"Salamanders! Stand Down!"
The guy in black stared down the Salamanders with steely determination. The army of Salamanders hesitated, not because of the order, but just by the fact that some random guy had just ordered them to not attack.
"Sakuya."
My instincts took over and I swung at the new voice, nearly slicing Leafa in two. Leafa ducked just in time to avoid that.
"Christ... Sorry," I said. "Figured you would know better than to sneak up on me..." I joked to ease the tension.
Sakuya was all business. "Leafa? What are you doing here?"
"It's too long to get into now," Leafa nodded to the guy. It had to be Kirito. Head to toe in black, and flashy as ever. No one else would have the balls to stare the army of red Salamanders down. "The fate of all of our races depends on his next move."
Sakuya groaned and I had to hold back the urge to go pull him down and shut him up. Last time he was in a situation like this, he made everyone hate him. And since he was here, then there is no doubt in my mind that the girl in the picture was Asuna. He wouldn't be of any use if he started making enemies.
"I wanna talk to your commander!" Kirito shouted. I almost expected them to say 'Piss off' and all attack us. But a tall guy from the army floated forward. He was dawned on blood red armor and had pinkish red hair. His face was stoic like he's been in hundreds of wars both in game and IRL. Kirito flew up to join him. I could barely hear their conversation.
"What the hell is a Spriggan like you doing here?" Kirito just stared the Salamander down. "I'm gonna kill you no matter what your answer. But since you're brave enough to face me, I might as well hear you out."
"This guy is a little too big for his pants..." Sakuya elbowed me to shut me up.
"My name is Kirito. I'm an ambassador for the Spriggan-Undine Alliance." I hung my head. I knew I should have gone to shut him up. "Since you are on the offensive today, I'm assuming you want to wage war against all of our races."
"Aaaaannnnnddddd we're dead..." I groaned.
Sakuya and Alicia exchanged confused looks and Leafa just stood with her mouth hanging open. Both Alicia and Sakuya looked at Leafa and she shot her hands up in surrender.
"The Undines are allied with the Spriggans, huh?" The Salamander said, clearly not convinced. "You're supposed to be their ambassador and yet you've come here without a guard?" Kirito was quick to recover.
"Yea, so what? I was sent here to negotiate trade terms with the Sylphs and the Cat-Sith. But if you interrupt our talks you're going to get some serious hurt. All of our races will team up, and we will bring the fight straight to the Salamanders."
"God. Shut up, shut up." I pleaded. I knew I could take on these guys, but there were too many to take while protecting Sakuya and Alicia. I knew Kirito couldn't either.
The Salamander chuckled. "You're kidding me, right? You're all alone and you have crappy gear, there's no way you are someone's ambassador."
"Dumbass..." I cursed.
The Salamander had a fair point. All of Sakuya and Alicia's group were heavily geared. Even my coat counted as high tier cloth armor.
The Salamander drew a long, red sword. "If you can survive my attacks for 30 seconds, then I'll believe you are who you say you are."
Kirito drew his own, oversized sword and flew level with him. "Gee thanks. That's mighty generous."
"Why is he using that overgrown monstrosity? He's going to be slower," I said.
"He complained that every one-handed sword we tried was too light. That was the only one he felt comfortable with," Leafa explained.
"Fair point, the swords here are light as a freakin' feather," I said. gripping my own one-handed long sword on my back. I wonder if his stats are the same as they were from SAO. If they were, most of all the one handed swords here will be way too light. Kirito has a stupid high STR stat like I do, so we like one handed swords on the heavier side.
"This is bad," Sakuya said, getting our attention.
"Why?" Leafa asked, turning to Sakuya.
"Do you see that Salamander's sword?" Sakuya said, staring at the red blade. "It's the Demon Sword Gram. You need a Two-Handed Sword skill of at least 950 to equip it."
"Nine hundred fifty?!" Leafa repeated,
"Yes, and there is only one person I know who can use it. General Eugene. Have you heard of him?"
Leafa nodded. "Yea, I've heard the name."
"He's the younger brother of Mortimer, the leader of the Salamanders. They're brothers in real life too," Sakuya explained. This made my heart sting, thinking about my own brother. "Mortimer is a brilliant strategist, but in terms of strength, they say Eugene is the game's strongest player... He's known as the General of the Blazing Flames..."
"He's the strongest player?" Leafa turned to face the fight, "Kirito..."
"If you say that sword is comfortable for him, then he's got this," I said, crossing my arms.
"How can you be so sure?" Sakuya asked. Then her face twisted in confusion. "Wait... do you know him?" I was thinking that I shouldn't go too far into Kirito's story until I know more of what's going on.
"Yea... I do." I smiled at Leafa. It must have been plastered on my face that I got my memory back... Not that I was trying to hide my excitement. "He's every bit of floor clearing badass as I am. Maybe even more..." I said. "The General of Embers is about to face off against a leader of the Assault Team. Aincrad's Black Swordsman..."
The clouds in the sky were breaking. After a minute a ray of sun shone down on Eugene's blade. He tilted it so it would momentarily blind Kirito, and lunged. Kirito moved to meet his blade; but when they should have made contact, Eugene's sword passed right through Kirito's and struck him. Kirito went flying into the mountain behind him.
"What was that?" Leafa asked,
"The Ethereal Shift, the sword's bonus skill," Alicia explained. "When someone tries to block it with a sword or shield, the Demon Sword Gram can phase right through it!"
"Really? No way!" Leafa was shocked, I was just annoyed.
"That takes the skill out of fighting... What a dumb trait," I said, starting to worry.
Kirito shot from the mountain and locked blades with Eugene. He was clearly pissed at the stupid skill too. Kirito and Eugene exchanged blows. Kirito trying to dodge instead of blocking as much as he could. One time was too slow, and Eugene's sword passed through Kirito's again and caught him right in the chest. Kirito backed up.
"Hey, Big Red, I think your 30 seconds are up by now," Kirito said, trying to recover his thoughts.
"I've changed my mind. I've decided to kill you anyway. Now you have to survive until I do," Eugene said with a wicked sneer.
"Yea, that figures," Kirito groaned. "But I won't go down that easy!" Kirito flew to Eugene
"Kick his ass Kirito. Don't make me a liar..." I said under my breath. They exchanged a few more blows. Sparks flying everywhere.
"This won't end well..." Sakuya said, "They both seem like equally skilled fighters. But Eugene's weapon is far superior."
"He can do it..." Leafa stole my line. "Kirito can beat him, I know it."
She must have seen him fight before. Anyone that watches Kirito fight first hand pretty much thinks that. The more blows that they had, the more Eugene was getting the upper hand. Nailing small hits all over Kirito.
After a hit to Kirito's face, he flipped and sped away from Eugene. Then I saw Kirito casting a spell.
"Shocker... He's ahead of me again..." I said annoyed.
Leafa tried to teach me magic, but I just didn't have the talent for it. Trying to remember the chants was a pain. Seeing Kirito using it made me want to try again. Kirito flipped again and held his hand out to Eugene. A puff of black smoke came from his hand, obscuring all vision. Then it flew to us, bringing a shockwave that went straight through me.
"Flashy bastard, you clearly haven't changed," I said, holding my arms over my face.
I sensed someone had flown close. I drew my blade, thinking either Eugene or one of the Salamanders had advanced.
"I need to borrow this..." Kirito had appeared behind Leafa and took her sword, then shot straight up. It hit me what his plan was.
"Oh my god, you are not!" I shouted as Kirito shot back into the air. I've seen what he can do with two swords... This was over.
Eugene swung hard and the smoke dissipated. When it was clear, Kirito was nowhere to be seen. I looked around, expecting him to come flying up from the trees.
"Hey, where'd he go?" Alicia asked, also looking for him.
One of her guards spoke up. "Do you think he ran away?"
"Of course he didn't!" Leafa said defensively. She stared at the ground as if remembering something. Then she clasped her hands like she was praying.
Above, I heard a whistling sound. I couldn't stop a chuckle.
"He definitely doesn't run..." I smiled, people taking notice of my confidence. "Retret is not his style..." Leafa must have heard the whistling too. She looked up and smiled.
Kirito was dive bombing Eugene, using the sun to blind him. "Boots on the other foot now, jerk," I said. Eugene shot at Kirito. I could hear Kirito shouting in defiance. When Kitrito swung his blade, Eugene's passed through it, heading straight for Kirito's head. This was it.
"Block!" I shouted, getting way into the fight. Kirito leaned back as far as he could. He swung his left arm, revealing Leafa's blade.
Since the Ethereal Shift was on cool-down, Leafa's blade made perfect contact. Kirito was able to deflect the Demon Sword away.
"Finish him off!" I yelled.
Kirito bellowed, landing blow after blow to Eugene. After 13 hits, Eugene's health hit the yellow. A trait of Eugenes armor must have activated because before Kirito could land another blow, a ball of fire surrounded Eugene. When Kirito hit it, he flew back. But he recovered fast. Kirito was dialed into the fight now.
Eugene flew to Kirito at top speed, bringing his sword down. Kirito slid to the left, and hit a few more times, before driving both swords into Eugene. Kirito shouted and forced Eugene down. Somehow Eugene was able to push Kirito away but not before a few more slashes to the chest.
Then came the finishing move. Kirito brought Leafa's sword down and cleaved the Salamander in two. All that was left of General Eugene was a fiery ball heading to the ground.
Everyone stood in silence. Silent and stunned. I let out a sigh of relief...
2
Sakuya held out her fan and broke the silence.
"Splendid! Marvelous!"
"That was the most amazing fight ever!" Alicia cheered.
"Nicely done, Spriggan!" Sakuya shouted to Kirito. I looked around and everyone was smiling. Even the Salamanders were amazed. In classic Kirito style, he swung his sword down to the right when he was sure the fight was done.
"Good to see you haven't lost your touch, man..." I said, thinking back to a comment I made to him once.
As pissed as I was that he got to fight Eugene instead of me; after seeing Kirito in action again, I was sure my memories had returned fully. His last attack was a sped up version of the skill he used on Kayaba. It was almost like I was watching the fight again.
We recovered Eugene's Remain Light and Sakuya revived him. I was slightly against it, but Kirito insisted that he wanted to talk to him. I couldn't tell if Kirito recognized me or not. Then again, I almost didn't want him to. If he did, and he got in touch with my friends in the real world...
I pushed the thought out. I wouldn't want them coming after me now if they were not here already. Especially if that meant that they could possibly get trapped.
After Sakuya finished reviving Eugene, he stood and stretched. I expected Eugene to go into a frenzy. But instead, he turned to Kirito and smiled slightly.
"You're an excellent fighter. In fact, you're the most powerful player I have ever seen. Well done," Eugene said.
"A humble gamer. Don't get a lot of those too often," I muttered, standing in the back of the group.
Kirito grinned. "You're not so bad yourself."
"I didn't know the Spriggans had someone like you in their ranks," Eugene said. "This world is a bigger place than I thought."
"Are we cool then? Will you withdraw?" Kirito asked, calmly and nicely. There was an eerie silence. I moved to grab my blade, ready for a fight.
"Eugene, may I have a word," A Salamander stepped forward.
"Kagemune? What is it?" Eugene asked. Leafa looked like she recognized the shorter Salamander, Kagemune.
"You might find this interesting. You know how my party was wiped out yesterday? Well this Spriggan," Kagemune looked at Kirito. "He's the one that did it." He let the words sink in with Eugene. "And he was traveling with an Undine."
"Interesting..." Eugene thought for a moment. "Then I guess I have to believe you. For the record, the last thing our leader and I want is to go to war with the Spriggans and Undines. We will withdraw for now, but I'm going to be looking forward to our next battle..." Eugene held out a fist.
"Then that makes two of us." Kirito fist bumped him. Eugene ordered the army to withdraw and they all flew away. Kirito and Leafa had an exchange that I couldn't hear, then Sakuya stepped forward.
"Excuse me, but would either of you mind explaining what is going on here?" So they did.
They said Sigurd had set up the meeting. How, if Sakuya and Alicia were killed, then he would be reborn as a Salamander in the next game update. By the time they were through explaining the full story, the sun was setting. I was ready to pummel Sigurd to the dirt.
"Alicia... Have you raised your Dark Magic skill?" Sakuya asked. Alicia's ears twitched.
"Mmm-Hmm," Alicia hummed in agreement.
"Open a Moon-Light Mirror to Sigurd, then."
"Sure, but it won't last long in the day."
"Not to worry, this will be brief."
Alicia cast the spell and we were surrounded by a dark dome. A mirror appeared in front of Sakuya. It shimmered and an image of a Sylph reflected onto the mirror. He was leaning back on a desk swashing a glass of red liquid around.
"Sigurd..." Sakuya said, emotionless. Sigurd jumped, threw his glass away, and stumbled to his feet.
"S-Sakuya!" He babbled.
"Nice to see you too! Unfortunately, I'm still alive." Sakuya shot. I had to giggle a small bit.
"How?" He started to ask, then he recovered from almost exposing himself. "I- I mean, what happened at the meeting?"
"It went well!" Sakuya responded, smiling slyly. "There's still the matter of signing the treaty, though." Sakuya let it sink in that his plan failed miserably, and was about to backfire. "By the way, we had an unexpected guest."
"What guest?" Sigurd asked, trying to play dumb.
"His name is General Eugene, and he sends his regards." Sigurd's face grew wide in shock. He knew he was caught now. I had to hold back the urge to go laugh at his face.
Sigurd's eyes drifted over to Leafa and Kirito, I was standing behind them a ways back. I held up a peace sign, not knowing if he could see me or not. His scowling face told me he could.
"Leafa..." He said, annoyed. He eyed me like he was gonna reach through the mirror and try to strangle me, and I taunted him to try it. "So that's it?" He lowered his head, to speak under his breath. "Those incompetent Lizards. Well, it's your move, Sakuya. Are you gonna fine me? Or maybe you wanna take away my command? If so, remember without me, your rule won't last very long."
"Actually, I was thinking of granting the request you made them. Since you can't stand being a Sylph, you're free to go!" Sigurd turned back to face Sakuya's image. His eyes were full of confusion.
"Wait... What?" He watched on as Sakuya opened her console. She tapped a few buttons, then a window popped up in front of Sigurd. "Hold on!" Sigurd protested. "Me? You're- You're banishing me?"
"I'm letting you live to wander the Neutral Territory as a Renegade. With any luck, you can find something there to occupy your precious time." Sakuya broke her gaze. It seemed like she slightly regretted her choice.
"You Bi-" Sigurd got cut off by a forced teleport.
After the light dimmed down, his office was empty. Alicia broke the spell and the dark dome around us disappeared. I sunk back into the crowd to make sure Kirito didn't see me.
Sakuya exchanged thanks, and Alicia busted Kirito for the whole 'Spriggan-Undine Alliance' bluff.
Alicia and Sakuya fought over who would get Kirito, trying to get him to become a merc for one of them. Not gonna lie, it would be a huge help.
But Leafa must have had other plans. She basically told the girls to back off. Then Leafa retreated shortly after like she embarrassed herself. After the exchange, Sakuya questioned what Kirito and Leafa's intentions were.
Leafa took a step to Sakuya. "So, you guys allying, it's to attempt the World Tree right?"
"Ultimately yes, the goal was for us to work together to beat the Tree," Sakuya said.
"If it's OK, and it's not too much trouble, could we go with you? We're kinda in a hurry, though."
Sakuya and Alicia exchanged looks and smiled.
"Well. I can't see why not? The truth is, we would be grateful to have you along," Sakuya said. "But, why are you in such a hurry to get there?"
"It's not me," Leafa started, but Kirito stepped up.
"I'm the one who wants to get to the top of the tree," Kirito said. "I think..." He took a shaky breath. "I think someone is waiting for me up there."
Sakuya looked in my direction, wide-eyed. I held up my hand and drew it across my neck, indicating not to bring me up. She recovered quickly and acted like she was just gazing off, thinking.
"Is it Oberon the Fairy King?" She asked.
He was the one that was supposedly supposed to give the infinite flight past the gate of the Tree. I guessed that he either didn't exist, or he was actually Noboyuki Sugo; the man that's holding me and the others here and the one that hijacked my memories. If he was waiting past the gate, I would enjoy stomping him into the dirt even more than punching Kayaba.
"No... It's not him..." Kirito said sadly. "It's someone I can't reach in real life. But here, I might be able to..." Sakuya must have picked up on his sorrow and connected it with Asuna.
It made my blood boil that Sugo, the same one that was keeping me from Argo, was also keeping Asuna from Kirito. He was gonna pay for the suffering he's causing, big-time.
"I see. Well, we would be happy to help," Sakuya said.
"But the thing is," Alicia stepped up to finish the thought. "It'll take us at least a week to get the gear for everyone."
"Oh... I see..." Kirito recovered and smiled. "That's OK. I don't want to raid the tree, like you guys. I just want to get to the top as fast as possible. I'll figure something out."
"Yea you're gonna go by yourself aren't you? Reckless fool," I muttered, holding myself back.
Kirito produced a large pouch and walked up to Alicia.
"Here, this should help pay for the raid." He gave the sack to Alicia and she almost dropped it. She had a look of shock on her face when she looked in.
"Sakuya! Take a look!" Sakuya walked up and looked into the bag, then she too looked shocked.
"A hundred thousand pieces of Midral Yrld?" She looked at Kirito, "Are you sure? You could build a castle on prime land with this."
Kirito smiled. "Nah, I don't need it."
"With this, we could have enough to buy Mythic Level gear for the whole raid!" Alicia said, clearly excited.
"We'll get ready as fast as we can," Sakuya said. "We have work to do! Let's go!" We all took off after Sakuya and Alicia, I tried to blend in with the crowd as much as I could.
After we were out of earshot I flew up next to Sakuya. She looked at me, clearly annoyed.
"Why would you not want to talk to him?" She demanded. "I'm certain you would know each other."
"I do know him, that's the problem! If he's gotten in touch with my friends in the real world, he'll for sure tell them where I am. It won't be long after that for them to come in after me. Until I know more about how SAO players are affected in this world, I don't want them in any more danger..." I lowered my head. After my memories healed, it hit me hard how much I missed my friends and family. "They've already been through enough..." Honestly, I felt more alone now than I did before I could remember. I tried to make light of the situation. "Plus my brother, if not all of them, would literally tear this place apart looking for me."
Sakuya's face softened. "You are truly thinking ahead... I never thought of it that way." Sakuya faced forward again. "He did seem different, that Kirito. And if he has just entered and is already on par with Eugene, and is able to produce that much Yrld." She stopped in her tracks. "Wait a minute... How much do you have?" She asked, slightly annoyed.
In the week that I was here, I never once thought about how much money I had. It's been a long time since I had to consider how much money I had on account that Maj and I hoarded our money as much as we could. I opened my menu. I read the number that represented my money and panicked. With my memories healed, I remembered that one of the last things I did with Argo was a week long mob farming run... And we sold all of the drops to player run shops for a premium. Including some high level weapons... Which means...
"It says," I gulped. "350,000..."
Sakuya smacked my head. "You dolt! Why didn't you say something sooner? We could have been raiding the Tree by now!"
"You didn't ask! Sorry! I never thought about money!" I said, rubbing my head. I produced another 300,000 Yrld and handed it to Sakuya.
"With this, we'll be raid ready by tomorrow," Alicia said. "I'll head back to Fraelia to round up our party. We'll meet at the base of the tree tomorrow, dragons blazing."
I smiled. "I can't wait to see that." Alicia smiled and patted my back.
"Let's get you back to your lady friend, eh?" She said. I nodded to her.
The two races parted ways. The Cat-Sith to the west, me and the Sylphs blazing east as fast as we could. After we passed the mountain range dividing the outside lands with the central lands, Sakuya spoke up.
"When we get back to Swilvane I will need you to round up the people on this list." She sent me a message with about 40 people's names on it.
"Got it. Meet at the government building?" I said, closing the message.
"Yes, I'll take a few and scout for armor. When we find some we will message you to have the group come armor up. Then we will talk about strategy." She finished her plan.
"Sounds good, let's gear up!" I said, firing the group up. A cheer rose up from behind me. The entire group shot towards Swilvane at top speed.
3
The last few hours of the day were a blur. Rounding up the raid group. Getting them geared up with everything they needed. And talking about strategy for the raid.
"So someone needs to fill the NOOB in over here," I said, sarcastically. "Can I get details on this raid?"
"Oh, right. Sorry," Sakuya said as we were eating dinner. "So the raid is very straightforward. It starts inside the tree, at the very bottom. The goal is to fly to the top and touch the gate. When you do, it will open and the way forward will be clear."
"That's it?" I was confused. "And how has it not been beaten? What's the catch?" I asked.
A player to my left spoke up. "The catch is the guardians that we have to fight."
"Let me guess. They're all stupid strong?" I asked.
"Not even that! The guardians alone are relatively weak. It's the number of them that's staggering. The longer a party is in the Tree, the more that show up. And their spawn rate is ridiculous"
"So you have to hit 'em fast or it's no good," I summarized.
"Correct. And the higher the players get in the Tree, the faster they spawn above you."
"So no matter how many players you have. If you're not snappy about getting to the top, it's impossible because the already high spawn rate doubles," I said.
"And it's not possible for a small group to go. The guardians hit hard enough to wipe a group smaller than 5," another spoke up.
"You sound like you are speaking from experience?" I asked.
"Sadly, I am." He said, looking annoyed.
So we bounced Ideas around. Going one by one is out. We wouldn't be able to hit them with sword combat alone.
"Why don't we just blast them with magic over and over? Forcing them back to where they spawn?" I offered. Sakuya pondered this for a minute.
"That might work if we combine it with the Dragoons Fire Breath attack. But we may run out of mana before we have them pushed back."
"And the Dragoons can only use their Fire Breath attack once every 3 minutes," someone added.
I thought for a minute, trying to think of a good plan. Then I had an idea. "So what if we keep our strongest mages back, and half of the dragon riders back? They'll stay back and restore mana in 3-minute intervals, long enough for the Fire Breath to come off of cooldown." I was on a roll, thinking back to the days when I was helping strategize for boss fights. "While they're waiting, the other warriors and the other half of the riders charge in and fight to keep the guardians from occupying the space that the mages and Dragoons open. We repeat that until there's a tunnel straight to the top."
I looked around, waiting for an objection. It was a crazy plan that would require near perfect timing and no casualties from anyone to work. Sakuya tapped the table, thinking. Then she looked up, smiling.
"That's the most solid plan we have had for a raid," she said. "I'll relay the plan to Alicia to get her opinion, but I think she will agree that this is the best plan we have." She got up and addressed the party. "We need those with the highest magic skills to separate into a group. Then you all need to stock up on as many mana potions as you can carry. Everyone else, stock up on healing potions." She turned to me "You seem to know your way around a raid. I'd like you to lead the party, if you wish?"
I looked down, staring at the table we were sitting at. It felt like it wasn't my place to say yes. Just step in and say 'Hey, I'm in charge now.' As I was about to say no, someone started chanting my name.
It was only one person. Then it was the few next to me. Pretty soon it was a roar echoing through the night sky. Sakuya smiled down at me and offered her hand. I smiled, took it, and stood.
"With a reception like that..." I looked around at all the people willing to help me. "How could I refuse?"
A cheer so loud went up that you could probably hear it from the top of the World Tree.
I looked off in the direction of the tree. "You hear that, Sugo? You better be up there... Cause when I get to the top of your precious tree, there will be hell to pay," I muttered under my breath. An alarm rang, then a female voice made an announcement.
"There will be scheduled maintenance tonight at 4 AM. All players need to be logged out by this time."
"Um... Crap?" I said, looking concerned at Sakuya. She shook her head.
"The best I can say is at least be asleep by then. Maybe you'll get lucky and forced out of the game." I stared at the ground.
"Yea, maybe..." Sakuya put her hand on my back, then a thought occurred to me. "We need to talk," I said, ushering her off to the side. We walked out of earshot of the group of partying players.
Sakuya turned to me, confused, "What is it? Second thoughts?"
"Not even. But if it's true, and the devs of this world is keeping people trapped, they will get found out. ALO might get shut down," I could tell she came to the same conclusion. "This world is beautiful. And if I can do anything to save it, I will.. But my priority is getting home. And as soon as I lay eyes on the person behind this, it'll be the end..." Her gaze turned downcast, and I could tell she was upset by that reality.
She took a deep breath. "Honestly, if that is the true situation, and this world is a giant cover up for something that sinister, then I would feel proud that my race were the ones that helped expose the one in charge for the foul, evil person that they are." She raised her head, put a hand on my shoulder, and smiled. "Plus this world is vast, it has rooted in the hearts of its players. And those roots run deeper than the World Tree itself. Alfheim will never disappear for long."
She was right. There were multiple times when a game was shut down, then picked up by fans and brought back to life.
"You sound so confident. Let me guess, girl's intuition?" I said, smiling. Sakuya laughed,
"More like a gamer's intuition," she said.
I held out my hand. "This may be the last day we get to talk. if it is, I want to say thank you for helping me." Instead of a handshake, she stepped forward and gave me a hug.
"It has been an honor working with you, Blue Blur."
We adjourned for the night. Hopefully my last night in the Virtual World. I expected either nightmares or nothing as per usual, but instead when 4 AM came, it felt like I was in limbo between worlds again. I could hear voices, like I was eavesdropping on a conversation.
4
"What the hell do you mean?" A girl asked. She had a soft voice that was all too familiar.
"Kirito sent me a message saying he found him in Alfheim." A guy said.
My vision focused but was still misty. I was laying on a bed, a girl with shoulder length blonde hair sitting next to me.
Argo... Or, technically, Teresa. She looked like she had been crying.
"What the hell?" Teresa looked at me, and scowled. "If I find out who's keeping him there, so help me-". Another girl stepped out from behind Teresa. It was Kira, Sam standing next to her. Both of their eyes were dark like they haven't slept in days.
"We've been over this... He'll come back, Teresa," Kira said.
"If he can move and fight, then he's gonna kick whoever's keeping him in the face. He won't stay down for long," Sam added.
"Damn right... And I'm going in after him..."
"Excuse me?" Sam, Kira, and Teresa all looked in the direction of the voice. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw my brother, Alex. He was leaning on the wall with arms crossed. He had dark rings around his eyes too, but his were almost black like he hasn't slept in the two months that he's been back. And his hair was messier than usual. "Like hell you are! Your sister would destroy me if she found out you got trapped again and I let you," Sam said.
"Plus what would you do if you got trapped in there?" A girl with long black hair walked up next to him and hugged him. Was that Rena? "He would get pissed. Plus it would do you no good if you get trapped, but you wouldn't be able to help."
"I can't stand waiting anymore!" Alex shouted and punched the nearest wall. It's been awhile since I have seen him this worked up. Was he really that worried? "I've been watching his back for 2 years. Now I hear he's been fighting by himself and faces near impossible odds while some pisshead is just keeping him there!" He turned to everyone. "I'm going."
"I'm coming with you..." A girl walked into the room, she had purple hair and was wearing a matching purple coat. Sky. "I owe him for getting us out."
I felt relieved for a second. That meant all of my friends had gotten out. But I hated where this conversation was going.
Sam and Kira looked at each other, then smiled.
"Well I'm not staying here to face your sister's wrath, so I'm in too," Sam said.
"Same for me! Let's bring him home," Kira chimed in.
"I'm going too!" Teresa moved to get off of the bed, but Kira stopped her.
"No, you need to stay here."
"Screw that noise! I wanna help!" Teresa complained.
"You need to stay here. So when he wakes up, you'll be one of the first he sees," Alex said, pleading with her to listen.
Teresa grumbled for a minute. Then she laid down next to me.
"Fine. If you find him, punch him for me..."
"I can do that." Alex nodded and looked at everyone. "Guys, get home and dive. We have a lot of grinding to do."
"Don't come!" I tried to say. But my voice wouldn't work. The group filed out of the room, leaving Teresa alone with me.
I wanted to reach out to her. It's like she was there, but I was just a ghost.
"Come back to me. You still owe me a cake, ass-hat." A tear streamed down her face as my vision went blurry again.
I shot upright as I was woken up by the sound of horns.
That was the final straw for me... I promised myself that I would be out by today, and I would pummel whoever was behind this and was making Argo cry.
5
I told Sakuya about my dream, how we may have company for the raid if my friends really do dive in. I described what they look like in detail.
"Majiku will be the tallest of them all, Rena just shorter. They both have dark hair, Majiku's will be curly. Rena's will most likely be tied back. Majiku will undoubtedly be wearing something red." Sakuya listened intently as I continued. "Willow will have purple hair or will at least be wearing something purple. Sam will be wielding a Katana, he's got brown hair that will be evenly cut. And Kira will be with him, wielding a dagger."
"I'm really glad you remembered them all!" Sakuya said, happily.
"Of course I do. I told you I just saw them," I said. "We need to relay their description to the raid so they don't accidentally attack them if they do find their way to Arune. They're all smart. They'll probably all pick different races and start asking around. All it takes is for one of them to be a Cat-Sith or Sylph to figure out where we are. When they hear that's the way to some unseen land, they'll know I'll be there. They'll blast into the raid like bats out of hell too."
Sakuya sighed and shook her head at me.
"Flastor, in times of stress, your mind can play wild tricks on you," Sakuya explained. "It may have been a residual effect of Alicia's mind-calming spell. Causing you to see something that you want to see. I really don't think they'll be here."
"But..." I had to stop and think about it... But the more I did think about it, the more I figured that's probably what happened... "Yea, you may be right..." But it felt so real... But I really really did want to see them again in any form, so maybe it was my own mind taunting me.
I stepped up to address the army before me. It was 4 PM, we would meet with the Cat-Sith at 5 PM and be raiding the tree by 6 PM, latest. Then I got a message from Leafa.
"We're raiding the Tree now. Race ya to the top."
"You stupid, arrogant, son of a-" I nearly cursed but Sakuya slapped me with her fan. "Sorry, we need to go... Now... Kirito and Leafa are raiding the Tree."
"You can't be serious?" Sakuya asked, but my face must have said it all. "Very well."
I turned to the group. "Change of plans, guys! We move now!" I held my sword over me, and the army cheered.
Sakuya tapped me, "We need to send word to Alicia."
"On it," I opened my menu and wrote a quick message, saying to meet at the Valley of the Butterflies plateau. I sent it, then looked at Sakuya.
"Done, let's go." I launched myself off of the ground, the army followed. We made our way to the center of the world. As we were flying, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching over me from above.
We surely broke the record for fastest time from the edge of Alfheim to the center. In 30 minutes we made the journey to the rendezvous with the Cat-Sith at the Valley of the Butterflies. They beat us there because the Cat-Sith town was closer to the meeting place. When we landed I was surrounded by dragons.
"This... Is... Awesome!" I said, walking up to one of the dragons. I raised my hand, the dragon nuzzled it. Then it burrowed its head into my chest. "Freakin' sweet! I want one."
"Look at you! We could make a tamer out of you yet," Alicia said, sliding off of the dragon. "So what's with the sudden rush?"
"That guy from yesterday, Kirito, has started the raid. We need to go back him up," I explained. "You got the plan?"
"We're on it, everyone knows their roles. Ready to torch those suckers!" Alicia said. She was clearly getting fired up.
"Good, let's get going."
I lead the now massive army to the tree at top dragoon riding speed. As we flew, Alicia and Sakuya flanked me.
"So has the plan changed since Kirito jumped the gun?" Alicia asked
"Not in the slightest. As soon as we get in, blow everything to hell. Just don't hit him and whoever else was crazy enough to go with him," I said.
Sakuya smiled. "Leafa sent the message, so she's with him. And I haven't seen Recon in awhile. I bet he is there as well."
"And like that, we have our raiders. Still, only three? He's crazier than I thought," Alicia said.
"You have no idea..." I said without thinking.
Luckily, neither of them pried into the matter. We flew at top speed to the central town of Arune. As we flew over, the players on the ground gawked at us.
Arune was seriously the coolest town I had ever had the pleasure of only seeing a blur of. It was situated at the base of the tree and used the spiraling branches as higher levels for houses. I wanted to explore so bad it wasn't even funny. But the thought of getting back to Argo made me fly straight to the base of the tree without hesitation.
"I'm coming," I said. Speaking to all of the people that were waiting for me. And speaking to Sugo, which I hoped was past the gate so I could pummel him.
We all landed in front of a massive doorway that stood open.
"He's still in there..." Sakuya said, landing next to me.
"She's right. The doors remain open until the party leaves, or is wiped..." Alicia added, landing her dragon to my other side.
"Then let's get in there..." I stepped forward. A deep voice came from one of the giant statues flanking the door.
"You are about to enter a fight that has already commenced. You will not receive the gift of flight if you are victorious. Do you wish to continue?"
A window popped up in front of me, saying the raid was already in progress and loot would be distributed after the first party rolled. I hit the blue circle to accept.
"Go forth, and fight honorably..." The statue said.
"Here we go..." I raised my sword over my head and shouted as loud as I could. "Advance!"
The army shot past me, shouting a battle cry so loud it made the ground shake. After the last of the group went in, I flew in with Sakuya and Alicia at my side. When I broke the threshold of the door, I shot upwards. I was met by a swarm of guardians that were flying around like bees in a hive.
Kirito was front and center, thoroughly getting his ass kicked. I flew at top speed up to him, past the advancing army, as he was about to get sliced. I raised my sword and blocked the attack just in time.
"Hey buddy, miss me?" I said, not trying to hide anymore. Kirito had his eyes closed. He opened them and gawked at me. "Take a picture, it lasts longer." I deflected the guardian's blade and slashed it. With that one hit, it vanished.
"Do you realize how worried you have everyone right now?" Kirito said, regaining himself and chugging a health potion. "And FYI, Argo is gonna skin you alive."
"Not if you kept your trap shut!"
"Yea... About that..."
"You told them... didn't you?" I asked, ready to draw on him.
"I only said I thought I saw you. I told them to stay away for now..." I spun and got in his face.
"Idiot That's like me telling you to stay away! They're gonna come anyway!" I groaned. "Hopefully we can get through before they dive in," I offered my hand to Kirito. "Let's get on with it. They'll open a path, while we keep it open. Rinse and repeat until we are at the top."
"Got it, let's go!" Kirito shouted.
We both shot to the side to let the mages and dragoons unload on the guardians. I looked down at Sakuya. "Now!"
"Fire Breath! Attack!" Alicia lined up the Dragoons and they let out a wave of fire that destroyed half of the guardians.
"Fenrir Storm! Fire at will!" Sakuya ordered. A line of mages let loose a massive wind spell. Fully clearing the way.
I nodded to them. Sakuya closed her fan and pointed it at us. "Warriors! Forward to battle!" The fighting half of the army surged forward to hold the guardians back.
"3 minutes! Then get to the side again!" I yelled at Kirito. He nodded and we shot away from each other. We waded through the guardians, cutting them down like low-level monsters. I silently counted my kills. 5, 10, 20.
3 minutes was up, and I went to the side. As I did, another wave of fire and wind shot past me, opening up more of the room. But things were looking bad. We weren't moving fast enough and a layer of guardians had appeared below the gate.
I saw Kirito and shouted, "We need to move faster!"
Kirito nodded. He was fighting back to back with Leafa.
I kept fighting by myself, adding to my kill count. 30, 40, 50. I moved as fast as I possibly could. Taking out guardians in 2s and 3s as I spun around the edges of the tree. The only thing that was keeping me razor sharp was my rage. Rage that I had been holding back since the Laughing Coffin raid. Rage towards the PKers that could not see past their clouded vision of reality. Rage towards Akihiko Kayaba for deceiving all of us and played us like fools. But most of all... Rage towards Noboyuki Sugo for making me, Asuna, and so many others endure an extended stay away from reality.
Another 3 minutes, another wave of spells shot up. This time packing more of a punch. It exposed the dome at the top of the tree. I was stunned at the combined power of the spells.
"Damn. Remind me not to piss off a mage from here," I said.
"Come on!" Kirito snapped me out of it. We dashed to the opening at top speed. Right before we broke through the line, more guardians closed the gap. This raid was literally impossible to pass...
"You bastards! Get out of my way!" I yelled.
Rage completely took over as I remembered that Sugo designed this impossible raid to hide his intentions and I charged forward, disregarding the plan and surrounding myself to prove he was not going to beat me. I cut down 10 more before I felt a thud. I looked down to see a sword had materialized in my chest. Then a round of arrows came at me from all sides.
"...Ouch," was all I could manage.
My health was going down fast. My breathing got heavy, as the adrenaline started to wear off. One of the guardians had appeared in front of me, readying its sword to cut me down.
I'm not sure why... But I gave up... It felt like all the energy and determination that had been keeping me going had just drained. It dawned on me that this raid just couldn't be cleared because the creator of the world made it that way... It's not just hard... It's physically impossible.
I closed my eyes.
"Sorry... everyone..."
I sensed the Guardian bringing his sword down and I braced. Instead of hitting me, I heard a metallic ring come from in front of me. I opened my eyes. When I did, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Or that I was having one of those life flashing before my eyes deals and I was remembering an old fight.
A tall guy floated in front of me. He wielded a massive sword, bigger and wider than Kirito's. He had red wings and a flowing crimson trench coat. He looked at me, still holding the guardian back, and flashed a wicked smile.
"Wassup, bro?"
6
"Move your ass!"
I felt someone pull me down. Majiku swung his sword and cleaved the guardian in half. Then he let out a roar as he started going to town on the guardians in his range. Taking them down in twos and threes.
When I looked down, I saw Willow, with cat ears, wearing a purple and black tunic, had me by the back of my coat. And was pulling me to Kira, who was chanting a spell.
"What the-" I started, but Willow looked back and smiled.
"Shut up and let her heal you." She threw me to Kira like I was a baseball.
As I got closer, Kira cast a healing spell and my health shot back to full. I was still flying to her, but someone caught me. I regained myself to see Sam, holding my shoulders. He had a katana strapped to his waist.
"I... Uh..." I was still having trouble forming a thought. Kira rushed forward and hugged me.
"We missed you! Argo is going to be so thrilled!" She said. Sam was wearing Samurai armor and had red wings. Kira was wearing a blue and black tunic and had blue wings.
"If she doesn't kill me first," I added.
"We can cross that bridge when we come to it," Rena said, appearing behind Sam and brandishing a broadsword on her shoulder. She was wearing a tunic similar to her KoB uniform. She had the mechanical wings of a Leprechaun.
"A broadsword?" I asked.
Rena shrugged. "I wanted to try something new." She smiled. "Need to go up?"
I nodded. "There's a huge chance that I can get myself out if I can get to the top," I said. I turned and saw Majiku flying to me at top speed. I was happy at first, then I realized he was pissed. "Oh, crap..." I couldn't move fast enough. He planted his fist on my left cheek.
"Take that! That's from Argo! That's for not coming back!" Maj yelled, venting his anger. "That's for giving up just now you freakin' asshole!"
"Maj, what the hell?" Willow asked, helping me regain my balance in the air.
"I deserved that one, sorry," I said. Majiku looked at me. Then his face grew soft.
"As long as you know you deserved that." Majiku held up his fist. "It's good to see you, bro," I fist bumped him.
"It's good to see you," I looked around. "All of you."
"Flastor! We're being overrun!" Sakuya called from below, I turned to her, feeling more confident than ever with my old party at my side.
"Don't worry Sakuya!" I looked at my brother, who had his sword on his shoulder, floating next to me. "The Cannon Brothers are on it..." I said that with complete confidence, knowing that there was no way we were going to lose.
"Cannon Brothers?" Her eyes grew wide when she realized who was floating with me. She smiled and nodded.
I turned to my group and began the fastest raid briefing in history.
"We need to go up, fast. Every 3 minutes move to the sides of the room. The mages and dragons will blast a new hole that we need to keep open." Everyone was watching me, half determined, half surprised. "Fan out, each of us takes a direction and fight fast! If you have to move, move right so we don't pass each other. We'll literally drill our way to the top. Kira, hang back and watch our health. Tell us to switch out when we get below 75% HP. When we switch, heal us with a combination of spells and potions."
"You got it!" Kira nodded, She moved her medicine pouch to a handy position and started to cast a healing spell.
"Right," I faced forward. "Kick some ass!"
In a flash, we were all flying into the fray just like we did in our final boss of Aincrad. Willow was first, wielding a curved sword that had a purple ribbon flowing from the handle. She carved through 15 of the guardians easily, pushing them back to the wall. Rena was next, slicing and stabbing anything that dared be in front of her, she also mowed down 10 guardians in less than a second.
Sam was flowing with his Katana smoothly. He cut down 14 of the guardians so fast, they all dissipated at once. Classic Samurai style.
Majiku and I fought back to back once again. Wherever Majs sword wasn't, I was there, mowing everything that came at his back. Between the two of us, we took down 40 in less than a minute.
3 minutes was up.
"Dodge!" I yelled.
Everyone dashed to the sides. Fire and Wind shot past us.
This was the money shot. The dome at the top of the tree was finally visible. I heard a bellowing roar come from below me. I looked down. Kirito was shooting forward, wielding his sword and Leafa's sword in front of him. I looked at Majiku.
"Going up?" He held his sword out.
"Top floor, same speed at that guy." I readied myself on Majiku's massive sword.
When Kirito was level with us, Majiku launched me to meet him. I added to the speed by jumping and extending my wings to full span. When I got close I lined up back to back with Kirito, and thrusted my sword forward. We both shouted defiantly, plowing through anything that stood in our way. It was like the force of us flying was cutting down anything in front of us.
We broke through the line of guardians. I split from Kirito as his swords drove into the dome. I skidded to a stop next to him. While we were up there it felt like the world had inverted. Kirito pried on the dome, trying to get it open. I stood behind him, ready to strike anything that came at us.
"What gives, man? Open the damn thing before they come after us!" I said.
"Yui!" Kirito said,
"Bless you?"
From Kirito's shirt pocket, a small pixie girl flew out and landed on the door. She pressed her hands on the door and closed her eyes.
"Daddy, this door isn't flagged as a quest door. It's locked by the system admin," the little girl, Yui, said. Kirito's eyes were wide.
"Which means..."
"Restricted Access! A player was never meant to open this door!" Yui finished Kirito's thought. I felt the anger boiling inside of me.
"That tears it. Sugo is a dead-."
I couldn't finish my curse. All around us, the guardians started to form, getting ready to strike us down. Then Kirito spoke up.
"Yui, see if this will work." He produced a grey card that looked like a credit card from his pocket.
"It's not like we can buy the passcode man," I said, starting to get annoyed.
Yui touched the card. It seemed like she just stored something inside of her. She then moved to the door and placed her hands on it. The door flashed and began to open.
"We're gonna teleport! Daddy, give me your hand!" Kirito raised his hand to Yui's and I grabbed Kirito's shoulder. I felt the familiar sensation of teleportation, but it was different because I passed out in the middle of the process.
7
I woke up to Yui trying to stir Kirito. I got up and looked around. We were in a curved hallway. Not a floating city... Bummer.
"Daddy? Daddy, wake up!" I touched Yui's shoulder and lightly moved her to the side.
"I got this kiddo," I knelt next to him and lightly slapped his face. "Kirito, Asuna made sandwiches."
"Sandwich?" Kirito groaned as his eyes fluttered open.
"Priorities man, get up," I said, pulling him to his feet.
"Yui, where are we?" Kirito asked.
"I don't know, there's no mapping data for this place." She said sadly. Suddenly, she perked up and looked down the hallway. "Mommy is here," She said,
"Wait, if you're Daddy, then Mommy is?"
"Asuna is here," Kirito said, determined. I pointed down the hall that Yui was looking.
"Go get her! I'm going to look for Sugo," Kirito was stunned that I knew his name. "He's the ass that's keeping me, Asuna, and everyone else here, right? He screwed with my head and made Argo and all of the others worry themselves sick. I owe him an ass kicking from hell." I cracked my knuckles.
Kirito nodded. We exchanged a handshake. "If I don't see you again-" I grabbed his coat and pulled him close.
"Oh, I will see you again, pal... I owe you your own mountain of hurt for ratting me out," I said.
Kirito smiled. "You're on."
I'm not sure where this came from, but we did some handshake that neither of us had practiced. We slapped the palms of our hands, then slapped the back of our hands, then fistbumped.
We turned and sped off in opposite directions. I ran down the hall. Looking for any signs of an important room or hall that would indicate where Sugo was.
After about 10 minutes, I finally found a damn map. I ran up and down so many stairs. Hit so many dead ends that I nearly started tearing down walls.
I scanned all of the rooms on the map, looking for a different sign. Maybe a console, or an office. After a few seconds, one of the rooms stuck out to me.
"Experimentation Room"
"You sick bastard. You ARE using them for tests," I said, gritting my teeth. "I swear I hate you more than Kayaba..."
Room 43, It was 3 floors down and down the hall.
I dashed to the stairs and took them 4 at a time down, hopping over the railing when they spiraled around. When I got to the floor I needed I sprinted to the left. I counted the numbers on the doorways. 40, 41, 42, when I lined up with 43 I skidded to a stop. I looked in and nearly gagged. There were 2 purple blobs, with a bunch of tentacles sticking out, hovering over a row of holograms of brains. It was like I could smell a stink coming from them, even though there was nothing to smell.
"Gross..." I said. They must have heard me because they turned to me.
"Who are you?" One asked.
"No one is supposed to see this!" The other said.
"I wish I hadn't... I can literally smell you." I said. "Don't suppose you two will just set the people free and piss off, eh?" They looked at each other, then charged me. "I'll take that as a no." I lunged forward and spun, cutting one in two horizontally.
"What the-" I stopped the other one by cutting him down. They both shattered instantly.
"Seriously, nasty. You're gonna make my blade rust... And rust isn't even a thing here..." No one was around to admire my joke. I looked around and saw a floating cube at the other end of the room. "Bingo, my ticket out." I ran to the console and felt around it, looking for a way to activate it.
I found a crease down the middle that looked like a card was supposed to be swiped.
"Oh, no no NO!" I hit the console in anger, it did nothing. "DAMNIT!" I lowered my head. "Maybe killing the only two workers here wasn't the smartest move..."
Then, down the hall, I heard a man grumbling.
"Stupid boy... I'm the god of this world, not him!"
"Lucky day..." I instantly recognized his sleazy voice. I ran to the door, leaned on the wall next to it, and crossed my arms. Waiting...
Soon a tall guy wearing a green robe walked in. His blonde hair was a mess, and he walked like someone had stabbed the crap out of him. I realized that Kirito had gotten to him first.
"You may have bested me 'Guilded Hero'. But let's see how you feel after I take your precious Asuna's memories!" He grumbled. That tears it, it was Sugo, and Kirito had kicked the shit out of him.
"What was that about taking memories?" I said, making him jump and stumble backward. "Hey guy, remember me?"
"What the hell? Who are you? How did you get here?" Sugo asked in a panic.
"How did I get here? Well, lemme tell you how I got here..." I leaned up from the wall and uncrossed my arms.
"First I beat the shit out of a skeletal centipede from hell." I started walking to Sugo, slowly.
"Then some asshole separated me from my girlfriend and picked my brain to pieces, giving me the worst headache literally and figuratively." Realization washed over Sugo's face as he figured out who I was.
"Then I singlehandedly fought about a thousand of your stupid guardians to get to a non-existent floating city." I was standing over him now.
"AND I got punched by my brother..." I picked Sugo up by his shirt and held him off of the ground by a few inches. "You were warned about me. Now you're going to let me, Asuna, and all of the other 300 people you have here, out. You will repair everyone's memories and make it so they don't remember a damn thing about your god awful tests. I'm already extremely pissed. If I were you, I wouldn't piss me off anymore."
He was shaking, but then he sneered.
"You know, the pain absorber here is set to 0, that's why I'm like this. You better hope that I don't get the upper hand." He gripped my wrist. "Kirito may have been the best. But you were always second rate... Nothing." He tried to flip me over his head.
"The pain absorber is 0, huh." I planted my body like a statue. Sugo didn't move me an inch... "Then tell me... HOW DOES THIS FEEL?!" Instead of him flipping me, I flipped him over me. I drew my sword and cut his arm off before he crumpled to the ground on his back.
"Gah, Not again!" He wailed in pain.
"You really shouldn't have pushed me like that buddy..." I said, letting out the annoyance that I felt when I was rated second to Kirito. "He may be the Dual Wielding, badass Black Swordsman. But, I've got my own name, and it's not the innocent name I know you're thinking of. I'm sure you know it, having picked my memories." I put my sword to his throat. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Say it..." I demanded. He said nothing, which pissed me off more. "SAY IT!" Terror had filled his eyes. But I didn't care. "No? Fine, I will. They called me the Blue Demon after I cut down 6 people that threatened the girl I love. And I didn't even know I loved her at the time." I pressed my sword as close to his throat without breaking the skin. I poured all of my anger out. "Now I do, and you've kept me from her! Where do you think you stand now compared to them?" He squirmed under my sword.
This might have been the only time I've ever acknowledged that name as part of me... But in this situation, I figured I should use it.
"OK! OK, I'll let them all go," tears were streaming down Sugo's face.
"Damn right..." Sugo got up, walked to the console, and activated it. I held my sword to his back, ready to run him through.
"Let the others go first. Log them out..." I said. Sugo nodded and hit a few buttons. Soon, the holograms of the brains disappeared.
"There. All of them are out, completely unharmed." Sugo said, "Now leave..."
"Like hell! Let me log out," I said, digging my sword into his back. He squirmed and hit a few more buttons on the console.
"There! You can log out like normal," Sugo said, holding his hand and a stub of an arm up. I opened my menu to be sure.
I scrolled to the log out button and hit it, then hit the window that said I was outside of my territory. Instead of nothing, a countdown started. I canceled it before it hit zero.
Sugo thought I was pleased. "Now get out so I don't have to see your face."
I spun and cut the Fairy King in half. He screamed bloody murder, as his lower body separated from his upper.
"What the hell? We had a deal! Are you really going to kill me?" Sugo groveled on the floor.
"You're stupid as hell, you know that?" I said. "I can't actually kill you here, moron." I stood over him, ready to let him know exactly how pissed I was. "You have extended the suffering of 300 people. You caused Kirito and Asuna to be apart from each other for 2 months. You kept me from Argo for 2 months. You stole my memories of my family. And you made Argo cry. My sympathy for you stopped at your first crime." I raised my sword and poured out the emotions I was feeling. "I'll tell you exactly where you stand right now. I hate you with a passion, Noboyuki Sugo. I hate you more than I hated the first PKers that scarred all of us... More than the Monster PKers that tried to kill Argo and Willow... More than the one that almost did kill Argo. And Akihiko Kayaba himself... All put together."
"Please don't! I've already suffered enough!" Sugo held his hand up. Him saying that just pissed me off further.
"Not yet..." I brought my sword down on his chest. He felt the full force of my sword piercing his heart and wailed in pain. Digital blood spurted out from the wound. Soon his wailing grew soft... And he grew limp. "And not even now..." Sugo shattered and left nothing in this world but splinters of crystals.
I stumbled back, dropping my sword as the energy from my rage dissipated. I looked around, not really sure what to do next. I could leave whenever I wanted... So why am I just standing here?
After a minute I felt a strange presence in the room
"Nicely done, Flastor."
I turned to see a man in a white lab coat standing at the end of the room. He was tall and skinny, with short greying hair. I recognized him from two years ago and instantly filled with anger again.
"Kayaba..." I stared at him out of the corner of my eye.
"It's good to see you again," Kayaba said. Him being so calm and formal sent me over the edge for a split second. I picked up my sword and threw it blade first like an oversized throwing knife. It went right through Kayaba like he was a ghost. Kayaba frowned in displeasure. "That's no way to be... Especially since I got you out of Sugo's trap."
"So it was you?" I said, remembering my first time here.
Kayaba examined our surroundings. "What a horrid place... How about a change of scenery?" Kayaba held up his hand and snapped. There was a rush of wind and smoke that clouded my vision. Then suddenly, the scent in the air changed to the smell of fall... Dying leaves and freshly picked corn... When my vision cleared, we were on top of a hill with a tree on it, overlooking a lake... Leaves were flowing in the breeze. "Much better..." Kayaba took a deep breath.
"So what now? You expect me to say thank you after all that you've done? I'm not exactly in a forgiving mood." I said, the scenery not helping my mood as it not only reminded of Argo, but also of home from the smell.
"Not at all... I've come with a message," he said. "I gave Kirito the means to start a new world. If he sees that it sprouts, I'd like you to ensure it roots in America." I thought he was joking, but his gaze was dead serious.
"What kind of world?" I asked.
"It will allow any and everyone to create the world of their dreams, just as I did with Aincrad," Kayaba explained.
"That was your dream?" I asked, coldly. "Kidnap thousands of people and force them to live in it?
"Hmm..." Kayaba lowered his head. "My dream was just the floating castle in the sky. Even I admit now that I'm not sure what my true end goal is after all this time..." He raised his head again. "But I still love the virtual world. It shouldn't be shackled simply because of my choices. Which is why I'm entrusting Kirito to see this new world is born. And I'm entrusting you to defend it from any public backlash."
I thought for a minute. I was unsure if I should trust him. But if Kirito trusted him enough to see that this thing 'sprouts'... Whatever that means. The least I could do is help him If I could.
"If I can help Kirito, I will. But I'll do it for him, not you..." I said, not sure what else to say.
Kayaba grinned. "Of course, I just don't want to see the virtual world die." Kayaba looked at the sky. "I got lost in my obsession... I lost sight of the fact that the virtual world can do so much good in this world. I want to be sure it's left in good, pure hands." He turned and started to walk away. "Farewell, Flastor." Before he got far, he vanished.
I stood for a moment, taking in the fact that I was basically just handed the responsibility of the Virtual World for America.
Suddenly, I felt a warm presence on my right side. It felt like something, in the shape of a person, was laying on me while I was standing up.
I took in a deep breath. "I'm coming home." I opened my menu and logged out. My body felt like it was being lifted out of the virtual world, and sent back to the real one.
) Return
When I tried to open my eyes, the light was too bright. I felt skinny and light. I squinted to let my eyes adjust. There was beeping coming from machines next to me. A curtain was drawn, dividing the entrance from the rest of the room. I tried to move, but someone was situated so I couldn't. I struggled to look down, but the NerveGear helmet blocked me.
I tried to get the helmet off with one hand, but I didn't have the strength to do it that way...
Only one way to find out for sure.
"Poodle..." I groaned. Teresa moaned. "Shit...zu..." another moan, but she spoke this time.
"Bad... Dog..." She nestled up next to me. I remembered what she said I owed her.
"Strawberry-" I lost my voice. My throat was bone dry and just trying to speak was tearing it apart. I tried again, this time a little louder "Strawberry Cake... Fishing..."
I could feel Teresa's eyes open on my chest.
"Flastor?" She groaned.
"Sup?"
Teresa shot up.
"You're awake!" She shouted. With my other hand free, I took the NerveGear off of my head. My hair was stupid long, almost as long as Teresa's.
"Stupid thing," I said, pushing the helmet off of the bed.
I struggled to sit up. Teresa put her hand on my back to help. I looked at her for what felt like the first time. She had darker rings under her eyes. Her hair was longer too, it stretched just past her shoulders now.
Without thinking, I reached out and touched a strand of her hair. "You look good with long hair... How long has it been since you slept well?" Teresa looked at me like I was a ghost. Then she smiled, grabbed my hand and brought it to her cheek, and sighed.
"I dunno... It feels like I've been awake since I found you here." Teresa closed her eyes and just kept her head on my hand. Then a wave of despair and betrayal washed over her face. She opened her eyes and I was met with her angry golden brown eyes. "Are you OK? Where have you been? Why didn't you wake up?"
Oh oh... "Uh... Um..." My head was still kinda fuzzy. I couldn't form a sentence to calm her down. Tears started to pour from Teresa's eyes. "No no, don't do that!"
"You said you were coming back... You promised..." Oh man... I may not be far behind her with the waterworks. "Why didn't you come back, you ASSHOLE?!" She buried her head in my chest and started to cry. I didn't even think when I wrapped my arms around her and rested my cheek on top of her head.
I heard rustling from the hall. Someone must have been sitting outside the room. The curtains got ripped back, revealing 3 people. One man, tanned skin, with black hair cut short. Two women, one was younger and blonde, the other was older and had brown hair. All three of them were wearing glasses. They all looked at me like I was a ghost. I leaned up and held up a peace sign in greeting.
"I'm back..."
My sister shot forward, wrapping her arms around me. My parents weren't too far behind her.
"It's about damn time..." My sister cried.
"We thought we lost you when Alex came back and you didn't," My Mom sobbed. My Dad was rubbing my Moms back, He looked at me and smiled.
"Don't you know it's rude to keep the ladies waiting?" He said.
"My bad. I'm horrible with time, wonder where I got that from?" I said back. My Dad hung his head in exaggerated shame.
"Sorry 'bout that," I couldn't help but laugh. It was like I was only gone for a day.
I heard running coming from the hall. One by familiar faces skidded to a stop in my room. Sam and Kira were first. I had to wiggle my arm out from under Teresa, who was still buried in my chest.
"Stop moving so much," she demanded.
"I have to say hi to people," I argued back.
"You're mine though! Forget them for a minute," she hugged tighter.
"Oh god. Squeezing to death... Literally dying..." I said, only half joking.
Kira patted Teresa's back. "Share, Teresa. You can have him back in a minute." Kira smiled at me. Teresa finally pulled back and wiped the tears away.
"Fine, 10 minutes..." Teresa said. I was able to sit up further. Kira hugged me softly. Sam walked up and we shook hands.
Sky came and hugged me too, nearly breaking me in half. "When you didn't wake up, we thought you were gone..."
"Can't get rid of me that easy," I said. "It can try, but Hell ain't freezing over yet."
Behind her, a girl with long black hair stood. She looked familiar.
"So uh... I'm just gonna cut to the chase..."
She rolled her eyes, then smiled as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "Imagine me with red hair, and a white and red knights uniform."
It took me only a second to realize who it was. "Are you freaking serious? Rena?"
"It's a good thing you didn't change your hair color much in SAO..." She looked at Teresa. "I spotted Argo while she was out to eat with everyone... I pretty much tackled her. I figured I was never going to see any of you, ever again... Name's Reyna, by the way. Same, but spelled with a 'Y'."
"Even if that was the case, we would have found you somehow..." I extended my hand. "I'm Jake." Rena, instead of shaking my hand, extended her arms.
"Is that any way to treat your future sister-in-law?" I was confused at first. Then it hit me.
"You're kidding?" Reyna leaned down and gave me a hug. Then my brother walked in. He took a space by Reyna. He wrapped his arm around her. Sure enough, on his ring finger, was a glistening gold band.
"Alex, I-," I was about to say thank you for coming after me, but he cut me off.
"And you call me a heavy sleeper," Alex said, smiling. I just smiled and played along.
"Yea I know. I had a crazy night last night," I said.
"I'm sure you did," we fist bumped. I looked at both of them, still trying to get my brain to focus.
"I leave you two alone for 2 months and then this?" I said.
"Happens when you beat a death game together then learn you're only a town away," Reyna spoke up, leaning back on Alex.
I looked around at the people that were here. They all looked the same. But it felt different. More... Well real.
"Time's up, mine now..." Teresa buried her head back into my chest.
This time, no one objected. I realized that I was forgetting to say something. Something that I swore I would do when I got back.
I tapped Teresa's head.
"Hey," Teresa looked up at me. "Nice to meet you, Teresa Luna. I'm Jake Truman." Teresa just stared at me with her golden brown eyes, then smiled.
"Nice to meet you too..." Teresa said happily. I leaned forward so our foreheads touched, we stayed like that for a few minutes.
"I should have said this when I left that day two months ago," I smiled, I've never felt this strongly about someone. Being back in the real world, I knew it was true.
"I love you..."
Another round of tears streamed from Teresa's eyes.
"It took you eight months..."
"Hey! No fair... The last two months don't count!" I protested.
Mom had her head on Dad's shoulder. Dad gave me a subtle thumbs up.
"Do you hate me?" I asked, referencing a joke I made whenever I royally messed up and she was pissed at me.
Teresa looked up and kissed me. When she did, my mind focused on her. It started to become almost crystal clear. For the moment, it was just me and Teresa. We stayed like that for what seemed a century.
Teresa pulled back and smiled.
"I love you too. You idiot," she sunk her head into my shoulder.
I wrapped my arms around her, making sure that this wasn't just a dream. I looked back to everyone and almost thought it was. When I looked around, instead of seeing all of my friends in the real world. I saw the warriors that fought with me for years. We all just sat in silence. Finally together again.
A knock came from the doorway.
"Excuse me?" An older guy in a black suit walked in. He had grey hair and a matching grey mustache.
My brother seemed to recognize him and scowled. "For crying out loud. He literally just woke up, Sean. Give him a minute would you?" Alex said, ready to throw him out of the room.
"I'm so sorry to interrupt." He took off his black hat and set it at the edge of my bed. "But now that you all are finally together. I have something to ask."
End of Fairy Dance