Hey, this is the 62nd chapter.

I was actually hoping to finish this chapter earlier, like, a week ago. But sem break was over, and I had to start classes again, so everything got pushed back a lot.

But I managed to get it done, so weeeeeeee.

Anyways, to Guest's question, how much time is passing in the Elemental Nations. That is a very good question. Well for now, next to no time is passing in the Elemental Nations. It will be explained further when the Underworld connects to the Elemental Nations, which will not be as soon as I planned it to be, sadly.

So yeah, here's the new chapter.

XXX

Kirito was falling.

No, that wasn't the correct word. More like he was floating.

The teen wasn't sure where he was, but everything felt wrong. He looked around. He could see his hands, his legs, his own body. But that was it. Everything was black.

Then he heard a voice, a female, flickering in and out, "K...to... K... to..."

Kirito blinked and asked, "Who are you?"

The voice seemed to cut in and out, "H..lp...me... Ch...el...n..."

Kirito furrowed his brows, "What are you saying?"

The voice started to say something, but he couldn't make out any of the words, and he blacked out.

(linebreak)

Two days later, Kirito and Eugeo had quickly packed everything they needed, and right now, they were finishing their preparations to leave the village for the capital.

Yesterday, the two boys had visited Selka to make sure she was fine, and while she smiled and told them she was fine, Kirito and Eugeo knew the girl was not, though they didn't say anything.

They also spent the day visiting everyone else, helping out with the other villagers' work since they had nothing to do. And in the evening, they started to pack whatever they needed.

As Kirito placed a set of clothes into his bag, his mind went to the dream he had two days ago. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't remember who it belonged to.

He had told Eugeo about it, but the blonde just told him it was probably just a random dream and that he shouldn't worry much about it. But Kirito just couldn't forget about the dream.

Sighing, the teen decided to push it to the back of his mind, he needed to focus on the test and entering the academy.

The teen let out a breath as he focused on packing everything he needed, grabbing the tip of the Gigas Cedar and wrapped it with a large piece of cloth.

After they had visited Selka, Kirito had told Gasupht about the tip of the tree, and had asked the chief if he could take it, even though Bercouli had given it to him.

The chief had looked at the teen weirdly, questioning Kirito as to why he wanted the tip, and the teen decided to explain it to him.

After a short explanation, the chief decided to just let the teen keep the tip. He had absolutely no idea what to do with the tree except use it as material for other stuff, and he doubt anyone had any use for the tip of the tree.

Back to Kirito, he zipped and closed his bag, putting it to a side before he looked over everything he needed, and anything he didn't need.

Nodding in satisfaction, Kirito grabbed his bags and went outside, where Eugeo was already waiting, the Blue Rose Sword wrapped in cloth and strapped to his back.

The blonde smiled at him, "You ready?"

The black haired teen grinned, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Eugeo grinned, grabbing his bags, which Kirito followed, before they left the house. The two teens locked the door and looked at their small house.

Kirito commented, "Really gonna miss this place."

Eugeo chuckled, "Hey, it'll only be a few years, we'll come back, eventually."

The black haired teen nodded, "Yeah, let's go, everyone's waiting."

The blonde nodded as they headed for the entrance of the village.

As they walked, a short distance from their house, the teens spotted Gasupht, Sadina, Selka and almost all of the villagers waiting for them.

The gate keeper smirked, "Bout time you boys got here."

Eugeo blinked, "What're you guys all doing here?"

Gasupht chuckled, "To see you two off, what else?"

A random woman from the crowd nodded, "Of course, after all these years, the two of you are the first ones to leave the village to become knights, the two of you will be representing our village."

Everyone nodded, voicing their agreement. Kirito and Eugeo just smiled sheepishly. Gasupht chuckled and said, "Okay, I believe its time we send these boys off."

The villagers all nodded in agreement before they all headed for the entrance.

Kirito and Eugeo turned to look at the villagers one last time.

Sadina smiled, "Good luck boys, do come back when you graduate."

Kirito grinned, "Yeah, don't worry, we'll definitely come back."

The black haired teen looked at Gasupht, Sadina and Selka particularly. He didn't need to say it, but they got the message. Kirito and Eugeo were gonna bring Alice back.

Then, one of the other villagers, a woman who was a baker, came forward and handed Eugeo a small paper bag, filled with freshly baked bread, "Here, for when you two get hungry on your trip."

Eugeo smiled, "Thank you very much."

The woman smiled and stepped back into the crowd, before Gasupht handed Kirito a small bag of money, "Here, hopefully this will last you for a little while, good luck."

Kirito took the bag from the chief's hands and nodded. Gasupht glanced at Eugeo briefly, and the blonde nodded back.

Kirito then looked at Selka. The girl had been rather quiet the past two days whenever they met up, and Kirito was pretty sure she still slightly upset about them leaving.

The teen walked over to the girl and gently patted her head, "We'll definitely come back together, okay?"

Selka's gaze softened, and she smiled slightly, "Yeah, stay safe."

Kirito grinned and stood by Eugeo's side. The blonde nodded to his friend and looked at the crowd, "Thank you very much, everyone, but I think we should get going now."

Gasupht nodded, "Very well, have a safe journey."

Everyone nodded, saying their part, before Kirito and Eugeo both turned, walking away from the village.

After watching the two figures disappear, the crowd dispersed, returning to their respective routines.

(linebreak)

A few days later, Kirito and Eugeo finally arrived at North Centoria. Kirito grinned as they walked along the streets, "So this is North Centoria, this is amazing!"

Eugeo nodded as he looked around the place, "Yeah."

The blonde then asked, "So, what now?"

Kirito glanced at the wrapped tip of the Gigas Cedar and said, "We go look for that blacksmith Bercouli-sensei told us about."

Kirito then brought out his envelope Bercouli gave them. The envelope was a recommendation letter for Kirito and Eugeo to take the entrance exam.

Normally, a non-noble would need a recommendation letter from an official guard, which in turn required six months of service.

But fortunately for the teens, Bercouli was their teacher, and using his fake alias, which he normally used when on undercover missions, the Integrity Knight gave them each a letter.

Back to Kirito, the teen opened the envelope and took out the slip that had the address Bercouli gave him. The teen had decided to just put the slip in the envelope to be safe, and to make sure he didn't lose it.

Kirito carefully placed the envelope into his bag and looked at the slip before looking at the sign boards, "Come on."

Eugeo followed the black haired teen as they started walking around the area looking for the blacksmith.

(linebreak)

About half an hour later, the two teens ended up standing in the middle of a crossroads, again.

Eugeo had a tired and exasperated expression on his face. The blonde truly had no idea if he should be amused or annoyed.

The reason?

Kirito had insisted they find the blacksmith without help from the locals, relying on the sign boards and the address they had.

And somehow, they had not only managed to not find the place, but they had also got lost, and had been spinning in circles for 30 minutes.

Eugeo asked, "So, Kirito, do you even know where we are?"

The teen smiled forcefully, staring at the address he had and the sign board in front of him, "I-I'm pretty sure its this way(?)"

Eugeo wanted to sigh, but before he could say anything, a rather familiar voice reached their ears, "Its been a while, Kirito, Eugeo!"

The two boys looked at the direction of a voice and saw a girl their age, with an energetic grin looking at them.

The girl had long dark purple hair, wearing a red headband. She also wore a dark purple shirt with long tight pants.

Eugeo blinked, "Ermm, sorry, who are you?"

The girl pouted and folded her arms, "Seriously, you forgot about me?"

Kirito blinked, before it clicked, "Wait, Yuuki?!"

The girl grinned, "Yeap!"

Eugeo blinked, staring at Yuuki, "Wow, you've changed a lot!"

Yuuki chuckled, "Well, kinda, can't say the same about you two though..."

The girl briefly looked over the teens, "You haven't changed a bit, both of you."

Kirito and Eugeo just smiled, not knowing how to respond. Yuuki then asked, "So, what are you doing?"

Kirito smiled sheepishly, "Well, we were looking for this shop, but we just can't find it."

Yuuki blinked several times, before she grinned, "So you're lost."

Kirito opened his mouth, wanting to deny it, before he closed it and nodded, hanging his head down, "Y-yeah... We're lost."

The girl giggled before she said, "Okay, I'll just have to show you the way then."

Eugeo smiled and nodded, "That'd be appreciated."

Yuuki grinned before she asked, "So, where are you headed anyway?"

Kirito handed her the address he had and after briefly looking at it, Yuuki nodded and grinned at Kirito, "I know just where it is."

The girl walked past them towards one of the streets, "Come on."

Kirito and Eugeo both grabbed their bags and quickly followed after the girl.

As they walked, Eugeo asked, "So, Yuuki, what are you doing here? I mean, your village isn't near here, right?"

Yuuki grinned, "Hehe, I'm joining the Sword Mastery Academy."

Kirito blinked, "Wait, you too?!"

The girl nodded as she turned, walking backwards so she could look at them, "Yep, you're joining as well, right?"

Kirito and Eugeo nodded, the latter said, "Yeah, that's why we're heading for the blacksmith, to get Kirito a sword."

Yuuki nodded before she grinned, "So that means Eugeo has a sword, right?"

The two boys blinked before Eugeo nodded, "Y-yeah, I got it from Bercouli-sensei."

Yuuki nodded as she turned to face the front, "Okay, you'll have to show me later. We're here."

The three stopped in front of a rather small shop, at least, when compared to all the other shops around them. Kirito and Eugeo looked up, noticing a sign that said, 'Sadore's Smithy'.

The girl opened the door, beckoning her friends to follow her. The two shared a glance before they followed her in, entering the shop.

They were met with the sight of a rather spacious place. Everywhere they looked, there were swords of all kinds, shields, armory and anything you'd want for a knight. In fact, the shop alone could arm a full squadron of knights.

The two teens were broken out of their musings when a middle aged man walked out from the back through a door, standing behind the counter.

Yuuki smiled and greeted, "Hey, Sadore-jiichan!"

The man smiled kindly, "Hello, Yuuki, what brings you here?"

The girl pointed her thumb towards Kirito, "He needs a sword."

Sadore's turned to Kirito, briefly looking over the teen, and for a brief moment, Kirito felt rather vulnerable, suddenly wanting to cover himself up.

The man nodded to himself before he asked, "So, boy, what kind of sword do you want?"

Sadore gestured to the rack of blades at the right of his shop, "You can pick one from that rack, or are you looking for one custom made?"

Kirito glanced at the rack before he turned to the man, "Ermm, actually..."

The black haired teen put down his bags, bringing out the tip of the Gigas Cedar, uncovering it before showing it to Sadore, "My teacher told me you could forge a blade out of this."

Sadore's eyes widened in surprise, before his eyes snapped to Kirito, "You're Bercouli's student, aren't ya?"

Kirito nodded, and Sadore glanced at Eugeo, "And you're his other student."

The blonde nodded, "Y-yes sir."

Sadore nodded before he brought up the branch, examining it briefly. He then placed it on his desk and nodded, "Very well, Bercouli told me about the two of you. What're your names, boys?"

Kirito blinked before he quickly answered, "Kirito, sir."

Eugeo did the same, "I'm Eugeo, sir."

Sadore nodded, "Kirito and Eugeo, eh? Nice to meet'cha, and drop the sir, makes me feel older than I already am. And shut it, girl."

Yuuki stiffled a giggle, raising her arms in a surrendering manner.

Sadore then let out a breath, "Okay. The entrance test should be in about a month or two. Come back here in a month, I'll forge you a blade that can last you for ages."

A smile broke onto Kirito's face, "Y-you're serious?"

Sadore grinned, "As serious as a heart attack. Its been a while since I got something like this."

Kirito bowed his head slightly, "Thank you very much."

The blacksmith chuckled and waved it off, "Its fine..."

Eugeo nodded, "Thank you, Sadore-san. By the way, do you know of any inns we can stay in?"

Yuuki piped in, "Actually, you two can stay in my place, I have two spare rooms, and my mom'll be coming next week, but I don't she'd mind."

Kirito and Eugeo wanted to protest, not wanting to impose on the girl, but a quick glare from her stopped them from saying anything.

Sadore chuckled, "Actually, there's no need for that, nor do you two need to look for inns."

The three looked at the blacksmith confused, before Sadore tossed Kirito a set of keys, sliding a piece of paper onto the desk, "Bercouli already thought of all that, and apparently, prepared a small apartment for the two of you."

Eugeo picked up the piece of paper, and Kirito and Yuuki looked at it from behind it.

The girl blinked, "Hey, this is just opposite of my place!"

Eugeo blinked, "Wow, what a coincidence..."

Sadore chuckled knowingly, "A coincidence, yes."

Inside, the man thought, 'More like Bercouli and Rinko arranged that...'

Kirito let out a quiet sigh before he looked at the older man, "So, you'll handle the sword, right?"

The blacksmith chuckled and nodded, "Of course, come back here in about a month, and I'll have you your sword."

Yuuki then asked, "So, that's it?"

Sadore scratched his chin before he reached under his desk and took out a poster, tossing it to Eugeo, "I just remembered. The exam is in about a month, so you'll have plenty of time. Try entering this competition, it should help brush up your skills."

Kirito and Eugeo both looked at the poster, while Yuuki peeked from behind both of them, reading the details of the tournament.

Kirito looked back at the man, "Thank you very much, Sadore-san."

The old man waved it off, "Sure, sure... Now get out and go register for the tournament, I need to start working on the sword."

Yuuki sweatdropped as Sadore just turned, grabbing the tip of the Gigas Cedar before heading back to the back of his shop, where his forge was.

Kirito and Eugeo both also blinked, not sure how to react to Sadore's blunt words. The girl shook her head with a sigh before she said, drawing Kirito and Eugeo's attention, "Come on, I'll show you where the place is, then I can show you around."

Kirito chuckled, "Like old times?"

Yuuki blinked, before a nostalgic smile appeared on her face, "Well, that was one time... But yeah, like old times."

Kirito grinned, "You wouldn't happen to have a favourite place here too, do you?"

Yuuki just smiled, "Unfortunately, not yet."

Eugeo laughed lightly as they started moving, "You two sound like two old people meeting after decades."

Kirito glared at the blonde lightly, "Hey, we are meeting up after about 10 years of not seeing each other, right?"

Eugeo chuckled and nodded, "True, true..."

Yuuki just giggled at that exchange before Eugeo asked, "So... You're not here alone, are you?"

The girl blinked before she laughed, "No, of course not!"

Yuuki grinned as they walked, "Well, after meeting you two, I tried going to the playground, and I found some friends who also wanted to become knights."

Eugeo smiled softly, "So they're here too?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically, "Yep! I'll introduce you after we get your stuff settled first."

Kirito chuckled, "Sure."

After a short walk, the three reached a small apartment building, and Yuuki lead them to their floor, and she pointed to one of the doors, "That should be yours..."

The girl then pointed to the one opposite of the door, "And that's mine."

Yuuki went to her door and opened it, "Well, I'm going inside for a little bit, call me if you need anything or when you're done, kay?"

Kirito and Eugeo only nodded as the girl shut the door, leaving the two teens as Kirito opened the door with the set of keys they had.

The two entered the apartment, closing the door behind them as they examined the place.

While small, the apartment was rather spacious for two people. It had a small living room, with a sofa and a small table, a small kitchen with a larger table and four chairs. It also had a toilet with two bedrooms.

Kirito commented as he set his bags down, "Not a bad place, right?"

Eugeo nodded as he placed his bags on the ground, walking around the apartment, "Yeah..."

Kirito took a brief stretch before he said, "Okay, let's start unpacking then."

(linebreak)

After roughly 30 minutes, Yuuki had finished cleaning up and decided to check on her two friends. The girl knocked on the door lightly and saif loudly, "Guys, its me!"

Kirito's voice came out from behind the door after a short moment, "Got it! Just wait a sec!"

Shortly after, the door opened, revealing Kirito at the door, while Eugeo sat on the couch behind him.

Kirito let the girl come in as she asked, "So, how is it? I mean, for the two of you, this place seems pretty neat."

Eugeo replied from the sofa, "Well, its enough for us, I mean, it's a place to stay until we get our dorms in the academy."

Yuuki nodded, "True..."

The girl then asked, "So, you guys done? My friends are waiting at a cafe nearby."

Kirito nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

Eugeo nodded, "Yep, we don't have too many things, other than our clothes and some other stuff... Let's go then."

The three then exited the apartment, not before locking the apartment of course, as they headed for one of the cafes near the streets.

Yuuki opened the door, walking in, followed by Kirito and Eugeo, before a voice caught their attention," Hey, Yuuki! Over here!"

The three looked over to one of the larger tables for ten people, where five people sat, with five empty chairs.

Yuuki looked at Kirito and Eugeo with a grin, "Come on."

The girl pulled the two young men over to the table and said, "Guys, this is Kirito and Eugeo."

One of the three males, a rather tall young man smiled, "Nice to meet ya, I'm Tecchi."

The other boy spoke up with a smile, "I'm Jun, Yuuki has told us about you."

The last boy, one wearing glasses, said, bowing his head slightly, "I'm Talken, nice to meet ya."

A girl with light long blue hair smiled, "My name is Siune, its nice to finally meet you, Kirito, Eugeo."

The last person, a girl with black hair grinned, "I know right. I'm Nori, and you didn't tell us they were quite hot, Yuuki! You've been holding out on us!"

Yuuki just scratched the back her head with a sheepish smile, while Kirito and Eugeo just sweatdropped watching the scene. Though, it was pretty heartwarming to know that Yuuki had a bunch of friends after so long.

Kirito then asked, breaking the moment, "By the way, you're all entering the academy, yes?"

Jun grinned, "Yep! The two of you are joining too, right? Yuuki used to tell us about you two planning to join the academy."

Yuuki just grinned for a short moment before she asked Kirito and Eugeo, "Oh, and there's the tournament coming up, right? Are you two joining?"

Kirito and Eugeo shared a glance, and the former nodded, "Yeah, kinda... I mean apart from our teacher, we didn't really have a way to measure our skills."

Eugeo nodded, "Yep, so we'll most probably be joining it."

Tecchi piped in, "What is this tournament?"

Kirito took out the poster he had in his pocket, having not taken it out earlier, and handed it to the taller man, "Here, apparently its a tournament where participants fight in a solo match. The winner, if you don't already have some way to enter the academy, gets the right the enter the academy. And if not, you get a money prize."

Tecchi glanced over the poster before he asked, a grin on his face, "Kirito, Eugeo, you're both entering, right?"

Kirito and Eugeo nodded, the latter replying, "Yep."

Nori caught on to what Tecchi was planning and grinned, "Then, I wanna see how good you are, Kirito, Eugeo."

Tecchi nodded, "Same here, I'm rather curious to how strong the two of you are."

Yuuki grinned, piping in, "Oh you're on! Its a solo type tournament, right?"

Nori looked at the poster and nodded, "Yep. I'm in."

Jun sighed, "Eh, you guys go ahead... Imma sit this one out."

Talken nodded in agreement, "Yep, me too."

Siune just smiled, shaking her head, "I'm not one for tournaments, but I'll be cheering for all of you."

Kirito chuckled, "Well, I guess that settles it."

Eugeo motioned for the poster, which Tecchi handed it to him, "Question is, how do we sign up for it?"

Siune stood up, leaning over to look at the poster, "Hmm, it says here that you can register at the square starting tomorrow, and the tournament is next week."

Talken said, resting his head on his arm on the table, "Huh, so that means ya'll have a week to prepare..."

Siune nodded, "Yep, oh, and it also says that the participants will use weapons provided, so you'll have to decide on the weapon you wanna use when you register."

Yuuki nodded, "Okay, that's fine, I guess."

Tecchi scratched his chin, "Hmm, this might actually be so that all participants will have a fair fight."

Nori nodded, "Yeah, I mean, the difference in the quality of the weapons won't affect the fight much, and we'll have to win with skill alone."

Siune nodded, "Yep."

The girl then smiled, "But let's stop talking about the tournament, I'm more interested in where you're from, Kirito, Eugeo."

At that, everyone sat down and they started to chat for the entire afternoon before everyone headed home.

(linebreak)

A week later, Kirito was in a makeshift arena, standing opposite to a young man with bronze armor.

The teen was holding a simple one handed sword, while the other man had a small shield and a sword.

As they had discussed, Kirito, Eugeo, Yuuki, Tecchi and Nori had signed up for the tournament in North Centoria. And as luck had it, all of them started off in different sections, so they would meet in battle only after the first three battles.

Now, Kirito was placed against a young man from West Centoria. From what he could see, the man wasn't a noble, rather, the son of a local guard who wished to be a knight.

The young raven haired man pretty much knew why his opponent was here, and he hated to break his dreams, but Kirito still had to win.

Then, the referee yelled, "Begin!"

In that instant, Kirito's opponent charged, placing his shield in front of him in an attempt to ram right into Kirito.

But the teen wasn't going to just let him get hit. Spreading his legs open and lowering his body, Kirito waited as the man closed in.

At that last second, the teen pushed himself to the side, letting the man charge right pass him harmlessly. Not missing a beat, Kirito spun, giving kick to the back, sending his opponent sprawling to the ground.

But fortunately for the older man, he was fast on his feet, quickly recovering from his fall as he spun, swinging his sword at Kirito, who didn't have the chance to back away.

The teen tch'd, quickly bringing up his sword to parry the strike. But to his surprise, the older man pushed on, sending slash after slash at him, which Kirito managed to parry.

The teen could see plenty of openings after every strike, but to the man's credit, the older man managed to cover up every single opening by attacking continuously.

Kirito blocked another strike, redirecting it away, but not enough to send his opponent off balance. Though, it gave him enough time to jumped away, putting some distance between them.

It was then the young man noticed it. His opponent was starting to breathe heavily, and Kirito realized that the man in front of him didn't really have a form.

Rather, he was trying to make the match into a blitz by attacking continuously until Kirito slipped and gave him an opening.

Not a bad strategy, but not a good one either. That style would only work on enemies that were lower or on the same level, and Kirito could definitely see the difference in skill between them. It also made him realize how lucky he and Eugeo were to have trained under Bercouli.

(small linebreak)

Meanwhile, as Kirito parried the attacks, Eugeo, Yuuki and the others were watching, the latter and her friends rather impressed with Kirito .

Siune commented, "Wow, Kirito is toying with him."

Jun nodded in awe, "He's just pushing away his opponent's sword like its nothing!"

Talken looked at Eugeo, "Where did he learn to do that?"

Eugeo shrugged, "Our teacher, I guess? I mean, why are you all so surprised? Kirito's just parrying his attacks, he hasn't even started yet."

Nori gaped, "You mean he's not serious at all?!"

The blonde nodded, "Of course not. Though, I'm a bit surprised, Kirito's opponent has no form whatsoever, all he's doing is just flailing wildly with that sword and shield."

The others just gaped at his words. To them, Kirito's opponent was doing quite well, or at least, was quite formidable. But apparently Eugeo thought otherwise.

Eugeo then saw Kirito relax, and he smiled, "He's starting."

Tecchi raised an eyebrow, "Starting? What?"

The blonde smiled, "Getting serious. I think the match is over now."

The others just looked on, rather curious to what Eugeo meant.

At the same time, unseen by anyone else, Yuuki had an excited grin as she watched.

(linebreak)

Back with Kirito, the teen had placed some distance between him and his enemy.

Using the chance, Kirito spread his legs, lowering his body as he positioned his sword.

Then, he took a deep breath, the image of the technique he wanted to do appearing in his mind, as he felt the mana in his body flow towards his sword.

Then, to just about everyone's surprise, except for Eugeo, the sword started to glow sky blue.

Kirito's eyes landed on his opponent's surprised face, and he muttered silently, "Aincrad style: Horizontal Square."

As soon as those words left his mouth, Kirito burst into action.

Dashing towards his opponent, Kirito swung his blade from the right, landing a hard slash on the shield, causing his opponent's shield arm to be pushed to a side.

Not missing a beat, Kirito pulled his blade back, landing another slash on the shield, this time sending it flying away, as Kirito started to spin around the man.

Then, as he spun, Kirito swung his blade, landing a third strike on the armor, before coming to a stop.

But he wasn't done, gripping his sword tightly, Kirito swung his blade for a fourth time, slicing through the back armor.

As the combo finished, the upper armor of the man broke into four pieces, dropping to the ground, as Kirito placed his blade at the man's neck, "Do you yield?"

The man froze, feeling the sharp blade at his neck. The man's mind raced for ideas, before he nodded slowly, "Y-yes. I... I yield."

The referee nodded as he announced, "Winner, Kirito."

The crowd clapped, as Kirito shook his opponent's hand before they left the arena.

(linebreak)

The next match was between two men from South and East Centoria respectively, so Kirito and the others sat amongst the audience.

As Kirito sat down, Nori exclaimed, "Dude! That was sick!"

Kirito just smiled and nodded, "Thanks."

Jun asked, "So, you learned that move from your teacher?"

The teen realized he was refereferring to the Horizontal Square and nodded, "Yeah, he taught us several techniques."

Nori eyed him and Eugeo suspiciously, "You sure you're not secretly nobles?"

Eugeo smiled, "Nah, we just had a great teacher."

The others just nodded, deciding not to pry anh further, before they started chatting about light and random topics.

After a short moment, as the match came to an end, Yuuki stood up, "I'm up."

Eugeo grinned, "Good luck."

Kirito chuckled, "I doubt she needs it, go win, Yuuki."

The others just grinned and gave her thumbs up as Yuuki grinned, "You bet!"

The girl then left the audience area and headed for the preparation area.

As she walked away, Jun said, "Hey, come to think of it, how strong is Yuuki anyways?"

Kirito blinked, "You guys don't know?"

Siune shook her head, "Not really. We do train together some times, but most of the time Yuuki trains with her mother. And I don't think I've ever seen her go all out before."

Tecchi nodded, "Yeah, come to think of it, she never did. Makes me wonder how strong she actually is."

Eugeo chuckled, "I guess we'll just have to find out, don't we?"

Talken nodded, "Yep. Okay, it's starting."

Everyone looked at the ring, as Yuuki stood opposite of her opponent, a young man who was a local, wearing light grey armor with a dagger. Yuuki herself held a thin blade, a hybrid of a one-handed sword and a rapier.

(Just imagine a bland normal version of her canon sword.)

The referee looked at both contestants and asked, "Okay, are you ready?"

Yuuki nodded with a confident grin, while her opponent replied, "Yes."

The referee nodded, standing back, "Very well. Begin!"

Immediately, Yuuki's opponent charged forward, flipping his dagger into reverse grip as he swung it down.

Yuuki herself responded in kind, dashing forward with her sword, blocking the young man's dagger, redirecting it towards the ground, causing the young man to stumble.

But to Yuuki's surprise, the man quickly regained his footing, pulling back and sent an uppercut at her instead.

Yuuki grinned, leaning back ever so slightly so that the gauntlet missed her face by an inch, before she swiftly spun and kicked the man in the gut, sending him to the ground.

Not missing a beat, Yuuki steadied herself and charged forward, blade poised to strike. But to everyone's surprise, the man flipped backwards right onto his feet and clashed blades with the young girl again, pushing against each other for dominance.

The young man was honestly surprised. He had expected Yuuki to only rely on her agility and speed to overwhelm him, yet here she was, pushing against him even when he was pushing with everything he had.

After a short moment, they pushed each other away, before quickly charging each other again.

(linebreak)

As Yuuki and the young man fought, everyone looked at the arena in awe. Until now, most of the matches were only men brawling with swords, with the exception of Kirito's match, with this one added to the list.

To almost everyone, it was as if Yuuki and her opponent were locked in a dance. Every strike was either blocked or narrowly dodged, and neither of them showed any openings, covering their every move after the previous.

To those who were trained in combat, or at least, those who were somewhat exposed to combat, Yuuki's strength heavily relied on her sword, while using simple hand-to-hand to cover up her openings.

For her opponent, it was the exact opposite. It was obvious he was more inclined to using hand-to-hand combat, and the dagger with all of his armor served to help counter Yuuki's sword attacks.

(linebreak)

Back to the fight, Yuuki leaped away, taking a small breath as she watched her opponent.

The young man gripped his dagger and charged forward, pulling his arm back.

Yuuki took a breath as the man reached her. The girl pulled up her blade, letting the dagger hit it.

At the same time, she pulled back slightly, softening the blow, before she spun, positioning her blade at the same time.

Then, to everyone's surprise, the blade started to glow a light purple, right ad Yuuki thrust her blade towards the young man, stopping right before it touched his breast plate.

But it did its job.

Her opponent knew very well, what she was telling him. If this was a real fight, he'd be dead already. And he also knew, he was a long way before he had the right to enter the academy.

The man loosened his stance after a short moment, letting his dagger drop to the ground, "I surrender."

The referee nodded, "Winner by forfeit, Kayaba Yuuki!"

The crowd had mixed reactions. Some cheered, some boo'd. But as the man turned, Yuuki spoke out softly, just quiet enough for him to hear, "It was a great match, I had fun."

The man paused for a moment, before he continued walking away. Yuuki grinned before she went back up to the audience.

(linebreak)

As the next match started, Yuuki reached her seat, and Kirito and Eugeo smiled at her, the latter said, "Great match, Yuuki."

Kirito nodded, "Yeah, though, that was a sword skill, right?"

Yuuki smiled sheepishly, "Umm, you could say that. Though it was actually more of enhancing my sword with mana."

Nori gaped, "You can do that?"

Eugeo scratched his chin before he nodded, "Hmm, if you use the same concepts of a sword skill, theoretically it is possible."

The others just gaped at them, before Jun asked, "But how did yoou learn all that, Yuuki?"

The girl smiled, "My mom taught me."

Siune nodded, "I see."

Tecchi smiled awkwardly, "That explains why you never really went all out on us..."

Yuuki just chuckled and grinned, not really knowing how to answer.

Siune smiled and shook her head before she spoke, "Well, I believe that's enough. Come on, the match is almost ending."

Everyone looked at the arena, and Yuuki smiled sheepishly at her friend, receiving a nod in response.

(linebreak)

A few days later, the tournament had reached the semi-finals. Tecchi had made it to the quarter finals, but had lost to a young man from East Centoria named Gladio.

Hence, Kirito, Yuuki and Eugeo were in the semi-finals, along with Gladio.

And now, Kirito was facing his opponent, the one who had taken down Tecchi, Gladio.

The referee looked at the two men, "Are you ready?"

Gladio held his cleaver, while Kirito held his sword, and both nodded, "Yeah."

The referee nodded and he stepped back, "Begin!"

XXX

Done. So that's the latest chapter. Now, in canon, the tournament was used so that Kirito and Eugeo could enter the academy.

Here, they don't need that. But I figured I'd just add it in. So, the next chapter will be Kirito vs a random character, then Eugeo vs Yuuki, and Kirito vs Eugeo or Yuuki.

Then we'll move on to the academy.

So yeah, review please. Until next time.