Kayaba P.O.V

I resisted the desire to rip my hair right from my digital skull. "Cardinal, how in all of SAO did Flame get halfway through his doubled XP bar?!"

'Due to the increased profits from the Grand Elf Campain, and Player Flame's tendency to grind as a pastime, he has managed to acquire a large amount of XP.'

"Reset his XP bar, and increase the required amount to 12 times so everyone can catch up!" I ground through my clenched teeth.

'Yes sir.'

I glanced at the screen again, thankfully Cardinal had informed me before Flame had gotten close to leveling up again. At this point, this is annoying. I'm too old for this. "Send a message to him saying he is being reprimanded for excess grinding, to keep the game fair he isn't allowed to progress with his levels like normal until the other players catch up."

'On it sir.'

I will admit that I had an interest in his progression but it was gone too far. In other words, this boy was annoying as fuck.

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Reaps P.O.V

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Reaps was not having a good time. Then again, in a game where your life was on the line, it didn't seem often you could have fun.

I just wanted to join the front lines...why am I running for my life again?!

Currently, I was running for dear life from several Minotaurs. Long story short, Argo the Rat had offered me a job but I botched up my preparations and my spear had broken before I wanted it to.

You see, Argo wanted in-depth info on how Flame treated players he saved. Since I'm a straight male, I'm not likely to be charmed like a female...Hopefully. Although I hear he is pretty good- why am I thinking about this?!

Argo offered me contact with a frontline group that will soon be a guild for this info, so how could I refuse? They currently had space so I could fill that spot seeing that they don't have a person with a spear.

I had planned on having my weapon 'accidentally' break while catching up with the general clearer level on the first floor, but I had been finishing up grinding and wearing down my spear on the second floor when the damn thing had broke.

And I doubt I'd get any help seeing that night had fallen, and I was in the middle of nowhere. So my only hope was to run and-

Is that...electricity?

A red blur shot past me, nearly knocking me to the ground and then the shattering of polygons made me whip my head to where my pursuers were. As in past tense, now standing in their place was a figure in a red cloak and a golden wavy sword.

I started stammering. "I-how did- thanks..."

He turned to me, an average-looking guy with slightly tanned skin. Minus his red hair, he looked Asian...but not Japanese. "Wassup? I saw you needed a hand and kinda just stepped in, hope you don't mind"

He slipped his golden wavy blade within a sheath(I assumed it would be wavy but it was oddly straight) over his shoulder.

This has to be him. I'm pretty sure he is the only strong player with that kind of sword.

"I- Yeah...I was kinda in a pinch back there. So I take it your Flame?" I asked

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I see I've built up a little bit of a reputation...wanna set up camp with me?"

Before I know it, we were both soon set up before a nice little fire.

When I asked him how he had made it, he explained you could buy the gear to start them in a select few shops on the first floor.

Then he ventured off for a bit, I assumed he had left me to fend for myself but to my surprise, he came back and opened his inventory. Then he set up some kind of meat over the fire with a few button clicks.

"I picked up the cooking skill recently," He said with a slight chuckle. "So these shouldn't taste awful...hopefully."

I bit my tongue to prevent myself from laughing. A clearer with the cooking skill, of all things. Insane to think about considering his status as a solo player.

He pulled some herbs out of his inventory and threw them on the meat before turning them on the fire.

"So, I never caught your username," Flame said as he turned his full attention to me.

"Oh, I go by Reaps," I said. My real name is Hotaru, but I'll keep that to myself for now. "I wanted to catch up with the clearers and join the frontline. I'm sick of hiding in the starter town and found out I was pretty decent at fighting. So I came out here but the mobs were a step higher than I expected and my weapon broke."

Flame's eyebrow rose as he turned the meat again. "You broke it you say? What weapon do you use?"

"Spear."

Flame chuckled a little. "Really? Your name is Spear backward. Was that international or...?"

"I- I had joined in with a couple of friends" I explained. "We had all chosen a different weapon and reversed how it was spelled to get our usernames...they...most of them are gone."

Flame's expression turned somber at the mention of my past friends. "I see."

He opened his inventory and started clicking a few things and to my surprise, a trade window opened up in front of me.

I quickly read what he was offering me. 'Fate, Savagery of the End.' I stared at it and then at him. "What's this?"

He simply shrugged. "It's a spear I recently got my hands on. You need a weapon right?"

I nodded but before I could put any money in the trade he smacked my hand aside. "What are you doing?"

"T-trying to pay you," I said stupidly.

He lifted both hands before quickly dropping them in my direction and his message was clear: Bleh. "I'd rather get money on my terms rather than charging someone when I could save their life."

I was still in a bit of a daze when I clicked the accept button. But I had snapped out of it when I saw the stats of the spear in my inventory. According to its stats, its base stats were twice as good as my last one after upgrades.

I equipped the spear and adjusted to the new weight as it materialized strapped to my back. The first thing I noticed was its freaking weight. It was at least twice as heavy as my last weapon. I pulled it off my back, and it was a beautiful dark wooden handle wrapped with some kind of leather where an average person would hold it, and the spear's tip was pitch black, not to mention it was around the size of my hand, laced with some kind of silver metal.

"Holy crap," I said a little breathlessly. "I barely understand sword skills, I- I can't accept something like this for free."

This had to be something hella expensive. Like twice the savings I had ever managed to get in this world so far. At least! It would probably break before I could fully pay this off.

"Sure you can," Flame said with a shrug. "If you want to live that is. Anyway, could you put that away? I'll be showing you how to use that tomorrow."

I had already placed it in my inventory(as that was something most players did nowadays to be polite) by the time I processed what he had said. "Wait what?!"

Flame had been putting his weapon away when he heard my exclamation. "Hm? I thought you wanted to join the frontlines?"

"I mean, yeah I do-"

"So I figured I'd show you the ropes. Can't have someone who wants to help free us not properly understand how to use their sword skills." Flame said as if he was saying he was going to help me study for a math test.

"I- I heard rumors that's what you did, but I never thought they were serious," I said as he handed me a chunk of meat on a stick.

"Well I mean, they would have had some kind of base to become rumors would they not?" He asked as he took a bite. He chewed a few times."Not bad, though it could be better."

I took a bite, the meat was a little tough and tasted a little bland. But it was better than some of the meat I had bought from one of the crappy vendors in the town. "So, you're not some heartless bastard that gets a kick from the suffering of mobs as you beat the crap out of them."

He looked up from his meat a little embarrassed. "I- uh... tend to get like that sometimes. It only happens occasionally though...I like to think I'm a fairly decent guy most of the time."

I stopped eating. Nothing about this guy screamed DANGER, DANGER, GETAWAY NOW!, as some of the rumors had said. I'll be perfectly honest, he was calming to be around.

Once we finished he pointed off into the distance. "Now we got two options, we take shifts sleeping, or we hightail it to the nearest town where I have a room rented out that you can have."

I resisted the urge to stare at him again. He was willing to just give me his room?

"I'd feel better if we just took shifts," I said. Before he could volunteer, I hastily shushed him. "No! You have been more than nice enough to me, I'll take first watch!"

He shrugged. "Alright, if you say so."

With that, he simply laid down and fell asleep... He's way too trusting.

I opened my menu and opened up my messages.

Me: Homie too nice. He legit fell asleep next to me after feeding me and giving me a better weapon

A few minutes later I got a reply.

Argo: So rumors check out so far. Attack him, and see how on edge he really is.

I mustered up my courage, I felt bad of course but Argo wanted this info and maybe I won't hurt him too badly.

I pulled out my new weapon and weakly thrust without looking at his mid-section, but I felt I hit a rock.

Then, something I can't even begin to figure out oozed into the air making me freeze with fear.

I fearfully turned my eyes to him. His eyes were practically glowing red in the campfire light as he held the edge of my spear between his fingers.

"What do you think you're doing...friend?" He asked slowly, voice dripping with venom.

"I-I-" I stammered, feeling fear flood my systems. Flame now reminded me of some kind of killer animal. One that had me on the menu that is.

His foot shot up, faster than I could see or hear and it rammed into the back of my head. I had taken hits that damn near sent me into the red zone that wasn't even half as hard as that, so imagine my relief when my HP didn't drop a single point. Thankfully, I had only nearly passed out.

Before I knew it, the spear I was gifted had its cold tip pressed to the back of my neck. "You have five words to explain yourself before I kill you."

"A-argo asked me to" I choked out, forgetting that I don't need to breathe in this world as I started to hyperventilate.

"Show me"

I slowly lifted my hand and navigated to my messages, before I made them visible to other players and flicked them upward toward him.

He lifted the spear from my neck, making me release a breath I was well aware I was holding. He offered me a hand when I rolled over.

"Sorry...I've been a bit jumpy recently. Normally I would have sent you off with a thump to the head but the idea of hurting players was part of what I've been worried about." Flame muttered.

"I-its all good. It was uncalled for considering you have been so nice" I said with an awkward laugh, trying to get my non-existent virtual heart to beat like a normal person as he handed my spear back. I would shit myself if that was remotely possible here

Flame pulled out his sword. "You can go ahead and get some sleep, I'll go hunting for some breakfast."

I laid on the ground after un-equipping my spear to be more comfortable. He wouldn't try to attack me right?

I fell asleep, ready to demand an apology from Argo for making me risk my life back there. I'd rather fight the boss of the 100th floor by myself as I am right now than face that again.

.

When I woke up, I could smell bacon over a somehow still burning fire.

I glanced at the clock- Crap! I never gave him a turn to sleep!

Flame gave me a bored look as he took a piece of sizzling meat off the fire. "It's fine you never gave me a turn. I honestly left you unguarded for a solid 5 minutes."

I briefly panicked as I quickly searched my avatar, making sure my health was still okay along with my stuff.

"You should be good, everything should be clear because of my detection skill being pretty good." Flame said with a shrug.

"Did- you go down to the first floor?" I asked as he passed me a large piece of meat, which I was now 100% sure was pork. The only pig-like mob I knew of, was the boar on said floor.

"Yup, it's not exactly bacon, since I don't have an oven, pan, or knife but it tastes kinda like bacon."

I took a bite, once again, still kinda tough and a little bland, but it was the closest thing I've had to bacon since getting trapped in this game. As I chewed, I thought to ask him something, seeing that he has been pretty nice so far. "So...what's a strong player like you doing with the cooking skill?"

He kept chewing for a moment before responding. "Well...You see the truth is, I kinda picked it up so I could help lessen the food costs for this one group I've been hanging around."

"Really?" I thought he was a solo player.

"I honestly go too far out of my way as a solo player but I don't mind," Flame said as he took another bite. "There is someone I promised I'd protect in there. Plus since I have a bit of a streak saving people, I figured kill two birds with one stone and I'd be able to pretty quickly make some decent food."

I nodded. Makes sense when you think about it, when you save people, you would generally feed them, or at least show them how to get some food. Especially if you train them.

He finished with his short meal around the same time I did. He whipped his hands and picked his sword off the ground from next to him. "Let's get training."

.

Flame took me out to a clearing before turning to me. "Alright, so you understand the basics of Sword Skills, yes?"

I nodded. "Sword Skills are attacks that are aided by the system. They deal more damage than regular attacks but after using them you are stuck in something called Post-Motion Delay which your avatar cannot move during that period. To activate them, you have to move into the specified initial motion, and then the sword skill executes itself with, or without your cooperation if you don't stop the motion. Not to mention the stronger the sword skill, the longer the delay."

Flame nodded. "Pretty basic. So the key to unleashing several attacks is planning. Know how long each delay is, and what position you are in afterward."

I tilted my head. "Really?"

Flame pointed to a newly spawned Minotaur. "Observe."

He placed his sword straight up into the air. It started to glow orange. Suddenly he shot forward, instantly near the mob. From there, he sliced downward with his entire body, as the Minotaur registered it was cleaved, from Flame's crouching position, he twisted his blade, so the edge wasn't pointing at his face and then jerked his entire body in a horizontal slash.

From there he stood up and bonked the beast on the head with the edge of his sword, killing it. "Something like that. You should also understand your damage output. You don't want Overkill, that is unnecessary and draining on you."

"Overkill?" I asked, still a little stunned that he killed that so quickly.

"When you do more damage than the minimum to an opponent." He explained. "Another newbie had a bit of a problem with that until recently."

"I-I see," I said with a swallow. So this is how the front liners are.

He looked me up and down. "Hey, how is your STR stat?"

"Uh..average?" I said as I checked my stats. I'm not much of a gamer, so I kinda just rock with saving my stat points and not investing in anything unless it is to meet a requirement. At level 10, I'm doing pretty good.

"You want a skill that will let you fight without a weapon?" He asked.

I picked a spear because I didn't want to be close to anything! I shook my head violently. "What, do you have it?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. If you do the required quest to unlock it a certain way, along with a bunch of other factors, you could get a special style rather than the regular one. Mine is very leg-based."

I nearly died of a heart attack. Legs? Wouldn't he have to get closer to bring something to the ground?

"Chill man, my VIT stat is pretty good...I think." He said before opening his menu and checking, then seemingly doing some quick math. "Wait, I have to remember that this cloak has a pretty high DEF boost..."

He began to mutter slightly. Before shaking his head. "Sorry, anyway, show me the best skill you got."

If this was an anime, you'd see a giant bead of sweat roll down the side of my face. Is this guy the ruthless monster people say he is?

Then I recalled the feeling of fear he put in me last night. Scratch that, what is up with him being so hot and cold?

I took my spear and pointed the tip slightly down. The tip became coated in a deep blue light as I stepped up to a freshly spawned mob.

[Legacy of the Fisherman]

It was a two-hit attack, had a low Delay, and did a good chunk of damage.

The green circle came into my vision and I let it lock upwards on the large Minotaur in front of me. The weapon in my hands jerked forward then upward, I stabbed directly into the chest of the large beast, then I shifted my grip and lifted it before slamming and pinning it to the ground. My attack had only done around a quarter of the things health.

It quickly recovered as I got over my post-motion delay.

Before it could get up, I did it again. This time, I locked onto the beast as it was on the ground, so I stabbed downward, and then I lifted it again and stabbed again as the weapon wanted me to.

Flame choose to step in after that. He quickly dispatched the beast with a simple swipe. "Not bad, you are learning to chain them."

I whipped my forehead. "Thanks."

"Alright, if I were you, I'd start with a simple stab forward attack, then quickly shift over to an attack that would leave you in a position with your spear's tip slightly down. Both of these should have low cooldowns so you don't risk your life. I believe Straight Shot and Mad Stab should work."

I stared at him. "How did you-?"

"Know you have those skills?" He finished. "Well, if Legacy if the Fisherman was your best attack, I just assumed you were somewhere past the 175 mark in your proficiency see as that's when you unlock it. I didn't take into account that you might have some other better ones for that if your proficiency is higher than that."

Yup. He is no idiot. I am at the 190 mark. He's good...really good.

"Y-yeah...ok, I'll see," I said as I braced myself.

The Straight Shot skill was...you can figure that out. Mad stab on the other hand is a rapid-fire attack that normally ends at around 4 hits, since you don't ever aim, its damage varies and tends to miss sometimes but no matter what, you end off with the tip of your spear pointed towards the ground to emphasize how people are after doing something at full force without planning.

A new bull stomped up to challenge us.

"Now!" I exclaimed as I charged.

[Straight Shot]

I stabbed straight into its torso. It roared and before it could counter, I ripped the black spear from its body and lifted the tip of the spear as it glowed red.

[Mad Stab]

I stabbed forward, One, Two, Three! Shit- my last hit missed! The post-motion delay is slightly longer than the Straight Shot.

Right before it could slam me with its meaty fist, my body unlocked itself and my spearhead dipped slightly lower before being bathed in blue light.

"Sayonara!" I yelled as I executed the same thing I did to the last one, but this time, when it fell to the ground it shattered.

Flame clapped. "Just so you know, this is just for the fodder mobs and grinding. The actual bosses are worse, given their normally large size, higher stats, and other effects they might bring. Not to mention you have a good 47 other people breathing down your neck if you do something they don't like."

I sighed. "So what was the point of teaching me this?"

"So you don't fucking die out there on your own," He said with a deadpan expression. "Sorry for trying to make sure you live."

"Alright, point made," I said holding my hands up in surrender. "What are you going to teach me next?"

"Now, just prepare you for a boss fight," He said.

"How do you plan to do that?" I asked as he started walking off.

"Well, there is one boss I know we shouldn't have a hard time taking on."

"We?" I asked. "As the two of us?"

"Well duh," He said. "Do you see anyone with the username 'We' here?"

"Are you insane?" I asked. "I'm still level ten."

"I'm not insane, I'm level 20," He said as if that solved all of our problems. "I can't level up for a little while though."

"Why not?" I asked. "Is there like an insane XP curve or something?"

He gave me a dry smile. "Close. Long story short, Kayaba decided that I was too high level, for now, and he increased my required XP to level up by 12 times cuz I pissed him off after nearly getting through double."

I winced. So the only upgrade in power he will be getting is if he gets a new weapon, still has some stat points to assign, or gets some kind of buff. "Kinda harsh but understandable."

"He is a dick head that basically told us to have fun not dying after giving a half-assed 'tutorial' that didn't help anyone" Flame scoffed. "If I see his stupid face, I plan to stab him for every single death he caused. My point is, he hasn't exactly been understandable for trapping a bunch of gamers in a game with our lives on the line."

I winced at that. Even if Kayaba was insane (in a select few ways), he had caused a lot of deaths.

"Now, let's grind," He said with a new smirk on his face.

.

A few Hellish hours later

.

"God...Help...me!" I exclaimed as I fell to the ground exhausted.

Flame laughed almost evilly. "God can't save you here."

"Oh...fuck!" I said as I flopped around on the ground. I now couldn't suppress the urge to flinch every time Flame reached for his sword (which thankfully wasn't often).

Eventually, after seeing me struggle a little with some of the mobs, Flame had decided that I should learn some real combat in case a player tried to challenge me, either over my life or over a bet, I should know how to think better on my feet.

Flame kicked my ass every single time if you couldn't tell. Brutally.

"Come on, it isn't that bad."

"Yes...it...is...you fucking...liar," I said between heavy breaths that I didn't really need but they helped calm my nerves. "I can't feel my body."

"Well you are in an avatar," Flame said sarcastically.

"Not what I meant!" I snapped.

"So...no boss fight?"

"Hell no!"

Flame shrugged and suddenly got a message. He opened it up and his eyes quickly scanned the message and then he flicked over to a new one and read that quickly too. "Well, you are level 13 right?" He suddenly asked me.

"Yeah, only a few points away from 14," I said as I got off the ground.

"Good. Time to get ready to join your guild" He said as he tossed me a bag of coins. "Get your spear and other stuff repaired and head over to Zumfut by 5."

"Why?" I asked as I glanced at the coins he casually handed me. This thing was heavier than my entire wallet! "Woah, are you sure it will cost this much?"

"Well, I planned for you to get something to eat," Flame said with a shrug. "And at five is when the meeting for the next boss raid will be taking place."

I tore my gaze from the cash in my hands. "W-wait, you want me to go?"

He gave me a strange look. "Well you're at the average clearer level...what did you think I wanted you to not go? It'd better for you to get started early so you don't have to face some of the crazier bosses for your first try."

I nodded. "Right!"

"Anyway, I plan to meet up with my party for this, I'll introduce you guys before the raid," He said as he began typing out a message. He paused a bit. "It might take a few days but that gives you some time to upgrade some of your gear and prepare yourself for one of the loudest people you will ever meet."

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Yua P.O.V

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"Leave it to those fucking idiots to turn a serious boss raid into a dick-measuring contest," Apollo grumbled to himself as we watched the two feuding leaders of the clearing force.

We had even shown up early for the two morons to pick up the ball, only to drop it instantly as they tried to recruit every person without a guild since they had both officially started theirs.

"We welcome all who wish to join the clearing effort with open arms. Our only requirement is that you are at least level 10," Lind called out to everyone.

"Fuck that! We'll take anyone 9 and above!" Kibaou exclaimed.

This wasn't a friendly competition, which would have been good for our ranks. This is a straight-up power struggle between the two people trying to become the leader of the clearing force. And, they weren't even thinking about this rationally. Right now they are picking quantity over quality. This would lower the average clear level, and from there on our overall strength.

Even though grinding a bunch of players would be hard, it's possible. However, they had said something so utterly ridiculous to Kirito, Flame, and Asuna. Lind has said something I wouldn't have even expected our resident cactus head to say.

"Could...you say that one more time, Lind?" Kirito asked.

Flame was blinking and sticking a finger in his ear before rubbing it, over and over, as if to clear it to make sure he heard the blue 'knight' correctly.

"Please, understand this is just for overall power balance," Lind said, trying (in vain) to keep the three calm. "What I'm saying is all three of you should take place within another guild rather than being in one group. All of you are clearly the strongest standing players by a large margin and we respect that. As such, one of each of you should take place within DKB or ALS, but for balance's sake not all three of you in those guilds."

Flame squinted at the blue-haired man. "So what you telling me is we should dissolve our party."

Wait, they're a party?!

"Yes," Lind said with a satisfied nod.

"And to be part of the clearing force we have to either be part of one of your stupid guilds?" Flame continued, now content with glaring a hole into the man's thick armor.

"N-no," Lind stammered, clearly intimidated and not what he wanted to get across.

There was some small opportunity in that. Even if these dick heads were feeling high and mighty as the largest and 'strongest' groups in the clearing force, they weren't quite high enough to start making demands for people to join them yet.

"So, we just have to join a guild, and maybe we could stick together if we just choose a weak enough guild," Flame said, almost daring someone to argue with him.

"Hell yeah! Maybe you faggots will put some respect on some of us smaller groups if we gain some firepower" Apollo yelled as he stepped forward.

"How do I know you haven't been planning on taking them for yourself?" Kibaou yelled as he prepared to match the taller male. He pointed at me. "That broad has been cozying up with Flame since the first floor."

I heard a growl emanate from Flame's throat as Kirito grabbed his arm to keep him from stepping into the fight. I tried to step forward to deny that, but the other girls dragged me back.

The group of discussion nodded to each other and there was suddenly a swish of cloaks, and they now stood between the two feuding leaders.

"Pump the breaks," Flame demanded with his left hand twitched as he slowly reached for his dagger.

Kirito spoke for all of them. "We aren't some items up for trading or claiming. We are players with strong opinions on most of you."

"But if any of you want to join," Apollo called out loudly enough for everyone to hear. "We will gladly take you in. We don't care if it's all of you or one of you."

"I plan to stick to my usual routine," Kirito said firmly. "After all, I'm just some dirty beater right?"

Lind and Kibaou's eyes trailed over to Asuna, who had the hood of her new cloak up. She has said the least, but it was clear she was the farthest from happy between the three.

Neither bothered to check Flame's face, as both of them hadn't had good run-ins with him. "As you can see, Asuna, Kirito, and I do as we please"

I felt a little sad at that. I hadn't had the chance to ask him to join us. It seems like he will say no to nearly anyone that asks.

Faith of the Honored was a scraped name, something that had been decided a long time ago but we still didn't have a new name. I don't think Flame is that kind of guy, but he might join if we had a cooler name. It couldn't hurt to try.

.

So the meeting ended with us heading off the try and level up an extra time, thinking about a name before we got started on the guild quest. There was something else we could start, the Grand Elf Campain, but Apollo doesn't have that kind of tolerance to do something that lasts up to the 9th floor.

This time turns out it was relatively easy and with the help of Flame, we breezed through it. We paused on the last bit, which was getting a guild leader emblem back from a mayor in Zumfut that stole it. Then we had done the field boss, which was also easy, and Kirito had been the one to get the LA.

Flame had been joking with us until he opened a message and became grim. "Damn it."

"What's wrong, someone found out you're a lolicon?" Exost laughed but quickly stopped when she saw the serious look on Flame's face

"Come with me, we have something serious to talk about with Kirito". That was all he said before standing up and leading us to somewhere in Zumfut.

Kirito gave a wave from the location Flame led us to. "Sup, thanks for coming quickly"

"No problem," Flame said as we all gave our own waves. "You mentioned something about the Elf Campain?"

"Yeah...are you guys doing it too?" Kirito asked us.

"Nah, we ain't got the time for that" Apollo grunted.

"Shame, there is a pretty good one-handed long sword available on the dark elf side," Kirito said with a shrug. "Any way that makes this easy...I need you to not do that quest for the time being."

Why would we need a one-handed long sword? I thought to myself. None of us used the most common weapon type in the game, which was kinda funny.

Anyway, more importantly, Kirito never seemed like the type to try and do anything to hinder other players. It must be serious. "Long story short, you guys all know Flame, Asuna, and I are doing the quest on the dark elf side."

We nodded. Something that had come up in a brief bit of conversation.

"So are the DKB and ALS, but they are going as fast as Flame could run," Kirito explained. "Both are in chapter 5 and on different sides of the elves. It's like they are competing to get it done. The only problem with that is no one is that good."

"So someone is feeding them rotten intel," Achira muttered.

"That's what Flame and I think," Kirito said.

"The campaign itself runs on something called an instance map," Flame explained. "Basically they take a location and pile copies on top of each other. Each layer would go to a separate party. So two parties could be in the same place, but never see each other because they would be in two different locations. The quest location would change every time someone clears a quest related to it."

"Anyway," Kirito started back up, seemingly glad Flame took over the explaining there. "The problem is chapter 6 of the quest. On the dark elf side, you have to sneak into a forest elf camp to steal a secret document but on the forest elf side you are meant to guard that camp from any dark elf invaders."

"Wait..." I said as I held my hands up. "If they do chapter 6 at the same time, isn't there a chance they will be stuck at the same camp?"

"That's what we think someone is trying to do," Flame said. "Likely the same person who tried that stunt with the Braves."

"Someone wants the two guilds to fight, and likely to kill each other" Achira realized.

"Right, so no quest for a bit" Apollo grunted. "But you two, what will you be doing to prevent this?"

Flame and Kirito exchanged a grim look. "Well...I will be going with Asuna to try and clear chapter 6, which would make the camp vanish, therefore no more reason to fight."

"While he does that, assuming that I've predicted this right, the player behind this will come after me," Kirito said, "If I make it look like I was going to try and complete chapter 6, while in actuality Flame and Asuna were on top of it. I'll be trying to learn more about their motives and buy some time."

Apollo nodded. "We got one condition to let you do this crazy shit."

"What would that be?"

"We help you," He said as he hit a fist to his chest. "We will cover your back while you confront that bastard, and if things get dicey, we step in to help."

Kirito smiled. "I'd like that-"

"Hell no!" Flame abruptly exclaimed, making us all jump back a little. "Fuck that! I want you guys safe. All you have to do is not blow into the Elf Campaign and you'll be fine! Kirito along with Asuna and I can handle this."

I steeled my nerves before walking up to him and placing my hand on his arm. "You're not always going to be able to protect us...besides we all know Kirito is more than capable...so trust us to not get involved unless it's needed. If Kirito can't win on his own, no way he can't win with our numbers."

He gave me a hard look as if he was trying to convey a message to me with his eyes. When I didn't receive it, he sighed. "Fine...but the second I finish, I'll be by your side so I can be there in case shit hits the fan."

I nodded, not noticing the emphasis on that single word. "Sounds good right guys?"

"Just don't take your sweet ass time," Apollo grumbled.

Achira nodded. "For once, I may agree with him."

It was the dead of night, the perfect time for this. Most of the players in the floating castle had been asleep for a long time.

As the plan said, there was a player that challenged Kirito, but they had covered their face with a simple black hood. Which made hiding easy for them. Since we had no idea what their player name was, along with no appearance.

Suddenly I could hear grunting and the sounds of swords clashing. "Sounds like they have started combat."

"Yeah," Apolo muttered. "Remember the plan, in case they try to high tail it, we stop them and if Kirito gets in trouble, he gives a signal to let us know he needs backup."

Achira's head suddenly whipped to the side. "Guys...I think we should be on guard."

"What makes you say that?" Exost asked as she still followed the order as she crouched with her knife in a ready position.

"Think about it. If this guy was or has any relation to the guy who tried to set up the Braves, wouldn't he predict a counter like this? A lot of work was put into his plans so I can't help but feel like I'm missing something," she muttered to herself.

A rustle in the bushes alerted us that Achira might have been right. A group of five players with their faces hidden by a hood.

"What the hell do you want?" Apollo demanded as his hand inched toward his axe handle.

"Oh, you know, just a small party of players going for a stroll and about to take out some trash," one of them sneered. This group was clearly not friendly.

"Enough of the chit-chat, just kill them," one said from the front, presumably the leader.

Instantly I was shoved behind Apollo along with Exost.

Three glowing weapons, one spear, one rapier, and one dagger slammed into the flat of Apollo's blade that he placed in front of him right in the nick of time.

"Not so fast," he grunted as the green cursors of the three players turned orange. "You want them? You'll have to get rid of me first"

The cursors are how you pick out players that aren't so friendly. Green is a player that hasn't broken any system rules, Orange players have violated that have attacked a player or committed some type of crime, and people that killed a player and constantly committed crimes of the system, their cursor became red(which leads to the nickname of 'red players'). If you attack another player outside of a duel, your cursor turns orange unless they aren't a green player.

Achira drew her sword and assumed a stance I recognized from a movie.

Another player drew a blue katana that was slightly longer than Achira's sword. "A fellow katana user? I do hope you accept my humble challenge of skill."

"Bring it on...scum!" She spat as her sword took on a bright orange color, as the other's sword did the same.

I quickly check on Apollo's health, thankfully since he was the tankest of us, he hadn't lost much. Maybe a good 5% seeing that he blocked them. Three cursors out of the 5 have already turned orange, marking them as fine to attack.

I heard a grunt of pain and whipped my head back, to see that Achira had gotten slashed, meaning another of the five are now criminals by the rules of the system. But she had lost a good 20% of her health.

"Can you really afford not to pay attention?" A sinister voice whispered in my ear and I jerked back along with Exost when we realized we had been separated from Apollo and now the last remaining player was in front of us.

He drew his sword and a chill ran down my spine when I almost recognized its golden coloring. It looked like a straight version of the sword Flame currently had.

He lifted his sword as it began to glow. Exost jumped between us and activated her own skill and the two glowing weapons clashed mid-air, ending in a surprising stalemate.

"Yua, now!" She yelled as she jumped back suddenly, causing the player to stumble. I grabbed my sword, noting that the player was already orange, and then stabbed forward, ditching the idea of using a sword skill.

I stabbed three times, all of them only doing a small amount of damage but enough to draw a smirk from the player's barely visible face as he fell to the ground from my sudden attacks.

"I see why that ninja is so quick to anger when it involved you guys," he dryly commented as he stood up and snapped his fingers and his friends pulled back to stand next to him. "You guys are pretty good even if you are annoying"

"Wait- ninja?" I asked. "Do you mean Flame?"

Achira grunted as she dragged an Apollo who had several holes and slashes in him, health started to reach yellow. She made sure they both drank a healing potion.

"Yeah...honestly the payload wasn't worth letting that soft-hearted wimp go," the leader said with a chuckle. "Should've killed him when I had the chance."

I stormed in front of the still injured Apollo. "You bastard! Take that back-"

I blinked and he was nearly in front of me then a flash of red clouded my vision.

At first, I thought he had run me through with a sword. I glanced at my HP, still full...then I realized I was staring at a hand and its wrist.

With the fluttering of the cloak, I knew it had to be Flame. Flame took a sword through his wrist to stop it from hitting me.

Due to my not-so-secret (maybe?) crush on him, I almost expected my mind to play tricks on me and make me see him as something like a knight protecting a princess or something along those lines.

Instead what I saw scared me more than the blade that nearly dissected me. In Flame's place, there was a feral demon-like creature standing. It was snarling as some strange dark energy flowed off its body and it stared down at me, opening a large fang-filled mouth. I slammed my eyes shut and forced them open again, relieved to see that it was actually Flame.

Flame's voice came out hard and cold, something that sounded unusual from my lack of hearing him like that, but it sounded oh-so fitting for him. "When I realized that the bastard would have a backup plan I left Asuna in charge of what we were doing and rushed over right away."

"What's good, bitch?!" one of them yelled at him.

He turned his head slowly to the group of five players. "I'll handle you in a second"

"F-Flame- I...I'm sorry...you were right" I whispered softly. "W-we should have come here."

"Yua...did they hurt you?" He asked slowly.

"They hit Apollo and Achira but-"

"Yua." He almost demanded, startling me. "Did. They. Hurt. You?"

"N-not yet," I managed to get out.

"Don't you fucking ignore me! I'm up from round two, ya pussy!" The player with the sword seethed as he tried to yank his sword from Flame's wrist but it appeared to be stuck. "Come on! I can take you on by myself this time!"

I glanced at Flame's HP bar, it had only tickled down slightly but it was still decreasing.

"Good." Flame muttered in my direction. "So I only have to hurt them for attacking you."

He glanced around, surveying the damage they caused. My nose became flooded with something I thought was only in fanfiction or anime. Flame had reeked of something I could only describe as...bloodlust. Raw pure anger mixed with a hint of insanity. "Bastards...you really want to test me huh?"

"Don't ignore me for those weaklings again!" The player exclaimed as he still tried to pry his sword free.

Flame turned his cold eyes onto the player before suddenly jerking and twisting his wrist and to my shock, the sword shattered. "You're not so strong yourself. Don't even have a good weapon."

The player just laughed loudly. "Oh yes. It seems I've hit a sore spot for you. Well, Blood Ninja, show me your skills. I've been waiting for a real challenge."

Flame pulled out his sword, and sparks of electricity began to fly off the blade. "Fine."

Instantly Flame blurred from my sight, and he was suddenly next to the player that had attacked me. The guy barely had time to dodge and then quickly equipped a sword that looked like it was meant for a beast. It was stark white, with some kind of teeth lining the hilt and it had some red gem embedded in the bottom of the handle.

"Guess I have to bust out the big guns. A rare sword that I had finished maxing out recently," the guy said with a smirk. "Let's see what is stronger, the fruits of labor from several dead players, or the work and effort you put in boss fights."

I shivered. Did he...kill people for the sword?

Flame's head jerked in our direction. "GO!"

Apollo shot off the ground, picked both me and Exost up, and dashed off away from both fighting players while Achira ran behind us, flicking our assailants off for good measure.

"Wait! No! We can't leave him to fight 5 people!" I protested but I couldn't reach the ground to go back and help him.

"Sorry..." Apollo muttered to me while throwing a glance over his shoulder. "He told us to run so I'll trust him."

Flame gave a salute before his face twisted in rage as he directed his full attention to the players in front of him. I couldn't stop some tears from flowing down my face as I screamed for him. "FLAME!"

.

Meanwhile, with Kirito, the two dueling players were evenly matched.

"You're pretty good" I grudgingly admitted. "Maybe you should pop by on the next boss raid."

"Aw, you're going to make me blush" The player retorted. "I also must say that you are just as good as the rumors say you are, Kirito. I expected nothing less from the best DPS on the frontlines."

I dodged another strike to my head. I couldn't shake this bad nagging feeling about involving Apollo and his group. This duel was going decent so far, surprisingly he agreed to half-finish mode. Then again, I can't exactly afford to go orange or red, so I should be grateful for that at least.

Suddenly sounds of yelling echoed. My eyes shot over to locate their origin. Wait, isn't that-

"Oh my, is there another party nearby?" My opponent asked with mock innocence. "I do hope they don't interrupt this fun duel between us. I want to make sure to enjoy you myself, Kirito."

"You bastard...what did you do?" I demanded as I backed up, preparing to counter whatever attack he was going to throw at me next.

"Oh you hurt me so for suspecting me," He said sarcastically. "But I do hope whoever is over there, isn't in any...trouble."

Suddenly I could hear Yua's voice screaming more clearly. "Wait! No! We can't leave him to fight 5 people!"

Five people? Who would be suicidal enough to fight five people?

Then she screamed, sobbing almost, and what she screamed made me freeze for a moment. "FLAME!"

My opponent smirked and began to laugh uncontrollably. "Oh my, shame really. Flame was another fine specimen I wanted a taste of as well. It seems I'll just have to enjoy your death extra."

"You underestimate us." I grit my teeth as I charged up another sword skill and I sprinted at him. "Never underestimate the beaters!"

I brought my sword down onto the now glowing blade of the man I planned to stop today.

It seems I might not be able to catch him, but at least we'll stop him.

I pushed more of my avatar's STR stat into my slash. I don't plan on losing, now or ever!