Author's Note: Ok first this this one as you can tell by the title there is a time jump to the Black Cats arc. This will be the only major time skip for the next few chapters I think. That's cause I want to have more character development during and after this arc before we get to the next one.

Now I know this chapter is shorter than the previous chapters. I didn't necessarily wanted the chapter to be this short or break this up into two chapter but I felt putting the whole Moonlit Black Cats arc in to one chapter would make it to long for the chapter lengths that I type. The place where this ends feels good for me to set up the next chapter. The second part of this chapter will follow shortly and most likely be up by the end of weekend, hopefully. I can't promise updates will be a quickly as it as this one and the next one. Though I will try to keep it on a regular schedule.

Now for the people who left comments and/or pmed me about the story. I wanna thank you for all the good feedback in helping me improve this story.

TheGhost740: Thanks for letting me know about the wrong name in the last chapter, I have fixed it. Also I'm glad the fight scene seemed good enough to understand. I will try to make it better in the next major fight scene. I plan on going back to fix the part in the fight about switching to make it more clear to the reader.

Luke Deadman: Yeah I want to have more characters interact with Vlad and Seras. All the main ones from the anime and manga will definitely be involved. Some of the characters may have a little more or less involvement then they did in the cannon version but I will see as I write it.

Death467d: The story I'm not sure how far it will go. I'm thinking about having it go past the seventy fifth floor but I'm not sure. I'll see what the readers want. I know as a reader I can either feel it's risky for a story that takes the story past floor seventy five. From what I've seen of stories that either make it go past seventy five. They are good or they were good and then once they past that floor lose my enjoyment. Like I said though we shall see if I take this story past that floor or not when I get there.

Well anyway thanks for the reviews and messages. Keep them coming!

It's been a several months since the first floor boss was cleared. It's early May now and the front lines have been pushing pretty good with very very little casualties. Since then all we've done is level up and also help in clearing floors. The floors we've blown through were surpassingly easier than the first floor. Easier in terms of the bosses and even just finding the boss dungeon. Currently we are with the assault team and are just finishing the twenty fifth boss. The boss was wielded two single handed war axes. It was a muscular giant that had two heads. It was surprisingly easy to take him down and also no one died. Which is a plus in my book.

Also since the first boss, Seras has worked her ass off. She wasn't kidding when she said she would prove herself not to be useless when we first met all those months ago. Seras is now a full on badass with her bow. She uses a little bigger than normal recurved bow. The top curve of the bow has a blade along it so she can use it in close quarter combat should a mob gets to close to fire an arrow. Her bow is blood red and the blade is silver. Now since she doesn't need swords anymore for close quarter combat. She switched to learn a new secondary weapon. That new weapon being large javelins. The arrow on those things are so damn big. Like it's diameter is almost the diameter of my arm. Let me tell you when it comes to muscle I'm not a sickly strong guy but I'm also not a shrimp either. Also her accuracy and the power on those those things are so good and so strong. I'm just glad I'm not a monster on the receiving end when she launches those.

Her clothing hasn't changed and she still wears a cloak, though she did change the cloak color to a blood red with a light red as it's trim. Now on her metal plate that was on her neck piece changed slightly. Well the only thing different, is that she had my name placed on it. Lets say when she showed me that it was creepy and I nearly passed out. Yes, her calling me 'Master' is still a strange, I'm getting a little use to it but still strange and awkward. Now though her wearing my name on what is like a collar is even more strange. I mean you only put you're name on an animal's collar to show that you own it and who he or she belongs to or is own by. So her doing it felt strange to me to say the least.

I have been able to talk to her more and she seems like a very nice girl. She talked about how she loves doing activities like playing sports and hanging out with her friends. She said her favorite things to do is though is snowboard and shoot large rifles in the real world. For some reason for me the snowboarding seemed to not fit her as much as shooting large rifles. After everything is said and done, she is very friendly and we have been getting along very good. Oh yeah she's also picked up the nickname 'Red Huntress'.

Kirito and I have actually became friends. Like outside of our working together arrangement. Since then he is gear has changed slightly. He has upgraded his sword and clothing. He wears all black except for his jacket and sheath for his sword. His jacket is all black with blue shoulders with silver metal dots. He wears a thin golden chest piece that is a matt color. He doesn't like the shiny things. His sheath for his sword is brown leather. Seras and him have been getting along. They aren't friends per say but they are on the right track. The first time he heard her call me master had to be the funniest thing ever.

We were just strolling along a path going from one mob spawn to another. I was giving Seras some tips on how to raise her skill with a bow. She responds of coarse with her infamous, "Yes Master." Literally Kirito's face went bright red and stutter stepped which caused him to trip over his feet face planting the floor. When he 'landed', he didn't move for a couple minutes and was even muttering something. I'm not sure about Seras but I had one of the best laughs I've had since the game began. Lastly he's picked up the nickname 'Black Swordsman' by the other players.

For me well my clothing hasn't changed all that much. The only major change was the jacket. It was still white and had a black zipper and trim. Though now along with a high collar that covers my mouth and part of my nose it has a nice big hood that I usually have up covering my head. It's nice since Kirito, Seras and I have gotten to be known pretty well by the others. Well it's not necessarily being known of in the best of terms but still. So now with the new jacket, when we get back to the the inn, I can go in and change. Once I leave then after that I can leave my room and not get much hate or praise from the other players. The attention gets annoying and I like going around under the radar.

Now my bow is still white but is now a recurved bow. Instead of a blade on top like Seras I have spikes and also have spikes on the bottom. I also changed the sword that I carry around with me. It's no longer the type that Kirito caries around. It is a wakizashi that has a white sheath and handle. The hilt and blade though are black. It sits on my lower back and is parallel to the ground. Therefore I can have it equipped to me while I have my quiver on my back. I also can carry my bow to which is nice.

Anyway today today we are on the we are on floor twenty farming to our hearts content. All of a sudden I hear a girl scream along with a few yell about getting back and some other things. With that I take off knowing that some people need help, Kirito and Seras are close behind. We suddenly get to a clearing and see a group of player completely surrounded by giant ten foot bug like creatures. "Ok Kirito you go in, while Seras and I provide cover fire. If you need support then I can come in to assist. Seras can provide cover fire on her own."

"Sounds good let's go." Kirito responded and took off. We followed suit but stayed about fifteen feet back to have distance and provide support fire. Kirito quickly made work of the first one and then headed to the second one. He had killed five of the six when a girl in blue armor and shirt began to get attack. The girl was nocked on her back and the creature was about to go for the kill. Kirito wouldn't be able to get there soon enough so I took action. I immediately drew my wakizashi and ran up to it. Then I jumped on the creatures back stabbing it straight in its head killing it. As it shattered into its polygons I fell and landed in front of this girl.

"Hey are you ok?" I ask as I reached my hand out to help her up. From her look I could tell she is clearly frighten as she is shaking on the ground. "Hey it's ok, you're safe now. No mobs are going to kill you and your friends today."

Kirito came over to me and thanked me for that saying he wouldn't have been able to make it to save her. Seras gave me a pat on the back and a smile. The one I am assuming is the leader of this group walked up to the three of us. He was wearing a maroon shirt and silver looking armor. The armor covered his chest and shoulders. He also wore braces of the same design and black fingerless gloves. His pants were a pale brown color. "Hello my name is Keita and thank you guys for saving my friends and I. Please let us treat you to a meal to show our thanks. We are staying at a the inn on floor eleven and they have a decent restaurant there." We all looked at each other and nodded in accepting his offer.

They are teleported and we looked at each other. "Vlad and Seras if they ask us what level we are, we say we are level twenty got it?" We nodded to Kirito in understanding. "Good now lets good."

So the three of us arrive at the floor and quickly headed to the place where we are eating with them. After we all get seated the Keita began to speak. "As I said earlier, I will say it again for all of us. Thank you so much for saving us. Now to introduce everyone. The person in the grey beanie and orange cloak is Ducker. Next to him in the blue hat and green shirt is Sasamaru. To his left in the purple shirt is Tetsuo. Lastly the girl to my right, in the blue short and blue armor, is Sachi. See everyone of us are all friends in real would and all go to the same high school. When we got trapped decided to form a guild call the Moonlit Black Cats. Our goal is to get to the front lines eventually."

"Thats very cool and it's nice to meet you all. Everyone of you seem like nice people. For all of you who don't know the girl to my right is Seras and the boy to my left is Kirito. Lastly I am Vlad. Also your goal is a very good one to have. It's nice to see that people are working hard in trying to get to the front lines in helping free everyone." I stated.

"If you don't mind me asking, what level are you three?"

Kirito spoke up now. "We are all level twenty actually. Yeah we're all solo players and actually just met up earlier today. Seras and Vlad had apparently been together sometime though." Are levels are a little over twenty levels higher than this. Now I don't know why he lied about how long we've been together but whatever.

Keita looked shocked. "You mean all three of you are solo players and have gotten this far?" We nodded at his question, if only he knew. "Hey I know this isn't the best time to ask but will you three join our guild? Tetsuo is our only forward and we could use someone like you Kirito to help him. I have been thinking of having Sachie switch to forward to. So you could help her since you know what you need to do. Then Vlad and Seras we could use some more heavy hitters for damage dealers. What do you say?"

Once again we all look at each other and nod. Seras turns to answer, "We would all gladly accept the offer of joining the guild. Thank you for the offer Keita."

"Oh it's no problem you guys also seem like a good bunch of people. You three will fit in just fine and we all could work together to get to the front lines one day." Once again, if only he knew we have been there. The only reason we met them was randomly since I finally convinced Kirito that we should take a break from being on the front.

It had been a a couple weeks since we joined. Sachie has begun to switch to her new role. We took her out and got her a shield and a new sword. Kirito is helping the best he could teach the two other forwards some sword work. The shield work though he couldn't help to much in that area since he never uses one in a fight. I mean if he ever needs help in any sort of matter. Seras and I provide that for him. We aren't the best archers for nothing.

Tonight though we are sneaking out of the inn to get some actual experience to help us level up. Yes we are teleporting to the front lines. Since we got here we've been doing this about once ever few days. Can't be slacking in getting experience to much. Can we? So tonight we teleported to Floor Twenty Eight: The Wolf Plains. When we get there Kirito and I saw someone we haven't seen in a long time, it was the red head. I don't know his name but I heard Kirito whisper, Klein. So I'm going to assume that's him. Quickly he spots us and tell the rest of his guild to clear the last little bit of the mobs and heads to us. "Hey Kirtio and look it's the guy who is the guy in the hood and face mask and the person in the red hood? Also is that a guild mark by your name?"

"Yeah it is a guild mark. We just recently joined one to help them level up. They want to make it to the front lines eventually so we joined when the offered us a spot. Though they don't know our true levels and I also don't believe they know who we are. Now for the people that are standing next to me. There person in the white hood is Vlad, the guy who met up with you and me when the game first began. The person in the red hood is a… friend of Vlad. Her name is Seras."

Klien immediately went up to Seras. "Hi my-my name is Klein I'm twenty three and single. I like…" Before he could even finished I stepped up and punched him in the gut sending him flying back.

"Thank you Master." Sears spoke. I just sweat drop in my hood and well Klein. Let's just say I've never seen someone looked so shocked in my life. The shock rivaled that of Kirito when he found out about her calling me 'Master'. He just sat on the ground with his mouth hanging open. It was actually very funny to see this.

"Did… did she just call you 'Master'?"

"Yes she did." I responded. "It's a long story and I don't feel like talking about it. So you're gonna drop it but I will clarify one thing. The whole calling me 'Master' isn't in the context that I know for a fact you're thinking of. Though I will say something you touch her and I cut your balls off. Understand?" Right after I said the last sentence and realized what I had just said. I think I was as shocked as everyone that heard it. Also I don't know about everyone else but when did I get so possessive of Seras? I mean we are just good friends nothing more. Klein only nodded before I spoke again. "Umm I'm just gonna go now that I made this awkward. Seras you coming?"

"Yes Master." I slightly sighed at her calling me this but once again for some reason her calling me that didn't bother me as much. What is going on with me? Her and I helped in clearing the last few wolfs. It wasn't much experience but was definitely a lot more than what we have been getting. While this was going on Kirito was catching up with Klein. Probably talking about why we are still working together and how he's ok with Seras being with us.

After a few more minutes I received a message and seemed like Seras and Kirito also got the message cause they were also checking there menu. It said how Sachie had run off when they were in town and no one was going to be able to find her. Seras and I began to head back to Kirito who was saying he had to go now. We all teleported back to floor elven where we've been staying. We split up, going in different directions to find her. After about ten minutes of running around town I found her sitting under a bridge hugging her knees. Quickly I send a message to everyone letting them know I found her.

"Sachi?"

"Oh hey Vlad." She doesn't even turn her head to acknowledge me and her voice sounded very sad. Here she was sitting and looked so sad. She's so innocent and seeing her like this made me hurt. We may be friends but she had become a good friend of mine. Her and Seras get along and even Kirito does too. I feel so bad for someone so nice and innocent to be trapped in this hell hole. Sachie you will get out of this game.

"Sachie what's a matter?" I sit down next to her.

"Nothing just thinking about this game. Why do we have to be trapped in this stupid game? It's just a game, I mean what did we ever do."

"I really can't give you an answer to that Sachi but you have to know we get through this. You and your friends will make it to the end of this game and out of here."

"Hey why don't we just run away? From the Black Cats, from Kirito, Seras and even Aincrad?"

"Sachie are you talking about suicide?" I just ask completely dumbfounded that she would even think of doing that.

"Yeah we could leave everything. I mean look at me I'm just a weakling that shouldn't be here. If it was for you and your two friends we probably would never be where we are. I know you guys aren't gonna be here forever too." Did she know about our true levels?

"Sachie, I promise that you will make it through this hell. I will make sure that happens and that you and your guild will be there on the front lines when that happens. Do you understand?"

I finally saw a smile on her face. "Yes Vlad I do. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now lets get back to the inn. Your friends are all worried for you. Come on." With that I stood up and stuck out my hand to help her up. She quickly gave me a hug, which shocked me, and started heading back to the inn. Sachin, I will do everything in my power to make sure that you make it through this. You are like a sister I never had.