A Reaper's Game -Part Two: The Skyward Offensive-

by Storm VII

After taking an entire month to clear only the first of Aincrad's One Hundred floors, the Grim Reaper sets his sights to the levels above him; confronting dangerous creatures and colorful individuals along every step of the way… which is to say nothing of the chaos he faces as Final Rebellion's new guild leader.

10. The Rat -Part Three-

December 24th, 2022: 6:47 AM

Ragna the Bloodedge took a deep breath in through his nostrils, tightly held the breath, then irately let it go. It had started to snow in the middle of the night and sleeping out in the middle of the elements had hardly proved to be a good idea. There was already a thin pile of snow on top of him and the flakes weren't stopping. He hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night, he felt stiffer than usual, he hadn't grabbed anything to eat, and… well there was the reason he couldn't head inside his own tent.

Knowing that he'd just waste the day being miserable if he stayed here, Ragna dusted the powder of snow off of himself before rising to his feet. Yanking the Aramasa out of the ground where it had been impaled beside him he quickly swiped the sword and got the frost off it before setting the weapon in its place on his belt, he considered leaving just then and there… but couldn't. Not knowing what good it could possibly do, he tapped on the front flap.

"Argo?"

No response.

"Hey, Argo?"

Nothing.

Sighing, Ragna pushed the heavy fabric out of the way and looked inside what should have been his own quarters. Inside the darkened space was a single cot which had its lone occupant sleeping inside. The Reaper knew his impeded senses were still beyond human, but even he had to wonder if Argo had managed to evade his notice and slip off into the night on her own, not that he'd have stopped her. But no, she'd stayed and now he was left standing there looking in on her sleeping form as she faced away from the entrance.

"I'm taking off," he said when he finally found his voice. "…See ya around."

He knew that Argo was awake, he knew that she wasn't going to answer him, and he knew that their dungeon crawling and discussion last night last night had left the girl angry at him. It was an anger he wouldn't be able to fix for at least a while and held plenty of potential problems should she choose to tell anyone, so all he could for now was leave the campsite. He had important work to attend to anyways.

He went without any encounters further than he'd been planning on the snow covered plains of the fourth floor. He'd half expected the usual ambush loving spiders would have hidden under the snow in preparation for a sneak attack, but if anything their dark exoskeletons clashed directly against their white surroundings. It almost made it seem like the game systems purposefully gave this weather for the day, like it was treating these encounters with a bit of mercy.

Ragna wasn't nearly as giving.

Sword XVI: The Rat -Part 3-

7:13 AM

Argo groaned as she finally made her way up out of her cot, unable to remain still for the remainder of the day. She still felt plenty numb after talking… yelling at Ragna the night before. The only reason that she was still at his campsite in the first place was because of the Teleport Crystal she'd given to the team Ragna had rescued. Remembering them and the death trap they'd saved the group from last night she entered her messages and began typing out a massive send all letter as a warning for the late night trigger. She debated leaving out the map data so she'd at least have something to sell later, but decided against that as it might be too tantalizing for ill prepared players going for easy rewards. She decided to send everything now and keep it as a warning. The one thing she didn't send out was the potential boss dungeon location; that would have to wait when she was in a better mind space.

Finally sending the messages all at once, she was a little surprised how long it was taking a system as advanced as SAO's to complete the task. Just how many people had she added? …Looking through her contacts, she realized that she was on the verge of 500. Her Friend List was still small, only her close friends in Final Rebellion, but she'd never have imagined she'd ever take this big of a contact list during her time in the game, much less join a guild.

Come to think of it, her entire contact list had been empty up until the point she'd met Ragna. Being an info broker would've normally meant that she'd need to stay in direct contact with her clients, but starting the game off she'd been content to keep to herself and simply deal out information when given the chance. That line of thinking had nearly gotten her killed when she was abandoned in that advanced dungeon, but then Ragna had been there to save her. Despite not having the proper specified gear which should have been a death sentence in that place, he'd fought his way through without any hesitation. Had he really known about his impending death that long ago?

"Stupid," she growled. Ragna was on three of her lists; he was on her Guild, her Contacts, and her Friends. She hesitated, wondering whether or not it would be a good message to the Reaper if she removed him from that last list, or even all three. If she did, it meant that she wouldn't be able to keep an eye on him after all and that was no good given present circumstances. She'd have to settle for adding him to a fourth list: her Shit list. "Stupid."

Still lacking a teleport crystal after yesterday, she finally committed to getting up before heading out of her tent and into the elements. The frigid cold that she felt stepping outside made her feel just the slightest bit guilty that Ragna had been forced to sleep through this all night, but that was done and hardly worth thinking about now. Bundling herself as best she could, she started the long trek back to town, knowing that her friends were already in a celebratory mood with the tournament.

…And wondering what the hell she was supposed to tell them.

9:22 AM -The Plains-

"Gotta be around here somewhere," Ragna muttered to himself as he dusted off the snow covered ruins wall before him. "This is where the map said I needed to be."

Unfortunately for him, the symbol wasn't out in the open like he'd hoped and this left him having to search for it at an agonizingly slow pace. The freshly fallen snow and occasional monster hardly helped either, leaving him to dust everything off as he went and dispatching his foes while hopefully remembering his place. Without Argo here with him, it was total pain.

"Like she'd come with me after yesterday," he self-chided, trying not to care… he failed. "I doesn't matter, I just gotta… huh."

While it wasn't the complete symbol, a large and chipped portion of the wall did seem to have a few outlines of the spider he was looking for. Touching the symbol did nothing, so Ragna reeled his fist before delivering the best attack that he could. If that had been any regular wall a textbox saying Immortal Object would've appeared, but instead he felt the solid impact from the blow. The feature glowed like a freshly defeated monster before the entire wall shattered in kind. Now that it was gone, Ragna saw a runic stairway heading down into a fresh dungeon. Though he'd barely managed to take a single step down before pausing… and taking notice of the snowflakes frozen in the air around him.

"You seem to be in a bad mood," Sanae Hanekoma commented from where he was leaning against the ruins wall.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for your boss's birthday?" Ragna bit back.

"Right, because it's Christmas Eve and I'm an angel. Look, I know that you're trying to goad me so I'm not going to give you an answer. Kind of a needlessly complicated one in the first place. What I am here to do, is to tell you to get over yourself."

"Really? After it was your damn text that put me in this place and you were the one that put me here?" he demanded. "You got a lot of nerve…"

"I wasn't the one that wrote the text; the SAO system was what processed all of your data's specifics. I also wasn't the one that insisted on keeping all of this a secret."

"Then what the hell was I supposed to do? Tell them where I was really from? Even if that is the truth, they'd treat me like I was some kind of lunatic," the Reaper fought back. "Besides, I doubt your job wants different worlds that are aware of one another."

"…Fair enough, on that last point at least," Sanae said as he took out a thermos and began unscrewing the cap for a warm cup of coffee. "But not telling them that you were close to death? That was a mistake… and why did you let Argo see the data in the first place?"

"I… that's…" Sanae gave Ragna a long moment to think it over, mostly because he wanted to take his time to enjoy his coffee. "…She'd have gotten it out of me sooner or later."

"Would she have? I remember back in your world you could be fairly tight lipped if you put your mind to it, unlike what got you into this mess now. Face it; you're tired of keeping secrets, just like you're tired of staying alone. That little date you went on yesterday says that mu-"

Sanae barely tensed as the point of the Aramasa was a hair's breadth from his throat in less than an instant. The tight scowl and grit teeth were a classic sign of how truly enraged Ragna really was with the man in front of him. Sanae looked him dead in the eyes and remained unmoving as the two stared each other down.

"Don't. I'm an Observer and you're still broken; there's no way you can do anything to me as you are right now." I'm bluffing, I'm bluffing really hard right now. Ragna's been shown to defy the odds so many times before and he nearly blindsided me with that draw. It should be impossible, but… there's no real way of telling with him.' "You want me to back off from watching you until I need you? I can do that, but even if you pin the blame for this whole mess on me you're still the one to clean it up… and your conversation last night was far from a step in the right direction."

"…Fine, just stay the hell outta my way. I got work to do," the Reaper eventually relented as he started stepping down, keeping his sword resting on his shoulder because he knew he'd be needing it soon.

"Before that, I'm here with another warning," Sanae decided to get in. "And… this one's off. It sure feels that there's some form of Interference in this dungeon, but I can't get a lock on it. The boss chamber, the hidden areas, no matter where I go the feeling's only faint at best. I think you're all that can draw it out, but where to draw it out from… that's the real question."

"How big is this place?"

"A thorough sweep is going to take you all day, but that's what's going to need to happen I'm afraid. The feeling didn't even show up before you started getting close to this dungeon. Hopefully I can get some better information to help you down the line after I observe what happens here," he offered hollowly. "But at least… you don't have to worry about uninvited guests today. I can promise you that."

"You better mean that. I don't want to think about what happens when the damn Interference hits one of the regular players." Giving a final solemn nod, Sanae vanished from Ragna's sight and snow once more started slowly drifting down in the ruins. Stepping down into the dungeon, he got a loud crick out of his neck and began his hunt for the day.

The layout of this place was about what he'd expect, but somehow the architecture was even more worn than the stuff on the surface. There were webs everywhere and the usual light cast by the crystals were substantially dimmed. Large piles of rubble littered Ragna path as well, leaving plenty of ambush options for the monsters here. Not sensing any monsters coming up, Ragna stepped into the opening only for a rune to reveal itself and activate the moment he stepped onto the floor.

'Shit, a trap?' Ragna cussed as he heard the sound of something being shot at him. Quickly swinging his sword in a flurry, he managed to deflect every one of the needles shot from around him. They were especially dangerous; instead of spawning from notable holes in the wall or some other trap contraption, they seemed to spawn and shoot out of thin air as soon as he stepped onto the invisible rune. He also had the feeling that this trap would've poisoned him if he'd allowed it to hit. Shaking his head, he stepped through the piles of rubble and… activated another when he was only halfway through. 'Dammit, really?'

Instead of another needle trap, this one summoned monsters around the Reaper. Some of them were on top of the rubble piles while others were cutting him off at the entrance. Ragna recognized these monsters as the stronger ones from this floor; some were found in the bonus dungeon he'd explored with Argo while others were from the deadly hidden path he'd uncovered last night… right, last night.

"Tch! Get the hell outta my way!" Ragna roared at the opponents from all around him. As soon as they leapt or charged at him, he began cleaving them to pieces. '…Guess Argo's help would've been nice after all.'

December 23rd, 2022: 11:58PM

"Out with it already! You've stalled fer long enough!" Argo shouted, finally letting out the rage that had been building since she'd uncovered Ragna's dark secret. He'd barely managed to calm her down enough to make sure they got out of the dungeon before there was yet another surprise ambush, but now that they were back at his camp there wasn't much he could do to avoid the confrontation. "It said that yet Azure thing was gonna kill ya and ya knew about it! So talk!"

"Not a lot to say. It's just like the box said. This thing's responsible of giving me power at the cost of killing me. I haven't felt any different yet, but I guess it's only a matter of time." Unlike his info broker, Ragna was calm. Far too calm for Argo's liking or for any normal person for that matter. Even if the world Ragna came from had been even harsher than the death trap that was Sword Art Online, he'd already had plenty of time to accept and come to terms with his fate. If anything now that his business had concluded, whatever time he was given here was more of a bonus extension.

"An' when was this!?" Argo again demanded.

"When I picked it up in the church," he told her. Even if he was getting called out to tell the truth now, that didn't mean he could delve into every truth. Explaining his old life would not have gone over well, not that leaving it out meant much improvement.

"An' you didn't tell me yesterday when I called ya out on yer arm! I bettin' ya haven't told anyone else about this! Why!?" Her demand for answers would only lead to more lies… Ragna tried to keep them as close to the real truth as he could.

"I don't need anyone to treat me differently. And it's not like I'm in any special situation in the first place; everyone's got a hard chance of dying. It being guaranteed for me hardly means shit overall. If I know that I'm going to die, then all I can really do is make sure to put this power to good use and do my part towards clearing the game." In any other setting this sentiment might've been seen as heroic, but to Argo it just seemed cold and distant.

"What about the rest of us? What would happen if you died without notice an' the rest of us had to deal with that? Wonder what had happened, wondering why we didn't know, worrying about yer lyin' ass!" There were tears in Argo's eyes now, but Ragna remained unmoving. "When? …When are ya gonna tell 'em?"

"…I won't. You tell 'em if it matters so much. You'll be seeing them tomorrow after all." Disgusted at her guild leader's words, Argo left to claim the tent for herself.

At this point, Ragna was more or less resigned to what was about to happen. Whatever connection he'd established in this world was about to be broken… but in a harsh way it might've been for the best. He was going to die in this world sooner rather than later, better that the issue resolve itself now. He'd have to carry on his fight alone… but that might've been for the best in itself.

"…You said you found out when you grabbed the Azure Grimoire," Argo said, right at the tent flaps. "But… did you find out before or after you were forced to hold onto it?"

Ragna didn't answer right away. Answering with after might've been the technical truth as well as the answer to satisfy Argo (as much good that could possibly do him now), but Ragna knew that if he'd had an actual choice so long ago when he'd lost his arm on that hellish day…

"Before… It gave me a choice right from the start."

"…And you still went with it?"

"Figured I was probably dead anyways, what did I have to lose?" Another hollow truth.

"Us… yer losin' us."

Before Ragna could answer, she closed the tent flap behind her and claimed the cover for herself leaving him outside for the night… right as the clock passed midnight and it started snowing right on cue. Glancing up, Ragna let out an annoyed grunt.

"Merry effin' Christmas."

December 24th 11:32AM

"Step right up to the Final Rebellion Smith Shop! Ready to take your last minute upgrade orders before the tournament! Smithing, Skill checks, and Materials are now going for half off and a free Appraisal with every upgrade! We've also got the best winter lineup of weapons and armor if you want to mix up your style while you're in combat! You've only got until the tournament starts at noon, so get in line now while you still can!"

That had been Leefa, standing at the front of the shop decked out in regular clothing as well as a bright red Santa Hat. Silica and Pina were both standing beside her wearing reindeer antlers while the young tamer joyfully shook a set of jingle bells to draw in potential customers. Meanwhile Yuuki and Sinon were working hard as the receptionist while Asuna walked down the line offering the patrons complimentary hot chocolate and apple cider, joined by a silver haired girl most of them hadn't met before… apparently Lisbeth had taken the 'Blacksmith cuties' comment from yesterday to heart and prepared a full setup for the tournament. Not to be outdone, the Midnight Anvil guild had quickly scrambled to set up their own shop on the tournament grounds. It took all of Lisbeth's efforts, but she was at least managing to hold even with her rivals. It helped that Ragna had sent over all of the ore he'd collected yesterday when he gave her the new smithing mallet as a gift, that piece was more than certainly helping to catch the eyes of potential customers along with the great upgrades it was giving.

"Three one-handed swords that need upgrades. This one needs speed, this one gets power, and the last needs an increase to their critical rate," Sinon said as she brought the next queued order of three weapons over to Argo who had barely finished the last batch.

"Critical materials aren't cheap or easy to come by. Are we running out?" Liz asked, not picking her eyes up from her work as she started on the next longsword. "Actually, how are we doing on materials overall?"

"If it hadn't been for Ragna's supply we would've run out of critical and power ores by now. As far as our current pace, we'll get through the last half hour, but this last push is going to drain you of supplies… and it looks like you're in dire need of a break."

"Whatever, I'm not done yet!" she declared, almost as a battle cry. "15 minutes until we stop the line! Let's do this!"

'Wish I had her levels of energy. I'm just co-running the front desk and I'm already done with this,' Sinon thought as she headed back to Yuuki who had just finished helping another group. "You heard that?"

"Yeah. And after all of this work it's tournament time," she agreed. "It was nice for Liz to get everyone's equipment upgraded to max for her Christmas Presents. Any word from Argo or Ragna?"

"Ragna's still on the fourth floor, but I don't recognize the spot he's in right now. Argo is supposed to be on this floor, but she's been all alone by the stands this entire time," Sinon said before helping the next customer. "Think we should message Klein and send him over to check on her?"

"Is that really a good idea? He's out with his-"

"On second thought, I'm going to message him now. He doesn't get an entire day off when the rest of us are helping Lisbeth run the shop. Especially when the rest of his old guild gets to do what they want."

"Which is most likely spying on them."

"Oh, no doubt."

Over with Argo herself, she was sitting alone in the tournament stands much like Sinon had figured. Argo hadn't been planning to join in the tournament that day, so for now she was trying to continue her business as an info broker by trading messages over the system's instant messenger. It was harder to do than she would've liked; most of her usual contacts seemed to be taking the day off from their usual work and even those that were responding to her didn't stay long as they had to either get ready for the tournament or had to multitask with customers they needed to speak to face to face. Of course, despite her best efforts the air of gloom after last night still held strong.

"Yo!"

Apparently some people hadn't gotten the memo that she wanted to be left alone. Quickly writing up the last of her message before sending it, she finally looked up to see the samurai and Lily both dressed in green pointed hats and equally pointed elf ears.

"Heya. Need somethin'?" she answered, staying much calmer than her conversation with Ragna.

"Sinon and Leefa were wondering what you were up to, and since I got to skip out on our Blacksmithing work we got called upon to check on you," Klein said. He was joined by his girlfriend for right now, just taking in the Christmas Eve festivities before the day's big event really began. A short distance from the group, Argo noticed several members of Klein's old guild around the corner peeking in on the two…. She guessed that they were probably looking to settle a bet with clear evidence. "So why are you out here by your lonesome? Figured you'd be hawking info."

"I've been doin' just that, but I'm doing it remotely," Argo answered. "Too crowded to move around much anyways."

"Come on, where's your holiday spirit?" Lily asked, trying to drag her into the festive mood. "Klein told me that you've had to hang around your Guild Leader these past few days, but I guess you got more of the Scrooge's grumpy attitude than I thought."

'Grumpy is the least of his problems for once.' While she didn't say anything aloud, Klein took notice of Argo's change in disposition.

"Are you and Ragna… fighting?" he asked cautiously.

"…Yeah." Argo could admit that much.

"This have anything to do with the date he went on yesterday?"

"Nah, I'm the one who put him up to the damn thing. This is… some oth'r mess," she clarified sourly. "He ain't comin' today either, said he wasn't going to join us for the tournament."

"Aw, seriously?" Klein groaned. "Then again, maybe I actually stand a chance of winning if he sits out. He going to be spending Christmas with us at least?"

"I dunno, but… I doubt it," she said. 'Why the hell am I keeping anything that jerk said a secret? I should just spill the beans here an-' She didn't finish the thought.

"Hey. If you need to talk about it, we're here to listen," Lily promised, leading Klein to eagerly nod in agreement.

"Thanks, but… I think I just need to let this defuse for a moment. Can't do anythin' too sudden," she promised. "Don't… tell anyone else about this either. Let's just let Christmas be a day we can take it easy, less drama tha' better."

"If that's what you wanna do, go ahead. But Ragna should still be with his guild tomorrow. Doesn't sound like the guy has much of anyone else here… aside from his date."

"Which reminds me; you just said that you were the one that set Ragna up on the date that Klein saw him on," Lily interjected, trying to bring the mood back up. "I want details. What was that supposed to mean?"

"…One thousand, then I'll start talking."

"That's blackmail!"

1:46 PM

Ragna grunted as he was pushed back by the attack of a giant crimson spider. The difference in their levels was starting to become apparent as the monsters were taking more and more hits to finish off as well as attacking him with more force. Even though he still carried his years of combat experience, his speed and overall power were overall still hampered by both his own attempt at self-erasure and Sword Art Online system itself. He was also lacking in his usual techniques, meaning he had very little left to play around with.

"Hell of a time for a trial run. Blood Kain!" Ragna roared. While his health went down a noticeable amount, he also felt energy surge into his arm that was practically begging to be let out. "Hell's Fang!"

Rushing forward with the enhanced version of the attack, Ragna noticed that he was traveling further and faster with the attack despite carrying a much heavier darkness within his hand. Slamming said darkness into the enemy with his fist, the damage he did to the fresh creature was almost triple that of what the basic attack had done and sent the creature flying back even further. This wasn't all, as the impact had even caused an explosion of darkness around him which heavily damaged any opponents in range of it. Instead of going for another attack to test the magnitude of other Azure Grimoire techniques, Ragna instead decided to rely on his regular techniques while the system restored the Hit Points he'd used in the attack.

Eventually, he'd finished the current group he was facing though he was annoyed by the fact that this had been another trap forced encounter that had left him surrounded. He'd probably activated every single trap he'd passed by, and while he knew this was what was required to flush out his still hidden Interference in the dungeon it didn't help that he couldn't see the combat coming.

"I guess I could reach out to Argo and try to figure out how I'm supposed to learn the skill," Ragna considered before shooting down his own idea immediately. "Nah, then I'd make it sound like I'm trying to replace her… even if it could actually come to that the way things are playing out. Come on idiot, you got until the end of the dungeon to figure this shit out. You gotta do something."

Curious on something, Ragna came to a stop and opened his menu to check on a few things. First off, he was still on Argo's friend list so she at least hadn't removed him from that (some very reasonable surprise there). He also hadn't gotten any other messages in the meanwhile from any of his teammates, meaning that Argo likely hadn't told them about their conversation from last night. He figured that it would've been the first thing to do on her list when she saw the group, so why was she keeping his secret? He couldn't worry about that for the moment, not while he still had a job to do here.

"Shit. By the map parameters it looks like I'm not even halfway done with this-" Ragna started to complain, right before yet another ambush trap spawned. "…Screw it, I'll at least get some levels and work on my Azure while I'm stuck here."

4:25 PM

Klein smirked as he easily deflected his tournament opponent's mace strike with his katana. He wasn't able to push straight into a stab since his opponent tried to catch him with a shield bash, but dashing to the side allowed him to dodge the attack and respond with an upward slash that cleanly hit its mark and earned him the match.

"Nice, just hit the top 128!" Klein declared as the announcer named him the winner. Helping his opponent to their feet (and trying to keep himself from boasting too much more) he headed over to the rest of his guild in the stands. "How many of us are still in?"

"Five of us," Agil answered. "You, me, Asuna, Yuuki, and Leefa."

"Can't believe I was supposed to fight Heathcliff last round," Sinon sighed at her misfortune while clarifying why she hadn't been included. "I think I just made a fool of myself out there."

"Hey, don't feel too bad about it, none of his matches have been close," Lisbeth assured. The Blacksmith had only won three rounds herself, but it was fairly impressive for someone who was so averse to combat instead of a participant. The fact that she'd managed to drum up as much business as she did was a win enough for her. "Come on, even when you were losing all of those spear moves you used to keep him at bay were pretty awesome."

"But it didn't matter since I couldn't even land a single hit on him. That guy's almost in his own league and it's like all eyes are on him this tournament," Sinon sighed, having come over to visit from the other tournament block.

"Well with Ragna out of the picture they are," Agil agreed. "Pretty sure there wasn't anyone here that wasn't at least a little curious to who would come out on top if the two came to blows. Probably would've been some pretty heavy betting as well."

'Well he's not here, so does it even matter?' Argo thought silently. She'd been rather bored watching most of these matches, only occasionally taking notes on what she saw for potential combat information to sell.

"A-Anyways," Klein began nervously, trying to direct the conversation away from the Reaper because he knew that Argo was fed up with him. "Heathcliff's on the other side of my bracket so it looks like I won't have to fight him unless I make it all the way to the finals. And you know what, I'm pretty sure I can make it all the way there."

"Cocky, aren't we? I'm on your side of the bracket, which means that you'd have to fight through me to get there," Agil reminded with a smirk.

"Hah! Looking forward to it!" Klein answered back as a sort of friendly contest.

"And don't count the others out just yet," Sinon said, speaking adamantly for the girls that weren't there. "Doubtful as some people make it seem, they could be able to find that one chink in Heathcliff's armor to take him own. I'd keep my guard up if I were you."

"Right right," I'll hold faith in our members over in B block," Klein agreed. "Actually Argo, you've been watching fights on both sides. Any hot tips you can give us to overcome that guy? At this point it'd be a damn good Christmas present."

"If I had anythin' on Heathcliff I swear that I'd give it to ya. Guy ends his matches too quick to get a read on 'im…" Argo sighed. "So if you could stay alive against him for a minute or two, I might be able to figure somethin' out."

"We'll… see what we can do," Agil commented. Now he was the less than confident one. "By the way… about that girl with Leefa? I heard something about her and Ragna on a date yesterday?"

"Eight hundred and I'll talk."

"Hey! Why are you bringing the price down for him!" Klein demanded in outrage.

"Cause it gets a hilarious rise outta ya," Argo admitted, allowing a little of that minx mischievousness to gleam through.

7:03 PM

"This is the last place to look."

The boss dungeon. And judging by the doors in front of the Reaper, it was even the floor dungeon for the fourth floor. Even without knowing what he did about the Interference contained here from Sanae, he'd set out to clear this floor himself with good reason. While these action could likely bring no end of unwanted attention to the Reaper and the next floor could have been even more dangerous, with all of the deaths and dangers that this floor already posed Ragna was more than ready to take that risk. This line of thinking was only reinforced by his slow crawl through. While he was fighting alone and lacked basic skills that would've helped him with his dungeon exploration, it still seemed way too harsh for the player base.

"The sooner I get out of this damn spider nest, the better."

Much as Ragna's comments had indicated, the further he'd gotten into the dungeon the worse the place had appeared and much of that was due to the spider webs in the area. While they were already noticeable at the entrance even compared to other dungeons on this floor, now there was more webbing than walls or flooring. This stuff impacted Ragna's base movement speed as well, so it wasn't like he could just completely ignore it. Taking the Aramasa out, he cleaved the heavy webbing from the Boss Door allowing himself to finally push through to the nightmare that lay on the other side.

"Here we go."

(Cue Final Fantasy XIII-2 Battle on the Big Bridge (Oriental Mix) Extended)

He heard a heartbeat. One that was loud enough to echo throughout the darkened corridors. The shuffling of spidery chitin on the floor, muffled by a thick layer of spider webbing. Stepping forward, Ragna was already feeling his movement hampered just a few steps in. Then the room finally illuminated itself and he saw the floor boss in all its horror.

It was a long hallway that was absolutely festering with all of the spider types that Ragna had encountered in the dungeon. Some were on the heavily webbed floors, others on the walls, even a rare few on the ceiling for ambushes if you lost track of them. The boss itself was in the back of the room behind all of its troops; a large pulsating mass of webs that took up the entire section. Taking notice as yet another spider spawned into battle before it, Ragna got a good look at the creature's name.

Matriarch of Venom

The spiders in the room then gave their shrill screams before they charged Ragna in a wave of crawling legs that gave Ragna a brief flashback to some of his encounter with a certain Azure! screaming blob. Not letting the memories distract, he began his charge to the boss in the back through the spiderwebs impeding his rush. Placing both hands on his sword's handle, he unleashed a vicious two-handed Blast skill that sent many of them flying out of his way and crashing into the wall.

"Gauntlet Hades!"

He had to fight just to get himself off the web covered ground, let alone carrying enough for to spin into any kind of damage dealing attack, but his personal skill still activated as his darkness cover foot sailed through the air before landing on the lead spider's head. Though it didn't destroy it, Ragna used the monster as a platform to vault himself high into the air. The spiders on the ceiling took notice of this and leapt at him, but cleaved on out of the way before using another Gauntlet Hades to carry him just a little further before launching himself on the monster yet again. Getting just up to the boss monster, Ragna dove downwards with his sword and sunk it deep into the monster. Removing an entire one of its four health bars.

'Okay, that did more than I was expec-'

He couldn't finish as he was suddenly blasted back by an unseen force, flying uncontrollably through the air before his back roughly slammed to the far end of the room. Strangely enough, he hadn't lost any Hit Points from that, but now more spiders were being summoned and creating an even larger force than he'd started with… not that he'd taken any out.

'Guess I can't just rush this after all, but if I take too long…' Even after the mass summon, an additional spider still appeared in front of the mass of webs. 'Then it'll just bring more of its damn kids into this mess. How were regular players supposed to handle this boss? Hell, how were any of them supposed to do anything with this floor in the first place? This is bullshit.'

His complaints did no good as the spiders were once again surrounding him, and these even managed to spray him with their webbing; both hindering his movement and keeping him from bringing out any items (like he used them in the first place). Ragna didn't care as he channeled his Blood Kain ability and turned the Aramasa into its signature scythe form. Coming in with a wild swing, it didn't seem like his HP sacrifice had actually impacted his scythes damage output much at all, but he still felt the excessive darkness he was holding within his arm. Lucky his scythe was far from lacking damage output as he caught several spiders in the attack and caused the ones he'd already attacked to shatter.

"Hell's Fang!"

Unleashing the same boosted move as before revealed a few things to Ragna, like the webs on the floor couldn't impede his progress and the black flames even seemed to burn of the webbing he'd been surrounded with (even though it wasn't really made to burn oddly enough). Slamming his fist into the lead spider delivered the most damage and caused the creature to shatter, and the resulting explosion was enough to finish off some of the smaller ones off. Keeping the Aramasa out in scythe form, Ragna managed to cleave apart the remain spiders around him, though there were plenty of spiders between him and the boss of this floor… which prompted a less than conventional idea from him.

Bringing his scythe down and stabbing the physical blade into one of the larger spiders, the creature squealed in pain but remained alive. Using the weapon like a pole vault, Ragna launched himself high into the air and even managed to break the enemy ranks. Getting to the end, he cleaved his scythe's dark energy blade through the boss and eliminated yet another life bar and brought the creature down to half health.

This time Ragna saw the blast of air coming and impaled his scythe in the ground to hold him in place. While the energy still blasted him back, he at least remained grounded this time and the extra anchoring made it so that he was only pushed back to the halfway point. Of course he was also completely surrounded by the boss's spiders and that was before even more were spawned in, but it suited him just fine.

Being rushed at from all angles, Ragna returned his scythe to its sword form so he could perform quicker attacks. Pushing his body to its limit so he had as much speed as possible, even with the webs slowing him down. Wielding his sword in his left hand, he swiped away one of the smaller spiders while backhanding another with his free hand. Activating a sword skill, he unleashed a deadly swipe through several spiders and damaged that group before twisting into a roundhouse kick and blasting another group back. He performed an overhead swing on one of the larger ones and managed to damage it before grabbing his sword with both hands and making another whirlwind slash turning several timing into the full circle attack and blowing the spiders back. Though the attack didn't work on the spiders that dropping in on him from the ceiling.

"Inferno Divider!"

Ragna's upward slash easily cleaved through the spiders and blasted them back, though it left him vulnerable as he fell. He'd at least accounted for this with all of the slashing he'd done before unleashing that attack that left the spiders too far away to punish the technique. They did, however, give him yet another spray of their webbing and while Ragna's hit points had yet to recover to full, he engaged his Blood Kain yet again.

"Gauntlet Hades!"

The force propelling him forward was even greater than he'd expected and he felt no resistance getting off of the web covered floors. Aside from also burning off the webs he'd been struck with again, Ragna flew so hard he was able to make it all the way to the boss and struck it with enough force to cause a small quake. Behind Ragna was a long vertical wave of the dark energy that had followed his travel path and cleaved through and even destroyed several of the spiders. Ragna prepared himself for another push back from the boss's last life bar… only to watch as the monster shattered before him.

(End theme)

'…That's… anticlimactic,' Ragna considered as he glanced through the entire boss chambers, watching as all of the leftover spiders shattered into glass fragments as well. 'This thing should've had an entire lifebar after that last attack, Unless I hit it so hard that it…'

That's when he realized that the leftover light fragments hadn't vanished yet and there also wasn't any sign of the usual victory message. Ragna then watched as the particles gathered in the center of the room and seemed to fuse together before there was a blinding flash of light. The figure that emerged was his height, rather unusual for any boss let alone a floor one that usually required a multi-party raid. She was dressed in a black toga from ancient Greece, though her rib area was covered with four pairs of spider legs which functioned strangely as armor. She had long black hair and held a two-handed katana as she glared him down with her eight dark spider eyes. Then the four bars appeared along with the boss's name.

The God Forsaken Weaver
Arachne

"Second form, huh?" Ragna muttered as he stared the boss down. "At least there's only one of you now to-"

That was when his arm pulsed in pain. At first he was worried that he'd somehow overtaxed it with his minimal usage of Blood Kain, but it quickly proved that wasn't the case as Seither like darkness sprung up from all around him and stabbed like wicked tendrils into the boss causing it to scream as it horribly warped its body and the pain in Ragna's head only grew.

'This is where that damn Interference was!? It was waiting for this damn thing to transform!? How the hell… Does it have a mind of its own somehow!?'

But then… he heard something from his past. A cruel and chilling reminder.

'Brother, Saya misses you. Come, be with your sister.'

As Ragna was stunned into stillness, the boss's data and his own Interference finally finished their corrupted fusion and the new enemy lay before him. Now instead of the earlier toga, it wore a traditional Japanese style dress. It had lost its two handed katana, but its hands had now become jagged claws pulsing with dark energy and the spider legs that had originally been a protective ribcage now reached out from its back ready to strike with their spear-like tips. And its face… a darkened skull in an almost feral smile as its eyes shown hauntingly red.

(Cue BlazBlue CentralFiction Yomotsuhirasaka)

"No… I already…"

The Defiled Soul

"DAMN IT!" Ragna roared as he rushed forward with the Aramasa, swinging the blade as hard as he could at the thing before him.

She needed to only raise a single hand to block the attack as a massive shockwave erupted through the entire boss chambers. Bringing his sword back, Ragna used it to deflect one of her stabbing spider legs before rushing forward with a Hell's Fang to her face that caused her to lurch and even caused notable cracks on the skull, but one of her spider legs then countered and stabbed him directly through the chest. To his horror, it wasn't just the point that was damaging him but he could also feel his energy being drained at the contact… the skull he'd impacted was starting to heal itself.

Grunting as he roughly yanked the spider leg out of him with his free hand while blocking the incoming legs with his sword, the Soul came in with a claw swipe onto the blade and blasted Ragna back a good deal even with the webs impeding his movement. It then rushed after him, not impeded by the flooring like he was and swiped at him with all of its left legs. Ragna wasn't able to step back fast enough so he was again forced to hold the attack back with the Aramasa, but then they came at him at his exposed side with their right claw.

"Inferno Divider!"

The upwards slash at the last instant was enough to save Ragna from the attack as well as deal some fair damage. He didn't have the more powerful version that he was more accustomed to and the webs kept him from traveling too far up, but it might've worked for the better as the boss's spider legs kept it from falling over and allowed it to recover quickly. Trying to take advantage of the attack, Ragna rushed forward quickly and unleashed another two-handed Blast skill. The attack hit home, but all of the spider legs surrounded the main body to protect her from the entire attack like an invulnerable shield. Ragna was left open as the creature finally got a strike on him with his dark glowing hand. He hadn't felt a pain like this in some time and the force of the attack was enough to blast him through the boss's hallway where he gave a painful gag as his back violently slammed into the back wall.

He didn't even have any time to collect himself as the monster had leapt through the entire hallway to claw him. It barely missed as he pushed off the wall and quickly transformed his sword into his scythe to give him a safer range before attacking with a wild swing. While it took all eight of the spider's legs, they actually managed to catch his attack as the dark energy blade was mere millimeters from their face. Worse yet, the attack from both of their clawed hands was enough to send Ragna's weapon out of his grasp before it impaled itself in the wall.

Ragna stood before his largest challenge yet in this world, weaponless and lacking more of the techniques that would have normally aided him in these dire times. Without much of a choice, he decided it was time to fight risky once more.

"Blood Kain!"

His power charged up, Ragna didn't release it right away as the monster lunged forward and tried to first impale him with the claws which he barely managed to sidestep through the webbing and quickly stepping back to avoid the dark claw attack. Positioning the monster just right, Ragna made his move.

"Gauntlet Hades!"

Traveling the webbing without resistance and leaving behind a powerful trail of darkness to strike the monster, Ragna managed to make it to reclaim his sword and roughly yank it out of the wall before applying yet another Blood Kain. He used this boost to amplify his Hell's Fang technique to meet the soul's charge, but they used their spider legs as a protective barrier once more (something Ragna annoyingly remembered) to absorb all of the attack, though he did notice cracks starting to form on the exoskeleton legs. As the monster went for another dark claw swipe, Ragna countered with a two-handed blast skill that sent both of them flying back.

"Blood Kain!"

At this next shout, Ragna felt a deep pain ache through his entire body and his right arm felt like a massive spike had been jammed down it. He couldn't survive another hit like this, but it was literally do or die now. As the spider he'd been fighting recovered it… disappeared from sight.

'Shit.'

He was practically guessing as he swung the sword behind him and clashed with the dark claw, stumbling back slightly as she went in with another of her spider leg stabs which he barely deflected with his sword in time before bringing his sword down only to make further contact with the rib cage. Dodging another double palm attack before slashing again, and only striking the rib cage again.

'Almost there,' Ragna thought before his opponent disappeared again. Instead of just blocking low, he forced himself to leap into the air to avoid the bosses leg slide before bringing his sword down upon the protective legs. He used the force of the sword attack to vault him into the air and leaving the boss to leap up in her chase after him. But he twisted his body and landed with his feet on the ceiling before pushing off, letting loose another massive sword swing, and sending her crashing into the ground with her spider cage barely protecting her. 'Almost!'

The boss then performed a vertical split kick and sent Ragna back into the air before he could land and disappeared once more. Ragna barely managed to react and block with his sword as she appeared beside him and kicked him one direction before turning and blocked the other teleport kick which he saw coming. She then teleported one final time and grabbed him before driving him to the ground and dragging him along. He kicked her off and went for on final swing, breaking two of the spider legs and leaving the rest horridly damaged.

The Soul then used both of her clawed hands and attacked Ragna's sword, striking it from his grasp and sending it spiraling into the air. She began undoing her cage to finally finish the unarmed Reaper… only for him to use his final Blood Kain charge.

"Hell's FANG!"

A faster, stronger, and unimpeded version of the move lunged forward and left the Soul one final chance to defend itself with its spider legs. Another one broken, but leaving with three of them barely hanging on… then the aftereffect of Ragna's Hell's Fang exploded outwards in darkness and shattered their last line of defense. Somehow, fear was actually visible in the creature's glowing skull eyes as it stumbled back. It then went straight for Ragna in one final darkness claw strike. Right as Ragna caught the falling Aramasa and struck the creature as he seemed to pass right through it.

(End them)

"N… Nii… sama…"

That was the last word out of the creature as Ragna turned and finished cleaving the creature in half, causing it to explode into black, Seither-like Interference.

"I already told you; I'm done with that shit." Raising his right arm, he absorbed all of the energy as the victory sign finally showed itself in the boss chamber. Grunting, he reset his sword on his belt and noticed that he'd obtained two new skills.

Soul Eater

Apply the Soul Eater buff to any regular sword strike. Dealing damage with said effect will allow you to regain an amount of HP relative to the damage inflicted, but will also begin to fill up the Corruption gauge. Increased proficiency of this form with decrease the amount of corruption created with each attack and also unlock other Azure Grimoire follow-up attacks.

XP: 0/100,000

Locked Branching Skills: Hell's Fang Addition Hit, Gauntlet Hades Spin Kick, Inferno Divider Ax Kick

"Finally managed to get this back," Ragna thought, actually a bit pleased with the development. "But what the hell's with this corruption gauge?" He looked into the second skill he'd obtained and got his answer.

Corruption Gauge

Whenever Soul Eater is used, this gauge will rise and the gauge will slowly empty over time. At higher fill percentages there may be adverse effects such as the own losing control Azure and slight harm to user. If the gauge is ever completely filled, the user will take substantial damage over time. Increases proficiency by using Soul Eater techniques. Increased proficiency will empty the gauge at faster rates.

XP: 0/100,000

"…The power of the Azure isn't mine," Ragna repeated a sentiment he'd heard over and over again in his past. "As for what really is mine…" He already knew the answer. "Let's just get the next floor opened then, head back to the campsite, then… I'll have to do what I can."

8:13 PM

"I'm glad I made it through the quarter finals, but these matches are starting to get intense," Klein sighed as he joined the rest of his guild in the stand. "Just two more matches, but next up I'm fighting Sakura who's looked really good this entire tournament."

"You gotta push buddy, you're the last member from our guild in this contest," Agil sighed (he'd been taken out two rounds ago). "Come on, I didn't think you were the type to give up while your girlfriend is watching."

"I'm fighting her guild leader next round! I'm wondering if she's even hoping I'll win!"

"If she hears that you lost on purpose, she'll probably be pretty upset with you," Yuuki reminded next to the axe user. "I'll you can do now is head out there and give it your all! Make sure she knows how much effort you're putting into this! Show her what you're really made of!"

"…You know, that pep talk's actually helping a lot. Keep going," Klein begged, leaving the other to laugh. "I'm serious!"

"Ah c'mon. Yer jus' overthinkin' things… fer once," Argo taunted. Now that she'd gotten some time and distance from Ragna as well as enjoying the company of those around her, she was in a noticeably far better mood. "'Sides, did you see what the guys were getting jus' fer losin' in the quarters? You're already got so much reward comin' yer way, how could you not be in a good mood?"

"Stage fright now that everyone's eyes are on me?" Everyone had to pause at this revelation.

"Klein, you stepped in and saved my life during the third floor boss raid without batting an eye and you made it this far without any problems," Agil recounted. "How could you be-?"

"I DON'T KNOW! STOP ASKING!" the samurai blurted out again. It was admittedly a little sad and everyone's expression reflected that.

"Well… at least we can count on him when our backs are against the wall," Yuuki said as one to look on the positive. "Still, show 'em heck co-leader! Let them know that Final Rebellion guild is the best one out there!"

"R-RIGHT!" Klein shouted, trying to loudly maintain his courage.

"You dummies," Argo said with a shack of her head… right as a message notification came up. From Ragna. "Uh… I'm gonna go grab the others. Klein should have as many people cheerin' from him as possible especially since he got this far."

"Good thinking," Yuuki agreed. "You go grab Liz and Silica; I'll go grab Leefa's group on the other side of town."

Nodding, the two left the stands (Klein's old guild had taken off to get started on the eggnog and their leader didn't have the heart to interrupt them despite his achievements). Heading into the alleyway though, Argo opened the notification and… stayed there for a moment. She didn't go into the message itself just yet, wondering if it was really the time to do so. After their fight (which was her yelling while Ragna stayed unmoving as a stubborn ass) it hadn't been easy to move past their fallout, and in spite of that she was still keeping his secret. Not knowing what to expect, she finally relented and opened it.

Sender: Ragna

Subject: We need to talk

The headline says it all. If you're up for talking, I think that there's more that I need to say. I'm sorry I was an asshole last night and I don't know what good this is going to do, but I still want to try.

Either way, don't try heading back to the campsite on floor four. I already tried to double back and the entire campsite is gone like it was never there to begin with. Something about it stinks, but don't bother going on another investigation. I think we established last time that it's not going to do any good. There's an inn called 'Evergreen Beds' on Floor Five. If you still think I'm worth a chance and want to talk, I'll see you there.

-Ragna

'If he's makin' the effort, maybe I should hear 'im out,' Argo decided, though she wasn't exactly convinced at the idea. 'Don't think he wanted ta hurt us or… wait, floor-?'

"GUYS! EVERYONE!" a random player shouted while they ran through the snow covered streets. "HUGE NEWS EVERYONE!"

"What, you finally got lucky under the mistletoe?" another commented in good spirits leading to more than a couple of people laughing.

"No! I-! …Actually yeah, earlier today thanks for asking. But that's not what I'm talking about now! Floor five is open! Somehow floor four got cleared!"

'…Not a huge surprise, all things considered,' Argo thought honestly. Other players were far less calm or even convinced about it.

"What!? That can't be possible! We don't even know where the floor dungeon is yet! And every decent player was here at the tourna-!" It dawned on them as they were saying it. "The Grim Reaper…"

"But his entire guild's been fighting this whole time! Heck, the guy saying he's the co-leader is still in the semi-finals! Are you telling me he did it alone?"

"Maybe he found another group to work with just for today? Or maybe the game auto-clears one floor on Christmas Eve?" another guessed, trying to find a feasible reason.

'Do they even realize that there are methods of checking for this?' Argo considered selling them this info a making a quick buck, but decided to keep the idea to herself for Ragna's sake.

"Either way, that's not all," the new bringer continued, actually smiling at what he was about to say. "I just went with a small team just outside of the fifth floor's first city." A heavy pause. What was revealed here might determine what getting out of the fourth floor really meant. "They seemed a bit tougher than the spiders, but no ambushes, no status effects… I think we're finally on a safer floor!"

Those who were there to hear the news let out a loud cheer and some even had a celebratory embrace. Far from unusual given all of lives that had been lost in the deadly and borderline unfair fourth floor. Argo watched the celebration and watched as the good news started to spread among the players… and the one responsible was absent from the very celebration he'd created.

10:28 PM

"So… where d'ya wanna start?" Argo asked.

"I guess with an apology of how cold I actually was last night," the Reaper began slowly, far less sure of himself than when he'd been fighting.

The two were currently in a two bed inn room that Ragna had bought for them to have this conversation. While the night was starting to wind down in preparation for the next day's festivities, there were still more than a few people out partying to celebrate not just the holiday, but also for the news of the fourth floor victory.

"Already said it in yer message," she denied, but bluntly instead of angered. "How was the floor dungeon?"

"A pain in the ass to get through. Poison needle traps, monster spawning traps, and webbing that made the damn think take longer than it needed to," the Reaper recounted. "…If I'd done things differently, I would've taken you with me in a heartbeat."

"I can also teach ya how ta sense out traps," Argo offered. "Jus' think of it as a Christmas gift fer a good cause." Ragna only nodded. "And the boss?"

"Some… unusual stuff happened there," the Reaper admitted. "The boss had an entire second form and said form even got the same kind of power boost that Ilfang got back on floor one." He crossed his arms. "And I'm starting to think I could be the cause of it."

"What makes ya say that?" Argo asked, staying neutral as Ragna said his piece.

"Because of this," Ragna said as he brought out the ability he'd gained during the fight. He knew that it was what had caused all of the chaos and drama, but he was done hiding secrets (also he'd looked through this one ahead of time). Argo hesitantly looked through the info and analyzed the text. "I dunno about you, but it seems pretty powerful. I only got it after my arm absorbed the same kind of darkness that gave Ilfang his massive power up."

"And ya didn't hear about this when you got the… arm?" Argo asked cautiously.

"Nope, not a part of the deal that I knew," Ragna said with a sigh. "Either way, I'm going to do my best to put this power to good use. I don't how much time I have left, but I need to do what I can. If I clear too much of the game and I bite it, then the rest of you are left in a dangerous spot. So… I dunno, I'll just play natural for the most part and step up when the game really needs me."

"Natural fer you is still pretty extreme fer the rest of us," the Rat felt the need to comment. "And ya still went and cleared an entire floor dungeon by yerself."

"That was different; floor four was the biggest death trap we've come across, almost as deadly as floor one with everyone we lost. I think I made the right move clearing this one while I had the chance."

"But ya don't credit for it," she realized.

"I don't want credit and I don't want sympathy with what this arm's going to do to me," Ragna sternly. "Sorry, but… that's just who I am."

"I can accept that much, but what about the rest of yer guild?"

"So you didn't tell them."

"Cause it ain't my place ta do it."

"…You're right I'll tell tomorrow, warts and all."

"The day after, tell 'em then," Argo decided. "Tomorrow we oughta… have one last day where they don't have ta worry about it." Ragna slowly nodded. "And that means that yer spending that day with us. It'll be Christmas and we're the last family you'll have."

"Right. I'll do my best not to bring the mood down and I'll tell everyone else the rest the day after," the Reaper conceded. "But that's not going to be pretty either. Some of the stuff I'm gonna say is the same brand of harsh shit you heard me say last night. I'll be patient with them and hear out everything they have to say, but not changing my mind on this."

"I'll… have ta accept that then," Argo answered mournfully.

"…So, how'd the tournament go?" Ragna asked, finally changing the subject.

"Klein made it all th' way to th' grand finals," Argo answered. "From what I hear he managed to get some damn good rewards as well. Be sure ya congratulate him on it tomorrow."

"I will, but who did he lose to?"

"Heathcliff, the same guy that got the last hit of the boss in on floor three. And thing was Klein did better than just about everyone by getting an actual hit in on the guy. Everyone else didn't even do that much… Lotta players were hoping to see both of you fight. Or bet on yer match, that too."

"I'm not really interested in putting on that show for anyone. Besides, the more credit and recognition this guy gets the less that I have to put up with," he answered in his usual blunt manner.

"…And everyone was giving Klein a hard time about bein' shy."

Yet again, Ragna had to fight the urge to glare at his info broker.

Christmas Day, 2022: 8:30AM

"Nice that the inn was able to accommodate a group like this," Ragna noted as he glanced around the long table that was housing his entire guild. It was the largest in the place and his back was right up to one of the building's fireplaces. On Ragna's right was Klein and the rest of his old guild (Lily was spending the day with her own Winged Maidens guild) while on his left was the rest of his guild… more notable was Alba from his date who was sitting directly next to him.

"So… we gonna talk about you and Argo man?" Klein approached carefully, since his Info Broker was sitting right across from the Reaper. "I mean… I don't want to intrude-"

"Then don't," Ragna shut him down, before realizing that he should at least try to be a little nicer on Christmas. "I mean there isn't a lot to say at the moment. We both said our piece yesterday, but it's a work in progress. For now we've at least got things where we're comfortable enough to spend Christmas together, so that's what we're going to do."

"…I actually figured all that out man, I got eyes," the Samurai answered. "I was more asking about… you know…"

"Know what?" Ragna asked, left completely in the dark (not that it was anything new).

"He's talking about the fact that you and Argo walked out of the same Inn room when we got here." Liz's casual observation next to Argo got everyone silent, including Alba next to Ragna who gave him a mortified stare. He shot his blacksmith a scalding glare for bringing this up. "What? I'm just the messenger. We all saw it."

"And all I see is that you need to grow up. That damn room had two beds in it."

"And that… tent that you were both staying in?" Sinon asked a bit uncomfortably as she'd heard word about it from Argo.

"She stayed in it, I was left sleeping outside all the damn time," he answered yet again, trying to quell any rumors before they emerged.

"He's right; Ragna was jus' bein' a gentleman… fer once," Argo answered, almost like it was odd for her to defend him this way. Everyone else took this rare defense as a sign that it absolutely had to be true and tried to return to their regular conversation over their prepared Christmas breakfast, though the awkward air still hung heavy over them. Well that, and something else. "It jus' me or is it really hot?"

"I noticed that too," the Reaper answered, but this wasn't in relation to the earlier awkward conversation as he glanced to the fireplace behind him. "Is there a way to adjust the temperature of the damn thing? It's less cozy and more roasting."

"It's better the further you get away from it," Yuuki noted only a few seats over from Ragna who was stuck in the center and as the closest. "I'd say I'm probably in the perfect cozy zone, but I guess that's the price we all have to pay for realism in this game."

"Realism is the least of this game's problems," Alba complained, already starting to sweat like she was in a sauna. " Forget this; armor's coming off for a bit." And with a few taps of her menu, the armor indeed came off leaving her in a tank-top for everyone's… reaction.

'They're huge!' Liz said, unable to look away.

'How do you even get them like that?' Silica demanded in her head.

'I'm… honestly a little jealous,' Sinon had to admit with her own stare.

'A-Are those even real?' Leefa had to question.

'Hot damn.' That had been Argo.

While Asuna, Yuuki, Agil, Klein, and his guild didn't have as intense internal thoughts, all of them still were fixated on the woman's major assets.

…And no, it wasn't her boobs (not that they were particularly lacking either) but rather her toned as hell arms with a fair amount of volume that complimented their near perfect definition.

"You're… shredded as hell," Klein noted, feeling just a touch self-conscious.

"When I got into the game I was; by now my muscles have probably gone soft since my body hasn't been active at all." Alba's bitterness mirrored Ragna's whenever he talked about his cooking. "And that strength doesn't even count as much over here, just some stupid strength parameter to determine everything."

"How did you even get your arms to look like that? Even with this digital avatar my arms felt like jelly after all of that smithing I did yesterday. From the look of things, it should have been you swinging the hammer," Lisbeth complimented.

"Grew up out in the countryside and I always had to help my parents out on the farm. It was tough work, but eventually I got these," Alba admitted, glancing around, finally taking notice of everyone's eyes on her, and growing just a bit uncomfortable under the collective gazes… but also a little proud. "When I went to University, I wanted to keep my strength up if I ever went back home to work so I was a regular at the gym. It helped me to destress as well." She then turned her attention to Ragna, her date from two days ago. "You been rather silent on-"

"You got a six-pack to go with that?"

…Now a different awkwardness hung over the room, though Alba honestly wasn't nearly as bothered as everyone had expected she'd be.

"Yes, but I'm not taking off my tank-top to show it."

"Never asked for that, but still… that's pretty damn awesome," Ragna praised in earnest.

"…Is this his type?" Leefa whispered to Asuna.

"I couldn't tell you," the rapier user admitted. "Seems more than likely."

"Speaking of which, you planning on joining us today?" Ragna asked. "No pressure, but the offer's on the table… assuming Leefa didn't already kidnap you for this."

"Invited," the blonde corrected.

"Kidnapped," Ragna and Sinon both insisted in unison, a sentiment clearly shared the two.

"She may have done something like that, yes," Alba answered. "Why, what did you have planned?"

"Just figured we'd walk around the town and see what activities they're offering today. I didn't get a good look at the floor last night, so I guess anything's possible," Ragna told her. "Although, I do need to make a point to hit the starting town on Floor 1 at some point. If you guys want, I'll do my thing down there and the rest of you can meet me back on this floor later."

"All of us should be together on Christmas; we should all just head down to Floor 1 if you have business there," Silica tried to insist. "Is it going to take long?"

"I mean it might, but if it does that might be for the best," the Reaper said vaguely. "Either way, you guys better eat the rest of this spread. All of this is my Christmas gift to you and it didn't come cheap."

"Cheap fer what?" Argo began with a snicker. "Yer wallet or yer pride?"

"Both."

…Ragna was a little unnerved how many people had said that in unison with him.

Town of Beginnings: 9:18 AM

"Feels weird to be back down here after everything that's happened," Lisbeth commented as they passed through the giant center square. "Makes you think back to when they announced that this was really a death game."

"I try not to," Ragna answered seriously, partially because he hadn't been there.

"Me neither." Leefa, same case as her guild leader.

To celebrate the holiday, not only had the market changed but the entire floor had become a massive fair ground that was offering games, confections, and plenty of seasonal accessories. Even if it was a death game, there seemed to be a merry setting as groups traveled the streets and laughed like were still on the outside. Ragna knew it wouldn't last for long, but… he was starting to slowly come around to the idea of taking these few chances to the fullest.

"So what's your errand?" Yuuki asked as she glanced around. "You here to shop?"

"Maybe some ingredients down the line so I can take another crack at cooking, but I'll save that for later. I'm actually hoping to run into someone while we're down here," Ragna explained as he scanned the crowds as best he was able. "I probably should've put in them in my friend's list; I'm not really sure where to look now that we're-"

"Mr. Ragna!" a voice called out. Turns out that luck was on the Reaper's side for Christmas as he was approached by a group of seven children, though there were only two that he actually recognized. "Merry Christmas!"

"Heya, and same to you too," Ragna answered back, trying his best to give a pleasant smile. "Where's Sasha? You guys didn't run off did you?"

"Well, we-"

"Ichiro! Suzu! Kids! Where on earth did you-!?" Ragna heard their redhead caretaker say as she hurried through the crowds until she caught sight of him and gave a relieved sigh. "Please don't run off like that children, it's hard enough to keep an eye on you in these crowds when you're staying still."

"But we found Mr. Ragna!" one of the boys said as they pointed to the red coated Reaper.

"You still need to listen to the adults; we're trying to keep you kids safe here," Ragna lectured. The children looked a little guilty, but even if he wasn't trying to raise their spirits the Reaper had been going to do this anyways. "There's a less busy area a few streets down where it'll be easy to watch you. Stay where we can keep an eye on you and I'll give you all some spending money for the stalls." The kids only looked too eager as they followed close behind, giving him time to talk to their caretaker. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you as well, I wasn't sure that I'd be seeing you so soon," Sasha answered.

"Hey, you're the one that told me not to be a stranger," the Reaper answered back with a chuckle.

"With your guild as well I noticed," she said, reminding Ragna that he hadn't shown up alone this time. And his guild indeed looked like they were waiting for answers.

"Right. Everyone, this is Sasha. She's a caretaker for the kids that got trapped in Sword Art Online."

"That's a really respectable job," Lisbeth said with due earnestness. "You're looking over all seven of these little guys by yourself?"

"Actually, I'm also looking over several others, but those kids have their parents here to spend Christmas with. I watch them the rest of the time while their parents work towards clearing the game and freeing their children, but I'm glad that they'll have all of today with their family."

"Even still, it can't be easy looking after them all on your own," Sinon noted. "And it likely takes plenty of Col to do so."

"Hey, don't say coal on Christmas. Bad luck," Ragna said as a lame pun.

"Buddy… presents were already delivered this morning," Klein said, wondering if Ragna had actually celebrated Christmas before.

"…I was trying to make a joke."

"You failed."

"Tch."

"Regardless, it's not all that bad," Sasha tried to assure. "I've had plenty of their parents chip in whenever possible and even some of the teams they belong to send donations whenever they're able.. there's also a certain someone right next to me that's been very giving this past week."

As everyone turned to the Reaper at the revelation of his charity work, they saw that he was actually blushing.

"You don't have to put it like that, I'm only doing my part to help," he denied in his usual manner. "Speaking of which, I noticed that you've got some new kids with you. Do you have enough to get by?"

"With your stream of donations, I could be comfortably taking care of more than three dozen more children… but I have to hope that there aren't that many children stuck in here," she admitted a little sadly. "In fact, I've heard that some parents or family friends will start to bring their children to stay with me, so my little operation is growing. I'm going to need to find something more permanent to safely take care of them."

"If you need any help, don't hesitate to reach out to me. I'll do what I can," Ragna promised.

"I figured you'd say something like that," Sasha answered with a kind smile. "But to go with your giving attitude…" With a few quick taps of her screen, she sent a certain accessory over to Ragna; a Santa hat. "Only fits that you should wear something celebrating the patron Saint of children."

"I ain't no saint." 'Far from it, even here.' "But… thanks."

The group had found the cul de sac like area that Ragna had talked about and his guild currently enjoying the stalls with the children while Ragna just stayed back on a nearby bench and watched them all enjoy themselves. Some of these stalls looked like they were less than fair with the games, which explained why this area was so empty. To Ragna though, as long as the kids were playing happily he could (barely) stomach their cheating for now.

"Room for one more?" Leefa asked him. Ragna intentionally started to spread himself over the bench, before shooting her a cocky smirk as he moved over. Leefa rolled her eyes, but smiled as she sat down next to him. "You added Sasha to your friends list?"

"I figured if there ends up being an emergency or I need to reach her over something I should be able to get in contact with her," he explained. "…You're not about to suggest I add her to my guild, are you?"

"I'm not suggesting anything, who joins your guild is entirely up to you," Leefa defended herself. That or she was trying to back off on her usual insistence.

"What about with Alba?" he decided to ask, keeping an eye on a fellow silver hair as she tried her hand at a balloon popping game… hardly doing as well as the Reaper had with his own dart throwing experience.

"Right now it's important that I can keep an eye on her like you asked me to, but it might be easier to do if she became an official part of guild," she admitted. "But, I don't think you should ask if that's your only reason."

"How's she doing with… all that?" he asked carefully.

"I don't want to be dramatic and say that you for sure saved her life, but it's definitely important that you got to her when you did." No arguments there. "She's had plenty to say and… she's actually heard me out on a couple of my own problems. It's been… nice."

"…In that case I might ask her to join after all." Leefa was more than a little taken aback at Ragna's current decision making. "We don't really have that strong of a shield tank aside from Liz, and if you're able to talk with her like that it'd be worth it to keep her around. I've got some stuff to talk about with you and everyone else tomorrow, but if she still wants to join after that I'll pop the question."

"…And here I thought you'd be interested in getting your potential girlfriend bet to join you." Ragna tried to play it off as neutral as he shrugged. "She eventually talked about how you too met."

"Blame Argo."

"I think your pride's more at fault here."

"Then blame both," he said stubbornly as he noticed Alba heading his way while the little girl she was looking after was still throwing darts and growing frustrated. "Something wrong, babe?"

'He's doing that to get a rise out of me.' Leefa was right.

"Suzu has been trying to get that giant stuffed bear that's on display at the stall, but those stupid balloons won't pop. I'm starting to think that they're fully rubber or something," she explained. "So… mind stepping in and helping a girl out?"

"Sorry Leefa, duty calls," the Reaper apologized as he got off the park bench.

"Sorry nothing, Liz says you can't use the targeting system to save your life," Leefa said as she got up as well to get front row seats as the trio headed over to the offending stall.

"Ah, looks like we now have a leading man trying to take home the grand prize," the sleazy NPC stall owner said as he pointed to the balloons, many positioned further back and with the Santa's Workshop themed backdrop providing plenty of cover. "The further back your balloon pop is, the better your prize is. Make sure you hit dead on, these balloons are made of some pretty tough stuff. For a first try, you get one throw on the house but afterward you gotta pay the going price."

He wasn't lying, as Ragna could tell that the further back the balloons went the thicker the materials they were made out of. In fact, he could tell that in order to get the giant teddy bear that Suzu wanted (the best tier of prize obviously) he'd essentially have to try and pop a solid rubber ball. And that was only after he'd be able to get through the several moving pieces that would be giving it cover. Judging by the scratches on it, Ragna could tell that Alba and Suzu had already hit it more than a few times with their countless throws. Grabbing the dart, Ragna reeled back and-

"Excuse me good sir, but you're not throwing that the right way," the man at the stall said in reference to Ragna not using a skill on his attempt. "If you'd like I can give a demonstration."

This effort would be twofold as not only would it show a simplified tutorial of how to utilize the throwing skill, but it would also be applied to the back balloons and show that (to the stall owner at least) that said balloons were possible to pop.

THOOM!

…What they hadn't counted on was Ragna literally breaking the sound barrier as he threw his dart, making solid contact that it caused the balloon (rubber ball) to shatter.

"Think I can manage on my own, thanks," Ragna said sternly to the owner. "Now… that bear the kid wanted."

"B-But that's just up there for promotional reasons. I'm afraid you'll have to take-"

"Wasn't asking."

Even if they were supposedly just a collection of data, the pitch black aura (metaphorically in this case) around Ragna with his monstrous cold eyes was enough to turn the NPC pale as he shakily reached up to hand the bear for Suzu who squealed as she started hugging the life out of the toy.

"Thanks, Mr. Ragna!"

"Not a problem kiddo," the Reaper answered, then noticing that another of the kids was coming up to him. "Another game cheating?"

"Yep. I think the ring toss is next to impossible," they told him. Ragna was then aware that the rest of the children were now looking to him and his stall crushing talents.

"How many toys you think are available over here?" Ragna asked.

"Around 25 as prizes," Alba estimated.

"I'm gonna try to get three of each; making sure all the kids under Sasha's care gets the chance to play with them will make things easier for her," he decided.

"Aw, that's really kind of you," Leefa expressed sweetly.

"…Don't think he's doing this just out of kindness," Alba realized, noticing Ragna's evil grin as he took another dart from the terrified stall owner in front of him. "I mean, at least it's for a good cause."

11:47 AM

"That took longer than I was expecting," Ragna admitted as his group exited the teleport platform for the fifth floor. "Thanks for playing along with those kids though, pretty sure you made their day."

"Don't sweat it; we were happy to do it especially with all of the help that you're sending their way," Klein said earnestly. "Kind of surprised though, you seem the type to keep this stuff a secret even though you're doing… okay, for you especially because you're doing such a nice thing. So why allow us to be in on it now?"

"Just figured that it was stupid to keep it hidden, not like I wanted any extra credit or anything like that," Ragna answered (he'd yet to tell them that he'd grown up in orphanage life himself). "So, what are we doing now?"

"There are different events being held on every floor," Yuuki answered excitedly. "While the first floor was just more stalls available than the other floors, I heard some rumors that there's going to be a small parade on this one! It won't start for a while, but I wanted to take this chance to get as many good spot it watch it from as possible."

"I guess that works, but it won't take all of us to save our places," Ragna realized before turning to the rest of his group. "Yuuki and I will go reserve a couple of spots, rest of you should go and grab something warm to snack on while we watch."

"On it!" Liz said with some impressive enthusiasm, quickly appointing herself leader of this food expedition. Everyone else fell in line and started to follow her… with a notable exception.

"You're not going with them?" Ragna asked Alba who was staying with him and Yuuki.

"Hey, think I need to stay close to my Christmas date for today," Alba said as she hooked her arm with Ragna (who did not mind feeling her muscles underneath her armor lacking clothes). Glancing at Yuuki, he realized that… well she wasn't happy or disappointed, just seemingly thoughtful. "Kidding of course, mostly. I just felt like sticking around you for a while. It's… nice."

"You won't feel that way for long, ask anyone else in my guild," the Reaper said jokingly. "In about a week you'll understand why I only pop in with the rest of everyone instead of work long term."

"Think I already might," Alba flirted back.

"You two are pretty sweet with each other," Yuuki finally vocalized. "How exactly do you both know each other?"

'Guess Leefa didn't tell her yet, but it makes sense all things considered.' "That's… kind of story."

"Which I'm more than happy to tell you once we find our place for the parade," Alba promised, leaving Ragna to groan. "Come on, it doesn't put you in that bad of a light."

"It depends on how well you tell it; I'm reserving judgment until then."

"HEY! HOLD UP!" Ragna heard a voice shout, one which sounded familiar to him. Turning his head, he saw the group from… two nights ago. It had been Ducker who'd called out to him and chased him down, but the rest shortly followed. "Finally found you."

"You… guys were looking for me?" He was trying to play it dumb.

"Of course we were looking for you," Tetsuo told him. "We never got a chance to thank you. We looked around for you the entire tournament yesterday, but you never showed up. Thought for sure you'd be in the top rounds at least."

"I didn't enter," Ragna answered bluntly, trying to get them out of here for now before their presence brought other factors to light. "And you don't have to thank me, I was just in the area and it ended up working out that way." He kept his tone as firm as he could, trying to insist that they drop it. The group seemed to get the message as they stiffened… save for the most unexpected member.

"B-But we would've died if it weren't for you!" Sachi exclaimed, getting the attention of not only Yuuki and Alba, but a few others in the area as well.

"I just said-"

"Two days ago if it hadn't been for you… all of us would've died in that dungeon."

"Two… days ago?" Alba repeated, realizing that the event fell on their first date. And with the setting they mentioned… "Was the dungeon in the east area of the fourth floor?"

"…" Ragna didn't answer, by now he knew it wasn't getting out of this.

"Yeah, that's the exact one," Keita said, now that the Reaper's intimidation was no longer a factor. "We were out training in that place to catch up in levels for the tournament all day. The entire time we were there the place felt as safe as we'd been told. But as soon as it got to 10PM, that dungeon turned into hell on earth. Safe zone vanished, monsters well above our weight class showed up, and they even covered us in webs so we couldn't Teleport Crystal away."

Again, Ragna stayed silent. The words were obviously having a serious effect on Alba as she realized just what had happened to kill her old team. By now some of the onlookers were actually starting to stop and listen to what this group had to say.

"They charged us, get all of us into the red, and a few of us even get poisoned by them. The giant lead spider came straight at me and its attack would have killed me for sure," Ducker recounted, but he was speaking louder now that a crowd had come to listen in. "But at the last damn second, this guy charges in out of nowhere and punches the damn thing and sends it flying 40 feet in the air! No weapon needed! Then he soloed that entire elite mob while his partner made sure we all got to safety."

'Please think he's exaggerating.' No such luck, everyone seemed to be taking these words to heart as they continued to stare at Ragna. 'God dammit.'

"Wait, is that guy the Grim Reaper from floor one?"

"I heard he was part of the floor three raid too."

"And aren't they trying to figure out what he did on floor 4? I heard that someone confirmed that he was the one that finally cleared it, but they're wondering if he actually did it alone."

"…Uh…sorry?" Even if she wasn't confident and a little unclear on the details, at least Sachi understood all of the discomfort that this attention was bringing the Reaper.

"No, it's… you're welcome," Ragna said, sending a glare at anyone staring to try and get them to move along, which eventually they did. "You guys need to be more careful out there."

"We will be, I can't be leading my group into another ambush like that," Keita promised. "We're still trying to become a fully-fledged guild, but we'll get there soon with some monster hunting. If you see your info broker around, can you thank her for us?"

"I'll pass the message along," he promised curtly, trying to end the conversation now. Everyone in the group started heading off, though Sachi did give him a nervous and formal bow before doing so. "Geeze…"

"You… headed back there?" Right. Now he needed to explain himself to Alba.

"…First off, I never suspected you; I could tell what you were going through was real," he started. "But… what you were saying still didn't make much sense. I spent the whole day looking there with Argo, but we didn't find anything until the clock struck 10 and that damn elite force showed up. That group just got caught in the crossfire."

"Still, you went and looked into that dungeon. Why?" Yuuki asked, being a part of this conversation apparently.

"I… Alba's story still seemed off. I wanted to be sure that place wasn't a death trap, so I went to see it with my own eyes." He decided to be a little honest. "If I could find out what happened to your old team too… then all the better."

"I'm glad that you did." Alba was honest with her appreciation, but she still had another inquiry. "Were you going to tell me?"

"Yeah, but I was gonna wait until tomorrow, or when things were more or less settled with you and Leefa." Yuuki had a good idea of what that meant and chose to remain quiet. "Does it help at all?"

"…It does, it really does," she said with a sad smile. "D-Don't worry about me, I'm still up for the parade. Better than ever now."

"Just don't force yourself to go," Ragna said as the three search for their spot. Taking a chance while Alba was distracted, he whispered to Yuuki. "Stay quiet on this if you can, yeah? I've already got more eyes me than I wanted today."

"Um… sure," she eventually agreed. Ragna got the feeling that she wanted to say something else, but Yuuki was already doing her part to search for their parade watching seats.

'All of this goodwill isn't going to mean jack when I tell them the truth tomorrow. In fact it'll just come off as dishonest. I'm just going to spend the today like this 'cause that's what I promised Argo and… it's also what I kind of want.' He could at least admit that much to himself. 'If anything… this just makes me more resolved for what I have to do.'

7:48 PM

Ragna was taking a moment to himself as he stood outside the Inn that his guild had been using for their base of operations during the celebration, taking the excuse of getting some fresh air to finally go and get some time alone for himself. The parade celebration had been fun enough, though it was clear that everyone else had gotten more out of it than the man himself (Silica seemed particularly invested in it) and the Christmas dinner that the group had ordered was decent, even to his intense standards. He couldn't remember a time that he could allow himself to relax around friends like he did today… last time he'd eaten with a group this large, a certain scientist had threatened to blow him up using his arm. Ignoring a more annoying portion of his past for the moment, he heard the door inn open and he knew who was coming outside.

"No, didn't think you were runnin' away," Argo said to him preemptively. "They're givin' away free Christmas cake and as guild leader the job falls upon you to cut it."

"Not saying I won't, but why not let Klein do it? He's a guild leader too," Ragna argued back, just watching the snow fall.

"Would've, but he just finished an Eggnog chugging challenge so I don't think he'll be up for it." A brief pause. "Ready for tomorrow?"

"Don't have a choice, but I'll do the deed regardless," he promised. "You had the right idea, today was… good. I needed this more than I'd like to admit."

"Tch, pretty damn easy ta see. Yer not as mysterious as you'd like ta be." Ragna wasn't really trying to be 'mysterious' like Argo had put it, but somehow the comment still stung slightly. "Heads er tails, you'll still have me in yer corner. Someone's gotta keep an eye on ya and push you in the right direction. In fact, think it'll take everyone jus' ta make sure yer on the straight an' narrow."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." His comment was sarcastic, but he knew that it never hurt to have a friend like this. "You know what, get everyone out here. Guild leader's orders. They want me to cut the cake? I want a snowball fight first."

"Snowball fight? That's kind of sudden."

"Afraid you'll lose?" he taunted, knowing Argo couldn't pass this kind of challenge.

"Not on yer life," she answered with a mischievous smirk. "Hope ya know what yer getting' into!"

With Argo heading inside, Ragna allowed himself a soft smile.

"She's totally going to get the entire guild in a snowball alliance against me… damn Rat."

But a Rat he was starting to treasure all the same.

Next time -Twilight Maiden: Part 1-

Author's Note

Well, that's a Christmas chapter out and right on time. I think it helps that I managed to get a few more days off than I was expecting due to weather conditions, but stay safe out there everyone.

Looks like my YouTube plans are on hold for a bit. My Let's Play series wasn't getting much traction, so for now I'm going to focus on my writing since I get much more attention here. The good news is that I'm going to try and go back to two chapters a month where I'm able to, so that's kind of fun.

Other than that, Happy Holidays to all and here's the review responses.

Kitsune No Hi: I've kind of had an idea of how I wanted Blood Kain to be implemented in the games, so I'm taking the chance to play around with it here.

Armedlord 2.0: Never really considered that angle for Ragna hiding something. It was an idea, but I think that the whole 'you'll get insane powers in the game but your death is guaranteed' angle still works here.

P3R50N4: Ragna can't bullshit at all when it's the rest of the world throwing crap at him, not really much faith he could ever handle his own.

The Unplanner: Alba is a new NPC I decided to add as more of a one-off, but if people like he enough I'm going to be sure to keep her around.

ImmaNumber1: Wah! Sneaky gent! Thanks for tuning in.

Wlyman2009: Just awkward with Argo for now, tune in next time for the rest of the guild.

Jeremy Stienmark: What? No Alba? …I'll bring her around to you all eventually (Laughs). But anyways, the story ain't marked for romance just yet, so let's see how things develop.

NiceScourge: Thanks for sticking around, I guess I'll have to find something new for Argo to call Ragna. Hopefully the name 'shit list' doesn't stick.

Well that's all for 2022! Ciao everyone!