Heyo! What is up my doods. We're back with another BOA. It's been awhile, ik. But December rolled by real quick, and Topaz and I have been busy as hell last month to even work on it (Like we stopped texting each other for a solid MONTH). But yeah. I should probably state that this month will probably be worse, because both xmas and New years are coming and I usually do special chapters for both on my original work TWR (...n-not to advertise my own works. If so, then u should also definitely read Topaz's Wishes Beyond Space and Time. I personally like it and have even helped him work on it once in a blue moon). So yeah. But enough of that. Back to the main story.

So yeah, topaz and I have broken down the workload, I've written the intro and ending, Topaz worked on the Weiss and Yang bit (and might I say, he can play the ice queen fucking perfectly, A+ in my books man). As always, enjoy. And I'll see you again in January

Southern Area, Forest of Wavering Mist, December 18th, 2022, around 10 a.m. 4 days after the massacre.

The air was still in the foggy forest, a calming atmosphere instilled in the place as the black cat simply drunk her tea in her favourite spot in the safehouse. There was a window just behind her that provided ample lighting for her to read her book. Because of the location, that light remained there until sundown. Blake spent her first whole day in the safehouse sitting by that perfect spot. In her routine, there was little time to indulge and immerse in a good story. So she took the opportunity as she saw fit and brought one of the comfier looking chairs over to that ideal spot. Blake hadn't realized how much time had passed until the lighting started to fade and the candle light's automatically turned on, signalling the end of the day.

The raven haired woman took another sip of her drink as she flipped her page, finding the end of the book as she closed it with a frown. She had liked the story, and now, there wasn't much else to do. She got up from her spot as she looked around, opting to finally put away some clothes. Though she wasn't going to stay for very long -it was only a temporary place, and something to return to, should she run into trouble again- She had at least put some things away to help ease her into her new home. She had read up that putting personal belongings in a home helps ease oneself into their new environment, and she already spent her first day lazing about. Blake walked into the small bedroom section of the bachelor pad as she went over to the dressers. Fortunately for her, putting away clothing in-game was a breeze. She simply pressed on the dresser door as it opened on it's own, revealing an empty list of inventory. She opened her own menu and simply dragged the clothing icon's into the dresser's inventory. In less than 5 minutes, her apparel inventory was neatly folded and stored in the dresser as they closed automatically.

Once finished, the black clad girl brought her now empty mug to the kitchen area of the pad, turning around as she gave a thorough sweep of the whole house. It wasn't too big. It had a living room area at the far end, near the doorway, a small dining room and kitchen area to the right corner where she stood. And a closed-off section for the bedroom to the left of her. It was a small, cozy place, and Blake felt she was finally all alone. It wasn't new to her. She felt isolated from most of society IRL anyway, so she was used to being independent. But something felt wrong to her. Or rather, she felt something release. An empty feeling inside her. It was then that she came to a conclusion.

Blake was all alone.

It seemed to fill her with a growing sadness, one she felt she could not suppress just standing there. And so, she walked over to the doorway, putting on her shoes before gearing herself up and exiting the empty house.

The air felt calm as she walked out of the house, a faint breeze blowing by as she walked down the giant branch that made up the house's walkway. The safehouse was located atop one of the giant trees the Forest of Wavering Mist had to offer. It provided sound seclusion to any and all threats. The place was too high up to spawn any monsters, and the thick fog cloaked the air below it, making it nearly impossible to spot from the naked eye. Even Blake herself had a hard time finding it, even with her accessory buffs.

The black shinobi jumped off of the giant branch as she plummeted through the thick mist. Though she could see clearly through the fog due to her new ability. She unsheathed her weapon and switched into kusarigama mode as she flung it at a nearby branch. The blade dug into the bark as she started to swing. With the momentum built, she launched up in the air, doing a backflip as she regained her balance and landed on one of the lower branches. The tree swayed lightly from the drop, but kept level as the shinobi girl returned the blade back in her grasp. Blake returned her weapon back into it's holster before jumping down to the ground below.

The black cat quickly planted onto the nearby tree as she searched around the area with her cat eyes. Finding nothing more than mere graphical animals scurrying across the tinier branches and the calm brush. Once the place was all clear, she continued her trek through the forest.

Cold, that was how the atmosphere felt to the child of snow. A beautiful rose had left her view and she was scared it would wilt in her absence, the inferno that was her closest ally had been reduced to a simmer, and her sister was not but a guilty mess.

Immediately after Ruby left they found out from Winter, that was when their group began to spiral out of control. Yang gave her a right hook worth remembering before storming out to search for her sister. Then when Weiss' sister sought comfort, she found none in the cold confused eyes of the ice queen. Between the strange feelings that had been blooming in Weiss and the utter shock of Winter not stopping Ruby, She just didn't know how to feel. The three of them didn't speak until the next day. Since then Yang had been nonstop training in a passive aggressive rage and Winter was barely present at all, leaving Weiss alone to handle all of what needed to be done to maintain them.

That had been about a week ago today

Thus as the first snow began to fall on the first floor Weiss began to silently cry, tears for her friend who was currently broken, tears for herself longing for an answer to what was going on, and tears for her sister hoping for her to find direction again. If not for this game she wouldn't be feeling like this, if not for this game Ruby wouldn't be so broken and Yang would still be herself.

'Calm yourself Weiss. If you hate this game so much, you know what you need to do'

And so she did what she always did. She froze her heart, she froze the sparks of emotion that were building within her, the river of tears flowing from her, Frozen. All that was left was one strong desire, the wish to bring a solid unity back to her life, to have her family with her again.

Moments later she was at the room of the blonde that she thought of as one of her sisters, Yang still pounding away at the damn punching bag she made. The sounds of the brawler jabbing away at it frustrating Weiss as she knew this was just another part of her friends extended tantrum.

"Yang, stop."

One last punch blew into the bag before Yang turned to face Weiss, glaring at her with intensity the heiress had never seen before. It wasn't long before the heiress realized she glared not at Weiss but at the mere notion that she was being interrupted.

"What, do you want." Yang spat as she questioned her friend, a behavior not unknown for her when she's anything like this.

"First, I want you to apologize to Winter for your actions," Yang opened her mouth to object but Weiss ignored it and continued, "Second, I want you to calm down and stop acting like you're the only one angry at how things went."

With that Yang closed her mouth and grit her teeth, she was beyond frustrated about the turn of events but even she knew yelling at her best friend wasn't going to help the matter. Instead she took a deep breath before nodding to Weiss and waiting for her to continue. Weiss took that queue and began to speak again.

"And thirdly, it's almost Christmas and I want my family together for it. So we're going to need to snap Winter out of her funk and either drag your sister back kicking and screaming or we need to join her. Either way we need to find her and you are about as much of a bloodhound when it comes to her as I would ever hope to find. So I want you to come with me so we can knock some sense into her."

Yang just stood there agape while she processed what had just been said, she hadn't even realized what day it was until Weiss mentioned the upcoming holiday. More importantly was exactly what she had said; her family included at least three people who weren't in the game so she clearly did not mean anything about blood. The realization that Weiss thought of Yang and Ruby as part of her family caused Yang to grin. To which Weiss chuckled before returning the smile.

"I take it I have your cooperation?"

"Neiss Weiss definitely has my cooperation," Yang replied with the goofiest of grins on her face as she felt a weight lift off of her shoulders.

"I will brew coffee, and I will pour it on you, and it'll will ruin your hair." Weiss replied with a deadpan expression before softening and walking out of Yang's room. She needed to let the blonde get ready and the heiress needed to go get information anyways. They had just less than a week to do what she wanted, and yet she had no doubts they would find their target.

The air felt cooler below then up above in the treehouse, which was one thing Blake had noticed when she first arrived there. The digital sun gave warmth to the taller trees above. And choked the forest below in a bone-chilling fog that seemed to never end. Truth be told, she hated the 3rd floor. But seeing as it was the most secluded map of all the three floors, it was the only option when dealing with threats as big as her ex-boyfriend, and the White Fang guild he ran. Thinking back to when they first met, it seemed almost harmless. He was never dangerous, never violent in any sort of way. In fact, Blake would've been more than okay with him meeting her parents, if it wasn't for the fact that they kicked her out a long time ago. It didn't make sense to the black haired shinobi, how it came to be such a hostile environment. But then she remembered one key thing, something Adam always used to defend his actions.

This. was a killing game.

He had told her that, right after the announcement with the man behind it all, Kayaba. It was a game of survival, and they had to fight to rise up and live. At first, it was just a few petty guilds, trying to take what they had earned. But as the game progressed, the guilds started running less and less. Thus, Adam and the guild decided to flip the tables, attacking any guild that opposed them. Even those that were unfortunate to stumble across them were eradicated without second thought. And the worst part, it wasn't just him. Pulling the deeds, stealing and robbing other players. Blake was his right hand woman. And while she pledged to never kill innocents, she had just as much blood on her hands as her psychopathical boyfriend. It was there that she had the conclusion: The game was evil. Drawing out fight in even the most innocent of players. Demanding death of the weaker, while promoting the stronger. It was the root of all evils, and Blake knew quite well she was no exception.

'It's just like the leader said to me, right before I killed him,' Blake thought, holding her hand up as she stared at it guiltily. 'The players I've killed in order to attain my freedom. They had no quarrel with me. I'm just like them.'

"W-what… have I done…?"

Her thought process was halted when her ears twitched, turning around as she jumped and threw a few throwing stars at the branches up above. The black cat shinobi landed atop the nearest branch as she equipped a couple kunai from her pouch. Spinning them with her fingers before gripping them in a reverse grip. She scanned around the area for the culprit, but coming up with nothing. Suddenly, the branch in front of her swayed as an odd looking distortion in the shape of a person, with two different coloured eyes -one brown and the other pink- stood before her as her info bar appeared before Blake. She used three key abilities: Illusionist, Weapon Spawn, and Flexibility. And she bore a simple name.

Neo.

"I can see through your illusion ability, attacker." Blake spoke. Throwing one of her knives at the distorted figure in front of her. The person simply grabbed the oncoming knife with ease as her distorted figure finally appeared before Blake. The woman wore simple brown leather chest armour, with pink and white high-heeled boots, along with black leggings. The girl was very short, looking to be barely 5 feet, even in heels. Her hair was a dual combination of pink on one half, and dark brown on the other, similar to her dual coloured eyes. Blake steeled herself for another attack, though the smaller woman simply smirked sinisterly as she let go of the knife, bringing her arm to her side as a distorted white and clear figure appeared in her hand. The glow broke off as an antique looking umbrella appeared. The multicoloured girl placed the umbrella on her shoulder as she turned her head to the side in a slightly flirtatious blush. Her head turned back, and as she opened her eyes, Blake noticed the colours switched places with each other.

The black cat ninja had all but a second to react to a foot coming to her face, blocking the attack immediately as she swept the other leg. Neo's eyes widened as she was swept off her feet, before noticing the far drop below the duo as Blake held her suspended from her previous foot she attacked with. The sound of an unsheathing sword brought Neo's attention back to the girl as she pointed her blade at the girl's back.

"Don't make me have to do this, Neo," Blake spoke. The multicoloured woman's eyes widened from her name brought up. "I have killed many more before you. Do not make me hurt another unnecessary victim."

The girl remained still for a moment, before trying to attack the black cat one last time. Blake simply ducked as she sighed sorrowfully. "I see. Forgive me then." She said, before piercing her blade through the woman's chest. Blake's eyes widened as an illusion of the girl disappeared. The black clad turned her head to a flying foot behind her.

The cat shinobi blacked out, she awoke to the feeling of the cool ground, and the image of a girl with a blade coming straight for her. Blake reacted with rapid fast reflex as she guided the blade to the side of her head, skimming past her ear in a bright red glow, along with her hands. The black cat's eyes widened in a feeling she had felt only a couple times before. A close second in her books, with Adam being the first. It was the realization that the person was far stronger than her, and if she slipped up even once in the battle, she was gonna be killed. And so, she decided on an approach that nobody else dare try. A rather sympathetic plot.

"Neo, please listen to me," Blake spoke. Instead of attacking, she grabbed the shorter's closest shoulder as she looked at her empathetically. "The path you're following is a very dark one."

The black cat disappeared as the real Blake stood right beside her. The multicoloured person swung her sword at the cat shinobi as said girl dodged it and grabbed her oncoming kick. The duo was locked in a stalemate as Blake grabbed Neo's hand that held her sword. "This game's twisted. It corrupts good people, and turns them into killers. Killers like you and me," She spoke, making Neo's eyes widen slightly as she processed what the black clad was saying. "I say this because I've seen it happen, I've been apart of it. Please, believe me when I say that path is just a never-ending pit. It will swallow you-"

Blake was cut off by a swift upwards kick, knocking her back a fair distance as she crashed into the tree behind her. Blake had all but a split second to recover as she rolled out of the way of an oncoming blade. The tree cut in half as it creaked and broke apart in a realistically eerie sound. Soon, it began falling the black cat's way as her eyes widened, sprinting as fast as she could from the fast-descending tree. She turned her head to see it was almost atop the girl, reacting fast as she jumped out of the way. The tree barely missed Blake as it fell with a loud thud, whacking her across the field and into another tree. Blake laid on the artificial dirt floor, winded and shaken as she slowly staggered back up. She was thankful there was no pain inside the game, as she could only imagine the amount of wrenching pain her body would be in after that. She could see a series of small, pixelated red gashes all over her body and attire. And her health bar was a shade of yellowish green as almost a full quarter was depleted. Blake turned her head to see the smaller woman, walking through the dust and debris, her blade shimmering in the light as she was walking up to Blake.

"Fine then. If my words won't resonate with you," The black cat ninja spoke, unsheathing her cleaver blade as she pulled the inner blade out of the extension. She held it up in a diagonal position as she readied herself.

"Then I'll just have to show you."

Meanwhile, in Zumfut. About 12 p.m.

The districts around the town were growing big as players from all around the 3rd floor started to crowd the important kiosks and booths around the town. After the massacre of the mercenary guild, the players had been growing more and more wary. It was deemed unsafe to go alone in the Forest of Wavering Mists. With people all over warning them to stay in packs and work to beat the floor boss, and players hooking up with safeguarding guilds to prevent any more from being killed. But there were still those few, those brave enough to go alone. Those with the skill to manage solo.

The walkways of Zumfut turned into giant highways as the crowds of people all moved in unison to the flow of traffic. An old looking man watched the flow from one of the shops near the contract board, watching the players taking missions from the NPC's who ran the quest delivery service. The man scoffed, watching as a small party finally received a mission as they merged with the traffic of people, followed by a new group of people about to do the same thing. "Jeez. The players these days, always wanting to take on these quests one-by-one. Nobody has time to stop and enjoy a nice beverage, or try some of the delicacies Zumfut has to offer…"

"It's because each-and-every one of us has a loved one, a family member. Someone to go home to."

The man jolted as he spotted a young player cloaked in a red hooded cape staring at the bulletin board in front of her. The man hadn't even saw her come up to it the split second he turned his head. "Jesus!" He exclaimed, clutching his heart as he alleviated the rapid thumping. "You're gonna give me a heart attack IRL, sneaking up on an old man like that."

The girl seemed to pay no attention to him as she turned her head to the side, peering over her shoulder at a group of men looking over one of the posted flyers on the board, the very one she was looking for.

"Man, I heard rumours about her," One of the men in the group spoke. "Apparently, this player killed an entire small guild all on her own."

"Yeah, they call her the black cat shinobi, because she wears ninja-esque clothing, and a hairband that sports black cat ears. Apparently, it gives her a great boost. It's what makes her so deadly here, on this floor."

"What else do you know of her?"

The group jumped in shock as they realized the young girl in red. A few rose petals floated away in the movement of the crowd beside them as the young girl walked up to them.

"What more can you tell me?"