DISCLAIMER: I do not own SAO nor Persona 3. All rights go their respective owners and creators.

"This world is nothing but the 'Grand Castle of Follies and Illusion'." Heathcliff stood still as he waited for another of the boars to attack him, and as it did he merely moved a few inches to the side to dodge and then stab the beast with the silver saber that glowed turquoise as it charged with the energy to perform a Sword Skill.

With a final grunt of pain, the monster froze and glowed into a multitude of colored pigments and then burst into glass-like pixels with the accompanying sound effect. The words "Level Up!" hung over Heathcliff's head, and at that point Heathcliff then quickly opened his menu and proceeded to distribute his gained skill points and improve his skill branch. He then turned to Minato after finishing, and continued the conversation.

"What I just did was a prime example of what I have told you."

The bluenette nodded, and then spoke up regarding his grasp of what Heathcliff was trying to say. "In this virtual environment ruled over by a system that enforces the constructs of the game it was built on, it is obvious that numbers, designating your level and skill aptitude, will be the measure of strength in this death game."

Heathcliff flashed him an uncharacteristic smile. The lad felt that the expression was far out of place for his mentor who had always maintained a silent and serious demeanor during the whole duration of the development of Sword Art Online. "That is correct. Though it might just be an illusion to the world of reality—"

"—here, where that illusion reigns supreme as the natural law of the land, power gained from high enough digits serve to be basis upon who will stay to live and who will soon be sleeping six feet deep."

Right after Kayaba had used another avatar to announce the new, deathly mechanics of SAO, those who would prove to be saner would begin to actually try and gain levels in order to become strong by the terms of the game and begin their climb to the top of Aincrad to seek a way out of this supposed nightmare. For them, it was obvious that even if the risks had become clear, the only deterrent to their early demise would be power amassed from within the confines of this 'reality'. Hence, as long as they kept their fangs sharp enough, they would at least secure a high enough chance of pulling through.

However, there was also another issue to be considered. Even if there are those who want out of SAO, it can be said that not everyone may actually want to escape. There may be those who have thoughts akin, if not completely similar, to those of Akihiko Kayaba's—Sword Art Online was but a dream come true where the painful clutches of reality, powerlessness, and fate would be far distant from them. If so, it is inevitable that there would be people who would become drunk from the delusion of strength given unto them by the very construct that this floating castle had been built upon:

It was still a game, no matter how you look at it—play poorly, and it shall serve to spell your end.

That last strand of thought left itself unsaid at the back of Minato's mind. He knew that Kayaba might say the same as he would, but with a different phrasing of his own.

"Even then, my protege, it is pertinent that you remember this: this may be a game, but it isn't just something you play."

Ah, there we go, the bluenette thought as a smirk made itself visible from the curve of his lips. Ignoring the questioning look Heathcliff gave him, he then asked a question.

"Designing features such as forging weapons, making clothes, buying houses, cooking, and music—what was the point of such things? Did you actually consider the possibility of—"

"—experiencing [Life] here in Aincrad? What do you think?" Heathcliff cut him off and still finished his sentence, causing the bluenette to frown and sigh. The apparent look of amusement displayed on Kayaba's avatar irked him, and it was times like these when his mentor actually showed smugness that he would rather talk to the seemingly robot-like demeanor the man usually stayed with.

"Your tone tells me yes. I've yet to actually experience the functions of those features firsthand, but I already know where you're getting at."

The obvious reason plausible enough to fit into logic behind those features would again revolve around the people who actually didn't want to leave the nigh utopian provisions of SAO. Cut off from the outside world, what better way to live to the fullest and truly seize the day than by living their lives altogether with the fantasies of a game world?

"Ka—no, Heathcliff."

"What is it?"

He drew in a breath, and then looked at the setting sun that lit the field of grass in a fiery shade of orange. In all honesty, there was nothing more that he wanted to question relating to the makes of this game and the possible actions that the currently trapped players may do; he was more curious as to what was presently running through the mind of his mentor.

"Do you plan on living here in Aincrad? Has that become your ambition?"

He was reminded of the fact that while this man had worked so hard to create this virtual world, it was only a task and not a dream nor ambition. It wasn't as if SAO was done on a whim, but Kayaba had always told him back then that he did not have any particular ambition to accomplish in life.

Heathcliff stared at him long and hard, before finally deciding to give an answer. "To be completely honest with you, even I am unsure."

Minato frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I merely wished to see this palace of swords traverse the limitless regions of the skies. And to see it doing so now, I feel that simply just having it in that condition as nothing more than a battleground for its players that can soon become easily boring and repetitive to experience. Maybe I also wish to see how people would react given the choice to remain, or to leave and take the risk of escape and meet with death. Maybe I am curious to know how they would respond to the power given to them by this world. To this moment, it is safe to say I possess no ambition still. However," Heathcliff brought emphasis on the word, a trait he had acquired when he truly wished others to know of a long and well-thought out decision, "if Aincrad were to plummet down to its destruction, so too shall I follow as the captain and willingly fall to my end."

The weight of his resolve came with the depth of his voice, and the seriousness his eyes burned as radiant as the sun that shone over them in the fields of the first floor of Aincrad. The bluenette nodded, and knew right from there that he was not about to let his mentor do something so stupid that contradicted the brains that described one Akihiko Kayaba. The thoughts that now ran through his mind reminded him of the way humans called over for Nyx, for Death, and wished to escape the pains and despair caused by the bounded reality that they could no longer endure. He did not want to save the man who had become somewhat of a father to him for three years just because he believed he could do it—no, that would be too shallow of him.

What he wanted to do was different.

"Let's have a bet."

Heathcliff gave him a look of surprise, but nonetheless the bluenette was sure that he had caught his mentor's curiosity in his intricately spur-of-the-moment-woven web. "Oho? What do you have in mind, Minato?"

"At the hundredth floor, the zenith of your 'Grand Castle of Follies and Illusion', we'll hold a duel. If you win, you pull the plug on me and serve Hannibal my toasted brain. If I win, you release the rest of the players except for me and you—then I'll have you do me a favor."

". . . For you to become this conniving, I expect you to have learned a thing or three from Rinko?" Minato smirked. "Who knows. So, how about it?"

"You have never beaten me at goban."

"That's an entirely different ordeal. What are you insinuating?"

Heathcliff slyly smiled at the bluenette. He then swiped his right hand in midair, opening his menu. A minute and a half later, a beeping sound prompted Minato to open his menu, and selected the section for Skills, which had its button glowing with an azure outline. Browsing through his skill list, the bluenette's confusion died when the name of an unfamiliar skill crossed his vision.

. . . What are you thinking, Kayaba? This is . . . overboard.

". . . I take it that this is your answer?"

Heathcliff turned his back, and began walking back to the Starting City. Minato continued to stand on the spot, doing nothing more than staring at Heathcliff's back which was getting smaller and smaller as he trudged on back to the town area. Nodding to himself and sighing, Minato then grins one more time at the figure of his mentor, before finally rushing off to find the labyrinth that would give him passage towards the next floor.

"The hundredth floor it is then, Heathcliff. Until next time."

The last thing he felt after then was a spark that lit the Chariot Arcana.

A month had passed since then.

Of the 10000 players who were initially trapped within the walls of death that was Sword Art Online, 2000 had already perished and ceased their lives both in the castle of swords and in the world of reality. Though a number of players still found the entire "die in the game, die in the real" situation dubious, Minato was quite sure that Kayaba indeed told the truth about the rule he had set up. If there was anything he knew best about the man, it was that he told lies so bad even Rinko could tell when Kayaba would be dishonest even before the brilliant man could utter a word.

Throughout the whole month, Ka—no, Heathcliff had sent him but one mail which he had found to be quite cryptic. Minato was unsure if the piece of advice his mentor gave him was to be taken literally, or be analyzed for the depth it held.

A word of caution, Minato—it pays to be prepared, but situations change and we must adapt based on what information we hold prior to and during battle. Beware the color of steel; it just might spell your doom.

Minato played the message over and over in his brain as he followed a straight path in the forest. Past this area, if he was right, the next town near the boss room dungeon would be found, and it was only a matter of beating that goblin-dog in order to truly begin climbing up to the top of Aincrad.

The lad sighed. "His words don't make sense. Just what is he trying to say . . . ?" He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, still seeking to understand the premise surrounding the advice. Finding no answer rise from his ocean of thoughts, he focused on the task at hand and made a note to just maybe ask Heathcliff later on. The gates of the next town grew closer in his sights, and maybe a night's sleep at the inn could help clear his muddy thoughts concerning some of the things that made no sense to him.

He sat at the forum, paying close attention to the way the player in the middle handled the discussion concerning the planned boss raid on the first floor's guardian. Looking at the blue-haired player clad in bronze armor, he knew that his earlier gut feeling was right when he thought he might have recognized him. And so he did when he found out the man's username—

Diavel.

During the beta test of the game, Kayaba handed him the task of monitoring some promising names while he himself was pushed into playing the closed beta, much to his distaste. At the time, Rinko's cooking lessons had sounded much more promising than the 250000 yen offer for joining the beta from Kayaba. He relented once his mentor threatened to kick him out and leave him to be a hobo. Which he had no plans of becoming.

Of the 1000 beta testers, which included himself, he was made to remember the usernames of the talented players by memory and heart alone. Memorizing them, he then later tallied their in-game achievements and traced their activity logs in the beta. However, since he was only one of the many who have been tasked by Kayaba to do the same, he was assigned to observe only a group of 99 players, as the observation was divided into 10 groups of 100 each, with the observer already part of the hundred. And in his group, he clearly remembered several names of some skilled players, with talents not only encompassing combat, but also deceit and cunning.

Though the avatar of the one speaking in front was far from the original Diavel's, Minato was quite sure that this was the same player. And with the hearty and inspiring speech moving the hearts of the rest of audience into being propelled for action for the upcoming boss raid, a hidden agenda keeps itself latched behind the shadows of his words, thought the bluenette.

Another peculiarity that had caught his attention was a specific number of players and the hue of their indicators.

If his memory served to be correct, an orange represented the act of a crime, and red meant that the player had [Player Killed] or PK-ed another. Only a month had passed, and atrocious crimes ranging from stealing, ambushes, and killing between players had already been reported some number of times.

Upon arrival at the town, he had specifically counted three players bearing an indicator the color of grey. The three all had gone to the forum, and Minato had managed to procure the usernames of the two in the same crowd as him, with the third being Diavel who stood in the middle of the hype concerning the boss raid. Counting the three, Diavel, Coper, and Argo, he could not believed the common thread that tied the three—the coincidence was simply too much.

All three were beta testers, and, what's more, were handled by Minato in his assigned observation group.

Aside from the fact of the indicators, he was able to notice the slight reactions of the three when a player who announced himself as Kibaou had taken center stage and demanded that beta testers take responsibility for the number of players who had already passed away after having been "abandoned" by those who participated during the closed beta. Minato took note of the paled expression Coper had given, Argo refusing to look at the center, and Diavel's discomfort up front. The reactions provided more ground to his thoughts. Shortly after, a large-built man named Egil had later put a lid on Kibaou's ranting and steered the meeting back on its course.

Thinking back to Heathcliff's last message, was this what he meant?

Beware the color of steel; it just might spell your doom.

If his hunch was correct that he had been given some way to identify a beta tester, he didn't know what to make of it. What was Heathcliff's trying to do by giving him this ability? The unwanted gift from earlier was already too much, and this sudden revelation was already giving him a headache. What did Heathcliff want from him? Was this something of concern to their gamble?

"Alright, everyone! Please form parties of six members each. It is imperative that we maximize the number of ways we can utilize our advantage of possessing different weapon types and skill pools in order to come up with multiple tactical points to explore in combat."

The bluenette was broken out of his stupor when he realized all the others had already begun banding together in small parties, and he had already seen both Argo and Coper be taken away into different groups. Sighing, he craned his neck left and right to search for an incomplete group or any other individual who was not part of a party yet, and finally spotted a solitary cloaked figure seated a few feet away. Not waiting for a second more, he stood and made his way to the player.

"Mind if we party together?" He mentally palmed at the straightforwardness he was quite unable to get rid of from his way of speaking. It made it sound like he was just going to use this person.

". . . Why me? Why not ask around the rest? There might be other open spots in some of the other groups."

He recognized that the tone was female, and was quite taken aback by fact that she was the only girl in this boss raid. Keeping a lid on his reaction, he still made an effort to team up with the cloaked player.

"This alliance will be temporary. Fighting alone this early into game is far too risky. So, I'll ask again—mind if we party together?"

It had felt like it was an eternity before the girl finally responded with a small nod. Minato then followed the party invitation protocol of the game, and then successfully registered his temporary duo with the girl. After finishing, the bluenette put out his hand in front of her, a gesture of courtesy and proper introduction that Rinko had drilled into his blunt demeanor when meeting with people.

"Minato. Feel free to call me so. And you are?"

Though the usernames were accessible information to the party members as they were displayed on the top left of the view, he felt that introductions were still in order even if his peripheral vision already spotted her name. After all, small pleasantries like this would become an experience far and few in between once the race to the top became more serious.

The girl then stretched out her hand, albeit still with a little reluctance, and finally made to return the gesture and courtesy. For a moment, the bluenette could have sworn he had spotted a face of beauty, with eyes of hazel obscured by a few locks of dangling chestnut-colored hair doing their best to avoid his line of sight.

"Asuna. A pleasure."

After the shaking of hands, the Sun Arcana flared up in his soul.

My writing mojo's slowly returning. Finally.

Anyways, my updates will still be erratic-so that's a word of warning to those who'd want more in such a short length of time. I'm still trying to fix some problems IRL, so expect the next chapter when I'm feeling a little more inspired.

Darkkon27: I appreciate the encouragement and hype. Thank you.

Death276: Ah, I apologize if I had you misunderstand me in my previous A/N. I have no problems with criticisms, as long as they make sense and actually HELP me improve. I'm a pretty sensible person. Hahaha. Thanks for the support, here's to hoping you stay for the ride.

droffatsstafford: I recommend reading the light novels instead. Though the anime is a different experience, it actually obscures a lot of little details; these details, I believe, are quite useful tidbits to explore in fiction writing, in my opinion.

And the recommendation for the light novels, I would like to extend that to all those who would like to read this. I'm actually rereading the novels that give me the data I need for the starting arc, and the little things are actually some points worth exploring. If you don't have the time, there's the SAO Wiki too, I suppose.

Also, one thing I'd like to explore in this fic that some might disagree on, but nevertheless it is something I believe to be an idea people considered before:

Akihiko Kayaba living after the events that led to the freeing of the remaining SAO players. Not sure if anyone else has done this, but I'd still like a swing at it.

Like it? Read and review. Dislike it? Spare us the argument if it's hate-review and move along. Until next time.

~AkaiArsony