A/N: Geez. I can't seem to turn off my muse for my Kingdom Hearts story. But no matter. Garrosh Hailroar is defeated, and the players have cleared the first ten floors. Which means big changes are about to happen.

You'll find out soon enough.


MARCH 4TH, 2023. FLOOR 11, BLACK GATE

After defeating the tenth-floor boss, we move to the next floor.

When we arrive on the eleventh floor, we are confused by the sight. We are standing on some large stage, and behind us is some giant portal. A twenty-story building could fit right in.

"What is this?" I ask.

"Some kind of portal?" Hope asks.

Kirito walks towards the portal. He puts his hand through it, only it actually feels like glass. "We don't walk through it. Might be some objective...or just a display of scenery?"

"One or the other," I say.

Hope looks scared. "Uh...guys."

We all turn to the direction the Black Gate is facing. A large, green fire rock hand comes out and lands on the ground. Some creature comes right out in the opening, looking down at us. The creature is some golem made out of rocks and green fire named Infernal Doomguard.

"What the heck is that?" I say. "Some kind of...demon?"

We all take out our weapons, preparing for battle. "It looks like those Infernals from that demon game: Hell's Vengeance," Hakomo says.

Another Infernal Doomguard raises our insight.

We all fight against the rocky demons. Kirito, Klein, and I fight as Vanguard alongside Hakomo. Leafa casts her nature and arcane spells. That seems to hurt them very well while our weapons are doing little damage to them.

That's to be expected since they're made out of rocks. Could be worse, they could be in metals. The Infernals strikes hard on Kirito and I. I'm surprised, in one stroke, we're dropped from full health to 55%. They're powerful.

I shout as I slash my blade through the one Infernal, destroying it. Kirito and Klein take care of the other one. When we earn our Results, we are surprised. Not only did we learn our Krystal's, but also Experience.

"We can gain EXP again?" Hope says.

"It seems that way." Lightning says.

"Well, glad to see leveling is still possible," Klein says. "Only why did they disable leveling beyond 50 in the first place?"

Kirito thinks for a moment. "I remember back in the Beta Testing, many of the players stick with rapidly leveling their toons, even on the lower levels. There was even this one player, Blacknight. When we have only done the first five floors, he spent the entire the next two months leveling his character. He made it all the way to level 67, and was able to solo the next three-floor bosses."

"So they put a level limitation to avoid situations like that? That's pretty clever I'll admit." I say.

"Indeed. By the looks of it, I'm guessing we are gonna make fifty levels for every ten floors." Kirito says.

"Well, maybe we'll find out by hitting 100 before we beat the twentieth floor," Klein says with a chuckle.

I just groan and roll my eyes. He can't take anything seriously can't he. He's starting to remind me about Snow. Hope looks horrified. "Uh, guys?"

Oh great, more demons? We look ahead, and it's even worse than that. There's a giant, four-legged monster, known as Pit Commander, with a massive sword, horns, and fat body, even in the neck. Looks sloppy, but also dangerous.

"Puny insects! Do you honestly think you can save this broken world?" The Pit Commander says. "This world will burn! And soon! We will invade YOURS!"

"Kirito...What is that thing?" Asuna asks.

"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like that in the Beta Test." Kirito says.

The Pit Commander takes out his massive sword. "Soldiers! ATTACK!"

A ton of demonic soldiers come at us. I can't really describe their appearance. They look nothing like humans. They're orange skin, in metal boots and leggings and gloves, wielding long swords. Horn spikes on their shoulder blades. Front and back.

They are named Hell Guardian.

There are dozens of them, and the Pit Commander is casting dark magic that's summoning meteors. When they crash, they take the form of the Infernal Doomguards. "There are so many of them!" Leafa clenches to Kirito. "Big brother! Can we take them?!"

Kirito positions himself. "We have no other choice. I'll distract them! You guys attack them!"

Kirito charges into the army, halfway towards them, he does his duplicate ability. Seven Kiritos charges in and holds off most of the demons. The rest of us melee DPS's charges in while the spellcasters and Shinon attack from a safe range.

The Hell Guardian's are easier to damage than the Infernal Doomguards.

The fight is pretty brutal, and the Demons fought hard. Hope is having trouble with trying to keep us all alive. Even with Vanille and Leafa's help, our battle is in vain.

"These mortals are tougher than I thought! Time to bring in the Subduers!" The Pit Commander says.

Some strange demon gates appear all around us. More demons appear, but they seem different. They are female sexy-looking creatures, barely in clothing with wings, horns, and hoof legs, also carrying whips for weapons.

One approaches Klein. He was serious at first, then suddenly starts hitting on the demon. He's letting his guard down against the enemy, all-cause of that 'pretty' little face of its. How pathetic.

I cut that demon's head off, which shocks Klein back into reality. "Okay, remind me to never go on a mission that relates to women with you," I say.

I fight off against the Sin of Lusts, which is what those female demons are called, since I can't really trust the boys, mostly Klein, to handle them. Our battle here is getting tougher, they don't even have a second for hesitation or to catch our breath.

I keep my eyes on everyone else as well. Whenever they are in trouble, especially Hope, I have to rush in and help them. When I look at Shinon, I notice those ugly hounds, Devildogs, leaping towards her from behind. The second she turns, she screams and panics.

"Look out!" I zoom in and attack those creatures. They didn't die, but my attacks were enough to interrupt their attack upon the Shadow Sniper. I manage to kill them before they had the chance to fight back.

"Thank you," Shinon says with a sigh.

The fight goes on for the next ten minutes. The demons, they just keep coming. No matter what we do, every demon we kill, two or three more are coming.

"Give up, mortals! You cannot defeat us!" The Pit Commander says.

I have a feeling he's right, we can barely keep up and Hope and the other healing races are losing their Mana. Even Hakomo is entering a red zone on his Health Bar.

"There's too many of them! Retreat!" Hakomo says.

We run back, only to see that the entrance to the tenth floor is sealed. "The exit is sealed!" Hope says.

"Then let's teleport out of here!" Asuna takes out her crystal. "Teleport: Sharp Hill!" Nothing happens. "The crystals...they're not working."

A Crystal Nullification zone. Is this the work of Laughing Coffin? "We have to keep fighting then. We can't die here, our very lives depend on it!"

Even fighting to our best, we are still overpowered. There are too many demons, and our healers are out of mana. Our defenses and evasive are only a little help. We are at the point where all of our HP are under 20%. We can barely keep up fighting against the demons.

At one point, I see Shinon completely surrounded. The Hell Guardians attacks her, all at once. "SHINON!" I reach over to help her, but it's too late. They all killed her...wait.

Something's wrong. Shinon is dead, but still alive? She only has one HP left and has a Paralysis effect. "What the...?"

I look around. One-by-one, everyone falls. Down to their last HP and becoming paralyzed. I am now the only one that's left standing. All of the demons come after me, but I don't give in.

I make my final stand against these creatures. Before I was defeated, I killed ten Hell Guardians, three Sin of Lust, and an Infernal Doomguard. That's when I'm down to my last HP and Paralysis took over.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Puny mortals went down so easily!" The Pit Commander says.

Luckily, I can still see the direction that monster is, cause out of nowhere, an orc appears. This one seems different than the metal Horde. He's green skin, shrouded, old with a white beard.

"What's going on here, commander?" The orc named Damned Lord says.

"My lord. Outsiders have interfered with our invasion. But I have them well handled." The Pit Commander says.

The Damned Lord faces us. "Outsiders, you say?" Damned Lord walks up the steps to the Black Gate, where he sees all of us weaken. "My, my. I haven't seen the likes of you around this world..." The Damned Lord gets a good look at each of us. He strokes that beard of his for each of us he looks down upon. "Yes...yes. Such power..." He stands at the edge of the stairs, channeling some dark magic. "You all will make the perfect sacrifice to my masters."

As he channels, we're all lifted off our feet, in the air, then we are engulfed in green flames. It burns. All of us are screaming in agony. It's strange. When we're suffering the pain, we are not losing our final Health Point. What is going on here?

"Ah! The cries of your pain are music to my ears!" Damned Lord says.

He laughs deviously. This could be the end of us. Until...

"By the light!" Some female blue skin creature, named Yrel, jumps out of nowhere and attacks the Damned Lord.

The attack interrupts Damned Lord's spell. The pain disappears and we all fall like mindless puppets. "Bah! Crusader Scum! You dare stand against me? The most powerful Wizard of all!"

Two more creatures like Yrel, Maraid, and Sam, appear. "Lord of the Damned! Your reign of terror ends here!"

The demons do not attack the ally NPC's. "How can you still stand against the Inflamed Legion, Draenei scum?" 'Draenei'? Is that what they're called? "Your world is doomed! There is nothing left in this broken world."

"You are wrong! The light is on our side! It is our strength! Our hope! Our Salvation! Even when there is nothing left, the light will always guide us! As long as it is on our side, we will never surrender!" Yrel says.

Damned Lord chuckles. "Brave words, Crusader. But your faith is futile. Let's see how this...Light of yours can witness against the full might of the Legion!" The Damned Lord turns to the Pit Commander. "Commander! Deal with these...urchins." Damned Lord turns his attention to the Draenei. "I wish I could stay and enjoy all of you being burned alive, but I am needed elsewhere. Enjoy the last few minutes of your pathetic life."

The Damned Lord disappears.

"Think again, Wizards! Sha'tar! Attack!" Out of nowhere, an entire army of the Draenei attacks, hundreds of them, probably enough to hold off all the demons.

We just lay here watching the whole thing. "What...what is going on here?" I ask.

"I think...this is some sub-event," Hope says.

"Sub...event? What does that mean?" I ask.

"An event, it commonly happens during battles or quests. Either in the beginning, middle, or the end." Hope says.

I suppose that does make sense. We all watch a battle going on at the Black Gate. Every demon is fighting against two or three of the Draenei. Yrel, Maraid, and a large group of warriors face the Pit Commander.

"Attack the commander! Anulo banorah!" Yrel says. 'Anulo Banorah'? Just what the heck does that mean? Is that even a language?

The warriors' charges in. The second they're in range, the Pit Commander kills them all in a single swing. "Is this the best you can throw, Crusader? Pathetic!"

"He is right. We are no match for the Pit Commander." Maraid says.

"There must be something we can do." Yrel looks around, then her eyes sets on us. "What about these people? The Damned Lord was killing them."

"Yrel. While I respect your leadership, but we cannot trust outsiders. The last time we did, it's what brought the Inflamed Legion to our world." Maraid says.

"I am well aware of Chaos's actions, Maraid. But what other choice do we have?" Yrel says. "Besides, things can't get any worse, can it?"

Maraid moans in irritation. "Oh...fine. But I will not be faulted for anything bad that happens." Maraid turns to Sam. "Sam. Restore these...outsiders here."

Sam chants a healing Cleric spell. It's a long twelve-word healing spell. When she's finished, an orb of light appears at the end of her staff, the orb floats to the center of all of us and unleashes a healing pulse.

Our HP's and MP's are fully restored and the Paralysis is removed. We all get back on our feet. We gather around Yrel, all confused. "I know we just met, outsiders, but will you help us defeat the Pit Commander?"

A quest window opens. "Black Gate: Defeat the Pit Commander."

I look back at the rest of the group. They all seem really confused at the moment. Klein just shrugged his shoulders. "I honestly don't know what's going on, but I guess we should help them out."

I nod, then hit accept on the window. "Thank you, brave champions." Yrel turns to the Pit Commander, then positions herself. "Pit Commander! Your time has come!"

The Pit Commander just laughs. "I'll enjoy slaughtering you, Crusader!" His name and three Health Gauges appear.

"By the light! Attack!" Yrel charges in. She and the Pit Commander engages in combat.

"While the Crusader has aggro, we attack him from the sides," Hakomo says.

That's what we do, we attack the Pit Commander from the sides. Yrel certainly doesn't need any healing. Every attack the Pit Commander does, her HP barely even drains. The Pit Commander attacks us with Shockwave hits, which we need to avoid. He also casts Rain of Fire. That hurts a lot of damage, like 1000 every second. We had to run out of them pretty fast.

When the Pit Commander loses his first Health Bar, he starts casting burning magic. "You will all burn by the might of the Legion!"

He summons two Infernal meteors. They crush far out, hurting us a little, but they form into the Infernal Doomguards. "Take care of the demons!" Yrel orders us.

Hakomo rushes out and draws aggro to the Infernals. Shinon and Vanille attack them while the rest of us still handle the Pit Commander. Our battle is hard, but we pull through. It's almost like we're facing a floor boss. When team two finishes off those adds, they help us take on the Pit Commander.

"Devilbeast! To my side!" Some giant creature, that looks like a vicious Tauren with wings and a large mouth on its stomach appears and comes towards us. We let it come. It has a lot more HP than the Infernals, so all of us instantly switch to the Devilbeast.

The Devilbeast is a tough add, casting a lesser rain of fire or doing some cripple spell that slows our movements and attacks. When the Devilbeast is dead, we continue attacking the Pit Commander. We already have it down to its last HP bar, and it's in a red zone.

"Everyone! Attack!" Hakomo says.

All at once, we all use our sword skills and cast powerful magic. The Pit Commander roars in agony as the last of his Health depletes. The Pit Commander collapses, then shatters.

With the commander dead, the rest of the demon army is fleeing. "They're retreating!" Maraid shouts.

All of the remaining Draenei takes care of the wounded. We all stand in the center of the Black Gate, resting from that big battle. We are pretty shaken from the beginning when we thought we were going to be killed.

We all earn our results for completing the quest. 5000 Krystal's, 7500 EXP, and few items. I earn a heavy One-handed sword. The stats and damage are three times stronger than my current weapon. I'm surprised. When I equip it, it's a long green-black sword where the tip of the blade splits and a green orb floats in that hole.

"What is up with that beginning? We could have been killed." Klein says.

Hope sighs and drops to his knees. "That scared me!"

Shinon gives Hope a punch on the shoulder. "Hey! That's my line! I thought we were really gonna die!"

Hope rubs his shoulder. "Well, let's just count our blessings we lived and it's over," I say.

"Lightning's right. At least the worse is over." Kirito says.

Yrel and Maraid approach us. "Thank you for your aid, champions. The Sha'tar owes you a great debt."

Maraid, on the other hand, does not look very pleased. "Don't get the wrong idea. We are grateful for your aid, but we will be keeping a close eye on you, outsiders."

I guess we'll take what we can. "There is much to discuss. Please, come meet us at the Refugee Camp to the west." Yrel turns to the ground. "Everyone! Gather the wound and head back to camp!"

Yrel and the other Draenei make their leave, they have only gone fifty meters then they vanish. "So..what now?" I ask.

"I guess we'll go to this camp of theirs," Shinon says.

"Shinon has a point. We might find more quests there that'll prepare us for everything on this floor." Kirito says.

I suppose they're right, compared to that this weapon I just got is very strong. It turns my previous weapon, Forgefire, into a Rank D. plus, we only arrived at this floor and it nearly cost us our lives. I suppose we should do a little investigation to prepare for the war on this floor.

If the arrival on this floor is dangerous, I can only imagine how difficult the rest of this floor is.