Chapter Eleven: Kill Me Once, Good For You. Kill Me twice, You'll Never Sleep Again.

July 30th 2031

Edmond, after convincing himself that what had just happened wasn't a dream, stood up, and helped Kitami to her feet. He continuously wondered who these two mysterious cloaked figures could have been. No familiar names came to mind. Besides, chances are it wasn't someone trying to play some prank. In such a situation, it was hardly time for fooling around, especially when everyone was so on edge. He ruled out the possibility of tom foolery.

"We have to tell Thatch, and the others, now."

Edmond looked over to Kitami. He was conflicted on this matter. Should he tell them? Was "Gamma" right? Would anyone believe him? On the other hand, if anyone would be able to believe them, it would be Thatch. After all, he immediately believed Edmond when he divulged his visions of Kayaba. Still, though, Edmond was afraid that these two may still be "watching." They'd come from virtually thin air… or maybe light? Wait! Edmond thought.

"Kitami. What does it look like when a person logs in or out of SAO?"

Edmond, ignoring Kitami's previous idea, was now putting pieces together in his mind. Kitami looked confused, but soon answered.

"I've only seen it a few times. People haven't exactly been logging out lately."

Sarcasm. Edmond loved it, but this was serious. He eagerly awaited a response, but he already a good idea of how the process worked. From what he'd seen, logging in and out worked similarly to a creature in the game respawning. A flash of light would occur, leaving the creature or player (when death wasn't permanent) standing when the light faded. The exact thing that occurred with Alpha and Gamma. Not once, but twice. Edmond just needed some form of reassurance that he wasn't thinking too far outside the box. Kitami then spoke, giving her idea of how the system worked.

"From what I can remember, it's similar to what happens when you're slaying mobs. After the prescribed period of waiting, there's a flash for a second or two, and then the mob reappears. The only time I experienced a live log out, was when we were together that first night and the game did a force shut down. I wasn't facing you, so I can't say for sure that the light was your body…or mine, for that matter, logging out."

So Edmond wasn't crazy. Was he dealing with two players that actually had the ability to leave the game? If so, he'd have to be extremely cautious. The only person who could possibly leave the game, and the fact wasn't confirmed, was Khale.

"Why do you ask?"

Edmond was jarred from his thoughts as Kitami's curiosity forced the question. Edmond hesitated at first, both out fear of sounding insane, and not wanting to alarm Kitami, but, he felt Kitami had a right to know, especially since she'd witnessed the event.

"Well, think about it. If we were able to log out without a problem, we'd constantly see that same process take place, just about everywhere we went, right? Well, since people aren't able to log out, and we, as players from different continents who've just gained access to the game, haven't witnessed the function, it just shocked the hell out of us. Do you follow me?"

Kitami nodded as her face showed that she was mentally building Edmond's idea in her head.

"Well, how do we explain what just happened? Unless it was a teleport crystal, but I don't think people can just randomly teleport to such a secluded location."

Kitami nodded. But then returned with another perplexing argument.

"I follow you, but that doesn't explain how they would've just appeared in front of us. If you're suggesting that they can log in and out of the game at will, which would mean that they were just waiting for someone to just come waltzing through this alleyway, logging in a random times to see if someone was there…that's a horribly inefficient way of doing things."

Dammit…Edmond thought. His mind was cornered. Kitami was right. There was no way that two players, with a normal players' capacity, could randomly teleport to just any given location, and the chances that they would just continuously log in and out of the game, waiting for someone, were slim to none. But…wait…A mind bomb exploded in Edmond's head.

"What if they have the ability to see the game's activities from the outside?"

Kitami's eyes widened. It was a perfectly possible idea. After all, Ratchnot had enabled Khale to commandeer the entire game. But for such a thing to occur, code would have to be reworked, rewritten, and completely altered to be able to house a spectator mode. Kitami voiced these concerns, and more.

"That would mean that they would be able to view the game from the outside. They'd have to have impeccable hacking skills. Not to mention something that would hide all of their activities from Khale. If he's as strong as we think, he'd immediately do everything in his power to get rid of a bug like that."

Edmond, as he thought about it more, actually started to become more convinced of the possibility.

"For every insane genius out there, there's always somebody with a sound mind to put an end to everything they want to achieve. It's how every major war has panned out, and how enemies are defeated…"

"So you're suggesting that there's a team of people capable of watching our every move?"

Kitami shuddered at the thought. She'd always known that the game, the internet, hell, media as a collective, was anything but secure. But the thought of being trapped in a fish bowl with her every move being watched was extremely uncomfortable. If these two players could, theoretically, view everything going on, did that mean there were more people watching?

"Again, I think we should tell Thatch…"

This time, Edmond agreed. He nodded and decided it was definitely time to get out of the dark. The ominous possibility of being constantly watched was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable, even if he wasn't sure it was actually happening, yet.

A scream erupted through the night, chilling Edmond to the bone. It sounded like a young woman. The scream started strong, but ended abruptly, as if the girl had be jabbed, hard, in the stomach. Then, all at once, the scream stopped, and gave way to other pleas of help.

"Edmond!"

Edmond nodded, immediately drew his dagger, and began sprinting towards the sound of the screams. Kitami followed closely behind, pulling out her crystal bow from Susan's lair. The two sprinted through the dark alleyway, as more screams filled the night.

"Edmond! Look out!"

Edmond halted immediately, and whisked around as quickly as he could. As soon as he'd turned, about face, his reflexes instantly forced his blade up. He caught a particularly nasty, three clawed, gash on his right arm. He instantly felt pain and was spun around, finally slamming into the ground, from the force of the blow.

"What the hell is this?"

Edmond yelled as he clenched his arm, looking up in the direction where the blow had come from. What he saw was terrifying. His eyes connected with a beast unlike any other that he'd seen in other games. It was the height of an average human, but its torso was huge, and completely muscle. It had arms that extended down, revealing three clawed talons for hands. Its lower body was equally as distorted and mortifying. Its thighs and legs were beefy, and extended down to hooved feet. Its face was ungodly and hideous. It had a pig snout, and blazing eyes that were so bright that they revealed an extremely wide mouth, ringed with razor sharp, yellow, teeth. On top of its head were horns that were curled under.

"Edmond!"

Edmond stared into the beast's eyes and trembled. The pain crippled his ability to think, and he moved back away from the creature, clenching his mangled arm, by desperately flailing his feet. He caught glimpse of his health bar, another terrifying sight. That one slice didn't have any passive effects, but it took out nearly half of his health bar, which now just hovered over the yellow mark. The creature approached him, letting out a gross and penetrating howl that sounded like a mix between that of a lion and a Valkyrie screech. Edmond threw his Hands over his ears, ignoring the growing pain of his sliced arm.

"Kitami, get out of here!"

As Edmond yelled to her, the beast turned around and saw Kitami how had her bow trained on him. It screeched again and darted towards her on all fours.

"No! Kitami, run!"

Kitami had other plans though. Edmond watched as she pulled back on the bow string. An arrow of pure light materialized. She let the arrow fly at the creature, aiming for one of its blazing eyes, since it was so easy to see in the darkness. But, just before the arrow slammed into the creature's face, it turned to nothing and the arrow went right through, just missing Edmond as he ducked out of the way.

"W-what is this?"

Kitami said as the creature was nowhere to be found.

"Kitami, get back to the inn!"

As soon as the words left Edmond's mouth, the creature reappeared, ever sprinting at Kitami, and raised its claws to slice her to pieces. She thought quickly, and with her astounding agility jumped sideways, side-flipping off of one of the walls beside her, as the creature whisked its arm where she was standing. The blow would have killed, or at least seriously maimed her. Kitami landed in front of the creature, hard, and instantly turned around to fire another arrow at the beast. She was quick, and managed to place an arrow between its shoulder blades. As the arrow connected the creature wailed loudly and fell to the ground as little streaks of light surged all over its body. The creature shuddered and couldn't move.

Amazing, that thing gives a paralysis bonus! Edmond temporary thought, before his focus returned to the pain in his arm. He tried his best to stand up, as Kitami came sprinting over to him, immediately producing a small vial of red liquid.

"Heal!"

She yelled. Immediately, Edmond felt a soothing warming sensation go through his unusable arm. Soon the numbness that came with most of his tendons and nerves being ripped to pieces, wore off, and Edmond was able to move his arm freely. Thank God for this woman! He thought, before retrieving his dagger and holding it out at the creature, not sure if it was safe to go and deliver a killing blow. It wasn't. The creature disappeared again, and it was clear that it was anything but dead.

"Run…"

Edmond said shallowly in fear, as he grabbed Kitami's and led them towards to outside of the alley, trying desperately to get into the light. Edmond wondered if the Gunners were okay, and if they were dealing with the same creature. How many were there? Where did they come from? They couldn't have been normal NPC's. There's no way such a devious monster could have been put into a game that was supposed to be suitable for all ages. Kitami screamed.

"Edmond! The wall! It's on the wall!"

Edmond jerked his head to the side. Kitami was absolutely right. The creature was, literally, running on the side of the wall, still on all fours, right beside them, keeping pace. Edmond's heart sank, but adrenaline pushed him forward, faster, and thankfully Kitami, with her increased agility, could keep up. Then, without warning, the "thing" leapt off of the side of the wall, swiping, trying to collect a piece of Edmond's face. Edmond and Kitami both leapt forward, stumbling, but regaining balance and continued to sprint. The end of the alley was so close now. When they walked it, earlier, it seemed so short. Now it seemed like a never ending portal from Hell.

Finally, the alley ended, and Kitami and Edmond spilled out of it like lava blasting from the top of an active volcano. Edmond turned back, looking into the alley. They creature wasn't there. He and Kitami fell down, amidst the ever growing screams and sounds of soft explosions. Edmond knew what that sound meant. Turquois was surely falling into the streets at an alarming rate.

"Kitami, are you okay? Did it hit you?"

Breathless, Kitami responded.

"No, it missed me, but it came close. Is your arm back to normal?"

"Yeah, absolutely, thanks for that."

It seemed odd to be having a conversation in the middle of what could potentially be a warzone, but a breather was absolutely needed. Game or not, with the lack of rest, Edmond and Kitami's avatars were practically begging for rest.

"We have to get to Thatch, now! Let's go!

But, just after Kitami nodded and started to stand up, Edmond, out of the corner of his eye, caught glimpse of the monster that had been chasing them. Still on all fours, it bounded towards them, leaping at Kitami's back. Edmond grabbed her and ripped her downward, flipping her onto her back and shielding her. As he felt a shadow fly over top of them, he gritted his teeth and let out a pathetic growling whimper. He felt the beast's three claws slice all the way up his back, and even managed to snag the very top of his head. When the shadow had passed, he collapsed to the side. His eyes slammed open as wide as they could. The world started to slow down…his vision became blurry. With what was left of his ability to think, he knew that attack would've done significantly more damage than the first one.

"Edmond! No! Edmond! Heal!"

Again, Edmond was ripped from the groggy state of pain and near death. He owed Kitami big time, if they made it out of this. He sat up, and without thinking, kissed Kitami quickly, before leaping up to face the creature. Now, in the light, he was terrified beyond any point than he had been before. That…face. He knew that face. Long, black…greasy, hair. Those teeth. He knew he'd seen them before. No…it can't be. But he knew it was him. A version of "him" even more uncomfortable and disturbing than the original. Glog.

"Kitami, we have to go."

Edmond said this so shallowly, that Kitami barely heard it. She raised her bow to aim, again, but Edmond slowly lowered it with his hand, as if to not make sudden movement. He knew she didn't realize who it was yet, and he wanted to keep it that way. Considering the disgusting moments the original bastard had forced her to cope with.

"Kitami, we have to run, we can't beat this thing."

"Yes, we can Edmond, if you hold it off, I can sneak around for another shot. If I can paralyze it, again, you can use an assassin skill to poison it…we can't just let it wreak havoc like this…we have to fight."

Edmond didn't want to fight. He was sick of fighting. The last thing he wanted to do was add another set of painful nightmares to his list of things that didn't allow him to sleep, or even close his eyes. But he knew he had to. He was a Gunner, now, and Gunners fought. Relain would have fought, and Edmond knew it. But would he have fought this? This…thing? Edmond knew this mutated beast, from beyond the original programming, had to be a direct result of Khale's twisted imagination. Was Glog the only one he recreated? Or did he recreate every dead player? Oh, the nightmares. There was no time to dwell. It was time for tunnel vision. Fight the issue at hand, and branch out, that was the plan. He nodded to Kitami and readied his stance to taunt the creature into charging him.

"Edmond, you have to be careful though. That's the last health potion I had. If you take another hit, there won't be anything I can do to help you."

Edmond had forgotten he'd made Kitami use her two healing items on him. He immediately felt guilty, and worried. Forget himself, what if Kitami took a nasty hit? No. It wouldn't happen. He was a capable player who'd defeated Glog once. Dammit, he'd do it again. He nodded to Kitami and then turned, and taunted Glog's reincarnation with his blade.

"Come here, you pathetic excuse for a monster. I see Khale wouldn't even let you live with him as a pet. That must hurt. Is that why you're attacking us?"

Edmond, who'd not been sure if Glog's reincarnation could comprehend speech, was immediately convinced that he, in fact, could. The creature bellowed in anger, and immediately began barreling towards Edmond. Edmond braced for the attack and readied a defensive skill. But, just as the creature was about to collide with his blade, it disappeared and reappeared behind him. This time, however, he was expecting it. He whisked around and raised the blade, halting Glog's claws from hitting him. Glog roared even louder as part of the blade cut into the creases between his claws, but continued to force pressure. Edmond held fast.

"You…piece…of…filth!"

Edmond felt sweat begin to form on his face. It was taking his exhausted avatar everything to hold off the attack for Kitami to prepare her shot. He knew he was standing at the wrong angle. He'd have to turn Glog back around and expose the weak spot in his back. But then, in an even more bizarre event, the thing started to speak in a cave-man like fashion. The voice was deep and hoarse, and it sounded like it had a reverberating echo that sounded super natural.

"You no have no hope. Soon, like us, you be like us, no will. None of life. No Mercy! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The voice was still horrible, and no longer intelligent or in control of itself. It sounded like he was speaking to a bumbling idiot who'd not made it past the fourth grade reading exams. It was now, at this point that, Edmond knew, this is what Khale truly wanted. An army of his own design. An army that would follow his every command without question, without weakness, without emotion.

"No, Glog. You have no hope!"

Edmond pushed forward, knocking Glog off guard, and slashed at his face. A white and turquoise slit went from his neck, all the way up to one of the horns. Glog bellowed in pain, and Edmond quickly leapt to his other side.

"Kitami, now!"

"Right!"

Kitami drew her bowstring, creating another arrow of pure light, and launched it at the back of Glog's head. The arrow connected and went completely through. The surges of pure electricity and light went throughout Glog's body. He fell to his knees, paralyzed again. Got him.

Edmond then kicked Glog in the face, knocking him backwards, spewing turquoise shards from his face and mouth. The sound now escaping him sounded almost like a sob. Edmond…felt sad. He knew he had to deliver the killing blow, but still his humanity begged him not to. He stepped over and raised the dagger, aiming for the center of the head. He swung downward…and missed. Glog dematerialized again.

Fear seized Edmond. Where'd he go? The world fell silent. He felt the world (or floating castle in the non-existent sky) stop spinning. He felt Glog behind him. He knew he was raising a claw to rip his body to pieces. He knew Kitami would be screaming for him to move. But did he really want to? Did he want to live the nightmares, again and again? No. He wanted out, and here it was, the way. Selfish, pathetic, but what did it really matter. But then he heard the audible voice of Akihiko Kayaba from beyond reality speaking in his ear, from the last time he'd be with him.

Remember, you are trying to keep up both alive and you're in love with her Edmond. Whether or not you choose to admit it yet.

Edmond closed his eyes. Was it too late to change his mind? It must have been. He felt a force slam into his side and blow him sideways. Strangely, the claw felt more like hands, wrapping around him and forcing him to the side. There was no pain. That was odd. Maybe the force of the blow was so hard, that it had killed him instantly. Neat.

"Edmond! Edmond! Edmond!"

Thatch's voice snapped him back into reality, and out of the fog of war. He wasn't dead, and the screams and howls come back into his mind. The blow hadn't connected. Thatch had jumped, out of nowhere, taking him out of harm's way, and bringing him back to reality. He blinked rapidly and then was ripped from the ground…and then off of that same ground, slightly. Thatch had him by his gear and pulled up to his face.

"Have you lost your mind? Are you okay?"

Thatch was yelling louder than ever, in anger. Edmond nodded as quickly as he could, and Thatch put him down, and turned towards Glog.

Edmond looked over and saw Kitami running towards him. Good, she wasn't in harm's way…more so than anyone else, that was. When she reached them, the three got into a formation and prepared a tri-attack on Glog. Thatch voiced the plan, as per usual.

"Kitami, I need you to place another arrow in his forehead. I'll pop smoke onto him and blind him as best I can. The effects of blindness last for exactly ten seconds, I need you to count, and as soon as that's up, take your shot. Edmond…I need you to focus and hit him this time. Can you do that?"

Edmond nodded. He was ashamed of himself for almost committing suicide earlier…Kitami was right. Dammit. This time he wasn't going to let fear take the best of him. He was ready to put Glog down, again. Humanity? Another joke.

"Do it, Thatch, I'm ready."

The Glog-like creature looked at the three in frustration. It knew it couldn't handle all three of them. Edmond could tell that even with everything they'd done to him so far, his health was just beginning to reach the yellow. He noticed the monster's level, 30. Why? Khale could've made him, and any other monsters he created, any level he wanted. Oh, right. He wanted to toy with his prey before he killed them. Like a house cat with a rodent.

Glog roared and clapped he claws over his head. Amongst all of the other roars and howls in the night (which sounded as though there were thousands of these horrendous creatures running about), Edmond could make out the sound of two distinct roars that sounded identical to Glog's first one, almost like an echo.

Two more creatures, similar to Glog came barreling up beside him. They both looked extremely familiar. Then Edmond knew exactly who they were. He trembled and almost dropped his dagger. Thatch gasped, too.

"N-no. It can't be."

Thatch's voice actually sounded like it was going to cry. Edmond could completely relate. He'd seen these two before. One of them…he'd killed. There, standing beside Glog, one on each side, were two creatures. One was a mutated version of the child he'd accidentally killed the night of Khale's first attack. The other was wearing a gasmask, and holding two bombs, lined with spikes. Relain. It turned out that Relain would fight, just not for the right side.

"R-relain."

Edmond knew Thatch wasn't expecting something of this magnitude. But he looked over and saw Thatch gulp, hard, and swallow his feelings. He then looked at Edmond, and spoke, through cracked voice and emotion.

"The plan's changed. Edmond, you take Glog. Kitami, can you get the little one?"

Kitami looked over in horror. Even through the horrendous appearance, the face of a child could be made out.

"Don't think about it, Kitami. It's not a child. It's a mind bomb…that's all it is. Don't let Khale trick you. You'll end up like them, too."

Kitami nodded at Thatch as tears streamed from her eyes. She raised the bow and prepared for the attack.

"I'll take Relain. I have to. Edmond, Kitami, swallow your feelings. There's no room for them here. Let your only tears be for their memory, and not what grotesque things they've become. Okay?"

They both nodded. Edmond changed stance and remembered the arsenal he had in his pack.

"Wait! Thatch!"

Before Thatch could respond, he'd swiped his menu and started pulling out all manner of weaponry. He settled on a smaller crossbow that could be wielded with one hand, and offered a small shield with a very good defensive bonus. He immediately traded it to Thatch, as well as a few explosive grenades that shot poisonous spikes in all directions, in addition to producing blinding smoke and a huge explosion.

Thatch took these items and looked at Edmond in shock. The kind of shock that said: So glad you decided to finally tell me that you had these!" Thatch quickly equipped the crossbow and put the grenades on his belt. It was time to end this.

"Go!"

Thatch yelled and Edmond, who'd chosen to stay with his trademark blue dagger, leapt forward. Glog did the same. The two collided, and were knocked back with equal force. Glog leapt at Edmond who ducked, sending Glog flying over him. Edmond leapt back up and did a roundhouse kick that connected with Glog's shoulder. It didn't damage him much, but it felt like Edmond had nearly shattered his leg for a second. He ambled back to his feet, just in time to deflect a claw to the face and plunge his dagger into Glog's bicep as it passed over him. Glog roared in pain, and Edmond saw his health bar dip lower, into the yellow.

Edmond briefly looked over to Kitami who was having a time leaping all around, trying to get a well-placed shot into the smaller creature's forehead. He continuously swung at her, but her agility was much too fast for him. She continued to climb out of his reach, and attempt to get behind him. No luck, but she continued, nevertheless.

Edmond looked back, just in time, to duck away from another swipe that would have undoubtedly taken his head clean off of his shoulders. He took this opportunity to place a couple of jabs into Glog's legs, making him scream in pain, and fall to his knees, for a second. The health bar dipped a little more, into just over the red, giving it an orange hue.

Glog roared again and tried flailing aimlessly, hoping to land a blow, but Edmond was much too fast for him now, with such sustained injuries. Glog, who'd finally tired himself out, swiped once more, and then fell to his knees, panting, as turquoise shards leaked from his face, bicep, and both legs, as well the exit wound of Kitami's arrow. He was all but defeated.

Edmond slowly walked over to him. He was going to enjoy this, even more than the first time. He placed the dagger on Glog's beast-like face, just as he had done to him, and Kitami. Glog didn't even try to move. His blazing eyes met Edmond's and he forced out two words.

"D-Do it."

The voice, even though harsh, supernatural, and unhuman, instantly brought Edmond back to his humanity. The struggle between good and evil came back into his mind, assaulting his better judgment. He closed his eyes, took a huge breath and remembered everything Glog said he'd do to Kitami. That's was all Edmond needed. He reared back, with both hands hold the dagger. It began to glow blue and white, indicating an activated skill. Edmond let out a huge roar of his own, and sliced, baseball bat style, sending Glog's head into the air. The head flew over and hit the cobblestone, eyes wide open, mouth agape then blasted into shards. Edmond looked at the body, which fell forward after sitting upright for a second, and, as it fell horizontally, it too blasted away into nothing. It was over…again. Hopefully for the last time.

"Edmond! Help me!"

It was Kitami, she was in trouble. The little demon she'd been fighting had her trapped in a corner between two stalls that had been used for selling goods, probably just hours earlier. He sprinted towards the creature, sword skill ready, again. But, as he reached the smaller creature. It turned around, and turned Edmond's blood cold. Its face instantly morphed into that of the child's, the night Edmond sliced open his throat. It cried out to him.

"Mommy…I just want to go home, mommy. Please help me!"

Edmond trembled. His eyes welled up. He knew this was a trick, a terrible apparition, but it was so convincing. He couldn't bring himself to kill it. He lowered the dagger and slowly approached, as if hypnotized by the child.

"Edmond, no! Kill it Edmond, it's not him! Dammit! It's not him!"

Thatch's voice was harsh again. He was still struggling with his own emotional battle against a former guild mate.

"Mommy? Are you going to help me find mommy?"

Edmond almost reached the horribly distorted beast-child, but right before he touched it, his mind told him otherwise. The child's face, seemed to turn to Khale's and sneer at him with the same blazing eyes. It spoke, with Khale's horrendous voice.

"Yes! Help me find mommy!"

Edmond threw up in his mouth. He screamed and immediately started the stab the creature in the face. But before the blade connected, the face, returned to that of the little boy's and it screamed, a little less, each time Edmond dig the blade into its forehead. The body turned to shards and blasted away, but Edmond kept slashing at the air and screaming. He couldn't stop. The memories. The pain. The fear. They were assaulting him, full force.

Edmond felt himself being restricted. It was Kitami. She'd come up behind him and tried to grab his hands. He screamed and resisted, his yells now turning to screams of agonizing sobs.

"Stop Edmond! Please, stop! He's gone! He's gone! You got him!"

Edmond couldn't stop. His mind just kept telling him to swing. But eventually his avatar gave out, and he fell down, into Kitami's embrace and cried uncontrollably. His mind was now beyond destroyed. What was this? What horrendous mind could conceive such an unfathomable evil? Edmond's ears closed out all sound, once more, as he looked over and saw Thatch knock the reincarnation of Relain to its knees before blowing it away with a crossbow bolt to the back of the head. Thatch closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he did it. Edmond knew his task wasn't any easier. He saw Thatch come running as soon as he'd completed the deed.

"Good job. We got them…"

As Thatch finished this sentence he looked over and smiled. The rest of the Gunners, many of them holding small players in their arms, led by Klein, came running towards them.

"Klein! Thank God."

Thatch and Klein shared an embrace, before getting back to a serious tone.

"The players, where are they?"

"They're gone, Thatch, we got as many as we could out of the Town. They're all scattered throughout the game, now…"

Klein's voice shook. In his arms was a little girl. On her back was the tiniest of daggers. Her breathing was shallow, but she was alive, and would most definitely be okay. Edmond knew she couldn't have been more than nine, maybe ten.

Roars permeated the air, again. Every Gunner tensed up, gently put down the players they were holding, and drew their weapons. An army, of no less than a thousand of the mutated beasts came into view from all directions. It was hopeless. They were all going to die, and they knew it. Thatch looked around and cursed under his breath. He raised the crossbow.

"Steady, Gunners. Hold steady."

Edmond could tell that even Thatch knew the situation was hopeless. The Gunners all stood fast, though. Edmond took Kitami's hand. This was it. This was probably their last moment together. He took her face into his hands, as he did in the alleyway, and kissed her. She smiled, which soothed him. He knew it was now or never.

"I love you."

Time stopped again, and Kitami's eyes shot open. Her face turned as red as crimson, and she spoke through confusion.

"W-what?"

Edmond repeated himself.

"I love you, Kitami. I don't know how, and I don't know why. I've only just met you…but, dammit, this has to be love. At least let me pretend…if it's not. I want to say I loved someone before I died…and if you don't love me…could you please just pretend for two minutes that you do?"

Kitami started to bawl her eyes out and grabbed Edmond into a hug.

"I love you, too! This is real! It is! I promise! I'm so glad I got to feel this before the end! Did you feel it in your stomach, too?"

Edmond nearly laughed.

"Every single time I thought about it. Honestly, I thought I was dying. Dramatic, right?"

The two kissed for what seemed like forever, until Thatch spoke, breaking the tender moment.

"Guy's this is beautiful, and all, but this is kind of a delicate situation, right now! If anyone has any idea on what we can do, anything at all, this would be the time to voice it!"

Edmond got an idea. It came out of the corner of his brain, like an angel offering him a prophetic scroll with all of life's answers. He furiously accessed his menu, navigated to the item screen, and produced a boar leg.

"What the hell?"

It was Klein's voice. He was looking at the boar's leg in confusion as he yelled.

"If you're gonna eat your last meal, you better have brought some for everyone!"

Edmond ignored Klein, this time. He decided that now was his last shot to try out a new skill. He threw the boar's leg into the air as hard as he could and then whistled. The boar's leg stayed in the air, floating, and the sky was filled with a new roar. A roar that sounded beautiful to Edmond. Chester was coming.

The Gunners all looked and pointed into the sky in awe as they saw the giant black dragon that they'd slain so many times before, flying into the town. Many were afraid, but as it flew at rocket speeds, grabbing the boar's leg, and landing in front of them, they all immediately felt relief. Edmond walked up to Chester and gave him a pat on the neck. Chester made a low growling sound, much like a cat's purr and then nudged Edmond back with his massive head.

Chester then took in an amazing amount of air. Red streaks of light, and all of the flames on the torches around them, flew into his mouth.

"Get down!"

Edmond screamed. Everyone hit the stone road below. The Gunners made sure to keep the children down, as well.

Chester breathed a rocket stream of fire out of his mouth, that erupted like a nuclear bomb, incinerating every, single, mutated beast in the entire area. It was unbelievable. The screams of the beasts, which all sounded like the screams of the players they were created after, filled the air, and then died as the flames charred their avatars. There was a magnificent explosion of shards, blowing in all directions. When Chester had finished, he breathed a large growl, and black smoke puffed from his nostrils. Nothing it his path had survived. The city is now a blazing beacon in the night.

Little white orbs immediately began flying to the Gunners, Kitami, and Edmond. Each player went up at least one level from the amazing amount of experience gained from slaughtering so many enemies at once. Edmond managed to go up six levels, bringing him up to level twenty-five. This time, he felt far less terrible about it.

As the Gunners stood up, all of them were afraid of the dragon, that they were sure would want revenge on them, for slaying him so many times. But Chester just ignored them, awaiting a new command. Klein's voice spoke up.

"Edmond. I love you. If I wasn't married…nope. You know what? Forget you! I'm marrying the damn dragon. Come here you big fire breathing-"

Chester turned his head and snuffed at Klein who immediately backed off and screeched hilariously.

Before anyone had a chance to laugh at Klein, or take a moment to breathe. Fireworks began to explode into the night sky, in an extremely odd, and out of place fashion. Edmond and Kitami looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn't too surprising. Nothing here really made any sense.

Suddenly, some of the fireworks exploding in the sky began to form into a word. It couldn't be made out at first, but soon enough, it lit of the sky in brilliant display. The world "Congratulations!" appeared, and more fireworks exploded behind it, before revealing the words "Floor Cleared!" right underneath it. There was a sigh of dismay and wonder that went through the Gunners, who were now attempting to keep the children they had rescued, calm.

Edmond walked over to Thatch, who was looking blankly into the sky.

"What the hell does this mean? This can't be real."

Thatch just shook his head and looked around at his surroundings. Chester, who'd saved their lives, had set the entire Town ablaze. Anything not on fire now, would surely catch soon. By morning, the entire first floor Town would be nothing ashes and shelled out buildings covered in thick soot.

"I'm not really sure, Edmond. But I can tell you one thing for certain. Clearing floors is going to be way different than we thought it would be. There's no way a guild meeting is going to happen now."

Thatch turned around to call for Klein, who immediately reported.

"You said the city was evacuated?"

"Yeah, man. We got as many people as we could, out, to try and keep those freakin' monsters in here, where they couldn't get to everyone outside. I didn't even see them get into the Town. It's like they just appeared out of nowhere. Should we go try and look for everyone?"

Thatch exhaled and closed his eyes. He knew that such an idea was hopeless.

"No. people tend to scatter in times of crisis. We'll never track them all down, they could be anywhere. Hopefully they're all in groups that can protect one another."

"What about floor clearing?"

"Who knows? If this is a taste of what the entire game is going to be like, it's looking pretty dim. If we have to wait until Khale gets bored enough to search his twisted brain for something to torture us with…we might as well just call it quits."

"What in the Holy Hell happened here!?"

Everyone in the open space perked up as they heard a familiar voice break into the area. Edmond looked up and saw her standing on building that had not yet caught flame. She had a large…something, on her back. It looked like a large sack of potatoes. She jumped down, carrying whatever she had, with ease. Her purple hair was now tied up, probably to keep her face clear for whatever she had to do.

"I leave for, what? Two hours, and you people burn down the entire town? Is this some kind of sick joke? Did one of you men try to cook, or something? Figures…idiots."

Susan angrily tossed the sack onto the ground in front of everyone. The "sack" let out a low groan of pain, and moved slightly. Thatch looked at the sack, and then looked at Susan with a face of questioning.

"Yeah. That's him. Found him crying his eyes out by some pool of water, out in a field full of low level mobs. Didn't even try to fight. Haven't gotten him to say anything, so good luck with that."

Edmond turned away from everyone and looked out onto the smoldering city. The inn was probably a pile of ashes by now. What were once immortal objects were now burning effigies to Khale's madness. The heat of the flames began to assault everyone's senses. Thatch suggested that they all retreat to the second floor's main town immediately. Everyone else in the game would have to make their own way there. Susan picked up the sack of Ratchnot, and joined the Gunners, who were carrying the children. Edmond took Kitami's hand and thoughtlessly followed. In his mind he couldn't help but think of the old saying about the fallen Roman Empire:

Nero fiddles, as Rome burns…