Chrome's eyes slowly opened as sunlight filtered through his bedroom window. He glanced over to his right and his brow furrowed a little. Something was wrong here. Usually at this point in the morning, there would be a rather pronounced lump under the blankets on the other side of the bed. This morning however the right-hand side was flat and tidy.

Chrome slid out of bed and made his way out into the kitchen. Still no sign of Muko. Getting somewhat worried now, he equipped Amethyst Edge and proceeded outside. He glanced around but still could not see her. His eyes wandered up to the time on his HUD, it was only eight in the morning, Muko was never up this early. He opened up his friends list and could see that Muko was over at Lisbeth's Smith Shop. Chrome breathed a sigh of relief and made his way to the store.

"Hiya Chrome," Lisbeth said as she saw the swordsman walk into her store.

"Morning," Chrome replied, walking up next to Muko who was standing at the counter. "How come you're up so early?" he asked his girlfriend.

"I just had some business with Lisbeth," Muko replied with a small smile. Chrome raised his eyebrow slightly, she was hiding something, he could tell.

"How's your equipment holding up? Does it need a service yet?" Lisbeth asked, leaning on the counter and looking up at Chrome.

"I think it's okay for now. We haven't really seen too much action since all this started up," Chrome replied.

"You're not the only one. I've lost so many customers lately because people are just so afraid to fight. This isn't like the original SAO. We fought back then because we knew if we got strong enough we could get out, but this is different. Now no matter how hard we fight it doesn't seem like there's any way of getting out of this game," Lisbeth said with a weary sigh.

"There has to be a way…," Chrome muttered, looking at the floor.

"Don't worry, we'll find it," Muko said reassuringly, placing a hand on Chrome's shoulder. Chrome smiled at her and nodded. Lisbeth grinned at the small exchange.

"Aww, you two are just so adorable," she said. Chrome and Muko both blushed, looking in opposite directions. This only caused the pink haired blacksmith to grin even more. Chrome was snapped out of his embarrassment when he heard a small chime, alerting him that he had gotten a message. He looked at the sender, Veille. Chrome opened the message and read the contents and read it aloud.

D Hunter Chrome,

I have heard much about you from my own men and those of my former allies. I would like to test your strength for myself and see if you stand up to the stories. Should you accept this duel, meet me in the Town of Beginnings in the main plaza in ten minutes.

The Gilded Templars,

Veille

Chrome rubbed his chin a little as he took in the message. He had never had any contact with this player, heck he hadn't even heard of him until a few days ago and now he was being challenged by the guy. Muko frowned slightly as she listened to Chrome speak.

"Why does Veille want to fight you? I've never known him to randomly challenge people like this before," she said.

"Plenty of people seem to be taking an interest in me lately," Chrome said in a somewhat irritated tone. He stepped into Lisbeth's workshop and returned a few seconds later in his full combat gear.

"You're gonna fight this guy?" Lisbeth asked, looking at the swordsman.

"Muko said this guy is pretty strong so I wanna see for myself. I also want to know why he challenged me like this and I don't think he'll tell me unless we fight," Chrome replied, checking his sword and shield.

"I'll come with you then, I can cheer you on," Muko said with a smile.

"I wanna come too, this could be cool to watch," Lisbeth said. Chrome nodded to the two girls and headed outside with Muko while Lisbeth closed up her shop. "Okay, good to go," the pink haired girl said as she exited the store. With that, the three headed down to floor one.

Chrome could identify Veille as soon as he arrived at the Town of Beginnings. The DGamer was dressed in a long golden cloak that covered all of his other clothes. His silver eyes watched Chrome approach as he pushed back his red hair. A serious expression remained on the clearly older player's face as he looked Chrome up and down.

"Skinnier than I thought you'd be," Veille said in a coarse voice.

"You're flashier than I thought you'd be," Chrome said, inspecting the golden cloak. Veille removed his cloak and revealed his equipment beneath.

He wore a simple silver breastplate with a golden insignia of an old Templar crest on the right hand side. A pair of black trousers ran down his legs and were cut off below the knees by a pair of brown reinforced leather boots. What drew Chrome's attention most though were the massive black gauntlets that ran up to his elbows. The black steel shone in the sunlight and the gold trimmings broke up the dark colour. On the back of each gauntlet was Veille's guild crest.

Chrome knew with one look that those gauntlets were very high level pieces of equipment. The punches from those were going to hurt, a lot. Chrome took a deep breath and waited for the duel challenge screen to appear before him. Chrome accepted as soon as it did, watching as a sixty second countdown appeared. He drew Amethyst Edge and readied his Shield of the Storm.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you," Veille said, taking up a combat stance. Chrome remained silent as the countdown continued. He watched it intently. Five, four, three, two, one.

Veille shot at Chrome like a missile and the swordsman raised his shield to defend against the violent flurry of punches that was unleashed upon him. Even blocking the attack, Chrome still lost a noticeable chunk of his HP gauge. Chrome lowered his shield and swung his sword quickly, forcing Veille to jump back. He wasn't going to give him time to breathe though.

Chrome charged in, his sword clashing against those massive gauntlets several times, sparks flying with every impact. Veille let a single punch fly, a lightning fast jab to the stomach that lifted Chrome from the ground and threw him back quite a distance. He slid along the cobblestones and quickly regained his composure. He crouched down with his shield raised as Veille charged.

Veille delivered another powerful straight punch. Chrome's shield glowed purple as it intercepted the fist and batted it to the side. His sword, glowing the same purple came up in a vertical arc and struck the unsuspecting player. Veille staggered back slightly as his HP decreased from the Guardian Wave skill. The two stood and stared at each other as the gathered crowd held their breath, wondering what would happen.

Both players smiled eagerly and charged at each other with their weapons raised. Veille jabbed and Chrome ducked. Chrome stabbed and Veille stepped to the side. Veille dropped his elbow and Chrome raised his shield. The two players leapt back, panting as they inspected their HP. Both of them knew this duel wouldn't last much longer.

Chrome took a deep breath and charged and his sword glowed green. His speed increased and he leapt into the air, using a long range jump slash skill. Mere seconds before the attack would connect, Veille stepped back just enough to ensure the sword missed him. Chrome closed his eyes, knowing the battle was over.

Veille's glowing red fist delivered a vicious uppercut that launched Chrome into the air. But the attack wasn't over there. Veille leapt into the air after him, delivering four rapid blows into Chrome's stomach and chest. Chrome watched helplessly as Veille twisted in mid-air and the heel of his boot smashed into Chrome's jaw. The swordsman flew straight down and crashed into the air with a loud noise and a large cloud of dust.

There was a lot of chattering from the onlookers as the words Winner: Veille appeared in the sky. Muko rushed over to Chrome, helping him to his feet. The young swordsman looked up at his HP gauge, it sat right on the line between yellow and red.

"An impressive fight D Hunter," Veille said, handing his opponent a health potion. Chrome graciously accepted the item and began to sip it.

"Likewise," Chrome responded, still trying to catch his breath. His equipment hadn't needed a service before the fight but they certainly did now. The two players stood facing each other and held out their hands. Both took the other's and shook firmly before taking a small step back.

"It's a pleasure to meet one with such a reputation as yours. I, as you know am Veille, leader of The Gilded Templars."

"Chrome, and I lead the guild Azure Storm."

"Hmm, I was not aware you had your own guild."

"It's only new."

"I see… that information has made this whole endeavour somewhat pointless."

"How so?"

"I challenged you to a duel to test your strength, I was going to invite you to join The Gilded Templars." Veille rubbed his chin slowly, feeling a little bad for wasting his opponent's time.

"Well I appreciate the offer but you see why I can't accept. May I ask why you wanted me?" Chrome asked. He was curious as to why a Death Gamer would want someone known as the Death Hunter to join his guild.

"I plan to destroy the Death Gamers. For that I need as many strong players on my side as I can get," Veille explained as he equipped his cloak once more. Chrome definitely was not expecting the words that Veille spoke and was somewhat taken aback.

"Wait, but you are a Death Gamer, why would you want to attack them?" Lisbeth asked, approaching Chrome and Veille. Muko joined them, curious as to Veille's actions.

"I understand your confusion. Perhaps we could speak somewhere a little more private though. Who knows who might be listening," Veille said, glancing around. Chrome nodded and the four along with two of Veille's personal guard headed to Chrome and Muko's house.

Veille's guards, an axeman and a spearman stood in the building's entrance hall while Chrome, Muko, Lisbeth and Veille all sat in the living room. Muko prepared tea and coffee for everyone. Veille nodded as his coffee was handed to him.

"So, what do you mean when you say you want to destroy the DGamers?" Chrome asked, looking at the martial artist.

"Exactly that. I am going to defeat all of the DGamers under the command of Nobunaga. There are only two of the DGamer guilds and a handful of solo players that did not choose to help him," Veille explained.

"The other guild is Kurogane's Death Blade Alliance right?" Muko asked. Veille nodded in response.

"Yes. He too thinks that what Nobunaga has done is pure insanity and that he has to be stopped. The major guilds are preparing to launch a major assault on Nobunaga but I doubt it will do anything. If he went to all the trouble of setting all this up I doubt he'd have let it all be for nothing should he be defeated by someone."

"Why don't you just go along with the other guilds? I'm sure they'll have to fight the Death Gamers anyway," Lisbeth said.

"You voiced the reason earlier. My guild members and I are Death Gamers, the enemy in all of this. Do you really think they'd be willing to work with us?" Veille asked. Lisbeth nodded slightly, she understood his reasoning.

"So how exactly do you plan to destroy every Death Gamer working with Nobunaga? They aren't all in a giant castle with 'DGamers are here' in neon lights," Chrome pointed out, sipping his cup of tea.

"I have had some of my men working undercover in Nobunaga's ranks and they have sent me the locations of each of the strongholds of my targets. I plan to gather as many people as I can and strike them all simultaneously," Veille explained.

"A sound plan, there is a flaw however. How can you be sure those you sent in as spies haven't double crossed you? They could be leading you into a trap. I would assume you're a rather large threat to them after all," said Chrome.

"It's a risk I'm willing to take. The more of those bastards I can send crying back to the Town of Beginnings, the easier it will be to get at Nobunaga and find a way out of this mess," Veille said. Chrome could see in the man's eyes that he was serious about this.

"What do you think Chrome, should we help out?" Muko asked, sitting down on the arm of Chrome's chair and looking at him.

"It's one hell of a risk and if it's a trap, a lot of good players may be killed and dropped back to level one. If that happens, it could be months or even a year before we could do anything about Nobunaga. I will help, but there are three things I will tell you right here and now," Chrome said, looking at Veille with a serious expression.

"Go ahead," the DGamer guild master said.

"One, I will not do this unless all of my guild members support it and are willing to join in. Two, I will not endanger any of them, at the first sign of a trap we will leave immediately. Three, there is no way in hell I am going to work with Kurogane or his men."

"Each fair points. I understand each of them. You have my word that I will keep all three in mind."

"Good. I'll need to contact each of my guild members and then I will message you to say if we will be helping or not."

"Very well. Thank you for your time. I hope to see you on the battlefield." As Veille spoke he rose to his feet and made his way to the door. He bowed slightly to Chrome and Muko before leaving the house with his guards.

"Are you sure about this Chrome?" Muko asked as she looked at her boyfriend.

"Not really. But if there's a chance we can stop the DGamers attacking people then we need to take it. After that, maybe we can find a way out of here," Chrome replied.

"Sounds like you're in for one heck of a fight. How about we get your equipment all fixed up? You took a good beating in that duel," Lisbeth said with a smile.

"Sure, I'm probably gonna need another service pretty soon though," Chrome replied.

"Why?" Muko asked.

"There's just something I need to do, that's all."