Ren's eyes opened and he looked over at the time, the clock read 11:30PM. He eagerly climbed out of bed and took a sip from his water bottle. He and his friends had spent the last week levelling and stocking up on items for the twenty-four hour event that started in half an hour. Of course, players registered in the event could log in at any time during the duration and play but Ren, Tatsuya and Takiko had decided to log in as soon as the event started so they could bring down as many enemies as possible. Players were free to log in and out of the event as much as they wanted all day but should they fall in battle, they were unable to log back in until the event was over.

Ren downed several pieces of fruit and did a few stretches before sitting down on his bed. He had been looking forward to this all week and couldn't wait for the holidays to start. He had raised Chrome eight levels for the event, he knew Takiko had gone up more though. He shook his head a little, that woman really should act more responsible he thought. Ren laid down on his bed and slipped his AmuSphere onto his head. "Link start!"

Chrome slipped out of bed and donned his weapon and armour, glancing at the time on his HUD, 11:54, six minutes left. There was a loud announcement saying that any players not participating in the event would be logged out two minutes before it's commencement while those who were participating would be transported to the town they were signed up in. As Kotetsu had thought, the most players were in the town on floor 49 where the strongest monsters would be.

There was a knock on the door and Chrome opened it to find Arcadia and Kotetsu on the other side. Kotetsu now had a dark blue cloak on over a set of new light plate armour. A long, curved dagger hung on his hip. Arcadia had upgraded her green armour and the Axe of Fury Chrome had traded her sat on her back.

Chrome himself had also purchased new equipment. His leather boots had been replaced with steel ones and he had purchased a new, crimson cape that hung off his shoulder. He had also bought a new shield, one made of black steel with golden runes around the edge.

"So, we ready for this?" Kotetsu said with a slight yawn.

"Well I don't know about you two, but I am," Arcadia said, her hand on her axe handle.

"We're all clear on the plan right?" Chrome asked, looking between his two companions.

"Kill everything in sight, come back here to heal and log out when necessary right?" a voice asked from the open door. Chrome glanced over to see Vakross leaning against the frame.

"Sounds like a good rundown to me," Kotetsu said. Chrome nodded and the four proceeded to the lounge room of the house, putting a majority of their healing items inside a chest Chrome had bought, keeping a small stock to have during the fighting.

"Well let's get out there," Chrome said, heading for the door. His party left before him, Chrome shut the door as he left and drew his sword. The night sky quickly changed as soon as the clock hit midnight. The whole sky turned crimson and a loud commotion could suddenly be heard from multiple directions. "This way!" Chrome called, charging off to the side of his house.

The party arrived on the outskirts of town where they found a group of three rather agitated looking boars charging towards them. Chrome and Arcadia ran to the front of the group, blocking the charging beasts' attacks. Kotetsu leapt over the crouched Arcadia, delivering a downwards stab and then a series of quick slashes on one of the boars, killing it. Chrome used his shield to push one of the two remaining boars at Vakross while he handled the other.

The small skirmish was over quickly and the party grouped together back-to-back, scanning for more enemies. They repeated the process after finding and finishing each battle up until the first hour and a half had passed and they had each reached their quota of ten kills each. At that point they fell back to Chrome's house.

"Well, that didn't take too long," Kotetsu mused, twirling his dagger around in his hand.

"Yeah but that's the easy part done. Now we have to survive for the next twenty-two and a half hours," Arcadia said. She put the head of her axe to the ground and leant on the handle. Chrome was surprised how well they had faired against monsters quite significantly higher than them. Their teamwork had definitely paid off.

"Heads up," Vakross said, raising his katana. The other three followed his eyes to a large golem like creature ambling towards them, dust and moss crumbling off with each step. "Chrome, you and Kotetsu distract it while Arcadia and I attack from the flanks."

"Got it," Chrome said with a nod, charging off towards the large stone monster. Kotetsu ran nimbly behind him, darting out to the left when they got close and dealing a light blow to the golem's leg. Chrome leapt into the air with a spinning slash. The blade glanced off the monster's hard body and an unexpectedly fast swing of its arm sent the swordsman crashing into a small group of trees. He heard one of his allies call his name as half of his HP gauge depleted, the bar turning yellow.

"Don't stop, keep attacking!" Vakross ordered, his sword blade turning orange as he dealt a solid blow onto the golem. Arcadia's axe went green and she leapt into the air, dragging her axe up the golem's body as she went and then twirling the weapon around before driving it into the monster's head. A flurry of attacks from Kotetsu gave the two time to get away before the golem attacked.

"God damn this thing has some HP," Kotetsu groaned, doing a backflip to avoid a punch.

"The HP isn't the problem, it's the defence," Arcadia said as she held her axe ahead of her. Vakross moved next to her, gripping his katana with both hands as they watched the golem. Chrome groaned slightly as he rose to his feet in amongst the foliage.

"I think I'll camp here for a bit," he muttered, watching as his HP slowly began to rise. He crouched low with his shield up and his sword ready. He watched as the others darted around the golem, hitting where they could and dodging a majority of its attacks. He watched as Arcadia went in for a sweeping strike. The attack charged and hit home but her axe bounced off the much harder legs of the monster.

"Shit," Arcadia murmured as she was staggered for a moment. She watched as the golem's massive arm went up and then began to fall. Chrome dashed from the trees, sliding along the ground for the last metre. As he reached Arcadia, he rose to one knee and lifted his shield above his head. The impact that followed would have shattered his arm in real life, but it just reduced the durability of his shield to almost zero and depleted a chunk of his HP.

"Move it!" Chrome snarled as he held the golem's arm up, his shield weakening further. Arcadia moved to the side before running to Vakross as Chrome rolled away and let the golem's arm crash into the ground with a cloud of dust. Vakross took the chance to move in, his sword's blade going gold.

"Crescent Fall!" he yelled out. His body leapt up, striking the golem with a crescent moon shaped slash before he finished up with a swift downwards slash. "Kotetsu!" The dagger user charged in with a glowing weapon, delivering three powerful, pin-point thrusts into the golem's back, bringing its HP to zero. The Golem seemed to stagger for a moment before exploding into shards of light. The whole party slumped to the ground, panting.

"We can't rest here, we need to get back to the house," Chrome said, getting to his feet. Everyone agreed and hurriedly made their way inside Chrome's house before any more monsters could come.

"How's your shield? It took quite a beating," Arcadia said, glancing at Chrome's arm worriedly. He brought up the stats of the shield and shook his head.

"If I use it anymore I'll lose it," he said, removing the shield. He scrolled through his inventory and equipped the large oval shield he had been using until recently. He took a healing potion from the chest in the house and sipped on it slowly, as did Vakross and Arcadia. Kotetsu had avoided all damage during the fight.

"What's the plan now?" Vakross asked, leaning against the wall.

"After that little incident, hanging out here until the event is done might be a good idea," Kotetsu said.

"That's not going to happen. We decided to do this to help level up for December, we can't afford to just laze around and wait for the rewards at the end. We're going to get as much EXP as possible or die trying," Chrome said, clenching his fist.

"Someone's all worked up," Arcadia said with a laugh.

"I'm with Chrome. I'm not going to stand around and wait for the EXP to come to me. That doesn't sit right with me, I'll earn every point with my own blade," Vakross commented, his hand falling to the handle of his katana.

"Geez you guys are so serious," Kotetsu said with a shrug and a grin. "I was only messing around. Should we head back out there?" Chrome nodded, making sure his HP had fully restored. The four left the house again, the sounds of the various players fighting around town coming from all directions. Off to the left, Chrome saw a familiar pink-haired blacksmith club the head off a skeleton with her mace, flexing her arm in triumph as it died.

"Let's avoid the town centre, it's going to be full of players. Stick to the outskirts and pick off the new monsters coming in," Chrome instructed, pointing towards the rear of his house. Everyone acknowledged the instructions and followed along behind him. The sets of eyes never left the party once.