Heyo! Welcome to another chapter of BOA. This one took awhile, but it's finally done. A lot of you readers have been wondering who else will we bring in, and I wanted to make a chapter solely on one person I was sure to bring in: Blake. I didn't know what to do at first, but then I got inspiration from Topaz and his work on the previous chapters and such, and so long-story-short, here it is! Now, before you get into the story, there's a few things I need to explain. It'll give the readers a basic understanding:

The White Fang are indeed in the story arc, it's not as big as LC (Laughing Coffin), but it's similar. Blake doesn't have the bow or the cat ears in this story until she escapes at the end. That way her appearance is somewhat changed once she leaves. Because she is known around the WF guild, the players know her appearance. As a sort of deterrence for any known eyes, it is to throw off her complexion and features. And lastly, her blade. This one kinda pushed the boundaries for the story, and so to compensate I'll explain briefly: Blake's cleaver/katana/kusarigama blade is one of the DLC weapons only 100 people were able to get. Because of its hybrid usefulness, it is broken down by it's category. Meaning she can switch from cleaver sword skills, to katana ones, to dagger skills, depending on what mode she switches into. She's allowed to use both the cleaver and the katana together, but she cannot use any dual sword skills like Kirito can (a.k.a, jesus-kun). The cleaver becomes only a sidearm until she equips it again. But anyway, enough explaining, and enjoy.

Southern End Floor 2. Forest of Forever Fall. Dec. 01 2022

I watched as the leaves fluttered around me, taking in the calm sound as I awaited further orders. Today felt different, though i knew today would change paths for the better. I wouldn't be affiliated with my guild anymore. Today was the day I severed all ties, and became anew.

"Blake,"

A low, monotonous voice called out from beside me. I turned my head to see my partner, the guild leader. His gamer tag read 'Taurus' above his head, though I knew his real name was Adam. He had spiky red hair, black track jacket, track pants, and shoes. All of which with red on the inside. To tie it all in, he bore a mask upon his face that resembled something of a mythical beast I had once read in a greek mythology textbook in history.

"It's time."

"Okay…" I answered, getting up from my seat on a large rock shortly after.

I couldn't help but watch my friend beside me as we sprinted to the cliffside. This was like every other raid we did: Ambush the guild, party or group, while Adam killed the other players, I took the loot. Usually it was with most to all of our guild, But this raid was different. The guild was a lot weaker than average guilds. Their highest ranked, the leader, just achieved level 20, and so they were easy targets for a level 30 and 35. Though this quest granted them at least level 25 guardian beasts and even a mid-level boss, which meant whatever they were transporting was important.

Finally, the edge of the cliffside became visible as we both screeched to a halt, walking up to the side as a large convoy of interconnected carriages all being hauled by large oxes and buffalo passed through.

'Geez. This must be precious, they have their own convoy to haul it over. And all the players have to do is ride inside it at the front.'

Adam was the first to act, jumping off the cliff with me behind him. We slid down the side of the cliff as the red haired man jumped off the cliffside.

'Idiot, he jumped off too early!'

Repeating his actions, I jumped off the side of the rapidly depleting edge of the cliff as I watched Adam land on one of the metal cabooses, his sword piercing the roof as he skidded to a stop. I landed not too far from his LZ as we both continued over the carts to the main location.

We stopped at the last caboose before the open car ahead as Adam sliced the hatch lock and opened it, jumping in first. I jumped down shortly after as I landed beside the black and red clad man, instantly noticing the red sensory lasers as I looked over to Adam.

"Looks like we'll be doing the the hard way." Adam commented as several spawning Taurus Ironguards appeared around us.

"Don't be so dramatic." I replied moments after, gripping the hilt of my blade as the monsters started to surround us.

One of the monsters spawned two blades into his hands as his beady red eyes targeted us. "INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF." It spoke in a robotic sounding tone. Adam turned to the sound as he relaxed his hold on his weapon. In the blink of an eye, he threw his sword at the taurus guard, appearing near his weapon as he spun over the grunt. With one fell slice, the monster was cut diagonally in two as it disappeared into pixels, and Adam finally sheathed his sword.

Almost in sync, the other taurus grunts started spawning their weapons in as they charged Adam and I. I turned my head to the side as two monsters were starting to get close. One quick look was all I needed. In a flash, I appeared behind the approaching guards as they started to crumble to little blue pixels. I ran up to Adam, whom spotted me in the corner of his eye as

I slid under the man. The former spun around in an AoE 180 attack and killed a couple following monsters behind me, I slicing one guard behind the man as he threw a couple knives with his left hand and finishing with another AoE sword skill attack.

I sliced the beast once more, kicking it back as Adam killed it and a few other approaching with his 360 battle continued on as I fought through the enemies, with Adam right behind me as we worked together to fight through them all. Our fight reminded me of dancing, how he'd sync with me and vice versa as we worked together. 'The dance of death.'

I noticed one of the enemies from afar had a bow with multiple arrows ready to fire. The arrows started to glow as it shot the massive array of arrows at us. Adam easily saw the attack and started deflecting them left and right, before destroying one last shot and sheathing his sword again. I rushed past him afterwards, blocking the oncoming arrows as I cleaved the bow wielding beast in half, using my ability to jump in the air almost immediately afterwards as I cut down another monster vertically. I flipped my weapon around, now holding it in a reverse grip as I hit the next monster in the shins. Switching the cleaver blade to my katana, I took out another one easily with a sword skill and landed in a crouching position. I looked up as I rushed forward. Using my sword and and the cleaver-like scabbard, I sliced and delimbed the monsters one-by-one before finishing it off with a spinning sword skill. I smacked the last monster up in the air using another skill as I cut it apart before using my ability to bounce him up again as Adam finished with a jumping kick out the car door.

We jumped out onto the open cart as several taunus guardians started to rally up ahead of us. Adam turned his gaze to me as we both nodded. "Let's do this!" He announced, rushing forth as I followed not too far behind him and jumped up in the air.

With a strong, yet swift sword skill, the red haired man smacked a couple enemies up in the air as I rebounded with a few attacks, sending them back down his way as he finished the skill with a spinning attack and sheathing his sword again. As I landed, I noticed the guards start to surround us, I switched my weapon to a kama blade as I threw it at a guard. The opponent saw the attack easily, ducking just as it flew over it's head. Thankfully, I had found a way to cheat the attack system as I tied a black ribbon to the hilt of the blade, pulling it back as it shot the enemy up with ease and sliced through a few others approaching Adam and I. A purple glow emitted from the kusarigama blade as I activated my favourite skill, The iaido wielder beside me kicking the airborne grunt as I spun around and knocked a few of them down. I jumped in the air, doing a backflip and a corkscrew as I finally unleashed the attack, my blade flew a hundred different directions at once, decimating several taurus knights. The blade landed into the chest of the last enemy in front of me as Adam sliced it's torso clean off, I finishing with an easy jerk of my ribbon as the weapon was returned back into my grasp.

I switched my kusarigama back to my cleaver as Adam rushed forth to the next group of enemies. His sword started to glow from inside his scabbard as he unsheathed his sword, slicing and dicing his way through the enemy guardians. With another sword skill, he sliced past the last of the bulls in front of him as the monsters all exploded into digital pieces, re-sheathing his sword once again. I followed up with a simple slash using the cleaver blade, cutting off the grunt's head as I hopped over another attacking grunt behind it. Unsheathing my switch-blade, I slashed the attacker downwards, following up with a slice with the cleaver-part of the blade as I finished it off with an upwards strike.

Adam moved ahead of me whilst my fight ensued, spinning around as he slashed downwards at the taurus knights onwards. I followed right behind him, switching my blade back into it's kusarigama mode as I threw it at one of the guards beside him. In sync, I activated a skill as the blade spun around a few times in a circle and Adam hit the enemy beside mine with another one of his knives, doing a spinning slash attack before hitting it with one last throwing knife. With a quick sheath, he hit the monsters up in the air with the same strong, blunt sword skill attack as before. I smacked an approaching enemy in the air as well, as the red-and-black clad man sliced the falling opponents with a series of rapid-fast attacks. Using my teleport ability, I shot up toward the still-airborne guardians as I kicked the last living monster down to Adam. He, in-turn, flipped his sword around in a reverse grip as he activated a sword skill and hit the oncoming guard with it. The grunt exploded before evaporating, as the red haired man flipped his scabbard back again and sheathed his sword.

We walked inside another cargo cart, finding the place finally free from monsters as we walked over to one of the crates nearby. Adam opened it up, finding exactly what we had been looking for. "Perfect. Move up to the next car," He spoke, closing the crate as he turned to me. "I'll set the charges."

"What about the players?" I spoke with concern etched in my tone. I knew that killing other players was cruel, unfair and above all else, cold-hearted. But killing them without a cause was even worse.

"What about them?" Adam simply stated, as if his action was just. And that's when I knew I had to ditch him now, and disappear from him and the guild completely. When all doubts were finally settled.

'Your hopes have become my burden,

I will find my own liberation…'

Nov. 20th in the night. 11 days before the raid.

I sat at one of the benches in Tolbana. Though there was a lot of people, both players and NPC's alike loitering around the plaza, I zoned it all out as I focused on one particular person alone. The cloaked woman shifted around in the crowd behind me, sitting against the backrest of the bench I was at as she crossed her arms.

"What took you so long?"

"Sorry, last minute info cramming. I got what you're looking for though."

"Let me see." I spoke in a stern voice. The hooded person behind me walked around the bench, sitting down beside me as she pulled up her menu and took out a key.

"This key belongs to the dungeon gate I found a couple days back just southwest of here. I found out that the thing you are looking for is there."

"What's this thing called, what does it look like?" I asked, taking the key from her as the heading 'Dungeon of the Guilded Warrior Key.' displayed in my inventory.

"It's a small, white bell with a floural-like design on it. It's called the bell of Myrendia. Once it's used, your status will completely reset, you will go off the grid, untraceable by your guild members and friends forever, You will be just a regular player. And this won't affect your player status indicator whatsoever."

"What's the catch?"

"It only resets your digital self from any and all leads, friends, party members, etcetera. But it doesn't reset your physical self. If you plan on disappearing, you might want to consider avoiding anyone or anything that caused you to have to disappear," Argo replied. "But aside from that, nothing. Everything about you remains intact, other than your affiliations."

"Alright, thank you." I replied, getting up as I stored the key inside my pouch and left.

"Wait."

I paused for a moment, turning around with my guild's mask in my clutch. "Yes?" I responded.

"A couple more things I just remembered. It can only be used once, and your stats cannot be restored after using it," Argo spoke. "Also, once activated, it will teleport you back to the Town of Beginnings."

I gave a simple nod, putting my guilds mask on as I walked through the crowd of busy people, completely blending into my surroundings as I lost sight of the info broker.

It took me an hour to get to the dungeon, but I finally found it as I took the key out of my pocket, noticing a few of my guild members there as well. One of the members turned his gaze to me as he let out a sound of confusion.

"Blake? Did the leader send you as well?" He asked, to which I shook my head.

"I'm here on my own will." I replied, walking past him.

"It's no use Blake, we need to find a key to get into the dungeon." Another player said. I walked past him and over to the door, holding out the key as I placed it inside the hole and turned it. With a click, the doors opened, and I stepped aside for the guild members to see.

"Oh, one step ahead of us," The scrawny member of the group spoke. "I see why the leader made you his apprentice."

I motioned the players to enter, to which they complied with ease. And as we continued into the dungeon, I understood what I had to do in order to gain my freedom.

Flash forward half an hour later, we entered a moderate sized room, where the bell sat on it's pedestal up on a moderate flight of stairs. I walked forward as the small party covered me, searching for any traps to find only 1 as I saw it hang above the item on the ceiling. I motioned the others to come closer, and as they walked up the stairs I picked up the bell.

An alarm sounded throughout the room, the grunts all looking around in worry as the party leader looked up to me. "What the fuck Blake?! I thought you disarmed it?!" He shouted. I simply shook my head once.

"No, I was just waiting for the opportune moment."

With that, a log with spikes sticking all around it dropped from the roof. I hopped off the platform, landing beside it as the deathtrap crashed into the pedestal and began tumbling down the stairs at a fast pace. The White Fang members had no chance of escape as it ploughed each member, one-by-one, until all 3 were laying at the bottom, with little to no health left and paralysis buffs on them.

"B-Blake.. Help, I can't feel my legs," one of the downed players spoke in a weak tone. I unsheathed my weapon to it's katana blade as I flipped it into a reverse grip. The member saw this as he started to squirm. "W-wait, Blake, Blake. What're you doing?!"

"I'm sorry." I simply stated, piercing my blade inside his chest at his heart. I watched as his bar depleted completely, breaking into a hundred tiny digital pieces.

"Wait, don't do this Blake, Adam will find out and he will have your head!" The next grunt shouted, to which I shook my head.

"He can't find out if there are no witnesses." I spoke with an emotionless tone, cutting through the second as he too died.

"Blake, hold on. Let's work this out," The last party member pleaded, trying his best to stand on all fours as he looked up to me. "Please, you and I, we can leave here together. I won't tell the leader about this, a-a-and you can go wherever you want, just spare me please!"

I crouched down, removing my mask as he inhaled sharply. "I'm sorry, but there is no room for altercations. For my escape plan to work, there has to be no chances of exploitations."

With that, I stood up again, raising my blade over my opposite shoulder. "I'm sorry brother."

A quick cut was all it took as his head sliced right off. I watched as his mask dropped on the floor, looking at me with a frightened look. "Why.."

He froze up as his avatar evaporated. I looked down in guilt and shame as I knew it had to be done.

After all, a warrior does whatever necessary in order to achieve peace.

Present Time.

I heard the sound of a spawn portal as both Adam and I looked over to the entrance. There, a giant red and black spider-like paladin dropped down from the ceiling of the car, small cannons on it's shoulders and two more larger one's for arms as it pointed its main weapons at us. Its multiple health bars displayed as the name 'Paladin Spider-Droid' appeared before us.

"Adam!" I spoke in a worried tone, turning my gaze to him.

Suddenly, the spider's cannon-arms started glowing, as did its secondary weapons as it started firing multiple rounds at Adam. The red clad man dodged the oncoming attacks as he did a roll to the side, I subbing in his place as I withstood the barrage of rounds. I watched my health bar slowly go down as I rushed the mid-level boss, going for a jumping strike as my sword skill activated. To no avail, the boss simply butted it's head at me, denying the attack as I fell to the ground.

Adam jumped into play as he attacked with a series of swift slashes, landing on the floor as the paladin kicked the black clothed man away and fired a cannon at him. The man instantly recovered as he evaded the cannons with a series of rolls. I was struggling to regain my focus as I watched the leg that shot Adam back line up to stomp me. Just as it was about to crush me, Adam jumped in front of the opponent as he scooped me up and out of the vicinity. He put me down at a safe distance away from it as it turned to him.

"We need to get out of here." I spoke as the red haired man gripped his hilt.

Suddenly, the spider droid's multiple weapons started to glow as it activated its special attack. I got behind Adam as he activated his defensive sword skill, awaiting the moment as the cannon unleashed it's massive attack. Adam blocked most of the attack with his sword, but the sheer tenacity of the attack blew us out of the car and tumbling onto the open bed.

Adam and I slid to a stop on the car as the former looked over to the approaching boss, noticing his health was down to half before shifting his gaze to me. "Buy me some time!" He shouted as I looked at him with worry.

"Are you sure?" I asked, an eerie feeling in the back of my mind told me he knew I was behind the killing of the three guild members. If I knew anything from being with him, it was that killing loyal guild members was worse than stealing from him, and I had done both. A chilling thought crept in my mind as I hoped he wouldn't do the same thing I had done to those three.

"DO IT!" He shouted. Without second hesitation, I ran forth at the enemy as Adam began charging his special skill.

The spider-droid fired a few rounds at me as I dodged and evaded his attacks, only needing to use my shadow ability once or twice. I switched to my kusarigama as I bolted straight through the boss, appearing just above him as I used a skill to yank the weapon out of the monster. I activated another skill as I slashed the enemy several times in a spinning attack, planting it in it's leg as I pulled it back into my grasp with a quick switch of the blade. My katana started to glow as I knocked one of the spider's legs up, using my ability to bolt to the next leg as the droid fired a cannon at me. I reappeared at it's face as I quickly slashed it again. The boss aimed it's side cannon at me, firing instantly as I evaded it with a shadow clone. With a quick glow of my sword, I thrusted it in the monster's neck, noticing Adam's ability was fully charged as I pushed off of the paladin. I did a few backflips back to Adam as the droid started charging up another special shot.

"MOVE!" Adam shouted as I bolted away from the scene. The boss finally fired the large attack, though the red haired man remained still as he awaited contact. As it was about to hit the chokuto wielder, he unsheathed a part of his sword, absorbing the attack without a single falter. The black and red man sheathed his sword right as the attack finished, a red glow emitting throughout his body as he laughed sinisterly. In a final attempt, the paladin lunged at the red haired man. As it reached just a few feet away from Adam, he finally unveiled his special attack.

'Moonslice'

With a horizontal slash, Adam blew not only the spider paladin, but everything around him to shreds. The boss evaporated to pixels as the vicinity turned to red and black. He finally ended the attack as the environment returned to normal, turning around as he ran towards the end of the car. I stood on the conjoined car in front of his, facing him as he stopped. He held his hand out, though I remained still as I pulled out the bell from my pocket.

"Wait, that bell," Adam spoke in a dumbfounded tone as he realized. "The guild members…"

"Goodbye." I spoke, taking out my cleaver as I cut the link to the two cars. I watched as Adam's car started to slow down, and when I was a good enough distance away, I finally rung the bell. It made one moderate pitched tone as the area around me started to glow. Suddenly, I faded away, looming into a black void as I awaited my destination.

I opened my eyes slowly, finding everything calm and quiet with the exception of a small fountain in the distance. I looked around, finding myself in the town square on the first floor, I quickly checked my status, finding my guild information gone, along with my affiliates in said guild. Breathing a sigh of relief. I looked up at the dusk sky,

I took out my mask, holding it in my hands as I stared at the simple design one last time. Finally, I dropped it on the floor, giving it a good stomp with my heel as the mask broke, and disappearing afterwards. I started my walk as I scrolled through my inventory, pulling out a black headband with cat-like ears atop it as I put it on.

"I'm free."

A/N
Hello , This is Topaz talking. For those of you who have been concerned with my sudden seeming disappearance I can give you an explanation.

For the first time since ever I have a job. Time to do writing has vanished almost entirely and my inspiration for it is just outside of my reach. I do plan on writing at least part of the next chapter however so don't worry about that.

If you have any questions you can do a search for me and give a PM or just put it in a review and DStone will get the answer from me to you.

As always have a good day
Read, Review, and live life well.