Crossover Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Moon Online ❯ Illusions, Swords, and Grand Quests ( Chapter 12 )

It is another day and another chapter, folks! You must be wondering what the other Sailor Scouts’ and Darien’s ALO avatars look like, right? Well, don’t worry, you will be seeing them soon enough, everyone. You must be wondering on what’s next, huh? Well, that’s going to stay a secret for quite a while, but I do have plans to create stories based on that Hollow Fragment game, however, you are going to have to wait and see, folks!

I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon, Sword Art Online, Accel World, Digimon series, and anything/anyone that comes from these and other stories that end up in this fanfiction! Sailor Moon is owned/licensed by Naoko Takeuchi and its various studios and publishers and Sword Art Online is owned/licensed by ASCII Media Works, A-1 Pictures Inc., and its various directors/publishers including Reki Kawahara and Tomohiko Itô!

Warning: This story contains intense violence, blood, possible gore, death, mild to explicit suggestive themes, including mind-control and brainwashing, mild to explicit bad language, and mature adult themes/situations!

Second Warning: Some to a lot of OOC (Out of Character) actions and mannerisms in this whole story!

Sailor Moon Online

Chapter 12: Illusions, Swords, and Grand Quests

January 21, 2025, Alfheim Online, Legrue

Within the underground neutral city of Legrue, there are various players inside, but we focus on two of them.

One of them looks to be a teenage girl has pink hair in Rini’s classic hairstyle, violet eyes, elf-like ears, milky white with a hint of violet skin, and she is wearing an outfit that’s similar to Lisbeth’s outfit from SAO expect that all of the parts that are red are pink in color and where it was white, it is silver. The armored plates on her outfit are violet in color, she has violet fingerless gloves, and she has violet colored combat boots on her feet with duel daggers strapped to her back.

The other player looks to be a teenage girl of 16 years of age with short violet hair in Hotaru’s hairstyle, violet eyes, elf-like ears, milky white with a hint of violet skin, and she is wearing an outfit similar to Asuna’s Knights of the Blood outfit expect that anywhere that it was white, it is violet on this player’s outfit, she has no stockings on, and she is wearing violet knee-high high-heeled boots with three inch stiletto heels. And strapped to her back is a scythe weapon similar to Sailor Saturn’s Silent Glaive.

As the two of them move by, they notice plenty of players look at the violet haired player and the pink haired player says, in Rini’s voice, “Wow, Hotaru… I mean Tomoe-chan, you must be famous.”

The violet haired player responds, in Hotaru’s voice, “I have been playing the game as long as the others and we have become very good, Chibi-Usa-chan.”

The pink haired player, none other than Rini in her ALO avatar of Chibi-Usa, says, “Back in Crystal Tokyo, I’ve become very good at the version of ALO there and I’ve become pretty well known.”

The violet haired player, none other than Hotaru in her ALO avatar of Tomoe, responds, “Well, I would suspect so since Imps usually prefer violet, not pink.”

Chibi-Usa says, with a giggle, “I did cause a bit of a stir.” Just then they hear a loud ‘boom’ and Chibi-Usa asks, “What was that?”

Tomoe says, “It sounded like an explosion and it is near the gates.”

Chibi-Usa says, “They can’t fight here. It is neutral territory and a safe zone for all players.”

Tomoe says, “It doesn’t mean that they can’t fight just outside of the city, Chibi-Usa.” Soon after, Tomoe and Chibi-Usa head off in which just outside of the gates of the city, Usagi, Leafa, Michiru, Haruka, Makoto, and Kirito are together in which they are preparing to fight a group of Salamanders which consists half-a-dozen heavy armored shield and mace welders while there are 18 more wearing the robes and welding the magic rods/wands of mages.

As the shield users rush forward, Kirito does the same and Usagi thinks, “Good luck and be careful Kirito.” When Kirito gets close to the shield users, he strikes, but the shield users slam their shields onto the bridge and create a wall of shields in which they easily withstood Kirito’s powerful attack.

Leafa says, “They withstood his attack!”

Haruka says, “I get what’s going on here!”

Michiru says, “I’ll get ready to heal.”

Makoto says, “Leafa, we need to prepare attack spells and fast!”

Leafa says, with a nod, “Right.” Soon after, some of the Salamander mages heal the minor damage to the shield users while others unleash a wave of fireballs at Kirito in which Leafa, Haruka, and Makoto unleash two powerful wind spells and a lightning spell that manages to destroy most of the fireballs, but enough get through to hit Kirito and cause significant damage. Leafa says, shocked, “Kirito!”

Michiru says, “I have this.” Michiru then uses a healing spell to restore Kirito’s health back to normal and he attacks again, but it is the same result with Kirito only somewhat denting the health of the shield users, some of the mages healing them completely and instantly, and the others unleashing their attacks in which Makoto, Leafa, and Haruka manage to count, but enough get through to cause Kirito significant damage which Michiru manages to heal.

Haruka says, “I knew it. They know about this guy’s powerful physical attacks and they have designed a tactic against him.”

Usagi asks, “They have?”

Michiru says, “Yes. This type of formation is used against boss monsters with powerful physical damage. The shield users aren’t to attack. They are to act as a wall and a sponge to absorb his attack damage while some of the mages heal them and quickly restore their strength in which the other hit them with long range magic attacks.”

Makoto says, “It is an attrition type battle in which it is either his health or their mana runs out.”

Usagi says, shocked, “Oh no!” Usagi then says, “Then we need to take out the mages!”

Haruka says, “Just what I was thinking. Makoto! Leafa! Hit the mages hard!”

Makoto says, with a nod, “You got it, Haruka!” Makoto, Leafa, and Haruka then unleash a powerful magical assault against the mages, but they only took some minor damage.

Haruka says, with a serious tone, “Damn it! Those robes are magic resistant! They knew that we would be here!”

Usagi asks, shocked, “Are you sure?”

Michiru says, “It looks like it, Usagi. Since we have been here since the start of ALO, you know that we must have high magic skills and they somehow knew that we were here so they outfit themselves with ‘magical armor’ that resists magical attacks, most likely our type of attacks of water, wind, and lightning.”

Usagi says, drolly, “Just great.”

As the mages heal themselves, Makoto says, “This is an attrition type battle and the numbers aren’t our own side in which skills don’t mean crap.”

Leafa says, with a sigh, “Yeah, there is nothing that we can do. Once you are in the system, all you can do is to wait around until the lethal numbers game to play out.” However, the words of ‘lethal’ and ‘game’ strike a chord in Usagi as memories of SAO, still fresh in her mind especially with the current situation, flow into her mind.

Makoto says, with a sneer, “I hate this kind of battle!”

Leafa, unable to stand Kirito getting attack with nothing to go, says, “Kirito, that’s enough! It is just a few more hours of time to get back together from Swilvane and we can rebuy the items that we lose! Let’s just give up while we can!”

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Give up? Accept death?” Soon after, images of Diavel, Kobatz, and all those that died and suffered in SAO including Lizbeth with the loss of her comrades before she met Usagi and Kirito, when the Moonlit Black Cats guild was destroyed, came into her mind and it caused her left hand to tighten into a fist. Usagi then shouts out, in a strong tone that’s unlike her, “No!”

When everyone, minus Kirito, looks at Usagi and Makoto asks, surprised, “Usagi?”

Usagi says, her eyes blazing with determination that wasn’t like her before SAO, “Just give up? Accept fate given by a system? Just roll over and die or let your comrades die? I can’t accept that! I won’t accept that!”

Kirito shouts out, “I agree!” When everyone looks at Kirito, there is a powerful fire in his eyes as those same memories dominate his mind and he says, “As long as I am alive, I won’t stand to see a party member killed, especially a friend. It is the one thing… THAT I REFUSE TO ALLOW EVER!!!” The others, minus Usagi, are shocked by this and Kirito tells Usagi, “Usagi, want to try the old ‘up and over’?!”

Usagi responds, with a nod, “You got it, Kirito!”

Kirito replies, “Give me the signal!” Kirito then gives a scream of fury that scares ally and enemy alike as he charges into the attack.

(Sword Art Online music ‘Swordland’ starts)

Usagi tells Makoto, Leafa, and Haruka, with a very serious tone that’s not like her usual self, “Leafa! Makoto! Haruka! When I tell you, too, hit the mages with the strongest attack spells that you have! Don’t let them get off their spells!” The three named people look at Usagi with surprise and Usagi yells at them, pleadingly, “Please just do it!”

The three of them become nervous and Makoto responds, nervously, “Okay.”

Leafa thinks in her mind, stunned, “What has gotten into them?!” As Leafa looks to see Kirito force his way in-between two shields, shocking the shield bearers of the group, she thinks, “This is a game. This ‘death’ isn’t real and everyone who plays knows it. But they, Kirito and Usagi, are trying to overcome the mathematical odds in order to survive in order to survive in a world that isn’t even real!”

Yui flies over to Michiru and she says, “Please, you need to be ready to shield daddy and Auntie Usagi just in case they get off magic attacks.”

Michiru says, with a nod, “Okay.”

When Usagi sees the mages of the group start their spells, she yells out, “Now!” Quickly, Leafa, Makoto, and Haruka unleash their attacks fast enough and while it doesn’t seriously damage the Salamander mages, it disrupts them long enough to force them to start their spells all over again in which some of them have to heal the mages that got hit.

Yui yells out, “Now! This is your chance!” Usagi, at incredibly fast speeds, zips over towards Kirito and draws her swords in a cross draw in which she welds her blades like she and Kirito did with Kirito’s Duel Welding Skill of SAO in which Usagi used her Mimic Skill to replicate.

When she gets close enough, Usagi shouts out, with a serious tone, “Kirito, now!” Kirito then leaps back, spins around on his heels, and lays sword like a board across his hands in which Usagi steps onto the sword and Kirito gives a mighty roar as she flings Usagi into the air in which she goes over the shield wall in an arc towards the mages causing everyone else to be shocked.

Leafa yells out, shocked, “No way!”

Makoto says, stunned, “Took the words right out of my mouth girlfriend!” However, several of the enemy mages prepare to unleash a magical counterattack.

Yui yells to Michiru, “Do it now!” Michiru then casts a protection spell just in time in which when the fireballs slam into Usagi, they barely do any damage to her in which she winches, but she continues on and prepares to strike. However, as she looks at the enemy mages, she hesitates for a moment since they were players and not monsters, but she then ‘sees’ the enemy mages as enemy monsters of SAO and Usagi continues her attack and cleaves one of the Salamander mages in half causing him to turn into ‘Remain Lights’ signifying his ‘death’. Before the shocked mages can do anything, Usagi impales another with her two swords and he turns into ‘Remain Lights’ as well.

Another mage screams out, “Oh, crap!” However, three more Salamander mages fall to Usagi’s blades in quick session and then zips over to the shield welders in which she grabs one by the back of his collar and impales him with her sword causing him to yelp as his health drops to zero in which he turns to ‘Remain Lights’.

The others are stunned, especially Michiru, Makoto, and Haruka, and Makoto thinks in her mind, stunned, “Whoa, girlfriend. What has gotten into you?”

When Haruka sees Usagi’s eyes, she thinks, “I can see it in her eyes. It is the need to survive, the need to protect… and most of all, the need to win!”

Yui yells out, “Daddy, this is our chance! Do it now!” Kirito then chants out a spell.

Michiru says, “That’s illusion magic!”

Haruka says, “What is he thinking? That spell turns him into a random monster and most of the time, it is weak mob. It has no use in battle!” However, a twister of smoke envelops and out of the smoke emerges a monster that looks a lot like The Gleameyes, the boss monster of Floor 74 expect there is no tail in the form of a cobra, it has no sword, and the eyes aren’t glowing blue, but red.

Makoto says, nervously, “That’s not a weak mob.” The ‘Gleameyes’ like monster gives a mighty roar and everyone looks at it in which Usagi’s eyes widen as she remembers that monster all too well from SAO.

Usagi and Leafa ask in unison, “Kirito?” Soon after, the ‘Gleameyes’ charges and easily impales one of the shield welders causing him to turn into ‘Remain Light’ in which the shield welders start to break up in panic.

The leader of the mages, a chubby Salamander with red, spiky hair, shouts out, “Idiots! Stay in formation! It’s not real! He can’t hurt us if you stick the plan and stay in formation! Focus on…!” However, the others in the group weren’t sure and the Gleameyes-like monster that Kirito causes more panic as he bites and ‘eats’ one of the remaining shield welders while cutting through the rest with its clawed hands. The mage leader, looking in a panic, shouts out, nervously, “Hit him with an explosion spell!”

However, before they can start, Usagi roars out, “I don’t think so!” Before they could even start, Usagi charges in and cuts down two more of the mages in which the transformed Kirito leaps in and cuts down two more mages with a swipe of his tail in which Usagi quickly leaps out of the way.

The leader of the mages then shouts out, in complete panic, “Retreat! Retreat!” However, the transformed ‘monster Kirito’ doesn’t let them and one after another, the mages end up as ‘End Lights’ until only two of them are left including the leader, who tries to escape by leaping into the water, but he is impaled in the chest while Usagi throws one of her swords at him causing him to turn into an ‘Remain Light’ while Kirito picks up the last mage and prepared to crush his head.

The others then snap out of their stupor and Leafa shouts out, running over, “Kirito, wait! Don’t kill him! We need him alive!” Leafa’s words seem to reach the monster and he, like a piece of dirt, drops him to the ground in which he lands on his butt with a ‘thud’.

(Sword Art Online music ‘Swordland’ ends)

Yui asks, “Isn’t my daddy amazing?”

Makoto says, nervously, “That’s one way of putting, Yui.”

The others run over to the Salamander mage in which he says, “Ow, my head.” He then looks to see Leafa and Haruka pointing their swords at him.

Haruka says, with a stern tone, “Okay, pal, it is time to talk.”
Leafa adds in, with a stern tone, “Who sent you asses after us?”

The Salamander mage is nervous, but he manages to say, defiantly, “Never! Kill me if you want.”

Makoto says, cracking her virtual knuckles, “You got it, jerk.”

But before the others can do anything, Kirito’s voice booms, “Oh, wow! That was cool!” Everyone looks to see smoke dispelling and Kirito is back to his ‘regular self’ in which he comes over and he says, with a smile, “That was an awesome battle! Your plan wasn’t shabby either. If I was alone, I wouldn’t last a minute against you dorks.”

Leafa yells out, annoyed, “What are you telling him that for?”

Usagi says, with a sigh, “Leave it to Kirito to complement his opponent.”

Kirito says, with a smile, “Let me handle this.” Kirito then shows a prompt like the one when a player wins a monster fight with gains of money and items to the Salamander mage and he says, “Let’s make a deal. This is all of the Yrd and items that I won after beating your asses. All you have to do is answer my questions and they can be yours.”

The Salamander mage then looks around to see if any Salamander ‘Remain Lights’ are around and when he sees none, he asks, in a whisper, “Seriously?”

Kirito responds, with a smirk, “Totally.” Kirito and the Salamander trade devious smirks and giggles and the others look at them disgusted.

Leafa says, with a snort, “Men…”

Yui says, nodding her head, “It is like we aren’t even here.”

Soon after, the Salamander mage then says, explaining, “This evening, we got a text from Gtacs, the leader of the mage squad which your Undine friend just impaled.” Usagi gives a surprised look and the mage says, “Anyway, he sent me a text saying to get into the game and when I got here, he said that he needed a unit of two dozen of us against a group of half-a-dozen players. I thought that it was way overkill, but then I heard that three of them are three of the ‘Great Nymphs’, Michiru, Haruka, and Makoto, in which then it made sense since a small squad against three of them would be a massacre of the assault team. And to make more sense, he said that two of them, a Sylph girl and especially a strange Spriggan, took out Kagemaru’s squad.”

Kirito asks, “Kagemaru?”

The Salamander mage responds, “He is the leader of the lancer squad and he is known Sylph hunter, but he got his ass kicked and had to retreat. That must have been you, right?”

Kirito and Leafa share a look and Leafa asks, “Why is Gtacs so interested in getting rid of us?”

Makoto says, “Most likely, they wanted the glory of taking out three of the ‘Great Nymphs’. Because we are such elite players, we have targets on our backs and there are plenty of players that want to become well-known by taking at least one of us out at least once.”

The Salamander mage says, “I really don’t think so. The order came from the top. It was said that you would be a major threat to ‘the plan’.”

Haruka asks, “The plan?”

The mage replies, “Hey. I’m just a grunt. They don’t tell me lower level grunts anything. However, when I logged in today, I saw a massive swarm of Salamanders flying up to the north.”

Leafa says, “No way. They must be attempting to clear the World Tree.”

Haruka says, “I don’t think so, Leafa.”

The mage responds, with a nod, “Lady Haruka is right. Someone figured that in order to complete that, we need Ancient level class weapons for the whole army and we can’t afford that stuff. That’s everything I know. I promise.”

Michiru says, “I know that he is telling the truth.”

Makoto says, “Based on what we know about the organization of the Salamanders, I doubt that he has any more useful information. Let him go.”

The mage asks, “You weren’t lying about your part of the deal?”

Kirito says, “Nope. I’m a man of my word partner.” The others groan as Kirito uses a trade prompt to send said money and items to the Salamander mage and he happily starts to skip off.

Usagi asks, nervously, “Aren’t those your comrade’s items?”

The Salamander says, “You don’t get it. They show off this rare stuff all the damn time and in my face too. I’m not going to wear it. I’m just going to sell off and buy myself a nice house or something. Later.”

Haruka says, with a smirk, “Basic payback. But then again, I don’t blame the guy.”

Makoto says, with a nod, “Yep. Players do that all the time even to their own comrades.”

Michiru says, with a smile, “It seems he came out of this happy.”

Just then a female voice shouts out, “Hey, Meatball Head!” Everyone then looks to see Tomoe and Chibi-Usa running towards them.

Usagi thinks in her mind, looking at Chibi-Usa, “That’s Rini’s ALO avatar! She… She looks like Liz!” An image of Lisbeth from SAO appears over Chibi-Usa in Usagi’s mind as the two of them goes over to them.

Haruka tells Tomoe, “Hey, kiddo.”

Tomoe says, with a smile, “Nice to see you, Haruka-papa.”

Michiru says, “Good to see you too sweetie.”

Leafa says, “Oh, wow! You are Tomoe!”

Makoto tells Tomoe, “Tomoe, this is our friend, Leafa. She is one of the Five Great Sylphs like Haruka and I.”

Tomoe says, with a bow, “Nice to meet you.”

Leafa’s eyes widen when she sees Chibi-Usa and she asks, “Who are you?”

Chibi-Usa responds, a bit nervously, “I’m Chibi-Usa.”

Leafa says, looking at Usagi and Chibi-Usa, “Chibi-Usa? Does that stand for ‘Chibi Usagi’? You look two look a lot alike.”

Usagi and Chibi-Usa yell out in unison, in annoyed tones, “No way that I look like her!”

Leafa yelps and Usagi says, nervously, “She is my real life cousin.”

Tomoe says, “She plays as an Imp like me and we are friends here and in real life.”

Leafa says, with a nod, “Okay. But usually imps have an affinity for violet, not pink.”

Tomoe says, with a smile, “Pink is more of Chibi-Usa’s style.”

Chibi-Usa asks, “What happened here? We heard an explosion and we came to the gate to find an earth magic barrier in front of it. We were preparing to knock it down when it vanished.”

Michiru says, “Quite a tale, Chibi-Usa-chan. Let’s talk about it inside where it is safe.” The others then decide to head into the city where the others, minus Kirito and Usagi, talk about the battle.

When they are done, Tomoe asks, amazed, “Really?”

Leafa asks Kirito, “About that? Kirito, was that you that was the monster or was it an illusion?”

Kirito responds, “I really don’t know.”

Makoto asks, “Huh? What do you mean that you don’t remember?”

Usagi says, nervously, “Sometimes, when we get into a really big stressful fight, Kirito snaps and he doesn’t remember a thing that he did.”

The others, minus Kirito, are shocked and Leafa says, nervously, “Whoa, scary.”

Makoto says, with a nod, “You said it, Leafa.”

Usagi says, rubbing her head nervously, “Actually… I don’t remember anything from the time that Leafa talked about giving up until the battle was over.”

There are plenty of anime face faults and Chibi-Usa shouts out, flabbergasted, “You have got to be kidding me!”

Usagi responds, nervously while rubbing her head, “Actually, no. It kind of happens to me too.”

Makoto thinks in her mind, nervously, “Okay, super scary.”

Yui tells Usagi, “Well, you and daddy were incredible Auntie Usagi.”

Chibi-Usa asks, “Wait! Auntie Usagi?!”

Michiru says, “We’ll explain in a minute, sweetie.”

Yui says, “Daddy helped you fly over those shield warriors and you cut through those mage guys left and right.”

Usagi asks, curiously, “I did?”

Kirito says, with a nod, “Yeah, you did. I do remember some of this battle and I remember we used our old ‘up and over’ trick that we did when we were partnered as a team, Usagi. I also used that spell that Yui suggested and I remember that I got big. It was cool.”

Usagi says, nervously, “I don’t think so. I think that I remember that part, Kirito.”

Kirito says, “Well, I thought that it was awesome to be the monster for once, Usagi. Then I remember cutting and grabbing people with my hands.”

Yui asks, “And you were chomping on them too. Remember that?”

Kirito says, with a smirk, “Oh, yeah. I really felt like a monster. All eating people and anything were pretty cool.”

Leafa asks, nervously, “So, what did they taste like?”

Kirito responds, “Just like grilled meat just before it gets burned. All crispy…”

Leafa says, nervously, “Okay, good! Sorry I asked!” But before anyone could say or do anything, Kirito takes one of Leafa’s hands and bites down in which a loud ‘smack’ is then heard throughout the city. Within the city itself, we find our group, now joined by Tomoe and Chibi-Usa with Kirito rubbing the cheek that Leafa smacked. Leafa then states, with a smile, “Wow! So, this is Legrue?”

Kirito says, “Ow. That hurt.”

Yui says, “Well, it is your own fault daddy. You shouldn’t be biting people.”

Leafa says, annoyed, “I’ll say.”

Usagi says, shaking her head, “Seriously, Kirito? I thought that you knew better than that.”

Kirito says, “Why is everyone ganging up on me? I was trying to break the tension with a stupid joke.”
Haruka says, drolly, “Really stupid joke, pal.”

Makoto says, with a nod, “Yep.”

Leafa says, with a deadly glare, “Bite me again and I’ll cut you in half.”

Kirito says, with a winch, “Yes, ma’am.”

Leafa then goes over to check the wares at a stand while Usagi tells Kirito, “You asked for it, Kirito.”

Kirito then tells Leafa, “I just remembered. Just before we got attacked, you got a message from your friend.”

Leafa says, “Oh, yeah! I forgot!” Leafa brings up her party menu and check her friend list in which she says, seeing Recon’s name greyed out, “Recon’s not online. He must be sleeping.”

Kirito asks, “So, why not log out and give him a call?” Leafa didn’t like bringing ALO into the real world with her, but something in Recon’s message got to her.

Leafa says, “Yeah, I better check up with him. I’ll be gone for a second.”

Makoto says, with a smile, “No problem.”

Leafa tells Yui and Usagi, “By the way, Yui, can you and Usagi keep an eye on my avatar for me?”

Yui asks, curiously, “Us?”

Leafa says, “Yeah, I need to make sure that your daddy doesn’t mess around with it.”

Yui says, with a nod, “Copy that, ma’am.”

Kirito says, drolly, “Give me a break.” Usagi and the others can’t help to smirk and/or giggle at his ‘displeasure’ while Leafa sits down on a bench and she uses her player menu to log out causing her avatar to slump forward.

With Leafa temporary logged out, Makoto asks Usagi, “So, you really don’t remember what happened during that fight?”

Usagi responds, nervously, “I already told you no, Mako-chan.”

Haruka responds, “Survival reflex.”

Everyone looks at Haruka and Tomoe asks, “Survival reflex, Haruka-papa?”

Haruka responds, with a nod, “Yeah. Remember, SAO wasn’t any ordinary game. You die there, you are really dead. This meant that her survival instincts were really ‘super homed’ and all living beings, from animals to humanoids, have them. It is also known as ‘fight or flight reflex’ where your mind is telling you that you have to fight the danger or get away from it. When Leafa talked about lethal and game, she must have remembered her time in SAO and something in our princess’ mind snapped and her ‘SAO survival instincts’ kicked in.” Haruka says, pointing to Kirito, “It must be the same for this guy too.”

Usagi rubs her head nervously and Kirito says, nervously, “I guess so.”

Michiru says, “It must have been the same with the fight against Jadeite too.”

Haruka says, “Probably, Michiru-chan.”

Chibi-Usa says, a bit nervously, “Okay, Meatball Head, you are starting to actually scare me and worry me.”

Usagi says, with a sigh, “Sorry, Chibi-Usa.”

Haruka tells Usagi, “And that’s why you are going to ‘talk’ with us when this mission is over, Usagi, got it?”

Usagi responds, a bit nervously, “Yes, ma’am.” On the meanwhile, Kirito gets some kind of strange food on a stick and sits down, but as he prepares to eat it, Leafa leaps to her feet to show that she is back in her ALO avatar body.

Kirito says, nearly dropping his food, “Whoa!”

Leafa tells Haruka and Makoto, “Haruka! Makoto! We need to go now!”

Makoto asks, “What’s wrong?”

Leafa says, “We’ve been betrayed! Sigurd has allied himself with the Salamanders and he gave the Salamanders the location where the alliance treaty between us, Sylphs, and the Cait Sith are going to be made! The huge force mentioned by that mage is going to attack Lady Sakuya and Lady Rue at the alliance treaty meeting!”

There are gasps and Haruka says, with a sneer and slamming her fists, “I knew it! I knew that he was a rat!”

Makoto says, “Gut him later, Haruka. We need to get to Butterfly Valley now!”

Usagi asks, confused, “What’s going on?”

Kirito says, “They can explain on the way. It’s going to take longer since we aren’t allowed to fly.”

Haruka says, “Let’s go.” Leafa gives a surprised look and the group takes off as Leafa explains about what happened when she talked to Recon in the real world.

When they were done talking, as they continued running, Usagi says, “That’s the important thing that you told me about.”

Haruka says, “That’s right, Usagi.”

Makoto says, “Mina-chan is going to be there since she is the right hand girl of Alicia Rue, the leader of the Cait Sith, but even someone as strong as her can’t take on a whole army! She is going to need help and fast!”

Usagi asks, “Why? Is it for the ability to claim the money and occupy the land for ten days charging whatever they want to the players in those territories?”

Haruka says, “Partially, Usagi-chan. The Salamanders are the strongest single fairy race in ALO, but the balance of power could change if the Sylphs and Cait Sith join together. Not only do they have a better chance of conquering the World Tree, but they could invade Salamander territory and do what they did to the first Sylph leader in which they could kill the leader of the Salamanders and strip them of the money that they have gained and weaken their position of power in ALO. That’s what they are afraid of.”

Makoto says, “Be disrupting the alliance meeting and killing the Cait Sith leader, they could get rid of any chance for an alliance and make things worse if the Cait Sith learn that their leader was killed because of a traitorous Sylph, it could start a war between the Sylph and Cait Sith.”

Usagi says, nervously, “Okay, that’s bad.”

Chibi-Usa asks, “What was your first clue, Meatball Head?”

Leafa says, “Kirito, this is a Sylph problem. You, Lady Michiru, Usagi, Lady Tomoe, and Chibi-Usa don’t need to get involved. I mean, even with five of the nine ‘Great Nymphs’, I’m not sure that we can win. And then we would have to start back in respective territories. Actually, this could work out for you, Kirito.”

Usagi asks, “What do you mean Leafa?”

Leafa says, “You and Kirito need to get up to the World Tree fast, right? You might be better off working with the Salamanders.”

There are gasps and Makoto asks, shocked, “Whoa! Girl, what are you saying?”

Leafa says, solemnly, “If they can pull this one off, they can make their attempt at the World Tree and since you are Spriggan, they could hire you as a mercenary. So, if you wanted to kill me, you could. I wouldn’t hold it against you.”

After a few moments of silence, Kirito says, plainly, “It is just a game in the end. Anything goes, right? If you want to kill, kill. If you want to steal, steal. A lot of people think like that and I used to be one of them. But that’s not true. There are things that you have to protect because it is a virtual world.”

Usagi says, with a plain tone, “Kirito is right. And you can’t exactly separate the person from the player. If you give into your impulses here, they will rule you in the real world. The person and the player are one and the same and if one changes, so does the other. You are our friend, Leafa.”

Kirito says, with a nod, “That’s right. And there is no way that I’m going to attack a friend for my own benefit.”

Leafa says, amazed, “Kirito… Usagi…”

Makoto thinks in her mind, with a smile, “That’s our princess!”

Leafa says, with a weak smile, “Thank you.”

Kirito says, nervously, “Oops. That was a bit over the top, huh?”

Leafa says, with a smile, “No, it was cool.”

Kirito says, “Oh, crap. We are wasting time standing here. Yui, lead the way.”

Yui says, “Okay, daddy!”

Kirito says, taking Leafa’s hand, “Here! Take my hand!”

Usagi asks, nervously, “Kirito, you aren’t going to…?”

Kirito responds, with a smile and a nod of his head, “Yep!”

Usagi says, nervously, “Oh, man! Mako-chan, grab onto my back!”

Makoto asks, surprised, “Huh?”

Usagi says, “Just please do it! Hurry!” Makoto grabs one of Usagi’s shoulders while Haruka grabs one of Michiru’s hands in which Michiru notices the smirk on her face with Chibi-Usa grabbing one of Tomoe’s hands.

Chibi-Usa says, with a sigh, “Hold on, Tomoe-chan.”

Tomoe says, with a sigh, “Okay, Tomoe-chan.” Kirito then zooms off with Leafa screaming to hold onto his hand with Usagi, Chibi-Usa, and Haruka zipping off after him in which along the way, a group of ogres appear, but they manage to zip by them without much trouble.

Kirito says, seeing a light up ahead, “There is the exit!” Leafa and Makoto screams as all of them zip out of the exit, leap high into the sky off a cliff, and Kirito, Usagi, Makoto, Haruka, Michiru, Tomoe, Chibi-Usa, and finally, Leafa deploy their fairy wings in which they fly through the air in which Leafa looks back to see the ogres tried to follow them with some of them falling down the cliff.

Leafa looks at Kirito and she says, in an irritated tone with the same kind of expression, “Are you trying to kill me?!”

Kirito says, with a smile, “No. I was just trying to save a little time, Leafa.”

Leafa says, annoyed, “You and your shortcuts.”

Usagi tells Makoto, “Sorry about that, Mako-chan.”

Makoto asks, with a sigh, “Warn me next time?” Soon after, everyone looks to see what looks like a massive grey structure with some semblance to a tree trunk in which it reached into the skies with the branches and leaves extending out like constellations in which they are miles away and it still looked massive.

Usagi asks, with an amazed look on her face, “Is that it?”

Michiru says, nodding her head, “The World Tree, Usagi.”

Usagi says, awe-struck, “Incredible.”

Chibi-Usa asks, “Don’t we have a meeting to get to?”

Kirito says, with a nod, “She’s right. We need to hurry.”

Haruka says, “The place is Butterfly Valley. We know the way.”

Tomoe asks, “How much time do we have?”

Leafa says, “Twenty minutes.”

Kirito says, “Then we aren’t moving fast enough.” All of them then speed up and fly faster.

January 21, 2025, Alfheim Online, Butterfly Valley

Over the skies near the World Tree in a place known as Butterfly Valley, Usagi, Kirito, Michiru, Haruka, Makoto, Tomoe, Chibi-Usa, and Leafa are flying through the air to reach the meeting of the Sylph and Cait Sith leadership in order to warn them of the Salamander assault force.

Kirito says, “I wish that we could move faster.”

Leafa says, “I know. Even if we manage to warn them, it doesn’t mean that we can get the leaders out in time. We just may die with them.”

Makoto says, “Geez, girl, you sound like we aren’t here.”

Haruka says, “While we are among the most powerful players in ALO, Mako-chan, it doesn’t mean that we can defeat a whole army.”

Yui says, “I’ve got player signals! Sixty-eight in total! It must be the Salamander attack squad!”

Usagi asks, stunned, “Sixty-eight?”

Makoto says, “Oh, man! That is a whole army!”

Tomoe says, “It is going to be tough even for us. I wish that we had Mizuno with us.”

Michiru says, “Agreed.”

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Same here, Michiru.” When they see a break in the clouds, the group then sees the massive Salamander attack force below them.

Chibi-Usa says, amazed, “There is so many of them!”

Yui says, pointing to a nearby plateau, “There are fourteen more players on the plateau. They must be the delegations of the Sylph and Cait Sith. The two groups of players will make contact in fifty seconds.”

Haruka says, “Crap! We aren’t going to make it!”

Leafa says, solemnly, “It looks like we didn’t make it after all. Thanks for trying, Kirito. You and Usagi head for the World Tree. I’ll try to save Sakuya with Makoto and Haruka.”

Makoto says, “Hey, girl! You sound like we are finished!”

Haruka says, “We still have the element of surprise on our side. If we attack them from behind, we could send their formation into confusion and allow them to escape, fight back, or both.”

Kirito says, “Your friend is right and running away isn’t my style. Usagi, you and Leafa come with me. Have your friends do exactly as Haruka says, but wait for a signal.”

Tomoe asks, “Signal?”

Kirito says, grabbing Usagi’s hand, “You’ll know it when you hear it!” Usagi yelps as Kirito zips off with her and Leafa follows as quickly as possible while the others look at each other and quickly move into position. On the ground, we can see the Cait Sith and Sylph groups gasp as they see the legion of Salamanders above them. With the Cait Sith, there is none other than Mina Aino in her ALO avatar.

Mina’s ALO avatar, known as Minako, has long flowing dark blond hair similar to her classic hairstyle with white bow on the top center portion of the rear of her scalp, she has large white cat-like ears coming out of her scalp and no human or elf-like ears, she has yellow cat-like eyes, deep, full, and lovely ruby red lips, and a large white tail coming out of her tailbone area. She is wearing an yellow armored bikini-like top, silver armored shoulder pads and elbow pads, white fingerless fighting gloves, a short skirt that covers only up to the top of her navel and down to one-quarter of her thighs, revealing quite a bit of mid-drift, and black high-heeled open-toed sandals. In her hands, there is a pair of cat-like metal claws and flying by her side, there is a small silver version of the Feathered Dragon from SAO with jade colored eyes.

Minako tells the small silver Dragon, “Easy, Rena.” The leader of the group prepares to lift his hand to prepare to attack, but they start to hear what sounds like a young lady screaming and everyone starts to look around before there is a loud ‘boom’ in front of the Sylph and Cait Sith causing a lot of dirt and smoke to come into the air surprising all sides in this confrontation. They hear the sound of coughing in which the smoke and dust clear to reveal the forms of Kirito and Usagi in-between the Sylphs and Cait Sith. Minako thinks in her mind, “A Spriggan? Wait a minute! That Undine girl! Could that be…?!”

Usagi yells at Kirito, annoyed, “Warn me next time!” Usagi then looks up, sees the Salamanders, and she says, nervously, “Oh, boy.”

Kirito yells out, with a strong tone, “Salamanders, you will stand down!”

Everyone is surprised by this and Leafa shouts out, “Sakuya!” Leafa then come down in front of one Sylph female and one Cait Sith female in particular.

The Sylph female is one with an excessively tall figure, with glossy, dark green hair so dark that it is nearly black hanging down her back, white skin, almond eyes, a high nose bridge, and thin lips. Her attire consists of Japanese style clothing including a leaf green kimono with a katana that hangs from her obi. Her feet clad in high crimson clogs peek out from beneath the hem of her kimono.

The Cait Sith female is a short, has dark blond hair tied in multiple small pigtails at the rear of her scalp, dark skin, brown cat-like ears, yellow eyes, a brown cat-like tail, and a slim figure. She is wearing a bell on her neck, a tiny tiara with the golden crescent moon that’s sideways on her forehead, brown one-piece swimsuit-like outfit/dress, a cape on the left arm with a red stripe through it near the front, white stockings, and brown boots with similar cat-like claws attached to her outfit.

The Sylph female asks Leafa, “Leafa, what are you doing here?”

Leafa says, “It’s too complicated to get into now, Sakuya, but our fate is in their hands.”

The Sylph female, the leader of the Sylph people, Sakuya, responds, “You have got to be kidding me.”

Kirito yells out, “I want to speak to your commander!”

Usagi asks, in a whisper, “Kirito, what are you doing?”

Kirito whispers in reply, “Please, Usagi, just follow along.”

Usagi responds, nervously, “Okay.” One of the Salamanders, a male one that’s a tall and well-built one with bristling flame-like, purplish-red hair that framed a face reminiscent of a dark-skinned bird of prey with blood red and golden armor covering his well-built frame and a large sword with a dark violet and silver blade strapped to his back, floats forward and Kirito flies up to face him with Usagi following behind.

The Salamander, obviously the leader, responds, “What the heck is a Spriggan like you doing here? I’m going to kill you anyway, but since you are brave enough to face me, I’ll hear you out.”

Usagi thinks in her mind, drolly, “He sounds like a real charmer.”

Kirito says, “My name is Kirito. I’m an ambassador with the Undine-Spriggan Alliance. To prove my point, I have brought me Lady Usagi, the ambassador of the Undines and she is a very good friend with Lady Mizuno, leader of the Undines. I take it that you remember her.”

The Salamanders gasp and one of them says, nervously, “Lady Mizuno? She is one of the ‘Great Nymphs’! She belonged to a group of six Undines, but she managed to slaughter dozens of us in one battle!”

The Salamander leader shouts out to the Salamander attack force, annoyed, “Quiet down!”

Kirito says, with a smile, “I see that you remember her. Lady Usagi is a good friend of hers.”

The Salamander looks at Usagi, causing her to be nervous, and he says, “The Undines and Spriggans are allies and you are supposed to be the ambassadors? Having ambassadors with no escort?”

Kirito says, with a smirk, “I have trained with Lady Setsuna and the former leader of the Spriggans before he stepped down. His name is Mamoru.”

There are more gasps and another Salamander soldier says, nervously, “Lady Setsuna and the elite knight of the Spriggans? No way!”

Kirito retorts, “Want to bet? And to further my point, I think that you should look out behind you!”

The Salamander leader gives a confused look and he asks, confused, “What?” Then there are screams heard and everyone looks to see seven of their number turn into ‘Remain Lights’ before Michiru, Haruka, Tomoe, Chibi-Usa, and Michiru leap into the fight and each take out one of the Salamander forces.

One of the surviving Salamanders scream out, fearfully, “Four more of the ‘Great Nymphs’ are here!”

Kirito yells out to them, “Please hold it!”

The group stops and Makoto asks, surprised, “Huh?”

Kirito tells the Salamander leader, “I think that I have proven my point. If Usagi wasn’t good friends with Lady Mizuno, why would some of the other ‘Great Nymphs’ are here? And the others are on the way too!” There are more gasps and Kirito says, with a serious tone, “That’s right! The last of the ‘Great Nymphs’ are on their way as well as Mamoru himself! The Spriggans and Undine are just here to negotiate a trade treaty, but lately, your actions have been causing us all trouble! If you disrupt this, we will bring all of our races’ fury down on you! Remember! Any minute the other ‘Great Nymphs’ will arrive along with the former leader of my people, who you know all too well, and let me let you in on a fact: Usagi and I are just as powerful they are!”

There are gasps and another Salamander shouts out, nervously, “Just as powerful as the ‘Great Nymphs’?!” Soon enough, the other Salamanders start to become fearful in which they are saying that dealing with five of the ‘Great Nymphs’ is bad enough, but to deal with all of them and three more just as powerful as they are is suicide!

Just then a female voice shouts out, “I say bullshit!” Just then everyone looks to see a female Salamander with a gorgeous female figure covered in a blood red and black armor with long flowing flaming red hair and dark green eyes.

Makoto says, “Oh, crap! You’re Flare!”

The female Salamander says, with a smirk, “Nice to see that you remember me, Makoto.”

Usagi asks, “You know her?”

Tomoe says, “Yes, Usagi-chan! Be careful! She is one of the strongest of the Salamanders, male or female! She is only rivaled by two people: General Eugene, the younger brother of the leader of the Salamanders, and Hino-chan, one of us!”

The female Salamander shouts out, annoyed, “Don’t mention that wench’s name in front of me, Tomoe!”

Haruka says, with a smirk, “You are just sore that you lost to her fair and square, Flare.”

The female Salamander, Flare, says, looking at Usagi and Kirito, “A Spriggan with crappy equipment and a Meatball Headed Undine just as powerful as the Great Nymphs? Ha! I find that hard to believe! Okay, you two, being friends with them? I don’t find that hard to believe since Tomoe and Michiru are with you. Just as powerful? That’s a bluff!”

Kirito asks, “Want to find out?”

Usagi winches at this and Flare says, taking out a rapier with a golden hilt and flame designed blade, “I would in fact. How about some two on two? It will be the girl against me and you against…General Eugene, who is right here before you and my rival along with Hino-teme for the title of the strongest Salamander.”

The Salamander commander, revealed to be General Eugene, says, drawing his sword, “I actually like that idea, Flare. In fact, Spriggan, if you survive for thirty seconds, I will believe that you and the girl are who you say that you are.”

Kirito responds, drawing his sword, “That’s real nice of you.”

Flare asks Usagi, “What about you? Or are you too scared?”
Usagi says, drawing her two swords, “Like I have a choice.”

Flare asks, with a smirk, “What kind of trick is that? Duel welding? No one has been able to do that. The complexity of using two swords at once is impossible.”

Usagi thinks in her mind, “That’s what you think.” Usagi flies away from Kirito while keeping a close eye on Flare while the others watch intently.

Sakuya says, “This isn’t good. Take a look at that Salamander’s sword.” When Leafa does so, Sakuya says, “That’s the Demon Sword Gram. You need a two handed sword skill of nine hundred and fifty to weld it.”

Leafa yells out, shocked, “Nine hundred and fifty?!”

Minako says, “That’s right. And there is only one player that welds this legendary weapon of ALO. It is General Eugene, the younger brother of the leader of the Salamanders. They are also brothers in real life too. But while Eugene’s brother is the brains of the Salamanders, he is the brawn. He is one of the strongest players in the game and rivals even us!”

Leafa asks, stunned, “Rivals even the Great Nymphs?”

Minako says, with a nod, “Yeah, but that female Salamander is just as powerful. Her name is Flare and she lost to Hino-chan just once in which she never forgot it. She trained herself hard and she is just as strong as us and General Eugene.”

Leafa says, drolly, “Just great.” The two sets of duelers stay in mid-air and then General Eugene shines sunlight into Kirito’s eyes in which he attacks in which when Kirito tries to block the sword, the sword goes through his sword and strikes him sending him flying into a rocky crevice nearby!

Usagi says, shocked, “Kirito!”

Flare yells out, “Pay attention, Undine!” Usagi whips around to see Flare attack her with her rapier, but Usagi blocks it with one of her sword, however, flames come from the sword and slam into her causing a strong explosion.

The others are shocked and Makoto yells out, “Usagi-chan!”

Usagi flies out of the smoke, slightly burned, and she asks, “What was that?”

Flare says, with a grin, “That’s my sword: Dragon’s Breath. When an opponent clashes with it, it unleashes a flame attack and I can also use flame magic without using incantations!” Flare then unleashes a series of fireballs at Usagi in which she yelps as she dodges while the Cait Sith with Sakuya, the leader of the Cait Sith, Alicia Rue, explains about the Gram’s bonus power in which it has the ability to go through a sword or shield when an opponent tries to block it. Kirito comes back and clashes with Eugene.

Eugene says, with a smirk, “Can’t believe that you aren’t dead.”

Kirito yells out, “What the fuck attack was that?” Kirito then counterattacks with a fury of slashes, but Eugene blocks them and every time that Kirito attempts to block, Eugene’s sword goes through his own to strike him. Kirito says, with a growl, “Damn, he’s good.” Kirito tells Eugene, “Hey, big red, I think that your thirty second is up.”

Eugene says, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to stop until I kill you and now, you are going to have to survive until I do!”

Kirito says, “Bastard! I already figured that, but I won’t go down so easily and I can’t wait to see the tears in your eyes when you lose!” The two of them continue to clash in which while both of them are equal, the superior quality of Eugene’s sword gives him. On the meanwhile, Usagi dodges some of the fireball attacks while using her two swords to deflect and negate most of them.

Flare says, “Not bad, girl! However, you are going to have to survive until I kill you!”

Flare charges at Usagi and she yelps out, “Why me?” At one point, Kirito uses illusion magic to create a massive smoke screen and she thinks in her mind, with a grin, “Way to go, Kirito!”

Eugene roars out, “A few seconds, that’s all you bought!” Eugene blows the smoke away with a swing of his blade, but Usagi and Kirito have seemly vanished!

Flare asks, “Hey, where did she go?”

Alicia asks, “Where did they go?”

One of the Cait Sith asks, “Do you think that they ran away?”

Leafa yells out, annoyed, “Of course they didn’t!”

(Sword Art Online music ‘Swordland’ starts)
Minako’s ear perk up, she looks up, and she shouts out, “Above!” Everyone then looks as the best they can in which they manage to see Kirito, using the sun as cover, to dive down on Eugene in which he flies up to face him.

Just then Flare hears one of the Salamanders shout out, “Lady Flare, behind!” Flare spins around to see Usagi nearly on top of her coming from below in which Flare backflips and she attacks with her sword in which Usagi counters with her sword causing her to get hit with flames, but Usagi then uses her other sword, perfectly, to knock Flare’s sword out of her hands.

Flare yells out, “Shit!” Flare draws another sword and tries to attack Usagi, but she does a forward flip to get behind her and when Flare spins around, Usagi unleashes a series of blows with both of her swords, perfectly, causing massive damage. At the same time, Kirito uses Leafa’s kitana and his large sword to defend against Eugene’s sword since it can only phase through one sword/shield at a time and using his duel welding skills, does the exact same thing to Eugene that Usagi is doing to Flare until Eugene creates a flame shield and blasts Kirito off him for a moment.

Eugene shouts out, charging at Kirito, “Die!” Eugene swipes at Kirito with his sword, but after he dodges the attack, Kirito impales Eugene with both blades, bringing his health into the red zone. Eugene tries one final desperate attack, but Kirito knocks his sword away and cuts him in half causing him to explode in a mass of flames to signal his death. At this same moment, Flare tries to counterattack, but Usagi knocks the sword out of her hands and after doing a perfect two sword version of Horizontal Slash one handed sword skill, Flare is cut into pieces in which she explodes into flames to signify her ‘demise’.

(Sword Art Online music ‘Swordland’ ends)

For a moment, everyone is shocked that two of the most powerful players in the game have just been defeated by what most of them think are two ‘unknowns’ and then Sakuya yells out, “Excellent!”

Alicia Rue shouts out, “That was the greatest battle ever!”

The Sylph and Cait Sith cheer for the victory of Kirito and Usagi and Sakuya shouts out, “Nicely done, both of you!”

The Salamanders are also stunned and amazed too and Chibi-Usa says, “They seem to be impressed too.”

Haruka says, with a smile, “That’s because they have seen a high level battle that far beyond even the dueling tournaments here in ALO.” Leafa is smiling when she sees even the Salamanders are standing down in respect to the victories and admiring the incredible battle that they had witness despite two of their elite being defeated in the process. On the meanwhile, Kirito puts away his sword, gets Eugene’s ‘Remain Light’ and goes over to Leafa and the others while Usagi gets Flare’s ‘Remain Light’.

Usagi asks, “Michiru, could you revive her?”

There are surprised looks and Makoto asks, “Are you serious?”

Usagi says, with a nod, “Yes. I think that we can settle this peacefully now.”

Chibi-Usa says, nervously, “I don’t know.”

Tomoe says, with a smile, “I think that we can Chibi-Usa-chan.” Tomoe then uses a revival spell to restore Flare back to normal while Sakuya does the same with General Eugene in which everyone descends to the ground.

Flare says, stretching her virtual body, “Ouch! Man, girl, you hit hard! Okay, now, I’m believer!”

Eugene says, “I agree, Flare. Both of you are excellent fighters. Your duel-welding skills and their mastery are beyond compare. Well done.”

Kirito says, “The two of you were pretty good yourselves.”

Usagi thinks in her mind, “No kidding, Kirito.”

Eugene says, “I never thought that Undines had a player like her and the Spriggan a player like you. This world is bigger than I thought.”

Kirito asks, “So, are we cool? Will you withdraw?”

There is an eerie silence for a moment and just then a male Salamander with spiky red hair, “General Eugene, may I have a word with you and Lady Flare?”

Eugene asks, “Kagemune, what is it?”

Leafa recognizes him and the Salamander, Kagemune, responds, “You may find this interesting: Remember my party that was wiped out yesterday?” Kagemune says, motioning to Kirito, “This was the Spriggan that wiped everyone out and the Undine girl that fought Lady Flare with them along with Lady Michiru herself. That Undine blocked one of my team’s attacks with her bare hands.”

Flare says, with a whistle, “That’s something.”

Eugene says, with a nod, “Interesting. Then I have to believe you. Just for the record. The last thing that we want is to go to war with the Spriggans and Undines. We’ll withdraw for now, but I look forward to my rematch with you.”

Kirito says, with a smirk, “Same here.”

After Kirito and Eugene bump fists, a female voice shouts out, with a serious tone, “Good choice, Eugene!” There are gasps and everyone looks up to see Darien, Trista, and Raye, in their ALO avatars, lands in front of everyone.

Darien’s ALO avatar, Mamoru, is a tall Spriggan warrior with well-combined black hair, dark eyes, elf-like ears, and he is dressed in a black version of his outfit as Prince Endymon with a powerful looking sword to match.

Trista’s ALO avatar, Setsuna, is a tall female Spriggan with long flowing black hair that reaches to her kneecaps behind her back tied in her classic hairstyle with a bun, violet eyes, deep, plump, and gorgeous dark pink lips, elf-like ears, and she is wearing an outfit similar to her Sailor Scout outfit expect instead of a bow with a heart jewel, she has black chest armor, black armored shoulder pads and kneepads, she has black armored kneepads, and she has a dark green staff with a dark ruby red orb on top.

Raye’s ALO avatar, Hino, is a female Salamander with flowing fiery red hair in her real life hairstyle, pink-red eyes, deep, full, and lovely shimmering ruby red lips, and she is wearing tight fitting samurai style armor to show her lovely feminine body’s curves and lines while making it not look obscene. She has a bow attached to her back with a special magical quiver that constantly gives her new arrows.

Flare says, with a glare, “Hino!”

Eugene tells Flare, “Enough, Flare!”

Flare responds, with a huff, “Fine.” Flare tells Hino, “But one day, Hino.”

Hino says, with a smirk, “See if you can keep up.”

Usagi thinks in her mind, with hearts in her eyes, “That’s Darien’s ALO avatar. Oh, man! He is a hunk in any reality!”

Makoto tells Usagi, “Hello, Usagi?” Makoto snaps her fingers and Usagi snaps out of her stupor.

Usagi asks, “What?”

Chibi-Usa tells Usagi, in a whisper, “You were ogling Darien’s ALO avatar.”

Usagi says, nervously, “Oh, yeah.”

After the Salamander attack force leaves, Kirito says, “I guess that there are some Salamanders are cool.”

Leafa asks, “You are crazy, you know that?”

Kirito says, “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Sakuya clears her throat and she asks, “Can anyone explain what’s going on?”

Haruka responds, “Sigurd betrayed us, Sakuya.”

Sakuya asks, surprised, “What?”

Makoto tells Leafa, “Leafa, can you explain about what Recon told you?”

Leafa says, with a nod, “Right.” Leafa then explain about Recon told her about seeing Sigurd meet with a group of Salamanders in the sewers using invisibility cloaks to cloak themselves from most players through Recon managed to sneak up on the meeting and an invisibility spell to cloak himself to watch the meeting in which the Salamanders had Pass Medallions on them, giving them the ability to enter Sylph territory without getting molested by the NPC guardians.

When she is done, Sakuya says, “I see. I could tell that there was something off about Sigurd. He seemed so irritated.”

Haruka says, “More like pissed off Sakuya.”

Leafa asks, curiously, “Irritated? Sigurd was irritated about what, Sakuya?”

Sakuya responds, “My guess: The state of things. He couldn’t stand that we had fallen behind the Salamanders. Power is everything to man like Sigurd. Not just his character stats, but also as a player in general. He craved power.”

Usagi says, “Yeah, I got that vibe.”

Leafa asks, “But why would he turn spy for the Salamanders?”

Sakuya replies, “My guess that it is the due to the five point zero update that’s going to happen. I heard a rumor that they are going to include a reincarnation system.”

Makoto asks, “Wait! You mean…?”

Sakuya says, “I’m sure that Mortimer put the idea in his head: Give me the head of your leader and I’ll reincarnate you as a salamander. However, based on what I learned, the processes required a lot of Yrd. And there is no way to tell that Mortimer, savvy as he is, would keep that promise anyway.”

Leafa asks, “What will you do, Sakuya?”

Sakuya asks Alicia, “Rue, have you raised your Dark magic skill yet?” Alicia nods her head and she asks, “Open a Moonlight Mirror to Sigurd?”

Alicia responds, “Okay, but it won’t last long since it is still day time here.”

Sakuya responds, “Don’t worry, this won’t take long.” Alicia chants the spell and then there is a dome of darkness that surrounds all of them in which a moonbeam appears and forms a mirror in front of Sakuya in which a picture bloomed in the mirror. The picture shows the meeting room in Sakuya’s mansion where official business is made and there was a large jade-green table and sitting on the chair of the leader of the Sylphs, Sakuya’s chair currently, is none other than Sigurd with a glass of wine in his hands with his eyes closed.

Makoto says, with a sneer, “That jerk!”

Haruka says, “Don’t worry. He will get his, Mako-chan.”

Sakuya then says, into the mirror, “Sigurd.” The image of Sigurd jumps in surprise and he looks at Sakuya showing that he can see her as she can see him.

Sigurd asks, surprised, “Sakuya?”

Sakuya responds, “Nice to see you, too. Unfortunately for you, I am still alive.”

Sigurd says, “How? I mean, how did the treaty meeting go?”
Sakuya replies, “Very well. We were just about to sign the treaty. However, we had an unexpected guest.”

Sigurd asks, “A guest?”

Sakuya responds, “Yes, his name was General Eugene. He sends his regards.” Sigurd then looks in the direction of Leafa and sees her, Kirito, Usagi, Makoto, Haruka, and Michiru along with Minako, Mamoru, Setsuna, and Hino.

Sigurd says, with a sneer, “I see now. Those worthless lizards have completely failed.” Sigurd then says, with a confident smirk, “What now, Sakuya? It’s your move. Are you going to fine? Or do you want to take away my command? If you do, remember without me running your military, your rule won’t last too long.”

Sakuya says, “Actually, I’m going to grant your request that you made to the Salamanders. Since you can’t stand being a Sylph, you can go.”

Sigurd asks, stunned, “What?” Sakuya then creates her special menu screens, given only to the rulers of each fairy race in the game, and a prompt appears by Sigurd to say that he is being exiled from Sylph territory and he yells out, “Wait! You are banishing me?!”

Sakuya says, “I’m letting you live your life as a renegade. Maybe there you can find something to occupy your vital time.”

Sigurd yells out, “I’ll petition the GM! This is an abuse of power!”

Sakuya responds, “Do as you wish, Sigurd.”

Sigurd shouts out, “You bitch…!!” However, he vanishes from the mirror to show that he has been banished from Sylph lands and sent to one of the neutral towns other than Alne.

Makoto says, “Goodbye and good riddance.” With that, Alicia ends the spell and everything returns to normal.

Sakuya tells Leafa, “Thank you, Leafa. You have no idea how grateful to have you around.”

Leafa says, “Actually, I didn’t do anything. It was all Kirito and Usagi.”

Sakuya says, “You’re right. Whoever you two are, you have my thanks.”

Alicia tells Kirito, “Hey, handsome. You know that thing that you and that Undine girl being ambassadors for the Spriggan and Undines. It isn’t true is it?” Plenty of the others get nervous while Hino, Setsuna, and Mamoru get confused looks.

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “Seriously busted.”

Kirito says, with a smirk, “Yeah, it was a big fat lie! A con! A piece of negotiation!”

There are plenty of surprised looks and Sakuya says, shaking her head in disbelief, “Oh, god. You must be insane if you can come up with something like that so fast.”

Kirito says, “Yeah, but it worked didn’t it? When I’m dealt a bad hand, I always raise the pot.”

Usagi says, “And raise the amount of troubles that go with it, Kirito.”

Kirito glares at Usagi and Alicia tells Kirito, going over to him, “For a big fat liar, you are pretty strong. You are like the MVP of Spriggans. Are you like their secret weapon or something?”

Kirito says, “Of course not. I’m just your friendly neighborhood mercenary with a very good friend. I wasn’t lying when I said Usagi was good friends with those guys.”

Minako says, with a smile, “We are best friends IRL.”

Sakuya says, “I see. It must mean that she is really friends with Lady Mizuno and you used it to your advantage to make a convincing lie.”

Usagi says, “That’s Kirito, Lady Sakuya.”

Alicia then laughs and she presses his left arm to her in which she says, seductively, “I like the strong and wandering type. Have you thought of becoming a mercenary for the Cait Sith? You get three meals a day with an afternoon nap.”

Usagi and Leafa say in unison, surprised, “Huh?”

Minako says, with a snicker, “That’s Alicia-chan. She is such a ‘feline’.”

Sakuya goes over and she says, “Now, Alicia-chan, he helped the Sylph first. I believe we should negotiate first.” Sakuya presses his right arm to her body and she asks, in a seductive voice, “Now, Kirito, I know a good pub in Swilvane. My treat.”

Usagi and Leafa start to show signs of irritation in their expression at the actions of Sakuya and Alicia and Leafa says, showing that same irritation in her voice, “Hold on! Wait!”

Alicia says, with a pout, “Sakuya-chan, no fair! You are totally seducing him with those things!”

Sakuya responds, sternly, “What do you think that you are doing? If you were any closer to him, he would be wearing you.” Kirito’s face becomes red with embarrassment, but he doesn’t seem to mind much.

Usagi yells out, irritated, “That’s enough! Lady Sakuya! Lady Rue! This is… This is totally inappropriate!”

Sakuya and Alicia look at him and Alicia asks, “And what are you? His girlfriend?”

Usagi responds, “No!” Usagi says, pointing to Mamoru, “He is my boyfriend!”

There are gasps and Sakuya asks, surprised, “You are Sir Mamoru’s girlfriend?”

Usagi gives a nervous look and she responds, with a nervous tone, “Well…IRL.”

Alicia says, with a smile, “No wonder he doesn’t take a shine to any female players.” Alicia asks, “So, what’s the problem? Are you like his big sister?”

Usagi responds, sternly, “And what if I am?” Usagi thinks in her mind, “What the heck am I saying?”

Alicia says, with a smirk, “Now, I think that Kirito is a big boy and he can take care of himself. I don’t think that he needs ‘big sister’ to watch out for him especially a big sister with a hairstyle like that. You know that your buns look like a pair of meatballs?”

Usagi yells out, angrily, “Why you…?!” However, Makoto, Minako, and Hino hold Usagi back as she is ranting and raving.

Minako says, nervously, “Sorry about that, my lady. Usagi is overprotective of all of her friends.”

Hino yells out, annoyed, “Cool it, Meatball Head!”

Kirito says, with a kind smile, “I appreciate the offers, but Usagi and I are going with her friends and Leafa promised to help me to the World Tree.”

Sakuya asks, “Really? Oh, well. So, what do you plan to do in Alne? Sightseeing?”

Leafa says, “Well, I planned to leave Sylph territory for a while.”

Makoto says, “She needed to stretch her wings and not to mention that Sigurd was getting her pissed off, Sakuya. You can’t blame her for wanting to stretch her wings after feeling confined by that creep.”

Sakuya says, giving a nod of understanding, “Yes, I understand.”

Leafa says, “However, I would like to return to Swilvane at some point.”

Sakuya says, “You are welcome at any time, Leafa. And also bring Kirito here as well.”

Alicia says, “By the way, visit my territory! We’ll throw you a party!”

Sakuya asks, “Also, why are you and Haruka doing here? If seven of the eight ‘Great Nymphs’ are assembling together with the elite former leader of the Spriggans, it must be something.”

Hino responds, “I had called them, Lady Sakuya. There is something important that we have to do. I hope that you understand that we can’t go into details.”

Sakuya says, with a nod, “Of course, Lady Hino. Even though you are a Salamander, you are respected by the other races for standing up to your own people and its leader against their aggressive ways.”

Hino says, with a shrug, “He was just a jerk and he really pissed me off especially I kicked his ass before he became leader of the Salamanders.”

Sakuya says, “Anything, thank you for coming. Leafa… Kirito… Usagi…and the rest of you. If you hadn’t come, the Salamanders would have become more powerful.”

Kirito says, “Oh no. It was nothing.”

Leafa asks, “Actually, wasn’t the point of this meeting to attempt the World Tree?”

Sakuya responds, “Actually, yes. That’s the point of our goal.”

Leafa says, “We would like to join in the attempt. We are in a hurry though.”

Sakuya says, “We would love to have you along. But I’m curious why you are in a hurry.”

Kirito says, “She isn’t. Usagi and I are. We need to get to the top of the tree to find someone.”

Sakuya asks, curiously, “Someone at the top of the tree? Oberon, the fairy king?”

Usagi says, “No, Lady Sakuya.”

Kirito says, “It is someone that we can’t reach in real life…”

Usagi says, interrupting, “At least at the moment, but we can find this person in here.”

Alicia says, “Well, getting ready for the World Tree will take some time to set up and it will take more than a few days even with pooling our resources together.”

Kirito says, “I see. Well, I just want to get to the base of the tree first. Usagi and I can figure out the rest later on.” Kirito then brings out his player menu and creates a bag in which he says, “This might help you with your party’s raid.” Kirito hands Alicia the bag and she nearly drops in which she gasps to see what’s inside.

Alicia yells out, “Sakuya, look at this!”

When Sakuya looks inside of the bag, she yells out, “One hundred thousand pieces of Mithril Yrd?” Sakuya asks, stunned, “You don’t want it? You could build a castle on prime land with that kind of money?”

Hino asks, in a whisper, “How in the heck did he get that kind of money?”

Michiru whispers, “I believe that we explained it before.”

Kirito tells Sakuya and Alicia, “Don’t worry, I won’t need it.”

Alicia says, “You are so awesome! We just got enough to get the new gear that we need!”

Sakuya says, “Thank you. When we are ready, we will message you.”

Kirito says, “Yeah, you got it.” Soon after, the Sylph and Cait Sith diplomatic parties, minus Minako from the Cait Sith, take off back to their territories to prepare for their attack on the World Tree. Leafa goes over to put her head on his shoulder with a smile on her lips.

However, Yui says, annoyed, “Oh, brother! I thought that I told you no more flirting daddy!”

Yui emerges from Kirito’s pocket and floats to face her ‘father’ in which Kirito says, nervously, “I wasn’t flirting with anyone really!”

Tomoe asks, “Is that…?”

Haruka says, “Yep. Kirito-san’s ‘daughter’.”

Minako says, with a giggle, “She is a cutie!”

Yui says, “When those girls got close to you, your heartbeat increased.”

Kirito responds, “I’m a guy. That’s what happens when girls get close.”

Yui says, with a pout, “Seriously, daddy.”

Usagi says, with a smirk, “She isn’t convinced, Kirito. Guess that she got your deductive skills, huh?”

Kirito responds, annoyed tone in his voice, “Very funny, Auntie Usagi.”

Hino asks, “Auntie Usagi?”

Chibi-Usa thinks in her mind, “Okay, when did I get an AI cousin?”

Leafa asks, “What about me? I’m a girl. Isn’t that a problem?”

Yui says, “No, you seem pretty safe to me.”

Leafa asks, “What do you mean ‘safe’?”

Kirito responds, “I think what she means that most of the time, you don’t seem that ‘girlish’.”

Leafa says, looking about to draw her sword, “Say that again! I dare you!”

Kirito says, nervously, “I meant that you are easy to get along with in a good way.”

Makoto slaps her forehead and she asks, “Seriously, Kirito?”

Michiru tells Haruka, “With you, it might be a complement.”

Haruka says, with a blush, “I can be… feminine.” Michiru giggles at Haruka’s embarrassment and Kirito takes off into the skies.

Kirito says, “Anyway, we have a ways to go to Alne. We need to hurry since it is getting dark.”

Leafa says, “All right, I’m coming.” Soon enough, Leafa and the others join them in the skies and they head off towards Alne and the World Tree.

Minako tells Hino, “By the way, Usagi beat the crap out of Flare.”

Hino yells out, stunned, “What? Meatball Head beat Flare?”

Usagi asks, annoyed, “What’s so surprising about that?”

Hino responds, “I don’t know because maybe you are a ditz when it comes to fight.”

Usagi yells out, annoyed and glaring at Hino, “Hey, Pyro, I’m very good when it comes to ‘gaming combat’.”

Chibi-Usa says, “Believe it or not, Hino-chan, Usagi really did beat that Flare player.”

Usagi says, with a proud smile, “Told you!”

Chibi-Usa says, “I couldn’t believe it myself. And I couldn’t believe that she went berserk on those Salamanders that attacked her, Michiru, Haruka, Makoto, Leafa, and Kirito near Legrue.”

Usagi and Makoto get nervous looks while Setsuna, Mamoru, and Hino get curious looks and Hino asks, “Berserk?”

Usagi responds, nervously, “What she meant that I really kicked their butts, Pyro! It is what she meant!”

Hino says, in a voice that says ‘I don’t believe you’, “Usagi…”

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “Thanks a lot, Chibi-Usa.” Soon after, the group continues onto Alne to continue their ‘Grand Quest’ to save Asuna and the other SAO and to stop what they believe is Sugou’s mad plans.

January 22, 2025, Alfheim Online, the World Tree

Inside of Asuna’s prison, when she finds that she is alone, she goes over to the control pad and she punches in the code.

Asuna thinks in her mind, “Usagi… Kirito-kun… I won’t give up.” After the bars are open, she leaps out and starts to run the large branch towards the inside of the tree determined to find a way to escape or at least signal for help not knowing that help was already on the way.

And that’s the chapter, everyone! I think that you can get an idea what everyone’s ALO ‘fairy forms’ look now right. Other than Ami/Mizuno, everyone is assembled together with Kirito and Leafa and the climax of the Fairy Dance arc is coming up! Please read and review and no flames! Later and best wishes, Crossover Fans!