A/N: I haven't proofread this chapter as thoroughly as the previous two, so if there are any little mistakes, please let me know!

Word glossary:

1. kunai = ninja throwing dagger derived from trowels

Over the course of the next couple of days, the three of us spent our time mostly cleaning up our fighting skills and getting used to battling with our own bodies, and as the only one in the party highly nimble with a penchant for constantly jittering around—I hated staying still—it was up to me to keep my momentum up and stamina high. I had to keep my body healthy and, more important, trust my own physical actions because I couldn't rely on the system anymore.

Just outside of Akiba was the Small Stone Herb Garden, a tiny park with open fields next to an abandoned arcade tower, where the common enemies for the outer zones around here were much tougher—around Lv. 50 as opposed to the small fry we had first encountered days before. We had been training all day until the night welcomed us once more, defeating briar weasels, triffids, and venom moths whilst sticking to the formation my lord had created for us. His ability to scan the battlefield and the party members was almost unreal; it was as if time slowed down for him in these scenarios. I wish I could do that. I must get stronger.

As we approached the overgrown woods that surrounded the park, I felt it best to test my skills and put them to good use. 'Lord Shiroe,' I said, gaining his attention as he turned around.

He sighed, his face looking sullen and exhausted. 'Miss Akatsuki, you know you don't need to keep calling me that, all right? Shiroe is fine.'

I couldn't allow myself to say his name in such a casual form already. I didn't know him very well, and besides, he didn't do the same with me. 'Well, then, maybe you should stop referring to me as 'miss', then.' I crossed my arms, unamused.

He was lost for words, at which point Naotsugu intervened in our little conversation with a howling cackle and a smirk. 'Shiroe, you seem to be building up a fine catalogue of ladies with each passing day—'

'Oh, please do me a favour, Naotsu, and shut your big, dumb face.' He dismissed him with a wave of his hand without looking at him and refocused his attention back at me, which pleased me.

'My lord,' I said, craning my neck up at him to speak directly at him.

'Uh, yeah?'

'I'd like to do some advanced reconnaissance on the way home, 'kay?' I gripped my sword as I took point.

'And why's that?'

'To practise using my skills. The forest is the perfect place that I should take advantage of.'

'Sounds good to me. Let's meet up at the south gate. I'll illuminate the path with Magic Light, so you can see us just behind you every step of the way.'

'Understood.' I activated Sneak to teleport high above into the tree branches, with only a faint pink haze left in my wake. Being in the gloomy dark felt oddly like I was at home, skulking around in the shadows being invisible to everyone and everything. As the two of them casually strolled through the forest, sticking close to his well-lit staff, using Dark Vision I scanned in between every branch, every bush, and tree to see if there were anything—or any Adventurers—around us that I needed to report. It functioned as sort of an infra-red night vision, only when I played the game, enemies and players were highlighted on my screen with a thin purple outline, forming a silhouette I could just make out. Felt different using my actual eyes, though, because peripheral sight was limited and I had no third-person camera to use to gain the advantage. I was particularly worried that we'd come across player killers, though at the same time I believed that we could sort out any smaller party out with just the three of us, despite having no healer.

Crunches of grass southwest of their position alerted me and I immediately teleported over there to see what was there, but I was met with only a couple of low-level goblins and a patch of stepped-on grass. The footprint looked human, though, like it had come from large boots. Someone was here with us, and they were keeping tabs on my lord and Naotsugu.

Traversing silently to the front of the party, I landed on the old, stone south gate and waited for a moment for the others to catch up.

'Hey, short stuff, were there any goblins around?'

'Stop freaking calling me that, you asshole!' I felt a migraine coming whenever he addressed me like that, and promptly slapped him in the face after I jumped down. 'To answer your question, however, yes. There was one, and he looked quite cute with a skull mask. I let him be.'

Passing through the gate, we came to a flat, open space lit by the bright moonlight at its zenith in the sky. I disappeared into the trees once more without detection and picked up the faint silhouettes of two people walking slowly towards my lord.

A rapid burst of steps to their left prompted the others to swiftly form a battle formation, with Naotsugu, the tank, in front to draw their attention.

'I heard something,' he said, drawing his greatsword with one hand, gripping it firmly. 'Or someone. We've got company.'

Ethereal, luminescent chains sprouted from the ground and coiled around his legs, catching him off-guard as he let out a gasp, but the chains burst from a quick incantationless spell my lord cast immediately.

'Naotsu, take up a tandem formation! We've got PKs out there—and I've got a visual on four.'

Four? I only saw two in front of us. There had to be other magic users elsewhere not in our vicinity, and utilising my Silent Step skill, I jumped from tree to tree without any sound made, using them as cover. My lord said that because he knew I had to be the one to take them out; magic users were always far behind the front lines, buffing the tanks and heavy damage-dealers. Ensuring their demise made this fight a cakewalk for them—I hoped.

Now behind the enemies, my lord cast a bolt of white light that penetrated the shadows they hid inside, revealing two more Adventurers they had to deal with, in addition to the concealed magic users. Trusting the two of their abilities as a unit, I ventured off behind the broken stone walls that littered the other half of the space. When all I heard behind me was Naotsugu struggling against three attackers at once, I felt the urge to go back and help them; my Assassination skill to the back would take a huge chunk of their health bars down each. But my lord, without saying anything, entrusted me with this task. I needed to see it through and provide deliverance unto our attackers. They messed with the wrong party, and worst of all, they messed with me.

Around the ruins, I spotted two more Adventurers knelt down facing each other praying, incanting something inaudible. But perhaps more importantly, their healer was still up and giving assistance, so with a quick, shallow slash to their chest, I knocked them out with my Sleeper Strike. It had a high chance of sending enemies with high magical stats to sleep, with the percentage increasing the lower their level relative to the user. With them out of the fight, I teleported back up to the top of the ruin walls and looked down at the helpless magicians like a bird watching its prey. This was the perfect chance to use my secondary weapon: my kunai. They were short daggers mainly used like darts against walls, but I showered both of them with four kunai each, pinning their robes to the wooden planks they were kneeling down on. Before they had time to cry for help, I shoved my sword in their mouths; the both of them fainted from the first sight of a deadly assassination, and I dragged their sorry, dazed bodies out to the open field, where my two allies had already taken care of two out of three of the attackers, leaving only the ringleader alone to beg for mercy.

Without any care, I chucked their bodies in front of their leader, wiping that smirk off his face. 'You were not wise to underestimate my lord's magical and tactical abilities, it seems. You didn't even notice that I took out your healer. Your teamwork is nonexistent, ignoring your team's stats, and you run your mouth whilst in the middle of a fight,' I went on, digging into his weaknesses. I felt sorry for the other party members; perhaps his personality rubbed off on them.

'Shut up! Dying doesn't change anything; you surely heard about it today, about the guy who respawned in the Cathedral!' He looked defeated, all alone in the middle of our triangular positioning around him. 'We'll just come back and get you again—'

I held up my sword without hesitation to his cheeks and nicked his flesh, drawing blood. 'You wanna try it?' I dared, at which point he let go of his sword in what seemed to be humiliation.

'I'm… I'm sorry, I won't do it again. I promise… I promise—'

Predictably, he drew a dagger, turned around, and leapt forward to my lord. In one sweeping cut to his spine, I sent him to the Cathedral where he belonged, but it wasn't without clenched teeth, a regretful mind, and a weak grip on my sword. I don't… I don't like killing. It didn't have to come to that.

Arriving at the ruins of Ueno Roka Hospital, a non-combat zone to catch your breath, we rested up on a couple floors above, overlooking an encampment of other Adventurers that was illuminated up by a large fire in the middle.

My sword unsheathed, I brought it up to my eyes, staring straight into my own soul reflected in the dulling shine. I felt unsettled. Killing someone, even if in self-defence, felt wrong, and a guilty snare wrapped tight around me, causing me to choke over these unwanted consequences of my actions. I put it away and peered over at the group of people down below getting a breather. 'After all that, I guess it's safe to say that public safety really is getting bad.'

Slouched, my lord looked defeated. 'There's not even much to be gained from player killing. People keep their coin in the Guildhall and low-level players that get targeted most likely won't have rare or valuable items to poach. In my eyes… it just seems sadistic.'

Naotsugu sighed and plopped down on the hard stone with a clunk. 'Like, seriously, we're all in the same boat right now. So why can't they just find something else to occupy their time with?'

'Like what?' I asked.

'Well, if it were me—'

I hushed his mouth shut. 'Do not answer that. I actually regret asking.'

'Guys, that might be it.' My lord pushed his glasses up and held his head up with a hand. 'There… there really is nothing to do. There aren't any goals, short-term or long-term for people to chase. No quests. You can survive day-to-day with around thirty-five gold pieces which can be easily acquired through low-level monster farming. Nothing's really expensive. Fighting isn't allowed in town and death isn't even permanent. In some ways, I guess, this is a nightmare that we can't escape from,' he explained, and then frowned with a sunken expression.

'So, basically, you're saying that anyone can survive in this world without really doing anything?'

'Pretty much.'

'So other players have resorted to living out their fantasies as a murderer because there's nothing else to do?' I asked, crossing my arms.

'I guess so. They're doing it out of boredom. No, quests, no jobs, no leisure. At the moment, this is a lawless city.'

The night carried on even as the flames from down below were put out, one by one. Far out into the distance, we saw sparks of light and fire spitting out from the broken windows of the ruined skyscrapers that littered the skyline of Akihabara, but we were too far away to do anything.

Noticing that my lord had been gazing far off into the distance for quite some time now, too zoned out for his own good, I crouched down underneath his head and asked, 'Are you okay?' My words brought him back and he blushed a little as I was a bit too close for comfort, causing me to reciprocate just a little myself.

'Oh, erm, yeah.' He coughed, clearing his throat. 'I don't think it's actually getting really bad. Just seems that way from the fact that people probably still think that it's a game world without any penalties—especially if you can't die. And another thing—' he said, but stopped to look far beyond to the echoes of fighting in the distance.

'What, my lord?'

'If this really is a different world, then our sense of public order is probably an illusion.'

'It makes sense. All of the game systems and mechanics back when this was just a game kept the players in check, and that made up the public order because you couldn't cheat your way out of the MMO aspect of it without getting banned,' Naotsugu added, but received no audible reply from his friend.

My lord's eyes widened as he brought his hand to his ear, presumably to take a call. 'Hello?'