A Reaper's Game -Part Two: The Skyward Offensive-

by Storm VII

After taking an entire month to clear only the first of Aincrad's One Hundred floors, the Grim Reaper sets his sights to the levels above him; confronting dangerous creatures and colorful individuals along every step of the way… which is to say nothing of the chaos he faces as Final Rebellion's new guild leader.

5. Connections

Sword XI: Connections

'Sanae had said something about some of my old moves being buried under the ones I already have,' Ragna thought to himself as he sat upright on the edge of his bed the next morning, his screen before him freshly opened as he cycled through the options to get to his skills. 'Let's see if that… that… whatever he is, knows what the hell he's talking about.' Opening up his section to his skills list. Ragna found the skill he'd acquired just a few hours earlier and opened the description.

A hefty and deceivingly quick skyward slash that carries your opponent into the air. The user is invulnerable upon startup and deals fair damage to the opponent while leaving them unable to counter while airborne.

XP: 0/10,000

Locked Branching Skills: Straight Punch; Uppercut

'Those are the moves that I used to use after I hit someone with the Inferno Divider Ragna realized as he looked over the additional moves unlocked. Closing the details on his currently open move, he then went to his previously unlocked Hell's Fang ability.

Coat your fist in hellish flames of the dark and charge forward at the enemy with a powerful lunge. Covers a strong distance and causes heavy stagger to the enemy if their attack is interrupted.

XP: 18/10,000

Locked Branching Skills: Gauntlet HadesNot Over Yet

'Okay… no follow ups, but I'll get two completely different techniques,' Ragna thought as he looked both moves over. 'Now that I think about it, I'm still not getting my Axe Kick follow up from my Inferno Divider list… so what gives?'

Trying to make sense of this, Ragna closed the information for this move and instead opened up the technique Scythe Form. He remembered where he'd gotten this technique, from a coincidental level up with Asuna and Leafa the night before the first floor's boss raid. That was back when he'd thought it would be a good idea to clear the boss on his own, to get the fight out of the way on his terms… it brought back a few memories.

By channeling your chaotic powers into the Aramasa, unlock the weapons' powerful Scythe form. While wielding this hefty weapon, all skills used will pertain to the Axe skill tree.

XP: 5/10,000

Locked Branching Skills: BloodScythe

Note: This technique has yet to utilize the SOUL EATER ability.

'That's what it is…' Ragna realized as he looked over the information. 'All of those other follow ups had me using my Soul Eater drive through my attacks… meaning I'm still not able fight with the Azure Grimoire the way I'm supposed to use the damn thing.' The truth was, this information sort of felt like a kick in the balls… but Ragna knew that he'd just have to make due with what he still had. 'Axe techniques though… I guess that's what the game considers the closest thing to a legit Scythe.'

Taking a quick look over his standard issue Sword Art Online skills, he saw that in addition to Horizontal Blast and Slash he now also carried a technique under the name of Smash… making him realize just how long it had been since he actually gave his stats a thorough look. Giving an annoyed sigh, he was about to close the menu before he saw that it was only five in the morning.

'Dammit,' Ragna thought as he finished closing his menu and tried laying in bed and resting his head against his pillow. Closing his eyes, he tried to slowly force himself back to sleep to get back what few hours he could before having to participate in the floor raid… he didn't feel the least bit drowsy and his body refused to relax. "Screw this."

Raising to his feet, the Reaper headed out his room and down the stairs of the inn. If he couldn't get the damn sleep he wanted, he'd at least get the chance to practice what he'd just learned.

Floor Three Fields

There was a bit of a bitter chill that night as a strong breeze blew through the grain fields of the third floor. Since it was so late at night the floor was covered by a strong shade of darkness and artificial wildlife called in the distance. The were very few players out at this time so it wasn't surprising that the Reaper found that there were none in his immediate area. Hoping he'd encounter something sooner rather than later, the Reaper headed through the fields and didn't get far when he heard the sounds of shuffling behind him.

What he found wasn't the regular Orcish warriors he was used to fighting on this floor. In fact he was certain that this was the first time he'd found this type of monster. Four tall and lanky scarecrow like creatures made of rough burlap, stuffed with hay, and decorated with tarnished farm clothes. Red demon eyes glared harshly at the Reaper as they moved forward with surprising control of their movement instead of the lumbering the Reaper had been expecting. Each of them carried a curved sword in their right hands; covered in rust with the edge badly chipped. The name above them read Ragged Scarecrow.

"Haven't seen you around before now," Ragna muttered as he grabbed his sword off of his belt. 'Funny, came out here to practice and the first monsters I come across sort of look like practice dummies.'

While four of the monsters started by running straight for the Reaper, there was single scarecrow in the back charging up a sword skill. Remembering the skill's description, Ragna rushed forward with his classic Hell's Fang and interrupted the attack. Like it had said, this move caused a harsh stager, long enough for Ragna to unleash a powerful two-handed Blast skill against the opponent and finished it off. Two of the scarecrows had a managed to turn around from Ragna's rapid movement to try and slash their sword at the Reaper's exposed back, but his Infernal Divider caught both of them and sent carried them into the air with him. Though he knew he lacked the skill, he tried unleashing an Uppercut to both of them from the move, but the action felt so awkward that he nearly missed and barely did any damage to the two. With no chance for a third attack while he was in midair, Ragna landed on the ground and unleashed his weapon into it's Scythe form. Making a great swing, he caught both of the Scarecrows and destroyed them both.

'Now then, let's try out that Axe skill I got,' Ragna thought as he brought his scythe back and began charging the skill on the last remaining Scarecrow. It turned out to be the wrong move as the charge time took far longer than he'd thought it would and the agile scarecrow managed to get a hit in on the Reaper and canceled out the attack. The Reaper gave an annoyed grunt as he took damage, but unlike the damaged he'd taken from fighting his shadow self the previous day this didn't hurt. With Ragna having taken damage, the Scarecrow tried to charge an actual sword skill, but that was the opening that Ragna had been looking for.

"Hell's Fang!" Ragna shouted as he soared forward with the skill once more and caused the Scarecrow to stagger once more. Now that his opponent was staggering, he had time to commit to his Smash skill while keeping his scythe out. Roaring, he swung into the attack and dealt tremendous damage and caused the final monster to shatter.

The results screen came up showing the XP, Col, and items he'd obtained from that last fight. There wasn't anything overly impressive so Ragna discarded the results screen before deciding he'd better go into his skills selection to see if anything had changed there. Turning his scythe back into its base form and putting it back on his belt, he headed into his menu and scanned through the info he needed.

'Let's see here,' he thought to himself as he looked over his moves. 'That Horizontal Slash move didn't get any thing, but then again I didn't use that move during the fight. My Hell's Fang got two experience points and I used it twice, so that makes some sense. I only got a single point to my Inferno Divider, meaning it's specifically how many times you use it and not the number of opponents you hit. That single point to Scythe Form is bad news; it only counts as a point when you transform it. I also only got a single point for using Smash, so I guess that means it won't count an attack if it gets interrupted. I can understand why they're doing that, but...' Ragna gave a long sigh. 'I seriously got to use these things ten thousand times to master them? That sucks… but I guess with a solid hundred floors to clear I'll have plenty of time.'

Ragna could have ended his train of thought there and already have been slightly annoyed with what he'd discovered regarding his skills, but of course his mind had to remind him of yet another problem. Since he was trying to stay low regarding his skills, he'd have to focus on using them when he was playing solo. Normally that wouldn't be too large of an issue with his lone wolf nature, but as the head of the guild it meant he'd have people counting on him to get them through the death game.

'Either I let them know what I can really do with thing and start to expose them to my Azure in full… or I have to settle for grinding out in the dead of night,' Ragna considered as he crossed his arms. 'I still need to make sure word about this thing doesn't go out too far… but maybe if I explain that it's for their eyes only they'd understand.' The Reaper sighed as he realized an obvious problem. 'But it doesn't help at all that I've got a friggin' info broker in my group.'

His thoughts and consideration having gone on for long enough, he heard the sounds of enemies being spawned into the air and noticed the exact same group of Scarecrows from before. Figuring he'd just have to take this in stride, he brought out his weapon and went to meet them head on.

Later -In Front of the Inn-

"So everybody is ready?" Liz asked, looking over the group of four as they were about to leave the inn and head for the boss dungeon. "Everyone's got their equipment ready and you've got all of the healing items you need?"

"Yeah, we're all set to go," Ragna told her as he stood with a noticeable slouch, fighting back a yawn. He'd ended up staying in the fields longer than he'd meant to and had barely left himself with enough time to scarf down a quick breakfast. Luckily it seemed like everyone else in his party for the day was well rested and ready for a boss fight… well that first one at least.

"Gotta say, I still can't get used to the feeling," Klein admitted with a sigh. "In a couple of hours we'll be raiding the boss room, but it feels like any other day out here… it's almost like the calm before the storm."

"I wish you wouldn't make that comparison, now you've got me worried," Sinon said with a sigh at Klein's wording.

"You two are going to have an easy time with it," Agil told them. "Both of you are on the skirmisher force, you've only got to take the boss's minions. Meanwhile I'm the guy who has the 'get hit so others don't have to' job." He turned to Ragna. "Do me a favor and finish that thing off quick, would ya?"

"Oi oi, what's with all of the complaining all of a sudden?" Ragna demanded from his team. "It's just another boss raid, I don't see what you three are so worried about."

"It's only Sinon's first raid," Klein told him as he thought it over. "That and… when I brought up the raid details to a couple of people last night they were still worried that we're going to have a similar case to what happened back on the first floor."

"Couple a' players managed to clear the second floor without a problem and they didn't have to worry about that darn pow'r boost Illfang got," Argo told the group. She then gave a small mischievous giggle. "Sides, even if that thing does show up, you've already got the key to beating it with you."

"I really wish you wouldn't talk like that," Ragna muttered with a sigh before looking to Leafa, Yuuki, Silica, and Asuna. "What about you four? Got any big plans for today?"

"There's a dungeon on the east side that someone found yesterday," Asuna told the group. "Even if this floor's about to be cleared, we figured that we'd head over there and see what it has to offer."

"Argo told us about it, and she told us that it's really unexplored so far," Yuuki explained excitedly. "If we manage to get in now, we might be able to get first pick of some really awesome items."

"Sounds like pretty damn good info… which begs the question, how much did you charge them?" the Reaper demanded from his Info Broker.

"I didn't charge 'em anything; it's not like I got any reason to charge m' own guild," Argo told him. Due to past experience, Ragna didn't believe that for a second. "Adding their charge to m' Guild Leaders tab on the other hand…"

"I got a friggin' tab now? Dammit Argo," the Reaper swore as the rest of his Guild gave a short laugh. Ragna just shook his head. "We should be heading out then."

"Before you go… can I have a minute?" Leafa asked. Ragna shrugged. "I mean… in private."

"Always something," he muttered before looking to his raid team. "You guys start heading out; I'll catch up in second."

"Don't take too long now," Klein told him with a smirk before turning to his old guild. "Go out there and get some good experience! I want everyone leveled up by the time we're done!"

"YES BOSS!" the former Fuurin Kazan guild shouted in unison to their guild leader. Klein shot them all a smile and started leading Agil and Sinon off.

"Good luck with the boss raid! I know you can do it!" Silica cheered on for the Reaper, leaving Ragna to shoot her a small smirk. Those members who weren't in the raid party headed off to their own destination and soon the only two left in the area were Ragna and Leafa.

"So what was it that you had to ask me in private?" Ragna demanded as he finally let out that yawn he'd been holding back for so long.

"It's about Sinon… are you sure you know what you're doing?" the blonde asked him, leaving Ragna to groan. "What? I'm serious."

"You're asking me when we're about to head out? Your timing is terrible," the Reaper told her with annoyance. "If you didn't want her in the raid party, you should've said something last night."

"It's not the Boss raid that I have a problem with, it's the fact that you're still keeping Sinon at arm's length," Leafa corrected. "When are you going to ask her to join the guild?"

"I won't, can I go now?" Ragna asked boredly, even though it was clear he had next to know chance of getting off that easily. Leafa's scowl made it readily apparent that he wasn't getting off that easily. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is that you're not asking an awesome new player to join, even though you're the reason she's doing so well," Leafa scolded him. "I think that she'd be an amazing fit for the guild and you know she'd be, so why aren't you asking?"

"Because it ain't my decision to make, it's hers," Ragna told Leafa. "If I asked her to join, she'd probably feel like she'd have to do it since I helped her."

"...So?" Leafa questioned, unable to see Ragna's point.

"So I don't want her to feel like she doesn't have a damn choice about where she has to go," the Reaper explained. "If I ask her now she'll join because I helped her and she'd feel like she owed me. I'm not going to pressure her one way or the other; she's got the damn freedom to do what she wants so I'll let her make the call."

"Are… are you saying that I've been too overbearing?" the blonde asked, starting to become worried about her own actions.

"If I'm being completely honest maybe a little, but if you hadn't at least made us meet Sinon could have been killed by now if we hadn't looked out for her," Ragna decided, trying to be fair in his analysis. "If she asks to join the guild I'll let her in no questions asked. But we're a guild on the Frontlines; there are plenty of safer places that she could join."

"And the reason you're taking her out into a floor raid?" she asked.

"...I'm hoping that if she does well enough out here, she'll at least see how far she's managed to come," Raagna told her. "Like I said, what she chooses to do is on her. That sound fair?"

"I… I guess," Leafa said with a sigh realizing that Ragna still had a strong point. "But… I'd still like you to put an effort in getting her to join us."

"Yare yare…" Ragna sighed. 'I'm just not getting through to her.'

"Look, just make her a part of our team and I'll…" Leafa paused for a moment, trying to figure out what the Reaper would possibly want to convince him.

Money? As much as he complained on spending it on food, he actually had a decent amount of Col from his constant fighting. Better equipment? No, he wouldn't give up his custom gear for anything. Food? ...If she could find a way to get some food up for his palette then maybe, but she didn't know how she'd get food of that quality just yet. She thought long and hard, but in the end only one idea came to mind.

"One date."

"...Beg pardon?" Ragna asked with a bit of surprise.

"I… I'll go on a date with you if Sinon joins our guild, deal?" Leafa said, her eyes seeming to fixated at her feet as her face was lit by a slight blush. Ragna wasn't having an easy time of keeping his own small blush down at her offer.

"Listen, Leafa… I-"

"Leafa, come on! We need to hit that dungeon soon!" the two heard Yuuki call as they noticed that she, Silica, and Asuna were standing further down the street. Before Ragna could finish what he was going to say, Leafa just gave him a small nod and ran off to join her friends.

"Oh hell…" Ragna began with a low groan as he shook his head and began following after his raid force. "This isn't going to end well…"

Later -Outside of the Dungeon-

"You sure this is the place?" Klein asked as Ragna's small team of four stood at the entrance to the dungeon. The trip here had been uneventful once Ragna had caught up (he refused to comment on what he and Leafa had discussed), and there was still plenty of time to explore the dungeon in full before the raid began. Klein seemed to have cause for concern as he looked at the pillar reaching to the next level of in the distance. "...You'd think that it would be closer to the pillar."

"It's actually more that the dungeon is that damn big," Ragna said as he made a few taps and sent the team his map data. "It goes all the way to the pillar from here and there are a lot of branching paths, so we'll have a lot of ground to explore before noon."

"We shouldn't push ourselves too hard though," Sinon told him. "It wouldn't be good if we exhausted ourselves before the actual boss raid."

"Which is why we've still got over three hours," Ragna told her as he finished sending the info and closed his menu. "You guys start feeling tired just let me know and we'll head straight for the chambers."

"Hey, we got company headed our way," Agil informed as he looked behind him. "Group of girls it looks like."

"Girls?" Klein asked, seeming to pick up on that keyword. Looking behind, he caught sight of the party and seemed to get surprised. "I… Is that the Winged Maidens Guild?"

"Yeah, that's them. They're the ones that found this place and their leader's the one that set this whole thing up," Ragna informed his friend. "You know about them?"

"There's hardly a gamer in SAO that doesn't," Klein told him as he seemed to try and adjust his scruffy hair. "Last I heard they're a 20 member guild making them the largest one so far, they've only recently formed and they're gaining traction… all girls."

"So… guys are trying to get into the guild then?" Agil asked as he crossed his arms, the Final Rebellion group seeming to have decided to wait for the other guild.

"Hell yeah they are!" Klein told him. "Wouldn't you want to get into a guild like that?"

"Pretty sure my wife would kill me if I tried," Agil told them with a wistful sigh.

"Wife?" Sinon asked, looking up to the large ax user. "Didn't know you were married."

"Yeah, but she's on the outside since I'm the bigger gamer between us," he informed before smirking. "Once we get out of this place I'll introduce you guys to her."

'If I live that long,' Ragna thought darkly as he remembered the time limit he was on. Shoving those thoughts to the back of his head, he noticed that the Maidens were close enough to start a conversation with. "Didn't know you were coming by early too."

"My team here is close to their next level up, and I'd rather they get a few before the boss right in case we need it," their leader Sakura told him, eyeing Ragna's sword which he hadn't been carrying during the meeting the day prior. "So that's the infamous Sword-Scythe that managed to kill Illfang."

"I see you're a Scythe user yourself," Ragna noted as his head gave a small gesture to the weapon on her back. "Anyways, on my right is Agil my Tank. On the left I got Klein and Sinon, my two skirmishers."

"Good to meet all of you, I hope that you have a lot to bring to today's raid," Sakura said, before noticing something strange about Sinon; her name was lacking Ragna's guild symbol beside it. "...You're not a part of his guild?"

"No… not officially anyways," Sinon told her, giving her a rather passive answer. "I… I've just done work with Ragna's group in the past."

"I see…" Sakura said, seeming to look over the young girl rather analytically. She then shook her head. "My name's Sakura, leader of Winged Maiden Guild and organizer of this raid." She then turned to the girls in her group. "Introduce yourselves ladies."

"Greetings, my name is Helena," the green haired girl in full plate said as she adjusted her glasses. "I'm going to be performing as a Tank today."

"Lilly and same," the brown haired girl in heavy chainmail told the group. "And here we've got Maval, our skirmisher."

"Hiya," said the shorter blonde, giving a greeting wave and a large smile.

"N-Nice to meet you all," Klein said with a slight stutter at talking to the girls. Ragna sighed as he gripped his forehead. "So uh… you guys want to explore the place together or…?"

"We've already seen everything there is to yesterday, so we wouldn't be 'exploring' per say. Didn't you get the map data?" Lilly reminded him, though not doing so to be rude. She gave a laugh as Klein gave a gulp at his mistake. "Don't worry, I'll be there to hold your hand through the scary parts…"

"Uh… Th-thanks, I-" Klein tried to say as the girls started heading inside the dungeon. The redhead gave a sigh as he slumped his head forward. "Damn… they must have thought I'm a total loser."

"You sure about that?" Ragna asked his friend, only for Klein to look up at him in surprise. "I mean… I can't say I'm an expert or anything, but…" Ragna scratched the side of his nose. "That… might've sounded more like flirting to me…"

"You serious?" the samurai asked the Reaper who only gave an unsure shrug, as did Agil when Klein looked to him for answers. Sinon didn't have anything to add and only stood with her arms crossed. "In that case, you guys mind if I take point today?"

"Don't get in over your head, but go right ahead," Ragna told him, throwing his co-leader a well deserved bone. As Klein headed into the dungeon to catch up with the girls.

"You know he's just going to try and show off, right?" Sinon asked him, knowing it was obvious.

"Course, I'm just wondering how motivated he gets whenever a girl shows interest in him like this," he told her.

"But what if he falls short?" she asked.

Agil gave a wistful chuckled. "I get the feeling he won't let himself."

Later -Inside the Dungeon-

"Seeeyyyyaaa!" Klein shouted as he unleashed a katana skill rushing through and cutting through one of the two orcish warriors that had been charging him. Turning around, he went into a wide area of effect skill with his katana as he cut both of the orcs and finished them both off with that wide swing.

"Someone's having fun!" Lilly noted with some excitement, as Klein gave off a confident smirk as he earned points… right before noticing the Orc commander that had charge a sword skill into its Falchion right next to him. "Switch!"

Rushing forward to take Klein's place, she managed to bash the attack away with her kite shield. Using a mace skill (on the weapon that Liz did work on, mind you) she smacked the creature across the face and dealt a harsh blow to it. Rushing past her, Klein unleashed another weapon skill and finished the monster with a katana swing through its neck.

"Yeah! We're totally in sync!" Klein declared, getting new confidence as he results screen came up, showing that he'd increased in level. From a short distance away, Ragna and the others watched on.

"Damn, they're hardly leaving anything for us," the Reaper said, though he couldn't help but smirk at the sight. "Guess he's really motivated now."

"Motivated yes, but your friend's not the only one acting like they're having the time of his life," Sakura said from beside the follow guild leader as she noticed that Lilly also seemed to be enjoying herself. "Wasn't he the head of the Furinkazan guild? I heard they were one of the earliest guilds."

"He used to be, but after we cleared the first floor I had so many people I was working with that he wanted me to form my own guild," the Reaper explained. "In the end I went with it, and his guild became a part of mine."

"And thus Final Rebellion was formed," Sakura concluded as another monster shattered from Lilly's mace. "Looks like I won't be seeing any of your special moves until the boss raid."

"Not with those two you won't," Ragna told her as he checked his map. "Come on, chamber's not far off."

Later -In Front of the Boss Door-

'I might not have liked what Klein was saying, but he actually might have a point,' Sinon thought to herself as she stood in front of the boss door with the others of the two guilds. This does feel like the calm before the storm.'

Everyone in the group was busy with something; Klein and Lilly were busy chatting (Klein of course making the occasional mistake and becoming a stuttering mess), Maval and Helena seemed to arguing fiercely over something trivial, and Sakura's was busy organizing her items for the boss raid. Currently Sinon was with Agil and Ragna while the axe user tried to discuss certain approaches to the boss fight. Ragna didn't say a word as he kept his arms cross and his back against the wall, only occasionally nodding or shaking his head. Sinon herself tried to pay attention to Agil's ideas, but she was having a hard time with her pre-battle nerves.

"Sorry to interrupt," came Sakura's calm and collected voice voice as she walked over to the group. Agil immediately stopped talking as he turned to face the new comer. Ragna didn't move. "Would mind terribly if I steal Sinon here for a moment?"

'Steal?' Sinon thought in her mind with due suspicion.

"...You'd have to ask her," Ragna eventually answered not even bothering to open his own eyes. "She doesn't answer to me."

"I've noticed," Sakura told him before looking to Sinon. "It'll just take a few minutes."

"I guess that's fine..." Sinon said as she walked with Sakura. She was about to bring out her spear to prepare from some hunting, but to her surprise Sakura stopped once before they could exist the same zone.

"So… how is it working with Grim Reaper Ragna?" Sakura asked, calling Ragna by what she considered to be his official title.

"It's fine I suppose… He's a capable fighter and carries a strong presence wherever he goes," Sinon decided to tell her. From where was standing and paying attention to Agil, he could still hear the both of them in discussion. "The members of his guild seem like decent people and he has a basic team covered."

"Sounds like he's a fair guild leader at least," the fellow guild leader noted as she looked Ragna's way. "So why aren't you a part of his guild then?"

"I… This is only supposed to be a temporary partnership," Sinon told her. "It's nothing against him, but… that was what we'd agreed upon."

"Then in that case can I offer you place with the Winged Maidens?" she offered Sinon. The sudden offer was enough to leave the spear user at a loss of words. "If the Grim Reaper thinks that you're good enough to participate in a floor raid, that's all the reference I'd need. I think you'd be a good fit for our group."

"I'm not sure…" Sinon told her. "I… I'm not exactly what you'd call social."

"Compared to white hair and brooding over there you might as well be the life of the party," Sakura told her with a small smirk. At tick mark appeared on Ragna's forehead as he heard the insult, but he didn't do anything. "I understand your reservations and if you wanted to work alone, but Sword Arts a dangerous game and you'll need to have a good team at your side if you're going to survive. With us though it's more than just a team… it's a family."

"A... family?" Sinon repeated.

"Some cases are more literal than others, take Maval and Helena over there," the guild leader said as she gestured to the two bickering. "These two might seem like they're always bickering, but they only fight because Helena's a little to protective of her sister-in-law while her wife's working to catch up in levels." She then looked to Lilly who was talking to Klein. "And Lilly's a third generation immigrant from Italy who used to be very different back when I first met her. When I first met her on launch day, she was actually masquerading as a man because she'd always be a stuttering mess when she was talking to any guy, especially if said guy was hitting on her." Sakura smiled. "A few weeks with us and she managed to overcome her shyness little by little."

'Which might explain why she's taken a liking to Klein at the moment,' Sinon thought to herself as she watched Lilly laugh while it looked like Klein was embarrassed at something he'd said. 'He was in the same shoes as she used to be.'

"What I'm telling you is that if you joined our group you'd be taken care of. Maybe you'd even find a few people that you could call friends," she offered before realizing her position. "Unless… you were hoping to join Ragna's guild of course."

"I…" Sinon tried to come up with an answer. True working with Ragna and his guild wasn't unbearable, but the Reaper had never said anything about wanting her to join. As far as she could tell, he hadn't even hinted that it was something he'd want. "I'm afraid I just don't know."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to give you something else to worry about, and on today of all days," Sakura apologized before putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to give me an answer now, just let me know after you've given it some thought."

"…I can do that much," Sinon promised as she headed back to to her team. It seemed like Agil had held off on going over the ideas for while she was talking to Sakura, only standing and waiting with the Reaper.

"So… what'd she have to say?" the Ax asked her once she'd returned.

"She… wants to join the Winged Maidens after the boss raid," Sinon told him awkwadly, not carrying any of the confidence that Ragna had given her or her own normally passive nature.

"That… right?" Agil asked again, before trying to put on his best smile. "I mean… damn, that's awesome. They're the biggest guild around right now, so it's a great chance for you."

"Yeah, great," Sinon repeated, before looking at Ragna who had his arms crossed as he slouched against the wall. If Sinon hadn't known any better, she might've guessed that he was sleeping. "Do you think I should go for it?"

"In the end it's up to you," Ragna told her without hesitation. 'As long as she gets into a good guild, she'll be safe and this way I won't be making the choice for her.' "...It's not a bad move though."

"Right," Sinon said in response, almost sounding a little disappointed. Agil was feeling a touch uncomfortable as he watched them. Thankfully though, it seemed like a distraction had just shown itself.

"Hey, is that one of the other groups?" he asked, forcing Ragna to finally open his eyes as he looked at the new group.

"Yep, that's Diable's group right there," Ragna told him noticing that Diabel was heading over to the three of them along with another of teammates, one that Ragna recognized.

"Agil, good to see you again," Diabel said as the two shook hands. "I haven't seen you since the first floor."

"Yeah, and I was tank then too," he told the blue haired player. "Some things just don't change."

"Well you were one of the best tanks during that raid, you're an obvious choice for the role," Diabel said before looking to Sinon. "Sorry, have we met?"

"No, I'm just a player who's working with Ragna for the time being," Sinon told him, keeping her words as neutral as she could. 'For the time being.' "I'm Sinon; I'm on the Skirmisher unit today."

"Nice to meet you then," Diabel told her before gesturing to the player next to him. "This is Vance; he's the guy that managed to clear the last floor with a team of ten."

"Good to meet both of you," Vance told Sinon and Agil before looking at Ragna. "...Heard you were coming, nice that you quit your solo playing long enough to help where you're needed."

"Could say the same about you," Ragna told him reclusively. "You're not on DPS duty though?"

"Nah, I'm supposed to go as a skirmisher today; apparently another team took up every DPS spot they could and then some," the scimitar user shook his head. "Anyways take care of yourselves in there; last floor dungeon was easy, but we still had a couple of close calls."

"Stay safe yourself I guess," Ragna said as Vance gave him a small smirk. As he and Diabel walked away, Ragna looked to Sinon. "Met him shortly after Floor Two was cleared, he's good in fight and he doesn't seem like a total ass, so you can trust him to do his job when you're in there."

"And Diabel's a good Tank, so I'll have some decent support on my end," Agil said with some relief before turning to Ragna. "That just leaves you and Sakura with whoever else manage that DPS role."

"Don't remind me…" the Reaper said tilting his head further downwards as he seemed annoyed by the facts.

"You don't seem to be a fan of the group you've been assigned to," Sinon noted. Ragna didn't comment on the observation. "Who are you working with anyways?"

"...Take a look behind you; asshole brigade just showed up," he instructed without even opening his eyes.

Turning to look behind them as Ragna had instructed, Sinon's eyes went wide with surprise before going tight with a glare. Kibaou and his group made their way forward into the chambers with the other teams. Not only was Kibaou a part of this, but the group he'd brought along was the exact same one that had been giving her trouble when she and Ragna had first met, meaning…

"Don't tell me," Ragna began as he'd opened his eyes long enough to see Diabel making his way forward to talk to the team leader. "Good lord, he had to do this today."

"Do what?" Sinon asked as she saw Diabel walking forward to confront the fourth leader.

"What are you doing?" he asked Kibaou directly. "You said that you were bringing five members to the boss raid, not six."

"I had trouble deciding who I wanted to leave behind, so in the end I decided it'd be better just to bring everyone," Kibaou explained. "And another DPS member means that the boss is going to fall that much quicker."

"Another DPS member?" Diabel asked as he grit his teeth. "We already let you bring in five and that's being generous, why are you-?"

"Because I'm looking out for the raid force and I don't want to leave this to chance," Kibaou said speaking up as he wanted to make sure everyone heard this. "One or two extra people are just going to make beating back whatever's on the other side of the boss door that much easier."

"Don't give us that! We all know what you're trying to do!" Diabel shouted at him. "I can't believe that you'd do something this underhanded after all of the hate you giving to the Beta players back on Floor One! You were yelling at them for trying to get an early advantage, but really all you want is to be at the top of the game yourself!"

Kibaou was silent for a long moment, not saying a word to Diabel or even looking at the others in the room. You could hear a pin drop in the room. Eventually, he looked to the rest of his team who only shot their boss smug grins… before he himself shot one at Diabel.

"Funny that you're bringing that up," he said straight to Diabel's face, something made the blue haired knight balk. "Back on the Floor One, who was the idiot who charged out into the open and attacked the boss while its health was down just so he could get the last drop that he's wearing right now?"

"Diabel?" Sakura asked to the other team lead. Diabel was having a hard time speaking or finding his voice.

"I… I… I know what I did…" he finally managed to say. "I'm not proud of it… I nearly all of us killed, and I might have if it wasn't Ragna back there." The Reaper tried to ignore all of the sets of eyes that were momentarily focused on him. "But that's why I'm still wearing this coat he gave me… he gave me a second chance after that stupid mistake, and I know that I can't risk everyone's lives on some petty last attack bonus." His glare at Kibaou was scathing. "The real question is if you know that."

"...Why do you think I'm bringing in a sixth member?" Kibaou argued back, not letting Diabel have the final word. He turned to Sakura with a scoff. "Whenever you decide to do this thing, my team and I are ready." Not giving a chance for any protest, his team walked off to the far side of the room.

"And people are actually following him?" Sinon asked with a scowl on her face. "How could Sakura even agree to work with someone like that?"

"Hey, you worked with him for a mission didn't you?" Ragna answered in return. "When I heard he was on the team I thought I'd try to the reasonable one for once… goes to show what good that will do."

"...Make sure he doesn't get that last attack bonus he's after," Sinon said surprising the Reaper with her vendetta. "Even if you have to show off more than you'd wanted to… he doesn't deserve it with what he's trying."

"...You know, I kinda like this side of you," Ragna admitted with a small smirk.

"What was that?" Sinon asked with a small blush on her face at Ragna's confession.

"Nothing, let's just focus on being ready for the job ahead. You worry about going as a support, I'll worry about focusing on the boss and making sure that asshole doesn't pull anything."

"Works for me," Sinon told him.

About fifteen minutes later, Heathcliff arrived with his promised team of three. Next to him was a man who stood at about his height and carried a deathly serious face. He had dark hair that was parted in the middle so it wouldn't get in the way of his eyes. His face was narrow with features so sharp it almost looked sickly. He was equipped in navy blue heavy armor and a single handed sword, but lacked a shield. It made some sense as Heathcliff had promised he would be providing two skirmishers. The name atop him clearly read Kuradeel.

The other member that Heathcliff brought was a woman who too stood at tall at close to his height. This woman gave of much more of a skirmisher vibe with her lighter leather armor which seemed to be a touch… tight on her features. She carried a lance on her back, its point topped with vicious looking barbs. Her crimson hair covered one of her eyes, but the part of her face Ragna could see had an expression that looked confident and… something else. The name above her read Rosalia.

"Looks we're finally ready to get started," Ragna said as he finally got off of the wall before looking to Agil and Sinon. "Be safe as you can out there… I'm counting on you."

"We'll all do our jobs and get through this," Agil promised his leader. Ragna gave a single strong nod in return. "Should I say anything to Klein?"

"Nothing that he wouldn't already know," the Reaper humorlessly shot back as he headed for the boss door along with the other leaders. Taking his small medallion out of his inventory he placed it into the door's indent, causing the connected lightning bolt to glow a powerful yellow.

"Here we go again…" Diabel sighed, mostly to himself as he placed the third medallion in its place and caused yet another bolt to glow.

Kibaou said nothing as he walked up to the doorway and placed his medallion in the doorway. Ragna had half expected he'd place his last so that he could use what little leverage he still had to get his way… but apparently Kibaou knew that he was already pressing hs chance on getting his reward.

Heathcliff was just as silent as he stepped forward and placed a medallion in the last opening. As final bolt became illuminated with energy the entire room seem to shake as the whole door seemed to glow with energy. Everyone in the room took a cautious step back and readied their weaponry as the glow increased to a blinding intensity. The shaking persisted another few excruciating seconds before it finally stopped. When the light subsided, the door was gone leaving an opened entrance to the dark boss room.

"Everyone divide into your teams and move forward!" Sakura directed. "Today is the day we finally clear the Third floor!" The group gave a loud cheer as the rushed into the Boss chamber, the room lighting itself as the entered and revealing the boss within.

In the center of the room was a large collection of wispy black rags which formed a menacing midnight cloak. As the the player approached it the collection sprang to life rising hauntingly to its feet. Beneath the long cloak the raid force could see the burlap limbs of a scarecrow and a leathery faceless head beneath the cloak hood. Standing up at full height, the limber creature stood at nearly 30 feet tall.

"So we've got to fight against some giant ragdoll?" Vance asked before he heard the crackle of lightning forming from overhead. "Oh, that can't be good."

Splitting though the ceiling and striking with deadly force, an enormous lightning bolt struck the scarecrow and sent it's power throughout its entire form. Electrified eyes and a slim mouth appeared on the scarecrows face as its form flickered with light closing it's hands and placing them together, a scythe formed from the electric energy with a deadly curved edge at the top. The electricity forming its mouth expanded as it less loose a shrill scream that shook its boss chambers as its four health bars and name were revealed.

DRALAX THE STORM REAPER

(Cue Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Divine Bloodlines Extended)

'...Is the damn boss trying to make this personal?' Ragna thought to himself with slight annoyance.

"Tank line forward!" Sakura commanded taking charge of the operation. "I want everyone here to study its moveset and see how hard it hits. Be ready to heal yourselves once I send the Attack force in!"

It was then that the massive Scarecrow waved its hand and brought down ten lightning bolts around the arena. The Tank force braced themselves, thinking that the boss was readying a powerful attack with the bolts. Instead where each lightning bolt struck a minion spawned into the room. These were cloaked scarecrows like the boss, save for the fact that these stood at only six feet tall and instead of a scythe they each had long nail-like claws. The text above them read Nightmare Watchers.

"Skirmisher team! Keep those minions off of us! Destroy then as quickly as you can and keep them from interfering!"

"On it!" Sinon agreed as she ran at the scarecrow closest to her as she charged a skill into her spear. Once the attack was ready, she unleashed the move and let it carry her forward as she impaled the monster through. Since this was a floor boss minion, the monster didn't go down right then and there and attempted to perform a counter on her. Bringing her spear around she managed to knock the creature off balance with the blunt end of her weapon and interrupted the attack, Moving forward with another strike she managed to catch the scarecrow in the head and caused it to shatter.

Klein had admittedly been a little disappointed when he'd heard that he wouldn't be teamed up with Lilly during the boss raid (Ragna was a admittedly a little surprised that he hadn't been begging Agil for a position change), but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to give this boss raid his all. He too made a charging slash at the scarecrow and made a deep cut across its chest. When the monster tried to retaliate with the it's claw Klein stepped back to avoid them. The monster's attack hadn't finished there and Klein parried the monster's two follow swipes from each claw before cutting the monster in half with a powerful swing.

From Heathcliff's team, the sword user Kuradeel found himself facing down two of the the scarecrows at once. While he normally wasn't the type to rely on brute force, he did have the heaviest armor out of anyone in the Skirmisher force. Changing up an area of effect sword skill, he take a hit from each of the scarecrows that barely affected his health before unleashing the move and sending both of them into the red. He gave a smirk as he moved to finish his opponents… only to have both of the scarecrows impaled through their chests by Rosalia's lance. She gave him an amused smirk as she stole his kills, causing Kuradeel to scowl.

"Skirmisher force stay on them!" Sakura commanded as Vance cleaved through another of the scarecrows with his single handed scimitar. "Tank force back off for now! DPS force watch for the scythe skills when it brings it to the side it's an AOE, when it brings it up-!"

Sakura's words fell on deaf ears as Kibaou's entire force rushed forward through the Tank team, already charging their weapon skills as Dralax missed one of the retreating tanks with its scythe swing. There was a flash of different colors along as Kibaou's group unleashed their attacks and did considerable damage to the monster. Gritting her teeth as she was being ignored during a vital part in their strategy. Deciding she'd have a few select words for Kibaou after the fight she tried to move forward to capitalize on the full guild assault. She couldn't there was just no possible way she could attack from the front with all of Kibaou's members taking up room with all of their large two handed weapons. She nearly got cut by an axe blade as a member of Kibaou's team brought the weapon back. Gritting her teeth, she instead started running for the side of the monster to try and get a place where she could attack it without interference. As she moved, she saw the monster charging an AOE sword skill and Kibaou's team didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"ALL OF YOU GET BACK!" she shouted, but to no avail as they continued to mercilessly swarm the boss, making all of them easy targets. She saw the scythe swing through the air, assuming the worst as-

CLANG!

From out of seemingly nowhere, Ragna burst through the line of attacks and deflected the scythe swing with a single handed swing from his sword. His counter attack was enough to send the opposing Reaper off balance. Shifting into a Blast skill he-

"OUT OF OUR WAY YOU IDIOT!" shouted one of the girls as Kibaou's group charged forward getting in the way and forcing the Reaper to cancel his skill before he cut one of Kibaou's members to shreds. Gritting his teeth, he ran around the group to the monster's back, cost him time to try and get a decent vantage point.

"And people were telling me you were the one that would never listen!" Sakura shouted as she finally managed to score a strike on the monster's back. Ragna didn't say anything, only swinging his sword against the monster's back and scoring a hit. On the other side Kibaou's group was taking damage from some of the boss's regular attacks. No one was at a severe risk yet, but it did seem like the best time for Tank force to take over. "Tank force! Get ready for-!"

"Everybody get back and heal!" Kibaou shouted at his group who retreated all at once barely giving the Tanks time to get into position. Diabel would have been struck by Dralax's wicked scythe had Heathcliff not intercepted and blocked the attack with his shield in a perfect parry. Shaking her head at Kibaou's attitude, Sakura followed the retreat with Ragna following closely behind to give her cover.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Sakura yelled at Kibaou while Heathcliff and the rest of the tank force fended off the Storm Reaper's assault, Agil deflecting an AOE swing much the same way he'd seen Ragna do.

"I'm getting us results!" Kibaou yelled as he pointed at the monster. "Look at that thing; we've already got it below half health! Either you try and attack that boss where you can or you stay out of our way and let us do our damn job!"

'Honestly,' Sinon thought to herself as Maval, the Skirmisher from the Winged Maidens, slew the final boss minion. "What if we just go for a final assault on the boss itself? The DPS, tanks, and skirmishers can all go for the last attack bonus and-"

"Not a chance! I'm not risking this raid on you and your freezing!" Kibaou yelled making it clear that he remembered Sinon and their prior team up. "Everyone stays on their jobs and we finish this thing the next turn, got that?"

"...He's right," Sakura finally decided, keeping her eyes on the Tank force as the DPS force healed. "I don't like it, but he's right… I'll call your group if we need you, but stay where you are."

'This is bullshit,' Ragna thought to himself, keeping his power contained as he pretended to take a health potion. 'I thought I'd try to see if the players were ready for floor bosses, but all I'm seeing is group of asses trying to hog all of the rewards.' He sighed to himself. 'But if I clear this thing here on my own, that's just going to cause problems…' He glared at Kibaou. 'If he gets that last attack bonus, I hope it's a piece of shit.'

"Tank force return!" Sakura shouted as the Tank force began a hasty retreat. She turned to Ragna who only gave her a nod to let her know he was ready. "DPS force… BRING IT DOWN!"

"FORWARD!" Kibaou shouted as his team made their way straight for the boss. Learning from their previous mistakes, Sakura and Ragna made their way to the boss's flank, taking more time to get into position but at least finding an opening to deal damage. The repeated use of sword skills brought the monster's HP down fast…

...and then it hit half of its final life bar.

Unleashing a demented scream, a powerful shockwave blasted from all around Dralax, smashing into all of the players. It didn't deal any damage, but it interrupted all of their attacks and forced the players back. A complete storm of lightning struck around the boss room, each one revealing yet another of boss minion.

"It had a final phase..." Sakura muttered as she forced her way back to her feet.

"Don't let it fool you, we've can still put this thing in the ground," Ragna told her as he was one of the few that had managed to stay on his own feet. "Just give the orders, we'll follow this through."

"...Right," Sakura agreed. "Skirmisher force! Keep those minions off of us! Slay them if you have the chance, but you can't let a single one get through to either teams!"

"Easier said than done!" Vance shouted as he managed to cut one of the creatures down, only to have to avoid the rapid strike from some of the other monsters. Stabbing one of them through the head, he kept his blade impaled as he watched the monsters HP fall, only for its body to be encompassed in lightning. Wisely stepping back as the it started to glow, the monster exploded in a vicious blast of sparks just barely missing the skirmisher. "Careful! These things self-destruct now!"

"I see 'em!" Agil shouted as he went to stop one of the minions from going for the members of his group that was still healing. His axe skill managed to hit one of the creature and sent it sprawling back… right before the one he hadn't noticed exploded on him point blank.

"AGIL!" Ragna shouted from the far end of the dungeon. The axe user was still alive, but that attack had sent his Health dangerously low; another hit like that and he'd be dead. The minion he'd blasted away was running back, already glowing with sparks to self destruct and take his friend with it. Knowing he'd have to move fast, the Reaper readied himself to rush to the other room to save his friend… but he didn't even get to take off.

"I GOT YA!" Klein shouted as he rushed forward slashing his katana thought the scarecrow and destroying it before it could explode. Another of the monsters rushed at him and Klein impaled it with his sword on reflex. The monster readied itself to explode and Klein was trapped; if he ran now Agil would still be caught in the explosion and Klein didn't have the axe users armor. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he raised his sword and cut through the scarecrow just before it exploded, destroying it at the last instant. Yet another scarecrow went for him, but Klein deflected its attack and sent the monster off balance. Slashing the creature he managed to force it to start to explode before shoulder charging it as hard as he could pushing it far out of the way and causing it to explode harmlessly. More scarecrows were starting to surround him, but with Vance running to his side, Agil forcing his way to his feet, and the tank team coming as support he felt pretty covered.

'That was too close,' Sakura thought as she started to lead Ragna to the regular force. "EVERYONE REGROUP! FOCUS ON THE MINIONS!"

"FORGET THAT! WE CAN TAKE THIS THING NOW!" Kibal shouted as they ran past his group. "JUST HIT IT BEFORE IT TRIES ANYTHING ELSE!"

Kibaou's group screamed as one as the went into a freeny, making attack after attack on the Storm Reaper. The floor boss didn't make another attack, seeming the surge with lightning as it powered up… before transitioning to readying a swing at speeds that were too fast to see It had picked Kibaou as its target and swung the deadly sickle down on the usperper and instigator.

"GAH!"

Maybe she didn't want want to be known as the first raid leader who'd lost someone, maybe that even with as big of an ass Kibaou had been she knew he still had dedication to clearing the game, maybe she just couldn't sit back and watch someone die… not a single of the these thought had gone through her mind as Sakura and her scythe took the Storm Reaper's blade, sending her flying through the air.

If the game had regular pain sensory, Sakura might've been sent into shock as her back painfully slammed into the far wall causing her to lose her grip on her scythe and fall to the ground. The five minions around her took quick interest and started moving towards the immobilized leader. Her only form of protection was Sinon walking between the two of them, ready to stand her ground with her spear.

"G… get away," Sakura begged, trying and failing to force her way to her feet. "They'll kill you…"

Sinon didn't say anything in return, staring down the four monsters that were threateningly approaching the two of them. The closest scarecrow had enough waiting and charged forward at Sinon not even guarding itself as her speared embedded itself deep inside its burlap body. The monster began to spark with a threatening explosion, but she didn't even flinch as she held her ground. To Sakura it looked suicidal, standing there keeping the glowing scarecrow at bay… only for the massive blade of Aramasa to suddenly cleave the monster in half finishing it off.

'Wh-what?' Sakura thought to herself. 'Where did he-?'

Turning around Ragna made a deep cut into another of the scarecrows and dealt enough damage to send into its self destructive state. He then moved to the side, just in time for Sinon to lunge past him with her lance skill and finish off the creature. Two seperate scarecrows went on opposing sides. Ragna and Sinon stabbed both of their weapons forward and caught both of the creatures before turning with a powerful swing and striking the scarecrow the other had just a second ago, destroying the both of them. The final scarecrow didn't even have a chance to go into its suicidal mode as the Grim Reaper and the spearwoman cleaved through it in unison, destroying the final monster.

Meanwhile, Sakura's selfless act hadn't slowed Kibaou advances in the slightest as his group kept attacking the floor boss with everything they had. It was working as the creatures health dropped even further.

"Just one more hit!" Kibaou shouted as he rushed forward with his greatsword and his group followed in support. 'YOU'RE MINE!"

CRASH!

Dralax the Storm Reaper had unleashed the AOE slash that Sakura had tried to warn them about in the beginning, sending everyone in Kibaou's guild into the red and off of their feet. The entirely of his group hit the ground with a painful thud. Kibaou felt his head spin as he lay prone on the ground, unable to do anything as the Storm Reaper raised its scythe to finish off its first victim.

SHING!

...That was when a bright flash of light soared past the downed group and struck Dralax with deadly precision. And there was Heathcliff, his face as hard and emotionless as stone, holding his sword steady and keeping it impaled in the Floor Boss. A light hissing sound was heard from the boss as it held tightly to its scythe… before finally exploding into fragments of light.

(End theme)

"Ugh… What… happened…?" Kibaou asked in a total daze as he pick himself from off the ground. As he tried to do so, Heathcliff passed him by on his way to the next floor. The victor of that floor and the winner of the last attack bonus didn't say a word… but the look of disapproval he cast down on Kibaou was scarring. The rest of the attack force gave a long breath of relief as the boss was finally beaten down as the congratulatory screen came up.

"Huh, turns out it was one of the guys from the Tank force that got the item," Klein noted as he made his way over to Ragna and Sinon with Agil. "That must sting, eh?"

"Not to me; I'm just happy that everyone managed to survive the encounter… the fact that Kibaou's team didn't get the bonus they were after is just more of a good thing," Sinon told him as she put her spear on her back before turning to the remaining Reaper. "Unless you wanted it?"

"Nah, it's gonna take more than a Floor Drop for me to give up this coat and sword," Ragna told her as he stood, resting the cracked Aramasa on his shoulder before looking at Agil. "You okay?"

"Thanks to Klein, yeah…" the axe user said before looking at the redhead. "Would've sucked if you had to go and bite it there, just after a chick finally seemed interested in you."

"You would've done the same for any of us," Klein told him with a shrug.

"So you weren't just trying to show off for Lilly then?" Ragna asked the katana user.

"Are you kidding me? I might need all of the help I can get, but no chick's worth going through that kind of terror on purpose."

"Aw, not even for me?" Lilly teasingly asked from behind Klein. The katana user stiffed as he realized that his best chance at girlfriend had heard his last complaint. "Just kidding! You were looking pretty cool out there after all."

"I-I… I was?" Klein asked in a nervous sputter. Not saying a single word, Ragna delivered a harsh elbow to his friend's ribcage, telling him to stop being so damn awkward. "I mean I was! …well not intentionally if I'm being honest."

"Aw stop it, your face is matching your hair," Lilly told him, letting the Samurai know he was blushing. Figuring that they should give the two of them some room, Ragna and Agil began making their way for the Fourth floor at long last.

Sinon was about to follow them, but noticed that Sakura was still on the floor, catching her breath after that last close call had nearly ended it for her. Maval and Helena had of course checked on their leader by now, but she had insisted that she'd only need need a moment to rest and they should go on ahead without her for now.

"That was a pretty nasty hit you took," Sinon advised as she made her way over to the Raid Leader.

"If my scythe hadn't taken most of the attack, that would have been it for me," she told the skirmisher as from where she sat cross legged on the ground, keeping a single hand delicately placed on her weapon of choice. "That said, I think it's going to need some serious repairs or that's it for this weapon."

"If there's a not a Blacksmith in your guild, then I have someone I can recommend to you," Sinon told her. "She's done good work on my spear before."

"I might have some idea about who you're talking about," Sakura said in return before staying silent for a moment. "Listen, about the offer I made to bring you into our guild…"

"I'm still up for it if that's what your worried about," Sinon said readily, surprising Sakura. "You only went down because you had to step in and save another player… I can't blame you for that."

"It's nice of you to say that… but I don't think I'd be doing the right thing if I had you join us," Sakura said with a touch of sadness. "Not when you already have a group that you work so well with."

"...You're saying that I should stay with Ragna's team," Sinon noted, not as a question. "Do you really think I'm better with him?"

"It's not difficult to see that you're effective fighting at each other's side," the guild leader told her. "When you both moved to save me there was an… understanding between your attacks. You both moved with such precision between each other's actions that you didn't have to say a word and you both knew what you needed to do." Sakura sighed. "I've never seen teamwork like that in the game, even between my girls."

"That's just how we've always been fighting," Sinon told her, a sudden realization starting to dawn on her.

"And he's never said anything about it?" Sakura asked as she used her scythe's handle to finally make her way to her feet. "I'm not going to say you've no choice but to join up with him, and my doors are still open to you… but I'd think it over a little more." She smirked as she saw Ragna's back heading up for the next floor. "After all, you've got a good friend there."

"...I guess I do."

Meanwhile -Floor Four-

"From a floor of Wheat Fields to a floor Ruins, this doesn't seem like much fun," Rosalia said with a sigh as she took a look at the town gates towards the open fields covered by parts of ruins buried in the earth. "Hopefully this one has a little something extra to offer, I was almost bored to death by that last one."

"That cocky mouth is going to get you killed one of these days," Kuradeel told her with a strong scowl. "I'm just hoping it doesn't affect me as well."

"Charmless as usual," the spearwoman said with a sigh at her companion. "Makes me wonder why I have to stick my neck out for you all of the time."

"Excuse you?" Kuradeel irately demanded. "With all of your time spent teasing men it's a wonder that we can get anything done in this team. If it wasn't for Heathcliff-"

"And there you go talking about your man crush again," she said with yet another sigh as she waved off the stuttering gasps she'd caused in her 'partner'. "It's always got to be about Heathcliff senpai with you, doesn't it?"

"You little-! I-!"

"Let's leave it there both of you," Heathcliff told them both calmly. Immediately, the two of them stopped their arguing to listen to their leader. "This floor might be even larger than the last one."

"And the ruins might mean that we'll to solve some puzzles to get to the end of it," Kuradeel agreed. "This might be a challenge."

"Not if the six medallions our dear leader still has from the last floor has anything to say about it," Rosalia slyly added. "I just have to wonder, why did you never bring that up with the other guilds?"

"Would there have been a point to it?" Kuradeel again spoke against her. "We didn't know where or how they were to be used, so why bother?"

"Might've given us a little more status from that fight we were just a part of," Rosalia advised. "Even if we were the ones that finally managed to bring that thing down, every little bit of influence helps especially on these lower floors."

"...You may have a point," Kuradeel reluctantly agreed before turning to his leader. "So do we have anything left for today?"

"Yes, I want to explore the field area around the cities before we rest and while we still have a few hours of daylight left to use," Heathcliff instructed. "With any luck we might even find a few quests to come back to tomorrow."

"And after all of that trouble that we had to go through today to just to get to this damn floor," Rosalia groaned. "You really can be merciless sometimes…"

"Oh… but I can also be very giving," Heathcliff told her with something of a knowing smile. "In fact if you agree to continue on without complaint, I'll even give you the last attack bonus from the last floor."

"Seriously? You've got yourself a deal then," Rosalia said excitedly. Kuradeel could only groan at her unearned (in his mind) reward as Heathcliff sent the item in question over. Rosalia could only giggle with anticipation as she equipped the gift, switching her current weapon out for a… Rosalia's face fell. "A pitchfork."

"Be sure to put it to good use would you, it's even a lance type weapon," Heathcliff told her passively while Kuradeel sneered at her reward. Rosalia didn't say a word to either of them as she switched back to her regular weapon, making a silent note to sell that piece the next chance she got.

Later that night -Back down on Floor Three-

"Some celebration party," Leafa said with as she sat with her guild. "Kibaou's group refused us outright and we couldn't even find Heathcliff's party to give him the invitation."

"I agree it's a shame that Heathcliff couldn't show, but don't worry too much that Kibaou's party didn't join us," Agil said as he stood near the blonde with a tankard full of wine. "That ass was trying to cause trouble before the raid and with his spectacular fail during it, he won't be showing his face around us if he knows what's good for him…" The axe user gave a short chuckle. "Or are you just mad that Ragna and Sinon are skipping out on us?"

"Forget those two; I want to know what's up with Klein and that girl!" Liz said as she stared across the room where Klein and Lilly were sitting at a small table enjoying dinner. Even if Klein was still awkward as he'd been that morning, the two seemed to be engaging in good banter.

"From what I've learned talking with the others, apparently that girl likes guys that have a bit of an awkward side to them," Yuuki said as she too tilted he head at the display. "Which I guess makes sense why she went with Klein."

"And why he's got his entire old guild peaking around the corner," Asuna added with a short sigh as the rest of the Fuurin Kazan guild was indeed peaking around the corner to look at their boss on his 'date.'

"Seems like everyone's havin' a good time at least," Argo said as she looked around the small room. Looking a bit further away, she saw that Silica was standing with Pina on her shoulder as several players went in to get a look at the cute Fairy Dragon… and possibly her just as cute tamer.

Three of the five guilds had arrived bringing most of their members. All three of the guilds had chipped in to buy a banquet of food and drinks to celebrate their victory and they'd even hired a few performing NPC's to handle the musical selection for the night. Even if it was a joyous occasion, no one had taken to dancing yet.

The sudden sound of a door opening caused the group to turn (they were closest to the entrance) just in time to Ragna and Sinon head into the gathering.

"Sorry we're late," Ragna said apologetically as he let out a small yawn. "Had something big to take care of first."

"You better be sorry," Leafa told him with her hands on her hips. "Do you have any idea how long we've been-! ...Waiting… for…" The blonde was having trouble finishing her words as she noticed the Sinon's name showing next to Ragna's… now carrying the official sigil of the Final Rebellion guild right next to it. "S-Sinon…?"

"...The way Ragna's been telling me, you've been trying to convince me to me to join for a while." Leafa had to fight to keep her blush down as she wondered just how much Ragna had told her. "But yeah, as long as no one else has a problem with it I'll be working with your guild as a full member from now on."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Agil told her with a relieved smirk. "Welcome aboard Sinon." Sinon, Agil, and the other girls all gave smiles to commemorate their newest member… a gesture that was cut short by a small growl from a certain Reaper's stomach.

"Think I'll hit the banquet," Ragna told them as he headed over to the food, keeping his head down so that no one would notice him (difficult to do with a head of spiky white hair). He did shoot a small nod to Klein and Diabel when he passed them by, but otherwise proceeded to the refreshments unhindered. Poking at a cut of pork with his fork, he brought it up to his mouth and hoped for the best. It was decent, but lacked any of the necessary spices it would take to actually enjoy it. "Better than usual I guess… not saying much though."

"Hey." Ragna didn't need to turn or identify the voice to know that it was Leafa who had come up to talk to him. "So… I guess you got Sinon to join."

"Not really… she came to me about it," he admitted as he took a look at the appetizers that were being offered; there wasn't much that piqued his interest. "...Can't say I'm not a little happy that she joined us."

"I'm honestly relieved, but you already knew that," Leafa told him with a small smile, still not going for the food.

"Well you made it too obvious," Ragna said as he gave up on the meat and instead went for the wine. While the Grim Reaper was far from a heavy drinker, he at least felt that with a less stingy level of acceptance he could appreciate the drinks in the game a little better. Taking up a tankard of wine, he began downing its contents with due reservation.

"S-so…" Leafa began with a blush, not looking Ragna in the eye as she held one of her arms with the other. "A… About that date…" Ragna spewed what he'd sipped into his wine back into his tankard, giving a harsh cough at the suddenness of Leafa's reminder. "We… we agreed to that before you left today."

"No, you said that was a deal and you ran off before I could say otherwise," Ragna told her as he grabbed a napkin from the table to wipe the spilt wine off his face. "I didn't do anything special in the first place; Sinon joined because she wanted to, not because I did something to convince her for a quick date."

"O-oh…" Leafa said in return.

"Honestly, going out like this…" Ragna muttered to himself as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes with an internal groan. When Leafa didn't say anything he opened one of his eyes to get a look at the younger blonde. While she tried to act normal as she looked towards the banquet of food, it was fair to see that she was feeling really awkward about something. Figuring he'd taken his usual crass commentary too far this time, the Reaper gave a sigh. "You know… it's kind of a shame that the band's playing this well and no one's up dancing."

"Eh?" Leafa asked before turning to the Reaper and noticed that he was putting an arm out to offer it be hooked with hers. "What are you doing?"

"I'm asking you to dance with me," he told her before giving Leafa the smallest of smirks as he sent Aramasa into storage so it wouldn't get in the way. "One song together and we'll call this whole mess even. Deal?"

"...Deal," Leafa said as she hooked her arm with Ragna's. "I caught sight of you dancing with Yuuki on the first floor before we left. Hopefully your moves have improved since then."

"Yeah," Ragna said with a slightly nervous tone as he looked around at the people who he was quickly getting attention from as he lead the attractive young maiden out onto the center of the room. He tried to move the idea of being watched while he danced to the back of his head as he placed his hand on Leafa's hip, adjusting his stance to try to compensate for his taller height. "...I hope so too."

The band began to pick up the tempo in their performance and now that there was a couple that was actually looking to dance it even seemed like they were playing a little louder. Trying to remember what little he'd learned from his trial-by-fire experience on the first floor. Starting off with smaller movements, he guided the young across the dance floor careful to keep the movements slow enough to where Leafa could guess what he was about to do. Going into a spin, he made sure to keep his movement fluent and didn't attempt to dip his partner just yet. Guiding her across the floor again, he gave Leafa enough room and gave her enough room to twirl under his arm. He noticed the crowd looking his way and could hear the snickers he was getting (the ones from Argo were especially easy to pick out), but he paid it no mind as he continued to move.

It turned out that no one had joined into the dance during that song, leaving the two plenty of room to work with for the outing. Despite slightly awkward starts, people were surprised at how quickly Ragna had gained a confident understanding of the basics, even shifting to some of the more advanced moves as he guided Leafa along in their dance. When it sounded like the song was about to end, Ragna finally decided to take a risk with a dip sending Leafa back as he kept a careful hold on her and he leaned forward, Leafa gave a startled jolt as she realized just how close the two's faces were. Keeping his composure and focus, Ragna brought her back up just as the last notes had finished playing. Recovering as quickly as she could, Leafa returned Ragna's bow.

"Not bad," Agil commented from the sides with a small smirk. A few people were actually clapping for the two that they'd been watching, leaving Ragna just the least bit confident that he hadn't made a total fool out of himself.

"So we good now?" Ragna asked with a smirk.

"...I'd say we are," Leafa said with a charming grin.

There was a small cough from the two interrupting the moment as they saw Argo standing proudly next to both of them clearly waiting for the next dance.

"...Only if you close my damn tab," the Reaper mutters as he took Argo's hand for his second dance with her in the game.

"No such luck," Argo teased as Leafa cautiously backed away. Ragna considered declining her offer then and there out of spite, but as the music began up again he realized that he didn't have much of a choice.

Ragna still found that he remained the only one out on the dance floor so he'd still have some room to work with as he danced with Argo. Much like before he started off in his dance moves… but quite early in he decided his Info Broker had done enough to where she warranted being messed with a little. Quickly going from a small twirl into a sudden dip, he expected her to lose balance and he'd have to catch her… the problem was Argo's very analytical personality as she fell back into the lean easily.

"Careful, gettin' kind of close there," she whispered in his ear leaving a tick mark to appear on the Reaper's forehead. Bringing her back up he finished the dance without trying anything else. During their bow, she smirked. "You're gettin' better."

"I'd hope so, never hear the end of it otherwise," he told her with a reluctant sigh as he rose to from his bow, only to receive a sudden hug from the young info broker. "The hell are you-!?"

"Hee, you still get embarrassed easily though," she chuckled. Ragna didn't say much as he awkwardly returned the hug, trying to ignore all of the staring he was getting from around the room. "Thanks for dancing though."

"Even if you can be a total pain in the ass, I guess you're welcome," Ragna told her with a mixed insult that left Argo to make a face at him. Before the next song started it seemed like a few people were actually coming out to the dance floor (Klein and Lilly were oddly absent). Figuring that this was as good a time to step out as any, Ragna was about to head off the dance floor before he saw another member of his guild heading towards him. "Silica?"

"O-oh! W-were you trying to get off the dance floor?" Silica asked as she realized that would probably have been his intent. "I-I'm sorry!"

"Don't be, you didn't know," Ragna told her. "Now that I think about it, you were probably the only person in my group that I didn't dance with me back on Floor One."

"I… I was a little busy…" Silica said, trying not to look behind her. Casting his glance, Ragna realized that her little fan club was standing a short distance behind her surrounding the table Pina was resting on, seeming to wait for a chance to dance with Silica. Ragna had the feeling that if he were any less intimidating he'd be getting glared at something fierce. "B-But it's okay, you don't have to keep dancing for me…"

"Well I think I've got one more song left in me," Ragna told her nonchalantly before smirking confidently. "Come on, I'm not going to be this generous the next time someone asks me for a dance."

"I… if you're sure," Silica said as they headed back out onto the dance floor. Given that Silica's height as the smallest in his guild it was clearly apparent the amount Ragna would have to lean forward more than he was used to for this dance with the young dragon tamer and trying to do so while dancing was even more awkward than usual. "I… I'm sorry, this probably won't work."

"..." Even if the young dragon tamer was doubting their chances of moving forward, it was clear to Ragna that she really had wanted to dance that night. Letting out a deep breath through his nostrils as he realized what he needed to do, he gently lifted Silica off of her feet causing her to make a sound between a shriek and a squeak as he placed her feet on top of his metal plated shoes. "That better?"

It didn't look like she could respond, in fact her face was so red Ragna was worried how much blood she had rushing to her face. Figuring he needed to lighten her mood, the Reaper decided to try his hand at humor.

"Normally I'd tell ya not to step on my feet, but right now that's kind of the point." He didn't get a response from Silica as she appeared to be uncomfortably still. "Alright then…"

Moving past that as best he could, he slowly tried to guide Silica in the slower dance. He was relieved that there were other couples on the floor so that watching eyes wouldn't be focused on two of them in this slightly more embarrassing dance. Silica didn't say a word as Ragna moved the two of them gently through the dance, though she did seem to be leaning forward onto Ragna a lot for support (balance or otherwise). When the dance ended, she stepped off his shoes and gave him a quick bow, clearly still a little embarrassed with the red on her face.

"Thanks for that," Ragna said, trying to get Silica just a little more confident. "It's nice dancing with you."

"Th-thank you… You too..." Silica told him with a smile though she was still a little shaky. Walking off, it looked like she was going to talk to the snickering Argo, likely to set the record straight with their performance.

Feeling that he was finally in the clear, Ragna headed off towards the buffet for a second attempt to enjoy some of the food offered… only to have his arm grabbed as he was literally dragged back onto the dance floor by Yuuki. The Reaper let out an audible groan as he was forced to prepare for yet another dance.

"Don't think you're done just yet," Yuuki told him confidently as she got the dance she wanted without much resistance. "You're the one who made it clear you were open to dancing, so you have no one else to blame. Liz is still waiting for her turn with you and you'll have to give Asuna and Sinon their first dances with you eventually."

"Yeah, yeah…" the Reaper sighed.

"Come on, staying social for a change isn't that bad is it?" the dark haired swordswoman asked, giving the Reaper a bright smile as they began moving.

As they danced along Ragna took notice of his friends and allies at the small Inn. Agil and Diabel seemed to be having a laugh over something by the buffet table as they continued to pour wine into their goblets. Klein was trying to get Lilly up to dance as it seemed like there was something his flirty friend was embarrassed about. Silica looked like she was trying to get the record straight with Argo while Leafa seemed like she was having her own trouble with the Info Brokers ideas. And then there was Liz, Asuna, and the newly joined Sinon, sitting at their table and watching the Reaper with bemused smirks, perhaps willing to get their own turns dancing with their leader.

"I gotta admit…" the Reaper began before smiling softly. "It has its moments."

POLL: There are some people that are wondering how long this series is going to go on for as this is only Chapter 11 and we're only up to Floor 4. While I don't exactly mind having a long series and I don't much like the idea of skipping floors, I do know that I should leave my readers with their a small say. My poll will simply ask if each floor (once the last one is cleared) should last a few chapters or if I should make a one off chapter. I'll inform you of the theme of each upcoming floor. Per example, this one is Ruins in the Valley. The Poll is on my profile page.

Author's Note: Good lord this took a while to put out, but it feels awesome that it's finally out there. Not to pat myself on the back, but I'm exceptionally pleased with how this chapter came out because I wasn't expecting something half this long (just a straight boss fight honestly). That said I always love some character development, world building, and of course character interaction. Enough gushing, ONTO THE REVIEWS!

TheEmeraldMage: Thanks for a lengthy review. As for the Gun Gale spin off girl I have heard that she's a better version of Kirito, but I haven't watched the series myself.

Wlyman2009: *Remembers what Kibaou did this chapter* ...You have no idea.

Kerrowe: It's more of a comment to CF's ending and it was said in the very first chapter.

Lightkirinhuruname: ...HEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE

Reclusive Dork: Minion: Dark lord Ganon, why did you throw away the literal embodiment of darkness and destruction?Ganon: Eh, probably nothing.

Lovnag: Not really, no.

The Unplanner: There will be… some of those.

Guest: Well Sanae was really popular in the first story and his comeback was already demanded in this story, I don't know what to tell you. It's not like he's going to be a constant presence anyways.

Dracus7: Sorry, haven't watched that one yet.

Ceadus-slayer: I hear that's good, but I haven't found the series anywhere I've looked.

Be sure to vote in the poll! Ciao!