Important: The reason this one took longer to get out was not because of writer's block. It was because even though I had over half this chapter written by the time the previous was looked over by my beta and released, I'd done a more thorough clean up of the first few chapters a while back, then picked back up my clean up at chapter 7 and have been re-reading all the chapters between 7 and this one to clean them up, with the intention of releasing them with a new chapter to push out a notice about it.
The first few chapters range from scenes that aren't hugely different, to me outright replacing the short scene from Dante's perspective of taking Marzanna to find her familiars to a 2,000+ word scene of Marzanna's perspective of meeting Aite. After the first few though, while I still felt the quality was lower than the ones I write now, it had risen enough that I was mostly fixing errors, though there were scenes that were expanded on and such.
If you aren't someone who likes re-reading, I don't recall really making any huge changes, it was mostly things like expanding on the first kiss from Kirito's perspective, because apparently the muses decided that actually he's a total sap mentally, so he thought of her as his Goddess and he her loyal Devotee, and then references just got added in here and there, so I don't think you'd be missing a whole lot, but I've been going over more than 50 chapters so there might be something slipping my mind right at the moment.
AN: In reference to the above, I was actually also going over the reviews I've gotten from you guys, mostly taking a quick break after each chapter, and refound the hilarious guest review calling me pathetic for gender bending a main character because I didn't want to put in an OC and admit it was a self-insert. Which is utterly hilarious considering how different Marzanna actually is from me. This would be a wildly different story if Marzanna was meant to be me.
For one thing, it wouldn't be a Marzanna/Kirito romance since I'm aromantic and asexual, and when I was thinking about it because the comment made me go 'What would a Me-Marzanna look like?' I also came to the conclusion that at best I'd probably be like a part time front liner, since being an info broker actually appeals more. And on top of that, I'm actually firmly in the 'if you die because I was defending myself and/or others, that's on you bro' camp, which I'll remind you is in direct opposition to Marzanna. Between that and my bluntness, it likely would've led to me sitting Kirito's ass down and spelling it out for him when he went through the guilt thing.
Hell, I've gotten some comments about it, but even as the writer there were times I wanted to shake Marzanna for her reaction to the Laughing Coffin raid even though it fits her character and upbringing. So. Honestly, as far as characters like me go, I'd say the fem!Harry from a different SAO/HP fic I have on the backburner is more similar, and she's a fucking flirt. Which again, does not mesh with my aro-ace ass, soooo. Needless to say, I got one hell of a laugh out of that. Kudos to you bro, most comments can get a laugh out of me once then I'll just smile if I see it again. You got laughter from me multiple times.
Anyway! I gotta hand it to the animators for their attention to detail, because I know that the maximum number of players you can have for a boss fight in New Aincrad is 49, but I couldn't recall if it was a full sized group that was trying to steal the boss from Asuna and Yuuki and them, as well as not being totally clear on even if they were a full sized group how many of them were Asuna and the Sleeping Knights' problem, and I didn't feel like digging through the light novels since… I'm not actually interested in an Asuna centric story so I never read the Light Novel version of that arc, so I just pulled up the anime and found the sections where that one group is waiting in front of the door when Asuna and the Sleeping Knights return to the boss room and counted, and there are 16 in that shot.
Then I went to the scene with Kirito wall running and inched my way forward pausing and unpausing until the last second before it switches to the close up of him jumping off of the wall, mostly because their main force of players was actually moving forward and more were entering frame which makes sense since the shot was from a still angle with Kirito moving away, and counted that which had 33 on screen at the end. Basic math tells you that 16+33=49 which means that even though they really didn't have to considering that if the screen was populated enough people casually watching aren't going to notice if they cut corners and put less players in the group to save themselves some animation, but they didn't. So, kudos to them.
Anyway, funnily enough, the part with the forums was originally intended to be a side story I'd finish up and release after this chapter came out at the earliest, but then my brain started getting different ideas and well, now it's in the main story.
Anywho, semi-long AN was semi-long, sorry.
Review Responses:
LancsKid- Well, it's not really a spoiler since it's revealed right in the scene that starts this chapter, but Marzanna does not replace Asuna when it comes to Yuuki, so most of that will end up happening off screen. Partly because I saw no reason nor any particular want to, and partly because from my understanding Kirito had taken on Yuuki before and was turned down because he doesn't try hard enough for her taste. And as I said in the AN of chapter 50, I have the vague idea at least of the plot line planned out already, so even before that review we would've been moving away from VR for the arc that, timeline wise, follows the Mother's Rosario arc regardless, and will actually be kicking off in the second scene in this chapter. Don't know how long the arc in question will span, but it's been a concept since 2017, according to the first time I discussed it with someone via PMs, and just had its place in the fic nailed down later, so regardless of the length it ends up being it is what it is.
Diakron- Yeah, I disappeared for… quite a while.
orion0905- Nice to be back at it!
Warpixie- I gotta be honest even if it may lose me cool points, or whatever you wanna classify it as. It's been a long time since I watched John Wick since I only saw the first one, so while I remembered he has a fuckin badass car, I didn't actually realize that was what he had and didn't pick it for that. It was more 'being raised by Dante and very much being his daughter she'd probably want a muscle car' and then just went down the rabbit hole a little bit to find one I thought was suitable and gave her that.
Hanna sighs a bit at Klein's muttering, before breaking into a grin as they round the corner to see the large group of players stopped, just shy of where the boss room was, presumably by her mate, though she can't see him with the crowd.
A voice belonging to someone towards the front calls out, "Oi, oi, Blackie-sensei… Even you can't possibly fight this many people at once, can you?"
She may not be able to see him, but even if she's a decent way down the long corridor, in the silence his voice carries enough for her to hear his casual reply, "I don't know. I've never tried."
The guy who he was talking to replies in a somewhat cocky tone, "Oh? Then let's try. Mages, torch him." The mages in the front of the group for her, but the back from Kirito's position, start chanting. Just beyond the group, she hears Asuna call out, "Kirito!"
Knowing that he'd developed and trained the outside system skill he called «Magic Blast» explicitly for exactly this, she's not too concerned. Sure enough, after the mages spells launch, and with a quick look of mutual understanding with Klein of her leaving said mages in the back of the group from Kirito's position to him, she begins a wall run just in time to watch him cut the spells apart with the seven hit skill «Deadly Sins» that he had created. Which is awesome, and god does she love it when her mate is a badass, even if it does leave her with a certain… heat between her legs that she's going to have to ignore at least for a bit. Maybe after they've dealt with this nonsense…
Mentally forcing her brain back on track, she laughs into the surprised murmuring that begins to break out, causing the group of players currently sandwiched between Kirito and Klein to to jerk and look up at her passing. Though it wasn't in time to do anything about her literally dropping onto one of the tankers with a heavy tower shield in front of her mate and stabbing her blade directly into his neck.
As his health rapidly drops and she tightens the loop her arm has on his neck as he wildly flails in a surprised, uncoordinated attempt to get her off of him, she teasingly calls out, "What? Cutting Sinon's sniper bullet back when the GGO randomizer gave you that hilariously feminine avatar wasn't enough for you?"
He laughs, "You say that like it adds to my achievements, even though the fastest magic is still slower than an anti-material rifle's bullet." Then he raises his voice, undoubtedly meaning to call out to Klein as well, "Also, you guys are late!"
She laughs again as the boss stealing party finally starts to pull themselves together after the back-to-back shocks of Kirito's Magic Blast and her surprise attack, swinging their weapons at her. She kicks off of the lower back of the guy she's stabbing to push herself into a flip, leaving her sword in with the intention of pulling it away last.
Something which pays off in the guy bursting into an End Flame and condensing into a Remain Light of a player death, "Klein got separated! I noticed and went to get him!"
He snorts, and holds four fingers out over his shoulder towards Asuna for a moment as he quickly manipulates his menu with his other hand and equips Excalibur. Asuna makes eye contact with her where she's bouncing around the walls dipping down in speedy bursts in hit and run tactics, vaguely keeping an eye over on Kirito, and by extension Asuna a bit behind him, and nods firmly in acknowledgement of the message. They'll buy four minutes for her and the guild she's with at a minimum. Though honestly she's pretty sure they can do better than that, but there isn't anything wrong with giving her a minimum they can guarantee.
She keeps a vague eye on Asuna too, and is relieved when they clean out the group in front of them and manage to get into the boss room and shut the door in under two and a half minutes. When they do, she spares a moment to feel unusually grateful to Kirito's worrywart nature that had seen him casually suggesting that they do some labyrinth level grinding after Asuna had let them know about the small guild's desire to beat a boss with a single party to get all of their names on the Monument of Swordsmen.
It's made brief by Klein's HP falling into the red, as he starts to get overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Though honestly, while Klein is good it's probably only taken this long by the fact they can't encircle him too badly without hindering each other.
Nevertheless, using her next jump to aim herself at the edge of where the tunnel abruptly cuts off and opens up into a large cavern, she catches the corner, taking advantage of the way the 'carved' corridor juts out a bit from the natural cave wall to get a better grip by curling the first joints of her fingers from the tips around the lip it makes. Then she flips herself up to brace against the wall and kicks off strongly to not only put Kirito between her and the group of players but also launch herself all the way to land right in front of the boss door to put more distance between any who might manage to slip past Kirito via their sheer numbers to aim at her.
Since Kirito's health was in the yellow, she chooses the strongest party healing spell she can cast, which isn't a whole lot since that's Asuna's forte, and chants two of them back-to-back as quickly as she dares since she's not as familiar with it, before tossing in a decent single target healing towards Klein to bring him back up to full. Then she turns around, taking a few quick steps back purely to have space to build momentum, and does a bit of a vertical wall run up the doors before kicking off while angling herself for one of the walls inside the corridor.
Right now, with them being pincered between Kirito and Klein there wasn't really a back that they could safely occupy, which freed her up for bouncing around to menace the middle. In the cluster of bodies, she had zeroed in on both a couple of dedicated healers, one each for all but one of the five parties left after Asuna and the party she was with had cleared the other two out(1). While there was certainly worth in eating into their mana and not leaving them time to take mana potions with her harassment, she absolutely needs to take them out before the likely scenario that she won't get the chance to heal Klein in time and things become inevitably harder.
She grins wildly. That was perfectly ok with her. She was totally down with a good challenge and her mate served as a good wall to fall back to for healing. She has no idea if they could pull off a victory, but if nothing else even if they were willing to let it go it was pretty obvious from how enraged the group of players had become that they certainly weren't, so this fight wouldn't end until someone achieved total victory.
She's looking over some of the data sent by Yui and Kirito regarding their part of the Teleport Gates her mate was bound and determined to bring to life from Aincrad for sheer hatred of the magical transportation that actually exists when her phone goes off. Figuring it's a good time to take a bit of a break, she picks up her phone. Seeing a text from Argo, she quickly sends one off to Kazuto about her break as well as waits for a reply before opening it.
Info-Chan
Link
See you and Kii-bou dragged Klein off on a side quest. Though I guess the other guys weren't having as much fun as you two undoubtedly were.
She-Demon
?
Info-Chan
Click the link. You want NiNiNiNi's response and the ones under it. It was top reply when I sent you the link, so it shouldn't be hard to find.
With utter bemusement she clicks the link, and is unsurprisingly taken to an Alfheim forum discussion. It was a page that, from the initial posting, seems to be made for people to complain about people they think are hackers, as unlikely as it was given the sheer complexity of VR game coding, and NiNiNiNi's post is indeed the top reply on the page, so she doesn't have to scroll very far.
NiNiNiNi 379 posts
I'm so damned MAD right now, and I know a lot of people wave it off given how hard it would be for a VR game, but there's no way in HELL the people I had a run in with today AREN'T outright hackers. My guild was intending to try a boss raid today, and some HACKERS showed up and wiped thirty three of my guild with THREE of them. We literally outnumbered them eleven to one and they WON. So, I dunno, be advised for players with the screen names Kirito, Hanna, and Klein I guess.
There were screenshots of all three of them, including one of her and Kirito high-fiving after they'd won. She might have wondered how they got screenshots in the middle of a fight if it wasn't for the fact she knew players could use screenshot crystals in an Remain Light state as long as they had them in their inventory.
Lord of Pizza 1573 posts
It infuriates me that they're celebrating like they DESERVED or EARNED that victory...
Nyoooom 2158 posts
I can't believe they're so BLATANTLY cheating!
Clerical Cynic 2991 posts
Have you reported them? I know some people are wary of it since you can get in trouble if they review all the recorded data and find the player you report ISN'T cheating, but that's really only if they get a bunch of reports from you making it clear that you're either one of those people who rage reports anytime you lose or you're harassing someone.
NiNiNiNi 379 posts
Yes, I'm still waiting to hear back after they're finished reviewing.
Righteous Flame 3529 posts
I really hope they tear those cheaters a new one!
NiNiNiNi 379 posts
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
They got back to me after finishing with the review and came to the conclusion that they WEREN'T HACKING OR EVEN CHEATING!
Righteous Flame 3529 posts
WHAT?! How in the hell does that make sense?!
NiNiNiNi 379 posts
RIGHT?! How are they NOT CHEATERS?!
Wind Cutter 5154 posts
My man. That Kirito is the same Kirito who one v oned General Eugene, and WIPED him out without even losing even HALF of his health, as well as being the unofficial 'Prince' of the Spriggan for all the other stuff he's done, as well as Hanna, who is his wife and who I've been told, by Kirito himself mind you, is just as good in a fight, though I haven't had the pleasure of seeing it myself. Don't know their friend Klein's combat ability, but given they brought him with, he's clearly at least able to help.
Lord of Pizza 1573 posts
Oh. I rescind my previous statement about them not earning or deserving their victory. Please don't smite me, Kirito-sama.
Righteous Flame 3529 posts
If it's THAT Kirito and his wife is just as good then that checks out actually.
Clerical Cynic 2991 posts
Ah. I don't know how often you report, but you might wanna be careful, since while MAYBE they'll be understanding since them wiping out 33 players is a little ridiculous and understandable that you'd report them, that may count as a mark on your record for reporting people unfairly.
Wind Cutter 5154 posts
To what Clerical Cynic said, it shouldn't since it's understandable that you'd get the impression they were cheating even if they actually weren't and are just THAT GOOD.
NiNiNiNi 379 posts
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I don't care if he beat General Eugene, which for the RECORD as good as he is is DIFFERENT than fighting a BUNCH of players, or that the SPRIGGANS of all races hold him in high regard. You're all taking their side?!
Lord of Pizza 1573 posts
I don't like what you're insinuating when you say Spriggans of all races, but one does not disrespect our Lord and Savior Kirito-sama.
Righteous Flame 3529 posts
I mean, General Eugene is strong as all hell, so if he could one on one him, it doesn't surprise me that he'd be a BEAST capable of doing SIGNIFICANT damage to a group of 33 on his own and managing to wipe them with someone he himself says is just as good as well as another player of at least DECENT skill to draw some attention off of them, at least for a bit, since from the fact he wasn't in their little celebration I assume he died in the fight.
Clerical Cynic 2991 posts
Yes.
Wind Cutter 5154 posts
I wasn't on your side to begin with. (˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥)
NiNiNiNi 379 posts
You're all d*cks.
She clicks to add a response of her own and types it out before looking it over and hitting send.
Angelic She-Devil 245 posts
Hi, wifey of Spriggan Prince Kirito here. (I LOVE that you guys call him that, while he's not MAD he's not much one for attention so his reaction is HILARIOUS every time! Please keep it up!)
First of all, it's awfully RICH that you're accusing US of cheating given the crap your guild tried to pull. While it may not be explicitly forbidden by the game rules, what YOU GUYS were doing IS cheating.
For everyone ELSE, you guys remember how Zekken was fighting people with the promise that if you can beat her, she'd teach you an eleven hit sword skill? She was totally being truthful about that, but she was DOING it because for personal reasons I'm not going to reveal without their explicit permission she and the other five members of her guild, the Sleeping Knights, were attempting to clear a boss with just one party, because if you CAN then rather than just the leaders of each parties names being on the Monument of Swordsmen, EVERYONE'S name will be, and after failing repeatedly they decided to try to find a final seventh player in the hopes of pulling it off, so she was offering the Skill and saying you had to beat her to get it to draw in strong players to accomplish the goal of recruiting them for the boss raid.
Well, it's been online a bit talking about how she suddenly picked a player who hadn't even won, and had even nearly LOST before Zekken suddenly stopped her last blow from landing, and that was our friend Asuna. And while they HADN'T actually finished their fight, Yuuki, as is Zekken's actual screen name, was impressed and satisfied by Asuna's performance so she left with her to explain why she'd been fighting people and asking her to join their raid. So they went to attempt the boss, and while they didn't win, Asuna noticed both a weakness in said boss as well as a Peeping spell watching them, and realized that a small group of players they'd met on the way in was SPYING on their attempt at the boss fight.
Asuna filled in the Sleeping Knights after they got wiped about both, so they decided to try the boss again while using tactics based around the weakness she had spotted and rushed over in the hopes of beating them before the guild running boss raids by SPYING on other players' attempts could get there. I guess they noticed the weakness too while spying, because when they got there the OTHER 16 players of the FULL 49 player raid group that he DIDN'T mention was waiting in front of the door refusing to let them through. Which is RUDE since you can't RESERVE a boss room d*ckwad.
But anyway, Asuna and them decided to try to fight their way through, but then the rest of their group, the 33 he mentioned, started to show up. Luckily for Asuna and them, Kirito was worried when she mentioned that they were doing the boss raid so we decided to do some grinding in the labyrinth and after we saw them pass nearby decided we should make sure she didn't need some backup and followed them then blocked them from attacking Asuna and the Sleeping Knights and since they wanted to keep fighting after they'd gone into the boss room, ended up wiping them out.
On that note, as far as undeserved and unearned goes, if you see the guild The Mighty Fall on the Monument of Swordsmen, they do not deserve that accolade since they were abusing the hard work of other people.
TLDR; We were there because his guild has been SPYING on other raid attempts then nabbing the boss when they've got enough info from watching others fail and suffer the death penalties.
Also! Wind Cutter, isn't that just your forum name and you're Sylph Lord Sakuya? Because while they were willing to let it go since it's not like it's the first time players have pulled crap like that, see monopolizing spawn areas for mobs, if he's being an even bigger jerk, I could probably talk Asuna and the Sleeping Knights into reporting that dumb Peeping cheat, but I really don't feel like digging through the site to find where to report it since it's not a bug or an accusation of hacking, but I figure you probably know where it is. Could you send me a link?
Lord of Pizza 1574 posts
QUEEN! QUEEN IS HERE! I REPEAT, QUEEN IS HERE!
Anyway, I've never actually seen Kirito-sama which is why I didn't realize that was him, but after Sakuya (who is indeed Wind Cutter) said it was, I kinda figured they'd been up to some shit or were just being salty after losing, but that is a whole load of crap.
Wind Cutter 5155 posts
Hey Hanna! It's a little funny to see you on a post complaining about YOU. Anyway, yes, this is Sakuya and yeah, I have a link, though given that it was actually patched out from ALO a while ago when it was found out that some jerks were piggybacking on other people's hard work, it's undoubtedly a bug related to the implementation of Aincrad and HOPEFULLY only possible with the bosses from there, so it HAS be a bug actually.
Link
Angelic She-Devil 245 posts
Lol, my info-broker likes to hang around the forums for free info and sent me the link.
Ah. I didn't know that, that'll probably make it even easier to convince them to report it, since I'm sure it'll be much better if it comes from THEM rather than people that actually had nothing to do with the situation. Anyway, thanks!
Wind Cutter 5156 posts
Lol, that makes sense.
And no problem! Happy to help!
She laughs lightly, then switches back to her conversation with Argo briefly.
She-Demon
Sorry, not sorry!
Info-Chan
Lol. Well, I suppose the Spriggans will be happy to have another thing to point to as to why their "Princely Lord and Savior Kirito-sama" is the most amazing thing ever? If you tell Kii-bou about it you have GOT to either record his reaction or do it in person with me there.
She-Demon
(˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥)
I will. Probably during the next time we all have an in person hang out at my place or The Dicey Cafe.
Info-Chan
Thank you!
She-Demon
No problem Argo. Besides, his reaction will get a laugh out of EVERYONE. Especially to being called "Lord and Savior" (˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥)
Info-Chan
RIGHT?!
I did some digging on the forums and most of the Spriggans alternate between calling him Prince, My Liege, and Lord and Savior. It's HILARIOUS!
She-Demon
(˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥)
You just made my day. Thank you Argo.
And also, if I'm going to show this stuff to Kazuto next time we're all in person, I have GOT to get Asuna or someone to record his reaction, but not you since you'd be laughing too hard to get anything but shaky nonsense, and YOU have GOT to get a bunch of screenshots of Spriggans calling him all of those so we can show him that too.
Info-Chan
You're welcome. ( ಠ‿)
And I am SO DOWN!
With a chuckle, she saves the link to her bookmarks to show Kazuto next time they all meet up in person, and heads off to text Asuna about the link and getting her to play cameraman.
Marzanna
Hey Asuna, so Argo sent me a link, that dude that was in charge of the raid party that tried to steal the boss from you and the Sleeping Knights tried to report Kirito, Klein, and I wrecking them for cheating, so I thought maybe you guys shouldn't just let bygones be bygones and report them for that Peeping spell nonsense.
Sakuya, the Sylph Lord, was actually on that forum post, and when I explained that what those assholes who'd been trying to steal the boss from you guys and reported us had done, I asked her if she knew a good place to report it in a 'not necessarily a bug or TECHNICALLY cheating but this is nonsense and should be patched out' sort of way.
Come to find out, there actually IS supposed to be something in the game that stops that sort of thing from occurring, so Sakuya said it probably IS a bug related to them implementing Aincrad. She gave me a link anyway, but if it actually IS supposed to be against the design of the game, you guys really should report it.
And it'd probably be better if the players who actually had something to do with it did so.
So, yeah.
Link
Asuna
Wait, really? Definitely DO need to report it then. I'll send one in.
Marzanna
Cool.
Also, one of the commenters was clearly a Spriggan, since they referred to Kazuto as 'Kirito-sama' and even 'our Lord and Savior' and Argo informed me that if I tell Kazuto, I have to either record his reaction or let her be there, but I figured it'd be funnier to show him at our next IRL meet up.
After which, I was informed that she did some digging and apparently for the Spriggans online he's everything from Prince Kirito, and Kirito-sama, to Lord and Savior, and My Liege, so I told her to get some screenshots so we can show him those too.
Anyway, point being, figured we should get someone willing to play cameraman and I could start with asking you first since I had to message you anyway.
Asuna
(˃̣̣̥▽˂̣̣̥)
I am SO up to playing cameraman and getting the glory that will be recorded.
Marzanna
Awesome!
Makes me wanna make a meeting soon to be honest.
Asuna
Me too!
It wouldn't be too hard to get everyone to agree, do you have any idea of a date to propose?
Marzanna
Maybe the-
She doesn't get a chance to finish typing that and hit send however, before Kyrie comes hurrying in, "Marzanna! Thank goodness you're here! With how busy things have been with the increased demonic activity, everyone else is out doing hunts and stuff! Even Lily is still gone helping secure Diagon Alley with Vergil with those spells they made that doesn't let anyone with a Dark Mark in, but Kat just called, she was escorting a group from a compromised safe house someone else made to one of ours and they got attacked by Death Eaters, and she's asking for backup, but I'm not good in a fight and everyone else is gone! And the portkey had dropped them a mile from the safe house like Lily suggested to keep its location safer but one of them was an unmarked Death Eater and as soon as they got there they sent some sort of signal and-"
She steps forward quickly to clutch at her shoulders, "Breathe Kyrie." Her more-like-a-sister-in-law's frantic rambling, which was understandable given that while she's used to their house being attacked and is confident enough to do things like help escort people away from fighting if Nero or someone gets a job in an inhabited area, it's vastly different to have help be requested by family in trouble when no one suited to giving said help is around, cuts off and she takes a deep shaky breath, to which she nods, "Good. Now, I'm sorry, but I don't have time to stay and help you calm down, because I need to go. Which safe house was it?"
Kyrie takes another deep breath, "The- The indigo base. She said they were in that meadow in the woods southwest."
She guides Kyrie to her bed quickly, not having time to take her to her and Nero's room, the living room couches, or the table chairs in the kitchen, "Good. Sit down, deep breaths, and get on the radio line and let everyone else know what's going on and that I'm heading out. And watch Yui, she was reading in the study last I heard. Ok?"
Kyrie nods quickly and she smiles as reassuringly as she can before running out the door. Quickly deleting what she had typed from Asuna and sending her a brief, 'Emergency, need to leave' text before sending another equally brief text to her mate to let him know what's going on in case he senses anything from their bond.
Scooping up one of the emergency medical grab bag just in case, she immediately curses the fact that she's still months away from the end of her seventh year and subsequently her apparation exam as she rushes down to the second layer of the basement, which was made just for the safehouses in the UK and a floor below the room with the regular doors to other countries. Then with a quick glance, confirms the door she needs before rushing through it.
She pushes herself to her absolute limit, even using the time slowing ability of Quicksilver to move faster than the world around her can progress, and is soon bursting into the chaotic battlefield the clearing has turned into. A quick sweep of the situation lets her know there are about thirty Death Eaters, and she briefly laments the fact that Quicksilver takes a hell of a lot more energy when in motion than it does when one is just relaxing, like when she abused it when she was younger to read more without being interrupted.
Shaking off the thought as she spots Aunt Kat, she shuts off Quicksilver to conserve energy as she swings wide to toss the medical bag at her before diving into the middle of the attack with a swing of her sword that cuts through a wand even as she kicks a second Death Eater that had been standing close to the wand's owner before he can finish the incantation to the Killing Curse he'd been aiming at someone else.
She knocks out the one who's wand she'd cut with a blow with the hilt of her blade before moving on to a small group of three clustered together as they fire into the group Kat had been escorting, in the process she opens up a hole in the barrier between what she's thinking at the moment and the rest of her mind for her Nephilim Blade so they can all be on the same page without having to concentrate on directing thoughts at each other. Switching to Osiris as she reaches the cluster makes going for tendons and the like easy, and with the way they were clustered, they go down as well within a few attacks.
As she moves on, in her peripheral vision she notices Kat organizing the group she'd been escorting to get them away from the fighting. Kat was efficient enough that it shouldn't take long, and once Kat had ushered them away she wouldn't have to worry about Killing Curses being cast towards them, but until then she has to do her best to not allow the incantation for it to be finished.
Thankfully, as fond as Death Eaters are of that spell, it's not like everything they're tossing at Kat and her group is one, which certainly makes her job easier.
It's as she's knocking out her seventh Death Eater, with a punch to the back of his head after he doubles over from a kick to his gut, that she notices Kat's group starting to hustle away. Even better, given how she'd been tearing through them, the Death Eaters have switched to focusing on her rather than the crowd, so she doesn't have to flit around to stop anyone from chasing after them.
It's after Kat's group is thankfully long gone and she's taking out her sixteenth of the fuckers that she notices three of the bone masked ones cluster protectively around a silver masked one as they yank their sleeve up to reveal that foul mark and press their wand to it.
She narrows her eyes, knowing from what her mom had told her that it meant they were getting into contact with their master, but there's not a whole lot she can do about it. And besides, as much as he likes to think he's the biggest threat around, even if she's the weakest of her family she sincerely doubts Riddle is anywhere near as difficult as the Demons she fights on the regular.
She gets four more of them down for the count before the familiar crack of apparition snaps out, depositing the psychopath himself.
He twitches lightly as he looks around before his gaze lands on her, "Ah. One of the notorious Sparda's. I'll finally be able to hit your infuriating blood traitor family where it hurts."
He snaps out a quick blasting spell at her, forcing her to dodge. It's as she lands that things go bad as she finds herself stuck in place. A yank of one of her feet tells her that it's not the sort of sticking spell that raw strength can get through, and a glance downwards as a sensation crawls up her skin tells her that whatever it is, it's crept up and grabbed her legs themselves, so she can't just use her Nephilim granted strength to yank her feet out of her boots either. On top of that, right as she notices that, walls of magic erupt around her, preventing her from trying to lean out of the way of anything.
Riddle draws her attention back up as he speaks, "This. Is going to be immensely satisfying after how much of a pain your family has been." He has a twisted smile on his face as he levels his wand at her, "Avada Kedavra."
As the notorious beam of green light careens towards her, she instinctively kicks Quicksilver back on as it reaches about seven tenths of the way towards her to buy her mind more time to flick through and discard possibilities to escape.
As it inches closer and closer, she's left with only the possibility of switching to the Royal Guard Style and hoping her durability will save her from it.
It's right as time begins to speed back up as she switches Styles that a desperate shout echoes from the depths of her mind, 'No!'
Under a power not her own, Shuraba jerks up, dragging her arm with it as she catches the Killing Curse. Immediately, cracks splinter the form of the blade, spilling a sickly violet light out, and begin to rapidly expand.
Pained screaming echoes through her head as the cracks spread and begin to encompass the blade. Before she can even comprehend what just happened, the blade lets out a pulse of twisted energy before exploding in her face.
He's just entering the living room, having wanted to check on Marzanna with his own eyes when she gets back when his magic suddenly drains alarmingly. As he blinks rapidly to try and get rid of the black spots taking up over half of his vision to find himself clutching the doorframe, knees weak enough that he'd probably be on the ground if it wasn't for his body instinctively searching for a handhold and latching onto it like his life depends on it.
He chokes on a gasp, "Marzanna."
Kyrie looks up at him with wide eyes, "What-?"
He shakes his head sharply, immediately regretting it from the way the dizziness and black spots become worse, "Where is she?"
Kyrie shakes her head, "The indigo base, what-?"
He starts to turn quickly, absolutely intending on just going to his mate when the world seems to sway drunkenly at the sharp movement. He almost passes out and hits the ground, but Kyrie catches him, "Kazuto! Whatever's going on, it clearly took a lot out of you. You need to sit for a minute."
As she guides him over to a chair he starts to shake his head, then catches himself at the last moment and aborts the motion given what had happened last time, "I can't! Marzanna is in trouble!"
Kyrie nods, "If it's affecting you this much, probably." She gives him a stern look to cut him off as he pulls in a breath to say something, "But. You're no good to her if you're liable to pass out at any quick movement."
Once she has him on the couch, she pulls her phone out and quickly asks into the walkie-talkie app as he impatiently takes his bag off since he certainly doesn't need his laptop and the like to go looking for Marzanna, "Alessio, Eva, you said you were on your way back, are you almost here?"
It's Eva's voice that answers after a few beats, "Pulling into the driveway now actually, why?"
Kyrie shakes her head, "Kazuto came by, he almost passed out on his feet in the living room."
Eva's voice is a little more grim when she answers, "We'll be there in a minute."
Kyrie doesn't bother to respond, just puts her phone away as she gives him a concerned look. They only have to wait a minute or two before Eva and Alessio are coming in. Eva immediately steps over to his side, "Kazuto, sweetie, what happened?"
The black spots have cleared up enough that he chances a head shake, "It's Marzanna. There was suddenly a huge drain on my magic through the bond."
They both suck in a sharp breath, then Eva lays a hand on his forehead. Almost immediately, magic begins to enter his system, rapidly stabilizing him. She flicks a look at Kyrie, "Someone needs to check on Mike." She shakes her head after a moment, as she pulls her hand away, "We need to head out and make sure Marzanna is ok though." She turns her gaze to him, her expression thoughtful for a few seconds before she sighs, "I suppose it'd be foolish to try to keep someone from a soulmate potentially in danger. Come on then."
He climbs to his feet, much more stable now after Eva's little magic infusion trick, "Good. I wouldn't stay here anyway."
Alessio gives him a look of amusement, though he notices there's also concern undoubtedly for whatever's going on with Marzanna. There isn't anymore conversion as they head down to the second level basement and out into the indigo base.
They pause briefly to check on Kat and the group she'd been escorting, but she quickly waves them off before they can say anything with a concerned expression, "Go. We've got things here." Her face tightens, "But we heard an explosion from the direction of the clearing we last saw Marzanna in, and around the same time we saw streaks of fire shoot out and scatter from over there."
Eva and Alessio share concerned looks, before Alessio turns to him, "Hope you've gotten good enough with your abilities to keep up, because we're running."
He nods, and they only wait until they're out of the house, and away from the group that may or may not cause problems if they realize they aren't human, before taking off. Unsurprisingly, the older two are much better than he is, but in this instance at least, his time in ALO is helpful, since he's gotten pretty good at flying fast through something as obstacle filled as a forest, so using his wings to boost his speed a bit he manages to just barely keep up.
It's only a matter of minutes before they reach the clearing. Or what's left of it anyway, since there's a huge crater. Eva looks around with wide eyes, "What? What on earth happened? And where's Marzanna?"
Alessio's expression turns dark, "Nothing good from the looks of it and the mess of energy in the crater."
He gazes off into the distance, pointing without hesitation, "I can sense Marzanna that way." He hesitates as they both turn to him with intense expressions, "But… she feels…. Weird."
Eva's brows furrow, "Why would she be going in that direction? The base is practically in the exact opposite direction."
Alessio shakes his head, "Those are answers we can get when we find her. Lead on Kazuto."
He nods firmly and takes off in the direction he can sense Marzanna in. Since they aren't rushing at full speed, it takes a few minutes, but eventually he makes out the form of a taller woman. His eyes widen at the woman that had appeared between the trees in front of them as he gets close enough to make out details, "Shuraba?!"
Eva jerks, but it's Alessio who speaks up with narrowed eyes, "A good question. Where did you get that sword, Miss?"
Shuraba turns, almost falling over in the process with her urgent speed, and he hurries forward to steady her, "No, she's-" He cuts off and sucks in a sharp breath when he sees her face, which was cracked like broken glass, before continuing his explanation in a stuttering voice, "M-Marzanna was s-suppose to b-bring it up with Eva. Th-this is Shuraba. I-I met her during the-the seventy two hour p-period when our b-bond was settling a-after being comp-completed."
In the stunned silence after, he aims his intention at least towards Shuraba, even if his eyes had never removed their horrified gaze from her face, "Shuraba what happened to you? Marzanna- Is Marzanna ok?"
She lets out a shuddering breath, flicking her gaze behind him, "Between everything happening over here in Britain and the spike in demonic activity, there was never really a good time when both Mistress and Lady Eva were home to bring it up, especially with her distraction at fixing us being able to hear her every thought, then later with the Demon Detector."
Her gaze drops to him, "And no, Mistress is not ok. Those bastards managed to pin her with a damned strong sticking spell to literally root her in place long enough to send a Killing Curse at her. I… jerked us into the way, but while it couldn't shatter us like it does when it hits stone and the like, it shattered the bonds between myself and the other forms. We exploded right in Mistresses face when we were shattered from one physical entity tied together mentally into being completely separate."
She winces as she shifts, "I don't know where the others are, they were scattered by the explosion, and I can't even sense how far they may have been thrown. I only remained here because I was in Mistress's hand when it happened. Mistress was… badly hurt, and those bastards took her away while she was unconscious. They left me behind though, wary of what had happened when we were hit with the Killing Curse."
There's a moment of stunned silence before Eva asks shakily, "Why- Why were you heading in that direction instead of back towards base?"
Shuraba's expression tightens, "I can vaguely sense Mistress is in that direction, and she… She's in very bad condition. She feels… terrifyingly close to death."
The entire damn world seems to drop out from under him as Eva gasps and Alessio's face hardens as he looks in the direction Shuraba had been heading, "Then we need to find her immediately."
He looks over at Alessio numbly, "Was- Was that what that drain on my magic was?"
Before the other two can answer though, Shuraba shakes her head, "No, that was me. I was desperate to try and reach Mistress and while I was straining myself towards our bond I suddenly just felt like I needed more power, and while I can't properly reach Mistress I'm still sort of connected to Mike and yourself through her, so I just pulled from you two. Next thing I knew, I had physically manifested in my mental body."
He nods slowly, and Shuraba's face pinches, as she looks to Alessio, "But finding Mistress is more urgent than you realize. I- We are a soul bound weapon. It isn't good for her in general to be away from us, but it's not usually a big deal. The same can be said of her soulmate and twin connections, but. Before they took her away, I could sense something… wrong with her wounds. Her healing was struggling to do anything about them, and with the state of us and her being separated from all of us she has bonds to such as us, Kazuto, and Mike on top of that…"
He lets out a shuddering breath, and Alessio's face also pinches with worry, "Then we'd best make haste."
As they hurry down the strip of sand below the cliff of the coast he and Shuraba can sense Marzanna from, he looks around frantically. It's a little confusing that they're on what appears to be an empty strip of beach, but Eva had explained that there were plenty of spells that the place they're looking for could be hidden under.
As they slow upon being practically on top of the 'signal' they're sensing, even Eva looks confused. He turns to her, "It… doesn't look like there's a base of some sort here."
She looks around, equally as baffled, "No, it doesn't. You two are sure it's coming from here?"
He nods slowly, "Yeah, definitely."
Shuraba nods slowly as well, still rather weak, but utterly determined, "Indeed, I can sense Mistress is close."
Alessio looks down, "Perhaps it's undergro-"
Before he can finish however, a loud primal roar has them all jerking their attention up to see something falling towards them. They all move out of the way and it lands heavily, its fist digging into nothing but sand rather than whoever it'd been aiming for, kicking up a cloud of sand in the process. As it settles, it reveals a twisted vaguely humanoid… female? He thinks? Its skin is cracked all over with ominous red light and crackles of electricity of the same hue pulsing out like spurts of blood.
There's something weirdly familiar about its distorted face and short grayish blue hair and headband, but it's not until it begins to straighten with a ragged, weezing, rattling breath, that he gets his answer from Shuraba choking out, "Eryx?! Is- is that you?"
He stares. But it's not until it brings up an oversized metal hand that looks like it's fused closed into a fist and looking incredibly familiar that it really sinks in that the… thing in front of him is Eryx. The very first of the personalities of Marzanna's Nephilim Blade he'd ever met. Quiet, but polite in her own way.
And currently lacking even a spark of intelligence in her eyes, no longer a mellow darker orange but now glowing in a sickly hue.
She straightens and stares at them, mouth partly open with drool dripping down, before she suddenly throws her head back and lets out an inhuman, brutal, unintelligent roar before lunging for Eva. Which. Makes an awful lot of sense actually, if she's running purely on instinct like she seems to be, given that she's technically a Demonic weapon, and Eva is, y'know, an Angel, whose power is practically in direct opposition of her own.
Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, since she's brought into balance by the neutral core of Shuraba and the opposing Angelic weapons, but… she has none of that right now, and has had her connection to Marzanna practically shattered.
Eva, thankfully, is no stranger to combat and dodges the unintelligent lunge fairly easily, though her expression is rather alarmed. Which is fair, given that the idea of the personalities of Marzanna's Nephilim Blade being manifested and berserk, is…
Alessio darts past Eva, swinging his blade at Eryx. She may be operating entirely under instincts at the moment, but she was a weapon, those instincts were very much geared towards battle, so it isn't a huge surprise that she brings her hands up near both her face and each other to block with the metal gauntlets. She doesn't hesitate to swing at him with another roar once the blade has bounced off and inevitably pushed him off balance, sending him skidding back through the sand from the blow.
Eva darts past Alessio before he's even come to a halt, already swinging her war hammer. Eryx attempts to block again, but the distributed weight of the blow from a weapon not meant for cutting throws her back. She skips along the ground, before rolling to a stop, but even as she pushes herself up with her arms Alessio is already falling upon her prone form, pinning her to the ground.
Ignoring her enraged shrieking, he turns to Eva, "How the hell do we properly subdue her? We can't exactly kill her, we have no idea of the repercussions that might have on Marzanna and Shuraba."
Eva shakes her head, "I- I don't know… This isn't supposed to happen. The weapons aren't supposed to be sentient, much less be torn apart like that! Hell, I'm pretty sure them being sentient is the cause of this situation, since I'm fairly confident that if a Killing Curse had hit any other Nephilim Blade, it would've basically just ripped the extra weapons forms its gained by absorbing energy from Great Demons and such away, 'killing' the extras off and basically resetting the weapon back to its base state with just the neutral core form and one Demonic and one Angelic form."
He tears his eyes away from Eryx's madness induced struggle, "Are you sure? When I learned about it from Marzanna when we bonded, she theorized that maybe it was just a Nephilim secret your friend never passed on-"
He's cut off by Eva firmly shaking her head, "No. I outright asked him if they were sentient because I was a little confused by his description and he laughed at me and said it was the most ridiculous notion he'd ever heard." She glances over at Shuraba, "Honestly, I'm still struggling to wrap my head around the notion that Marzanna's is."
Shuraba shrugs tiredly, "It was when Mistress was in SAO. I believe she mentioned that Kuradeel tried to kill Kirito and she called my mental blade form?" Eva nods, so she shrugs again, "I heard her desperation to save him, and for the first time wanted more than just to be with her, I needed to stop her pain, and felt satisfied after I helped. It changed me, us, and then she willingly called for my help against Heathcliff, Kayaba rather, and I… snapped into being along with the others."
Eva frowns faintly, "That…"
Shuraba shakes her head, "Is something that can be discussed later, for now…" She turns her gaze to where Eryx was still fighting, "I imagine it'd be best if I could somehow reabsorb her. Maybe…"
She steps forward and lays a hand on Eryx, but nothing happens, after a moment of hesitation, she glances down at her own sword form that she's still carrying then brings it up and touches one of Eryx's gauntlets. Immediately, Eryx goes slack and quiet as she rapidly turns into streams of red energy that travel over to and coalesce in the gauntlet Shuraba had touched, then is sucked up like smoke into a vacuum by Shuraba.
Shuraba gasps and sways even as some of the cracks on her skin heal up before their eyes. She's quickly steadied by Alessio, but she shakes her head as she slowly straightens, "I'm- I'm alright. Still me too, I just- Wasn't expecting that."
Eva touches her shoulder, "Expecting what?"
She shakes her head again, "The pain. The rage. All sorts of things really, presumably from us being shattered. Eryx is… quiet now, and not just because she's sort of… unconscious is I guess the best word, even if its not totally accurate. I think just re-merging with me is putting her back to rights."
Eva nods, "That's good."
Alessio nods, "Yes, it is. However," His face pinches, "that certainly wasn't Marzanna."
Shuraba shakes her head, "No, it wasn't. I did think it was a bit strange that she wasn't too far away, but… Given that I was clearly sensing Eryx, I assume it's more that I'm picking up on Mistresses condition in general but the location 'ping', as it were, was from Eryx as she was the only one in range…"
He pulls in a shaking breath, "Then. Where's Marzanna?"
Shuraba shakes her head slowly, eyebrows furrowed, "I don't know…"
She slowly opens her eyes. The first thing she registers is that everything hurts. Even her mind hurts as where Shuraba and her other soul bound weapon's forms are supposed to be feels more like a handful of threads strained near the breaking point around a gaping void of a wound. Then she registers the fact she isn't healing, which brings her slow moving mind's attention to the tainted, twisted, warped energy coating them. For some reason her powers are struggling to purge it.
She blinks slowly, trying to piece together what happened, 'What. What happened? I was… I was fighting Death Eaters… Because Aunt Kat called for backup… and then Voldemort showed up… He fired a Killing Curse at me… and I couldn't dodge… so I was going to try to tank it with the Royal Guard Style… Shuraba yanked herself in front of me.' Her eyes go wide, 'She exploded. I don't remember anything after that.'
She yanks her head up to find Voldemort hands casually crossed behind his back from what she can tell, watching her with a sort of smug amusement through the bars of her cell, "Finally properly awake?"
He eyes her with a sort of vicious satisfaction, and even as she notes it, she feels her mental defenses fall under attack, "Part of my deal with Mundus was that if I caught any of you, I'd hand you over, but honestly, I'm more curious as to what exactly a Devil can do. I'm much more inclined to see if I can't break you mentally and make you my own." He shrugs idly, "If nothing else, I'm curious as to what uses I may be able to get out of your blood. I can only imagine how useful it may be in potions and rituals, so I don't think I'll let him know I've got you."
She narrows her eyes at him, wincing a little internally at how raspy and croaky her voice comes out as she replies, "I'm surprised you didn't spread the word on the fact we aren't human."
He smiles, "Ohhh, I thought about it. Figured it might make more people here more willing to consider you interfering Sparda's enemies, but then I decided there was too much risk in someone trying to hoard one of you from me if someone did catch or kill one of you, so I chose not to."
She glares at him, "There's not a snowball's chance in Hell I'd ever work for you."
He casually shrugs, "Perhaps, but I still imagine you'll be quite the useful resource."
He brings his hands forward, his wand in one and a large glass jar and a dagger with a weird cylindrical middle in the other. With a flick of his wand, they both float forward, the jars lid twisting off as they do. With the way her arms are held above her with what seem to be magically reinforced cuffs and chains, a situation which similarly holds her feet in place, there really isn't anything she can do when the dagger stabs into one of her already open wounds without hesitation.
It digs in, and she swiftly finds out what the cylinder is for as blood begins to flow out of the end of its hilt straight into the waiting jar. It doesn't take long to fill, and Voldemort quickly summons it back, the jar recapping as it goes, before taking it in hand and looking at her blood almost hungrily. Taking his gaze off breaks the mental connection of course, but he doesn't seem to care.
He casually flicks her a look as he turns to leave with his prize, "Your mind will take a bit of time to break into, unlike your brother's when I tried to lure him with that vision. Time I unfortunately do not have at the moment. I'll have to return some other time. Until then little Devil."
And with that. He turns and leaves. A sweep of the room, both normally and with the ocular ability that allows her to see the flow of energies she got oh so long ago swiftly reveals that she really is alone, and that he'd been arrogant enough to not include any sort of listening or monitoring spells as far as she can tell.
A glance with the same ability at her chains swiftly tells her she's not getting out of those, at least not in her weakened state. Maybe if she was at full strength… But that doesn't really help her. She leans her head back with a sigh.
And is promptly taken quite by surprise by a smooth male voice, "Well now. This is quite the conundrum, is it not?"
She yanks her gaze back down to find a man sitting down, casually leaning back against the bars inside her cell as he watches her.
It was difficult to get a sense of his height with him not only sitting, but with one of his legs pulled up and his arm casually resting on the bend of his knee preventing her from telling how close he's even sitting to the bars. There is a bit of a difference after all, between someone sitting pushed right up against them to someone sitting a bit away and leaning back. It also doesn't help that he's nonchalantly slouching. All that being said, given how much of him there was, she'd put him on the taller side, and he's decently handsome as well.
She narrows her eyes at him, "Who the hell are you? How did you get in here without making a sound?"
He leans his head back against the bars as he laughs towards the ceiling. When he's done, he brings his amused gaze back down on her, "That implies a necessity to enter here, when I actually came in with you." He shrugs, "As for who I am…" He grins, "I decided a few years ago I preferred you over your dad, and he didn't really have any issue with handing me over, so I've been with you for a while."
His grin widens, "You know me as the Devil Arm Lucifer."(2)
(1): This isn't an error, Marzanna just didn't notice that there were two players that should've been with the larger group that was with the smaller group, one of which was a healer from one of the incoming parties, since they'd have a huge group to keep them safe but the guys holding the door had a significantly smaller group with them.
(2): Hold your horses. I can already see some of you leaving comments like "Another personality in her head?" Not all is as it seems, it was a good cut off point for both the drama and just in general. The next chapter explains exactly what's going on.