Vakross' katana swept several directions as he unleashed a basic combo to defeat the enemy he was facing. His eyes flickered up to his three-quarter full HP gauge as the monster shattered before him and his hands did the unconscious actions to retrieve his spoils. Vakross had gone into the dungeon on the forty-third floor to gain a material Lisbeth required to forge his new sword. Both Chrome and Kotetsu had offered to accompany him but Vakross had opted to get himself some alone time, precious little of that these days.

He sheathed his weapon and proceeded further into the volcano-like dungeon. Magma could be seen seeping through the walls and down into the black abyss that could be seen below the rather narrow walkway. One wrong step and Vakross knew he'd fall into that blackness and would die within seconds. One wrong step and he'd be back to level one, another victim of Kurogane's game.

He smiled grimly as he walked. He had already survived one death game, this one was nowhere near as bad as Akihiko Kayaba's. At least in this world, death wasn't so terrifying, it was more of an inconvenience.

As the thought ran through his mind, a monster materialised before him. It was a worm roughly five feet long and maybe two or three feet wide. Its body was covered in a thick grey stone and Vakross could see an orange light pouring out of the cracks in the thick plates. He looked above the creature and read its name. Magma Worm. How original, Vakross thought to himself.

He let out a small sigh and unsheathed his weapon once more and he heard the BGM change to a more intense and upbeat battle theme. Vakross silently counted to three and then charged in opening the battle with three powerful overhead swings. His brow furrowed slightly when he watched his opponent's HP barely go down at all. He attacked once more before leaping back as the worm swung its tail at him.

This battle could take a while with that thing's defence, he thought. Vakross knew that at a time like this a powerhouse like Arcadia would be quite helpful. Another grim smile crossed his lips. In the original death game, he'd have never had a thought like that. Every fight had been a challenge he had overcome by himself without help from anyone.

Only occasionally had he fought on the frontlines with the rest of the clearing team, other times he focused on clearing entire dungeons solo of just fighting to make enough money to survive. Sometimes he fought just for the sake of fighting. Back then, the thought of being in a guild with other people was pointless to him.

Vakross continued to reminisce mentally as the lengthy battle against the Magma Worm continued. The battle took a while but eventually he watched the monster explode into data. He sheathed his sword, took his rewards and continued once more. Where the hell was the monster he needed?

He had come into the dungeon looking for a monster called a Volcanic Warlord. His information broker had said they only spawned on the fifth floor and were quite tough to beat. Apparently they dropped an item called Feudal Steel which was what Lisbeth needed.

He'd been searching this furnace of a dungeon for the last two hours and still hadn't found the damn thing. At this point he was getting quite irritated. Vakross made his way into the only part of the map he hadn't explored yet. It was a decent sized rectangular room with a raised, stone platform in the centre. He ascended the small staircase and stood on the platform.

As soon as he neared the centre a humanoid enemy appeared on the far side. Vakross took in its appearance. The, what he assumed was a man, stood at least six and a half feet tall and was dressed in traditional Japanese samurai armour coloured crimson. On either side of its belt sat a sheathed katana. The samurai's eye's glowed a bright red and it made some rather inhuman sounds. Vakross already knew, but he glanced above its head just to be sure. Volcanic Warlord.

"About freakin' time," Vakross muttered, cracking his neck on both sides and drawing his katana. It made that familiar hissing noise as it slid from its leather sheath and settled comfortably into his grip. Once again the battle BGM began playing all around and Vakross took a deep breath.

The samurai drew its twin katanas but Vakross was not expecting the long, flaming blades that emerged. He raised an eyebrow as he looked them over, he had to admit they were pretty badass. He didn't waste any time though and swiftly charged in. He raised his own katana up to the left with both hands as one of the warlord's weapons glanced off the cold, steel blade. The block was instantly up by a downwards, diagonal stroke that opened a gash in the samurai's armour that bled data.

A knee to the stomach threw Vakross back but he quickly regained his composure and deflected a series of lightning fast slashes by responding in kind. He struggled to match the speed of the two swords with his one and saw his HP deplete ever so slightly.

He could feel the heat emanating from each of those long swords as they came down at him. Each impact sent vibrations through his body. He kept his eyes locked with the samurai's as the feeling of adrenalin coursing through his veins overtook him. This feeling was a familiar one. One he hadn't felt since coming to the new SAO. This was the feeling of a life-or-death battle. He couldn't stop the grin that spread across his lips and the eagerness that ignited in his eyes.

A well-timed push from Vakross moved the Volcanic Warlord away from him and he charged in, closing the newly gained distance in barely two seconds. Vakross' blade glowed aqua and his five hit combo began. A powerful upwards slash, followed by two lighting fast diagonal cuts forming an X and finished off with a powerful thrust that pierced his opponent's body and then blew him away with a powerful shockwave.

Vakross watched a sizeable chunk of the warlord's HP disappear and he took up a defensive stance as the enemy came towards him. Again those flaming swords came down on him but this time Vakross let his body take over as he began blocking the attacks in what seemed like slow motion. The combo was interrupted when the warlord swung its leg out. The top of its foot slammed into the side of Vakross' stomach, lifting the player off the ground and launching him into the air. The warlord turned and its eyes seemed to flash as it crossed its arms and then swung both its swords out horizontally in opposite directions.

The attack left a gash all the way across Vakross' stomach, robbed him of almost a quarter of his HP and blew him off the raised platform. He crashed down onto the warm, stone floor, couching slightly as he sat himself up against the wall. There was barely a second before the Volcanic Warlord landed on the ground in front of him with a loud thud. Vakross gritted his teeth and rolled to the left as both of his enemy's swords thrust down and pierced the ground where he had been.

He scrambled to his feet and raised his sword once more as his opponent slowly came at him, the tips of the two flaming swords dragging along the floor. The corner of Vakross' mouth rose in an eager grin that showed his teeth as he ran forward. He side stepped a downwards swing from the warlord and leapt into the air. Vakross' knees bent and then straightened as he kicked off the wall with a roar.

First his sword pierced the chest of his opponent and then his shoulder smashed into the samurai's armour, sending both of them crashing into the side of the central platform. The Volcanic Warlord groaned slightly as Vakross got to his feet. The player turned his back to the enemy and took a single step away, his sword glowing green. He made two rapid slashes ahead of himself, before spinning his sword into a reverse grip and plunging the blade backwards past his stomach with his open palm pressed against the end of the handle.

Vakross' head turned slightly as he watched the curved blade dig into his slumped opponent's forehead. There was a delay before the Volcanic Warlord shattered and Vakross' sword was dragged down slightly by gravity. He returned his grip on the weapon to normal and sheathed it. He claimed the two pieces of Feudal Steel the monster had dropped as well as its Col before teleporting from the dungeon with a crystal.

The twilight scenery of Lindas was the same as usual as Vakross made his way towards Lisbeth's smith shop. He pushed open the wooden door and heard the familiar bell chime as he did so. The pink-haired blacksmith was standing behind the counter on the far end of the room as usual and Vakross walked up to here.

"Here," he said, placing the two pieces of Feudal Steel and an ample amount of Col on the counter.

"Wow, you actually managed to get some. I've heard of parties killing that enemy more than five times and not getting a single piece," Lisbeth commented.

"I guess he was feeling generous today."

"I guess so."

Lisbeth gathered up the materials and Col, gave Vakross a slight nod and headed down into her workshop. Vakross followed behind, leaning against the door as he closed it and watching Lisbeth take out her hammer. She placed the pieces of Feudal Steel on the anvil and began striking it at a steady pace. Vakross watched as the two pieces of steel slowly began to warp and change shape.

It was a minute or so before the task was complete. Vakross unfolded his arms and walked down to the anvil, gazing upon his new weapon in silence. The blade was four inches longer than his current blade and the silver steel seemed to hold a pale red sheen. The hilt of the sword was an ornate looking flower, bronze in colour with intricate detailing in each petal. The handle was again slightly longer than Vakross' current katana and was bound in a deep purple leather.

Vakross placed his fingers around the cool leather and lifted the sword. It was heavy but perfectly balanced. He took a few test swings and watched the transparent, red trail each stroke left behind the blade.

"It's called the Crimson Lotus, a one of a kind sword just like Chrome's Amethyst Edge," Lisbeth explained, putting her hammer away. Vakross looked over the weapon and couldn't help but smile slightly. It was one hell of a sword.

"I like it. It's perfect," he said.

"That's great! I'm so happy it turned out well."

"Thank you for all of your work. With this sword, I'll carve through the DGamers like butter."

Vakross took quite a substantial amount of Col out and handed it to Lisbeth. The girl tried her hardest to refuse the extra money but eventually gave in as Vakross continued to force it on her.

"I feel bad taking this much money from you," Lisbeth said with a somewhat sad tone.

"This blade is going to help keep me alive. I think the money I gave you is the very least I should be offering," Vakross said. Lisbeth sighed and gave up, she knew she wouldn't win this one.

"Well just make sure you're careful out there and make sure nobody in Azure Storm gets killed." Vakross nodded and made his way out of the shop.

For the first time in god knows how long, probably forever, Vakross had something to fight for. Several years ago in Kayaba's death game, he couldn't have cared less about clearing the game, every day was just a fight for survival in a world that was out to kill him.

But now, he would do whatever it took, fight as many battles as he had to in order to stop Kurogane and get out of here. He had friends to protect, they gave him a reason to fight. If he had to, Vakross would die to make sure his friends broke everyone out of this game. He thought about that on his way home, dying for the sake of others. It sounded pretty valiant and all, but dying, well, that wasn't exactly in his immediate plans.

A small grin crept across his lips as his fingertips ran along the handle of the Crimson Lotus. This fight was far from over. It was only just beginning.