"Hold on a second…" I stopped Sakuya, holding my right hand up while using the left one to cover up my face to get my thoughts going.

"Can we wait inside then? The rain is a bit bothersome, don't you think?" Sakuya wondered, feeling droplets in her hand.

"I actually like the rain, though it may be because I'm an Undine," Iris smiled.

"If you're being troubled Sakuya-tan, I will use my newly made shield to shield you from the rain!" Silver bellowed out.

"I said don't use chan or tan… San is enough," Sakuya grimaced as she pushed past me to open the door to Zed and Paradox's house.

"Sorry to disturb!" Alicia shouted as she entered the house behind Sakuya. The two Lords politely took off their footwear and entered the living room.

"Oh?" Zed's voice sounded from inside. "You guys are having the mission briefing here?"

"Yup! You're going to have to make some space though. There are eight of us here,"

"Eight?"

At that moment, the rest of the Lords entered the small abode, starting with an excited Silver, a shy Beatrice, a nonchalant Ferrin, a bored Drake, a happy Iris and a bothered Gilder. The Gnome and I stared at each other as he walked past, and he gave me a sneer which I quickly ignored. There's no point making any conflict here, and I'd rather not threaten him in front of so many possible opponents. I looked around the street one last time and closed the door behind me.

When I walked on the wooden floor beneath my feet, I almost slipped from the dripping water of the Lords' cloaks. Thankfully, they all took it off and stored it within their «Inventories», leaving only a wet floor behind which dried up with a spare cloak I had in store. I stashed both of my cloaks away in my own «Inventory», leaving me with only my armor and newly made black muffler. The Lords have already made themselves comfortable on our two large couches, though it seemed they kicked Zed, Paradox, Konno, Aqua, Rizer, and Cayonz from the seats they had taken. Cayonz was still cleaning up the board game they were playing when I took my seat on the new bean bag chair that Zed bought. The ALfheim Lords looked at me questionably as I was being far too relaxed for the given situation that was just set down upon me. While the Lords stared, Rizer walked up to me and crouched down to my level.

"I thought you had a mission with Sakuya and Alicia… So why are eight of the nine Lords of ALfheim here?" he whispered, slightly freaking out.

"They want me to kill Mortimer of the Salamanders," I said aloud for everyone in my guild to hear.

Caught off guard, Zed, who was in the middle of drinking some sort of soda, spat out his drink with great force towards Konno, who blocked the stream of soda with his shield. Without complaining, the loyal friend simply took the rag from the kitchen sink and wiped the soda from his shield.

"Sorry Konno, but that's hilarious!" Zed burst out laughing. "They want you alone to assassinate the alleged brother of Eugene, who, if you guys don't remember, is quite possibly the third strongest player in the game after you and Kirito? Not to mention, the Salamander army… It's suicide."

"Of course, he won't be alone. This mission is a combined effort between our races to stop the Salamanders' advancement in both New Aincrad and in ALfheim," Silver smiled.

"We received reports from my Imp spies amongst the Salamander army that Mortimer and Eugene were planning on invading a capital city of a race. Doing that is equal to the death of a Lord, as the Lord's mansion is located in the capital cities of each race," Ferrin informed our guild, raising eyebrows of concern amongst my friends but not myself.

"We don't know when and where Eugene will attack, but we know for sure it will happen on a weekend. More than three-fourths of his army is away on the weekdays. It'll get worse during the break as he can attack any day," Alice whimpered.

"Even if we anticipate when he will attack, it will do us better to know where," Drake claimed.

"Only knowing when will force us to protect all of our cities at once, meaning we can't give reinforcements to other races. Of course, we can also anticipate that they attack «Swilvane», as the Sylphs are their biggest competition while also being the biggest reward. But what if they attack a race like the Imps?" Gilder speculated.

"The only ones capable of giving the quickest and most reliable support will be us Undines," Iris butted in. "The Spriggans will take a bit longer, but they're better off than a race like the Pookas.

"N-Not to mention that the Sylphs are blockaded off by the Salamanders," Beatrice added. "With them being the most populous race and having the biggest army, they can easily attack a smaller race like the Imps. Without a problem."

"Have you guys considered attacking their capital while they are busy attacking another?" Paradox questioned.

"Yes, we did," Sakuya answered. "In that situation, knowing where is still better. If we only know when, we can only send forces to attack their capital soon after they leave to invade, forcing them to come back. By doing that, we can retreat and then they will realize they no longer have the power to attack us. But what if us Sylphs invade them while they invade us? We will lose our capital city while the Imps can take over the Salamander's. Knowing where they will invade can allow us to prepare a defensive front on that location while an offensive front on the other. Ideally, the Salamanders will face complete defeat if that happens. Then, everyone will—"

I quickly held up my hand to stop her from continuing any further because I realized now why Sakuya had a problem with only knowing when the Salamanders will attack. I sat up on my chair

"Tell me, what's your problem with the Imps taking over «Gattan» while you lose «Swilvane» to the Salamanders?" I asked her.

"Well, the fact that we lose our capital is one. But we also don't receive much benefit from having the Imps take over Salamander territory," Sakuya stated, causing Ferrin to make a concerned face.

"So, your problem is the fact that you're greedy, and don't trust Ferrin to split the profits equally amongst the races?"

"More like the share we receive is not enough compared to what we lost."

"Then do you prefer that the Imps get raided instead of the Sylphs?" I asked, trying to bait her to say what I wanted her to say.

"Look, none of us wants to get invaded, so we have to take care of our own races more so than the other races," Sakuya tried to explain but I ignored her words. "In my point of view, I'd much rather prefer that another race gets invaded so that we can take the capital for ourselves. Then we can—"

Sakuya paused, realizing now the words she had chosen and the way she spoke them. She also realized the stares coming from the seven other Lords, with the ones coming from Gilder, Ferrin and Drake being rather threatening. Alice looked concerned while Silver, Iris and Beatrice looked more hurt. Sakuya held up her hands in front of her face, as if trying to block an incoming attack directed towards her. She slowly leaned back on her couch as well to the point where she could do it no longer.

"Like I said, greed…" I reminded her before I relaxed on the bean bag chair once again.

"Okay… I'm sorry… I didn't mean it to come out that way…" Sakuya apologized.

"We agreed that everyone will protect each other as much as they would with their own race," Ferrin affirmed. "I'm not going to assist you against the Salamanders if it's for your own benefit."

"Well, aren't you the one who insisted on hiring Mortifer-san to assassinate Mortimer? Him being an Imp will allow you guys to take all of the loot and control of the city regardless if they attack us or not," Sakuya countered.

"It's not going to work if the person doing the killing was exiled from their race's territory, and I planned on doing that before the mission, but we needed to negotiate the fact that he can no longer enter Imp territory should he agree to do it."

"Not to be rude, but I wouldn't care if I was exiled. I don't really like the Imps' region anyway," I quickly interrupted before relaxing again.

"But if you were to exile him, then he would be the one receiving the funds from the Salamanders, and nobody would be able to tax the city as only a Lord can do that," Sakuya continued.

"If he kills Mortimer, then it's his reward for getting the money. It's his choice to split it up or not," Drake argued.

"But I thought we planned on splitting the Salamanders' funds while we gave him a billion Yrd?"

"I only agreed to that if the share I receive from the Salamanders is greater than the amount I shared with you guys for his mission reward. If the Salamanders have less money, he can have the entirety of the profits for all I care, but I'm taking back my share of that billion." Gilder shouted.

"And if the Salamanders have more Yrd than a billion?" Sakuya questioned.

"If he gives us the funds, and its greater than the share we gave, then we pay him the billion. If he doesn't give it to us, then we don't pay the billion and he keeps it. He wins all, and we lose none. I have no problem letting him win everything as long as none of you guys get a bigger advantage out of this than any other."

"I concur with Gilder's reasoning…" Beatrice added.

"I guess this whole meeting was a bust to begin with due to Sakuya's greed," Drake scoffed.

"Even if none of this happened, I wouldn't accept the mission at all," I finally stated, catching the eyes of everyone in the room including my guild.

"W-What do you mean Mortifer-san?" Alice asked.

"Look, I already told you that I don't like Eugene. But this isn't my problem at all. I only did those missions for the money because I need it to finish this project of mine. However, this mission is completely pointless. Why don't all of you guys just form a coalition army to take down the Salamanders to stop them? Ever thought of that? That way, you don't have to worry about a defensive and can easily overwhelm them with your forces. If the race that kills Mortimer or takes the capital decides to not split it, then go invade them or something. I don't know! Just go do something more practical than sending me into a literal suicide mission. Do you guys even have any god damn brains? Jeez…

I reached over to the table to grab the glass of water that I left. I completely drained the cup as my rant left my throat a bit dry and parched. Out of anger, I threw the empty glass behind me, causing it to shatter against the wall.

"How can the people of ALfheim elect such stupid people to lead them…"

"The hell did you just say about us you god damn prick?!" the Gnome Lord retaliated.

In an instant, I stood up from my seat and drew Lux out of its sheath. I put the blade against Gilder's neck, and the large Gnome's face went numb out of nervousness. He visible swallowed hard while sweat began running down his neck. The other Lords around me were paralyzed out of fear.

"This may be a fucking «Safe-Zone Area» unlike most other places in ALfheim now, but that doesn't mean I can't intimidate someone like you," I threatened the Lord. "I don't give a shit if you're a Lord or not. I will kill you without a second thought if it weren't for this meeting, and for the fact that I hate Eugene even more than I hate you. So, you guys better give me a good fucking reason to accept this mission, otherwise I'm going to have to kick you guys out of my house right now."

"Technically it's my house, but whatever," Zed reminded, taking another swig of soda.

"Mortifer, I suggest you just take the mission man. It shouldn't be too difficult for you, and you have eight armies to cover your back for you," Rizer tried, but I ignored him.

"I'll only settle if they pay me a billion Yrd upfront, right now, and that I take on this mission solo," I demanded.

"M-Mortifer-san…" Alice nervously laughed out. "You're being completely unreasonable here."

"Yeah, why don't you bring us along? You can kill Eugene and Mortimer, but you need to escape the Salamander army as well. We'll cover you for that," Rizer insisted.

"A billion Yrd upfront and a solo mission… Take it or leave it…"

Before my guild or even the Lords reacted to my selfish demands, I began to hear loud screams coming from outside of the house. Zed was the first to react as he quickly rushed outside.

"Hey, get off! That's my friend you're hurting!"

My guild quickly followed him outside as did the Lords. Before I walked outside, I tried calming myself down only to realize that too much of my adrenaline and rage was coursing through my body. I gave up and decided to walk outside like the rest.

The storm had died down, but there was still a light drizzle. In the middle of the street, my guild was trying to break up a whole bunch of soldiers who were crowding around Violet. They probably mistook her for an intruder and tried to apprehend her. Although, it was a bit odd to find my guild protecting her first before Nagato. I looked down the street, on the roofs of buildings and even to the sky to find the GM, but he was nowhere to be spotted. Where the hell is he?

"What is going on here?" Sakuya questioned.

"We're sorry. We thought she was an enemy or an assassin," a Sylph soldier tried to explain.

"Well she's not," I quickly shouted back. I pushed past the Lords and walked down the staircase to meet with Violet. I checked my surroundings one last time before I spoke. "Where's Nagato?"

"H-He's not here right now…" Violet panted. "I don't know why, but he's just not here. But we have a bigger problem than that Mortifer…"

In my head, I thought how could Nagato's absence be a problem, but I shrugged it off.

"ViVi and Trish… They were captured by Eugene and are being held hostage!"

The entire area made a complete standstill as everyone was trying to process the words Violet had spoken. The guild looked at Violet with both shock and confusion, as did many others. Even I was caught off guard by her sudden announcement. In fact, I was caught so off guard that I temporarily forgot what she had told us just now, causing me to ask again.

"Um… V-Violet…" I stuttered, still confused. "W-What did you just say?"

"I said ViVi and Trish were captured by Eugene!" she yelled even louder. Because of her volume, I didn't doubt the fact that other people further away may have heard her.

"H-How did this happen?!" Aqua cried out, concerned for her friends. "In fact, how do you know?"

"ViVi managed to log out of the game when he was captured, and he spammed my inbox with text messages, emails and everything he can contact me with. He told me that they were attacked by Salamanders in the middle of their mission, with Eugene amongst the group that attacked them."

"Why would Eugene attack ViVi and Trish though despite knowing they are in our guild?" Konno questioned.

"To start, Eugene and I aren't really on good terms due to our pride," I reminded. "If he captured ViVi and Trish, he must want something from me."

"Do you suspect that he found out our plans of them hiring you to assassinate Mortimer?" Paradox theorized. "It would make sense if that was the case, trading two lives for one of importance to him."

"W-Wait, these guys were hiring you to kill the Salamander Lord?!" Violet exclaimed.

"These guys?" Gilder grumbled, scowling towards Violet. I turned my head towards the Gnome, giving him a quick death stare that forced him to look away out of fear.

"According to their spies, the Salamanders have saved enough money to launch a siege on any capital city of any race, even the Sylph capital of «Swilvane». Because of that, they wanted me to assassinate Mortimer of the Salamanders to drastically reduce the amount of funds they have while also letting them be able to tax the Salamanders for some time. Therefore, the amount of funds they receive during that time will allow the other races to build up their own army to protect themselves from the Salamander attack… At least, that's what I assume."

"Well, you're not entirely wrong. The Salamanders haven't bought much of the equipment they need to invade a capital city," Iris started. "Our original plan was to simply get you to kill Mortimer to drain their funds. By doing that, we'll have more money for ourselves and the Salamanders will be left with nothing. They wouldn't dare attack us after such a loss."

"So… What will you do now Mortifer?" Zed questioned me.

Everyone in the area went silent once again as we were pelted by the thousands of droplets raining down on us. The soldiers of the eight races looked at me in both curiosity and wonder, seemingly trying to figure out what I would do. The same applied to the Lords, except for Sakuya and Alicia, who seemed more worried and scared than curious. My guild seemed even more worried, probably because they probably knew what I was going to do already. Seemingly acting out of instinct, Aqua stormed up the staircase and took both my hands into her own. Despite the rain drops that covered her face, I still managed to distinguish the tears running down her cheeks.

"I know that this is just a game, and that she is not in any danger of losing her life… But please…" Aqua begged quietly. "Save Patricia Mortifer-san… Get Trish back from them… I'm afraid of what will happen to her."

Aqua was fully aware that this was no longer SAO, meaning that ViVi and Trish's capture wasn't that big of a deal. In fact, the whole Salamander invasion situation may be an even greater situation. However, Aqua's words seemingly held an even greater meaning behind them. Her eyes began to tear up even more, and my instincts told me that she was on the verge of breaking down. I freed my right hand from her grasp and patted the blonde-haired girl on the head. I opened my «Inventory» and materialized the mask Violet made me a long time ago, as well as the new cloak she made in secret. Along with that, I switched in my current armor with a new set that I had to try out.

Rizer had «Completed» his «Light Metal Armor Forging», allowing him to create the highest quality armor in the game. After several tedious missions around ALfheim including inside of «Jotunheimr», he created me a new set of armor. Due to my loss of «Darkness Blade», «Dual Blades», «Martial Arts» and «Meditation» I had four open «Skill Slots». As a replacement, I added «Light Metal Armor» to my arsenal and left three slots open for my own choosing later in the future. I had no need for any more combat «Skills» as I had no interest in learning any more weapons in the game. And because of the high-quality armor Rizer created, it was as light as my old leather armor but protected me even better. There was no reason for me to keep using «Leather Armor», but I decided to keep the skill anyway as it even applied to normal clothing.

"Don't worry Aqua… I promise I'll get her back as soon as possible," I told her. "And I'll save ViVi on the side of that…"

I lightly pushed Aqua aside and walked down the steps. I confronted Sakuya and stared right into her dark eyes and wet face.

"How much backup do you want?" she asked me, and I scoffed at her in response.

"Backup? I don't need your help, nor anyone's. I'm only going there to save my friends. If you get in my way, I'll kill you all myself."

Without giving them even a second to argue or process my words, I summoned my wings and exploded upwards, creating a huge gust of wind that pushed rain drops away momentarily. After going straight up, I headed for the drop-off towards the end of «Yggdrasil City» and went off the edge. I withdrew my wings and let myself freefall past the clouds below me and into the sunny realm below the World Tree and above the «Alne Plateau». I glided down to a lower level before reforming my wings and headed straight south for the «Dragons Valley». I clenched my fists and cracked all my fingers, preparing for the inevitable situation that I so badly wanted to avoid.


An hour later, the desert fields of «Gattan»

My cloak quickly dried itself once it entered the scorching heat of the southern deserts. I was still getting used to the new set of armor Rizer made, but I was also struggling with the intense summer heat the desert brought. I realized how quickly I would get tired when I passed by several Salamanders on my way here. The Salamanders offered to escort me to their leader, but out of rage, I simply took them down with a few swings of my twin blades. After only killing twenty enemies, I found myself running short of breath, forcing me to consume in-game items to rejuvenate my avatar. However, I was too enraged when I killed those twenty players that I absorbed their Voices within my head.

Other than that, it seemed that Eugene already knew I was coming. My encounters with the Salamander warriors gave me suspicions that one of the Lords had some sort of mole ratting them out. If not, then he probably suspected that I would personally visit him once I found out that he had captured my friends. Another concern I had was the fact that I occasionally saw other warriors from the eight other races following me. Being acquainted with their leaders, I simply killed only one warrior from each group I found and kept giving them warnings each time. I believed the Lords learnt the message after I killed about thirteen of their soldiers as I had not seen anybody else come for the past couple minutes. If not, then I had simply moved too fast for them to help any longer. After all, I could clearly see «Gattan» ahead of me, and what looked like a massive swarm of flies as well as a thin, red, circular wall on the yellow sands of the desert.

Within the large hollow area of the red circle stood a smaller group of players as well as some sort of large wagon or carriage. I noticed two bodies standing a short distance away from the small group, making me assume that it was Eugene and probably Mortimer waiting for me. Without hesitation, I tucked in my wings, and divebombed straight towards them. I whizzed past the flying Salamanders and went above the ones on the ground. Right before I hit the ground, I opened up my wings to drastically decrease my speed, and landed on the ground with a large boom, creating a cloud of sand. I covered my face with my cloak, hoping not to get any sand in my eyes or my mask.

"Like I said, he will come here," a familiar voice spoke. In fact, the voice was so familiar that it made me grow concerned.

"Heh… I guess I really shouldn't doubt people of your status level," Eugene's voice laughed out somewhere inside the sand cloud.

An ominous gust of wind suddenly blew the cloud away, allowing me to see my surroundings clearly. In front of me stood Eugene in his blood red armor, but beside him was not the one I was expecting. My mind was thinking that I would see the Salamander Lord Mortimer standing beside him, but instead I saw someone who shocked me even more. Standing beside my upcoming opponent was Nagato, wearing his GM robes. He looked at me with his emotionless face once again and began taking steps back towards the group of people behind him.

ViVi and Trish were amongst that small group, and they were tightly bound in some sort of rope and gagged. ViVi had extra gags for obvious reason and he was visibly trying to get out of his bindings, adding more stress to Trish as they were bound together. I saw tears streaming down her cheeks as well as a frightened expression on her face. I looked back to Nagato once again and saw a little smirk form on his face, making me clench my fists.

"Nagato-sama… What is the meaning of this?" I demanded from him. "Why are you here with Eugene?"

Instead of hearing his voice with my ears, I heard him directly in my head. When I noticed that he wasn't opening his mouth, I realized that he was using some sort of telepathy so that only I could hear.

"This is your own fault Kirigaya-kun…" he stated. "Because you have corrupted Ai-sama's head, she is unable to perform in school as well as before, and her grades are deteriorating. Your presence in her life is severely affecting her, and you must be removed."

"Are you sure that it is my fault and not your masters'?" I shouted out to Nagato, not exactly knowing how to communicate telepathically. Because of my actions, Eugene gave me a confused and angered look.

"The hell are you talking about?" he growled.

"I'm not talking to you tin can," I snapped back. Eugene placed a hand on his «Demonic Sword Gram» and held its pummel tightly. I ignored his threatening actions and pointed at Nagato "I'm talking to your friend or acquaintance back there."

"The consequences for prolonging this situation will only get worse, as I don't want to see Ai-sama suffer any longer. I ask you to surrender yourself now and pledge to never see Ai-sama ever again." Nagato declared. I clenched my fists so hard that I felt like I was on the verge of breaking my own fingers.

"You expect me to accept those unreasonable conditions?"

"I expect you to realize the consequences that will be brought if you don't accept them… I've already gone past the powers of a GM as I had to bribe this helpful boy here to capture Vitushi-kun and the girl. However, this plan that Hitori-kun came up with has worked out splendidly so far."

ViVi, Trish and I all raised our eyebrows out of surprise. It was no wonder that Eugene didn't seem to hesitate to capture ViVi and Trish, knowing full well that they were of my guild. Eugene cared only about power, and if Nagato bribed him with any sort of way to get more power, then Eugene undoubtedly accepted it. It would also explain why ViVi and Trish were captured as their mission was to protect and escort a very new player to Spriggan territory through a low-difficulty field dungeon towards the border of the continent. It was highly unlikely for Eugene himself to grind monsters with a group in such a terrible location, let alone grind at all. And to go so far towards the border of the world was even more odd for him. In fact, of all the places in ALfheim, that field dungeon was probably the most isolated location because it was so bad. That's why I entrusted the quest to ViVi, but I needed Trish to monitor his stupidity.

"So, you used my friend, and even ViVi to get rid of me once and for all?" I asked him, shocked and angered.

"Precisely," he said with a smug expression.

"Just how far are you going to go to get rid of me?"

"I'll show you, but first, this boy wants to talk with you." Nagato said, pointing at Eugene.

"Yes… That's right…" Eugene spoke. "About time you two finished… Brother, you can talk to him now."

Eugene took two steps to the side so that he was no longer blocking my view of the red carriage. Two players dressed in robes pulled apart a set of red curtains that were blocking the view inside of the carriage. A dark silhouette could be seen inside of the carriage, sitting in some sort of big chair. More silhouettes appeared, and they stepped outside of the carriage and into the light. They were four female Salamanders dressed in rather risqué clothing, though still less revealing than Aqua. They giggled loudly as they headed to the back of the carriage and grabbed the cloth that acted as the cover. In unison, they pulled the red cloth, revealing what was inside.

A red, gem-encrusted throne sat in the middle of the carriage, along with messy piles of food, drinks and weapons. Sitting on a throne was a Salamander fully dressed in regal-looking armor. The intense crimson color of the armor matched Eugene's, but it wasn't as bulky or dull as the General's. Instead, it was sleek and shiny, and looked very light to wear. He wore a red cape that was outlined with both gold cloth and jewelry. The man wore a rather menacing demon helmet, whose dark red color and dullness contrasted greatly from the lavish armor he wore. The man took off the helmet, revealing a face that I had only seen once before in pictures online.

"I believe you know who I am, but I'll introduce myself regardless. I am Mortimer, Lord of the Salamanders," he greeted. "It is an honor to meet a man of such legendary status."

"Really? Legendary? The King of the supposed strongest race is calling me Legendary? What exactly have I done in this game to receive a legendary status?" I asked him.

"Oh, don't jest with me, Reaper of Sorrow. You know full well what you and your brother has accomplished in this game. After all, many people saw the video before it was taken down by someone."

"Video?" I questioned, frowning slightly.

"Are you really that clueless? Or are you so busy playing this game to even check what's going on in the real world?" Mortimer laughed. He looked at me to see if I was being serious, and I simply stared at him behind my mask. He sighed and shook his head. "Someone posted a video of you fighting that silver-haired man in «Yggdrasil City» two months back. I believe you earned millions of views before it was taken—"

"Okay, I don't care about the video anymore!" I quickly interrupted, getting tired of hearing about a stupid viral video of me. "Just tell me what the hell you want from me?"

"We know that you were sent here to assassinate me," Mortimer informed me, causing me to frown from the newly received intel. "Well, at least that is what this Gamemaster told us, though I don't really have a clue as to why he would be helping players this way. But, I like what he's doing. It is highly beneficial for our race."

That damn Nagato… At first, I thought he only used my friends to ruin me, but now he's abusing his admin powers to get the entirety of this game to go against me. He must've infiltrated the previous meeting the Lords' had before they came to me for this mission. That had to have happened several hours ago, or before today, as there was no way Nagato could have planned this whole thing out in a matter of minutes. Had he done so, I doubt he could have persuaded Mortimer to do such a thing since the guy never takes risks.

"I didn't come here to kill you Mortimer… I only came here to persuade you to release my friends. So, will you please let my friends go?" I pleaded.

"You understand that I am a strategist, right?" Mortimer questioned.

"Yes…"

"Then wouldn't you say that simply letting your friends go free isn't the best option? How about we do a trade!"

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm trying to say, is that I have an interesting mission for a mercenary such as yourself. In exchange for your two friends and an even greater sum of Yrd, I want you to assassinate the other eight Lords of ALfheim Online!"

I glared at the man out of shock and confusion. The situation that unfolded before me seemed to come out of one of those fictional tv shows, movies or animes. An assassin sent to kill someone betrays the original client due to a counter-offer by the target. However, it seemed that Mortimer overestimated my abilities if he thought that I could take down the other eight Lords without some back up.

"The mission they gave me has nothing to do with the current situation. Therefore, my answer to your offer is no," I declared. "I will not kill you, nor will I kill the other Lords. Even if I decided to do so, I believe that you are overestimating my skills far too much."

"Oh, stop your jesting already Reaper of Sorrow…" he said, shaking his head. "You of all people should know how easy of a mission that would be for you. But, if you continue to refuse, then you can ask my brother Eugene for the only other way you can get your friends."

The servants of the Salamander Lord began taking items from the food pile and held up goblets for the Lord to drink from. The four servants took seats on the throne's armrest, Mortimer's lap, on the side of the throne and even between the man's legs. In fact, one of them was resting her head on his crotch area, causing me to sneer at them in disgust. I then looked at Eugene, who had drawn out his Demonic Sword Gram. He was cleaning it with a tiny red rag which he then tossed aside. He easily lifted the massive two-handed sword and pointed it towards me.

"I've had enough with you always having this condescending attitude," Eugene growled. "Bossing me around as if you're my superior, yet you haven't even proven yourself like your brother has. So, if you want us to release your friends, then you're going to have to duel me first."

"Seriously…" I sighed. "I expected a fight, but a duel? You lost to my brother, so there's no way you can beat me Eugene."

"There it is again… That condescending attitude of yours… I'll make sure that after this fight, you won't ever look down on me again. You should worry as I trained hard to prepare for this fight."

"At least you acknowledged the fact that you needed to train to beat me…"

His eyes burned with rage, and he slammed his Demonic Sword Gram into the ground. Without saying any words, he proceeded to open his «Inventory» and went through a rather long list of items before he stopped at one. He selected the item and it materialized in front of him in a flash of bright pixels. At first, I wasn't that worried as the Demonic Sword Gram was the most powerful two-handed sword, so there was no way he could bring out something more powerful that it. However, when I saw what was in front of me, several different emotional switches triggered within me.

Eugene held the Buster Sword in his hands and wielded it with ease. The blade still had Violet's real name engraved in the metal and didn't seem to be any different from the last time I saw it. I quickly turned my head towards Nagato and I could see the faintest smirk form on his face. While an evil grin grew on both Nagato and Eugene's faces, rage fueled my heart's adrenaline glands. Suddenly, the Buster Sword began giving off a red glow as well as the Demonic Sword Gram. That's when I witnessed the unbelievable.

The Demonic Sword Gram began to merge with the Buster Sword, and the two blades let out a brilliant flash of red while still in Eugene's hands. He smiled as my beloved sword started transforming its shape ever so slightly, keeping most of its brutish qualities while becoming a double-edged blade like Eugene's own sword. The general size of the blade got smaller, but its length was noticeably bigger than the Buster Sword. The blade now had a coppery-red color that only made it fit Eugene even more. A small screen of light appeared in front of Eugene along with a few lines of text. I had some trouble reading the lines, but I managed to discern the name: Demon Buster.

"Go ahead… Draw your blades Mortifer… Let's settle the title of the strongest, once and for all…" Eugene taunted.

When he told me to draw my weapons, I assumed he would at least wait for me to prepare myself. However, that wasn't the case as Eugene flew straight towards me with his new legendary-class weapon. I had no clue if the blade was stronger than Holy Sword Excalibur, but being a combination of both the Demonic Sword Gram and my Buster Sword, I did not want to underestimate its power.

Knowing the Ethereal Shift passive of the original Demonic Sword Gram, I didn't want to risk blocking the attack, even if I block with two blades. There's a chance that Nagato gave the blade the ability to pass through any sort of block no matter how many layers of defense there were. It made sense for him to do that since I had only been using Lux and Sanctus ever since he took my Buster Sword away. And being a GM, I think he knew of the fact that the Demonic Sword Gram had a weakness in that it could only phase through one item. If that wasn't the case, then this fight would become much easier, but I also didn't want to doubt the chances of it happening.

I slid past Eugene's blindside, grazing past his bulky armor. I momentarily saw his eyes glaring down at me, and I instinctively pushed him away using my bare hands. He veered quite a distance away from me, giving me time to unsheathe Lux and Sanctus. Eugene quickly turned around and rushed for me, but I reacted to his advance and summoned my own wings to evade. Eugene swung continuously, grazing my cloak several times since the blade had a huge reach. We kept ascending and descending, but my flight space was limited due to the Salamander army constantly shifting their positions to create an impassable wall. I typically hated fights with rules, as it doesn't let me go all out. But the biggest problem I had was the fact that Eugene was technically wielding my blade. In fact, the Demon Buster even had Violet's name engraved within its red metal, making me assume it also had the Eternal Memories passive. The passive shouldn't help Eugene in terms of combat strength, but I knew that it was only there to mess with my mind. Nagato knew that my mind was far weaker than my body, so he did that on purpose.

"Are you just going to keep flying away, coward?!" Eugene roared.

"If you at least had the brains of your brother, then you would realize that this is simply strate—"

I stopped my sentence when I felt my wings suddenly numb. In the split second that it was numb, I lost my balance and tumbled forward, allowing Eugene to catch up with me fully and be in range for a full attack. He brought his sword above his head and made a downward swing towards my back. I tried my best to turn around to face him, instinctively holding up my twin swords in front of me to block the attack. Time seemed to slow down for me as my assumption of the Demon Buster's ability became reality. Using its newly improved Ethereal Shift ability, Eugene's monster of a blade passed through both of my own, landing a clean hit on my torso, sending my flying downwards to the ground.

The impact and the cut brought me down to a little bit below three-fourths of my maximum HP. Had I been wearing my old armor, I may be even below half HP. Even though Eugene had an opening to attack me, he didn't take the time to get closer and make the cut deeper. He only managed to cut into my skin though he did affect a rather large area. I was thinking Eugene was going to take pride in his handiwork and let me get up, but he was taking no chances. He dove straight towards me, and I quickly rolled sideways to avoid a potentially fatal blow. I recovered my footing. Eugene stabbed the ground beneath him and got his sword stuck. Just like him, I wasn't nice enough to wait for him to pull his blade out, so I rushed at him with both of my blades and sliced into his back with both swords. I managed to make deep cuts, possibly damaging his avatar's organs, but I noticed something odd. I felt more resistance than usual, and I watched as his health only dropped down to three-fourths of his maximum HP.

There was no way a clean hit like that from blades made by a master blacksmith could only do that little damage. The amount of resistance I felt from the blades was also odd, as I had less trouble cutting into The Stone Golem, which was a boss that was resistant to physical attacks. The entire situation put me into a quick daze, and I was shocked to even notice that Eugene's HP was refilling ever so slightly. Knowing exactly who was causing it, I was blinded by my rage and flew towards Nagato and prepared to attack him. My actions scared Mortimer as he thought I was going for him, but Nagato remained calm and simply pushed me back with a powerful, invisible thrust. I was sent flying back to Eugene, who prepared himself like a batter getting ready to receive a pitch.

I recovered myself mid-air before I reached Eugene, but my momentum carried me into his blade. However, instead of dodging, I purposely dove straight towards Eugene and into his blade. At the speed I was travelling in, I managed to get half of my body past half of his blade, but now he had a chance of cutting me into two. But, I had a plan for that as well. Using my bare hands, I pushed against the flat side of Eugene's blade with all my strength, pushing my body away from the blade while simultaneously pushing his blade away from me. The amount of space I created allowed me to perform a roundhouse kick to his face.

I left the General dazed momentarily, allowing me to take a free shot on his legs, hoping I could dismember him. I attempted to execute a spiral attack on his left leg, but when my blade cut deep enough to the point where I reached his virtual bones, my blades were completely stopped by some invisible object within Eugene's leg. The sudden halt in my attack sent a powerful recoil into my virtual body, numbing my arms enough to the point where I couldn't pull out of his leg fast enough. The moment of weakness left me open to another one of Eugene's attacks. However, before Eugene could take a shot, I used all my strength to pull Lux out of Eugene's leg, forcing me to leave behind Sanctus. I barely dodged his attack, but I lost Sanctus as the blade was now unreachable. An ominous gust of wind blew around us, causing both Eugene and I to cover our eyes, However, I did manage to see my blade get buried by the sand around it. I tried to make a mental note of its location in my head, but Eugene didn't give me the time to concentrate on doing so. He continued his rush, and his health which had been reduced to a little bit below a three-fourths of his max HP was now slowly going up once again.

"Are you that stupid to not notice your health slowly going up?!" I shouted out to Eugene, but my voiced failed to shout loud enough

At least I thought my voiced failed when neither my mouth nor my vocal chords even working. I can feel my lip muscles moving and my tongue vibrating my vocal chords, but that was all in my mind. I was so distracted at the fact that I was unable to speak or even move my mouth that Eugene managed to slip in a punch to my torso. I was blown back, and he landed a clean hit on my left thigh, cutting a deep wound and causing my health to drop down to half. As I was recovering from the attack, I noticed on the top left corner of my vision a tiny speaker with a line dashing through it right next to my health bar. It was the "mute" symbol commonly found in many devices, programs and games that have audio to indicate a silence in audio.

Nagato noticed that I caught up to his scheme and had muted in-game. In fact, I didn't even know there was a mute function in VRMMORPGs. His actions prevented me from telling Eugene about how oblivious he was to his gradually healing health bar. I fully expected Eugene to not notice his health bar, that is unless he was intentionally ignoring it as he was working with Nagato. He had already stolen my blade from me, so it made sense if he knew about his health bar. However, even I trusted Eugene to not go so far as to cheat so much in a fight he had so badly wanted for the longest time. After all, he cared for his pride greatly.

However, the fact that Eugene was healing along with his abnormally durable body told me that Nagato had no faith in the guy. Nagato had seen me fight before, so he knew how skilled I was. Maybe he knew of Eugene, which is why Nagato chose him, but I highly doubted it. After all, the only thing Eugene had any longer in terms of reputation was that he was the confirmed second-strongest player in the game, right after Kirito. Since Nagato had been trailing me and Violet the whole time, I was confident that he knew I was stronger than my brother. But, because Nagato knew of that, there was no way I was going to win anymore.

I continued to dance around Eugene as he maintained his relentless barrage of attacks. However, as I delved deeper into my thoughts, the elegant dance I was performing to dodge the man's attacks was slowly becoming more stagnant. My one-legged side hops became two-legged leaps of desperation to avoid an attack. The twists and turns my body kept doing to barely avoid the blade while wasting minimal energy became overblown spins that made me even more tired as I was moving much more than necessary. Not only that, but the extreme heat of the desert was finally getting to me. Being a Salamander, Eugene was biologically resistant to heat already, meaning he already had an advantage to begin with. It was one I didn't expect as most of my battles never last this long. The only battles I had been through that lasted this long were boss fights, but I had my friends to both cover and heal me when I needed them to.

The heat exhaustion was finally getting to me, and Eugene mustered enough strength in his right leg to kick my legs hard enough to make me lose my footing. I fell on my back while Eugene towered above me. When I looked up at him, I was blinded by the sunlight, and could only see a shadowy silhouette that was far bigger than Eugene's actual size. In the moment of absolute power, Eugene stabbed his Demon Buster all the way through my stomach, and into the ground beneath me. He stuck his entire blade all the way through me, stopping at the guard as it could not pierce my body. The sensations I was feeling throughout the whole fight disappeared, and I was left completely in my thoughts. My mind scrambled through so many different memories, thoughts and emotions as I watched that orange health bar slowly lower down to red. It kept going further and further down, yet it seemed to get even slower for me. At the same time, Eugene finally decided that enough was enough, and he left his sword in me to celebrate his victory. Even if he didn't kill me yet, he still won. There was nothing I could do. No more Yami no Saji to give me a final desperation move. No more Kayaba Akihiko to give me his now unavailable account to help me overcome another GM. No friends nor back-up to help me win the fight.

I had forsaken those around me once again. Forsaken them due to my own stupidity and pride. I had always gone into dangerous and reckless fights solo, thinking that those who wanted to support me would only hinder me. Now here I was, begging for someone, or something to come save me and my friends from the future being set down upon us. Where were the Lords and their armies? Where was my guild who I had been through so much with? Where were my brother's friends? Where was Asuna? My sister? My brother? Most of all… Where was Violet? Where was the only source of light I had in this dark world? No, it would be better to say that she was the realm of the light itself. She was both the threshold and the house itself. I wanted to feel the silky hair that warmed my body. I wanted to hold those soft hands that warmed my heart. I wanted to touch the lips that warmed my soul. Most of all, I wanted to see those eyes that brought me to light. Neither the blazing sun above me, nor the hiding moon under me could make such a bright world for me. Only those eyes could do it, and I was going to lose them.

"How does it feel, Reaper of Sorrow?" Nagato's voice pierced through my thoughts.

The man walked up next to my fallen body, blocking the sun which had been blinding me the entire time. His face didn't express joy in my defeat, nor did it express a simple apathy. In fact, his expression showed me pity. After all that he's made me gone through, taking my blade, my friends and Violet away from me, he showed me pity now? I wanted to say that it was too late for him to show me pity, but my voice failed me once again. This time, however, I wasn't muted. I just simply couldn't find the strength to do anything but lay down on the scorching sands beneath my body while I listened to the cries and cheers of the celebrating Salamanders. With this victory of his, and with the fact that many people assumed I was stronger than Kirito, Eugene had regained his title as the strongest in all of ALfheim Online. I wanted to argue and say that this fight was set-up from the start, but I really couldn't find the energy to do anything.

"See, brother!" Eugene called out to Mortimer. "I told you that I would beat him! Why did you doubt I could do it?"

"It was simple strategy Eugene," Mortimer's voice chuckled faintly in the distance. "If I roused your emotions and your will to beat him, you would have definitely won through your hard work. I'll be honest that I doubted you before your training, but I never doubted your potential to beat him."

"Of course! I'm the strongest after all! Now, since we're done here, I may as well kill his friends as a warning sign to that bitch Sakuya and her coward friends."

"Go ahead. I'll just enjoy the view from here."

I rolled my head to the side so that I could face them. Now, I could see how my failure to do anything would bring consequences to those around me. And it started with the Salamander soldiers who were guarding ViVi and Trish. They seized my friends, grabbing them by the tight ropes that bound their arms to their body. ViVi tried to fight back and attempted to kick his attackers. However, the guard anticipated his retaliation, and punched ViVi in the gut. The strike prompted ViVi to fall on his knees, causing Trish to fall on his back. The same guard who had hit ViVi prepared to kick my noisy friend but ViVi rolled a bit to the side, causing Trish to fall and block the hit for him. However, in return, Trish took a kick straight to the gut. The two Salamander guards keeping watch over them laughed at the pitiful look of my friends and proceeded to lay a beatdown on them. Even though Eugene said he was going to kill them himself, he let his soldiers continue with their assault. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Nagato stormed his way to them.

"Stop!" Nagato shouted out in rage and desperation. "Stop it, right now!"

His voice literally cracked the sky as it literally summoned an ear-splitting lightning bolt that struck the two guards, shocking them into paralysis and then death. The two Salamanders blew up into pixels of light, leaving behind nothing but their «Remain Lights». Eugene, Mortimer and the rest of the Salamanders were caught completely off-guard by the sudden actions of the GM. They were shocked at what transpired and were in fact too scared to do anything. I had no clue if Nagato accidentally called upon a thunderstorm during his fit of rage, but the scorching desert fields of «Gattan» rapidly cooled down as dark clouds loomed over us. A drop of rain splashed on the sand in front of me before it seeped down below. Afterwards, two more came down from the sky, and soon, the entire desert was being drenched by the unnatural rain.

"I'll be taking back both that new blade of yours and the gold you received from me, as punishment for letting your soldiers do that to these players," Nagato declared. While Mortimer nervously nodded in agreement, Eugene was completely outraged.

"What the hell do you mean?! I went through all of this to get what you wanted when you could have done it yourself as a GM!" Eugene shouted. "And you even gave me permission to capture and kill those two! So, what the hell!"

"I gave you permission to do only that, boy. I didn't tell you, or anybody else here to assault them like that."

"Why does it matter?! They can't feel the pain in-game!"

"Brother… Calm down…" Mortimer tried suggesting.

While the foolish Eugene argued with the angered Nagato, the sandy desert continued to be pelted by the rain. The sand slowly turned into mush, causing me to sink into a small depression, as well as every player who was standing in the vicinity. The flying soldiers touched down to the ground, and hid themselves using their shields, weapons or any object they had with them to protect themselves from the rain. A large group of Salamanders with shields formed a makeshift roof above them while their other comrades hid underneath them. Some of the sand that could not stay put began to wash away down tiny rivers, forming small puddles in the sand that gained more water than it could drain. The shifting wet sands eventually revealed the location of Sanctus. The black blade was right next to my left hand… The hand where it belonged. I grabbed its hilt and turned my head back to the right to face them once again.

The black storm clouds blocked the sunlight from beating down on us. It also made the desert which had been as bright as the sun itself turn as dark as the night. My vision was fading as my health bar continued to decrease down towards zero, rapidly flashing red. The sounds of argument began to fade and all I could hear now was the sound of the rain and thunder. A great numbness was reaching my body, and I could feel a warmth building up inside of me. The warmth felt so good that I wanted to close my eyes and take a rest. However, when lightning cracked the sky, in the instant of time that I was given light to see the world around me, I both saw and heard Trish as she freed her mouth from her gag and let out a deafening scream. Nagato, Eugene, Mortimer and many of the players around her covered their ears out of instinct to avoid the painful volume of her cry. ViVi, who was right next to her, was forced to sit through it all as his arms were bound, but he seemed more surprised and worried than bothered by her screaming. Trish held her scream for an extended duration before she was silenced by her Salamander guards with another kick to her gut. When her voice failed, my mind started to work again. I quickly remembered what had happened not too long ago, before I had left.

The memory was now fresh in my mind thanks to Trish's scream for help. Aqua, Trish's blonde-haired best friend, had told me it before I left to save ViVi and Trish. She told me to save Trish. She told me to do it even though she trusted that I would. She even told me that she knew that it was only a game, yet she was still afraid of what might happen to her. Yet here I was, defeated and unable to do anything to help my friends…

Defeated… Incapable… Unwilling…

No… That's not right… That is not right at all... Was I the one who told me that I was defeated? Was I the one who told me I couldn't do anything? Was I the one who told me to let it go because holding on would bring nothing good? No… The answer to that was no… Because the one who made all those decisions for me was this god damn world. And that is exactly why none of this is right at all. Since when did I ever listen to this world's rules? Since when did I ever follow them because I thought them to be valid or justifiable? I had never listened to this world's rules because I thought they were unreasonable. I went against them with every fiber of my being and refused to back down when given a chance. It was I who took down Kayaba Akihiko in his own game, despite him being the god. I broke his world's rules, therefore breaking his game. It was I who took down Sugou Nobuyuki when he tried to conquer the virtual world with his mind control research. With the help of Kayaba, I sabotaged his plans for world domination through the AmuSphere, and permanently ruined him without a second thought.

And now, the light of my world is being taken away from me because of the decisions I have made in the past. If those decisions are the cause of what is going on right now, then it is my decision once again to choose a path to follow. If Violet is going to get taken away from me, then my realm of light is gone forever. If that's the case... then…

"In darkness, I shall live," I shouted out in a deep, resonating tone that broke through the sounds of the storm. "In darkness I shall survive. And in darkness, I shall forge on to the future ahead of me."

I quickly opened my «Inventory» and used an Ancient Fruit to instantly heal my health back up to around a quarter. My health continued to go down from the blade inside of me, but I didn't care. All I needed was a quarter of my HP. I grasped the handle of the Demon Buster between the palms of my two hands and started to remove the colossal blade from both the ground and my body. As I did so, I slowly stood up off the ground, using the blade itself as support. When I leaned forward to stand up straight, the blade cut into me a little bit more, but I didn't care. I moved my hands to the blade when I could no longer reach the handle and continued to push it out from my stomach. I kept doing this till the blade was no longer in the ground, allowing me to stand up straight. From there, I forced the blade out with a violent push, leaving me with less than a tenth of my HP remaining. I didn't bother getting another Ancient Fruit since ten-percent was enough for me.

"Y-You still live?!" Eugene stammered, shocked at my current state.

I ignored the big hunk of armor that he was and squeezed on Sanctus' handle. I threw Lux aside, not needing another blade as I only needed one. I turned to face Nagato and pointed my blade directly at him.

"I'm sick and tired of this world making my decisions for me. It has already been placing enormous obstacles for me to face head-on, yet it thinks it can also choose what path I will take. Well, I'm tired of it. The world isn't the one who makes this life mine. It is me, and me alone. You can take my blade, but I will find a stronger one to replace it. You can take my friends, but I will just take them back by force. You can even take away the one I love, but you cannot take away my right to love them. So, go on ahead, world. Give me everything you've got."

The tempest grew stronger, and the rain roared in the stygian desert plains. Violent squalls agitated my cloak to violently fly in place. Bolts of lightning rumbled the very earth beneath me and deafening those too weak to hear it. Visibility dulled as the rain continued to worsen, but that didn't stop me.

"Go on and place obstacles in front of me, but I'll be the one to decide which path to take." I shouted out in an even louder voice. "This time, however, I won't pull back. I will push forward… To the future ahead of me! This is the path I choose to take. The Bushido I choose to honor. The life I choose to live. So, if you dare try to take my freedom away from me, then I suggest you prepare yourself, for I am going to pull you away from the world in which you live in and bring you into my own!"

I forced my wings out my back using the muscles I didn't have. I took off the ground with as much violence as a lightning bolt and flew towards them with the speed of a comet. Nagato and Eugene stood in front of my path with the entirety of the Salamander army surrounding me completely, but I didn't care. I only saw what my mask could give me, and all that it could give me was what was in front of me. Only he was in front of me, and he was who I chose to go for.

The lightning rumbled. The storm roared. However, none could match the cries of the Voices. The eighty-nine from Sword Art Online, and all the others from ALfheim Online… They all shouted together as one, cheering me on to keep pushing forward. I embraced their cries and took their pain as my own. I thrusted out Sanctus in front of me and pierced right through his chest. I knocked him off where he stood, and where he stood was amongst the rulers of this world. I looked down on his face and twisted the blade that was piercing through his heart. It all happened too fast for anybody to react, and now, my actions had completely altered the equilibrium of this entire world. I stared down the Salamander Lord's face as he conveyed true and absolute terror from his face. I moved my face close enough so that all he could see from my mask were the bloodthirsty eyes hiding behind them.

"May death rain upon them."

I stood back up and quickly pulled my blade out of his chest. I then proceeded to make two diagonal cuts across the man's chest before quickly grabbing him by his long, red hair. With one quick swipe of my blade, I separated his head from his body, and threw it over to Eugene so that he could admire my handiwork. The head rolled on the wet sands below Eugene's feet, and it perfectly rolled so that Mortimer's fearful face looked up at his brother. Both Mortimer's head and body then exploded into pixels. His red «Remain Light» floated beneath me, and I got notified by a screen of light, telling me that I had killed the Lord of the Salamanders. The storm raged on, but everything else was silent. Everyone was much too shocked to believe what just happened. But, when lightning once again split the sky, Eugene's voice boomed as loud as thunder.

"Brother!"

I rushed over to Eugene and punched the guy straight in the face, effectively shutting him up. Even though his body was as hard as before, I proceeded to cut him down with a single blade. Who gave a shit if he was unarmed? He had already cheated by siding with Nagato, so I'll let him have a taste of how being powerless feels like. I cut Eugene an innumerable amount of times that his body was now just one giant red glowstick. Throughout the entire occurrence, Eugene had his mouth open, speechless due to fear. His health finally dropped to the red zone, with only a sliver left. His health started going back up once again, but I finished him off with a blade thrust right into his mouth. I tilted my blade up, forcing Eugene to look up, and shoved Sanctus down the Salamander's throat.

"If there's a hell in this world, I'll see you there. Till then, you and your brother can join the rest."

Eugene, just like his brother, died by my hands, and turned into pixels. The very pixels that he transformed into then became a flame identical to his brother. The two «Remain Lights» floated there, burning brightly despite the thunderstorm that covered the entire region. Yet again, there was another period of brief silence. The rage burning within me calmed down, as well as the Voices in my head. However, with the Voices gone, my ears once again suffered the agonizing wrath of the entire Salamander army. Their shouts rumbled the very earth more than the lightning bolts themselves, and they all charged at me without caring for any of their comrades who may had been too slow. They simply ran over every single person who was in front of them and only went for me. I didn't even think twice when I flew over to ViVi and Trish and grabbed the ropes that bound them together. I sheathed Sanctus and took off the ground, letting my friends dangle from my left hand. I flew towards Lux, dropping low enough that ViVi and Trish were now being dragged across the sands, but I didn't care. I recovered my blade and flew straight up, I went higher and higher until I was far above all the Salamanders who desperately tried to catch up but couldn't. I faced directly north and headed towards the «Dragons Valley». I then retreated to the World Tree with my friends in tow and the ire of an entire race behind my back.

"ViVi…" I muttered to him in a low voice. Despite my low tone, he heard me through the storm.

"W-What?" he asked, nervous and anxious about what I was going to say.

"Despite what I said to Nagato earlier, I hate you even more for making me choose the path I am going to take."

"A-And this path is?"

"The path of darkness… Completely absent of light."