Fighting against Friends...


Kirito: " you guys won't believe who participated in the rebuilding."

He said pulling a certain name on the screen of his laptop and Seekers' members wore shocked expressions.

Kazu: " Omega Dain!"

Ami: " how!"

Fenrir: " just wait! There is more to it!"

He pulled an article from who knows where and displayed it on the screen to everyone.

Ran: " ' The Revival of Omega Dain, let's all create the LBXs of the future.' by Dream Future!"

Evangeline: " basically Dream Future brought Omega Dain as a part of it now."

Arata: " this Dream Future started to annoy me."

Ami: " even if they managed to bring it back, Omega Dain should be under supervision for their last deeds."

Kirito: " that's the case. But we have to expect them to have their ways around the supervision."

Jin: " do you think it has something to do with the Virus in the second world?"

Kirito: " it's the very suspected fraction here. But we need to study the situation more. Maybe we can head down to the Grand Master next time."

Ran: " can't your vaccine do something?"

Evangeline : " the vaccine was made for LBXs, it can't work on the Grand Master."

She said before taking out certain LBX.

Arata: " D Ezeldee!"

Sendou: " I asked Kiyoka to borrow it for us for a while."

Kirito : " it's totally broken. But on the recorded, it surely moved, and it was very strong."

Sendou: " yet, Kiyoka said that it didn't work since they brought it from the second world after it attacked them."

Kirito: " that's why we came to the conclusion that the thing that made it work was in the Second World in the first place."

Arata: " but how did it come back, it was thrown away for all I know?"

Kirito narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the LBX.

Kirito: " we will have to borrow one of those kids labs to study it."

Arata: " so basically we will be using the Second World on our own?"

Jin nodded. Arata looked down in though before he looked at Kirito.

Arata: " Kirito-san, can we ask for more people's help?"

Hiro: " eh!"

Arata: " we can send our vaccine to more players and so we can get more help."

Evangeline: " doesn't sound like a bad idea."

Kirito: " there is a problem. What if one of the players here is already a dealer or have connections with a dealer?"

Achilles D9: " the ones spreading the L Virus?"

Kirito: " even if rampaging was only happening in the Second World, I can't ignore the possibility that L Virus had already reached to the students. If we give them the vaccine, it's like we gave up our most important weapon to the main mind here."

Arata looked down. When Jin saw that, he decided to speak.

Jin: " Kirito, I don't see a problem with giving a few students the vaccine program. Ones that we totally trust."

Arata looked up while Kirito rubbed his chin.

Kirito: " alright, that may work. But try to keep their number low."

Zenon: " Jenock's first platoon and Harness' first platoon, right?"

Jin nodded.

Jin: " Houjou Muraku and Andrei Gregory may be a help as well."

Twilight: " I think this is enough. We don't want to risk spreading the vaccine so much for now."

Kirito : " alright. Arata, gather them here, I will have the vaccine installed in their CCMs and feed them on the situation."

Arata: " ok!"

He said as he stood up and ran to find his friends...


Metazawa: " currently Seekers' team is trying to come up with a plan to enter the Lost Area. They will be asking some students for help."

Josephine: " I see, those people are really determined to find a solution."

Metazawa: " headmaster, will it be really fine to stop war time? Students may not approve of it."

Josephine: " there is something dangerous going on the new second world, we can't have the students placed in danger like that, their safety is our priority right now."

He looked up at the robot.

Josephine: " Meta-chan, the town?"

Metazawa: " nothing wrong with it till now. The people are leading a peaceful life down there."

Josephine: " I hope the town won't be targeted as well."...


Gregory: " ok, to sum what I understood. This L Virus or something is actually infecting the whole new Second World. That's the main reason behind the LBXs rampaging?"

The adults nodded.

Muraku: " to get more information about the situation, you have to head down to the Grand Master."

Kagetora: " and to do so you need our help for that right?"

Kirito: " exactly."

Gregory : " if it's so then you've asked the right people. I won't let anyone disturb the peace of the Second World again."

He punched a fist into his palm.

Momona: "I... I will be doing my best too... I can't have them destroy the Second World just when I joined!"

Haruki: " but since you've just asked us, I think you expect us to keep quiet about the whole situation."

Hiro nodded.

Hiro: " it will become a mess if word of the infection reached to the other students."

Takeru: " there is still a problem."

Kirito looked up.

Kirito: " you thought about it. Surprisingly you're not like your sister."

Kagetora: " what's the matter, Takeru?"

Takeru: " if the whole system of the Second World was infected, then there may be a chance that your own LBXs as well got infected. For all we know, they could have used the Control Pods to install the Virus into your CCMs."

Sakuya: " and so causing the rampaging."

Kagetora: " then, our LBXs may already be infected?"

He said taking out his blue DC Ariel.

Evangeline: " don't worry, we only have to heal your LBXs using Arata's Vaccine."

Ran: " ours can't really heal. It just gives a power up."

Sakuya was lost in thought until someone called for him.

Arata: " what's the matter, Sakuya?"

Sakuya: " I was just thinking. The reason that every LBX in the Second World started going berserk is that they were infected via the control pods. Then why on the world Haruki, Hikaru, Muraku, Gregory-sanpai and Momona's LBXs weren't affected?"

Kirito: " that's... Actually strange. They should be infected as well."

Ran: " then why?"

Momona: " may I speak..."

Kagetora: " what?"

Momona: " actually since the rampaging started, there have been something wrong with my CCM."

Jin: " something wrong?"

Momona: " whenever the rampaging starts, I see a blue owl mark on my screen and it stays there until the rampaging is over."

Hikaru, Haruki, Muraku and Gregory exchanged surprised look.

Kirito: " wait! Hold on! Don't tell me all four of you had been through the same thing as well?"

They all nodded.

Muraku: " I never thought you had been through the same, I had Kageto check my CCM, thinking there was something off with it."

Ran: " a blue owl symbol, there's no mistake about it!"

Kirito: " it explains it now."

Ami: " but, isn't it a bit different from our case."

Evangeline: " maybe they are not ready yet to use the vaccine, so all it did was protecting their LBXs from the infection.

Haruki: " what are you talking about?"

Kazu: " you got the same special vaccine we got."

Jin: " apparently you're still not ready to use it yet, but expect to be given a special power up soon."

Momona: " a power up!"

Her eyes sparkled in excitement.

Arata: " even if that's the case. Their LBXs can't fight off infected ones."

Kirito : " then it will still be better to give them the vaccine program we made."

Arata: " first of all. The others bring out your LBXs, I will be healing them."

He said taking out his Achilles Deed...


Next Day...

Josephine: " everyone! You seem to be all in lovely spirits this morning!"

Arata: " here he goes with his pet phrase."

Haruki: " and here you go with your comments."

Everyone were gathered for the assembly that morning and Arata had decided to go with them as well, for the sake of the old days.

Josephine: " I have some sad announcement to you. Because of some technical problems in the New Second World, we will be holding off War Time for a while."

" Eh!"

" Why?! What's wrong?"

" What about our rankings?"

Josephine: " hold on everyone. Your ranks will be freezed until further notice. You will be discharged from school at 3:30 pm from now on."

" What about the New Second World?"

Josephine: " currently we have a special group working on fixing the problem. We will inform you of any news. But for now, the War Time will be paused for reparation purposes. That's all. Do your best on your lessons."

Everyone walked out while dragging their feet, clearly disappointed about the news.

Arata: " that's it."

Hikaru: " you can't expect him to explain everything."

Arata: " right. After all it should be kept a secret. By the way, where's Sakuya."

Harkui: " he got permission to get all day off today. He said he has something important he have to work on."...


Kirito: " it surely does look like an infected LBX."

He said as he looked at the footages Takeru showed of D Ezeldee's first appearance in the New Second World on the screen of his control room.

Takeru: " it was the first time LBXs started rampaging. Everyday, a group of LBXs somewhere would go crazy, attacking everything in their way."

Jin: " yosh, everyone listen carefully. Takeru, Kirito, Eva and I will be trying to get some info of D Ezeldee in Harness' Lab. You have to try and reach to the Lost Area."

Kazu: " it will be easy since there will be no other players around. Means no infected LBXs."

Achilles Deed: " I won't be sure."

Pandora: " those students had the virus installed on their CCMs for so long for all we know. The virus may have already reached the next strep."

Zenon: " brainwashing the players..."

Evangeline : " which means there is a possibility they would come after you."

Takeru: " even so, they will have two hours of mobility in the second world."

Zenon: " we can move as we want on the other hand."

Touko: " then, why not heading right away?"

Jin: " to enter the Lost Area, we need the New Second World to be activated..."

Takeru: " ... During war time."

Queen: " didn't the headmaster hold it off!?"

Takeru: " we only prohibited students from participating. The New Second World will be working as scheduled."

Ami: " not to mention, if you go there on your own we won't be able to assist from here. For all we know there may be another LBX like D Ezeldee down there."

Everyone frowned slightly as the point got across. Going there before War Time was a nasty gumbel.

Achilles D9: " we have plenty of time before War Time. Since we're unfamiliar with the Second World, we will be using that time to take a look at the map."

Takeru: " though Arata and the others will be with you, they will lead you there."

Kazu: " well, you have to think of the worst scenario, what if we were attacked and they were defeated."

Takeru: " sounds reasonable."

Ran: " speaking of him, where is Arata?"

She pipped looking for her cousin.

Takeru: " he said he will be joining Jenock for their classes since it has been a while."

Minerva: " should we take a look at the map then?"

Ran: " very well, let's go everyone."

As they left, Eva frowned as she looked down, clearly thinking about something.

Jin: " Eva?"

Kirito: " what's the matter?"

Evangeline : " what was D Ezeldee after?"

She asked, taking both of them by surprise.

Takeru: " from what we know, it was after an LBX belonging to a student of Glenschteim."

Zenon: " after an LBX?"

Takeru: " we didn't get to know why though."

The blonde exchanged looks with both men.

Kirito: " seems it will require much more investigation."...


3:30 PM...

Yuno: " at least we can get a small break."

Catherine : " I have to agree."

Kiyoka: " well, it's only natural after the many things that happened in the Second World."

Yuno: " do you think Arata and the others will manage it?"

Kiyoka pulled out her phone and flipped a card and she frowned.

Kiyoka: " Judgement, reverse, miscalculation will lead to unwanted results."

Yuno: " Arata..."...


Muraku: " we have half an hour before the second world activates. As soon as we get there we will head off to the lost Area."

Haruki: " Sakuya and Takeru are busy so we will be using the riding saucers."

Hikaru: " alright."

Sakuya: " Arata!"

They turned back to look at the green head running towards them.

Arata: " what's wrong, Sakuya?"

He bent down, trying to catch his breath.

Sakuya: " I almost forgot something very important... Here, Arata..."

He said holding out his hand.

Arata: " Dot Phoenix!"

Sakuya: " you can use it again with your Achilles Deed. Just like your last fight with the World Savers!"

Arata: " thank you, Sakuya!"

Sakuya: " do your best guys!"

He said waving at them as he made his way back to his control room.

Suzune: " let's take our positions as well."...


Takeru pinned the former World Savers' LBX on the craft carrier before placing it down in the vent along with Twilight, Zenon and Fenrir.

Kirito : " they will be going in case it activated again."

Takeru: " they can use our riding saucers."

Jin: " we can't use our CCMs on you when you're in the Second World from here. So you won't be able to activate your attack functions."

Zenon: " don't worry, we will be holding just fine even without them."

" War Time will begin in 20 seconds. All players, prepare for battle."

Jin: " let's go."

The others nodded.

" 3... 2... 1... War Time Begins!"

Takeru: " craft carrier, launch!"

The airship flew off the base followed by the three LBXs on their Riding Saucers.

Just as they were flying to the lab, a video call from Sakuya got their attention.

Sakuya: " Takeru! I've confirmed about 100 control pods used at the moment!"

Their expression reflected terror as they heard that.

Evangeline: " 100!"

Jin pursed his lip at that.

Jin: " the rest should be used by brainwashed players."

Takeru: " that's so much!"

Jin: " they should be able to hold in front of them, yet..."

Kirito: " the time limit..."

Evangeline : " then, shall I-"

Kirito: " don't you ever think of it, Eva!"

She snapped when he stared at her eyes.

Jin: " the whole Second World is infected, if you try and use your power on it, you as well..."

His tone expressed worry. It was then that Eva placed her hand at the side of her head, realizing what may happen.

Jin: " don't you worry about them. They will get through one way or another."

Takeru: " we have to focus on D Ezeldee for now."...


Muraku: " continue forward and we will reach the Lost Area soon."

He told them as they flew above the New Second World's lands.

Sakuya: " everyone!"

They blinked as Sakuya connected to them.

Sakuya: " everyone! Be careful! I've confirmed that other control pods had been activated as well! You will be running into enemies down ther-"

Before he could continue a missile was launched at them, they quickly split to avoid it and most of them descended to the ground.

Pandora: " they're here!"

Around 90 LBXs were presented in front of them, brandishing their weapons and ready to protect the lost area to thier very last.

Muraku: " that Gunther and Glerior! It can't be...! Vanessa! Mikhail!"

In two others control pods, Mikhail and Vanessa were sitting there with dull eyes.

Momona: " everyone! That DC Ariel!"

Kagetora: " Muteki Ginjirou!"

Sakuya's eyes widened at another DC Ariel with Jenock's emblem on it.

Sakuya: " Rinko..."

Arata: " our friends are... I won't forgive them!"

His knuckles whitened as he grasped the joystick.

Harkui: " let's attack! If we touch them or make them break over they will be free right!"

Minerva: " yosh! I'm diving in!"

Achilles D9: " wait for me!"

They clashed with the infected LBXs, trying to break them over and proceed.

" We won't let you!"

" We will protect this place for Leviathan!"

The infected LBXs retaliate to stop them from moving forward and no one of them managed even to sneak past them. Their defense was tough.

Harkui: " strong!"

Arata: " they're controlled by players after all! It's not like the automatic rampaging ones! Hissatsu Function!"

" Attack Function: Stinger Missiles!"

Achilles send its black missiles flying through the sky, and falling down upon their enemies.

Mikhail: " not so fast! Hissatsu Function!"

Vanessa : " Hissatsu Function!"

" Attack Function: Power Slash!"

" Attack Function: Hyper Energy Bomb!"

Muraku brought up Magna Orthus' shield to protect himself.

Muraku: " sorry, Mikhail! Vanessa!"

Magna Orthus picked up speed as it dashed forward, Vanessa rained her shoots on it but it kept dodging them before approaching and finally lending a blow on each LBX, but to his surprise, they withstood it as they used their weapons as shields.

Muraku: " impossible."...


Fenrir: " it's moving!"

He shouted out at the ones in Takeru's control room.

Currently D Ezeldee's was pinned to a board while all kinds of scanners went back and forth over it. When it suddenly began to move, Zenon and the others held up their weapons in response.

Twilight: " it's..."

The LBX was roaring, struggling to get itself of the bread, not bothering about the cracks that was getting wider on its frame. Finally, it managed to free one hand, breaking anything near it and freeing itself.

Zenon: " you're not going anywhere!"

Swaying his hammer, he aimed to break it down but it dodged and jumped on Twilight like a wild animal.

Evangeline: " Twilight !"

The small unit slashed at the robot and managed to get herself free.

Jin: " we can't give them assistance from here."

Takeru: " the scan was completed! You three can use the control pods in the main room!"

Evangeline : " let's go, Jin, Kirito!"

The boys nodded as they ran out of the control room...


Sakuya: " they are so strong!"

He looked at a blueprint pulled on the main screen. It showed a loading bar with 97% percentage of it completed.

Sakuya: " it won't be ready in time!"...


Arata: " beam canons!"

The LBXs held up their shields, surprisingly they hold off against Achilles Deed's beams.

Arata: " damn it, they have almost unlimited HP!"

Haruki: " continue pressing forward!"

Hikaru: " it's easy said than done! They dodge us very well!"

Val Diver was surrounded, one of the LBXs managed to choppe its arm, leaving it to struggle with one arm.

Suzune: " get away of me!"

Momona: " I'm not losing you know!"

She yelled as she shot her bullets at their joints, aiming to paralyze them, but it didn't pay off.

Momona: " that's not fair!"

Sendou: " that's exactly what a cheat code do! Hissatsu!"

" Attack Function! Death Scythe Hurricane!"

Nightmare: " be devoured by the darkness!"

The LBX called the power of darkness as he span upwards and slashed it upon his enemies. But they managed to survive.

Kazu: " we underestimated them!"

Ami: " they had been fighting for so long, of course they will be different than the players we've fought in the city!"

Suzune: " what can't I say. Sorry for being one of the best LBX players!"

Ran: " mo!"

Minerva continued firing her energy blasts.

Minerva: " we're running out of time!"...


The three LBXs were struggling with the other one. Even though it was mostly destroyed, yet it was putting a good fight, much good for them.

Kirito: " we're back!"

He announced to his LBX as he set himself in his control pod.

Jin: " Zenon! Hissatsu Function!"

Zenon: " Finally!"

" Attack Function: Break Geyser!"

Zenon: " eat this!"

He slammed the hammer on the ground violently and the floor cracked as a wave of blue energy traveled through it and hit the LBX head on.

Evangeline : " Kirito !"

Kirito: " You don't need to tell me!"

Kirito& Evangeline : " Hissatsu !"

" Attack Function: X Blade!"

" Attack Function: Heat Wing!"

Fenrir slashed at the enemy twice, forming an X shape while Twilight's wings were covered in fire as she zoomed towards D Ezeldee, thrusting at it with her Katana. The LBX finally exploded. Jin let out a breath he had been holding for a while.

Jin: " we did it"...


Harkui: " Hikaru! Watch out!"

Trivhine jumped in to block a Glerior that brought its sword on Val Diver, taking the damage instead.

Hikaru: " Haruki!"

The Glerior backed while Haruki had troubles moving. Just as they were like that, they were surround by infected units all equiped with various kinds of Riding Armors.

Hikaru: " this is bad!"

Haruki: " we're done for..."...