A/N: The 20th-floor boss. That means it's going to be a very difficult fight. Lightning and the rest of the Assault Team just knows how powerful and dangerous Chaos is. They have witnessed the destruction of the Damned Lord against his own master. Now they are going to stand against Chaos himself.

Who will survive?


JUNE 15TH, 2023. FLOOR 20, SUN'S REACH.

After witnessing the destruction of the Damned Lord, most of the players are terrified of the boss fight.

It's most likely we will be facing Chaos, the Lord of the Inflamed Legion. I am concern and cautious, but not fearful. My only fear is Hope dying in this fight. I just wish he would sit this fight out, but we need our best players on the Assault Team. Even all of those who have acquired the Eidolons.

Hope. Kirito. Shinon. Leafa. Yeul and even I. I never learned who tamed Alexander, but I heard that Hades and Typhoon were both tamed by Shadowfire, Lebreau from NORA, and some Avatar named Volcanic. He must be on the Assault Team and I never recognized him anywhere. Guess I'll find out once I see Typhoon in action on one of the Boss fights.

Not only we are gathering the strongest players in the team, but Heathcliff and Asuna are forming in the largest raid team this game can allow.

At the moment, all of the players assemble in the Town Square of the city.

"Greetings everyone. I would like to thank you all for coming to this meeting."

I pay close attention to Heathcliff. Every time I look at him, I keep getting a strange feeling that I've seen him somewhere. I've never met him in real life, but I'm just getting this strange feeling about him. It's weird.

"As of this moment, we will soon raid the Labyrinth and conquer this floor's boss. I'm sure you all remember how difficult the tenth-floor boss was. Well, it is most likely this boss is going to be a challenge as well. We must prepare ourselves for anything it might throw at us, bring our best skills and power we have. We cannot afford any errors in this fight. For our freedom!"

All of the players cheer for freedom. I for one do not cheer. Well we really be released from this death game if we did defeat all 50 floors of the Aincrad? I don't know Kayaba, but I do not that he cannot be trusted after everything he's done to imprison 10,000 players.

Heathcliff stands down and Asuna takes his place. "We'll depart in one hour. That'll give you all enough time to stock up on recovery items and prepare your skills. Meeting adjured."

I spent my time wandering around town, just waiting for time to pass by. I have everything I need. Potions. Skills maxed and set. My armor and weapons fully restored.

I am fully prepared for the fight.

I just hope that everyone else is. Especially Hope.

At least I can feel glad that Rokel is sitting this one out. I'm not too proud for him to be afraid of going out on the field with battle, either alone or with his new guild and girlfriend. I just wish I can help the kid overcome his fears. But I guess for now, I'm just glad it's keeping him safe from the dangerous boss fight.

It feels kind of weird. When I first met the kid, he ticked me off cause of his little crush on girls. I even put him on my ignore list. But now after one run through a dungeon to save the Lunar Twilight, we've become close.

Life sure can be funny that way.

Now I think about it, what's going to happen to Eugene if this game is cleared? From what he told me, he's living in the streets. He can't simply go back to living a life in the poor. He's already suffered enough cause of that jerk Tyler. I'm sure something will work out once we return to the real world.

I can only hope since there is so much that needs to be done once we have escaped. Starting with all of our physical and mental conditions.

But I can't think about it right now. I have bigger fish to fry.


FLOOR 20, ELITE DUNGEON

Just as Heathcliff and Asuna ordered, we raid the Labyrinth Elite Dungeon with the biggest raid team we could form, and the team is filled with the strongest players the Assault Team can carry.

Going through this dungeon is easygoing. The enemy attacks are still hardcore, but with enough Crusaders and DPS and healers, it's just fine. I'm assigned as backup DPS at the moment, which is good cause I can use that time to serve as Hope's personal bodyguard. And I suppose I should also protect the other healers since they're close by.

This labyrinth is...pretty dark. A chasm of hellish fire. It feels like we're in Hell itself. And it's crawling with powerful demons and dark magic of Witches and Wizards. Not only that but the deeper we go in, Chaos' voice booms all over the halls.

"Mortal insects! You DARE trespass in my domain! Your deaths will be swift!"

"Those demons are irreplaceable! I will have your heads and feed your corpses to my Felhounds!"

"Your heroic efforts are insignificant and pointless. You only drive yourself to the depths of damnation!"

"You're eternal suffering is all the awaits you!"

His words are nothing more than hollow threats. Chaos may be powerful, but we will prevail from this wrath.

In half an hour, we finally made it to the boss room. We take five minutes to rest, wait for our skills to recharge and restore our health and energy. I'm ready by three. I spent the rest of my time talking to Hope. He is with his guild, the NORA crew. I'm surprised to see all of them here, not as much as I am surprised that Lebreau is the first Witch to tame the Eidolon Hades.

I predict they're gonna do something stupid and end up wiping each other out. I just know Snow's stupidity has influenced them given that he is their leader in the real world.

Heathcliff stands in front of the door with his shield planted in front of him.

"As you all may have known, this boss is going to be one of the toughest we have faced in Aincrad. This means we must do our best and stay focused, otherwise, the boss will wipe us all out. For the start of the fight, we'll be in defensive mode. The Knights of the Blood Oath Crusaders will hold of the boss. Any remaining tanks will keep their eyes open for any adds that might appear. The rest of you study the boss's attack patterns. Once we're all good and ready, will switch to offense. Any questions?"

Nobody asks any questions. With that said...

"Good. Let us begin."

Heathcliff turns and he opens the door. As he does, I glare at the opening, like something bitter or hateful is on the otherwise waiting to leap at us. I grab the hilt of my Gunblade then pull it out, positioned to fight as if we're already in combat.

I know I can't fight at the start, I need to stay behind and observe the enemy's attacks. I must be patient.

"Ready! Go!"

We all run in as the door fully opens. Once the last of our team is in, the door closes and vanished. We are all completely surrounded by the darkness. No enemy appears. We keep our guard up, it's likely we will all be ambushed at some point.

One by one, flames appear at the very edge of the entire room. The second the whole room is surrounded in flames, a large portal appears at the end of the room, on the ground, and a very massive demon rises out of it. Red with horns, ragged wings, sharp claws.

Chaos!

And standing in between the monster and us are three of our allies.

Yrel. Grommash. Slave and Duraton.

"Chaos! Your time has come! You must answer for your crimes against Draenor!" Yrel says.

"You have deceived and used the Battlesong Clan! Turning us into your little slave tools of war!" Grommash shouts in rage.

"Your reign of terror ends here monster! We are here to fight for our people! For our world! For those who sacrificed themselves to restore peace!" Duraton says.

"With all of our combined powers! Draenei! Orc! And Outsiders! Our strength is infinite!" Slave says.

Chaos just laughs at the leaders. "Brave words. But empty threats! You are nothing more than mere mortals! Exist only to burn! To suffer under the very iron boot of the Legion! If you think you can come here to my realm and seek to dethrone me? You are seeking nothing more than false hope! I shall show you and your allies what happens to those who stand against the Legion!"

Chaos becomes attackable as his name, cursor and five health bars appear. We all prepare ourselves, the NPC's charge in and attack. "All right everyone! Stick with the plan! Go!" Heathcliff draws out his sword and charges, along with the other Crusaders.

The rest of us stay behind and study Chaos's attacks. Once we have learned the attack patterns, we make our full assault upon Chaos.

Just as Heathcliff was expecting, there are adds who appear in the fight. The Doomlord creatures. Known as Deathcallers. Lisbeth tanks the creatures, and we extra DPSer's attack them. So far, this fight is going very well, but I know it'll go downhill real quick.

One thing I've learned from Garrosh Hailroar is that the fight will get tougher when the enemy gets weaker. We have driven Chaos down to 70% of his total health, the phase changes, and I can tell Chaos is upset.

"You mortals are tougher than I thought, but I grow tired of this pointless game! You face the immortal Legion! Scourge of a thousand worlds!"

"His attack patterns are changing!" Heathcliff calls out. Just as I predicted.

Chaos begins casting Wrought Chaos. When he finishes casting, half of the entire raid is overwhelmed in chaotic energy. On the ground is green arrows, pointing in a direction. I look at the two and then I realize what'll happen once they're put together.

I move to a safe spot, and in mere seconds, the chaotic energy stored in the players was unleashed, sending a burst of green fire in the direction of the arrows. Those who are affected by the Wrought of Chaos suffered damage, as do those who have been hit by the blast of flames.

The Deathcallers are still appearing in this phase. Chaos next cast Shackle Torment. "Your soul shall know endless torment!"

Three of our players are lifted in the air, shackled in ghostly chains. Their HP's are dropping dramatically. That gives me such worry I feel a chill running up my spine.

"Quickly! Focus your heals on the chained players!" Asuna orders, and that's what our healers do. At least one healer is focusing on his or her magic on the chained players. What surprises me is how long they are suffering Shackled Torment. It's as if the fight REALLY DOES want to kill the player.

After thirty seconds, the Shackle Torment finally ends on those players, then Chaos is storing energy, shielding himself with his arms and wings. This looks bad.

"Everyone! Gather!" I ordered. Luckily everyone listened.

We gather in one big group and I order Yeul and the other Wavemaster to cast a protective shield around all of us. With it, the barrier takes all the hit of the massive blast Chaos unleashed. "DESTRUCTION!"

The blast is unleashed in all directions. A massive chaotic nova of shadow and fire fusion. The damn ability must deal a lot of damage, cause it took down both of the Wavemasters shields, and send all of our HP's down to under 70%. That has me surprised, I cannot say for sure about the rest.

With the Chaotic Destruction finished, we scatter and continue attacking the boss. Healers focus on restoring all of us to our full healths.

Chaos is a dangerous boss fight, even worse than Garrosh. I wonder how the last phase is going to be.

The fight goes on. Already, we have lost 4 people in the fight. Once we have Chaos down to 50%, he started calling for reinforcements. Two fel portals open, and an army of Felhounds and two Felguards.

"Look upon the endless forces of the Inflamed Legion! And know that your folly resistance is all but futile!"

Lisbeth gathers the adds and a few of us focus on defeating them while the rest are taking on Chaos. The attack patterns become easy to overcome once we memorize the order they are coming in.

I finish off the last of the adds with Saber Bullet. A 9 hit Gunblade skill that shoots first, does slashes, then finishes with a shot.

We have Chaos all the way down to 30% of his HP. He enters the final phase, and that sends me to a worry as Chaos becomes casting powerful hell magic. "We are pushing him back! Give him everything you're got! FOR DREANOR!" Grommash shouts.

Chaos makes his shouting as he channels his magic. "I AM CHAOS! GOD OF THE INFLAMED LEGION! I WILL NOT LET SUCH INSOLENT MERE MORTALS STOP ME! THIS WORLD AND ALL OF YOU WILL FEEL MY WRATH! AND BURN!"

By the time he finishes, he unleashes Hell's Wrath. The entire floor is coated in flames. Not only do they make us suffer damage, but they also burn like our real bodies really are on fire.

Our HP's are depleting, but the damages we suffer from the flames are increasing over time. "Now's our chance! Unleash everything you have! We must defeat him quickly!" Heathcliff says.

On that note, me, Hope and the rest of one of each class unleash our Eidolons. What I'm surprised is that Heathcliff is the Crusader who can summon Alexander. It's one thing for him to get it, that I'll believe given to his power. But just when the floor was unlocked? How is that even possible?

I cannot worry about Heathcliff's mysteriousness at the moment. Right now, I must focus on defeating the boss.

Chaos is much more dangerous in the last phase. Not just because of Hell's Wrath, but also because the cooldowns on his abilities are halved. He's been unleashing his powerful abilities more than often. Including Chaotic Destruction.

Unleashing all of our skills, power, and the Eidolons, we have Chaos's HP draining dramatically. The healers work their hardest to keep each of us alive. No more adds are coming, but that doesn't make the fight any easier.

At the end of unleashing everything, excluding the Eidolons, we have Chaos down to 10%. At this point, Hell's Wrath damage is high. The healers are struggling to keep everyone alive. We lost two other players from the burning fires of Hell.

"Kneel before me, miserable worms!" Chaos shouts as the two players die.

We are losing people to this fight. In no time, it will be either all of us or a massive amount of us. I cannot let that happen. None of us can.

"Finish him off!" I shout.

Everyone does what I command and we assault Chaos once more with everything we have. Hope still has Seraph active. The Holy Eidolon will be able to keep us alive for a while.

In under a minute, Chaos is defeated. Its HP gauges empty, he falls forward, on his stomach. "No! NO! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! DEFEATED! BY MERE MORTALS! THIS! IS! UNACCEPTABLE!"

Chaos raises, beams of light shooting out of him as he cracks, then glows as he shatters into polygons. A large 'Congratulations' appears right on top of where the boss used to be. All of us collapse in exhaustion. That fight nearly wiped us all out.

"That was a close call," Hope says.

"How many did we lose?" Asuna asks.

Six. We've lost six players. It's not unbelievable, but it is a few more we have lost in the most recent boss fights. Heathcliff stands firm. "I would like to congratulate you all on achieving to conquer this floor. With 20 floors clear, we are nearly halfway to reclaiming our freedom from this death game. Many of you are most exhausted from this fight. Whoever wishes to rest may return to town. Those who can keep going may accompany me into activating the teleport gate. You're all dismissed."

Most of the remaining team heads back into town. Hope, Kirito, Asuna and I go with Heathcliff. We walk up the stairs to the 21st floor.

I have no idea what's in store for the next ten floors. But strangely, it gets colder as we climb up the steps. By the time we make our first steps on the floor, my breath brings cold mists.