His experience with dreams was confusing him more and more. As time passed, he was becoming confused on what was reality, the dreams with him having short hair and an awkward personality, or the very personable, long haired girl. The line between male and female was drawn between dreams and reality. Was he really the boy, or the girl?

In his dreams of recent, he had met Sachi and the Midnight Black Cats. During that experience, he had hidden his level from them after saving them from a rough encounter around the same floor they had progressed to outside of the dreams. As time passed and they got along more, Kirito joined their guild, and trained Sachi in how to tank within SAO. It was all wrong though compared to how Kirito would teach outside of the dreams. Relying on the shield in sword and shield combo so much in comparison to being evasive and swift was a difficult way for her to face tanking. Facing and taking the hits head on, regardless how much defence she packed on, was rough for Sachi. He knew that outside of the dreams, he was happy that he let Sachi continue using the spear and fighting from a safe medium distance.

Sachi within the dream sequence which spanned until they cleared floor 41 outside of the dreams, had become close to Kirito. Close enough that they would share a room and inventories in basically a marriage. It wasn't much more than sharing their inventories, but it was support for the Sachi in the dream who never grew out of her anxieties. Never developed the confidence to stand alongside the lead group clearing through the floors. Kirito felt horrible and sick for days after the dream sequence ended her life in a cruel, slow experience of them being trapped inside of a dungeon, murdered by a scaling room trap. Kirito there wasn't as skilled at fighting, so while he felt he could overcome the trap and save everyone if his skill outside of the dream were involved, it still plagued him that any version of him could let his friends die.

The dreams he had were eating away at his conscious, and as the days drew close to a good time for the duel with Heathcliff, Kirito had found the part of his mind which wouldn't hold back against Heathcliff. That part of him that wouldn't hold back was found through the dreams. The frustration, the depression, the hostility as Laughing Coffin and other criminal players had been more active within the dreams. Through them attacking to kill, their blood lust, Kirito found that place in him.

Kirito knew what was real, but sometimes he wondered if the amazing reality he was experiencing was truly real when the depressing dreams just gave such a more real feeling. Was it okay to be so blessed? Was it okay to be happier presenting as female? Did he identify with that more than with the cute male appearance?

"Tomorrow you promised to stop putting off your duel with Heathcliff...are you ready, Kirito?"

Kirito sighed at the question from Leafa. She had been practising pvp fights with him so that he could get used to fighting against other people. Leafa didn't hold back, which made it a little easier for Kirito to steadily work away the subconscious holding back.

He wiped sweat from his brow and drank some water. He was reminded immensely of training together outside, one of the times Kirito and Sinon had been visiting with Leafa before they would head out to kendo lessons. They would train and work up a sweat, have a satisfying shower and head to the lesson refreshed.

"I'm...not sure if I'm ready. As much as I'll ever be at this point. I'm finally able to go all out against you, but I don't know if that's going to be enough against his tower shield skills..."

Leafa pouted as she noticed the tiny bit of sarcasm in his voice. He was confident in himself, more than he thought he should be. The only way Kirito could envision himself losing is if Heathcliff had some kind of cheat item he would use to be faster than his equipment type, and caught Kirito heavily off guard.

After a run through the dungeon between Kirito Leafa and Sachi alone, the others all busy with crafting and helping with the restaurant, they stopped just short of the teleport plaza's pavilion, Heathcliff and another few members of his guild in attendance.

"What a coincidence! We were just heading out to collect some materials. How fare you, [Alt]?"

Kirito shrugged.

"It was a good haul from the dungeon today. Are you ready for the duel tomorrow, Heathcliff-san?"

The unnecessary taunting from Kirito made the party along with Heathcliff upset.

"Do you really think you should be showing so much confidence?"

Kirito nodded his head and smiled.

"I'm feeling much better after all the training and clearing we've been doing recently. The floors are just passing by."

Heathcliff interrupted.

"I'm glad you are doing well, Kirito-kun. To answer your question, I am ready for the fight tomorrow. I think you might be surprised at something that I will be bringing along to the fight tomorrow."

Kirito was unnerved a little at the revealing that there would be a surprise, but unless Heathcliff's surprise had to do with speed augmentation, it wouldn't make a difference. There was a part of him that was concerned that something totally out of his comfort zone as far as Heathcliff might be brought. Suddenly Kirito had planted a seed of worry into his own mind at what could possibly be just something to get him nervous. He understood that it was possible to be a bluff, but he couldn't shake his cautious nature wanting to figure out what it could possibly be so he could prepare.

In the end, Kirito couldn't get any sleep that night, and was exhausted when heading to the duel location. A small arena on the outskirts of a farming town on floor 38. There were a lot of spectators already there, filling the grasslands surrounding the arena to watch the fight which would be starting shortly.

Kirito's exhausted appearance had the audience totally surprised.

Everyone from [Alt], all their guild and Yui were worried about Kirito's lack of sleep. Kirito knew that as soon as he was fighting, he would perk up and move as he normally would. He had gotten rest, but it wasn't quite enough to offset the lack of sleep. The unnecessary nervousness caused by being overly cautious minded ended up being his greatest weakness going into the fight.

Heathcliff was standing there, waiting in the middle of the arena with new raid gear on. It was gear that he had ordered from [Alt] a week prior. One thing was out of place though. The shield was one that Kirito didn't recognize. It wasn't a tower shield, but instead a great shield; heavy and large like a tower shield, but more thin. It was a surprise for certain. Heathcliff would have the upper hand if it were just for the exhaustion wearing on Kirito, but there was the addition of the great shield which was something entirely new to Kirito. The great shield gave a lighter impression, which could make him move a little faster.

"Hello there, Kirito and [Alt]. I'm quite surprised to see you so tired with what was gambled. I would think you'd be well rested for our duel."

Kirito clapped his cheeks and sighed. He did what he could to wake himself up. The massive crowd that parted to make room for his approach to the arena gave him concerned stares, while some cheered for him to beat Heathcliff, to mess him up. A great many people murmured about what was at stake.

"We'll reveal the stakes of this match as soon as we're ready to fight."

Kirito swapped into his one handed sword equipment to start, and set his other favored weapon types as quick swap. Heathcliff made the crowd settle with the comment about being ready to fight.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be. The fight will wake me up the rest of the way."

Heathcliff smiled and began to explain the rules of the duel.

"The rules of our duel will be standard, anything goes while we'll be stopped as soon as one of us hits yellow health. The stakes are that should I win, [Alt] guild will merge under my [KoB]. Should Kirito-kun win, I am banned from revealing a secret regarding to Kirito-kun, even through another person."

The crowd murmured about what the secret could be, and those who knew about the secret got angry. Steadily, the crowd picked up and yelled, shouted for Kirito to win. Secrets should be kept, online etiquette, every conceivable reason that Heathcliff shouldn't be allowed to reveal a secret of Kirito's.

"It sounds like they want you to get something else out of the duel. How about...[KoB] supplies your shop and restaurant on floor 31?"

Kirito nodded in response, resting his hand on the pommel of his sword. He began getting ready mentally and physically with his virtual body.

The challenge was sent, immediately after the timer showed up massive enough for the whole crowd to see between them, and as the timer hit 0, Kirito dashed in as if exhaustion had never existed as a worry.

Kirito tested at first with how fast Heathcliff would be in reaction speed to the attacks, if he would be able to block everything or not. Kirito was blindingly fast. Enough so that Heathcliff was struggling to keep up, barely parrying a couple of the dozens of strikes he unleashed with his sword while his shield was blocking a decent amount of the attacks. Over a quarter of Heathcliff's health had dropped in the starting flurry and crowd erupted in cheers seeing his hit points drop.

Heathcliff put his all into performing a shield bash to give him some space away from Kirito.

"Phew...you are certainly quick, Kirito-kun. I would rather not lose without having you reveal one of your trump cards, but I haven't been able to inflict any damage on you yet. Even my shield bash just now was blocked. It would seem I underestimated you."

Kirito swapped to his katana for the rest of the fight, and everyone in attendance murmured about another weapon type being revealed. As far as most people knew, Kirito only used a single one handed sword. As soon as he got into his stance, Heathcliff charged in with the shield ram skill. Kirito swiftly dodged at the last second, and struck at Heathcliff's back enough that his hit points reached just short of yellow hit points.

"That is quite concerning."

Kirito swapped to the bow next and the crowd erupted at the fact that he was swapping through the duel between weapon types. Everyone from the clearing groups knew that Kirito was skilled in many weapon types, but Katana wasn't as surprising as bow since only Sinon used to bow up to that point.

"I need to take this more seriously..."

Kirito drew back the bow and unleashed flurries of arrows to pierce Heathcliff around the shield, but surprisingly he moved his shield at incredible speed, as if the shield didn't weigh a thing. One arrow got through though and a shocking sight caught Kirito off guard. It were as if he could see lag, which he hadn't seen until that point. The shield moved like a magnet to where the arrow was heading and barely blocking it.

"Hold on..."

Kirito stopped his flurry of arrows and held up a hand to pause.

"Either we're lagging, or you're using an advanced movement skill even I haven't unlocked. That last arrow should have hit you in the cheek."

Heathcliff laughed and forfeited the duel.

"You caught me, I had brought all of my secret weapons out fighting you. You're quite frighteningly skilled, Kirito-kun. As promised, [KoB] will supply your guild."

Kirito walked in for the handshake etiquette for the duel, and Heathcliff leaned in to reveal how he knew of Kirito's outside identity.

"I am sorry to inform, your personal information was available at the console on underfloor 5. It turns out the information from your access of the terminal stayed there and showed that you are female. I'm sorry if you thought I was going to be unfair to you. I simply wanted to know how skilled you really are, if it would be worth to supply your guild. This also shows the population how much they should trust our clearing group. You are like a shining star to many of the low level players who came here to view the duel."

Kirito sighed and took Heathcliff's hand for a shake, stepping back so that the closeness of their faces wouldn't give people the wrong idea.

"Thank you for clearing that up. I thought you had somehow accessed something more personal. Please no secrets Heathcliff-san."

Kirito shook Heathcliff's hand and quickly withdrew it.

"But what was that at the end there? Was it lag? Or advanced movement skill?"

Heathcliff chuckled.

"Beat me in another duel and I'll reveal more, Kirito-kun."

Another challenge was issued.

"New conditions?"

Heathcliff nodded.

"New conditions since you won the previous duel fairly. I will offer this time how to unlock the great shield and advanced blocking skills."

"And I'll offer a week of meals at my personal expense."

"For my guild's clearing team?"

Kirito nodded his head. Heathcliff smiled and urged for the challenge issue to be accepted.

"How about we apply a rule to this duel?"

Heathcliff gave a confused expression.

"This time, how about we forbid my weapon type swapping, and use of advanced skills? Just my one handed sword against your sword and shield?"

Heathcliff stared in astonishment.

"I suppose revealing my great shield was that much of a surprise. We can go for those rules."

Kirito sent out the rule revised challenge to Heathcliff and he immediately accepted, starting the countdown. The thirty seconds for the second duel to start gave Heathcliff time to swap to his previous tower shield. Kirito swapped back to just the single one handed sword as well.

The crowd was even more excited than before, cheering loudly since the time previous, Heathcliff hadn't hit yellow hit points. As well, Kirito had clearly won as far as the crowd was concerned. And now Kirito was challenging him to a fight with a restriction on his own abilities which allowed him to win the previous fight. Heathcliff was made to wear the heavier shield and not use advanced skills.

During the last twenty seconds, Kirito asked a shocking question to Heathcliff and the crowd.

"Is my not using the system skill guidance the same as advanced skill use?"

Heathcliff shook his head as the timer hit 0. Taking that understanding as reason to be confident, Kirito dashed forward and swiftly reduced Heathcliff's hit points by easily getting around the tower shield. After a roll while Heathcliff was looking for Kirito's movement, he flipped from the low ground in his roll into an uppercut with the hilt of his sword, bashing Heathcliff's shield hand. He dropped the shield and as soon as the shield hit the ground and Kirito went in for the finishing strike using the momentum from his uppercut before to spin and slice deep into Heathcliff's waist. At that moment however, Heathcliff's shield appeared back in his hand. That wasn't part of the system. Kirito balked as he was shoved backward with the shield and Heathcliff's sword pierced through Kirito's dominant shoulder, pinning him to the ground.

"That...you definitely cheated there, Heathcliff-san."

Kirito was grimacing and trying with the strength of his weak hand to pull Heathcliff's sword out but he was still leaning his heavy weight into the sword with a furious expression on his face.

"Oh, you were already in the yellow, Heathcliff-san."

The moment Kirito pointed out Heathcliff's hit points, Heathcliff stepped back, withdrawing his sword and his furious expression melted into one of exhaustion. Heathcliff turned and started to walk away.

"You were going to reveal your method of getting the great shield skill and advanced movement skill?"

The comment from Agil reminded Heathcliff that there was a stake on the duel and he stopped, generating scroll items from his inventory and throwing them at Kirito's feet. The orange marker over Heathcliff's head told everyone that the attack on Kirito's shoulder after he had already won the duel was illegal. Thankfully the damage reverted as soon as the arena was classed as a sanctuary again.

Heathcliff and [KoB] left the area, aside one young member of their guild. The young member of [KoB] bowed in apology to Kirito. He had colourful messy hair, and his armour looked too big on him. One of the members who was allocated to resource gathering since he was too afraid to fight the dungeons. Kirito gave him a nod and he ran off after the rest of his guild.

While the rest of the crowd converged on Kirito, he replayed the last few seconds of the duel in his head over and over, trying to figure out if Heathcliff had even used a skill. He knew that dropping a shield normally means you would have to pick it up unless you move it to your inventory, but removing and equipping again at that speed was unthinkable. The only other option was again, lag, or an advanced skill was used. The skill scrolls that were thrown to Kirito only taught how to learn to use a great shield, and how to block advanced skills for no damage. Neither of those explained the ability to block Kirito's skills. Kirito wasn't using the system's skill guidance the entire time, so blocking advanced skills wouldn't have worked.

Kirito thought after considering the sequence of events that he would have to invest some time into figuring out how the shield skills worked, if there was something that would explain Heathcliff's performance. Such a skill would be useful with all combat if it was available to be used with all equip types. There were many reasons to Kirito investing into multiple weapon types. For the additional skills that they could offer was the primary reason. Every additional skill could be potentially useful in all types of weapon use. Learning to use those additional skills without the guidance of the system would be immense. The system could move players beyond their natural capabilities, far faster than natural. Kirito was encroaching on using those skills without use of the system guidance, but not quite reaching at the peak of his abilities.

"Are you okay, Kirito?"

The concern which was given by all of [Alt], [FKZ] and [MBC], as well as the rest of the crowd reminded Kirito of the amount of people around him and he fainted in response to the intense social anxiety which flooded over him.