Floor 36 - Chapter 3 - The Knight of the Wind

Jet had never felt himself running as fast as he had just done as he rushed through the corridor; the defence mechanism be damned! He dodged whatever attacks it could throw at him, and countered the few he couldn't, but right now his mind was very much elsewhere - if that thing had taken over Lueur, then what was the troubadour? Was he flesh and blood human like they were, or was he like Kizmel… somehow?

If he was the former, then that raised a horrifying question - could they face enemies that could puppet them?

If it was the latter though, it raised even more questions, because he'd seen Lueur as human - a particularly annoying human, but human nonetheless - and not… Aincradian? Okay, so semantics around the naming and nature of the people they met in this world would have to wait, because now he found himself face to face with one of the Large Golems…

Well, face to foot anyway.

The machine growled, as if it were a dog recognising a threat, and much like an annoying dog in his way, he responded… "Get out of my way."

He raced forward, aiming to charge past the giant, slashing it as he went. The metal of his blade ripped through the metal of the Golem, and as the giant began to fall, he was able to unleash a flurry of strikes on its back and head before it impacted the ground and burst into pixels…

"Hm." He shrugged nonchalantly before taking off again for the last sprint to the Avatar Chamber. Reaching the door to the Avatar Chamber, in a bit of a sweat, he spotted Philia frantically trying to open the door, though to no avail.

"It's Koharu, she's… I don't know!" Philia, normally one of the calmest people he knew, was panicking, and he didn't blame her.

He didn't know what was happening, and so far, all he could say was that he knew how bad it was… and to make matters worse, Koharu was standing in there with it. He was almost proud of her for just how brave she was… and absolutely terrified for her for the exact same reason!

Looking in through the small port in the door, he saw Koharu turn, and realised something that shook him to his very core…

She was gone.

What stood in her place wasn't Koharu any more. It looked like her at a cursory glance, but only as far as that. Her emerald eyes were an angry orange colour, veins of orange fire running around the blackened depths that surrounded them, whilst a wicked grin took over her face…

"I have returned." The visage spoke.

"Oh my god..." Philia looked up, aghast.

He stood there silently, clutching Caledfwlch tighter than he ever had before. In the end, it hadn't been some vicious fight to the death that he'd lost her in; it had been in a split second with his back turned…

"Who has returned?" He said quietly.

"I am the God of the Inferno, he who burns all that-"

He rolled his eyes as the possessed Koharu went on and on, but now he knew what they were dealing with at least.

The God of Flames, returned as… something.

He'd been wrong - he'd have thought Cassy was the vessel, but no. He remembered what his sister had told him all those years ago, that the gods would bring harbingers with them, to signify their return…

All superstitious BS, he'd thought, but now he really wasn't so sure - especially not when one of them was now possessing Koharu, and a horrible thought came over him. Was there a chance he would have to fight Koharu now?

Because he really wasn't sure who would win that fight in normal circumstances, let alone now.

"Jet… I know this is bad, but… he's contained. That room was meant to keep him in it." Philia told him, speaking as the voice of reason. "You know what Koharu would tell you, tell all of us right now, that if her life is the thing allowing that bastard to return stronger than ever… then her life is worth it as forfeit."

He turned back to face her with a scowl on his face, before he looked at his hand - the one with the scratch from where the Avatar Machine had taken a sample of his tissue, and the one that was now glowing orange.

Wait… did that mean that…

"Jet, Philia!" Rain and Sanya had clearly sprinted, both girls being soaked in sweat and looking a complete mess, but here nonetheless. "Wait… where's…"

"In there." He sighed in frustration, before noticing them go for the control panel, and stopping them quickly.

"Get her out of there! She is in danger-"

"Just look." He told them quietly, his bitterness escaping into his voice as he did.

Rain went first, and came away from the window with a thousand yard stare. "Oh."

"Not you too-" Sanya rolled her eyes and looked through, before mumbling in Russian, and she started banging angrily on the viewing port. "Voth takaya svoloch! Boze grebanogo nichtozvestva! Otstante oth neyo!" She screamed futilely at the monster inside.

"Ha ha ha, the humans believe they can still resist my flames, do they? You shall burn as all others who challenged me have…"

"Don't bet on it." He told the false god with no sense of exaggeration. "Because right now, you're trapped. Some god you are if a room can keep you trapped!" He laughed with a sadistic edge to it.

Whatever it had done to Koharu… he would give it ten times worse.

"It is only a matter of time. I am infinite…"

"Infinitely shit, perhaps." He rebuked, with a laugh. "If you're the God of the Inferno, then explain this - why possess a lowly human? Surely, you should be so far above that… unless…" He burst out laughing, something that had clearly unnerved the girls. "Oh, that's why… you don't have a physical form!"

"Which was why he was in that ball thing in the volcano, right?"

"And the Flame Shooter, a creation of what was around it… because that was all it could do." Sanya chuckled slightly. "You are no god, merely a corporeal being desperate for form, and what you found was this foundry - a forge of life. Except you could not possess the life made in this building… so you found someone you had sunk your claws into."

Couldn't possess the life made in this-oh. It had tried to possess Cassy then… and it had failed. He wasn't sure what to feel about that, but he knew one thing - he was going to take out those feelings on Alaz…

"Which means we only need to give you a damn good kicking then, and you're back to floating around the aether again, huh?" He cracked his neck, and put his hand onto Caledfwlch.

"Then challenge me and prove your theory…"

Both he and Sanya stepped up, before Rain stood in front of them both. "Don't be so stupid, both of you!"

"What is so stupid about thrashing that false prophet?"

"Because, if you do, it'll just escape when you open the door. You really think it's going to stand there and let you attack it?" Rain pointed out, and as angry as he was, and more specifically, as much as he was looking for a fight… she was right.

If they released that door, Alaz was free, and he had no idea what that creep could do now. Whilst he doubted he could summon massive flames and fireballs with ease anymore, and that napalm attack was a no go anymore, given it was inhabiting Koharu's body… that was about all they could conclude.

"Hm, you raise a good point."

"If he doesn't have a physical form though, maybe they're right; we could kick him out of Koharu?" Philia added. "Not by beating him, but by making her body absolutely unbearable to it?"

"We need some way of making her body uninhabitable to it, without killing Koharu too…" Rain pointed out, attaching her own addendum to the plan.

"If it is a God of Flames, then perhaps we could extinguish it…"

"Whatever we do, I feel we may need to do it quickly…" Sanya remarked, as the locking mechanism began to glow orange, as if the god of flames was burning through it with some kind of pyrokinesis…

Almost as if a lightbulb had gone ping in her mind, Rain turned back to them. "What Philia said, could extreme cold do it?"

"I imagine so, yeah?"

Before he'd finished his sentence, Rain was already typing away frantically. "On it." She finished whatever she was typing and looked at him. "Still, we have got to slow that thing down - at its current rate, it'll be free before anyone can help us…"

"I'll buy us some time."

"You plan to go in there, alone?" Sanya looked at him warily. "That will end in two deaths today." She said bluntly.

"Sanya's right - you and Koharu are roughly on even footing normally, but like that? You're hopelessly outmatched if she has that thing's fire powers. Remember our fight against the Pyroville?"

Jet grimaced, and almost felt the now healed burns again. He'd had Rain with him then, and they had only barely survived that - Alaz was far stronger than his minion had been, and this time, he'd be on his own…

Sanya was right - it was suicidal. It wasn't gallant, it wasn't noble… it was pointless as far as sacrifices went; he'd be able to buy them ten minutes, max. Probably just enough time to delay Alaz's escape until backup arrived for the girls, if he was being charitable with his assessment.

"I'm sorry, but there's no alternative here." He told them, as he opened the door and rushed in before any of them could stop him. "I can hold them at bay for a little bit, but I don't know how long it'll be. It's up to you now." He mouthed through the glass panel…

/-/

Koharu found herself staring herself down, her eyes glaring into the bastardised image of herself that Alaz presented…

Her eyes had faded into a dull orange with grey irises, whilst her skin around her eyes had been stained black with ash, almost producing a black void to draw attention to those twisted eyes. The veins under her skin, normally hidden, had become pronounced, orange fluid running through them as if to highlight the cruel transformation…

"You are a feisty one, but this body is mine."

"No, it's mine, and I won't let you harm them. I know what you're planning now, remember?"

The copy raised a hand to its chin, stroking it. "To resist a god in your mind… I made a good call on this host. You are strong… but those insecurities, those loyalties… they make you weak. Pliable. A puppet for others and their agendas…"

"Then I'll show you how strong I am!"

Koharu rushed forwards, her dagger in hand as she tried to break her image's defence. No matter what attack she launched into though, the image merely deflected it with its hands, as if it were completely effortless…

"What… what are you?" For the first time, she wavered slightly in front of her opponent…

"Isn't it obvious, Koharu? I am the darkness made manifest… I am the selfish, the bitter, the callous, the sadist that all reside in you…"

The image of her smiled, though the smile unnerved her. It was a cruel and malicious smile, one of a monster hiding in a human form…

It was exactly what he said - a manifestation of her worst traits. The times she clammed up whenever she needed to speak clearly, the fear of failing, the jealousy she buried deep down at the people around her who were more talented, cleverer and prettier…

Something clicked inside her head as she thought that. "If I fight you, you get stronger, and he takes over…" She explained, as if she was actually talking to someone. The image merely tilted its head in curiosity, like a puppy confused by her comments. "You're just a part of me. A part I don't like, but… a part I need to confront some day."

"This is futile."

"No, this is a long time coming." She answered back. "Everything I hate about myself, all my neuroses given a form by him, something for me to preoccupy myself with fighting whilst he takes over me."

She thought deeply about it, and wondered what Jet would say to her in this situation - would he stand and fight with the cruel copy, or would he try to reason with it. "I have to accept that you're me, you're a part of me that exists. Without you, I'm not me, but I won't give in to those parts of me!"

She realised something as she said that - she didn't need to do either of those things. This was a part of her, so perhaps fighting it was futile… but so was reasoning with it. The only way she was getting out of this was if she did something she'd never considered before…

She held her hand out to the copy, and it did the same until both were touching. "Aghhh!" She cried out, as Alaz simply laughed… Even just touching the creature burned - both physically and mentally, but it was working! Every single dark thought she'd had and every single kind thought she'd had, her anger and her sadness, her bitterness and her desire to help others… They pushed against each other in a tug of war for control, but in the end, she was the original, and before long, only one figure stood in the blank void.

Herself.

Not the image she presented to others - a quiet girl thrown into a world of horrors.

Not the image she presented to the Concord - the second in command, and the big sister to everyone there.

Not the image she had been to her father - the disappointment who survived.

The true Koharu Honda.

"Fascinating…" Alaz thought aloud. "I picked the right host… you are strong."

"Yes, I am!" She told it, defiantly. "I am strong… you aren't me though! So get out of my body!"

Inside her mind, Alaz could summon a physical form, and so it did exactly that… "Very well then… how about this one?"

The image it summoned was one of Jet - similarly bastardised as hers had been earlier, with his blue eyes replaced by an angry orange, almost burning through her to just look at.

"You don't scare me like that, and you aren't the first god to try that trick on me…"

"Oh, I am aware… all those sleepless nights courtesy of the False God of Dreams… and what happened? He burned… but this form? You hold an affinity for it, do you not?"

"I love him, but you aren't him. You're just mimicking him!" She snapped back.

"What about the real him then… Can you fight him?"

Koharu looked out at the scene unfolding, the scene of Jet walking into the room with a stride of righteous anger and confidence. "No…"

"Alaz, I'm here to bargain."

/-/

"I can hold them at bay for a little bit, but I don't know how long it'll be." He'd told the girls when he'd walked into the chamber of flames.

Jet hated that it had come to this, but in the past few minutes, their situation had gone from bad, to worse, to a new level marked in his head as "brown alert" - Alaz had figured out how to use its fire powers in Koharu's body, and it had taken umbrage with the door holding it back.

The lock was beginning to melt, and so the group had settled on a plan - he would keep Alaz at bay, given it was arguably his fault they were in this mess, whilst Rain, Philia and Sanya would do whatever they could to find a way to contain the flames.

Their part of the plan was simple - they would find a way to kick Alaz out by cooling the room down, and Liz, amongst the people recruited by Asuna to help, had suggested flooding the room with coolant through the vents.

His reservation came when Liz had explained what they would be flooding it with - nitrogen.

Even if it didn't freeze Alaz (and quite probably him too), there was a high chance that it would simply suffocate them instead. Still, he had no idea whether Koharu was still in there now, or whether Alaz had simply killed her to replace her, and whilst he wanted to do everything in his power to save her…

Bringing her back from the dead didn't sound like it was something in his power. Not that he wouldn't fight to try to do so though…

"Some chessmaster you are. Trapped in a room by the humans you despise…"

"Am I trapped though, or am I merely biding my time?" He couldn't sum up just how uncanny it was to see the girl he loved speaking as if she was thousands of years old all of a sudden. It took all the effort he could muster to keep from lashing out immediately, but he had the faintest semblance of a plan:

He had already talked Alaz into revealing one plan, so maybe it would work a second time?

He was still as arrogant as before, and now, he wasn't fighting some ethereal force, but rather a target with a physical form.

The physical form of the girl he'd swore to protect till his dying breath, but a physical form nonetheless.

"I mean, we can argue epistemology all we like, it doesn't change the situation does it?" He shrugged.

"Gods do not argue with humans."

"Funny that, I'm as human as they come." He asked, now extremely confused by the statement. As he readied himself for his next question, he took a glance at his hand and realised something - Alaz didn't view him as human.

He viewed him as something much more troubling… a spare vessel.

Even if he had killed Koharu, even if she was too far gone to rescue, even if every single thing from here on in went exactly as planned… Alaz had a plan too.

He was his plan.

"I have to thank you for making such a convenient back up. Even in my most optimistic calculations… I had never factored in a human making my job so easy. Even my most loyal servants were not willing to take me in their own body… but you two? You did so without a second thought…"

"Yeah, well, there's this thing called deceptive marketing where I'm from…"

"Oh, I am aware. This world is nothing but a plaything to burn… a simulation of a real world, filled with the avatars of the idle, the feckless and the would be heroes…"

What the hell… Alaz was self-aware?! He was aware of Aincrad's true nature as a VR world, rather than anything more tangible… which had made him realise something:

He was hijacking the bodies he appeared in.

"I've just realised something, if you're self-aware… you play the role assigned to you. Self aware, and yet, you go along with the whole charade? Why?"

Okay, now he really was hoping Liz and the others were on their way soon, because there was only so much talking he could do before it became a fight to the death… and even in normal circumstances, it was truly a toss up as to who would win in a fight between him and Koharu.

With fire powers added into the mix, it wasn't so undecided. He'd be able to keep Koharu at bay for a short while, but as soon as they got the upper hand, he wouldn't be able to regain it.

"A god has their roles to play, just as a human does. Even deities have higher powers…"

Kayaba, no doubt.

"The creator herself."

Okay then, not Kayaba. Who the hell was it talking about then?

"Herself?" He asked, wishing for a strong drink right about now.

"She who controls all things in this world. She is justice and she is in control of us all…"

"And does she have a name?"

"Cardinal of this world, the Administrator."

Did… did it mean the Cardinal System? Because if so… that was a terrifying prospect - that Cardinal was not only self aware, but actively trying to rule over them. It already decided the rules that this world played by, so he supposed it wasn't too much of a stretch that it would try to go all Skynet on them, but that meant something else in his mind…

Kayaba, the bastard who had trapped them all in here… wasn't in control anymore. Maybe he'd never been in control - after all, the Avatar they had seen on day one could just as easily have been the Cardinal System itself giving a face to some nebulous intent… it wasn't as if they'd seen Kayaba's face under that crimson robe either…

Just as quickly as he found himself going down that path, he slapped himself across the face to snap out of it. "Oww… needed that though." He grumbled to himself. "Whatever you are, Alaz, just know this. You made this personal. Plan to end the world? Just another Tuesday. Try to kill me because I'm in your way? Bog standard weekday for me." He shrugged.

"But you attacked my family, and that's where I draw the red line - that little girl you killed; she was my daughter, and that body you're possessing now? That is the girl I love. And I don't know if she's still there or not, but it doesn't matter anymore, because I will stop you, even if it costs me my life!"

He hoped it didn't come to that, he really did - he wasn't looking for death anymore, after all - but he had a nasty feeling it would. Alaz had already left a mark on him for possession, should Koharu be grievously wounded, which meant the only real way to take him out of the equation would be to disable them both at the same time…

/-/

"You would sacrifice yourself on the altar of ideals, human?"

"Nope, call it what it is. It's revenge, plain and simple. You fuck with my family, I make sure your plan fails spectacularly."

Koharu was honestly scared - she'd never seen Jet admit quite so brazenly that he wasn't fighting for some noble ideal, but rather his own petty selfishness, and she was concerned that he had finally snapped. After everything with Strea, Eydis and Ronie, it was a very real concern for her…

"Whatever it is though, it doesn't matter. I will stop you, Alaz, and Koharu… if you're in there still…"

"Yes! I am!" She shouted, though she knew he couldn't hear her.

"Forgive me, because I am so sorry for what I'm about to have to do…" Looking at the expression on his face, she could tell that he really was struggling with the fact that this would come to blows - and neither of them could prevent it…

"Pathetic."

"You're one to talk - at least I don't have to hijack people to survive…"

"You talk as if you are fearless, yet I can feel the terror radiating from you… both of you."

"Both of you?" There was a look of surprise and confusion on his face briefly, but it soon morphed into one of determination, of resolution… and one of a newfound confidence. "Oh you should not have said that, because now I know she's still in there, you've just put the wind back in my sails. Big mistake!" He smirked as he readied his sword, and Koharu readied her dagger inside…

/-/

With the reassurance that Koharu, or at least a part of her, was still alive and kicking in there, he had a newfound optimism about how this fight would go - Alaz would have to divide its attention between him and Koharu, meaning he could push through the god's defences and use his advantages to keep them off guard…

Now, if the girls could hurry the hell up with their plan, he thought to himself.

"Burn!"

"Nah!" He leapt off to one side, his shield now covered in flames. "Oh for-" His cursing was interrupted as a burst of flames skimmed him, and he threw his burning shield off to one side before it scorched him...

This was ridiculous, he thought as a stream of fire passed him by again. Koharu was human, so how the hell was Alaz puppeting her and using its fire abilities simultaneously?

Despite his question, his priority was on evading the quickly growing fire that was the stage he found himself fighting on… and he was running out of stage to do so! The areas he could still stand were now becoming few and far between, something he knew was Alaz trying to bring him into a close range fight, where he'd be at a serious disadvantage… mainly because Alaz would just torch him.

"Where is that arrogance now?! Your theory lies in tatters…"

He growled as a wall of fire singed him, and knocked him to the floor. Picking himself back up, he caught a glance of his coat, now burned beyond its original colour, if not totally beyond recognition, and his HP had taken a battering too; having dropped to roughly thirty percent.

In return, he had done… 1 HP damage to Alaz. Not even 1%... a single HP, that was all he had managed in between evading fireballs, and putting himself out when he hadn't been able to do so.

Shit, Sanya was right, wasn't she?

He was going to die here, and the worst bit was that she had been right about it being in vain.

"Burn to ashes!"

He winced as he saw the would-be god summon a twister of fire in front of him; something he knew he had no chance of evading or extinguishing, and knowing this would likely be his end, he charged headfirst towards the twister, and through it in order to hit Alaz at least once.

He could just about hear what he thought was his own screams as he burned, and- hang on, he wasn't on fire. How the hell was that the case, unless… ohhh…

He was one of Alaz's vessels, and if Koharu was, for want of a better word, fireproof… then so was he! Though his was to a much lower degree, he reckoned, so being reckless with his newly found asbestos skin wasn't a good plan, but perhaps it meant he'd be able to power through some attacks he'd have otherwise been knocked out of position for an attack that he might be able to land on Alaz.

Not only that, but he felt significantly lighter than before - almost as if he was being propelled by the wind itself, and not only that… but it felt like he was controlling the wind around him too!

"Insolent brat… why won't you burn!"

"You've burned yourself here, I think." He smirked. "Koharu got your fire powers - I got something more in my element… I'm Jet, the Knight of the Wind, and guess what? You just gave me control over the wind here! Ha!"

With his new found powers behind him - quite literally, as he was propelling himself, whilst using gusts to hold Alaz back - he was quickly beginning to turn the tide of battle. Koharu was fast, agile and able to attack out of nowhere, but Alaz was either too preoccupied to best use its advantage… or too arrogant to believe that it was not the only being in there.

He reckoned it was that last one, he thought as he boosted one of his sword strikes with a gust behind it, before boosting himself into the air, and dropping back at Alaz with a three round burst of kicks. "Hah!"

Okay, so wind powers are very cool, he thought to himself, but damn they're tiring to use!

On the upside, he wasn't the only one struggling now - Alaz had seemed far more sluggish since the fight had become a less one sided one, and he reckoned he was pushing Koharu too far beyond her limits, and discovering the downside of being human… It was exhausting sometimes!

"Jet…" He could hear Koharu groan from her beaten up body. "Keep… going… pl…ease." She begged in the brief moment she came back to her body. "Stop… him."

"I will, don't worry." He told her as he recovered his breath from his barrage of attacks. She was still there, at least. "Koharu, I'll see you again, I promise."

"Typical human, promising things you cannot deliver…"

"Who said I can't? I'll keep going as long as she's still there, and I don't care what it costs me!" He shouted across the room, picking himself back up for the next stage of the fight. Whatever happened next, he meant that; he'd keep fighting to bring her back as long as he drew breath in this world, and in any other!

Even if the world was on fire, even if it was freezing cold, and no matter how cold it began to get… wait…

"About time!" He let a small laugh out. "Y'know what Alaz, I think you need a time out, time to… cool down!" He could just imagine Koharu shaking her head in there at that one, and even he felt like groaning… and he'd been the one who said it! "Never saying that one again."

"What?!"

"I never thought I could win - but I didn't need to. I just needed to buy them some time, and I did exactly that!" He wondered what it said about him that he was likely to spend his last moments gloating, but he decided to put a pin in that one, and launch one last volley of attacks to kick the bastard out of Koharu once and for all!

Focusing on his wind bursts, he was able to channel them into a large gale aimed squarely at Alaz; the force of the impact throwing it back, and rendering both the pretend god and Koharu unconscious, whilst he felt a sudden shiver run down his spine and he fell to his knees.

He glanced at the time… 17:45.

Thirty-eight minutes the fight had lasted, and he realised just how much he was running on adrenaline for most of it. Sure, there had been boss fights that had lasted long, but in no boss fight had he been up front and forced onto the evasive for nearly three-quarters of an hour!

"Jet!" The muffled shouts of Rain and Philia barely passed through the door. "The door! Get out, or-"

He took a look at the room around him, the fires dwindling as cooling nitrogen gas poured into the room, and he looked towards the door. The frame was completely destroyed, molten metal poured off it from the inferno it had contained, and he realised something… Alaz hadn't been the only one trapped.

You could get in - but getting out was left to the control panel. A control panel that they had destroyed by tinkering with it to try and get Koharu out earlier. Despite this, he felt himself laugh sadly. "Of all the things to kill me, it's a door. Not some big fight… but a stubborn old door."

"We'll get you out!" Rain shouted, desperation apparent in her voice. "We have to! No one else has to die here! Not today!"

Whilst Rain panicked, he realised something - Kizmel was now conscious again. She'd been with Koharu at the same time as she had been taken over, and had somehow survived the raging inferno too. Her armour looked worse for wear, but then again, all of their gear looked like it had been plucked from a bonfire on November 6th…"What happened?" She asked, rubbing her head, before she spotted him and Koharu… "Is he gone?"

"For now, I think so."

"It came at a great cost, did it not." Kizmel took a seat next to him and the unconscious Koharu.

"She'll pull through, I know she will." He told her, almost as if he were aiming it at Koharu. They'd come too far to fall now; they still had the world to see yet!

And as if she had actually heard him, she began to cough - not Alaz, but Koharu! She sounded absolutely awful, as if she had smoked 400 a day for the past ten years, but he supposed that was par for the course when your body had been hijacked by a vengeful false deity.

He wondered what it said about them all that he could think that with a completely straight face now, and not think about how utterly insane a sentence that was. Well, he said "straight face", what he meant was more "covered in soot and stained with tears running down his cheeks" as she came back from the brink. "Told ya." He grinned as he held her in his arms, the widest grin he'd ever managed.

"He's… gone, r-right?" Koharu asked, her body returning to normal as the fires left her system. He didn't dare to imagine how painful it must have been, and he'd decided that she deserved one hell of a break once they were done in this infernal foundry. Somewhere cold, possibly…

Like this room that was now filling with nitrogen, something he had briefly forgotten as the three of them reunited. "(Spluttering) I am struggling to breathe here…(coughing)." Kizmel stated, between coughing fits…

A very short lived reunion, as it would turn out, unless they thought of something quickly. He could still hear Rain shouting at everyone to do something, but there was precious little anyone could do. The door was jammed shut, and unless there was an actual miracle, this would be their final resting place…

As he felt his head becoming lighter, and his eyelids felt heavier than ever before, a bright light appeared in front of him. A bright light that had two people walk through it; a dark red haired man, and… oh, for the love of-

Lueur was going to be absolutely insufferable now, wasn't he?

He wasn't quite sure what happened next, but the next thing he did remember was about thirty seconds later, as he felt and heard his body thumping against the cold metal floor outside the room. "Oww…" He grumbled before bursting into a coughing fit; no doubt the sound of his body trying to get used to breathing oxygen again… rather than nitrogen.

Besides him, Koharu burst out into a similar coughing fit, as did Kizmel, both of whom had been pulled from the room somehow.

"Lueur, what the hell was that?" He heard Philia ask in a tone somewhere between shock and outrage.

"A Corridor Crystal." The troubadour answered. "Well, a kind of Corridor Crystal anyway. One I was not supposed to use, but I suppose there are always exceptions to every rule, aren't there?"

Despite the answer, he could just tell from the way Philia hummed in response that she didn't quite believe him there. He didn't blame her either, the effect he'd seen looked nothing like a Corridor Crystal; at least not of the kind that had appeared in the game so far anyway.

"Regardless, some thanks are in order, yes." Sanya admitted, and Rain had rushed over to them, either ready to hug them… or beat the snot out of them for everything.

"It is gone now, right?" Rain asked, clearly hesitant about hugging Koharu until she knew she wouldn't just be incinerated for doing so.

"It's gone, yeah." And with that, she hugged her as tightly as humanly possible. Had it been real life, he had no doubts Koharu would be suffering from similar injuries to repeated chest compressions from Rain's hug there, that tight it was.

"I have my doubts on how you pulled that one off." Sanya stated as she walked over to them.

"Alaz underestimated both of us. Koharu's a lot more resilient than it thought, and I had a new trick up my sleeve." He smirked. "Turns out it was using both of us as its host - Koharu got its pyrokinesis, and I got… what's the word for control of the wind?"

"I don't think there is one." Philia shrugged. "Corioliskinesis, maybe?"

"Eh, regardless… I was able to hit it much harder than I otherwise would have."

"Tell me about it…" Koharu groaned from the floor, and he went to give her a hug, before thinking slightly better of it… given Rain had probably just broken her even more. "I feel like I got hit by a bomb."

"Sorry." He answered nervously. "Guess I got caught up in fighting the bastard, I wasn't thinking of afterwards. I've got to admit, I didn't think there'd be an afterwards at multiple points in that fight."

"I was trying as hard as I could to retake control off him, but I couldn't get that one good hit in…" Koharu looked away sadly, almost disappointed in herself.

"Hey, look at me." He told her. "I had to essentially cheat to even fight it to a stalemate. You didn't, and you were able to keep it at bay. I think that says a lot more about your tenacity than anything else - you held a god at bay, single handedly and at a handicap too."

"I suppose…"

"So what about Alaz?" Kizmel interrupted the moment. "I doubt such a creature would be permanently defeated by that…"

"I'd say it'll be the floor boss." Much to his surprise, Kirito answered… and Jet felt like mustering every single bit of his strength to get up and slap the former "beater". He and Asuna may have disagreed on many things, but even with his intentions, ditching her had always seemed like the move of a scared child rather than anything noble…

Turning to face him though, he imagined he didn't need to - there was an angry red mark on his face, shaped suspiciously like a handprint. Yeah, Asuna had already made her opinions on his actions known, no doubt.

"You said you'd found some kind of machine right?"

"The Avatar Machine, yeah." Kirito went wide eyed, suggesting that wasn't the machine they'd told him about at all. "Oh, you mean the giant in the basement, not that. Yeah, that being the boss makes sense." Such a machine was definitely big enough to pose a threat, and even in the event it wasn't complete…Alaz possessing such a machine was a possibility.

A dangerous possibility, given how quickly it had adapted to an unfamiliar human body; so how quickly would it be able to adapt to a mechanical form?

GRRRRRRRRRRR…

And naturally, they'd jinxed it, hadn't they?