Replies to my Reviews
TIYB: The game is bypassing Tsuna's seal. The moment the game ends and Tsuna uses his Flames just once in the physical world... Also, Yuuki and the Sleeping Knights were never in SAO, or in this case, ISF.
Weredragon13: The GM has specifically set ISF in a way that there's no potential limit to what one can use their Flame to do, as long as they have the skill, creativity or raw power for it.
KingVessel: It's really hard to properly convey Chrome's character when she's still in the 'Mukuro is my personal god' phase, except Tsuna's met her first and has none of the pineapple head's ego for her to emulate and cling to.
Chapter 04: Mist in the Rain, Sunny with Clouds
Grassy Lodge, Urbus, Floor 002 (08:18, December 4th 2022)
Chrome yawned as she gingerly stretched before waking up from her bed and looking around. Blinking her sole eye, Chrome sighed with a little relief when rather than a stale hospital wall, her first proper sight of the day was Tsuna drooling with his head off his bed.
This blessed game was still going on, then.
By the time she'd bathed and come back out, TakeSushi was gone from his bed and Tsuna was looking through a message.
"Did something happen, Boss?" Chrome asked as she approached him.
"No... I asked Kirito-san earlier if he knew where I could get another sword and he just replied." Tsuna yawned as he responded. "He suggested another mission I could go on and offered to accompany me. I'll probably be gone the whole day."
"Ah." That meant that Chrome had the whole day for herself, then. Well, she did want to bump up her Sewing Skill... But... "Do you need me to tag along, Boss?"
"No, no." Tsuna smiled as he put away his HUD to face her. "It's just been a day since we came to this Floor. Just take it easy today if you want. I'll handle my weapon business with Kirito."
'Well... If you say so...' Chrome reluctantly gave up. She didn't want to come off as clingy to her first friend, even if she wanted to always be at Tsuna's side. "Good luck, then."
The bright smile she received was a reward in it's own way. "Thanks, Chrome."
Of course, this still meant that Chrome was left without much to do. Irichi had gone off in search of Argo and TakeSushi had gone out to grind immediately after breakfast.
Maybe he had the right idea...
So soon enough after sewing fresh gloves for Tsuna, Chrome wandered through Floor 002, idly beating through mobs as she experimented with her Flames. Just like Irichi's newly gained Sun Flames, her Mist Flames granted her no direct offensive, which meant that she'd always have to be inventive as an illusionist.
It didn't change the fact that it was no less enjoyable to utilize, especially after recently deceiving a couple of Windwasps into flitting towards her in an easy straight line for her to leisurely stab through with her bident.
"Well, aren't you quite talented?"
The unexpected voice had Chrome spinning about to see a familiar ponytailed scythewoman. "You were from the Boss Battle... Mito, right?"
Mito nodded in confirmation. "And you're Chrome, a Mist Flame user, right?"
Once Chrome nodded back, the solo player approached her before bowing forward. "Sorry, but would please help me in a Dungeon Crawl?"
"...I'll need to message my Party leader where I am, but okay." Chrome acquiesced. "So where is this dungeon you need me for?"
Ushigu Dungeon, Floor 002 (11:01, December 4th 2022)
Dungeons. In ISF's lore, they were similar to ancient tombs in which relics and treasure from before the Great Separation were safeguarded. While a dungeon could respawn money and common Items after brief periods of emptiness, only in it's first ever crawl could a Player succeed in attaining rare or legendary Items along with far more Col than it would ever produce afterwards.
Of course, it wouldn't be a dungeon without it's boobytraps and hidden monsters. Chrome sighed as she ran through her seventh Red Spotted Beetle.
"It's a bit cramped in here." Mito noted as they walked down the long hallway, their path lit by the torches. "Good thing I learned how to deal with small spaces like these."
"I see." Chrome murmured as she eyed Mito's scythe, {Deathly Mischief}, before looking down to it's owner. "So, how are things between you and Asuna-san?"
Mito nearly tripped on her own feet. "Wh-What?! Th-That's really none of your business! How do you even know her?"
"We met after the battle yesterday." Chrome replied. "Thankfully, she didn't think Boss or any of the Beta Testers were bad people."
"I see." Mito gave off a sad smile. "That's good. I'm really glad she's come so far on her own..."
Chrome stayed silent as she observed Mito's obvious depression. "You don't seem to be that happy, though."
"That's just because... I made a horrible decision that I can never forgive myself for." Mito shook her head before eyeing a spot in the walls. "Besides, we're here for something other than my friendship troubles."
Mito suddenly swung the blunt side of her scythe against a spot in the wall. Instead of the {Immortal Object} notification Chrome expected, the bricks she hit flew inwards from the impact, causing a section of it to collapse and reveal the other side.
It was like a medieval version of a hub, as the massive room had many entrances all leading to various places while a large waterfall poured down from above.
"Which one to choose?" Mito hummed in thought. "While most of them will lead to something good, I'd rather prefer the one that leads right to the Dungeon Boss. If only this had been in the Beta Test, too..."
Chrome wondered if the real reason she'd been chosen to accompany her was if she just wanted the company of a confirmed Beta Tester sympathizer. "By random then?"
Mito thought it over before shrugging and pointing her scythe forward. "Straight ahead, then."
However, the moment she stepped forward into the tunnel-
*BZZT!*
-a trap sprung to unleash a blast of lightning that shocked Mito and left a quarter of her HP depleted.
Pulling the limp girl out, Chrome warily tested another tunnel by tapping around past the entrance with her bident. Upon receiving no shock, Chrome gingerly took a step forward inside-
*BOOMKRACK!*
-and was violently repelled out by an actual thunderclap loud enough to launch her off her feet and leave her cradling her ears for a few seconds.
"So, not that tunnel then." After offering a hand to pull Chrome up, Mito surveyed the untested tunnels warily.
Taking a chance, Mito gingerly entered into a third tunnel, looking around warily before stepping inside further as no trap triggered. "Wait a bit. If I can go ten meters in without triggering anything, follow me."
Chrome waited as Mito went in deeper and deeper, only to flinch when she heard a scream as Mito suddenly rushed back out, followed by several Storm Hornets. "EEEH?!"
"Why are there so many?!" Chrome instantly went about to killing them, much more appreciative of Mito's Rain Flames as they slowed down every speedy Storm Hornet they touched and made them easier to kill.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Mito berated herself harshly as she swung {Deathly Mischief} wildly, her hits lacking some of her usual precision. If not for her Flames, their situation would be much worse than now. "How could I miss the trapped plate?!"
"Trapped plate?" Chrome asked.
"It's one of those booby traps, the one when you suddenly step on a brick that sinks under your weight!" Mito explained. "I hate those! Get down!"
The moment Chrome obeyed, Mito swung her scythe about in a full 360, unleashing a huge circular wave of Rain Flames that washed away all of the monsters' energy, leaving them weakly flailing about on the ground.
Neither Chrome nor Mito had any problems stabbing them all in their moment of weakness.
"I don't think we've been doing this right." Chrome huffed before observing her surroundings once more. "The tunnels all look the same... No obvious differences..."
Her gaze stopped at the waterfall. The sole waterfall in the chamber holding many entrances. Could it be...?
Stalking forward, Chrome thrust her bident deep into the water. Instead of striking the wall behind, Chrome smiled in victory when her bident met no resistance. "This way!"
The instant they went past the waterfall, they knew they'd been right since unlike the other tunnels, this one actually had it's torches lit just like before the chamber.
Bolstered by the success, the girls rushed ahead, their speed increasing as no traps sprung to slow them down. As they kept running, they became aware of a bright light at the end of the tunnel. With one final burst, they sprinted all the way to the exit... only to suddenly realize that they'd leapt from quite high from the ground.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
It was only thanks to Mito's Rain that what would've been a bone breaking fall in real life became comparable to a bruising tumble, her Tranquility cushioning their impact.
"Woah..."
Chrome turned her head to see two other girls present. One was with short golden brown hair and had no obvious weaponry beyond a pair of daggers in her hands. The other had long wavy black hair and had a notched bow and arrow still pointed at them.
"It's you..." The archer whispered as her eyes widened, her bowstring slacking. "White cloak... That scythe... You're the Amethyst Reaper."
"What?!" Mito squawked. "What kind of name is that?!"
"Well, that's what all those monkeys were calling out some of you guys." The archer replied a bit sheepishly. "Kinda tame compared to Da- I mean, Tsuna. They're calling him the Amber Asura."
Chrome tilted her head in confusion. "How does Boss connect to 'Asura'? He doesn't have any extra faces or arms."
"'Boss'?" The other girl repeated in confusion before clarifying her friend's statement. "Instead of the mythological deity, I think they were instead referencing a game with lots of punching."
Ah. That made more sense to Chrome. 'I wonder if Boss even knows. It's only been a day.'
"I can't believe that we're already getting titles of all things." Mito muttered.
"Well, we can." The dagger wielding girl stated strongly. "It's thanks to you guys defeating the 1st Floor Boss that we all regained the hope that we could win and go home."
The girl bowed forward. "So thank you very much!"
"...it's fine." Mito stated before shaking her head. "C'mon. Let's introduce ourselves properly. I'm Mito, a Rain. Please remember that instead of that reaper thing."
"And I'm Chrome, a Mist." Chrome followed up. "Tsuna is my actual Party leader and I just call him Boss as a nickname."
"Well, I'm Kuroha, a Cloud." The archer stated casually.
"And I'm Kyoko, a Sun." When both Chrome and Mito stared at her incredulously, the girl sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "ISF was my first ever virtual game... I didn't know I wasn't supposed to use my real name until it was too late."
For some reason, Mito's hand slapped hard against her face. "My god, there's two of you..."
"Well then, ladies." Kuroha led the final walk towards their destination. "Let's get going."
Following Kuroha's lead, the girls moved at a sedate pace while Kyoko kept striking up conversations with Chrome. From what Chrome could glean, it seemed that before Illfang's defeat, the situation had been quite grim. To Chrome's shame (and quiet relief), she'd probably hadn't noticed because Tsuna had kept them too busy to notice and be shackled by the hopelessness. She didn't know whether he'd done it deliberately or not, but that was just one more reason to like her Boss.
"I think this is it." Mito announced as they arrived into a large chamber, and Chrome couldn't help agreeing.
It was twice as large as the waterfall hub, except instead of tunnels and a lone waterfall, there was a massive intricate door, along with pillars of electricity loudly illuminating the area the moment they stepped inside.
Right before the massive door, their opponent lumbered to it's feet. While it wasn't as massive as Illfang had been, there was still something to be said about the minotaur as it bellowed while bulging it's muscles. Above the monster's head, two HP bars rose up into existence, along with it's name.
Taurus Ironguard
"YES!"
The three girls stared incredulously at Mito while she beamed at the Dungeon Boss.
Chrome readied her {Dream Prong}. "Why are you acting like this is a good thing?!"
"It's the Boss itself instead of a trap!" Mito explained as she spun her scythe eagerly. "Whether IRL or in games, guards always appear when you're going somewhere they don't want you to go! And Bosses are included in that category!"
Taurus Ironguard slammed it's fist into the ground, causing a sharp tremor before multiple copies of it began to rise from the ground, each human sized but clearly made of metal instead of (virtual) flesh.
With another bellow, Taurus beckoned forth, causing the Iron Bulls to charge at their opponents. With a shout of her own, Mito ignored them all and blitzed through until she was right behind Taurus Ironguard, ready to decapitate him with a Rain-enhanced slash.
Unfortunately, the Dungeon Boss dodged upwards immediately, twisting about in the air as a giant iron hammer materialized into it's hands. Facing the incoming hammer head-on, the Rain-enhanced scythe cut into the hammer deeply before cleaving it apart.
Her way clear, Mito roared as her scythe cleaved into Taurus Ironguard's stomach before flinging him into the wall.
As this happened, the Iron Bulls hadn't been idle as they attacked the other girls.
Kyoko lit up in bright yellow as she nearly matched Asuna's speed, her daggers and kicks shattering the Iron Bulls apart.
Kuroha fired her arrows endlessly, the fired projectiles propagating in numbers and speed as they transformed into beams of violet light easily pierced through the many Iron Bulls charging her.
As for Chrome? She was like a wild haze of twisted reality dyed in lilac as she weaved between the helpless Iron Bulls, the mooks dying with every step and breath she took while they were unable to target her.
Soon enough, all of the Iron Bulls had been eliminated, with Chrome looking at the two behind her appraisingly. "You two are pretty strong... Why didn't you join against the Floor Boss?"
One day after entering Floor 002 wasn't enough to have gotten this strong. Like what Irichi later suspected of Diavel, these two might have unlocked their Flames before even them.
The two girls wilted, with Kuroha idly plucking her bowstring. "I wish there was a good reason I could give you other than us just being afraid."
"Okay, then." Chrome easily accepted before turning to look at Mito. "It's never wrong to be scared for your life, so please don't hate yourselves."
A loud boom echoed from Mito's battle against Taurus Ironguard, with Mito leaping back cautiously as one of his two HP bars depleted. Her paranoia was rewarded as several spikes of iron erupted from the ground before shattering into pieces and molding themselves against the minotaur's body into a mangled caricature of armor, it's amorphous surface riddled with shards of protruding metal.
"...well, that doesn't seem so bad." Kyoko observed. "In the end, it's still the same metal we've been easily breaking through."
At that moment, Taurus Ironguard roared loudly before Lightning Flames erupted from it, writhing tendrils of electric green coating it's body and new armor vigorously.
"...I'm so sorry for my words." Kyoko whispered before Kuroha smacked the back of her head.
Mito got into a guard as Taurus Ironguard lumbered forward, only to suddenly blur out of her sight.
*BAM!*
"Gah!" Kyoko screamed as a metal fist half the size of her body slammed into her, sending her flying until she hit a wall and slid down, her green HP bar now in a very low red.
"Kyoko!" Kuroha screamed before drawing her bow back. "You damn cow!"
Three blazing arrows flew towards the armored minotaur, multiplying in size and numbers until it rained uselessly on an empty spot?!
"What?!" Kuroha gasped before she noted the massive fist bearing down on her. 'How is it so fast?'
*BOOM!*
Kuroha's body crumpled beneath the metal appendage, seemingly broken by Taurus Ironguard until her form destabilized into mist.
"Are you okay?" Chrome panted as she dropped a stunned Kuroha down beside her, the latter having just watched a Mist copy of her die. "Mito, it's the ground!"
"What?!" Mito asked for clarification just before dodging as the armored minotaur blitzed through where'd she been a second ago. "What do you mean?!"
"It-It's like an electric train!" Chrome hastily explained as Kuroha went to check on Kyoko. "When it moves, it's levitating off the ground like a repelled electromagnet!"
When next it moved, everyone now had their eyes on Taurus Ironguard's feet, seeing how green electricity sparked between it's soles and the earth as it hovered an inch off the ground. It seemed that the minotaur was using it's Lightning Flames to mimic a repelling magnetic force between it and the ground, giving it the ability to move at explosive speeds despite it's massive size and weight.
"What the fuck?!" Kuroha protested from Kyoko's side. "Something that big and heavy has no right being that fast!"
If Taurus Ironguard understood their worries, it showed no care for them as it kept at attacking whom it clearly considered the most dangerous one. Every one of Mito's swings poured out splashes of Rain Flames, the edges darkened to indigo as they clashed against the minotaur's Lightning Flames.
Getting a bit desperate, Mito risked pausing for a buildup and swung, a torrential wave of wisteria-tinted azure that cleaved off Taurus Ironguard's arm and put it into a stunned state. However, the minotaur had also succeeded to ram it's other armored fist right into Mito's unguarded body just as she had swung, flinging her away until she slammed heavily against the wall.
Unlike Kyoko, there was no instinctual flare of Sunny yellow to heal away the lost HP. "Oh... This is bad..."
"Mito!" Chrome yelled before turning to Kyoko. "Are you skilled enough to heal others?!"
Thankfully, Kyoko nodded in the affirmative before rushing towards the fallen Misty Rain, leaving Chrome and Kuroha to deal with the stunned minotaur that was slowly coming to.
Desperately, Chrome cast her mind to what she could do. As much as she liked her illusions, they couldn't do real harm with them against opponents.
Not yet.
"Hey, you got any ideas?" Kuroha whispered as she notched an arrow, the tip ablaze with billowing purple.
"...just the one." Chrome admitted. "But it's a longshot."
Kuroha chuckled mirthlessly. "As long as Kyoko and I live after this, I'll take anything."
'Fine then. No better time than now.' "What would happen if two separate Flames combined?"
Kuroha frowned at the thought that probably evoked. "I don't know. It's not this magic fire came with instruction manuals."
According to Irichi, that had been deliberate. From the mouth of Kayaba Akihiko himself, he'd stated that the only limit he'd placed on the Flames were how much were available for use. They could either be miniscule or massive in amounts, but anything else went.
With their similar sounding themes and closeness in the rainbow color scheme the Flames were following, Chrome was hoping that Cloud and Mist could create something great together.
"Kuroha, put as much Cloud as you can into your arrow and Propagate it's power and durability." Chrome ordered as she readied her {Dream Prong}. "We'll end this in a single attack."
Mist was basically ground-based cloud. Cloud was basically sky-based mist.
As Kuroha fed her Flames into her arrow, Chrome held up her bident in a way that the arrowhead was right between the prongs as Mist Flames wafted off them.
From the Mist came straightforward deception. From the Cloud came bizarre simplicity.
Space uncoiled into illusionic energy that warped and grew as Construction and Propagation met without clashing.
The Mist created psychic destruction. The Cloud destroyed physical creation.
As Taurus Ironguard roared into full cognition, Kuroha's arrow was already loaded to the brim with their merged Flames, their wills tempered into one for the time being.
Mist was the lust for the impossible. Cloud was the pride of the possible.
The arrow was a kaleidoscope of two colors as it fired, twisting distortion into space in it's path as it easily tore through Taurus Ironguard's body and rendered it into a mass of shattered polygons.
Congratulations!
"It worked..." Chrome gasped before a thought occurred to her. 'I wonder how much Argo-san would pay for this information?'
"Yay..." Mito weakly pumped her fist as notifications appeared before all of them, leaving the support of Kyoko's shoulder as she moved towards the massive doors and pushed them open. "Now for the spoils!"
Upon opening the doors, the sight of immaculate treasures of all sorts welcomed the weary girls. So many golden coins and objects were scattered across the chamber, being bountiful enough to probably swim through with gems of all sorts here and there. Along with the treasure were also some rare Items.
After five seconds of admiring the view, all of it instantly disappeared into their Inventories, equally shared between the girls.
"Now that this is all over with," Chrome turned to Mito with a raised eyebrow. "would you mind telling me the real reason you asked for my help while we leave?"
Dalia District, Urbus, Floor 002 (16:43, December 4th 2022)
After all the months spent in Incarnation of Swords and Fire, Kyoko Sasagawa (who was now just Kyoko within the game) wondered how she would've reacted if the game were to suddenly clear and be over with.
While girls weren't common here, nobody batted an eye at a cute girl wielding daggers. The type of weapons that required one to get really up-close and personal.
Well, nobody important. There was always that kind of guy who thought a 'sweet, innocent cutie' like her would rather be interested in watching them posture around all the time.
Even this game was rife with them, which was why Hana (now Kuroha in the game) had been a welcome intrusion into her life, never expecting or wanting her to be anything other than what Kyoko desired.
Yamamoto (now TakeSushi- Pff, that was heartwarming and funny) was another welcome surprise, if just for the fact that he looked at Kyoko and didn't want like other boys did. Even when they'd met in the game, that part of him hadn't changed and Kyoko hadn't been that surprised to see him as a solo player, always having been able to carry on by himself as he always had.
(Somewhere along the way, Kyoko actually found herself enjoying the confirmed strength that came with every monster she killed, the idea of no longer relying on her brother or friend for protection while still retaining her humble personality and consequently defeating her own enemies with her own hands. She was as excited by this prospect as she was frightened by it, since with it came a growing satisfaction of a bloodlust she hadn't known she'd been capable of.
Something only her brother was supposed to have.)
On the other hand, two months of the game seemed to had to transformed Sawada (now just Tsuna, which was just like her!) almost into a stranger. Once part of the many boys who'd usually just looked at her and seen his ideal of femininity, now he barely gave her and Kuroha a recognizing glance before hurrying to Chrome's side as soon as he arrived.
"Wait, what?" Tsuna frowned after listening to Chrome's words. "She wants... an idea on how to join Asuna-san's Party? But Asuna-san doesn't have a Party. The closest she's got is that 'thing' with Kirito-san. Why'd she believe that I'd know?"
"She mentioned that as Skies, the game recognizes you as a potential leader of sorts." Chrome explained after a shrug. "And back at the battle against Illfang, you and Asuna-san were clearly recognized as such back then. It's only a matter of time before people start wanting to get recruited either by you or her... and that's if they don't want you serving them."
"Urgh..." Tsuna groaned helplessly, showing a bit more of the Dame-Tsuna they knew before his eyes turned over to them and her breath hitched.
The Sun in Kyoko yearned for the Sky that was sensed just before her, the Sky that didn't shun her buried predatory intent to scorch the earth instead of just gently gracing it with her light.
But Kyoko was cowardly and didn't have her brother's bravery. The same cowardice that made her pretend everyday at Namimori, the same cowardice that died a slow death with every encounter against a monster with her dagger in hand, the same cowardice that still made her doubt herself from joining Diavel's Raid against the Kobold Lord.
She still remembered when she'd asked Chrome for details of the battle, how enraptured the eyepatched girl had become when she described Tsuna's Awakening, when he'd faced down what had been the strongest monster on the Floor with his fists instead of cowering as he would've normally done as Dame-Tsuna when his sword had broken.
(Her brother would love him in his club.)
Just like her, Tsunayoshi Sawada had shed himself free of his past self in order to thrive in this world, and he'd thrived so well.
Kyoko had hated herself for missing such an experience, which was why, as shameful as it was to admit it, she'd followed after Chrome until they'd met Tsuna himself.
So of course, her damned cowardice reared up again when Tsuna looked at her expectantly.
"Hey, Sawa- I mean, Tsuna. I can call you that, right? Do you mind if Kyoko and I join your Party?"
"Hiiiieee?!"
Kyoko knew that Kuroha was her best friend for a reason, especially as despite Tsuna's confused shriek, the Sky still invited her into it's vast and enormous expanse of rich orange.
All of Kyoko would be accepted.
All of her brilliant yellow... and the small bewildering indigo beneath that matched Chrome's.
KingVessel: Done! I was pretty conflicted on whether I wanted Sky Kyoko or Sun Kyoko or Mist Kyoko... until I realized that she didn't need to be a Sky to be badass but just a bit hesitant in relishing in her bloodlust, which is rapidly disappearing due to being a society centered on fighting. Kyoko never escaped the EXTREME gene, she just controls it better to an almost unhealthy point. Also, Tsuna's Party is growing even further. Just think of the troubles he'll get when guilds get permitted later.