A/N: I am well aware it's not Christmas, but the date was pretty close and I figured I might as well do a Christmas chapter. I'm pretty sure Sword Art Online had done the same thing with Red-Nose Reindeer, but unlike them, I'm not gonna skip through time. I mean, if episode 2 takes place in December, why skip through time by...A WHOLE YEAR!?


JANUARY 3RD, 2023. FLOOR 8, VIOLET RISE.

Today is the meeting for the Assault Team.

Asuna, Vice Commander of the guild Knights of the Blood Oath is taking the lead on this meeting. An assault team, the Silver Flags, and five members of the Knights of the Blood Oath tried to take on the next raid boss, but the fight was pretty shocking. We are up against the Storm King. The only one who survived was Kirito, who used a vanquishing illusion to trick the boss he died.

Kirito was on the front line town all day telling us about the boss methods. Now we're having a meeting to think of a strategy to face and defeat the Storm King.

"We'll face it head-on!" Asuna says. "Lizbeth and Hakomo will hold off the bosses attacks, we'll attack from the side and behind."

"What about the intermission phases?" Kirito asks.

"We spread out into four teams! We'll have a healer on each team to keep everyone alive. We'll take out the adds while waiting for the boss to be attackable again. Any questions?" No one says anything else. "Very well. We'll meet up at the Elite Dungeon in three hours. That'll be enough time to ready your gears for the boss fight. That is all."

The meeting disbands. I stay with my guild, the Lunar Twilight. We only have three hours until the boss fight. Most of us, especially Rokel, are going to need some gears.

"Okay, let's pour all of our Krystal's together," Hakomo says. That's what we did. I only offer 4500 Krystals. That's about forty percent of all I have. "Let's see...that's a total of 38192 Krystals."

"With that amount, only one and half of us can get geared up," Elementalist says.

I hate to be that half. "Well, we should go farming for some money then," Aerith says.

"Do we have enough time to earn the money?" I ask.

Everyone looks at me. "No worries. We still have our usual hunting grounds." Spellbreaker says.

"Yeah. We'll earn enough cash in no time!" Rokel says.


FLOOR 8, ELECTRIC FOREST.

We start walking down the path of our hunting ground: The Electric Forest. This area is a swamp forest with lightning striking around here like crazy. People usually say 'Lightning never strikes the same place twice. Well, that saying is only a fairy tale in this zone. It's as if the trees act as some lightning rod for each. But it's nothing to worry about, at least the lightning doesn't deplete our HP.

We arrive at the hunting grounds. It's crawling with those Zandalar trolls and pterodactyl beasts. We all spread out, taking on the mods. Taking them on single handily would save us some time.

We do make a diameter limit range for Aerith. She can't fight, but she can heal. She can only heal for so far, so we just spread out in every direction, like forming a circle and Aerith is the very center. I keep within range of Rokel so I can rush in when he needs help.

An hour has passed. We now have some lunch while waiting for the mobs to respawn. "See? What did I tell ya? This will be a breeze!" Spellbreaker says.

"No kidding. We've already earned nearly 10000 Krystals from our kills here." Raphael says.

Everyone else agrees. Everyone seems cheerful as we eat. I, on the other hand, feel unease. I'm getting a bad feeling. Rokel must have noticed.

"You okay, Light?" He asks.

I set my cup down. "Something doesn't feel right." I stand up then turn. From a distance, I see some smoke. Not the kind that just flies around, but something that's made like someone's running.

Everyone else notices and they all stand up as well. "What's that?" Elementalist asks.

"Trouble," I say.

As they come closer, it comes clear who's coming. It's the guild, Shadow Dragons. It's a guild filled with a bunch of punks who thinks they own the streets or the floors in this case. I've encountered people like them on my missions in Palumpolum. The big city always has a ton of troublemakers.

The Shadow Dragons stop right in front of us. But you'll never guess who's the leader of the guild: That jerk Tyler. Rokel panics and huddles behind me as soon as he sees Tyler. Hakomo steps up. "What do you want, Tyler?"

Hakomo's attitude is displeased. Lunar Twilight isn't very pleased with Tyler after learning what it is he's done to Rokel, except for murdered his parents. That's still between me and Rokel.

"Well, if it isn't the Lunar Twilights!" Tyler says. "What are you doing on Shadow Dragon territory?"

"Shadow Dragon territory? This is OUR hunting ground!" Raphael says.

"Guess again, small fry!" A Shadow Dragon member says.

Raphael takes out his daggers. "I'll show you small fry!"

Raphael rushes in to attack, but Spellbeaker and Elementalist hold him back. "Easy, Raph! It's not worth it!" Spellbreaker says.

Raphael cools off for a moment. Tyler looks past me, he's noticing a certain scared little boy. "My, my. If it isn't the little squirt." I give a low growl hearing that. "I see you're no longer hiding behind the safety of the towns like a coward."

Rokel pokes his head out, shouting defensively. "You're the one who's a coward!"

I'm surprised to hear that. This is the first time I've seen Rokel stand up for himself. But it's not too impressive cause Rokel instantly looks worried and covers his mouth like he regrets saying that. He's growing some confidence, but not as much as I hoped.

Tyler looks pretty angry. "Why you little!" Tyler takes out his sword.

Rokel hides behind me again. Tyler stops as soon as I take my sword out, glaring at him. He just stands there doing nothing. He's not really frozen with fear, but just standing there like he doesn't have the guts to fight. I give him a look that says 'You attack and you'll be sorry' or 'Go ahead, I dare you.'

The standstill was only a minute long, then Tyler speaks. "Why bother rolling around in the mud with these pigs!"

'You're the real pig!' I thought.

Tyler sheathes his sword, turns to his members. "Let's go. We'll just take the southern field."

The Shadow Dragons make their leave, but I don't keep my eyes off of them. If there's one thing I learned: Even turn your back on troublemakers or criminals, even when they're walking away in defeat.

"What a jerk," I say once they're out of sight, then I sheathe my sword.

"That was pretty cool. You have them walking away." Raphael says. He stands close and wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close. My security insects are taking in. "I'm starting to like yea."

I look at Raphael. "Don't get any ideas, Raphael!"

"Ah, chillax, Light. I wouldn't dream of it." Raphael says.

Even hearing that doesn't put me at ease. "Oh hey. The mobs are respawning." Aerith says.

We all look to see the Zandalar trolls are returning. We now resume making our kills and earning our money.


FLOOR 8, VIOLET RISE.

With only half an hour before the Assault Team moves on, we returned to town. We have made a total of 32,000 Krystals. Just enough to earn us some gears. I am not including myself, I'm fine with what I have. I'm not gonna have a serious role in the fights. If anything, I'll probably just end up as Rokel or Hope's bodyguard. That is if Hope is going to be on the Assault Team for this floor.

We now wait for the rest of the thirty minutes to pass. I just sit around while everyone else is readying their gears and items.

"Lightning!" I'm on alert hearing that. I turn to see Leafa is running towards me. The rest of my guild are also taking notice of Leafa.

She stops right in front of me, hands on her knees panting like crazy. "Leafa? What is it?"

Leafa takes a moment to catch her breath, a deep one, then she speaks. "Twilight...she needs help," Leafa says. "I just got a message calling for help."

"What was she doing?" Knowing Vanille, I'm predicting this is not going to be worth my time.

"She was having on a date with Espeon in the Southern Field," Leafa says.

My eyes shot wide open hearing the 'Southern Field'. "The Southern Field? That's where the Shadow Dragons went." Elementalist says.

"I have a bad feeling they're involved," I say. "Let's go help them, and hurry."

"We'll help out too," Hakomo says.

"No. I'll handle this myself. You guys stay here and prepare for the Assault Team." I say.

Leafa and I run down the road heading to the southern field of the eighth floor.

On the way, I explain to Leafa who the Shadow Dragons are, especially that bonehead jerk Tyler. She was pretty shocked to hear how he tortures an innocent orphan. I still left out the part about Tyler killing Rokel's parents.

We arrive at a cliff field. It's clear of mobs, so I'm guessing Hope, Vanille, and Shadow Dragons are still here. As we get closer, I can hear voices. From the start, it's hard to make, then I can clearly hear Tyler. Ugh, hearing his voice just makes me bitter.

"You remind me a lot like that little brat who ticks me off!" I roll my eyes hearing that. "This is Shadow Dragon Territory! So hand over all your Krystals, your Gravesoul staff, and that slut chick of yours."

My blood boils hearing 'slut' Oh great, he's now a sexist! What's more, he wants to take away the gift I gave to Hope for Christmas. He's a dead man!

We arrive at the scene. Vanille and Hope are cornered, they're HP down to 23%. Tyler and the Shadow Dragons are now orange players. "Don't bother fighting. You have no mana left!" A Shadow Dragon member says.

Hope and Vanille stand in place, with Vanille hoping onto Hope's arm. They turn to see us. "Lightning!"

Tyler and the Shadow Dragons turn to see us, and they don't look too pleased. I step up, Leafa stays behind. "Just who do you think you are?" Tyler asks.

"Doesn't matter who I am. But I know who you are." I say. "You, all of you, are nothing more than a bunch of arrogant airheads. A mix of cowards and bullies abusing on innocent people, especially kids."

Tyler looks at his guild members. "Are you just gonna stand there and let this stranger insult our good name like that?"

The Assassin takes out his daggers. "I got this boss!" The assassin rushes towards me. Only about six inches later, he vanishes.

He's gonna try to hit me with a sneak attack. There's no way he's going sneak up on me like that. I take out my sword, but I don't position myself. I inhale deeply and close my eyes, concentrating. I listen deeply to the sound of movement. When the sound of rustling grass hits my eyes, from the right, I give a quick, hard strike.

I hit the Assassin, which breaks his invisibly and knocks him back. When he recovers, he looks completely shocked. "How...how did you know where I was?"

I lower my blade. "I can hear you. I'm not deaf."

Assassin is speechless. He quickly gets on his feet and makes a run for it. At least I was right about the coward part. It's now down to Tyler, a Wizard, and Swordsman. The Swordsman takes out his two-handed sword and charges at me with a yell.

I position myself. He gets close and makes his swing, but I strike that blade. It didn't break but it flies out of his hands. The swordsman looks at his blade speechless, then turns his attention back to me. I draw my sword back to charge it, then deliver a powerful strike.

The Swordsman gets a long cut from his left leg to his right shoulder. He staggers back from the cut. The next thing he does is make a run for it like the assassin. Tyler is starting to look worried. Good!

The Wizard steps up. "Try blocking magic, swordsman!" The Wizard positions himself, arms wide apart, hands out. He chants a dark magic spell. On his left hand is a shadow orb and on his fire is a fireball. He clashes the two spells together, forming into a dark green large fireball, then launches it directly at me.

"Lightning! Look out!" Hope warns me.

I just stand there like a statue. The dark spell is aiming directly at my head, drawing closer and closer. Just when it's inches from my face, that's when I turn my head to the side, a last-minute dodge.

The felfire just flies past me, then explodes when it hits something from the distance. The Wizard is speechless, beyond shocked. If he was holding his staff, he would have dropped it.

"H-h...how...How the hell did she dodge THAT!?" The Wizard asks. I glare at the Wizard, pointing my sword at him. The Wizard steps back, then looks at Tyler. "You're on your own, boss!" Then makes a run for it.

Now it's just me and Tyler. Tyler takes out an assault gun. He cocks the gun and aims it at me. "I'm not afraid of you!" He shouts, but I can tell he's nervous.

I put away my sword, then went into my menu to take out the Jaws of Terror sword. "You should be," I say.

Tyler sets his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot. I position myself, ready to deflect. We're at a standstill. Leafa rushes in, grabs Hope by the arm. "We should hide. I have a feeling things are about to get ugly."

Leafa takes Hope and Vanille behind a boulder. They still stick their heads out to see what's happening. We are frozen in place. The only thing that's moving is my hair, our cloaks, and my skirt, through the breeze of the wind. I squat my eyes slightly, pointing a finger from my free hand at Tyler. He seems confused at first, then I hold my finger next to my neck, then slowly move it in front of my throat.

A hand gesture stating I'm gonna kill him.

His eyes shot wide open, then he shouts. "SCREW YOU!" The prediction lines pop right out of his gun into my direction, then comes the bullets.

I dodge and deflect the bullets that were about to hit me at high speed. Leafa and Hope look pretty surprised at what I'm doing. Vanille...not so much surprised.

Tyler is now out of bullets. He pulls his gun back, shocked. "No...NO WAY!"

He reloads his gun then continues firing. I continue to deflect the bullets. He's really wasting his time playing with that little toy. If only he was back in Domination Point so he could have seen what I can do.

"Damn it!" Tyler reloads his gun. "Hold still bitch!" He aims his gun at me. "See if you can stand stun bullets!" Then fires.

The bullets come flying right at me. Stun bullets, like that's supposed to make me nervous. If that's his goal, he's failing it. A bullet's a bullet and if I can deflect and dodge regular bullets, I can do it to any kind. Tyler shouts in anger as he continues firing. He fires his last bullet, and I deflect it to fly right back at him.

The bullet pierces him right in the shoulder.

Tyler makes an expression that looks like his heart stopped. The gun drops right out of his hands then he collapses, right on his back. I put away the light sword, slowing approaching Tyler.

"What is she gonna do?" Leafa whispers.

"I don't know." Hope whispers.

I'm standing right in front of Tyler. He looks at me. I take out my sword, hold it right above him then pierce it right through his chest.

Tyler groans in pain. My attack causes him to lose 352 HP. He's gotten stronger since the last time we met. Tyler looks up at me. I look down at him with a glare. "Tell me, Tyler: How does it feel?" I pull my sword up until only the tip remains within him then jab it back in. "Scared? Helpless maybe?" His HP depletes from the impalement of my sword.

Tyler doesn't say anything. He struggles to move his body, trying hard to fight the paralysis. Little by little, he moves to hand, to reach for his sword. But I saw that coming, and I stomp on his wrist. "Maybe now you know how Rokel and Espeon feels! Doesn't feel good being attacked when you can't fight back, does it!" His HP drops to 1358, the yellow zone. I lean in close to Tyler, face to face. "I don't know what goes on in that brainless, thick head of yours, but let me tell you something: If we were in the real world, I would come at you personally and put you behind bars...maximum security!"

His health continues to slowly drop until it turns red, that's when I removed the blade. Tyler looks confused when I did that. For an answer, I grab him by the collar and hold him off his feet against the wall. "Heed my words, Tyler! If you ever, and I mean EVER, dare to harm even a single hair on Rokel, Espeon, or ANYBODY else, I'm gonna make you pay! You can hide behind the safety system of the game towns for all I care, cause I will hunt you down and will cause that pretty little health bar of yours to hit zero before you could even say 'oops'. Understand?"

He looks very fearful in the eyes. I'm gonna guess, and he's gonna hope, that he does understand. "Now, here's what you're gonna do: The moment the paralysis wears off, you are going to run...run for your life...and never stop." There's a moment of silence between us. I turn to Hope. "Espeon. Fix him."

Hope seems a bit surprised to hear me say that, but he obeys. He chants a minor healing spell then a dispel magic. Tyler is now fixed up with yellow HP and cured of the paralysis. I release my grip on him.

Tyler just stands there, looking at me with worry. He slowly bends down to reach for his gun, like I'm about to strike when he makes a single movement. The second he grabs the gun, he jerks back, holding his gun close. Now he's just standing there doing nothing.

"Run," I say with a low growl, and that's what he does. He makes a run for it.

I keep an eye on him until he's out of sight, then I turn to Leafa and the others who are approaching me. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah. We're fine." Vanille says.

"Thanks for the rescue," Hope says.

I nod at Hope. "That was amazing what you did back there. Silica and Lisbeth weren't kidding about you." Leafa says. "And I thought breaking an enemy's weapon was impressive. You really are something, Lightning."

"Thanks...I guess." I say, feeling uncertain about Leafa's comment. But I put that aside. "Anyways, we should head back to town. The Assault Team's about to take off."

"That's right. Let us head back, shall we?" Leafa says.