Hello Everybody~

Umm. To the guest reviewer who commented about the ages of the characters, if you ever get to this, I will most likely not be changing the character's ages. This is fanfiction. Also, i'm still not sure if Kuroko is the youngest of oldest in the GoM, because the sources I've read from are extremely confusing and the school system in Japan is different from America.

Well, here is your semi-exciting plot twist chapter, AwsumReader. It's plot, not "plot" like *cough*Free!/HOTD/etc*cough*

SHIT'S HAPPENING PEOPLE.

Disclaimer: I wish I could own a series Kamiyan, Onoken, and Suzu T. voice for, but I don't and never will.

Chapter 23: Weakness & Strength

Saturday: May 12, 2038. 3:00 P.M.

As expected, for the entirety of the weekdays, Kuroko had barely gotten to play KWO due to the lack of coinciding schedules in his guild. Whenever he found the free time in between classes and his jobs, or was available in the early morning or late night, most of the others were busy and vice-versa. He was only able to play once after making plans with Aomine, accompanied by Momoi–the session lasted just short of an hour.

These two days at the end of the week would probably be the most accommodating he'd get, so he was rather hopeful that someone else would be online at this time of day. He'd already checked twice earlier. No dice. Between all the little things he was doing today, like making a trip to the market, studying for the rumored yearly test in his Sociology professor's course, and doing his laundry, he'd be in the game enjoying a good novel while waiting to see if anyone else appeared.

A couple hours ago, he'd just barely missed Akashi and Murasakibara; the "last log-in date" had read around twenty minutes ago for both of them.

Now, the guild window showed that Midorima had checked in earlier. To Kuroko's thorough disappointed, it had been around an hour ago when he was in the community Laundromat.

Because of some unsavory thievery going on lately, he'd chosen to wait inside while his clothes were washed and dried; Just in case it turned out like the last three week when various selections of his and his housemate's articles of clothing (most undergarments but not including socks since those always went missing anyways) made like Kuroko. As in, they pretty much magically disappeared. The men's minds stayed away from the uncomfortable questions of "who?" and "why?"

Kuroko continued his examination on the short page, though, as indicated by the green circle next to his name and the unlit ones next to his guildmates, he was the only one here.

Right now, all he wanted to do was spend some time exploring this new island and the ones surrounding it. He'd been itching to do so for the last week, anticipating being able to experience all the new features and monsters and quests. Sometimes, he'd even space out during work or class thinking about this kind of thing–something one would not typically expect from the diligent student-slash-store clerk-slash-kindergarten-assistant.

He wondered if Akashi would allow them to train with people outside their affiliation.

When he flicked a finger and switched the tab to the "Friend" window, he saw that Takao was on. As expected since he'd declared the commencement of an all-day gaming binge. Then again, even if it were allowed, the last he'd heard from the raven-haired man, his time was being spent joining a new guild–his second since starting the game–and purging one of the sub-island maps around.

While waiting for someone to have their little dot light up, Kuroko visited the Merchant's Market, a map of the largest town of the island, Ortencis. Most of his current equipment and use items were pretty top-notch already, but it would pass some time. Who knows? He might find something cheap and useful. Maybe... Probably not.

Most of the buildings in the area here were what Kuroko inferred to be based off early Roman and Greek civilizations. Bright vines with thick, flat leaves curled around the columns and the sides of the structures, which were dulled, aged, and dusty color that might've once been eggshell white but was leaning more toward taupe with the addition of dust. It was a game, so it most likely had always looked like this, but whoever rendered the VR space had done a good job with the details, making it as if this were a real town from those older times.

While idly searching through the shops set up in the area (most of them temporarily-set booths, mostly manned by hired NPCs), Kuroko was beginning to think perhaps he should give up on the idea of playing today and do something even slightly more productive than listlessly looking at items he didn't need or already had.

The Elf thought about his usual companions when he was here.

Aomine would be busy until at least six or so, having signed up for some extra weekend classes to make up for the time he was spending at the Daycare. The Policemen's Training Institution was partially a college of some sort, after all, and from what Kuroko had picked up over the course of time he'd spent with the tan-skinned man, a few more academic lessons as opposed to the more physical activities would do him some good.

A lot of good.

Seriously, it was as if the other had never read a book in his life. And no, gravure idol magazines don't count.

Anyways, Kise's schedule was a bit jumbled all the time, and the man had informed the rest of them he would be at a photo-shoot today, followed by an interview for a popular magazine that would last an indefinite amount of time.

Sometimes, during the quiet hours of working the convenience store cash register and whenever he was bored out of his mind, the Cleric would pick up one of those types of magazines to read. I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this before, but it was the main reason Kuroko had even known about Kise during their first meeting.

Well, that, and he'd once come up as a special guest on a variety show that he, Furihata, and Takao had been watching one day; the blonde had been dressed in a ridiculous dog kugurumi, which are sort of like full-body Snuggies or pajamas for those of you who don't know. It was fairly memorable, especially with the recollection of Takao staring intently at the screen for a fair half-minute looking as serious as brain cancer before finally spitting out, "He's really hot… but not quite my type". He had turned to face the other two men to say with a solemn tone, "I prefer the cool beauty or cute ones–like Tet-chan… sorry Kou-chan."

Takao had been ignored until dinnertime for the suspense, and for saying something deemed as stupid by Kuroko and stupid and offensive by Furihata.

Kuroko wasn't sure what Momoi was doing, but unlike the rest of them, she gave off the impression of having an amiable social life kind of thing going on outside of gaming. For their own separate reasons, it seemed that he and the guild's resident morons had few friends in real life, as sad as that sounds.

But still, thinking about all this changed nothing about the fact that the people the blueheaded man usually accompanied were all engaged in life by one way or another.

Contrarily, Kuroko had nearly the entire day free–besides his shift at the convenience store that started at ten and cooking dinner. It wouldn't be cooking so much as preparing some pre-cooked meat, rice, and assorted vegetables that had been sitting in the fridge a good week-and-four-days. Oh, and some near-expired boxed sushi the bluenette had gotten from the store manager. It wouldn't take long, and typically no one in the guild was linked into the network during meal times anyways.

Hmm, someone else is logged in.

Kuroko stopped sifting through some random amulets. He'd been looking through the wares of a shop specializing in enhanced jewelry items when a small pop-up window emerged to the sound of a clinking bell.

{Haizaki has logged into the server.}

Immediately after followed:

Haizaki 05/12/38 3:17*
Close message index.*

.
Haizaki 05/12/38 3:17*
Close message index.*
.

"Meet me at the South exit of the town", the other wrote, not bothering to ask whether or not Kuroko was doing something important. He wasn't, of course, but it wouldn't kill the other to send a friendly invitation.

"Okay", he sent back.

Kuroko could handle it as he'd gotten used to Haizaki's somewhat difficult, self-revolving whims though, and contrary to prior belief, he actually was getting along with the younger man. Or at least as much as one could get along with someone such as him. The bluenette made his way to the southern gate on foot, noting that Haizaki was already there when he looked at his map. Because they were in the same guild, he would know where the other was as long as they were in close enough proximity–within three separate maps–of each other.

He arrived at the arranged meeting spot a few minutes later, and after saying hello and making the other flinch, he was greeted by a mumble of, "Took you long enough". Kuroko disregarded it to avoid any chance of the other starting a fight and changed the topic to, "Where should we go train, Haizaki-kun?"

The man took out his map and pointed to an area a few centimeters away from their current spot on the slightly crinkled piece of paper. Since it was a map, this meant about ten or fifteen minute's distance away.

In truth, Kuroko didn't really mind wherever they were going or whatever they were going to do–as long as he got to explore new regions and kick monster ass while doing so. The beauty of the game was that every island was just so distinctly unique compared to another, and it was almost as if you could never run out of new sights to see, things to do, creatures to fight, and people to meet.

On the way there, Haizaki kept badgering the Cleric about his slow pace, though as irritated as he looked, he never strayed too far ahead. Kuroko couldn't tell if it was because of the orders from Akashi (Haizaki never really disobeyed orders, for some reason) that they had to stay together or if it were out of free will, but it made the other considerably more tolerable in his opinion.

Kuroko spent the majority of the trip casting any applicable buffs while the other told him about their destination. It was a bit hard to listen to since he was talking, but he managed to catch keywords like "fire" and "monkey".

"Cimignea", was the name given to the creatures he and Haizaki arrived to. They were burly creatures, more gorilla than monkey, who swung from trees and stood on two legs when they were on the ground. Passive aggro types, judging from how none of them had attacked yet. They seemed like the kind to use numbers as an adavantage.

Haizaki made the first move, taking his dagger and rushing the nearest primate with a charged air-element spell. He spun around to avoid a burst of flame directed at him from another and silenced that one as well, taking it out by knifing it from the stomach up. It would have been rather messy in real life, but here there was only some blood splatter on his equipment which would fade away in a few minutes.

Behind the silver-haired man, Kuroko went into his own battle mode and began shooting off any of the beasts who'd joined the fray, all while keeping up with the dodging and re-buffing; he'd gotten considerably better at multi-tasking because of this.

At one point, their rate of monkey-slaying became faster than the creatures could spawn, so Haizaki finished off a couple more and moved on to the next map, which was separated by a jungle trail.

Here, the monsters were a lot more powerful than the last. It took Kuroko about three times more effort to kill one, and when he did, he found it was level 43–a good seven above his 36.

This probably isn't a good idea for me…

Even Haizaki was having a bit of difficulty, steadily losing his HP and MP. These beasts were not only sturdier and stronger, but more evasive as well. They could jump further and twist and contort their bodies in mid-air, so both players, especially Kuroko, were having a bit of a problem with them; this kind of map was meant for physical-type classes and Fighters. Kuroko was nicked by fireballs often, so having few efficient self-heal spells, he relied on the potions he'd stocked up.

In about twenty-five minutes, the Magic-user found himself becoming exhausted. It faintly reminded him of the first time he'd gone through one of Akashi's endless training hells, though he was pretty bad at handling this kind of pressure then. His stamina wasn't really any better, but nothing could help that.

To his left a few meters away, Haizaki was fending off three of the Forcimignea, mostly by dodging in a way that made them hit each other and not him. He wasn't very much a team fighter, which was half the reason Kuroko was struggling in this area. The other half, in his own opinion, was that he was still too inadequate.

Still too weak.

A fiery blast hit Kuroko in the back, followed by another on his leg. The burning sensation only lasted a second since the system rescinded it, but the pain left by the blow still lingered as he was knocked to the ground by one of the large, hairy creatures jumping him.

It was heavy–incredibly heavy, most of the weight of the creature that must have weighed hundreds of pounds rested on his abdomen, robbing much of the air from his lungs. Now that he was this close to one of these things, Kuroko could smell the creature's rancid breath (he had to commend the programmers, once again) and see the jagged, saliva-coated teeth in its mouth, which began to be lowered near his face.

He saw from the corner of his eye Haizaki moving in his direction, but he didn't want to call for help, because sometimes, a man just gets tired of being a damsel in distress.

With whatever strength he could muster, he turned his pinned-down arm and turned a palm toward the creature. Because his staff had been knocked away and was lying just out of his reach, he used a Holy spell instead, hitting the in a spot between a thigh and pelvis.

[-4902 HP, Forcimignea: {9,223/14,125}]

Not much damage was dealt in comparison to his stronger spells, which could one-hit K.O. since these had low tolerance for magic, but the creature took a second to howl in pain and lift off its heavy arms.

Kuroko put his hands together in a very "Kamehameha"-esque fashion, and between them formed a shining ball of light, stringing his eyes with their brightness even though that wasn't the point of the spell. It was like an upgraded form of the simpler Magic Ball, though it had to be done with two hands, which was why Kuroko never really used it.

The primate quickly opened and closed its jaw around the Cleric's hands, which were still positioned as the magical energy was built up. He thought he faintly heard Haizaki yell out with a worried (by worried, I mean annoyed that Kuroko was caught in this predicament) tone, but he was just concentrating on his spell. There was a stinging pain in his forearms where he was being bitten, his blood running down in trickling streams that stained the creature's fur a crimson red.

[-2,506 HP, Kuroko: {559/8,260}]

His HP nearly drained, he released his attack and watched, slightly dazed, as the creature imploded from the inside.

{+3,612 Experience, [+160 Party Bonus]}
{Kuroko has obtained: 5,633 ladomi, Forcimignea Tail}

{Kuroko has leveled up!: level 37}

No guts or flying chunks of meat, but there was a little bit of monkey blood splattering as the pieces of the creature separated and became shining pixels that soon disintegrated, like fireworks.

A ripple of dizziness hit when he got up, probably from having stood up too fast after being knocked down so hard, but he managed to grab his staff on the way. He downed a potion as he observed the monsters that replaced the last, and they warily looked back at him, circling him slowly, waiting, ready to attack at any moment.

"Weakness can become strength if one believes it to be so", Kuroko had once read, "If one can somehow pick themselves from the ground after falling and acknowledge the fact that they may be powerless in some way, but that there is no meaning to power by itself, they can begin to grow and develop into something greater. Determination–a ceaseless, immortal will–whether for good or evil, is what sets apart those who are weak and those who aren't, and is what makes all the difference."

He'd forgotten where that passage came from, but for some reason, it rang clearly in his ears. The promises he'd made in the last year, to Aomine and Momoi, to Akashi–his entire guild, really–to friends like Takao and Furihata, and to their newfound rival, Seirin, all came along with it.

I'll become stronger.

He was sore, beat-up, and tired–especially tired–from the last half hour, but his senses felt heightened even though his body didn't seem like it could even feel anything at all. What came over him at that moment, he didn't know. Perhaps his instinct played a part, or some kind of strange impulse, but he raised his staff high into the air.

The deep black wood got darker, and the crystal that floated at the top glowed intensely, and Kuroko didn't know if the monsters were somehow intimidated, but they kept their distance from him. Line-by-line, just like with every spell he chanted, words appeared in front of the Cleric, who felt compelled, obligated even, to speak them out loud.

"In this fickle world in which my soul cannot find rest or be allowed redemption, I seek what has been forgotten, washed away by unrelenting time and buried underneath the soil". He thrust his staff into the ground, and vague shadows surrounded it, swirling around like a barrier separating him and the rest of the world. "I call upon Thanatos, the ruler of the land of spirits, to lend me his gift–his strength and his wisdom. From the infernal blaze, a deception as if alive, the burnt ashes, scorched and singed, will sprout an incarnation of my dauntless conviction."

The glowing jewel began pulsing, and it seemed that all sound but Kuroko's words were sucked out of the space leaving an eerie silence. Watching this scene, Haizaki had to admit he was slightly freaked out, but he still observed from the sidelines as he felt he shouldn't interrupt. He was at least smarter than people gave him credit for.

Kuroko took a final glance around before he said the final line in the supposed spell. The Forcimignea were all fleeing, ignoring the two adventurers as they escaped under the tree canopies, and Haizaki looked like he was considering following them.

"I beseech you, cast off that which binds you and bestow upon me a revolutionary power."

The world became black, seemingly even more devoid of light than any moonless night or underground basement could ever be. Kuroko had to blink his eyes shut because the overwhelming darkness was too oppressive for him to handle. It was worse than looking at the sun, because closing his eyes now made it feel like he would never be able to open them again.

He was thankful when, a few minutes later, he was able to open them.

It had taken several minutes for the blindness to fade enough for his optic nerves to be able to discern shapes from their surroundings, to see that everything was set ablaze.

Abnormal black flames surrounded him, devouring all the plants around him, yet not burning them. He looked and saw that his feet were engulfed in flame too, yet it was cool rather than hot, even when he ran his fingers through the blaze.

Finally, he turned his gaze back to his staff.

What used to be his staff.

In the place of his weapon was the end of a burning rod, before it became almost entirely dust–fine black ashes that rested on the dirt ground. Resting on top was the crystal that had once floated between it, still shining that brilliant, aquamarine shade of blue. Still burning an intense, shadowy black.

He kneeled in front of the pile and took it in hand. A bit slipped through his fingertips before it all disappeared.

{Kuroko has obtained: Gaea's Earth, Essence of Thanatos}

After a few seconds off staring wide-eyed at his palms trying to comprehend everything that had happened in the last five minutes, Kuroko felt a pressure around his shoulder. He looked behind him and saw that Haizaki was staring down at him with an incredulous, slightly pissed-off facial expression; it mimicked his own, minus the pissed-off part.

"So…" the younger man started off slowly, grabbing a slightly-torn, robe-clad arm and lifting Kuroko off the ground."What. The fuck. Was that?"

All Kuroko could do was offer back an honest and simple, "I do not know."

Kiseki World Online: Monsters

Currently, the different types of monsters created in this world come up to about five-hundred creatures, though the list is still growing as the game does. One of the reasons the game has many patches is because new monsters are placed, sometimes in already-existing maps, and the code has to be altered so that they can spawn.

Their are several types of Aggro types:
Passive Aggro means it won't attack until you do. These were more common in lower-level monsters, though they haven't completely gone away.
Active Aggro types are the ones that attack you as long as you're within range. Most monsters become this type at night.
Group Aggro Means that once one of them locks onto you, the rest of them will also give chase. They're very good for mobs, but easily destructive and deadly.
Trigger Aggro, which we've not yet seen, will attack one you do a specific action, such as destroying a tree or taking a certain item from their midst.
Non Aggro monsters exist as well. These won't attack you no matter what, and will usually just run away.

There are more, but they are more detailed in description and would take up too much time.

Well... sorry for slow updates. I swear I'm trying, but a mixture of writer's block and preparing for the new school year (GPS is a joshi kousei btw) have me kinda stumped.

Also, as always, the feedback some of you guys give me is very encouraging. Seriously, thank you. I'm really glad you guys have been reading this from the beginning, and it'd be great if you always did. It cheers me up whenever I'm in a slump (all the time). I'm aware I'm not too great at writing and that my style is a bit strange at times, so I'm really glad that you still enjoy this.

Thanks for reading, I'm out~