Notes: I have NOT seen the new SAO Progressive film, and at this point have no plans to work it into this fiction. I'm not ruling it out, obviously, but...

Sword Apocalypse Online

Chapter 11

"So what do we CALL our guild?" Yuuki asked as they helped chase down the spy.

"Asuna's Harem?" Liz suggested cheerfully.

"NO," Asuna growled.

"I'm okay with that," Aiko added.

"Ditto," Argo said.

"What is the requirement to join the harem?" Kizmel asked innocently.

"Just... don't worry about it," Asuna said with a sigh. Her friends were possibly corrupting a poor NPC. Geeze...

Taking pity on Asuna Yuuki changed the subject. "It looks like the spy is heading back to the caves, again," she noted.

"Hopefully we can intercept them..," Kizmel trailed off. "Ambush!"

A small band of Light Eves burst from cover. They were probably hoping to get them closer and attack, but Kizmel had spoiled that.

"Linear!" Asuna skewered one with a swift attack, once again VERY impressed with her new, upgraded rapier.

"WHO WANTS SOME!" Aiko yelled, swinging her new huge sword, making several elves actually flinch away.

Argo gracefully dodged and weaved as she used hand-claws and knives to drop enemies. "Once half of them are down, they'll bolt,"she called, drawing on her beta test experience.

Yuuki fought beside Asuna, their fighting styles similar as they cut the enemy down. "Watch out," she called out to Kizmel as two elves attacked her.

Kizmel, who was an elite fighter, demolished both in seconds, AND that caused the rest to decide to flee the battle.

"Hey!" Liz pointed at a fallen elf, "that's the spy!"

"Lucky," Asuna picked him up, "Kizmel, he has the Jade Key too, still."

"Once again we are in all of your debt," Kizmel said, taking the hey back.

"It's interesting how she says that just to Asuka," Liz murmured.

"Yup," Argo agreed.

Asuna GLARED at them both and they shut up. "We need to go back to the village, right?" she asked Kizmel.

"Indeed the Commander will thank you all," Kizmel said mildly.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Klein checked the Argo Guide again, nodding thoughtfully as he was planning out the level grinding they'd be doing tomorrow. He really appreciated having them, and made a mental note to tell her at one point.

"So, there's been a fight against the field boss, right?" Hera asked as they met in an inn in one of the smaller towns on this level.

"Yeah, Dragon Knights and the Liberation Front lead the fight," Sachi agreed quietly.

"Do you think we should, like, formally join up with them?" Dale asked curiously.

Harry One said, "Oh hell no. What if we end up having to carry weaker fighters?"

"It's not like we're the strongest fighters either," Klein noted dryly.

Arguably, the Dragon Knights and the Liberation Front were strongest of the guilds. Both were actively recruiting, and had certain exceptional members. And really, even some of the smaller guilds were stronger than they were...

"If I was going to recruit anyone, it'd be Agil and his buggies," Klein added.

"Or Asuna-sama," Sachi added respectfully.

"She's for sure forming her own guild," Hera shook her head. "Probably call it something awesome like 'Knights of the Blood' or something."

"Or Asuna's Harem," Klein joked.

Sachi blushed cutely, "Do you think those stories about her are TRUE?"

"Stories?" Hera asked, NOT having heard that.

"Supposedly her, Argo and Liz are a triad," Dynamm said dryly.

"Well, I heard thart her and Yuuki were a thing," Sachi said, still blushing. She added, "They look so CUTE together."

Klein wondered how things had gotten so off track.

"What about Aiko?" Hera wondered.

"I'd let her step on me...," Harry one sighed.

"Too much information," Sachi shuddered.

"All right," Klein changed the subject, "let's rest up. We've got monster hunting and quests to fullfill. I want us at the max experience you can get on this level before we hit the dungeon.:

"Right," everyone chimed in.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

They finished off the Elf War campaign quests for the level. There was a tearful farewell as Kizmel promised they would meet again on the next level.

Liz liked to joke about Asuna adding Kizmel to the harem, but it REALLY looked like Kizmel had been promising to see Asuna again, mostly.

Yuuki, interestingly, looked kinda jealous too. Huh.

"Okay, are there any other quests we need to do?" Asuna asked briskly as they met at the small village nearest the labyrinth.

"Unless Kayaba snuck something new in, I think we're done," Argo said dryly.

"Kayaba is a dick," Liz agreed. He had changed two side quests that now could either poison or kill you, that were non-lethal before. He really seemed to get off on making things harder.

(Ironically, the one who had done the edits was a subordinate of Kayaba's. When SAO was revealed to be a death game, he was struck with a huge case of guilts. In his defense, he hadn't KNOWN that would happen.

Also ironically, Heathcliff aka Kayaba himself got nailed by a revised trap. Thankfully non-lethal. To say the least, he was PISSED.)

"Lind and Thinker are racing to find the Boss Chamber in the labyrinth. Once they do, we'll organize for the raid," Asuna said briskly.

"We should get into the race to find it too," Aiko suggested eagerly.

"Leading a raid is a pain in the ass," Liz noted dryly.

"And I've only been gaming since I started Sword Art Online," Asuna added.

"Huh. Maybe you should lead a raid then," Liz pointed out. "You might need the experience."

"Yeah, no," Asuna shook her head. Changing the subject she said, "They're low on rooms in the inn, there's just two. We'll need to share."

Liz smirked, "Aiko, Argo and I take one, you and Yuuki get the other?"

Yuuki smirked, as Asuna flushed a bit.

They ate, then retired to their rooms, everyone getting ready to sleep. Despite it being a game, you still needed to eat and sleep, annoyingly.

"Hey, Aiko?" Liz asked.

"Yeah?" the slightly older girl responded, setting up to sleep on the couch.

"Does Yuuki... like Asuna?" Liz asked.

"Huh," Aiko murmured. "You mean, romance? I wondered why you toss the two of them together so much."

"Yeah, well...," Liz shrugged.

Aiko sat back thoughtfully, "Well, I don't think she ever seemed to like girls in real life, but..."

"Yeah. This is a unique situation," Liz agreed.

"Did you know you can get married in SAO?" Argo noted, amused.

Liz blinked, "You're kidding."

"Nope. I'm not sure WHY it's still in the game, but it's there." Argo noted. "It doesn't DO much, other than connecting your inventories."

"Kayaba is just weird," Aiko sighed.

There was a beat of silence as they all settled down to sleep.

"Think we'll actually get out of this game?"

"Asuna's sheer rage at all of this will get us through."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"WHY IS THE END BOSS A GIANT TREE?!"

"Shit! Poison! Antidotes! Antidotes!"

"This wasn't in the Argo Guide! DAMN YOU KAYABA!"

"Holy CRAP is Asuna-sama doing lots of damage."

"Actually, the whole Harem are being huge damage dealers."

"We're calling them that?"

"Just don't do it in front of Asuna herself. It pisses her off."

"Geh! More poison!"

"YUUKI AND ASUNA GOT THE LAST ATTACK AGAIN?!"

To be continued...

Notes: The SAO Progressive novels don't say how they defeated Nerius the Evil Treant, the third floor boss, so I just summarized it abit.