Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Digimon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Moon Online: Gaiden ❯ Progressive 2: Our Little Elf Campaign ( Chapter 18 )

I know that I said that I would try to get this next one-shot out in ONE mouth, but it was far harder than I thought it would be. Sorry to have kept you waiting so long, everyone! Now, this time, it is back to the Progressive storyline in which tells Kirito’s, Asuna’s, and Usagi’s side of the story of what happened on the second floor of Aincrad. To find out what’s up, you know what you need to do, folks! Before I start, however, I must give thanks and credit to Belletiger and Kanius as well as Kanius’ YuYuGiDigiMoon fanfiction series, especially his The Invasion of the Rajita story, for giving me permission to use the idea of Valkyrie Sailor Soldiers and everything that’s a part of them in my fanfiction. I would like to give thanks and credit to Kanius and his YuYuGiDigiMoon series, including this author’s Dawn of Chaos story, and LazerWulf for giving me permission to use the idea for their version of Sailor Charon, namely the fact that she is Sailor Pluto’s sister among other things. I would also like to give thanks and credit to Matty G91 and this author’s story of Kamen Rider Lunar for giving me permission to use Kamen Rider Lunar, his looks, and everything about him as well as the UNI-SHOCKER organization.

 

Now, with that out of the way, as they say on SAO: Link Start!

 

I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon, Sword Art Online, Naruto, Accel World, Digimon series, Yu-Gi-Oh R/GX/5Ds/Zexal/Arc-V, Kingdom Hearts, Hyperdimensional Neptunia series, Gundam series, especially Gundam Build Fighters, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Mortal Kombat, Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed, Maken-Ki, Tenchi Muyo series, Ronin Warriors, Pretty Cure, Queen’s Blade/Gate, Dragonball Z/GT, Star Trek series, Star Wars, Log Horizon, Sonic the Hedgehog, DC universe, Marvel universe, Assassin’s Creed, Senran Kagura, Sekirei, Monster Musume, Karin/Chibi Vampire, 12 Beast, Stargate series, One Piece, Final Fantasy, Rave Master, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra, Code Lyoko, Transformers, 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, Sword Art Online is owned/licensed by ASCII Media Works, A-1 Pictures Inc., and its various directors/publishers including Reki Kawahara and Tomohiko Itō, Naruto is owned/licensed by Masashi Kishimoto, Yuuto Date, Jump Comics, and Studio Pierrot, Digimon is owned/licensed by Toei Animation and its various directors, including Hiroyuki Kakudo, Yu-Gi-Oh is owned/licensed by Kazuki Takahashi, Toei Animation, and Studio Gallop, Yu-Gi-Oh GX is owned/licensed by Naoyuki Kageyama, Studio Gallop and its various directors, Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds is owned/licensed by Katsumi Ono and Studio Gallop, 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 Itō!

 

Warning: These stories may and will contain mature level intense violence, blood, 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 these series of stories!

 

Prelude: A castle of stone and metal floating in the sky that consist of one hundred floors. Within this massive structure, there are countless cities, villages, towns, forests, plains, lakes, and whatever you can imagine. There is only one staircase that connects one floor with another and these staircases are located within dangerous mazes filled with monsters. The players with navigate through these floors to the top with nothing than the weapons in their hands. And yes, I said players.

 

This is the world of Aincrad, a floating castle in a virtual sky, and yes, I said VIRTUAL sky. This world and this floating castle world are in a realm made of digital information…the world of Sword Art Online. A world that was supposed to be game, but because a nightmare prison when its creator, Akihiko Kayaba, trapped the ten thousand players within this virtual world and if they die here, they will die in real life. The ten thousand players struggle in this ‘game death’ to reach the top of the floating castle where the final boss and the key to their freedom waits.

 

You may know this story and the stories that come after it, but do you know all of the stories? All of the tales that happened within the floating castle? What about the tales that happened after the floating castle was conquered? There are stories connected to the ‘tale’ of this floating castle, its ‘history’, and its ‘aftermath’, but they weren’t told…until now. These are those stories…

 

Sailor Moon Online: Gaiden

 

Story 18: Progressive 2: Our Little Elf Campaign

 

Note: This story takes place between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of Sailor Moon Online.

 

December 14, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three

 

Today, in the virtual world of Sword Art Online, the first VRMMO now turned ‘death game’, Kirito, Asuna, and our Moon Princess and niece of the death game’s creator, Akihiko Kayaba, known as Usagi in SAO, are looking at vast forest of giant trees in the distance.

 

Asuna says, “Wow! Just this sight is worth all of the trouble getting up here!”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “Yeah. This is amazing.”

 

Kirito says, with a smile and nod, “You bet.”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, “We should send Argo the information that we have reached this floor.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Good idea, Usagi.” Soon after, Kirito brings up his screen to type a message to Argo, ex-beta tester and information dealer for Aincrad and its entrapped players, giving her the information that battle with the second floor boss is finished and won in which they have reached the third floor of Aincrad.

 

When Kirito is done, Usagi says, “We should get going to the main town to activate the teleport gate.”

 

Asuna nods her head and Kirito says, a bit nervously, “Actually…”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, “Let me guess: You want to get started right away with exploring and quests?”

 

Kirito asks, curiously, “Am I that obvious?”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “It is written on your avatar’s face.” Kirito gives a nervous expression causing Asuna to giggle and Usagi says, with a sigh, “Well, actually, it is a good excuse for me not to go to town. I don’t want to take a chance of getting spotted since it is known that ‘Kayaba’s niece’ is trapped with them.”

 

Asuna says, with a sigh, “Geez! You have to stop doing this to yourself, Usagi.”

 

Usagi says, with a sigh, “I know, Asuna.”

 

Asuna gives another sigh and Asuna tells Kirito, “Kirito, do you know any quests that we can do where we can stay out of town for a while?”

 

Kirito says, “Actually, I do.” Kirito points to a Y-intersection in the stone road that leads away from the exit/entrance that the three of them came through and he says, “The right intersection goes to the main city and the left side takes us through the forest which will lead to the next town.”

 

Asuna says, “Well, we know which way we are going.”

 

Kirito asks, curiously, “The left?”

 

Asuna responds, “Obviously.”

 

Usagi tells Asuna, “Asuna…”

 

Asuna tells Usagi, “Just don’t, Usagi-chan. Let’s take on a few quests to get your mind off this.” Asuna tells Kirito, “Okay, Kirito, let’s head off.”

 

Kirito says, a bit nervously, “Right. Follow me.” Soon enough, the three of them head into the forest.

 

Usagi asks, “So, what are the enemies like around here?”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “Well, around here, they are mostly animals and plants, so, they won’t be using sword skills on us.”

 

Usagi asks, “So, the enemies that you warned us about, the more humanoid ones, will be later on this floor?”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Usually.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, “Usually?”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “Remember, my information comes from the beta, but we have seen plenty of changes from the beta. I mean, it isn’t too much, but a single chance could be the difference around here.” Usagi nods her head in understanding and Kirito says, “Anyway, there is one pattern that the mobs here employ. They are going to draw us away from the path during battle. If you charge in, you could get lost.”

 

Asuna asks, “Can’t you just open your map and see the places that you’ve walked already?”

 

Kirito says, as he opens his menu, “The thing is…” Kirito enabled visible mode to allow Usagi and Asuna to see that the map screen was being displayed and it was all dim.

 

Asuna says, amazed, “It’s all dim.”

 

Kirito says, nodding his head, “This area has a name: The Forest of Wavering Mists. The map’s hard to read and occasionally you walk into mist so thick, you can barely see thing.”

 

Usagi says, plainly, “Hence the name.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod of his head, “Bingo. The ironclad rule around here is: Don’t leave the path or your party? Keep that in mind at all times.”

 

Usagi says, “You might want to give a demonstration on that. We have a ‘visitor’ behind you.” Kirito whips around to find tree-like monster, a Treant Sapling, reveal itself by starting to move.

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, mentally slapping himself, “Constant vigilance!” Soon enough, Kirito, Usagi, and Asuna fought the Treant Sapling and they quickly defeated it.

 

When they were done, Asuna says, “I feel a bit guilty about that.”

 

Kirito asks, curiously, “Why is that?”

 

Asuna says, “Well, the tree monster was just a sapling, right? It’s not very eco-friendly to cut it down like that.”

 

Usagi says, nervously, “Trees, yes. Tree monsters…that’s a different story.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “No kidding, Usagi. You wouldn’t be saying that if you met its Elder Treant that he would grow up into. You would be saying that we got to chop down that sucker down now while we got the chance.”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, “Kirito, you sound a bit like Kibaou.”

 

Asuna says, annoyed tone in her voice, “Yeah. And we’ve had enough of him.” They continue to walk onto they stop after a brief walk.

 

Kirito says, “It should be right around here.”

 

Usagi asks, “Is this the start of the quest, Kirito?”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Yes. But the starting location of the quest NPC is quite random.” Kirito asks, “How are yours’ and Asuna’s ears?”

 

Asuna puts her hands on her ears and Asuna asks, “Is that what you are into, Kirito? You have an ear thing?”

 

Kirito yells out, nervous tone in his voice, “N-N-No! I was referring to your hearing and not the shape of your ears!”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, with a kind smile, “She is just kidding, Kirito. She knows what you really meant.”

 

Asuna says, with a smile, “That’s right. Besides, in this situation, aren’t we listening with our brains and not our eardrums. We are virtual avatars after all.”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “Good point.” Usagi asks Kirito, “By the way, Kirito, what are we listening for?”

 

Kirito says, “The sound of swords clashing.” Asuna’s and Usagi’s eyes widen in which all three of them start to listen for the sound of swords clashing with Usagi closing her avatar’s eyes as well as focusing her mind.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Now, I’m glad that I had lessons on ‘focusing my mind’ with Pyro and Lita-chan. When I took them, I thought them a pain. Now, I have to thank her…whenever I get back.” Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi listen in and after a short while, there is a faint sound of clashing of blades coming from the southwest.

 

Kirito asks Usagi and Asuna, “Do you hear it?”

 

Asuna and Usagi nod their heads in unison in which Usagi says, pointing southwest, “It’s coming from that way.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Same here. Let’s go.”

 

As Kirito starts off into the forest, Asuna asks, “Is it safe to go into the forest?”

 

Kirito says, “As long as we start the quest safely, we’ll be able to return to the path.”

 

Asuna asks, curiously, “And if we don’t?”

 

Kirito says, “Not a problem. I have a camping set. Let’s go!”

 

Asuna asks, skeptically, “Camping?”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, with a mental sigh, “Not reassuring, Kirito.” Usagi tells Asuna, with a kind smile, “An essential kit for the solo player.”

 

Asuna says, with a smirk, “I’ll bet.” Soon enough, all three of them are going through the woods with Kirito making sure that they aren’t sneaked attack by turning his Search skill to the highest that it can go at this time. After five minutes, the two of them then see a pair of NPC cursors up ahead and the flashes caused by blades colliding. At a massive tree trunk, Kirito stops and holds up his arm causing Asuna and Usagi to stop in their tracks as well. Kirito gives a ‘quiet’ motion with his hands and all three of them look around the tree trunk at the same time to see a pair of humanoid figures locked in clear combat.

 

The first combatant is a tall male with long, platinum blond hair tied in a back with a face exactly like a Scandinavian lead actor in a Hollywood film. This handsome male is wearing gleaming metal armor of gold and green with his equipment being a longsword and buckler of high-level as well.

 

The second combatant is a female with short smoky violet hair, the face of her skin is a darkly tanned tone, luscious red lips, and she is wearing black and violet armor shaped for a female warrior/knight with a dark colored curved saver and small kite shield that’s obviously equal in strength to the sword and buckler of the male.

 

As the two humanoids continue to clash, Asuna asks, amazed, “Are those really NPC?”

 

Usagi tells Asuna, “I’m not surprised that you are so amazed, Asuna. When I first dived in VR, I couldn’t help to be amazed at how realistic the NPC and other human-like characters were.”

 

Kirito tells Asuna, with a nod, “It is understandable. Take a look of their ears.” When Asuna looks at the humanoids’ ears, he finds that they are pointy like fairies and such seem on television, movies, and the like.

 

Asuna asks, amazed, “Oh! They’re both pointy! Which means…?”

 

Kirito replies, with a nod, “The man is a forest elf and the woman is a dark elf. Look above their heads.” Asuna and Usagi look to see that both warriors had the golden exclamation marks as proof of being quest-starting NPCs.

 

Usagi asks Kirito, realizing something, “Kirito, is this…?!”

 

Kirito, realizing on what Usagi is going to ask, responds, “Shingo must have told you about it, huh?”

 

When Asuna looks at Usagi, she nods her head and Usagi tells Kirito, “Yep! You already know that the squirt bragged about all the fun that he was having in the beta and a lot of what I know about this game, the little that I know compared to you and other beta testers, came from him. But he really talked a lot about this. Plenty of what he told me was ‘mixed up’, but there was plenty of stuff that I understood which is the reason that I had the ability to get my special cloak.”

 

Asuna asks, “Can you, two, explain to someone that doesn’t know?”

 

Usagi says, a bit nervously, “Sorry, Asuna.” Usagi tells Asuna, “This isn’t an ordinary quest, Asuna. This is BIG one. And I mean a BIG one. It isn’t an ‘one-off’ quest or a repeatable one like the one that gains Kirito’s and my swords. From what my squirt of a brother told me, this is the start of the War Elf CAMPAIGN and it is like one big story which lasts several floors.” Asuna was about to scream out in shock, but she stops herself in time.

 

Kirito says, with a plain tone, “Actually, it lasts to the ninth floor.” Asuna’s jaw nearly hits the ground and she barely manages to restrain herself from screaming out.

 

Asuna asks, annoyed, “Is there anything else that I need to know?”

 

Usagi says, “Well, from what my brother told me, you can only choose one side. That means we have to fight one to save and one to fight. It is either the dark elf or the forest elf.”

 

Asuna says, looking at Kirito, “Well, it doesn’t take a genius to know which side he choose.” Kirito gives a nervous look and Asuna asks, plainly, “You chose the dark elf lady, didn’t you?”

 

Kirito replies, nervously, “W-Well, yes, I did…b-but not because she was a lady. Because she was dark.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “Really convincing, Kirito.”

 

Asuna says, with a sigh, “That’s fine. I wouldn’t take the side of a man to cut down a woman, anyway. Let’s help out the dark elf and defeat the forest elf.”

 

Asuna prepared to pop out into the clearing and Usagi tells Asuna, “Whoa, hold up, Asuna!” Asuna looks at Usagi and she says, “You need to know this important bit of information. This first event of this quest is an auto-defeat event.”

 

Asuna asks, a bit nervously, “Auto-defeat event?”

 

Kirito says, “It is a fight in games where you can’t defeat the opponent under ANY circumstances, but after a certain point, like when a character’s health is down to a certain point, the event ends and the game’s story goes on.”

 

Asuna asks, “So, this is one of those ‘events’?”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “That’s right. Look at the gear that those two have. They are elite mobs. The dark elf is a Dark Elven Royal Guard and the forest elf is a Forest Elf Hallowed Knight. You usually don’t meet them until the seventh floor.”

 

Usagi says, commentary, “That’s typical of auto-defeat events, Asuna. Early on in games, you fight enemies that usually appear later in the games because they are such a higher level and usually, you can’t beat them at that stage.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Exactly. However, like Usagi said, this is an auto-defeat event. In this event, when our HP gets to the half-way mark, the ‘elf partner’ that we chose will use a special technique to end the battle. We just have to focus on defeat and not to panic when he start chopping our HP away. We have to stay calm and wait for the lady to do her thing. Losing control and running around is the worst thing that can happen here. You might accident pull in nearby mobs by accident.”

 

Asuna says, with a sigh, “All right, but it just doesn’t feel totally right with me. It feels like…like a cheat or ‘cop out’ to me.”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “It is the way that these games, especially RPG games, work Asuna. It is made to tell a great story. RPG games aren’t just about the fighting, leveling up, and getting rare items and equipment.” The three of them then prepared to leap out into the open to start the quest in which Kirito does a mental silent apology to both Usagi and especially, Asuna. When they leap into the clearing, the battling NPC elves turn their attention to them with their golden exclamation marks above their heads turning into question marks to indicate a quest in progress.

 

“What’s humankind doing in this forest?!” the male elf shouts out.

 

The female dark elf says, “Do not interfere! Begone from this place!” However, Usagi, Kirito, and Asuna draw their swords and point them at the forest elf causing his expression to become cold and furious with his cursor gaining a blinking red border showing that he is about to become aggressive.

 

The forest elf says, “You fools…For the crime of siding with this dark elf scum, your blood will quench my sword’s thirst.”

 

Kirito says, starting to retort, “That…!!”

 

However, Asuna interrupts and shouts out, “That’s right, but it’s you who will perish, you wife-abusing pig!”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, with a sweat drop, “Seriously, Asuna. Do you know how corny that sounds?!” Soon after, the forest elf’s cursor goes from yellow to dark crimson in which the forest elf puts on a lovely, but haughty smile.

 

The forest elf says, “So be it! I will start with you, humans!

 

Kirito says, “Remember, focus on defense!”

 

Usagi says, with a nod while drawing her sword, “Got it!” However, Kirito and Usagi notice a certain ‘gleam’ in Asuna’s eyes causing both of them to get nervous.

 

Kirito asks, nervously, “Um, focus…defense…?”

 

Asuna yells out, annoyed, “I know! I know!” Soon enough, Kirito, Usagi, Asuna, and the dark elf NPC fights against the forest elf, but then around fifteen minutes later, the forest elf’s HP bar, which is in the red, hits zero.

 

The forest elf says, shocked, “This…can’t be happening…” He then collapses to the ground and shatters into hundreds of data pixels.

 

Kirito says, muttering to himself, “This…can’t be happening…” Kirito checks their HP bars in which he sees all three of them have only lost one-quarter of their HP, not even close to the yellow zone.

 

Asuna says, putting her rapier back into its sheath, “Well. He wasn’t so tough after all.”

 

Usagi says, amazed, “Yeah, I thought that he would be tougher than that.” Usagi thinks in her mind, confused, “This was supposed to be an auto-defeat event in the quest, right? That means that we shouldn’t have been able to beat him! What the heck is going on? Did they change the story since Kirito and Sammy did this quest in the beta?!” On the meanwhile, Usagi looks at the dark elf knight and Usagi can’t help to see shock, bewilderment, and confusion in her eyes that’s really realistic in which Usagi had to remind herself that she was an NPC. Usagi then spots a bag of leaves was lying on the ground where the forest elf fell.

 

Kirito asks, nervously, “Gee, what’s this?” Asuna gives an annoyed snarl as she goes over to pick up the key, but Kirito stops her in which Asuna glares at Kirito.

 

The dark elf knight then says, “At least, we can protect the sanctuary now.” She then bends over and cradled the bag carefully in her black leather gloves in which she puts the bag into her leather waist pouch where then she then turns to face Kirito, Usagi, and Asuna. The dark elf knight does a bow and she says, “I must thank you. The first secret key has been protected. Your assistance is appreciated. Come with me to our base and the commander will wish to reward you for your help.” Just then a question mark appears over the dark elf knight’s head to show quest progress.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Well, it looks like the quest is going, but by the looks of Kirito’s expression, it isn’t going the way that Kirito remembers in the beta.”

 

Asuna tells the dark elf knight, “In that case, we’d be honored.”

 

The dark elf knight looks at Asuna and Usagi thinks in her mind, “Uh oh! NPC don’t respond unless the player gives a clear ‘yes or no’ reply.”

 

Kirito planned to give a simpler reply, but the dark elf knight says, “Very well. The base camp is through the south end of the woods.” Soon enough, Kirito and Usagi notice that the quest log updated and the golden question mark vanishes over the dark elf knight’s head in which a fresh HP bar added to the list of players that are part of this party of three in which are now four. Usagi looks at the bar to see that the dark elf knight NPC is named Kizmel in which her full name listed is Kizmel: Dark Elven Royal Guards.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Well, it shows that she is an NPC. Players can’t replicate monster titles in their names…through I don’t think I should be calling someone like her a monster. She is an NPC…isn’t she?” While Usagi is new to SAO, she has had the NervGear since it first came out and in fact, she was the one who first tested the NervGear itself since, which is now a sobering fact, the creator of the NervGear and SAO is her uncle, Akihiko Kayaba, in which she was a beta tester for other VR games before SAO. So, she is no ‘rookie’ when it comes to Full-Dive VR gaming experience unlike Asuna, in which SAO is her Full-Dive VR game EVER. In that she has experience dealing with virtual NPC characters in other games before and that experience is telling her that Kizmel’s speech and mannerisms are too…realistic…very ‘nature’ for a living person…it was like Kizmel was more like the players than the NPCs. Usagi glances over to Kirito and Usagi can tell that he has his own ‘curious’ expression on his face. Usagi sneaks over to Kirito and she whispers, “This isn’t what happened in the beta, is it?”

 

Kirito responds, in a whisper, “Not at all.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, in a whisper, “Kirito, do you think that Kizmel seems…?”

 

Kirito replies, with a nod, “…all too real. Yeah. I’m not surprised that you noticed, Usagi.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, in a whisper and curious tone, “Really?”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, in a whisper, “You said it yourself. You may not be a beta tester for SAO, but you were a ‘tester’ for the NervGear itself and a beta tester for VR games before SAO. So, you would have experience dealing with NPC in other games before SAO.”

 

Usagi whispers, nervously, “Yeah, I guess that’s why it wouldn’t be surprising to you.” Usagi asks, in a whisper and curious tone, “So, now what?”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, in a whisper while replying, “All we can do is follow along with the quest.” Soon enough, the four of them reach a very large camp with multiple black flag planted all around it.

 

Asuna says, “That’s didn’t take long.”

 

The dark elf knight, Kizmel, faces our group and she says, what seems like a hint of pride in her voice from Kirito’s POV, “A Forest-Sinking charm has been cast on the camp. You would not have found it so easily without me.”

 

Asuna says, excitedly, “Ooh, a charm? Is that like magic? I thought there wasn’t any magic in this world!”

 

Kirito winches from that and Usagi thinks in her mind, “Kirito is worried that an error might be cause because Kizmel might not able to answer the question.”

 

Kirito starts to say, “Listen, Asuna, that’s not…”

 

Kizmel says, interrupting Kirito, “Our charms aren’t up to the level of magic. If anything, they are just the afterglow of the great magic of old. When we were cut free from the earth, the people of Lyusula lost all magic…”

 

Kirito then gives a look of surprise and Usagi thinks in her mind, “Guess Kirito was wrong about Kizmel. She must be a really advanced NPC.” However, what Usagi doesn’t know is that Kirito wasn’t surprised about Kizmel able to answer the question, it is what Kizmel said and a small revelation about SAO itself has been revealed to Kirito. The four of them find themselves in front entrance to the camp where they find two dark elf soldiers, wearing heavier armor than Kizmel and wielding glaives, standing in front of the entrance where Kizmel walks towards them.

 

Asuna asks Kirito, in a whisper, “I might as well ask: We’re not going to have to fight in this base camp, are we?”

 

Kirito responds, in a whisper with a nervous tone, “We won’t…We shouldn’t. As long as we don’t attack any of them, at least. Or maybe they just cancel your progress and kick you out…”

 

Asuna whispers, with a glare, “You’d better not attempt to find out.”

 

Usagi whispers, “He won’t, Asuna. Kirito isn’t sure because the quest is going differently than it should have in the beta.”

 

Asuna asks, curiously and in a whisper, “Really?”

 

Kirito whispers with a nod, “Yes. We shouldn’t have been able to defeat the forest elf, remember. As Usagi said, it was an ‘auto-defeat’ event. When HP reached half-way, Kizmel would have used her special technique to end the fight.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, in a whisper, “So, everything is different than what you went through in the beta?”

 

Kirito whispers in reply, a bit nervously, “Not too radically, Usagi.” The four of them walk into the camp and look around in which Usagi can see that it is big with about twenty tents of black and violet of various sizes all over the space of the camp, looking as glamorous as the dark elves that popular the camp. Kirito says, “Wow. The game is a lot bigger than it was in the beta.”

 

Asuna asks, curiously, “Was it a different place before?”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Yeah, but that’s not a strange thing. Most of these locations related to the campaign are temporary instances.”

 

Asuna asks, confused, “Insetances?”

 

Usagi tells Asuna, “It’s a location that’s temporary created for each party taking the quest, you could say Asuna. Some quests, like the one on the first floor that I played to get the sword, block off the general area from general access if someone’s talking to the NPC. In this case, this is map specially designed for us as we are doing the quest.”

 

Asuna asks, curiously, “So, we’ve temporary vanished from the third-floor map to move around this base? Can we leave anytime?”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “Yeah, we should.” Kirito is giving Usagi a real big mental ‘thank you’ in his mind and in this case, he is glad to have another dedicated gamer to explain the situation to someone that’s new not only to just VR and VRMMO, but to gaming period. The three of them met up the dark elf commander of the base and he was delighted to see the return of Kizmel and Jade Key, which was the item that Kizmel put in her bag, which granted the three of them considerable rewards and equipment added to the stuff that won in the battle against the forest elf knight. They also got a choice of several items with Kirito settling on a ring that gave him an extra point in strength, Asuna chose an earring that added a point to agility, and Usagi chose a bracelet that helps with Search skills. While Usagi has Search Skills of her own, the bracelet improves those skills by extending that her Search Skill reaches out and it also can give alerts that enemies are nearby including enemies that are hiding that can normally get past a Search Skill like the Treant Sapling did a while ago through it doesn’t give the exact location of the hidden enemies.

 

After they left the tent, Kizmel tells the three players, “Warriors of humankind, allow me to thank you again for your help. I hope that you will assist in our next operation.”

 

Kirito says, a bit nervously, “W-We’d be happy to help.”

 

Kizmel asks, “Now that I think of it, I have not heard your names yet. What are they?”

 

Both Kirito and Usagi give looks of surprise and Usagi thinks in her mind, “What the?! I never heard of an NPC asking for names before! But then again, when you create your character and give your name in certain RPG games…”

 

Kirito tells Kizmel, a bit nervously, “My name is Kirito.”

 

Kizmel replies, “Ah, your human names are difficult to pronounce. Is it…Kirito?” Kirito repeats his name and Kizmel repeats it in which Kirito confirms that Kizmel got it right. Afterwards, Kizmel does the same with Asuna and Usagi.

 

When Kizmel is done, Usagi thinks in her mind, looking at Kizmel, “Incredible. She learned our names quite fast. And in fact, she is learning. Is Kizmel really an NPC?”

 

Kizmel tells Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi, “Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi, please call me, Kizmel. I will leave the timing of our departure up to you. If you wish to return to your human town, I can send you nearby with another charm or you can spend the night in one of our tents.”

 

Asuna answers, “In that case, we will gratefully accept your hospitality.”

 

Kizmel responds, “Perhaps you should save your thanks. After all, without a spare tent, you will need to share mine. It will be a tight fit for all four of us, but you are welcome.”

 

Asuna then states, “No, we’d be happy to…Wait! Four of us?”

 

Asuna is unable to speak and Kirito says, a bit nervously, “Thank you. We’d be happy to use it.”

 

Kizmel says, “Good. I will be here within the grounds, so call upon me if you should need anything. So long for now.” After Kizmel has left for the dining tent in the camp, Asuna stays still for several second before looking at Kirito with a mixture of expressions on her face.

 

Asuna asks, “Is it possible to back out and have her charm us over to the town?”

 

Kirito replies, nervously, “Um…no.”

 

Usagi says, with a nervous smile, “Kind of figured THAT much.” A short time afterwards, Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi are inside of Kizmel’s tent which is quite large where there are luxurious pelts spread across the ground, oddly shaped heater that emitted an orange glow and warm, and the fabric that the tent is made of thickly woven fabric that can block out all sounds from the outside. Usagi thinks in her mind, “Tight fit for four? This place has plenty of room for all four of us and then some!” Usagi then sees Asuna gently force Kirito to the left side of the tent and traced a line to create a ‘border’.

 

Asuna tells Kirito, “That’s your spot. Imagine a border right here.”

 

Kirito asks, “And what happens if I attempt to invade the border?”

 

Asuna retorts, “This camp isn’t considered a safe zone, is it?”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “You had to ask, Kirito.”

 

Kirito tells Asuna, nervously, “So, I don’t mind sleeping outside, if you, two, prefer. I have got a sleeping bag and everything…”

 

Asuna says, “It’s fine as long as you respect the border…” Asuna then turns to Usagi and she says, “Oh, Usagi…”

 

Usagi tells Asuna, as Usagi turns to walk away, “It’s okay. I’ll be outside.”

 

Asuna asks Usagi, “Why?”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “If it is about me, like I told Asuna, I’ve got a camping gear…”

 

Usagi responds, with a kind tone, “No! No, it isn’t you, Kirito. I…I…” Usagi then sighs and she says, with a kind tone, “I don’t get a lot of sleep lately, that’s all.” Usagi then exits the tent in which Kirito and Asuna look at each other, knowing EXACTLY what Usagi is implying by those words, which causes both of them to gain looks of concern on their faces. Outside of the tent, Usagi is sitting down on the ground and looking around the camp. Usagi thinks in her mind, “I’m starting to be really glad that I took those lessons on meditation and such from Pyro and Lita-chan. Personally, I thought that they were a pain in the ass especially since we had freed Galaxia from Chaos, but now, I’m glad that I went through them. I need them to calm down these days.” Usagi gives a sigh and she thinks, “Ever since I became Sailor Moon, it is the same old thing. After one enemy is defeated, another comes up. But every single time, I had my friends, Darien-kun, and my powers to help me. Heh! When I started as Sailor Moon, all I wanted was to be a regular girl and now, look at me. The one thing that I really…really wanted and NEEDED my powers…But it would be one thing if I was trapped in ‘another world’! Heck, I was trapped in ‘alternate dimensions’ before! Heck, I can’t even count the number of times that the girls and I have gone through ‘alternate dimensions’, ‘pocket dimensions’, and whatnot fighting our battles. But I was IRL and I had my broach and the Silver Crystal! I don’t have them now, so, I can’t transform…Heck, I don’t even have my real body here! My mind…My spirit is trapped in a virtual avatar that looks exactly like my real self. But then again, I have to treat this like my real self. This isn’t a game. This is life or death survival battle. A survival battle forced onto me and the others trapped here…by my own uncle. Two months and I still don’t understand why. Why?! What is the point of trapping us here?! What is the point of all these deaths?!” As tears start to stream down Usagi’s virtual cheeks, she shakes her head and wipes her tears in which she thinks, “I can’t think about that. I need to survive to confront him. Most likely, he is at the top of Aincrad…he has to be the final boss of the game. And we have a LONG way to go until we get there. Hopefully, a lot of people will survive. Too many people have died already.” Usagi then opens up her menu in which she goes over her items and equipment causing her to be curious about one item in which she materializes it, proving to be a glass container of a kind, in which Usagi’s eyes widen when she displays the items properties causing her to think, shocked, “Whoa! This bottle…With SAO at its current stage, this could be real ‘game changer’. It is like having an extra skill slot! I wonder if Kirito or Asuna…” Usagi returns the crystal/glass container to her storage and deactivates her menu causing her to think about what she just found.

 

But then a female voice calls out, “Is the tent to your disliking?” Usagi yelps in which she whips to the source of the voice to see Kizmel looking at her.

 

Usagi replies, nervously, “No! No! I…I’m just not tired, that’s all.”

 

Kizmel says, with a nod, “I understand, Usagi. I’m afraid that there isn’t much that can be offered to you, Kirito, and Asuna at this camp, but you are free to use the tent as much as you wish. There is also a dining tent when you need nourishment whenever you need it and there is a simple bathing tent as well.”

 

Usagi says, “Thank you, Kizmel. I’ll remember that.”

 

Kizmel nods her head in understand and she asks, “Is Kirito and Asuna within the tent?”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “Yes.”

 

Kizmel says, nodding her head, “I shall inform them of this as well.”

 

Usagi replies, with a nod, “Thank you.” Kizmel walks away to her tent and leaving Usagi alone with her thoughts in which she thinks in her mind, “Kizmel seems different than a regular NPC that I know of. I’ve been in this game long enough to tell that she is different from the NPC that I met so far. While the NPC in this and other games that I was seemed ‘realistic’, you can tell that they weren’t really ‘alive’ per say or something like that. But Kizmel, she…she’s different. The way that she acts…she moves…and how she expresses…she isn’t different from any players that I have seen. Why is Kizmel different from other NPC that I’ve seen so far?” Usagi is then broken from her thoughts as she looks to see Asuna dragging Kirito out of the tent causing Usagi to sigh at this in which Usagi goes over to the two of them.

 

Kirito notices Usagi and he says, “Hey, Usagi.”

 

Usagi asks, curiously, “What’s up?”

 

Kirito says, “I was about to tell Asuna about the NPC blacksmith around here. Unlike other ones, this one is really high level and it is best that we upgrade our weapons to maximum.”

 

Usagi asks, amazed, “Really?” Usagi is amazed by this since NPC blacksmiths aren’t best with upgrades and creating new weapons, but that’s all that they had especially with the first PLAYER blacksmith, Nezha, becoming a fighter after the whole ‘weapon’s scam’.

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Yeah. It is the best one possible.”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “That sounds good.” Usagi asks Asuna, “What do you say?” However, Asuna doesn’t immediately reply and looks at her sword, mulling over it.

 

Asuna tells Kirito, “Kirito, remember what you said before? About melting down a sword to use as material for a new one?”

 

Kirito asks, curiously, “Yeah, that’s right?”

 

Asuna asks, curiously, “Could I have that done here with this blacksmith?”

 

Usagi asks Asuna, knowing what Asuna is implying, “Asuna, are you sure?”

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “Yes, Usagi. If we’re going to brave the risk of attempting to upgrade for a sword, which will be useless in a few days, I would rather have it being reborn here.”

 

Kirito says, “I see. All right, I’m sure it’ll make for a powerful blade. Well, let’s go see that blacksmith’s tent…”

 

However, Asuna grabs Kirito and she says, sternly, “The bath comes first!”

 

As Asuna drags Kirito away, Usagi tells them, “You, two, go on ahead.”

 

Asuna asks Usagi, curiously, “You don’t want to take a bath?”

 

Usagi says, with a kind smile, “I’ll take one later.” Usagi then takes off as Asuna and Kirito look at each other in which they head off. It isn’t that Usagi doesn’t want to take a bath and in fact, she wants to take a bath badly, despite the fact that you don’t really need to ‘clean’ your avatars, since you don’t get dirty and/or smelly in this virtual world, Usagi would have to take off the white cloak that conceals her face and while she trusts Kirito and Asuna, she doesn’t want any risk towards them if it becomes known that they know what Usagi looks like despite how the whole reason sounds ridiculous. Usagi heads to the blacksmith’s tent and she looks to see dark elf blacksmith turn towards her, snort, and return to his work causing Usagi to think, nervously, “Oh, boy. A tough old blacksmith type through with elves, you can’t be certain about their age. They tend to live VERY long lives. Through tough is a different story and that might be an understatement.” Usagi then takes out her Anneal Blade +8 sword, her current main sword, in which she has two backup Anneal Blade +6, each have different properties, in which she thinks, “My main Anneal Blade can take me to the next floor, but after that, I’m going to need an upgrade. You really helped me out a lot ever since I first got you. Thank you. You may be just a mass of data, but you have been a good ‘partner’ and hopefully, in your new form, you will help me out even more.” Usagi asks the NPC blacksmith, “Can you please convert this sword into ingots?” The blacksmith takes the sword off Usagi’s hands, looks at it, nods his head, and gently places it into the forget in which the flames soon glow a blue-green engulfing the sword causing it to glow red as it turns into rectangular block looking around ten inches to a foot in length. When it was done, the elf blacksmith reaches out with a gloved hand and picked the block out of the fire in which he hands it to Usagi. Usagi takes the block, which is an ingot, and the ingot has a platinum-silver shimmering glow to it. She takes the ingot, puts it in her inventory, and she then uses the menu to craft a one-handed sword for her giving the needed materials including the ingot that was her Anneal Blade +8. The blacksmith takes the materials, puts them in the forge, and paying no attention to Usagi, he gets to work on the sword and he starts to pound on the material in which Usagi looks on in silent attention as the blacksmith pounds the material where she gets a silent breath of relief as he strikes it thirty times, which would make a weapon equal to the original Anneal Blade. However, the blacksmith keeps striking it over and over again until he reaches sixty strikes. The ingot in the flames then ‘morphs’ in a one-handed long sword of very good quality. The hilt was a gleaming silver with a golden handguard along with a silver blade that had an Asian dragon engraved onto the blade. With the sword down, the blacksmith grabs it by the hilt and he looks it.

 

In a gruff voice, the blacksmith says, “Good sword.” The blacksmith goes through the sheaths and bring out a bright dark brown sheath in which he puts the swords into the sheath.

 

When he hands the sword to Usagi, she says, with a kind smile, “Thank you very much.” Usagi then uses her menu to ‘examine’ the blade in which she finds out that her new sword is called ‘Dragon Cutter’ and much to Usagi’s shock, she finds out that it has twenty upgrade attempts. Usagi thinks in her mind, amazed, “Oh, wow! Twenty upgrades?! That’s more than double my Anneal Blade! Cool! And this sword is strong!” She then attaches the sheath to her right side and she thinks in her mind, “I do have spear upgrade ingots from that pain in the ass quest back on the second floor. It won’t work with this sword since it is over ten upgrade attempts, but it can’t hurt to upgrade my other two Anneal Blades.” Soon after, Usagi had upgraded her spare swords, the other two Anneal Blade +6 swords, from +6 to +8 successfully, giving each sword different properties. After returning her two backup swords to her inventory storage, Usagi thinks in her mind, “I’m glad that something nice has happened for once! I’ll go see if Kirito and Asuna are done and tell them the good news!”

 

(A short time afterwards)

 

Right now, we find Usagi with Kirito in front of the bathing tent and holding out her new one-handed sword, but when Kirito examined it, Kirito gave a flabbergasted look of shock and nearly screamed out in which Usagi managed to silence him before he screamed out.

 

Usagi tells Kirito, nervously, “Geez, Kirito! You want Asuna and the whole camp gawking at us?!”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, a bit nervously, “Sorry, Usagi.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, “I know that this sword is quite a bit overblown, but is that a big deal? I’ve played RPG and MMORPG in which there has been a ‘lucky break’ in forging swords that are really good and not causing a problem in the game. Could it really be that much of a problem?”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “You have a point and in this isn’t really much of a ‘game’ anymore. In this situation, every one of us still trapped in here needs every edge that we can get.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, “And if you are worried about management, namely GMs: Kirito, who else, but Kayaba would have control of SAO? And would anyone want to help him at all?”

 

Kirito says, going into deep thought, “When you say that…”

 

Usagi says, “I really can’t say that anyone is helping him at all, but I don’t think people are going around, trapped people in something that should be a fun game, turn it into a ‘death game’, and doing that just to ‘do it’.”

Kirito says, “You have a good point, but as smart as Kayaba is, how is maintaining this world? He is somewhere out there and he must have some kind of ‘link’…”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, “Good point, Kirito, and who knows? But since he was planning this for long time, he could have a base with all sorts of stuff that are linked with the SAO mainframe in which he is keeping an eye on things.”

 

Kirito says, nodding his head in agreement, “I agree and you have a point, Usagi. Even if he is keeping on eye on everything, he can’t handle every single detail.” Kirito says, “Asuna is wanting to create a new sword from her Wind Fleuret. I think that we should wait and see what happens with her.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, “Are you sure?”

 

Kirito says, “I’m sure that everything will be all right.” Soon after, Asuna emerges from the tent and looks at Usagi and Kirito.

 

Asuna says, “Hey, Usagi.”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “Hi, Asuna.”

 

Asuna sees Usagi’s new sword and she asks, excitedly, “Oh, wow! You got a new sword?”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “Yep. It is called ‘Dragon Cutter’.”

 

Asuna responds, with a nod, “Dragon Cutter?” Usagi nods her head in which Asuna and she says, with a smile, “It’s great. I hope that my sword turns out just as good.”

 

Usagi tells Asuna, with a smile, “I’m sure that it will. You take good care of your rapier.”

 

Asuna says, with a smile, “Thanks, Usagi.” Kirito is sure that it will take more than for Asuna’s forging to go well.

 

December 15, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three

 

Within the dark elf camp, we find Usagi, without her classic hooded cloak covering her head and face, sleeping in a simple camping bag in front of Kizmel’s tent where Kizmel, Kirito, and Asuna are sleeping in which Usagi wakes up and she groggily gets to her feet in which she looks at her ‘internal clock’ showing that it is near two o’ clock in the morning.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Two o’ clock, huh? That’s the best sleep that I had this whole thing. First time, I had ever slept for around seven hours in two months.” Usagi quickly takes out her cloak and covers herself up with it. She stretches her arms and legs through she knows that there isn’t a point due to her ‘body’ being a virtual avatar. She then hears the fap covering the entrance of the tent open and she looks to see Kirito coming out of it.

 

Kirito asks Usagi, a bit surprised, “Usagi?”

 

Usagi says, plainly, “Hey, Kirito.”

 

Kirito asks Usagi, “Why aren’t you in the tent?”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, with a kind tone, “Really?”

 

Kirito nods his head and he asks, “Have you seen Kizmel?”

 

Usagi asks, curiously, “She isn’t in the tent?”

 

Kirito says, “No. And I don’t think she has gone out of the camp since her HP bar is still the same.” Kirito and Usagi look around, don’t see Kizmel, and Kirito then heads around the great command tent in the camp with Usagi following him. The two of them go around the tent to find a grassy area with a large tree in the grassy area with three simple, yet, beautiful grave markers craved of wood. It was there that they find the lovely dark elf woman in which she is in tunic and tights as well as without her trademark armor. Kizmel hears their footsteps and turns towards them.

 

Kizmel says, “Kirito, the morrow will be tough for you and Usagi if you don’t get your rest.”

 

Usagi says, “I slept better than I have been doing lately.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Same here. Thanks for letting us use your tent.”

 

Kizmel tells Kirito in reply, “I don’t mind. It is too large for me alone.” Kizmel says, looking at Usagi, “However, I shall that Usagi prefers sleeping under the stars…”

 

Usagi says, nervously, “Y-You see, it isn’t like that I didn’t like the tent…”

 

Kizmel says, with a kind smile, “It is no problem, Usagi. I do not believe that it is I, your comrades, or the tent that has made you uneasy. It is easy to see that you are deep in thought and sleeping under the stars does help one clear one’s thoughts.” Usagi and Kirito can’t help to wonder if Kizmel knows what Usagi is thinking or has her own understanding of Usagi’s ‘feelings’.

 

Kirito looks at one of the grave markers and he asks, “Tilnel?”

 

Kizmel says, with a solemn sigh, “My sister. She lost her life in the first battle after we descended to the floor this mouth.” This phrase reveals to both Kirito and Usagi that the dark elves and most likely, the forest elves as well, understood that this world is a massive castle of Aincrad was made of numerous stacked floors and might also be tied into the story of the game world itself through it is no help in their and all of the other surviving players’ situation of being trapped in this, now, dangerous, virtual realm.

 

Kirito asks, “Was Tilnel a knight too?”

 

Kizmel replies, solemnly, “No. My sister was an herbalist. Her job on the battlefield was to tend to the wounded. She never carried anything larger than a dagger. She was at the rear vanguard when the forest elves’ falconers ambushed us from behind…” Kizmel stops in silence which made Kirito and Usagi realize how that story ends.

 

Usagi says, kindly, “I’m sorry, Kizmel.”

 

Kizmel says, with a kind smile, “You are too kind, Usagi.” Kizmel then says, “I have no chairs or blankets, but both of you ought to sit. There’s no need to stand around.”

 

Kirito says, a bit nervously, “Um, sure.” Usagi and Kirito then sit next to Kizmel and the female knight picked up a leather skin, pull the plug, and took a swig of the liquid inside of the pouch. She then passes the pouch onto Kirito, who does the same. When Kirito passes it onto Usagi, not to be rude, she also take a taste in which she winches from the sweet and sour taste as well as burning sensation of alcohol in the back of her throat. Usagi hands back the pouch in which Kizmel pours the remaining contents on top of the grave.

 

Kizmel says, “This was her favorite: Moontear wine made of moontear herbs. I snuck some out of the castle, hoping to bring it to her. In the end, she never had a sip…” Despite knowing that this is just Kizmel’s backstory that the game made for her, Usagi can’t help to feel sympathy for her since she is a ‘big sister’ herself and if anything happened to her younger sibling, who she can’t help to wonder what he is doing now, she would be devasted as Kizmel is. Kizmel says, “When I accepted the mission to retrieve the Jade Key yesterday, I was prepared to die. Part of me hoped have hoped for it. At best, I might have taken the forest elf down with me, otherwise I would have simply lost. But it seems like fate has helped you guild me away from my death. And after I had sworn that no gods existed in this forsaken place anymore…”

 

Usagi tells Kizmel, “I think that your sister would have wanted you to live on…for both your sakes.”

Kizmel says, with a smile, “Yes, it would be Tilnel. Even through I can’t see your face, Usagi, I believe that you are a lot like my sister.”

 

Usagi says, nervously, “Thank you, Kizmel.”

 

(Later that same day)

 

Right now, we find Kirito, Asuna, Usagi, and Kizmel walking through the Forest of Wavering Mist as they start the second quest of the massive campaign quest known as ‘Vanquishing the Spiders’ which involves finding a nest of poisonous spider monsters that were causing havoc on dark elf patrol missions. Since the location of the nest is randomly generated, Kirito knows that they have fight spiders until they find the nest.

 

Kirito asks Asuna and Usagi, “I need to ask: How many antidote potions do you have?”

 

Asuna says, “Three in my pouch and sixteen in the inventory.”

 

Usagi says, “About the same.”

 

Kirito says, “Same here.” Kirito then realizes something and he asks her, nervously, “Kizmel? Do you have any antidote potions?”

 

Kizmel replies, with pride in her voice, “I do have a few, just in case, but I do not need them. I have this.” Kizmel displays her right gloved hand to show a ring on her right index finger in which the ring has a green gemstone.

 

Usagi asks, amazed, “It’s pretty. What is it?”

 

Kizmel responds, with a smile, “I received it along with my sword from Her Majesty when I was knighted. It allows me to use a purifying charm once every ten minutes.” Kirito gives an awe-struck look on his face, knowing that Kizmel’s ring is a top level item, one of the rarest kind there is, and Kizmel says, “I cannot give it to you much as you might like it. For one thing, the ring draws upon what little magic is left in the blood of Lyusula, so, you humans would not be able to use it, I suspect.”

 

Kirito retorts, nervously, “W-Why do you say that? I don’t want your ring at all. I’m just checking to ensure that you’re equipped to deal with poisons.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, sarcastically, “Oh, you so DON’T want that ring, Kirito.”

 

Asuna says, with a grin, “That’s right. You’re a boy, so you would never stoop to demanding a ring from a girl.”

 

Kirito asks, annoyed, “Of course…Wait, are you saying that the reverse would be possible?”

 

Asuna yells out, annoyed, “I wasn’t saying that! When did I ever beg you for a ring?!”

 

Kirito shouts out, annoyed, “I-I wasn’t referring to you specifically!” Kirito and Asuna glare at each other and Usagi sighs at this in which Usagi’s Search Skill, helped by her new bracelet, goes off as she detects danger along with Kizmel.

 

Kizmel tells Kirito and Asuna, “Kirito. Asuna. I hate to interrupt your chitchat…”

 

Usagi stops Kizmel and when Kizmel looks at her, she says, with a sigh, “Let me handle this. I’ll use a classic human method.” Usagi then screams at Kirito and Asuna, strongly, “Hey, lovebirds!”

 

Kirito and Asuna shout out at Usagi in unison, looking at her, “What?!” Usagi then points in one direction and Kirito and Asuna look to see a giant spider monster, known as a Thicket Spider, appears in which Kirito and Asuna draw their swords.

 

Kirito tells Asuna, “Prepare for battle Asuna! It’s only direct attack is a bite attack. But watch out for the thread it shoots from its ass, it’ll slow you down!”

 

Asuna says, “Understood!” She then looks a dirty look at Kirito for his choice of wording.

 

Usagi tells Asuna, “Asuna, just drop it okay! It is a spider monster, it does a lot what a spider does, and there are few words to describe its rear end!”

 

Asuna says, annoyed, “Okay! Okay!” The three of them then tackle the Thicket Spider and they handle it quick well with Asuna taking out 40 percent of its health with Kirito coming into the fight, however, getting distracted for a second nearly getting hit with a bite attack, but, using the Crescent Moon, a Martial Art kicking skill, to strike back in which Usagi uses her new Dragon Cutter to finish it off where it shatters into hundreds of pixel fragments with Kirito amazed by the power of strength of Usagi’s new sword.

 

Kirito tells Usagi, excitedly, “Way to go, Usagi!”

 

Usagi says, nervously, “Thanks, Kirito.” Kirito and Usagi then share a high-five and the two of them look at Usagi’s new sword.

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “Your sword is amazing, Usagi.”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “Thanks.”

 

Kizmel’s voice booms out, “Our camp’s blacksmith have been known to produce excellent work.” Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi look to see Kizmel, standing with her arms crossed, and she tells Usagi, “However, a weapon is of no use if one does not have the ability to wield its full potential. You have shown much promise, Usagi.”

 

Usagi says, nervously, “Thank you, Kizmel.”

 

Kizmel asks, curiously, “Curiously, what is the meaning of that gesture that you just did?” Kirito and Usagi glance at each other, wondering how to explain this to Kizmel, an NPC resident of this virtual world.

 

Asuna then says in reply, “It’s a human gesture meant to congratulate one another for their effort.” Soon after, Asuna performed the same ‘gesture’ to Kizmel that Kirito did with Usagi in which Kizmel took in the whole thing.

 

Kizmel says, “I see. We, elves, do not make it practice to touch others often, but this is not unwelcome.” Kizmel replicates the ‘gesture’ with Asuna and Usagi causing Kirito to be reminded of the first day of SAO with Klein, but he regains focused and the four of them are continuing on their quest. After more battles with spider monsters, they find themselves looking at the gaping maw of a nature cave against the side of a small hill with multiple spiders, the size of real-life spiders, darting around the entrance.

 

Asuna asks, annoyed, “Do we have to get rid of the little ones too?”

 

Kirito responds, “No, those are just critters.”

 

Asuna asks, confused, “What? Do they jiggle?”

 

Kirito looks at Asuna in surprise and Usagi retorts, “Critters, Asuna. It is an MMO term for background animals. They aren’t NPC or monsters. Think of them just like the trees, grass, hills, and whatnot. They just add to the atmosphere.”

 

Asuna asks, annoyed, “You know? I’m getting tired of asking about every single game term, so why don’t you create a slang glossary for me?”

 

Kizmel says, with a giggle, “Your words haven’t been unified yet, it seems. I supposed that’s not a surprise for there were nine nations of humankind when the Great Separation happened.” Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi look at each other and unknown to Kizmel, the word ‘Separation’ had a meaning to them through not based on the backstory of the game, of which our three players are discovering about. ‘Separation’ for Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi was when many players were suddenly disconnected from the game and stuck in limbo for about an hour before returning to the game. It caused chaos and alarm at first, but they quickly figured out that it was due to the fact that their bodies were being disconnected from the game and rushed to a proper hospital to take care of them since Kayaba allowed them to be disconnected for a few hours before the NervGear ‘fail-safe’ destroyed the person’s brain which was most likely he planned to happen giving the people on the ‘outside’ such a time limit. In fact, Usagi, during the first three days of SAO when she was in her ‘shocked condition’, was the first to go through this ‘Separation’ and she figured that it was done for her first due to the fact that she was related to Kayaba with her body being taken to a hospital, probably somewhere in Juuban, where she could be put under armed guard. For good or for ill, she doesn’t know, but she figured that the authorities will realize that she and her family had NO knowledge of what was going to happen in which she is put under armed guard to ensure her safety from reprisals against her for what Kayaba had done. Usagi shakes her heads to keep her thoughts for going into ‘darker places’ while Kizmel says, not knowing of Usagi’s ‘internal distress’, Come, let us investigate the hole. We will need more concrete information to bring to the commander about the spiders.”

 

(A bit later)

 

Usagi, Kirito, Asuna, and Kizmel are walking through the cavern which gives the classic ‘natural cavern dungeon’ look.

 

Asuna says, annoyed, “I don’t like these natural dungeons.” Usagi and Kirito nods their heads in agreement with Asuna’s statement.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “I don’t think that I’m going to get used to this.” As Sailor Moon, Usagi had quite a few adventures in this kind of environment, so, this isn’t new to her because she had quite a bit experience before being trapped in SAO due to her ‘superhero career’. However, it doesn’t mean that it is any easier for her than Kirito and Asuna in which the three of them are carrying torches, but the torches are limited in light, a ‘faint glow’, and they would extinguish if dropped in water. While their swords are one-handed swords in which they can still fight, Kirito felt better with one hand free for various reasons.

 

As they continued on, Asuna asks, curiously and in a whisper, “Hey, is this dungeon one of those…instance things? Or is it?”

 

Usagi tells Asuna, in a whisper, “There is more of a public dungeon which means that it can be accessed by all players not players that are doing a certain quest.”

 

Kirito tells Asuna, with a whisper, “The reason that it is public is because that there are other quests that this dungeon aside from ours.”

 

Asuna asks, in a whisper, “Like what?”

 

Kirito responds, “There’s a pet finding quest at the next village past the forest and another one from the main city of the…” Kirito’s mouth then slams shut as his eyes grow wide causing Asuna and Usagi to look at Kirito confused as he whips his head behind him.

 

Usagi asks, curiously, “Kirito?”

 

Kirito asks, “How many hours have we been on the third floor?”

 

Usagi looks at Asuna and Asuna replies, “After all the sleep we got, I think it’s around fourteen hours.”

 

Kirito says, “Crap. That’s the exact timing.”

 

Asuna asks, “Exact timing for what?”

 

Kirito responds, with a serious tone and in a whisper, “This is the location of a major quest you can start from the main city. There are a few different patterns to the quest, so its not guaranteed, but a solid percent of players doing the quest are going to be coming here for an item. Depending on the size of the party, it might take between ten and fifteen hours for them to get this far…” However, a faint clang of metal interrupts Kirito and Kizmel stops dead in her tracks, showing that Kirito wasn’t hearing things.

 

Kizmel tells our three players, “Kirito…Asuna…Usagi…it would seem there are other visitors to this nest.”

 

Kirito says, “Yeah, it might be other p-human warriors. We have reasons to avoid encountering them, Kizmel.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “No kidding!”

 

Kizmel motions to a divot in the wall and she says, with a nod, “I do as well. Let us hide there for a moment.”

 

Asuna asks, confused, “Huh? How can we hide with the light of the torches all around?”

 

Kizmel responds, with a smirk, “The people of the forest have their own ways of deception.” Kizmel then guides them into the depression in the wall and she then presses herself against them, causing Kirito mental embarrassment, in which she says, “Extinguish the torches.” Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi did so without hesitation and Kizmel extends her cape, somehow covering all four of them, in which the three of them discover that the cape is see-through on the inside layer and Kirito and Usagi look to see the hide rate percentage readout that’s shown when using the Hiding skill, in which Kirito and Usagi prominently have, appears on the left side of their views with it showing a high percent rate of 95 percent causing Kirito to be a bit jealous.

 

Usagi asks Kirito, in a whisper, “What was this quest that these people are on?”

 

Kirito responds, in a whisper, “The guild creation quest, Usagi. The one that the other frontier players want to get started.” Asuna’s and Usagi’s eyes widen, remembering quickly that the groups of players led by Lind and Kibaou want to form the first guilds in Aincrad, unofficially calling themselves the Dragon Knights Bridge, led by Lind, and Aincrad Liberation Squad, led by Kibaou, in which both groups want to becoming official guilds of Aincrad.

 

Kizmel says, “Quiet. They will pass by us soon.” Soon enough, seconds later, the four of them can see a party of about half-a-dozen walking near their location.

 

Just then one of them shouted, in a familiar male voice with Osakan accent, “What the hell?! All the chests have been ransacked already!”

 

Usagi and Kirito think in unison, with a mental groan, “Not you again!” As soon as they were real close that they could touch them, they can see that the group is led by none other than Kibaou, the leader of the currently unofficial Aincrad Liberation Squad or ALS for short. When he is nearby, Kibaou’s eyes glanced at the hollow that our foursome was hiding in and dropped the hiding percentage a bit, but not even close enough to reveal them. Soon enough, the party from Kibaou’s ‘faction’ of frontline players headed off and when the sounds of their armor clanking died out, Kizmel uncovers them and straightens back up.

 

Asuna says, “I felt more nervous than when we face monsters.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Yeah. It probably wouldn’t have turned into a battle if they’d seen us through.”

 

Asuna says, “Well, they might have demanded that we share what we found in the chests.”

 

Kirito says, “I don’t know. I don’t think even he would go that far…I hope…”

 

Kizmel asks, curiously, “Did you know some of those people?”

 

Usagi replies, nervously, “In a way, Kizmel…But we’re not exactly on friendly terms, you might say…”

 

Kizmel says, curiously, “Oh, I’d heard that the humans in this castle had maintained a healthy peace for years.”

 

Kirito says, nervously, “W-We wouldn’t come to blows, of course. And we help each other out when fighting big monsters, but we’re not friend.”

 

Kizmel says, with an understanding nod, “I see. Then it must be like the relationship between my Pagoda Knights Bridge and the royal Sandalwood Knights.” Asuna beams at this and talks with Kizmel about those knights in which they continue on with Kirito checking the map with his window in which he catches Kizmel looking at his menu causing her to say, “It has been a long time since I saw that human charm.”

 

Kirito asks, confused, “Huh? Charm?”

 

Kizmel says, “Indeed. It is the art of Mystic Scribing, one of the few human charms left to humankind after its magic was lost ,is it not? The one that allows you to record knowledge, even physical items, within your mystic tome…”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, amazed, “Wow! They even given a context to what our game windows are to Kizmel based on the ‘backstory’ of Aincrad.” They continue on where they clear out the spider monsters in one of the two remaining rooms in the dungeon where they discover a fight light blinking in the backwall where they find it is a silver decoration craved in the shape of a leaf with opal-like white gem at the base of the decoration.

 

When Kirito looks to see the same design on the fastener on Kizmel’s cape, she says, solemnly, “It is the insignia of the Pagoda Knights. It must have belonged to the scout who was investigating the cave. The owner can’t be alive anymore.” Kirito tries to give the decoration to Kizmel, but she shakes her head and says, solemnly, “You must take that to the commander, Kirito. We ought to return to give our report.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “All right, I’ll hold onto it then.” When Kirito puts the emblem in his pouch, Usagi can see a message on the left side of her view, showing quest progress.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, solemnly, “While this is scripted to happen as part of a quest, it is still sad to hear that Kizmel lost a comrade in arms.”

 

As the group starts to head back, while keeping an eye for more spider mobs, they hear, not the sounds of spider mobs, but shouts of men in which one male voice yells out, “Crap! It’s coming up the stairs!”

 

Another male voice yells out, “Run! Run! Back to the entrance!”

 

Kibaou’s voice booms out, “No one said anything about suck a freaking huge spider! What the hell’s going on?!”

 

Kirito, realizing what’s going on, turns to ask the others about what to do, but Asuna asks Kirito, concerned, “What do we do Kirito?”

 

Kizmel says, “I will leave the decision in your hands!” Kirito gives a mental yelp and when he glances at Usagi, she gives a nervous shrug.

 

After a deep thought process, Kirito says, “We’ll let them pass by and stop the spider as it chases. If we can get it into that big room over there, we should have enough space to fight.”

 

Asuna, Kizmel, and Usagi nod their heads and Asuna says, “All right. Lead the way.”

 

Kizmel says, “If you have decided to fight, I will follow.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “This way!” The four of them get to an intersection that’s a wide cross path and while Asuna, Kizmel, and Usagi waited some distance away from Kirito, Kirito put out his torch and waited in darkness.

 

Kirito then hears a voice shout out, “It’s an intersection! Which way’s the exit?!”

 

Another voice booms out, “We just went through here! Straight! Straight! Straight!” Kirito then watches the Kibaou’s group run by, taking note of the lead man twirling his ax and how the whole of the group keep together despite being in a panicked run. However, Kirito remained focused on what he plans to do and using excellent timing, Kirito strikes the side of the giant spider’s flank causing the giant spider to bellow in rage in which Kirito races off and catches up with the others.

 

Asuna says, “You got her attention.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “No joke, Asuna.” The group races on with the spider queen, known as Nephila Regina, follows them until they reach the large empty room in which Kirito re-lit his torch and immediately, Nephila Regina, attacks using attacks that Kirito recognizes from the SAO beta test.

 

Kirito shouts out, “When she jabs with her legs, the one that twitches will go first! If you don’t get outside of her range, both will hit you!” Immediately, Kirito can give a ‘demonstration’ when it attacks when its right front leg twitch and Kirito jumps out of the way of a claw that hits where Kirito was. With Kirito giving commands, the four players fight hard and after two minutes, which seemed longer to Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi, Nephila Regina exploded with a ‘splashy’ visual effect in which Kirito is amazed by Usagi’s new sword. Kirito thinks in his mind, “My words. It is still in its ‘base form’, but it is definitely more powerful that our Anneal Blades fully upgraded.” After checking to make sure that no one is approaching, Kirito says, “Doesn’t look like Kibaou’s group noticed us. They’ll head back in for the second level to finish their guild quest, so we can slip out once they’re past us.”

 

Asuna asks, “How long many minutes does it take for that boss spider to come back?”

 

Kizmel then replies, “At that size, it will take three hours at minimum for the cave to generate enough spiritual power to give life to a new ruler.”

 

Kirito and Usagi have their own looks of mental surprise and Usagi thinks in her mind, “The NPC of this world have their own way of explaining mob respawning?!” Usagi asks, acting ‘ignorant’, “A new ruler is created?”

 

Kizmel says, with a nod, “Yes. Like many ‘unnatural’ creatures, the ruler’s energies and essence are ‘defused’ into the corrupted spiritual essence within this cavern and they are used to reincarnate the spider ruler of this realm. It is not completely known how this process worlds, but my people have an ancient legend that before the creation of Aincrad, there was a great war where many lives were lost causing a lot of spiritual energy to be spread out into the world. A group of people, wishing to use this energy, used ancient magics to create an army of creatures for their own benefits, but instead, legions of monsters and other unnatural beasts were born in which the majority of them can never be defeated for every time that you defeat them, their spiritual essence will be infused with the corrupted spiritual energies to reincarnate them over and over again. You can never truly defeat them for the world has been cursed with their presence probably till the end of days.”

 

Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi are amazed by this ‘backstory’ to ‘mob respawning’, but Asuna then says, “With that much leeway, Kibaou’s team will have plenty of time to search the second level safely. So, we ended up helping them without them realizing it. That kind of irks me.”

 

Kizmel says, with a smile, “As they say: ‘The forest sees all good deeds, and the insects all the bad.’ The Holy Tree will ensure that you are blessed.”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “Our saying of that is: ‘One good turn deserves another’.”

 

Kizmel says, with a smile, “I shall remember it.” As they prepared to leave, Kirito notices something nearby and he looks to see a huge fang with Queen Nephila’s mouth, which is called Queen Spider’s Poison Fang, in which Kirito, Asuna, Usagi, and Kizmel head off back to the dark elf camp with them NOT meeting up with Kibaou’s group along the way.

 

(Back at the camp; a good time afterwards)

 

Our group has returned to the dark elf camp where Kizmel turns to Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi in which she asks, “Kirito…Asuna…Usagi…Will the three of you deliver the memento you discovered in the cave?”

 

Usagi responds, with a confused and concerned look, “O-Okay…”

 

Kizmel replies, with a nod, “Thank you. The scout who died was of the commander’s blood…I do not wish to intrude on your report. Forgive my selfishness.”

 

Asuna tells Kizmel, “We understand. Don’t worry, we’ll give the report. What are you going to do next, Kizmel?”

 

Kizmel says, “I will rest in the tent. Call upon me if you should need my services.” After a weak smile, Kizmel walks away and when a chime is heard, Usagi notices Kizmel’s HP bar disappear from the upper left of her view and then a small system message that alerts Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi to the departure of a member from the party.

 

Kirito tells Asuna, in a reassuring tone, “Don’t worry. She’ll join us again, anytime that we ask…I think.”

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “…Yeah.” Asuna then says, “Come on, let’s go report on our quest.” Soon after, the three players report back to the commander’s tent and after delivering the emblem, the commander told them about the next ‘mission’ to kill the spider queen. However, that part was done with when Kirito produced the spider queen’s fang which resulted in this quest being completed with their money and experience given to the three of them in which all three of them earned a new item with them choosing a magic belt pouch that held a far greater capacity than its appearance suggest. Soon after, Asuna dragged Kirito to the blacksmith tent to get her a new sword made while Usagi decided to go the bathing tent to take a bath. A good time afterwards, we find Usagi inside of the bathing tent, without anything on her, and inside of the large bath in which she is in deep thought.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Kizmel seems so different from other NPC that I have seen in SAO so far. She seems so…so life-like. And Kirito says that the quest is going off-base of what he experienced in the beta. In the beta, Kirito didn’t have Kizmel as an ally because she…Well, that was that ‘other Kizmel’ not the one that we know. Most likely, she has been updated since the beta, but not to this degree! What would be the point of making an NPC so…so human-like? I really don’t understand much of this, but then again, I understand things less and less ever since I’ve been trapped in here with everyone.” Usagi looks up into the sky and she thinks in her mind, solemnly, “Why? Why did you do this? I guess I won’t understand until I find you and most likely, you are the final boss at the top of Aincrad. Well, I won’t stop until I find you and get my answers from you, Uncle…No, Kayaba. I can’t think of him as my uncle anymore. If I do, I may not be able to fight him at full strength if I have to. Too many lives have been lost already…If and when I need to beat him to stop this, I need to fight him with all of my strength.” A new determination filling through her, Usagi finishes up her bath and prepares to head out to meet up with Kirito and Asuna.

 

(Sometime later; outside of the dark elf camp)

 

Back outside of the dark elf camp, Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi are heading towards the main town of this floor of Aincrad in which Asuna is sporting a brand new silver rapier in a bright grey sheath. It is Asuna’s new Chivalric Rapier, Asuna’s new rapier that she has used her Wind Fleuret, after she had it melted into an ingot, as its core. Like Usagi’s new Dragon Cutter, it was a very powerful weapon in which, based on Kirito’s estimation, it could last to the fifth or sixth floor, which makes it a very good weapon like Usagi’s new sword. When they ask Kizmel about it, Kizmel responded that the camp blacksmith is quite fickle in which he creates masterpieces, but often outright refusing pushy or misguided orders. For Kirito, it means that it isn’t a bug or error, but a proper result that occurs a very rare frequency. However, only Usagi and Asuna got the new swords and while they were sometime apart on getting new swords, two excellent swords in a row is still a bit suspicious to Kirito, but Kirito is quite sure that there is no bug or error involved. After Asuna gained her new sword, Kirito got his Anneal Blade upgraded to the max and Asuna’s new Chivalric Rapier got upgraded to plus five via special upgrade ingots that were the Last Attack bonus item from Colonel Nato that boosted the success of any weapon upgrade attempt to the maximum. Kirito offered to have Usagi’s Dragon Cutter upgraded, but she declined for now.

 

At this moment, they were finishing off a wolf-like monster, known as a Roaring Wolf, which shatters into data pixels and Kirito says, with a sigh of relief, “Well, that was close.”

 

Asuna says, nervously, “Well, I didn’t know that two hits were going to do that much damage.”

 

Usagi says, kindly, “We know, Asuna. You are just getting used to your new weapon.”

 

Kirito tells Asuna, “No kidding. You had your Wind Fleuret for quite a while and thus, you know how to use it to its fullest. Despite your new rapier having it as its core, it is a brand new blade. You are going to need to learn its strengths, weaknesses, and such by ear.”

 

Asuna says, with a sigh, “Yeah, you’re right.” Asuna tells Usagi, “But Usagi, you were a bit aggressive with that wolf.”

 

Usagi asks, a bit nervously, “Oh, I was?”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “Yeah. When the wolf was preparing to call for its ‘friends’, you really bashed him, Usagi.”

 

Usagi says, nervously, “Let’s just say that my first quest in SAO had left me tired of wolves.” Asuna and Kirito nod their heads in understanding and decide not to prod any further on that, but then they stop in their tracks when they hear a high-pitched ‘clang’ and it happened multiple times.

 

Asuna asks, curiously, “Sword combat?” The three of them look at each other knowing that the sound, which is obviously weapon against weapon, had to be either dark and forest elves against each other, elves against players, or worst of all, PvP AKA player versus player combat.

 

Kirito says, looking at Asuna and Usagi, “Let’s check it out. Just in case.” Asuna and Usagi nod their heads in unison and in agreement in which they head off and they continue on until they see flashes of light amid a grove of trees in which those ‘flashes’ are the signs of Sword Skills begin activated. The three of them get behind a particularly old and large tree, then peered around either side. They see five players having articles of clothing that are blue with silver highlights, the ‘sign’ that they are members of the Lind’s Dragon Knight’s guild. The three of them then noticed the same forest elf that the three of them fought with Kizmel and his back is the five members of Dragon Knights.

 

Asuna asks Kirito, “Are they in the middle of the ‘Jade Key’ quest?”

 

Kirito says, “I think so. And they probably took the forest elf’s side. Which would mean that the elf that they are fighting is…” Asuna gains a worried look and Usagi mentally sighs, knowing that Asuna realized that they are most likely fighting another Kizmel, but then Usagi manages to catch a view of something.

 

Usagi asks, curiously, “Hold on a second. Something seems…different?” Kirito and Asuna give looks of surprise and confusion and Kirito and Asuna continue look with Usagi, they get a surprise when the elves move into a position where they can get a good look at the forest elf’s dark elf opponent, they find that while the dark elf is wearing similar clothing and armor as Kizmel, but the dark elf in the armor and clothing is a tall and handsome MALE dark elf. Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi look at each other and Usagi thinks in her mind, “Hold up! What’s going on here?!” After knocking the forest elf backwards, the male dark elf knight turns his attention to Dragon Knight’s group in which they seem to hold back against the dark elf, but the male dark elf knight attacks with a powerful attack the Dragon’s Knight group, who were defending, sent their spiraling down to the ground, and their HP bars down to the yellow area. Kirito knows what happened in the beta, but what happened with the three of them and Kizmel, in their ‘encounter’ at the start of their version of the ‘Jade Key’ quest, Kirito can’t be sure of his beta knowledge anymore and that means he can’t be sure that the Dragon Knight’s group isn’t any real danger.

 

Kirito held back Asuna and the male dark elf knight says, “If you’d followed my warning and left, this would not have happened. Foolish humans…accept the punishment for your actions.”

 

The male dark elf knight prepared for attack, but the forest elf knight shouts out, “I am your foe, Knight of Lyusula!” The forest elf then attacks the male dark elf and when the forest elf’s blade struck the blade of the dark elf knight, the clash sent a shockwave that knocked the Dragon Knight group to the ground in which even Usagi, Kirito, and Asuna felt it. The two elves are locked in stalemate, but the forest elf, whose HP bar is in the red, starts to give away until he shouts out, “Holy Tree of Kales’Oh! Grant me the final sacrament!” A brilliant yellow-green erupted from the forest elf’s chest and when it spread to cover the forest elf’s body, it engulfed the entire area. Soon enough, the dark elf’s and forest elf’s HP bars quickly drained and when their last bits of HP are gone, the two elf warriors collapse to the ground with the dark elf shattering into data pixels first. After the forest elf imparted his final words to the Dragon Knights, the forest elf shatters into data pixels as well while leaving a familiar small pouch on the ground.

 

As Kirito kept a close eye on the scene with the Dragon Knights, Usagi thinks in her mind, “What the heck? Hold on here! You can’t have different characters for the same quest even quests that can branch off into two or more different ‘directions’! The characters in the ‘script’ are always the same! What the heck is going on here?!” As Usagi is wondering what’s going on in SAO, Kirito is taking note of the people in the group including an Anneal Blade wielder with a chain coif that covers his head in a way that his face can’t be seen from where Kirito is observing and he is listening into their conversation.

 

December 15, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three, Zumfut

 

Right now, Kirito, Usagi, and Asuna are in the main town of the third floor of Aincrad known as Zumfut and this town isn’t made of ordinary buildings, but three gigantic trees that stood together like monstrous baobabs. Their trunks are a hundred feet wide and well over two hundred feet tall. The inside of the trunks are hollowed into many-floored structures as well. Right now, Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi are reading a piece of parchment on a flatten wooden board.

 

Asuna says, “The strategy meeting starts at five o’clock. That’s going to leave us with plenty of time.” Usagi then glances over to an area and her eyes widen a little.

 

Usagi tells Kirito and Asuna, “I’ll be heading off.”

 

Asuna asks Usagi, curiously, “What’s wrong, Usagi?”

 

Usagi tells Asuna, with a kind tone, “Nothing, Asuna. I’m going to be looking into something.”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, with a nod, “Okay, Usagi, be careful.”

 

Usagi says, with a smile, “See you at the meeting.” Kirito and Asuna wave as Usagi takes off while the two of them prepare to head for an inn, wondering what that was all about. As Usagi goes through the town, she noticed that she isn’t getting too much attention since she is wearing her distinctive white hooded cloak. Usagi thinks in her mind, “You would think that I would be getting more attention…Not that I’m glad that not too many people are looking at me. But you think that after the fact that Kayaba’s niece has been found to be trapped in here and being on the ‘front lines’, you would think that everyone else would know about my one-of-a-kind cloak by now. Well, personally, I’m glad that I’m not grabbing too much attention.”  Usagi then looks around and she thinks in her mind, “And speaking of not grabbing too much attention…” Usagi then goes into ‘back area’ where there are no other players are currently around and Usagi looks around as if looking for something or someone.

 

But then a familiar female voice calls out, “Looking for something, Usa-chan?!” Usagi yelps and whips to the source of the voice to see Argo, former SAO beta tester and information broker for the current Aincrad, in front of her with classic sly smirk on her face.

 

Usagi tells Argo, annoyed, “Geez, Argo! Scare a girl out of her avatar, why don’t you? And massive of a Hiding Skill do you have?”

 

Argo tells Usagi, with a sly smile, “Sorry, Usa-chan, but you know how you get that information.”

 

Usagi tells Argo, plainly, “I rather not.”

 

Argo tells Usagi, slyly, “You are no fun, Usa-chan.” Argo tells Usagi, with a grin, “Got any good info for little ol’ me? I’ll make sure to make it worth every col.”

 

Usagi tells Argo, a bit nervously, “Well…” Usagi then explains about what happened with War Elf quest and what happened when Kirito, Asuna, and herself spotted the Dragon Knights starting their versions.

 

When she is done, Argo gives a curious look and she says, “Now, that’s an interesting tidbit.”

 

Usagi tells Argo, “Argo, have you heard of such a thing?”

 

Argo tells Usagi, “Nope. I haven’t heard of a quest that changes one or more characters for each player or set of players taking it. In fact, it SHOULDN’T even happen, Usa-chan. You could explain about how you were able to beat the forest elf of possible change to the quest being that an addition path of beating the opponent elf without the ‘partner’ elf that you choose to ally with NOT dying is a change made from the beta. That’s a possibility, Usa-chan. But that don’t explain the next group of players starting the quest having a different version of the ‘partner elf’ that you saved even if it happened like it did in the beta. It just doesn’t happen in RPG, Usa-chan. Same characters for the same quest since it is the same story every time even through there are different ways to ‘tell that story’, Usa-chan. A gamer girl like you should know that.”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “Yeah…” Usagi asks Argo, “Hold up? When did I tell you that I’m a hard-core gamer?”

 

Argo tells Usagi, with a sly smile, “Come on, Usa-chan, anyone who is playing this is a significant MMO player. However, thanks for the small tidbit, I’ll remember to pay you back someday.” Usagi, mentally, slaps herself for giving that fact.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Kirito always told me: ‘Spend time with Argo and you’ll lose one hundred col.”

 

Argo tells Usagi, “Speaking of paying you back, I could use your help with a quest.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “Uh oh.” Usagi asks, nervously, “What is it this time?”

 

Argo says, with a smile, “It is just a nice little quest where you will earn a special ore that can enhance that new sword of yours with a max chance of success as long as it is under ten upgrade attempts.”

 

Usagi asks, surprised, “Really?” Usagi then asks, curiously, “Hold up! How do you know I have a new sword?”

 

Argo says, with a giggle, “Your cloak may hide your pretty face, Usa-chan, but it doesn’t hide the fact that you have a brand new sword hanging on your side.” Usagi gives a nervous sweat drop as she puts her hands in front of her new sword hanging off her side.

 

Usagi asks, solemnly, “I know that I’m going to regret this, but what is the quest called?”

 

Argo responds, with a sly smirk, “Puzzle of the Mystic Elf Ore, it is called. You can take it even if you aren’t taking the War Elf quest and if you are taking that quest, it doesn’t matter which side you are on.”

 

Usagi asks, solemnly, “Puzzle of the Mystic Elf Ore, huh?” Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “Why do I feel that this is going to be a real ‘brain buster’?”

 

(Much later)

 

Later that same day, Kirito and Asuna are heading into the bowl-like assembly area between the three giant baobab trees that make up the main city of the third floor of Aincrad and after greeting Agil and getting a mouthful about them still being a party. Soon after, they see Usagi, who is slumped forward, walking into the assembly area in which Kirito and Asuna get concerned.

 

Asuna asks, curiously, “Usagi?” Kirito and Asuna run over to Usagi and Asuna asks Usagi, in a whisper, “Usagi-chan, are you okay?”

 

Usagi groans out, weakly, “Argo…quest…don’t ask…”

  Kirito gets nervous and he says, nervously, “Don’t tell. That’s all we need to know.” Asuna gives Kirito a curious look and Kirito tells Asuna, in a whisper, “Let’s give Usagi a bit time to recover.” Even through neither Kirito or her can see Usagi’s face due to her special hooded cloak, Asuna feels that she shouldn’t be causing Usagi any unnecessary ‘headaches’. Kirito and Asuna ‘escort’ Usagi into assembly area and take their seats as Lind and Kibaou start the meeting. They announce that the Aincrad Liberation Squad and Dragon Knights Brigade are now official guilds, which impressed Kirito on how hard they must have worked on the guild quest to complete it to start their guilds, and they also added the acronyms for the guilds, ALS for Aincrad Liberation Squad and DKB for Dragon Knight Brigade, their current member lineups, and casting call for new faces.

 

Just then Lind announces, “I would like the doors to my guild to be as wide open as they can be. Our only requirement at this time is that the player be at least level ten.”

 

Kibaou shouts out, “And level nine for us!”

 

Lind gives an annoyed look at Kibaou for a moment, but he regains his composer and he continues by saying, “Everyone participating in this meeting who hasn’t joined either guild should meet the requirements. So if you raise a hand, you will be gladly welcomed. However, there is one condition which applies only to certain people. This was decided after discussion between Kibaou and I.” Kibaou gives a cross look and Lind then looks at Kirito in which he says, “Kirito…and White Swordswoman-san.” Kirito then gives a look of surprise in which Kirito thought that Lind was about to say that he couldn’t join either guild, not that he cared since he didn’t plan on joining either of them, but when Lind mentioned Usagi’s current ‘nickname’ known by the player population since only he, Asuna, and Argo know Usagi’s player name. Lind says, “Before either of you are approved to enter one of our guilds, there is one more condition on top of the level requirement. One of you must enter the DKB and the other must enter the ALS.”

 

Kirito asks, confused, “What?”

 

Lind says, “As it was made clear, Kirito, Asuna, and the White Swordswoman-san are a head and shoulders above anyone else in our general group. The three of you made off with the Last Attack bonuses of all three bosses in that fight, after all. I do not bring this up to criticize you, of course. But it does not benefit any of us to have the both of you join either guild. Our combined strength are roughly equal for now, and you would cause a sever imbalance by joining either side.”

 

Kirito asks, curiously, “What about Asuna?”

 

Lind says, “While Asuna is in league with the two of you and trust me, she is a powerful player in her own right and most likely, she can fight on her own without the need for the two of you for support, but out of your trinity, you and the White Swordswoman are the foundation of your ‘pyramid of strength and ability’, Kirito. For you, it is…obvious reasons since you are the one of your group getting the Last Attack bonuses of the boss fights for the last two fights and the White Swordswoman, who rivals you in ability despite being non-beta tester. Her ability to survive the first boss of SAO, alone, until we got there is a testament to her ability. I dare say that she is the equal to you, Kirito.”

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, “Yeah, she is. But Asuna rivals Usagi and me the same.”

 

Lind says, “As such, we agreed that Asuna will be granted the right to join whichever guild that she wishes…as long as either of you haven’t joined a guild, both of joined both guilds, and only one of you have joined one of the guilds in which she must join the other guild.”

 

Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi think in their minds, surprised, “What?”

 

Lind says, “We are well aware that our request is unreasonable. But I need you to understand this. Now that the top players in the game have been split into two camps, it is imperative that our two guilds eternally remain on good terms, working together in the pursuit of defeating the game.”

 

Just then a male voice calls out, “Is that’s what going on here?” Everyone then looks to see six players walking into the assembly area.

 

The first one looks to be a male with wildly spiky brown hair and brown eyes.

 

The second one looks to be a male with spiky blond hair and blue eyes.

 

The third one looks to be a male with short combined blond hair and blue eyes.

 

The fourth one looks to be a male with messy shoulder length dark blue hair and blue eyes.

 

The fifth one looks to be a female player with long lavender hair and large glasses in front of her brown eyes.

 

The final player looks to be another female player with long flowing magenta hair and brown eyes.

 

The clothing and armor that they are sporting are the rival with any of the front-line players with brown haired male having a curved sword, the spiky blond haired male having a lance and shield, the well-combined blond haired male is wielding a two-handed sword, the blue-haired male has a one-handed sword, lavender-haired glasses wearing female player has rapier, and the magenta-haired female player has a mace.

 

As the spiky brown haired male player with the curved sword, obviously the leader of the group of players, walks down to the ‘stage’, Kibaou asks, plainly, “You again?”

 

Lind says, “You are those players that wanted to help out in the last boss fight, but you were too late. I welcome you, to this meeting.” Lind asks, “Have you and your friends reconsidered joining the Dragon Knights?”

 

The spiky brown haired male player responds, with a smirk, “Actually, no. I would like to introduce myself since we forgot to last time. I’m Taichi, guild master of the Digital Knights guild, the third guild of Aincrad.”

 

There are gasps of shock and surprise, especially from Lind and Kibaou, in which Kibaou screams out, flabbergasted, “WHAT?!!”

 

Asuna asks, surprised, “What did he just say?”

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, surprised, “There is a third guild in Aincrad already?!”

 

Taichi, the curved sword user of the group, joins Lind and Kibaou in the center of the assembly and he says, pointing to an area in front of him, “That’s right. And if you think that I’m joking, you should take a look at my HP bar.” Lind and Kibaou look at Taichi’s HP displayed in their ‘player sight’ where they see an insignia above his HP bar in which the insignia, the ‘guild crest’ is a monster in front of a yellow shield with two swords crossing it, in which Taichi says, pointing to the rest of Digital Knights, “And this is rest of the guild and my close friends: Yamato, my second in command, his brother, Takeru, Sam, Miyako, and Junpier.”

 

The five other members of the Digital Knights wave and Miyako, the violet haired rapier user of the Digital Knights, says, with a grin and waving, “Hey there! Sorry we were late! We just finished the guild quest to become an official guild. You know how it is!” Soon after, the remaining five members of the third guild of Aincrad take seats near Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi in which all three of them can see their HP bars.

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, “They’re a guild all right. They have a different crest than Aincrad Liberation Squad and Dragon Knights. It’s official. There is a third guild…” Kirito then immediately looks towards Lind and Kibaou. The two of them have stunned looks on their faces and Lind’s expression returns to stoic while Kibaou gives an annoyed look. Kirito thinks in his mind, “Too bad, Lind. It is too late. There is now a third guild on Aincrad.” The other players in the assembly are whispering and talking over the appearance of the Digital Knights.

 

Lind says, plainly and trying not to show his nervousness, “I see.”

 

Taichi says, “Sorry about interrupting you there. We did recently finish the guild quest and came to join the front-line players.”

 

Lind says, “If you are able to complete the guild quest just after the Liberation Squad and my guild, you must be a strong guild.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, amazed, “No kidding, pal! And with just half-a-dozen in their group, they must strong and they must be close too.”

 

Taichi says, with a smile, “I don’t want to brag, but we worked our butts off to get where we are. It wasn’t easy since we are new players to the game and we had to get over our ‘problems’ that we experienced on the first day. You know how it is.” Taichi’s statements cause Usagi to hang her head low a bit, but Asuna puts her hand on Usagi’s right hand causing Usagi to look to see a light smile on Asuna’s face.

 

Kibaou says, with a plain and stern tone, “You can talk the talk, but it doesn’t mean that you can walk the walk.”

 

Taichi says, with a confident grin, “I can assure you that our actions will speak louder than our words.” Taichi then looks at Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi and he says, “Anyway, we did manage to hear what you said and I would like to put my two cents in. My guild and I have agreed to open our doors to anyone to, but with no string attached. So…Kirito, was it? You, Asuna, and that ‘White Swordswoman’ over there can join our guild together no questions asked.” There are more gasps from the other players in which Kibaou gets more annoyed expression on his avatar’s face.

 

Kibaou yells out, annoyed, “Hey! What do you think that you are doing?”

 

Taichi says, his smile turning into a dangerous smile, “That’s funny…” His expression turns into a deadly serious expression and he states, with a deadly serious tone, “That’s the question that I should be asking you, two!” Lind and Kibaou then flinches from Taichi’s expression and tone and he says, with a stern and commanding voice, “It should be a player’s choice to join whatever guild that they want. Who made you the ‘player police’? That’s not your job as guild leaders! As leaders of guilds, it is your job to guild and lead your guild members to help them advance and grow in which, in this situation, you are also supposed to help them survive in this prison! You are also leaders of top players in this world and that means that you are setting examples for the other players that still in the Town of Beginnings or at least, nowhere the level to join the front lines which you can’t blame them if they are afraid! However, what kind of example are you setting for them? Trying to divide the top players down the line saying that you can only go to this guild if that player joins that guild?” Taichi says, pointing to Usagi, “And let me guess: You are trying to ‘turn’ the White Swordswoman into a ‘proper player’, huh? It sounds like you are accusing her of some kind of crime. What crime did she commit? Just because she is Kayaba’s niece doesn’t give you the right to treat her like she is some kind of crook!”

 

Miyako yells out, with a strong and stern tone, “Newsflash, genius! If you didn’t get it when you found out about her and I’m sorry that reopens a few ‘wounds’, but if that nutjob really cared about her, he would have logged her out the instant that this started or he could have prevented her from getting the game in the first place! He knew that she could have easily gotten it since she is related to him and he could have prevented that, but look, she is just like the rest of us…trapped in this nightmare!”

 

Plenty of the other players in the assembly look at each other and Taichi says, looking at them, “We don’t have time for these type of ‘power struggles’! If this was a regular MMO game, it would have been fine, but this isn’t a regular game anymore! It has been turned into a ‘death prison’ and one wrong move is going to get us fried literally! And we can’t stay in here forever! The longer that we stay, the more dangerous that it is going to get for us! If we bop heads, we’re going to end up making mistakes and making a mistake here means that you are dead!” Plenty of the others, especially a tall African-American looking male player, nods their heads in agreement and Taichi shouts out, “We don’t have time for these type of ‘dominance struggles’! All of us have people that we want to get back too and so do the players that are in the two floors below us! So, what are we waiting for?!” The rest of the Digital Knights clap at this in which they are joined by the African American male player along with three others in which plenty of the other players can’t help to applaud Taichi’s speech in which Lind gives an emotionless look through his right eyebrow is twitching while Kibaou gives out a straight out irritated look.

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, “Ouch! They have been majorly being put ‘in their place’. I would be worried about that guy becoming a target of the other two guilds, but something tells me that I really don’t need to worry. This guy knows exactly what he is doing…like he has been in a situation like this before. It is silly, but this guy…he has the aura of a leader around him. He really has great potential.” Kirito can’t help to smile at Taichi along with the rest of the Digital Knights.

 

Taichi says, “Since it seems like guild leaders are the ‘heads’ of the meeting of the players fighting in the ‘front lines’, I don’t think that you will mind me being here since I’m a guild leader too.” Kibaou was about to say a few choice words, but he quickly stopped himself knowing that with what happened just now, anything that he says against Taichi will make him look bad and cause him to lose respect and ‘prestige’ among the ‘front-line players’ in which he wisely ‘holds his tongue’. Taichi tells Lind and Kibaou, “So, what are our future plans?”

 

Kibaou says, with his classic tone of voice, “Are you kidding? Our plan is to finish up this floor within a week! That freaking means getting to the labyrinth in four days and beating the boss in another two! Our best option to make that happen is numbers! We can’t keep up this pace with only around forty to fifth-whatsit folks every time! We got to get out there and recruit folks what got a bone to pick with this damn game!” At this point, Kirito looks at Asuna and she has a proud smile on her lips.

 

Kirito whispers to Asuna, “You seem happy.”

 

Asuna whispers back, with a sly smile on her lips, “I’m glad that someone has come along and put the two of them in their places. Whether I join a guild or not and who I hang around with or not are my choice and my choice alone. I might be able to put up with those two’s pushy attitudes, but if they think that it is their job to guild others and tell them what to do, they have got another thing coming. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but that new guy just did it perfectly. He and his friends are strong and they have the strength that they need to keep those two and their guilds in their place.”

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, “I don’t doubt that Asuna, but this means that they have a major target on their backs.” Soon enough, the meeting ends with Kibaou saying that the first of the now THREE guilds that finds the floor boss gets to be the guild that leads the boss raid party in the battle against the floor boss of the third floor and after a cheer, all of the players start to leave. In the aftermath of the meeting, Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi are assembled in front of the members of the Digital Knights.

 

Takeru, the well-combined blond haired male player with two-handed sword, says, “You know all of that talk about speeding up the pace of conquest of this pace and bringing in more players to the ‘front lines’ is quite contrary.”

 

Sam, blue-haired male player with the one-handed sword, says, “Yes, but as much as we hate to admit it, Kibaou has a point. We can’t keep going with the numbers that we already have. We need more assistance up here.”

 

Kirito says, “I’ve got to agree. With the numbers that we have, eventually, we are going to stall and we can’t stall at all. The longer that we stay here, the more dangerous for us it is.” Kirito tells Taichi, “You know that you might have put a bullseye on your backs with those two, but then again, it might be part of the reason that you did that.”

 

Taichi says, “Hey, if it will keep them going forward and not bashing each other’s heads causing people to die, then fine by me.”

 

Junpier, the magenta-haired female player with the mace, says, rolling her eyes, “No kidding. Who put those two in charge? Seriously!”

 

Sam says, “Like it or not, they do have some leadership skills.”

 

Yamato, the spiky blond-haired male player with the lance and shield, says, with a sly smirk, “They just don’t know how to use it right.”

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “No kidding.”

 

Miyako says, with a smile, “Anyway, it is nice to know that Junpier and I aren’t the only girls on the front lines.”

 

Juniper says, with a grin, “You must be really something to keep up with those two.”

 

Asuna says, a bit embarrassed, “N-Not really.”

 

Kirito tells Taichi, “Just be careful out there.”

 

Taichi says, “Same here. Personally, I think that you like to live dangerous since you made sure that idiot, Kibaou, didn’t murder all of the beta testers by taking all of the blame for them.” Kirito gives a look of surprise and Taichi says, with a smirk, “Dude, we’re not idiots.”

 

Kirito asks, with a nervous smile and scratching his scalp, “That obvious to you, huh?”

 

Sam says, with a smile, “Yeah.”

 

Takeru says, “Anyway, Kirito, just know that you aren’t alone in this.”

 

Kirito says, a bit nervously, “Thanks.”

 

Junpier tells Usagi, with a smile, “Hey, White Swordswoman-san, we’re rooting for you out there.”

 

Usagi asks, a bit surprised, “Huh?”

 

Junpier says, with a smile, “Come on, girl! You don’t think that we haven’t heard what you have been doing for other players out there!”

 

Usagi says, solemnly, “It isn’t enough…”

 

Junpier says, with a kind smile, “Not from the stories that I heard from players who you helped save.”

 

Yamato tells Junpier, “Easy. You are making her uncomfortable.”

 

Junpier says, nervously, “Oops! Sorry!” Junpier says, “But come on, you are only a human player in this game. You aren’t a super-hero like Sailor Moon.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, nervously, “You don’t know how wrong that you are.”

 

Miyako tells Usagi, “Anyway, White Swordswoman-san…And yes, we know that’s not your player name. We, kind of, get why you want to keep your face and name hidden. Look, we just want to say that there are some players that have your back.”

 

Usagi says, with a kind tone, “Thank you.”

 

Kirito says, glancing around, “Sorry to be rushing off, but we have to get going.”

 

Taichi says, “We get you. Hope to see you on the front lines soon.”

 

Kirito says, with a smile, “Same here.” Kirito, Usagi, and Asuna head off in one direction while the Digital Knights head off in another direction.

 

Asuna says, “They seem like a good bunch. I hope that they will do well out there.”

 

Kirito says, with a smile, “They will Asuna. They are going to be a great guild. They may not be the best guild, but they are going to be a great guild.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, “How can you be so sure, Kirito?”

 

Kirito responds, with a grin, “Well, they have a good leader in Taichi-san. He really did tell Kibaou off.”

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “I agree. He was quite impressive doing that.”

 

Kirito says, “However, it is more than that Asuna. He carries himself like a leader.”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “I agree with Kirito, Asuna. Taichi-san really showed himself to be a leader. We saw it ourselves.”

 

Asuna says, nodding her head in agreement and understanding, “Yes, you’re right.”

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, with a smile, “They are going to be one of the great guilds here in Aincrad one day.” Kirito gives a mental sigh and he thinks, “However, I’m sorry, Taichi-san, but it is for the best that your friends and guildmates don’t have someone like me mucking up your group. It is good to know that there are other players like Agil out there, but someone like me is just going to give you more trouble than you have right now. One day, other players are going to be looking up to you and your group along with another I know…” Kirito then glances at Asuna and in his mind, it makes Kirito determined that he sees that ‘destiny’ that Asuna is made for come to pass through he knows that the two of them may go their separate ways.

 

Usagi asks, “So, what do we do now?”

 

Kirito says, “Let’s head back to Kizmel and the camp.”

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “Good idea.” They head off in which Usagi then gets a feeling that they are being watched in which she glances around in which she then seems to see ‘something’ for a moment and when they are just outside of town, Usagi stops in her tracks causing Kirito and Asuna to stop and look at Usagi in surprise and confusion.

 

Kirito asks, curiously, “Usagi?”

Usagi responds, “Hold on a minute, Kirito.”

 

Asuna asks, curiously, “What’s wrong?”

 

Usagi doesn’t reply to Asuna’s question and she calls out, seemly to no one, “Are you there, Kizmel?” Kirito and Asuna look at each other in confusion, believing that Kizmel is back at the dark elf camp.

 

But then a familiar female voice calls out, “So, you noticed.” The three players look in the opposite direction where they were looking at where they find the familiar female dark elf knight with onyx eyes gleaming with mischief.

 

Usagi responds, nervously, “How could I not notice?”

 

Kirito and Asuna give gaps of shock and surprise and Asuna asks, nervously, “Kizmel? How long have you been there?” Asuna then gains a red look on her avatar’s facial features and she asks, nervously, “Were you also…in the room with us…?”

 

Usagi gives a confused look at Asuna’s question and Kizmel responds, “No, I spotted you in the meeting place at the center of the town. It wasn’t until the late afternoon that I used the teleporting charm to come into range.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, shocked, “Hold on! Kizmel is an NPC and while she is ‘assisting NPC’ to Kirito, Asuna, and I since we are taking the War Elf quest in which she is part of that this quest or at least, the version that we are taking, if it is the same quest, she is a red cursor ‘mob’ to the other players, maybe even players taking this quest and also fighting for their dark elf ‘faction’. She would also be considered that by the NPC guards of the town, normally, and be attacked instantly. She did say that she had a ‘hiding charm’, is that why? Or is it something else?”

 

Kirito asks, curiously and a bit nervously, “So, why did you come all the way to the human town?”

 

Kirito and Usagi felt that Kizmel blushed a bit, but Kizmel says, plainly and seriously, “It was my duty.”

 

Usagi asks, curiously, “Duty?”

Kizmel says, “Yes. The commander has given me a mission: Serve and protect you. You didn’t return for many hours after leaving this morning, so I simply left to see how you were doing.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “She just left the camp on her own? While I don’t doubt her power, she is high-level and the monsters around here don’t have a chance as well as the fact that she had the ability to hide so well. But a normal NPC, even an ‘assisting NPC’, doesn’t normally seek out the players that they are assisting. They usually wait around for them at one location or another and they join up with those players there. Kizmel, what are you?”

 

Kirito asks, a bit nervously, “Simply, huh? Is it really safe to go all the way into the middle of town like that? What if your hiding…Um, deception charm wore off?”

 

Kizmel says, with her face seemly taking a look of pride, “This Mistmoon Cloak is most effective at the evening and morning hours when sunlight and moonlight switch places. Even with a little contact, its charm will not break.”

 

Kirito says, a bit amazed, “Wow.” Kirito then asks Asuna, “Asuna, maybe we should go back to the camp, if that’s okay with you?” While Kirito planned to have a meal in Zumfut, but he didn’t want to have Kizmel tag along, out of sight, and there is the fact of what happened with the Digital Knights making their appearance as the ‘counter’ to both DKB and ALS guilds.

 

Asuna glances at Usagi and she responds, “All right. Especially since Kizmel came all this way to see us.” Asuna then says, “You know, I was thinking that we should just stay around the elf camp all the way to the boss battle.”

 

Usagi gives Asuna a curious look and Kirito says, “Well, I guess we can get all we need on the state of progress from Agil and Argo and there are plenty of supplies at the camp, but I thought that you really liked that hotel room in Zumfut.”

 

Asuna replies, “I got to see the view, once, and that was enough. Besides, I don’t want to be anywhere near those guild people right now…other than that third new guild.”

 

Kirito nods in understand, glances at Usagi, and Kirito asks Kizmel, “Kizmel, do you mind if we stay in the tent with you starting tonight and lasting for a week or so?”

 

Kizmel replies, simply and with a beautiful smile, “I do not mind. I would be delighted for to call it home. Let us live together until our goals are met.”

 

Kirito replies, with a nod, “Great. Thanks.” As the three players and dark elf knight head back to the dark elf camp, Kirito and Usagi can’t help to wonder what Kizmel really is since she isn’t a ‘normal’ NPC at all in which they can’t help to wonder about what Kizmel could be.

 

December 18, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three

 

Right now, we are back inside of the dark elf camp ‘made’ for Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi as they are playing the War Elf quest on this floor. Inside of the camp, we find Usagi sitting down at a table and enjoying a good hot meal being served, but she is also in deep thought. She, Kirito, and Asuna learned more about the ‘backstory’ for SAO in which the story went the world was divided into multiple kingdoms until one hundred varied regions from around the world were cut in circles from the ground and summoned into the sky in which they were stacked in a conical formation from smallest down to largest pieces of land to form the gigantic floating fortress world of Aincrad. These lands lost the magic that caused the civilizations and kingdoms of humankind fell with the floors lost contact with each other in which the civilizations, in the form of towns, of each floor just took care of themselves. While the background information doesn’t help them at all in finding a way out, one story that Kizmel explained to them got her interest. From what Kizmel tells them, there is a dark elf legend that great magics that formed Aincrad came from a mighty princess with ‘the incredible powers of creation’, as Kizmel said that the legends said, in which she and her sister planned for Aincrad to be a place of peace and unity, but a member of their own family tricked the princess to create Aincrad based on his own selfish designs. Hurt over this betrayal, the princess cursed this member of the family into the infamous ‘Demon King of Aincrad’ said to be the ‘shadow ruler’ of this world before she, her sister, and their brother, a mighty warrior prince, died, but dark elf legend says that these siblings would one day return to Aincrad in new forms to strike down the betrayer and bring a final end to the cursed castle in which all of the citizens of their floating castle world would be set free.

 

While this information, like the rest of the information on the ‘game backstory’ of SAO, is useless, but Usagi can’t help to ‘feel something’ from this story that Kizmel story and that it is a ‘hint’ to…something. However, Usagi decides to shake that feeling out of her mind and focus on the here and now, but also felt that she should keep that tidbit in her mind since she had a feeling that it was some kind of clue or something of the sort.

 

By now, it has been three days since meeting of Zumfut and revealing that there are THREE guilds in Aincrad: The Aincrad Liberation Squad, the Dragon Knight Brigade, and the Digital Knights. And the Digital Knights, despite being only having around one-third of the members that either the ALS or DKB have, shown that they were the equal in those two guilds in skill and ability while showing an ability of leadership with their leader, Taichi, taking command in the Field Boss battle with them beating the boss with no fatalities at all.

 

Flashback; Earlier on December 18, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three

 

Just before the main labyrinth that contained the floor boss for this floor of Aincrad, Kirito strikes the final blow against the field boss and bringing its HP to zero causing it to shatter into hundreds of data pixels. Soon after, the classic ‘congratulations’ sign is seen with the classic distribution of EXP, col, and items with Kirito getting the Last Attack bonus.

 

Taichi tells Kirito, “Good job, Kirito.”

 

Kirito tells Taichi, with a smile, “Well, it was your direction that helped Taichi-dono.”

 

Taichi tells Kirito, with a smile, “Come on, we’re all players, here, Kirito.”

 

Just then Kibaou’s voice booms out, “Hey! Hey! Hey!” Everyone looks towards Kibaou in which Kirito, Asuna, Usagi, and the Digital Knights can see plenty of the other players have nasty looks on their faces and Kibaou shouts out, “What’s the big idea giving that beater the Last Attack bonus?”

 

Asuna thinks in her mind, with a sigh, “Here we go.”

 

Usagi can’t help to nod her head, knowing what Asuna is thinking, and Taichi says, with a deadly glare, “And why not? Kirito was in perfect striking position to end this right away to make sure that he field boss didn’t recover at all. While you were willing to take a chance to risk player’s lives over an item, I wasn’t!”

 

A member of the ALS says, “But…!!”

 

Taichi yells out at him, strongly, “But nothing!” Taichi then gives a deadly serious glare in his eyes that causes many of the other players to flinch from his glare and he yells out, “While competition can be healthy to have us improve, which improvement is necessary for our position, going overboard isn’t going to help us at all! This isn’t a game anymore! This is a battle for survival! And I’m not going to risk any player’s lives even ones like you over a matter of stupid…pride, greed, or anything in-between!” Taichi then points his sword at Lind and Kibaou and he yells at them, glaring with every word, “And the two of you should know this quite well! As leaders of your guilds, your duty should be at the upmost is the survival of the players that your command. And as leaders, you are supposed to be ‘symbols’ of inspiration and to show what to do and what NOT to do, especially! Have you been doing that?!” Taichi gives a glare that’s so strong that both Lind and Kibaou flinch from it in which Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi give looks of amazement.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, amazed, “Message: Don’t mess with me.”

 

End Flashback; Return to the Present

 

That confrontation showed that the leader of the Digital Knight’s guild isn’t a person to mess me and the rest of that guild also show that by staring down the other two guilds…and causing them to flinch!

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “The Digital Knights are quite amazing! They stared down Kibaou’s and Lind’s guilds and got them to back down! They are a force to be reckoned with, but I hope that they will be careful and not alienate the player community!” Usagi then shakes her head and she thinks in her mind, with a smile, “No, they seem to know what they are doing. Plenty of the other players agree them with them.” Usagi then gains another thought and she thinks, in deep thought, “Now that I think about it…yeah. They really know what they are doing…as if…as if…As if they faced this kind of situation before…I mean…Actually, it feels like they’ve been in a situation like this…a situation of life and death.” Usagi shakes her head and she thinks in her mind, “Maybe it is my imagination, but Taichi’s leadership qualities are far above Lind’s and Kibaou’s leadership qualities. Hopefully, with someone like him and his guild, things will get better…I hope.”

 

As Usagi continues her meal, she thinks about what else happened within the last three days since the meeting in Zumfut in which she, Kirito, and Asuna haven’t left the camp for that time in which Usagi used the upgrading ingots that she obtained in the quest that she had done for Argo doing that quest, which was more of a puzzle solving quest where there are more than several ways to reach more than several ends proving to be a real ‘brain drain’ for Usagi to get the endings for the quest that got her the ingots. The upgrading ingots are special ones that only work for the NPC blacksmiths for this floor and they work on weapons that are below ten upgrade attempts on them, but other than that, they work like the ingots that Kirito won as the Last Attack bonus from Colonel Nato. With them, she upgraded her new Dragon Cutter from +0 to +6 with giving it two points in sharpness, durability, and accuracy each. Afterwards, they continue on the campaign quest in which they completed the third, fourth, and fifth quests by the time that they had assist the other front-line players in the battle with the Field Boss of this floor of Aincrad. At this time, Usagi’s level is 16 in which it will be the highest that they could reach. Kirito mentioned that back during the beta, the recommended level for fighting the floor boss was around three times the number of the floor, which means level 9, but with the game as it is now, even that could be ‘low’ when it comes to safety in this situation.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “The next quest is the ‘Infiltration’ and we have to steal orders from a forest elf camp. Kirito told me that back in the beta, he was in a party of four with four more dark elf NPC as aids in which they assaulted the camp and defeating the enemy elves to get those orders. But based on the name, you would think that the quest would mean that you sneak into the camp and steal the orders without causing any kind of ruckus. Maybe there is more than one way to complete the quest.” When Usagi finishes her meal, she steps out and heads out through the camp where she sees Kirito ‘hanging out’ by the bathing tent, acting as a guard.

 

Kirito notices Usagi and he asks, curiously, “Usagi?”

 

Usagi says, with a kind tone, “Hey, Kirito. Just going out.” Usagi start to move, but she is blocked by Kirito when he gets in front of her.

 

Kirito tells Usagi, “You need to stop doing this to yourself, Usagi.”

 

Usagi doesn’t say a word for several seconds and she says, with a weak tone, “I wish that I could, Kirito.” Usagi then goes around Kirito and walks off into the distance in which Kirito can’t help to sigh at this. Shortly afterwards, Asuna emerges from the bathing tent and looks around.

 

Asuna asks Kirito, “I thought that I heard Usagi’s voice. Where is she?”

 

Kirito replies, a bit nervously, “She went out for a walk…” Asuna’s eyes widen at those words and Kirito shakes his head in which Asuna gains a solemn look on her expression.

 

December 19, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three

 

It is the pre-dawn hours and it is still dark out in the forest ‘fields’ of the third floor of Aincrad where we find Usagi walking along and she is planning to head back to the dark elf camp. She has been out in the ‘fields’ in which she is doing what she has been doing ever since she decided to get out and fight for hers and everyone else’s survival in this death game around three days after it started. She has been beating mobs, earning more col than experience due to her high level, and she made sure that several players didn’t end up losing their lives.

 

Usagi takes a deep breath and she thinks in her mind, “What a night. While you don’t get physically exhausted in here, it takes a real headache on your mind and you could feel like you’ve been through a marathon.” However, she then stops when she hears the faint sound of metal hitting metal. Usagi thinks in her mind, “Huh? Swordplay? Is someone…No, wait! We aren’t near the place where the War Elf quest starts, so…” Usagi’s eyes then widen at the implications of what she is hearing and she immediately races off towards the sound of metal clashing with metal. Usagi continues to reach towards the source, the sounds getting louder and louder, and she then manages to see in the distance a pair of cursors…green cursors that indicate players. Usagi thinks in her mind, worriedly, “Oh no! Why are players fighting now? This isn’t a game anymore!” As Usagi gets closer to the players, she is in for a surprise as she sees the two players that are fighting each other causing her to think, shocked, “Kirito?! What’s he doing?!” He then looks at the other player that Kirito is fighting and recognize the metal coif covering this male player’s head in which Usagi thinks in her mind, “Wait! I recognize that player!” Just then Usagi looks to see the male player wielding what looks like a one-handed ax and she thinks in her mind, “I know that weapon too! I’ve seen it before!” Usagi races down towards Kirito and the other player in which the other player puts his axe back into his in-game inventory while retrieving an Anneal Blade from a river before he heads off in which a sign appears that says ‘Kirito VS Morte’ and the word ‘TIE’ below their names showing that the two of them fought in-game duel and it ended in a tie.

 

With the coif wearing player, Morte, is out of sight, Usagi gets to Kirito’s side and he asks, surprised, “Kirito?”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, “Kirito, what’s the big idea?”

 

Kirito tells Usagi, making a motion to ‘quiet down’, “Easy, Usagi. The forest elf camp for the ‘Infiltration’ quest is nearby.”

 

Usagi asks, curiously, “Really?” Usagi then shakes her head and she asks Kirito, “Never mind that. What’s going on here?” Kirito sighs and he explains that he went off alone to infiltrate the camp to get the orders, so, they wouldn’t have to perform a raid like he and other beta testers did back in the beta. He then found Morte hiding for him and Morte forced him into a door where he threatened to create a noise to alert the camp to his presence to make his attempt at sneaking in and taking the orders in a sneaky manner practically impossible. Kirito fought in half-finish duel against Morte, thinking that the risk of him dying was minimum, but Morte then attempted to PK him during the duel by reducing his health to just above half-way mark and then hitting him with an attack that would cause him damage beyond his current HP, killing him while making it a ‘legal’ PK so Morte won’t become a criminal player, known as an orange player due to the fact that a player that commits a ‘crime’ in SAO gets their cursor turned from green to orange. However, by a mixture of luck and tactics, Kirito turned the tables and forced his HP to be even with his own in which Kirito found out that he uses both a sword and one-handed ax causing Kirito to realize that Morte is working with BOTH the DKB and the ALS using his ability to use different weapons to moonlight between both guilds. However, Kirito was unable to get an idea on why Morte was doing this and why he wanted to keep himself and his ‘group’, namely Asuna, Usagi, and Kizmel, away from the camp. When Kirito is done with explanation, Usagi slaps herself in the forehead and she asks, “Geez, Kirito, why do you have to be so…so…?”

 

Kirito says, nervously, “Sorry.”

 

Usagi tells Kirito, “You don’t have to worry about me. It’s Asuna that you need to worry about.” Kirito gets a nervous look from Usagi’s statement.

 

However, Usagi and Kirito then hears out, “Who are all of you?!” Kirito and Usagi jump up in surprise and Kirito looks around to make sure that they weren’t spotted by the guards of the forest elf camp, but then realized that the shout came from a good distance away from the position. Kirito and Usagi head over in the direction, making sure that they were hidden, in which they are shocked to see two groups of players in the distance away from the camp. While using their Hiding Skills, Kirito and Usagi find that there are two groups of players, one made of around ten to one dozen players and the other group around half-a-dozen, and the larger group is of the DKB and the other smaller group of players is of the ALS in which Lind is leading the DKB group with Kibaou leading the ALS group.

 

Kibaou’s voice booms out, “First? Ya only beat us by a couple seconds at beast! And what do you mean, rules?! If you made them up yourself, we don’t got to play along! We’ve got to beat this assault quest, too, no matter what it takes!” Kirito quickly realize that the ALS are also taking the War Elf quest and they are on the side of the dark elves, much like Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi.

 

Lind’s voice booms out, “Whether it’s quest or hunting grounds, first come, first served is the obvious way of things! If you’re going to be the leader of a guild, you’ve got to follow your good conscience, Kibaou!”

 

Kibaou yells out, angrily, “Conscience? You’re going to take about conscience, Lind?! Well, I’ve got a bone to pick about that! Ever since we’ve got here, you been hiding the fact that this elf quest is crucial to beating the boss!” Kirito was about to yell out in surprise, but he keeps his mouth shut.

 

Usagi whispers to Kirito, “Kirito…?”

 

Kirito whispers back, “No, Usagi. It isn’t true at all. Going through this quest gives you a lot of rewards, but it isn’t necessary to defeat the boss. At least, that’s how it was in the beta and how it was in the first two floors of this SAO.”

 

Kibaou then screams out, “You remember what happened five days ago! The raid was nearly wiped about because that their boss cow had turned into three! That same trap has been laid here on the third floor. Some trap that’s going to do us in if we ain’t cleared the elf quest and got whatever items it gives out. You knew it was true and ya didn’t say a word for it during that strategy meeting! So, where is your conscience, huh?!”

 

Usagi whispers to Kirito, “It seems like Kibaou has been convinced of that fact.”

 

Kirito whispers, with a nod, “Yeah, but even if it were true and there have been changes that connect the campaign quest to the floor boss, you would have to go through all of the chapters of the campaign quest in this floor to find out and it looks like us along with the ALS and DKB are at the sixth quests of our respective ‘versions’ of the War Elf quest.”

 

Usagi asks Kirito, in a whisper, “Then someone gave Kibaou false information?”

 

Kirito says, in a whisper, “It looks like it…” Kirito’s eyes then widen and he says, “Morte…”

 

Usagi asks, in a whisper, “You mean that player that you fought in a duel?” Usagi then asks, realizing something and in a whisper, “You mean that he could be the one that gave Kibaou the false information?”

 

Kirito says, with a nod and in a whisper, “Yeah, remember, he has been moonlighting with both the Dragon Knights and the Liberation Squad. He has been using his ‘duel weapon wielding nature’ to infiltrate both guilds. And what’s wrong…this is what he was after.”

 

Usagi silently gasps and she asks, in a whisper with a worried tone, “What?! Why?”

 

Kirito responds, shaking his head and in a whisper, “I don’t know, but we need to do something before things come to blows. I hope that it won’t, but neither of them is backing down and there is only one cool head in those two groups of players and he is on the Dragon Knight’s side. There is no one with the Liberation Squad with the same cool head. They, both, want to get to the camp because once one of them completes one of their quests at this key location, the location changes to another random spot…” Just then Kirito’s eyes widen and Usagi and Kirito look at each other in which while Kirito can’t see Usagi’s face, he knows that there is an understanding look on her face in which Kirito says, “Usagi, back to the camp, now.”

 

Usagi says, with a nod, “Right.” Immediately, Kirito and Usagi sneak off to return to the camp, sneak in, and as the guilds prepare to rush into the camp, the camp vanishes and the sixteen players look dumbfounded until Kirito and Usagi come down the hill to confront them.

 

When Kirito and Usagi come up to the players, who weren’t happy to see them and show it on their faces, Kirito says, plainly, “Sorry, we just finished the quest. You’ll have to look for the camp elsewhere.”

 

Kibaou says, “No wonder I ain’t see ya around. The little beater boy was busy with the campaign. And just like this foo with the topknot, you knew we needed a quest reward ta beat the boss and didn’t see fit to tell anymore.”

 

Usagi asks, plainly, “And where did you get that information?”

 

Kibaou responds, glaring at Usagi, “What was that, princess?”

 

Usagi retorts, plainly, “I was asking where you got that information. Far as I know, from what I heard from my squirt of a brother when he was bragging about the game to me, this campaign quest has NOTHING to do with the floor boss at all.” There are looks of surprise from the group of players and Usagi says, “You already know that my little brother was a beta tester in the game, but he had a doctor’s appointment, so, he didn’t get trapped in here…” Usagi thinks in her mind, “In which I’m partially thanking Kami-sama for that…” Usagi then says, continuing, “He bragged to me A LOT about playing in the beta because I wanted to play, too, but I never got the chance to even enter. He just bragged about what he did in the beta just to piss me off, but I always blow him off not wanting to give him the pleasure to me. However, I do remember quite a few things that he told me about what he did in the game and one of them was this quest in which what my squirt of a brother said about the quest had no relation to the floor boss…at least back in the SAO beta. When I asked Kirito about this quest, he gave me the same information based on his experience.”

 

Kibaou yells out, annoyed, “Yeah, so what?!”

 

Usagi says, plainly, “What I’m saying is that even if what you say is true, you had to have already completed the campaign quest on this floor and as far as I know, no one has completed all of the quests in this big quest for this floor already. Where did you get you information? How could you have known that the items earned at the end of this big series of quest helps us with the floor boss? Unless…”

 

Just then male voice screeches out, “Shut it! That’s not the point!” Kirito and Usagi focus on the person and Usagi immediately recognizes him in which this man shouts out, “Don’t listen to this witch and this beater lie to you! They are among the reasons that Diabel died! Let’s just ignore them and…!!”

 

Usagi then asks, “Is it true?” Everyone looks at Usagi and she asks the man, “You are the person that accused Nezha that his actions have killed the player and I asked who that player was? Did you ever find out who that player was?” Immediately, everyone can hear the man stutter and gasp as if hit by a body blow and he can’t say a word for several seconds while Kirito, who didn’t recognize the male player at first, now, realizes WHO he was.

 

The man regains his voice and he yells out, “That’s not the point…!!!”

 

Usagi responds, interrupting, “You know, Kibaou-san, your guild’s reputation could suffer major damage if your members are throwing accusations without evidence that they did the crime.” The man glares at Usagi, but Kibaou glares at the man with a dangerous glare causing the man to flinch from that glare.

 

Kibaou tells him, with a dangerous angered tone, “Shut your mouth right now, Joe!” The male player, Joe, flinches and back down while Lind and DKB members can’t help to gain small smirks at this.

 

Lind regains his composer and he says, “Despite his pension to be emotional, Joe-san does have a point about what happened with Nezha and his companions isn’t the point right now.” Lind then says, plainly, “However, YOU, White Swordsman-san, have your point in saying that if the quest had been changed from when beta testers like Kirito have done and have items that are needed for the boss battle, it would have to mean that someone had to have completed all of the quest for the campaign on this floor. So far, no one has completed said quests that we know of. And the only ones that we know of that are taking the quest are us, Kibaou’s Liberation Squad, and you and your two partners, Kirito and Asuna.” Lind then says, glancing at Joe, “And the only ways that you can restart this quest that are possible are: One, you completely do all of the quests that go up to the NINTH FLOOR and completely COMPLETE the campaign quest as a whole which may allow you to restart the quest again by going back to this floor and so far, we have only reached this floor. And two, join up with another group that haven’t started the quest from the start.” Lind says, looking at Kirito and Usagi, “And no insult to you, two, but you aren’t the people that are the joining type with ‘other groups’ despite ‘other groups’ willing to take you.”

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, sarcastically, “Yeah, thanks…”< /p>  

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Lind’s talking about the Digital Knights.”

 

Lind tells Kibaou, with a serious glare, “And what I’m getting at is exactly what the White Swordswoman is asking, Kibaou. Where did you get this information? How would you know that the quest has been changed where it has items that we need to defeat the quest boss?”

 

Kibaou yells out, “Oh, really? You are going there, huh? Well, genius, remember when I mentioned the cow boss turning into three?! Remember ‘The Rat’?”

 

Lind tells Kibaou, “Kibaou, the information dealer isn’t the point…”

 

Kibaou shouts out, interrupting, “The point is that ‘The Rat’ got her information about the changes to the damn boss because of doing a quest or have you forgotten?! She learned about the damn boss information from a quest on the floor, so, who is to say that someone didn’t learn this darn information by performing a quest on this floor? What do you say to that?”

 

This time, it was Lind’s turn to be silent and Kirito thinks in his mind, “Uh oh. Kibaou has got a point. And we have no proof that no one did a quest that found out that information.”

 

Just then a female voice shouts out, “Hey, what’s with all the yelling?” Everyone looks to the source to find none other than the Digital Knights walking towards them.

 

Kibaou asks, annoyed, “What are you doing here?”

 

Miyako retorts, annoyed, “What do you think? Listening to your yelling and screaming!”

 

Junpier says, annoyed, “Yeah, we can hear you all the way from the main town!”

 

Taichi asks, “So, what’s the big problem here?”

 

Kibaou yells out, annoyed, “None of your business…!!!”

 

Kirito says, with a sly smile, “Actually, it is good timing, Taichi. You must be preparing to go to the labyrinth.”

 

Miyako responds, “What do you think Kirito?” Miyako points to Kibaou and she says, “We’ve got to get to the boss room based on what this loudmouth said or all of us are going to look like idiots!” Kibaou gives a winch and then gains a really annoyed look at Miyako.

 

Kirito says, with a smile, “Do you need any assistance? If you don’t mind our help.”

 

The DKB and ALS give looks of surprise and Yamato says, “No problem. The more, the merrier.”

 

Kibaou then yells out, “Hold up! What do you think that you are doing?!”

 

Kirito tells Kibaou, “What I just said, Kibaou. We’re going to join the Digital Knights and assist them in clearing out. I’m a beater, remember? I’m not rushing through the campaign quest for the rewards, but to level up myself and strengthen my equipment for the floor boss. I’m sure that you didn’t go through the guild quest to mindless argue over little things like this. At this point, if that’s the case, I’m sure that Asuna and my other partner, here, won’t mind stopping the quest if we’re going to have ‘problems’ with mindless squabbling from the two of you. We, all, have people that we care about that we plan to go back to. I plan to live, beat the game, and go back to them. I’m a beater and I plan to do what it takes to do that. While you are bickering, I’ll join up with the Digital Knights and conquer the labyrinth in which Asuna, my other partner, and I, with the Digital Knights, will get all of the chests and ores in there. Since I’m a beater, don’t expect me to leave any good stuff for you. And since the Digital Knight have shown to have really good heads on their shoulders, I’ll make sure that they are the ones leading the raid group by making sure that they get to the boss room first.” When Kirito stopped talking, both the DKB and ALS groups have flabbergasted looks on their faces in which plenty of those flabbergasted looks turned into looks of annoyance and anger.

 

The Digital Knights look at each other and Junpier whispers, “What’s going on here?”

 

Taichi whispers, with a shrug, “Don’t look at me.”

 

Kibaou tells Kirito, “Ya got to the sixth chapter of the quest and now, you are just going to abandon it?”

 

Kirito responds, plainly, “That’s right. I know that Asuna and my other partner right here may be annoyed, but we won’t be able to go any further if we are stopped by both your guild and the Dragon Knights over pointless bickering.” Joe want to yell out something, but a glare from Kibaou causes him to clam up.

 

Lind then says, “To be honest, like Kibaou, I find it hard to believe that you are giving up the campaign, Kirito. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t doubt your skill, Asuna’s skill, and the White Swordswoman’s skill combined. And you have a point about our Digital Knight ‘comrades’, they have proven a frontline guild…” Miyako and Junpier give proud smirks and Lind says, continuing, “In fact, I must admit, the three of you with them can easily conquer the labyrinth. However, it isn’t proof enough that you have given up the campaign. In fact, speaking of your other partner, where is Asuna? Right now, you have no proof that she doesn’t have the story item and ran off to complete the quest while the two of you occupy our attention here?”

 

Kirito and Usagi flinch and Kibaou yells out, “Yeah! For once, I damn well agree with that bloke here! I don’t see that other cloaked girl that’s hanging around the princess and you, beater boy! Where is she?! Where is the proof that you aren’t going to continue this damn quest behind our backs?!”

 

Kirito and Usagi are nervous since Usagi knows that Kirito left Asuna and Kizmel to perform the next quest himself, but then a familiar female voice says, “If you want me, I’m right here.” Everyone then looks in the direction of the voice in shock as none other than Asuna, with her classic brown hooded cloak over her, walks over and she says, plainly, “As Kirito said, we don’t have time for useless bantering around here. If you are going to stay here and mindlessly argue while plenty of players, including those are waiting in fear in the Town of Beginnings, looking to their freedom from this death trap one day are being held back because of you, two, I’m going with my current partners and aid the Digital Knights because they are getting stuff done to advance us the next step towards freedom unlike you. And in my book, they should deserve to lead the raid since they seem to be getting the job done.” Lind and Kibaou get a bit pale after that while the other members of both the DKB and ALS give stuttered looks of shock while the Digital Knight give amazed with the two female players of the Digital Knights give proud smiles.

 

Miyako and Junpier think in unison, “You go girl!”

 

Joe was about to open his mouth, again, and screech out another accusation in which Yamato says, “Hey, buddy, before you go yapping your mouth, are there going to be any facts behind your screeching? Because we heard all about what happened with those Legend Brave guys and from what we know, nobody die because they lost their weapon.” Once again, Kibaou was glaring, dangerously and angrily, at Joe and Kibaou’s message was crystal clear: ‘Shut your darn mouth!’ Getting the message, Joe keeps his mouth shut while shrinking behind the other ALS members.

 

Kibaou tells Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi, “You really darn think you can handle that darn boss without the quest rewards? If there’s any chance at all that we need them to tackle the boss, it ain’t too late to find out. I get it. But I also get your darn message. While a lot of fucking stuff is the same, this isn’t the fucking beta. Remember what darn gosh happened with the first two bosses? There were darn differences that cost Diabel his life and nearly destroyed our group taking on that darn threesome of cows! And you know damn well that this darn boss is going to be different from what that beater knows as well! And with those cows, it was that ‘Rat’ that got the information and it nearly came too late! Only an extreme baka wouldn’t learn the lesson that you’ve got to do the quests to make freaking sure that you don’t lose anyone to this wretched game!”

 

Kirito retorts, “Excellent point. But if testing the loot the reward loot is truly your aim, then either your guild or the DKB should abandon the quest. Since you are on different sides, if you attempt to complete it at the same time, you will clash, again, like tonight. If you can discuss the matter and determine which of the two will step down, I’m wiling to wait until we’ve done our homework.”

 

Taichi says, “Or you can have a ‘third party’ do the quest and get it done that way.” Both the ALS and DKB look at the Digital Knights and Taichi says, “As it is said, all three groups, here, are doing the quest and right now, you, two, guilds can’t trust the other right now. Kirito and his partners are an ‘outside party’ and they can complete the quest in which you know that they aren’t on either side since they are independent. Let them finish the quests for this floor as long as they promise to give every detail of what happened to see if any of the items gained in the campaign quest for this floor to see if the items have any significance to the boss fight.” Taichi says, with a sly smile, “If not, while you guys are arguing and making no progress in the game at all, we’re going to have the three of them help us get to the boss room and you have to follow our commands.”

 

Lind and Kibaou pale at this and Kirito thinks in his mind, “I understand the real message that Taichi is giving. And that’s: ‘The rest of the players are going to know that two of the first front-line guilds are bickering like little children over quests that have no connection to advancing the ‘front-lines’ and freeing us from this death game making our freedom that much longer’. Basically, Taichi is threatening to seriously damage the prestige of the DKB and ALS shortly after they became official guilds and have his guild becoming the leading guild of the front-line players which could result in the destruction of both guilds. Taichi might be bluffing somewhat in this since, like it or not, we need both those new guilds since they are full of veteran players and having them organized is better than them breaking apart. Solo players can only go so far.” As Kirito thinks that, he can’t help to glance at Usagi’s and Asuna’s directions through they don’t see that.

 

Just then another familiar female voice says, “And they won’t be alone in their endeavor.” There are looks of shock from Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to and their fears are confirmed when none other than Kizmel makes her appearance in which she announces, pointing to Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi, “I am Kizmel, a royal knight of the Pagoda Knights Brigade in the service of the kingdom of Lyusula! I have pledged my support to these three human warriors as they venture forth to the Pillar of the Heavens! Even the stoutest guardians within the tower shall be as helpless as the morning dew before my blade!”

 

As the others in the group have their obvious reactions to her, Usagi thinks in her mind, with a mental slap, “Oh, boy.”

 

Kizmel managed to listen into their reactions in which she whispers to Kirito, “Your human language is more complex than I knew.”

 

Kirito sighs and after several moments, Kirito tells Kizmel, in a whisper, “Kizmel, all of us weren’t born in this castle. We were brought here from a far-off place and we’re fighting back to get back to our world.”

 

Kizmel says, with a smile, “I knew that from the start that you were not of this world, Kirito.”

 

Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi give looks of surprise and Usagi asks, “You did?”

 

Kizmel says, “Yes. I have chosen not to ask you about it until now. It is a story as old as Aincrad itself. It is the last great charm of humanity, is it not? To summon warriors from a foreign land and have them fight to unify all of the Pillars of the Heavens as one? It is part of prophecies in our elven lore. In fact, as I have mentioned before, it is said that among these human warriors, the reborn children of the cursed ‘Demon King of Aincrad’ will be among them and return to strike him down for his betrayal of them and Aincrad’s true purpose and return Aincrad and its people to the world below. However, it is also stated that the human warriors summoned to this world were cursed by the Demon King and would be sent into the depth of oblivion instead of being revived by the last magics of humanity if they are struck down in this castle as the summoning for other worldly warriors usually works.” Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi are a bit surprised that Kizmel has an interruption of what happened to all of them, the trapped SAO players, in context with the game backstory that Kizmel knows, but they decide not to confuse Kizmel, even with her obviously advanced AI programming, and just agree with her.

 

Miyako comes over and she asks, “So, she is your ally?”

 

Asuna says, with a nod, “Yes, she is.”

 

Junpier says, with a smirk, “Whoa, girl. You know how to pick them.”

 

Lind then says, “Everyone, we’ve come to a decision.” Everyone looks at Lind and he says, “After careful consideration, the Dragon Knights Brigade and Aincrad Liberation Squad have decided to abandon the campaign quest.” There are looks of surprise from Kirito, Asuna, Usagi, and the Digital Knights in which Lind says, “However, we still need to test to see if the items of the quest have an effect on the success of defeating the floor boss. We have decided to agree to ‘suggestion’ made by the leader of the Digital Knights guild.”

 

Usagi asks, “So, you are going to labyrinth?”

 

Kibaou retorts, sternly, “No freaking kidding we are! We’re going to show that we’re not fooling around here! The Liberation Squad is here to ensure the survival and liberation of all players trapped in here and that’s what we’re going to fucking do! We would be the laughing stock of this place if we left to just jokers like them!” When Kibaou makes a motion to the Digital Knights, they give off annoyed looks and he says, “If someone died because we didn’t do our stinking job, I wouldn’t sleep at night!”

 

Yamato says, lowly, “That’s one of putting it.”

 

Kirito then says, with a nod, “Today is the nineteenth and we are planning to tackle the boss on the twenty-first. We’ll aim to finish the campaign by the evening of the twentieth and report the results, but this means that you’ll have to trust our information of course.”

 

Lind says, with a nod, “Of course. I’m not going to quibble about that at this point. It pains me to admit that you and White Swordswoman are doing what needs to be done as front-runners of our group. It also pains me to admit that you, two…are much like Diabel.” Lind then asks, “I think that it is a good time to ask you, two. You were the ones that heard his dying words. What did he say at the very end?”

 

Usagi then says, “After he refused to take the potion from Kirito, feeling that it wouldn’t work in time, he told us that we had to take it from there. He told us to kill the boss and save everyone.” Lind becomes completely silent and his right hand turns into a fist.

Lind says, “And we will. On this floor…and the next. And all of the other floors until this is over. That’s why the Dragon Knights were formed.” Lind turns to his comrades and they salute him in unison in which he says, “The DKB will begin tackling the labyrinth. Even I must admit that the White Swordswoman is right. We have no time to be wasting squabbling around like little children. We will meet next at the assembly place in Zumfut on the twentieth, seventeen hundred hours. Good evenings.” Soon enough, the members of the DKB march off into the distance.

 

When they are gone, Kibaou says, annoyed, “Rotten brat! Always looking down on us as if he is so high and mighty!” Kibaou tells the members of his guild, “Well, come on! Let’s go, Liberation Squad! What are you freaking doing hanging around here for? We’re not going to let these two groups of so-called knights get the better of us! We’re the Aincrad Liberation Squad and it is high time that we showed them why we have that name?! Let’s find that damn boss chamber, kick that darn boss’ ass, and get to the next floor already! We have stupid castle’s butt to kick!” The ALS members roar in unison and they headed in the opposite direction in which Kirito believes that they set up headquarters in another town on this floor.

 

When the ALS members have gone, Taichi says, “I think that it is time that we head off too.”

 

Takeru says, with a smile, “We talked a big game and now, we have got to show it.”

 

Asuna says, “I don’t think that we need to prove anything after the field boss fight.”

 

Yamato says, with a smile, “Maybe, but it doesn’t mean that they will claim that it is fluke if we don’t step up.”

 

Kirito says, a bit nervously, “Somehow I believe that.”

 

Taichi says, with a smile, “Yeah, we should head off and do our part too.”

 

Junpier tells Asuna and Usagi, “Hope to see you, too, soon! It is nice to know that there are more kickass girls in the frontlines too!”

 

Asuna says, with a kind smile, “Same here.” The Digital Knights then take their leave and soon enough, Kirito, Asuna, Usagi, and Kizmel prepare to head back to the dark elf camp with the forest elf commander’s written orders in hand.

 

December 20, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three

 

Right now, Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi are with Kizmel in front of a large tree known as a Spirit Tree, which serves as the dark elves’ ‘transport’ between floors. After what happened with the DKB, ALS, and Digital Knights in the previous evening, Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi teamed up with Kizmel to finish up the campaign quest for this floor in which they went through the seventh through tenth quests in which they face off against the final ‘boss’ of the campaign quest on this floor: Fallen Elf Commander, belonging to the race known as Fallen Elves in which they can be identified by being elves with dark violet skin that seems to be like it is rotting and ‘fiendish’ features. After defeating the Fallen Elf Commander, Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi escorted Kizmel, who is holding the Jade Key, the central quest item, to the Spirit Tree, which was a 15 foot wide massive tree with a hollow hole that pulsed with a blue light and at the gateway into the tree, there is a quartet of dark elf sentries.

 

Kizmel says, “Now, it is clear that the Fallen are in league with the forest elves, we must deliver the key to the fortress on the next floor above with haste. I believe that this task will fall upon me to complete, but sadly, only the people of Lyusula are permitted to pass through the spirit tree’s gate.”

 

Asuna gives a solemn look and Usagi says, “We understand, Kizmel. We’ll find our own way.”

 

Kizmel says, with a smile, “I know that you will, Usagi. You are strong and I know that guardian at the Pillar of Heaven will be no match for you, Kirito, and Asuna. I believe that my sister had guided you to me to help me and tell me to live on for both of our sakes. You are mighty in body and spirit and the guardians of the pillar shall stand no chance.”

 

Kirito says, with a kind smile, “Sorry not to be able to live up to your expectations, but it will take more than us.”

 

Kizmel says, with a nod, “That’s understandable, Kirito. The guardians of the Pillars of the Heaven are very mighty, but I know that you and the other human warriors venturing to return to your homeland will find your way through. I know that the Holy Tree will guild us together.” Soon enough, Kizmel shares an embrace with each member of our group of three and afterwards, she gives them her salute in which Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi return it. Kizmel says, “For now, this is farewell. I am sorry not to accompany you to the Pillar of the Heavens, but as I have said before, I know that you will succeed with your fellow otherworld warriors. I will be waiting for you.”

 

Asuna says, “Take care, Kizmel.” Kizmel smiles and nods in which she goes into the Spirit Tree where there is a bright flash from it with her HP bar disappearing from Kirito’s, Asuna’s, and Usagi’s ‘visual displays’.

 

December 20, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Floor Three, Zumfut

 

Back in Zumfut, the next strategy meeting is about to being where we find Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi walking and soon enough, they found out that the Digital Knights had beaten the DKB and ALS to the boss’ room in which thus, the MC of this meeting and the leader of the raid party would be Taichi of the Digital Knights. What surprised Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi was the absence of Morte and while Morte could have taken off his coif and slip into the crowd, Asuna mentioned that based on what she could tell, this is the same lineup as the second-floor boss battle, minus the addition of the Digital Knights, who are the ‘leading guild’ in this floor boss raid, which, naturally, ‘irked’ Lind and Kibaou in which Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi can tell that they aren’t happy that an ‘outsider’ to their guilds is in the lead this time. Taichi lead the strategy meeting flawlessly and the whole of the crowd was moved by his leadership including our ‘threesome’ of ‘outsiders’.

 

After the actual strategy and schedule of the battle with the floor boss has been discussed and roles figured out, Taichi says, “Now, before we continue on, I would like to say that we have been hearing ‘rumors’ that there have been possible changes to the boss from the SAO beta test in which if we don’t get certain items from the War Elf campaign quest, there is a very good possibility that we will fail in this raid. In order to figure this out, we had a group of front-line players outside of our three guilds that have been performing the campaign quest.” Taichi turns his attention to Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi and he asks, kindly, “May we have your findings on this matter, Kirito?” Everyone turns their attention to Kirito and with help from Usagi, he gave a brief outline of what happened in the quest.

 

At the end, Kirito says, “First things first, I have to say that nothing and I mean, NOTHING in the items themselves had any unique relation to the boss. My two partners can attest to that.” Asuna and Usagi nod their heads in agreement and Kirito says, “However, after we received our loot, the elf commander gave us one pieces of advice about the boss.”

 

The entire crowd become silent and Usagi says, “The elf commander told us to bring plenty of antidote pots because the boss uses wild poison attacks and that was all. Before you say anything, Kirito told me that the boss in the beta didn’t have ANY poison attacks at all.”

 

Kirito says, with a nod, “That’s right. I believe that you have Argo’s guilds based on beta information and you can confirm this. Since this information was the thing altered about the boss from the beta, we should bring as many antidote potions as possible. Now, I will leave it to you, Lind, and Kibaou to decide that this information counts as a ‘quest reward crucial to defeating the boss’ or not.”

 

There a moment of silence and Taichi responds, “In my opinion, I would have to say ‘no’, Kirito. The ‘rumor’ was, as I said, an ITEM that was ‘quest reward crucial to defeating the boss’, not information. That’s why in my honest opinion, I have to say that the ‘rumor’ is just that…and an INCORRECT ‘rumor’ at that. However, it doesn’t mean that information isn’t crucial and your work was for nothing, Kirito. You managed to find out that the ‘rumor’ was incorrect and you also got information that will assist in the boss battle. And I believe that we should act appropriately. This is a floor boss, so, we can’t treat it like regular mob’s poison attack. We should treat like a very nasty that could be deadly if we don’t prepare for it properly. Right, everyone?” The other players in the audience can’t help to nod in agreement and Taichi says, “Since we know, now, the boss could have such a deadly BOSS-level poison, we should review our strategy and tactics and change it exactly to prepare for this poison attack. And then when we are done, we should visit as many item shops as possible and stock up on more than enough antidote potions for tomorrow. As planned, we will begin to our operation at nine o’clock tomorrow. Everyone that’s part of the raid will at the north gate of Zumfut. We will travel to Dessel, take a breather, and we will enter the tower. If all goes according to plan, by the end of the day tomorrow, we will be in the next town. Come on, who is with me?!” There is are many loud cheers and applause in which Lind and Kibaou reluctantly clap their hands as well.

 

Kirito thinks in his mind, with a smile, “He is going to be a great leader. He is going to be a player that other players are going to aspire and look up to. I know that you would approve of Taichi, Diabel.” However, as Kirito admired Taichi, he also knows that there is a danger to all of the surviving trapped players in SAO that doesn’t involve the game itself. And Kirito mentally swears to put a stop of Morte’s actions which would endanger all players in escaping SAO.

 

December 21, 2022, SAO/Aincrad, Between the Third and Floor Floors

 

On the December Twenty-First of 2022, Usagi, Asuna, and Kirito are in the stairway leading from the floor boss chamber for the floor boss of this floor of Aincrad, which was Nerius the Evil Treant, which, as the name suggest, was a ‘tree monster boss’, they are being followed by the Digital Knights. Just a short while ago, as the previous sentience ‘suggested’, the floor boss for the third floor of Aincrad was just defeated and the boss used a wide-area poison skill that it didn’t use in the SAO beta, but thanks to preparation beforehand, the stock of antidotes didn’t run dry and the boss raid party defeated the floor boss with NO fatalities.

 

Junpier says, excitedly, “You were really awesome back there!”

 

Kirito tells Junpier, “Don’t sell yourself short, Junpier-san. You and the Digital Knights…I have to say amazing. Your leadership, especially Taichi’s leadership, was just…excellent.”

 

Takeru says, with a smile, “Come on, Kirito. We really didn’t do too much.”

 

Yamato says, with a smirk, “Just make sure that there are no ‘hiccups’ like the ones with the previous floor bosses.”

 

Asuna says, “Well, I have to say that you did your ‘job’ beyond excellent. The whole battle went like clockwork.”

 

Miyako tells Asuna, “Don’t sell yourself short, girlfriend. You and the White Swordswoman were impressive yourself. Those swords were amazing.”

 

Usagi says, a bit nervously, “Thanks…”

 

Asuna says, “Well, I was really trying to get it. The Last Attack bonus.”

 

Kirito says, nervously, “Well, my attack may have hit just microseconds before yours, Asuna…”

 

Asuna yells out, annoyed, “No, they hit SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!” Asuna turns her head away in a huff and plenty of the others had a nervous laugh at this.

 

Usagi asks Taichi, “Why are coming with us, Taichi?”

 

Asuna says, with a nod of her head in agreement, “Yeah. You, guys, were among the big reasons that the battle went so nearly flawlessly.”

 

Yamato says, with a smile, “Maybe, but we don’t want it going to our heads.”

 

Miyako says, with a nod, “Let those guys.”

 

Sam says, with a smile and sigh, “Miyako…”

 

Kirito asks, “Are you sure that you want to be with us?”

 

Taichi tells Kirito, “Hey, bro, didn’t we imply that we don’t care about our image?”

 

Miyako says, in a teasing tone, “Speak for yourself, Taichi.” The other Digital Knights look at Miyako and she says, with a teasing smirk, “Just kidding.”

 

Sam smiles at Miyako and Taichi tells Kirito, “We already know the truth about what happened back with the first floor boss and that just tell us that you are a good character.”

 

Kirito says, nervously, “Well, I wouldn’t say that.”

 

Takeru says, with a plain tone, “Well, I have to agree with Taichi. You trusted us with that important piece of information about this Morte player.”

 

Kirito says, “To be honest, you are the only players that would believe me about him.”

 

Sam says, with a plain tone, “I hate to insult you, Kirito, but that’s true. With the way that those two guilds are, they may have trusted your word with getting the information about the campaign quest, but only because an ‘upstanding guild’ of non-beta testers ‘stood up’ for you.”

 

Kirito says, “No insult taken, Sam.”

 

Junpier asks, “What is the deal with that guy?”

 

Yamato replies, “I don’t know, Junpier. We can’t be sure what that guy is thinking. Right now, despite their ‘problems’, those two guilds represent a large amount of the players in the ‘front-lines’, we may equal the DKB and ALS in quality, but not quantity. And we are going to need plenty of players, despite the risks, if we want to conquer all of the floors of this place. There are ninety-seven more to go.”

 

Sam says, with a nod, “Yeah. Any discord with the players in the ‘front-lines’ will only cause problems and happen our progress to get out of here.”

 

Taichi says, “Well, whatever Morte’s ‘problem’, we’re going to keep a close eye on him.”

 

Takeru says, with a nod, “Right.” The others can’t help to nod in agreement and they continue to venture to the door that they will pass through to get to the next floor of Aincrad in which Kirito, Asuna, and Usagi aren’t only thing of Morte, but they are thinking of their dark elf friend, Kizmel, who is waiting for them on that floor above…

 

The End…for now

 

Whew! We’re finally at the end! Sorry for taking so long to get this next one-shot out, everyone! It was a lot more work than I thought! However, I, very well, enjoyed how this came out. The Progressive story is going to involve the next floor and it is going to be kind of a ‘crossover’ of my Progressive one-shots and my Digital Knight one-shots, but that’s all you are getting from me! I’m making sure that I don’t put too many spoilers out! See you next time, folks! Later and best wishes, Crossover Fans!