Hi. I work on the MWP as well. Check my profile if you like Shield Hero, other than that, on to the story.

"Jeez, don't know what Kibaou was thinking today…" Kirito sighed as he looked at his chestnut haired partner. "Nor do I know what YOU were thinking, why didn't you join Heathcliff, Asuna?" He looked disappointed.

"I get you always said joining a guild is the best option, but… I don't wanna leave you alone, Kirito. People already hate you, and as we go higher, being alone isn't a good option." she spoke softly.

This wasn't the first time she had been offered to join a guild and turned it down for him. However, the circumstances at the time were different, his partner and him were considered "too powerful" to be in a singular guild and if they wanted to join, the other would have to go to another guild, which is why they never tried to join one.

They were both tired and had retired for the night to a nearby inn, the pair was eating a quick dinner downstairs. Morale of the clearing group was low after the disastrous 25th floor boss fight. Where Kibaou had gotten his cursed information from, no one knew. But one thing was for sure, the ALS was screwed and was not gonna be coming back up to the front lines anytime soon.

To summarise things, Kibaou, the leader of the ALS, or the Aincrad Liberation Squad had wanted to one up Lind, the leader of the DKB, or the Dragon Knight Brigade to prove the ALS was far superior. This wasn't something common, the two guilds had never gotten along and if it wasn't for Kirito and Asuna, they would've descended into an all out guild war. Kibaou bought his own information and took his clearing members to the raid and what happened, no one could've predicted.

All his info was wrong, and by the time reinforcements that made up a rescue team had arrived, half the members Kibaou brought with him were dead, and by the end of the raid, many of the reinforcements were as well, leaving the clearers with two thirds of their members left. Morale was low, yet Heathcliff, the man with a large tower shield and working as a tank, managed to hold the boss off and saved the group from a party wipe.

And the man's acts didn't stop there, after the fight, he decided to form a new guild. The Knights of The Blood, or the KoB for short. What shocked Kirito and Asuna the most was when he invited Asuna to be his vice-commander, yet to Kirito's shock and horror, she declined. Which led to the conversation they were having right now.

"Asu, no need to worry about me. Worry about yourself first." Kirito was annoyed yet touched that his partner turned down a high guild position for him.

"Kirito. What happens if you end up in a situation where a solo can't survive? Someone has to be there for you, I am willing to be that someone." Her tone made no room for argument, Kirito knew this and their dinner continued and ended in silence.

After finishing up dinner, they trooped upstairs for bed, and that is where a problem arose. There was only one bed. In a normal situation, Kirito would rent a two bedroom room as he knew the hazel-eyed girl by his side would beat him up if he didn't. This time, he had been so tired he hadn't noticed.

"Kirito…" Asuna's voice was dangerously low and he knew he was treading on thin ice.

"I swear I didn't mean it! I'm just tired, so sorry!" He waved his hands frantically in front of his face to placate his angry partner.

"Fine, considering the conditions, I will let it slide. Just this once." She relented. "But you're sleeping on the couch." And before he could respond, she ran and jumped on the bed.

"What? Can't we like… uhhh. Play rock paper scissors for the bed?" He pleaded.

"Nope!" She replied with finality, and before he could try and argue, she pulled the covers over herself and turned away.

Groaning in annoyance, he changed into his sleepwear and did his best to get comfortable on the small couch.

Sleep was a curse that night, every time he slept for a few minutes, he saw the faces of those that had been murdered during the battle. Faces of those he wished he could have saved, all of them cursing him for letting them die.

It seemed his partner was having similar problems as he could see her twisting and turning every few minutes and what may have sounded like a sob.

His mind raced as he thought of different ways to avoid such a catastrophic event happening in the future

We have to level up way more, we were going smoothly until Floor 25, and our levels were far too low. Even with all those all night grinding sessions and upgrading our gear to the max, we still could have died. Eventually, sleep came and he felt his eyes close, falling into a deep slumber.

The next morning when he woke up, his chestnut haired partner was nowhere to be seen. When he finished changing, the door opened and in walked Asuna, holding a platter of food.

His mouth began to water at the smell as he asked, "Did you make that?" his excitement began to increase and the fate of the food was sealed when she nodded. He jumped up and grabbed 2 of the sandwiches and started stuffing his face in with them.

"Don't eat so messily! You are such a pig!" she scolded him with an annoyed look on her face as she set the tray down and began to eat as well.

"Not my fauf this tasfs so goof!" He said whilst chewing, thank god there were no crumbs or his armour would've been covered in them and his partner would have been even more angry, which wasn't a nice sight to see.

After finishing their breakfast, they headed out into the town of the 26th floor and began to walk to the marketplace. All around, numerous clearers could be seen, yet the normal joy of having cleared a new floor was not there. Instead a grim atmosphere had settled in after yesterday's slaughter. Kirito recognised Lind amongst the players with a group of Dragon Knights, and later on even noticed the tall stature, with long grey hair of Heathcliff with a group of people in white and red uniforms. The symbol of the KoB on their shields.

The pair began to explore the marketplace to stock up on necessary supplies such as healing crystals and potions, along with food in case they decided to stray further from the town and camp out. The dark-haired teen felt blessed to have someone with a high level cooking skill with him as that meant top notch meals wherever he was.

As they walked towards the town gate, towards the fields where monsters lay. Kirito looked at his partner and said, "We're not letting a massacre happen again, Kayaba will pay. You hear me?" He gave a determined grin and his partner returned it.

They both dashed off into the field and soon, on the 26th floor of the floating castle, Aincrad, the noises of shouts and calls of "Switch!" and sword skills could be heard and soon to be heard even beyond.

Hope you enjoyed the prologue!