Before anyone could spot her, Leafa flew into the canopy of a tall tree. Peering through the leaves of her hiding place, she could see the scene of three players decked out in red armour with helmets that covered their faces, cornering a single player whose equipment in contrast looked absolutely pitiful.

"Give up, Spriggan!" a Salamander yelled at their target who had his back to a large tree. "Just give us your items and we'll let you go!"

Their target – who, based on his black hair and fully black attire, most likely was a Spriggan – barely seemed deterred. Instead, he hung back, holding up his shabby looking sword with one hand. His other hand hovered close to his waist.

Watching him from the safety of her tree, Leafa couldn't help but be a little impressed at this player.

Sure, he would probably be slaughtered in an instant if his attackers got serious, but at least he wasn't ready to go down without a fight.

One of the Salamanders – probably the leader of the group – started laughing. A moment later his companions joined in.

For a second, the Spriggan looked miffed, however he immediately hid it behind a fearless expression of determination.

How unfortunate… Leafa thought.

It really wasn't her issue. Fights between players were a part of ALO, not to mention highly encouraged by the gameplay.

Maybe this'll teach this guy not to stray too far from his territory without making proper preparations.

She spared him another look. It isn't my business, she tried to convince herself as she tried to stand up and start flying away from this fight.

She hadn't put away her wings, so she could take off immediately…

Kazuto is waiting for me…

…Still… When she looked at the Spriggan who stood his ground against the odds…

She could only think of one person.

As she was distracted by her thoughts, one of the Salamanders kicked off the ground, weapon at the ready, he was going to skewer the brave Spriggan.

However, before he could get within a swordslength of him, Leafa used her legs to push herself off a thick branch out of the tree, flipped around in midair while unsheathing her blade and landed on her feet in the middle of the enemy's attack range. With a downward slash of her katana, she struck at the weapon's shaft, forcing it to skewer the ground next to her feet.

Putting up her sword in her favourite kendo stance, she glared at the trio of attackers.

Startled, the one who was close to her jumped back, retrieving his weapon at the same time, he stood side by side with his companions.

Now faced with 3 enemies, Leafa couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about what she got herself into.

In spite of that, she stood her ground and growled at the attackers.

"Ganging up on one guy? Too scared to fight him alone?" She slightly angled her sword towards them. "Why not face someone with a lot more experience?"

Recovering from her sudden appearance, the Salamanders stayed in place, as if unsure of what to make of this situation.

"Let's not be unreasonable now." The guy in the centre pulled up the visor on his helmet. While his physical excitement was still concealed by the rest of his helmet, he couldn't keep it out of his voice.

"But this just makes it better!" The man on the right continued in an excited voice. "With two targets, now we'll get an even bigger haul!"

Leafa wouldn't back down. No way will I fall here!

"Ah, why kill her?!" the guy on the left also lifted his visor, revealing his manic looking eyes. "The enemy is a woman so I'm very excited ah." He looked like he was intoxicated by the violence, his gaze stuck on her.

Revulsion at his words made goose bumps race up Leafa's arms. Despite being relatively new to playing online games, Leafa was not ignorant. Just as there were creeps IRL, there were players who take things to extremes and find it pleasurable to «hunt» the female players in a VRMMO.

Not that it made her first encounter with someone like that any less sickening.

Oddly, she thought she could feel the Spriggan react to that to. "Grrrr."

However, Leafa quickly regained her nerves and firmly set her feet, staying in her favourite two-handed sword stance she brought her katana over her head. Putting power into her eyes, she glared at the three Salamanders.

"I'll definitely take at least one of you with me to the grave," she said in a low, dangerous voice. "If you aren't afraid of the «Death Penalty», come at me."

The Salamanders stayed quiet for a few seconds, then-

"I'll take that action!" the Salamander who attacked earlier proclaimed as he flew directly at her.

Leafa didn't even flinch. With a strike she knew from a different world, she easily used her katana to parry her enemy's weapon.

She didn't give him time to recover, instead she pushed herself forward and slashed at his body directly.

Surprised, the Salamander flew backwards, away from the range of any follow up hits from her sword.

Despite his helmet covering his entire head, Leafa could tell that he was afraid.

His companions however did not feel the same way.

Instead, they laughed mockingly.

Don't you underestimate me!

"Awww, what's the matter?" the leader of the Salamanders asked his companion. "Scared of one girl who barely looks like she has much playtime?"

"Shut it!" the one who attacked snarled.

Keeping her eyes on her enemies, she took a brief moment to look at the Spriggan.

Unfortunately, the idiot didn't run away and merely looked at her with an unreadable expression.

"Well then." Her full attention went back to the Salamanders who had brought up their weapons. "I suppose we shouldn't hold back!"

As one they all flew at her.

…

Somehow, she kept her focus on all of their weapons. Then, she struck, knocking the long lance into the ground with a downward strike, she had half a second to respond to the other lance about to attack her, catching it against her own weapon, however, she was forced to endure the last weapon.

Quickly, she kicked off the ground and flew backwards about 2 metres while keeping her weapon up to counter any more strikes.

I may not be able to defeat all 3 of them… but I can at least give some time for this Spriggan to wise up and escape.

As strong and skilled as she was, there was no way she could fight more than one experienced player at once, much less an army. Unfortunately, her enemies had the advantage and they knew it.

"You can save her, Spriggan!" the leader didn't even turn to him. "Just give up your pretty crystal and anything else valuable and we'll let you both go with just a warning."

"I'd rather die!" Leafa proclaimed.

Gathering her strength, she dashed forward at a breakneck speed and stabbed into the leader Salamander.

However, she couldn't back away and took strikes into her sides from his lackeys.

Using her legs, she pushed herself forward and rushed passed her target, freeing herself from the weapons despite the damage she took and bowling him over.

The leader immediately righted himself and glared at her as she turned back around to face them. He began to snarl, "You arrogant bi-!"

"Hey!" A new voice called out. "Hey! Time out!"

Seeing the Salamanders slightly lower their weapons, she took a risk and looked to her right.

There, the Spriggan boy still stood there with his hands up, away from the handle of the sword he must have sheathed in a show of good will, however, now his eyes looked more determined.

"I have a quick question, and then we can get back to fighting."

Everyone was baffled at how careless this boy could be making the four combatants look between each other as if they weren't trying to kill each other 10 seconds ago.

"I'll allow it?" the leader Salamander answered without even trying to hide his confusion.

"When players… die in this world, what exactly happens to them?"

Leafa was confused at the question. Anyone in ALO should know that it was just a game before they started playing, of course they would be fine.

"…When a player dies, they lose some of their inventory and their avatar will respawn at their last recorded spawn point," one of the lackey Salamanders responded.

"…But… what happens to them? Are they… still safe…?"

Such a strange question, Leafa pondered why he would ask something like that.

"They'll be fine," she answered. "They'll just be logged out, none the worse for wear."

For a brief moment, the Spriggan looked relieved before he nodded and grinned.

"I see… Alright then…"

He put his hand on the handle of his sword before letting it go and putting his hand to his side.

"It wouldn't be right if I were to attack you while you're off guard… so I'll give you 5 seconds to get ready."

The Salamanders began to laugh. And although she wouldn't admit it – and despite the situation – even Leafa couldn't help but be amused.

"Oh, now this I have to see," the Salamander who took the most damage so far said arrogantly as he turned towards the Spriggan, weapon at the ready.

The Spriggan grinned confidently at his words as he reached into his pocket and pulled something out.

"5," he whispered.

The boy drew his shabby sword with his right hand.

"4."

Leafa expected him to forgo honour and immediately start attacking.

"3."

But he didn't move from his spot.

"2."

Then, he put his left foot forward and adjusted his center of gravity.

"…1…"

She barely had a moment to realize that the pose he was making looked vaguely familiar before suddenly-

*swish*

The Spriggan turned into a black blur in the moonlight at the same time as a swift breeze impacted her.

Her eyes could barely even follow the boy's movement.

That was-!

As she hurriedly turned her head to the right, the boy stopped moving with his body low to the ground far away from where he had started.

-way too fast!

The Salamander who had challenged him became wrapped in the red of «End Flames» as he tried to stand up. His body quickly turned to ashes and dispersed to the four winds, leaving only a flickering purple «Remain Light» where he once stood.

Poor Leafa. She just wants to get to her Onii-chan as soon as possible and continue the love affair but instead she's forcing herself to help this poor random Spriggan. I guess chronic hero syndrome is a Kirigaya family trait.

«The Spriggan's» fighting prowess had to be downplayed a bit, so he's still fast enough to impress Leafa and make quick work of the weakened Salamanders but not quite as strong or fast as he could be if SAO lasted longer.

The chapter was originally longer, however I decided to divide it up to have a different focus per chapter and this felt like a good place to end it. My apologies to the readers who want longer chapters, but I'm owning up to my preference to write shorter chapters for this story.