Muko rolled over in bed, watching as Chrome stood at the window in his full battle gear. One hand sat on the window sill while the other rested on the handle of Amethyst Edge. Muko blinked a few times and sat up, watching as her boyfriend turned, seeing her movement in the corner of his eye. "Morning," he said quietly with a gentle smile.

"Good morning," Muko said, rubbing her eyes with her fists. "How come you have all your armour on?" she asked, watching as his cape fluttered around his arm from the gentle breeze that came through the open window.

"I'm going to be getting us a new guild member today. Someone to help out with this offensive of Veille's," Chrome replied.

"That requires you to be fully equipped? Normal people send out invites," Muko said with a playful smile. She knew Chrome would have a reason but she felt it fun to pick on him a little. Chrome smiled in return.

"The person I'm asking to join us, I know they're not going to just say yes. I'll have to prove my strength to him before he'll join."

"Who are you asking?" Muko tilted her head slightly.

"Hakuya."

Muko nodded her understanding now. Hakuya had never seemed like the kind of person to join a guild. Whenever they had met him, he'd always show up out of nowhere and then simply vanish suddenly. She knew that he would be a powerful ally and she knew Chrome had come to the same conclusion. She had been meaning to ask for a few days now why he hadn't invited Hakuya to join the guild and now she knew why. Obviously Chrome had known Hakuya wouldn't join easily and that's why he had been levelling quite a lot the last few days.

"Do you have a plan for fighting against him if it comes to that?" Muko asked, climbing out of bed in her pyjamas. Chrome smiled a little at the cute pink pyjamas she wore adorned with little penguins.

"Not losing is pretty much the gist of it," Chrome said, heading into the living room. Muko followed along behind him after she changed into her combat gear.

"Such a well thought out strategy," Muko said.

"No use making some intricate plan, I know Hakuya won't do that. He's the kind of guy who just fights his heart out and lets his weapon speak for him. I'm just going to do the same," Chrome explained.

"Hey, Ren," Muko said quietly, her eyes to the ground. Chrome was somewhat surprised, it sounded odd but that's the first time he had heard his real name ever since becoming trapped inside ALO. Even he had just been thinking of himself as Chrome.

"What is it?" he asked, matching the quietness of his girlfriend's voice.

"We're going to get out of here, right?" Muko asked. Chrome smiled and took the mace-user in his arms gently, stroking her hair as he held her.

"Don't worry, I promise I'll get us out, Megumi," he whispered, giving her a small kiss on the lips. Muko smiled up at him and the two stood together for a few moments. The moment was broken when Chrome received a message.

"That'll be Hakuya," he said.

"You already asked him to join?"

"No, I just asked him if he could meet me here in Lindas so we could talk."

"Is he coming?"

"He said he'll be here in a minute."

The couple headed outside and watched as Hakuya came walking up the road, his usual carefree expression on his face. Neither Chrome or Muko had expected to see Arcadia walking with him though.

"Wait… that's… right?" Muko asked, unable to make a complete sentence. Her eyes were wide and her jaw hung open slightly.

"Yep, that's Arcadia," Chrome said, his eyebrow raised slightly. He thought Arcadia couldn't stand Hakuya. Looks like she could stand him more than anyone thought, he thought to himself with a slight grin. "So, how is the happy couple this morning?" Chrome asked, the grin still on his face. He saw Arcadia twitch slightly as he spoke but it was Hakuya who answered.

"Great! How about you two?" Hakuya asked, a massive grin on his face too.

"Can't complain," Chrome said in response.

"It's been a while Miss Arcadia," Muko said, smiling at the older woman.

"Yes it has, I hope you've been well," Arcadia said, ignoring Chrome completely as she moved over to Muko.

"Very," Muko said.

The four spent a few minutes speaking and catching up before Hakuya decided to get into things.

"So, I'm assuming there's a reason you called me here?" he asked, still keeping up his carefree look.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you something but I think I already know the answer," Chrome replied.

"Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the question then?" Hakuya asked.

"No, because if you give the answer I'm expecting then it's good that I called you here."

"Shoot then."

"I want to invite you to join Azure Storm, do you accept?"

Arcadia tensed up a little as the question was asked. She had expected that's what this was about and she remembered Hakuya telling her his response to when Souji had asked him to return to his old guild. Hakuya looked into Chrome's eyes. There was no doubt he was serious about this. Hakuya sighed slightly and turned away.

"Someone invited me to a guild not too long ago and the response they got was less than pleasant. It's not a side I'd like to show to someone I consider a friend," Hakuya said, his voice serious. Arcadia was nervous now, unsure of what Hakuya would do.

"What if we have a duel?" Chrome asked. The words caught Hakuya's attention, he could see the taller man's posture straighten slightly. "If you win I'll drop this completely, but if I win then you join Azure Storm, deal?"

"I figured you'd use a card like that, it suits you perfectly. You had this all planned out," Hakuya said, turning with a slight smile. Chrome simply nodded to the spearman. "Very well, I accept your terms. Know however, I'm not going to hold back against you." Hakuya took Gungnir from his back and pointed it at Chrome.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Chrome readied his sword and shield as he sent the duel request to Hakuya. The blonde haired spearman accepted and the one minute timer began counting down.

Chrome watched as Hakuya took up a low fighting stance, his cobalt armour seemed to shine slightly in the morning sunlight. The sword and shield user took a deep breath as he readied himself, he knew this wasn't going to be an easy fight.

As soon as the timer vanished, Hakuya moved. Chrome wasn't expecting the sudden impact to his cheek from the shaft of Hakuya's weapon. It wasn't enough to knock him from his feet but it certainly forced him back a few centimetres. He was ready for the next attack though and blocked the strike with his shield before jumping back slightly.

Both Arcadia and Muko watched without saying a word. The battle had only just started but both could feel the intensity coming from both combatants.

Chrome was the next to attack with a lightning fast arc of his sword. Hakuya gracefully jumped away from the attack and crouched down low. Chrome knew that Hakuya had a massive reach advantage so he'd have to fight carefully.

The two charged at each other and their weapons continued to ring together as they clashed. The two fighters locked eyes each time their weapons clashed and both could see that neither would give up. Chrome pushed his shield out, causing Hakuya to shift his spear to avoid the strike. The block however allowed Chrome to stab out at his opponent's hip.

Although Hakuya dodged a majority of the attack, the edge of Chrome's sword still ran along his body, leaving a shallow gash. The spearman took a few steps back but Chrome kept up his assault. Hakuya knew Chrome was trying to unleash as many attacks as he could to try and make up for his lower level.

The two landed several attacks on each other over the course of two minutes. Chrome had lost about a third of his HP while Hakuya had only lost just over a quarter of his. The duel would end when one of them dropped to a quarter of their HP.

"Still wanna keep going?" Hakuya asked, twirling his spear around and pointing it diagonally at the ground, the majority of the shaft behind him.

"Do you really need to ask?" Chrome asked, shaking his shield arm slightly. His Shield of the Storm had taken quite a beating in this battle, he hoped it would last until the end. Chrome unleashed a fast eight hit combo with Hakuya gracefully dodging each attack before following up with a low sweep of his spear at the end.

Muko watched as Chrome fell to the ground. A bead of sweat ran down her face and her hands were clasped tightly together over her chest. Arcadia stood with her arms crossed, she seemed rather relaxed to Muko but the younger girl could tell that she too was on edge.

Chrome rolled backwards and leapt to his feet as Gungnir pierced the ground where he had fallen. He took a deep breath and shook his head, Hakuya was just as strong as he had anticipated if not stronger. If he didn't do something soon he'd lose without even taking off half of his opponent's HP.

Chrome ran forward and leapt into the air. As he began to fall, his sword blade glowed green and he began spinning on a slight angle, leaving a green circular trail around himself as he went. Hakuya raised his spear with both hands, grunting with effort as he blocked the skill. He pushed his spear out and pushed Chrome away.

As Chrome landed, Hakuya spun his spear above his head, the whole weapon glowing golden. He brought the spear down and thrust forward. Chrome blocked the point of the spear with his shield but the weapon emitted a powerful shockwave that blew Chrome back several feet and put him on his back once more.

"You must like the ground," Hakuya said, striding towards his opponent. All traces of the usual carefree Hakuya were gone at this point. His voice was serious and his eyes showed the same thing. Chrome could hear the quiet clinking of Hakuya's boots as he approached and he knew if he didn't move this was going to be the end.

The swordsman groaned slightly as he rose to feet. His HP was just under half now meaning one or two more good hits would probably end him. Hakuya spun his spear slightly and pointed it at Chrome, staring the younger player straight in the eyes. "Disappointing, I really expected more from you," he sighed, pulling his spear back and readying an attack.

As Hakuya lunged forward, Chrome raised his shield and batted the spear aside. He charged in as he did so, Hakuya's weapon grinding against his weapon. Chrome moved his shield and swiftly bashed Hakuya in the face with it before delivering a powerful slash to his stomach.

Hakuya stepped back and thrust his spear out but Chrome sidestepped the attack and closed in. The spearman eyed Chrome curiously, what happened? He just changed in an instant. Chrome's shield glowed purple and he rammed it into Hakuya, knocking the spearman onto the ground.

Hakuya nimbly got back to his feet but Chrome was already coming forward with another skill. The swordsman swept his leg out, causing Hakuya to fall to the ground face-first before striking him hard in the back of the head with this shield. It was only thanks to Hakuya's superior level that he was able to survive the brutal attacks and get back to his feet.

Both players were now panting hard and staring each other down. Neither could supress the grins that came across their faces. Both were now down to just over one quarter HP, Hakuya with slightly more than Chrome. Both Muko and Arcadia's hearts hammered as they watched the battle.

Chrome watched as Hakuya began spinning his spear around in front of him, the weapon glowing blue. "This is one of the strongest spear skills in this game Chrome. You won't survive it," the taller player said.

"We'll see about that," Chrome said in response. He stood with his legs apart and steadied himself as his shield began to glow gold. "It all comes down to this, don't fail me Giga Shield."

As Hakuya stopped spinning his spear and began to charge, Chrome closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Time seemed to slow as the two got closer and closer together. Muko seemed unable to draw a breath as she watched.

Chrome heard Hakuya call out the name of his skill but it was just white noise to him as his shield came up before him. Gungnir connected with the Shield of the Storm and Chrome was astounded by the amount of force behind the attack. His arm shook as the spear continued to push against his reinforced shield.

Then, Chrome saw it. Several cracks began spreading out across his shield before it shattered with what seemed like the sound of an explosion to him. Shards of data flew in every direction as Hakuya's spear stopped right before Chrome's chest. Hakuya twisted the spear upwards and the butt of the shaft connected with Chrome's jaw, knocking him to the ground and diminishing the remaining chunk of his HP down to less than a quarter.

Chrome's eyes closed as the winner icon appeared above Hakuya. Muko ran over to the fallen swordsman and crouched down beside him, her hand on his shoulder. Chrome could hear her asking if he was okay but he couldn't find the strength to respond.

"Don't worry, I was careful not to kill him," Hakuya said, walking over to Chrome and Muko. Arcadia too joined them.

"I guess you're still too strong for me," Chrome groaned, slowly sitting up.

"I don't know about that, if your shield had held you probably would have beaten me," Hakuya said, helping the swordsman up. "Sorry about breaking it by the way."

"You better be sorry, that was an event item."

"I'll get you a new shield to make up for it."

"Damn right you will."

"So, about joining your guild."

Chrome sighed and shook his head with a sad smile.

"No, I lost. You don't have to worry about joining. I'm not going to force you," he said.

"You don't have to force me. You more than proved yourself in that fight. I'd be happy to become a member of Azure Storm," Hakuya said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Chrome asked.

"It'll be a good change. Besides, all of you guys are pretty amusing to be around," Hakuya said as his carefree persona returned.

"Thank you Hakuya," Chrome said.

"So has everyone agreed to help out that Veille guy with his mission?" Arcadia asked, looking at Chrome. Before he replied, Chrome led everyone inside the house so they were away from any potential eavesdroppers.

"To answer your question, yes. Well everyone except Hakuya anyway," Chrome said. The spearman in question waved his hand, showing that he'd do whatever the guild wanted to do. "Well I guess everyone is in then."

"I guess that means we'll be going to attack the DGamers soon then huh?" Arcadia asked. Chrome nodded in response. "Will you be okay?" the teacher asked, looking over at Muko.

"Yes. I assure you I'll have no problems fighting them. I can never forgive any of them for what they've done," Muko said. Arcadia could see how serious the girl was and nodded her approval.

"Well feel free to message me whenever you need me, I'll be out doing some levelling before we go removing some DGamer heads," Arcadia said as she rose to her feet and stretched. In less than a second Hakuya was on his feet behind her.

"I shall accompany you Princess," he said with a slight bow. This was followed by Arcadia pushing him back down onto the couch.

"No, you're going to go help Chrome replace the shield you broke."

"Aww, well that's no fun."

"You reap what you sow."

With that Arcadia left a sulking Hakuya behind in Chrome and Muko's house. There were a few minutes of idle chatter before the three left for Lisbeth's smith shop. As they walked, Chrome knew now that Azure Storm had gotten a lot more powerful with the addition of Hakuya. His expression grew serious as he thought to himself.

The DGamers better start praying to their gods, because soon they'd be meeting them.