OST Suggestion: Sainted by the storm by POWERWOLF towards the end of the chapter


When Good Men Go To War

Clashes between Green Crusade and Orange Coalition began to stop around 3 am.

Knights of the Blood Oath with Heathcliff in the lead appeared in the teleportation square in the middle of the town. Somehow he had managed to gather all of his non-combatant crew into safety, he joined the guild war on the side of Swords. After the reinforcements came, an attack led by Asemi and Heathcliff drove the Orange players out of town, then pursued them to the entrance of the tower. Some escaped by using teleportation crystals, alerting Swords of possible another attack on their safe zones. Soon after, many refugees from different floors filled the 4th floor and left Rider with a crisis to solve.

Only when everything settled down was the important figurehead's absence noticed.

Where was Ilsamor?

He had not yet once shown himself during battle, and he wasn't here even after the battle. Many members came and asked this question to Asemi, but she didn't know either. However, her expression was clear on one front.

Something was definitely wrong.

While all these arguments going on, a boy, or rather a man woke up from his short sleep as if all that bickering about him on the 4th floor disturbed him in his sleep. He awoke with a short gasp like he was seeing a nightmare, but a few seconds later he began to calm down like the fear itself never existed within him. His features became blank and his muscles relaxed while he pulled one of his legs and leaned his head on his knee before exhaling.

"Bad dream Ilsamor?"

A tranquil voice amidst the thunder and whistling wind called out to him, but he didn't answer. His mind was in shambles, still trying to get out of the labyrinth of the images…

He was standing on the field, and people gathered all around him, but he knew he didn't care. It has been a long time ever since he did.

The wind was flapping the empty right arm of his jacket while he pointed his left accusatorily to a woman sitting on the sole rock around…

"Ilsamor?"

"Sorry…" Ilsamor mumbled, "I think I did, but images are pretty vague."

"All of them?"

"By the sound of your tone, I think you already know. Do you even need to ask?"

"I do, Ilsamor, in the end, I am just a part of you."

Ilsamor didn't answer back to the Silver Blade, instead, he stood up with the help of his arms.

His appearance was changed, rather than wearing his mainly white clothes, his appearance was akin to the inquisitors from several other games he played and books he read. His white leather coat was changed with a brown trenchcoat, he was wearing brown combat pants, a dark green t-shirt, and combat boots. There was a belt filled with potion vials, alchemical bombs, and poisoned needles on his chest. He was carrying three weapons in total, a golden, thin longsword that bordered between a longsword and a rapier on the right of his belt, a golden greatsword on his back, and a platinum katana on the left side of his belt. Longsword and greatsword were filled with many runic writings while the katana was blank as paper, still waiting for its time to come.

However, maybe the most interesting part of his appearance was a blindfold with childish horse motifs on his eyes, which he corrected its position while sighing "I understand why I have to wear this, but couldn't we find a better alternative? An item of simple black clothing would be better."

"It wouldn't work. This blindfold is required for this mission, any other would not protect you from the deathblow mechanic of this dungeon."

Ilsamor pursed his lips but he didn't say anything else. Instead, he turned to the way he came from, and once more he continued to walk in the linear corridor, which may be the only mercy this part of the dungeon granted to the players.

This dungeon's difficulty was off the charts, granted it was a mission whose results may affect the entire Aincrad, and it was definitely designed for a full raid party, but these questions were irrelevant right now. He knew he had the capacity for it, while he had lost to Nocturn, this dungeon was designed for players, and thus good items and an over-average martial knowledge would be enough for him to carry over. If this would be a traditional MMO, he knew he would not survive even if he had the highest equipment rating (and even in SAO he could still die in one hit if monsters managed to hit him) but this was Sword Art Online. A game, which was more akin to real life.

"It's strange…" Ilsamor mumbled while unsheathing his longsword and wearing some sort of an elbow-long gray glove on his left hand. "It has been around three days since Hikari died, and I thought I would still be bitter and angry about it. But I feel nothing. No sadness, no fear, no excitement… And it just becomes more… calm as time passes…"

"It's Battle Clarity skill. Since you have never deactivated it, its level is increasing."

"This concept seems out of this world…" Ilsamor murmured while he caught a tint of ash scent from the air. Soon, the pressuring heat of the dungeon he was crawling was back and he was continuing the deadly journey. "How does it work?"

"In this world, everything works on codes, but Aincrad's AI has the ability to learn and develop new skills continuously. I believe the training you get from the Lady and your applications of it caused the system to encode it as a real skill."

Ilsamor touched the wall until he found the sign inscription he was searching for "What do you think awaiting me at the end of it?"

"Well, I need not think, because I already know."

It should have excited him, but he only nodded as if someone said the weather would be sunny today. "Then what is it?"

"At the peak point of Battle Clarity, you will acquire two skills. The first is an active one, Mind Blade. It is a one-hit skill like iaijutsu. With a swift move, you cut through the enemy. It has a 90% chance of KOing the enemy, and even if it does not, it still deals a huge amount of damage and you always end the skill at the opposite side of your beginning point."

"Good." He answered, but before he could continue, he felt the ground on his right move. Then a screech was heard, and he could once more feel a monster's kill intent on him.

He brandished his sword horizontally, then opened his senses to feel even the slightest movement in the air. Soon he felt an airflow from the left and used his left hand to catch the approaching object. He didn't know what was it, was it a lance, a spear, or maybe a foot of some caterpillar species, that doesn't matter. A screeching sound was heard when his glove touched the object and he grabbed it. Then by using the opening he got, he swung his sword vertically to sever the probable arm holding (or owning) the weapon.

He didn't know why, but even the monsters in this dungeon were quiet. Possibly denying the enemy from knowing their types, but even this rule had an exception. This exception was so dangerous that scratch being a hardcore player, if you are not a veteran or martial artist, it was borderline cheating.

Monsters could fake the "dying" sound.

That was why Ilsamor still backflipped and put a few meters distance between him and his target even after hearing the dissolving effect. Then he waited for a few seconds to suddenly jump to the nearest wall when the ground beneath him started to move.

As soon as he landed, he activated Sonic Leap to directly charge toward his old position. He felt the hint of he hit his target and quickly chained it to a Horizontal Square. He rolled to his side when he felt an airflow once again, then he activated the ultimate skill of the 1H skill tree, Nova Ascension.

When he finally froze in after-effect, he took in a few breaths, then waited for an indication of another ambush. It didn't come, and he stood tall swinging his sword to the side.

"What about the other?" he asked back to Silver Blade like their talk was not interrupted.

"Eternal Garden of the Storms…"

"Sound ominous…" Ilsamor commented. "What does it say?"

"With the eyes blinded with flashes and ears deafened by the thunders, you became the absolute embodiment of neutrality as you should be. A weapon is only guilty as its wielder."

Ilsamor suddenly stopped and smiled for the first time in hours. "And that's where we are going, right?"

"Yes. It is what she intended always. Ilsamor, this may be the reason we were searching for our whole life."

Ilsamor formed a fist with his right hand, and raised it to chest level "For the memories of we lost."

"And the lives we must protect."


If the Hell was real, she probably condemned the Ilsamor to live in it very well.

Lady Cardinal was sitting near the broken remains of her throne, her throne room once the home of many hopes was now in shambles. Many small fires were created from the parts that fell from the roof of the chamber, and every crack opened to the dark, endless abyss between her reality and the cold coding world.

She was not looking well either. Her beautiful dress was torn apart, exposing many of her body parts, while the remaining part of her clothes was blackened with soot. Her cheeks were red and trails of dried tears could be seen while she was occasionally shedding new ones while looking at several screens in front of her. There were dark rings beneath her eyes, and she was gritting her teeth like she was under constant pressure.

Her eyes wandered to her side involuntarily, where Human Mental Health Counseling Program stood with her a few days ago. She closed her eyes.

Her gambit hadn't paid off very well.

During Ilsamor and Kirito's fight against Nocturn, she had tried to stop Hikari's death, but the moment she tried to intervene, the Administrator had also seen through her. Her intervention had clashed and mixed with the Administrator's, thus resulting in neither side getting what they wanted. The administrator had failed to destroy her and Yui while she failed to save Hikari. Ever since then, Cardinal was under the constant attacks of the Administrator System, which were slowly chipping away at her defenses while she could do nothing but watch.

And after all that, what had happened?

She had failed to save her priestess.

Ilsamor had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of a man he hated most, and with a huge cost. Alone.

And now, he was preparing for a warpath with one of the most broken weapons of the game, a skill whose description drove her crazy, and knowledge of how to unlock the Aincrad's most dangerous secret's gates.

Cardinal originally had planned several updates to be released when she would take the control of the game. These updates would provide players with better means to overcome arduous dungeons and would help them to get out of this prison faster. Yet she was keeping those contents hidden back then because this content also had the potential to cause massive destruction and death during PvP. It would be better to release it when the orange problem of Aincrad would be solved. However, with her failing defenses, many of the contents she kept hidden were out of her hands right now, and that meant Ilsamor, one of the strongest and maybe (mentally) the most unstable person on Aincrad had the knowledge to access and release what people would call weapons of mass destruction onto players.

She looked at the screen showing him and watched as he methodically cut through the dungeon's defenses while slowly approaching one of the critical items of the mission paths.

The Hammer of Seraphim.

It was not a weapon but a tool, an item needed for the completion of the objective. She could only count on its guardians to stop Ilsamor. It was not intentional, but she had left highly strong guardians for it during its first programming, and then forgot to replace it with balanced ones.

And now, they could be the only thing standing between a highly possible genocide and Ilsamor.

Ilsamor's death was also a possibility but Lady wasn't too worried about it as he had always been cautious about that bottom line, she doubted even this frenzy state of his would override this sense. After all, you cannot avenge if you are dead.

As she thought about this, Ilsamor came to the end of the dungeon corridor, which opened to a garden of Eden. It was still under the ground, but the roof was so high that any people who would enter there would have a hard time believing it wasn't sky. A single path made from cobblestones was floored from the end of the dungeon corridor Ilsamor had come through towards a marble shrine standing on a green hill. Several daphne trees and elm trees were sprinkled in the area (while these two tree types would not be seen together, it was a small gift for Ilsamor).

However, unlike the Ilsamor she knew, he didn't indulge himself in the picturesque scene of the final area. Instead, he unsheathed his greatsword and moved inside with great caution, which paid off in a few seconds.

Two light beams struck the place he was standing and barely managed to dodge them while the beams decimated the ground and cratered it.

When the dust finally settled, two Seraphim were standing in front of him, ten meters tall each and they were wielding golden spears.

Now he should retreat…

That was her hope. She was pleading from her heart (or whatever she has for a heart) for Ilsamor to pull back and recuperate. He would be with his friends, where his heart can recover from this, and then he—

"I cannot fall back from here. I've come a long way to give up!"

He dashed toward one of the Seraphim, his strength stat was enough to carry his sword with just one hand. Using the trees around to his advantage he dodged two more beams and jumped to the Seraphim closest to the hill by using Meteor Fall.

Lady knew from now on battle would be highly risky for Ilsamor. Technically he could take down those bosses but if he would get one hit, he would be decimated, because Lady had set their parameters about a floor boss around the 55th floor. Ilsamor was strong, but none of the players which could be considered the strongest could take them on their own. He would eventually be hit.

Wait…

Something was peculiar about the battle.

Ilsamor was holding himself against stronger opponents by what pro gamers call perfect evasion. His battle awareness was off the charts, he was fast and precise. As she watch, another beam hit the place he was standing near the hill. He dodged it and used another tree to propel himself to the nearest Seraphim's head by using another Avalanche to propel himself forward faster.

Then he hit the boss on the right side of its neck.

He didn't stop there though. Following this attack, Ilsamor stabbed his sword at Seraphim's back and managed to stop around the middle point of its back. From there, he jumped to its head while simultaneously unsheathing his longsword strapped on the left side of his waist.

When he landed on its cheeks, he didn't stop a bit. His sword shone yellow while he executed Vertical Square, directly to its left eye. Just after the sword skill, his gloved hand punched right through its right eye, effectively blinding the boss.

Lady Cardinal frowned. There was something wrong here, how could Ilsamor recover from sword skill cooldowns that fast? What's more, his sword skill speed was too fast. She swiped another screen and opened the skill descriptions.

Battle Clarity Buffs:

Up to 100 percent decrease after skill cooldown.

Sword skill animations' speed increases proportionally to the skill level.

Increase in perfect evasion time windows proportionally to skill level.

She froze.

Meanwhile, another beam was fired at him while he was still on the head of Seraphim. Without looking back, Ilsamor suddenly jumped, and the light beam hit the Seraphim he had blinded squarely on the face. That attack caused it to lose its balance after so much damage, and Seraphim fell on his back.

Then Lady heard another stabbing sound, and the tip of a greatsword appeared from its chest. Seraphim's image trembled, then dissolved into pixels. After that, the sword just fell to the ground, which Ilsamor walked and picked up casually after he sheathed the longsword back.

One more to go.

At this point, Lady did not know what Ilsamor would do. He had managed to defeat the first boss with (ironically) the help of the second. But what would he do now?

Meanwhile, Ilsamor was rushing to the remaining boss and the boss was raining beams of light on him once more. When he got in range, Seraphim attacked him with its golden spear this time, which he evaded with a backflip.

And he followed that backflip with a sudden rush to its spear, meanwhile, he sheathed the greatsword and switched to his katana. Just a few seconds later he was at the handle of the spear. At there, he took the position for Zekku for just a moment, then rushed to Seraphim's cheek.

The boss tried to catch him by its shoulder, but Ilsamor used another katana skill, Tsujikaze, as he landed on Seraphim's leftshoulder, effectively preventing any attacks that may come from his back due to a series of cuts he left behind his back.

He had a few seconds before the boss re-attempts to catch him.

His eyes soon landed on a spot on Seraphim's throat, and he used the ultimate skill of katana skills Sanka. Soon after Lady noticed the Boss' rapidly deteriorating health bar.

Though Ilsamor's job was not over.

He jumped toward the angel's back after he switched back to his greatsword, and stabbed that greatsword to the creature's back, to a point where the boss' arms cannot reach. There, he climbed on top of his sword (though Lady had no idea how he did that) and switched back to his katana.

There, near the spine of the boss, he executed two sword skills, Washu and Shinonome.

One to open up a path and another to break through his target, namely Seraphim's spinal cord.

Suddenly Seraphim froze and fell on his face. After that Ilsamor did nothing and slowly continued to climb the hill, thus leaving the boss bleeding to death.

It was a merciless and efficient move, one she hasn't seen from Ilsamor before.

But it wasn't over yet.

At the moment Ilsamor took a step from the bottom of the hill, he was struck by an attack from above, which he barely managed to dodge, although not without loss. His left arm and a considerable amount of health were lost.

He quickly used a Healing Crystal to fill his health and looked at his opponent. Even after such a painful situation, he had shown no mimics and made no sounds.

"Turn back mortal…" another Seraphim said to him, his voice was old and powerful, and his wooden staff and golden greatsword could be seen beside his large, pure white wings. "God had not yet deemed you worthy to wield what had been taken from you."

"I do not care…" Ilsamor spoke. "I am the sword of the Lady, and I need that power to protect those I care about. It's my responsibility. Stand aside, angel."

"No, you don't need it! Just stick together with your friends, you idiot!"

"If it's the power to protect you seek, this won't do. You will only turn something you despise…"

"Only a human could despise. I aim to stop being one. Thus, I will only represent what my mistress is. Nothing more, nothing less…"

"Then what if your mistress does not want you to wield this power?"

"Yes, that's it! I don't—"

"Who would not want her weapon to become stronger? As she decreed, I will be her sword, a silver blade to ward off the evil, or whomever she deems evil. I will be the thunder in her hands, that is the reason for my life, something I had foolishly forgotten long ago. Now, I don't want to kill you, but I will if you don't step aside."

She had nothing to say to this. Truly, that idiom "What goes around comes around " was true.

It was those words she had told him so long ago, and those words even now were haunting her.

"I see you left the reason. Very well, may your death be swift and painless."

He raised his staff and several beam circles appeared near it. They were positioned in such a way as to close off all of his escape routes.

"So it has come to that…" Ilsamor said while leisurely holding his greatsword, but despite his calm face and tranquil voice, Lady could swear she saw the faintest hint of a grin for a second. "I haven't maxed it out yet, but it seems I can still use it in here."

He quickly opened his menu and accessed the skills, then activated something.

"No… It can't be!"

"Goodbye… Silver Blade."

Beams shot toward him.

He casually stood like he was about to execute an iaijutsu technique with his greatsword, though from the way he was holding it was like there was no difference between a greatsword and a katana for him at the moment. His sword shone in magenta color while beams continued to close on him…

"Eight Blade Shield…"

Then he swung the blade, a few meters before the collision. His image became blurred, Lady only could follow the glow of his sword and watched while he made eight cuts to the area in front of him.

Beams scattered like Sakura blooms.

This was bad.

Then Ilsamor leaned forward and disappeared, only to reappear under the last boss. He swung his blade two times, which created a sort of airflow upwards…

"Reverse Thunder!"

Ilsamor's blade glowed blue, and as he shot up, he cut the boss from bottom to top and landed on top of its head and suddenly blue turned to crimson red.

"Firestorm!"

He stabbed the blade directly into Seraphim's brain. She could see the attack effect:

Burn chance(100%), deals a huge amount of damage and can be localized to the edge of the weapon.

Oh, he had localized it all right.

Under her terrified gaze, Ilsamor jumped down while the boss' brain burned from the inside and never looked back. With all opposition eliminated, he walked up to the shrine and took the hammer from the altar it was presented on.

Lady's hands were shaking…

No one could survive against him, and he would not stop until all of the orange players die.

She bowed her head.

Her champion…Was no more.

Her gaze turned to the second screen, where she could see a wooden house, a small girl lying on a bed with a black-haired boy sitting on a chair near her, waiting for her to wake up.

"Be careful with what you wish for… Now I understand these words' significance. But this time, I swear I am desperate."

She fumbled with a few other screens, her control over the game was almost non-existent at this point. Still, there were some, like the few items she had created for the game.

While fumbling with the settings she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. After all, it wasn't that she had granted him that, rather he had won it by his own talent.

But…

"But now, Kirito, you are the only one who still has a piece of mind within you. So, please, I beg you…"

…she would not let one of the strongest items in Aincrad go unused. Not in such a critical time.

She pressed a few buttons, and a sword suddenly disappeared from a house on the 68th floor. At the same time, Kirito received a notification and couldn't help but frown.

"For the last time, I need a champion; this time, it has to be you. Please, stop this massacre!"

It was a multiple-sided chess with everyone making their moves with lightning speed.

And finally, this grand game was about to come to head with a new frontier.


In a house on the 22nd floor, Kirito couldn't help but frown at the sudden notification he had received. It had come to him with no reason at all and the content of the notification only made him more confused.

"Nothing in this game was making sense anymore…" he thought before closing the notification window and standing up from the chair he has sitting on. The window near the bed was looking to a fenced square garden area near the temple of Swords. While it was the most beautiful garden in the whole game with the rarest flowers, it was actually one of the saddest places in the game. Inside it, hidden from the sight by the beauty of flowers were many stabbed weapons, swords, daggers, and spears. Kirito's eyes instantly locked on the one he had always looked to whenever he sees this garden.

Lambent Light.

His hands balled into fists as an inextinguishable rage swelled up within him once more.

He hated this game.

That shouldn't be something new, but interestingly it was. Yes, he had felt lonely, he had been saddened by what happened to Sachi and Moonlit Black Cats, but even then he wasn't completely alone.

Another player who stepped front when the Assault team was in a hard condition and offered to scout bosses before they fight them came into his life. A player who had said that he admired him long ago. And in return, he admired that player. Admired that he helped many players without reward, admired that despite being forced to lead players with a guild, he never backed down or complained. Admired that he shouldered many burdens with a brutal but necessary fight against the Orange players.

Then he loved.

He loved a flower, elegant, graceful, and deadly. Just like her alias, she had come and left his life, in a flash. Despite the encouragement he got from his friends and clear signals from her, he never managed to say his love to her. And when he finally could do so…

"Today, I am planting a seed for our fight, Black Swordsman. Nothing personal, but I want to be sure you will search for me, got that?"

Then like it wasn't enough, Ilsamor had left him after Hikari was killed. From the look in his eye, he would do something drastic, but for now…

"You should calm down Ki-bou… The girl will cry if you don't."

His anger was suddenly doused while the pained expression on the girl's face disappeared. "I am sorry Argo. Any change in the game we need to know?"

"Not much…" Argo said, her eyes kept traveling to several different screens continuously "There seem to be several changes in the game environment, possibly for an upcoming event. War continues, and Green Crusade surrounded the town on the 28th floor, but from the news I have been getting, it is no good for now. LC is heavily entrenched and no one in the Swords had the skills to create siege equipment."

"Siege equipment?" Kirito asked, turning his head to her face to understand if she was joking or not. "This game has siege equipment and a skill to make them?"

"Yes, but it is not something we have needed before Kirito…" Argo said nonchalantly while swiping another screen to let it disappear. "It wouldn't help us a lot had we brought some catapults to boss fights."

"I suppose you are right…" Kirito said while scratching the back of his hair. "Any luck on finding her parents or friends?"

"No news on that front too, I am afraid…" Argo shook her head "I searched the common channels and talked with my informants, we had one or two cases but they weren't matching the girl's description… Kirito, I think we need to face it, this girl is not a player."

Kirito sighed and slowly sat back on his chair "I think the same Argo, but I didn't want it to be. I had hoped this girl is a normal player and the absence of her cursor is just a system glitch."

Argo leaned forward "Do you have any idea about her identity?"

"None at the moment but her voice is familiar from somewhere… I just cannot remember from where though." He mused but then he sighed. "Anyway, I cannot wait here too long. There is a war going on outside, and every minute I spend here is costing another player's life."

Argo looked at him at these words, then she closed the screens in front of her before standing up and coming near him, only to knock on his head "Kii-bou, get yourself together. Everyone in Aincrad is going crazy, Swords losing or maybe has already lost whatever upper hand they had in this war, Rider is trying to control everything while Asemi is trying to cover up Ilsamor's absence. They don't need another wrecked brain among them."

Kirito rubbed the spot Argo had knocked "I know that Argo, but I have a very bad feeling about this. I had a system alert just a moment ago saying Kalaiet added to my inventory—"

"What did you say?!"

Argo's reaction was not what Kirito was expecting. The famous informant of the Aincrad seemed terrified when she heard it. Just to show he was not lying (and maybe a bit of hope that he was indeed seeing things) he opened his menu and materialized the sword named Kalaiet.

Reality though was different than what they were hoping for.

Here it was… A metal that was so pure that its color was white. It had almost no weight, the weapon was carrying runic writings and had an emerald-like handle with a golden pommel.

It was really Kalaiet.

"What do you think this means Argo?" Kirito asked while storing the sword back in his inventory. Meanwhile, Argo had managed to calm herself, but she still had a worrying look on her face. She swallowed before answering Kirito. "Kirito… I have a few ideas but none of them are good…"

Kirito felt something cold gripping his heart "What do you mean?"

"First of all, this weapon is not something Lady simply gifted to Ilsamor due to her kindness or something. This weapon was the mission reward for one of the hardest missions in the game, and Ilsamor had won it fair and square. Now, there is a certain meaning in this action, I think, from her perspective, you are the person who is worthy to wield this… But this only brings a lot of bitter questions."

In the bed, the small girl's breathing started to become faster.

"If she took that blade from Ilsamor, that can mean several things. One, seeing Ilsamor had left this sword behind and considering its value, she didn't want it to be wasted. And, believe it or not, you are the next name (or Ilsamor is the name after you for some people) after him for many people, you have been chosen for it. This is the best case."

"What about the bad ones?" Kirito asked.

"First bad case, Ilsamor may have lost his life, which is unlikely…" she added after seeing Kirito's expression. "If that were the case, I would already have heard it. But the next case can be the worst between them."

Argo sighed "Ilsamor may not be the same man we know, and therefore dying in a sense. Next time we see him, we would not see the man we used to know. And since she needed another enforcer…"

"She chose me," Kirito said while scratching the back of his hair with annoyance. The timing of this was too bad with everything going on.

What was Lady wanting from him?

"Ngh…"

Kirito's and Argo's heads shot up and they looked at each other before rushing to the girl's side who seemed to be having a nightmare.

"No… Don't kill them…"

"Kirito, do something!" Argo urged him but Kirito had no idea what to do.

"It's too early…No…"

Seeing no other option, Kirito did the only thing he could think of. He hugged the girl and pressed her face to his chest while slowly rubbing her head.

"It's okay… You are safe now. None of that is real…" he whispered to the girl and to his luck and astonishment, his words and actions were slowly showing effect. Her expression relaxed, her sound became calmer and she reciprocated Kirito's action by hugging his neck.

"Way to go, Kii-bou!"

Kirito did not answer, instead, he kept looking at the girl whose eyes seemed to be slowly opening. He released her just enough that she could look at his face "It's okay. You were having a nightmare. Are you all right?"

The girl looked into his eyes and slowly nodded "I… I am all right. Thank you."

Kirito released the girl from his arms and sit near her, "Take a moment to recover. I have found you on the 4th floor, middle of the battle."

"Battle?" she asked, her big eyes focused entirely on Kirito. Kirito raised his brows "You don't remember the battle? It's not a new thing, even if it only reached that level of destruction newly."

"I don't remember," The girl said. Then she held her head while bowing it "I don't remember anything."

Kirito's heart dropped.

"You don't remember anything? Even your name?"

The girl thought for a moment then nodded "I remember my name. I am Yui."

"Nice to meet you, Yui," Kirito answered back while smiling a little. "I am Kirito."

"Ki-to?" said Yui with a confused face.

"Kirito."

Yui tried again but she couldn't tell his name. Finally, Kirito relented "Okay, call me whatever you like."

Yui looked at his face and hugged him "Papa."

His eyes widened and his mind returned to the memory right after the battle. But before he couldn't say anything Argo sat on the other side of Yui and rubbed her head "Good one Yui! Auntie Argo was sure you would recognize your papa!"

"Really, Auntie Argo?" said Yui, turning her head to Argo with sparkling eyes.

"Um—"

"Co'mon, let's go to the kitchen, and maybe your papa would prepare something to eat for us. You must be hungry."

"Yeah! Please, papa?" said Yui while Kirito's eye began to twitch.

Really Argo? Is this the point, right now?


"Papa, look there are cows in there! Look!"

"I can see them Yui…" said Kirito a little exasperatedly at Yui's enthusiasm. The snicker he heard from behind was the possible response of Argo to the scene she was witnessing.

They were walking on the green fields of the 22nd floor toward the temporary camps Swords had set up for the players who were still too weak to participate in the Green Crusade. While they lost a part of their strength and morale after recent events, Eternal Champions were still some of the strongest PvP and PvE players in the game. Seeing she had no other items besides the one-piece white dress she was wearing, Argo had provided some clothes for Yui, and the small girl was having the time of her life on Kirito's shoulders while observing the world outside.

After all that had happened, he was finally reaching his objective. The road was filled with sadness and misery, and he had seen the pathetic state he was in too many times.

How many people had died just because he tried to become human?

In a sense, he was regretting he had ever met her. She had roped him into humanity, otherwise, none of this would happen. He would stay hidden until it becomes truly necessary and only then he would reveal himself. In a truly ready state, not needing further training or stronger items. He already had the strongest items in the game and a unique skill to boot.

He stood in front of the wall carved with an endless number of names and unsheathed his blank katana…

"You seem bored a little Kii-bou?" Argo teased him while Yui kept showing the things that excited her around them. "If that is so, you shouldn't pick her on your shoulders."

"It was your idea, Argo…" Kirito answered flatly while Argo put her hands at the back of her head "True, but you didn't seem too opposed to the idea either."

He had no rebuttals. Argo cheekily grinned after she realized Kirito conceded the point to her.

They continued to walk and Yui continued to point things with wide eyes. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and he found himself chucking when one of the cows came near them and licked Yui's hand. "I can't blame her for loving this floor so much…" he thought absent-mindedly. "After all, that is why I built this house here."

His mind wandered to the painful memories for a while before he forcibly ejected them from his mind. Lady had warned him, remembering painful memories was like filling an iron pot with lava. You need to get rid of them as soon as possible, otherwise, they would melt the pot and damage whatever was around them.

"Hey Kirito…" said Argo, which also pulled him from his harmful thoughts. "Hmm?" he said while turning his head and saw Argo was looking to the fields with a slight worry on her face.

"These cow-like creatures… They are friendly mobs, right?"

"Yes, why did you ask?"

"Then why all of them are looking at us right now?"

The hammer in his hand continued to beat his katana for the runes he had discovered in the new content. He engraved them, dangerous, broken, overpowered, he had acquired them before any other green or orange player could acquire them.

Because they were prototypes, untested therefore left alone without a thing about them being tested. Alone they may not be quite effective, but he had another thing to combine them with. A unique skill that he got after offering his blood, tears, and sweat. Something that truly belonged to him in his eyes, unlike many other things he had in his life.

He was not hearing the sound of the hammer when he timed its hit to the thunder he hear in his soul. An ice-cold wind was blowing the only heat source he was seeing on his soul, a small campfire.

Just a few more minutes… Then it would be too late for them.

Kirito looked around them and saw that Argo was right. All of the cow-like creatures had stopped what they were doing and were looking at them without a movement.

"Papa, what are they doing?"

"It may be a system update. They would return to normal in a few minutes…" Kirito said unsurely. He had never seen anything like that, and seeing it now was too interesting.

"And too suspicious to be a coincidence…" he thought to himself. He needed to find Asemi or Rider before something happened. "Okay, let's see if you would enjoy this if we go a little faster." He said before he started to run, soon Yui's excited sound reached Argo's ears. But before she could smile at such a scene, she noticed cow-like mobs started to follow Kirito towards the area where players were residing in.

And finally, after a hell of a time, he was reaching his objective. Three days to without sleep to acquire weapons, four days to reach the hammer, and a few more days to finalize the quest. He took one more look at the fire that was about to be extinguished by the ever-increasing wind.

What stood before him was a door made from wood, it was simply a locked door in Black Iron Palace. Since it seemed to be leading nowhere and had no quest related to it, nobody had ever cared for it. Many more runes were carved on the door, and the only thing that seemed to be changed was the faint light coming from the cracks of the door.

As he came closer, the runes in his weapons began to glow…

"Yo, Kirito! When did you decide to have a child?!"

"Yeah, it's nice to see you too Sage…" Kirito answered back. Seeing he came there, Artemis and Warblade came near them.

"So what brings you here Kirito? You were absent from the war for some time, I thought you had enough."

"I don't think I can have enough, Artemis," Kirito sighed while shaking his head. "At least not before he comes back. "Is there any news?"

"None. It's like he turned into a ghost and disappeared…" Artemis replied back, then gestured to Yui with her eyebrows "What's up with the kid?"

"I don't know, that's why I come here, to be honest. Is there anyone who come to you for a lost child?"

"No," Warblade answered. "I don't think it is something we would forget had someone come for it. You know how uncommon it is for someone to have their kids with them in this game."

"I suppose you are right. Then can you ask Asemi—"

"Papa, look! Cows are following us!" Yui said enthusiastically.

Kirito felt his blood freeze in his veins. And he slowly turned to his back.

They had really followed them. What's worse they seemed to be directly looking at them.

Or more specifically Yui.

His brain was still in the middle of analysis when Yui once again reached out to pat a mob's nose. If it wasn't for his reflexes, she would lose her hand.

Because…

"Kii-bou… What's going on?" Argo asked with a nervous voice.

… cursors over mobs were turning red from green.

"Argo… Take Yui and go wherever Asemi is…"

He unsheathed his swords while a howl from the forest echoed on the floor.

And soon, the hell broke onto the players residing in the temporary camp.

He plucked his longsword into the hole on the right side of the door while plucking his greatsword into the one on the left.

"I am a sinner in the highest order. Because I stole the light that I was deemed unworthy and used the flames I have no right to desire…"

"All right, hold your positions! We need to keep them until reinforcements arrive! Most of the players here cannot survive such an assault!"

Kirito gritted his teeth while turning around himself, taking out cows while doing so. There were simply too many of them, and they had become more numerous after wolf mobs from the forest joined them.

Teleport Crystals and teleportation stones were not working. The floor was effectively sealed from the outside except for maybe physical ways, and they were not in a position to try those right now.

"Kirito, the circle is getting tighter. We need to get out of here, NOW!"

"I am trying!" Kirito said, while continuously swinging his blades in front of him. There were too many mobs and not too many players to deal with them.

This was supposed to be a safe floor after all.

"I am the Archangel, the first servant of the Lady, one who has no will but of his master's, no wish but his master's. Now, I will let the storm of my soul complete my sanctification as I let go of everything that makes me human…"

Her face came to his mind for a moment, and a lone tear ran down his face.

Following that, the small fire died and he felt the first drops of rain on his skin.

"Ah!"

"Be careful Kirito!"

"This won't work…" Kirito thought, after killing the mob that hit him. Even if they weren't doing much damage to him, there were simply too many of them. He needed to become stronger.

He hesitated for a moment, but his hesitation flew out of the window when he noticed the frightened expression on Yui's face.

He opened his inventory and equipped Kalaiet as his main weapon.

He raised the katana he was holding to air. The blade glowed with a green light and began to suck the light coming from the cracks of the door. It's brilliance was getting only more powerful as it sucked more power.

"One god had taken it, and another has shown a human how to take it back. Now for my revenge, for my justice, and for the people I sacrificed myself…

He swung his sword and cleaved the plank keeping the door shut.

"I am giving magic back to Aincrad."

Kirito wasn't sure what he should do even if he had equipped Kalaiet. Situation seemed so bleak, so desperate…

And then…

System Alert: Gates of Vaneria is opened. New content is being updated.

"What?" Kirito thought but soon he saw something more important

Notification: Perfect Weapon Control Stage 2 is unlocked.

His eyes widened.

"Kirito!"

"Kirito!"

"Papa!"

For the people behind him, and for the people who believed him, he screamed with all his might.

"RELEASE RECOLLECTION!"

Everything froze while the world was enveloped with white light.


A/N: Holy smokes, I was being lazy alright... I haven't noticed it until now, but well... I am sorry. Only in this semester I was forced to write three plays for one of my classes, and there were several other things I had to take care of, so... Sorry? Tbh, it was partly because I tried to write this chapter by following one of Hemingway's suggestions and I hope it worked, please comment if you think so.

Regardless of everything, I thank you for reading this chapter, and I wish you a beautiful life until we see each other again.

Till next time!