November 6th, 2028, Floor 100, 6am game time. The server admin, the figure in the green cloak opened the doors to the ruby palace. He slowly walked through the halls of the mighty fortress before taking a seat at the throne at the end of the main hallway.

"I did it... This world is mine to command..." The figure sighed as he sat on his throne. "This palace feels a little less fitting for me now that it isn't the top floor... Oh well, vacating to floor 120 shouldn't be a problem." He swiped two of his right hand fingers down and the player menu appeared, his one looked different though. He selected an option that brought up the system commands. When he did, the game's status was displayed. "Run check, search player ID: Kirito." When he said this the cardinal system searched through it's player database and eventually locked in on Kirito. "There you are, I knew you'd come here Kazuto Kirigaya." He smiled. "This time, I'll be the one who is victorious. Run check, show all player stats." With this command a list of all the players in the game was brought up in order of highest level to lowest. The hooded figure sat at the top with his level being 'N/A'. He smiled more maliciously this time then started laughing. "It's too perfect! I am unstoppable! even if you reach the highest possible player level you will never defeat me! Run check, show full system status!" a large screen appeared in front of him and everything in the game was displayed. "It's all... under my control..." Then he paused and his smile faded as he notice something that was different from everything else, an asset called 'Dragon_Blades' was highlighted in red. "It seems that weapon is still around. Even though I banished it to a place that no player could reach, it's file still exists in the game. That, and the thing it's containing..." The figure scowled at the screen as he looked at the asset file. "How dare something I coded defy me. I won't let you loose you hear me, you damn virus." The asset flicked with red particles as he said this.

March 28th, 2029, Floor 25, 10:30pm game time. Jyenka was out in the training grounds practicing with his doubled-bladed sword.

"Nraaagh!" he slashed at the air as one of his blades turned a bright shade of blue, the blade flew through the air so cleanly that it seemed to almost cut the air around him. Jyenka stood there panting. He checked his HP bar, it was at fifty percent. "Auugh..." Jyenka sighed and fell over onto his back, he looked up at the stars in the sky of floor 25. It had a canyon like landscape with a massive temple that could be seen far off in the distance. The stars in the sky would sometimes be eclipsed by a moon that would float over them. Jyenka sat up and looked down at his blade. "Why can't I do it?" he said while still panting.

"Maybe your approaching it the wrong way." ThirtySix said, he now stood behind Jyenka. Jyenka was startled and jumped straight onto his feet.

"ThirtySix! You scared the shit outa me.." he said while turning around to face him.

"Sorry, but I've spotted you staying out like this multiple times. You ever heard of the definition for insanity?" He asked. Jyenka rolled his eyes.

"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Trust me, I heard that enough from my teachers back at school." Jyenka sighed.

"Well clearly you weren't a good listener." ThirtySix replied. Jyenka chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess so. Do you want me to give it up and focus on resting?" Jyenka asked. ThirtySix shook his head.

"I want you to stop doing this, and start trying new methods." ThirtySix said. Jyenka gave him a confused look.

"Like what?" he asked.

"What do you think of when you use your weapon?" ThirtySix said. Jyenka hesitated for a moment.

"I don't know..." He mumbled. ThirtySix sighed.

"You think about your hatred towards Acheron don't you?" Jyenka frowned knowing that ThirtySix had him all figured out.

"In the real world, I have a wife." ThirtySix said while looking up at the stars. "I also have two cats, Milo and Chip." Jyenka looked at him strangely.

"This is real world stuff dude, you aren't supposed to tell me this." he said while looking around. ThirtySix just gave him a plain look.

"I trust you, so I don't see a problem." he said calmly. Jyenka seemed a little startled but quickly regained his composure.

"Ok then, why are you telling my this?" He asked.

"Because they are who I think about when I fight." ThirtySix answered. He sat down and continued to look up at the stars. "I was like you when this game started, I struggled with sword skills and found myself fighting with hatred for this game. All I needed to realise was that I have something worth fighting for. Ever since then, I've never missed a target with my spear." Jyenka sat down next to ThirtySix.

"So I should find something worth fighting for?" He asked.

"Think about your parents, or your friends back home." ThirtySix replied. Jyenka gave him a sad smile.

"I can't, I don't have parents." ThirtySix looked surprised.

"I-I'm sorry to hear that... who raised you?" He asked again.

"My mother gave birth to me after my dad had already left her, then I lost her to the big C two years later. It's just been me and my grandpa since." Jyenka said. "He's an interesting old guy, he doesn't understand modern technology at all and always told me I should go outside or spend time with friends. But, he only did it because he cared." They both now looked up at the stars. "I can't think of the last time I talked about the real world with someone, It's actually kinda nice." ThirtySix smiled.

"Then would you say you have something to fight for now?" he asked. Jyenka smiled back.

"Yeah, I do." The two teammates gave each other a fist bump and continued to stare at the stars. Although everything was artificial, the human interactions were not. Sometimes you'll find something as simple as a conversation enough to bring you out of a cruel reality. Better than any artificial one.

March 29th, 2029, Floor 25, 10am game time.

"Thank you all for coming out here on such short notice." Kirito stood in front of the assault team, an emergency strategy meeting was called and everyone was sitting in the main hall of what looked to be a run down church of some kind. "I'll get straight to the point, This meeting will revolve around the strategy we'll be going with for the floor 25 boss fight . The crowd erupted into concerned chatter.

"This isn't a boss you want to be reckless with, floor 25 is the first step of the 'Big 4'" Jyenka said to Taijou. The players had dubbed floors 25, 50, 75 and 100 the big 4 because each one of there bosses was a step above in difficulty.

"Floor 25's boss is known as Asura the Executioner. Asura is a giant, wearing an iron mask. This boss wields various weapons on his 4 different arms, 2 iron balls in the left arms and on its right was a big scythe and axe. It attacks with waves that inflict curse or paralysis." The crowd continued to stir.

"4 arms? paralysis? How the hell do we beat this thing?" Jyenka murmured nervously.

"This knowledge is confronting but it's the way things are, this is how the game works. I assure you though, I have a plan." The crowd went quiet to hear Kirito out. "We will be forming 4 large squads, each one will focus on one arm. Our tanks will be going after the axe, with our ranged attackers on the scythe and a split of offence and defence against the two iron balls. This strategy aims to take advantage of the switch mechanic, if they're bringing out all they've got then we should respond in kind with every tool available." Kirito looked out to the crowd with confidence in his eyes. "I didn't let this world beat me once, and I sure as hell won't let it beat me this time. That applies to all of you as well, I know this is beyond scary but I have faith in all of you. We move tonight to the 25th floor dungeon, and we conquer the first of the big 4!" Kirito drew his sword and triumphantly thrusted it into the air. "Assault team! Are you with me!?" Everyone stood up and cheered, Kirito's speech had managed to lift the overall mood of the assault team. For a boy who was once a 'dirty beater', this world may have changed him for the better.

Jyenka and the rest of his party gathered outside the theatre after the meeting.

"It is likely that we will end up being in different squads due to the diversity of our strengths." Silvia said in her confident leader voice. "But, I have faith in you all. You've shown me that you each have strength that is necessary to beating this game." Jyenka started clapping.

"Great pep talk captain" he said with a smile on his face. Silvia smiled back.

"Just try not to embarrass yourself out there." Everyone in the group chuckled. Some say that true resilience is finding happiness in a cruel world, Jyenka and his friends had a bond that would carry them to the end. It's things like that, that can't be controlled by a system.

March 29th, floor 25, 4pm game time. The assault team gathered outside the entrance to the 25th floor dungeon. Jyenka and his friends had been separated across the 4 different squads with Jyenka and Taijou on the offensive squad 1, Shoko on the offensive squad 2 and Silvia and ThirtySix on defensive squad 3.

"Taijou, you should use that impulse skill of yours again!" Jyenka said enthusiastically. Taijou gave him a surprised look.

"My shining counter... I don't know man..." Taijou opened the skill description. "I'd rather it not come to that."

SHINING COUNTER SKILL DESCRIPTION:

Skill can be activated once users health drops bellow 20%.

The following effects occur upon activation:

-Grants user 'Shining Hope' buff for 10 in game seconds.

-restores users stamina by 100%

-+50% damage inflicted until skill wares off

-+50% agility until skill wares off

Cooldown time = until end of battle.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point..." Jyenka said as he read the description.

"Everyone, I'm going to go through the battle strategy again so listen up." The crowd (Who had already split up into there selected squads) turned to face him. "Offense squads one and two will split up so we have 1 squad on each side of the boss, defence squads 3 and 4 will follow them to provide cover. This strategy aims to have one squad defend and then when the boss is vulnerable do a massive switch chain for maximum damage output. We have the number advantage 100 to 1 so we'll be using that as much as we can. Make your final preparations now, we'll be entering the dungeon in 5 in game minutes." Kirito stepped down and returned to his party. Jyenka and Taijou looked at each other and nodded.

Kirito then announced that the squads were to move out. The army of plays began charging into the dungeon and slaying any enemies that came there way. Each player powered through the dungeon until they arrived at the boss room. The doors to the boss room swung open and inside was a massive humanoid figure with four arms as he'd been described by Kirito.

"Everyone! Form the squads! We attack on my mark!" Kirito yelled out to the group. All the players quickly organized into there squads and began to circle around the boss. It lifted one of it's arms and attacked one of the squads. "Squad 3 blockers, defensive stances!" Kirito commanded. All the players in squad 3 with defensive skills formed a barrier to block the bosses attack. The boss hit the barrier and staggered. "Now, Offensive squad 1! Switch and attack!" as Kirito commanded this, a massive switch chain was launched multiplying the damage output by 8 (Each player in the switch chain increases the multiplier by 1 up to a maximum of 8). The attack took a small chunk out of the bosses health bar. It was small, but if they repeated this process they would win the fight. The assault team continued to use this strategy for the entire first half of the fight until the boss backed off. Kirito looked slightly confused as he didn't remember the boss doing something like this when he fought it all those years ago. Suddenly, it let out a cry and its body began to morph. "All squads, back away!" Kirito yelled but squad 1 was targeted with an incredibly swift attack. The boss had transformed into a snake like being with 6 arms now.

"What the hell!? This wasn't in the original description!" Jyenka yelled as he jumped out of the way of the attack. The boss then loomed over them as it readied another attack. Squad 3 quickly moved forward and gave the members of squad 1 a barrier.

"It's changed its attack patterns! All squads, retreat to the outsides of the arena!" Kirito yelled as he rushed into squad 1 to help fight off the boss. The boss was now significantly faster and seemed to be able to react to what the players were doing.

"Commander! The boss is dodging some of our attacks!" Silvia yelled from squad 3. Suddenly, the boss charged at that squad. Taijou ran passed Jyenka and charged at the boss.

"Taijou! What are you doing!?" Jyenka cried out but Taijou leapt at the boss.

"Raaaagh!" He cried out as he slashed at the boss. The boss then immediately attacked him back and Taijou was knocked back.

"Taijou!" Jyenka yelled as he ran up to him. "What was that!? That was way too risky!" He exclaimed.

"But... Look..." Taijou said pointing to the bosses health bar. "This phase... has way less defence than the last phase... If we hit it hard enough, we can win." He said while staggering.

"Ok, how?" Jyenka asked. Taijou smiled.

"If I drop below 20% hp, I can use my shining counter." he said.

"But that's really dangerous, you sure you're up for it?" Jyenka asked. Taijou gave him a confident smile.

"I told you, I'm done being scared." He said confidently. Jyenka smiled.

"Ok then, if we do this then we do it together! Let's go!" Jyenka and Taijou rushed back to squad 1. "Commander, this phase is weaker than the last one. Reckless attacks could work, so long as Taijou can land his shining counter." Kirito thought for a second and nodded.

"Ok. Defence squads 3 and 4, switch to offensive mode!" The two squads looked at each other but then nodded, switching to offensive builds. The boss attacked again and this time the defence squad didn't block, but instead focused on counter attacking. The bosses hp dropped, although the squads hp dropped as well. "This could work... Taijou! How're we looking!?" Taijou looked over at him.

"I still have too much hp, just one more hit." As he said this, the boss lunged at defence squad 3. "Perfect." Taijou leapt in front and took the attack head on. He slid back, his legs shaking and his hp at 5%. "That was close... but now... It's all over!" He thrusts his sword into the air and a bright white light erupts from the blade.

"Do it Taijou!" Kirito yelled.

"Go!" Jyenka yelled at the same time.

"Daaaaayaaah!" Taijou leapt into the air and delivered a massive blow on the boss. The boss cried out in pain and fell to the ground, its hp now at 0. Cheers erupted from the crowd and Taijou sheathed his sword. Jyenka run up to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"Way to go pal!" He said while handing him a healing crystal.

"Thanks..." Taijou said as he cracked the crystal.

"But still... that was way too-" Jyenka suddenly felt a splitting headache run through his head.

"Argh!" He yelled as he clenched his head in pain. Taijou looked straight at him in shock.

"Jyenka, what's going on?" He asked.

"R-Retreat..." Jyenka mumbled.

"What was that?" Taijou asked.

"Get back!" Jyenka yelled, then suddenly the boss sprung back to life with red energy pouring out of it. It began to move in a violent and spastic way as it's eyes began to glow red. Everyone looked up in horror.

"What the-!?" Taijou was cut off however by the boss launching one of it's strongest attacks at them with no warning. Everyone was able to jump out of the way in time except for Jyenka, who was still recovering from the headache. "Jyenka!" Taijou yelled. The boss then launched another attack, which the squads dodged again.

"Everyone! Get back!" Kirito yelled. the players looked up and began to panic as they realised the boss no longer had a health bar. "Dammit! What the hell is going on!?" Kirito yelled as he leapt out of the way. Then, it occurred to him. "Could it be... The virus?" Jyenka slowly stood up and looked at the rampaging boss.

"What are we supposed to do?" he thought to himself.

U̬s̢̰̙͎̞̦̝̿̃̓͛̉̄ͫͩ͊̈ͥͩͪͮͧ̌̆͘͢͟e̳̯ i̸̢͖͈̰͍̪̟̜̞͎̙͔̹̺̮ͯ̈ͨͭ̑ͦ̄̃͗ͤ̓ͯ̔̐͝t̨̹̘̟̀͋͋͛

"W-What!?" Jyenka exclaimed as he looked around, but nobody was there. He then felt a sudden urge to use the thing he'd been trying to keep a secret, his unique skill.

"Kirito!" Jyenka cried out. Kirito looked over at him.

"What!?" he yelled back.

"I need 100 seconds! Think you can buy me some time!?" Jyenka asked. Kirito gave him a puzzled look but then realised that they didn't have any other options. He nodded at Jyenka then turned to face the squads.

"All squads! focus on dodging and defending! This fight isn't over yet!" He then ran into the battlefield to help the squads while Jyenka stayed back. Jyenka breathed in and out.

"Here goes." He thrusted his doubled-bladed sword into the air so that the right blade was pointing to the sky and the left blade ran down his arm. Then, small red particles began to form around him. Silvia looked back at him from her party.

"What's he doing? He's just standing there." She said. Before she could think any more about it the boss swung another attack at them and they dodged out of the way. As time went on, the boss became more and more aggressive. Then, Kirito began to notice the same thing he'd seen when he encountered this malfunction before. The boss was incredibly aggressive, but none of it's attacks were landing.

"Jyenka! How we looking!?" Kirito cred out.

"Just... 30 more seconds..." Jyenka muttered. The red particles then began to materialise in a pulsating energy coming from his body. "Just... a little more...!" Jyenka yelled.

The boss was rampaging across the arena, players were starting to become collateral damage. Taijou then looked over to Jyenka.

"H-Holy crap... Jyenka?" He exclaimed as he saw the energy pulsating off him.

"Jyenka! Is it ready!?" Kirito yelled. Jyenka suddenly felt a surge of energy rush through his body.

"Yeah! It's ready!" The red energy erupted around him in a pillar of crimson flames and strange particle effects. "Line him up!" Jyenka yelled, gesturing for Kirito to give him a clear shot. The boss suddenly stopped rampaging and looked over at Jyenka. It's eyes widened and then it charged directly at him. "Come on." Jyenka said through gritted teethe. He then thrusted the two blades behind him and leapt at the boss with incredible speed, leaving a red trail behind him. The scene of 1 player charging at a massive boss was something no player thought they would ever see, but Jyenka was clearly not just a normal player. Then, he yelled out the name of his unique skill in a mighty war cry.

"Super Dragon Flash!"

A red flash of energy exploded out the front of Jyenka's right blade and it materialized into a red dragon made of pure energy. Jyenka shot through the air like a bullet with the dragon roaring around him and then with a flash of red light, he shot straight through the floor boss. Jyenka seemed to float in the air leaving the boss frozen behind him with a gaping hole in the centre of it. He then eventually landed on the ground, dragging his sword across the arena floor to slow his momentum. The red energy faded, and steam began to emit from his body. The boss glowed red and exploded into thousands of red polygons. The fight was over.

Instead of the cheers from the crowd Taijou got when he defeated the boss, the crowd just stared at Jyenka in silence. Jyenka slowly rose to his feat, panting as the steam continued to pour off his body. Taijou eventually walked up to him.

"Dude... what was that?" He asked.

"It's my unique skill, Super Dragon Flash." Jyenka said. Then Silvia, ThirtySix and Shoko all walked up to him.

"How'd you get it?" Silvia asked. Jyenka shrugged.

"I honestly don't know, it just appeared in my skill list one night." Everyone gave him surprised and concerned looks, with the crowd still silent.

"Y-You knew that boss would go crazy didn't you!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"That energy coming off you was the same energy coming from that boss!" Another player shouted.

"Y-Your... cheating... you're one of them!" players began to gossip amongst each other.

"Hang on! Jyenka isn't the bad guy here! He just saved our lives!" Silvia exclaimed as the crowd continued to stir.

"What if that's a part of his ploy to betray us! We can't trust him!" The players were now getting uneasy with the entire situation.

"Everyone! Calm down!" Kirito yelled. The murmuring stopped. "What matters now is that we all survived that boss fight. I'll interrogate Jyenka about his powers, none of you have to worry." The crowd went quiet but people still weren't trustworthy of Jyenka.

"Dammit! Can't they be grateful? Jyenka just saved our bacon!" Taijou exclaimed. Jyenka trudged over to Kirito.

"Commander, can I speak to the group?" He asked. Kirito gave him a concerned look but agreed.

"Alright, Jyenka wishes to say a few words. Please listen." Kirito exclaimed to the assault team. Jyenka raised his head to face the group.

"You have every right to be suspicious, my powers are far from normal. It is similar to the strange energy that came off that boss, I understand if you don't rust me." He said confidently. The crowd around him began to look at each other and murmur. "But, know that I won't stop fighting to beat this game." The crowd then fell quiet in surprise. "You don't have to trust me, you can hate me. Hell, you can try and kill me if you want to. But know this, I won't stop fighting until I clear this game. Because, Jyenka is the name of the hero who will conquer this world!" Jyenka exclaimed. The crowed all gave him surprised looks, but the members of his party all just stood there and smiled.

"That's our Jyenka." Taijou said.

"Yeah, that's him alright" Silvia said with a smile. Jyenka continued to gaze over the crowd, this declaration was something he was not going to back down on.

March 29th, floor 100, 12pm game time. The figure in green was disturbed by an error notification from the cardinal system.

"What the hell? What could possibly-" He saw the error message and his heart sank, his finger trembled as he tried to identify the error. He sat back down on his thrown and contemplated his next move, now that the worst has happened. All he could do is think to himself...

"It's awake."

To Be Continued...