Disclaimer: I do not own anything on this story except my OC and their story arcs. All other things realted with SAO belongs to Reki Kawahara.

Thirty sixth floor's teleportation stone glowed to show there was someone teleporting there.

Player that appeared was a well-known figure of Aincrad with his white robe and the insignia adorned to that robe. His sword was dangled to his back as always and unlike his usual appearance he was wearing his robe's hoody.

It has been two months since the first and only PvP battle of Aincrad had occurred. A great many things had changed since then, especially survivors. Ilsamor's old 'The Combat Medic' alias was at the edge of mixing into dusty pages of history, especially after his show on war. People were slowly warming to his other alias, one that Kirito called him seven months ago, as a courtesy of Ilsamor's using his alias.

The Silver Blade.

In that dark times of the man, this name doesn't just used for his selection of colors or his expertise in sword only. It was also an attempt to explain his cold demeanor emerged after the Battle of 22nd Floor.

To his guildmates he was no longer the cheerful teacher who kept attending almost every class as a guest, making jokes to other players and answering teasings with a blushed face. Nowadays he was mainly training Champions, the elite force that had been formed by veterans in order to prevent another battle. If he was not there, then he was usually at frontlines all by himself, checking floors and making detailed analyses of the floor bosses. If not these two then he was doing his 'other' job that gained him his infamous alias.

Self-proclaimed Judge of Aincrad.

He looked around him only to see empty streets. After confirming that streets are indeed empty with his search skill, he walked the square and passed to alleys and continued to walk until he reached in front of a blue house. He loosened his sword a bit, then knocked the door.

"Who the hell are you at middle of the night?!"

Ilsamor spoke with a hoarse voice "Fearne sent me, it is about fifteen." Hearing that men stopped "Okay, stand back, I will open the door."

Ilsamor unsheathed his sword as silent as he can.

At the moment door opened, Ilsamor charged inside with his sword, shining with a turquoise color. As they were inside the town blow would not harm the man, but its sheer force was enough to send him flying to wall.

"What the- Sh*t it's you!"

"It seems that Orange Guilds indeed choosing Aincrad's best and brightest. Now you and I will have a good chat."

Man looked to Ilsamor with a face full of hatred "I don't have nothing to say to you Blade! My mate Reaper got enough from your Mercy!"

Ilsamor grabbed the man from his color "Your mate Reaper was an idiot. He tried to attack us when five of the Champions were on duty. I know we don't see eye to eye, but I thought you idiots had learned to not f*ck with anyone while Champions are around. Let's have a chat."

Man's eyes widened however he put up a last desperate resistance "You can't do anything! I am a green player, and we are inside the town, you can't do anything!"

"I am owner of Bastion of Justice unique skill. If I want, I can rewrite your status as an orange player and throw you to city guards."

"N-n-no, you-you CAN'T"

"Wanna bet on it? Normally I give every orange player (not red ones mind you) a chance to surrender, and if they indeed upheld their part of the bargain, I give them a karma quest. There is no such thing I can do for you, but if you don't help, you can be sure that you won't see tomorrow's dawn."

Man gulped.

"So, what do you say?"

And just like that man told everything Ilsamor wanted to know.

After the hurdle ended, he returned to temple.

It was a sad scene to see the temple in its current state. No more the laughters and joyous screams were filling the interior of building, everyone was working with serios faces. In its current state HQ was looking like a military base rather than a guild in RPG games.

Seeing his entry Artemis approached him "Sir, we gathered the remaining part of intel. We know their exact location."

Ilsamor nodded "Okay then, take Sage and Panther with you. First take care of yourselfs then try to spare much of them as possible, as far as we know they are orange players, not red. You may go."

"Thank you sir." And while leaving she suddenly stopped "Oh I almost forgot, Argo-san is waiting you at your office." Ilsamor nodded once more and looked behind the young girl while she was heading to temple's gates. As she vanished from his sight, he turned towards to stairs once more. Just for one second his gaze stopped at the statue of Lady, but quickly he returned his way.

Reaching the second floor, he walked to his room and found Argo while she was reading a science fiction from his library. A rare smile appeared on his lips before vanishing into his cold serious face. "Welcome Argo-san, it is nice to see you alive and well." Argo answered his greeting with a wry smile.

Ilsamor slowly moved to his chair "What do I owe the pleasure Argo? I have heard that you were quite busy."

"I think you know the reason quite well Ilsamor. For some reason, frontlines are moving rally fast for a time, I've been struggling with all those coming intels, ya know?" Argo replied, which gained her a sightly apologetic look from Ilsamor. "And since you were really busy, I missed our talks, so it seemed a good idea to stop by and see you even for a short while."

Ilsamor closed his eyes and nodded. "I am sorry that I couldn't spend much time with you for past few weeks, but ever since the battle we have found the hideouts of many orange guilds and rooted them out. It seemed a good idea to clear the problem as much as I can since, you know, they suffered heavy losses."

Argo sighed "Ilsamor, I know that this is the reason you keep telling yourself and everyone else around you, but you can't fool me. It is because this battle further incited the hate you feel towards to orange players you work up that much, aren't you? You and Kirito are sure love to shoulder whole burdens by yourself."

Name of the player caught Ilsamor's attention "By the way, how is he? I mean… after the incident?" Argo just shook his head "As I said, he is pretty much like you. He is still grieving after what happened to his guild, he just keep blaming himself. One of my reasons for coming here was to see if I can take your help on the matter but it seems I was wrong."

"One of your reasons? What about the others?"

Argo stood silent for a second "Ilsamor, I know I am not that kind of person, but I think you need to have a word with Asemi."

Ilsamor froze when he heard that. Argo continued "For past two months you didn't talk with her out of your formal briefings. She really misses you; she doesn't have a relationship with other people that kind of she has with you and Rider. I think she hides from you but…"

Ilsamor persisted "But?"

Argo sighed once again "She is coming to my place for almost a week, and she cries a lot. I know you don't do this on purpose but if you don't get a hold on yourself, you will lose her Ilsamor. You know your importance for her, don't you?"

Remembering a certain sleepwalking incident Ilsamor slightly blushed "Yeah, I do. Thank you for warning me." After saying that he began to raise then sit back "By the way, did you find anything about that thing I had told you?"

Argo shook her head "Really Illy-boy, you are incorrigible." Ilsamor smiled to her comment "That means you got it, right?" Argo scratched her cheek and opened her menu. Seconds later info she found was also at the hands of Ilsamor. "Thank you Argo, I will pay for that later okay?"

Argo waved her hand "This time I don't want anything, just spend some time with her. I hope you will close that book as soon as possible." Then she left the room.

Ilsamor continued to sit in his chair after Argo left. Repeating her words inside his head he reflexively opened The Book and looked to last verse that came at the start of week:

"Don't lose your light in your pursuit to punish darkness. It is easy to mix aim and tool on a hard pursuit, but it is also a path to foolishness and loss."

Sighing deeply, he let himself to sea of ideas and emotions for several minutes.

It was few days later of Battle of Coral Fields (which was dubbed by Ilsamor as anyone can guess). Ilsamor was sure in low mood, but it was not bad as his current state. His focus was slowly turning towards to Champions as he was determined to create an elite commando force of some sort. Beside that things were slowly returning to normal.

That is, until Argo brought an intel to Ilsamor.

"Not all leaders were eliminated you say…"

Ilsamor was drinking his tea at the front gates of temple and watching the training of new students when Argo showed up. News she brought caused him to lose his joy that he slowly gathered during that few days.

"I am sorry to say that Illy-boy."

"Don't be Argo. This isn't your fault. I should have known that not all the leaders wouldn't be present at the skirmish. This just means war rages on." He slowly exhaled "I've just wished we had more time before fighting the next wave."

Argo asked him in a serious tone which she rarely used "You are serious on that."

"Yes I am. We have seen the formation of orange guilds, and the existence of red players but worse is yet to come. There is only a matter of time until players with a darker mind set form up their very own Red Guild Argo. A guild that made from worst kind of people. And as things get darker, there will other activities that we may encounter, activities that are worse than killing people."

Argo's eyes widened "Ilsamor, I know that you weren't wrong about the criminal players, but I don't think that is possible. I mean… It would destroy people."

"As always, I really hope I am wrong as you say Argo, but while luckily I haven't encountered it, many players have learned the existence of Ethic Code. I don't know how much time we have until someone commits such an atrocity." Ilsamor took a big sip from his tea "First things first. There are seven more leaders beside Rosalia right? Then I have no choice but to hunt them down. Both for the sake of justice and current situation in Aincrad."

Argo scratched her neck "Yeah but I don't know Illy-boy. You are in kinda at the target of assault team with your… unusual punishment style. Is it really for better to act in your own way?"

Ilsamor looked to horizon "As much as I value human life Argo, there are instances I can't do anything. It is like that wise king said in the story "This is freedom, you are free to take your first step, not the ones come behind it." They gave the chain of their very lives to the friends of people they have killed. They call me Judge, Jury and Executioner but I am just Judge and Executioner. Jury decides orange player's fate.

I know people like superheroes like Batman, Superman, Spider-man, but these heroes' sense of justice… I don't know. I am not saying we should kill all those commit actions that turn them to orange but when you dare to attack an innocent life, in my eyes you have forfeited every right in your own life at that instant."

Argo tilted her head "What, don't you believe in redemption?"

"No, I do believe. But not everyone can endure seeing person that had killed his dearest friend walking out of prison alive after serving their sentence. It is harder to endure if that person done something to you that you still see nightmares or taking psychological support, I don't know if you understood me." Ilsamor replied Argo's question. Then he took a deep breath "I am sorry Argo, I just… Tend to get carried away when talking about injustices. Especially injustices that are done under the cover of 'for the greater good'. That's enough, I am not the one to point and solve every error in justice system of third world countries. I want your help in finding those players Argo."

Argo scratched her chin "I don't know Illy-boy. Those kinds of guys will not give this to me willingly. It can take a very long time."

Ilsamor smiled bitterly "Who said you will this do alone? I think it is time to put that Bastion of Justice to good use."

Wandering in thoughts he found himself at the forest. For a moment, he imagined his self from real world near himself, walking with a green t-shirt and blue jeans with a denim jacket at his back.

He sighed with a barely audible voice.

"So, we have met again… It has been a long time since our last meeting. I have to tell you; you look weaker than last time."

His image just smiled as Ilsamor continued "Here we are, at the point of you hope to be in one day. We wield a power that can match strongest players, we have a lot of people that count on us and keep this between us, but I think we have a really sweet girl that loves us. They believe us, trust us and let me tell you…"

He stopped for a brief second,

"It feels great as we expected."

His other-self's happiness didn't waver. "I mean after spending almost seventeen years of our lives in closed areas, not allowed to get out of that damn house forever, spending countless hours only to books and offline games, it is a miracle to be here in Sword Art Online and it is even bigger miracle to be in this position. Most importantly doing something important to help other people, this is the real happiness. But…"

Ilsamor raised his head to look the eyes of young man standing before him "I am moving away from you step by step."

Boy nodded. Ilsamor then asked the question which bothered him most "Then why are you still here? Do you still want to see something more?"

Boy just continued to stare. Ilsamor closed his eyes "What do you need to find peace?"

"Sensei?"

Ilsamor opened his eyes and saw the girl he was searching for. "Hi Hikari, sorry if I scared you."

Hikari smiled "No need, it is just you are too busy those days and I am a little surprised to see you here." Ilsamor nodded "Well you are right, but in the end, I am a human being unfortunately and I need to cool off sometimes. Besides this place is great for a shinrin-yoku. Well maybe not great, but enough I think."

Hikari laughed and seeing that Ilsamor's shoulders slightly relaxed and encouraged him to ask the question on tip of his tongue "Actually I was hoping to find you here. Can I talk with you for a bit?"

Hikari calmly nodded "It is about the latest punishment spree of yours, right?" Ilsamor scratched his neck "Is it that obvious huh?"

He slowly sat on a stomp near her.

Hikari was looking to him with patient look.

"I feel like I am rushing things when it comes to delivering justice…"

Hikari nodded him as saying "Go on…"

"I am doing just what writes in the book, however I feel like because I act too fast, I am actually missing the essence of my mission, my main objective. I feel like I am using the state of emotional insatiability of victims' friends to get an excuse for execution. I want to believe this is not the case, I really do. But…"

Hikari put a hand on Ilsamor's shoulder "Sensei, to speak bluntly you really are hasty when things come to final stage. I know your intentions are good and you try to act for the benefit of victims but that way you just seem like a butcher instead of a judge who has a really heavy responsibility for determining the fate of the human in hand. As you, I know what writes in the book as the order but…"

"But?"

"Book doesn't exactly specify the time window for the punishment, is it?"

Ilsamor's eyes widened, seeing that Hikari waved her hands "No, no, that is not what I meant! I mean, this decision is too important to be left to emotions. I think deciding on a time window where victim's friend can act with a bit calmer and facing a criminal finally understood the gravity of his/her actions would be better. Like ten days maybe?"

Ilsamor slowly nodded. "Right, but I don't believe we are facing against criminals who will ever know the gravity of their errors." Hikari gave him a serene smile "That is why we still have the temple on fourth floor sensei."

Ilsamor's surprise deepened as he understood the idea Hikari was offering "You think we should share the blessing of statues with them?" Hikari answered "I do sensei. That blessing was the only thing kept me away from my suicidal tendencies. I believe if we give them that chance, we can win most of them back to society. And most importantly, it will help us to remember who our real enemy is."

Ilsamor closed his eyes. "Thank you Hikari. I am grateful, though it is a bit ironic…" at this point he chuckled a little "I am the one who appointed you as the Head Priestess but now I am coming you to get advice over this and I am the one receiving messages from her."

Hikari didn't say anything at first then she spoke "Sensei, I can guess what you feel about this topic but sorry to be saying this, you are not a prophet. You are just a player who got a very important mission from system…"

"Hey that sounded like the definition of prophet!"

"Oh, you are right, sorry. What I want to say is even the prophets in real world were not alone, all of them had something to lean on beside their faith. They had friends, comrades, wives, families… So, there is nothing wrong when you lean on what you held dear, taking strength from them. Please don't forget it." Ilsamor sighed "That's two for people encouraging me to speak with a certain silver-haired girl. I will and I really want it. But I want to go near her after I clean my hands from blood of our twenty-five comrades. Anyway, see you Hikari, and thanks once again."

Ilsamor's day passed with combining the intel he had gathered from several information brokers, Argo and his own interrogations. His long-time workings would finally come to an end, that is if this operation would succeed.

"Alright my friends, I think if we can finish this, we will have a room for breath, at least for a while.

As you all know, we have been tracking seven leaders of orange coalition that were responsible for the attack on our HQ. And during this whole time, we were searching for two things, identities of those players and if possible, finishing them in a massive all-out raid. However, such an opportunity didn't present itself and we were forced to hunt them individually. With that four of that seven has either sent to Blackiron or fought to the bitter end. That left three for us. And while it is unlikely that three of them will ever meet again, we have found and confirmed the locations of all of them. As you can guess I want to finish them simultaneously.

From what we gathered, axe user Mortimer is seems like the bigger fish, so I will take him out with Artemis, Sage and Nautilus. Rider you will take White Knight, Vigilante, Eurard and Shrine Warden, your target is that Mad Eye Terra. Asemi you will take the remaining part of the team and take down Johnny Black, understood?"

Champions firmly nodded, then White Knight raised a hand "Sir, when will we commence this attack?" Ilsamor thought for a second "Rest tonight, we will do it tomorrow night. Please be sure to repair your equipment. You are dismissed, eh, Asemi can you stay for a moment?"

Champions acknowledged and prepared to leave while Asemi approached Ilsamor with a slight confusion on her face. "What is it senpai? Is there a problem?"

Ilsamor nervously scratched his neck "No, not at all. Umm… Asemi I was wondering…"

"Yes?"

"Are you available for evening two days later? I was thinking maybe we could go to our favorite restaurant and spend some time together? Of course, if you-"

"I am sorry senpai."

"Huh?"

Her unexpected answer caused Ilsamor to stop suddenly. Asemi's eyes were hidden under her hair "I'd really love to, but I won't senpai."

Ilsamor reacted almost reflexively "B-b-but why? Have I done something wrong? If you are busy, then we can-"

"It is not that sir."

Ilsamor shut his mouth once more, especially hearing that Asemi called him as sir. He waited her explanation.

Silence continued.

Unable to bear it Ilsamor spoke once more "Asemi please talk to me. First you say you'd want to but won't, then you call me as 'sir'. Have I done something to hurt you?"

Asemi was still not looking him in the eye "I finally realized what a foolish girl I was."

"Foolish?"

"Yeah… Thinking that I had privileges just because I was your first student… But I can see it now. You have a very important mission and hundreds of people counting on you. Why would I be special?"

Ilsamor's eyes began to cloud "Asemi…"

"So please don't feel like you have a responsibility over me. Please don't, because you only make things harder for me. I… I cannot do this…" a lone tear fell from her left eye "I cannot spend that time with you while not knowing when we will spend time like this. I… I have become quite selfish I know but I really can't get enough from the crumbs anymore."

Ilsamor tried to put a last desperate defense "Look, I am sorry, but I really wanted to spend time with you, I just couldn't find oppor-"

"Then Hikari is truly a lucky girl, talking with you while you are that busy."

And as his last shield is shattered Ilsamor couldn't say any words in his defense. Asemi simply turned her back and "I am not angry to you sir. But please, close that book and let the girl sleep sound while I try to clear game."

Just like that Asemi walked away from the meeting room, leaving Ilsamor behind her.

And Ilsamor felt the pain of a broken heart for the first time of his life, ironically from a relationship that hasn't even started, at least officially.

He then understood. He truly walked a path of foolishness.

"Hey, where are you taking us?!"

"It is freezing out there!"

Ilsamor didn't answer these questions as he continued to pull fifteen prisoners from their wrists by rope.

After last night he didn't sleep, he didn't eat anything and yet he… He didn't feel the lack of these two important factors even little. His demeanor was even colder.

It was almost like something that were tying him to humanity was broken.

Their walk continued and approximately fifteen minutes later first temple entered their field of vision; however, even seeing his old home didn't cause even the tiniest of waves in his heart.

In the end, he just brought orange players here for a mission, not reminiscing the old.

Temple of the fourth floor was not being used by the guild, reason was simple. For many, this place more was more than a temple, it was the home of Ilsamor, even though he didn't come here after the founding of temple in 22nd floor. His guildmates consideration and devotion could be really scary.

"Why have you brought us here?"

Question came from the end of prisoner line. Ilsamor answered without looking "To increase your survival odds." Expressions of orange players were showing clear signs of confusion.

Interior of the temple was mostly same, but prayer hall was interestingly empty. All the seatings were cleared as if someone was planning to hold a big meeting.

Truly nothing was escaping from her eyes.

He brought them in front of the statue and turned towards them. "Okay, now listen to me…"

He closed his eyes for a second, trying to gather his thoughts.

"This statue you see has a power over mind. Don't worry, it is not mind control or something. It is more like a power that will help you to soothe your mental scars and heal them. It is not like a drug, you will feel pain, regret of your actions but also you will receive an understanding comfort that will help you accept your mistakes and move forward to correct them. With that said, it is not a mandatory process, you can just choose to ignore calling and close your mind, you won't be affected. But I really think this will help both your body and your soul."

"You gotta be kiddin' me! How will this help our "odds of survival"?"

Ilsamor looked the one who asked question directly in the eye "As stated in the book, you red players' fates are left to your victims' friends. I can do nothing to change their views, but you can. As I said, I cannot guarantee anything, but this process will help you to really feel the pain your actions brought to people. And for most of the players, only thing they want to see in your eyes is a genuine regret and chance for atonement. Today, I brought you here for this choice. Next time, I will only bring those who chose the go through it. You have one hour to consider and start it." With this he prepared the leave the front of the statue, but he suddenly stopped "And don't try to deceive me. I know all too well how to correctly read the actions of a player going through the process."

With these words he went near the door and started to silently observe the view in front of him.

Orange players were still looking at him as if he was mocking them. Finally, one of the wild looking ones said "Ah crap I will give it a shot. Hey lady, you can come in."

He had an arrogant smile in his face while he was closing his eyes and he stood like that for three seconds.

Then his smile vanished, and his lips started to tremble. "Mother?"

Whole hall went silent and started to carefully observe the player. He was acting like he was defending himself against something "No, no I didn't! It was just a game! It was just…"

His voice fell and he began to cry "Wha-wha… WHAT HAVE I DONE!"

Ilsamor closed his eyes "Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets" Gazes of orange players returned to him. "People tend to think that fantasy books are childish but one of the best definitions of regret about killing had been made in Harry Potter, a regret that can shatter the very soul of a person, leaving only a rubble behind."

He reopened his eyes "You might think I am torturing you by bringing you here. However, I brought you here because if you have it in you, I didn't want you to go through such a destructive regret alone. This is your chance. If you can pass the judgement that friends of these people, then at least when you return to real world, you will be able to accept your mistakes and try to repent yourself. Even if you don't, there is still a chance that you will survive but I don't know what you will feel once you find out people you had PKed are indeed died in real world. Choice is yours."

Players stood indecisive for a few seconds, then they slowly knelt before the statue. None of them gave that theatrical reactions like the first one, but Ilsamor saw several of them were crying silently. His gaze returned to statue "So you can offer peace of mind to them, but you can't for me? I stood before you nights after nights, but you didn't answer to me for these two months, even after I saw my friends' end. I wanted to talk to you, even I was trained, I had never lived a situation like this. Why did you deny me?"

Ilsamor looked to ground. "First you, then Asemi… Have I really fell from your good grace? Then why I am the owner of this mission? It is true that I love it but… Have I done something wrong? You only sending cryptic messages from book my mistress… I…"

He wiped the tear that was falling from his eye. And after waiting an answer that didn't come with last shred of his hope he whispered in a hoarse tone "Never mind."

He waited until prisoner's treatment was over.

"Sir, everything is ready."

"What about other teams?"

"Commander Rider just checked in. Commander Asemi is moving to her target."

"Good, here we go then."

Ilsamor slowly unsheathed Sword of the First Light from its sheath and pulled his hoody to his head. He knew that it won't hide his identity, it was maybe the only childish thing he did through these two months. Behind him Nautilus equipped his sword Soulblade and his shield Ominous Bulwark. Duo then proceeded from one of many wooden bridges of 24th floor.

Area was silent, only the occasional crashes of water and the bridges' creak under their feet were daring to disrupt it. It was dark beside the starts in the sky and a half-moon. Of course, there was also flame of a camp-like place that can be seen from even their position.

They didn't bother with trying to stay in stealth because they didn't need to. Soon they were able to hear arguments coming from the camp:

"Where the hell is he?!"

"I don't know boss, I swear! He wrote that he will be bringing all of the necessary items tonight, I can show you the message!"

"Useless, unreliable prick! If we wait more, we might end up with Swords in our neck! Prepare to move!"

Nautilus loudly cleared his throat and suddenly ten pairs of eyes turned towards them. Ilsamor took another step forward "Well gentlemen, I hate clichés, I really do but this is the perfect opportunity to tell my favorite idiom "Speak of the devil and he shall appear.""

Silence was absolute and one of the orange players finally muttered in fear "Silver B-B-Blade."

"It is good to see that my assessment about the photographic memory of orange players is still true. Now, if you lay down your weapons and surrender, I will not harm you. Orange ones will serve their time depending on their crime and red ones will have a chance to survive. I will not hold myself, and if you fight back only two of you can survive."

Finally, Mortimer seemed to get in his senses as he turned his men and shouted "What are you waiting for, get him!"

Ilsamor braced himself for a fight. But it didn't come. Instead, three of ten men just knelt and raised their hands above their heads while remaining six rushed to remaining two bridges for escape. Seeing that Mortimer turned to Ilsamor "Dammit! I will take care of you myself. Although I am surprised to see you, it seems our plan worked perfectly. Let me see that what kind of man you are copper!"

Before Ilsamor asked about this mysterious plan Mortimer attacked him and at the same instant Nautilus ran after one of the groups. Mortimer's vertical slash had almost caught him off guard however he managed to block it at last possible instant, then he spun around himself to break the blade-lock. After that he unleashed a series of flurry attacks on Mortimer, but he was not a newbie in axe. They traded blows for a while, both were trying to find an opening in others defense.

The fact that neither tried a sword skill yet was a fact that showing both of them were skilled warriors. Well at least it was for Mortimer while Ilsamor's intention was capturing him alive. Guessing his enemy's caution Ilsamor deliberately left an opening to be exploited. Expression on Mortimer's face was a clear indication that he swallowed the bait.

Just a second later his axe glowed blue. Ilsamor knew that it was a five-hit sword skill Crescent Avalanche. He pulled his trump card Adamant Believer.

Reason was simple, Adamant Believer was a skill whose sole purpose was to cancel enemy sword skills by absorbing all the damage skill would hit. Then Ilsamor could use this damage in one of two ways, he can either heal his friends.

Or…

As their weapons clashed Adamant Believer cancelled the Crescent Avalanche but Ilsamor still felt the pain of sword skill's damage in his mind. Without losing his focus he passed the damage he absorbed to his right fist and turned his sword's hilt towards Mortimer's head.

"Wha-!"

Mortimer's sentence cut short by a pommel strike that carried the nonlethal type damage from his sword skill. With the effect of hit he fell back to ground unconscious.

Ilsamor took a deep breath.

Despite being a powerful skill, Adamant Believer wasstill leaving him the mental burden of enemy's sword skill. He was feeling like he was cut from five different places. What's worse he needed his mental focus protected to use the absorbed damage.

It was definitely hard job.

While trying to catch his breath several footsteps returned him to real world. When he turned around, he saw Nautilus and Sage were leading a group of four people form right bridge. From the left Artemis showed up alone.

"They didn't surrender?"

"They thought I am not resembling a Champion sensei. I am sorry."

"Don't be, you did a good job. Now…"

Ilsamor approached the surviving orange players. "Anyone knows anything about the plan he was talking about?"

One of the players that knelt to ground spoke with a scared voice "We don't know sir Blade sir! They were not talking anything like this to us, only other leaders and big boss Black knew-"

"Woah, woah hold on! You said, 'Big Boss Black'? Isn't Mortimer the leader of coalition?"

Man quickly shook his head "No sir, the leader was Johnny Black. God that was a scary man."

Ilsamor's expression darkened "Then why all the orders were signed under Mortimer's name?"

Man shook his head again "I don't know sir, but I swear I am telling truth."

Everyone stood quiet for a few seconds. Nautilus then raised his head "Sir it is clear that they were trying to lead us astray, but why?"

Ilsamor scratched his chin "It seems that he knew fighting against me would be a lose, for him but then why…"

His eyes widened in horror "Asemi! I don't know what his aim is, but he is targeting my lieutenant! Send warning messages to both, I am going straight to 16th floor, meet me there."

Then he hurriedly pulled a teleport crystal and muttered a prayer "Please, if something gonna happen make me the victim, not her."

Then he slowly disappeared in polygons

Sixteenth floor of Aincrad was a city build underground.

As soon as he appeared in teleportation stone Ilsamor activated all of his buffs about speed and rushed to location of ambush would take place. He was running so fast that even the mobs around him were failing to see him.

Finally, he got the sight of one of the champions "Warblade!"

"Sir, over here!"

Ilsamor quickly approached and asked almost without stopping for a breather "What happened?!"

"We don't know sir…" They began to walk while talking "We cleared the camp without any problem. Then their leader Johnny Black attacked vice-commander and stuck a dagger to her before disappearing."

"Poison?"

"Yes, but we couldn't manage to clear it and it is consuming her life faster than our potions combined! Healing crystal only stopped the falling of her health for a short while, now its continuing."

Last sentence gripped Ilsamor's heart. At the moment curing crystals were newly started to appear in game. He needed to something else.

His mind continued to work overdrive while they were approaching Asemi's body lying on the ground. He quickly crouched near her "Asemi…"

Her violet eyes slowly opened, and she gave Ilsamor a wry smile. "I am sorry sir… It seems this is the end…"

"No…"

Her health bar continued to fall and dropped the red zone. With a last and desperate idea Ilsamor unsheathed his sword "Warblade! Hit me with your hishest damage sword skill!"

"Sir?"

"DO IT NOW!"

As Warblade hit him with ten-hit ultimate sword skill Nova Ascension, Ilsamor absorbed it with Adamant Believer. Warblade's sword skill's damage was definitely higher than Mortimer's and he groaned while pushing his sword to ground.

Then he held his breath as yellow code lines appeared around him. Following that Asemi's health stopped dropping and raised a little. Ilsamor pulled his sword back "All of you simultaneously hit me with highest hitting ones when I say!"

"Si-sir, what are you-"

"DO AS I SAY DAMMIT!"

With his order he received four different ultimate attacks to his Adamant Believer.

Pain was terrible and unlike anything he had felt before. His screams were threatening to tear his lunges apart, but he somehow focused the damage to his sword and stroke the ground once more.

"Sir! Sir, please… Senpai!"

"MORE! I SAID MORE NOW!"

More hits came and Ilsamor parried them once more and he felt the spark at the axons of his neurons.

"AAHHHHHH!"

He thrusted his sword again and again until he felt nothing at all. He was in autopilot, just doing what he needed to do.

"Senpai…"

Ilsamor parried another four "CHAMPIONS WHOSE FAITH PUT STEEL INTO SHAME" he cried. He continued more and more as pain becomes a normality for his brain.

Then finally around tenth time a new pair of voices heard:

"Boss! Boss, what are you… Argo quick, someone take that sword form his hand!"

Ilsamor screamed, no longer remembering what he was doing or why he was doing "NO! ONE MORE! I CAN DO IT! I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO IT!"

As he stabbed for eleventh time, he saw his word glowed with a golden light and slowly dissolved into air. Soon his armor followed him and Ilsamor lost his consciousness as he felt like something was pulled out from his body, taking his strength with it.

His mind was hazy.

Although he couldn't think anything he was sure that he had held his sanity against waves of slashing and thrusting pains with his sheer willpower alone. Only point he didn't know was how long.

But it was like years for him.

Despite he was asleep from outside he couldn't take the risk of losing his consciousness in his dreams. As a rule of thumb, brain was designed in a way to shut down pain receptors after pain passes a certain threshold, then giving it piece by piece to host. Even pieces were too great for his brain and he had to protect his logical circuits.

At the end he managed to hold just by hair.

Only after that he managed found some peace and left himself to sweet arms of sleep.

When he regained his consciousness, he was lying on a bed inside a wooden room. He recognized the room quickly; it was his room at the temple in fourth floor. He slowly raised form the bed and dangled his feet from rear.

After managed to gather his thoughts he looked his arms and legs and saw that he was wearing a green t-shirt and jeans, which was unusual because before he lost his consciousness, he didn't remember anything about changing his appearance.

Then he remembered, and his expression became serious. Just to confirm his suspicions he checked his menu.

"Ahh… So that's it then…"

He slowly raised from his bed and opened his bedroom's door…

"Senpai!"

Suddenly a girl with silver hair hugged him, he had to take a few steps back to absorb impact. He smiled "Well it was hell of a ride, but it is definitely worth it to hear this once more." When he got no answer, he lowered his head and saw that Asemi was crying on his chest. "Asemi…"

"Idiot… You unbelievable idiot, why did you do it? You went to near death due to pain, probably you were the first people in Aincrad to achieve such a thing! I-"

"Okay now, calm down…" Ilsamor said while slowly caressing her head. "Let's talk this over a tea. My treat."

With this Asemi slowly sat down to her chair while Ilsamor used the equipment to prepare some tea, then he sat near Asemi. Now words came from their mouths for a while, then Ilsamor spoke. "Okay, let's start from beginning… You want to tell me what happened on your side?" Asemi slowly nodded "We began our raid as you ordered. It was easy and we quickly took most of them alive, but there was no sign of Johnny Black. While we were searching, he suddenly jumped from shadows and stroke me with that poison dagger and he vanished… Senpai his hide skill was higher than our search skill, if he was using a paralysis poison, I wouldn't survive this."

Ilsamor slowly shook his head "That may be the point. I have trained your poison resistance skill enough to withstand almost all of the natural poisons and most of the synthetic ones. Facing such a poison that both overcomes your resistance and cause a significant loss of your HP… They could be very well testing it on us."

"On us? Why would they do such a thing?" said Asemi in a scared tone. Ilsamor explained "We are seen as the police for of Aincrad and Champions act as special forces. I think they wanted to see how 'best-of-Aincrad' would react their poison…"

"Why?"

"Wild guess? They are preparing for something big, and they wanted to be sure there were no obstacle on their way. Also, you saw, except my Adamant Believer, no healing item managed to heal you. Maybe it was not their main aim, but I think they have tried to eliminate one of us as well." Then his tone took a thoughtful manner "But how did they know?"

"Know what Senpai?"

"In Mortimer's camp, he told us something about a plan, a plan to show him as leader of coalition while the real leader was Black. They did not want me to go after him almost like they knew I was poison immune thanks to my unique skill."

Asemi raised her hand like she was in a classroom "While you are at it, how did you manage to heal me? What was the difference of your heal from other items?"

"Simple, it is a difference in sources of magic. You see, in most RPG games there are two kinds of magic, arcane and holy. SAO's items by default uses arcane energy for healing items while I have used holy magic. For this game where only I was able to use holy magic this applied directly as a system command to increase your health, that's why it managed to bypass poison's DoT. Also our teams damage were was quite high, almost higher than any crystal in game, that definitely helped too."

Asemi seemed to be bothered by something from Ilsamor's words "Senpai, you said you were poison immune and you were only person to use holy magic. Why you use past time?"

Ilsamor gave her a bitter smile. "Asemi have you noticed my clothes?" Asemi slowly nodded "Then can you answer me how can I be wearing this while I didn't have any time change into them after the skirmish? And more importantly, my sword is not with me too."

Asemi's eyes widened "But, how…"

Ilsamor's eyes were clouded "They could be run out of durability, but that was almost impossible. Then there was only one other possibility, so I checked my skill list. Bastion of Justice wasn't there, as well as Sword of Mercy mission."

Asemi gasped and closed her mouth with her hands. "Then…"

"Yeah…" said Ilsamor "I am relieved from duty."

"But why?"

"If I have to guess it would be something about spamming Adamant Believer, I don't know whether this is the work of Lady or Administrator System, but result is the same." Then he gave her a smile "Well at least now I am open to loots, am I not?"

Asemi didn't answer to his joke and bowed her head "Sorry sir…" With his calling him as sir Ilsamor's smile froze. "… It seems I have caused you another loss. I-"

"It was worth it."

Asemi quickly raised her head and saw Ilsamor's face full of pain. Then he did something she had never thought, he slowly raised from his chair and knelt before her. "It was worth it. It was worth every bit of pain to hear you call me senpai, it was worth every scream just feel your arms hugging me once more. Asemi…"

A tear slowly fell to ground from his chin.

"Please don't go. Please don't leave me. I… I will give you everything I have, my thoughts, my heart… It was yours to begin with, is it not?"

"Se-se-senpai…"

"It was you always. You were the first person I could call as my friend; you were my first student, you were my first crush, and in the end, you are the first, one and only person I love. Beyond anything in this game, all the skills I have or all the items I have possessed you were the first thing to always motivate me go forward. If you are with me, I believe I can get up no matter how many times I fell. If you are with me, I believe I can heal no matter how grave my wounds are."

Then he started to cry "Please… You said you are not satisfied with crumbs anymore, then I will give you every bit of I have even if I have to endure a monstrous hunger. Just…"

Then his eyes opened as an idea got in his head. He slowly raised from ground and held out his hand to Asemi who was still in shock and yet held his hand. He pulled her to himself in a gentle manner and took a position like they were going to dance. Then he opened his mouth and started to sing:

"There's gotta be another way out

I've been stuck in a cage with my doubt

I've tried forever getting out on my own

But every time I do this my way

I get caught in the lies of the enemy

I lay my troubles down

I'm ready for you now

Bring me out

Come and find me in the dark now

Every day by myself I'm breaking down

I don't wanna fight alone anymore

Bring me out

From the prison of my own pride

My God

I need a hope I can't deny

In the end I'm realizing I was never meant to fight on my own…"

And as the song continued, in a miraculous moment Asemi slowly rested her head on Ilsamor's shoulder and closed her eyes with a smile on her face as they danced.

And at that moment Ilsamor understood that now, after losing his unique skill and his top-notch equipments, he was once more ready to get up and make his stand.

A/N: Hello again and welcome to new readers, thank you for reading, I hope you are enjoying it. Story started to heading into a new direction, which even I was not expecting to tell you the truth, but I think it is better for you know the saying "You cannot come down from a place someone lifted you, you can only fall."

Lyrics belongs to "On My Own" song of Ashes Remain Band.