"Beginning of the Treasure Hunt"

~ Act 3 ~

Tournament

"Agil vs. Lisanla…" one player spoke.

"Go, Lisanla!" another player chanted.

Some also chanted out Agil-san's name. I felt nervous, since I was now against Agil-san in the finals. I looked at him, and then I saw his smile.

"Agil-san, I'm afraid," I said in a sarcastic tone, smirking.

"I expected we'd fight in the tournament," Agil said.

I nodded. "Surprised you'd close your shop for the tournament."

"You did well making it to the finals," Agil said.

I smiled. "And so did you."

I decided to look around to see if Kirito-kun was watching us beginning to fight. At first, I couldn't see him due to many people watching. There was a crowd. I kept looking, but there was still no sign of Kirito-kun.

Then I saw somebody with a brown cloak among the crowd; a fucking Laughing Coffin guild member. He wasn't PoH, that's for sure, since he died. But, he was looking straight at me.

Had he…

No… that can't be… I thought. No… did Kirito-kun die!? No, that's a bullshit thinking… don't think like that, Tsubaki…

"Are you ready, Lisanla-chan?" asked Agil.

I couldn't speak. I was becoming scared, not knowing what to do. I looked down, my eyes widened in fear. Not knowing what to do, my body trembled.

"Lisanla-chan?" Agil called

I looked at Agil-san, my face revealing my fear. Then I stopped showing fear as soon as I looked to the left. Kirito-kun was there, smiling at me. I sighed with relief and looked back at Agil-san. "Nothing… Are you ready?" I asked him.

"Are you?" he asked.

"As always," said I, slowly nodding and then smirked.

Arlebast Otherworld

~ Before the tournament ~

I walked around the Console Area, looking up, down, left, right. Philia-chan said to me the Console Area is at the center of the Hollow Area.

I then checked the console and saw a map of all the areas in the Hollow Area. Kirito-kun said we can use this console to teleport to any area in the Hollow Area. He told me we can start the treasure hunt at the Arlebast Otherworld.

"What's there in the Arlebast Otherworld?" I asked in curiosity.

"Wait, Kirito-kun…" Philia spoke, "you don't mean the Sacred Sword?"

The Sacred Sword? I thought.

"It's time for me to find a new sword to equip," Kirito said. "The 'Sacred Sword Ragnarok' is the name of the sword I want to obtain."

I sighed. "Will you still keep your other swords in your inventory?"

Kirito-kun nodded in reply. "Or I can give one of them to Leafa-chan."

I looked at Philia-chan and shrugged. I grabbed the Wald Champion axe and walked to Kirito-kun. "Have you any clue where in the Arlebast Otherworld is the Sacred Sword Ragnarok?"

Kirito-kun shook his head in reply. "Philia-chan and I haven't a clue. I now have time to look around more at the Arlebast Otherworld."

The Sacred Sword must be rare, I assumed. Could it be considered as treasure? Kirito-kun seemed fascinated about finding the Sacred Sword. "I want to go with you, then," I insisted.

I received a message from Argo-san. It read:

"Hey, Lisanla-chan,

I have received the information you asked for. There will be an axe-wield tournament that will be held in Floor 80 Kariana this afternoon. The prize for winning the tournament is the Necro Fear Coat.

I couldn't find you, so I decided to message you. Since I usually don't announce tournaments that will start in each floor's town, I won't charge you."

I did need better armor.

"Tsuki-chan?" Kirito-kun called out.

I looked at Kirito-kun. "There will be a tournament in Floor 80 this afternoon."

"What kind of tournament?"

"An axe-wield tournament, Kirito."

Kirito-kun smiled as he asked me, "Are you thinking of joining the tournament?"

I looked down. "Do we still have time to find Ragnarok?"

"Sacred Sword Ragnarok should be at 'Sacred Sword Remains,'" Philia stated, checking the Hollow Map.

Kirito-kun checked the Hollow Map also. "If we were to find Sacred Sword Ragnarok, then a boss must be inside that dungeon. I guess we have to defeat the boss hidden at Sacred Sword Remains.

I nodded, agreeing with Kirito-kun. I looked at Kirito-kun's Hollow Map, laying my chin on his shoulder. As I was looking at the Hollow Map, I didn't notice Kirito-kun had looked at me.

"You can pull it up, too," Kirito told me.

"I can?" I asked stupidly. I checked the Menu and saw 'Hollow Map' as one of the options. I walked away as I looked down with embarrassment. "Sorry…"

"No matter," Kirito responded. "You don't need to apologize."

I nodded. "Okay, Kirito-kun."

Thank you, Kirito-kun.

We were at Perplexed Alien Forest, one of the areas of Arleblast Otherworld. The place felt… spooky, to me. There were weird vines, a dark atmosphere and some glowing plants. The monsters were insects, and just to be exact: beetles. Kirito-kun told me that he had assumed the place was inhabited with witches.

Kirito-kun and I went north, fought the monsters, and then found the entrance to Sacred Sword Remains. I noticed my armor was dirty and damaged, but when I checked my inventory, I didn't have any armor unequipped except the Physical Ankh.

"Tsuki-chan?"

"I have no clean armor," I stated.

Kirito-kun chuckled. "You are so bad with finding armor," he jokingly said.

"Then I might have to try to win the tournament," said I to Kirito.

"So, should we stop?" Kirito asked in a caring tone.

I looked at him, surprised he'd ask me. "Are you sure?"

"I can obtain Ragnarok anytime," he said.

I looked down. "Right now, you would… sacrifice obtaining Ragnarok?"

"Unless you want to keep on going," Kirito said.

I hesitated. Kirito-kun would sacrifice obtaining Ragnarok. It's like almost… he's like my uncle, making sacrifices. Yet my uncle's sacrifice—the most horrible sacrifice—was giving up love for his brother and niece to gain my mother's love for me. Kirito-kun wouldn't give that up, that's for sure. Not even he would give up on me.

I had loved him for that.

"Tsuki-chan?" Kirito called.

I broke away from being zoned out as I said, "Y-yes?"

"Do you want to keep on going?" he asked me.

I blushed. If he was willing to sacrifice to help others, then I must sacrifice in return. I felt like I owed him something in return. "Yes, I want to keep on going."

Kirito-kun smiled. "Alright, then. But if your suit becomes ripped apart, and the battles become…"

"No," said I, "let's just go on ahead."

We walked inside Sacred Sword Remains. I checked the items in my inventory. Good, I had enough items. And even Teleport Crystals.

"Let's go deep into the dungeon," said Kirito.

And so we did. First, we fought a Black Knight. I used War Cry to boost Attack stat and raise HP Regenerate. As the enemy was about to attack, Kirito-kun and I both sidestepped. I stunned the enemy, used my sword skill: "Crimson Blood", and then Kirito-kun used the Phantom BRK skill.

"Kuso…" I complained in pain.

"Tsuki-chan, switch!" Kirito-kun demanded.

"Okay." I said as Kirito-kun paralyzed the enemy. "Switch!"

Now Kirito-kun was behind me, and I was in front of the enemy. I used Crimson Blood again and the monster was now defeated.

Kirito-kun and I then continued to walk ahead. I suddenly felt tired and stopped walking, panting for air. Kirito-kun looked at my HP Gauge. "Kuso... Your HP is low…"

"But we still have regenerati—" I was about to say.

"It's your damaged armor," Kirito stated.

I looked down, not amused. "No shit, Sherlock."

"Do you want to keep going? We can stop."

"Ku-kuso… I want to keep on—"

As soon as I took another step, I felt like I was falling. That's when I noticed it was a pit that appeared. It was a trap. God dammit…

Author's Note: Sorry if it took so long. I was trying to get used to writing long chapters, since I usually write short chapters. Act 4 will be part two of "Beginning of the Treasure Hunt", so please stay tuned!