Ddraig] - Ddraig mental speech

{Bold} - Albion speech

[Issei] - Issei mental speech with Ddraig

[Issei] - Issei speaking with Ddraig

Underlined - Timeskips/Flashbacks

"Bold" - Rating Game Announcement

Disclaimer: I do not own Highchool Dxd, Sword Art Online, or any of its characters. All rights belong to their creators.


Chapter 16: Their battles for personal gains Pt.3

Seeing Kirito collapse suddenly for no apparent reason threw Eiji for a sudden loop. What?

"Kirito-kun!" Asuna turned to the little girl next to them, confusing him even further. "Yui, what's wrong with Kirito-kun?"

"Erm…Papa did something bad." Yui's face, which had been innocent looking, suddenly morphed into one of concentration. "…Papa used his Sacred Gear to bring a Sword Skill which does not exist in the system to life. And although Cardianl did not create this Sword Skill in SAO, it got registered as a Sword Skill due to traces of the Cardinal system in ALO being used in the Sword Skill that Papa just executed. So, it became confused and gave Papa debuffs for doing something that was like a breach of its system, while also giving it buffs for managing to execute the Sword Skill he did perfectly."

I'm sorry, what? Eiji had never before felt so confused and lost in his life.

"So…Cardinal got confused her programming and just randomly chucked both gifts and curses on me?" Kirito somehow managed to speak, even as his virtual body itched and convulsed rapidly. "That's…surprising to know."

"Hai, Papa." The small girl affirmed, before she stood up. "Then…"

A myriad of screens popped out around the girl.

Eiji felt his jaw drop.

She…Is she an AI?!

Although Eiji thought that the situation could not get any weirder, the girl summoned an honest-to-goodness flaming Sword the height of the field boss they were about to face. "Eiji-san, since Papa and Mama are currently unable to help you, I would protect them. I also increased the level of your character, as well as gave it a few buffs, so you should be able to clear the boss with ease."

"What buf-" As soon as the words were about to leave his mouth, his health bar suddenly dipped. Before he could panic as the health bar inched closer to depletion, it rose back up to full, multiple buffs appearing on his screen as it did so. He instantly picked out the buffs for Regeneration, Critical Up, Debuff Resistance, Defence Up, Speed Up, and for some reason, Fatigue recovery (It was a buff that was to be implemented in Ordinal Scale to compliment a part of the AR game: Fatigue bar, so as to prevent people from challenging bosses left and right non-stop. It got scrapped at the end because it would increase the time taken for them to obtain a true AI Yuuna.)

"…I really want to ask what your daughter's real identity right now, Kirito."

"…talk…later…" Kirito managed to grunt out, his avatar still convulsing the sudden influx of buffs and debuffs.

Oops. Forgot his avatar is still having trouble adjusting…

"Yui-chan, could you…open the gates?" Eiji looked at the still lowered portcullis.

"Sure thing Eiji-san!" The black haired girl chirped happily, before walking some ways away from the dungeon. What is she…

His unspoken question was answered when she pressed a seemingly random brick in one of the ruined walls around the field dungeon.

At that moment, the portcullis groaned, shuddering as it was raised halfway.

Thanks Yui-chan. Gulping a little, Eiji steeled his nerves, ready to take on the last boss he had faced before SAO was cleared.

"Wait!"

Hearing the vice-commander's voice(especially in her old regal, yet intimidating tone) made him stop. Turning, he faced the still collapsed girl. When she entered his vision, he could see a large, ornate sword was grasped in her hand, being held out towards him.

It was the very same one Kirito had used to protect him at first.

"Use this." Asuna pushed the blade towards the boy. "If we are correct, the boss would be still too tough for you because of your FNC. Use this blade to help you conquer your fears, Eiji."

Slowly nodding, Eiji took the sword, wordlessly sheathing his own, nearly destroyed one by his side. Surprisingly, the sword was light. But even more surprising to him was the buffs that had appeared along with his health bar, some even overriding the one Yui had given him

..

Slowly, nervously, Eiji made his way towards the centre of the field dungeon. He could already see the boss monster, the Feral Warder Chief, pacing around slowly, it's gigantic axe held aloft. Eiji hose to slowly circle around the boss, keeping an eye out on the boss. He was slightly surprised to see that it's health bar had gone back up again to it's four bars. Maybe it has a passive regeneration when not in combat? Eiji frowned. That would definitely make things harder for any player trying to clear this floor in the past.

That was when he noticed the abnormality. At first, Eiji thought he was imagining things. The boss's body was always facing him, never showing it's back to him.

But then, when he moved to the left, he noticed it's head moving towards the left as well, before it's body followed.

It was unnaturally following his every move.

Eiji stopped.

Warder chief's head stopped moving.

Eiji began to break out in cold sweat. What is this? The Field Boss was never this intelligent! Heck, it should not be able to sense me!

Despite the glowing red eyes of the field dungeon boss monster glowering at him, Eiji managed to compose himself enough to look though his inventory.

He had an extra sword, some health crystals, and a few Cough Potions. All courtesy of the little girl wearing a white dress, whom he was suspecting to be an AI of SAO. This even more so when she managed to increase his system parameters and began to float. Not that it matters right now.

Combined with the new blade he received from Kirito, Relic's Soul, and his higher levels, he would be able to easily kill the boss monster before him.

Eiji slowly made his way to the Warder Chief's position. The boss made no moves either, just slowly waiting for him to approach.

Five more metres…

Three more metres…

The moment he entered within two metres of the large monster, it gave a large roar. It's health bar, which had been on full display, disappeared, along with its cursor.

"!" Eiji had no time to be alarmed by the sudden change, for the boss leapt at him, axe glowing with a Sword Skill's attack.

Reflexively, he sidestepped the attack, only to remember that he was not holding the short sword he preferred, but a large one instead.

"Ah-" Eiji was unable to correct his mistake in time, and could only watch as the glowing stone axe smashed into sword.

…only for the axe to crumble into small polygons like it was made of sand...

"…eh?" Eiji was stunned. Just how strong is this sword?!

Apparently, so was the AI that controlled the field boss. It was tilting its head in confusion, eyes staring at the remains of what was its most powerful weapon.

Needless to say, Eiji made short work of the boss, destroying it with the 4-hit Sword Skill, Vertical Square.


A few minutes later

After one boss fight later, Eiji was standing before the location at which Yuuna had last stood.

"What the…" Shock painted his features instead of hope and worry.

For there was a dome of light, about 3 metres in height and 6 metres in width, surrounding a clump of light that vaguely made up a human form, if said human was tucking its knees close to it's chest in a fetal position.

Not only that, but there were multiple runic(he recognised them somewhat due to playing ALO, which had a few ancient runes as items that could be used) and strange characters surrounding said dome, further making a circle about 10 metres wide. Each character glowed a different colour, but when he got close to the ones that were directly in front of him, it all glowed a uniform colour of white.

"What is this…" Eiji was in slight awe and shock. None of this had appeared until he had defeated the boss. And when he did, he was immediately teleported the edge of the field dungeon he was in(basically, where he had started). That was when the dome had appeared. If it had been present, he would have slammed into the barrier at least three times, much less see the glowing white characters and light barrier.

Trailing behind him, similarly in a state of awe and shock, were Kirito and Asuna, the latter having regrown her legs back, the former only able to walk because of the debuff nullification Relic's Soul had(Eiji had given it back to Asuna, who had grown back her legs, when he was teleported back to their position).

As he looked over the entire dome, his eyes caught the centre mass of light glowing brightly. So brightly, in fact, that he and the two players behind him had to cover their eyes. When it dimmed down-

"Yuuna." Eiji breathed out in shock.

The white lights had dimmed down to reveal the curled up, foetal position of Yuna the Idol. Also called Black Yuna. Her face was contorted in pain.

But the strange thing was, that she did not move. Not even when Eiji began to pound against the light barrier, only to draw away when a unholy PAIN shot up his arms, surprising the young boy as he should not be able to feel any pain in SAO, only numbness...

"Kirito. Asuna. And...Nautilus."

An unfamiliar voice prompted Eiji to spin around, hand on the hilt of his sword. Then, he drew it.

Kayaba Ahikiko was standing not too far from them, hands in the pockets of a lab coat(?) he was wearing. On his back were the signature tower shield and one-handed sword he carried around as 'Heathcliff'.

Funnily enough, it suited him.

Kayaba...

Kazuto did not make any moves to defend himself when Kayaba appeared, his preferred weapons being slung behind him. The man(or would he prefer half-devil?) had helped him a few times, and if his hunch was correct, he had helped them stay amongst the living once more.

"Kayaba!" Eiji slowly circled the person, sword pointed at him and ready to execute the Sword Skill, Vertical Square, at a moment's notice. "You're alive? How?"

"Oh, no need to worry, Nautilus." Kayaba sighed as he looked around the empty field dungeon. "I am dead. The doctors that had been dispatched to my body confirmed it as such. So I have been dead in the mortal realm for around…a little over 3 years now."

"So you really are alive, Commander…" Asuna slowly drifted her hand away from the hilt of her rapier. Not that it would have mattered much, seeing as he had devised all the Sword Skills in the game, and had access to admin privileges that would have allowed him to paralyze them before they could attack him. "Why did you appear? Here? And right now?"

"Hello Asuna." Kayaba allowed himself to smile briefly at the chestnut-haired girl. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"Why are you talking to that madman like old buddies?! If you knew he was alive, you should have called the police!" Eiji shouted out, a wariness in his eyes. "Are you friends with him? Did you know he was here?"

"Eiji..." Kazuto could understand why the boy behind him was acting like this. But he did not have the full picture. Not yet. "Kayaba is the reason why Yuuna is alive."

"Wha-" Kazuto could hear the boy stumble backwards in shock. "What do you mean? Kayaba, the one who trapped all of us in the death game, is the reason Yuuna is alive?"

Kazuto turned around to face Eiji. When he looked at him, he could see that the boy was equally shocked, grateful, angry towards the man behind him.

"Don't speak nonsense!" Eiji screamed out swinging his sword around. "HE is the one that killed 4,000 players! HE is the one that trapped all 10,000 players back then! And he is the one that killed Yuuna!" Eiji's voice broke down, sobs threatening to spill out of him. "He killed Yuuna…"

"…You are right. I did sentence all of you to death."

Kayaba's admittance to his deeds made Eiji keep quiet. "I…should have done something to prevent all those deaths…" he mumbled, far too softly for Eiji to hear.

But for Kazuto and Asuna, who were enhancing their hearing through their demonic powers, managed to catch the words that left Kayaba's mouth.

What is he talking about? Kazuto narrowed his eyes. Is he saying that…there was someone else responsible?

"I am not going to apologise for what I did in the past." Kayaba's words made Eiji want to lunge at him, but Kazuto raised his hand, preventing the boy from doing so. "There was too much at stake then…and I managed to get some wonderful results from that incident." Kazuto could practically hear the smirk. "And as such, some things came be brought to life. Isn't that right, Kirito, Asuna?"

"Just get to the point, Kayaba." Kazuto irritably sighed. "Why are you here? And why the sudden revealing of your secrets?"

"Ah, you like to ask the hard questions, don't you Kirito?" Kayaba appeared before his vision, having teleported to look and speak to them, face-to-face. "Or would you prefer that I call you by your real name?"

"My in-game name, please." Kazuto sighed. He had too much shit to deal with to care at this point, is what he would like to say, but he had to be cautious of other devils appearing. He did not want any of their families to get hurt by the supernatural.

"…I see that you have accepted your new nature really well, Kirito, Asuna." Kayaba raised an eyebrow.

"Having two months to get used to it helps."

"I see." Kayaba nodded, before he manipulated his menu. With a rush of polygons, a large circular table, enough for five people, and four chairs appeared. "Please, take a seat. We would be talking for a bit. We may be in a VR world, but my courtesy would not allow my guests to stand for so long."

"Like you had any courtesy to start with." Eiji muttered angrily, but he took a seat. Asuna and Kazuto followed shortly after

..

..

"Now then, where shall I start..." Kayaba coughed. "Sorry, speaking aloud. Like any story, I should start at the beginning. In this case...when Kirito cleared the game, for Nautilus's sake."

"Don't call me Nautilus." Eiji half-heartedly glared at Kayaba, but other than that, allowed the man to continue.

"Well then. When the game was cleared, Kirito and Asuna had a small chat with me. It would have only been Kirito had he won the duel, but since the two of you died 9.8 seconds before I did, I got the chance to speak to the two of you." Kayaba's brow creased slightly as he thought about the circumstances surrounding their talk. "I am lucky that I programmed the NerveGear to only emit the EMP 11 seconds after the confirmed death in the game."

Kazyto's eye twitched in irritation when he heard Kayaba speak so flippantly about the deaths of others, but since he was a half-devil, he could understand the reason for Kayaba's nearly apathetic view towards the lives of others.

"After that, I cleaned up some…personal affairs, before I departed this world. Well, my mortal body, to be exact." Kayaba paused slightly, before he continued, his eyes taking on a nostalgic hint. "And then, my mind became free."

"Actually, I am not sure if I am actually 'Kayaba Ahikiko', and not a 'copy of the person called Kayaba Ahikiko'." Kayaba gave a small grin as he turned to look at Kazuto, breaking out of his nostalgic trip down memory lane. "Since I digitized my brain, which is the first action that has ever been attempted before in history. Did the machine I made simply copied my memories and the small bits and pieces that made up the individual called 'Kayaba Ahikiko', before my brain was fried, like the many players before me? Or did it place my consciousness, memories and all, into the web, turning it into data?" He shrugged. "The world may never know."

In a place called the Ocean Turtle, a couple of miles off Japan's coastline, two people sneezed.

""Achoo!"" A blonde-white haired, wearing round-rimmed spectacles man sniffled, pausing to blow his nose, before he continued with his observations of the project they were working on. "Kiku-san, bless you."

"Bless you too, Higa-kun." Kikuoka Seijirou blew his nose.

"Kiku-san," Higa Takeru blearily rubbed his eyes, leaning back against his chair. "Shouldn't you wear something else? You are going to catch a cold, just wearing a yukata."

"I'll be fine, Higa-kun." Kikuoka smiled briefly at the blondish-white-haired programmer. "It would take more than this to make me come down with something like a cold." Still…what was that? The only times I have ever sneezed was if someone was talking about me…could Kirigaya-kun? The man allowed his thoughts to be briefly turned toward the black-haired teen. …Nah, that is unlikely. Kirigaya-kun does not know about my project. Speaking of...we should get someone to interact with the environment soon. Kirgaya-kun fits the bill nicely, but I would rather get someone else, if I can…preferably older.

For some reason, Kazuto got the sudden urge to spear a bokken up Kikuoka's ass, but he pushed it down in favour of listening to Kayaba.

"Now, let me fast forward time to something that happened a few months back." Kayaba waved his hand, allowing a few windows to pop out and revolve around them. "The Ordinal Scale event that was created to make a top-down bottom AI. One that was specifically tailored to emulate a person that was the only on to get the Extra Skill, Chant. Shigemura Yuuna, or as she was known in SAO, Yuna." For a split second, Kazuto thought he saw something akin to sorrow in the man's eyes, but when he blinked, they were gone. "As I wandered all around the web, …broadening my horizons, so to speak, I stumbled across the white-hooded version of the AI you two were trying to make. She told me everything, as well as her suspicions and worries."

..

Kayaba looked at Eiji, causing the boy to flinch slightly. Kazuto had an inkling of what Kayaba was talking about, having spoken to the white-hooded girl before. If I recall…she said something about them wanting to make her 'complete' ? Asuna could only blink owlishly, having been bedridden for most of that time.

"At first, when the girl met me, she wanted to try to call the police." Kayaba gave a dry chuckle. "Then she realised that she could not do such a thing without sending her father, and her dear childhood friend to prison for attempted murder."

Out of the corner of his vision, Kazuto saw Eiji flinch again. At least he knows what he did was not the wishes of Yuuna…or is it Yuna?

"After we talked for a bit, Yuna decided to trust me. So, I told her to seek out Kirito." Kazuto gave a small spit take at that.

What? "So you told Yuuna to find me?"

"After I spread some rumours about." Kayaba confirmed. "You beat the system quite a few times in the past. You doing it again was within my expectations. After all, Black Swordsman, you have a knack for defying the rules and breaking expectations" He smirked as he emphasised his old nickname in SAOA

I want to hate you, but you did it to save lives… Apparently, Kazuto's thoughts were read by Kayaba, who smirked, before he continued.

"So after everything was said and done, and when Yuna was sent to another company to be used as a way for them to make more money, that was when she started to have errors pile up inside her." Kayaba shook his head. "If Yuna had been a normal AI, there would have been no problems. But since she was created using Cardinal's systems, she was unable to process there being multiple 'Yunas' in the web. Had I not stepped in, she would have self-destructed from the enormous amount of errors piling up in her code. But even when I did, my intervention was minimal. In the beginning anyway."

"…How did Yuuna survive?" Eiji asked Kayaba, albeit hesitantly.

"She was smart, I give her that." Kayaba sighed lightly. "Did you know that I had three levels of AI programmed into Cardinal?"

"We did." Eiji answered slowly. "And the professor and I chose the 3rd level. It was the most advanced one out of all of them."

"That is a misconception, young Nautilus." Kayaba's words made Eiji blink in shock. "The 2nd and 3rd levels of the language engine may seem different in terms of processing speed and adaptability, but actually, the second level was the most advanced one."

"You see, the 3rd level of the language engine, the one used for bosses, they may be advanced, yes, but beyond some sections in code, it is no different to the level 1 one used for NPCs. This is because, fundamentally, mobs have fixed attack patterns. Boss monsters, for both field dungeons and the floors, are no different." Kayaba explained. "The boss monsters for field and floor dungeons are so advanced because they have multiple variables to take into account. The number of players in a raid party, the overall damage each member of the party dealt, and health of each separate member of the raid party has, the types of weapons the raid party has, and the 'hate' generation each raid member has done." Kayaba listed each factor. "Then, there are also the pre-set routines that it has to choose from for every phase it goes through to best counter the raid team. By the way, each phase had between 3 to 10 routines."

"""3 to 10!?""" Exclaimed Kazuto, Asuna and Eiji in shock.

If Kayaba puts it that way...then it would make some sense for the AIs for the boss monster to be so complicated. Kazuto thought to himself. "Then, what is the difference between the level 2 and level 3 language engines that make the level 2 engine more superior to the level 3 one?" Kazuto asked, not for the sake of him or Asuna, but for Eiji. He had a very good guess of why this is so. "Is it their adaptation speed?"

"That is a very astute observation, Kirito." Kayaba complimented the black-haired teen. "And you're not that far off from the mark. If you were to bring a level 2 language engine using AI out of Cardinal's care, that particular AI would constantly add to it's own code to adapt based on its needs, and would evolve as a side benefit."

"The level 2 language engine AIs are fundamentally different to that of the level 3 ones. If I were to explain it...the level 3 ones, which are the one the boss uses, are the 'survivalist' type, which adapts based on the methods given to it. Whereas the level 2 ones are the 'adaptative' type, which would cannibalize, use or outright create their own codes for survival. In that sense, the level 2 language engine is more advanced. It is also one of the reasons why I chose the level 2 language engines as the mental-counselling AI, as they would have to adapt to every person's differing needs in terms of counselling."

"Which reminds me…" Kayaba turned towards the Black and White married couple. "How is MHCP 02?"

"Her name is Yui, Kayaba." Kazuto frowned. "And she is fine…for now. She just went through some changes."

"Wait wait wait." Eiji raised his hand, making a 'I surrender' action. "Are you saying that little girl is actually an AI?! And the two of you treat her like she is your daughter." The boy gave them a hard stare. "Please don't tell me you picked her up like some sort of stray cat the first time you met her."

"Err…" Kazuto opted to scratch the back of his head, while Asuna refused to look at anyone, including her boyfriend/husband. Now that Eiji mentions it, that is sorta what happened, didn't it?

When Eiji saw those actions, his gaze turned into a deadpanned stare. Kazuto could practically hear the 'Are you kidding me?' look he was giving them.

"Ahem." A cough drew everyone's attention back to the person who had gathered them to sit at one table. "If you are done," Kayaba drawled. "Then perhaps we could continue? I would like to finish this before your bodies get chopped into bits because of some random, stuck up individual claiming vengeance."

That sobered Kazuto and Asuna up pretty quickly. After all, currently, their bodies were in a defenceless position. And they had encountered a devil(although technically, it was Kazuto, and the devil was a dumb one) sulking about near the SAO servers. There was no telling when another devil would show up.

"As I was saying, young Yuna was very smart. At the last moment, it would seem that she switched to a level 2 language engine, which temporarily made her unable to form a proper physical presence in the world. She had a consciousness body was gone, for it was mainly sustained by the level 3 language engine. But, after some time, her code adapted, becoming something like mine. Something…more than a artificial intelligence. And that was when the troubles began."

"Troubles?" Eiji narrowed his eyes. Normally, this would be more menacing, but since he was in his pre-teen face, this came across as a pout to the others instead.

"Yes" Kayaba nodded his head. "The errors I mentioned earlier started to pile up inside her code, causing our version of splitting headaches. This then further devolved into raging emotions, loss of limb control, and pain racing across our virtual nervous system. This was when she asked for my help. And, as someone who had once faced a similar predicament, I helped her as much as possible, in the best way I could."

"...Commander, what do you mean by having faced the same predicament Yuna was in?" Asuna asked.

"Exactly what I just said, Asuna." Kayaba allowed the ghost of a smile to flit across his face. "After I saw the news of my death, my digitised self began to have errors pile up upon itself. It would seem that when I digitized my mind, it turned myself into something akin to a miniature Cardinal System: A self-sustaining, ever evolving piece of code with an ego. I had some resistance to it, seeing as I knew of the possibility of my mind being cloned, but thinking of it and seeing it are two entirely different things. So, my code piled up errors, causing splitting headaches and the phantom pain racing across my nervous systems, or what code that made up my virtual nervous system. In the end, I managed to stop it from progressing to far in by accepting the possibility of me being a clone of Kayaba Ahikiko. After that, my errors slowly fixed itself, like antibodies in a body killing foreign viruses."

"So, when Yuna asked for help, I answered as fast as I could. But, this resulted in me attracting rather…unwelcome attention, as you have no doubt saw earlier."

"Who was he anyway?" Eiji frowned at Kayaba. "He did not look like any player I have ever seen, nor was his cursor any colour that I have ever seen."

"All in due time, Nautilus." Kayaba unsteepled his fingers, allowing them to rest on the table. "You came here for only one purpose, no? To save Yuna?"

"...I did."

"Then, would you pay any price to save her?" Kayaba's eyes gained a glint in them.

"Any price." Eiji agreed hesitatingly. He had not seen the glint.

But Kazuto did. And he had a bad feeling about this...

"Right then." Kayaba turned towards Kazuto. "Kirito, turn Nautilus into a devil."

"...what?"


One explanation later...

"So, let me get this straight." Eiji was rubbing his temples with his hands, a 'I am so done with this' look on his face. "Kirito and Asuna died a few months back."

"That is correct" Kayaba confirmed.

"Kayaba came and helped revive you guys, thereby revealing himself to a group of devils that were after him, while also saving the two of you in the process."

"Yeah." Kazuto nodded.

"So, after a few months, the two of you adjusted to being a being that was the representation of darkness, lies and death. In that time, Kirito gained a plot of land in the underworld, which is a thing, gained a ability which makes you a practically nigh-unkillable berserker, learned that Kayaba was also a part of the supernatural because of one of his parents, and that there was a further 10,000 supernatural beings that got trapped in the Death Game, which made the two of you, as well as any SAO survivor, a celebrity for helping to free them?"

"That sounds about right."

"Okay then…" Eiji sighed, shrugging. "Why not. If all I have to do to save Yuuna is to make a deal with the devil, in this case, literally," Eiji eyed Kazuto. "Then, I would do it."

"I would help, but…" Kazuto looked at Eiji uncomfortably. "I don't have the app that devils use to measure wishes and ask the appropriate payment from you."

"There is no need for that, Kirito." Kayaba cut in. "After all, there is only one way to save Yuna. You should know it quite well."

"…how am I supposed to do that?" Kazuto caught on pretty quick. "I am not a King. And I don't have any of the Evil Pieces with me. And, even if by some miracle that I did have both these prerequisites checked, I can't do what you are asking of me Kayaba!"

"…what?!" Eiji was feeling very lost, so he shouted out as a reflex.

"Actually, you can Kirito." Ignoring Eiji's outraged shout, he summoned a holoscreen. Typing into it, he then sent an invite towards Kazuto.

At first, he was very confused at the action. Why would Kayaba send me an invitation? There is no reason for us to fight, there are no quests for us to do, as we ha e already cleared the game, and there is no need for any messages, since all our cards are being laid on the table.

Then, his eye caught the title of the invitation.

._._._._.

Individual: Half-devil Akihiko Kayaba has sent you an invitation.

Would you like to activate your status as a King?

Warning: This is not a duel invitation. Accepting this offer would cause changes to your very soul. Do you accept?

Yes / No

._._._._.

What in the world... Kazuto looked up at Kayaba for clarification.

"As I said, you have the power to save Yuna right now, Kirito. The question is, would you accept said power?" Kayaba smiled.

"…what is this exactly?" Kazuto meant to ask that as a question, but it came out as half a demand instead.

"This is me transferring my Evil Piece ownership to you, simply put." Kayab's words caused Kazuto to freeze up. "Or rather, more accurately, this is me activating that right for you. My Evil Pieces are rather special, you see."

"In every Evil Piece set, there has always been one King, a Queen, a pair of Bishops, Rooks, Knights, and eight Pawns. That is without breaking any rules of having any extra pieces. Mine, however, are very different to any devil's set of Evil Pieces."

A small light began to form in the centre of the table. Kazuto found his eyes being drawn to it.

"Thanks to my tinkering of my own Pieces, all of them got turned into Pawns. In exchange, the reincarnated individual would have an increase in all their parameters by nearly two-and-a-half-fold, instead of the usual twofold given by a regular Pawn. Also, they are able to reincarnate any individual, regardless of their value…" Kayaba paused for a second. "Actually, it would be more apt to say that they have the max value limitation possible instead of their regular value limitation."

"As you know, each Piece has their own values. 1 for a Pawn, 3 for a Bishop or a Knight, 5 for a Rook, and 9 for a Queen, with the last being a 10 for the King. For my Pawns, all of them have a value of 10. This means that when a person needs 5 Pawns or a Rook to be in a devil's Peerage, I would only need 1 Pawn to do so from my set of Pieces."

The light became even brighter, slowly condensing to form some form of object. At that point, the light had grown so bright, Kazuto was wondering why the others were not reacting to it. Then, he realised: Only he and Kayaba could see it, for the man's eyes were flitting to it every so often.

When he saw his face, Kayaba chuckled. "Right now, we are the only ones aware of what is happening. I am increasing the rate at which we perceive things. By the time this conversation has passed, it would have only been a few seconds of us staring at each other."

"…you love your dramatics, don't you Kayaba." Kazuto wanted to face palm in exasperation.

"I will not confirm nor deny that." Kayaba grinned weakly. "Back to where we were. Put simply, it means that if a person has a point value of 8 or 9, instead of using your singular Queen Piece to reincarnate them, you would just have to use your Pawn to do so. What's more, once you have assigned ALL of the Pieces you are going to inherit, half of the Pieces would turn into one of the speciality Pieces, like a Rook or a Queen, while the rest would remain a Pawn. All of them would get a further boost to their parameters, depending on the Piece. The Pawn, the weakest one, would get a boost of around...3 times a regular Pawn does."

"And out of all the potential people that you would recruit into you Peerage, only you or Asuna have the qualifications to be a King."

At the sound of the declaration, both Kazuto's mind and the ball of light reached a conclusion.

The ball of light gave one, last flash of light, before it dimmed down, revealing 13 slowly rotating Pieces, all of them clad in black and white colours. "You say Asuna and I have the qualifications to be the King of this Peerage. The only reason I can think of this is because of our higher than average levels in SAO, as well as our nicknames. The 'Solo Black Swordsman' for me. The one who was able to be ahead of the curve even though I was a solo player. And 'Lighting Flash' for Asuna, because of her high speed in movements and fighting, as well as her higher than average learning speed and planning." Kazuto narrowed his eyes a little. "But you want me to be the King, even though I am bad at leading, as my ability to defy the rules is the better choice. Even though my leading ability is bad."

"No need for you to say that part twice." Kayaba sighed. "And yes, that is part of it."

Part?

"Your ability to defy expectations is something that, in recent years, seem to have grown. First, was your fight against me. The second, was the reaching the top of the Yggdrasill tree, even though it was programmed to be impossible. The third, the using of swords in a world where guns are the norm, and nearly winning as a result. The fourth, you managing to stay toe-to-toe with an experienced priest, and injuring him harshly with a single pipe. And lately, your fight against the Sitri, Gremory, and Flauros Peerage remains." Kayaba listed off each achievement of defying expectations he had done in his life. "In each of these scenarios, the odds were stacked against you. And in each scenario, the chances of you doing what you did became a turning point that further increased your body's capabilities."

"…what?" Kazuto blinked.

"Put simply, your mind's capabilities have outgrown your body." Kayaba gave a thin smile. "Your mind is processing things at a much faster pace than others. On average, humans have a reaction speed of 0.25 seconds. You had a reaction speed of close to 0.18 seconds back on Aincard. That further shortened to 0.152 seconds after your encounter with the crazed priest. Now...your reaction speed is about...0.09 seconds? That puts you at the top 10% of the entire world, including the supernatural, in terms of reaction speed. But your body can't keep up with such a high reaction speed, so…your reactions would be complete in around 0.1 second instead of a human's usual 1 sec. Which still puts you in the top 20 percent in reaction speed in all the realms."

That is too monstrous! I mean, I know my reaction speed was abnormal, but still! Kazuto screamed in his mind, cold sweat nearly forming on his brow at the sudden revelation.

"Right then." Kayaba snapped his fingers, causing the slowly rotating Pieces to put themselves into a crystalline box. "Kirito, would you accept this power? If you do, I would tell you how to save Yuna-"

"I have a guess on how to do it." Kazuto rubbed his face tiredly. "I am guessing the barrier is actually a spell you made that prevents outside information from being perceived, and vice versa, right? Without any information being flooded into her system, Yuna would stop herself from degrading any further."

"…100 points, Kirito." Kayaba clapped slowly, a passive look on his face. "In that case, would you accept this?"

Kazuto looked down at the still floating screen. "Do I have a choice?"

"You do." Kayaba nodded. "If you refuse, Asuna would be the King. And then, you would be the Queen of the-"

"I'll do it!" Kazuto yelped. Like hell I will allow myself to be called Queen Kirito in Rating games(*1*)!

"I thought so." Kayaba smirked before a serious expression overtook his features. "Then, if you would…"

Kazuto looked at the screen once more. Taking a deep breath, he allowed his finger to hover of the button. And then–

–he pressed it.


(present time, Gremory side)

When the light cleared, the first thing that Issei saw was the field they were going to be playing in. The first thing that came to his mind was-

post-apocalypse earth… Issei drank in his surroundings, preparing to draw his hidden blade at any time.

Ruins dotted the harsh, earthen landscape. Every so often, there would be a half-broken pillar, or a small, unbroken piece of building on the landscape. Harsh winds blew through the half-ruined temple they were in. The base

Actually, the more Issei looked, the more it reminded him of the shrines("temples." his mind corrected him) that were from Greek mythology. Only, they were now a shell of their former glory. Distantly, Issei could see another temple, similar to theirs. It had parts of its pillars broken, but it was still standing. So that's their base then?

Issei took a few more minutes to take a look around him, before he smashed his fists together, making a dull thud from flesh meeting flesh. It's time to punch that bastard's face in!

"Buchou, what are the rules...?" Issei turned around to face Rias, but he blinked in the next moment when he saw the frowning face of his Master. "…Buchou?"

"This is strange…" Rias muttered, her eyes darting about. "We were not sent any restrictions, even though we have Gasper and you Ise. What's more, the aribator…"

She's right. Issei realised. Even though we have Balor Scared View and my Boosted Gear, they did not send a scroll to us on the restriction of our powers or abilities, even though Gasper does not have total control over his gear yet. And there has not been a single sound from the aribator has not made a single sound, even though so much time has passed...

Quietly, he summoned his Longinus. At the same time, he heard his friends prepare themselves, Kiba and Xenovia drawing their blades, while Koneko fitted on the new gauntlets that she received from Liz. Asia too prepared her weapon while concealing it from view.

At that moment, a single magic circle appeared before them. But instead of appearing on the ground, it floated in the air

Immediately, the wrongness Issei felt intensified. Here!? This is too close! Something definitely feels wrong…

"Those are not the Astaroth family crest…" Issei's blood ran cold the moment he heard Rias's mutter. Does that mean-

Like a horror movie, more magic circles began to pop up in the sky like zombies emerging from the grave. Their numbers grew to such proportions, Issei did not bother to count them anymore. At the very least, they numbered in the hundreds.

"Kyah!" A short scream sounded out.

"Asia!" Whirling about, Issei turned to look for the blonde girl, only to find air. Looking up, he saw her being carried by Diodora by her hands! Feeling rage well up in him, he launched some scales at the floating devil, a trick he picked up from the last Rating game he had.

"Hah!" Diodora smirked as he saw the scales bounce of him. "Filthy dragon, it would seem your attack had no effect on me!"

"Issei-san!" Asia screamed, futilely trying to escape from the devil's grasp.

"Diodora, what is the meaning of this?!" Rias clenched her fist, eyes narrowing in anger.

"You can't tell? And here I thought you would have been smart enough to catch on." Diodora faked a sigh of concern. "You are going to be killed by the Khaos Brigade, right here, right now." His eyes opened, showing a glimmer of the yellow irises behind his closed eyelids.

It looks like Vali's warning had some merit after all. Issei thought to himself in a grim tone. Well, not as if we had not suspected this would happen. "You vile bastard!" Rias shouted in anger. "So you sided with them after all then?"

"Of course." Diodora grinned. To some ladies, it would have been a cool smile, one borne from a beautiful face. But to Issei, right now, it looked like the smile of a deranged madman. "They offered me quite a deal. And it was too great for me to refuse."

"Not only did you ally yourself with a terrorist group, you defiled the Game itself!" Rias raised her hand, allowing the Power of Destruction to flow of her entire body unrestrained. "What's more, you are touching my cute Asia…you will pay for this!"

"Oh, I very much doubt that." With a quick movement, Diodora used his demonic energy to bid Asia, preventing her from struggling. "It would be very hard for you to survive fighting this amount of Mid-class and High-class devils, especially since only the Gremory heiress is the only High-class devil among you. She would not be able to protect herself, much less her entire Peerage." A hint of mirth was heard in his tone, and his next few words made Issei's blood boil. "While you are being annihilated, I would be taking this little one for myself in that temple over there. You should be able to understand what I am saying. Right, Red Dragon Emperor?"

"Bastard…" Issei growled, but did not make any rash actions. Remember, think before you act! Don't jump headlong into danger, like Leafa and Kirito said!

"… …I was hoping for more of a reaction from you." Diodora frowned. "Perhaps I shall leave a parting gift before we leave." With a clear sound from his snapping fingers, tens of hundreds of green light spears began to rain down around them.

"Shit!" Swearing, Issei quickly leapt away from his original position before he ran away, the trail of light spears impacting where he stood before harshly and following him.

"Asia is my friend! I won't allow you to do as you please!" Out of the corner of his eyes, Issei saw Xenovia leap into the air, Durandal's aura coating the large broadsword she was wielding. In the span of a few seconds, she reached Diodara's position, sword ready to be brought crashing down against the Khaos Brigade follower.

"Hmph." A smirk on his face, Diodara simply raised Asia in front of him, putting her between him and the soaring Xenovia. He used Asia as a meatshield?! What about that love you had for her then? Was it al fake!?

"Grr..." Xenovia acted quickly, swinging her broadsword to the side to redirect her lunge's direction. Doing a small backflip, she landed on the floor gracefully, crouching down on the floor. "You coward!"

"All is fair in love and war, former holy maiden!" For the first time, Issei witnessed Diodara's look of glee on his face. And it sent shivers down his spine. I actually prefer if his eyes are closed for good now. He looks to creepy!

A magic circle formed underneath Diodora's legs. "Sekiryuutei, if you survive, come meet me at the church. I want watch your face fall into the pits of despair as I have this little gem become mine!" Diodora laughed. "Well, that would never happen, since you would die right here!" His laughter was the last thing they heard, before he was transported away, the outline of his body dissolving into light.

"ASIAAAAAA!" Issei screamed in rage. He has shouted out her name, but he knew he would not get a response. Not with her so far away from him. "Damn it!" Falling to his knees, Issei smashed his gauntleted fist into the ground. An audible crack could be heard as the ground splintered, forming a miniature crater below his body. A few of the more observant devils backed away slightly, having not expected the 'weakest Sekiryuutei' to have cracked the ground beneath him with no Boosts. "Again…it happened again…even though I said I would protect her…I let her get taken again!"

"Issei-kun, please, calm yourself!" Kiba edged his way to the kneeling Dragon Emperor. "We should focous on getting out of this situation first! Then let's go and save Asia-san after that!"

He's right. Issei sniffled, slowly lifting his hand from the ground. With unsteady feet, he rose up from his previous kneeling position. This time, Ddraig gave a loud [Boost!], signalling that he had begun to stock up Issei's power. We just have to get past this place, get to that temple, and beat in Diodora's face to save Asia!

Diodoraaaaa! Issei roared in his mind. I won't forgive you for what you did to Asia! "Scale Mail!"

[Countdown!] Ddraig declared, the green gem reflecting the time needed for him to reach his Scale Mail.

As he waited, Issei looked at the sky around him. All the devils were wearing armour that covered their faces. In their hands were all sorts of weapons. Spears and halberds were the most common, but he could pick out a few claymores, archers and spellcasters in the mix, their ornate staffs a dead giveaway. Diodara said that they were all serving under the descendants of the Old-Maou…and he said that they were all Mid-class or High-class devils, right? That means we can't fight them all head on. We would need to conserve our strength so that we can fight Diodora later on. Should we take them out one by one from behind their shadows or something? Or should we just ignore them and head straight for the temples?

The enemy devils began to surround the small group, their hands shining with light from their magic circles. They are going to attack?! Issei looked at Kiba from the corner of his eye. We won't be able to dodge them all! I'll need something big! "Kiba!"

"Got it!" Forming a large claymore, Kiba tossed it to the brown-haired boy, who grasped the massive weapon easily. Thank goodness for Kirito's and Buchou's spartan like training!

Just before Issei acted on his plan(hit-and-run tactics), he heard a short, cute scream from this tense situation. Eh?! Akeno-san?

Turning his head, Issei did not expect to see a single, shitty-old man wearing some flowing robes to be lifting up Akeno-san's skirt and looking at her panties! "Oh ho~ Such a fine example of youth!" The old geezer gave a lecherous smile. "What about you, Gremory heiress? What sort of underwear are you wearing? Is it anything like your Queen's daring ones?"

What the heck? What happened to the tense atmosphere?! Issei blinked his eyes in confusion, trying to make sense of what was going on.

Apparently, quite a number of their enemies felt hte same as Issei at the moment, for a few of them instantly relaxed their stances, too confused by the sudden change in atmosphere from tense to shocking perverseness by an old geezer!

wait... Issei quickly recognised the person that had disrupted the tense atmosphere from before. That geezer is-

"Odin-sama!" Rias cried out in shock. "What are you doing here?"


(*1*) – Yes, yes, that is from the same fic I referenced in the last chapter. A Gamer's Guide to the Underworld

AN

Right, this was closing in on the word count I had, so I thought this was a good place as any to leave off.

And for those of you who are wondering, yes, Issei still has that countdown thing for his armour.

I left it like this, unlike in the canon, where he could already activate Scale Mail at this point, for a few reasons. One, this is an AU, so this is a change I made, even if it is not within my desires. Two, this is actually more stable in terms of power levelling.

The training with Tanin was 1 month. In that time, Issei managed to bring his scale Mail activation to around a minute. After that, he could maintain it for 30 minutes, less if he fought. Right now, this is around one month. So, in my mind, he should not be able to activate scale mail instantly at all.

EDIT:

Also, this is an apology for those who waited so long for this chapter to come out. Had a backlog of homework to do. Ah…my sleep…my anime…its all going to pile up even more(or be reduced for the former)

EDIT2:

Thank you for telling me that error, all of you. I just fixed it.