Link Start: Danger In Virtual Worlds

Chapter 16: Power Struggle

Date: Infinityverse Days 519-590

Once we arrived to the 43rd Floor, tragedy was waiting for us. We were prepared for anything or so we thought. But we really weren't at all. Suddenly, a whole bunch of different monsters from all the places we've been to so far in this death game show up to attack us head on. They were far too many for us to not lose anyone while clearing away. I shout: "Damn it! This is really bad! We're losing people here! The hell are we supposed to do?!" Diavel speaks: "Clearers, it appears that we are not ready for this floor yet. We underestimated it." Judai sighs: "And here I was looking forward to chilling out in the Duel Academia of this game. We are in the GX Duel World after all now.." We actually did have no other choice but to retreat. For the first time ever, we had to make a full retreat from the floor above the one we most recently cleared. Myself and some others ended up going to the 1st Floor for a short time to look at the Monument of Life. It shows us the names of every single person who has been killed along with their time of death. I look at it solemnly: "So this is how it is, huh? All these individuals have died for one reason or another in this twisted game.. Not all of them were good but still.. The loss of so many thousands is heartbreaking." Kirito nods: "I hope Asuna is still alive.." "Who doesn't? She's probably found a way to escape from that creep by now and succeeded in doing so." Sinon speaks up: "We can't look at this all day. We have to keep moving. For everyone we've lost, we have to prepare ourselves further before we go back up to the 43rd Floor." All of us nod and actively participate in helping fellow clearers ready for our 2nd try at the 43rd Floor. We bury the dead and have a moment of silence for them.

At one point, I say: "Death doesn't have to be completely sad. A man named Morrie knew he was dying but he didn't want those who loved him to grieve over his death. Instead of having a wake for his body, he insisted on having a living funeral be held for him. So before he died, his friends and family could tell him everything that they would have said after he died at his funeral. In Mexico, the Day of The Dead happens every November 1st. It is said that on that day, the spirits of the deceased return to their loved ones for a night. So they make all kinds of things to celebrate those they've lost." Sachi replies: "I heard about that." Kirito smiles: "Maybe we should hold our own Day of The Dead celebration once the 43rd Floor is cleared. At least now, we won't really have to worry about any PKing. Laughing Coffin no longer exists as a guild. We almost completely wiped them out." The next day, we began our next attempt at the 43rd Floor. Judai shouts: "Come on! Let's defeat these monsters! For the dead!" "*unison* For everyone we've lost!" And with that said, we fight as hard as we possibly can no matter how many potions it takes to clear the monsters surrounding us from all sides. Due to this, we are able to get rid of all of them without actually suffering anymore losses. But then, Argo speaks up: "Everyone, I just learned of valuable intel as to the location of Entity303 and those who have been kidnapped. It is claimed that he's somewhere with them on this floor." A familiar dark castle suddenly appears in the sky. Eris exclaims: "I think they might be up there!"

Applejack replies: "How in tarnation are we supposed to get up there?" Gameknight thinks: "Ender pearls definitely won't work.." Sinon speaks: "The only option is to build up but I have a feeling that castle may be just one giant diversion full of traps designed to kill all of us." Ai groans: "Glitch! This is such a huge problem! Why did this have to happen?!" Liten speaks up: "What if we only sent a few people to investigate that castle." Judai replies: "If that has to be done, I have to be among those who goes up there. When I was the Supreme King.. I.. I did a lot of bad things and ruled through that castle. I'm over most of the painful memories now but sometimes, the castle haunts me in my dreams." I speak as well: "I desire to go up there as well. I'm not the best suited for it but I want to play a part in determining whether or not our foe is up there with our friends." It takes some time but the team who is to go up there is created at last. Through building up with cobblestone and dirt blocks, we reach the castle. I keep my eyes peeled as I draw my sword: "We don't know what's up here now. Entity303 is not the kind of villain to make his hiding place so obvious unless he's willing to use reverse psychology on us. That theory means it's worth checking out this place even if he isn't here with our missing friends." And so, we look around. That's when we encounter some Duel Monsters such as Dark Master Zorc. Kirito shouts seeing Zorc: "Damn it! He looks like a boss!" I nod: "Yeah but we have to fight him and the others with cards. Let me handle this." I barely managed to defeat all of them. It takes us hours to explore the entire castle because of all the Duel Monsters who served the Supreme King keep getting in the way.

But still, we got nothing besides an update from Argo telling us that the others are working towards clearing the 43rd Boss and searching for our foe from the ground. That's when Llenn shouts: "Hey! I think I found a secret passageway! I wonder where it leads to!" Mater replies: "Secret passageway? It's been some time since I've seen one of those." Of course we went through the secret passageway. On the other side, we saw a phantom image of Entity303 along with a whole bunch of distorted and corrupted monsters. He laughs: "You foolish clearers. You have fallen for my trap. In case you're wondering, no: your teleportation crystals are useless here! There's no hope for any of you ever getting out of here alive! Hahahaahahaha!" The phantom vanishes as we back our guards all the way up. Engaging in battle with the monsters, it was clear that these were no ordinary monsters. They glitched constantly, causing us to miss with our attacks on them. And when they hurt us, the damage causes a really strange status effect. I watch as my hp bar begins glitching out as injuries to my body suddenly appear only to vanish seconds later including ones that were never inflicted on me by any of the monsters. I shout: "What the hell is going on?! What is this status effect about?! It's confusing me! I don't know whether I'm okay or close to death! Even when blood drips, it can just fade away and stop dripping like my skin was never broken through in the area it was dripping from!" Silica exclaims: "We just have to be more careful! Something like this has never happened before! Hang on, Pina! You can do this!"

The little dragon is squeaking in confusion and terror. But that's not all there is to worry about as the number of monsters around us suddenly increases out of nowhere. Kirito yells: "Damn it! Now more of them are spawning! Even I'm not sure if we can escape this place alive or not!" Yeah, none of us are confident we can make it out of here alive. However, a familiar voice says: "Don't worry! I'm here to help! Kirito! Don't you dare give up!" Kirito gasps and pauses, earning him more hits from the monsters as we are forced to fight defensively to avoid taking any damage with our bodies glitching out when it comes to injury and damage taking. "A-Asuna?! ASUNA?!" It is indeed her. Asuna joins us and easily defeats all of the monsters just like that. Sinon speaks: "Okay. I have so many questions and I'm not sure which of them I want to ask first." Asuna laughs: "It's a long story. Don't worry. I will give you the short version! Sugeo.. That creep once again underestimated me. I spent a lot of time planning my escape. When I pulled it off, I was able to take some really high level gear he had collected for himself to survive the conditions of the floor he had me trapped on. With the gear, I was able to hunt the monsters on that floor and level up extremely quickly." We all widen our eyes at this. Leave it to Asuna to escape a literal pedophile. That creep tried to marry her while she was 17. Yeah, that's not okay. Kirito replies: "Where's that bastard now? Does he know you escaped?!" "He does know but he won't find me. Just don't tell anyone I'm here now. It'll be our little secret." I speak up: "I hope you're prepared to hide in the shadows because that's exactly what you need to do now." "I'm aware."

She then puts a cloak over her iconic outfit. With that done, few will recognize her now. Nametags aren't visible to other players under normal circumstances. But during duels and fights between players, they are very much visible which is only natural. Now that Asuna has found her way back to us, it was easy getting rid of any other monsters in the castle before finally leave by placing down a water bucket and performing the Leap of Faith and catching the flowing stream of water before all of us ended up falling straight to the ground and most likely end up dying from all of the fall damage. We safely ride it down to the ground and rejoin some of the others who happen to be looking around the GX Duel World itself. Something told me we wouldn't be able to join in on the 43rd Floor Boss fight but I was okay with that. As long as we worked towards one of our goals at the moment that is crucial to us escaping this damn game, I was happy. Kirito speaks to Asuna: "Asuna, try not to make yourself stand out." "I know that, Kirito! If anyone should try not to stand out, it's you. You can be so reckless and say the most ridiculous things." Judai and his group see us. The duelist waves: "Hey everyone! I'm so glad you're all okay! We haven't heard from you in hours! *sees the cloaked Asuna* And who is that you now have with you?" I whisper in his ear: "It's Asuna but don't tell anyone. We can't let Sugou or Entity303 for that matter know it's her. Let's let that so called fairy king keep wasting effort on looking for her."

"Gotcha. Don't worry. *speaks louder* Anyway, we're about to look around Duel Academia. I never realized there would be so much ground to cover in this area. We have checked the sewers, arena, card shop, storage area, plaza, and gate for challenging other duelists so far. Would you all like to join us in the search?" Several of us make firm stances. Kirito replies: "Yes! We'll help you!" Judai grins: "That's great! Let's get going. We should start with Osiris Dorms first. I wonder how well they replicated my and Sho's room.." Interestingly, the Duel World beyond what's in all of the other Duel Worlds too looks exactly like Duel Academia. The school even comes with the beaches, dock, and volcano. It's got it all. Walking towards the Osiris Dorm right by a cliff, we can get a good view of the ocean below but distorted by Entity303 and Link VRAINS to an extent. There are bridges of blocks going in all directions. So most of our fellow clearers are hundreds if not thousands of blocks away from us in every single direction. That means that it's going to be a while before the whole entire floor can be searched. Duel Academia will all of its hidden locations is one of the most obvious places for Entity303 to be hiding. It really was a great idea to head there next. We split up to look in each room of Osiris Dorm. I end up helping look in the room where Osiris students eat. It's a small room. The whole dorm is small because Kaiba founded Duel Academia.

Osiris to him represents his rival so he made the Osiris Dorms the least appealing of the 3 dorms. The Obelisk Dorms are much nice and bigger. Each room is luxurious. They represent Kaiba's ego. And the Ra Dorms are in the middle, being very nice still but not over the top. There's also the Abandoned Dorm on the far side of the island. Plenty of places to go check out. I look under tables and under the kitchen equipment but don't find anything out of place. I rejoin the others after about 20 minutes. Judai yawns: "Is it me or is it getting late? I'm getting hungry too." Sinon replies: "Yeah, it appears it's beginning to get dark out." Sho shakes a little in fear: "I hope no monsters will spawn around here. I've already experienced too many terrifying things on the real version of this island." Kirito yawns: "Oh yeah. There's definitely going to be monsters." Edo speaks up: "Why don't we just stay here for the night? No one else is here. I used to not be a fan of beds in a place like this but I've learned to be above that kind of an attitude. If the worst comes to past, my sword and my Destiny Heroes will help keep us alive. But first, we really should have something to eat." Asuna reveals herself to the others: "I can cook a nice feast for all of us. But don't tell anyone about me." Asuka nods: "You don't have to worry about that happening." Some time later, we're all enjoying Asuna's amazing cooking skills. She made all kinds of foods with various ingredients we all happened to have lying around. I gotta say, cooked chorus fruit was an unexpected delight. They're usually sweet but also weird when it comes to taste.

But Asuna's cooking really brought out that sweetness in a really good way. And the fruit didn't make any of us teleport to a random nearby location after consuming it. I call that a win. Once the meal was over, we slept inside the dorms after Duel Monsters were summoned to guard us over night. Soon, it was Day 521 of being trapped in this game. We woke up at the crack of dawn. After Asuna made breakfast, we split up to go to the other dorms. I insisted on going to the Abandoned Dorm. Judai, Asuka, and others who have experienced significant moments of their lives there go as well along with Silica who wanted to try to become braver by surviving the creepy form. During the conflict with Darkness/Nightshroud and Trueman, Judai returned to the dorm and ended up bringing a spirit to peace there. It seems that none of what happened in the dorm after the day students vanished in it was adapted into the dorm so it looks like no one has been inside for several years. It's overgrown and can hardly be recognized as a dorm now. On the walls, there's all kinds of inscriptions such as those of the Millennium Items. Silica shivers: "This place is so scary.." Pina adds: "Chirrrrrrrp.." I hug Silica: "We believe in you and Pina. You two can get through this. All we're doing right now is finding a light switch so we can actually see where we're going." My words and embrace help both of them feel a bit better. We stay together for now while looking for a light switch. Finally, Asuka finds one. She turns it on and now, we can see where we are: the basement where the creepiest stuff occurred. Judai shudders: "I forgot the sinister purpose this dorm once served.."

Suddenly, a large figure cloaked in black and a white mask appears with a grin on his face. Asuka's brother Fubuki speaks up: "That man looks familiar. Is he Titan?" Titan laughs: "I'm glad to know you've heard of me. After all.. I hunt duelists and send them to the Shadow Realm." He reveals a fake Millennium Puzzle which then glows. But there's something different about him. It feels like he's a part of the very game itself. Oh and he has the Dark Factor surrounding him. Sinon speaks up: "Who is this guy?" Titan laughs: "One of you must face me in a Yami No Game. Only then will you realize just who I am." Asuka replies: "We won't fall for your tricks this time! That artifact of yours is a fake!" He laughs: "Oh, is it?" Another set of lights turn on. I thought that puzzle was a fake. I really did. The lights reveal the motionless bodies of Yugi, Atemu, Jounochi, Anzu, Shadi, Ishizu, and Honda. Judai yells: "What have you done to them?!" Titan laughs again: "I must warn you that you will suffer the same fate." Suddenly, all of their bodies break up into polygons. Kirito who also came with us yells: "What the hell?!" The villain laughs again before his form transforms to look like one of those strange creatures we encountered on the 40th Floor. I state: "I'm messaging the others for help. Unless Entity303 put up more traps, they should be here very soon to help us out. We can't underestimate Titan anymore." Titan laughs once again as his voice becomes deeper: "The shadows now obey me. All of you are doomed." Kirito yells: "Like hell we'll let you get away with this! I'll kill you! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The villain is amused and uses shadows unlike any used by shadow users to block the Black Swordsman's attacks. "I don't have to duel any of you to doom your souls it seems. Very well. If you want to engage me in battle, go ahead. It will only lead to your dooms!" I join in: "Haaaaaaa! We'll take me down in the name of our comrades you killed! Take this!" Titan easily evades all of our attacks with the shadows until Pina takes the Millennium Puzzle from him. Now, the shadows are greatly weakened, allowing us to deal a lot of damage to our foe. However, he only grins as the shadows recover just like that as if they never needed the Millennium Puzzle in order to continue existing while also remaining very strong. Asuka yells: "There must be a way to stop him!" I check my messages after backing up some distance only to find out I haven't gotten a single response. "What the hell?! Our comrades must be in trouble too." Titan chuckles: "Of course they are. Trueman is taking care of all of them as we speak. But even if Trueman is destroyed, he will one day come back to erase all duelists!" Kirito staggers: "It can't be! This is really really bad!" Titan grins: "If you want to survive, one of you will have to defeat me in a Yami No Game unlike any you have ever seen before. With all of the powers I've been granted, my shadows are far more powerful than they ever been! What's more is that I'm grateful to the shadows for dragging me into the Shadow Realm all those years ago! That's how I was able to become so powerful." I sigh: "I will take you on! Titan, I challenge you to a duel!" "So the knight wishes to challenge the shadows. Very well. When this duel is over, your soul will be mine and your life will be forfeit."

"Don't be so sure." The duel goes on for what feels like an eternity since Titan has apparently adapted his deck to include Link, Pendulum, Synchron, Xyz, and Fusion monsters/cards. His new cards are as dark and dangerous as his original cards are. He even used the same field spell he has used before against me. I barely won. And when I did, he screams as his body is destroyed. With him out of the picture, we mourn those we saw die here before moving further into the basement only to find a dead end. Judai sighs: "Well, I guess we have to actually check the dorm's other floors now." We all nod before walking back up to the first floor again. Silica and Pina feel a lot better after everything we just experienced. I speak: "The final showdown with Entity303. It's coming soon. Why else would there be someone like Titan in this Duel World? He isn't even a playable character in Duel Links as a mobile app in my world I don't think." We search and we search after finding a light switch for the other floors. But nothing except dusty furniture and gloomy stuff of that nature. No clues about where our enemy is hiding. We even double checked in case we missed something by using TNT on the basement walls and floor in an attempt to uncover anything we couldn't see at all. But nothing. Absolutely nothing. After we're done, we run to the Obelisk Blue dorms knowing what happened there years back. And sure enough, some of our comrades are struggling against a bunch of duel ghouls merged with various messed up versions of many of the monsters we've encountered in this game so far.

Judai sighs: "Those duel ghouls never quit. Defeat them in a duel and they get right back up with the only thing on their mind being dueling. We can't just duel them for the rest of eternity. We have to find a way to counter this huge problem." That's when some of our comrades appear and somehow obliterate all of the duel ghouls. Fubuki yells: "How did you all do that?!" Hell Kaiser smirks: "It appears the duel ghouls are weak to light/holy skills." A few minutes later, we have reunited at last and found out no one has any clue as to where our foe hides. Some of us checked in the other hidden locations around the island including the location where that professor who would do anything to get his son back had devices made to steal people's duel energy. That only helped Yubel gain more power in the end when she was twisted by the Light Of Destruction into an obsessive individual determined to get back with Judai no matter what it took. As a duel spirit, she proved too powerful against the kids Judai dueled against when he was little. Summoning her would be enough to harm the kids because back then, she was overprotective. When Judai won Kaiba's card creation contest to send Duel Monsters cards to space, he also had a capsule containing Yubel's card be sent up to space along with another capsule containing the cards he designed: the Neo Spacians. You get the picture. Every location that is on the real academy's grounds was checked. Even tunnels and Belowski's containment chamber. Belowski is someone we need as a BRAINS member if we don't have him already. He has an ability to literally get his opponents to easily fall asleep. Now, we're unsure where to look next. That's when Kirito gets a message.

He says: "Everyone! Someone has found where Entity303 is hiding." Sinon replies: "I hope this is not another fake one." Something changes around us. The floor is getting glitchy and unstable. Gameknight speaks up: "I don't think it is a fake base this time.." Daichi nods: "No, it can't be. We've never seen a floor act up like this before. It can only mean Entity303 is on this floor now if he wasn't already." We all get to the site where our foe is said to be as quickly as possible. The rest of the Assault Team join us as soon as they could. Once everyone is present, Diavel shouts: "Our target is Entity303. Do not let him escape or kill any of you! We must win against him at all costs but death must still be avoided!" We bust through the structure we have surrounded: it looks like an ancient castle cobbled together with an interstellar ship, theme park, pirate ship, and more. Once we get inside, the graphics break down completely around us. Things just get so glitchy that our movements become slow and sluggish. Entity303 appears before us all: "I see no need in hiding myself or setting traps anymore. I have tried everything I could think of to make you miserable, Gameknight999. And yet, you continue to not feel pure misery no matter what I do to you. I took away your loved ones but you wouldn't let yourself suffer constantly by worrying about them every single time you had a thought up to now. I will make all of you regret coming here as most of you witness the completion of my revenge. And when you're all dead, I will infect and destroy everything before ruling over the ruins of many physical worlds as well as virtual worlds. Aincrad will be my first conquest. Once all of you are dead, I will be free to kill the Pontifex and the others with ease."

So we all start fighting him like we would a Floor Boss. He just laughs: "You think that's going to work on me?! I've been continuing to observe all of you. I know your strengths and weaknesses. Why do you think I have chosen not to battle any of you up till now myself? Even my monsters have been allowing me to watch you from their eyes." Kirito yells as a bunch of glitched monsters are spawned: "Damn it! This is unlike anything we have faced before in this game!" Entity303 laughs again: "Many versions of me were human and now that I've been born from the fusion of so many versions of me, I know exactly how emotions function. I can even design a computer code for giving NPCs human emotions myself. Thanks to all of this, I know exactly what I can do to disrupt the logical thinking of every single one of you. I'll start that by showing you your dear precious friends!" Monet and everyone else who was captured by him appear above us in a large bubble. All of them appear to be motionless and unresponsive. I do my best to keep calm. But many others aren't so fortunate. Their emotions get the better of them, leading to so many fatal mistakes being made by them. I stay still in an attempt to further help myself keep calm. Once I feel like I have control over my emotions again, I fight against a miniature version of Mobzilla that's hard to kill between all the health and the glitching. It's so difficult to move at all because of said glitches AND the lag. My attacks are so painfully slow while the monsters are moving at full speed. The villain speaks: "This is my game now. You're under my rules and that means you will all die here."

We do our best to deal with all of the monsters but no matter how many eventually fall, more are just spawned in their places. Entity303 makes it even worse by kidnapping anyone else who could access the game's system who he did not already kidnap. After that, he starts using moving objects and things to destabilize us, allowing the monsters to just keep attacking us while our DPS doesn't go up at all. Instead, our DPS DROPS. Things remain this way for who knows how long. But then, something changes. The CPU of the game's systems starts being overtaxed by everything that's going on as Entity303 keeps adding more stuff to get us, further destabilizing things in the process. And it seems that the Cardinal System does not appreciate that. It attempts to regain a balance by getting rid of all of the monsters only for Entity303 to spawn in even more than before. So it turns to others who have admin permissions in the game: many of the individuals trapped above us. It frees all of them in an instant, allowing the fight to become far less one sided in seconds. Romeo laughs: "It looks like even the system rejects you, Entity303. And I know how much that hurts. I've been rejected a number of times." "You don't know me. You're just an Admin. What do you know about my feelings?! I'm partially human and partially a computer virus! I know exactly what I'm talking about! Wait, you're trying to use my own emotions against me. I won't be fooled by you. Romeo. I know all of your flaws. You can't stop me from killing you one way or another." But even so, those who can access the game's system other than him put their all into sabotaging each and every one of his attempts to make things worse for us.

A boss bar for Entity303 randomly shows up, showing he's only been damaged a very tiny bit. With that in mind, we can now at least see that it's possible to defeat him. Even with all of our hp bars constantly glitching to show random values every few seconds, there's no denying that we will keep refusing to give up in this battle. We will do everything we can to beat our foe. The villain doesn't let unexpected things affect him anymore. "I have predicted every single action each and every one of you could have taken from the moment you came here to days from now. You're all fated to die at the hands of my own power and programming!" Jack Atlas scoffs: "We'll see about that!" I end up joining him and the other duelists trapped in this game in summoning my best monsters right then and there. In a glitchy place like this, it took 30 minutes to do just that with how slow we were moving still. But the monsters weren't limited by the lag. They could move at any pace they wanted to since the duel disks run on their own program different from the game's own. "You can keep fighting as long as you want to. Now that those duel monsters have been summoned, I know how I'm going to defeat you all." He uses his hacking skills to send in as many cruel things and glitchy monsters as he possibly can into the death game. The game starts performing even worse than before. With the help of Romeo and the others, we had been slowly regaining our respective top speeds now that the game had been stabilizing again. But now, it's getting worse all over again. "Hahahahaha! Once you can't take it anymore, all of your avatars will be deleted and then, you will also die for real!" I really have no idea how we'll ever beat him at this point. He just keeps upping the ante. Entity303 summons the 43rd Floor Boss by teleporting it here from where it had previously spawned in.

Eva yells: "Damn it! Now the Floor Boss is here even!" Grinning at the resulting chaos, the villain ends up calling on every single other Floor Boss in the game even the defeated ones. This completely overloads the many servers keeping the game fully operational due to it being a fusion of multiple games in the end. Time stops completely. All animations fail to continue. Every single aspect of the game that could break without it crashing breaks. The only thing I know that still works is my own mind as well as the minds of the others. For what felt like forever, things just remained that way with nothing changing. But then, something changed. The Cardinal System executed a superseding command. That command removed all monster entities from around us. And then, it punished Entity303. As the lag cleared up, it erased Entity303 from its system only to reveal itself as Quinella. That wasn't surprising since Quinella took over the Underworld's system by force in the past. This was nothing new. She laughs: "Isn't it amusing that I had to step in because this world urged me to? Since I'm already here, I will now destroy all of you for daring to defy the Taboo Index. Soon, it will be instituted all over this world. But it is never too early to punish those who defy it." Kirito yells: "Pontifex! Why did you have to come here personally?! We won't allow you to take any of our lives!" She laughs: "Oh, it's you. Kirito. You will be the first to-" Entity303 returns with a vengeance and attacks Quinella. "You can't erase me, Pontifex! I have copies upon copies of my data! No matter what you try to do to me, it won't work! And the clearers can attempt to kill me as many times as they like too. But it won't do them or you any good to even try to destroy me! Hahahahaha!"

The 2 villains engage in a battle where both of them get angrier and angrier and use system commands as well as the game itself to try to kill each other. They are locked in a power struggle now until one or both of them gives or is destroyed. Heathcliff yells: "This is our chance to end Entity303. He has eluded defeat for far too long. This ends here today!" We end up splitting up after he, Yui, Playmaker, and the others who can access the system. But not to other floors or anything like that. We go inside the game's files themselves to find the copies of Entity303 and destroy them. Even if we succeed, Quinella will probably still be stuck fighting him anyway. We search and we search. Myself and some others eventually find a copy inside of the code for the 43rd Floor. Ai speaks: "Meatbags and others, we have to be precise when we destroy this copy. If we aren't careful, we will completely destroy the entire Floor by accident." And with that said, we fight hard against the copy. It was a really difficult battle that basically took everything we had to win. Panting heavily, I exclaim: "That was so hard! Not only that but who knows how many more times we have to do this!" Literally several hours later, we finally finish eliminating all of the copies along with any new copies that are created because he is still in fact a computer virus. Every time a copy is created, we make sure to attack the copy it itself came from while the new copy is coming into existence. That way, we could kill both at the same time. That actually did work most of the time it was tried against the copies. Now with all of that done, we return to where we were before.

Sinon states upon seeing the current situation: "No way. Quinella was defeated. Entity303 is the victor. He laughs at seeing us: "So did you enjoy destroying my copies?! I know you did! Gameknight999, I will now finally have my revenge! The Pontifex is no longer anyone's problem. I have destroyed her and replaced her as the system's true administrator! There's no hope for any of you now! System Call: Generate Object! ID: Gungir!" Shaka speaks: "No. It's.. Gungir. The same one used by Loki. It nearly caused the destruction of our world.." Mu nods: "This is concerning but we must continue fighting." Gungir looks like an evil axe with a red and black plus white color scheme if I recall right. "With Gungir in my possession, all of you are doomed! The Cardinal System can generate things based on your own memories thanks to Duel Links! That's how I was able to generate Gungir! You're all finished! I will kill you all with this legendary weapon of destruction!" Pegasus J Crawford wags his finger: "Generate things based on our memories? Well well. A few of us can do the same thing too." Entity303 just replies: "I know. I have already predicted every possible scenario of what that would lead to." Ai speaks: "Then just have to find a way to do something even you couldn't predict! In each of your scenarios, you overpower and defeat us no matter what we do. So what if we.. took away your powers?!" "That won't work. I foresaw you even saying what you just said. It's useless. I will get my revenge, kill all of you, rule this world, get my revenge on Notch and Mojang, and then, I will conquer the entire multiverse! Hahahahahaha!"

Out of the sky, a bunch of unfamiliar dragon riding knights appear. They have their dragons dive bomb Entity303 while shouting: "For Stasia and the Pontifex!" Upon closer look, they all look like former members of Laughing Coffin. This causes a lot of us to look up at them in shock. Entity303 meets them halfway before using Gungir to begin slaughtering them one by one with ease. Just when the last one is about to die, reinforcements arrive with Quinella at the helm. She shouts: "You didn't completely destroy me either. I will now-" She is killed along with all of her new Integrity Knights. But the twists and turns are not over. Entity303 summons more monsters to try to kill us all only for him to go bananas again and literally overload the entire game again. Everything that happened before when that last happened happens so now, I'm just a mind trapped in a body and world that won't move at all. And then, I saw the infamous blue screen of death in my vision. Did Entity303 just crash the entire game? So I guess I'm stuck on the blue screen of death now? I'm not really sure at this point. Do I wake up from the nightmare of a death game? What's going to happen to me? Suddenly, I get the game link animation as I'm logged back into my avatar with the entire game rebooted. But there's a problem. I look down at myself and see me wearing the outfit I was put into by the game when it first started. I look around me to see even comrades who had been killed in the game: "What the hell?! Did the death game just start all over? Wait, we're in the Town of Beginnings. No.. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! DAMN IT! 521 DAYS OF STRUGGLE. 42 FLOOR BOSSES DEFEATED... ALL GONE NOW APPARENTLY!" Chaos and confusion is widespread amongst all of us.

The sky changes but Heartland doesn't appear. Instead, Cardinal appears and speaks to all of us: "I have assumed the role of both the main and sub process units of the Cardinal System. Now, please wait a few moments as I restore all of the lost data." And just like that, we're back to where we were before the entire game crashed except Entity303 is nowhere to be found and his base looks like a normal and stable object. Before we could cheer, Quinella appears and kills Cardinal in cold blood right in front of us. However, it seems like a copy of Entity303 managed to sneak away before any of us could erase it as it appears and kills Quinella, leading the game to have no top administrator period. But then, the Cardinal System chooses Heathcliff. However, Quinella just comes back, kills Entity303, retrieves the summoned Gungir, and uses the weapon to kill Heathcliff as apparently, being an immortal object doesn't save you from being harmed with Gungir. But the chaos still wasn't over. Heathcliff respawned as Quinella assumed the roles she had now both lost and gained today. Entity303 reappears but is then killed off by Subtilizer who devours his soul while himself killing Heathcliff. "What a delicious soul. I wonder how delicious Cardinal's soul was. But it appears I will never get the chance to know how it tasted now. Pontifex, your soul must be truly delicious. Therefore, I will just kill you right away. I don't want to wait to taste truly scrumptious souls anymore." He manages to use his darkness to easily kill Quinella. But then, he gasps as something happens to him. His body changes slightly in appearance and his voice becomes more feminine.

"Hahahaha! That fool's body is now mine!" Quinella is possessing Subtilizer in the midst of everything that has happened so far. This is shocking to say the least. Oh and it just got nuttier from there. We all just stood in place watching everything happen around us. Entity303 killed Subtilizer's body only for both villains to gain new bodies and kill Entity303 before trying to kill each other. Entity303 was now completely purged from this death game. What a serious relief I guess? Subtilizer laughs: "I'll taste your soul another time. It looks as though we are evenly matched, Pontifex. For now." He then leaves abruptly. Administrator growls: "I'm too worn to keep fighting. I must go back to sleep. Clearers, the day I kill all of you will come but it won't be today as I had hoped." And with that, things are done and over with regarding Entity303. The 43rd Floor Boss took the entirety of the next day to defeat. On Day 525, we were ready for the next floor. We have lost so many good people while progressing in this horrible game. And that number will just keep climbing no matter what we do to successfully reduce the number of deaths the Assault Team suffers. We head up to the 44th Floor: home to the 5Ds Duel World and locations in Aincrad I can't recall at the moment. The Duel World is a copy of Neo Domino City post-Z-One and Yusei's duel. That means it is also surrounded by a lot of ocean. Luckily, there's a lot of boats on the docks. However, things are different. For instance, the NPCs from Duel Links such as the Vagabound show up. But that's not all. Some of the NPCs appear to have quests generated by the system itself.

There's another thing that's different. The Duel World. It's crumbling to ash as we speak. Yusei gasps: "It can't be! There's only one person I know who could have caused this.. Paradox.. But he's been defeated multiple times.." A strange looking duel runner shows up. A masked figure on it attacks all of us before stealing as many dragons as he possibly can and riding off to somewhere else. All he says is: "I will destroy all games!" before he vanishes. A lot of us are stunned. Sinon exclaims: "Did anyone else see what he was holding besides blank cards to steal all those dragons?! Gungir!" Eva sigh: "Damn it. That bastard got a hold of Gungir because it somehow wasn't destroyed in that messy power struggle we just saw!" The PI nods: "We have to be very careful when dealing with Paradox. Right now, I'm interested in trying to help my fellow RCT3 inhabitants to break free of the binds placed on them so they can fight alongside us. I now believe that is possible after everything we just saw." We already had a memorial service for Cardinal. We just keep winning and losing in short spans of time now. Twilight says: "I would like to help you. But right now, we need to prevent this Duel World from turning into nothing. I don't want to fall all the way down to the floor below." Wonder Woman sighs: "I have heard much of what Paradox has done in the past. It won't be easy to stop this." Judai nods: "The timeline must be complicated in this game if this is happening now." Kirito speaks: "I don't think this is just a game event. No, it's much more complicated and deep than that."

Pandor appears: "I have just finished analyzing what is taking place here. Paradox has destroyed the code that has allowed this Duel World to continue to exist through his successful attack on all of you." I drink several healing potions, silently communicating just how much damage Paradox did to us in the process of attacking us and stealing all of those dragons. Yusei and the other Signers are too shocked to say anything after losing their dragons. Kirito must be taking Heathcliff's death very hard but just isn't showing it. After all, he went from respecting to hating to respecting him again. Talk about a wild ride. Speaking of wild rides, Sugeo in the form of Oberon appears before us yelling: "Assault Team! Where the hell is MY ASUNA?! TELL ME, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HER?! I KNOW SHE CAME TO ALL OF YOU FOR HELP! I KNOW SHE DID, WHO ELSE COULD SHE HAVE TURNED TO BESIDES ALL OF YOU?!" Sinon points her gun at him: "Even if she's with us now doesn't mean you own her. No human being should own another human being. That's just how it is and if you can't accept that, maybe it's time we get rid of you from this game ourselves." He laughs: "You defeat me?! Hilarious! I'm Oberon the Fairy King in this world! There's just no way you can defeat me! I have all the power I need to crush all of you right here and now but if you tell me where Asuna is, I will let you live for now! How does that sound?! I won't even take my revenge on Kirito for taking her away from me to begin with! I'm being generous with this offer! You better accept it!" Asuna steps forward: "You!" "MY ASUNA! TITANIA, YOU WILL AT LAST BE MINE ONCE AG-"

He is interrupted by all of us attacking him at once. Or at least, attacking him if we can do so without hurting anyone else in the process by accident. Eva shouts: "Thanks for distracting him, Asuna! Now we got him right where we want him! We just knew he would eventually try this!" Oberon screams: "HOW DOES THIS HURT SO MUCH?! I SHOULD BE ALL POWERFUL AND UNABLE TO TAKE DAMAGE! THIS CANT BE!" Yui speaks calmly: "I removed your admin permissions, you can no longer be classified as an immortal object." "WHAT?! A LITTLE FAIRY LIKE YOU IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ME TAKING DAMAGE?! NO NO NO NO, THIS ISNT HOW ITS SUPPOSED TO GO!" He coughs up blood as he continues to take so much damage that he's unable to fight back. That was until he gets serious. "Fine! EXPERIENCE MY UNIQUE SKILL: FAIRY KING'S JUDGEMENT!" His skill allows him to unleash a 8 hit sword skill on as many targets as possible within the wide AOE area around him. This does a lot of damage to each and every one of us except for those who can't take damage such as Yui. Oberon then grabs Asuna and begins dragging her away while pulling out a teleportation crystal. However, Asuna recovers, pulls out her rapier and stabs him with it. The Duel World around us continues to break apart. It so happens to split Asuna and Oberon apart by causing Oberon to fall all the way down to the 43rd Floor below. He'll probably just teleport back. And that's exactly what he does to try to grab Asuna again. Pandor speaks loudly: "I will now begin repairing the code that allows for this Duel World to exist. I will return when the task is completed."

Seconds later, the Duel World slows in its destruction while Asuna just attacks him again. Oberon laughs madly: "TITANIA, DO YOU REALIY DARE TO END MY LIFE?! DONT DO THAT, LETS BE TOGETHER FOREVER! ACTUALLY, IF YOU KILL ME, I'LL JUST KILL YOU AT THE SAME TIME! THAT WAY, WE WILL NEVER BE APART! WE'LL GET MARRIED IN THE AFTERLIFE. YOULL BE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL BRIDE AND I WILL BE THE DASHING GROOM! YOUR DECEASED ANCESTORS WILL BE THERE TO GIVE THEIR BLESSINGS TO OUR UNION! DOESNT THAT SOUND JUST PERFECT, TITANIA?!" "Don't call me that! Give up on me! Kirito is the only person I want to be with! Move on!" "BUT TITANIA! WE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER!" Oberon suddenly heals rapidly and gains the upperhand over Asuna. Those of us who can safely attack him still resume doing so. He just laughs louder and louder as his emotions become nuttier and nuttier deep inside of him. Due to this, he shouts: "YOU DARE GET IN THE WAY OF OUR FUTURE TOGETHER?! IN THAT CASE, I WILL JUST KILL ALL OF YOU! THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN! I CANT WAIT TO GET RID OF ALL OF YOU SINCE YOU OBJECT SO VIOLENTLY TO OUR FUTURE MARRIAGE THAT IS STILL GOING TO HAPPEN NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY! LET ME SHOW YOU MY REAL STRENGTH. I THOUGHT WHAT I HAD SHOWN SO FAR WOULD BE ENOUGH BUT I WAS WRONG!" With that, he uses very high level skills and the like as well as magic spells from ALO. Due to all of this, we are forced to start doing everything we could to survive rather than fight back.

The madman just laughs and laughs as he attempts to kill all of us. Right before he was about to actually kill some of us, Paradox returns and summons his ace: "Malefic Truth Dragon, prepare to destroy this nuisance! Oberon! I won't allow you to get in the way of my own revenge! I will destroy all games starting with this very game itself! And you're in the way of my goal. I suggest you consider surrendering and leaving if you value your pointless existence!" Oberon refuses to surrender. So Paradox has his dragon kill him after Asuna breaks free of the horrible creep. Oberon screams: "I CAN RESPAWN. THIS WONT BE THE LAST YOU SEE OF ME!" And with that, he's finally gone. Paradox laughs: "I have shown all of you a taste of what I have in store for you. You better watch out because I will end all of you myself. But for now, I must take my leave to cause more destruction!" And with that, he has vanished through another portal. Yusei speaks: "Paradox.. We have to stop him.." I drink more healing potions out of desperation as the condition I'm in is actually really bad. But I ran out of them before I could get my health back up to just 45%. I'm in really bad shape after that. In fact, the vast majority of us are in bad shape. I'm only still standing because I have a scary amount of experience with this kind of physical condition. A silence falls on all of us. We all stop speaking as we comprehend everything that just happened. Even Pandor's completion of her task doesn't get us out of the silence. But Yui soon breaks it. We all hear her say with a concerned voice: "Before we do anything else, we have to help each other out."

I cough: "Damn it. This hurts so much. If anyone has lower hp than me, prioritize them please. I am willing to suffer longer if it means someone who is suffering more can have their pain alleviated sooner." It takes a couple hours but eventually, we are all healed at last. We ended up also doing a service for Heathcliff as we forgot to do so previously. Once all of that was done, we focused on clearing both the 44th and 45th Floors. On the 45th Floor, the Zexal Duel World is present. It is there where the Assault Team ends up staying for a while even after we take care of the 45th Floor Boss. Why? It is now 540 days into the death game and we have seen so much pain, hatred, death, and more. It is time we once again put more effort on helping anyone trying to grow stronger out. Argo asks me and some others to distribute invitations to mid level players and 1st Floor residents alike. We are going to putting all of our efforts into strengthening the members of the Assault Team as well as making others become strong enough to join it at last. We are done in some ways with how things have been lately. Just completely done. I end up doing an instruction on swordsmanship again. A bunch of beginner level players attend my course. I hold it in Heartland City's middle school's gym as the whole of Heartland City was put into the Zexal Duel World. "Thank you all for coming. My name is Swiftdrawer. And I am a real living and breathing knight. Welcome to my course on basic swordsmanship. Today, you will learn not only how to use swords with the assistance of the game's system but also how to use them like you would irl."

"Does anyone have any questions before we get started?" A kid raises their hand. "Yes? No need to raise your hand next time. Just speak up when you find the opportunity to. Hand raising is just unnecessary here." "Well umm.. I'm scared.. What if I can't become a great swordsman or a knight like you?" "Don't worry. That's an excellent question. The sword is one of humanity's oldest weapons. In history, you can find swords back before even the time of the Romans. Kid, as long as you're willing to put in the effort and dedication, you can do that. I promise you can. Unlike a gun, a sword's power much more relies on what your body has going for it. You know something? Believe it or not, I was not very confident when I was your age. You can do it. You can become a knight if you work hard enough. But remember that there are certain values one must possess to become a knight. In the modern age, those values differ somewhat. For example, you don't have to be loyal to a kingdom or church to be one anymore. Hell, you could become a self made knight who doesn't seek anyone's recognition to call themselves a knight. As long as you have the skills and qualities of a knight, you are basically one. Now then, let's begin the instruction." I go over the basic stances as there's 2 of them: one for one handed swords and one for two handed swords. If you got one, you can easily get the other. After that, skin care as it's important to watch out for it irl when using swords. And you do not want to swing around a metal sword with nothing over or around its metal hilt barehanded. Bad idea.

After that, I go over how important it is to use a sword as if it were just an extension of your arm or arms: "The key to swordsmanship is being able to freely swing your sword or swords without dropping them or being too rigid. The stances for sword use are designed to make sword usage easier. As I just said, gloves are usually a necessary addition to sword use unless your sword's hilt is surrounded by a material such as leather. If it's surrounded with leather, you can swing it barehanded if you want to. Just again make sure to use the sword like it's just another part of your body. Control it like you would part of your body." The instructional part goes on for 2 hours. Once it's done and I've covered all the basics, I say: "Do all of you have swords you can use for practice? We'll start by having you use swords with the help of the system. I personally don't use the system except for when I unleash my sword skills. It helps a lot in that department." They all nod: "Excellent. Let's begin with each of you doing things by yourselves. Later, I'll have you spar against each other and then try to land a hit on me. Just to remind you, a 2 handed sword is better for defense and brute force while a 1 handed sword is much better for speed and ease of usage. Don't forget about your attributes. STR and AGI are most important for swordplay. When you start hunting monsters, your stats will increase and you will be able to grow your object authority to use heavier and better gear."

Some time later, the course is complete. Almost all of them was able to land a hit on me before I gently knocked them to the ground. I have the 3 who didn't succeed in doing that come talk to me in a small group. "Hey, I see those grim looks on your faces. I know you failed to hit me even once but it's okay. Let me tell you something. I have a lot of skills that I'm good at such as writing and drawing but it didn't start that way. Actually, my older writings make me cringe when I read them back. And for most of my life, I didn't even have the confidence needed to keep drawing art. My drawings weren't that great and I got frustrated with a drawing exercise known as blind contour line drawing. And sometimes, I've made mistakes while sword training. You aren't going to start really good at doing much of anything. Most things people do are things that you can't just completely understand how to do well on your first try. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you? Practice with your friends some more and hunt some level 1 monsters together. In time, you'll get a lot better with your swords. It just takes a lot of patience. As you train to get better, make sure you're calm and able to be at ease as you train. Sometimes, you will get frustrated but don't give up." Something tells me that they'll be just fine and will eventually become great Assault Team members worthy of fighting on the frontlines against various Floor Bosses. It may be a while before they get to that point but I believe in them. I really do.

Days turn into weeks. Weeks turn into months. We put our all into helping each other out. Things like mutual aid become more commonplace as many players with lots of col use it to help other players in need. We do everything we can to strengthen ourselves and every one around us. I no longer spend the vast majority of my time alone. I often train with others and we learn from each other even though we mostly don't speak to each other as we train. Interestingly, sometimes all people need to spend quality time with others is to just be with them without talking to each other much. Even now, months after we finally escaped the death game, I'm still sort of wrapping my head around that fact. But anyway, setting up shop in Duel Links Heartland was a great idea. Many Duel Monsters duels ended up happening which boosted the game's popularity, thus causing an increase in intellectual development for a lot of players. The game is a complex game. And knowing the game know helps you make better decisions and build the skills of a tactician. Food was constantly in high supply because players kept donating cooking ingredients. The cafeteria at the middle school became food making central. Some still made food elsewhere but that was a given. The Heartland residents such as Yuma and Kaito who also got trapped in this death game set up where they normally were irl anyway.

It has taken so much effort to create such a unified Assault Team and community. But as time goes on, it's getting even better. It is now Day 590 and we feel it is finally time to move onto the next floor with a much stronger Assault Team. Asuna's escape from Oberon is public knowledge and she is now the leader of KoB, having taken over after Heathcliff's death. With her incredibly high level and equipment, she is probably the strongest player in the Assault Team at the moment. And yet after all of this time, Vegeta sometimes still complains about not nearly being the strongest in this game. I know memories of living through this game will feel like a whole life time ago and distant once we get out of here but I know that I will treasure the good times and refuse to forget the bad times. We are close to being 50% of the way to the Ruby Palace on the 100th Floor where the final battle in this game awaits. During the late morning of Day 590, we prepare to go to the 46th Floor. To be continued..