A/N: Man, I should have characters stab each other in the back more often, you guys really liked that or, at the very least, found it engaging. Time for reviews.

To Isshion: Despair and desperation can drive a man mad, unfortunately.

To Preussisch Error: I'm glad my watered-down Vow symbol mechanic was a fun read, especially when they botched it to show the consequences, I liked that part. And yeah, Artorias being the center focus for this arc, these next two chapters really showcase his declined mental state as of late. Thanks for that bulky comment, appreciated!

To Brazilainotaku: You make a valid point, which is revealed in this chapter but I will say, Artorias isn't in the right state of mind to be thinking clearly.

No message from the characters this time, stakes are high. Enjoy.

|Sword Art Online, Floor 29, Tomb of the Lost|

|April. 25th, 09:20|

It was early in the morning, in the middle of a tundra, deep below the ice of the 29th Floor of Aincrad. The interior of the tomb was strangle humid in places, more than likely due to the boss' use of fire-orientated weaponry. And yet, a cold presence filled the arena now, like death. No one moved an inch, all eyes facing either the paralyzed Daora... or the one that poisoned him. The woman clad in dark leathers, strapped with a small silver grave shield to her left forearm and a longsword in her right.

Being exposed to Argo the Rat's sharp intellect for information gathering and investigation work left a solid impression on Nagi to analyse every situation from multiple angles. The boss was gone, so were its debuffs, the mobs ceased spawning. The final relic was tucked away in Artorias' inventory so only she knew of any affects the relic had. But out of all those present, only Artorias had a maxed out Mixing skill high enough for Level 4 Paralysis at this level.

"...Artorias?" Nagi asked again, unable to see any form of emotion in her eyes. "What... is going on? Why did you do...?"

She took a long breath, stretching the tension with an exhale to follow. "...out of everyone here, Daora was probably the one to risk turning orange to attack me, so I had to keep him from doing something so stupid, though given who I'm referring to, that's a given," Daora made a noise but was unable to verbally respond as Artorias let out a single, pathetic laugh. "Figures this would happen, I couldn't see any other way, I really did try, but what's the point now?"

"Does any of this make sense to you guys?" Jun asked, clutching his sword tightly.

"I'm... a little lost myself," Tecchi murmured in agreement.

"Artorias, why did you paralyze him? What's going on? Answer us," Ran demanded.

But she didn't answer, face tensed up as Nagi spoke, taking two steps forward. "If this is about the final step to creating the Transmutation potion, we have all the relics, in a couple of days, we can-"

"Don't you get it already!? I'm sick of waiting day after day after day! I'm here, it's right in front of me and it's taken us days to get this far and for what!?" Artorias finally snapped, and her anger, pain, and desperation leaked from her eyes as she twisted the fabric at her chest. "I can't take it anymore, I want out of this Goddamn body, Nagi, I'm so tired of this...!" Her voice cracked a bit from her stress alone.

"And we will get there, but we have no information on the Floor Boss yet, Argo's still researching the quests to do so!" Nagi answered back, bringing his voice back down to a sympathising tone. "I know you're tired, and stressed, but if we fight the boss now, I... don't know if everyone will survive, it's too big a risk since Floor 25,"

Artorias twisted her sword grip, eyeing her callous reflection with disgust. "That's why I'm going-"

The tone and admittance made Nagi's throat clench. "No..."

"-Why I swiped every relic until now-" Artorias was completely set on this, taking a step forward herself, toward Nagi, toward the exit. "-thanks for helping me this far, but I don't need your help anymore, I can handle this alone, you don't need to worry about me, I'm not your problem,"

"Stop... just - stop!" Nagi stepped to the side to block Artorias' view. "Please, we can work this out, we can help you, I know this hurts but-"

"That's easy for you to say! You're not in the avatar that was never meant as yours!" Artorias screamed back, making them flinch as she clutched her head, pacing a bit as her breathing grew ragged and laboured. "If I never logged in on her account just to... then she... I would... Step out of my way, Nagi, I won't ask again," Now, that hatred wavered, for a flicker, Artorias was hesitating as she stood perfectly still say for her eyes.

This couldn't be happening. All this time, Nagi thought he understood Artorias, what she wanted, her goals, now... it just seemed like that distance stretched out further at the top of the hill. Artorias was struggling with her own inner turmoil and Nagi never realized how deep it ran, and how far it's escalated. Everyone was watching with baited breath, they didn't know what to do either, what Nagi should do?

Swallowing the bile in his throat, Nagi held up NightSky in a defensive form. "Artorias, please, I want to help you, that hasn't changed... you're my best friend," That last part made Artorias tremble, her knuckle turned white around her sword before something shiny caught the light in her left palm.

"...you can't keep up with me," It happened so fast, four throwing knives leaving the redhead's off-hand behind her shield. Nagi stumbled back, the shock that Artorias went on the offense, as well as the idea of attacking a player in general again caused his stance to crumble. He deflected the possibly tinged knives only for a cool blade to sweep across his side, Artorias was too fast, using the knives as bait.

His tinged silver dagger turned Artorias' cursor orange, and the Paralysis debuff struck Nagi as he stumbled, wincing in his inability to stop his body. "S-stop him..." Then he collapsed like a sack of bricks in water, unable to budge as the others quickly rallied to block the exit, anxiously drawing their weapons.

"Artorias... please," Yuuki was beyond terrified, it was a complete contrast to when they first crossed swords. Every cell in her body didn't want this, but Artorias kept moving as Ran and Nori rushed toward Artorias.

"You need to stop, this has gone on long enough!" Ran demanded, but Artorias quickly countered her attempts to use a Martial Arts skill to pin Artorias down, grabbing her outstretched wrist to twist it behind her back, nicking her cheek with his dagger before kicking her into Talken, tossing three tinged knives that his shield swatted aside. The tall man gasped as Artorias ran up the face of his shield, grabbing the lip to twist herself up and behind his blindspot, and he too fell to the debuff with his leader.

"Oh crap, how the hell are we meant to beat him!?" Jun was panicking at the slow, unsettling approach Artorias gave. Instinctively, he triggered a skill.

"You idiot/No!" Nori and Yuuki exclaimed as his body swung down with Avalanche, leaving a blast of dust in his wake.

Jun's face paled when a hand yanked his sword forward, drawing the redhead closer to Artorias who grabbed his chest plate and slammed him into the earth, leaving a few cracks on the floor and taking the wind out of his sails. "I said to move," Artorias warned with a forced breath, grabbing several potions to douse over her own head, several buffs applying at once as her shimmering form shot towards the last of the Sleeping Knights.

"Artorias - yah!" Tecchi pushed Siune aside, taking a knife to the shoulder as his frozen form fell into the ravenette's grasp. "No, Tecchi. Artorias, listen to us, this can be resolved without all of this,"

"No use takin' the peaceful route now, guy's gone off the deep end!" Nori tisked, a sword skill humming at the end of her hammer. "Don't blame me, ya shouldn't have hurt my guildmates!"

Her hammer swung through the air but missed the redhead who kept her silence, slipping by Nori without leaving her paralyzed as now only Yuuki stood in Artorias' way. "...move, please," Her voice was tense, struggling to keep a steady face.

An obsidian blade shakily rose to meet her, tears welled up in Yuuki's angry orbs. "Why are you doing this? I don't get it, why are you against working with us now? What stopped you from doing whatever you wanted weeks ago? Was it out of pity? Did you find it funny to work with others instead?" She questioned, stomaching her own feelings on the matter as Artorias kept moving toward her with her head bowed. "Answer me! Didn't you love being with any of us!? Were we ever your friends to begin with!?"

"..." Artorias rasped a breath, gritting her teeth together as her sword and Yuuki's met in the middle. Instead of exchanging blows, they kept a death grip to one another, and rose met crimson. Yuuki felt all the agony this was for Artorias, she was forcing herself to do this, but why? Everything Yuuki said really hurt but Artorias refused to admit to any of it.

"Aren't we? Or... was it just a lie to get what you wanted?" She asked in a firm voice, those left standing helping to cure the others, now the odds were beginning to stack against the Red Warrior. "Arty?"

"...I'm sorry, Yuuki," She whispered, then took Yuuki's feet out from under her without so much as a sign of movement, Yuuki lost her balance long enough for Artorias to use his speed buffs to lunge up to the balcony and escape out the door in a blur of dark colours, her ponytail gone without a trace.

"No... wait!" Yuuki cried out, but it was too late, they couldn't stop her. Her hand closed tightly, she couldn't reach Artorias' heart. "Don't go..."

|April. 25th, 09:38|

You're nothing but a failure...

Nothing you do will ever amount to anything...

Your siblings are examples of how you could better yourself...

Wasting time and energy on pointless ambitions...

Failure... write-off... useless... incompetent...

You were only born to be average... nothing was expected of you...

"Shut up, shut up already!" Artorias smacked the side of her head with the heel of her palm, shutting it all out. She was the worst, tricking them and leaving them to wallow on the ground after everything. But she had to do this, nothing could get in the way of fixing this glitch, she needed to see the rest through alone. "They'll hate me now... good, better off that way, nothing good comes of me anyway..." If she died... what better way to go? "I've burdened them long enough,"

Artorias' internal conflicts came to a crashing halt as she brought her heel down just at the exit to the Tomb. Standing in the grand entrance hall were all the top members of the still rising Knights of the Blood Oath, led by both the shining Second-In-Command, Asuna, and beside her, the man clad in red, the other 'Red Warrior' of SAO, Heathcliff. All of them looked surprised to see Artorias before them, panting to catch her breath, aside from the commander himself, giving Artorias a critical look.

"What? Never ran a whole dungeon before?" Artorias remarked hollowly. "If you don't mind rolling out the red carpet for me, I'd appreciate it,"

"Artorias... is he...?" Asuna rolled the situation around in her head, keeping her handle on her rapier tight in its scabbard with a hard look. "Where are Nagi and the others?"

"Alive, if you're trying to insinuate the opposite," Artorias replied while taking a step, only for Heathcliff to bang the butt of his tower shield on the black metal floor. Artorias gave a tired sigh. "Really? All of this for me? I'd be honoured if it wasn't such a stick up my ass,"

"You were the infamous thief from before I assume?" Heathcliff spoke calmly, "To be frank, it did seem only a top player would be capable of such a feat as to trick both major guilds on the Frontlines, not to mention those very capable of Nagi's team-"

"Let me through, now," Artorias wasn't in the mood anymore, keeping her left hand against her waist belt.

"You've got nowhere to run now!" "Sir, her cursor is orange, what should we do?" "She's nothing but a traitor!"

"Unfortunately, that is no longer possible," Heathcliff replied, drawing his sword from its sheath, but didn't outright engage, with Asuna putting her hand back to halt the outcry behind them, "I would kindly ask you turn over the relics and come with us back to Seliana, I only do this due to your affiliation with Asuna, and your contribution to bringing the Frontlines this far,"

"You honestly think-" In a blur of dark colours, Artorias closed the gap, bounding atop Heathcliff's shield as several knives were thrown, catching three KOB members unawares. "-I didn't expect this!?"

"Stop him!" Asuna gasped as she drew her rapier high but watched Artorias dive back off Heathcliff's shield and over her head. Reacting quickly, she swung her blade in time to catch two knives meant for her as the redhead pressed her feet to the nearest wall and dove forward to lock her dagger with Asuna's rapier, landing a solid punch to her gut to throw her off her feet slightly. "Why are you doing this? There's no reason for you to be acting out so irresponsibly!"

Putting distance from her blade, Artorias rolled to evade Heathcliff's Shield Bash, slashing the hip of another KOB member and kicking their frozen form into the others. One lance user rushed from behind, turning on her heel, Artorias slammed her foot down on its point, flicking her wrist as another knife dug into his collarbone. With a dash, she pressed her boot against the man's face, leaping away from several polearms, sliding to her knees in time to evade the silver edge of Heathcliff's sword, locking the follow-up swing with the curvature of her dagger, twisting her grip to push his blade aside to dive left, Asuna's rapier grazing through her ponytail.

Grasping a small orb between two fingers, Artorias swung it down to blanket the hall in smoke, avoiding the sweeping blades to skirt around to the exit, throwing three more knives to puncture two others chasing her from the smoke, the third bouncing off Heathcliff's shield. By the time the smoke cleared, they saw Artorias halfway up the stairs, chugging several colourful vials as more and more buffs were applied, one making her form slightly transparent.

"Even I know when to call quits on a fight," Turning to the stairs toward the tundra, she clicked her tongue. "Kiss my ass," And like that, she strode up the staircase back into the cold morning tundra, a storm now passing over the area again.

Artorias took a few steps, almost tripping up on herself with a shaky breath. Steeling her nerves, she grabbed a teleport crystal. "Teleport, Labyrinth Gate,"

"Wait-!" Asuna had caught up in time to see the clear expression of desperation on Artorias' face, the redhead vanishing in an orb of sky blue glass as it burst, and she was gone. Asuna lowered her hand, biting her thumb. To believe it was Artorias the whole time was unexpected and almost insulting how she completely turned against them, but if she's learned anything, there was always something deeper than a lust for power or like the sadistic red players, the thrill of tormenting people. "Nagi would know... I hope," Turning back to the Tomb, she felt nothing but pain in her chest.

|Floor 29, Labyrinth Entrance|

|April. 25th, 09:45|

The entrance was surrounded by mountains of snow and ice, forming a valley toward the large doorway, shielding any from the biting cold of the blizzard above. Artorias walked up a small, wide flight of steps, large arches of blue ice formed, digging into the spire's pale white texture, some bricks even a faint shade of blue as ice coated the door's intricate pattern.

With a few clicks, three relics appeared to float around Artorias, a clear indication of ancient 'magic' in Aincrad like with the Elves. A marble sphere with a dark red core, pulsing like a heart. A narrow triangle shard, pitch black, and coated by a shifting orange field of light. Lastly, the roman helmet, the silver tainted with green cracks, the crest blackened with decay. "Rage. Isolation. Servitude." Speaking their titles, the doors let out a low rumble as the relics were pulled toward the frozen doorway.

"Now to see if the flavour text was right..." Taking a breath, Artorias recited as she switched back to her sword and shield. "'Futility breeds denial, denial twists to rage. Shelter thyself from this cold, dark place, isolated from all others. Guide thyself, obedient and fanatical, to his servitude,'" Combining all the passages caused another boom to rattle the sky, and the ice seized up, breaking into strips before crumbling before Artorias.

When the doors opened, the frozen interior was marked by walls of similar steel to the Tomb of the Lost, and the other dungeons. But unlike the others that followed the main questline for the relics to 'subdue the sinister foe festering as the Floor Boss, Artorias paid close attention to the relics flavour text, thus, she saw a path no one else would. A small, green flame bounced in front of the door, disappearing at her proximity into a strip of fire down the middle of the hall, banking left after a few meters.

"Heh... a hidden path," Smirking a bit at her luck, it quickly vanished with her next step. "It's almost over... It's almost over," Her eyes hesitated, looking back at the tundra for a second, more specifically, the teleport obelisk near the mouth of the valley. No one was here. Looking forward again, she broke into a dash, following the flaming line through the dark.

Had she spent any points into a Search Skill, or even just tuned her senses, she had seen the edge of a brown and lime green hood bob down behind a mound of snow and rock. Leaning against it with a heavy sigh, Argo opened up her menu quickly. "Ya really makin' me work for this, ArtY," Shaking her head bitterly, she sent her S.O.S, knowing they'd be here soon enough. She eyed the gaping entrance to the labyrinth, hearing the wind howl as it entered. Closing her fist against the snow, she relented and sat still.

By the time Argo saw the flash of the teleport obelisk, she stood up and ran up to greet the members of KoB, DKB, Sleeping Knights, and Nagi's team. All of them had mixed expressions as they approached the Rat standing by. Automatically, the blonde saw Nagi's distraught expression, his eyes were so heavy with thought and too many emotions for her to properly figure out. She decided to look to Ran and Yuuki, the former with her hand intertwined with her sister's as she shared a similar face to Nagi's.

"Argo, I believe you've seen Artorias pass through the doorway already?" Heathcliff inquired, looking the same as always, stoic.

"Missed him by ten minutes, seemed like he figured somethin' out too that I can't seE," She explained with a small shrug, her arms crossed. "Guy's real takin' the villain act to heart, dunno what else to saY,"

"To think, we were deceived by one of our own," Lind was furious, but winced a bit at the complete defeat among Nagi's group. "I'm... I apologize, I didn't mean this was your fault-"

"We never saw it," Nagi murmured, his flat tone broke Argo's heart. "I... I thought I could help him, I genuinely wanted that, but... I couldn't do anything," His voice was filled with disbelief in his own inaction, staring at his hands. "And now he's... he could..." He failed, always when it mattered most.

"I got tricked like some damn fool!" Daora growled, his fists trembling. "After everything we've done for him, that bastard stabbed us in the back!"

"Hate to side with him, but it's true, he played us all for fools," Nori huffed, leaning onto her hammer with a defeated look herself.

"What's yer plan theN?" Argo decided to ask, but got only silence as a response for a few seconds.

"No offense, but why should we even bother?" Someone from DKB asked, causing a few to turn sharply, Asuna even gasped at the idea.

"You want to leave him to die? Who said that?" She demanded.

"I mean, why not, right?" A girl from KoB argued too. "He attacked us, turned orange too because of it, and stole the relics, the key to beating this floor,"

"Not anymore, seems they got used up openin' the waY," Argo pointed to the door.

"Besides that, let the bastard rot, why should we give our lives for a traitor!?" Another yelled.

"He's a beta tester too, ain't he? No better than that Beater brat that only shows up to steal the L.A. bonuses!" Someone snapped, pointing toward Nagi. "You worked with him, so this is just as much your fault!"

"Hey!/Nagi isn't responsible for what anyone does!" Jun and Asuna shot back sharply. Argo kept her emotions in check, even if she wanted to risk turning orange to put that guy in his place.

"What's to say they won't stab us in the back next, huh!?" "I say forget Artorias, let 'em die if he wants!" "I'm not risking my life for him!"

"Alright, that's enough, all of you!" Lind stood with Asuna, hand to his chest. "I understand your plight, I do, I'm frustrated too, but this is not the time nor the place for this!"

"Save your contempt for closed doors," Shivata grunted, his brow furrowed deeply at their bickering.

While every side argued to a degree over how to proceed, Argo ignored them all and approached her boyfriend, taking his cold hands in hers, regardless of how it may look, she honestly didn't care. His eyes flickered with guilt, refusing to meet her critical gaze. Shifting on her toes slightly, given the two inch height difference, she met his eyes from below, giving a small, comforting smile, squeezing his hands tightly to wake him from his state of despair.

It was enough for his eyes to focus on hers again, brow furrowed with frustration. She nodded, moving her right hand up now to flick his nose, getting him to blink a few times in response. His hand squeezed back now to silently thank her, watching her whiskers twitch with relief. Meanwhile, Asuna turned to her commander.

"Sir... what should we do? Everyone's still mixed on how to proceed," She too was worried, obviously.

"What do you believe would be our correct course of action?" He wondered.

"In all honesty? I don't want him to die, but not everyone is in agreement, and that could cause friction with our cooperation," Asuna explained calmly.

"I agree, as we are now, we may lose more people even before the boss fight," Lind frowned, rubbing his chin. "Not to mention, we have no clue of the correct route yet, so by the time we did arrive, Artorias may not be with us anymore,"

The silence was as cold and isolating as the blizzard, people were at odds, conflicted with experiences and emotions, before long, Artorias could lose his life any second as they stood grounded outside. Nagi looked over at the same time a pair of red eyes met him. Both cousins stared at one another, giving each other a moment of acknowledgement. Then nodded.

Nagi let go of Argo's hand, moving slowly toward the labyrinth when Lind noticed. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going after Artorias," The raven-brunette replied as Yuuki stepped beside him with a firm look.

"Same," She added.

"Yuuki?" Ran blinked when her sister and Nagi looked back, seeing the complete expression of conviction on her face.

"I don't care what anyone else thinks, we'll back him up, then, when we beat the floor boss, I'm gonna yell and call him stupid for everything he's done today," Yuuki was adamant about that, looking away for a second. "Maybe it sounds stupid to all of you, but I know deep down that Artorias would do the same for anyone else, regardless if they asked, he's a good person, and I know he is because I saw the real him when I fought him for the first time ever,"

"When I confronted him, I saw and smelled exactly how I was when this death game began, frustration, confusion, regret... all of it turned to desperation in the last few days that I couldn't see, and I don't think Artorias did either, he looked so upset with what he was doing but couldn't stop himself," Nagi knew that look, he had seen it in the first few days of SAO. "But worst of all? He's terrified that this potion won't fix his glitched avatar, so he'll die trying to be himself... and pushed everyone away to be alone,"

"Tch, grr... graaah!" Daora swung his ax in its one-handed state, stomping through the snow to jab it's horns against Nagi's chest. "You're not going anywhere without me! I'm gonna kick his ass for using me like a stepping stone, got that!?"

The pair smiled at him. "Sure, wouldn't expect anything less from you, leader," Nagi winked.

The wolfman crossed his arms tightly, "Hmph, that's right!" Daora beamed.

"Mr Daora's right, we're not letting you go alone," Ran stated with a sharp glare towards her sister who looked to her guild with surprise as they too raised their weapons with smirks, Ran placing her fists on her hips. "So stop acting like you're the only ones who want to hear him apologize, and let's go,"

Heathcliff smiled with an exhale, "I believe we have found our compromise,"

"Yes..." Asuna was relieved, smiling too before she turned on her heel to the rest of KoB watching. "Now, if any of you wish to follow, pull yourselves together! We're going to defeat the boss now!"

"Only got the bare minimum intel, but I'll work the deets as we run, A-ChaN," Argo wiggled up beside the brunette. "It'll cost less cause I ain't satisfied with limited intel, but'll be worth it's weight noW,"

"The same goes for any DKB members, if any wish to sit this out, I will not hold it against you!" Lind yelled, already, Shivata and Hafner stepped forward, a few of their subordinates doing the same next to KoB.

"Argo-" The Rat turned to see the confident expression on Nagi that made her feel warmer under this storm. "-Can you use your Search skill to track Artorias' footprints? Given the state he's in, he overlooked one key detail despite not being in our party,"

Hearing this, the Rat chuckled a bit, flashing a toothy smile beneath her hood. "Nyahaha, leave it to lil ol' me, HerO!"

"We will follow your lead then," Heathcliff announced with Nagi, Argo, and Yuuki standing at the vanguard.

"Okay... we're going to save Artorias!" Nagi declared, without question, the most important words he's spoken to date, a fire erupting in his chest. "Please, I know you well enough by now, I've seen what you can do, so please, Artorias..."

|April. 25th, 10:05|

The doors to the Boss Room opened wide, revealing a massive gran hallway, twice as high and as long as the boss room on Floor 10 was. Four pillars sat near the middle in a straight line, two either side with a large obelisk each with three sides. Lights beamed from the ceiling unseen in a fluorescent white glow. It was barren, say for what stood at the opposite end of the hall, a monster roughly six feet tall, bathed in burning green soul fire, its hollow sockets burning with two red flames.

Artorias stepped forward, drawing her sword as she drank a health pot to boost her HP back to full, triggering several skills in the process with a few presses. Her face was twisted with unbridled rage and determination.

"...don't die!"

To Be Continued...

Everything's kicking off, Artorias is on his own in a desperate act to fix his glitch or die trying, Nagi and the others are on their way, but can they make it in time? So much is about to come exploding onto the surface! I really hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Players!

046 - His World

Artorias faces down the final boss on his road to finish the Potion of Transmutation, but some walls strength alone cannot overcome, but...