1

About a month or so has passed since the first floor was cleared. Honestly being here made my already bad perception of time ten times worse. The front has made decent progress, we've made it up to Floor 15. Averaging almost a floor or more a week. That's saying something considering it took us almost a month to clear the first floor.

Leading the charge were Kirito and Asuna. Who, to the best of my knowledge, were partying only to teach Asuna the ropes as she is a beginner.

Yea, OK. A likely story from one of them, but whatever. To each their own.

As for Majiku and I, we leveled like crazy. Even by our usual standards from other games, we were flying. We were averaging about 8 or 9 levels a week, which put us each at 48. I tried to talk Majiku into getting a smaller two-handed sword so he would move faster by default. But, he was hell bent to make any massive sword work.

As for me, there wasn't much to tell. I focused on the speed of my attacks on top of the damage I already knew how to do. We had perfected the art of switching in the style of me vaulting over Maj and delivering the final blow to any monster. It worked 9 out of 10 times. If not it took a few extra slashes from me to do the trick.

As we all were getting stronger there was resentment forming in the players on the front, known as the Assault Team.

They were convinced that all 4 of us, Majiku, Kirito, Asuna, and myself; were former beta testers and couldn't care less if anyone died. I couldn't understand where they were pulling this from, aside from Kirito proclaiming himself to be a big bad Beater.

But that had nothing to do with me or Maj. And it's not like we were hoarding information. Everything Majiku and I learned, we sold to our info broker, Argo. She, in turn, depending on the kind of information; added it to the guide that was still being handed out for free or added it to her store to sell. It was all about how much you worked and how fast. The only thing I can give them was mine and Majiku's outburst after the 1st floor boss fight. But they wouldn't listen to reason and I didn't care.

There was one Boss fight where Kirito and Asuna led a secret raid in order to get the Last Attack bonus on the boss. Normally I would have called Kirito out as trying to hog the action. But when he explained that it was to keep the 2 major front-line guilds from fighting, I let him explain.

"The boss drops a banner. This banner, if used by an official guild; will empower all other guild members in a certain range." Kirito explained while we ate at a local restaurant on Floor 4. "The banner would cause a massive fight for who gets it."

"And that could turn into a massive bloodbath and halt any progression," I finished.

"Prissy girls fighting over drapes..." Maj groaned, leaning back and crossing his arms. "Why don't they make one unified guild to use it?"

"I wondered the same thing. The guild's leaders don't see eye to eye, so I can't see them joining forces anytime soon," Kirito finished.

"And they call US the uncooperative ones..." I scoffed. I remembered hearing about the squabbles between Kibau, leader of the Liberation Army; and Lind, leader of the Divine Dragon Alliance. Diavel's death hit them hard, and caused this rift because the two leaders had different ideas of honoring Diavel's leadership.

After realizing that this could lead to the end of the Assault Team and our chances of escaping, Maj and I agreed to help Kirito along with other trusted players fight the boss so Kirito could get the banner and keep the guilds from fighting.

We succeeded before the two guilds had even formed the party to take the boss on themselves. Needless to say, it set the reputation of the 4 of us as being lowly snakes that are trying to sabotage the game in stone.

Things were getting pretty heated in the weeks that followed, so Maj and I decided to take a week off from the front and go back to the 3rd Floor to lay low. The only way to get around the floor was by boat. It reminded me of Venice, Italy. It was pretty much all woods; but instead of roads, there were river channels. We both really enjoyed this place. It was calm, the stores were neat, and the food was awesome.

While we were there we left each other to our own deal. Majiku went on through the town, trying to find a girl apparently. I had to remind him that the odds of finding another American player here were slim since we were 2 of about 100 that were given access to play, 2 of which would have gone to our friends, had they dived in. He clearly didn't care...

So he went off to hunt for girls while I rode through town on a gondola. I didn't have a goal in mind, just explore. I was thinking about going hunting later for materials to enhance my sword, but I didn't really know off the top of my head where to start. As if her ears were ringing, Argo the Rat swooped in from nowhere and sat in my boat, scaring the unholy hell out of me and nearly making me fall off the boat in the process.

"Christ, Argo! I did not give you permission to come aboard!" I said, regaining my balance. Argo flashed a playful smile under her hood, the whiskers that were painted on her face curled when she did.

"Oh come on, Flastii..." I'm not sure where she pulled the name from, but who am I to argue? "Can't ya show a girl a good time? Take me for a spin outside the city."

2

I guess I didn't have much of a choice. Argo situated herself to lay on her back with her hands behind her head. I wasn't about to be that jerk to say 'I'll pass' no matter how much I was skeptical of her motives.

"So... I'll bite. Why am I taking you outside of the city?" I asked as I started to row the boat forward.

"Oh, you're so impatient! Just enjoy the company of a cute girl for the next hour or so," Argo chided back to me.

"Yea well, normally when I'm in the company of said girl, I find myself with about 1000 Col less than when we met."

"I'm glad you didn't deny that I'm cute..."

"Bite me..." I hung my head. Talking to her either was one of two things, really enjoyable because she was a pretty down to Earth person or freaking annoying because she knows how to push my buttons

"Don't worry, Flastii. This meeting is on-the-house," Argo said as she closed her eyes. Almost as soon as her eyes closed, her breathing steadied. Did she really just fall asleep? I leaned over and lightly poked the top of her head. Nothing.

Dang, she's worse than my sister. The eldest girl in my family had a crazy ability to fall asleep as soon as she found a comfy spot. I let Argo sleep as I navigated out of town.

I couldn't shake the feeling that Argo wanted to talk about something important... Or maybe she really did just want to take a load off. In which case why here? There were plenty of other, more comfortable spots to rest. Better than this tiny gondola that was barely wide enough to accommodate the sprawled out Argo. And I'm sure, given her line of work, that she knew a lot more interesting people to hang with besides me.

We got a fair distance out of town when Argo yawned and stretched her arms.

"Ah, that was nice."

"I bet. How long has it been since you slept?" I asked.

"Mmmm... Say about 3 days or so," Argo said, scratching her chin.

"Argo! What the hell?" I almost wanted to knock her out so she could sleep more. "Go the frick back to sleep then, you dumb dumb!"

"I appreciate your concern, Flastii, but that's my line of work! Can't rest for too long or my information'll go south." Argo sat up and turned to me. "Were we followed?" She took a slightly serious tone. I turned to make sure there was no one in sight. Even so, I turned the boat into an outcropping to hide.

So she did have something to tell me, and she didn't want others to listen in.

"OK, so you didn't come out here to hang out. What's up? Get messed up in the wrong crowd again?" I asked.

"I've no idea what yer on about! I'm an Angel!"

"Yea, an Angel that had to be bailed out by Kirito when she got wrapped up with those weirdo ninja wannabes."

"I... You heard about that?" Argo tried to hide her embarrassment under her hood.

"Well, I was on my way to help. I saw your marker on the map moving faster than usual at the time."

"Ah, so you were stalkin' me, eh Falstii?" Walked right into that one. My face started to burn as I realized how bad that sounded.

"Um... No! I was reading the map and just saw your cursor! That's all," I said, getting the conversation back on track. "So what's up?"

"Well, there's been an interesting development in the Town of Beginnings that involves you and your bro," Argo explained. I sat down across from her. "Rumor has it that a couple of people have been looking for you both. They say that they know both of ya."

My mind raced. I didn't know anyone else here. It was only me and my brother who dived in... Unless...

"Names... I need names, Argo." I said, trying to hide my panic.

"See, that was one of the things that no one could get straight. So I went back to the Town to find out. I assumed they were just random players that had a beef with ya. The usual stuff, ya know? But, it's a lot more complicated. It's a guy and a girl. The guy's name is Sam. The girl's name is Kira."

"You did not, you stupid bastard!" I shot to my feet so fast that the boat almost rolled over.

"Woah boy! This thing ain't built for rough seas." Argo said, holding the sides of the gondola.

"Take me to them... Now!"

As soon as I felt the ground under my feet I raced off the teleport platform. I had sent a message to Majiku to meet me here in town. Sure enough there he was. I grabbed his arm and dragged him off to the edge of town where Argo had taken the two people in question.

"You seriously think it's him?" Maj asked as we swerved through the mass of people.

"I'm 90% sure I'll know the guy. I'm really hoping I don't know the girl," I said back. When I focused forward, I saw a literal wall of people swarming around a stand. No time to warn them to move. So... "Jump!" I boosted Maj up since his jumping power wasn't as high as mine, then I followed him in the air, narrowly avoiding a girl with pigtails, wearing a yellow tunic. Resting on her head was a blue dragon looking thing.

When we landed, I spun on my heel to look at her while still running backward. "Sorry! Cool dragon creature!" I spun again and continued running.

We left the town and turned hard left, following the walls that lined the entire town. Pretty soon a tree came into view, and standing around it were 3 people. I recognized Argo right off. The other two had their backs to me. They must have heard our footsteps because both of them turned around. When they locked eyes with me I nearly tripped.

The guy was slightly shorter than my brother... So still taller than me. The girl was just shorter than me with black hair that was pulled back in a pony-tail. I felt my face burn with anger. As we were running up the guy stepped forward, probably expecting a handshake.

"Hey man! Glad we finally fou-" I didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence. I planted my fist right on his face and sent him tumbling back. Good thing the girl and Maj grabbed my arm halfway through or it could have been a lot worse than his health going down 5%.

"Christ, Jake. That's what we get for coming in after you?" The girl asked.

"For crying out loud man, give 'em a break!" Argo said, putting herself in between me and the guy.

"You idiots! What in the hell are you doing here?!" I yelled.

Majiku let go of my arm and looked at the guy. "I know who you are. Don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you." He extended his hand to her.

"Kira." She shook his hand.

"So, Kira?" He looked at the guy. "And you're Sam, right?" The guy got up and rubbed his face.

"Yup, good to see you, Alex." He said. Another wave of anger settled in me, but I held back the urge to punch him again.

"Two questions, moron. Why are you here? And what in God's name were you thinking, bringing your girl into all of this, man?" I said as controlled as I could. Sam and Kira exchanged looks and smiled.

"Well, a couple of reasons. I had promised to game with you when I got out of school. And..." He looked down mournfully.

"And your sister asked us to come," Kira finished.

I was stunned. I looked at Majiku, and he was clearly as stunned as I was.

"Our sister? Courtney asked you to come?" Maj asked. In the real world, Kira was a good friend and former classmate to my sister, also dating Sam. Sam was also a childhood friend of mine. We've known each other since middle school... Small world we live in sometimes.

"We were hanging out with her the other day. She's grown really depressed, thinking that you two were all alone and freaking out here," Kira explained.

"Except, from what Argo has told us, and your right hook; you two are heading up the front-lines and clearing the game," Sam said. "We talked, and Kira and I both decided to dive in and help. Even got it cleared from your parents, our parents, and even schools... After about a month of begging that is." I stared at him in awe.

This was not like Sam. He normally thought things through, so why in the hell did he decide this was a good idea?

"So... Yea... Your family says 'hi'. Courtney wants to slap you both." This made me lighten up a bit. It was hard to turn my sister down. Especially when she was sad... Which was normally never.

"So... You both are here now. What exactly is your plan? There's no way we can let you go to the front right now. You're too far behind and we can't stay away from the front for very long." I explained. "So you guys have one of two options, grind like hell and at least get up to par with the front lines level. Which currently sits at like, 30 or so. Or set up a shop somewhere, and work on a craft skill. Both would be helpful in the fight right now." Maj stepped forward to add to it.

"If you guys want to level and fight that's fine, we can help you at least get the hang of fighting and carry you to level 10 or so. After that me and Jake, or Flastor, in this world-"

"That's your name IRL? Like the explorer?" Argo spoke up and looked at me.

"Same spelling at least, yeah." I realized my mistake way too late. I jabbed my finger at her. "If I find out you sell any of our real names Argo; I swear, I will sick every fluffy puppy I can find on you."

"Ah, Jesus." Argo shook her head in disgust. "Don't worry, I wouldn't even with the threat of those mongrels." She crossed her arms and looked away in a huff. "Stupid beasts." For some reason, she was deathly afraid of dogs. "Besides, this whole meetin' is off the record. Especially since it's a special case."

"Good, thank you," I said. I faced Sam and Kira... Which reminded me of something else. "Also with the names you two. Why? Why use your real names?"

Sam smiled. "We figured if you were still in the first town it would have been the fastest way for you to spot us." He looked down at himself. "Plus I didn't realize there wasn't character creation."

"Turns out you were so far out of the first town that it was a miracle we found Argo, selling a newspaper of the latest boss fight." Kira fished out a newspaper with a screenshot on the front.

The picture had me mid-spin over Majiku with my sword glowing blue on the right side, and Kirito and Asuna on the left. I'm pretty sure Kirito and myself were racing for the last attack.

"You didn't catch my good side, Argo," Majiku said.

"You try taking good screenshots during a boss fight and get back to me, slick," Argo said.

Majiku laughed. "Alright fair point."

"Anyway, we found Argo and bought her paper. We both had a mini panic attack when we saw you. So Argo asked if we knew you, and we explained," Kira finished.

"That was about a half an hour before we went on our little cruise alone, Falstii," Argo said, flashing a wicked smile. Majiku elbowed me and Sam flashed me a wicked huge smile.

"You dog you. And you're telling me not to flirt with the ladies," Maj said.

"Pickin' up ladies and a floor clearing badass? What a combo," Sam added. I was trying extremely hard not to turn red.

"Ugh, I'm not gonna hear the end of this one," I said.

I looked at Argo who was, weirdly enough, also turning a slight shade of red, but still proud that she embarrassed me.

"Anyway, what do you guys want to do? If you want to go down the crafting route I've got some people in mind that I'm sure would be happy to mentor you. That's not saying that you aren't gonna learn to fight. But we will have to spread the training out between craft, and battle." Kira and Sam exchanged looks like they were having a mental conversation.

Couples, how they did that, I will never know. Though I guess I couldn't say because I've never really worried about that kind of stuff. They both looked back to me and Sam spoke up.

"I think we're gonna go down the crafts route. There's too much for us to learn in terms of combat and not enough time to learn it." I was relieved in a way. I wouldn't have to worry about them being in any tough line of fire.

"Okay. So I have an idea of who can help you. A Blacksmith, and a Merchant. Sam, I'll pair you up with the Merchant, Agil. He's smart and can show you how to be fair here. Kira, I'll introduce you to Liz. She's just getting started, but she knows her way around an anvil." I turned to Maj. "Since you know Sam more, could you take him to see Agil? I'm almost positive he'll accept the extra help."

"Sure, I've got some stuff to sell to him anyway," Majiku said, turning to Sam and Kira. "We all need to friend each other. So if you get in a jam, you can message us." After the friend's list exchange we parted ways, promising to meet up on Floor 3 for some good seafood.

"I'll go along with Flastor to make sure he doesn't bust any moves on ya girl, Sam." I grabbed her by the back of her collar and dragged her away. Once again, when she decides to do something, there's no talking her out of it. We traveled to the 15th Floor, where Lizbeth had set up a blacksmiths shop for the front.

As we walked, Kira spoke up. "So, I'm not that great with a hammer..." She lowered her head in worry. "Actually, I know absolutely nothing about blacksmithing... Will that be a problem?"

"Probably not. Unless Liz wants to go all out on training you. Most likely you'll work the actual storefront while she works on the weapons," I said.

"Yea, she needs a pretty face for the front of the house! Ain't that right, Flastii?" Argo asked. Clearly trying to tick me off.

"Argo, you're seriously killing me. Don't you have... Info to broke or something?" It wasn't a very good comeback.

Argo looked at Kira and made a weird face that I assume was supposed to mimic mine and they laughed. I felt bad because Kira apparently remembered me from when I was back in High School and I completely didn't know anything about her. It wasn't that I didn't try, she was one of my sister's friends that I probably used to drive around when they couldn't drive.

So having Argo there to help lighten the mood by annoying me was actually helpful. We got to the town where Liz had bought a small building to operate out of. We walked in the door and I called out.

"Liz? Are you in? It's Flastor and Argo! I have a friend here who wants to ask you something!" Kira looked at me, really nervous all of the sudden.

"Wait, I'm gonna ask her? I thought it was gonna be you?"

"Well, I'm not the one that's gonna work with her."

She puffed her cheek out in annoyance. "Fine." I do remember she's not terribly social. But I have a feeling she and Liz will be fast friends.

We walked in and found Liz hard at work in the back of the building. She must not have heard me because of the hammer. I walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She yelped and swung her hammer at my face, which connected perfectly and sent me flying into the wall.

"Ow... Hey, long time, no see," I groaned.

Liz got up and scolded me. "Who the heck said you could scare me like that?"

"Who the heck hammers her customers who are trying to get help?" I shot back.

"... Fair enough, sorry." Liz offered a hand, which I took. I got up and turned to Kira.

"Liz, this is Kira, a friend of mine. She's interested in working with you," I explained.

"Ah... So you wanna be a blacksmith, huh?" Liz got that look that clearly showed she was thinking: 'I so got this'. "In that case, my apprentice; best start while the day is young!"

She grabbed Kira's arm and dragged her to a shelf and started explaining the differences between certain ores. She's in good hands, especially if Liz was willing to actually teach her to be a blacksmith. There was something about the way Liz smithed her swords, it was like there was more than just game data melded in them.

That was easier than I was expecting... "Well ladies, have fun. Don't make her brain explode Liz. It's been a weird day." I said as I walked out of the shop with Argo. As I was gonna ask if she was gonna go back to work, Argo looped her arm around mine and got extremely close. My arm and left side of my body tensed up.

"Care to treat me to lunch, Boy?" I tried to free my arm but it was no good. Not gonna lie, I'm not good when it comes to girls and how to get along with them without making it seem like I was flirting.

"I guess... Got a place?" Was what I came up with.

"There's a lovely place on Floor 4. They have some good noodle bowls."

"Yea, sure. Sounds good."

After a good, self-made awkward meal. We went back to Floor 15. It had been about 2 hours or so since we split from the others. It was weird that Argo was spending so much time away from the front. I decided not to ask because she probably wouldn't answer or make me pay for the answer.

As we were walking up to Liz's' shop I got a message.

"Go ahead in, I'll be in shortly." I said.

Argo nodded. "Alright, keep yer secrets..." She smiled and walked through the door. I stared at her for a moment.

That was a Lord of the Rings reference... Cool...

I opened my menu to check out the message. It was from Majiku.

"You need to get down here... NOW"

I replied with. "What happened? Are you OK?" Panic was filling my body. I thought something had happened to Sam.

After a few seconds, I got a message back. All he said was.

"PKers on Floor 2."

3

My blood turned to ice. I ran in to grab Argo. When I got into the shop I was stunned by what I saw. Kira was standing in front of the anvil, pounding on a piece of metal, with Liz watching over her shoulder. After one more hit the molten hot bar melded into a dagger.

"Awesome! Let's take a look." Liz picked up the dagger and tapped it, pulling up the stat window. "Hey, not bad for your first weapon." She handed it to Kira. "Go ahead and keep it. Use it well."

"Thanks! I will." Kira said, she inspected the blade proudly. She noticed me in the doorway. "Check this out! My first knife!" She held it up for me to see.

"That's great, bud. I gotta borrow your mentor for a sec. You too, Argo." Liz patted Kira on her back and handed her another metal bar.

"Go ahead and keep practicing!" I ushered Liz and Argo to the front half of the store so Kira couldn't hear us talk. "So what's wrong? You look like a ghost."

"PKers..." I could feel the tension rise as I said it.

"PKers? Player Killers? Really?" Argo asked, clearly skeptical.

"Majiku messaged me, he said they were on 2," I said.

Liz looked horrified. "Where on 2?"

"Not sure, but we need to meet up with Maj and Sam. I don't think Maj is comfortable trying to move with just him and Sam. Kira might need that knife sooner than I wished." I said, looking back to the doorway.

"We can't take her, dumb-dumb, we haven't had the chance to train her!" Argo said.

"I know, but we can't leave her here. If she hears Sam is in trouble, she'll come anyway. At least I'll be able to keep an eye on her if she's already with us." I was really starting to panic, but I did my best to hide it. "Liz, I'll bring her back-"

"I'm coming too," Liz said before I could finish. "I sent my friends down there on a metal run this morning. I haven't heard from them since..." I understood why she looked so bad.

"Got it. Let's grab Kira and get moving."

We got to Floor 2 and raced to the forest that Majiku and Sam were in. Apparently, they were gathering some materials for Agil when they saw the group. They had stayed hidden but didn't want to move without backup. We got to the edge when I stopped the group.

"Since we don't know what's going on, we need to be really careful. Stay on guard and keep a sharp eye out. If you see anything, don't say anything, just tap the nearest person." The girls nodded and readied their weapons. Liz, a mace and shield, Argo, some claws, and Kira with her new dagger. "Alright let's go."

Before we left for the woods, I had gone to the nearest shop and bought a corridor crystal and set it to the prison. It cost almost all of my Col but it was better than going in and killing everyone. I also sent a message to Kirito, letting him know to stay on guard and where we were heading, in case we didn't come back.

So we ran as fast and as quietly as we could. As we got deeper into the woods the canopy of leaves started blocking out the sun. It got to the point where it almost seemed like night time.

Finally, we got to where Majiku and Sam were camped out. When I approached Majiku, he swung his sword at me. I ducked under it and held my hands up.

"Easy man! It's us." I said in a hushed tone. I waved to the others to make sure they were all visible.

"Jesus. Don't do that." Majiku sheathed his sword.

"So what happened?" I turned to Sam and his eyes were wide. Kira walked to his side and took his hand.

"It was bad, man. There was a huge ring of people, maybe 6 in all. They had surrounded a group of 3. After they forced them to basically strip down to nothing, they just..." He didn't need to finish.

I scanned our surroundings. I was working on my Detection Skill, and unless the players had a ridiculously high Hide Skill, I would see them. Maj seemed to be reading my mind.

"Already tried. They were wearing cloaks, so I'm assuming they have a stealth ability somewhat similar to what your coat has. They won't appear to us until they are maybe 3 to 4 feet from us."

"Damn... OK, we need to get out of here. I don't like that I can't see far around us." I looked at Liz and she looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Hey. Are you OK?"

"Was one guy wearing brown? Wielding an ax, with a dragon logo on the handle?" She asked Maj, shakily.

Suddenly the ax she just described materialized into the ground right in front of me. I turned, pulled Liz and Argo behind me, and had just enough time to draw and deflect a throwing knife with my blade. 5 more whizzed past my head. I stopped two, while the others were blocked by Maj's massive sword.

"Show yourself!" I yelled. A sinister laughter came from all around us. Six figures emerged from the shadows and surrounded us. Majiku pushed Sam and Kira behind him, while Liz and Argo flanked my shoulders, facing left and right. "What do you want?" I demanded in the sternest tone possible.

"Ooohhh. Not much really. Just everything you have on you. And maybe a crack at one of the lovely ladies you have with you." The guy in front of me sneered.

"How about you come over here and I crack you upside the head, pal?" Liz said. She sounded tough, but her arms were shaking a small bit. This must have been her first fight in a while. "Where did you get the ax?"

"One of our playthings left it for us. Such a shame that they were too weak to last very long. But you all look like you'll last a good long while." The guy under the hood licked his lips like a freak. He gestured to his friends around him. "As PoH would say... Shall we get on with the show?"

"Disgusting..." I said under my breath. This was bad. There was no way we could take all 6 while protecting Sam and Kira. And these guys looked dead serious. Totally different than the 'duel nuts' that have been showing up. Argo leaned in so I could hear her.

"Listen. Liz and I will fall back and guard the two newbies. You and Maj wipe the floor with these clowns." It seemed solid.

Based on their gear the groups level had to average around low to mid 20s at best. Maj and I almost had a 20 level difference between them. But still, 2 on 6 were horrible odds. I was able to look far enough left to see Liz while still being able to see the guy in front of me. She had tears streaming from her face, but she nodded in agreement.

It was settled. If we were gonna go down, we were gonna go down swinging. I was able to catch a glimpse of Sam and Kira. She was standing behind him with her knife clutched to her chest, while Sam held his arm out holding her back. He held a curved sword that I assume Agil gave to him. At least he had some experience wielding a blade. But not enough to handle these freaks.

I locked eyes with Maj and mouthed 'Switch' as subtly as I could. He nodded, then I turned to face the guy in front of me. His teeth were yellow and crooked like someone had punched him as a kid and they never grew back in right.

"Fine," I said. "It's showtime..."

4

"Jump!"

Luckily Liz and Argo were the only ones that caught on. We launched into the air. I grabbed under their arms and pushed them higher to make sure they got out of the way. The group advanced but Majiku stepped in and swiped his sword in a wide arc. He connected twice and sent 2 flying back. The others dodged out of the way.

2 down 4 to go.

The goal was to get their health so far in the red that they couldn't fight without dying. I held up my sword horizontally to allow the girls a way to redirect midair and land in front of Sam and Kira.

I landed standing shoulder to shoulder with Majiku. I stared 2 down, taunting them. They hesitated but then charged. The two facing Maj did the same. The two advancing on me made the mistake of coming straight for me, instead of flanking me. Just before their blades hit, I jumped and spun, slashing both of their wrists.

I hit them just right to where they lost their grip on their knives. They stumbled as I landed behind them. I spun on my heels and slashed their backs. Both of their health bars had only a sliver of health left. They kneeled on the ground and yielded. I turned to face Maj and he had successfully disarmed his foes as well.

Was it really gonna be that easy?

"Stop!" I heard a man's voice shout behind me. I turned around to see who was talking. The two that had gotten knocked into the woods apparently were not down. They had disarmed Sam, Liz, and Argo. I couldn't tell if Kira still had her knife, but I assumed she didn't. They pinned Argo and Liz to the ground, holding their heads up by their hair with their knives pressed against the girls' throats. Rage filled my entire body.

"Let them go!" I growled.

"Drop your weapons tough guys, and maybe I'll consider." I didn't have a choice. I dropped my sword. Maj did the same, and we raised our hands up.

"There, dropped, let them go. NOW!" I demanded.

A sharp pain hit the back of my head. One of the guys that Maj disarmed had re-armed themselves and slammed the butt of his knife into my head. Even in VR, that didn't feel good. I fell down and he leaned on my back. He pulled my hair up and made me look towards Argo and Liz.

"Just for making our lives that much harder, you get to watch as we kill the girls."

Anger swelled inside of me. "I swear if you hurt any of them and I'll-"

The guy cut me off by putting his knife to my throat. "Be a good boy now."

The guys holding down the girls held their knives up, getting ready to bring them down. My body started to tremble. From behind Sam, Kira yelled defiantly as she revealed her knife that she had hidden behind his back. She drove it into the back of the guy that had Liz. Then I felt the guy that had me ease up a bit. I used the opening to twist out and punch him in the face.

The guy that had Argo began to drive his knife across her neck. I grabbed my sword and did the only thing I could think to do. I swung upwards and cut his hand off. Then I kicked him off of Argo. His severed hand fell to the ground, disappearing when it hit. Maj swept his legs under the two in front of him and knocked them down. He picked up his sword and slashed all 4 back down to the red.

I grabbed the guy that had Argo by the throat and shoved him into a tree, lifting him off the ground by 4 inches. My head was getting foggy from the anger.

"I'm gonna curb stomp your face in, you f-ugly bastard!" I yelled in rage.

"No please!" The guy yelled. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

"Shut your nasty hole!" I shouted back, gripping his throat tighter. Before I could do anything, Argo ran up and grabbed me from behind. She buried her head in my back.

"Easy, boy..." Argo said in a soft voice.

I felt the rage drain from my body. My head cleared up and I realized that everyone was staring at me, and I had my sword pressed so far into the guy's throat that there was a red cut mark, and his health was slowly draining. When his health dropped into the red I let him go. He crumpled to the ground and looked up at me. I got a good look at his face. He had tears streaming down his face, and he was in sheer panic.

"2 choices... Go to BlackIron Palace. Or die for what you did... Pick your poison." I didn't mean the last part, but it sure got all 6 of them to get up fast. I held up the corridor crystal and commanded it to open. Majiku ushered the men into the portal. After the last one was through, I closed the doorway. I stood ready all the way until the corridor disappeared.

As soon as I was sure they weren't gonna come back through, I sank to my knees, leaning on my sword. All of the energy just drained from my body. I took deep breaths to try to clear my head.

Then my mind started to ask what had happened to me... I'll be the first to admit that my temper sucks. Threatening my friends is by far one of the fastest ways to get me angry. But I've never been in a situation like that... I've never been so angry that I was ready to kill without even knowing it. I've always said I'd throw my life down for my friends... But was I really ready to take a life for them?

I took deep breaths to try to calm myself down. I needed to be strong for the ones that can't defend themselves. But I have to learn control. I can't kill no matter what. These are still people that are being twisted by this world.

As I sat there I felt someone kneel down in front of me. Argo pulled my head down to rest on her shoulder. I didn't debate... I was really tired and all I wanted to do was sit there. We all just sat, still and silent.

5

We decided to extend our stay away from the front for another 3 weeks. It wasn't to slack off, we still kept in shape. It was mostly to give ourselves time to think. Maj trained Sam, while I had help from Argo with training Kira. We asked Liz if she wanted to hang with us for a while longer. She went from having great friends to being alone in this stupid place. She refused.

"I just... Want to be alone for a while." She said, clearly broken. I told her I would stop by the shop later to check on her. She just nodded and walked away.

"Give her time, those guys were with her since the beginning. And I think she may have been crushin' on the one that had the ax." Argo said, standing extremely close to me. "I reached out to Asuna... She agreed to keep close tabs on her."

After the incident, Majiku had recounted what had happened from his perspective. I had gotten out from under the guy that had me, picked up my sword, lobbed the guy's hand off and pinned him to the tree; all in the span of two seconds, at the most. He said it was the fastest he'd ever seen me move. My eyes were so dark that they might as well have been black and bloodshot. So that would be why Argo held me back. I'm surprised she could stand near me after that.

Kira never met my eyes, and Sam talked to me differently after that, like he met a different person. A darker one.

Argo helped train Kira while I sat under a tree. They spared while Argo shot out suggestions.

"Step left."

"Slide right."

"Jab now!" Kira was getting faster. Which was good if PKers were starting to appear. Maj kept me informed of Sam's training and he was also improving. After a few days, I took Kira to Liz's new shop on the new front of Floor 19. When we walked in she was wearing a pink dress, and had pink hair. Liz turned and smiled.

"Welcome to Lizbeth's Blacksmith Shop."

Her eyes were closed, so she didn't see who it was, and I was worried when she did she would throw the nearest sharp object at my head. When she opened her eyes her face turned serious. I braced myself, but instead, she locked eyes with Kira.

"Where the hell have you been, apprentice? Makin' me set up shop by myself!" Kira was wide-eyed.

"I... Um... Well." Before Kira could form a full sentence Liz walked up and grabbed her arm lightly.

"No time, we have a lot of work to do. Soon the Assault Team will be here and I'm gonna need help keeping things organized!"

Liz ushered Kira into the shop and explained how the new arrangement was set up and laid out a schedule balancing store hours and Kira's smith training. I watched, half amazed, half worried. There was no way she had gotten over something like that. But maybe helping Kira and having someone to hang with while she worked was the best for her.

I looked at Argo who was standing next to me. She looked back and smiled at me.

"See? Told ya she would be fine." Argo turned to walk out. I looked back and Kira was looking at me, smiling, but in sheer panic of the information overload from Liz. I smiled, gave her a thumbs up, and waved. I walked out of Liz's shop and faced Argo

"So what's your plan, Argo?" I asked her, somewhat worried about her answer.

"I'm headin' back to the front. I made sure to publish the PK story so everyone knows to watch themselves. But being 4 weeks behind means there's 4 floors of info I need to gather."

"Yeah, Majiku and I are heading back there too. I'll make sure to keep you updated on anything we find."

"Sounds good, watch yourself out there Flastii." She hesitated like she changed her mind about something, then smiled.

"You too Argo, sound off if you need us, OK? And sleep more than every 3 days." I said. She winked, twirled, and walked away.

Epilogue

A few weeks have passed and both Sam and Kira had settled into a routine of helping at their respective shops, training, and taking over when their mentors were either running errands or participating in boss fights if needed. The boss fights mainly applied to Agil.

Since the incident, Liz has mainly focused on smithing. Majku and I would stop by every once and a while to either check on her or have our equipment serviced. She seemed to have her old charm back and was fiery as ever. Our visits were always pleasant, but leaving always left me with some dread.

Every time I would turn to leave, I would see the ax of her fallen friend that she always hung above the door to her shop. It was a truly beautiful ax, though I never asked her if it was for display or a reminder to not leave a safe zone.

Majiku and I also had a long talk about how strong we've gotten. And how we really need to keep each other in check since our tempers are carbon copies. We had to start checking each other and making sure we don't act rashly. We made a vow. Absolutely no killing another player no matter what. We have to be able to do everything we can to save as many people as possible by beating this game before many more people are killed.

End Of Part Two.