Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン 1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Brothers**

Things were supposed to be so simple. Why is it that it never turns out to be that way? Why is it that whenever I want things to go a certain way, they turn out all wrong and disoriented. It was supposed to be so simple. Make my brother happy for once in my life, get him something he wanted for once in his life so that way we could finally make up for all the wrongs we'd done, or more correctly the wrongs that I had done. I never was a good brother, or a good role model. I never once told my brother that I loved him and I never once told him how much he meant to me and now he's stuck in a death game to where I can't reach him…. or can I?

My name is Kiritsu Kaizer. I'm a recent high-school graduate with a part-time job at a Seven-11. Not really much a care in the world. I'm lean, I'm fit, I got a nice body and a damn good smile if I do say so myself. But I've always had one problem; I'm never there for my family when I need to be. Most especially my brother, I'm never there for him when it counts. I missed his last birthday, I missed out on his choir performance and I never even bothered to call him even when I had time to do so. It's clear as day in my mind that I never really understood how much he meant to me until that day I finally decided to do something about it and get him a NervGear and a copy of Sword Art Online. I wanted to do right by doing this for him but it didn't exactly turned out as planned.

I'll admit, I was a little scared about the whole concept of "Full Dive" when I first heard about it. I was scared of being completely immersed in a whole new world that looked and felt real. The whole point of a game was to know that it was a game and not an actual life and it just felt too real for me to get used to it. My brother on the other hand loved the whole kit and caboodle. The second he heard that a game called "Sword Art Online" or better known as "SAO" was coming out he bugged me so many times for me to get it for him since Mom and Dad were short on cash and didn't want to spend it on something so frivolous. And of course me being who I am, I decided to not even bother with it... At least, at first I didn't. As the new game release was nearing it's time to come to fruition, I realized that I never once had gotten a gift for his birthday. And it just so happened that the game would be releasing 1 day after his birthday… so what better way to get on his good side than to get him a late birthday gift? Boy, was I oh so very wrong.

After I had given him the new game and told him to "go with god and have fun" he propped himself on the bed and linked up with the system. I didn't know that things went wrong until 12 hours later… 12 hours… how stupid could I be? Questions started flooding my brain.

"How stupid could you be Kiritsu?! You sent your brother into a death game and you can't do anything now to protect him! You call yourself a brother? What a load of bull crap." I insulted myself in my own stupidity and rage.

But then… it hit me. All the voices in my head shut off and only one thought remained in my head… "I've got to go there." I said to myself.

Without a second more, I got my car keys, picked up my phone and headed over to my friend's place. He was an insane gamer but he knew he had to work until late so he wouldn't be able to get in the game until after work. It was my only chance to get into the game and save my brother.

"Hey man, do you still have your NervGear and copy of SAO?" I said with a forced tone.

"Yea I still got it. I almost got rid of it but I wanted to keep it as a reminder to never try this crap ever again-" I cut him off.

"Look bro, I need that NervGear" I said again with a serious tone.

"What the hell are you talking about? You're not thinking of going in that hellish game are you?!" He couldn't believe what I was saying. It was like I had a death wish.

"MY BROTHER'S IN THERE DAMNIT! I can't just leave him to die in there!" I couldn't hold back my anger. I was so furious with myself and the fact that my friend was trying to be an obstacle in my insane quest wasn't helping me calm myself.

"*Sigh* Look man, what you're basically telling me is that you want ME, to give YOU my NervGear so you can go into a death game where literally 10,000 people have been held captive by an insane madman and genius just so you can save your brother? Do you honestly think I'll let you throw your life away just because you think you can save your brother? You're not even as good a gamer as I am." He was right. I wasn't a great gamer. I wasn't even that great at the MMORPG type games. I could barely get past anything with challenging difficulty and anything that was too challenging I'd just give up on. I couldn't even remember the last time I played an RPG.

"You're right. I may not be good at games but I'll tell you what, tell me someone who is better at wielding a kendo stick better than me. Just name one-" I had to retract that last bit of my statement. "Okay name someone other than Kazuto who is better than me." There now we were good to go.

I heard only silence at the other end of the line and I got impatient. "See I told you! I'll be over there in the next 5 minutes. Don't do anything stupid and I won't kick your ass alright?" I hung up the phone. I knew what I was doing was very selfish but I had to do something. I couldn't live with myself anymore if I couldn't even protect my only brother. With a hardened resolve I sped up to my friend's house. If there was ever a time where I felt like throwing up from pure fear, it was definitely my final moments in the real world and entering the world of SAO.

I finally got to my friend's house and I had rushed in through his front door without even knocking. I ran up to his room and opened the door.

"Do you have it ready?" I said nearly out of breathe.

"Yea… It's on the desk." He said with a sullen look on his face. I knew he was sad. He didn't think I had a snowball's chance in hell of coming out of this alive. Even I had trouble thinking I could go into this and come back out, but I had to what choice did I have? Without a second more on the subject, I walked past him and put on the headgear. With a deep sigh I turned around to face him.

"Well, I don't know when I'll wake up from this but…" I couldn't find the words. I couldn't find out what exactly to say to him. I wanted to say everything was going to be fine but even I didn't know if I was going to be okay. 'Oh well.' I thought in my head. I knew there was nothing that could be done about the situation. I had to get my brother out of there.

I lay down on the bed and with one deep breathe and a sigh, I started the system up with my last two words. "Link, Start!" And with that, I bid farewell to my corporeal body and dove into the system. 'No turning back now' I thought again before dozens of menus pulled up in front of me. {[Welcome to Sword Art Online!]}


	2. Chapter 2: Getting Started

**Hey everyone who is reading.. or at least I hope who's reading. I decided to not wait and just start writing up a story. It's not going to be all in one sitting like the last one was so I apologize if this chapter ends up a little different or skewed than from what I first imagined it to be. Please review and keep on reading it will let me know if this should be an idea that I should continue or not. Without any further delay, please enjoy.**

As I slipped into the confines of the system I noticed that it felt like I was being swallowed whole. It was almost as if I was becoming a part of a grander scheme, like a cog in a clock. It didn't feel that great, I could already feel myself being a subject and submitting to an overpowering will. I knew I had to do this but I was so scared of becoming something else that I couldn't take it. I decided to match myself as close as I could to my real self so that way I wouldn't feel as if I wasn't any different. I took on a masculine face with hazel eyes and black hair. I kept as true to myself as I could but again I looked too much like an animated character. I was still 6'1" and I was still in a rather slim tone body the only problem was the hair didn't look anything like it should have been so I just decided to change my black hair to white. With the next menu I typed out on the keypad 4 letters for my name, Kira.

With a few more screens and a few more choices to go through I finally reached the end of the set up and before I knew it I found myself being enveloped by a strange bright light. Next thing I know, I'm in a city looking at a bunch of scared faces that looked like they had just seen a ghost. Everyone was in shock as to what to do and it was just an overall bad situation. Before I could go up to the nearest person and ask them what was wrong an e-mail icon appeared in front of me. I clicked the e-mail instinctively and a big wall of text filled my screen. It read "From Kei"

"Hey man, I know if you're looking at this then that means I have failed to stop you from entering SAO. Since you're now reading this then I'll let you know exactly what you need to do so that way you're not just a sitting duck. I know you didn't try the game so I'm going to give you a quick run through since I was a beta tester for the whole thing. Now first things first is you need to know how to operate the menu." I kept on reading through my friend's tutorial on the overall game mechanics and how I would need to survive in this game. I learned a few new tricks on how to properly execute a Sword Skill and how to properly work the game. I learned that there were many different types of skills and some insider info on how to get really rare and unique skills that would be available on the next couple of floors. Since he didn't get that far he could only get me information on the first 5 floors, after that I would be on my own.

"Now that you know of mostly what I know, you need to go find someone. He was a pretty good friend of mine and he is probably one of the best players in the entire game. You know him as Kazuto, I know him as 'Kirito', that's his username, or atleast it should still be his username. There's only one problem though, knowing him and the situation he's in, he's probably already left starting city and has started to head to the next village. You need to track him down and find him so you can learn from him. He'll teach you more than I could ever hope to. Good luck out there and please, find your brother and you both get back to the real world safe and sound. I'll be here trying to get as much information I can and try to hack into the mainframe to try and get you more information. I am one of the best hackers afterall.. Anyways good luck and don't die on me ." And with that I closed the message and started to make my way through the mess of people. I knew I didn't have much time to try and catch up to Kazuto as fast as possible. If an insane kendo master like Kazuto was in this game, then he'd probably be my best bet in trying to get out of this mess.

"Hang on brother, I'm off to get stronger and to find you as soon as possible." Knowing my brother and how calm, cool and collected he acts, he should be training his ass off right now or he might even be headed to where Kazuto is heading. My brother is a lot better at games than me too, he should be able to take care ofhimself as long as he knows what to do.

With pep in my step and a steely gaze in my eyes I headed towards the starting equipment shop and got my starter equipment. After a quick flick of my hand and with my prior experience with RPG games, it wasn't hard to figure out what to do in the equipment menu. What I found interesting was the Skills menu. There were so many skills that I could pick from. Everything from 1-handed sword skills to cooking, to woodwork, to stealing and even alchemy were all at my fingertips. I was so impressed with the array of skills that I didn't know what type of skills I wanted to master with especially since I only had two skills slots. Well since I always needed to use swords in this game it would be suicidal to not pick the 1-handed sword skill. As for my second skill I had it narrowed down to two: I could either go into the sneaking skill which would increase my hiding capability and could possibly unlock other abilities such as assassin or stealth or I could go with Alchemy and make my own poisons and potions. With a little more thought I decided to go with stealth.

As soon as I picked the skills another menu popped up. {[Abilities Acquired!]} It looked like I accidentally triggered something… With a click on the details sign another menu popped up with the specifics on exactly what I unlocked.

The list wasn't exactly that large but it was definitely what I had in mind. Down the row I saw abilities that would definitely benefit me on my road to being an assassin.

{[Acquired]}

Sneak attack

Hide in plain sight

Critical Hit

Backstab

Counter

Move Silently

Over half of them were passive abilities but I didn't exactly mind. As I looked further into the details defining each one, I realized something. If I was able to sneak up on a monster and hit it in the back, I would more likely be able to score a critical hit on it with an insane multiplier of 4X the base damage. And that wasn't even the best of it. The ability Critical Hit made it so that if I scored a critical against an enemy it would 1) Stagger the opponent for a short duration and 2) double the total damage amount. That would mean that my 4X damage from both the sneak attack and backstab would total an overwhelming 8X damage. But the only time it would work would be if the backstab scored a critical hit which was only a whopping 35%. Still though, that was only Level 1 of… wait what level could these skills get up to anyways?

I looked at my skills menu and checked the level at which my starting skills were at. Level 1 of-

"One Thousand!?" I said out loud. I couldn't believe it; I would have to keep using these skills to level them up another 999 times to max them out? How long could that take? Months? Years? Even decades? But then it hit me. As if all the powers of a deadpan that could be mustered around the world, it dawned upon me… This was my life now. I would have the rest of my life to try and complete this game and find my brother… 'Jeez what did I get myself into?' I sighed in sorrow.

I can't stay here any longer. I've lost too much time as it is. I need to level up as soon as possible and find my brother so I can protect him. I took off towards the front gate and headed straight for the next town. I followed my friend's advice to the letter. I had to get to the next town and with it the new gear and spawns that were 1: more experience and 2: they weren't exactly the hardest things in the world to kill compared to the boars. Granted they'd be higher level than me but if they were anything like what I had to face in previous games, they should have a set way of fighting that should be linear.

As I said that to myself I noticed a flash of light appear to my right and noticed that a boar had spawned next to me and started to charge. On pure reaction I jumped over the boar, took out my sword and slashed it across the back. 'Eh? What it always this easy to move in this type of body?' In shock I landed behind the boar and took a look at its remaining hit points. It was only halfway dead from a slice across its spine. With another dash at the boar, I held the sword to initiate the sword skill Horizontal. With my blade glowing blue I took the system assist by the reins and pushed my body into the attack.

I sped past the boar and left a blue streak in my wake that slashed the boar straight in half and with the recovery and sheathing of my sword on my side, the boar shattered in to polygons. I looked at the rewards menu from the drop and frowned a little at how miniscule the exp was. Only 3% was shown on the bar. I would have to kill another 32 boars just to gain one level. Oh well I guess that's what he's worth when it's just the first mob. I need to get to the next area and fast or I will get left behind. With a new found resolve and confidence in my veins, I ran through the fields on into the woods to the next area.

I couldn't believe my eyes as I was speeding through the woods. I knew I should've ran out of breathe by now but it didn't seem like I needed to be in super physical shape to keep fighting. As long as I kept a cool head and thought logically I wouldn't need to worry too much about fatigue or lack of strength but I shouldn't push it too far, this is a life or death situation I'm in… I reach a clearing in the woods and noticed a large rock over looming the area. It didn't really seem like much, more of just a look out point for people to know where they're at. I decided to reach the top of the rock to see exactly how much farther I would have to go to get to the next town that was supposed to be out west.

I reached the top of the rock and noticed that I could no longer see the city anymore. In fact I could only see forests all around. 'That can't be right' I thought for a second… I didn't go that far through the woods to no longer see Starting City. In fact I didn't even go that far only to see woods. I drew my sword and slid down to the bottom of the rock in a battle stance. I closed my eyes and tried to listen for anything out of the ordinary, anything at all, and with every once of concentration focused on my hearing I heard a small humming sound coming from the other side of the rock. With the use of my sneak ability I swiftly moved as quietly as I could around the rock formation until I came into contact with a little girl sitting on a wolf pelt humming a little song.

'Was she always there?' I thought as I slowly approached the girl. 'No way, I would have sense her or at least have seen her.' I took a few more steps to show myself into view of the little girl and as I locked eyes with her I noticed something… "Her eyes are… black?" I said with a confused tone.

Her eyes were completely black, almost as if she was possessed. I couldn't even begin to describe how I felt when I saw this girl but the only thing that screamed out in my head was 'Get out, get out of here now.' Every fiber of my body was shaking at the sight of this girl it wasn't that she had completely black eyes or that she was singing a song, it was just so strange in seeing her all alone here and what might come next if I tried to get away. With my sword shaking in my right hand I readied myself for what was to come as I approached the girl.

"Little girl, do you need help?" I said with my voice slightly shaking. I couldn't take much more of this. It felt like my heart was going to explode if I was to stay here any longer. I stood there for a good 5 seconds before the humming stopped and the girl finally looked at me. As she did so, she fell over and fainted. Before I knew it I saw a message pop up in the top left hand corner of my vision saying "Quest Updated"

"Quest Updated? The hell does that mean-". I then felt the earth move underneath my feet. I couldn't even stand up straight from all the shaking that I even had to stab my sword in the ground to balance myself. I then looked up to notice the rock formation was moving and black smoke was spewing out from the hole that was being forcibly clawed open. The sky had turned dark and it was really hard to see. I didn't know what I did or what was about to happen but it definitely wasn't good. The shaking had stopped and it all went quiet. I couldn't see and it was either I couldn't hear or it was just that silent, and then it finally began. The girl started to hum again.

I took my blade out of the ground and readied myself for what was to come. I couldn't see that well and the girls humming sounds had distorted my hearing. I took up my kendo stance that I had long since sworn to never use due to my over-abundance of hurting ones I sparred against. This wasn't to hurt others anymore though; this was to defend my life. This was to make sure that I could stand my ground no matter what the enemy was and at least be able to put up a valiant fight.

"Now, who has decided to fall into my web of tricks this time?" It was a voice of a mature woman. Her voice felt so smooth and calm yet it almost felt like it was piercing through me, like a poisonous cobra bearing its fangs into my heart. "Oh, how strange, it's a human. A human has decided to pay me a visit oh how very sweet. But you must not be able to see that well isn't that right darling? Well how about I help you with that." And with a slight whirring of sounds the darkness from everywhere returned to a small orb in the hand of the woman. I couldn't believe my sights. She was so divine, so beautiful and yet she looked like she had bathed in the blood of countless victims… Why was she stalling against me, a level 1 at that?

I didn't have time to think that long on it as she started to speak again. "What? Have nothing to say? What type of mongrel decides to look upon my beauty and not say a thing about it? I think I'm going to have to kill you." She took the orb and dispersed it, making it vanish. In no time at all from her dispersing the orb to pulling out her demonic sword, she rushed at me with intense speed stabbing the sword next to me into the ground. "Well, that's odd. You didn't move. Did you just plan on dying? Or perhaps, you're not even here to fight…" She said with a questioning tone. She looked at me inquisitively and yet another "Quest update" Icon displayed in the top left hand corner of my screen.

"Well of course I'm not here to fight." I said with fear in my voice. "I'm here to save my brother. I need to make sure he is safe and you're getting in my way with that." I still couldn't stop my sword from shaking. Regardless of how good I was with a sword I knew that she would be able to snap me in half like a twig and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. With a slow gesture and a little bit of shaking, I sheathed my weapon and looked up at the woman. She was completely clad in black garbs. It was almost as if the shadows themselves decided to take the form of a cloak or armor and clothe the woman. It was almost enchanting at how beautiful she was. Or at least, she would be if I knew that she wasn't going to kill me but she stalled for some reason… A glitch maybe? Secret quest? Maybe I just need to play along for a bit.

"So what you're telling me is that you decided to come into this forest, mess with my child and now you're telling me I'm getting in the way? You've got some real guts there little boy. But that's all you have. Do you honestly think you can save your brother as you are now? You're so weak it's pathetic. You shouldn't even be here and you-" I decided to cut her off.

"And you think I can just sit back in the safety of my house and just wait for my brother to be okay?! Is that really what a man is?! Some little piece of shit on the ground that runs scared when faced with a problem?! NO! I refuse to believe that. I refuse to believe that I was supposed to stay at home and leave my brother to die. I'm not going anywhere and if you think you can just take my life and go back inside your hideous rock and wait for another player to come along so you can kill them as well, then you can forget it! I'm not going down without a fight." I took a few deep breathes from yelling so much. I probably sealed my fate by saying all those things but I knew I was in a screwed situation. There was no way I could win in a fight against her and there probably wasn't a way to get away from her. So it was either find a way to trigger the secret ending and hope for the best or just die trying.

A few moments passed and in the top left hand corner I saw what I had been waiting for. "Quest Complete"

"Well, nicely done. I have yet to meet a human like you in a long time. And you do look strangely like him. If you feel this strongly the way you do then you don't deserve to die here. No, instead I will be giving you a gift. But mark my words mortal, it won't be pretty and it will definitely be far from pleasant but know that if you survive through this you will know power unlike anything you've ever known."

And with no delay she took her sword and threw it through my body. I looked down at the large black blade piercing through my body and soon, searing pain went through my body. It was so agonizing I couldn't even feel my body anymore. I just kept feeling the heat course through my body and before I knew it, I passed out.

"Hrm, username: Kira. Looks like I overlooked the Dark Queen Legendary Quest… How was he able to find it? This should for 1: be completely removed from the game and 2: It can only be unlocked after the players have unlocked the 76th floor. Very strange indeed. But what I don't understand still is that it's only a 15% chance to actually survive this "gift" no matter what level you are…" I couldn't tell from where this voice was coming from, was it from a GM? Was it from the game itself? I couldn't even open my eyes to see who or what it was. I felt like was being crushed by an immeasurable amount of pressure. I could only just sit there and wait until the pain was gone. I decided since I couldn't do anything else, I might as well just sleep until I am able to move again.

**Well there we go, Chapter 2 down. Only problem is I just kept writing until it seemed like a good place to stop. I should probably divvy up this chapter a bit to separate it out a little. Let me know what you think and what I should change and I will probably take it into consideration. Please give me reviews and thanks for the support.**


	3. Chapter 3: Disciple of the Dark Queen

**Was able to get my first review! Woohoo! Hopefully this new chapter will bring in more and I hope you enjoy what I'm trying to aim for here in this Fanfiction. If things keep up as they are I'll should be able to write more of this. Without further ado, we pick up where we left off.**

Black. All I see right now is black. Why is that? What happened to me? Am I dead? Did I die to that woman? Just like that? How pathetic. Did I do good brother? I'm sorry I couldn't do any more than just die on the first floor... How pathetic is that. It's almost laughable.

"Haha, how pathetic.. I can't believe I'm so wea-" I stop mid sentence... Wait a second... If I'm talking now then that means my eyes are just closed.. Then does that mean I'm not dead?

I try to open my eyes up. I've never had such a hard time just trying to move my eyelids from their resting position. It took me a whole 30 seconds before my eyes would finally open up revealing the sky overhead. It was starting to get dark.. Or was it starting to become day? Either way it wasn't the best lighting ever and that could be dangerous. I tried to get up from the ground but my body wouldn't respond. As I tried to move my arms with all my strength I was caught off guard by a message icon. Couldn't really do much about opening it up since I couldn't move my body so it would just have to stay in my vision until I could click it.

"Stupid game, I can't even move my body to see what my mail is-" I was caught off guard when the icon disappeared and then reappeared in the top corner of my vision. "Oh, so if I don't answer it within the first 5 seconds it gets its way out of the way of my vision... Good to know." I chucked to myself as I was still lying on the ground.

"Damnit.. I need to get up soon.. C'mon body get the hell up, you've rested enough." I had no time to think about what had transpired. All I knew was that I was alive and kicking and that's all that mattered to me. With one final push to get my ass off the ground I found myself slowly sitting up by propping myself up on my elbows and eventually my hands. "There we go, much better."

As I sat up I noticed another icon flashing in the top right hand corner of my vision. It looked like a picture of a human body. Probably having something to do with an update to my character... With my shaking hand I clicked the icon and my skills page opened up. In the menu it stated {[New Skill Unlocked]}.

"Eh? I unlocked a new skill?" I recalled back on how I achieved this... "Oh that's right.. the woman said she gave me a gift... is this that gift?" I clicked on the confirmation button and the notification disappeared. I checked my menu to see a 3rd skill slot pop up with a slightly transparent gold filling in it. "What am I supposed to do with this?" I clicked on the slot and my menu icons of all the possible skills dispersed. They then rearranged to a very small list of highlighted skills each lined with that same gold color.

"What the hell? I get to pick up another skill but it can only be these?" What a bummer. I didn't think that all that agonizing pain I went through would only grant me an extra skill.. But hey it gave me a one-up on everyone else who was level 1 so I would take it. I looked the skills that were available to me. None of them really stood out. One said that I could take Poison Craft. That was just like alchemy but I guess it focused on the poison area of the art. I took a look at the next one that said Shadow Skills. Granted that would be helpful later but as of right now my stats weren't optimal to be going straight for the assassin-like class yet... Then something stuck out to me. It was a simplified icon of a woman-like figure covered by what looked like to be robes...

"Wait a sec, it looks just like that woman..." I clicked on it to take a closer look at the details. "Disciple of the Dark Queen." I said aloud. What was that supposed to mean? Like I'm an acolyte of some sort of cult? It seemed a little too off for me to want to click on it. It was as if the game itself was trying to get me to select it though.. Almost as if that this whole quest was designed for me to get this skill.. that's if it was a skill to begin with. I took a deep breathe and without another thought on it I accepted the skill.

As I accepted the skill another menu popped up... {[Are you sure you want to get rid of your one-handed sword skills?]} "What the fuck?!" Get rid of one-handed sword skills? Are you kidding me? That's suicidal! It's like trying to fight a war without a weapon. Only problem was that I didn't have the choice to get rid of it. I looked all around the menu to see the decline button but it was nowhere to be found.

"DAMNIT! Stupid game is trying to get me killed on purpose!" With a sullen look on my face, I debated for almost a whole 5 minutes if I should really just accept this... There has to be another way to get out of this. They wouldn't even bother putting this on here and asking you to throw your weapon-using skill away. They just wouldn't... would they? With a little more thought and a few more curses to myself, I accepted the conditions and automatically my sword disappeared from my side. I gave a really deep sigh and looked to see what happened when I accepted the conditions.

{[New Skill Unlocked, New Items Gained!]}

Two Hand Dagger Skills

Twin Daggers

Disciple of the Dark Queen Title

"Eh? Twin Daggers? Disciple of the Dark Queen Title? What the hell? There are titles in this game?" I stared at the menu in disbelief.. There's no way this was natural. This was all about swords, are daggers even considered swords? I stared for a bit longer before finally closing the notification. In no time at all I opened up my inventory to look for the twin daggers in my inventory. I couldn't find them.. They were nowhere to be found.

"They're not here?! What the hell! The game tells me I get an item and I don't even get them. Is that even legal?" Before I could rant off more I noticed something on my side... It was a small dark leather sheath with a handle sticking out of it... "You've got to be kidding me..." I took out the dagger from its sheath to take a look at it. It looked like a regular old dagger only... there was something else engraved near the hilt of the blade.. It was an odd design.. it was almost like a compass.. there was a dot in the middle with a small circle around the dot. The dot had a diagonal line going through whole design. There were also a total of 3 arc designs on either side of the line. (If you want a better description of it then just think about the Outsider Mark from Dishonored.)

"So wierd." I said to myself. I put the dagger away and from the corner of my eye I looked right below my Hp bar. What was read out in text 'Disciple of the Dark Queen'. "No fucking way.. This is going to be on display the whole time? God damnit..." I didn't much care for it myself but it would lead to a lot of attention.. and it was attention that I just didn't need. After pondering what I should do to not be seen with it on I noticed that my foot want tapping the ground.

"Oh, I guess I can move now." I got up and got a good look around me. It had gotten a little brighter in the area so it should be around 6:00 - 8:00 AM. I was thankful since things got more dangerous at night and being in the middle of the forest is a bad area to be to begin with. I didn't have long to celebrate my so-called "safety" when I saw three wolves appear in the corner of my vison. They had me surrounded. With my hands on both my daggers I waited for them to initiate the attack. It didn't take that long.

As the first one jumped at me, he was stopped in mid-air. I was so confused at what had happened it was as if the whole world froze. Suddenly a notification popped up.

{[Tutorial]}

Congratualtions on unlocking your new skills. As a courtesy we have frozen your immediate area to give you a basic run through on how to properly use your new skills. As you should have noticed by now, most of your basic combat attacks have changed due to your new set of weapons. The way to execute these attacks are the same as before but instead of having to deal with one weapon you now have to use them in conjunction with each other to initiate a dagger skill. Please be aware that this is still a beta-like skill and has not been fully tested. Enjoy the experience and please let us know what you think about it. Without further ado, Fight!

And just like that the "Tutorial" If thats what you can call it ended and the wolf leapt at my throat. With pinpoint accuracy I took out the daggers and slit the blade across the throat. I didn't get away unscathed though due to that crappy tutorial phase. I looked down at my arm that had a nice red slice across the upper end. I looked at the wolf I just attacked and noticed that its health bar had turned purple and slowly started to decrease.

"Eh? Why is it going down?" I didn't have time to think about it. Before I knew it, another wolf was in the air aiming for another vital point. I decided to counter him by swinging my dagger up to block his left claw and in a nice spinning motion kicked the wolf in the side sending it flying into a tree. I took a deep breathe and sensed the third wolf behind me already sprinting at me. Again with another spin of my body, I turned myself fully around with my foot all the way in the air waiting for the wolf to get into range. As soon as it reached my bubble of attack I brought my foot down and smashed its skull in causing it to stagger on the ground. I took my two daggers and jabbed them into the wolf's eyes cause it to howl in pain before shattering.

No later did I see that wolf that I had its throat slit was rushing at me. I took one last glance at its hp bar to notice that it was almost dead. It was at half health before but apparently these daggers can deal damage over time. I took advantage of this by throwing my dagger at the other wolf against the tree imbedding it in its stomach causing the hp bar to turn purple. I focused back on the wolf charging me and charged right back at it. As soon as it leapt in the air at me I slid across the ground on my knees and stuck my dagger in it, dragging it all the way across his underbelly.

I recovered to my feet to see the wolf dispersed into polygons. I then looked back to see the wolf with the dagger in its side losing hit points until finally its bar hit zero, killing the beast. I recovered my dagger and looked at the reward sign.

350 exp

70 col

2 wolf pelts

4 wolf claws

A noticeable amount. I was glad at how fast I was able to deal with the wolves and how easy it was to combat in this body. I clicked the confirmation sign and took a look at my abilities on my character. There had to be something allowing me to damage creatures over time. I took look at the Disciple skill and noticed an icon underneath it. It looked like a blade covered in green blood. I clicked on it and it stated {[Your weapons deal poison damage over time]}.

"Wow, well... That's awesome." I said closing the menu. I wonder what else would unlock as I leveled up this skill. With no more time to waste I took off towards the village.

**And that wraps up Chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I'll be sure to put in more characters next time so I actually get human interaction. I'm still not sure where I should go with this new ability but hopefully it all turns out alright.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Grandmaster

**Hello again everyone. I noticed last night when I was looking over my three chapters (soon to be 4.) that I have not referred to any town except Starting City, and I've now realized that I don't really remember any of the towns and I'm just too lazy to go back into the anime and research it. So, to alleviate any misunderstanding between each other I've just decided to name my own towns since I am technically making a new world in a way. So if it pisses people off, apologies. Now without delaying any further, enjoy.**

"Faster" I said aloud. I had to move faster. I lost way too much time in that forest and I needed to get to the next town. I knew it couldn't be that far. I had met little resistance since that encounter with the three wolves. It was only a few crows here and there and an extra wolf or two. Nothing major, but it was enough to slow me down. I was almost to my next level too. My skills weren't exactly that far ahead since the reset and I still was stuck in the same forest.

"Jeez why did I have to go through a forest.." I grumbled to myself as I trudged on through the thick woods. I kept up a pretty good pace. I knew from how my body was able to move and how fast I was moving, I would be able to dodge mobs of monsters so I wouldn't get slowed down. I was kind of impressed with myself. I was able to jump over ledges with incredible accuracy. I could take off on the ground in a dead sprint and go for a long time before I had to slow down. I was able to even jump from a slope in a hill into a tree and I was able to jump through from tree to tree with ease. I was so amazed at the body I was given in this game that it almost felt good to be here. But of course my own amazement at my abilities was soon disrupted by a wandering wolf that just so happened to come along my path.

"Great." I groaned as I sprinted up to the wolf. I was able to catch it off guard since it had just noticed me. I knew wolves were aggressive and this one would follow me for awhile so it was best just to take it out and move on. With my incredible accuracy I let both of my daggers fly from their sheathe implanting the wolf in the stomach and its neck. I then ran up to the howling wolf and did a spin kick into the hilt of the one jammed into its neck.

Mid-spin I decided to literally turn my body upside down grabbing my other knife in the wolf's stomach and dragging it across its underbelly. The damage counted as a critical and as I saw the wolf lose its last chunk of health I grabbed hold of both of my blades and slid them out of the wolf that exploded into a shimmer of polygons. I sheathed the two blades and started to sprint off to my destination again. I didn't even bother to look at the notification window that popped up. I was too focused on getting out of this forest. Shortly afterwards the box disappeared and I was able to see my full screen again.

It took me a whole 5 minutes of running through the thicket to finally reach the end of the forest. Breathing heavy, even though I didn't know why, I looked off in the distance and noticed the town. 'About time' I thought as I slid down the ledge and took off towards civilization.

As I reached the walls, I noticed that a banner in big bold letters appeared on the top of my vision. {[**Welcome to Harunka**]}. I noticed that this area was almost like a safe zone… I could feel pretty safe here and wouldn't have to worry about any real threats.

As the banner faded into nothingness I looked up at the top right corner of my screen and noticed my character icon was flashing again. I opened up my menu and noticed that I had leveled up. 'I must have level from that final wolf.' I thought as I allocated my points to my liking. I added in a bit of strength and the rest into agility for my core stats. As I finished with the Level Up I felt a little lighter than I did before. Was it because of the stat points? Would I just get stronger and faster with the more points I added in? There really was only one way to find out.

I went to the nearest inn to get some food. I hadn't gotten anything to eat my whole time since I was in this game but I bet it was like any other RPG. I went up to the bartender asked if I could get a menu and decided to get a sandwich and some water. I guess it was because I was so used to living off of nothing that I didn't really have much of an appetite or sense of taste. As I was enjoying my sad excuse of a meal, I looked around the inn and noticed there were quite a few people here enjoying themselves. It didn't really make much sense to me. It had only been at most 3 days depending on how long I was out. How could these players already be here and be able to sit and talk as if they were here for real.

Then it hit me. 'These guys must be beta testers' I thought. No doubt about it. There wouldn't be any new players here so quickly it just wasn't imaginable. I had a hard time as it was and I was given some advice from my friend who was a beta tester himself. What didn't make sense though was how calm these people could be in the face of such an existence... I decided to listen in on what they were talking about since they knew loads more about this game than I did.

"Hey man, have you heard? It turns out there's a few new additions to this game. Enemies have changed their attack patterns, the towns have grown farther apart and there are even a couple new stores in remote locations." One of the players said.

"Oh yea I saw that on my way over here. That was such a weird location for a store clerk. Only problem is that he wouldn't sell me anything… Think it's a glitch or something? Never had an NPC set up shop and NOT sell something." The other player chimed in.

"Well I've heard that apparently you need to fulfill a special quest in order to gain access to these shops. Only thing is since it's such a new development no one really knows about it" stated the beta tester.

"Where did you hear that? Are you some sort of developer or something?" The other asked inquisitively.

"Nah man I'm nothing that special. I had bought the information off of 'The Rat' and even she had little information on it." He stated plainly. "Apparently even 'The Rat' doesn't know everything that happens in this game." He started laughing. "Then again she did chip me off 3,000 col for the crappy information." I decided to chime in at that point.

"This store, where did you say it was located?" I asked them.

"Oh, it was just down the road from here. It's in a relatively remote location but it's probably about a 10 minute run from here." He stated. "But don't even bother man, it's just a waste of time."

"Probably" I thought for a second. "But then again it might be something worth checking out."

With a little more thought and a little bit of reasoning, he reluctantly showed me the location on my map. Of course, I didn't even know I had a map so it took me a little to act it out before finding the icon and displaying it. With the location given to me, I took off towards it with such a curiosity that I was able to reach there within 5 minutes. The only problem was, instead of finding the shop; I was looking at a cave with the same symbol that was on my daggers on a stone in front of it. Further increasing my curiosity on what exactly I had found, I ventured into the cave to find its secrets.

It didn't take me long to find a safe way down the slope into the cavern. Only problem was that it was extremely dark. It was hard enough to see 5 feet in front of me, let along 10 feet behind me where the light was showing. It was as if darkness itself had festered in this area. It was a very cool place, it was rather damp and it felt refreshing compared to the hot sun outside. After another few minutes of stumbling through the dark and hitting a few walls here and there I finally reached a light source. Well, two to be exact.

There were two torches each about 10 feet apart about 20 feet in front of me. I noticed behind the two torches was something of a stand. You could call it a stand but in my mind it was something more of a rotting carcass of destroyed wood in a box like form with two pieces of wood coming out of the top of it showing a sign at the top with the same carving on my knives and the rock outside. This couldn't be coincidence; this had to be a part of what I accidentally triggered.

As I took a few steps closer to the stand I noticed a light coming out from below me. It was my hand. My left hand was glowing. "What the fuck?" I said aloud, looking at the back of my hand in disbelief. Through the glove I could see the same design bulging out from how bright it was. I looked back up and noticed that there was now someone sitting behind the stand.

"_Hello there, young disciple"_ He said in an elderly tone. The man sounded like he was as old as the dust itself that had been lingering here for so long. "_I have waited a long time for someone to find the Dark Queen and live to tell the tale. I see she has bestowed her gift upon you, and as tribute to her, I am to support you in any way I can."_ The old man explained.

"… So, what you're telling me is that you're to help me with my travels?" I asked but I didn't get a response. I waited for what seemed like forever before he spoke again.

"_Ah, I see you are new to the world and what you are to do. In that case, come here" _He motioned me over. Without my consent my body started to move on its own. I stepped ever closer to the old man and it seemed to just get darker and darker even though I was standing so close to the torches. I involuntarily put out my left hand. Immediately the old man looked at the mark and examined it for a few seconds before letting go.

"_Ah, I see you went with the Dark Queen's Daggers. These are fabled daggers yet they are incomplete. I have here a dark forge in which to enhance these daggers to their next stage. Would you like me to do so?" _As he said this, a notification appeared.

{[Give the daggers to the Grandmaster?]}

Again, there was no decline button. I was so confused on why this game wanted me to do this so badly. It made no sense to me at all. With a click of a button my daggers disappeared and then reappeared in the old man's hands. He turned away and was gone for a whole minute, leaving me in the darkness.

As he came back, he showed me what he had done to the daggers. They had completely changed. One was completely black, as if darkness incarnate had held these daggers and put his very one life force into the blade. On it was the design of a black flame at the hilt of the blade. The other was completely devoid of anything black. It was pure white, as if it had just been bleached. On it there was a design of a snow flake at the hilt of the blade. When I flipped them over they still had the same design that was on my hand. These daggers were special, there was something so off about them but I knew I had to use these daggers.

"_Behold, I give you the two refined daggers of the Dark Queen. One is called Shadow Fang, the other Fuyu."_ With both daggers in hand spun them around on the wire that was attached to them both. I then slid them back into their sheathes and looked back at the old man.

"_I have one more gift for you before you start your quest for the other locations." _He went back into the darkness and came back. In his hands was a folded up suit. I couldn't really tell you what it looked like except it looked like a ninja leather outfit. It was completely black with the symbol on my hand engraved on the chest piece of the leather armor. The armor consisted of black shoes, Black studded bracers, black leather legging, a black chest piece with silver lining and a black cloak covering my face. I looked like a ninja from the Ryu Hayabusa village and if you could ever put my character on paint and put a black background behind him, he would be completely invisible.

"_Now that you wear the armor of our Queen, you now must head to the other locations throughout Aincrad. Only then will you be able to increase your strength with your equipment."_ I looked down at my outfit and looked back at the old man. "Where can I find these locations?" I asked him.

"_Look at your hand. Do you see how it glows? If you are near one of the locations, your hand shall start to glow that same color until you find it. Once you do, the lights shall fade and you shall be able to enter the sanctum."_ As he said this I looked down and the light had faded from my hand.

"_Now go, I have nothing more to give you."_ And with that, he was done. He went back into the shadows never to be seen again.

It didn't take me long to get back out of the cavern. It turns out that as I was wearing the armor it gave me a boost to my observation skills as well as a sort of Night Vision. It was rather handy. I looked up in the top left corner of my screen and noticed in green letters this time "Legendary Quest Updated". 'Legendary, huh?' I thought to myself. Well at least this game had a lot more than I thought it did. I took a look at the equipment he gave me. In purple letters I was looking at some strange equipment. Everything started with "The Dark Queen's Shadow". Was that what I was now? A shadow of a legendary boss? I'm only level 2 for Christ's sake.

As I looked through the equipment I noticed that every item had one thing in common with the set that he game me. At the bottom it said in fine gold print "Item increases in strength as the wearer levels up."

"NO FUCKING WAY!" I said rather loudly, attracting the attention of a few mobs. I was so happy with myself. I knew that just from getting these items I would be set for a long time and if I was able to find my brother I would be more than able to help him and protect him. As I closed my menu and looked back up, I noticed I had been surrounded. "1, 2, 3, 4…. 13 wolves" I stated as I took out both my daggers and started to spin them by their wires.

"You're going to need more than that now to take me down." As I said this, 4 wolves jumped at me from all directions. I took my spinning daggers and threw them to my sides at the two wolves. Each planted straight into their skulls. I then jumped up and spun myself in mid-air making the two wolves spin with me hitting their two counterparts with so much force that the two wolves with the blades in their skulls exploded. As I landed I looked up and noticed an extra 8 wolves rushing at me, but then something strange happened. I had already planned on slicing them to bits with my knives but for some reason they all stopped. Why was that I wonder?

I looked down and both of my daggers with glowing black and white respectively. I apparently had accidentally activated a twin daggers skill. I was able to move around with no impeding of my movement but everything had stopped. 'Stop time?' I thought as I dashed through the opposition-, correction, lack of opposition. By the time the skill had ended I was at the other end of the wolf pack with 6 wolves laid to waste in my wake. Red lines were cut all over their bodies and within a second they all exploded. The remaining 5 wolves looked at their killer with hate. I could tell how they detested my existence. I looked like I was an executioner, an angel of death that was just waiting for the next one to react.

As soon as I started to spin my black dagger the next wolf charged at me. He was taken out with a dagger to the face and the noise I heard when the dagger hit made me realize it was a critical hit. As I retracted my daggers back to a fighting stance I accidentally activated another twin daggers skill. Apparently if you hold both daggers upside down and bring them to your side in a 'T' position, your character activates the skill Backstab Flash Step. Little did I know that this skill put my character behind one of the wolves and it made stab its backside. It was safe to say that I definitely did not expect this and it definitely was a bad mistake. I was able to kill the wolf due to the backstab and critical hit multiplier, only problem was the delay was just long enough for me to be open to two attacks from the wolves.

It took a nice chunk of my health down and I was down to about 70% health. It made sense though; I was still only level 2. Usually if you were a level 2, taking on 13 wolves would be suicidal, but I guess due to my quick combat reflexes and insane equipment, it wouldn't be that hard for me to take them out. Taking note of how much damage I was able to sustain I took a few steps back and prepared to take them all out in one swoop. I only had 3 wolves left so it would be easy to take care of if I did that time stop move again. When I got myself back into the same position as last time I waited for the system assist to take hold. Only thing was, it never came. Completely confused I jumped and did a backflip onto the rock behind me sent one of my daggers into another wolf.

Dragging it with me, I jumped over the remaining pack and over a tree branch. Letting gravity take over, the wolf came flying back at me but before it could recover I took my other blade and jammed it into its head causing it to explode. I then slowly paced myself to the last two remaining wolves spinning both daggers at my sides. I didn't know what to do with these last two victims… Should I let them die from poison? Should I hang them up from their necks and watch them suffocate? So many cruel and unusual punishments went through my head until finally I snapped back to my senses. Before I knew it the two wolves were already dead. They had exploded into polygons and I didn't even know why.

With the silence that soon came afterwards for a few seconds, I looked down at my hands to see what type of monster I had become… It had not even been a week and I was already starting to revert to a monster… I nearly shit my pants when I heard the sound saying I leveled up again. I looked at the rewards and a big grin came across my face.

{[Rewards]}

5,500 exp

1,235 col

10x wolf pelts

7x wolf fangs

6x wolf meats

13x _Dark Queen Essences_

'Dark Queen Essences huh?' I thought as I confirmed the notification. Maybe I could use these as a currency back at the old man's shop. I turned around and noticed the cave that once was there, was now gone… "Guess not." I said to myself. I looked at my menu to see what time it was. 3:00 PM. I still had some time before it got too dark for me to be out. Or would it ever be too dark to be out due to this clothing? I wonder, with this armor and clothing I could do just about anything. I decided I'd give it a try and see just how much this armor could do.

**AAAAND That's chapter 4. I'm thinking I made my guy a little too overpowered… Give me some ideas or OC's to fuel my imagination. I'd like to try and keep this up so let me know what you think and keep on reading! Thanks for the support and I'll see you next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Right Choice?

**Apologies for the wait. Work has been pretty tough as of late. Also I went to the MetalFest California on the 24th and injured my leg. Still hurts like hell if you were wondering. Hope you enjoy this new chapter, I decided to add in a few new elements in this chapter hopefully it doesn't backfire. I never thought this would become this big but if you keep on reading and reviewing I'll do my best to satisfy your need for a good read. Hope you enjoy Chapter 5 :D.**

Dusk soon came and went and it was already rather dark. I was able to find more mobs here and there bringing my overall experience bar to a little over 75%. I was rather proud of myself, my reaction time had increased to an obscene level. I was able to time out an enemy's movements and also I was able to use the weak points that I learned overtime of the different mobs to increase my overall chance to score a critical hit. I was now able to take on all the lower level wolves with no sweat and even though the bears took a little while to kill, I still didn't get hit since they were so slow.

It seemed that I had almost outgrown this area but I had still only explored about a third of the total first floor. It wasn't as if I went out of my way to find bigger and badder enemies but still the exp from these things wasn't exactly top notch. 'I need to get a bigger challenge so the payout is better...' I thought to myself as I opened up my inventory while perched in a tree. In it were several boar hides, dozens of wolf hides, wolf claws and wolf meat and near the end of the list was all the drops from the bears. It was a rather great haul and it would fetch a pretty penny when I would finally decide to head back to town. Only thing was, that regardless of how much of a pretty penny these items would fetch, there was still one item in my inventory that puzzled me.

I looked at the very bottom right hand corner of my inventory where I had put them and as i scrolled over it the name displayed itself. "Essence of the Dark Queen" I said aloud. I had no idea what I could do with these things. Were they a currency? Were they some sort of upgrade item that I would need to enchant my weapons and armor? Or was it just another scrap item that my daggers enabled me to sell so I would get more cash? Either way I wasn't going to get any answers from any players. I doubt even "The Rat", whoever she was, had any idea what these were. Regardless I had a grand total of 54 of these bad boys and still no idea what they did. They didn't weigh anything so that was good. And they stacked on top of eachother in the inventory so they only took up one slot.

"Oh well, I guess I should stop contemplating it since I still have no idea what these even do." I said with a sour look. It was already 11:30 PM when I looked at the clock, yet it didn't really seem that dark. Yea the sun was long gone and there really was no source of light but it just seemed like I put on a pair of sunglasses on a cloudy day. It really wasn't THAT dark atleast so far as I could tell. Either way it was time to go to work. I had to know the limitations of this armor and my own equipment as well as my abilities so my survival chances would go up.

I learned that my so called 'Time Stop' move was actually called Bend Time. It was listed under the abilities for the "Disciple of the Dark Queen" skill. I was able to use this skill once every 24 hours. It stopped time for a total of (25+5(Skill Level)) = (30) seconds. It was a pretty confusing formula for me since I sucked at math. After much pondering and finally figuring out what it referred to when it said "Skill Level" I realized that if my skill "Disciple of the Dark Queen" leveled up more I would be able to stop time for a longer duration.

Another attack that I realized how to do properly was my Backstab Flash Step. If I put my hands and blades in the correct way, I would be able to move my character behind and enemy and score a backstab sneak attack on them. This ability had a rather long cooldown of 15 seconds and it also had a recovery time of 1.5 seconds. I wondered why it was so long and if it would get better if my skill leveled up. My Twin Daggers skill level was only a whopping 27 and I had killed over 30 wolves, 10 bears and don't even get me started on boars. But it looked like no matter how many I killed it would only go up if I kept using skills over and over again.

After looking through my skills and attacks one last time I closed my menu and started moving through the trees in the forest. I didn't really like the beaten path. It provoked too much attention to you. I had already run into twice as much opposition on the road so there was no real point if I could avoid conflict by just staying a bit away from the path or even a bit above it. Remarkably, it turns out not a lot of creatures look up. If they had just stopped what they were doing for 2 seconds and just look up about 7-8 feet they would notice that I was just perched on a branch spinning my dagger waiting for a chance to stab them in the head.

It was almost too boring to just stab them in the head so I decided to halfway through my onslaught to start getting their attention before throwing my weapon of deadliness into their skull. I have never in my life have found it so funny to mess with mobs in a game. Getting their attention only to see that confused 'Huh?' look on their face before ending their existence. 'Wait a second' I thought to myself. 'Did I really just say that? What's wrong with me?' I pondered as I started to rethink my actions.

I didn't have long to remorse on the way I acted against a computer program. (Which of course confused me more since I was wondering why I should care for a bunch of pixels.) I heard something off in the distance that almost sounded like a sceam. Was it another player? A different type of mob? I didn't put much thought into it. At this time of night no player should be out here but, then again people can be insanely stupid when they're not thinking straight. With both my blades out I decided to jump down onto the path and take off in a full sprint towards the noise. When I got close I noticed there were a total of 4 figures about 50 yards away.

I jumped up into the trees and got within 20 yards of the incident and listened in. There were still a total of 4 people but one of them was on the ground. It was a small girl, couldn't have been more than 15 years old. She was being stood over by 3 other players. Only thing was, instead of having green bars, two of them had orange and one of them had red. 'What's going on?' I thought as I saw the situation unfold.

"Listen brat, it's nothing peronal. All we know is that you have a pretty big purse on you and we are going to be taking it from you." Said the player with the red hp bar. I could sense malice in his voice. This man had ill intentions and it didn't seem like he was in the mood for negotiations... In fact it almost felt like the man was going to kill her. I almost laughed at the thought... 'Who would kill another player when it meant they would really die on the outside? Was anyone truly that much of a dispicable person?'

"B-B-But, I don't have any money. I had used it to revive my pet at a local healer so I would have a companion and h-h-he died trying to protect me again." The girl said nervously.

"We don't give a damn if your stupid pet died. All we want is the money in your inventory. We can either ask for it or we can take it from you. Take your pick." One of the orange players said, stepping in closer. I had gotten angry. I didn't think such people ever existed in life. Sure we were in a game and I could understand if people were trying to harass others in a game but this was now real life. How could someone hurt a real person over their money if they knew that it would cause reprecussions? 'Wait a second... there's no one to enforce the law here.' I thought. And then it all came flooding in. I had reached the conclusion so fast that all other thought processes were forgotten.

'They're going to kill her.' I almost said aloud. I couldn't have that happen. Not while I was around. With one blade in my hand I got ready to react in case they would start something. It didn't take that long.

"That's it, I'm tired of trying to negotiate with a brat like you. Time to die." Said the red player raising his broadsword above his head. "I am going to end your life now. Any last words?" He said in a smug, sly tone.

"Yea I got one for her." I said throwing my knife at his hand making im drop his weapon. "How about you three back off from the little miss and go about your merry way." I pulled back the dagger and waited for their response.

"Who the hell just said that?!" Said the red player in a rage. He picked up his weapon and readied himself. "Where the fuck are you, you little cockroach?! You wanna die?!" He was so scared. I could already tell he was about to piss his pants. He didn't think that anyone was here and now since things weren't going his way, he resorted to his most primal instincts. Without another word I dropped down from the tree in the bushes off the road and threw both my daggers at the two orange players changing their bars from orange to purple.

'Yes! They're now poisoned.' I thought as I used my stealth abilities to move to another location. Both of the orange players were freaking out. They just felt a blade come out of nowhere and stab them in the gut and then retract back into the forest. Resorting to their instincts they drew their weapons and charged into the forest after their assailant but to no avail. I had already jumped back up into the trees and landed in the opposite side of the area.

"Come out you freak! What are you scared of facing me like a man?! Can't take me on unless it's from the shadows?!" The red player screamed in rage.

"Stay your tongue before I slice it out you mongrel." I stated circling around the shadows to confuse him. "Do you honestly think you and your merry band of idiots can stand against me? You attack a girl at night all alone, in a forest and nearly kill her and you call me a coward?!" I was getting angry. So angry that I was contemplating on how I was going to make him suffer.

I jumped back up into the trees and shot my dagger at one of the orange players making it wrap around his neck. I took the chance to jump across to another tree stretching the wire to its maximum length and jumping down letting gravity take control. In no time at all the orange player was in the air being suffocated. It hadn't done much damage but I could see his health going down from the poison. The other orange player could do nothing but stare in fear as he saw the life of his partner slowly being drained from him.

At a quarter of his remaining health left, I let the wire go and he fell to the ground decreasing his health to 20% and still steadily dropping. I walked out of the bushes towards them with my dagger in hand.

"You won't die from the poison. It will only bring you down to 1 hit point. I would highly suggest you head back to the town now before I have to finish you both off and your friend back there." I said with a piercing gaze that looked as if I had killed hundreds of lives. It was something I had gained through intense kendo training. A killer aura and fighting spirit honed through training and discipline.

Without a second thought, the two players ran away as fast as they could to town. I went over to my dagger and picked it up off of the ground. With two down and one to go I walked back to the red player. As I came into sight I noticed he was holding the girl hostage with his broadsword to her neck.

"What do you think you're doing." I say to him as I hold both my daggers to my sides. "What does it look like you retard? I'm holding this bitch hostage and if you take one more step towards me I'll slit her throat and kill her!" He threatens as he puts the blade closer to the girl.

"Little girl, do you trust me?" I ask as I look up at the top right. She doesn't respond to me. Or really it's more like she couldn't. She was being completely restrained. All she could do was nod slightly and that was all I needed to buy enough time.

"What the fuck are you talking about huh?! Didn't you hear what I just said?! Come closer and her blood will be on your hands!" He said almost triumphantly. I had enough of his bickering. It was so annoying and so threatening. He was more of a threat to everyone in this game that I didn't care about my morales. I had to eliminate this... evil. With determination to kill this man in my eyes, I dropped down into a fighting stance activating the Bend Time ability. In no time at all, I ran up to the frozen entity and started to repeatedly stab, slice and gouge out any and all existence of him. It was the longest 30 seconds of my virtual life.

When the ability ended I was already behind him with my daggers in their respectives sheathes. All he could see was red lines everywhere and then finally a notification stating {[YOU ARE DEAD]}. In an instant he was only able to make out a partial sound... What it was supposed to be, I didn't know. Actually it was more like I didn't care to know. I was still recovering from the fact that I had just intentionally ended a life. I almost wanted to throw up. As all thoughts started to flood my mind I noticed a notification pop up in my face. I was taken aback with what was written on it.

{[Skill Level Up]}

I closed the notification and turned around to see the girl in shock at to what had just happened. She was first in the clutches of an evil man with a sword to her throat and in the next moment she was free with the masked man gone and disappeared... except she still hadn't looked behind her yet.

"Uhm... I'm right here." I said to make her stop looking around only in front of her.

She immediately turned around and let out a surprised sound. She then quickly recomposed herself and bowed at me. "Thank you very much good sir!" she said with no constraint. She was overjoyed that I had just saved her life. It was almost too much for me to handle since I really wasn't good at these situations.

"I-It was no p-p-problem." I said stuttering at the comment. Then again, that was kind of a lie. Did I really have to kill that person? Did I make the right call? What would you have done in my situation brother? I looked up as I tried to come to terms with what I had done.

"Uhm... Sir?" The girl said with a confused look. "Is something wrong? You're crying. Is there something I can do to repay you?" I looked back at her and swiped a finger below my eye. Oddly enough, she was correct. I was crying. Why?

"Oh, it's nothing, I was just remembering something... Oh and no you don't have to repay me with anything. If I was in that situation you would probably do the same thing so no harm no foul eh? Ahahaha..." I tried to laugh to make it so I wasn't hurt. It wasn't helping too much and the girl wouldn't really accept my decline to her offer.

"Oh no no, you can't do that. You can't just bottle up your emotions. it's not good for your health. And besides I do owe you my life so the least I could do is get you a meal... Then again I doubt anyting is going to be open this time of night." She said with a concerned tone. She held her silence for a little bit trying to think on how she could handle her situation she was presented with before looking back up to me with a brighter look. "Tell you what, why don't you stay at the inn I'm at and I'll get you breakfast tomorrow? Sound good?"

I didn't know what to say. No girl had ever asked me if I wanted something from them. Nor had I ever really had the chance to accept an offer from a cute girl such as this one. I was so confused that I couldn't give an answer. Struggling for words, the girl came a little closer before pulling my head down to her height and putting her forehead against mine. "Hrm, doesn't look like you have a cold... Then again it would be a little weird if you did have one I mean this is a game. Ahaha, Oh wait did I make you feel uncomfortable?" She looked back at me with a worried face.

My face was beet red. I had never had any real close experiences with girls. I was so busy with work that I never really got close to them. This sudden shock of a close up to one made my head go blank. "A-aaah, uhm... no that's fine I... I-I'll, I guess I'll take you up on that offer.. T-T-Thank you... very much." It was all I could muster out.. Did it even make sense? I had no idea but hopefully it did because the next thing I knew I was at the inn and in my room before I could properly put myself back into reality... or really my virtual reality.

**There we go, Chapter 5 down. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it out. Since this is my first story I kinda took this relationship type scene from a lot of the general romance animes that I have seen a lot of. Hopefully it was on track and if it wasn't well then I guess I'll have to do better next time. See you soon, please write reviews for feedback please.**


	6. Chapter 6: A step in the right direction

**Hey everyone, just got finished watching the new SAO (By the way, totally bad ass if I do say so myself.) I will admit I am slightly intoxicated and I might have to rewrite this out a little if the grammar goes out the window.**

After finally being able to sleep on an actual bed for once in my virtual life, it felt good to get up. My limbs felt lighter, my back wasn't aching and it was a lot easier to move around after being fully refreshed. I looked at the time and noticed it was just after 7:30. I took a big deep yawn and opened up my door and noticed my female companion standing there with her right hand up in a loose fist.

"A-AH!" She reacted, jumping backwards slightly and hitting the wall. From what it sounded like, she hit it pretty hard cause the next thing I knew she was on her butt holding her head like she had a serious migrane. "Ouch... It hurts..." She complained in pain.

"Well, you probably shouldn't have jumped backwards... there are these things called walls you know." I teased her.

"Hey that's not very nice you jerk. And to think I even showed you a nice cheap place to sleep for the night." She was pouting now. She looked like she didn't like the feeling of being made fun of... But then again that just made me want to do it more.

"I'm sorry to say this now but, I really have to get going. I need to meet someone who is very precious to me." I said in a slightly hurried tone.

"Who is it?" The girl asked with a puzzled look on her face.

I didn't really know to respond to it. I really didn't want to reveal that I was looking for my brother for some odd reason. I mean I didn't want this person to feel obligated to join me in my quest for my long lost brother but a part of me felt like I could trust this person... I mean hell I did just save her life so she kinda was indebted to me. I saw no real harm in explaining the predicament I was in.

"Actually... I really don't know who the person is... I mean I know who they are in the real world but I don't know their username so it's been really hard for me to find him." I started to explain.

"Oh no that's so sad... Is it someone you're really close to?" She stared at me with a concerned look.

Again, I really didn't know how to respond. She was really good at making me think about my responses when I was talking to her... I mean yea it was my brother but I wasn't exactly close to him. I mean it was the only reason why I was stuck here in the first place was because of a stupid mistake on my part in wanting to get closer to my brother again.

"Well, you see... yea he is really close to me... We're brothers." I stated plainly.

"Well then, what do you plan on doing? I mean there really is no tracking system to find a certain player by their real name... You need to find out their actual username..." She put her index finger and thumb on her chin and struck a thinking pose. She was probably thinking pretty hard because before I knew it she was starting to make that 'Hmmmm..." noise trying to think of a way to track my brother down.

With what seemed like almost 5 minutes of pure thinking; my female associate looked back up to me with a kind of twinkle in her eye and with a confirming and resounding pound of her fist into her hand she exclaimed "Ah ha! I know how we can find out!" She said with a victorious fist pump.

I just stood there looking at her with a confused look. How were we supposed to find someone when we didn't even know their name. Sure we knew what they looked like but it wasn't as if it was going to be an easy thing to get eyes and ears everywhere.

"Well, what's your big plan then?" I said with a confused look.

"ARGO!" She exclaimed with a smile. "If anyone would know it would be her. She LOVES this type of work!" She said almost jumping up and down.

With a quick manipulation of the menu she started tapping away at her screen. I had no idea what she was doing since I wasn't able to see her screen. Within a couple of more seconds she finished tapping her screen and closed it.

"Alright, now all we gotta do is wa-" She was interrupted by a message. It looked like a reply to whatever she just sent out.

"Oh, wow that was fast... let's see what the damage is... WOAH!" she exclaimed as she was reading her mail. She looked up at me with a sad look and said in such a sad tone: "It's going to cost over 15,000 col..." She looked like she was about to cry as her plan was crushed by the almighty power of economics.

"Well..." I thought for a second... "Isn't there any other way we could get her to spill?" I asked her trying to find a way through this predicament.

She went back to her menu and started typing again. Once she was finished she waited for only a couple of seconds before receiving a reply. With another quick click she read aloud what the reply was.

"If you have information that I want, then we can negotiate the price." She said almost wanting to cry. "But I don't HAVE any information that she would want.. she taught me everything I know now..." She said with some actual tears rolling down her face. "Doh, I'm such a screw up.. I'm so sorry..." She said crying.

She was trying to recompose herself so she would stop crying but she was getting nowhere with it. I don't know why but I found it kinda cute... She was showing me a side of her she never showed me before. Then again I did only just meet her. I thought for a bit on how to handle the situation before placing my hands on her arms to make her focus on me.

"Look, you've already done enough. You've gotten me into contact with Argo, who you say is a good information dealer." I said trying to reassure her. "Let me deal with how to get her to spill. I think I might even know how to make her spill as well." I stated with a grin.

"R-R-Really? You really mean it?" She was trying to hold back her tears.

I took one finger and brushed it along her cheek to remove the tear rolling down her face. "Yes, I mean it. Thank you so much for all you've done for me so far." I said finally giving her a hug to make her feel a little bit safer.

After a good 4-5 seconds I removed her head from my chest and noticed her face was so red that it looked like she was about to pass from being in a sauna for too long. Oh wait I spoke too soon, she did pass out from that... Was she ill?

"O-Oy. You okay? Hey, heeeey... you... wait I don't even know her name.. damnit." I cursed at myself for my lack of manners and took her back in to my room and placed her on the bed.

'I guess I'll just have to do this for a bit on my own until she wakes up.' I thought as I placed her on my bed.

I looked up at her health bar and looked a little close before I realized her name written at the top. 'Serah huh? So your username is Serah.'

I decided to walk out of the room and head down to the actual dining area. I sat down and ordered some bear stew and some redberry juice.

After eating I opened up my menu and went to the messenger screen and type out the name "ARGO" on the "TO:" section. I then typed out a quick message to her and hoped to god that the name was spelled out correctly.

Hey, I know you're really good at getting information on things that seem impossible to get. Currently I am trying to get to my brother but the only problem is that I have no idea what his username is. I know I'm asking a lot but please I need your help. I can definitely make it worth your while.

After revising and rewording it so it would make sense, I clicked the send button. It only took her 10 seconds before I got the reply from her.

_How?_

That was all she wrote out... 'Hook, Line, Sinker.' I thought as I typed out only a few words to put some icing on the cake.

I have an item called "Essence of the Dark Queen."

Again, with only a few seconds after I sent it, I got yet another reply from her.

_Deal. Give me the details on his physical appearance, his hobbies as well as 500 col and I'll find get you the information you need._

'Alright.' I thought as I fulfilled the requirements.

I looked down at my inventory to notice that after the transaction I was only left with a little over 100 col left... I was so dirt poor that it almost made me cry with how little I would be able to do with my lack of funds.

Defeated by "The Rat" in a battle of economics, I decided to go back up to my room to see how Serah was doing. She was still knocked out but instead of being in the position that I left her she had curled up and decided to grab ahold of a nearby pillow to use as a stuffed toy to hold onto.

Again, this made me think she was THE cutest thing I had ever laid my eyes on. I couldn't help but start to blush at her innocence. I decided to pull up a chair and wait until she awoke telling her the good news. The only thing that couldn't put my mind at ease though was the fact that I wasn't given a time. If I had been given a time on when this might get done I would have been golden but, until then I would be in the dark.

"Hold on brother..." I whispered to myself. "I'm coming to get you..."

**And with that, I wrap up Chapter 6. Hopefully it turned out alright. Again I am still intoxicated so I will be checking over this a couple of times to make sure everything fits the way it's supposed to. Hope you enjoyed it. See you in the next chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Flame of Heaven

**Well, I got some good news. My brother from another mother just came back from his military bootcamp experience so I'm totally psyched to see him back. Glad to know the BC didn't screw him up too badly since he's still in once piece. I hope you all enjoyed my last chapter where I was slightly intoxicated. This next chapter shouldn't be like last time so it should be a little bit longer. Hope you enjoy it.**

Things were now starting to look up. I was able to get into contact with Argo "The Rat" so she could locate my brother. I knew it was a selfish thing to ask but hey, it was the reason why I came here in the first place.

I decided to head back upstairs to see how Serah was doing... only problem was that I came across a 16 year old girl who decided that the pillow next to her was some sort of plush doll for her to squeeze the shit out of. Needless to say, it was adorable... Maybe a little bit childish, but adorable.

Serah was very innocent. I mean c'mon how could she just sleep here in MY room and trust me enough to let her guard down... Not that I would do anything of course but still it made no sense to me. Actually now that I thought about it she didn't actually fall asleep in my room... It's more like I put her on my bed since she completely fainted on me. Was she actually sick and needed some rest? I decided to do the ol' forehead to forehead trick to see if she actually had a fever.

"Nope. No fever." I said with a little ease in my voice... Then again, it would be a little wierd if our characters would be able to get sick in this type of game... I mean hell we were all just pixels... The blood was red pixels, the swords glowed with different lights and monsters exploded into millions of polygons... If anything this world was definitely not a reality.

'Well, then again that's not exactly true either..' I thought with a sad look on my face.

This "reality" was forced upon us... No one here chose this reality. If we were to refuse it meant death... if we were to adapt and overcome we would start to act like animals like those PKers who tried to attack Serah... Those were the only two types of people I had met so far in this game... They were either cowards or they were bloodthirsty animals... I slowly looked down at my hands and noticed they were twitching..

'Well, I guess I'm part of the latter of the group huh?' I thought.

I couldn't really keep my mind off the fact I had killed a person in cold blood... Sure it could be justified if I were to go to court for it... Sure my friends would back me up if I were to ask for closure on it... But that really wasn't the problem I was facing with it... It wasn't that I was disgusted at the fact I killed him... It was how much of a pleasure I got out of it.. I have never felt that way before in my life. Being able to take a weapon and hold it in such a way that a life hangs in the balance at a swing of its awesome might.

It felt so exhilerating to the point that I started to crack up laughing... In that room where a little girl was happily sleeping away... I started cracking up and laughing like a madman... It went on and on for at least a good minute until finally I looked at myself in the mirror... In the reflection I noticed an image of my character, but it wasn't him. No. It was someone else, he had red glowing eyes, a toothy evil grin, white hair, a dementing posture and a shadow of death that loomed over him as if death were his partner.

I got closer and close to the mirror until I was face to face with my other self. I looked like a villain out of a comic book... No even more so, I looked like a stone-cold killer with a fetish over the act. It made me disgusted... I couldn't look at it much longer before I had to run out of the room into the hallway to throw up in a corner. I felt so disgusted with myself. I couldn't believe I had looked like that. Was I truly that far gone? Was there really no hope for me?

After trying to recuperate and using some simple breathing exercises I had learned from my kendo classes, I entered the room again to see how Serah was doing. Luckily enough it seemed my tantrum didn't wake her up.

"What a heavy sleeper you are Serah..." I said almost jokingly.

Oddly enough when I said her name she started opening up her eyes and yawned for a bit. It took only a few seconds before she noticed she was sleeping on my bed in my room. In no time at all she jumped up from the bed with her face completely red saying at least 7 times "I'm sorry" and she bolted out the door.

I was completely taken by surprised at how fast she was able to do that... It was as if she was gifted by hermes himself on flight and she just didn't know how to control it yet.

With a sigh of relief I looked back at myself in the mirror and made an ultimatum for myself. _Never, will I ever become a killer who hunts out of cold blood._ And with that, I went downstairs in an attempt to find Serah. It looked like ran a good distance away from here. If I didn't have a decent tracking skill I probably would have a hard time finding her but since I was always passively getting better at tracking due to my skill set I was able to find her pretty quickly.

It turned out she had run so far, so fast and without any regard to her well-being that she wound up in the forest where a new type of monster spawned up. {[Savage Bears]}. These mobs weren't too difficult but they were definitely harder than your average bear. They were a lot more aggressive and a little faster than their weaker cousins and they also packed a mean punch that would knock your health down quite a bit.

When I was able to catch up to her general vicinity I noticed she had become cornered by two of them. I wondered why she didn't have her weapon drawn to defend herself and it just occured to me that she ran out here without at preparations for a fight. With this in mind I sprang into action in full flight.

With one dagger in hand I threw it into the back of one of the bears, gaining it's attention on me. I kept running towards the two bears and jumped over the second one with the chain above its neck. With a little bit of improvised footwork, I turned myself around and dashed forward under the bear so the chain was now completely under it's neck so I could then just start running and it wouldn't be able to touch Serah.

In no time at all the chain was finally out of line and was now fit snuggly around the bear's neck and wrapped around my arm so it was now a matter of strength. I still hadn't fought one of these things yet but they couldn't have been that strong... My dagger in the back of the other bear had brought it down to 2/3 hp and falling due to the poison. Boy was I wrong.

Before I noticed it, the bear with the chain wrapped around its neck had already realized what was going on and had bit down on the chain to get some proper leverage behind it and started to pull with all its might. With no real way to fight against this overwhelming strength I was sent flying towards the bear and I landed face first into a rock a few feet ahead of the bear.

Still tugging, the bear rolled my character onto his back and was towing me along the ground so the other bear could get its teeth into me. I decided since I couldn't fight against the bears strength, I might as well use it for me. Thinking fast, I kicked myself off the ground with all my might and used the momentum to backflip onto the bear so I was basically riding it. Needless to say, it wasn't going to work out that long so I took out my other dagger and stabbed it in the eyes blinding it and bringing its health down to half. It wasn't enough though since the bear was now just pissed and scared since it couldn't see so it easily bucked me off sending me into a tree.

Dazed, I looked up at my health and noticed it went down to about 75%. "Tch" I groaned. These bears were no joke. I wouldn't be able to fight them straight on.. but if I was to attacking from the shadows, I wouldn't be able to protect Serah...

I wasn't able to think anymore since I had ran out of time. I looked up to see the previous bear that was stabbed in the back was now standing over me on two legs. It came down on me with a crash and I could've sworn I heard bones breaking with the pressure.

I yelled out in pain at the overwhelming strength and weight of this large beast. It wouldn't have been that bad if I was able to do something about it but My free arm was being crushed by it's paws... Was this it? Was this all I had in me? I couldn't even save Serah... I'm so wea-

I wasn't even able to finish beating myself up as I noticed the bear get slammed by something that was able to move it a few feet off of me.

'What the hell was that?' I said to myself.

It wasn't a "what" it was a "who". Apparently Serah had an extra weapon in her inventory. It was a two-handed mace that she put her full force behind making the bear fly without any problem. I was taken aback so badly that I just sat there in disbelief... This girl, just used a mace to make a beast that was well over twice her size fly across the ground. Unbelievable.

I snapped myself back to reality when I noticed my arm being drug again by the bear and asked Serah if she could handle the other one. Without a word I saw her mace start to glow yellow and she ran at the bear with an uppercut to the jaw with her mace. 'I'll take that as a yes.' I thought as I turned towards my target.

I used the distance between us to my advantage. I wasn't really able to use my other dagger since it was right next to the bear's feet but I still had one more. I took it and sent it flying into it's other eye making it completely blind and sending it into a deeper rage. It's health bar was now down to about a third left. It would be down in the next two strikes.

Instead of fighting against the flow this time, I let the boar send me flying towards it. I used the speed and momentum to bring up my dagger so when I came in close it impacted straight under its chin. I reached down and grabbed my dagger and brought it up into his cranium. In no time at all I heard the critical sound and the bear exploded.

I looked back to see how Serah was doing. It turned out that Serah had so much strength invested as well as health that she was able to stand toe to toe with the bear. It was almost brutal to watch her kick the bear in the mouth and spin the mace around so it cracked the mo in the jaw.

With a few more brutal and insanely powerful blows, the bear exploded and Serah looked back at me with a grin.

"Heehee... I know how to handle myself." She said still grinning like she was playing with a toy.

'Ho boy.' I thought to myself... 'What type of person have I got myself accustomed to..'

I closed the rewards page and walked up to Serah. I told her I was able to get into contact with Argo and that I was able to strike a deal with her. Only thing was that she didn't give me a time on when she would respond again. I also took this time to smack her in the head telling her to not run off on her own. It made me very worried to see her run off.

Wait a second.. Since when was I concerned of her safety? I just met this girl...

I dismissed the thought and went back to telling her to always stay near me so I would be able to help her if she needed it. She took the scolding and teared up a little but she understood why I was being mean. I didn't want to see her die... I used this as my excuse for my concern of her safety.

After the scolding we went back to the inn and waited on Argo's reply. We didn't exactly know when this would happen so we quickly started asking eachother questions to pass the time.

It turns out that Serah was a pretty major gamer and that she was a very athletic girl. She was a part of the martial arts club and was the vice captain of the club. She won two championships and ranked at #7 in the whole world.

'Holy shit.' I thought to myself... A girl like this was already this strong? I honestly wondered if I would even be strong enough to properly protect her that she wouldn't just be able to handle herself. Too bad I didn't meet this girl in real life, I would have loved to have met her.

I had to stop myself there since my mind started to wander. I took the time to tell her a little about myself, about my past and why I was here. I told her that I wasn't really that close iwth my brother and in my attempt to remedy that, I bought him this game. The rest was self-explanitory.

"Wow... I had no idea that you brought yourself here on your own accord..." She said as if she saw me in a new light.

"Yea but.. it was my fault to begin with so this is the only way I know how to set things right." I responded with a little sadness in my voice.

"So, what will you do once you find him? It's not like you can just waltz through the game as if nothing is going to go wrong... I mean we haven't even found the boss of this floor yet.." She said trying to make me realize my situation.

"Well, once I do find him... I'll do what I can to protect him. It's the least I can do from all the wrongs I have done. He deserves that much." As I finished saying this an e-mail popped up. It was from Argo.

"The moment of truth I guess..." I opened up the e-mail to see what Argo had found out.

_**Okay, I have good news and bad news... The good news is I have found your brother. His username is FlameofHeaven. The bad news is... He's gone missing.**_

**There we go. Chapter 7 down. Hope you enjoyed it. Still looking for some OC's and ideas for this. Give me your inputs and let me know what you would like to see and I'll try to accomodate. BUT don't get me wrong. I'm not writing this for you so you can have your ideas in this and have it your way, I'm making this for me so don't ask me to write something and then complain if it doesn't happen. Just wanted to get that out of the way. Look forward to the next chapter. :D**


	8. Chapter 8: I will protect you

_**I've got good news and bad news about your brother. The good news is that I found out his username. It's FlameofHeaven. The bad news is, he's gone missing.**_

I just sat there on the stool reading the message over and over again. I couldn't believe she was able to find him. I didn't think I'd be able to find him so fast… But for him to go missing, it could mean a number of things… All I knew was that he was in trouble and I needed to go out to where he was last and track him from there.

I tapped at my menu as fast as possible and sent a reply back. In no time at all she replied to my message and told me where his last location was. I looked back up at Serah and stood up.

"She found him." I stated as I turned around towards the door.

"R-Really? That's great!" She said excitedly. "You'll get to meet him now! You must be so happy!" She was really excited at how my odds were looking… Only problem was she didn't know that he had gone missing in a level 8 dungeon about 30 minutes from where we were. It was almost suicide to go in there and hope to live… I prayed for the best but I prepared for the worst. I now face another problem though… How would I explain this to Serah?

"Look, I know you're excited but it's really not that surprising is it? I mean hell it is Argo The Rat. It should've been easy for her to find him, I just lost a crap load of coin because of it…" I said trying to find some way to solve this situation out…

I didn't want her to follow me… I knew I couldn't trick her by sending her off somewhere or she might get hurt… but I couldn't just tell her and ask her to stay, she would never listen to me… I opened up my window and looked at my abilities to see if they would help me.

"What are you doing?" She asked with a curious tone.

"Just checking my equipment, I want to look like a bad ass as I stroll on up and smack him upside the head." I said, trying my best not to be found out.

I scrolled a little more down through my abilities and noticed that I had gained a second level into "Disciple of the Dark Queen" skill. I opened it up to see what I had unlocked with the second level and noticed a new ability.

{[Invisibility]}

Become completely invisible for [5+2(Disciple of the Dark Queen Level)] = 9 Seconds.

'Wow… I had an ability like this in my arsenal since I leveled up my skill?' Jesus and it has up to 100 levels to get to max.' I thought to myself as I looked on how to activate it.

I saw the animation and had it replay over and over again. Apparently it wasn't the easiest thing to do. I had to be running at full speed with both daggers out spinning and then as they started to glow I would have to make them spin into my hands so they would be held upside down and I would then need to crisscross my arms so they made an 'X' in front of my face… Only then would it activate.

'Such an annoying skill to use' I thought as I took out both my daggers.

"What are you doing?" She looked at me with an odd expression.

I started to spin them and I took one last look behind me before I crouched down slightly into a running position.

"Sorry Serah, but I gotta do this alone." And with that, I took off as fast as I could into the woods trying my best to outrun her.

She was actually a pretty fast runner because before I knew it I could hear her feet smashing on the ground behind me. It was too late though, before she could grab a hold of my cloak, both my blades were already in an 'X' formation in front of my face. In that next instant, I vanished from sight.

"YOU BIG MEANIE!" Was all I heard as I ran out of eye sight and ear shot before jumping up into a tree to avoid being tracked.

I looked over at my map and saw that I was about 15 minutes away from my destination. I jumped from tree top to tree top and before I knew it I was at a cliff overlooking the area. I looked down to see that it was roughly a 150 ft. drop to the bottom… It was definitely not survivable at my level. The only problem was that even if I wanted to get down another way, it would've taken at least another 20 minutes to get around the cliff to get to the ground. Seeing as that was not an option, I took out both daggers and took a deep breath.

"Hoo boy… Kiritsu, you're one crazy bastard…" I said to reassure myself.

I knew I had a stronger body than in the real world but seriously… what I was planning could barely work out in my mind… 'Oh well' I thought. 'At least I'm great at parkour.'

I took one step off the cliff and leaned forward before my foot hit the side of the cliff. With all my speed and might I started running almost at a 90 degree angle. If it wasn't for the insane speed and force of my footwork… as well as the slight slope in the cliff… I probably would have lost my balance and died. Regardless, I was running at top speed and was about to hit the bottom. I threw my dagger about 10 ft. ahead of me to implant into the side of the cliff. As soon as I hit the side of the blade, I used it as a platform and jumped off the side of the cliff heading towards the nearby forest.

With the other dagger out and ready to be used, I threw it at a nearby tree branch and swung myself like Tarzan through the trees and I landed into a giant oak tree. I have never felt so much pain from slamming into something… it was like I had become one with the tree.

Nearly implanted and immobile, I somehow was able to free one of my arms from the trunk that I made a nice imprint into. I took my arm and started to push against the tree to free myself. It took me a total of 5 minutes before I was off of it. I took a look at my health and gaped at how much had remained.

34/735.

That's all that was left. I was so scared that I thought I was about to shit myself. If I didn't time that perfectly and swing myself just right, I probably would have died. I shuddered at the thought especially since I was literally a minute away from my destination.

I took out a potion and chugged it restoring my health. I then took a deep breath and trudged on. I took a look at the ruins of the dungeon. It didn't look to dangerous but it certainly was spooky. No enemies nearby either. Just a few skulls that I tried to crush but they immediately showed an "Immortal Object" sign. I took another quick look around before I went into the dungeon. Little did I know that this place was literally filled to the teeth with traps, mobs and mazes.

I thought it was going to be a brisk easy walk when I came across my first mob. It was only a few large scorpions which had a pretty nasty poison but they were so easy to read that I could easily slice off their tails with no real opposition. Another mob in the dungeon was a vampire bat. These little buggers sucked health from you and gained whatever they took from you. They didn't have much hp but they were hard as hell to hit. I found it a lot easier to just teleport behind them and use the system assist to instantly kill them.

The traps weren't even that terrifying. Spikes traps here and there, a couple of net traps that would leave you immobile for a short while until you could get yourself out of it and there were several traps that just made it harder to see. The only thing that came close to a lethal trap was the poison trap that would leave you paralyzed and it would be a very bad idea to not be able to fight in a place like this. It turned out that mobs would constantly spawn around you so you couldn't really rest that often in between fights. Granted the fights weren't that hard but still it would wear you down.

The only time I found it hard to fight in this maze was when there were a mixture of traps and mobs in the fight. I could swear that this game was out to get me. I was just casually jogging down one of the many granite slab hallways to notice that I had accidently tripped a wire which would bring up a spike trap blocking my exit. I then noticed that there was another trap immediately in front of me that was poison gas. I was able to leap over it but immediately following that was a mob of 3 scorpions and two bats. It was so frustrating to have to deal with both at the same time, especially since I was alone.

If it wasn't for my innate sense of direction and my passive skill for tracking I probably wouldn't have been able to reach my brother but I knew I was getting close with every trap that I sprung. I knew he was in here somewhere and it would be soon when I would be able to meet him. With a few more traps in my face and a couple of mobs to deal with, I reached my 4th level and was well on my way to my 5th.

I finally reached the end of the extremely long hallway I was travelling down and it opened up into a grand space. The tiles on the walls reach up towards the top where it blacked out. There wasn't much light and it was really suspicious on why there'd be a room so grand here. It made no sense since the last 15 minutes of fighting and travelling was covered with narrow hallways and traps out the ass. I readied my weapons and prepared for the worst.

I took a few more steps forward before I noticed something on the ground. It wasn't large enough to be a scorpion and it wasn't small enough to be an item or a switch. I took a closer look and noticed it was a body. Was it a player? Maybe another type of mob, like a zombie? I cautiously approached the body and finally reached a distance where I could designate it out as a player. I squinted my eyes and tried to read out the name at the top of the health bar which was just over 50%.

{[FlameofHeaven]}

I read it about 3 times before I started to tremble a little. I found him. I had finally found him. My little brother who I tried my best to get to know him again, and had sent him into this world. I felt so happy. I had never felt this happy before in my life. If I could I would rush on over there and give him a hug and tell him everything was going to be okay, but I knew everything was not as it seemed to be. Something had brought him here and something was here with me in this giant room just waiting for me to take the bait.

I wasn't going to fall for it. In a quick motion, I readied myself into a fighting stance and closed my eyes trying to pinpoint the enemy in the shadows. I wasn't really feeling much of any aura coming from anywhere. Or really, it felt like it was coming from everywhere, it was as if the shrouds of darkness around me were my enemy. In no time at all I heard a slight pitter patter of feet across the ground. I threw my dagger at the noise and it connected with the monster. It immediately exploded into polygons as I heard the knife hit a critical. I retracted the knife and waited to see what would happen.

Before I knew it, the floor lit up in a ray of lights, the whole area lit up with light and in the far end of the room I noticed there was a giant mirror. In it was a reflection… It wasn't me, but it was the other me. The me who I swore to never become. He was looking right at me as if he saw a target. There was a glare in his eyes, like he knew what I was doing here and that he wasn't about to let me get my way. He started to walk towards the edge of the mirrors reflection and in just a nonchalant way; he just walked through it shattering the glass. The reflection was gone and the mirror was broken but he still remained… How was this possible? Was this some sort of boss?

I looked over at the other me and noticed 3 bars of health appear around its head. He gave a big demented grin and took out both knives spinning them. He then took off in a dead sprint and brought both glowing daggers into his hands and made an 'X' shape in front of his face. In an instant, he disappeared.

'This guy, he's me! He has all the same abilities as me!' I thought as I saw him appear above me sending both daggers at my neck.

I did backflip to avoid the attack and was kicked in the chest. I was sent flying into a nearby pillar and noticed that he was now only a few inches near my brother. In a demented and sick twisted sense of humor, he began to spin the dagger above my brother's neck. If I didn't hurry soon, my brother was going to be decapitated in front of me.

"Don't you dare touch him… He's done nothing wrong… He's got nothing to do with this fight!" I screamed at my image breaking myself out of the wall.

I took out both my daggers and placed them to my side in a 'T' formation sending me behind my enemy and stabbing him in the back. I took a step forward and push with all my might to make me get him as far away from my brother as I could… Except it didn't work out as I had hoped, instead of sending him across the room to get him away, he had grabbed ahold of me and used my own momentum against me making me fall flat on my face.

Rolling over to get back on my feet I noticed he was now running at me with his knives in hand. I narrowly dodge under them by bending myself backwards like I was playing limbo. I took my daggers in hand and started to swing them at him trying to back him away further and further. I was doing pretty good in pushing him back but in terms of damage we were evenly matched… No it was more like this guy was just messing with me seeing what I could do. I felt so weak.

After clashing a few more times and finding an opening in his defense, I launched off of his body and landed about 10 feet away from my brother. I took up a defensive stance and stood my ground giving this enigma my ultimatum.

"If you want to kill my brother you're going to have to go through me."

**Chapter 8 down. Hope you enjoyed the combat thus far. Still trying to figure out myself on how I might get myself out of this one. Stay tuned for the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9: I am Kiritsu Kaizer

_Kira is holding his ground. Face to face with his alter ego. The man in the mirror, he is a reflection of what Kira didn't want to become. He now must fight this enigma to save his brother._

I didn't know what I was thinking by saying he'd have to kill me to get to my brother. That much was obvious. I mean hell the guy was planning on killing me anyways so why did I have to shout that out to him? Did I even have the chance to kill this guy? He was stronger, faster and above all else he knew my every move.

No matter what I did to fight him he would copy my attack and stop me from my assault. If the enemy could predict your every move because that enemy was you, then how were you supposed to fight a thing like that? I didn't have any other type of weapon on me except the two daggers and besides it's not like it would've helped anyways if I had some other equipment in my inventory. In fact even if I did have other items in my inventory he would have them too since he is a mirror copy of me.

Regardless, my brother was laying down on the ground behind me. I had finally reached him and i would be damned if I were to get struck down here. Removing the last bits of doubt from my mind I readied myself to prepare for another assault against my other self.

I started to spin my right dagger and I threw it straight at the enigma's face. He countered by doing the same and we both sprinted at eachother retracting our daggers in the air. We both struck out towards our lefts and our blades collided. In that instant, I spun my body and did a spin kick to knock him off balance. He avoided the spin kick by ducking under my leg and he then did his own sweep kick to knock me on the ground. I jumped off with my other foot and had to guard against his uppercut with the knife. I was sent flying upwards into the air and he jumped up after me.

We collided in the air and our blades started to sing with the clanging of metal sounds. I swear it was as if we were part of an elite assassin's squad since our blades seemed to move on their own to counter, to attack and to defend against both of our onslaughts. While he attacked from below and blocking from above, I would be attacking from above and blocking from below. We had eachother nearly syncronized. It would have been great if we were doing a play but I needed to win against this thing. He was copying my every move and I was getting on step with him. It wasn't the best of things to do since he would be able to drive the fight in whichever way he wanted.

I tried my best to get some distance from him by kicking off his arm and landing against a pillar and planting my dagger into it. He was sent flying to the ground and he landed gracefully looking up at me with his sick, twisted eyes. I launched off the pillar and jumped to another one. When I placed my foot against the next pillar, I rocketed off of it and headed straight for him. Hoping this would work, I kept one dagger to my side and waited for the opportunity to strike.

My blade landed against his and I was parried straight to the ground. I planted my foot and pivoted myself making my whole body spin with an insane amount of speed. I swept my foot at his legs and he jumped over it. "Got you!" I exclaimed as I had my dagger glowing at my side.

Uppercut Slash!

My blade jolted out at the man and sent him into the air. I threw both my blades into his chest and pulled making me go flying towards him and vice versa. As we approached eachother I pulled both my legs up and I mid-air drop kicked him in the face making him spin towards the ground. I had done good in landing that hit but by the way I was falling I wouldn't be able to guard nor would I land properly, thus giving him a free attack.

It didn't really matter that much since before I knew it I was being wrapped up by his chains and being thrown across the room into the wall. I impacted the wall with a loud crack and fell to the ground trying to recover my poise so I could continue. It wasn't happening that easily. It turns out that if you hit your head hard enough in this game, it would register this as a slight paralysis and blinding effect thus making you less effective for roughly a minute.

Knowing full well that I wouldn't last a minute in this state, I pulled up both my daggers into a defensive posture and waited for the next move. Needless to say, I didn't see it coming. Before I knew what had hit me I was sent sprawling across the room. Apparently he used the Backstab Flash to hit my blind side with his leg. I looked at my health to see how much more fight I had left in me. I was just below 50% and I hadn't even brought him down to his last bar yet. His first one was completely gone and his second one was at approximately 60%.

I was so frustrated. How was this man so strong? If he was a mirror copy of myself, then wouldn't he have the same skills and levels as my character? I tried to identify him more to see if I could find a weakness... 'He came out of the window and he is a complete reflection of my character.' I started to think to myself. 'He's got the same equipment, same skills and same basic combat strategy I do since he is able to block, defend and attack against my moves. What doesn't he have that I have though? There's no way this guy is another Kiritsu Kai-' I cut off my train of thought.

"That's right!" I said coming to the realization that he wasn't me.

"This guy isn't me, this guy is Kira! Not Kiritsu Kaizer!" I said in a triumphant voice.

I didn't know what I was so excited about. Sure he didn't have the same kendo skills as me but what good would my skills be without a proper sword? I would just be delaying the inevitable if I resorted to kendo skills with two daggers, if that was even possible that is.

'If only I had access to a katana or long sword.' I grumbled to myself as I continued to fight this evil entity.

I looked over at my brother to see if he was okay. He was still fine as he always was. Still lying on the ground like a useless brother he always was. Then again I couldn't complain. I was never there for him so why would he be there for me when I wasn't. I cursed at myself for being so weak. I can't believe I was thinking I would have to rely on my brother in a fight that was clearly my own to deal with. No sooner did those thoughts cross my mind that I found I made an opening for him to strike.

"Shi-!" I was cut off by the sudden combo attack.

He lashed my body all around kicking me into the air and slicing me 7 times with the two daggers. In a graceful yet deadly movement, he did a front flip in mid air bringing his heel down and to the side sending me flying towards my brother. I crash landed only a few feet away from him and I noticed that I had lost both my weapons and they were lying on the ground.

"Damnit.." I cursed again to myself as I was now stuck without any way to defend myself.

I looked one more time at my brother and started to cry. It had been almost 7 years since the last time I cried... Ironic that I would now be crying when I was faced with certain doom.

"Hehe, I really fucked up didn't I bro? I can't even protect you... I'm such a disgrace." I started to crawl towards him to be with him in my final moments. I knew I didn't have much time since my copy was slowly walking towards me. I had about 15-20 seconds before I would be cut down and killed.

I reached over and grabbed my brother and pulled him to me. As I did this, I noticed there was a hilt of a weapon under his body. 'Was that his sword?' I thought as I pulled him out from under it. Underneath his body was a katana. A simple katana with a red hilt and black suba. The sheathe was on his side and it was covered with japanese markings and a dragon near the opening of the sheathe.

"Tch, trying to catch up to your older brother huh?" I said almost laughingly. "Just wait little brother, I'll get us out of here... thanks for all the help." I said putting him down.

I grabbed the katana and took up my natural fighting stance. Completely open in the front with my sword to my right side with a slight tilt towards my enemy. Usually people wouldn't fight like this since it left the enemy with too many options to strike and not enough time for the defender to take up a defensive position. For me on the other hand, it gave me the perfect chance to strike at an enemies weak point making them lose their mark on where they were going to strike.

It was definitely a risky move but I had nearly perfected it before entering this world. Kazuto and I practiced a lot and he himself found it to be rather annoying since he would get hit faster than he could hit me. It was my only chance. I had to finish it fast or I would soon die.

With no time to waste, my copy lunged at me with one dagger to my throat. I slightly dodged to the left and brought up my sword to block the second one. In a smooth movement I spun around and sliced open his stomach and saw the pixels fly.

'Hehe. He fell for it.' I thought as I continued my assault.

I swept my foot into the air and spun myself around yet again knocking my foot against his hand bringing the knife out of his grasp. I then took a few steps back as he tried to lunge the other blade into my gut and sliced at his arm in two quick side swipes.

He was moving so slow. I knew what his movements were since he was me and he didn't know how to counter my attacks since I had changed to a different weapon. I had an overwhelming advantage on him. Sure if I took a few hits I surely would have been dead but no matter how much of a damaging weapon or how much strength a person had, if it didn't connect it didn't mean shit.

My copy jumped back and picked up the dagger from the ground. He then brought them to his side in a 'T' formation and appeared behind me. Reacting to this, I side stepped and turned to his inside, grabbing the attacking arm and throwing him over me into the ground. I took the sword in both hands and swung down on my victim only to have him block the sword with his dagger.

Noticing this, I pulled my sword back up and swung it down with much more force behind it. Since he was still able to block it, I rinsed and repeated the same type of attack, sweeping back and forth from different angles still bring down even more force than the last. until finally I got tired of him blocking and spun myself around bring the blade across his arms.

The bastard was pretty lucky that it was such an odd angle or his arms would've been completely sliced off. Instead of getting his armes I was able to knick off nearly half of his left arm. It was now his move. He could either back off and think of a strategy or he could attack wildly making me go on the defensive. Regardless I didn't take any unnecessary movements. I just stared at him with my killer intent and stood my ground.

I don't know if it was because of how I was putting up a fight or if I had done enough damage to him but he stood there just looking at me with both daggers held in a defensive position. It felt so awkward like we were both about to end eachother's lives if we found and opening in eachother's defenses. We stood there for a good minute before I heard footsteps from the corridor I came from. It was just enough for me to lose my focus that my double went on the offensive.

Swinging wildly and with insane speed and accuracy, my double was striking at me from all angles. I was forced to go onto the defensive and wait for an opening in his attacks. Not seeing any, I disengaged from the conflict by pushing forward into his combat space and then quickly withdrawing.

I noticed where I had landed put me roughly 15 feet away from my brother. I slowly made my way across the room towards him still keeping my eyes on my enemy. As I slowly reached my destination, my clone jumped into the air and lunged at me throwing the daggers. If I dodged they would hit my brother but I knew I wasn't skilled enough to knock them both out of my way. I was able to knock one away before the other hit me in the shoulder.

Grabbing my right shoulder I noticed my health was in the low red. I knew if I took another dagger to my body, I would be dead. I had to think of a way to end this fast or I would be unable to protect my brother in this hellish world. Realizing this, I reached down almost instinctively and took the sheathe hanging from my brother's waist.

"I'm going to borrow this." I told him as I sheathed the katana and placed it to my side.

The only style I knew of that was the fastest and most deadly in all of kendo history was this stance. I would have to draw out the blade fast enough to slice at my enemy. The increased speed, and verocious energy that would be behind the blade would be devastating since it was such a quick movement. The only problem was that I had never done it before. I had only seen it in movies and heard about it in stories.

'If this world is what I believe it is... then I should be able to do this.' I thought to reassure myself.

I looked down the ways at my enemy and noticed we were in the same position we were a few moments ago. Nothing would change until I saw that person who was down the hallways enter this room. With no time inbetween me thinking this, did that person finally show themselves. It was Serah... How did she find me in a place like this?

"KIRA YOU JERK! I HAVE YOU AS A FRIEND SO I CAN TRACK YOU TOO YOU KNOW!" She yelled at me pissed off beyond all imagination.

As she said this, it was enough of an opening that my copy took the chance to attack. I brought the sword up and leaned in and dashed towards my opponent as fast as I could. Drawing the blade out, I ducked to the right ever so slightly to avoid the lunging attack and I brought the blade across his side... or atleast what should have been his side until I noticed he had jumped instead of lunge.. that was just a throwing of the weapon.

Noticing my fatal mistake, I noticed all time had stopped... it wasn't from any skill but rather it was my mind working at an insanely fast pace.

'_How was I to get out of this situation? How could I land a hit without him hitting me? I missed my chance and I won't get another like this in a lifetime against this guy. He's only a few feet above me. I have to get up to him so this strike hits him. So how do I get to him? It shouldn't be too hard... All i gotta do is.. Jump._'

As time resumed my body reorganized itself lunging forward and springing up as high as I could possibly jump. It must have been at least 25 feet since I was already above him with the blade back in it's sheathe. Falling faster and faster towards my mid-air target I lunged myself forward bring my blade once again to my side and bringing it out with such force and speed that the air around it seemed to snap and crack from the sheer force of it.

Needless to say, I had to think of what to call this move. So as I passed the blade through my enemy, spilling his pixelated blood all over the ground, I landed and declared it's name.

"Phantom Blade."

With that, I sheathed the sword and walked over to my brother. Again he was still just laying there as if nothing was wrong. I swear if this kid could sleep this long through this much trouble then how in the hell has he survived this long? Regardless I was glad.

Before I could return my brother's blade, I heard something from behind me. It was a shuffling sound as if someone was getting up from the ground. 'No fucking way...' I thought to myself as I turned around.

My copy was still alive. Despite all that damage that was done. Despite all that power behind my strikes, he was still alive. His health bar was empty though. He should have been dead. I finally noticed it though after calming down and focusing a bit. He was standing unconcious. trying to finish his task.

'U-Unbelievable.' I thought as I almost admired his determination and fighting spirit. He truly was just like my character. Sure he may have been my darker side but he still held the same honor as me. That was enough for me to pay my respects. No sooner did I do this, did I see a "Quest Complete" icon appear in the top left corner of my screen. That wasn't it though that was flashing. Right below it was "Special Ending Bonus"

I opened up my quest menu and it said in bold letters:

{[Congratulations, You have unlocked a secret ending]}

You have successfully completed the quest and unlocked the secret ending by accepting your dark self! Congratulations!

I was surprised... I didn't know that there were secret endings to quests. Maybe the gave our more equipment or more loot for people to acquire. Regardless of my suspicions, I opened up the rewards menu to see my spoils.

{[Rewards]}

2X your current level

+1.5X more exp from monsters

150x Essences of the Dark Queen

The Queen's Amulet of Two Souls

No sooner did I close the window and see my level increase to 8, did I see my brother wake up from his slumber to see a man holding his weapon stanidng roughly 15 feet away from him.

"About time you woke up you dumb ass sleeping beauty." I said mocking him.

**And there we go, hope you enjoyed the fighting. I tried to get creative on how to finish him off and to get my character along in levels. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, see you next chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10: Who Is He?

_It's black. I hear voices coming near me. I hear the sounds of battle all around me and yet I can't move my arms or legs. I can't even open up my eyes to see what is gong on. Why is this happening? Why did I get seperated from the group? Will I ever get to see my brother again? Is this the end for me?_

**Flashback 6 hours ago.**

"Hey Flame, we're off to get some sweet equipment and experience in a nearby dungeon. Did you want to come with us?" My friend asked, seeing if I was up for the challenge.

I was never one to back down from a chance to upgrade my equipment. I wasn't ever really comfortable with the platemail and the chainmail armor that we had access to on this level. I still was only level 6 with some crappy low level armor and a decent level 5 katana. All and all, I looked like a noob who didn't know what to go for when it came to buying armors. Regardless I took him up on the offer.

"Sure, I could use the chance to get some better equipment" I said accepting the party invitation.

It was a group of 5 for this run out into the woods. It was slightly larger than our usual 3-man team but I didn't pay it much mind. With 5 players we would be able to stay out longer and be able to fight more enemies at once, giving us an overall better drop ratio per enemy kill. Sure the experience would only be gained if you fought against that monster but if you were able to get the kill on them, it would yield some very good results.

Trudging through the woods and into the deeper parts of the forest, we encountered little resistance. The wolves in these areas were so easy to deal with that anyone who was above level 3 could handle them with no sweat. The only problems you would face would be when you met a dire wolf or some bears that were wandering in a herd. Luckily we didn't run into any.

We probably walked for about another 15-20 minutes before we set our eyes on some ruins. There was a staircase spiraling down into the depths below and god only knows how far it would go before it reached the bottom. The air felt very old and dry. Almost as if all life in the area had been decaying here for centuries.

"Well, we're here." My friend announced breaking me from my train of thought. "So, here's what we're going to do. I heard from an NPC that there is a valuable item down in the depths of these caverns. Only problem his he was too weak to get the item and he wants us to get it. If we get it for him he'll give us all a grand total of 15,000 col as well as an item best suited to our needs with our current skill sets." He said explaining in fine detail what the requirements were to complete the quest.

"Sounds simple enough." I said looking at the ruins. "Only problem is, no one has been down this dungeon so we don't exactly know what to expect. I'd suggest we do it at a slow crawl so we don't trigger anything unneccesary." I said trying to reason with my friend.

"Bah, nonsense." My friend laughed, shrugging my advice off. "We have a total of 5 people here and the lowest level among us is 5. This is a level 8 dungeon quest so it shouldn't be that hard. Just be careful and use your heads and we'll breeze through this like it's no business.

I didn't like how this situation was going. Why would he take such a risk in an unknown dungeon? Was he trying to get us all killed? It wasn't like I could do anything anyways. If I left them to go die on their stupid quest then I would be hating myself for the rest of my life... well atleast my virtual life. Mulling it over I finally decided to follow suit and enter the suspicious ruins.

As I expected, it was very dark and very cramped. We would have to march in a single line through this maze. It was a very bad and sticky situation we found ourselves in. With being forced to move in a single line, if we were to have to fight, we would have to fight them one on one. No support from the team. Luckily I was in the middle so I wouldn't have to worry about it but still I couldn't live with myself if I wasn't able to help someone in dire need.

We moved through the maze with a pretty decent pace. We were able to dodge the traps and kill the mobs as they showed up rather easily. I was surprised this was even a level 8 dungeon. How in the world would this constitute as a level 8 dungeon when the mobs were half that level. It really didn't make much sense to me and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Something was wrong here... it was going to swimmingly.

As we trudged through the underdark of the maze we finally reached a plaza-like room that stretched a good ways before revealing yet another path to go down. I noticed in the corner there was a grand mirror. The biggest mirror I had ever seen. It wasn't exactly normal to see such a large mirror in such a random place but we didn't have time to inspect it. We moved on through to the next room and found that we had reached our destination.

In the 50ft. by 50 ft. room we noticed that it was a perfectly round circular room. There were stairs leading down into a lower part of the room and then it would level out slightly before you'd have to go up the stairs to reach the altar at the top of it. The altar was overlooking the whole area and there seemed to be a light shining down from above hitting a sphere-like object dead center.

"Alright... here we are." My friend stated with caution in his words. "Ususally there should be something guarding this item but it doesn't seem to be the case this time." He said with is sword drawn.

"_Doesn't Seem._" I emphasized. "It doesn't mean it isn't." I was completely on the defensive in this room. I didn't want something to jump out and slice me in half. I had a bad feeling about this area and I knew it was only going to get worse if we were to take that orb thing.

I stood point at our exit making sure we were not going to be caught off guard. My friend had decided he would be heading up to the altar since he was the fastest and he could get out the fastest if things went wrong. I didn't want to be anywhere near the object so it was fine with me if he wanted to be suicidal and go after the thing that was most likely the trigger for this area.

As he walked up the stairs and neared the black orb I heard a faint pitter patter noise all around the area. I took up my sword and readied myself for a fight. I looked around with my keen eyes to see if I could depict out where it was coming from and what was making the noise.

As I looked around the room, I noticed a very dark and shadowy figure move across the wall on the other side of the room. It was as if he himself was a shadow and he was hovering as well. So if it was what I thought it was, then it meant that grabbing that orb thing, would be the end of us all.

I took a few steps towards the exit and told my party that we needed to get out of here fast.

"I don't like this place man. It's looking really bad. And I mean really bad." I said, cautioning him to not do anything rash.

"Relax man, I know this is going to trigger something. It might as well since it's the last thing here that looks like it resembles anything like the old man wants." He said trying to convince me to wait a little longer.

"Fuck the old man, Reizer we need to get the hell out of here. If this is anything of what I think it is, we're going to get a shit ton of mobs spawning on us and catching us off guard." I said pleading him not to take the orb. "I'm not going to die here for 3,000 col and a chance to get a decent item."

"Quit being a sissy and just keep your guard up. I'm grabbing the orb now." He said reaching for it.

In one quick movement he grabbed the orb and threw it at me. On instinct I grabbed it and looked at it. It looked like a jet black crystal with a smooth surface revealing my reflection on it's surface. It didn't look like anything supernatural but something was off about it. If this thing was supposed to be on an altar and it didn't look like anything important then what was it for?

Gasping and realizing the purpose of this trap, I yelled at my companions. "WE NEED TO GET GOING NOW!" I yelled, turning tail and running out of the room. My team members soon followed at my words of caution and I took off as fast as I could. I didn't get that far though. I had returned to the room with the giant mirror and in front of us stood a black fog.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, bringing my sword up to defend myself.

"We're trapped here! Nice going Reizer." I said completely irritated by my friend.

"Hey you wanted to come along man, don't get all emotional on me now. It's just a dark fo-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence, cause as he was looking at me, I noticed there was a slight movement near his head and like a knife cutting through butter, his head was decapitated.

I yelled out in fear and terror as I saw my friend burst into a million polygons. Looking at the fog again, I noticed that there were several glowing symbols in the fog. There were about seven tendrills flying out from the fog and they were all almost completely invisible. You were able to notice the refraction in light if you focused hard enough.

Bringing my weapon up to block, I parried the tendrill coming at me. In a swift counter I brought my sword down and sliced it in half making it spew out red pixels. I looked back up and noticed that there was now 2 bars above the fog and read out the name. "The Dahaka." I stated as I readied myself again.

It wasn't a pretty fight. All I remember after readying myself was that I was slammed against a wall and everything went blurry. I took one last look down and the black orb and noticed it was sinking into my hand. 'Was I dazed that much?' I thought swaying back and forth.

The rest was black. I couldn't hear much of anything for what seemed like ages. I heard some screams of terror and some impaling of bodies as I heard the shattering polygons. 'Shit.' I thought to myself. 'All of my party is probably dead now, and I'm stuck on the ground unable to do anything.'

I awaited my inevitable doom upon my useless corpse for the longest time. I was wondering if I was even called a threat in this instance since I was knocked out. Regardless I knew I was still alive since I could still see my health bring my top right hand corner. I was just below 50%.

Still unable to open my eyes I heard more footsteps coming my way. But it was only one pair this time. 'Did this guy come out here aone?' I thought as I tried to determine the situation.

"If you want to kill him, you're going to have to go through me!" I heard him say as it seemed like he was right in front of me.

I could only hear clanging of metal after that. It seemed like a very heated battle and it wasn't going too well for my so-called rescuer. But then, something odd happened. I soon felt my body being moved and then felt my weapon being take from my waist. 'Was I being robbed?' I thought as I tried to open my eyes.

I heard a few more exchanges before I heard the man say two words. "Phantom Blade." I didn't know what he was trying to do. I mean hell, that wasn't even an actual sword skill the last time I looked but hey, if he was able to beat that monster then more power to him.

It was then I realized I could move my eyes now. It took me a little while longer than usual before I was able to open my eyes up but when I was, I noticed there was a man standing 15 feet away from me. He still had my sword in hand and he was holding it as if he were holding a stance.

'Wait a second...' I thought as I looked at his footing and sword placement. 'That's just like my older brother's stance.' I nearly laughed at the thought. There was no way my brother would risk his life for me when he hasn't even bothered to be there when I need him to be. I accepted that type of relationship I had with my brother. It's not like I hated exactly... more like I just wanted to be more like him so that way when I grew up I would be as strong as he was.

"About time you woke up you dumbass sleeping beauty." He said to me in an insulting tone.

'Who was this guy? Why did he look so familiar? Was it the hair? The face? The dialect of his words?' I thought as questions started to fly around in my head.

"Who... are you?" I questioned him as I tried to get to my feet. He didn't give me a basic response. Instead he left me with a cryptic sentence.

"Someone who knows you a lot more than you think they do." He said almost in a sly way.

I had noticed there was someone else behind him who's face was completely red with rage.

"DAMNIT KIRA! Never do that again, you had me worried!" She yelled at him smacking him upside the head.

"Ouch, ouch... that hurts you know?" He said as he took one last look at me.

"Yo. we need to get out of here now if we want to survive through this." He said as he turned around and started for the exit. "Oh yes, that's right. Can you still walk?" He turned as he saw I wasn't moving.

I got up and started towards the exit. "I can walk just fine thank yo-" I was cut off as I saw he threw my sword at my face. I grabbed it on instinct and put it to my side.

"You know, you show up out of the blue and save my life and yet now you're being distant from me and leaving me in the dark. Tch, you're just like my brother." I said to him leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't know why I said that, it just seemed that this guy and my brother shared the same point of views, the same actions. Something just didn't feel right with this situation.

"Well, I apologize for troubling you with such little information." He retorted back at me with no emotion whatsoever in his voice.

Whoever this guy was, he was anything but normal in this game.

**And with that, Chapter 10 down. I hope you enjoyed the quick change in point of view. I'll be heading straight back into kira's standpoint after this but i just felt like this story needed to be about BOTH brothers and not just the views of just one. Look forward to next chapter. :D**


	11. Chapter 11: The Dahaka

_Kira has finally reached his brother and has defeated his inner evil however, what else must he do to make sure his brother stays safe?_

My head was still hurting from the blow I took from Serah. Needless to say, her strength was definitely something to not underestimate. 'If all it took for her to injure me was a smack on the head, then what would it be like if she swung a weapon at me?' I shuddered at the thought.

"So," I started off my question to my brother. "Why exactly were you down here to begin with? You know this dungeon is a level 8 dungeon and by the looks of it you couldn't be anywhere past 4 or 5." I said looking at his appearance.

"I'm actually level 6 thank you very much. And the reason I was here was to get better equipment from this quest. Speaking of which, we need to go back to finis-" I interrupted him.

"No way are we going back. Did you see what I had to fight there? It was an intelligent AI with insane amounts of skill. If it wasn't for my quick thinking we both would have died." I got retorted before getting smacked in the arm.

"Ahem!" Serah stated before giving me a stern look.

"Correction… if it wasn't for Serah's burst into the room I probably would have been cut down by the AI…" I said rubbing my shoulder. "Anyways, we're not going back."

"I'm sorry but regardless of who you are, I need to finish this quest." My brother said before stopping in his tracks. "And I'm not one to start and not finish a quest when I'm this far ahead." He said trying to stand his ground against his unknown savior.

I gave a deep sigh before turning around to face him. "Look, I know you came down here with a group of people but when I came down to see if you were still alive, there was only your body on the ground and nothing else. So where are your friends you came with ey?" I gave him a look trying to make him realize that he was left behind and that it was a fruitless effort to try and finish this stupid quest.

He just looked at the ground for a good moment before looking up at me with tears in his eyes. Correction, there were tears but a hint of rage in them… As if he had just seen a thousand wars and lived to tell the tales of each. I was almost shocked to see how much resolve he had behind those eyes. Had he changed so much in such a short time while in this game? It had only been one week and he was already this strong. It was hard to not smile behind my façade as he told me what he was about to do.

"Look, I'm happy that you are concerned about my safety but its 1: None of your business and 2: It's my decision whether or not to go in and finish this thing. My friends, in case you were wondering, are now dead because of my lack of intelligence on this dungeon and I wasn't strong enough to even protect them!" He shouted with tears now rolling down his face. "I want to become stronger. I want to be able to be someone people can rely on… I want to be on the frontlines clearing this game and eventually being someone people will talk about. 'The one who was there when others weren't' I want to be known as that when I finally save everyone from this game!" He declared gasping for breath.

I was taken aback. I didn't know my little brother had such conviction in him. I almost wanted to hug him and tell him things were going to be fine and that I would be there but it wasn't the time or the place. Before I could say anything I felt a slight tremor beneath my feet. My gaze hardened and I swiftly turned around to see a dark fog off in the distance. I readied my weapons and started to spin one of them.

"Was this the thing that took out your friends?" I asked.

"Y-Yeah… be careful this guy sends out invisible tendrils that can lob your head off." He said slightly shivering in fear.

I took a few steps back and shoved my brother back into the large room and told both Serah and him to get to the back. I quickly followed but instead of heading all the way back I stopped in the middle of the room and starting spinning both my daggers. It didn't take long before I saw a tendril heading at my face to slice it off. I took on of my daggers and sliced it down the middle making it shatter into polygons. They weren't that hard to hit especially since my passive abilities on my eyes made them a lot easier to see. They had a faint glow of blue around them so it was relatively easy to target the sides of them.

I was able to slice 3 of them apart before they stopped attacking. It was now just a game of waiting before the boss itself would show up. I spun my daggers around the bulk of my hand before the hilt was in them showing the blade upside down in one and right side up in the other. It was then I finally noticed the four bars in the fog and the name appeared right above them.

"The Dahaka" I stated before I saw another tenrdril fly at me center mass.

I jumped over the tendril spinning my body before severing it making the stub spill red pixels everywhere. I landed only to have another two tendrils fly at me, one at center mass again, the other sweeping at my legs. I decided to run at the one heading straight at me and slice it down the middle making it shatter and I jumped over the one sweeping my legs and threw the dagger down stabbing the tendril in place. I then spun myself around mid-air and threw my remaining dagger at the Dahaka. It felt like it connected but it didn't show any hint of damage. I tried to pull the dagger back but it was stuck.

'Fuck.' I thought as I started to fly towards it without my permission. The motion was halted when my dagger that was in the ground was holding me in my other arm. I started to feel my body start to stretch and I gritted in pain. I let go of my dagger and both the chain and blade got sucked into the black fog.

I dropped to the ground and took a few steps back to retrieve my dagger. I then readied myself for another attack before I noticed my other dagger was sent flying at an insane speed towards my face. I wasn't able to catch it or block it properly so I moved to the side to see it fly all the way back and stab into the wall between Serah and Flame. I gulped at the thought that one of them probably would've died if it planted into their heads. I turned back at my enemy and waited for its next move.

It was a good moment before I noticed the fog started to dissipate. What was remaining was a large, muscular dark demon-like figure standing there with giant black curved horns and a Minotaur face. He wielded a large jagged great sword in one hand and in the other was a sphere of black flame. He was at least 8 feet tall and he didn't look like he was going to let us leave peacefully.

"Tch." I gritted my teeth before looking down at my hands. 'If only I had my other dagger.' I thought before I felt my right hand reach back on its own as if it were waiting on something to fall into its hands. In the next moment I felt my dagger in my grip and I looked back to see my brother and Serah hadn't moved an inch. All I saw was their look of amazement and their weapons out as if they were actually going to help me fight this thing.

'Weird.' I thought as I turned back to see the Dahaka had entered the room.

I knew that this thing had an overwhelming advantage when it came to strength so I couldn't let wait and give him the advantage of striking out first. With this in mind I crouched down into a running position and gathered my strength into my legs. After a few moments I rocketed out into a full-on sprint and dashed towards the Dahaka.

As I was within 10 feet of the demon, I noticed that he pulled up his greatsword above his head and started to swing it down upon me. I dodged to the left and took the chance to jump across it and slice my dagger across the chest and implanting it into his shoulder. Using this as a fulcrum I spun myself around to its back and stabbed both daggers into its neck and kicked off landing right in front of the entrance to the room.

Now that I had its attention and it was now turned around to face me, I took off to the right along the side of the wall as he brought down the blade where I was just a few moments ago. Using this time, I used my invisibility dagger skill and started to observe the demon to see if it had any weak spots.

"Fuck!" I yelled as I saw that there were no indications of any weaknesses to be seen. I looked at every single part that would be considered a weak point. Instead of the red "X" reticule that should have been shown, there was nothing. 'I guess that was the difference between a regular mob and a boss huh?' I thought before my invisibility wore off.

As I was now visible again, the demon quickly took notice of me and wasted no time in starting his onslaught. He quickly turned to his left and his blade followed in turn swiping at me at eye level. I barely dodged by ducking below it and I took a few steps back and then back flipped hitting the wall.

'Shit.' I thought as I was now up against the corner of the room. I noticed the demon was now hovering over me with his greatsword in the air and now coming down upon me. I didn't have enough time to dodge to my right without getting hit so I had to bring up my dagger to make time for myself to dodge. Needless to say, it didn't happen like I had hoped. As our blades connected, I wasn't able to move. Instead of dodging to my right I was literally crushed and immobilized from the overwhelming pressure that followed our connection.

The ground started to crack beneath my feet as I noticed that the pressure was so great that the ground beneath me couldn't take it. How was I able to stand though? The ground itself was cracking beneath my feet so how was I still standing?

I then felt something hit the ground. It was my leg. My leg was now bent and on the ground and I was still being pushed down. I held my ground by bringing up my other dagger and locking blades with the beast only to have the pressure to increase. The ground was now fully cracked and parts of the rubble were misshaped and sticking out from the cracks. I looked up at my health bar and noticed it steadily going down. It was just above 75% and was still decreasing… 75%, 70, 65…

'Fuck!' I swore to myself as I was in a very sticky situation… There was no way I was going to get out of this bind without taking massive amounts of damage or even live if I was to try and dodge without the help of my daggers holding this beast back. I had to think fast but everything I thought up of ended in me dying or losing my daggers and I couldn't have that happen. As I saw myself running out of options I noticed the unthinkable happen. A curved silver blade had lodged itself into the side of the demon and I noticed a young man holding onto the hilt of the sword… It was my brother.

"BAKA!" I yelled at him as the demon looked down at my brother and was now focused on taking him out. Still holding his pressure on me, he used his other hand covered in black fire and grabbed my brother's hand and pulled the sword out. He then pulled him up and looked at him in the eyes. My brother screamed out in pain as his hand was being scorched beyond all reckoning.

"LET HIM GO!" I yelled at the demon putting all my strength into my arms trying to get out. It wasn't any use, he had so much more strength than me it wasn't even measurable. The blade didn't move a single inch. My brother continued to lose health and he was now in the red. As I saw this, visions started to cloud my eyes. I could see all the times I had with my brother and how much fun I had when I was living at home with him. We weren't too close after I got my job and that was roughly 4 years ago but up until that point we were really close… And I was about to lose that. As this thought went through my head, something in me snapped. I used up the remaining bits of my stamina and shouted out to the top of my lungs.

"I said… LET GO OF MY BROTHER YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" With that final burst of energy I snapped the blade up and spun my body around and launched myself up towards the Dahaka kicking him in the face with one foot, and then another, and another. With each kick I spun myself around smacking it in the jaw making him move slightly back each time until I finally brought my leg up into the air and brought it down upon his skull making him lose his grip on my brother.

I landed on both feet at first and then before I knew it I was on one leg breathing heavily. My brother was at 25% health and was trying to get up. I looked up at the demon to notice that I had brought it down to its 3rd bar of health. I guess those kicks to the face dealt some pretty crazy damage but at a great price. My legs felt like they had shattered and my stamina was completely gone. It was hard enough just to keep my eyes open with all the pain I felt coursing through me. I didn't have time to sleep though; if I didn't hurry we would all die. I tried to get up only to have myself return back to where I was again.

The Dahaka had finally recovered itself from the kicks to the face it received from me. Not really hard to tell that he was pissed off at me. He took two steps towards us before I noticed Serah had gotten in the way of its advance. 'That stupid girl, she's gonna get herself killed!' I thought before I tried yet again to get up. As before, it was no use. Regardless of how much I wanted to help it would be awhile before I was useful again. 'Would it be too late by then though?' was the question that kept repeating in my head over and over as I saw Serah fighting the demon by herself.

She was holding up a good fight on her own. She knew as much as I that the demon was rather slow and it would be hard for it to hit her if she kept her distance and played it safe by only getting a few hits in before backing off. It was still a risky situation considering she didn't have any back up while fighting this thing… Or did she? I had spoken too soon because before long I noticed my brother was already up again with 75% of his health and was already charging at the beast with his katana in both hands.

'He must have drunk a potion.' I thought before I opened up my inventory and did the same.

As my health reached full I tried again to get up but it was still to no avail. I guess the damage to my legs still hadn't fully set in so it would still be a bit before I could get up. I was just in the corner forced to watch as my companions would have to fight this thing. It was weird though… I didn't feel like I had to worry too much. Was it because of the insane strength Serah had? No, that couldn't have been it she was just a girl and it was against my morals not to be protective of girls… No it had to be something else.

It finally set in when I took notice of how my brother was fighting. He was calm, cool and collected when he was fighting against the demon. He never gave the Dahaka a chance to get a swing at him. He was always three steps ahead with his battle motions and he never overstepped into a danger zone. He was handling himself quite easily and it made my mind at ease when I noticed the demon was now on its last bar of health… 'Wait, last bar of health?' I thought before gasping.

"GET BACK NOW!" I yelled out.

It was too late though. The Dahaka was given enough time to switch his battle algorithm and was now using his fiery black hand as his main weapon. He swiped his blade across making Serah slam against a wall and used his other hand to launch a black ball of fire at my brother. My brother was able to dodge it slightly but he was still lit afire by the slight bits that grazed him. He screamed in pain as he was engulfed in black flame and in turn his health started to drop rapidly. As his health hit 50% hit dropped to the ground and started to roll to put them out and they quickly dissipated.

"Don't get hit by the fire at all! If you do it's going to be a painful experience!" I yelled trying to do my best to help out in any way I could.

I looked down and started to curse myself at my weakness. I still wasn't able to get up from all the time I had rested. 'Was it because of the insane amount of stamina I used?' I thought at first. 'No that can't be it stamina regenerates over time so it shouldn't matter how much I use at once.' I took a quick look up at my icon and noticed that there was a paralysis sign blinking in the top right under my health bar.

"You've got to be joking." I said as I then noticed the effect go away. Instantly I got up and ran towards the battle making a mental note that if I touched the demon with any body part I would be paralyzed for a decent time.

I took up both my blades and dropped to a slide as I passed under the demon slicing both his legs. I then got up and jumped back as I saw yet another ball of fire blast where I was just standing. My brother took the chance and sliced its back and then sliced its legs before he too jumped back and ducked underneath the blade that came his way.

This vicious cycle of dodging and nailing in a few hits went on for another minute before we noticed the bar reach red and the unthinkable happened. The demon pointed his palm at the ground and black flames bursted out in a shockwave hitting us all full on. All I could see was black after that. It wasn't that I had my eyes close nor was I dead… at least I hoped I wasn't dead. It was that the flames were so black that my vision had vanished. It was excruciatingly painful as I tried to put them out by rolling on the ground. It was as if I was standing inside a sun and was going to be there in hell for the next 300 years.

As I rolled on the ground and the flames finally died out, I looked up to see that my brother was unconscious and Serah was off a ways holding herself up against a wall trying to keep the demon away from us. I tried my best getting up only to be able to get to one knee. Noticing that this was my limit, I used the rest of my arm strength and threw my dagger at the demon's head only to have it land in the wall in front of it. The demon looked at the blade and then back at the one who threw it and set off towards me.

'Not what I wanted but it did the trick.' I thought as I accepted my fate.

I knew I wasn't going to get out of this. There was no way I would be able to live and get out of this with my companions so maybe Serah would be able to get my brother and take him far away from here… at least that's what I had hoped until I saw her leap on top of the demon and start whacking at it in the face. It wasn't enough to bring the beast down though and she was soon thrown against the wall making an imprint. She didn't fall from there, she was literally a part of the wall and wouldn't be able to get down that easily.

It then occurred to me to look at my health and I was in shock at how much I had remaining. I was at 25% left and I quickly looked back at Serah to see how much she had left. I looked at her bar and noticed there was no color left in her health bar. I looked harder and harder to see if I had mistaken it but it was the truth. I couldn't see it. My mind went blank… I snapped. I didn't know what to do anymore. All of my thought processes, all of my calculative thinking, all of my deductive reason all turned to rage. I felt so much rage running through my body that my mind couldn't take it.

"_**YOU SON OF A BITCH!**_" I yelled out. But it wasn't my voice. It was something else… something locked away and hidden. It had now gotten out.

"_**You hurt my brother, you killed my friend… and what's more, you even hurt me. Do you honestly think you're going to live?!" **_I felt my body say as both my weapons were now gone.

My body took up the new weapon in its right hand and stood up in a familiar stance: Arms to the side with blade slightly forward towards the enemy. My body was waiting patiently for the demon to make its next move… not even an inch. The demon turned to look at me and sent yet another fireball towards my direction.

"_**Feh, child's play.**__" _My body laughed as he brought the sword up brought it down slicing the fireball in half before it reached me.

My body dashed forward before the demon could make its next move and in one swift motion brought the sword cleanly across its side. Looking back to notice the damage that was dealt, I noticed that there were four black line in a box-like shape surrounding the demon where my body main the initial slash. I looked up at the health of the demon and it was now empty but instead of shattering, the demon started to slowly fade away into dust in the room.

The dust completely covered the room in a few seconds before it started to converge into a source. It was my brother's right hand. In not time at all, my body moved towards my brother and brought up the sword in both hands.

'Wait.' I thought. 'No, no! Please! Don't do this! He doesn't deserve this!' I begged my body not to deal the finishing blow to my brother.

"_**You honestly think that I'm going to let this thing reincarnate in your brother?**_" My body asked me.

I didn't have time to question on why the body knew I was there. Instead I pleaded that he would spare my brother's life. 'Please, it's my fault that he's here. He doesn't deserve a death like this. I don't care if he is going to be reincarnated as that thing. He is my brother and I'm not going to be the cause of his death!' I pleaded. 'If he does turn into this thing, we'll burn that bridge when we get there, but please right now… please spare him.' I begged as he held his sword high in the air.

"…_**Why go so far? Is there really a reason for why you have to go this far for your brother? You've already done enough. You don't need to do any more." **_My body responded as he brought the sword down and stabbed it into the ground. "_**You're going to regret this. So don't say I didn't warn you.**_"

As he said that, I felt the power that resided within me dissipate. I was left standing there above my brother before my body finally gave out from exhaustion and I landed on my back. I started to cry.

"I'm so sorry Serah… I couldn't protect you." I said before I lost consciousness.


	12. Chapter 12: Dreaming?

**Alright! It's the start of Chapter 12. I'm glad that everyone who has stayed with me thus far has PM'd me and has given me support in making this Fanfiction, I just want to say I appreciate it a lot. Without delaying you any further please enjoy the new chapter. :D**

'_Again with the same old scenery. Once again, my vision is black and I can't move that well. It's to be expected since I have once again nearly died trying to do something stupid. Not that you can blame me though. I don't want to be separated from my brother ever again. He doesn't deserve this fate. If anyone is at fault it's me. I'd rather be the one to pay the price of this hell than anyone… Serah… I'm so sorry. If only I was stronger. If only I had been faster and less of a weakling I could've saved you but instead I'm still the same weakling that you know me as. Please, if you ever find it in your heart…'_

"Please… forgive me…" I finished my thought aloud.

"Oh? Is he awake?" I heard a voice to my right.

I wasn't sure where I was but it was reassuring to hear a voice from a player. My body was still in shambles from the feeling I felt in my core… It felt like my body was finally coming to life again though. I could feel the sheets on my body and the nice soft bed beneath my back. The only thing that was misplaced though was my heart. I felt so awful that I couldn't protect my friend. A single tear I could feel was sliding down my face.

I felt a finger swipe the tear from my cheek and I soon felt a warm soft hand on my face. It was a small hand, rather slim and tender. It felt feminine and almost familiar. I wished it was Serah's hand but there was no such luck in this world. I saw her health bar reach nothing. She was dead and there was nothing I could do to bring her back.

'Wait a minute.' I thought trying to analyze my memory. 'I only saw her bar reach empty… But I never saw her shatter…' I tried my best to recollect what I saw when she landed against the wall. Her bar was definitely gone but who's to say that she didn't have just 1 or 2 hit points left? It was a long shot but it was still plausible. I didn't see her shatter so the outcome could be true!

I placed my hand on top of the hand on my face. I soon followed the hand up the arms of the unknown figure and I may have accidentally brushed against what I now identified as a chest so the person was definitely female. Regardless I went further up the female's body until I finally reached her face. I didn't know why I was doing this it wasn't like I could tell who the person was just by touching her face but it felt reassuring nonetheless.

"Se… Serah?" I asked trying to figure out who this enigma was.

"Yea, it's me. You know you touched my chest right?" She said going straight to the point that I accidentally molested her.

"Y-Yea… My bad." I said trying to hold back my laughter. Granted it wasn't exactly the right time to laugh since she might try and break my hand in three different places but hey, I was happy that she survived. It then brought up my next question.

"How?" I questioned her trying to get my head around the fact I saw her health drop to virtually nothing.

"Well…" She began. "It turns out that I have a passive skill called «Undying Will» and it allows me to survive with 0 hit points for roughly a minute. It only works 15% of the time and it only works once per day."

"Regardless of how you got that ability… please don't put yourself in that position again. If you died I don't know what I'd do." I said trying to hold back tears.

It's not that I had any real feelings for her but I felt that if she died, something I held dear would die with her. She was someone I didn't want to lose. She was someone who I had taken under my wing and I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her… 'Would that constitute as love I wonder?' I gave it a moment for the thought to set in. 'Do I actually love this girl?' I thought again before finally my thoughts became apparent.

"Hey, your face is red. Are you okay?" She moved her forehead to mine and held it there for a second. "No. Nothing. Then again it would be weird if you could get sick in a game like this… wait didn't we have a conversation like this earlier?" She started to ramble on.

I couldn't really take much more. I felt so tired and exhausted from how much I had fought. Before I started to fade away I was able to get out two more questions. "W-Where is my brother? Is he alright?" I asked before finally fading into the nothingness of my subconscious.

Usually when a person sleeps, thoughts come to fruition and morph into objects that can be interacted with. It could be scenery or a person or an event that you have to watch and be a part of and you usually have no control of them. In SAO, this was no different. The game took the thought processes of the brain and made it become real to the best of creator's ability. I was actually rather impressed when I had my first virtual "Dream".

I was back in my bed staring at the ceiling. I could still see my favorite porn actress doing a strip tease on my poster. I could smell the fragrant air fresheners filling the room with an appealing aroma even though in the corner of my vision I could see my dirty clothes piled up in a decent mound in the corner of the room. The sun had just started to reach its peak in the sky and the light was shining brightly on my right eye making me shift slightly to the left so it would no longer bother me. The dull paint on the walls still looked the same as it always did and the hole in the wall still remained from where I exerted my frustration.

All in all, it looked just like my room. I hadn't been here in the past six months since I decided to live out with my "brother from another mother". It was good to see that nothing had really changed. I looked out the window to get a better grasp of where I was and when I looked out I saw that it was nearly fall. The leaves on the trees were starting wither to their brown dead states only to fall off and be crushed on the ground. The breath of nearby kids playing in the streets could be seen due to the cold weather that we were having. The sun was slightly behind the clouds in the sky and the Thanksgiving posters could be seen everywhere.

It was good to see that I was finally free from my virtual hell but something just didn't seem right. It was too peaceful here. I didn't hear anything throughout the house so was it that late in the day? It seemed strange that my mother wouldn't wake me up and let me know that they would be going out. I decided to head downstairs to see where my family went and noticed that I was alone. The tables were cleaned off, the TV was turned off, the dishes had been cleaned and put away, the laundry wasn't running, the floors had been vacuumed, the sofas were completely refurbished and the windows didn't even have a speck of dust on them. If I didn't know people were living here, I would have expected this house to be on sale for some reason. It was far too odd and I started to worry what world I had gotten myself sucked into.

"Hello?" I started to say throughout the house. "Is anyone here? Mom? Dad?" I couldn't hear anything from anywhere. It was silent throughout the house.

I decided to quickly head out the door and see if anyone had seen my family leave from the house. The only problem was that the second I opened the door, I was greeted with a pitch black abyss with one foot out the door. There was no bottom, there was no top and there was no horizon at the end of my vision. It was just a pitch black nothingness that seemed to fall down forever. I quickly closed the door and tried the back exit. Again the same thing happened. There was nothing that could be seen. I went upstairs to the window and saw that it was the same scenery. The same kids were playing in the street and the same ball was getting tossed back and forth as if it were in a 5 minute loop on a cassette tape. I opened up the window to no avail. The same blackness greeted my eyes.

I went downstairs and sat on the sofa. I didn't know what to do. I knew this wasn't my reality and that I was now trapped in the confines of my mind. What would have happened though if I decided to fall down? Would I wake up? Would I die? Was there really any way to get out of this prison to begin with? I didn't have much time left. I could feel it in my bones. Something was coming and it wouldn't be long before I would have to act. I started to pace back and forth using all my brain power to think of a solution.

"Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. Damnit!" I kept saying to myself. I knew there was no point in me cursing myself to oblivion but it felt like it was helping.

My brain started to hurt from all the thinking I was doing and noticed that if there was a way out it would be staring at me dead in the face. "Why was I here?" was the only question pounding through my head. Why in the hell would someone put me here to have me sit like a doll in a house with nothing here? It made no sense to me whatsoever… My family was gone. My Mom, my Dad and even my Sister. No one was here. I was all alone trapped in a prison with no way out.

Something then started to pound in the back of my head. It was so annoying a frustrating. It felt like I was dehydrated but I didn't feel the need to drink anything. I didn't feel tired since I had been sleeping since past noon or, at least what should have been noon. It frustrated me so much that I couldn't make sense of this headache. It almost felt like a sign, like I was missing something, someone, some event or even some purpose in life. Again the question popped up in my head… "WHY WAS I HERE?"

It kept ringing throughout my head over and over again. If it kept up much longer I thought I would go insane… as it turned out that's exactly what happened. Before long I was starting to tear the place up. I had to find out why I was here. "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?!" I kept repeating to myself getting steadily angrier as I threw everything all over the place. I was searching for something anything to give me an answer, and explanation a reason, a purpose in life, something to give me a direction in which to go.

I soon found myself upstairs next to my room. I was breathing heavily, almost hysterical. I was standing right in front of my door looking at myself in the mirror trying to figure out why this was happening. I could see my reflection in the mirror but something felt off… I could see another image slightly behind me. He had similar facial features as me and he had the same sort of build as me. The only thing separating me and him from being almost identical was the color of his hair. It was as white as snow. It was rather beautiful for a male. I didn't even know that anyone in Japan had hair like that…

"I must be going insane." I said to myself.

As I said this I heard something hit the ground behind me. I turned around slowly and noticed that there was now another door in the hallway. 'Was that door always there?' I thought to myself. I didn't know what to do. What I should do is more like it… If I was to open this door, I wouldn't know the outcome. I could probably die if I was to open up this door that remained invisible until now. Then again, what other choice did I have? I pondered opening it for another few moments before I built up the courage to open it.

Inside it was just a regular room. There were several books lying on the floor and a couple on the computer. Most of them were books about computers and how to make gaming graphics as well as how to use the NervGear system console. There were two computer monitors with a single keyboard as well as a NervGear helmet on the desk. What was weird was that there was nothing else there. Literally there was NOTHING else there. There was no bed, no couch, no TV, just nothing.

I was at first confused as to why this room seemed to be so off from the others I went into… then again it was apparent that wherever I was it was anything but normal. I took a longer look at the NervGear before I started to feel an attachment to it. Like this was the one object I was trying to find for the longest time and now I had finally found it. The question though was why did I want to see this thing so badly? It was just a game, nothing more. It wasn't like I was a major gamer and it really didn't have that much of an affect on my life but for some reason I felt the compelling need to have it with me. It was almost as if the NervGear was telling me that I needed it to proceed with my life.

I stepped closer to the gaming system before images started to pour themselves into my mind. I was witnessing an avatar with two blade slicing through enemies and shattering foes in the blink of an eye. I saw him nearly die to the hands of supernatural beings and come back with insane combos with determination and fierce killing intent in his presence. Then I noticed something as I was being flooded with these images. He held a sword the same way I did. He had the same type of fighting style that I had when he was given a katana. It made me wonder who exactly this person was. Why he looked so much like me and how he was able to do such amazing things.

The images got more and more vibrant and extraordinary as I neared the NervGear. I felt an overwhelming compelling need to put it on and try it out. It was like an irresistible pleasure that wouldn't be satiated until I would put it on and use it. There was something holding me back though. It felt like the world I was in was trying to warn me of a consequence at the use of the NervGear. The consequence was so terrible that it felt like the gravity around me had increased tenfold with every step I took. By the time I got to the desk the weight around me felt almost crushing. My body felt heavy and my bones started to creak. My mind started to get foggy and my thought processes went out the door. I tried to lift my arms to pick up the item I wanted most but they stayed at their sides.

I stood there, just looking at it and what wonders it may hold when I would put it on but my body refused me to wield it. It was like showing a kid a piece of candy but keeping it just out of hands reach. Needless to say the need was agonizing. It took me what seemed like an eternity before I felt a slight twitch in my right arm. I used this as a sign that now was the time to act and that I had to go back.

'Go back where?' the thought rang through my mind. 'Where did I have to go back to?' It was such an odd thought. Why did I have to go back to somewhere? Was I somewhere to begin with? These philosophical questions ran through my mind like I was Albert Einstein. I was starting to wonder why. As my hands finally touched the NervGear my mind finally set focus on a single word.

Brother.

"That's right…" I said, realizing the purpose of everything I had done thus far.

Without any more thoughts on the matter I used all my strength to hoist the NervGear onto my head. With two simple words I would once again delve into the death game that my brother was in. I had to get him out and I had to do my best to make sure he would get back. With a renewed resolve I started to fall backwards towards the ground. Before I hit the hard floor I muttered the two words to start my journey again in Sword Art Online.

"Link… START!" I shouted with all my might.

My body fell through the ground and everything around me started to shatter into polygons. I saw several lights start to envelop my entire body and before long I was now looking at a mirror to notice I was now my avatar. He was smiling at me as if he welcomed me back from the land of the dead. Before long the mirror disappeared and the pillars of colors and lights encased my vision. It wasn't long before I found myself staring again at a ceiling like I was in the dream, only this time I looked up in the top right and noticed my health bar and instead of a plain old ceiling it was a wooden cabin.

I gave a sigh of relief and got up to get a good feeling of my surrounding. My body still hurt from before and my vision was still a little blurry. I walked out of the room and entered into the main living room where I found Serah sitting talking to a girl I didn't know. Next to her I saw another large tan man with a bald head and muscular build. Again, it was someone I didn't know. I looked farther down to notice there was someone else sitting around the small coffee table. He was slightly smaller than me. He had black hair and cerulean eyes. He was armored in some pretty crappy starting gear but I noticed he had a reliable katana on the side of his chair. Above his health bar I noticed his name and gave a smile.

FlameofHeaven.

This person was my brother. He was the reason I was here and I had finally finished part of my glorious quest to get him out of this world. I walked further into the room to gain the attention of the group.

"OH! Kira! You're up!" Serah said excitedly.

"Hey, how long was I out?" I asked trying to get a feel of the situation.

"For about 36 hours Kira-boyo." The small girl who I didn't know said.

"Yeah, we were worried you were never going to wake up." Said the larger man in a laughing tone.

I gave a look of confusion as I looked towards Serah.

"Oh! That's right you haven't met these two yet. They're two of my good friends. The larger man is Agil-kun and the smaller one is Argo-chan, or better known as Argo The Rat." Serah explained trying to get me up to speed.

"It's about time you woke up there Kira-boyo. Glad to see that you got your brother out of that mess. So, how about my reward now? You've been holding out on me for nearly 3 days now so I expect some compensation… lets settle with 10,000 col." Argo said with a sly grin in her face as well with what I could've sworn should've been money signs in her eyes.

"Ah! Argo-chan you can't do that to him he's been through a lot!" Serah tried defending me.

"Time is money Ser-san. I had to take 36 hours out of my time from making money to help Kira-boyo out. Do you know how much money I could have made in 36 hours? Let me tell you it is certainly a lot more than 10,000 col. He's lucky he's getting off this lucky and…" She started to trail off nearly chewing off Serah's ear.

I was honestly caught off guard. I didn't know what to do in this situation since I was out for the past 36 hours. I just put my hand behind the back of my head and started to rub it and laugh slightly as I took my seat around the coffee table. With a few more pleasantries and an exchange of information and hard-earned col with Argo (I still owed her quite a bit…), both Argo and Agil left. Silence soon filled the room as I looked over towards my brother who was still intently looking at me. Why was I so uneasy? I came here with the best intentions so I was hoping he might have been a little happy with what I did for him.

Boy was I wrong.


	13. Chapter 13: A Life-long Lesson

_Kira, Flame and Serah remain around the coffee table back in Starting City. Ever since Kira has come to, Flame has yet to break his gaze from his brother with hatred in his eyes._

It was rather awkward after everyone left the room. I was wondering why my brother was giving me such a hateful gaze. Did I do something wrong? I'm pretty sure I didn't since I decided to come out of my way to help him. Now he's just sitting there with such malice that it feels like I could die if I let him get the chance to kill me. I decide to be blunt about it and confront him directly about it.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask plainly, trying my best not to lose my cool.

"Why are you here brother? I didn't want you here nor do I need your help here to begin with." He said maintaining his cold gaze.

"Can't I even try to save my brother? I mean it was me who gave you the game after all." I said trying to convince him I meant all the best.

"That's not the point Kiritsu! Why in the hell would you leave Mom and Dad like that?! Do you even know what they must be feeling right now because of what you did?!" he outbursted.

I never really thought about it. I never thought about what Mom or Dad might think. I never thought of the repercussions of my actions outside of this game. I just knew I had to get him back… that was it. Thinking back on it… I guess maybe I was a little harsh with my friend in trying to get into the game but I never meant to cause harm with it. Guess that was what my brother was mainly concerned about.

"Look, I know what you meant to do was grand but you don't need to watch over me. I've done just fine on my own. I don't need my older brother coming to look for me and I can take care of myself. You made sure of that." he said with spite.

That last portion really hurt me. I knew I wasn't there for him when I needed to… I knew I wasn't the best brother I could be. I knew that it was futile to try and deny that so I accepted it and used it as a reason to do any of this.

"Yea, you're right. I wasn't there and I'm sorry. I'm here now though and if you think I'm just going to let you do this alone then you're wrong. I'm not going to have my only brother go out there and die. I refuse to have that happen!" I said trying my best to not yell at him for his selfishness.

"I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!" He shouted back. "I never asked for you to help me out damnit! I don't need your help and I don't want it! If you think you can stop my from going out that door right here right now then you've got another thing coming." He said as he started to get up.

"Wait, why are you doing this? Why do you feel the need to just go?! I went through hell and back to try and get to you so I could PROTECT you, and you want to just blow that off and leave?!" I said.

I didn't know what to do. Things were falling apart fast and I didn't know what I could do to stop him. I couldn't forcibly stop him by knocking him out or restraining him… We were in a city and people were protected in this area, and even if we were outside of the city I couldn't hold him down… This wasn't real life, I couldn't just stop him from going and he knew that.

He was now at the door about to open it up.

"Please wait!" I said trying my best not to tear up.

"What? Want to tell me that you're sorry? That you're here to make things better? That you're here to be there for me-" I cut him off.

"NO you idiot!" I bursted out.

I started thinking for a way for me to protect him. I wanted to think of a justification for me needing to be around him but nothing came up.

"Okay, look. You want to be your own man now right? You probably want to show me or yourself that you don't need anyone anymore, I get that." I said trying to buy myself some time.

"But how do you think that makes me feel eh? I'm trying my best to make things right… you're right about that. I'm trying my best to be there for you now and you're definitely right that I want to make amends… but I'm telling you if I send you out there now I won't be able to deal with it." I said trying my best to think of a solution.

"Then what? Are you just going to stop me and hold me down and make me your little doll that you want to take care of? Yea right, I refuse. I'm a lot more capable than you think Kiritsu. I've already hit level 6 ON MY OWN, and I've been killing mobs ON MY OWN! I don't need you anymore." He said with a resounding click of the door.

"Well then prove it." I almost whispered it.

"What was that?" he said as if he were interested in what I had to say.

"I said, if you want me to let you leave, then prove to me that you don't need me anymore." With those last words I sent over a duel request towards him.

{[Kira wishes to duel with you!]}

Conditions: first to half health

[Yes] [No]

My brother stood there for a few seconds mulling over whether or not to accept. I didn't know why he would wait. He seemed so full of himself as he was ranting about leaving but now he was at a crossroads… he could either accept and we could duke it out… or he could decline and be stuck with either staying or forcing me to let him leave.

With a few more seconds of silence he accepted the request and moved out into the courtyard. I in turn went outside and left Serah in the doorway to watch the spectacle.

People quickly noticed that the timer was going down in the area and started to cheer us on. I guess it was just one of those things in these types of games.

We had just over 30 seconds left before my brother started talking.

"If I beat you, you don't worry about me ever again. I don't want to see you, I don't want to hear about you and I definitely don't want you to be there when I'm in a tough spot." He said trying to make things clearer for me.

"Okay, fair enough. And If I win, you have to stay by my side for the rest of this death game. You can't leave my sight nor can you go anywhere without my permission." I said trying to make him regret his decision in accepting the duel.

With only 10 seconds left on the clock we both readied our weapons. I noticed something though when he went to his menu and tapped a few buttons. Before I knew it, I saw a white lettering fill in the bottom part of his health bar as well as his left hand become a black claw.

The lettering read "Disciple of the Dahaka".

I started to spin my daggers and waited for the timer to hit 0.

5

4

3

2

1

Fight!

As soon as we were allowed to attack, my brother launched out of his starting position with his katana in his right hand. I threw my dagger at him and he easily dodged to the right.

He took his katana and brought it up to his left swinging it across trying to slice me in the chest. I decided to jump over it and throw my dagger at his back while I was in the air.

Using his claw he swiped the dagger away and it hit the ground.

Now with our positions reversed I brought both daggers back to me spinning the chains around my hands and bringing the handles into my grasp. I took the two daggers and brought them to my face in an 'X' formation and disappeared.

Stunned at the ability, my brother brought his katana up to a defensive position and closed his eyes trying to pinpoint my location. He waited for another three seconds before he spun himself around and brought his katana down to where he thought I was.

As it turns out he was pretty close. I wasn't directly behind him but I sure as hell was about 5 inches from where he swung. In shock I kicked him in the face sending him flying backwards and making myself visible again.

"That was a dirty trick!" He yelled at me.

"All is fair in love and war little brother." I said with a nonchalant shrug.

I then brought both daggers to my side and they started to glow again.

"Backstab Flash Step!" I yelled before appearing behind my brother.

I then brought my dagger into a low stance it again started to glow.

"Uppercut Slash!"

I brought my dagger up into my brother's gut and sent him flying into the air. Using this to my advantage I jumped up behind him and wrapped my chains around his body. I then planted one foot into his back turning him so his stomach was facing the ground.

"This is going to hurt little brother. I hope you have enough health!" I said as we started falling towards the ground.

"Don't…. Underestimate me!" He shouted before spinning himself counter clockwise making the chains looser.

He then took his claw and grabbed my leg pulling it making me lose my balance. In a swift, fluid motion I soon found myself falling towards the ground with my brother on my back.

"You're right. This is going to hurt big brother." He said almost laughingly.

As we impacted the ground I noticed that I had lost about 25% of my health. He was down about 30%.

My brother, not wasting any time, took his claw and brought it down to hit my back. In retaliation I brought my dagger up, blocking the strike and I rolled out of the way getting myself up.

I've never really had much of a problem with fighting my brother before since I knew I had more strength than him so it was easy to overpower him. This was a game though, having strength in real life didn't equate to strength in the game so we were at about a standstill when it came to brute force.

This wasn't going to be that easy of a fight. I knew that from the start but something in me made me glad that this wasn't going to be easy… Shaking the thought I refocused on any signs of openings in my brother's attack patterns. It was then I noticed how my brother was fighting.

He was holding the katana the exact same way I did when I used it against my double. He had it to his side slightly pointed towards me with the front of his body completely open. I almost wanted to laugh at how foolish the kid was being.

"So, trying to be like big brother Kiritsu eh?" I said.

"I'm trying to prove a point to you dumbass." My brother said with a snarl.

"You do know that I'm the one that created that style correct? I mean you're stance is pretty good but you're never going to BEAT me with it." I said trying to make him realize that what he was doing was completely impossible.

"Nothing is impossible in this game Kiritsu. You of all people should know this by now." He said triumphantly.

He did have a point there. I was quite amazed at how much you could do in this game and if you put your mind to it, your potential in this game was limitless. With a feeling of excitement I took the chance to test his skills.

"Alright then, don't complain when I'm standing over your body because you failed to use this style correctly." I said sprinting towards him.

I brought one dagger to his throat before I notice him move the blade to an attack to make me move my body. I missed the mark AND I nearly got hit. My brother was definitely improving.

I was now above him since I had to dodge the blade that was aimed at my gut and he took the chance to bring himself to a crouching position and jump with the blade across his body. As he slashed the blade up at me I brought both my daggers up and blocked the blade sending me higher into the air.

I must have been at least 20 feet into the air because before I knew it was I was seeing the tops of buildings. I took one of my daggers and threw it at a building to try and use it as a grappling point. As the blade impacted it stated [Immortal Object].

'Fuck.' I thought as I started to descend.

I knew if I impacted the ground straight on I would be below 50% and I would lose. How could I land safely?

'Oh. That's how.' I realized as I brought my daggers to a 'T' formation at my sides.

"Backstab Flash Step!" I yelled as I yet again appeared behind my brother.

This time, my brother knew it was coming and had already spun around bringing his claw into my face. Since this WAS a game my brother had enough strength to pull me up with just his left hand and he started to laugh slightly.

"Haha, was this all my brother had to offer? What a joke." He said as an evil grin filled his face.

"It's time to show you what power I have now." He said before I noticed the gauntlet start to glow black.

"Searing Grasp!" He shouted as I now felt an overpowering heat sweep over my face.

My face was now burning. I could barely see through the black flames as my health was going down. In complete reaction I brought my leg up and kicked him in the face separating me from his claw. I took a few steps back before noticing I had a little over half health left.

I was hanging by a hairline. If I took another hit I would lose and I still needed to bring my brother down at least another 15% to beat him. I had to think of a way to execute a powerful enough combo to end him.

"What? Got nothing else up your sleeve? C'mon man, you're going to need a lot more than that to be able to beat me. What happened to being able to protect me? You can't even protect yourself." He said as he spat all his malice at me.

I didn't pay much attention to it. I couldn't let him get away from me. Not now. He still wasn't strong enough to handle things on his own.

Wait a second, that's not correct… he was pushing ME back. Doesn't that qualify him as strong enough then? Doesn't that mean that he doesn't need me?

No that can't be it, he's still not strong enough… but what was he missing?

I looked over to notice that he was still using my same stance for wielding a katana.

'That was it.' I said getting up and throwing one of my daggers to the side.

I took the dagger and placed it at my side. With an aura of killer intent that could slay the mightiest of foes, I slowly started walking towards my brother. Step after step, motion after motion I closed the gap between us until we were no more than five feet apart.

"What are you waiting for… little brother?" I asked slightly cocking my head to the right. "Afraid?" I added in that slight poke.

It was all I needed for him to charge. He was scared of what I could become and I knew that. He was overconfident prior to me getting serious and now he knew he was going to pay the price. He brought his katana up and ran straight at me trying to stab me through the chest.

I stepped to the side and batted it away.

"Wrong move, you're too slow." I said as I put my foot out and wrapped my arm around his neck spinning him off into the ground.

"You're too open, you're too reckless and you don't have the guts to slay a target that's human." I started battering him with his weaknesses. I had to make sure he would be ready for anything… It included the players who would eventually become player-killers. I couldn't let that happen.

"Get up. That's not all you've got I know it." I said as he struggled to get back up.

"FUCK YOU!" He yelled as he sprinted towards me.

Again, I swatted his katana away and tripped him over his feet. With all of his forward momentum he went tumbling across the floor.

"You're too obvious little brother. C'mon you need to be better than this if you want to beat me." I said goading him into attacking again.

"What would you know huh?! Think you're some sort of bad ass because you have more battle experience? You don't know shit!" With that last comment he once again got up and started sprinting at me.

Instead of moving the katana out of the way I brought my dagger along the blade's edge and slid it up to the hilt. I took my brothers arm and I spun myself around his back pulling his arm into a chicken wing.

"Arm straight, loosen your shoulders. Never attack, always react. Don't wait for him to come to you and always attack from every different angle." It was all I could say before I stabbed him in the back ending the duel.

I released my brother's arm and I walked over to retrieve my dagger. I then started to make my way out of the city not looking back. I took the time to mess with my menu before hitting the confirmation button. A few seconds later a notification popped up.

{[You are now friends with FlameofHeaven!]}

I didn't really know what I was thinking. I felt like I had done all I could do but it still didn't sit right with me.

'Why is it that whenever I try to do something right, it doesn't turn out that way?' I thought.

"Well. I guess this is the best I can do for him at the moment. It's time for him to become a man. Haha!" I laughed wholeheartedly.

I knew in my heart that I didn't do everything I could for him… But I guess it was just one of those life-long lessons he had to learn. With a new resolve I made my way out of the city and started to train to get ready for the boss battle that was surely to happen soon. There was still one thought though that made me look back at the city just as I was leaving…

"Where's Serah?" I said aloud.

In the middle of the city you could see a girl frantically running around trying to find something, or someone.

"DAMNIT KIRA YOU DID IT AGAIN!" Serah yelled in her frustration.


	14. Chapter 14: The Dark Temple

_Kira has separated from his brother. Whether it is for the best or not, he feels as if he hasn't fully accepted the fact that he has now abandoned him. With a sullen look he makes his way to the next floor with the news of it being unlocked._

Things had been going smoothly. The second floor had just been unlocked and a band of crazy individuals bent on completing this game have started to make their way to the next boss. I didn't know that such people ever existed. Sure our reasons for being in the game were to finish it and to get out but what was the point of going this fast? It was going to get more people killed and I didn't want to be a part of any of that.

I had spent my times in the desert of the second floor farming off of wandering bands of sand people in hopes of getting higher levels and possibly finding the location to my legendary equipment. Only problem was that the deserts were so vast it was hard to tell where you were without opening up the map to see your location.

The sun was hot, the whining from Serah was perpetually annoying and the sands of the desert quickly pissed me straight the hell off.

"GAAAH!" I yelled out as I felt the urge to.

"What's wrong?" Serah asked me a little concerned.

"We've been walking for hours and still I haven't found the next location. I'm sick and tired of trying to randomly guess where this crap is. I should just get different gear." I said being annoyed out of my mind.

It wasn't like me. I don't know why I was acting this way but I just felt the overwhelming urge to push all my problems out onto the table. It felt good sure, but Serah had no idea how to cope with it. She was always there for me but she never saw me this way and in turn she had grown worried.

"Well… maybe we can just go back to town and get a nice cold glass of water?" She asked trying to cheer me up.

I gave a deep sigh. I knew that I was complaining but I didn't want to be a burden on Serah. She wanted to get better equipment since she never really had the chance to get anything good while on the first floor. It was probably why she wanted me and her to go to the boss fight to see if we would obtain anything. Out of my stubbornness I declined and she decided not to go since I wouldn't be there.

Deciding that today was futile we both trekked our way back across the desert into the village to rest and get something to drink. We sat down, talked for a bit, checked our menus for our skills and abilities and then checked our levels to see if we had any spare points to put into our stats.

Serah was now level 13 and I was now level 15. Each of us had 10 and 20 points respectively to put into our stats how we wished. Serah, as he usual self, poured half of her points into strength and the other half into constitution since she wasn't much of an agility type character.

Her stats now came off as follows:

Strength: 35

Agility: 20

Perception: 20

Constitution: 30

Intelligence: 10

From what I saw through the leveling up system, you would automatically gain a set amount of health with each level but Constitution would increase the output of each health gain the more points you added into it. You only got 5 points to spend with each level up and you couldn't take them back once you added them in.

Strength and Agility both stated it themselves. If you had more strength, you could hit harder. If you had more Agility, you could hit faster and move faster. Perception on the other hand fell into everything you could see with your eyes as well as your listening skills. It was a very useful skill but not many people added into this stat since it was just a hack and slash type game.

Most people never bothered to add into the Intelligence aspect of the stats since again, they saw no point of it. What was the point of adding in Intelligence to a game where it was just hack, slash and react on instinct?

Well I didn't think like most people. I thought maybe it would add to something else like: Weaknesses on monsters or what herbal plant went with what to make a super powerful potion. It turns out I was correct.

As I poured in the rest of my stats I looked at my overall stat page. It read off as follows:

Strength: 20

Agility: 40(35+5)

Perception: 25

Constitution: 20

Intelligence: 25

I wondered why I had the +5 to agility automatically but it was quickly resolved when I looked at my daggers to notice they would increase my agility stat as they got stronger. It was reassuring to have such good equipment.

We both also had an extra skill slot to choose another skill and I quickly chose the alchemy skill. I started to grin maniacally with the new skill and everything I could do with it. If this was like any other RPG, I would soon be able to make antidotes, stronger potions, poisons, paralyzing effects, smoke clouds, etc. etc.

It made my mind race. How much would I actually be able to do with this skill and how useful it would be? Only time would tell.

I clicked on the skill to see what I could do with it and it said I would now be able to use a mortar and pestle to grind leaves down into their basic components to make potions. I would also be able to use alchemy workbenches to combine components.

With a grin on my face I decided to check what Serah had picked. As usual, she picked the skill of heavy weapons proficiency. This skill allowed her to use the much heavier weapons a lot easier. It made it so anything that was supposed to be regular for two hands could now be used as one if the strength allowed it.

With a huge grin on her face she went out of the inn and went straight to a heavy weapons shop to get a large hammer with a spike on the back of it.

"Kira! Look what I got!" Serah yelled with a grin that would imply she was completely insane.

"Yeah… I see it… But don't you think that it would be too heavy to carry?" I asked trying to figure out exactly how she planned to swing that thing around.

"Oh, don't worry about it I've got enough strength to carry two of these things. Actually I wonder if that would even be possible." She started to think about it and an even bigger grin appeared on her face.

I never thought about dual-wielding two giant weapons. Sure it would be handy and it would be a death machine that focused on cleaving enemies in two but, how would you defend? Too many opening after an attack and it would be too insane to even think to be fighting with her during her onslaught.

"Well… let's save that for later. We should get going and back to training so we don't get too far behind the front lines." I said trying to pull her away from the marketplace.

After literally dragging her by the collar of her new steel breastplate, we once again went out into the desert stocks full so we could stay out as long as we wanted.

We quickly got back into the groove of things. Serah used her giant hammer to smash all the sandmen and wanderers into little pancakes and I used my twin daggers to deal precise blows to our enemies. In moments we would decimate a group of 12 into nothingness. Nothing could stop us if we put our minds to it and it was good to feel this overwhelming power over our enemies. It actually felt like for once things were looking up.

We continued down the paths in the sand until we came upon an oasis. It was rather odd since I knew we had probably passed this up before but we didn't notice it. It was rather odd to be sitting out here in the middle of nowhere as well. We moved through the shifting sands and over the last hill that would bring us down to the oasis when we saw another party drinking from it.

'Well I guess it's not a mirage.' I thought to myself.

I had only seen it in movies and it definitely made sense but a mirage was something you didn't want to get caught up in. It literally would make you think that you saw a paradise in front of your eyes in the middle of the desert and it would only fool you when you finally got a hold of yourself. It left you in a vulnerable situation and it could easily lead to your death if you were caught up in it for too long.

As we neared the oasis the three players took notice of us. One of them was a girl with a rapier at her side. Beside her were two other party members. One was a female beast tamer with an eagle and the final member was a male with a shield and sword.

All of them got on the defensive when we both came up on them. It was a natural reaction with all the Player killing that had been seen as of late. It turned out that there were some people in this game so sick in the head that they thought it would be a good idea to start slaughtering people. It also didn't help that I was wearing my mask up as well so it was hard to see my face.

"Relax" I said trying to relieve them. "Only here to get some water and move on." I then bent down and took a sip of water.

It tasted rather odd. Then again, taste seemed to be something that was almost mimicked. It didn't FEEL real, it just looked real and you tried to make it feel real by doing your best to concentrate on the taste itself. If you didn't focus on it, it would pass you by and leave you with just the data going through your body registering as "You just drank some water".

"How long have you been out here?" I tried to spark up some conversation with the party.

"Not too long." The girl began. "We just came back from a temple in the desert. There was a pretty powerful monster inside that we had no hope of defeating so we decided to start heading back and that was when we noticed this oasis." She said trying to sum up their adventure as best she could.

"It was too powerful for all three of you to take on? That's hard to believe." I said trying to wrap my head around the situation.

"How about we help you with it then? Is it that far off from here?" Serah asked trying to be helpful as usual.

"It's not far. It's maybe 5 minutes from where we are if we started running there." She said pointing in the direction of the temple.

"Well then what are we waiting for let's go!" Serah said holding onto the girl's arm pulling her in the direction. "I bet we could find some really really really cool stuff!" She said excitedly.

"Wait, wait." I tried to reason with Serah. "We can't just pull people along withou-" I was cut off by a mean look from Serah.

"No, you can't do that." Serah said scolding me. "You need to have more human interaction with people or you're never going to get used to being around others." She said in a motherly tone.

"Now, help these people out or I swear I will take this hammer and beat you over the head with it." She said with a smile as if she were wearing an oni mask.

If you could see it, then you would see a sweat drop in the animations on the back of my head.

Reluctantly, I took her advice and clicked to add the three members to our party making it a grand total of 5 people to take on this so-called "monster".

As we made our way to the temple the girl with the rapier asked me about my weapon.

"Where is your weapon Kira?" she asked.

I looked down to notice they were under my cloak and hard to see.

"Ah, good question. They're actually right here." I said throwing the two daggers straight into the air without their chains.

I decided to show off a little by jumping up and catching them. I then noticed that there were two enemies ahead of us and I took the chance to show off even more by throwing them at the two wanderers.

As they implanted into the two mobs, I willed them back into my hands sprinted up to them as I hit the ground. I brought them to my side and in one swift motion, "Backstab Flash Step!" I yelled and I appeared behind one of the wanderers stabbing it through the back of the head making it explode into polygons.

I then looked over to see the other wanderer running away and with one quick flick of the wrist the dagger was implanted into its back and it was then dead.

I waited there for a few seconds before the party finally caught up.

"These are my weapons." I said as I spun them around my fingers back into their respective sheathes.

"Wow. Those are amazing." Aira said.

"Show off." The rapier-wielding woman said dismissing the performance.

A little depressed with my head slightly hung looking at the ground I trudged on towards the temple.

As we finally reached the temple entrance we were greeted with two guardians at the front door. Their names were Sand Guardian Che and Sand Guardian Cho. They were both made of sand and looked like Leopards.

"Level 10" I stated as I pulled out both my daggers.

"Don't worry these guys aren't too hard just watch out for their fangs, they will slow your movement down and make it harder to swing your weapons." she warned me.

With no warning at all, the rapier-wielding flash of light took off and stabbed the tiger three, no four times in the eyes before she had to back off.

"Switch!" She yelled out.

As she said this, Dom came in with his sword and slashed the beast up into the air making it an easy target for the beast tamer to shoot her arrows at it in the sky.

"Wow." I said looking impressed.

I wasn't about to let myself not have any fun though so I decided to team up with Serah to take out the other Guardian.

I sprinted up and started to dash around the guardian slicing up and down the sides of its body. I noticed that the counter was steadily going up and I wanted to finish it off as quickly as possible. I was quickly swatted to the side though once I came around to the front of the beast again. I took a look back at the creature and noticed I got up to 7 strikes on it.

'Damn. So close.' I thought as I got back up again.

"You okay Kira?" Serah asked me as she stepped in front of me.

"Yea, it's just a scratch." I said as I got up to my feet. "Pisses me off that something only level 10 hit me though, didn't think I had gotten that slow." I started to laugh a little.

"Oh well you did hit it a lot. Now, it's my turn!" Serah said as she jumped at the beast and slammed her hammer into the ground spinning around it and kicking it in the face. She then jumped to the top of the hammer's handle and brought it over herself in a summersault-type fashion bringing it straight down onto the monster's face.

In a loud crunch-like noise the beast let out a yelp of an injured animal and then shattered into a sparkling array of polygons. I flinched slightly when I heard the crunching noise… It didn't sound too pleasant.

"Overkill much?" I asked Serah.

"You can never put forth too much effort when taking out a monster" She gave me a 'thumbs up' sign.

I looked over to see how the others were fairing. It turns out they just killed their guardian as we killed ours and were sweat-dropping at Serah's comment.

"Shall we get going then?" I asked as I took point and started to head into the temple.

As I entered the temple, I noticed that there really wasn't anything special about this temple. It seemed just like any other dungeon. There was a low dim lit corridor that separated off into two different paths, the paths were decently spaced apart and there were tons of traps.

Just to elaborate a little, when I say tons of traps, I mean TONS of fucking traps. There was a trigger happening every three steps I took and I had to use my insane reflexes to dodge them all. If you have ever played an RPG before then you would know that the basic traps were spike pits, needles in the walls, the occasional log flying across the room being attached to something holding it up. With this dungeon, it wasn't like that.

Every time I heard a click I had to jump to the walls and hope to god I didn't get scorched from the fireball headed at my face. If I heard a ringing of bells I had to jump up as high as I could to not get impaled by a spike coming out of the wall and if you heard a screech of tires it would mean that there was a pit trap right below you with a nice assortment of skeletons at the bottom.

As it was apparent to my party behind me, they let me do all the walking and waited as far back as they could so all the traps wouldn't go off in their face. It must have been pretty funny considering I nearly died almost 7 times.

This lasted for about another 2 minutes before finally we reached the fork in the road.

"So" I said… correction I gasped trying to catch my breath. "Who wants to go down which hallway…" I asked still trying to catch my breath.

"Well, I think all the traps are done… or at least hopefully done." The girl cleverly commented. "Also, the right path will go down to meet the boss while the left will make us also go down to the boss but it will be directly behind him. I saw that there was another door behind him when we got down to the room."

"Let's split up then. Me and Kira will take the right, the rest will take the left." Serah stated as she started dragging me along with her.

They were both right. There were no more traps in the halls but the hallways got a lot narrower it was hard to walk alongside each other let alone fight a monster down these narrow halls so we decided to walk in a single line.

Again, since I was a gentleman and because my weapons were smaller, I took the front and charged forward. We had to have been walking a good 5 minutes before we noticed we were going down in a spiral.

"Guess we're getting close." I noted to Serah as I took out my weapons.

As we went down another few feet beneath the earth we felt the entire area start to shake. It felt like the walls around use would break with all the shaking but then it stopped and got really quiet. It was then that we heard a scream.

"DAMNIT!" I yelled as I sprinted down the hall with all my might.

It turned out that we were only about another 50 feet away from the boss since before I knew it I was in a giant dome room and a Cyclops-like golem hovering there. I then noticed that I could only see two of our party members but I didn't see Dom. Where did he go?

I looked at out party's health bars and noticed Dom's was missing. It was then I knew, he had died and the girl had screamed in anguish.

"You bastard!" I shouted at the golem getting its attention.

I quickly sprinted up to the feet of the golem and sliced at his feet. The daggers didn't even make a mark and harmlessly skidded across its surface. Still moving under its legs I jumped backwards and landed on its shoulder. I took a close look at its eye and did a roundhouse kick smacking it straight in the eye making it stumble backwards.

I then jumped backwards again and in mid-air threw both my daggers straight into its eye making two counters appear above his head and critically wounding the giant. I landed softly on the ground and left the daggers in his eyes continually damaging and blinding the Cyclops.

"You killed my party member. You hurt my friends. You don't deserve a clean death." I stated to him coldly.

"You… YOU DESERVE TO SUFFER!" as I yelled at the Cyclops I jumped up and pulled out the daggers only to roundhouse kick them straight back into his eye socket further and damaging the Cyclops even more.

The momentum was so much that the giant stumbled backwards into the wall. I was propping myself with my chains and holding my foot against my dagger making me dangle in mid air. I took one last look at the health of the Cyclops to see that he was now down to his last bar of health and it was falling fast.

To finish him off I kicking off from the dagger's hilt and dragged them out of his eye. I grabbed the dagger and held it to my side. "SHADOW BLAST!" I shouted out for one final time as an arc of black went across the air and struck the monster dead-on slaughtering the beast.

In a dramatic scene of coughing up pixilated blood and grabbing his eye he took one last look at me and roared before shattering into a brilliant display of polygons. I quickly sheathed my daggers and walked over to She.

"Are you okay?" I asked pulling her to her feet.

"Y-Yea… he was the first person to help me in this game, he was a friend." She said sniffing.

"Look, you need to be strong. For him, for yourself and…" I looked over at Aira. "Most importantly, her."

She looked over at Aira and noticed that she was crying as well. She looked back at me and gave me a nod.

"I-I'll become strong. Stronger than anyone so I can protect everyone." She said reaffirming her resolve.

"That's the spirit." I said giving a smile.

I knew what she was feeling. She didn't like the fact that she couldn't do a thing to stop the Cyclops from killing her friend. She hated the feeling, just like me. With one last pat on her shoulders I walked over to Aira to give her a weapon. It was the boss drop from the Cyclops and I thought it would be just perfect for her.

"Here you go Aira. I know you're a bow user but I think you'd find some use with the weapon. It was the drop from the Cyclops. Its name is Unity." I gave her the sword and she gladly accepted it.

"I-I'll be sure to protect her" she said as she equipped the sword. "I don't want to be in the back of the crowd anymore. I want to be able to protect people." Aira said with conviction in her eyes.

"I'm sure you will." I said patting her on the head. "Take care of her. I'll see you around alright?" I said as I gave a small nod and motioned Serah that I was leaving.

Things were pretty depressing as we left the temple. I was able to gain enough experience to almost reach the next level and Serah leveled up but… Was it truly worth it at the cost of a life?

The question kept pounding in the confines of my mind. In a need to let out the negative energy I looked back at Serah.

"Race you back to the town!" I said before sprinting off.

I'm glad Serah had crappy stats in the perception stat or else she would have seen that my eyes were red from all the tears I had been crying out. I didn't even know the person but I felt responsible. I felt that I could have done more to protect those three people but I didn't. I just went with the flow of things and it pissed me off that I didn't see it coming.

As I looked down and started to cry my heart out I noticed that my hand was glowing a bright yellow light. It was the same light that indicated another location was nearby. I stopped in my tracks and looked at it wondering what I should do next.

**Alright, thanks again for the reviews. I hope things work out well with what I added here. If anyone knows what I am planning please don't ruin it for everyone, just review and let me know what you think about it. Look forward to the next chapter.**


	15. Chapter 15: The Second Location

_Kira remains standing in the desert looking at his hand. It's glowing aura makes him feel happy but at the same time, he wonders what he should do now that he's close to another location to upgrade his equipment._

The glowing aura around my right hand was reassuring. It made me feel at ease knowing that I was close to the next location and it would lead me there if I got closer to it. I decided that I would wait for Serah to catch up and ask her if she would like to head towards it.

"Hey, Serah." I said motioning her over. "You see this? This means we're close to the next location that we've been trying to find for the past couple of days."

"You mean we can find it if we follow your... hand?" She said trying to wrap her head around what I was saying.

"Eh... kind of. It' more like the closer I am to it, the more this thing glows and it will give me a slight pull in the direction that it should be. We're probably about 10 minutes away from it if we walk straight towards it." I said trying to explain it the best I could.

"Well then, let's head out and go get it!" She said trying to forget what happened back in the temple.

We started our trek across the desert at a rather good pace. The pulls from my hand were getting stronger and the glow was getting slightly brighter the closer we got. We went along with the tugs and pulls for about another 5 minutes before we knew where we were going. It was then that we noticed that it was pulling us into a dried up lake.

There were cracks on the hard ground where I feet stood. There was a large depression in a semi-circular shape that went down a good 15 feet. There were all sorts of monsters down in this dried up patch of dead earth. Everything from large scorpions to wanderers to sandmen to even mini-minotaurs.

"This is a pretty dangerous area huh?" I said rhetorically at the sheer numbers in the pit.

"No shit Sherlock." Serah said at my stupid comment. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, I guess we gotta fight them." I said before I abruptly jumped into the death pit stabbing a scorpion in the head killing it instantly.

"C'mon, the water's fine!" I said jokingly as I parried an oncoming attack from a mini-minotaur.

"HEY! Don't leave me behind!" Serah complained as she also jumped down and smashed the minotaur in front of me into a pancake.

We both recovered from our dramatic entrances to see the oncoming hoard of monsters headed towards us. I noticed before we jumped in that there were a number of enemies guarding what looked like to be a small entrance. Without much more thought on that, I looked over at Serah's large hammer and a grin appeared on my face.

"Serah, I need you to launch me across this hoard of monsters." I said trying to contain my laughter.

"...What?" Serah looked at me as if I grew a second head.

"I'm serious, take your hammer, let me stand on top of it, and launch me off with all your might." I said trying my best yet again to keep my laughter from coming out.

"No." She said before running at the hoard.

"Whaaat? But I wanted to go flying through the sky." I complained as I ran at the mob of rampaging monsters.

I soon realized that Serah had her own scheme in her head on how to deal with this band of monsters. It turns out that the Heavy Weapon Proficiency skill has a couple of innate abilities that are triggered in certain situations.

This ability was called "Charge".

When I say charge though, I don't mean the charging of batteries or the charging of energy in a weapon. The ability "Charge" was able to make you move forward at an incredible speed that would literally pierce through enemies and defenses as if they were little fucking domino pieces.

Needless to say, running behind Serah and seeing the enemies go flying all around us as we went through was hilarious.

Once we reached the end of the hoard of monsters we noticed there were two mini-minotaurs guarding our entrance to the tunnel that would surely lead to the location I need to go to. We quickly dispatched them both and turned to fend of the remaining enemies.

Since there were so many at once I decided I would try out a theory that I wasn't yet sure would work just yet. It would be the first time I would ever test this combo out.

"Bend Time!" I shouted before I crouched down into a fighting stance and triggered the ability.

Everything in the immediate vicinty of us froze including Serah. It was all I needed to know before I started to try out my next theory.

I brought both of my daggers to my sides and waited for them to glow their respective colors before shouting out yet again.

"Unlimited Blades!" As I triggered this skill I noticed that something changed with the ability. I still appeared behind the whole hoard of monsters and the hits still connected the same way they did but as the Bend Time ability ended, the hit counter I noticed to the left of my screen doubled.

I looked back to see every enemy was covered head to toe in slash marks and red pixels were flying everywhere. Before I knew it, all 25 of the monsters had been defeated and the area lit up in a show of polygon fireworks.

A notification appeared in front of me and as I read it a grin appeared on my face.

{[Congratulations! You've created a fusion ability!]}

[Birth of a Thousand Blades]

Prerequisites: Must be in Bend Time to activate

As I closed the notification I looked back to see Serah looking at me with bug eyes.

"...What?" I asked trying to not shy away from her stares.

"You didn't save any for me." She said bluntly.

"What can I say? I'm a bea-" I was cut off by the level up noise and rewards notification.

With all the experience we gained from all those monsters it was no surprise to see we had leveled. I decided to not spend my points and wait until after I finished with the new location to see what I would get. I took a quick glance at the rewards menu and smiled.

{[Rewards]}

15000 exp

2500 col

8x scorpion stingers

10x scorpion poisons

7x mini-minotaur horns

10x mini-minotaur hides

10x wanderer capes

10x vials of wanderer blood

12x sandmen dust remains

128x Essences of the Dark Queen

I closed the menu and looked over at Serah to see her large grin of satisfaction as she closed her menu as well. We both then started to head our way down into the tunnel to see what would await us.

The scenery was very familiar. The path was a winding path with a few lit torches here and there. The halls were narrow and it felt slightly cramped going down with two people. We walked for about another minute before we laid our eyes on two lit torches at the far end of a room.

To Serah, this was creepy as hell and she wanted to leave as fast as possible. For me, it was as if I was at home.

I told Serah to wait in the back while I went to upgrade my equipment. As I walked on up to the two torches I waited for the next person to greet me. To my surprise it was the old man who came from the shadows again to greet me.

_"Ah! Very good. You have found the next location. I am glad you have grown the way you have. I could go on about how glad I am to see you as you are now but you probably want me to upgrade your equipment again. Oh well, hand them over and I will make the necessary improvements."_

As he said this, another notification popped up saying if I wanted him to upgrade my equipment. Yet again, there was no decline button.

Laughing it off I clicked the button and I soon found myself half naked in front of a girl waiting for my daggers and apparently now my armor to be upgraded.

It was the longest minute of my life.

As the old man came back and started to tell me what he upgraded I quickly took the armor and equipped it back on. I noticed quickly that there were a couple of changes to the appearance of the armor. White skulls were outlined of the belt of the outfit as well as on the pauldrons on the armor. The hood was no longer a skin tight fit to my head and was hanging loosly over me as if I was wearing a hoodie. the mask had an outline of a gray skeleton jaw as it came up over my face and the leather straps throughout the armor was now a shady gray.

Next on the menu were the daggers. The daggers came back slightly larger than they were before. it wasn't by much, maybe half an inch at most but what really got me thinking was why there were a total of 5 small gems on each dagger imbedding into the hilt?

I then noticed that a new "Shop-like" window showed up listing off "+" signs to stats.

In the bottom right of each I noticed there was a symbol of the Esseneces of the Dark Queen and beside it was a number. I decided to click the "+" sign on agility once and the incriment went up by 5. I tried to get rid of it but it looked like I was stuck with it since I didn't see a "-" symbol. I also noticed that all the numbers then went red and I couldn't do anything else with this menu except press the confirmation button.

I equipped the daggers and took a look at them to see what I accidentally did. I looked down at the stats for the weapon to notice that there was now an addition of "AGI +5" down at the bottom of the paragraph of information.

I opened up my inventory to take a look at how many essences I used to do that and noticed that I had only 18.

"That's impossible!" I exclaimed as I looked through my inventory to see if this was really a joke or not.

I had at least 900 essences gathered up before we fought that entire mob and with that extra 128 i would be at a little over 1,000.

I then stopped my hand and thought for a second.

'I was able to upgrade my daggers further by pouring the essences into the dagger. Does that mean I can upgrade any stat I want for 1,000 essences?' I thought as I looked down to noticed the five gems in both daggers.

One of them was slightly shinier than the others. It was a green emerald that was on the hilt of the dagger on each of them.

"Oh. I see now." I said before closing everything and putting the daggers away.

With a quick thanks, I walked back over to Serah and we both exited the tunnel.

As we reached the top I thought how I could use this new found information to my advantage. My mind started to race at the possibilities that I could do before my train of thought was cut off by a global notification.

{[Congratulations! The second floor has been cleared!]}

As we heard this I looked over at Serah and she gave me the same look back.

It was time to move on to bigger and better things.

With a quick dash back to town and with a quick touch of the menu we soon found ourselves in an underground cavern. There were rock formations everywhwere and the notification of the town soon filled our screens at the top.

"Inner City, Delter"

The entire third floor was just waiting to be explored and conquered but one thought in my mind stopped me from going out and starting my exploration for the next location.

'How long would we be stuck on this floor before we moved to the next?' It was an odd question and it was almost wierd that I thought about it.

Shaking it from my mind I walked off the platform and outside of town to start my next journey for the third floor location.

**Alright! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm going to let you guys know as a warning that there will be a couple of time gaps here and there to move the story along. As much as I love writing what my character does, it's going to get VERY repetitive if I don't drastically change the setting to a higher floor. Hope it doesn't break this fanfic, look forward to the next chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16: The Artificer

_Kira and Serah have continued their journey throughout the floors of Aincrad. Now on floor 17, Kira recalls what he said on the 3rd floor and shudders at his own thoughts._

Things only got worse than what I thought they could get. I knew that if we continued at this pace of clearing the game then we would be putting more lives at risk but I never thought that over 1/5th of the total population would die because of it. We were now on the 17th floor and I had heard the boss had been found but I didn't think over 2,200 people would now be added to the monolith because of it.

After I knew how many had died I decided to keep in contact with Argo to keep tabs on my brother. Granted, he probably woudn't like it very much if I did keep tabs on him but what's a brother to do? It didn't cost me too much since I kept her informed of anything different that I learned of the essences. Then again, I did keep some information as back up just in case.

It turned out that my brother, FlameofHeaven, had been approached by a number of PKing guilds to try and get recruited. To my satisfaction, he declined each and every one of them and even fought a couple to prove his point that he didn't need them. It made me glad that he had gotten so strong for himself. He was now level 22 with some finally decent armor and an even more kick ass katana.

Me on the other hand, I was now level 24 with still the same armor that has been upgraded by 15 locations. My daggers are now slightly larger than they were but they still deal tons of damage as I knew they always would.

Recalling this, I decided to check my stats to see if I had any extra points that I could invest in to make myself even stronger. Fiddling with the menus I opened up the stats and noticed I had 10 extra points. I decided that I would dump it into constitution since I had less hp than the average person.

After I hit the confirmation button I looked at my stats to see what they were.

Strength: 30(+5)

Agility: 45(+15)

Constitution: 35

Perception: 35(+5)

Intelligence: 30

Smiling at how diverse my character was, I then took a look at my skills to see the 5 slots.

Twin Dagger

Stealth

Alchemy

Throwing Weapons

Disciple of the Dark Queen

I decided back when I was level 20 that I would be taking the Throwing Weapons skill since having a throwing weapon skill attached to my twin daggers would be that much more effective. I also decided to add in some throwing knives to add to my arsenal as well as my own inventions of bombs.

I figured out that with each floor, there were new ingredients to make new bombs. The bombs ranged from smoke bombs, to flash bombs, every elemental bomb you could think of and even poison and paralysis bombs. As long as you had the ingredients and correctly used them in the right order, you could make just about any bomb you wanted. The cool thing about my bombs though were that they didn't work on me or my allies.

I moved on through my menu to look at my inventory and frowned at my overall source of income. I knew since I was going to be using Argo's services that I would be hurting for col but I didn't think I'd be hurting THIS much. I had only bout 25,000 cor and in terms of working with Argo, that was chump change.

I needed to find a way to get a new source of income instead of me just going out and killing enemies. I then looked back at my inventory to see that I had a good assortment of bombs that I could sell. Since no one here really invested in the intelligence stat and I knew that no one really used alchemy, I bet I could get a good amount of cor if I sold this to a player merchant.

I decided to head out into town of the 17th floor to see if I could find anyone who would be interested. To my own shitty luck, it turns out that no one wants an item that they don't know how to use. It turned out that the bombs required a stat prerequisite of 15 intelligence to use. Since no one, and I mean NO ONE used intelligence, it didn't really strike as much of a good investment.

I kicked a couple of rocks on the ground in defeat and not looking where I was going, I walked straight into a wall of a shop. I immediately hit the ground by losing my balance and I was dizzy for a couple of seconds. As the stars were batted away from my eyes I was able to make out a sign that was hanging right above me.

"Redge's Knick Knacks" I read aloud.

I looked even closer to notice some finer print that was right below it.

"The collection of all strange items and things of the unknown" I read a little slower but still aloud.

'Wierd.' I thought as I got myself up and patted my back of the excess dirt on it.

I decided to give this shop a shot since it didn't really matter to me anymore if anyone was to buy my bombs or not. With a quick push of the door I noticed that this place was really out of the ordinary. There were many machine-like appliances scattered about the area. There were workbenches and things dangling from the rapters and it honestly looked as if a mad scientist worked here. As it turns out, my assumptions weren't that far off when I saw the owner of this... odd establishment.

"HELLO!" He shouted at me with a happy tone. "Welcome to Ridge's Knick Knacks! As you may have guessed my name is Ridge and I own this place. If you didn't know that then please exit this building now, take your sword slice your own throat and declare yourself a retard please." He said really fast and almost as if he was a maniac.

"Um... No. Sorry to say I'll have to decline that idea and instead present my own." I said as I took out my bombs.

Ridge was honestly caught off guard since normally one person would leave at the sounds of his ramblings and he was even more caught off guard when he noticed I was trying to sell him something.

"Well now, what do we have here? A couple of bombs. Some are smokes, some are elemental types and, oh lordie we even have some poison and paralysis bombs. Well it certainly looks like you know how to make a few bombs here and there you damn terrorist." Again saying in the fastest speech I have ever heard anyone talk at.

"Look, I need to sell these things to get a better income. Would you mind buying them?" I ask as he takes a few of them up to get a closer look at one.

"Hrm, well from the way you've phrased your excuse of wanting to get rid of these things, it seems you want to get into the salesman business of this game. However, you don't have the necessary skills to be a salesman nor do you have the talent and in your mind you just want to make some cor off of your inventions. I could easily sell these things right now but I'd need a supply of them and a steady flow of these as my stock. If you'd be willing-" I couldn't handle it much more so I cut him off before my ears fell off.

"LOOK! all I need is to sell these things. I don't want anything like a partnership or-" This time it was his turn to cut me off.

"Nonononononononono. No." He said as he literally shut me up by throwing a cube at me with a sort of blue glow eminating from the core of it.

"THAT right there good sir, is a little invention of mine called the whatchamicallit. That's what I call it anyways. It basically lets me access whatever is inside it from ANYWHERE in Aincrad. If you put an item in there I can access it from this control cube over here." As he motions over to a larger red cube.

As I try to say something again, he once again shuts me up and starts off his train of thought again.

"Alright, the way I see it. You need money, I need product. You supply me the product, I supply you with money. You supply me with the ingredients to make said product and I myself can make said product with this dohickey over here." Again he motions over to another machine with a console that contains hundreds of buttons.

"This machine over here lets me take 'recipes' that I have decoded into it to make the products as long as I have the necessary ingredients. It basically lets me make your bombs without me having the necessary skills to do so since I am such a bad ass." He says rambling on again.

"So to wrap it up in one nutshell: You supply me 1 of every bomb you can make so I can then make them myself AND you supply me the proper ingredients by placing them in that little cube there, then I will supply you with enough col that you can buy one of the biggest houses on the biggest hills with the biggest breasted girls to make a harem for yourself." Once again trailing off without capping any of his thoughts in.

I couldn't really put up much of a fight. My head hurt so much from all the talking that I could only nod in agreement to what he was saying.

"So we have a deal? YES!" He exclaimed as he fist pumped in the air.

'Who was this guy?' I thought as I wondered what I had just gotten myself into.

"As you may be wondering, you may wonder 'Who the hell is this guy?' Well, I thought I'd let you know that my name is Ridge, the owner of this fine establishment and if you didn't know this then you can kindly go outside, slit your own throat and declare yourself a retard because for any and all who don't know, I am the smartest man you will ever meet and I am an Artificer by trade. Pleasure to meet you Kira, the Disciple of the Dark Queen." He said before shaking my hand without my permission.

"Wait wait wait... how did you know my name was Kira?" I asked trying my best to gather my thoughts.

"Don't worry about it. I have any knick knack in the game that can allow me to know just about anything I want to know about a person. I've made everything from inter-floor dimensional portals to gadgets that destroys equipment to-" I once again cut him off.

"Okay, I get it you're a mad scientist or... Artificer... whatever the hell that is. I get it. So how in the hell does this thing work anyways?" I ask as I look down at the cube.

"Okay, that thing is what I call a 'whatchamicallit'. Just add in any item you want into it and it acts as a storage for me to get any items that are within it through this control cube. I can also take any col I make from your product to put it in the cube so you can take it out for your use. Think of it as a shared storage container." He said wrapping it up as if it were the best thing made since sliced bread.

"Okay..." I nod as if I tried to understand what he just spilled out of his head. It then lead to my next question.

"Why?" I ask him as he looks at me with a wierd expression. "Why do this for me?"

"Hrm." If it was even possible to do, Ridge thought for a second to give his answer.

"You're the first person to actually ever been able to hold a conversation with me. Yea, that's why." He said as he smacked his fist down into the palm of his hand.

I sweat-dropped at the comment but it really did mean a lot to me. With Ridge's help I could use this establishment to fund my expedition. It also left me with access to a really useful guy who could basically make anything for any type of use if he put his mind to it. Atleast... that's what it sounded like.

With a bit of more explanation and a couple more sweat-dropping comments I soon found myself outside the door and back into the city wondering what the hell I had just gotten myself into.

It wasn't before long that I got a message from Argo. It was rather odd considering that it was always me that contacted her.

_**FlameofHeaven is going to be participating in the next boss fight. The boss is Woodmane Lord of the Trees. You might want to go see how it turns out.**_

I gave her a quick reply as thanks and set off towards the boss. It took me a good 15 minutes before I reached the area since I was running so fast. I didn't even have time to warn Serah but it turns out she was already there fighting the boss. I had just gotten there in time to notice the archers take aim at the backside of the boss to weaken it down to nothing. It was strange though since the last arrow I saw go through the air explode on the back of the boss.

'Was it a passive ability?' I thought as I saw the reward menus pop up everywhere.

I decided to go up to Serah to see how things were going.

"Yo." I startled her. "Long time no see."

"Yea, it's been awhile. Things been good for you since the 10th floor?" She asked as she closed the menu.

"Yea I just reached level 25. How about you?"

"I jut hit level 24 with this boss kill. Oh I also recieved some new wood armor. Apparently wood armor is better than steel breastplate. Go figure huh?" She said jokingly

"Yea I really don't understand this game that well. Physics just don't make as much sense in this game as they do in the real world." We both started laughing.

"Ready to go to the next floor?" I asked as we headed up the stairs.

To both of our surprise it was a wide open area. There were clouds everwhere with platforms reaching out across the skies.

"Looks like it's going to be a fight in the air." I said rhetorically.

We both said our goodbyes to eachother again before setting off in our own seperate directions. I decided I would do my best to find new bombs to make and give Ridge the necessary items so I would get a steady income of col to fund my operations.

No sooner did I launch out from the gate and jump as high as I could, did I notice that gravity was reduced here and I was now flying across the sky. The only thought going through my head at that time was 'how much more would I have to do to ensure that my brother was safe?'

Dismissing the thought I readied myself for combat as I soon found myself flying into a pack of hawks that were patrolling the area.

Gliding through the sky, I latched one of my daggers into the closest hawk and started to ride it while sending dark blasts of energy at the other nearby hawks instantly shattering them.

'Guess they have little health.' I thought as I grinned from how easy this floor was going to be.

To my surprise we cleared this floor the fastest we have ever done it. It only took use another two weeks before we were on floor 22. Again the question pounded through my head. 'How many more must die before we finish this game?' I took one last look at the monolith down on the 1st floor in starting city.

Death Count: 3,500

**Hope you enjoyed this newest chapter. Sorry I haven't been able to write much lately. Work has been a killer. Take care and look forward to the next chapter. There is going to be one last major jump in the story and things are going to pick up insanely once I get the chance to write it out. Look forward to it.**


	17. Chapter 17: The Blade in the Shadows

_Kira is now exploring the 22__nd__ floor. He has finally been able to catch up and collect 21 locations and is now on his quest to find the 22__nd__. There's been something that has been on his mind though. Through the endless rain in the Marshlands, he finds that there is something terribly wrong going on within the downpour._

The rain was relentless as I tried to track through the slosh and mud of the 22nd floor. Oddly enough it was named the Marsh Swamplands so it was to be expected that there would be no real roads or any real way to track anyone through this muck. What made me worry the most though was that it made everyone a target to PKers everywhere. I didn't really need to worry too much about PKers since I could outsmart them and I was usually above their levels but it still left me with a feeling of being watched.

The other problem with this floor was that you couldn't see that far out. Your usual vision of about 60 feet was now restricted down to 30 feet. It didn't matter how much Perception you had invested it was still hard to see and it would leave you vulnerable. I wasn't too concerned about myself but I kept thinking about Serah. How would she fare in this floor? Would she even bother with it?

Dismissing the thoughts from my mind I focused on trying to find the new location. With the addition of the 20th floor location to my collection of locations found, my daggers once again upgraded to a more deadly form. They were no longer the straight blades that I had once known. They were now jagged and curved blades that were now split down the middle making it two sharp black and white blades that would inflict a bleeding effect on top of all the other status ailments I could put on them.

Ridge also gave me some new throwing knives to try out. They were slightly larger than the average throwing knives and they had a hollow cylinder for a hilt that could hold one status ailment from my alchemy. Usually I would have either poisons or paralysis in them since it was the most effective but I soon found that my alchemy skill was expanding my horizons. It was giving me more options to make new status ailments like hallucinations and rage-inducing toxins that would obscure common sense from friend and foe alike.

Needless to say, it made me a threat to be reckoned with and I hadn't tested it out yet on a player. Then again it's not like I would want to even try it on a person since I wouldn't know the outcome. On monsters though, it was hilarious to see enemies fight each other. I wouldn't need to do much and if the monster happened to die by its friend's hand then I would obtain the experience and loot that would be from defeating the monster.

The only drawback from this new method of farming though was that it would be awhile before I would get more daggers from Ridge and it would take a while to make the poisons necessary to socket them. To alleviate this, I would stock up on 20 knives each with a specific type of poison or effect. I would usually take 5 poisons, 5 paralysis, 5 berserks and 5 hallucinations. This gave me an ample and various array of weaponry to use against my enemies.

Also as a precaution I would have the cube on my back so I could access its contents. Usually it would have just regular knives that Ridge would be constantly supplying me for whatever purposes I needed.

With the proper equipment layout and with my arsenal fully stocked, I headed out of the dreary town and stepped into the marshlands. I had two missions to do on this floor. Actually three if you included taking part in the boss fight but I wasn't really inclined to doing so since I hated showing off my abilities… then again I wouldn't need to use my abilities since I had my innate katana-wielding skills and I had throwing knives so I might not need to use my twin daggers.

Contemplating this, I didn't watch my footing and I soon found myself sliding down a slope into a pile of mud. Looking at my body as it was now completely soaked in a combination of liquid and dirt and other filth, I noticed I had landed in front of my other mission. It was a small plant that I had been looking for and it could only be found in insanely moist areas.

I picked up the plant and observed it with a smile.

[Dew Grass]

It was a weird name for a plant but it gave me the effect of drowning my opponents. It would stun them and it would fill their lungs up with water so they would literally cough of water trying not to drown. The only problem was that this plant was hard to find. The plant itself was very distinct but it was under the water and there were so many plants that were under the water that you were basically trying to find the needle in the haystack and the needle was brown.

Putting the plant away, I got up and tried my best to pat off all the crap that I could and made my way through the marsh trying to find my next location. It wasn't that easy though. It seemed that the farther I got out the more the rain would start to pour down and it got harder to move through the mud and filth. It was almost tiring and my footing was starting to slip.

"God damnit." I cursed as I started to slip slightly.

"Why did they have to make such a frustrating map?" I cursed again as I made my way down what I thought would be a path.

I soon found that the path was steadily getting steeper. It seemed like I was on the side of a hill but without much of any sight to aid me, I couldn't tell. I kept moving up the hill for another few minutes still looking down at the ground before I found another of the plants I was looking for.

Picking it up I put it away and looked around to see how far I had gotten from town.

I couldn't see anything. Not surprising since you couldn't see much through all this crap.

I decided to open up my map to get a better finding on my location. It turned out that I was only about a 20 minute walk away and it was a straight shot from my location back to the town.

Closing my menu I continued on up the hill and Noticed that the path started to turn. The only reason I knew this was because before I knew it one foot was hanging off the edge of the cliff that I had been walking towards.

Quickly retracting my last step, I lost my balance and I quickly stabbed my dagger into the side of the hill that was right next to me. It was then I knew that I had been slowly walking up a mountain.

Regaining my footing I continued up the winding path, I noticed my footing was getting easier to maintain.

'Was it because of the height above the marsh?' I thought before looking down.

"Oh." I said aloud.

The path was now an actual path since I was now walking on stone. With stone though, was usually a building around the corner and with a building, there were usually people. Since this map favored PKers, there were most likely PKers in the area.

"Halt." I heard behind me.

'Fuck. I hate it when I'm right.' I thought before I stopped in my tracks.

"Slowly turn around. Don't make any funny movements or I will cut you down." He said as I heard steel coming out of a sheath.

Obeying the command, I slowly turned around with my hands slightly up in the air. Nothing to my surprise, it was definitely a PKer due to the red marker. I decided to play along and act helpless so he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Hello. Nice weather we're having huh?" I asked jokingly.

"Haha. Very funny. What the hell are you doing here?" He asks me with a threatening tone.

I had no reason to lie to him so I just told the truth to avoid any real suspicion.

"I'm looking for a certain plant that can be found on this floor." I stated plainly.

"Go look somewhere else. You have no need to be here." He said stepping towards me with his steel long sword.

"Why are you being so defensive? I thought all PKers would just instantly attack since that's the only thing they do." I said trying to goad him into attacking me.

Surprisingly it didn't work.

"Nice try pal but I already know about you. Your name is Kira based off of those two daggers you're holding at your sides. You're well known in the underworld." He said as he took up a defensive stance.

"Oh wow. I'm popular? Cool." I said as I put my hands on the hilts of my daggers.

"Then you should know that I can easily end your miserable life in an instant. Right?" I ask and I slowly unsheathe them.

"It doesn't matter if you can take me out in a mere few seconds. This here is our base and if you don't leave now, you're soon going to find yourself faced with at least ten of us with more on the way." He said trying to threaten me.

"Well, I wouldn't want that but I need to check out this area first. I need to see if there's something here that I absolutely need to find-" I got cut off.

"No, I can't let that happen. You either go now or you face our wrath." As he said this, I noticed that four more enemies appeared behind me and had me surrounded.

"Oh, you weren't joking." I said as I looked around to see the other PKer's faces. "Looks like I am popular. Haha!" I started laughing slightly.

"Last chance Kira, leave now or you die!"

"Yeah, get out of here or we won't hesitate to cut you down!" Another said also drawing his weapon.

Normally I wouldn't try picking a fight with a bunch of players but something kept me from going along with what they were telling me to do. One question kept bouncing in my head and it made me seriously think.

'Why are they stalling?' I thought.

I decided to give it a poke and see what would happen.

"And if I refused? What then? Would you cut me down instantly? Against orders?" I bombarded them with my questions.

It turns out I pegged them on the being under orders not to mess with me. They didn't do a thing, in fact they didn't move at all.

"Grr… How did you know?" The first one said trying to figure out how I knew so much.

"I'm pretty resourceful. Kind of have to be in order to outsmart a PKing guild." I said not revealing my bluff.

"Well, now that we have this out of the way, I'll now go search for what I need to search." As I said this I turned around to face the other 4 players and started to walk towards them.

"Like we'd let you!" I heard from behind me as I heard a knife go flying through the air.

I quickly turned around and to my enemies surprise I caught the dagger between my fingers.

"Here. This is yours." I said before I flicked it back at him.

He deflected it and started to charge at me. He was actually pretty fast despite the impeding obstacle of the rain and I played with him a little.

I blocked his strikes and his sword skills with ease. I was wondering why he was using such basic sword skills and I wondered if he would even put up much of a fight. With a couple of more impacts of his sword I quickly turned to his inside and hit him in the jaw with an uppercut.

To my surprised he didn't go that far. It turns out he moved back his head just far enough to avoid a full-on impact. He quickly dashed backwards and regained his footing.

I whistled in fascination at his prowess. "Nice dodge. You're the first player to avoid a strike like that. I applaud you." I said giving him some praise.

"Don't underestimate me!" He shouted as he ran at me again.

This time, the other four players decided to jump in and join in the conflict. In a quick and acrobatic way, I deflected the one in front of me and threw him behind me to stop two of the other attackers from striking at me.

With my other two daggers I brought them up and blocked both blades aimed at me and I spun around to knock them off balance. Mid-spin, I threw both daggers into their respective targets and dragged them into the ground.

Pulling them out of their bodies I quickly moved forward to the group of three that were trying to recover their teammate and I jumped on top of one of their heads and launched off to go towards the unknown building.

I took the time to look back and taunt them one last time.

"If that's the best you got then you're never going to be able to beat me with your current skill level!" I said before I found myself running towards the building.

It was a large gothic-like castle. There was a giant gate door with large doorknobs that held the door in place. The structure towered over the mountain with imposing gargoyles on the towers and pathways that connected them to the main building. The walls were at least 30 feet tall and the whole place gave off an emanating aura of death.

Not stopping my movement on the structure I noticed at least 15 players were scattered across the courtyard trying to halt my approach. With both daggers in hand I sprinted up through the courtyard to confront the nearest one.

"You're not going to get pas-!" He wasn't able to finish his sentence as he noticed I had completely disappeared.

In one quick fluid motion I sneakily dashed through the opposition not touching a single one of them and I soon found myself 10 feet from the door.

I jumped up from my position and started to spin myself around. I made a full 3 revolutions before I brought my leg out and smacked both doors with such force that they blasted open into the main royal gathering hall. In front of me were over 50 players each with orange and red markers.

Stopping in my tracks, I spun both daggers back into their respective sheathes and stared at the faces.

The overall room was over three stories tall. There were two sets of stairs branching up to get to the second floor and the third floor lay out of reach from my current sight. The red carpet I was standing on extended all the way up to the staircase and on the second floor stood a large chair. In it was a player. He wasn't like the others. He had a menacing look and an aura that looked like he had been killing people since day 1. He didn't look necessarily too tough but it wasn't someone that I wanted to get involved with.

The other players were no joke either. They were all probably around level 23 or 25 and since I was only level 26 it would be hard to deal with 50 of them.

Looking up at the man on the throne I slowly started walking down across the carpet. I saw players quickly reacting by taking out their bows and their blades and started their movements towards me. Regardless of what they were doing though, I never broke eye contact with the man on the throne. I don't know why but it felt like if I didn't keep my full focus on this man, I would be killed instantly.

"Nice place you got here." I stated plainly as I walked further down the carpet with a slow pace.

"Why thank you, Kira. I must say I never thought I would meet you in person like this." The man said trying to play along with me.

"Neither I. The only problem is I don't know your name." I said trying to pry for some information.

"Oh, I am hurt Kira. I thought you'd at least know one of the most capable and most destructive PKers in the game." He gloated trying to tell me that I was in a hopeless situation.

"But it begs me to question. Why are you here Kira? What purpose do you have to storming my keep and making my men look like such foolish people?"

"Well, I need to look for a location. I had a feeling I would find it here. Also there is a certain plant here that can only be found in this type of area. Your men tried to stop me and I kindly declined their request for me to leave." I stated trying my best not to break out a smile.

"So, what are you going to do now? Big strong man who refuses to give me his name." I stopped in my tracks and stood there still not breaking my gaze.

We must have stood there for a good minute before I noticed one person accidentally let go of their arrow that was aimed at me.

In a quick reflexive motion, I took out my right daggers and sliced it down the middle and quickly placed it back in the sheathe. I had made the movement happen so fast that it looked like the arrow had been sliced apart by just being in the area near me. The players near me flinched slightly as I still kept my gaze on the unknown man.

"Oh… I see you're not someone that we should reckon with Kira." He said as he jumped off from his throne.

He slowly walked up to me before we were no more than 5 feet from each other. We stood there, looking at each other to what seemed like forever. I don't know why but for some reason I wasn't afraid. I knew that he was someone that could probably kill me pretty easily but I knew that he would not come out of the situation unscathed either. It was a mutually assured destruction.

No one wanted M.A.D. it made the situation rather awkward since two super powers could possibly go at it and it wouldn't achieve anything.

With a few more seconds of staring and contemplating on what we both should do, he finally spoke.

"Alright, do what you need to do then go. I will allow you to explore our keep and give you access to all areas. Just know that if you do try something, you will not be leaving here so easily." He said trying to propose a deal.

"Okay, sounds good. I thank you for the hospitality." I said before bowing my head slightly.

As I said this I noticed he had his weapon in hand and he had started his swing towards me. With a glow emanating from my boots I disappeared from his sight and I was now on the throne up on the second floor staring back down at him.

"Flash step." I said before disappearing again somewhere in the keep out of sight.

I was still in the central area but I was waaay up in the rafters of the structure. It was roughly 50 feet up from the floor and I could still see the man in the center of the hall standing there with his blade imbedded into the ground to where I was just a few moments ago.

"hahaha…HAHAHA!" He started to laugh uncontrollably. "Well done Kira. You've once again made me want you as part of my ranks." He said before looking at one of his henchmen.

"Oh? Is he coming here now?" He said questioning his henchman.

"Yes sir. He will be here within the next 30 minutes." The minion said before removing himself from the man's sight.

'Someone else is coming here?' I thought before I decided to duck into cover to avoid being seen.

I decided I would stay up in the rafters so I wouldn't be able to be seen until the next person who was supposed to be here would show up.

It was a boring 30-45 minutes that I waited before I heard the doors open up once again. I took a quick peek and noticed a small group of players enter the building. One of them looked pretty familiar but I couldn't se that well since I was so far away. Seeing the situation unfold before my eyes I noticed that the man he wanted to speak to wasn't an ally. Fights quickly broke out in the main hall and I decided to take action. I stayed on the second floor and took out the archers with hallucination and paralysis knives making them useless. With only 5 more archers to go, I confronted them and effectively knocked them out before they could notice my presence.

As soon as I finished up on my end I noticed my health was going down. I looked beneath my health bar and noticed there was nothing there so why was I losing health? I decided I would head down the hall to get out of sight or range of whatever what hurting me and I noticed that as soon as I left the room and went down the hallway, my hand started to glow.

Using the opportunity of the commotion I explored the keep and noticed an underground passageway in the storage area at the end of the hall. I quickly descended down the ladder and went through the tunnels until I finally reached the familiar sight of the twin torches. I went through the motions and upgraded my equipment for a 22nd time and received them back with their upgraded stats. To my surprise there were no noticeable changes in the equipment.

Accepting the new upgrades I went back to the main hall to see what happened to the group that came in. To my surprise, there was nothing there. Everything was silent. It was so quiet it felt like something went down here and many people were killed. I looked around to see if there were any survivors but there was nothing.

Giving one last quick look around I noticed there was a weapon leaning against the throne on the second floor.

"Flash Step." I said before I appeared next to the throne.

To my surprise the weapon was a scythe. It was a black pole, red serrated scythe with a jagged backbone on the blade.

I picked up the scythe and took a look at it. My eyes widened when I looked at the weapon.

[The Grim Reaper's Scythe]

What was something like this doing here? This was an insanely powerful weapon due to the name. What could have happened here that would have dropped something as powerful as this?

I took the scythe and placed it in the cube. I then typed out a quick message to Ridge asking him to keep this safe for me and not to do ANYTHING to it.

I didn't keep my hopes up since I knew that he would do anything to make changes to it.

Leaving the gothic keep I made my way back to town slowly trying to find some Dew Grass.

To no avail, I was only able to find an additional 5 Dew Grasses before I was back in the town.

Since I still had some energy left to complete something, I decided to head to the main plaza of the town. To my surprise I noticed the familiar red and white armor of the "Knights Of The Blood Oath." This was the guild that was clearing the floors at such an alarming rate. No doubt, they had suffered many losses due to how fast they were clearing floors. Feeling slightly responsible for no good reason that I could think of, I decided I would tail them since I knew they most likely were headed towards the boss.

It wasn't long before they started to head on out that I melded in with the group and started moving with them not attracting attention to myself.

"So, what do you think this boss can do?" One of the knights asked.

"Most likely the usual, it's going to have a large sweeping attack as well as some sort of hidden weapon that it will use when it loses half of its health" Said one of the other knights.

"Just be careful and follow orders. We'll beat this one like we've done the others and we'll go to the next floor and do the same. Rinse and repeat." The person who I deducted as the leader said.

As we went further down the pathway I listened more and more as to what the knights were saying. Apparently these guys had been doing this for so long that they had a nice oiled machine on how to combat bosses. This made them more confident than they needed to be. It was almost too confident. We only had 29 people including me.

What did they think they could do with such a small force? It's not like they were the most powerful people in the game, in fact they were only sub-par in my eyes. So how could they be this confident?

The questions kept rattling my brain until I came to a quick conclusion. It wasn't that these guys were overconfident… it's more like their desperation had gone so far that they wanted to get out of this hellish world as soon as possible. Another day without getting forward progress was almost like dying to them. It was such a sad existence.

As I pondered what I could do to help these poor souls out the entire force stopped and I accidentally ran into one of the backs of the Knights.

"Sorry, my bad." I said quietly trying not trying to gather any attention.

"Alright everyone, beyond this mist we will be fighting the boss. It is a troll that swings a giant tree log around as if it were a stick." He started explaining.

"Follow my orders and use your defensive formations to take this boss down. We'll be in the next floor before you know it. TO VICTORY!" He exclaimed before the masses copied his last words.

Abruptly, every person charged the mist and I was forced to act along with it. As soon as we hit the mist, I jumped out to the side and observed the tactics this leader would use against the boss and I would assist when necessary.

As I knew it was going to happen, the knights didn't know what they were getting themselves into. The boss, Elizabeth The Forest Troll, was far too strong for them to deal with. They tried to attack her from the sides and in turn Elizabeth took her club and swiped it at the knights sending them flying.

While her back was turned the Knights tried striking her legs and her back and some even tried to climb on top of her to cripple her movements. What they didn't expect though was Elizabeth had some insane jumping ability. As soon as 5 knights restricted her movements she jumped up a good 15 feet before turning on her back and falling down on two knights. The knights didn't die thankfully but they were really hurt and they almost died.

In reaction to this, I decided I would jump in on the fight and help them out. Even though I thought I'd never be in this situation I was now fighting toe to toe with a giant troll.

I decided to keep my cloak up so I couldn't be seen but I brought out both of my daggers and started to circle the beast slicing her legs and avoiding her club swings. As soon as I came around to her front again, I noticed she brought her club up and was bringing it down on my location.

Narrowly dodging to the side, I jumped on top of the club and ran up her arm. She tried to grab me with her free hand and I used my flash step to avoid her hand.

Now that I was on her shoulder and I jumped up on top of her head and then I jumped up as high as I could as well as using flash step to get up even higher.

Now that I was over 40 feet up in the air from Elizabeth's head, I tilted my body backwards and did a slight flip of my body so I was now upside down and falling towards her. Taking both daggers I started my newest dagger skill.

"SHADOW BLAST BARRAGE!" I shouted before I started swiping my daggers across the air sending shadow blast after shadow blast towards Elizabeth The Forest Troll.

With every shadow blast that came out of my daggers I slowed down my approach towards her until I was only 10 feet above from her. I thought I had nearly killed her with all those shadow blasts since I hit her with 15 of them, but I was sorely wrong.

Without warning, I was snatched up by her free hand and thrown to the ground. I didn't take much damage but I was soon crushed by her fist into my gut which brought me down to 70% health. Again, with no warning at all, she brought her fist up and brought it straight down on me again bringing me down to 55-60% health.

She continued this motion another 3 times before I was saved by the Knights gaining her attention by slashing her legs and two Knights blocking her fist with their shields. I was quickly drug out from the imprint in the ground and was given a potion by one of the Knights. To my shock, it was the leader.

"What in the hell are you doing here?!" He yelled at me.

"Hehe, can't let you have all the fun can I?" I said jokingly before chugging the potion.

"Besides, you need me right now since you can't do crap against this boss. Use more speed and evasion to take her down instead of using brute force." I looked back up at the boss's health and noticed it was now down to two bars.

"CAREFUL!" I shouted. "She's going to change battle tactics! Get back!" I warned them before the soon backed off to see Elizabeth purposefully disarm herself and go in a mad rage.

The only reason I knew it was mad rage was because of the eyes that had shifted color from green to red. I deduced that her attacks would now do more damage and she would be a lot faster. Then again she would be easier to hit since she wouldn't focus on defense as much and would focus on what was in front of her instead of what was to her side.

I quickly got up and dashed back only to see that she slammed her fists into the ground to make the arena more sloped so everyone started to slide towards her.

'Smart move.' I thought before I jumped up and stabbed my daggers into one of her eyes.

I let go of my daggers and let myself fall backwards off of her face using the chains as a fulcrum to swing myself between her legs and plant my feet on her back. Using the chains, I placed them on my back so the tension kept me up. I decided I would stay here for as long as it took so her health would keep on going down.

I got very careless though and it was to be my downfall the second I felt a tug on the chains.

Very abruptly, I was pulled up by the troll and swung high up in the air. I noticed that I had lost control of both of my daggers and my chains were no longer wrapped around my arms. I was also flying up so high and I was spinning forward so I couldn't tell what was up and what was down.

Before I knew it, I finally slowed my upward approach and slowed down to a stop. I looked behind me to notice I had been thrown up at least 100 feet. If I fell from this height, I would most surely die especially with my lack of health.

Thinking fast, I started throwing my knives down at Elizabeth using the system assist to trigger a thrown weapon skill

"RAIN OF KNIVES!" I yelled as I started throwing all knives in my possession.

In total, I threw out a total of 15 knives before the skill was done and each one hit her square in the head and in her shoulders. I still didn't know what I could do though to avoid an instant death from being a pancake on the ground.

Going back through my head I tried to think of what I could do before I hit the ground. I was getting closer and closer to the ground and I was losing my time to think.

I kept wondering what I could do to stop my descent and then something occurred to me. I brought out both my hands in front of me and focused on my daggers. Almost immediately, they sprang out from the ground and landed in my hands.

Letting them loose from my grip I grabbed on the chains and started to spin both daggers by them. I then threw them into both the shoulders of the Troll and I quickly wrapped the chains around my wrists so they wouldn't break free.

With all of my speed and with all of the momentum I gained from falling, I quickly felt the tug of the chains as I went speeding through the gap between the Trolls legs and with all of the force from that getting put into the shoulders of the troll, the boss flipped forward and landed on its back.

Before I noticed what had happened I found myself on my back and on the ground with my shoulders dislocated from my body. I guess the pressure from all that force pulled them out of their sockets.

I tried to get up from my position but I wasn't able to move. I was in a vulnerable position and I knew it. I couldn't stay there for much longer or else the boss would finish me off. My fears weren't realized though. Instead, a look of shock appeared on my face as I saw the congratulations billboard sign appear upside down and off in the corner of my vision.

'I guess the knights finished her off. What a relief.' I thought before I tried once again to get up.

Again, it was to no avail. I was stuck there for some reason. No idea why, I just was.

"Hey man, you okay?" One of the knights asked as he pulled me up by my shoulders.

"Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow… OW!" I yelled at him since he kept trying to hoist me up by my shoulders.

"What? I'm trying to hoist you up you ungrateful kid." He said to me.

"My shoulders are dislocated and it hurts when you do that." I told him trying not to put him on blast again.

"Alright well why didn't you just say so?" He said before he abruptly popped one of them back in and then soon the other.

"OW! YOU MOTHER FUCKER! THAT HURT!" I screamed at him in pain.

"You're welcome." He said jokingly before putting my arm around his neck and pulling me up.

"I can stand on my own. Thanks." I said before removing my arm from him.

"Not a problem. Hey, where are you going?" He asked me as he noticed I was taking my leave.

"I got some things I need to take care of. Have fun on the next floor I'll be there shortly." I said before I started walking again.

"Can I at least get your name?" He asked as I continued my stride.

I hesitated for a minute before I answered him. "Kira. My name is Kira." I said before entering the mist and leaving his sight.

It was a relieving experience. I didn't think I could be of that much help for the clearers but I think that without my help they would have suffered terrible losses. I was glad that I could be helpful in their quest to finish this game and I knew it wouldn't be the last time that I would be fighting against a boss.

Before I knew it, I was helping out with the clearing groups for the next 7 floors. I was doing what I could to assist where I could. Now that I was level 35 with my blades at my back, I was now known as "Kira, The Blade in the Shadows".

Something strange happened though on the 30th floor. It was something that was so strange. There was a player who apparently had some beef with the leader of the Knights Of The Blood Oath.

He was a pretty average player with some good moves and a bit of good equipment but what really stuck out on him was that he talked of sound mind and that he was trying to save life but his marker was a dark red. It was so strange to me. It was such a major contradiction that it made me angry that someone like him could talk as if he were some sort of hero. It made my stomach sick. To my shock though, he beat the leader with ease. He was of even lower level which I give him some credit.

Either way, it wasn't something I could get myself tangled in to. I was supposed to be known as The Blade in the Shadows and as such I stayed in the shadows. I would bide my time and if time permitted me to be a part of a boss fight I would participate. Until then I was a shadow and a shadow was all I was to become.

This was my legend, this was what I was to become in this world, for the sake of my brother.

**And there we go. The biggest chapter EVER in this story. Hope you enjoyed it, I will most likely be going back and formatting this differently to make more sense of it. Also, I forgot to give out credits to some people who gave me some insane ideas so without further ado: To RoyalTwinFangs, thank you for giving me the idea for making knives with imbued effects as well as the making of bombs. Thank you Darkninja20 for the ideas that I am currently implementing in this story. Look forward to the next chapter, if things go the way I think they will, shit's going to hit the fan!**

**P.S.: To answer the question about the use of the Outsider Symbol from the game Dishonored, the symbol itself is NOT the actual symbol from the game, the symbol looks like it but it's not actually the same. I will most likely be putting in a URL of the symbol since I will probably hand draw it.**


	18. Chapter 18: Osiris, the Ancient God

_Things have finally been looking up since the 30__th__ floor. With the 30__th__ floor cleared, the new expanse of the Aztec Jungle has widened Kira's array of plant collection. With a new hub of operations in the second largest town in all of Aincrad, it seems that this world isn't so bad after all._

The 31st floor, a vast jungle on the side of a mountain, aptly named the "Ancient Aztec Jungle". The city was large and it towered among the large trees that sprouted in the weirdest of places. What intrigued me the most though, was that some of the trees were used as pillars to combine and bridge across areas in the city to each other. They would provide vantage points to get a good feel of the area as well which was always a plus.

What made me like this area the most though was there was such a large array of plants and herbal ingredients all throughout the floor. It was literally a treasure grove of any and all herbs that I would ever need to make any alchemical potion or poison.

If things couldn't get any better, any and all merchants that were scattered throughout the floors all gathered here in this town. It was one of the best areas to get the most up to date equipment and supplies needed to take on any quest.

Although, to much of my disdain… Ridge also decided to be a part of the move of every merchant to this fabulous town… Oddly enough though, his wares were a big hit. I didn't expect his odd knick knacks to be such a hit but hey, you never know nowadays.

Deciding to stop in and see my… I guess I would call him an asset… I popped in to see how he was doing.

As I was walking down the paved stones to the main market plaza I noticed he was the third shop from the right, it was next Agil's general store and a Blacksmith by the name of Lizbeth who happened to be one of the best blacksmith's in the game. I never really went to either of their stores since I had no use for their equipment but I might need something from them eventually.

As I entered into Ridge's Knick Knacks, I noticed I was quickly being shoved through a crowd of people who had been shopping here for what seemed like over an hour. They were inspecting his wares as well as any "knick knacks" that he might have on sale.

Needless to say, the place was packed and it took me forever to weave through the giant crowd of people. I almost gave up trying to see the guy since it was such a long wait but before I knew it, he somehow was right next to me staring at me intently.

'How did he get there without me noticing him?' I thought as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

I quickly brushed his hand off of my shoulder and turned to face him.

"Wow. Didn't think you'd be here in the Aztec City." I complimented him.

"Oh yes, yes, oh yes." He said about three times before he started to trail off into his life-long story.

"I knew that people would find my work here most appealing since no one has ever really seen my work before. I have you to thank for that since all I need to say nowadays to people is that the equipment Kira, The Blade in the Shadows uses is bought here. That's all I needed to say, so I very much appreciate it your Shadowiness!" He said so quickly that it seemed that he was on a pay-per-view commercial.

It was actually a little hard for me to keep up with him now. It was probably from all of the people in his shop that he got so good at talking at that rapid pace. Before I knew it though, he vanished in a quick ray of light and another ray of light quickly appeared at the far end of the building.

It was actually strange at how the building was laid out since it looked a lot bigger on the inside instead of the outside. Then again, knowing Ridge he probably knew how to make an inter-dimension wormhole to increase the overall effectiveness of his allotted space in this cramped town. If that was even possible though. I highly doubt even Ridge could do something like that.

In yet another flashy show of light and yet another flashy light appearing next to me he was once again staring intently at me.

"What?" I asked him plainly as I continued my way through the crowd.

"What is it you're doing here oh your Shadowiness? Shouldn't you be out training? What do I owe the pleasure of your presence here? We got a deal you know. Just because I am able to make such cool knick knacks and whatchamicallits and dingdongs and other assortments of items that I haven't thought of names of yet, doesn't mean our deal is off." He started rambling again at a million words a minute.

"You need to understand something, this place here, this place can only function as well as my providers. YOU good sir, are one of my many providers. Oh speaking of which here. I got another item of grand importance and magnitude that is beyond your comprehension, conception and composure to even think of something like this."

He once again made my brain hurt as I tried to process every word with all of my intellect.

I looked down to notice what he had handed me and I saw nothing. I thought it was a joke when he said he handed me something but when I looked back up at him he said for me to look back down.

Still nothing.

"I don't see anything man, what are you trying to show me?" I asked getting annoyed.

"OH SHIT THAT'S RIGHT YOU DON'T HAVE THE CONTACTS!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

He was so distraught about it. It was as if he was handed a mission down by god on high himself, and he failed epically.

As soon as he stopped his tantrum he handed me over a case in a small box and he then pulled me in real close to his face so we couldn't be heard by anyone else. The next thing I knew, I was enveloped in a ray of light and we appeared in a different location away from anyone. We must have been up 30 feet because below I could see all the lights of the shop as well as the chatter of everyone in the shop still trying to look around and gather what they wanted.

"Sorry about that but I can't be showing this to just anyone. I haven't been able to give these to you yet since well, you've been busy with all the collecting and the boss fighting and the killing and the running and all the jumping and whatever else it is you do." He said as he handed me the small box.

I was hesitant at first to open the box but something was off about this. It was just a regular box and there was a small item inside based off of the weight but… what could it be that we had to move all the way over here just to hand me a box. Wait, speaking of which, how in the hell did we do that?

"Hey Ridge… WHAT IN THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" I looked at him with an odd expression.

As soon as I asked the question, I saw the most devilish grin fill his face. What snapped in his mind that made him develop such a smile? It was as if the man I knew as Ridge had disappeared and a mad evil scientist that might be now known as the 2025 version of Frankenstein was born.

"Well, when you left my production and training in the Engineering skill sky rocketed. I've now completely mastered my capabilities as an Artificer and can now make just about anything become reality. So I got to thinking: 'What would I be able to make with the proper materials?' and it didn't stop with just that. What if I could make whatever I wanted that went through my brain? What if I could make the best known inventions that no one has ever even thought of? Do you know what I made at the end of all my thinking? My entire collective thought?" He spun up his tale and looked at me with his calculating eyes.

"I was able to make this." He summed up his tale in one sentence.

He pushed over to me the small box and gave me the same calculating look. Again, being hesitant, I slowly opened the box and inside was an object. The object was a contact lens case, each holding one contact each. Looking at them I just sat there wondering. What were they there for?

Looking back up at the mad scientist, I looked at his eyes. They were just like a child's eyes as he was showing off his new gift.

"Put them in man, see what happens. Open your mind to a whole new world you never even knew would exist." With a little bit of laughter and a bit more shaking from head to toe, he beckoned me to try them on.

Still hesitating, I finally built up the courage to put them in and I noticed that I could now see different things that were around the room. It was odd considering I had such high perception and I didn't notice these things.

"Welcome my friend, to the TRUE Ridge's Knick Knacks." He declared as he was now showing me a new array of inventions, gadgets and machines that truly looked like as if he was an insane scientist who never got out of his workplace.

I noticed that on his feet now were two pieces of metal that I couldn't see before. In a flashy ray of light that extended out from them, I soon found myself back on the ground floor with him and I could now see what he was trying to hand me.

It was a new katana, it had a jagged backbone with a red blade. It looked almost as if he took the Grim Reaper's Scythe that I gave him and reconfigured the blade slightly to make it into a katana. When I asked him about it, he actually did what I thought he did.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO ANYTHING TO IT!" I yelled at him.

"Doh, c'mon you don't tell me that. Don't tell me NOT to do something to make it better or I will. It's like trying to give a kid a piece of candy and telling them not to eat it. You had to have seen this coming, you're not that much of a retard." He said as he handed me the red katana.

I took a look at the blade and noticed that he renamed it to be a "Shillidoodad." Whatever the hell that was.

"Really man? A Shillidoodad?" I asked him as I tried to rename it.

"What? I thought I'd rename it since calling it the 'Grim Reaper's Scythe' wasn't exactly what it was. What you think you can make a better name for it?" He complained as he noticed me messing with his new invention.

"Yea I can think of a better name and in fact I've changed it to make it worth what it should be." I said as I equipped it to my side.

"Well, what'd you name it then oh Mr. Know-it-all-and-makes-good-names?"

"I've named it 'The Reaper's Edge.' Befitting for a blade made from the Grim Reaper's Scythe wouldn't you say?" I said as I looked at him again firing off one more question that needed to be answered.

"And since I'm on the subject, where is the other half of it." I said as I looked at him with a serious face.

"Bleh, nothing gets past you huh?" He said in a discomforting tone.

"Well, the truth is… I took it to a friend of mine who made it into a blade, with my enhanced skills in the engineering field I was able to give him a hammer to make it better and… well it doesn't matter. Here take the stupid thing I don't want it anymore since you know about it now." He said as he handed me another black katana.

"Death's Hand" I read it aloud.

'Such a strange sword.' I thought as I put it away in my inventory.

It wasn't that it wasn't a bad blade; it was more of the shape of it. There was no curve to it. There was just a flat back with a katana's edge on it. Granted this would add more power but the speed would be reduced so it couldn't be used to its maximum potential. Either way, I wouldn't use it since I had such a kick ass katana at my side now.

Looking back at Ridge I saw he was still slightly fidgeting from side to side as I was messing with the new equipment. I knew he had one more trick up his sleeve but I didn't think it'd be this easy for me to tell.

"Okay Ridge, Spill it." I said as I crossed my arms and pegged him with an intense stare.

"What? I don't know w-what y-y-you're talking about y-you're Shadowiness." He said as he ducked his head over to the side and then quickly looked up at me in the corner of his eye.

Not moving a centimeter, I still kept my eyes dead-locked on his eyes and just stood there, arms crossed and with such a killing intent that it seemed like it was seeping out from my back.

"Don't lie to me Ridge. I know you have something else, now spill it." I said, giving him my ultimatum.

"DOH! You never let me have any secrets you disdainful, patronizing, evil and despicable customer of mine." He said as he kicked the ground in irritation.

"Fine, I do have something else but I didn't want you to have it just yet because it's still experimental. I don't know what it's going to do so I didn't want you to have it but it seems I have no choice since you're SO demanding." He pouted as he put his hand out in a fist as if he had something in his hand.

I put my hand out and he dropped a ring into my hand. I had no idea what it would do so I just had it sit there while he told me what it was.

"That ring is called-" I cut him off there.

"I don't care what it's called; you come up with some of the weirdest names for shit. What does it do?" I asked him.

"Well, it increases overall time length of sword skills by 15%." He said with his chest out proud.

"The ring itself is imbued with a [Time Rune] that I found while gathering ingredients and now I have harnessed that [Time rune] to be able to be used in this ring!" He said as he started to laugh maniacally.

I took the ring and I placed it on my finger. I didn't feel any different so it probably was just a dud but hey, it didn't matter to me. It WAS just a finger so if by chance it got destroyed or if my finger was somehow cut off and I could never get it back or whatever the instance that something went wrong, it's not like it could hurt me too terribly… Or at least I hoped it wouldn't.

I made one last look at Ridge and noticed he was tapping his fingers in one hand as if he was trying to keep himself busy. I didn't know if this was another trigger that he was hiding something so I pegged at him again.

"Ridge…" I started before he jumped back slightly.

"N-N-No! No! I got nothing! Seriously, nothing else! At least, not yet anyways! Please don't beat me to a pulp!" He said as he started to cower slightly with his leg up held to his chest as he braced for a punch.

"Well then, good luck with the shop, I will see you around when I can then." With that, I left the shop and started to head out of town to see what plants I could find.

As luck would have it, the Knights were currently leaving and heading out of the town as well. No doubt they were headed off to finish the boss. Deciding to tag along by tailing them, I picked up the plants I needed along the way.

The forests were grand and the trees were rather large. The plants that were beneath the tree were rather rare and very high quality so it was definitely a bountiful harvest for me.

We kept walking for another 20 minutes before the Knights stopped and just waited in front of the door.

It seemed rather odd. Usually they would charge in and finish the boss off with me off to the side helping them, but instead they were waiting… Why wait when we're right here with a sizeable force to take out the boss? It made no sense to me.

It then all became clear when I noticed the leader typing in his menu and he cursed when he heard that he would have to wait on someone.

This person must have been important since the leader was literally forced to wait on him. What was even stranger was the fact that even after 20 minutes, the person never showed up.

Completely out of patience, the leader decided to go on without the person he was waiting on and gathered the Knights to face the boss.

"Alright men! We're here today to take on Osiris, The Ancient God!" he said in a loud voice.

'What the hell?' I thought as he said this. 'Wasn't Osiris an Egyptian God? Why would Osiris be in an Aztec floor?' It made no sense to me.

As I was sitting there in the tree thinking with disbelief I noticed that they had already opened the door and had started to enter the boss room.

Jumping down from my vantage point I went in after them and noticed that the Boss was already attacking one of the groups.

The God was a towering 20 feet tall. The god had a dog-like face with ears spiking up towards the sky. With legs like a dog, they arched back and looked as if they could jump at least 50 feet into the air. The god had golden breastplate armor with golden grieves that had the Egyptian cross engraved in them. In the middle of the cross was a green gem that shined through the battlefield with a vibrant light. All in all, it looked like the god was Anubis.

Osiris, The Ancient God, was rampaging through the forces as if they were little chess pieces. In one hand the god had a jagged sickle with two blades attached to it. The blades were black and red respectively and it seemed that they had incredible piercing power since the shields that were hit by it nearly shattered with just one strike.

In the other hand the god held an Egyptian staff with the Eye of Anubis on top. From what I saw, the god wasn't using it yet.

'That's most likely going to be used when its down to its last two bars.' I thought as I started to engage.

Overall, the boss wasn't that tough. The attack patterns were simple slashes and the boss jumped back every now and then to regain its footing. Before I knew it, we had damaged the god so much that it was now down to its last bar without changing its tactics.

That's when things went wrong though. The second it reached its last bar, the gems changed color to red and its white eyes turned black.

Throwing away the sickle, the boss took the staff in both hands and started to spin it above his head. The force of the spinning was so great that the wind around us started to fly towards the staff almost like a wormhole.

With a ground-shattering explosion, the staff was imbedded into the ground and a shockwave hit us all sending us flying into the walls.

"_**HEAR ME, SOULS OF THE DEAD! RISE FROM YOUR GRAVES AND FIGHT FOR YOUR GOD, YOUR SAVIOR!"**_ He roared in a demonic tone.

That was the first time that I ever heard a boss say anything. I quickly dismissed the thought though when he said "rise from your graves" because before I knew it, I was seeing small dog-like mini version of himself start forming from the sand on the battlefield.

"This is bad." I said aloud as I broke out from the wall.

Putting my two daggers away, I drew my Reaper's Edge and charged towards the bulk of the undead force.

Immediately in front of me I noticed two of them lunging towards me. I quickly brought up my sword and sliced one of them down the middle and turning to the side to dodge the other. I then did a backflip over the undead soldier and sliced its head off mid-air while upside down.

Landing gracefully on one knee I noticed another two were lunging towards my direction. I quickly spun myself around slicing through another undead and then spinning once more bringing the sword down on the other killing them both instantly.

As I recovered from my four attackers, I noticed three knights head out in front of me and start to batter their way towards the boss. Using this chance, I jumped over the major group of them and started jumping on top of the undead horde's heads.

As I reached the edge of the horde, I jumped up towards the god and got swatted away by the staff.

Acting quickly I threw out one of my daggers and had it wrap around the staff head and used it as a fulcrum to pull myself around to the back of the god.

Stabbing my sword into its back I noticed my health was going up. Thinking I was crazy, I took my eyes off of my health and started to scale the Ancient god stabbing my katana and my other knife up its back.

By the time I reached the shoulder of the god, I noticed its health was now at half a bar left. Bringing my katana up, I brought it down only to have an undead warrior take the hit for him. Looking down I was noticing a lot of warriors starting to jump up towards me trying to stop my assault on their god.

Slicing three more that jumped up at me trying to knock me off, I held my ground doing my best to stay on the god's shoulder. To no avail however when I noticed one of them went behind the god and jumped up and kicked me in my back.

Falling down, I started to slice and dice any and all enemies that were trying to end me as I was in free fall. I must have at least killed 10 more enemies before I finally stabbed into an enemy that was on the ground softening my fall.

Sprinting forward away from the boss, I jumped up and over another band of a seemingly endless army and tried to get back to the Knights so I could finish this pointless fight.

I jumped over a band of knights and landed right next to the leader of the force.

"I need your men to buy me some time. I'll finish off the boss easily enough if given the time." I said trying to get him to go along with me.

"Understood Kira. MEN! Hold the line! Let none pass!" He shouted as he too took to the line and started to hold off the undead.

Sheathing my katana I took out my dagger and willed my other dagger back into my hand. Going down into a crouching attack stance I shouted out to the top of my lungs.

"BEND TIME!" in an instant, everyone in the immediate area froze and it seemed the boss was slowed down instead of frozen.

'Good enough for me.' I thought as I started to charge my daggers once again.

"SHADOW BLAST BARRAGE!" I yelled out before slicing the air in front of me.

This one was different from the usual Shadow Blast Barrage though. Instead of the arcs flying across the sky and hitting the target, they stayed in the same area and just built up more force.

I must have gotten off at least 15 strikes before the Bend Time ended and a giant arc of black energy went flying across the sky and hitting the boss straight in the chest.

To my surprise the blast only brought the beast down to 25% of its final bar. I was so confused. Usually something like that would kill any major enemy with two bars but instead he wasn't hurt badly at all.

It then occurred to me that the skill would be different than before and it made sense when I noticed black slash marks appearing all over the boss' body. Soon I noticed the hit counter to the left of my vision going up dramatically.

30, 45, 60, 87.

It stopped at 87 before the marks exploded with slash residue flying through the air.

In a dramatic and devastating fall, the god fell to his knees and then fell forward onto his face shattering into polygons.

Shortly afterwards the Congratulations billboard showed up and I was given the Last Hit Bonus.

[Congratulations on getting the Last Hit!]

[Rewards]

Osiris Gemstone

Osiris Golden Breastplate

Ancient God Sickle

3,500 col

20,000 exp

1,500x Essences of the Dark Queen

Sheathing both of my daggers, I closed the rewards menu and started to make my way out of the boss room until I noticed a familiar face.

Ducking to the side I hid from her view.

'What the hell is she doing here?' I thought before activating my invisibility and dashing past her.

In the corner of my view I noticed she was holding onto "Unity" I was wondering why she was holding it instead of Aira. Then again, I hadn't seen them in awhile so maybe Aira gave it to her.

Either way I couldn't get caught up in the formalities of seeing her again. We would some day but I couldn't do it right now.

Heading out of view from everyone I jumped up into the trees and made my way back to town.

After a quick 10 minutes of me jumping from tree to tree I finally reached the town and went straight to the inn to go to bed. I had to think things through and I needed to figure out what my next move would be.

Before I went to bed I placed the sickle, the armor and the gemstone into the cube and sent a message to Ridge asking him to look them over and seeing what he could do with them.

Afterwards, I went to bed. It may have only been 12 noon but for some reason I felt the need to sleep. I hadn't slept in quite a long time since I could work for much longer than the average person so that might be a reason.

Something kept banging in the back of my mind though as I slowly crept into the dark confines of my subconscious. Why did she have Unity… there's no reason for her to be having that weapon without Aira being nearby.

Darkness soon consumed me and I drifted off to sleep. It was then that I encountered someone I never thought I would see again. It was the little girl back on the first floor. Why was she here and why now?

**Thank you for all the reviews thus far. Hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I've been getting a couple of PMs to add more scenes with Serah and Kira and possibly get a KiraxSerah relationship going. Honestly so far I have no idea what I am going to do with Serah. So far what I can tell you, is that she will be playing an important role in the next few chapters so look forward to it. Thanks again and please R&R :D**


	19. Chapter 19: The Dark King

_Deep in the confines of Kira's mind, he has seen the last person he thought he would see as he sleeps. It was the little girl. The little girl that was back on the 1__st__ floor. Why was she there and why was it now of all times that she would show up?_

I didn't really understand much of what was going on. The vision was odd and it was distorted. I first saw the girl and then I didn't. She was here and yet not. I kept hearing noises around me and yet I heard nothing.

It was then that everything went silent. There were no sounds, no light, just darkness. Complete darkness. Nothing to be seen or to be heard.

I've never really felt fear before in my life. I never knew what it would feel like or how I would react when I would feel true fear. If this feeling could be described as anything, then this would be the embodiment of fear.

It was then I heard a voice. It was a small, soft voice. If it wasn't for the pitch black and silent background, I probably wouldn't have heard it.

Once I did hear it though, I had to focus to make out what she was saying.

"…ii-chan. Onii-chan." She kept repeating until I responded.

"What? Who's calling me Onii-chan?" I said to the unknown source.

"Onii-chan, you've got to get up. You need to see Mommy. Mommy has been waiting for you for a long time." She said in her soft tone.

"What? Who's 'Mommy'?" I said trying to figure out what she was saying.

"Mommy's been waiting and you need to go see her. We'll be waiting for you, Onii-chan. don't keep Mommy waiting." She said before I saw in the top right hand corner of my vision the blinking sign 'Quest Updated'

With that, I opened my eyes and was now staring at the ceiling.

With a deep breathe and a quick tuck and roll to the right, I was standing up and equipping my armor.

I looked up at the time to notice I had only slept for 4 hours.

'No sleep for the wicked eh?' I thought to myself before I closed my menu and exited my temporary room.

I didn't really know what came over me but I felt the overwhelming urge to go back to the first floor to see what that little girl was talking about. Why was she there in my dreams? Why did I have to go see 'Mommy'?

Either way, it was pissing me off that I couldn't get it off my mind so I decided to pay a visit to the City of Beginnings.

As I exited the platform, I saw that nothing had changed in this city. There were still thousands of people that littered the streets, just waiting for the floor to be cleared. The Army, a guild that had been formed to clear the game, had stationed themselves here and used this area as a base of operations. As for why, I had no idea.

I took the quickest route out of the city and started my way through the woods towards where I found the Dark Queen. At least, I thought where I met the Dark Queen.

It took me a little while before I realized, I had no flipping idea where I found the damn bitch. It was one of the oddest areas on the floor and it was so remote that I couldn't retrace my steps to where I found the rock formation.

I searched high and low, near and far. From east to west, I searched the first floor for nearly two hours before I completely flipped out and started slicing in a mad frenzy at any and all enemies I came across.

I destroyed monsters in the forests for so long that it became systematic. I was travelling in a big circle around the forests and it was timed just perfectly enough that I would be sprinting into mobs as they spawned.

Once again, I continued this methodical way of farming for a long time. I couldn't think of how long it was since I started since it was just a repeated system of events.

Eventually I just stopped. I stopped running around in my giant circle and I jumped up into a tree and started to think. Thinking of what I could do. Anything that would lead me into the right direction.

I quickly opened up my menu and went to the messenger.

"_Serah, I have a question for you: If you need to find something really important to you, but you can't find where you placed it and you can't retrace your steps, what do you do?"_

I waited for a good 15 minutes before I got a reply from her.

"_Well, I would just think really hard on that one thing and then go where my body felt it would be."_

I read the message about 5 times before closing it.

"You would think really hard… and then follow your body to find out where it is?" I said aloud.

"What in the hell is that supposed to even mean Serah?!" I yelled at the tree across the way.

Smacking the tree branch to the side of me a couple of times, I thought about what else I could do besides what Serah told me I could do but I couldn't come up with anything.

With no other cards in my possession, no other tricks up my sleeve I decided to jump down to the ground and sit down.

I crossed my legs, brought both my hands together and put them in a way that was most relaxing and started to breath through my nose and out my mouth.

Thinking on that one sole thing, that location of the Dark Queen, I sat there and meditated for 10 minutes.

After clearing my mind and keeping my eyes closed I got up and spun myself around 3 times before taking off at full speed.

No sooner did I do that, did I hit a tree and land flat on my back.

"Ouch…" I said as I opened my eyes.

"Guess I gotta do it with my eyes open."

I got up and started running off in that same direction, just going around the tree.

I ran in the same direction for a good 20 minutes before finally reaching a familiar clearing. There in the middle, was a giant rock formation with a slight indent of where the Dark Queen came out from.

There were white lilies all around the grass and if things couldn't get any more girly, purple and blue butterflies were flying around in the clearing setting down in patches of grass and getting up immediately after.

Walking up towards the clearing, I noticed the girl that should have been there wasn't actually there. I was honestly wondering if I found the right rock or not.

As I went up to the rock formation, I noticed in the corner of my vision the words "Quest Updated".

'Good, now we're getting somewhere.' I thought before the skies got black and everything had gone silent.

"_Ah, why if it isn't my little son come back to say hello to his mother. I must say you have grown strong since the last time I saw you, it's so good to see you." _I heard coming from the rock formation.

I looked up and saw the indent in the rock push itself in making black smoke roll out from the cracks. The black mist quickly enveloped the area and before I knew it, there was a large hole in the rock.

Just the same as before, the Dark Queen quickly formed outside of her cave completely incased in her robes of black. In one hand she held her black sphere of shadow and in the other the demonic blade of darkness.

"_Still rude as always I see, my little Disciple." _She said as if in spite.

"Well, you made me come down here for no reason, so why did you need me oh so badly, Dark Queen?" I retorted.

"_Straight to the point huh? Alright, I need you to go out and kill my arch-nemesis for me. He has himself a Disciple to do his will and I just can't have that. You must kill him in order to gain his immense powers for yourself so you can become the most powerful disciple ever to roam the floors of Aincrad." _She said as yet another "Quest Updated" icon was put into my view.

"Who is it that I need to kill then?" I asked.

"You must kill the Disciple of the Dahaka. His name, is FlameofHeaven."

I was shocked. I didn't know that she knew who FlameofHeaven was. Actually I wasn't even sure she knew that I was related to him. I just stood there trying to take in what I just heard and tried to realize what I should do in this situation, but of course my body not listening to me I outbursted.

"Wait, you want me to go out and kill my own brother? Are you fucking kidding me?!" I yelled at the Dark Queen.

"_That is correct. Either do this for me, or you die and I find a replacement for you." _She said as she readied her weapon

"Then kill me! C'mon just try it! I'm not going down without a fight!" I yelled back as I took out both my daggers.

I didn't know what I was doing. I probably could've just accepted the quest and been good to go but now, now I had no idea what would happen. I could probably instantly die just by saying those words.

My fears didn't come to fruition though, it turns out that an "Alternate Ending" quest icon appeared where "Quest Updated" should have been.

I didn't have time to check out the requirement though since she was already starting her attack.

Surprisingly, she lashed out with her long sword as she did before when she stabbed me back on floor one but because of my enhanced stats I was able to deflect it off to the side just barely enough for me to dodge.

It was then that I noticed her black orb had changed colors to a nice crimson red and coming out from it was several spikes flying across the air towards me.

I deflected two of them and dodged to the right to avoid the others, all the while I was charging up a shadow blast and I sent it directly at her face.

It didn't have any effect. In fact I didn't even see a health bar.

'Fuck.' I thought to myself as I continued to run around her.

I knew this was a suicidal mission but to think that she didn't even have any health to be seen, that was just the kicker of it all.

As I started to make my way around the Dark Queen, I noticed there was a shiny gem imbedded in her back. If there was ever a time where a weak point was, it was staring right at me.

I took the chance to sprint up to it and make a stab at it.

It didn't end too well though since before I knew it she spun around and was looking directly at me blocking my strike with her sword.

"_Oh, no you don't my little Disciple." _She said mocking me.

She took her sword and used her overwhelming strength to send me flying with her swing upwards.

I quickly threw both of my daggers down and stabbed them into her shoulders to stop my ascension into the sky.

Using the momentum I spun myself around so the chains would crisscross and I let my body fall so I would be mounted on her back.

Since my chains were in an 'X' formation I used the point where they intercepted each other as a choking device to hold her off balance around her neck. I took out two of my throwing knives and stabbed them into the gem, imbedding them both so it would continuously damage the gem.

In a matter of seconds the gem shattered and the Dark Queen screamed in pain.

'Oh shit, now she's pissed.' I thought as I felt a tug on my chains.

The Dark Queen had taken my chains in hand and had thrown me over her head straight into the ground in front of her.

Taking her sword in hand, she swung down and met my daggers with overwhelming power.

She then pulled her sword up yet again to swing it back down with even more force causing me to imbed myself even further into the ground.

I couldn't take much of those blows since each one, with my guard up, took a good 20% of my health.

I looked over to see I only had about 60% left.

As the Dark Queen reared her sword back up in the air, I took the chance to jump up out of my crater and jump to the side with my blades out so I would deflect the sword to the left just enough to avoid it completely.

I looked up at her face to see she now had her 4 bars of health and that I had taken her down a full bar.

'Only 3 left to go.' I thought as I sprinted towards her yet again.

She swung her sword down at me only to have me dodge to the right and use it as a ramp to reach up to her face. I swung at her four times before getting swatted up towards the rock.

Landing as gracefully as I could, I noticed I had received a mail from someone. It was from Ridge since I put in the options menu to show who sent me the message by adding their name at the bottom right of the icon.

It was odd to receive mail from Ridge and it only meant one thing: He had new toys for me.

I quickly skimmed through the message and read out a few words until I ran into the "Osiris Gemstone" part.

I quickly read in detail what the gem did and as I finished it, I was swatted away by the Dark Queen's sword.

Tumbling into a tree I took the time to jump further into the woods and open up my menu to get the gemstone out.

"Guess now would be a good time as ever. Thanks Ridge, I owe you one!" I yelled out as I cracked the orb in my hands and watched the magic happen.

Nothing happened.

…

…

"You're joking right." I stated bluntly as yet another swing from the Dark Queen sent me jumping into yet another tree and back into the clearing.

I quickly reopened the mail again and checked the "instructions" on how to use the Gemstone.

At the very bottom of the paragraph of text I noticed in fine subscript: "Be sure to cite the incantation he said when using the gemstone."

"You're fucking kidding me right?!" I yelled at the message as I dodge to the right again.

I thought through my head during the fight with the Ancient God to figure out what he said.

"Hear me! Souls of the dead! Fight for me, you're savior, your god!" I yelled in hopes that it would work.

Still nothing.

"Hear me! Souls of the dead! Rise from your slumber to fight for me, your god, your savior!" I yelled out a second time trying to recall what exactly he said.

Still nothing.

"Gah! Fuck! Just come out already you stupid dead!" I yelled out in frustration as I dodged once again from the red spikes from the ball.

"Flash step!" I quickly found myself on top of the rock formation and I used all my thinking to recall the exact words the god used to summon up his little minions.

"HEAR ME, SOULS OF THE DEAD! RISE FROM YOUR GRAVES AND FIGHT FOR YOUR GOD, YOUR SAVIOR!" I screamed out with ever fiber of my body.

It was then the clouds shifted. Lighting cracked through the sky and struck the surrounding trees and the ground around the rock formation hitting the queen directly in the head dealing massive damage. It was almost a full bar and she was now down to 2 bars left.

That wasn't the best part of the Gem though, before I knew it the grove had turned to sand and all around me I saw sand minions start to form from the sand. Before I could count them all, they started to attack.

The Queen didn't have much of a problem dispatching the minions but it didn't matter to me, it bought me enough time to use my Shadow Blast Barrage which hit her dead in the face.

I quickly noticed her health decreasing with each hit until finally she was on her final bar of health. Things then got worse. Everything went pitch black and I couldn't see or hear anything just like the first encounter.

In a quick swirling of darkness, I had seen that all the minions were destroyed and I was now without both my daggers.

I looked back down at the Dark Queen and noticed she was now a lot smaller and was still wielding her black sword.

"_Well, nicely done in making me pull out my trump card. I've sealed the powers that I have given you, there's no way you can win now." _She said in a triumphant and doom-like voice.

'Hehe, wrong move.' I thought as a grin appeared on my face.

I quickly manipulated my menu and took out my Reaper's Edge and jumped down from the rock formation.

With katana in hand I slowly started to approach her.

As I got within five feet she took her sword and swung it at me from the side trying to cleave me in half. I quickly jumped up and deflected the sword spinning my body upside-down and I took a swing at her hoping it would lob her head off.

She quickly ducked back and lunged at me again as I landed and I deflected it to the side and kneed her in the gut with all my power behind it.

To my surprised she only flew back a good 5 feet before she started her assault again. This time it was quicker though, we exchanged blows as if we were in an epic TV show not giving the other a chance to end it with a decisive blow. We each nicked at each other until we were both down to about 25% left on both of our health bars.

In reaction to this, she jumped back and brought her sword straight up into the air and started to mumble herself as if it were an incantation.

As she finished her mumbling, she pointed the sword at me.

"Unleash: Shadow fangs!" She yelled as two shadow wolves came sprinting at me from her sword.

I took out two knives and threw them at the wolves and they both shattered upon impact. I then sprinted forward and immediately stopped in my tracks from where the wolves shattered.

It was then I realized what the wolves were for.

Immobilization.

'Damnit. Should've known it was something else.' I thought as I saw the Dark Queen running at me.

I moved up my arms and noticed that it was only my legs that couldn't move. Since I knew how much I had been immobilized, I brought my sword up and with all my force I deflected the Dark Queen's sword and almost disarmed her.

I grabbed her free arm and pulled her towards me and stopped her from moving freely. The next thing I knew though, I was in the air and flying upwards as if I was launched out of a cannon.

"oh shit."

I realized as I was falling that the Dark Queen was ready and waiting for me to get impaled on her sword.

Taking out two more knives I threw them at the Dark Queen making her jump backwards to avoid them, I neatly impacted the ground and my health went down to approximately 10% left.

I looked back at the Queen and noticed she was still at 25%.

This last exchange would be the deciding victor in this battle and I wasn't about to lose to some broad who thought she was all that and a bag of chips.

With sword in hand I once again walked towards my enemy with the full intention of ending her life. Regardless of how much she had helped me with her power, I wasn't going to sacrifice my brother to gain more power.

Once again, as we got within 10 feet of each other, the Dark Queen dashed towards me with incredible speed and tried to disarm me this time.

In an attempt to counter her disarm I was able to swing her blade out of her hand by slicing it off and sending the blade into the sky. I then spun myself around and kicked her in the gut sending her back a few feet.

As soon as the blade hit the ground I picked it up and started walking towards her spinning both blades in each hand. I now had the upper hand and I knew I could end her in a few strikes but I had to be careful since I didn't know what else she had.

Remarkably she actually didn't have anything else. Without her right hand and with the powers sealed off, she had nothing else to affect me with. I took the blades and spun them around myself and then above my head before lunging at her with both of them.

This would end it. However, the most unlikely thing happened… The little girl jumped out in front of me before I could deal the finishing blow. She was guarding the Dark Queen.

"Move aside little girl." I said with a stern look on my face.

"No! Onii-chan! You can't hurt mother! I won't let you!" She said holding her arms out to her sides so she could protect her as much as possible.

"You honestly think I'm going to just let her live? After she's tried to kill me and make me kill my brother? Think again lassie." I said as I spun them once again and brought them down just short of cutting the girl.

To my surprise she didn't move an inch. She just stood there ready to take the hit as if she would gladly die for the Dark Queen.

I couldn't make myself do it. I just couldn't cut down this girl with no hesitation, it was beyond me. Regardless if she was pixels or not, if she actually died in front of me I would no longer be who I was.

I spun both blades up once again and stabbed them both into the ground at my sides. I then knelt down and looked the girl straight in the eyes. I knew I couldn't end her life, and if I couldn't end her life then I couldn't end the Dark Queen's life.

I looked up at the Dark Queen to see that she was still on the ground trying to defend herself.

"You can count yourself lucky Dark Queen." I said as I got up.

I went around and lent my hand out to the Queen and helped her to her feet. I then looked up at the corner of my vision and noticed a familiar icon appear.

"Secret Ending Completed"

"_Why did you spare me? You could have ended it and have gotten all of my powers. You could have been the most powerful entity in all of Aincrad. Why?" _She asked trying to figure out what was going through my mind.

"You ask me why… but it should be obvious shouldn't it? It's your little daughter right there that has saved you. Not me." I said telling her exactly what stopped my hands.

"Look, I don't mind being your champion. I don't mind being your Disciple, but I have a task that must be done and you put an obstacle between me and that goal. I'm only here to save my brother, not to end his life and save myself. I would gladly die myself if it was to save my brother, just like that girl was prepared to die to save you." I explained to her.

All that I should have gotten back was a confused look. I didn't even know what I was talking like this to an NPC since I knew they had set responses. To my surprise though, she actually came up with a response that seemed to mimic or reply to exactly what I was talking about.

"_I… I didn't think about that. I never knew that my daughter would do that for me. I… I need to thank you somehow. I need to do something to repay your kindness." _She said being earnest.

"_I… I know it isn't much but here, I want you to have this."_

She handed me a small orb. It wasn't as large as the orb that she was holding before but it was something like that.

As I accepted the orb it immediately went into my center chest piece of my armor dissolving itself into the fabric. I didn't feel any different at first but then a notification appeared in front of me.

{[Congratulations!]}

You've just received the Dark Queen's Blessing. With this you now get an extra +2 stat bonus to add to your stats whenever you level. As a bonus, you've also received +2 stats for every level you have gained thus far.

In addition to the stat boost, you've also gained a new weapon: The Dark Queen's Orb and a new title.

As I finished reading the notification and closing it, another familiar menu appeared before me.

{[Rewards]}

3500 col

20000 exp

The Dark Queen's Orb

3,500 Essences of the Dark Queen

Title: The Dark King

I closed the menu and looked at my stats menu. With the addition of a level up I was now level 36 with an additional 77 points to allocate wherever I wished. It took me a long time to figure out where I wanted to put the extra points but after 10 minutes I finally allocated them where I wished them to.

Strength: 50(+5)

Agility: 100(+15)

Constitution: 50(+5)

Perception: 52(+10)

Intelligence: 50(+10)

As I closed the menu I looked over at the Dark Queen and noticed that she hadn't returned to her original form. She just stayed the way she was. I was kind of wondering what was going on but she probably wouldn't say anything about it even if I asked.

To my surprised, she started to talk.

"_I can no longer be the person I once was. You've taken most of my power and I hope you put it to better use than I did. Please, do what you can to save your brother, don't turn out how I did and forget what is most important. You are now the Dark King."_

And with that, she took her child and started to walk off into the forest. My dealings with the Dark Queen were now over and now I was the one in control. I went into my menu and tapped on the twin daggers again. They were definitely modified and now they were completely renamed.

Blades of the Dark King

They were slightly larger than the daggers I had before. They were now more smooth than jagged. They had a serrated back with a reverse arc on the blade. On the hilt were the five gems that were all around the handle and at the tip of the hilt was a red skull with sapphires for eyes. The chains were no longer a steel gray like they usually were; instead they were white as snow.

I took one quick look at the armor to notice that there were no real additions to the armor than before, only modifications. Instead of the leather straps now being gray, they were pure white and the skulls on the shoulders were now crimson red. I had now a tattered black sash that came out from the belt and the mask was now jet black.

Sheathing both of my daggers I proceeded back to the 32nd floor to see what progress the Knights were having with finding the new floor.

What surprised me the most though was there was no one to be found on the 32nd floor that looked like to be any of the clearers. Instead I had found a poster in the main plaza telling of a tournament of the strongest warriors was to take place on the 18th floor.

Intrigued with this I decided I would be a spectator and see who would come out on top.

A little disappointed, I learned that most of the fighters had already gone and round 1 was almost over. It was then that I heard a name that I didn't expect to hear, but it was nonetheless refreshing to hear it.

It was my brother. He was going to be participating in this bout and I would have first row seats of it. I could hardly contain my excitement as he completely demolished his foe with the skills that I taught him. Granted, it was sloppy but he definitely improved from the 2nd floor and that was good enough for me.

With my brother's fight out of the way, I didn't pay attention to the other fights. Instead, I was contemplating joining in on the fun and crashing the party just because that's how I am. However, a part of me wanted to face my brother again. I wanted to see how well he faired and… I still needed to give him this new katana I got from Ridge. I wanted him to have Death's Hand since I knew this was a one of a kind Katana and I knew it would be perfect for him.

The only problem now… was how.

Looking back at the tournament I noticed that Round 1 had ended. I then decided I would wait until the final round and if my brother was still in the tournament by that point, then I would fight him and if he would win against me, then he would get this katana.

With a new conviction in my eyes I waited patiently for my chance in the crowd. Needless to say, it was going to be awhile.

**Alright, thanks for the reviews, I appreciate all the assistance that you guys have given me and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry to say, I won't be going along with my whole plan of making a SerahxKira relationship as of yet. I just need more time to think of a way to make it work out. Hopefully it works out but if it doesn't then please don't hate me for it. Look forward to the next chapter :D**


	20. Chapter 20: 8 Disciples

_Things have been going swimmingly in the Tournament and with Day 1 completed, Flame advances to the next round. Something unexpectedly happens right after day one of the tournament that puts Kira at a crossroads. What will his decision be?_

The Tournament was a nice change of pace from the usual activities that encompassed my day. I've never had so much fun just sitting there watching others fight to see who was stronger.

Unfortunately, there was only enough time for one round where I saw my brother fighting. Things would definitely be more interesting the next day.

Retiring for the day, I decided to check up on Ridge to see what else he did to the equipment I gave him.

Heading back to his shop I noticed that the whole town was pretty much dead. It was odd since the night sky made the lights in the city glow with a certain aura of warmth. The fountain in the center of the plaza was showing its usual waterworks entertainment.

I took one last look around the town and noticed that it was way too quiet for it only to be 9P.M.

There was literally no one out on the streets. No NPCs, no players, no noise. It was just my feet against the pavement walking around in the center plaza as if I was in my own little portion of the world.

In pure impulse I took out both of my daggers and held them to my sides. It wasn't like I could get hurt here but it didn't feel right and I didn't feel safe unless I had both my weapons in my hands.

Luckily it was for good reason because the next thing I knew, I saw a projectile flying straight towards my face from the shadows.

With a quick fluid motion I took my dagger and placed it in front of my face. The strange thing was that I didn't feel an impact of the projectile; instead it was hovering straight in front of me no more than a few inches from my face.

Instantly it shattered in a flashy array of crystalloid pieces of ice and in its place was a message. It was short, sweet and it definitely caught my attention.

"_**We know who you are, we know what you've done and we know how to make it worth your while. Come to the 18**__**th**__** floor Coliseum if you want in."**_

After I finished reading it, it shattered into polygons and I was left alone in the plaza. No one was there, nothing was said and nothing could be heard for what seemed like an eternity.

Sheathing both daggers, I went straight to the teleporter and went to the 18th floor immediately.

Just like the last, it was the same here. No signs of life could be seen on the streets of the town. The pathway leading up to the Coliseum was dark and silent. The only thing that lit my path was the lamp posts positioned perfectly every 20 feet on each side of the walkway with dim flickering lights.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was in a bad horror movie and I was the lamb that was about to be put to the slaughter.

Strangely enough, my guess wasn't that far off.

As I made my way into the Coliseum I noticed that there was a new addition to the center of the arena. Instead of a flat 70 foot circular death trap, there was now a towering… well, tower in the middle of the arena.

There were several cracked windows up the brick fortress with only one passageway leading up. The tower itself was only 30 feet in diameter and it reached up towards the sky at least 50 feet in the air. The bricks were rigid with bits and pieces that looked like they had fallen off from decay as well as a green mold or moss growing up from the base from whatever water that was circulating through the bottom of the complex.

Inside the tower's cracked windows I could definitely make out a silhouette of a person. I didn't know if it was a mannequin or if it was a trick of the eyes but one thing was for sure, I wasn't alone here.

As I took a few more steps to the lone structure in the middle of the arena I stopped in my tracks and listened for the spectators that had their eyes on me.

No sooner did I do this, did a rain of knives come flying from the stands and towards my location.

I looked up towards the top of the tower and with two words I was now stationed on top of the tower with both daggers out ready to take on anyone who would take the chance to end my life.

It was then I heard a simple noise. It was the simple clapping of someone's hands and it was coming from one of the Coliseum doors.

"Bravo Kira. Bravo." The woman said clapping her hands.

"I must admit, I didn't think you'd be willing to come here with such an abrupt message." She said almost as if she was standing in a higher position than me.

I took a seat down on the edge of tower and dangled my feet in an almost innocent way.

"Well, I must admit, I didn't think I'd be this popular among the underground. I knew I was well known, didn't think it'd warrant a death sentence wouldn't you think?" I said giving a death-stare down at my unknown enemy.

"What makes you think we're enemies Kira?" She asked almost trying to be too innocent.

"The fact that I almost got imbedded with a bunch of knives, as well as the fact that I see at least another 10 people in the stands all with their weapons out ready to take me out if I make a wrong move." I said still maintaining contact.

"We're only here to negotiate Kira."

"And if you were here to negotiate then you should have done it over a meal, not with blades at each other's throats. I don't have time for games and I don't have time to be messing around with a foolish girl who thinks she holds all the cards in the deck." I stated as I got up and stood on the edge of the tower.

"You're making a mistake if you think that we're just going to let you go without us getting a word in." She said as she took out her long sword.

It was a strange sight. There was a unique blue glow behind her blade as if the ice I saw from the message earlier was enveloping the blade. Just from this I deduced that she had an ice-like element inside the blade and I would probably pay a terrible price if I got hit by it.

"And you're making a mistake if you think I'm going to just let you catch me." As I said this, I disappeared from view and reappeared behind her back-to-back.

"So, let's let the games begin… shall we?" I said as I vanished into the night as fast as I could move.

I must have gotten about 300 feet away from the Coliseum before I ran into 5 hooded figures each with the same black daggers out pointed towards me.

"We won't let you get past!" The all said in unison.

Jumping over the first one lunging at me I noticed two of them had thrown several throwing knives in the air anticipating my vault over the initial attack.

Using my free hand I deflected several of the daggers and had two of them hit me in the hand and the leg.

'Fuck.' I thought as I landed on the ground.

I wasn't cursing myself for getting hit because of damage. I was cursing myself because I knew the daggers would have something imbedded in them that would hinder me.

Before I knew it, my movements were halted and I couldn't move an inch. I must have been that way for at least 3 minutes because before I knew it, the same woman with the icy blade was walking up behind me laughing as if she caught her favorite toy.

"Oh those are some very nice reflexes you have there. I had to use my farthest circle to hold you down long enough for me to get here." She said trying to make me feel like I was almost good enough to get away.

"So, what shall we do now Kira? I mean c'mon I've captured you now haven't I? Haven't I earned my reward of you getting to listen to me yet?" She said as she blew a bit of hot air into my ear.

"You know, there's one thing I hate the most about women." I said clenching my daggers in my hands.

"Oh? And what's that?" She asked with a soft yet venomous glare.

"They assume too much."

I let go both of my daggers to my sides and as they implanted into the ground a wave of black energy bursted out from my person sending everyone in the immediate area flying 20 feet away.

"My name is Kira, The Dark King. Don't fuck with me you low life little bitch." As I said this a blizzard of ice came through the area and started to envelop the unknown woman.

The blizzard started to condense and become more powerful the smaller it became and soon it was as small as an embodiment of a person. More exactly, it was the embodiment of the woman who I just sent flying.

"And I… Am the Ice Queen, Mirah." She said as the ice blizzard imploded sending icicles flying towards my direction.

I wasn't able to deflect them all and I got hit by one of them square in the chest sending me into a nearby tree and impaling me up against it. I lost a significant chunk of my health and I was now down to 40% left.

Looking down at the wound I noticed that the icicle was slowly covering my body and a status effect of a snowflake appeared below my health bar. My senses were started to grow dull and my limbs started to freeze up and become immobile.

I was slowly looking up when I saw the most enchanting woman I could have ever laid my eyes on.

Her hair was blue with a snowflake flower near the front of her face. She had pure white platemail armor the color of snow with an elegant design of the Japanese character "Ice" on the front. Her cape was a sky blue with white fur lining and a hood attached on the top. On her left side she had a blue sheathe with a katana inside. The hilt had an intricate lacing of blue and white leather stripes on the grip and a white ribbon extending down past her knee as it was resting on her side.

I could only stare in awe as she walked towards me with a sway in her walk. I didn't have any words that could come through my brain and to my mouth. Not that I could probably say anything since my whole body felt numb.

"Did you think… you were the only Disciple? That you were the only one given extraordinary gifts? Wrong." She said as she placed two fingers under my chin making me look up.

"Poor, poor little man. I'm a little disappointed. Your little brother put up more of a fight." As she said that, something in me snapped.

My little brother fought her already? Is he okay? I haven't seen him since that tournament and that was only a few hours ago. Would he have been in trouble this quickly without my knowledge? What did she mean by he put up more of a fight? Does that mean he's dead?

No, there's no way my brother would be done in so easily. I haven't even begun to fight and she thinks that my brother was better than this. There's no way that he would've lost to her.

If she did anything to him, I'm going to make her suffer. I'm going to grind her bones into little pieces of dust and particles beyond recognition. I'm going to pluck her eyes out and spoon feed them down her throat and make her choke to death. It's going to be painful and it's going to be obscene as well as gruesome.

As I was thinking this I gasped in fear at what I was thinking… Had I fallen so far to think like this? Had I become a demon so fast that I was thinking of mauling this person, a real live person into oblivion just because I THOUGHT she might have hurt my brother?

'_Yes… that's exactly right.' _I heard coming from within my head. _'Go on, you want to make her pay right? What are you waiting for? Why do you hold yourself back from the darkness? Go on, finish her. You have the power, you have the resolve, you have the strength, the brain power to outthink, outmaneuver and outmatch her.' _I kept hearing him continue on. I didn't know what his problem was, why did he want me to do such terrible things to her.

'_Go on, why not? It's not like you know her. No one is going to know that you killed her. No one is going to know that you finished her off. Go on. Go on. Do it. Do it! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!' _I kept hearing him repeat the same thing over and over again and before I knew it… I was staring at myself as if I was in a 3rd person point of view.

"_**Hehehe… Do you honestly think… That you have the upper hand?" **_I heard myself say as he grabbed a hold of Mirah's hand.

"_**Do you honestly think… That you can threaten me with such puny resolve and power?! Your naiveté will be your downfall!" **_This man said as he slowly started moving forward pulling himself out of the icicle binding him to the wall.

"W-What are you?! Let go of me!" She screamed as she tried her best to get free from his grasp.

"_**You don't deserve the name of the person who is about to make you squeal in agony. Don't worry, I'll be sure to make this as painful as possible!" **_He said as he cracked her arm and sweeped his leg underneath her bringing her to the ground.

In a quick spin and manipulation of both daggers, he impaled both of them into her hands binding her to the ground.

Stepping back and manipulating the menu he equipped the Reaper's Edge and slowly unsheathed it, licking the blade as it came out of the sheath.

Spinning it in one hand, he stopped with it pointing straight down towards Mirah and stabbed her straight in the gut with it. He then pulled out and repeated the process several more times before growing bored of it.

He pulled both of the daggers out of her hands and then hoisted her up from her hair. With his free hand he slowly started to crack her skull and Mirah was screaming in agony while this was going on the entire time.

I soon noticed through all the punishment she had suffered, Mirah was down to 20% left and she was slowly losing health. It was a gruesome sight to be seen. None of the other members were able to do anything since every time they tried to get close he would throw a paralysis dagger into them making them unable to move.

I had to do something quick or Mirah was going to die. Granted I knew that if I helped her out then it would mean that she would be free to go but I couldn't just sit there watching her die. In a last ditch attempt to try and stop myself, I used my incorporeal body and shoved myself back into the body I was watching mutilate that woman.

It was then, everything went dark.

I could no longer see anything. I felt like I was in my body again, but at the same time I didn't have control.

"_**What do you think you're doing?" **_The voice called to me.

"What you're doing is wrong. I'm not about to let you kill this girl, not while I still can do something about it." I said trying to hold my ground.

"_**Not while you can still do something about it? HAHA! Don't make me laugh you pitiful fool. You never had the guts to do what was needed to be done. Do you think I'm going to just let you have control of your body again just because you want it back? I don't think so."**_ It said continuing to laugh.

"You're right, I may not have the guts to take a life but I at least have the resolve to know what I should do and this isn't one of them! Give me back my body or suffer the consequences!" I yelled at him.

"_**You… make ME suffer consequences? BWUAHAHAHA!"**_

This time he completely lost it. He was laughing so hard that he was nearly out of breath.

"_**You honestly think you can do something about this? You wouldn't be able to beat me even if I was to go down to your level and fight it out with you." **_He said mocking me.

"Sounds like a challenge to me. What? You too scared to fight against someone on their own level? Don't have the guts or pride to show me what you're made of?" I said trying to goad him into attacking me.

It was silent for a while. I don't know if what I did, did the trick or not but if there was ever a chance to save Mirah from being slaughtered… it was now.

After a few more moments I noticed the area light up a little and I could now see. In the distance was a person. That person looked similarly like me but he had black hair and red eyes instead of white hair and hazel eyes. He held both daggers in hands expertly as if he were me and he started to walk towards me.

"_**Alright whelp, I'll make you a deal. You beat me in a duel and I'll let you have your body back. If I win however, you relinquish your body to me forever and you shall never again hold control over your actions." **_He said laying out the rules.

"Sounds fair to me" I said pulling out both my daggers.

I knew I would be in for a fight and I knew that if I lost this fight, I would lose everything. There was one question ringing through my head though despite all of which that had transpired.

Was my brother okay?

I shook the thought from my mind as I prepared for the fight for my life.

He didn't waste any time closing the gap between us. Before I knew it, he was already in front of me with both daggers glowing and in one quick spin he sent me flying into the air.

Guarding any attack from below me, I noticed that he had disappeared and I had lost vision of him. It was then I noticed he was now behind me and he quickly jabbed me back down into the ground making me impact into the sand.

I quickly got up and noticed that the sand below me was beady black instead of the muddy brown that it usually was. I also noticed that it was a flat landscape that extended as far as the eyes could see and it looked like it went on forever.

I snapped myself back into reality when I noticed that he was once again gone from my sight.

"_**What are you looking at?!" **_He yelled at me as he sliced me across the back with his daggers making me fall forward into a roll.

"_**You don't have time to space out now partner. Don't make this boring for me!" **_He yelled at me once again as he sent several throwing daggers at me.

With both daggers in hand I quickly started deflecting the knives heading towards me. It felt like he had only thrown 15 but I still kept seeing more coming. It was as if he kept on throwing them without me noticing.

Before I knew it, I had deflected over 50 of the knives and the assault stopped. I then looked beyond all the knives that were on the ground and noticed that there was now a dark purple and black portal in front of me and there was a swirling darkness moving about inside.

"_**Behold. The Dark Astral Gate!" **_He declared its name as I noticed an endless wave of knives started to fly out from the portal.

Responding quickly I brought both daggers to my sides and started to swing the blades out in front of me.

"SHADOW BLAST BARRAGE!" I yelled out as arcs of dark energy went flying out knocking the knives away from me keeping me safe for as long as I kept this up.

I kept the skill up for as long as I could but no matter how many slashes were sent across the sky, more knives kept coming my way and I was running out of time.

As soon as the skill ended I felt the cooldown come into effect and I could hardly move. I just brought my daggers up and waited until I could flash step out of there.

It was the longest 3 seconds of my life.

I must have bared at least 20 daggers into my person before I was able to flash step out of the way and even then I couldn't stop because before I knew it, he was in front of me again swinging his daggers towards my throat.

Blocking the first strike I back flipped kicking the other dagger out of his hand. After landing I lunged forward and he deflected the dagger to the side and brought his foot upwards into my jaw sending me flipping backwards in the air and back into the sand again.

Getting up yet a little dazed, I noticed that I had been disarmed with one dagger and that I still had my dagger in my left hand.

Loosening my grip on my dagger I let the chain slide through my fingers before I started to spin it bringing it across my side spinning myself against the chain to swipe at my enemy with more force.

To my surprise he deflected it with just his hand and it brought it right back to my face to which I then grabbed the hilt and swung the blade straight down. Again, he dodged by backing up and we continued this intense close quarters combat for a good 5 minutes straight.

Blade up, back step, swing of chain across chest, sweep of leg, implant dagger into ground and kick to face, swipe arm into chain and bring knife up and over to swipe down on victim. Each and every time I tried a new combo, he would dodge perfectly.

No matter what I tried to attack with he would find the only opening that would allow him to counter attack and with each of his counter attacks I would have to block and rethink my methods and come at him from a different angle.

I then started to get sloppy. My movements got a little slower and with the slight opening in my assault he disarmed me and I was now stuck with just my fists.

In an attempt to show a little bit of compassion he stabbed both of his daggers into the ground and brought his fists up ready and waiting for me to fight him.

Lunging at him with a swiping kick to his face he ducked under it and pushed me to the side coming into the lower part of my back. I quickly jumped up over him and spun myself around mid flip kicking him in his head and rolling to his outside. Mid-roll I then sweeped my leg underneath him and then brought my knee up into his back sending him into the air about 5 feet.

With another spin of my body I brought my foot up into the air and brought it straight down onto his gut. As I did this, he blocked it with his hands and while in mid-air moved his legs around my leg and put me into a grapple hold restricting half of my body.

Using my free hand I punched into the ground pushing us off the ground letting me spin him around so he was now facing the ground making him lose his grip. I then did one last spin to kick him into his side making him fly across the way as far as I could make him.

Manipulating my menu I brought out my Reaper's Edge and soon we both went into combat with our Katanas.

Again, it was the same with the daggers and it was the same with our unarmed combat. We were evenly matched. No matter how many times we exchanged blows we couldn't land a single clean hit on each other. Through the heated exchanges we each came closer and closer to our deaths… wait that wasn't necessarily true.

I looked up and noticed I had no health bar. I wasn't the least bit hurt nor did I notice any pain in my body. It almost felt like this whole fight was pointless… With this in mind I threw my sword up into the air as high as I could make it.

"_**What are you doing?" **_He asked me at my sudden change of actions.

"We haven't lost a single point of health. What's the point of fighting if there's no end in sight? Did you intend this all along? You've got me fighting a battle that's so pointless!" I said legitimately being pissed off.

"_**This fight, is a fight of wits and of strength. We don't need health to determine who is more eligible to own this body. Now, fight me. Fight me with all you have!" **_He said as he lunged at me again.

This time though, I didn't move. I just let him stab me with the blade and like I knew it, nothing happened.

"I refuse." I said blankly.

"I refuse to fight a battle with no meaning behind it. You already know you have no power over me. You're just my other half that was able to get through during my time of weakness and now you want to try and convince me that you're more suited to control me." I said making him move back with each step I took forward.

"I would even go as far as to say that this place is a figment of my imagination, that everything here is just a piece of my forethought that could change at any moment in time." I said as I made him retreat farther and farther across the sand.

"Let's say this place IS a place in my mind. If I was to say a black obelisk was to spire out of the ground right over there 10 feet away from us with a snap of my fingers it would happen right?"

"Let's try it out." As I said this, I snapped my fingers.

Lo and Behold, a large obelisk came spiking out of the ground and it towered over us as if it were there for a millennium.

"And let's just say that I could control you however I wished. If I was to say that I wanted you in shackles in a steel cage it would happen right?"

Again, I snapped my fingers and he was now in the situation I had just elaborated before.

I knelt down so I was now eye-level with him and I looked at him straight in the eye.

"Now then, tell me right now why I shouldn't finish you off right now and end your miserable existence?" I asked him as my head tilted to the left.

"_**You may be correct that you own this world and that I can't do anything once you get back into control… But know this, you're going to need me one day and when that day comes, you'll regret the choice you made here today." **_He said with all the malice he could muster up.

"_**Understand this: You cannot destroy me. You cannot do anything to get rid of me. Sure you can bind me and stop me from coming up for awhile but you can never be rid of me. Keep that in your mind as you make your calculations. Make sure that you remember, I am always here and when you falter in your resolve again, I'll be there to overthrow you." **_As he finished his ultimatum I noticed my vision was slowly starting to morph to show my HUD again.

Everything was beginning to look familiar again. All the sounds were flooding back into my senses and before I knew it I noticed that not a second had passed between me entering my body and me gaining control again. I was just standing there. My hand planted on the woman's face still holding her in the air.

With one quick loose of the fingers, I let her go and just stood there in shock how much damage had been done to her. Tossing a potion on the ground I quickly turned around and started to make my way back towards the inn only to have another ice pillar appear before me.

"Where do you think you're going Kira?!" She yelled at me completely pissed off.

"Don't think me so weak that you can just walk away like I'm no threat. Don't underestimate me!"

"You only lived because I regained control. Please. Don't make me come over there and finish what he started and almost ended." I said without turning around to face her.

"Well then I guess we can just end your brother's life since you're not willing to cooper-" She was cut off when she felt the blade against her neck.

I had appeared behind her the second I heard the words that she was going to kill my brother.

"Please. Don't do anything foolish. I don't want to kill anyone but if what you say is true… I'm going to have to slaughter each and every single one of you and your people to make sure you pay."

"Look, I don't know what your aim is, but it looks like you need my help for something and it also looks like you need the help of my brother and it must seem that he turned you down as well. If you truly wanted me to go along with you then you would have had to have him in your possession to physically show me that he is alive however, if I deduce that you need both me and him to get what you want then you can't possibly hurt him and therefore you have no cards to go against me." I said wrapping up my train of thought.

"Next time you come gamble with death, be sure to have a better hand than the one you came with today." With nothing else to say to her I walked back to the inn and decided to message my brother to see if my bluff was correct because if not, I would be in a sticky situation.

He took a good 20 minutes before responding which left me with a large amount of anxiety. After the reply I gave a deep sigh of relief and I messaged Mirah asking her what she wanted since I was a little rude to her and not letting her get a word in about what she wanted. I didn't know what was going through my mind at that time, but something just seemed off about her and that I would be able to find even greater power if I was to hear her out.

With a bit more thought to plan and prepare for whatever she may have to pull up her sleeve, I sent the confirmation button and waited for her reply.

In a few minutes, I received her request and contemplated my next move.

"_**On one of the floors on Aincrad, there is a gathering of the 8 Disciples that will unlock the path to the unknown 9**__**th**__** Disciple. It is said that when all 8 Disciples are chosen and they gather in this specific location, the one that is deemed most worthy will be reborn as the 9**__**th**__** Disciple. Currently we have gathered 4 of the orbs that determine who can be a Disciple and who cannot. You and your brother are both Disciple and so am I. That leaves 1 out there that has yet to be found. With you and your brother cooperating with us, we will be able to achieve great power and be able to save everyone here. That's all we want. Think it over and please give us a reply when you make your decision.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**-Mirah, 2nd in Command of Ascension**_

Reading over message I thought about what I should do with this new found information.

8 Disciples in total

3 have been chosen thus far to include me, my brother and Mirah.

4 of the orbs have been found by Ascension and they are trying to find the disciples by using these orbs to find the so-called "Chosen Ones"

That leaves 1 that has been unknown and no one knows where they are.

Wrapping all this information up into my brain and finally getting a good concept of what exactly Ascension wants, I contemplate in my room on what my move should be. Should I go along with this unknown guild? Or should I go against them and find greater power on my own?

For some reason it was a hard choice to make. I didn't know what exactly I should do and I felt like I should consult someone… but whom? I couldn't just ask my brother that would make me seem weak and unreliable. I couldn't get Serah involved since she wouldn't be able to let me live it down and Ridge would want to do something stupid about this whole quest of mine and make it unbearable.

Mulling over my options I went to sleep thinking up anyone who could help me with this task.

**And there we go Chapter 20. I hope this gets some good reviews. I'm trying to add in a new concept and credits of this goes to xXThatGuyWithTheFaceXx. Let's see where this goes. Look forward to the next chapter.**


	21. Chapter 21: Ridge's Newest Invention

_Laying in bed for what seemed like ages; Kira sleeps and contemplates on his next move. Will he take the request of Ascension and find the other Disciples? Or will he take matters into his own hands and find even greater power on his own?_

Sleeping felt great for once. It had been so long since I had some rest that was untroubled by anything. Nothing seemed to be going wrong and things were rather quiet even on the frontlines.

I decided that I would head back down the floors all the way back to the 19th floor to obtain a certain plant. I wasn't able to get it because of my low level but now that was a different story.

Entering the 19th floor, I noticed there was no one there. It was to be expected since we were way up on the 32nd floor.

The forest was still as dead as it ever was when I came here the first time. The trees were all brown and black as if the land itself had plagued the source of nutrition for the trees.

All wildlife was deserted and nothing could be found for as far as the eyes could see.

Shuddering at how desolate the area was, I went to the far reaches of the floor to find the legendary plant that only grew on this floor.

Its name was "Death's Nectar."

The poison wasn't necessarily hard to make but the plant itself was hard to get to since it was guarded by the undead hordes. Everything from Liches to Werewolves were found in these far reaches of this floor and it was suicide to come to these areas at level 24.

Now that I was level 35 though, I would have no problem dispatching these low level mobs.

Rummaging through the trees and encountering several undead that were instantly killed with an impaling of my daggers, I walked through the dead forsaken floor until coming to a cemetery.

'This is new.' I thought as I started walking straight through the middle of the gravestones.

I knew this was a stupid thing to do since it would trigger an event but I also knew I would be able to handle it since I was such an overpowered player.

As I set foot to what seemed to be the center of the graveyard I felt a tremor hit the ground underneath my feet.

"Knew it." I said aloud as I took out my katana.

As I drew my katana I noticed something different about it though. It was resonating with the tremors underneath me and it was gleaming a dark crimson hue that felt like it was calling out to someone.

As soon as the tremors stopped, I noticed the dead starting to break out from their slumber and rise from their graves.

The undead wolves jumped out from their hiding places in their crypts and starting to growl with hatred as they now had a new chew toy in their domain.

The Liches, who were once asleep in the deepest parts of the cemetery were slowly coming into my vision and before I knew it, the forces had grown so large that it seemed like it was 50 against 1.

Manipulating my menu I opened up my equipment and brought out Death's Hand and I noticed as I was dual wielding them both, that they were resonating with each other except this was glowing with a dark hue.

Staring down in front of me, I could see about a 1/3 of the total forces that had surrounded me. With both blades in hand, I crossed my arms in front of me at the forearms and pointed the blades straight up into the air.

Holding myself there, I noticed the moon in the air was starting to wane in the distance behind a set of clouds and the light around me was starting to fade.

Creeping into deepest corners of the sky, the moon finally set itself behind the sky and it was as dark as it could ever be. It was then I heard the forces start to charge me. I knew this was going to be difficult but… strangely enough, I was smiling and laughing.

"Perfect." I said quietly before going to work on my enemies.

As soon as the first wolf leapt towards me I parried the teeth with my blade and took the other to quickly dispatch of him.

Spinning around I sliced the other two wolves who decided to jump towards me at the back.

As soon as they exploded into polygons, I used the array of lights to cloud my presence and sprinted towards the horde in front of me.

Appearing in front of the next enemy, it was a zombie, I took my blades and sliced him into three equal pieces, completely shattering him.

'Next one.' I thought before I started slicing the next enemy into oblivion and doing the same rinse-and-repeat process until I found myself at the end of the enemy horde and staring down a lich that was on top of a mausoleum that stood 10 feet from the ground.

"Hello, ugly." I taunted the undead necromancer before jumping up towards him and slicing him into bite-size pieces.

Looking back down at the rest of the horde of monsters, I noticed that I had killed about 1/3 of them and only about 30-40 remained.

With a grin on my face I turned my back to the wave of monsters and started to spin both blades in each hand before throwing them up and backwards over the horde.

Launching off the mausoleum and doing an acrobatic triple backflip, as if I was being judged in a competition, I caught both of my blades in each hand and continued to flip backwards until finally I stopped in mid-air above the horde and slowly proceeded to fall down.

To my surprise, the rest of the undead wolves found this to be a prime time to attack me by jumping up to take off pieces of my flesh. What they didn't expect though, was that I was already expecting this.

Rotating in the air, I made a small whirlwind of blades and as the wolves impacted me, they shattered from the overwhelming force of my blades.

Landing and impaling another zombie, I got up and noticed I was surrounded again and I quickly got into a defensive stance.

Waving in a taunting way, I reacted to an undead soldier with a sword and quickly dispatched him.

In a quick and acrobatic way, I started to flow through the battlefield as if I was a god of war and I started to make the blood pixels fly as if I were making rain fall from the heavens in the form of blood.

Block, kick, rotate, slice across chest, decapitate next victim. Spin to cripple werewolf by the knees, finish off by slicing across chest and throw blade behind to end another. Sprint up before shattering and plunge blade in further. Use momentum to begin charge through horde and reach the other side.

As I exited the gap in the forces I had made I got bored of the competition and threw up both of my katanas far up into the sky. I quickly took out both of my daggers and stared down at the horde.

"YOU BORE ME!" I roared before sending out several arcs of black energy.

"SHADOW BLAST BARRAGE!" I yelled sending out even more arcs of energy impacting the rest of the forces shattering them all.

Sheathing both daggers in their respective areas, I put both of my hands out to my sides and grabbed the swords as they fell into place in my palm.

Walking forward through the now deserted cemetery, I took a look at the rewards menu and smiled slightly at the rewards.

[Rewards]

3500 exp

2000 col

10x Undead Wolf Hide

20x Werewolf Hide

15x Werewolf Claw

5x Lich Cloth

20x Undead Armor Piece

15x Undead Scimitar

600x Essences of the Dark King

It wasn't that I was smiling at the actual rewards I got, but I was looking at the phrase "Essences of the Dark King." It reminded me, that I was a force to be reckoned with and that I was literally a legend in the game.

I was wondering if I could get this powerful to dispatch a force of 50+ monsters that were at least level 25, who else would be able to get this strong if chosen to be a disciple? We would make one of the most powerful clearing groups in all of Aincrad.

That would mean that we would be that much closer to finishing this game and we would be able to finish this hellish game a lot faster than predicted.

Contemplating this, I noticed I had finally reached the unsafe area of the floor since I accidentally ran into a Feral Werewolf.

Feral Werewolves weren't that hard to take out especially at my level but they were unpredictable. They would be very calculating despite its name and it was hard to pinpoint where to strike since they would literally block any vital with their hardened fur on their arms.

Quickly dispatching my foe with a quick shadow blast to the face, I crouched low and slowly made my way to my destination.

Thinking back on it, Argo said that this place wasn't necessarily hard to get to but the monsters here for the floor were unbelievably strong. Its name was The Shadow Fortress and inside this dungeon, according to Argo, were Shadow Wraiths.

Shadow Wraiths were incredibly powerful. Level 33 with a disgusting poison that would leave you slowed and would decrease your stats for as long as the status effect was on you.

Luckily enough, I had made potions that would nullify the effect and I was completely stocked on knives that were imbued with a flash bang searing light that was the main weakness of these Wraiths.

Clearing the final edges of the dead forest I was now faced with a giant fortress surrounded by a moat.

The fortress stood a good 80 feet tall with walls 30 feet from the ground protecting the area. There were four towers and a center building that was overseeing the whole area. Lights could be seen in the very tops of the towers and with stone gargoyles perched on every corner, it looked like a botched made version of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

The only way in and the only way out, was a 20 foot bridge that couldn't be more than 5 feet wide that looked in such a poor condition that it would probably crack underneath the faintest of pressure.

The moat didn't look too bad. Green, disgusting, didn't look like it had been clean in the last 3,000 years oh and tons of crocodiles that seemed to know you were there and decided to show their ugly scaled back as if saying "Yea, we know. Don't fuck with us."

Walking with the most ease and the lightest footing, I tiptoed over the bridge and decided to flash step about halfway through since I really didn't feel like falling down and being croc food.

As I opened up the fortress doors, I noticed that there were no enemies. Nothing could be seen except the walls barring me off from the rest of the fortress and the door in front of me that led into the main cathedral.

Walking across the only path, I could hear the notching of bows and the sounds of strings being stretched.

Quickly taking out my daggers I noticed three arrows flying at me and I quickly flash stepped out of the way.

"Not very nice you know." I said to the unknown assholes that decided to take me out.

"Turn back now Kira, you have no reason to be here." One of them said before I noticed him pop out with his bow notched again and aiming at me.

'Just like back in the Marshlands…' I thought before sheathing both daggers.

"Look, I don't have time for this pathetic display of a guild trying to stop me. I don't want to end your miserable lives so fuck off already." I said to him as I started walking towards his direction.

"I SAID STOP RIGHT THERE KIRA!" He yelled before firing an arrow at me again.

I quickly brought my hand up and caught the arrow and didn't stop my approach.

As I neared him the other two that were hiding quickly jumped out and brought their blades down on me.

As soon as they were about to make impact, I disappeared from their view and appeared behind them leaning my back against one of their backs.

"Look, you're what… level 25 to level 30… You got shitty skills and you're here because you haven't shown any potential and your leader knows this. Don't make me end your miserable lives and just pretend you didn't hear or see anything. Y'know?" I asked as I got off of the player.

Still walking forward I noticed that they were all still in shock at how quickly I had handled the situation. They knew they wouldn't stand a chance and they were lucky I was in a good mood.

As I entered the cathedral I noticed that just as before in the marshlands, it was a similar design but slightly larger. Again though, there were at least 50 PKers and yet another leader on the throne but instead it was on the ground floor.

"Great… Yet another PK guild that thinks they're all that and a bag of chips…" I said before sheathing my daggers. "And yet, they're not." I ended my train of thought before giving a glare at the so-called leader.

"Welcome Kira to the Headquarters of Laughing Coffin. I'm surprised to find you here on the 19th floor when you should be on the 32nd… Aren't you clearing the game with the rest of the Knights of Blood?" He asked before getting up from his throne.

"Well, I thought this would be a nice change of pace. I need to get a plant that is only grown here. You've heard of it right? Death's Nectar?" I asked.

"Why, yes. In fact we have a nice supply here and we've been making great use of it in our blades. It's a very nice poison since it makes others weaker." He said taking out his broadsword.

"You see, each strike gives a stackable status effect that makes you weaker and weaker in all stats and it makes it very useful for use PKers." He said as he pointed his sword at me.

"But, I have to ask… Why do you need it? It doesn't work on bosses. We've tried, trust me." He said staring me down.

"I need it for troublesome monsters that I can't defeat by any real means. It's another weapon that I'll need to become more powerful." I said walking towards him.

"Oh, but you're already powerful enough Kira. We already know what you are. You're the 'Dark King'. You're the one who bested his own master and gained all of their powers. You're practically a boss in of itself Kira." He said resting his blade on his shoulder.

"You've done your homework. Bravo." I said clapping. "But then, you must know that I'm not one you want to fuck with. So if you would please hand over all of your supplies of this rare herb. It would be much appreciated." I said holding my hand out.

He started to chuckle at my demand and almost busted out laughing as he pointed his sword yet again at me and declaring his answer.

"Sorry Kira, but I'm going to have to refuse. You may be strong but you're not unbeatable. I bet if we got in a good 30 strikes on you, you'd be nothing to worry about." He said as he motioned his other hand signaling the archers around the area to take aim.

"You should have been more prepared Kira. You're facing a good 57 strong force of PKers who will not hesitate to kill you." He said as he opened his menu and closed it after tapping a few buttons.

"And with this, I'll have my trump card coming here making it my victory if you are somehow able to withstand the punishment we're about to give you." He stated.

I took a look around and noticed that there were a total of 20 enemies stationed on the second floor ready to fire on the command and they looked like to be some pretty powerful foes. Each of them looked like they reveled in the thought of puncturing a victim with their arrows and making their enemies suffer.

It made me sick that there were players like these. It would be better if they were all de-.

I stopped that train of thought as I felt a puncturing feeling pierce my heart. I couldn't think that way. If I was to think like that then _'he' _would come out and then on one would be left. I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

Taking one last look around I noticed that the three players I left outside had come in and sealed the exit. Each of them had smiling faces with blades in hand.

I looked back at their leader and a grin appeared on my face. It was then that something started to crack in my head. My thoughts started to become warped and disoriented. I couldn't think well and I started to chuckle.

That chuckle became laughter and soon that laughter turned into a hysterical beat of breathing and cackling.

I had lost it. I knew that I would either have to kill them, or I would most likely die. I was unprepared and because of this, people were going to die.

Looks around me were priceless. Everyone had their hands on the hilts of their blades as they saw this figure starting bursting out laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHA! PERFECT! THIS IS JUST PERFECT!" I yelled out towards the ceiling before running out of breathe and started to gasp for breath with my arms hanging down at my sides with my face looking straight up.

I stood there in melancholy as I took out my Reaper's Edge from its sheathe at my side.

Still looking up towards the ceiling I stood there in silence. I was in a silent glee that I would be able to let loose for once in awhile and it would finally be enough to explain to these fools that I didn't want anything to do with them.

I didn't want anything to do with the PK guilds around Aincrad and this would be my example to everyone that I was a threat. I would be forever known as the Dark King who ended the lives of one of the worst PK guilds in Aincrad.

With my thoughts finally gathered into one motive, one goal and one resolution, I looked down and forward at my enemy and started to walk slowly. Step after step until finally he let his hand fall and the arrows started to fly.

"Flash step." I said before disappearing from view.

I had done a total of three flash steps and I was no longer able to use it for the next few seconds since apparently they were charges that recharged after 15 seconds. Regardless, I was at my destination on the second floor and I was now staring down a total of 10 archers.

Across the way I noticed the other ten and they were still wondering where I had gone.

Using my blade I sliced off the arm of the nearest archer towards me and used two paralysis daggers to immobilize two others.

Sprinting past the three and down the hallway, I dodge two arrows and cut open both of the respective bows still running past them.

I made it halfway down the hallway before the other figured out where I was.

Quickly repositioning, I was assaulted by arrows on my flank and I had to crouch down to avoid the line of fire.

Still sprinting low to the ground I cut off the legs of one of the members and he howled in pain.

Using him as a shield, I got up and made it so the other archers couldn't hit me from the flank.

With my blade in my free hand, I sprinted towards the remaining four archers on my side of the second floor and quickly disarmed them.

Throwing the body down to the first floor I noticed that he had just enough health to survive the impact.

He was wreathing in pain rolling around on the ground holding his stumps for legs.

Jumping across the 30 foot gap and flash stepping to appear beside my next victim, I sliced off both of his arms and kicked him to the first floor as well.

I brought my katana up and then threatened the remaining 9 archers down the hallway.

"If you don't want to end up like those two, I suggest you break your bows… Now." I said holding my katana forward.

They did so, and just stood there in shock at how I quickly took care of the group of ten across the way.

"Your men are weak, Mr. Leader." I said still looking forward at the 9 weapon-less players.

He wasn't too happy at that comment and I soon realized why they called this guild one of the evilest PK guilds in the world.

The player who had no arms had landed next to him and was screaming in pain could no longer be heard. He was killed by the very leader who had recruited him ages ago.

Pretty soon, so was the other who was now useless to fight.

Looking down, I noticed that he had no remorse in his eyes. He was the worst filth to have ever walked the earth. I wanted to make him suffer. He had just killed two of his own and he didn't even shed a tear for them.

Flash stepping down towards the now dispersing shard remains of the players; I took a knee and prayed for them. It wasn't like me to let my guard down in such a hostile situation but I felt the need to. I felt that if I didn't do this, the two souls who just died, wouldn't find true peace and that was something my honor couldn't stand.

As soon as I finished I got up and looked over at their killer. I quickly turned all of my aggression, all of my anger and rage towards this man and felt the killing intent seeping out of my person.

I had never felt so angry in my life. I didn't know that someone so evil could ever exist and he had to die. He had caused so much pain. So much pain that could never be healed and it would be a much better place without him.

Holding my katana to my side and taking up my own personal fighting stance, I declared my ultimatum to him.

"Today, You die for all the souls you have ended." I said before beginning my assault.

I quickly brought my katana down on him and he blocked with his sword bringing his hand to the blade and pushing my katana off to the side making me lose my balance.

He turned his body in a sweeping motion and brought his leg to my face.

Ducking underneath, I spun in the opposite direction and brought my katana across his back and then followed up with a kick sending him into a pillar 15 feet away.

Bringing my foot down, I disappeared and reappeared behind him. I grabbed him by the collar of his armor and spun him around until I let go and sent him flying to the second floor of the complex and hitting the ceiling of the passageway where the 10 archers were.

Flash stepping again, I appeared near his head and brought my katana down on him to which he blocked it.

I then repeated the motion and brought it straight back down on him with much more force but he was still able to block it.

I rinsed and repeated this process swinging with more and more force. Attacking downwards and at different angles I battered him until I noticed the ground underneath him starting to crack.

Regardless, I kept up the pressure until the ground cracked through and he fell down to the first floor.

Looking down, I noticed that I had broken his blade and he was manipulating his menu to bring out a jet black claymore.

I stood there for a bit and looked up to notice the other players standing still in shock. They knew that if they interfered they would be cut down and killed. I wouldn't need to worry about them.

"Well done Kira. I didn't think you had this much power… But now that I have this weapon out, it's-" he didn't have time to finish his comment because before he knew it, I had appeared behind him and stabbed him through the back.

"**Less talking… More dying.**" I said before impaling it deeper into him and charging him straight into the pillar in front of me.

I let the blade sit there and I backed off away from him before bringing out Death's Hand. Swinging it around a couple of times, I waited until he pulled himself out of the pillar and pulled the sword from his gut.

I quickly sprinted towards him and he blocked my side swipe before he overpowered my strength and put me on the defensive. With a few swings of his sword I noticed his health going up and mine going down.

'I see.' I thought before removing myself from his assault by flash stepping to my Reaper's Edge. I picked up the katana and with both blades in hand I turned around to face him. He was roughly down to 40% health and I had been brought down to 80% since his attacks could hurt me through my guard.

"The more I fight the more health I gain with each strike. It doesn't matter how many times you guard against me, it's able to penetrate defenses and with each strike I gain a portion of your life. You're never going to wi-" Again he was cut off as I once again closed the gap between us and was bringing both of my blades across my body and striking at him from both sides.

He quickly dodged by backing up and blocked them both at their tips. He looked up to notice that I had changed my appearance somehow. My eyes were red and my hair was now black. My armor was glistening with a dark aura enveloping it and my blade was now burning with a lashes of black shadow covering the blade and shooting out slightly from the overwhelming pressure.

"**As I said before: Less talking… More Dying.**" I said before spinning both blades in hand and bringing them into an 'X' formation near my knees.

"**Activate: Dark King's Domain." **I said before the whole area around us turned into pitch black.

I don't know exactly what I did, nor did I know that I would be able to do something like this… but something was telling me to say those exact words and I just let it happen. Before I knew it, we were in an alternate area.

We were no longer in the fortress, in fact I didn't think we were on the 19th floor. I looked around to notice that we were on a desolate plain. There were hills that stretched out as far as the eyes could see. The skies were a dark blue with the sun in the sunset a crimson red ball.

The rivers were flowing with blood that seemed to have been coming from an unknown source. The ground beneath me feet was cracked and the earth itself was black with dark purple lights coming out from the cracks.

I looked up to notice the leader was in shock as to what had happened and it looked like he was shitting his pants.

"W-What did you do?!" He yelled at me pointing his claymore at me shakily.

"**You never learn do you?" **I said rhetorically as I started to spin my blades in hand. **"Less talking. MORE DYING!" **I yelled at him for a final time before sprinting at him.

Regardless of how scared he was, he still put up his guard and waited for my assault. To his surprise though, as I brought my sword up to his it immediately went through it and looked as if it did nothing. It was then he realized that the one in front of him was a clone and he was caught off guard.

As he turned around he noticed I was there with both blades swinging at his neck. In one quick and fluid movement, I decapitated him and his head rolled over before shattering.

"**Too late."** I taunted him before he shattered.

I sheathed both of my weapons into their sheathed and turned around to see a familiar face. It was the alter me. He was standing there smiling.

"_**Hello, Partner.**_" He said in an amused tone.

"**Hello, grievance." **I said before reverting back to my normal appearance.

"I didn't need your help in defeating him and I'm a little ticked off that you interfered. Don't do it again." I warned him.

"_**That wasn't me, Partner. That was all you. Congratulations by the way on unlocking your Domain. It looks like you can now do it on your own." **_He said complimenting me and clapping as if he was happy.

"Enough of the sarcasm, I'm leaving now." I said before dispelling the domain.

I reappeared in the cathedral again. All the players were in shock as to what happened and they were all frozen in fear as I proceeded to grab the nearest player and have him take me to the storage room.

To my surprise, the guild had loads of supplies and they had plenty of herbs to go around. I decided to take 20 of the Death's Nectar and proceeded my way back to the main area.

I noticed that a small portion of the guild had gotten into a formation and were waiting on me. Not to attack me, but to salute me. I had no idea what was going on until one of them, who looked like to be the second in command had told me what was going on.

"We ask you to be our new leader. We've never really approved to the killings and have decided to separate from Laughing Coffin. If you would have us, we swear to become your eyes and ears of what is going on around the world of Aincrad." He said as he got down to one knee.

I didn't really know what to do. I had no idea how to run a guild nor did I know what to do with followers.

"U-Uh..." I stuttered before regaining my composure.

"Look, I'm not a guild leader nor do I plan to become one." I said trying to get my point across.

"No no, we're not asking for you to lead us in that sense, but we want to be of help to you. We know that you're one of the Disciples in the game and we want to help you as much as possible so you can help the other clear the game. We want to help out as much as we can so we can all go back home to our families." He said explaining in detail exactly what I was getting myself into.

Contemplating this, I thought exactly what I should do. It was then it occurred to me.

"Alright, you say you want to help me and become my eyes and ears, correct?" I asked, getting nods in return.

"Then, go join the guild Ascension and help their cause. They are also trying to clear the game and will be trying to obtain power to do so. Help them with what is needed and you will be doing me a great service." I said as I started to walk out of the Cathedral.

"Oh, and before I go." I said turning around and looking at the man who had just talked to me. "Who are you?" I asked him.

"M-Me?" He asked me nervously as he pointed to himself.

"No, the one next to you." I said sarcastically.

"M-My name is Virgil. Nice to meet you." He said as he gave a bow.

"Virgil. Like from Devil May Cry? I'll be sure to remember you." I said as I exited the building.

With the Death's Nectar in hand I sent Ridge a message saying that I had a new bomb design for him and shortly after I got a very disturbing message.

_**YOUR SHADOWINESS! You need to get back here quickly. I need your help with a problem I am having and it requires your immediate attention.**_

_**P.S. NO I am never going to say in person that I need your help and NO I will never ever, ever, EVER again ask for your assistance since you're a mean person and you make me feel sad for my own existence.**_

_**P.S.S. Get here as fast as possible or it will cause catastrophic damage to those you hold dear and to sum it all up in a nutshell, ITS TOTALLY ONLY 5% MY FAULT so… please don't kill me.**_

_**P.S.S.S I've given you a new type of crystal that will instantly teleport you to my shop so be sure to use it to get here like… NOW!**_

_**P.S.S.S.S That is all.**_

As I finished reading all the post statements, I read over again the part where it said "catastrophic damage to those you hold dear" and without a second thought I opened up the cube and shattered the crystal which instantly teleported me to Ridge's shop.

Looking at the damage that had already been done, it looked like a tornado had come through the shop and had laid wreck to nearly everything in sight. Luckily it hadn't seemed to have left the shop since the door was still intact but who knows what would have happened if the door had opened up.

I looked around to see if I could find Ridge but to no avail.

"RIDGE! What did you do?!" I yelled out through the shop and to my reaction I saw a feral purple dog-like creature jump at me from the rubble.

Reacting quickly, I brought out my sword and sliced open its mouth.

To my surprise, it didn't instantly kill the creature and it took another three strikes of my blade before finally dying.

Looking around I noticed that there was a glowing purple light coming from the back of the shop and I quickly sprinted to the back to try and figure out what Ridge accidentally did. Or at least, should have been an accident.

As soon as I turned the corner and went into the back room, I noticed that there was a working portal that was the source of the purple light. Inside the portal I could see the setting of which it was connected to and noticed it was like a replica of a plane of fire and destruction. There were volcanoes erupting in the background and there were plenty of disgusting and evil looking monsters roaming in the background.

If I could describe it any more perfectly… it looked like a depiction of hell.

To the corner of my vision, I noticed there lying next to the portal was Ridge who was shaking slightly.

"Ridge… what the fuck did you do?" I asked him trying to wrap my head around what happened.

"OH! YOUR SHADOWINESS!" He yelled at me as he jumped up still shaking.

"I see you found your way back, that's good. It seems my crystal worked. Always good. First prototype success haha!" he said dribbling on in his own thoughts.

"RIDGE!" I interrupted him and he snapped back at me.

"Ah! Yes, yes oh yes. I have created a portal!" he declared showing me the portal in a showman way.

"Yes, I see that. What did you do?" I asked him again.

"Ah! Yes, why I called you here… Well you see, I meant to make a portal to jump to another level so we wouldn't have to fight through all the bosses and well, it did work but it jumped to the wrong type of floor. What you're looking at right now is a level 80 floor full of level 80 monster and well, it's not necessarily the best place we should go to since it's quite dangerous and the fact that It's connected to this floor is very dangerous. In fact, I'm kind of wondering how you dispatched that hell hound so quickly even though you're only level 35. Yes very strange indeed." He said, saying it so fast that it was still hard for me to keep up.

"RIDGE!" I interrupted him again in his dribble. "Explain to me, What the hell do you need me to do? You opened a portal to the 80th floor and you need me to do what exactly?" I said still trying to wrap my brain around his thought process

"Well, you see I need you to hold them off so I can seal it up. If this keeps up then the demons from the 80th floor could possibly spill over into this world and that would cause mass panic to everyone so we need to stop this now or have a calamity the size of an intergalactic space rock hit the masses of the populous known as the Aztec City." He said at 80 million words a minute.

I stood there in silence waiting for him to finish his thoughts and as soon as he did I took up both blades and stood in front of the portal waiting for any creature to come in.

"Alright. Hurry up. Regardless of how strong I am, I won't be able to hold back these demons for that long. Hurry it up so I don't die alright?" I said holding my ground.

"Yes your shadowiness I'll be sure to get it done. Oh that's right you said you had something for me? A new plant? Is it another bomb? OH! Maybe it's a great status ailment that can be put into mass production so great!" He said with glee.

"RIDGE!" I yelled at him again.

"OH! Right, portal. On it." He said getting to work.

As soon as he started working on it, I noticed that my louder voice attracted the attention of a hell guard. He was a giant red, well… Giant with a large red greatsword. He was level 83 with a mean look and a hell of a lot of health bars.

"Fuck." I said as I entered the portal to face him.

"Your shadowiness! Don't do that! If you do, and I close the portal you won't be able to get back!" Ridge yelled as he noticed the giant red demon glaring at me.

"Ooooooh… Never mind, have fun with that." He said as he went back to work.

The demon was a tower 10 feet tall with his greatsword in one hand. He had a helmet that looked like a troll's skull and he was pissed!

Immediately as I got within 10 feet of him, he swung his sword down and impacted the area where I was just at with an amazing display of strength. Luckily for me, I had an insane amount of agility or I probably would have died from that.

Sprinting around him, I noticed that he had flames whipping around him as if it were a cloak or a protective measure on him. Testing this, I took a chance to strike at his back and noticed that as I got within a foot of him my health started to go down and I had the burn status effect.

'Fuck. I can't fight him at my level.' I thought as I started to run around him chugging a potion.

'Guess I have to play cat and mouse with him until Ridge is done.' I thought as I dodged another blow from his greatsword.

His movements were actually rather fast despite his size and since I couldn't get close to him, I had to stay about 15 feet away to ensure my safety. The only problem is: Would it be enough so he wouldn't go for the portal?

I kept dodging him for what seemed like hours and still Ridge wasn't done with his work.

"RIDGE! How much more time?!" I yelled before I noticed I had attracted another giant.

Dodging to my right, I noticed that the two giants had collided blades with each other. Each of them looked at each other and then turned to face me charging with both of their greatswords swinging at me as if they were small sticks.

Their movements had gotten a lot quicker and it was getting harder to dodge them. If I didn't do something soon, I was going to get cleaved in two.

Backing away from the portal I noticed that this place was littered with enemies.

Level 85, Level 82, Level 87.

These guys were way above my league and any one of them could take me out. I had trouble with just managing to dodge two but if I was to attract another one or two of them I would be in a really sticky situation.

As I was dodging and running through the floor I noticed finally that my fears had been realized. I accidentally had gotten within the agro range of an additional two Giants as well as another new enemy.

Burning Phoenix: Level 89.

"FUCK!" I yelled as I started running in a large circle.

I knew that I was fucked and I would have to keep running until Ridge was done. Luckily enough I noticed I had gotten a mail from him and it said that he had another 10 minutes before it was good to go.

'Good, maybe I might survive.' I thought before I looked up.

"Maybe not!" I yelled as I dodge a cleaving swipe from two giants by jumping up into the air.

Spinning myself around I looked to see the phoenix had caught up to me and was about to latch onto me. Using my momentum I took my daggers and threw one at the leg of the phoenix at wrapped it around its leg.

Using my new transportation, I notice it was trying to reach me by trying to make me fly off the chain. Luckily enough, it was wrapped around my arm so it would be very difficult to make me let go.

It was then I noticed that because of the attempts to attack me, the phoenix had flown down just enough to the ground that I was within range of the Giants. With no way to dodge properly, I had to get my arm out of the chain or I would be cut from the waist down.

Getting myself out of my chains was rather easy. I hit the ground and willed the dagger back into my hands and used all three charges of my flash steps to avoid the instant death of the three red giants striking the ground where I was.

Running back towards the portal, I hoped to god that Ridge was ready and sprinted with all my might.

As luck would have it though, I still had a full minute until he'd be done and the monsters would be back in 15 seconds.

Spinning myself around and running straight back into the danger, I took both of my daggers and charged them up with all the energy I could.

"SHADOW BLAST BARRAGE!" I yelled as I sent out the black arcs of energy at the small force of monsters.

For once, the monsters were held back slightly as they were hit by the barrage of shadow arcs. Granted, it would be better if it would do some damage but of course they had such a great resistance to my current attack that it really only left them at 75% of their first bar.

As soon as the delay kicked in I hoped to god with every fiber of my body that I would be able to move fast enough to dodge the nearest giant that was about to smack me down with his greatsword.

Unfortunately, it didn't happen. I wasn't able to move in time and I was forced to bring my daggers up so I could block the initial damage.

As soon as the greatsword hit my daggers I felt the insane strength of the giant hit me with full swing.

The ground beneath my feet cracked and depressed into the earth make a small crater and my health was knocked down to 40% from full.

'This much damage? And from blocking the entire attack?!' I thought as I gritted my teeth.

I saw that he let up his sword and was about to swing down again. I tried to dodge but it turns out my feet were jammed in the cracks of the crater.

I looked at the blade as it slowly went down towards me.

'Is this the end?' I thought as I saw it getting ever closer.

Time stopped to a dead still and I thought of any way to get out of this situation. I knew that if I tried another shadow blast barrage I could deflect the blade but the delay would kill me. If I did just one arc, it wouldn't be enough to deflect it and I couldn't flash step away since my feet were stuck.

If I let my darker half take care of it, he might be able to get out of here but I would most likely lose my will to use my body and I didn't need that right now.

Everywhere I turned in my head, it was stuck with the same outcome: Death.

I kept thinking about what I could do but nothing came to mind. I was dead and I wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it.

I kept looking as the sword came down closer and closer. It was the longest few moments of my life.

Something happened though, that I didn't expect to happen.

An ice shard was sent flying across the sky and impaled the giant straight in the chest sending him flying into the horde.

'Huh. Guess I owe her.' I thought as I tried to get out of the cracks.

As soon I was free from my restraints I got up and flash stepped to the exit. I noticed there that Mirah was standing there looking at me with a grin.

"You owe me!" She said waving.

"Yea, I do." I said jumping through the portal.

As soon as the portal closed I let out a gasp of relief and soon that relief turned to anger and frustration.

In no time at all, I took Ridge by the throat and slammed him against the wall.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING RIDGE?!" I said choking the life out of him.

"Y-You're Shadowiness…. I… I can't… Breathe!" He said literally choking.

"I don't care if you can't breathe! I almost died because of your stupidity!" I said as I let him go.

He started coughing up his lung as he was now able to breathe again and he looked up still cheerful as he always was.

"Yes, but it did work out didn't it?" He said laughing cheerily.

"Besides, the portal works and now all I need to do is tweak it slightly so it actually does work. Nothing that bad I just need to recalibrate it so it doesn't open up to a level that would instantly kill us!" He said in a cheerful tone.

I decided to ignore and I picked up my daggers and readied them with a shadow blast barrage.

"Yeah right. Like I'm about to let this thing even live long enough to see the light of day!" I yelled before unleashing my ability completely destroying the invention.

"NOOOOOO!" He cried in agony as he saw his piece of work get blown to pieces.

"MY TIME MACHINE! You blew it up! Damn you… Damn you all to hell!" He yelled reenacting a play.

"All of my twenty hours of work… wasted. Oh woe is me, who hath to deal with one of such caliber of angry evilness. Oh Scrooge! Why must you be so mean?" He asked me as he stared at me with his puppy eyes.

"W-What?" I asked him as he was clinging to my leg.

"You must take responsibility! You must give me something in compensation for this destruction of property!" He said as he put his hands out.

Thinking over what I should do, I manipulated my menu and brought out one of the Death's Nectar I had obtained on the 19th floor.

"There, mass produce that plant. That's the 'something' I am going to give you to work on." I said.

He looked down at the plant with bug eyes and as his eyes got wider and wider he soon shot up and went straight into a military salute.

"AYE SIR!" He yelled before running out of the room.

And with that, he was happily back at work muttering about his ideas on what he could do with this new plant and what he might be able to make as another one of his gadgets.

"And? What about me?" Mirah asked as she looked at me bent slightly at the waist.

"What about you." I said rhetorically.

"I just saved your life, don't I get something?" She asked me as she too did the puppy eyes.

"I already got you something. It should arrive within the next few days." I said being as cryptic as possible.

"Huh? What is it?" She asked trying to figure out what I was up to.

"You'll find out when it gets there. I'm a busy man so go do what you're supposed to and find the next Disciple." I said as I started to walk out of the store.

"OH! Does that mean you're going to help us?!" she exclaimed as I started to leave.

I didn't say anything. I just kept walking out and before I knew it I was back in the Aztec City.

'To think I just saved this whole place, and no one is ever going to know about it.' I thought.

"Oh well." I said with a shrug.

I continued on my little expedition and decided I would see how the tournament was doing. It was now on either day 2 or 3 so it should be interesting to see who is left.

With my new goal in sight, I went to the teleporter and soon found myself back on the 18th floor.

**And with that, Chapter 21 down. If there's anything I have to say about this fanfic, it must be that I'm glad I have made Ridge such a fun OC to write. Hope you enjoyed it, I'll be seeing you around in the next chapter I hope :D**

**With the addition of this new idea, I've now come to the problem of making more OC's... to alleviate this, I'm opening up the can of worms and will be accepting OC ideas. Let me know of anything I need to know about the OC and I might make a special showing of them. Thanks for all the assistance.**


	22. Chapter 22: The 33rd Floor

_Kira finally returns to the Tournament. Knowing what to expect, he sits in the stands and bides his time until he gets the chance to give his brother "Death's Hand"._

Things were really picking up in the Tournament. Fights were getting less and less predictable and the participants were slowly dwindling down to just a few players left.

I saw some players use all sorts of sword skills and each of them held their own rather well. Granted if I joined in, it wouldn't be that much trouble for me to advance but it was good to see such competent people.

To my surprise though, as the fights started to dwindle down to the remaining semi-finalists, I noticed my brother didn't show when he was called for his fight.

It was rather strange to me. Usually if he was called to a challenge he would meet it head on and finish it as soon as possible but this time he was nowhere to be found.

Getting concerned for his welfare, I decided to put to use my own personal network of intelligence and call Virgil.

In just a few seconds he replied to me with the information I needed.

_**Your brother is currently being approached by Laughing Coffin. It turns out that he has been denying the invitations of the guild and they are hard pressing him to join. Nothing serious as of yet but if things keep up at this rate, he's going to be forced physically to join.**_

As I read this, I decided I would take action against the guild and show them that if they messed with my brother, they would have to deal with me.

Thinking over my options on how to confront the guild, I once again decided to contact Virgil and ask him for his assistance.

**Virgil, I'm going to need to ask you for your assistance. Can you lend me any forces from the network to help me confront Laughing Coffin? I know that your team was a part of Laughing Coffin so you should know the hot spots where most of the guild members enter. All I'm going to need to know is where they're at so I can confront them.**

Again, in just a few seconds he replied and to my satisfaction I got results.

**Well, I can't go with you for your expedition. I got several things I need to take care of so we can get this intelligence network up and running. However, I can get you my second-in-command and he knows just about as much as I do when it comes to the guild's movements.**

Granted, I wish I could have Virgil come with me since he seemed to be reliable but if I could get the second to the best then it should be fine.

Gathering up my belongings and making the proper preparations I made my way back to the town and waited in the designated inn to wait for my guide.

I must had been sitting there for an hour because before I knew it, I was the only one left sitting in the once crowded bar. The drink I had in my hand had been depleted 3 times and I now had a full glass of milk just sitting there collecting condensation.

"Uuuugh…" I groaned in disgust.

If I had known I was going to sit here for so long I would've gone out to collect some more plants and then come to meet him.

'What we have here is a failure to communicate.' I thought as I turned around in my stool again to face the bar.

I took another few sips of my drink before turning around yet again to face the inn. To my surprise I heard footsteps come through the door of the establishment.

The noise of the footsteps belonged to a 5'8" man… or more like a boy, couldn't tell since he was wearing a cloak.

The cloak he wore was of rare material. It was an emerald green patterned with a white wolf face in the center of the fabric. The lining was a mixed array of silver and gold and at the bottom of the cloak I could see his feet. He wore brown leather strapped boots each adorned with a blue gemstone that looked to hold some sort of magic power.

Taking in his appearance he was either one of two things. He was either 1: My guide to find Laughing Coffin, or 2: A person who was completely lost and thought he looked bad ass in a green cloak.

I bet on the latter of the two.

He slowly crept up to the counter and ordered a strawberry sundae. It was a rather expensive drink and it didn't exactly give that much restoration in terms of stamina or being filled however, it was the tastiest drink you could buy at this point in Aincrad.

As he was served his drink he quickly downed it in such a quick display of gluttony and grace that I thought he hadn't eaten within the past week. It was then he looked at me and gave me a look of confusion.

"A-Are you Kira?" He asked in a nervous tone.

I still couldn't see his face despite him completely devouring his sundae but based off of how shaky his voice was, he didn't seem like much of a threat to identify myself to.

"Yes. Yes I am." I said turning around and sipping on my drink again.

"M-My name is Isaac. I'm here to guide you to um… yea…" He said trying to hint that he was the one I was looking for.

"What took you so long?" I asked getting straight to the point that I was ticked off that he was late.

"L-Long story. Apologies for you having to wait on me." He said giving a quick bow of his head.

As soon as his head looked back up at me he quickly got up and made his way to the exit.

"W-We best get going. The Guild likes to move around a lot and they won't be on this f-floor for much longer before heading off to another location." He said with nervousness still in his voice.

Getting up from the bar we quickly exited the establishment and went directly out of town. To my surprise we only walked for about a good 20 minutes before we were staring at a cave that looked like it was the entrance to an underground city.

The cave itself wasn't that spectacular. It was only about 20 feet in circumference and there were several stalagmites and stalactites that could be seen inside the first few feet of the entrance.

The only thing that caught my eye especially though about this cave was that there were two pedestals in front of the cave each separated about 15 feet apart.

On each pedestal was an imprint of a skull and a coffin near the top.

It didn't take me too long to piece together the information in my head to come to the conclusion that this was a meeting place for the guild members.

Hesitating on entering I looked back at Isaac to see what would be the proper course of action.

"So, how many people are we looking at?" I asked him as he put his hand on his chin.

"W-Well, on average there are about 20 members down there each time a meeting is called. From our intel we know that there is an important meeting going on so there should be more than usual. If I had to guess we're probably looking at 35 members at most." He explained to me.

"Alright. Thanks for all the assistance." I said as I made my way down into the cave.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. It was just like any old dungeon crawler. The space was constraining and there was little to no light. The cave winded its way down into the earth and soon it split itself off into several different paths.

Using my gut and my manly intuition I chose my pathways and soon I found myself lost within the labyrinth of tunnels. I knew that I wouldn't be able to find my way back so as soon as I realized that I was lost I decided to use my other senses, besides sight, to find out where to go.

To no avail, I found myself in a bind.

I couldn't use my hearing that well since I could hear the dripping of water off of the spikes overhead. The sight that I had was shitty at best since the lighting was dull and my sense of direction didn't help with my situation at all since it kept telling me to go in different ways based off of nothing.

It was then that I hit rock bottom. I had finally started noticing areas that I had been before. Rocks that looked familiar had started to pop up in my vision one after another. Places started to become more and more familiar and it soon rang out into my head that I was actually completely lost.

Sighing deeply and sitting down in defeat I wait and listen for anything that will help pull me in the right direction.

If Isaac was correct in what he said to me before then a band of 35 people should provide enough noise throughout these tunnels for me to hear. If I could get anything I would be able to start my way towards the group.

Focusing on any sounds that came through the area, I noticed that I could hear the murmuring of a person waaaay in the back of all the noises I was picking up.

At first it seemed like I accidentally misheard it.

Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me or maybe I was just trying to force myself to hear something.

That was quickly done away with though when I heard a burst of laughter of a crowd come out from the same direction I heard the murmuring.

Jumping to my feet I quickly made my way through the tunnel and soon the noises got louder. I could hear more words now instead of the dribble of nonsense that was dampened down to its deteriorated state from how far away I was from the source.

As I got closer and closer to the source of the noise I was finally able to pick up full sentences of what they were saying.

"Alright… does everyone know what to do?" The man asked the small group of individuals.

Instantly, as if they were brainwashed, the crowd of people reacted to the man's words and cheered in unison.

I gotta say, no matter how often or cliché I may have seen this coming, it still chilled me to the bones that some PK guilds functioned as cults.

Quietly doing my best to get to the center of the commotion I couldn't help but realize that I was walking straight into a trap and I was allowing it.

Why was I being so stupid?

Well, it's probably because my brother is somewhere in this commotion and is being pressured into joining Laughing Coffin. Something was weird though. If my brother was being pressured into joining a guild he didn't want to join, then why have there been no cries for help from the crowd of people?

I mean seriously, if my brother didn't want this to happen he would make this very clear to the fools trying their best to make him join.

That's what made it weird though, I didn't hear a single complaint or a single plea for life.

As I finally reached a good vantage point to where I could survey the situation I noticed that it was a decent crowd of 20 people. Each and every single one of them were clad in black armor ranging from leather to plate mail. They all wore similar black cloaks with the symbol of their guild logo emblazed in red.

Looking around the room, I noticed that they were standing in some sort of red circle with engravings designing the inside of the circle. From the looks of it, it looked like some sort of sacrificial altar based off of how old the engravings were as well as the numerous alchemical symbols that were decorating the ground.

The marks were faded and it looked like this place hadn't been used in a long time however, the circle had a distinct glow emanating from the symbols that made me feel uneasy.

As the cheers died down again I noticed that I was only about 20 feet up from the ground floor and if anyone bothered to look up they would be staring right at me. Slightly fidgeting back I noticed I accidentally kicked a rock and it started to fall off from my vantage point.

As soon as the rock hit the ground the crowd immediately looked up straight at me.

'Oh come on, who looks up nowadays?' I thought as all the attention was now on me.

"Why, look who it is!" The man who was entertaining the crowd said.

"Please! Come down so you may grace us with your presence Kira!" He shouted at me before I noticed that someone had gotten behind me and kicked me down.

Sliding down the slope and jumping into the center of the circle I drew out both of my daggers. Looking up I noticed that the person who pushed me down was someone very familiar but due to the shadows covering his face I couldn't tell who he was completely.

It was then that he jumped down and drew back his cloak. It was Isaac.

"Oh. I see how it is." I said before sliding my daggers back into their respective sheathes.

"What? Can you blame me Kira? I'm jumping on the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm now going to end your life." He said with a smile.

"No, I don't blame you. I wasn't smart enough to deduce that there were remnants of the Laughing Coffin guild in the group that set their allegiance to me. Such a shame." I said with a frown.

"Oh well, do me a favor and please die?" He said again with a smile as he drew his rapier out.

"Sorry but I'll just let you know that if you try and attack me, I'll make sure that you wish you were dead." I said with a glare.

The others around us started to fidget and back off a little but Isaac stood still with his rapier out front.

"You know Kira, it doesn't matter how good you think you are, in terms of swordplay I'm far superior. Back in the real world I was in 7th place of the world's strongest swordsmen." He said triumphantly.

As soon as he said that I could feel my eye brow rising up and I could feel a chuckle coming out of my throat. Pretty soon I was laughing so hard with my katana drawn that I could hardly contain myself.

"So, you're Takuya Horaiji?" I said with a laugh.

"Oh, so you know me. How splendid now you finally realize that it's pointless to fight!" He said before lunging at me with incredible speed.

I remember fighting this guy back in the tournament. Sure he was pretty good with a rapier and he had incredible speed but if I remember that he had a problem with his knee so he couldn't lunge fully all the way which I exploited.

Now that he didn't have that problem with his knee he would prove to be more of a challenge but still his movements were always plain and simple to see.

As soon as my mind snapped back to reality I noticed I unintentionally kept moving back and to the sides of his strikes. Pretty soon I found myself against the wall and he was lunging at me again with three strikes.

Deflecting the first two and parrying the third I noticed that I knocked him off balance. Spinning around and kicking him in the gut, I sent him flying 10 feet.

"Well, I gotta say you've improved since the last time I saw you but you've still got that problem with being predictable." I said with a shrug.

"What? You were there at the tournament watching me fight?" He said with a questioning look.

"Well it doesn't matter I'm still a better swordsman than some bystander!" He roared before beginning his assault again.

Once again, I deflected the first strike and toyed with him a bit by swing my blade at his flanks making him dodge and block. I had decided not to tell him my identity and I would enjoy making this man suffer for paying me such a disrespectful tone and demeanor.

Swinging my blade a few more times at his flanks and finally bringing my sword down upon him, I noticed he finally stopped fooling around by increasing his speed.

"That's it, time to get serious!" he said before lunging at me again with 10 strikes now instead of just three.

I noticed that he was able to increase his power output incredibly by letting himself take over the system assist but it would ultimately be his downfall since he still had the same openings.

Allowing him to strike me a few times and backing off from his assault I stared back at him and started to assume my stance.

"Alright, time to stop messing around with the boy and finish the mutt off." I said with venom in my words.

With my front completely exposed and my sword tilted slightly at my enemy, I taunted him into attacking me just waiting for him to connect the dots.

Regretfully, he never connected the dots and like an idiot he charged at me full throttle.

Parrying his initial strike and disarming him with the second swing of my blade, I sent his blade flying into the air and begun to attack his torso.

Slashing his chest diagonally and stabbing him a few times in the gut and finally doing an upwards swing across his chest again, I sent him into the air. Spinning around and putting my hand out, I gracefully grabbed onto his rapier and walked up to him as he hit the ground.

"O-Ow… That hurt…" he whined as he was rubbing his head.

As soon as he turned around and looked up at me, I noticed that he had the look of true fear in his eyes. It wasn't the fear of being killed or of being completely eviscerated but I think he finally connected the dots on who I was.

"K-k-Kiri…" He wasn't able to get the words out.

He was so shaken up with fear that the words were lodged in his throat. Needless to say, it was entertaining to see him struggle. He wanted to play a game with me but he didn't know that he was literally dancing with the devil.

"I-Is it really you? You've got t-to be joking!" He yelled out in terror.

"No way is s-someone like y-you in this game. I-I… I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT!" He screamed as he got up and started to swing at me.

As soon as his fist went flying past my face I brought my sword up and sliced off his arm. Completing the attack, I spun myself around one last time and sliced off his left leg making him fall down to his remaining knee.

Standing over him and bringing both blades to his throat I looked down at him and contemplated what I should do with his existence.

"My name is Kiritsu Kaizer, 2nd place in the tournament of the strongest swordsman. Pleasure to reacquaint you Horaiji." I said before dropping his rapier next to him.

I turned around and started to walk away from the mutilated body. Not turning back I gave him a goal.

"If you wish to try and take my life, you know where to find me. Hone your skills and we will face off again." I said as I turned the corner and started to make my way out.

Oddly enough, it was rather easy to find my way out since it was just a straight shot out. If I hadn't made the immediate turn to the right at the beginning of the cave I wouldn't have had a hard time getting to the gathering.

Sighing at my incompetence I exited the tunnel and starting messaging Virgil.

I told him that Isaac was still under allegiance of laughing coffin and I wanted him to weed out any and all spies that were in the organization so I wouldn't have to deal with this problem again.

As soon as I finished typing out my message I looked up and noticed yet another familiar face. Correction: Faces.

It was Serah and Mirah. What were they doing here?

"Long time no see Kira!" Serah said as her excited usual self.

"Yes, long time no see Kira." Mirah also chimed in with a smile.

"What are you two doing here?" I said walking past them.

"We came here to check up on you meanie!" Serah complained stomping her feet and running after me.

"I'm here to let you know that I need your help finding the next disciple." Mirah chimed in again also following in tow.

"Well, I don't need you to check up on me even though I do appreciate the kindness and I don't feel like helping you out with finding the next disciple." I answered both of them still not turning around.

"Well, what if I was to say that Serah here was also a disciple and that since the 33rd floor is now available we think the next disciple will be chosen from that boss just like you were with the Dark Queen." She said explaining the situation to me.

Catching my interest, I turned around and looked at Mirah. As soon as I turned around I looked at both of their smiles and sighed.

"Okay… fine. You've got my interest." I said regretfully.

"Yay! We got him!" Serah cheered hugging me.

Getting crushed by the insane strength of Serah I waited until she let go of me.

"So, Serah is now a Disciple. Which one?" I asked.

With a big grin and a couple of dashes back she quickly unlatched her new and improved hammer and started to spin it around.

"Earth!" She yelled out as she slammed her hammer into the ground and made a small formation of rocks appear at the end of her shockwave.

It was then that she frowned and looked downwards in sadness.

"I still can't control it well yet…" She said sniffing a little.

Looking over at the damage I noticed that the move required a great deal of strength and a nice incision into the land made the ground uneasy and cracked where it was weakest. The end result of the shockwave piled up the moved land and would act as a sort of barrier or a wall to hold someone in or keep something out.

A very handy ability but it would definitely require some more training and a couple of more levels before finally being of use.

As soon as I was done inspecting the damage I looked back at Mirah and another question popped into my head.

"So, what's the next disciple going to be then?" I asked her since she sounded like she knew what she was talking about.

"Well, nothing 100% sure but based off of the disciple elements we have gathered, I can only deduct that we need fire to complete the set." She said thinking of the possibilities.

"Oh that reminds me. Here." She said as she pulled up her inventory and gave me an orb.

The orb was roughly half the size of my hand with the design of a lightning bolt engraved on the front of it. It was a clear crystal sphere with lightning bolts arcing out from the middle of the sphere and into the walls. It was a pretty little gem to be sure but who knows what it would actually do or if it was worth anything.

"That's the Lightning Disciple's orb. I want you to keep a hold of it when we enter the 33rd floor so we can have better chances of finding the other disciples."

"So how does it work? Do I just punch it into someone's chest and hope that it connects with them?" I asked as I put the orb away.

"No silly, all you need to do is be within a vicinity of the person and the orb will start to glow. Once it starts glowing it will start to pull towards the player and then be absorbed into them. It's just that simple." She said as if it was just the natural way the world worked.

"Serah and I will be searching for any other disciples through the towns. Let's see who finds the next disciple first eh?" She teased me a little before taking Serah and going our separate ways.

Accepting this task since I really had nothing better to do, I decided to head to the 33rd floor and contact someone that I hadn't seen in a long time. Since I did have the time I guess now would've been better than never.

Opening up my menu and locating her among the list I started to tap away at my messenger.

After a good 30 minutes of revising, typing, completely destroying and reorganizing what I should say I finally was able to get what I wanted to say on paper… or really electronic messenger paper.

**Hey, it's been a long time since I've seen you and I was wondering how things were going. Sorry to say but I've seen you here and there and I've noticed that you're carrying onto Unity. If this is what I think it is, then we need to talk. I'll be over on the 33****rd**** floor in the local inn.**

After reading over it for one last time I sent out the message and went straight to the 33rd floor town.

As I entered the teleporter and appeared in the new floor I noticed that we were underground. The sun was nowhere to be seen and the floor looked as if we were inside a giant rock cavern. Torches were lit everywhere so that way we could see. The buildings were neatly organized into sectors and it was relatively easy to navigate around the place. Before I knew it, I was sitting down in the inn waiting for her to show up.

To my surprise it didn't take that long for her to show up. She looked like she was doing well. She was holding onto a new katana but I could still see that she held Unity at her side. I was glad since it meant a lot to me, to her and Aira.

"Hey, long time no see." I said with a slight wave.

"Yea, it's good to see you again. How have you been doing?" She responded.

"I've been good. Doing some cool things here and there, staying out of trouble as much as possible but apparently it likes finding me." I looked over at her side at the rapier. "And finding out things when I shouldn't…" I ended my train of thought.

She looked down and noticed I had my eyes on Unity. She looked back at me and gave a deep sigh. She knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

"She… She died three weeks after you left us on the 2nd floor. We were trying to take on another boss to get better equipment and I thought after all the training and all of the hardships we went through to get stronger that we were strong enough to finish it… we were wrong." She said wiping the tears starting to swell up in her eyes.

"S-She… she saved my life by taking the attack from the behemoth… she was c-chomped in half and she gave me Unity with her last dying breathe… I was able to beat the boss after that and I narrowly made it out alive but…" She started to cry.

"It should have been me! It should have been me that should've died. Not her. She was too young to have died in this place and it's all my fault."

I didn't know what to do. I hadn't seen her in a long time and I knew that things were going to be tough in this game but, I didn't know it would be so sick like this…

In a last ditch attempt to cheer her up I embraced her in a hug and started to pet the back of her head.

"Hey, hey… its okay you're not at fault for something like that. All that matters is that you haven't forgotten about her and that you treasure that blade right there." I said reassuring her.

"Please, do me and Aira a favor, keep that blade safe and I'm sure that Aira will forever be in your debt. In fact I would even go as far as to say that Aira herself is in that blade keeping watch over you." I said breaking the embrace and holding onto her face by her cheeks.

"Thanks for meeting me today. I'm glad that you came even though you knew it was going to be hard to recall all that had happened." I said finally letting go of her.

She was still sniffing at having to recall those traumatic events. I couldn't blame her. If one of my friends had been eaten by a boss and I had to recall something like that I would probably lose it too.

"T-Thanks… I feel a lot better now that I've gotten that off my chest." She said finally after regaining her composure.

"I've made quite a few friends since that time… I'm sure you'd like to meet them if you want." She said inviting me.

"I'd like that… I'd really like to meet your friends. Are they strong? Are they keeping you safe? Or actually more importantly, do you feel safe around them?" I started asking her numerous questions.

"Yes, yes. They're all good people. One of them is really kind-hearted and he reminds me of you a lot when I first met you. He's hot-headed and calculating. He's strong and isn't afraid to do what needs to be done and he makes me feel safe." She said as she started to blush a little.

"Hey, hey! Look at that! You're blushing! Oh no don't tell me you've fallen for this guy!" I started teasing her.

"No! It's… it's not… like that… maybe?" She said slightly confused.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and gave a smile.

"I'm glad you've found someone. You're definitely doing a lot better than me." I said regrettably.

"Oh, don't worry. With your wit and your personality it should only take another 300 years." She said now teasing me.

"Hey that's not very nice. Since when were you so mean?" I asked preparing for the worst response.

"Hrm… good question." She said plainly.

"Oh well, thanks again for meeting with me. I appreciate all that you've done." I said sincerely before getting up.

"When do you think you'll stop by and see everyone? I'm serious, you'll like just about everyone you see there. They're good people… well maybe not one of them. Then again she's an ego-maniac." She said as she got up as well.

"Eh, I'll find some time in my busy schedule. Take care of yourself and I'll see you when I see you alright?" I said as I gave her one last hug.

"I'll be seeing you at the boss floor then. That's what we're planning on doing for the next couple of days so when we find the boss door please be sure to be there. It would be reassuring knowing you're there." She said before she started to walk away.

"I'll think on it. See you soon." I said before departing.

I'm glad that things were going well for her. I knew that if things kept up like this she would be fine. There was one thing that kept me uneasy though. Who was the other person she was talking about?

Either way it wasn't my business but if I was given the chance to fight against him I would gladly enjoy it.

Exiting the town I started my way towards the next location to upgrade my equipment. Or at least I would have gone there if it hadn't been for the message I received not even three minutes after I left the town.

**Our network has found what may be 33****rd**** boss door. We're asking you to come here and figure out what we should do. The location is attached in the file.**

**-Virgil**

'Hrm. Good work Virgil.' I thought before heading towards the location.

As soon as I caught up with the others and found Virgil I got the quick explanation of what we were dealing with.

It turns out that this dungeon had a secret passage that led into a dark room that looked similar to a boss room. I could understand why they didn't want to go in but we still had no idea if this was the boss room or not.

Without any further delay we started to make our way through the dungeon until we finally reached the secret door that they were speaking about.

Just as we were about to open the passageway, I was interrupted by one of the followers.

"S-Sir? What's that glowing in your pocket?" he asked as he pointed towards the source of light.

'No way.' I thought as I pulled the orb out of my pocket.

**Apologies for the late update. Was going to finish it last night but work's been a killer. Hope you enjoyed it I'll be seeing you in the next chapter. Again, still accepting OC ideas give me a PM if you have a good idea that you'd like to see in my fanfic.**


	23. Chapter 23: Nahuatl The Flame Serpent

_Deep in the confines of the Magma Lair Kira is in front of a secret passage leading to what may be a boss room. Something happens though that he doesn't expect._

Inside my pocket the orb was glowing as if it was resonating with another entity nearby. What I didn't expect though was it to immediately start floating in front of me.

With a quick flick it was sent flying into the person right next to me. It wasn't that much of a shocker when it landed into the person I thought it would hit.

"Well, I guess that settles it." I said with a sigh.

"W-What the hell is this?" He said with a shocked expression.

"You may want to brace yourself mate. This might hurt a little." I said before he went to his knees and started to yell in agony.

"Told you." I said as I got my weapons ready.

"Everyone, get ready to defend him. We're about to have some company from all this noise." I said as I got to my feet and threw two knives into the darkness making an enemy shatter.

As I expected we were swarmed within a matter of moments. I found that with how much noise is made as well as how well lit an area is it would change how many enemies swarm you. Since the area wasn't that well lit and with how much noise was made it only gathered approximately 40 enemies.

I looked back down at my comrade to see him suffering. I didn't really feel that bad for him since I was in the same position as him long ago.

"Virgil, I could kill you right now for how much pain you're putting me through… you owe me." I said before throwing yet another 5 knives at a burning salamander making it shatter into an array of polygons.

"Defensive positions everyone. Archers create a wall around Virgil so he doesn't get sucked into the combat! Swordsman with me to attack the remaining forces! Three men take the left tunnel, Three men take the right and you with me. We shall take on the middle tunnel." I started commanding my small force of 15 men.

Of the men I had, I had 8 archers and 7 fighters. It was a good split number that would provide ample protection for our flanks as well as enough offensive power to take on the force of 40.

All in all, it reminded me of simple tactics in a chess game and Virgil was the King.

Taking up our positions I noticed on the sides of me the men start to battle their respective monsters. We were outnumbered pretty badly with 10 enemies each on our flanks and down the middle tunnel I could see at least 15-20 enemies with more coming up from the way back.

Looking over to my other subordinate I could see that he was slightly shaking. With an act of compassion, which definitely wasn't like me, I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry. You got me here. I'm not going to let you die to something as pathetic as this." I said with a smile.

It was then that he looked back at me and said something I didn't expect.

"I'm not shaking because I'm afraid… I'm shaking because I can't wait until they come to attack us." He said with a burning fire in his eyes.

"That's the spirit." I said readying myself.

I looked over to see three salamanders had finally reached our location and were attacking us with fireballs.

On instinct I tried slicing it in half and I noticed that it reflected back and hit him in the face.

Taking note of this I yelled out the information I had acquired.

"DON'T DODGE THE FIREBALLS! THEY CAN BE REFLECTED BACK!" I roared as I sprinted forward to meet them head on.

As soon as I came within a few feet of the salamander I noticed it spin around and lash at me with its tail. Bringing my blade up I severed the tail and impaled the salamander where I thought his heart was.

Instantly the salamander shattered but the tail remained. Looking over at it I noticed it start to glow brighter and start to morph slightly.

Realizing what was about to happen I kicked it farther down the tunnel and watched it implode a few feet from me sending me flying backwards towards the archers.

"O-Ow…" I groaned as I got up.

'Looks like the tails explode. Very dangerous.' I thought as I started to walk back to my respective tunnel.

"Archers! Volley!" I yelled as I ducked and saw the arrows fly over me into the enemies in front.

Ducking low to the ground I sprinted forward and lunged both of my daggers into the next salamander making sure not to sever the tail. To my surprise, this time the whole salamander started to glow and morph.

"Oh FUCK!" I yelled as yet again the enemy imploded and sent me flying yet through the air and landing in front of the archers.

Looking up at my health I saw that I was steadily going down in the red with a burning status effect. How had I gotten down that low with just two explosions? Were they really that powerful?

Either way, I chugged a potion and made my way back to my tunnel and kept a wary eye on my health. If I suffered a few more of those explosions I would be in a serious bind.

Looking down the tunnel I noticed that my ally was holding his own rather well. As he kept note of the salamanders he was dodging their attacks and reflecting them back into the other enemies like the flying phoenixes as well as the grounded drakes.

"Guess I have to step up my game." I said as I activated a new skill.

I didn't think I was going to be able to pull this off since I only saw my other half use it… but if there was ever I time I could use this then it was now.

Mimicking the movements of my counterpart I sat there "charging" the skill. Within the next five seconds I may have been useless but as soon as my skill was finished "charging" I looked up and activated it.

"Behold. The Astral Gate!" I Yelled as I opened up the purple and black portal.

Looking down at the tunnel I saw my subordinate still fighting and he was in the way of my fire.

"Get down!" I yelled at him.

On instinct he jumped backwards and went completely prone to avoid anything that was about to hit him.

With a quick flick of my wrist I unleashed the power of the Astral Gate.

"Fire." I said and an endless stream of black blades started firing down the tunnel.

In a matter of seconds the first row of enemies were completely eradicated and soon the second and the third wave fell in turn. An endless array of particles and polygons started to fill the tunnel and with it a smokescreen of lights and shapes.

Using this as a diversion I ended the skill and the delay set in.

I knew that if I continued the skill any longer I would be out of the fight for longer than what was needed and I would be useless. Hopefully I timed it correctly so my subordinate wouldn't have to deal with the threat by himself.

Looking down the tunnel I could still see that there were a few enemies left. Praying to whatever god ruled this game; I hoped that I would be ready in time to face them.

Looking over at my subordinate I noticed he was now up and standing his ground. He knew that I had just made a big move so hopefully he knew that I wouldn't be able to support him.

Sitting there like a spectator I saw him battle against the remaining horde of enemies. He was doing a rather good job since none of the fireballs from the salamanders were hitting him. He used a shield and sword so he had increased protection but he had less damage output because of it.

He wasn't going to last that long by himself and with my delay still hindering me I was stuck there for at least another 15 seconds.

'Note to self: Never use that skill unless absolutely necessary.' I thought to myself as I felt completely useless.

No sooner did this thought come across my mind did I see some sort of entity rumbling in the back of the tunnel. It was hard to see since the combat up front was taking up most of my view, but something evil was back there and it was coming this way.

If there is something I know best, it's that when shit hits the fan it's pretty obvious when it's coming.

This was one of those moments. Shit was about to hit the fan and I wouldn't be able to help out for at least another 10 seconds.

10 seconds in this game meant life and death. If you weren't able to be of assistance to an ally for 10 seconds then both you and he would die. Hell even 5 seconds would be enough time. It was a risky situation and now since there was another variable that couldn't be taken into account it made it just that much more risky.

It was then I finally saw the beast come into view.

It was a red-eyed beast. Not so much a giant but not so much as a player either. It was like a Minotaur with how it had horns on its head but it had the face of a goat's skull. In both of its hands were two jagged blades the size of an average man. The beast had razor sharp teeth and red glowing eyes that looked to be almost demonic. In fact I would even go as far as to say that this was a demon just given a beast's body as a shell.

Looking at this threat I could do nothing but watch as my subordinate couldn't see what was coming his way. He was too busy dealing with the rest of the monsters to be able to notice. I couldn't warn him about it either since if I did he would be distracted from the horde in front of him.

It was a losing situation and I could do nothing but watch until the seconds counted down to zero.

Looking up in the top right corner of my vision I noticed the delay counter going down. Still 8 seconds left to go.

'Hopefully I make it in time… please let me make it in time…' I thought as I saw the demon getting closer and closer with each step.

It was too late though. I still had 5 seconds left on my delay when he finally reached my ally. With one cleaving motion he sliced apart the enemies in front of him and now he was standing in front of my ally, both blades in hand and swinging them up high above his head and starting to bring them down on him.

I couldn't watch to see what horrors may have happened. I wouldn't be able to do anything and the archers behind me were too busy helping the flanks since they were having trouble dealing with their own lanes.

As soon as I saw the blades start to come down on my ally I flinched and looked away. I don't think I could deal with seeing the death of a comrade when I was right there watching.

The shattering sound never came though. I didn't hear the familiar sound of a player shattering. All I heard was the crack of sound as if it were a lightning bolt that struck right next to me.

Looking back over to where the demon was striking down, I noticed something that I didn't expect to see.

It was Virgil. He was standing right there with lightning literally enveloping his body as if it were armor.

His hair stood up and it was now hued with yellow near the tips of his bangs. In his hands he held… well actually he didn't hold anything. It was just his bare gauntlets. They were glowing with the same hue as in his hair and small lightning bolts could be seen flickering out from the sides of where he was blocking the blade.

All in all, it looked as if he had been electro-charged like a battery and he was about to bring out a can of whoop ass.

"Sorry." He began. "But you need to pick on someone your own size." He finished before deflecting the blade off to the side and punching the demon in the gut sending electricity through his body.

With a quick retraction of his fist he sent another straight into the demon's jaw sending it flying backwards.

Appearing behind the demon in mid-flight I could see Virgil slamming his knee straight into the demon's back making a crack of lightning sound with each impact.

Before I knew it, the demon was sent flying back toward us and just as before, he appeared before us bringing his fist into an uppercut into the demon's jaw sending him into the top of the tunnel and implanting him into the ceiling.

To finish things up, I noticed Virgil pull back his fist and it started to glow a bright yellow. With a cracking launch forward I heard one resounding noise echo throughout the tunnels.

"Thunder God Fist." I heard him say after putting his fist down.

Recovering from the delay I walked up to Virgil with slight amazement.

"So. How you feeling?" I asked him.

"Uhm… well despite the slight agony in my body and the electricity coursing through my body at a million volts… yea I'm doing pretty good." He said with a slight twitch in his eye.

"Yeah, it should be fine. After some time it should wear off."

"I've never felt this powerful before. I mean I thought I was strong before with my skills with the sword but I guess now I have to use my fists since all of my sword skills are gone now." He said as he started cracking his knuckles.

"Alright, let's clean up the rest of these monsters and then continue one. We've got to confirm if that room is a boss or not." I said as I took the left land and Virgil took the right.

It wasn't that long before we finally finished off the rest of the mobs. With Virgil given a power boost as a disciple things would get a lot easier and it felt reassuring that we had an advantage for once.

As the enemies were slowly dealt with and things got quiet again, we all leveled up and confirmed our rewards.

Looking at my personal rewards I smiled at how much we had gotten from all of those enemies.

[Rewards]

2500 col

9000 exp

9x Salamander skin

10x phoenix dust

7x phoenix claw

8x drake skin

150x Essences of the Dark King

Closing my rewards menu I looked over at Virgil and noticed he had a large grin on his face.

"What did you get?" I asked him.

"This." He said as he manipulated his menu and a necklace appeared around his neck.

"It gives me increased base attack as well as a 10% resistance to demon attacks." He said smiling

"Wow. All for defeating a demon with two swords? Wish I got something that good." I said with a frown.

"Oh well, time to regroup and see what that room was." I said motioning everyone to gather.

As we all regrouped and went to the secret passage, I opened the door and felt the hot musky air rushing past us and filling our lungs with a disgusting smell of well… just old.

It was a thick and musky smell that felt like I just entered a catacomb. The space was wide open with the same jagged rocks that and spikes that could be seen sticking out from the ground and ceiling. The ceiling was at least 40 feet off from the ground and the overall area was roughly 50 feet.

From the looks of things it just looked like a regular place for a major fight to take place. Nothing really seemed out of place nor did anything really stick out. With another sweep of the area I took a few steps in and then noticed why it looked so out of place.

Running across the middle of the room was an imprint. You couldn't really tell much of what it was since it was at such an odd angle but it was definitely something of grave importance.

Leading out from the imprint was the remains of what looked like a dried up river. The depression in the ground ran all around the area making curves along the ground until finally reaching a wall. Flowing up from where it met the wall it connected to a hole that looked as if someone punched it there.

Taking a few more steps inward to the area torches along the walls lit up making the space easier to see. The ground started to shake and the hole in the wall started to flow with lava.

All along the pathway the lava flowed outwards and started to take shape in the imprint that was centered on the ground. Within a matter of seconds it was completely filled showing the diagram of a Serpent.

'What the hell is this place?' I thought before readying myself for what was about to come out.

No sooner did I pull out my weapons did I notice creatures start to form out from the lava. It looked like these creatures had been sleeping for a long time and as if it were a call from their lord that they finally arose from their slumber.

As soon as they took their form I noticed their health bar and names.

Ifrit Minion: Level 40

'Tch. They're way above us in levels.' I thought before readying myself for a crazy fight.

"Virgil, these guys are no joke. We're going to need to take them out fast or they're going to decimate our forces." I said sprinting forward.

Immediately in front of me three Minions were attacking me from all sides. Ducking under the first swing I brought my dagger up and blocked the second one. With my other dagger I sliced off the third minion's arm and spun myself out and away from all three of them.

To my surprise as soon as I disengaged from combat with them, the minion I had cut the arm off of had completely regenerated it. Its health still decreased down to 80% but it still looked as if it didn't get hurt at all.

'Very odd.' I thought before continuing my assault again.

As I was sprinting back towards the group of three I noticed Virgil appear in the middle of them and implant his fist into the ground.

In a flashy show of lightning crackling up from the ground, everything within 10 feet of him was completely enveloped with lightning.

As soon as the skill ended the three minions were at 25% health with the shock status ailment.

It was my first time seeing this ailment so I didn't know what it might do. Regardless I finished them off by doing one quick leap over them and cleaving off their heads with both of my daggers.

As soon as I landed I noticed that they started to glow and morph slightly.

'Fuck.' I thought before literally tackling Virgil and using flash step to get away with him.

As we safely landed 15 feet away from the three minions, they all exploded in a fiery ball of destruction.

"Everyone the minions explode when killed! Watch out for any severed body parts that might explode as well!" I yelled warning everyone.

As I recovered I noticed more minions starting to spawn from the lava. It seemed that as you killed some of the minions, more would be produced from the lava to replace them.

Keeping this in mind I decided I would try something out.

"Virgil!" I called out to him. Apparently through all the commotion we were on opposite ends of the battlefield.

"Gather everyone up in the middle and start running around in a circle! We're going to gather them all into one group!"

Using one of the oldest tricks in the book we all gathered up and started to make our way to the edge of the room. Immediately breaking off to the right we started sprinting around the room making a train of enemies following us in tow.

It kind of made me laugh a little. Here we were, in a hot room flowing with lava and we were doing a stupid cat and mouse game.

Looking back I noticed the enemies were keeping up with us at a steady distance of 20 feet. After running for a few good minutes we had all of the spawns following us in a giant line. Using this to our advantage I ran alongside Virgil and we both stopped at the same time and let the other go on ahead.

"We're going to use our largest AoE attack against them. Ready?" I asked him.

"Ready. Let's kick their asses." He said with an evil grin.

We both turned around and jumped back from the initial attacks of the first couple of minions. Using this time we both readied our largest Area of Effect Skill.

Things didn't happen as planned though. Our skills definitely went off but it wasn't how we intended it. As soon as we were about to launch off our attacks a message popped up in front of both of us.

[Disciple Fusion Skill]

Confused as to what this meant, the system assist completely took over and initiated the skill.

In unison we both readied our skills and sent them flying at our enemies. As usual I used my shadow blast barrage since it was the fastest and most effective AoE skill I had. Virgil on the other hand used his hands and clapped them together to send out a lightning wave that infused with the black arcs of energy coming out from my daggers.

In one resounding noise we both roared in unison. "Dark Thunderous Barrage!"

As the arcs of lightning infused dark energy hit our enemies, Lightning bolts from the ceiling and the floor came out where they impacted completely enveloping the immediate vicinity. If I had to describe it in just one sentence, it would literally be a ravaging thunderstorm where the rain was lightning instead of water.

Within the designated kill zone that we had established with our combined skill I could see all of the minions inside disintegrating. They weren't exploding like polygons like they usually would. They were completely and utterly being annihilated.

With my jaw nearly hitting the ground and my mouth completely open wide as if I was a retard, I stared in awe at the destruction that we had just caused.

I looked over at Virgil and noticed he had roughly the same expression as me but instead of gaping in awe at the ongoing destruction he had the evil look of a madman in his eyes.

I couldn't really blame him for looking like that. I was feeling the same way. If this new Fusion Skill system was what I thought it was, this was yet another trump card that the Disciples now had that could help us finish this game.

As our skill finished we both recovered from our 5 seconds of delay. It was remarkable short for such a destructive skill but it made sense since we had to be near each other and we had to do it at exactly the same time or it wouldn't register.

Sheathing my blades I looked to see if there were any other minions that had spawned. To my surprise, there were none left that could be seen.

Walking towards the middle of the room I stepped onto the lava filled engraving of the Serpent.

"How very odd." I said aloud.

Usually in these circumstances it would be obvious that some sort of field boss would be spawned in this room but apparently not. It seemed a little off for me since the usual way this game worked out would be almost sadistic at times. You would fight off a very powerful force of monsters only to have to fight a field boss that would be just that much more powerful.

It was how most games were and the fact that nothing happened after all of those minions were defeated made me feel uneasy.

Looking around I noticed everyone was cheering and acting happy. It was then that I noticed that something was different from all the other times that we finished an area up.

There were no reward menus.

Looking back down at the engraving of the Serpent I quickly jumped backwards and got off the engraving as quickly as possible.

Just as I left the circle in the middle of the area, the whole ground started to tremor once more.

"Get ready! It's going to be a field boss!" I yelled to warn everyone.

Just as I warned everyone of the impending danger the Serpent engraving cracked revealing the depths underneath. Out from below erupted a large serpent. The scales on the beast were red and black. With fangs the size of a man, they looked so sharp that they could pierce through the mightiest of walls as if it was fucking butter. To top it off as if that wasn't scary enough, the serpent had four beady eyes. Not two, four. Each and every single one of those eyes was centered on me.

"Oh come on give me a break!" I complained in disgust.

The serpent took no time with formalities. Immediately after locking its eyes on me the serpent reared its head back and slammed it down towards me.

Flash stepping out of the way I started dashing backwards keeping my eyes on the serpent so as not to be hit from behind. It was then that I noticed the four health bars as well as the name on top.

Nahuatl the Flame Serpent

Just from the name alone I could tell roughly what attacks to expect from the boss that wasn't the problem I had in my head. We didn't have enough people to take on a boss like this and with no back up on the way it was a losing battle.

"Everyone! Take out your teleport crystals and get out of here! We can't take this thing on with our inadequate numbers!" I yelled as I too took out a crystal.

"Teleport: Ignis!" I yelled.

Nothing happened.

…

…

"Eh?" I said with a surprised look.

Looking up I noticed the serpent rearing its head back once again but instead of slamming its face towards me it sent out a spit of fire that I narrowly dodged to the side.

"Teleport: Ignis!" I yelled again hoping to god it would work.

…

Still nothing.

"This is why we can't have nice things!" I complained as I looked towards everyone as they realized as well that they couldn't teleport.

"Everyone spread out towards the walls! Archers use your arrows to give us cover and always stay moving!" That was all I could get off before Nahuatl once again slammed his face towards my location.

Using my flash step I appeared next to the group.

"The boss is a fire serpent aim for the eyes and swordsmen-" I was cut off again when I saw more fire minions start to spawn from the lava.

"Swordsmen deal with the minions so the archers don't need to worry about it." I said as I looked at Virgil.

"I'm way ahead of you. Lightning step!" He said disappearing in a bolt of lightning.

I looked over and saw Virgil reappear above the serpent slamming his fists into its skull dealing a considerable amount of damage.

Just from those two punches alone the beast was down half a bar and it was severely pissed off.

Taking out my knives from my cube placed on my back I started throwing them out as if they were free pieces of candy. Imbedding them all along the upper trunk of the serpent I kept running around so as not to get hit by any of the fiery spit balls or any of the minions that I happened to get too close to by accident.

Finally running out of knives I looked back up at the serpent and noticed it was down a bar.

'Three left to go.' I thought before taking out my daggers and slicing the head off a minion that was near me.

Sweeping my leg underneath the Ifrit Minion I tripped the monster and it landed on its back. Completing the spin, I brought both of my daggers down on its torso effectively killing it before backing off and watching it explode.

As I saw it explode in a fiery blast an evil idea came to fruition. Looking back up at Virgil I noticed he had dug his hands into the skull of the Serpent and was riding it as if it was a bucking bull.

Sweat-dropping at this I motioned him to get off of the overgrown garden snake and in an instant he appeared next to me.

"You called?" He asked giving a slight smile.

"Yes. Do you see those minions over there?" I motioned over at the lava minions fighting our allies.

He gave a quick nod and a questioning look.

"Can you launch them a fair ways with those gauntlets?" I asked him with a grin.

Immediately catching onto what I was planning Virgil gave one of the most sadistic grins I have ever seen in all my life.

"Yea… I got just the thing." He said before smacking his fists together laughing.

Without saying another word, we went to work. Our movements were completely synchronized. I would slice and dice the minions until they were almost dead and with Virgil's insanely powerful pushing capability in his fists, he would literally launch them into the serpent's face exploding in a fiery explosion.

Due to the innate fire resistance the explosions weren't dealing much damage but they were definitely whittling it down. Before we knew it, the boss was already down half way.

Immediately noticing this, we both jumped back as far as we could from the Serpent and waited for it to change up its tactics.

Ever since I was a part of the clearing groups when bosses changed up their tactics they would usually get more violent or they would unlock a special ability that would either hinder or nearly kill a player. This time though, it was something I didn't expect.

Instead of gaining a new ability or changing up its tactics the Serpent literally imploded on itself creating a smokescreen-like mist.

Completely blind I readied myself for any threat that might appear from the smoke. Looking around from what I could see, I noticed that my allies were all along the walls also waiting for what might appear from the smoke but they were standing still. Realizing this was a bad idea I gave out an order as quick as possible.

"Everyone! Stay along the walls and keep moving if you stand still you're going to-" I was cut off from the screaming I heard from a player as he was shattered.

'Damnit.' I thought as I ran straight towards the noise.

As I got closer and closer I noticed the silhouette of a large creature. It looked like a man but it had the head of a snake-like creature. Before I could get a more defined look at it I could barely see the blade flying straight at my face.

Deflecting it to the side and dodging to the right I got closer to the figure in the mist.

Again I saw another blade coming at me yet this time it was on fire.

Trying to deflect it from the side, the blade phased through my dagger and grazed my face causing considerable fire damage and giving me the burning status ailment.

Finally closing the gap between us I was able to get a good look on exactly what I would be fighting.

It was larger than the average man, about 7 feet tall, with a serpent for a head and the body of a large lizard man. It held two flaming scimitars and had two bars. Above the bars read a name:

Son of Nahuatl: Nazir.

Finally realizing that this was what the boss's new tactics were I locked blades with the serpent man and pushed him back away from my allies.

Gaining ground I attacked from the flanks of the serpent and used my flash step to catch Nazir off guard.

As we neared the hole where Nahuatl first came out I noticed Virgil across the way battling another serpent that looked similar to the one I was fighting. He was holding his own when combating the serpent man but he was getting pushed up against the ledge and he was running out of room.

"VIRGIL!" I yelled out across the room gaining his attention.

"What?!" He yelled back in annoyance.

"SWITCH!" I said at the top of my lungs as I flash stepped across the way and he doing the same back.

Looking in front of me I noticed that this one had a polearm instead of two scimitars. The body was relatively the same but instead of looking like a male… it was more feminine.

It was then I noticed the name at the top.

Daughter of Nahuatl: Babel.

"So you're the daughter of the giant garden snake. Nice to meet you." I said taunting the serpent woman.

Immediately lunging forward, Babel took the polearm in her hands and started to repeated pierce my guard as if she was using the skill «Linear».

Dodging to the right I noticed there was a distinct red glow emanating from the blade on the pole arm which was now swinging down on me forcing myself to flash step out of the way.

As soon as the polearm hit the ground shattered beneath the sheer force of the strike and a fissure started from the impact zone and went all the way forward until it impacted the wall making a grand explosion nearly killing two more of our allies.

'That could have been bad.' I thought before sprinting close to the serpent so she couldn't properly swing the polearm.

The major problem about two handed weapons like lances and tridents was the fact that you wouldn't be able to use the blade of the weapon if the person was too close. You would either have to blunt them with the pole or you would have to back off and keep the distance just right so you could attack with the blade.

I thought I would be getting the upperhand if I got in close enough to get rid of the advantage of a polearm.

I was wrong,

Almost as if it were waiting for the opportunity for me to take the bait, I was batted off to the side by what I thought was a stick or a staff.

I was half correct.

Apparently the polearm was able to detach at a certain area halfway down the pole itself so it could act as a weapon in case someone got within the range where the polearm was ineffective.

Noting this, I threw five paralysis daggers at Babel.

Deflecting three of them, the other two hit the leg and the arm holding the detached weapon.

Paralysis against regular enemies completely immobilized the threat but when it came to bosses it would either have no effect or it would only slow them down, it would never immobilize.

With lady luck on my side it was able to slow down both the right leg and left arm making the detached weapon useless.

Sprinting forward at the window of opportunity, I took both of my daggers and dug them deep into the left arm of the serpent. Letting go of the handles I dashed past Babel. As I was running I weaved my hands through the chains and gripped them near the end.

As soon as I had a good hold on them I dashed right back towards Babel and slid underneath her legs and then jumped up and over her landing in front.

Using a flash step to avoid the polearm's axe, I wrapped the chains around her neck and stuck my foot on her back making her slowly suffocate.

As I was planted there I watched as her health slowly dropped until it reached to the final bar.

Seeing as how I had this fight in the bag I looked over to see how Virgil was doing.

To my surprise I didn't see him.

"Virgil! You okay?!" I yelled out in slight concern.

Looking around I still saw nothing. The fog and mist was slowly dissipating but I was still unable to figure out where he was. It was then I saw the serpent flying across the room as if he had been hit by an 18-wheeler.

Immediately following the Serpent rag doll, I could see Virgil jumping across the middle of the room smiling as if he was playing with a toy.

'Well I guess he doesn't need my help.' I thought before realizing I was still fighting a boss in my chains.

As soon as I looked back down I noticed I was being lifted by the sheer strength of Babel and she was moving closer and closer to the hole until I was no longer above any ground.

"This isn't good." I said as I looked down the hole.

I looked back over at Babel and noticed her bend her legs as if she was about to jump.

Turns out she was.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I said as we started plummeting into the void.

No way, this boss was going to sacrifice their life in order to take me out? I don't know if I was to feel like a bad ass since I was that much of a threat or if I was to be pissed off at how simple minded this boss was.

Taking out my Reaper's Edge I stabbed it into the side of the wall and I released the chains from my grasp.

Reacting to me letting go, Babel stabbed her polearm into my leg and dangled there by my leg as if to say "If I'm going down, you're going with me!"

Needless to say, I was pissed.

I was in a sticky situation and if I didn't act fast I was going to lose the rest of my health.

Thinking fast I willed the daggers back into my free hand and detached the chains from them since I wouldn't be able to get them untangled in time in this situation.

Sheathing one of them I looked down back at the Serpent and glared at her.

"Fine, you want my leg that badly? THEN TAKE IT!" I yelled before slicing my leg off right above where the polearm was sticking out of it.

Gritting in agony at my self-inflicted pain I watched as Babel fell down the rest of the way and shattered upon entering the void.

Looking up I noticed I had fallen a good 30 to 40 feet.

'Ugh… gonna be one hell of a climb.' I thought before starting to stab my dagger and my katana up the wall one after another.

"Oh yea… let's just go down this dungeon and have a good time figuring out if this is a boss room Kira. YEAH C'mon let just have a good time and start fighting the boss since we can't leave here Kira. We'll have a blast with this adventure Kira, we need your help to figure out if this is the right place Kira…" I started to complain and impersonate my fellow "Companions."

"God why do I have to deal with so much bullshit." I groaned as I reached roughly the halfway mark.

It was then I noticed that something was falling down towards me since my light was obstructed from above.

It was the two flaming scimitars that Nazir wielded.

Nearly hitting me in the face, they fell past me and shattered in the void. Looking back up I yelled at Virgil.

"HEY! Watch where you're throwing stuff you idiot!"

In response to my complaint I noticed something else come falling down into the pit with me. It was Nazir himself.

Grabbing onto my remaining foot he held on for dear life snarling at me as if to also say: "I'm not going down that easily!"

"God damnit! Leave me alone!" I said throwing my dagger into his face and bringing it back into my hand again.

Still holding on to me, I repeated the process several more times until his face was a bloody mess and his eyes were now completely blotted out by blood pixels.

Slamming him against the wall with the rest of my strength in my leg, he finally let go and went falling into the void.

Looking up I noticed Virgil was sitting there with his feet dangling watching the show as if he was at a movie.

"Damn if I didn't know any better I'd think you were the SAO version of Rambo… Or John McClain." He said chuckling.

"Haha, very funny. Now get me up you asshole." I said still climbing up with my improvised climbing gear.

Finally reaching the top with no help from Virgil, I noticed that everyone was cheering at the spectacle they just witnessed.

It was then we both noticed the billboard that appeared in a familiar fashion.

{[CONGRATULATIONS!]}

"Well, I guess that's that." I commented as I looked down at my severed leg.

'If Serah saw me at this time I would be in for the fight of my life…' I thought before getting hoisted up by Virgil.

"Take me home…" I groaned as I passed out from the searing pain in my leg.

"Yea, I got ya…" I heard Virgil say as my consciousness faded into black.

**And there we go, Chapter 23 down. Still accepting OCs and any ideas that you might want me to incorporate. Let me know of what you thought of the boss and please R&R. See you next chapter :D**


	24. Chapter 24: Argo's Quest

_Once again asleep in what Kira hopes is his bed; Kira awakens to notice that he is alone in a room and is in only his underwear. How he got there though, he can't remember._

Rubbing the sandman's dust from my eyes I wake up to notice that I'm in a bed. I remember that I passed out from the immense pain in my leg and I knew that I had to rely on Virgil to get back but I didn't remember how long I was out nor how I got to this bed.

I remembered that we killed the 33rd floor field boss and we also finished up the ordeal with Virgil but I didn't know what became of my leg.

Reaching down I noticed that I couldn't feel my right leg still.

Was it still in such pain that it was numb? I decided to check even though I feared the worst.

…

…

It was still a stump…

My right leg was still missing and I could still see the red pixels that lined where my leg was cut off by my own hand.

Knowing that I still had no leg I did what any normal person would do in this situation. I screamed like a little girl and tried my hardest to keep my emotions in check.

"AAAAAH!" I yelled at the top of my lungs at my severed limb.

I knew that yelling wasn't going to solve anything but I just couldn't help myself. It was the first time I've ever had a limb severed and it wasn't like I was taught how to cope with a severed limb. Sure the pain wasn't as excruciatingly painful as it would be in real life but it didn't exactly change the trauma of losing a body part.

After a couple more seconds of trying to process exactly what my body was feeling as well as what I was going to do about this, I finally calmed myself to a satisfying state of breathing heavily and thinking logically.

Before I could finally wrap my brain around my severed limb and what I might need to do to get it back, it started to regenerate. Pixel after pixel I started to see my leg regenerate itself to its former glory. Before I knew it my leg was completely restored and I was no longer freaking the fuck out.

"Haaah..." I exhaled with relief.

Slowly but surely I got up from my bed. I didn't know how I got there but I saw sure as hell going to find out.

Pulling up my menu I quickly went to the messenger and noticed I had some mail in my inbox.

One was from Mirah, another was from Ridge and the last was from Virgil.

Looking at the first one on the list I quickly skimmed over Mirah's message.

**I've found the final Disciple just thought I'd let you know that I won the bet and that you owe me. I'll let you know what exactly you owe me when we meet up later today and we'll discuss what our next move is.**

I read over it a few times to wrap my brain around eactly what she was meaning by that but when it finally hit me I replied with a quick retort.

**When EXACTLY did you find that disciple?**

It was all I needed to say to her to make her start to question herself. I felt kind of like an evil mastermind behind some evil plot to make her miserable. It wasn't that I derived any sort of pleasure out of it but… no wait that actually does sum it up into one sentence. I think I did derive this into some sort of sick pleasure.

'Since when did I become this obsessed over making her feel this way?' I thought before getting a reply.

Hesitantly I opened the mail and watched the sparks of her emotions fly.

**Wait, what did you mean by that? Are you saying you beat me to the next Disciple? Did you meet them before me? No way, there's no possible way I met this guy literally 3 hours after we saw each other last.**

Looking over her message I smiled and started to laugh. Thinking back on it, after we left each other's sights I found out Virgil was the next disciple about an hour after. So in all technicality, I did win.

Thinking over what exactly to say, it took me another 5 minutes before finally concocting the perfect response to get the most output from her.

**Met the next Disciple an hour after we left each other's sights. Looks like I win the bet, now what is it that I win?**

And with that, the path could take two ways:

Pathway 1: She gets so flustered that she accidentally promises me something that she can't really give me and it's something I can hold over her head for the rest of her life.

Pathway 2: She doesn't talk to me again.

Either way it was a win-win situation for me. Now it was just the waiting game.

While waiting I decided to look at my other two messages since I knew it was going to be awhile until I got a reply.

Looking at my remaining to two messages I decided I didn't want to completely have my head blow up from overloaded information and just moved onto Virgil's message.

**Hey man, hope you're doing okay. Got you home and I let someone by the name of Argo help you into your bed. She said she was a good friend and she had been… I don't really know she's a good speaker and I don'r remember half of what she said to me but she's the one who helped you into bed so thank her later. The organization is kicking off and we're spreading out amongst the floors and getting more support from working with Argo. Apparently she's really good at getting the word out to others fast and with a little bit of col she's the best in the business. Anyways I'll let you know more when we meet up and tell you in more detail. Hope you get better soon.**

Reading over the message I immediately stopped when it said 'Argo help you into bed.'

Reading over this specific section of the message several times over I could feel my face getting hotter and hotter. Looking back in the mirror I noticed my face was completely beet red.

"W-what the fuck Virgil…" was all I could say before the anime-like nosebleed come out like a bullet from a gun.

Now that I was staring up at the ceilingwith my back lying on the ground with no clear or straight logical thought process, it was time to move onto Ridge's message.

When I opened up the message I was bombarded with a giant wall of text.

**Gooooood evening or morning or afternoon your shadowiness. I noticed that you haven't had any contact with me for the past 70 hours and 45 minutes and I was wondering if you might not like being around me anymore. Then again it's not like I want to be around you in fact I'm wondering why I'm even writing this message to you right now.**

**It's actually fascinating really how I don't want you near me because you make me sad yet I want to know what's going on with you since you have some of my equipment and I've already taken an interest in the development of your character but, I digress.**

**I'm currently trying to recalibrate the portal and I was determing when it would be perfect to get you to come over to my shop to try it out again. I've made it so the portcal can connect to any of the towns in the lower floors but trying to configure it to get to the upper floors has proven difficult. The calibration system and the significant need of power as well as the inter-time dimensional rift objects and items required to make such a feat possible is slim to none with these current monsters. Hopefully when things prove to be better and more abundant in resources these materials will show up but yet again, I digress.**

**I am going to be sending you a couple of new toys that I have made since the last time I saw you and may I say they may prove to be useful to you. I've made it so they can be integrated into your… certain way of fighting with ease and they won't get in the way. Well, hopefully they don't get in the way.**

**Either way it doesn't really matter since I know you'll like these new items just be careful when using them in mass quantities of use since they are still prototypes. Side effects of an abundance of use include: Dizzy vision, invertion of direction, drowziness, insanity, shrinkage of manhood, drooling, ADHD, Alzheimers, dislocated limbs, feelings of being watched, paranoia, burning of skin and any other major debilitating illness or disease that could hinder the body.**

**Other than the side effects listed above you should be good to go, hope you enjoy your new items. This time I've decided to devote most of my intellect to making a great name for these bad boys. I call them, Thingamajig!**

Looking over this monstrous wall of text I decided to skim through it here and there and then my eyes laid on the phrase "Shrinkage of Manhood."

"W-what the fuck is this?" I said aloud as I read the paragraph it fell within.

As I read more and more of the "Side-Effects" I could only shake my head with my jaw ajar with how much excuciating pain these items would put me through.

"A-ADHD?!" I said aloud again as I read more. "What the hell did Ridge make me?!" I said closing the message and opening up the cube.

Looking in the inventory of the cube I noticed a new item inside and I warily tapped to have them materialize.

As soon as they materialized I jumped back and hid behind my bed so as not to have any of the side-effects actually hit me… if that actually would happen or not.

Peeking out from the side of the bed I noticed it was two circular pieces of mixed material. I wasn't able to get a good view of it since I was still afraid of it but from what it looked like it was just a pair of gauntlets.

Realizing that was I was doing was completely retarded I got up from behind the bed that was doing such a good job of protecting me and I picked up the gauntlets.

They were both black in color on the inside with a material that looked like it was leather. It was smooth and tough with the engraving of an 'R' on the inside.

'Must be a trademark.' I thought as I continued to observe it.

On the outside of the gauntlet I could see 4 circular metal slots that looked like they were launchers. They were mounted to the top of the pieces of metal that were on top of the gauntlets. They were embroidered with elegant designs that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings. Needelss to say, I was rather impressed. They had a distinct feeling about them that just echoed pride in one's craftsmanship.

Putting on my armor and then mounting them over my forearms I tightened them into comfort. It was then I noticed there was a mechanism on the bottom of the gauntlets that I hadn't noticed with my initial examination.

The mechanism was of a different design that I hadn't ever seen before. It looked like a trigger mechanism since there was a slight pressure plate on the inside of the gauntlets. When I clenched my fist it triggered the mechanism and in a magnificent fluid motion a blade appeared sticking straight out from the bottom of my wrist.

'Great. Another weapon to my arsenal.' I thought before retracting them by unclenching my fists.

Looking at the gauntlets I tried to fit one of my daggers inside the cylinder but it didn't fit. I frowned at this since I couldn't figure out what I needed to make this part of the contraption work. It then hit me. Ridge wouldn't make me something so useless unless he had the materials for me ready to use it. That was just his way.

Looking back in the cube I overlooked another item that looked like a bunch of bolts. Opening the item I noticed a small box hollow, cylindrical bolts appear in my hands after the light faded. Picking one up I loaded it into the gauntlet and heard a click as soon as it was lodged in the depths of the launcher.

"Now to figure out how to launch it." I said aloud as I started to study exactly how this mechanic was triggered.

Honestly I had no idea what I was looking at but if it was something of Ridge's design then it was sure to be something simple yet complex at the same time. Again, it was just his way and I would never understand why.

Trying out all sorts of combat movements I wasn't able to trigger the mechanic. I tried punching, kicking, swatting, squatting, glaring, farting, hell I even trying yelling at it to go. It was to no avail though since I had no flipping idea where to even begin with trying to figure this thing out.

Flinging my hands to my sides I heard a crack in the ground next to my foot. Alerted to the noise, I slowly looked down to make sure I didn't break anything.

As my gaze finally set eyes on where I heard the crack I noticed that the bolt was there sticking in the ground. I knew that I didn't throw my hands down hard enough to dislodge it and implant that far into the ground… and I'm pretty sure that there should have been a purple "Immortal Object" sign that should have been shown there… but apparently not.

As I was watching in disbelief on what just occurred another message appeared flashing in front of me.

It was from Ridge again.

**Oh I almost forgot, this awesome item still has some glitches that still need to be worked out so have fun with learning the nice tidbits with it.**

…

'How did he know…?' I thought before getting a little paranoid and closing the message.

As soon as I closed the message I heard a noise. It wasn't the typical type of silence or noise that you would expect if you were in a room and you were alone.

No, this was something else. Someone else was nearby and they had their beady little eyes on me.

Granted I wasn't at all paranoid at the fact that someone was watching me right now… but then questions started to infiltrate my mind like "How long have they been there?" and "How much did they see?"

As soon as the thought of someone seeing me in my… vulnerable state, I immediate drew the conclusion on who was watching me.

"Argo…" I said in a stern but low voice.

Turning towards the noise I noticed there was a slight crack in the closet across the room.

"AAAAaaaaaargooo…" I exaggerated the name in a creepy, almost ghost-like voice as I walked across the room.

As soon as I got within 10 feet of the closet a hooded figure jumped out of the closet and tackled me in the chest sending me tumbling backwards with them until I hit the wall on my head.

Slightly dazed I looked down and noticed the familiar player who was hugging me trying their best not to let go.

"Don't kill me! It was all in the name of gathering information!~" She said as she clung tight to me.

"Why are you grabbing onto me so tightly? And what did you mean by in the name of gathering information?!" I complained trying to pull her off.

It was then that I realized that she was only hugging me so as to not be able to get cut down by my blades. She had her arms wrapped around my whole torso restricting my arms to their sides so I was basically stuck there in a bind.

"Oh, I see how it is." I said before getting up with her dangling from my body.

"But still, you deserve divine judgement!" I declared before falling forward smacking her head against the floor making her dazed.

As soon as she let her grip loose I got out of it and immediately equipped my daggers. I looked back up and noticed she was already halfway out the window with her claws out with a lolicon smile as if she was a kid who just got what she wanted.

"Well, good job there Kira-boyo but I win this little round." She said toothily as she held up two recording crystals.

"I'm sure all the fan girls that have been hearing about your exploits would LOVE to get their hands on these cute and vulnerable pictures of you." She said tossing them up and down in her hand.

"You wouldn't dare!" I retorted trying to inch closer and closer.

"I would." She said plainly as she started to move closer and farther out the window.

We were deadlocked there. I knew I was faster than Argo due to my abilities as The Dark King but she was definitely more springy than me. If I did catch her it would be hard to hold her down and get whatever she saw and recorded.

"Alright. What is it that you want then Argo?" I said giving in.

She was rather surprised at the question. I already knew based off of how things worked in the underworld of information that the only reason one sticks around after flaunting some blackmail information is to get something they can't get from a person.

"Oho… looks like you're getting smarter. I like that." She said slyly with a grin.

"You are correct in your assumptions… I am trying to get something from you so as not to waste your time nor mine, I will tell you." She said with her grin getting wider and wider.

"On the 34th floor, the floor you just unlocked, there is an item atop a mountain that I need to have. It is a small little trinket and I'm sure there will be plenty of things up there that you yourself would want as well. I would go there myself but I need to take care of some things on my end and I just NEED to have that item within the next day or so." She started to explain.

"I already know what you're going to say: Why is it that you need me? Why not get someone else? Well my dear Kira-boyo you have some abilities that others just don't have like… oh I don't know… The Dark King." She summed it up in a simple singular point.

"So, what you're telling me… is that I have to be your little lapdog for as long as you have those crystals?" I asked trying to figure out what I could do to get out of this evil overseer's grasp.

Nothing could come to mind. I was basically at the mercy of this evil information god and I could do nothing to go against her since she probably had the next fifteen steps planned out and fail-safed so there would be no way for me to counter attack against her.

Sighing with disgust I stand there in silence with my head down so she can't see my face that well.

"Well, looks like… you beat me. Alight I'll help you but on ONE condition." I declare to her as I put my finger up.

"Oh? And what's that Kira-boyo?" She asked with her head slightly tilted.

"You have to give me access to any information in your possession in any three instances of my choosing." I said giving it some thought.

"You also have to give me information on a certain someone that I am trying to find and that doesn't include the three instances that I just stated." I kept on elaborating.

She looked at me with a questioning eye and stood there in the window contemplating whether or not she should accept my offer.

"And if I say no?" She said with a grin. "What then?"

She stood there with her toothy grin in anticipation of my response. I knew what I would do if she refused but I decided I would be a little different. I decided… to be a little more devilish.

"Well, if you say no… Then I'll just have to pluck off your eyebrows one hair after another until there is none left and then afterwards I'll have to move onto the hair on your head and then after that I'll figure something out." I said closing the gap between us until I was right in front of her.

I could tell that she wasn't that afraid of what I would really do but she was concerned that I could come up with such an elaborate threat that was off the walls and was knee deep in creepiness in such a short time.

Shaking slightly she extended her hand and shook mine.

"D-Deal…" She nervously said.

With that I started to make my way towards the mountain on the 34th floor.

"Wait! Who is it that you needed me to gather information on?" Argo asked me.

"His game name is Kirito. I need you to get as much information on him as you can." I said without looking back.

Exiting the building I went to the center of the Aztec City and went to the 34th floor.

[Welcome to the Landslide Mounts]

'Huh. Landslide Mounts eh?' I thought before making my way through town.

I found the town to be rather small for a place of refuge but then again it wasn't the first time that the town floor was odd. I mean hell there was a floor that didn't even have a town.

Finally exiting the town I was looking at the scenery of mountain tops and valleys filled to the brim with wildlife. Everything from the jungle cats from africa to the things of imagination like griphons flying through the air.

"God damnit Argo…" I groaned in disgust. "Couldn't you have at least given me more description with the mountain? I can count at least 10 from here."

Looking from the town I stared at the large rock formation in awe. I knew I wouldn't be able to figure out which one to head to from here but then again I didn't want to ask Argo for information since I knew that she wouldn't give it to me unless I would use one of my three instances to get information from her.

Mulling over my options I decided I would take the nearest mountain and start to head my way up. Little did I know that saying you're going to go up a mountain is a lot easier than actually getting up and climbing up a mountain.

The mountains weren't necessarily hard to get to, in fact the flourishing land of plants and large trees in the valleys made it easy to bypass the monsters patrolling the pathways to make it towards the base of the mountain.

The only problem I was faced with, was the fact that these "Mountains" were literally large pieces of rock that might as well have been a giant brick wall in my face since there was no real way to get a sure footing on all of the jagged rocks that were laced in the sides of them.

If I could compare it to something else I would have to say that it was basically trying to climb a wall of a cactus or trying to pet a porcupine… against the needles. I've never had such a hard time with something so insignificant in my life that I seriously contemplated just facing the humiliation.

"NO! I can't think this way!" I snapped myself out of my stupor and started to climb regardless of the jagged rocks stabbing me every step of the way.

I soon noticed why I thought this was a bad idea…

Realizing that I had no sort of equipment to keep me stationary to the mountain I found out that nothing in this game kept you from falling off the side of a mountain if you just HAPPENED to have lost your grip. Since I was already up this high I knew that I would probably die if I fell.

As I got farther and farther up the base of the mountain I noticed I was noticeably a good 100 feet up in the air and still had another good 100 feet to go before the porcupine rocks would end and the smoother-looking rocks began… at least I hoped.

Trusting my insanely sharp eye sight I proceeded through the rocky thorns until I finally reached what looked like to be a plateau on the side of the mountain. Gladly accepting the resting spot I looked down the cliff to notice I was now a good 250 feet in the air and it would only get higher.

Looking up I noticed that the mountain I had picked seemed to be as tall as the clouds and the clouds were definitely a ways away. This only meant that I couldn't tell how high this mountain was and I knew this wasn't going to be good if I actually did fall.

As my mind came towards this thought I shuddered and shook myself to my senses.

"C'mon you don't need to be afraid. If you fall you'll just instantly be… a pancake… heh…"

My head hung in defeat as I finally got enough strength restored in my legs for me to stand.

Looking around I noticed that there were several cracks in the wall and one of them looked large enough to be able to be fit into. With my curiousity getting the better of me, I decided to see if I actually could fit inside of the crack.

With a little bit of sucking in my gut I was able to squeeze myself inside the crack and look through to the other side to see exactly where it led.

Remarkably it actually DID lead somewhere. It was a small rabbit-hole pathway with twist and turns that were just large enough for someone to squeeze through. Only problem was that I was JUST large enough to not squeeze through comfortably.

Using my innate ability to squirm and struggle I nudged my way through the icy tunnel. Getting stuck here and there I decided it would be best to get rid of as much equipment as possible in order to fit through this crevice.

Sucking in my gut as much as I could I brought my arm up and did the small required movement to open the menu. Immediately looking at my equipped avatar I started to get rid of the weapons and any unnecessary equipment that wouldn't be needed for warmth.

Taking off the upper armor as well as the hood and getting rid of the katanas on my sides as well as my daggers I was now given ample room to move more freely. The only situation I was stuck with now was that I was a lot colder.

"well at least I can fit through this now…" I said rubbing my arms to try and keep slightly warm.

Trudging through the rabbit tunnel I soon found that I was going up higher. I didn't know if it was because my legs were feeling numb or if the slopes looked like they were getting steeper but it felt like it was getting harder and harder to move through this tunnel.

Another five minutes passed of trudging through this frozen passageway before finally it opened up to a frozen cavern. As soon as I entered the area a banner appeared in front of my face as if I had entered into a town.

[Welcome to The Yeti's Cavern]

'The Yeti's Cavern?' I thought before quickly re-equipping my missing armor and weapons.

Closing the menu I quickly got down into a defensive and sneaking position slowly walking through the cavern from shadow to shadow.

It really wasn't like me to be sneaking around but I had done a report before on Yeti's and how brutal their strength made them. I knew they had large teeth and were feared as the mountain men of the tundras but they were also known for being incredibly intelligent due to their migrating patterns.

It was definitely all superstition but I didn't want to take any chances in possibly taking on one of those things.

Crouching and moving swiftly but quietly across the floors of ice I took shelter behind a rock up high on a ledge to get a good view of the area.

In the middle of the whole cavern there was a single large platform of ice floating in water. How there was water in this area, I had no idea but I bet if I fell in I would be instantly frozen. There were four slope-like arcs that were flowing around the area eventually all leading to the center of the building. They were connected to their respective platforms and looked as if they were supposed to be used for transportation.

Thinking back on when I used to do a lot of free running I started to get excited at possibly using this to have fun but it definitely wasn't the time.

Looking farther towards the back I could see what looked to be the exit. I could see some light shining through from the edge where the path turned so it wouldn't be that bad of a guess.

Getting up I patted myself down of any ice remaining on my pants. As I took a few more steps away from the ledge and started to make my way down the slope I heard a crack in the ground behind me.

Slowly turning around I noticed that the crack started to deteriorate and break even further making the ground underneath me very unstable.

"Oh you've got to be joking…" I complained before feeling the ground break underneath me.

"Knew it." I bluntly complained before falling into the abyss.

Looking down I saw the pieces of the platform start shattering as they reached a point somewhere in the black void. Realizing that the void beneath me was instant death I started to jump up from piece to piece to try my best and not get instantly killed from falling off the map.

Getting farther from the void of death I started to run out of pieces to jump to and before I knew it I was at the top of the debris falling to the inevitable end.

"Come on there's gotta be something I can land on." I groaned trying to think of a way out of this situation.

I knew I had to flash step to get out of this predicament but based off of hwat I knew of the ability I had to land on something before using it again. It didn't need to be both of my feet but as long as I was touching something on my feet I could flash step from it to another piece of land.

'Wait a second…' I thought before disecting the information I had in my possession.

All I knew was that I needed to land on SOMETHING before using my ability again. It didn't necessarily had to be land.

With my brain working at absurd speeds I decided to give my idea a try.

"It's worth a shot!" I yelled before launching out three knives.

Using my eyesight I focused on the knives flying through the air and with a little bit of praying I activated the ability.

The rest was just a blur. I don't really recall what exactly happened but before I knew it I was up about 50 feet from where I once was with my Reaper's Edge impaled in the wall and me hanging off of it like it was a branch.

"H-Hehe…" I chuckled a little before giving a sigh of relief.

Looking up I noticed I was roughly 15 feet away from one of the slopes that arched around the room. Using my dagger and katana I started to climb up the wall until I reached the slope and pulled myself up.

Laying on my back I started to breathe heavily as my body finally caught up with my mind. I had once again just narrowly evaded death and it was all because of Argo that I was stuck in this situation.

"When I get that stupid artifact for her she's going to wish that I had fallen down in that pit." I grunt as I get up.

Cracking noises from above quickly got my attention. Apparently above me there were countless ice spikes sticking out from the ceiling and since the tremors had gotten so bad, they decided to come loose and start falling.

Noticing that one of them was falling straight down towards me, I quickly rolled backwards and jumped to my feet dashing backwards avoiding the falling spikes.

It was then I made a vital mistake.

I tripped over a decently large piece of flat ice and I fell flat on my back. Realizing what just happened I rolled to my right to avoid yet another spike nearly impaling me in my back.

Looking at my scenery I noticed that the slopes were now starting to crack and break off. I knew I wouldn't be able to get through the entire area with just my three flash steps so I had to think of a new way to get through.

I looked back down at the piece of ice that I fell over and a grin appeared on my face.

"Hehe…" I started to laugh at my idea and how retarded this was going to be.

Sprinting forward I grabbed piece of ice and cracked it against the ground making it break in two. Putting it under my arm I sprinted towards the edge of the platform I was on and jumped forward towards a cracking and rapidly deteriorating slope.

Just before I hit the slope I placed the piece of ice underneath my feet and from there I started to skid across the twisting slope avoiding holes and avoiding cracked areas so as not to worsen the slope.

Looking ahead I noticed the end and I had a good 15 feet before the other slope began. The only problem I faced with this was that the slope was literally upside down for the initial part and it would immediately go straight down and curve around turning me right side up.

Thinking for an escape route I noticed the right side of the slope I was on curved upwards. Realzing what I had to do I kicked the ground to increase my speed I launched myself off the right side of the slope turning me upside down and connecting to the next platform.

"HEEELLLL YEEEAA!" I screamed enjoying the ride.

Granted everything was falling down all around me but I couldn't help but feel like I was at an amusement park. Sure any wrong move and I would've died but I just couldn't help myself.

Sliding down the 90 degree slope and curving around the side I ducked down low to avoid the giant block of ice that would've taken off my head and continued through the ice tunnel that soon popped me out close to the exit.

I noticed up ahead that the curve of the slope would put me sliding right past it but it would continue going away bringing me back into the chaos.

'Guess this is my stop.' I thought before crouching low on my makeshift ice board.

Curving myself into the top of the arc I was launched high up into the air due to all of the momentum.

Spinning myself around I grabbed the board with my feet still holding themselves to the ice and flashed a pose in the air before kicking off and landing on the edge of the cliff that led to the exit.

Pulling myself up I looked back at the chaos that I had just survived through and started to laugh.

"Now that's what I call snowboarding!" I yelled with excitement before turning around and proceeding out of the cavern.

Exiting the cavern I was greeted with the sun piercing out from the clouds. Below I could see the forests, the valleys, the wildlife populating the areas and even some of the distant ruins atop the other mountains.

I took in the view with my eyes and realized that I had gotten farther up the mountain, in fact I would even go as far to say that I was near the top based off of how high I was.

I looked at the pathway leading around the mountain. There were stone steps that looked like they hadn't been used in ages. The steps were aged and certainly far from perfect. Moss had grown underneath where the snow met the stone and the side of the mountain was covered in it as if it were an infection.

Looking farther beyond I noticed the pathway curve up and looked as if it led to the top. With one foot in front of the other, I trudged my way up the mountain as far as the path would take me.

With each step I drew closer and closer to the peak and with each step I could feel like I was getting closer to the end of my quest forced onto me by an evil sadistic rodent.

Finally passing by the last curve of the path I laid my eyes on the oldest piece of architecture that I have ever seen in my entire life.

The rock was black and grey. The color was distorted and aged and none of the stones were properly aligned with how they should have been when they were first put there. The arches were broken and the base of them could be called "degraded" at best. Inbetween the two arches was a ruined statue of a knight with a sword in his grasp implanted in the ground… or atleast where it should have been implanted in the ground. The blade was severed and about halfway down. In the middle of the entire site was a giant black slab that looked like some sort of altar to be prayed upon. From where I was standing I couldn't see it but when I got closer I could see the faded blood stains that looked as if someone or something had been sacrificed on this slab.

Walking up towards the statue of the knight I noticed something shining on top of the sword hilt. It had a distinct purple glow to it like some sort of ancient power was dwelling within this gem.

Flash stepping to the shoulders of the knight I looked down to notice that it was a game implanted into the hilt of the sword. The gem was roughly the size of a basketball and it was etched in a perfect sphere. Inside of the gem I could see an odd engraving. It wasn't like a regular engraving where it was 2D like on a sheet of paper. Instead the etching was 3D and from where I was standing it looked like an ape or some sort of large monkey.

Jumping down towards the gem I landed on the arms of the knight and tried to move the gem from its socket in the sword.

Not to my surprise it didn't budge an inch. I tried everything to move this stupid thing from its container. Everything from pushing, to punching, to kicking, hell I even tried to budge it by sending a shadow arc at it.

Nothing.

"Tch. Stupid thing won't move no matter what I do…" I complained kicking it one last time and landing in front of the knight.

"Fine then if you don't want to give me the gem, then DIE!" I roared activating my most powerful ability.

"BEHOLD! The Abyssal Gate!" I yelled launching out my black knives of destruction.

To my surprise, as soon as the daggers impacted the knight a "Quest Update" icon started to flash in my vision. Since I activated the ability I had to deal with the delay and if it was what I thought it was, this knight was about to come to life and start screwing up my world.

After the ability ended a large dust cloud from the impacts soon filled the area and I could no longer see the knight. It was then I noticed a purple glow coming from the dust and almost immediately that same purple glow came out from the cloud as a blade coming straight at my face.

… "Oh shit." I said briefly before ducking underneath it as if I were playing limbo.

As the delay finally subsided I jumped backwards doing a back flip and slid across the ground a few more feet before finally seeing the dust clear.

In front of me was a 20 foot giant metal knight. Instead of its old deteriorated state it seemed as if the wheels of time completely rejuvinated and restored this knight to its former glory.

With its purple glowing eyes fixated on me the knight took one step forward and swung his sword at me from the side trying to cut me in half.

Jumping over it I sprinted forward and jumped atop the giant's arm dragging my katana along its arm dealing damage with every step of me feet.

Reaching the shoulder of the giant I leaped off and landed on one of the arches.

"C'mon is that all you've got you big piece of metal junk?" I taunted the knight.

In reaction the knight spun itself around and sliced the arch at its base completely shattering my footing and sending me falling straight to the ground.

Hitting the ground I looked up to notice the purple blade coming straight down on me.

Avoiding the blade by flash stepping to the knight's flank I flash stepped again and appeared on the knight's shoulder.

"Take this!" I roared.

"Shadow Blast Barrage!" I started sending black waves of energy at point blank range impacting the knight and knocking him off balance. Looking at its remaining health I noticed that those blasts brought it down to half of its total bar.

Jumping back I landed gracefully 20 feet away from the giant knight and watched as it changed tactics.

With a change of color from purple to red I noticed the knight take its blade in hand and point it straight in the sky. In a flashy array of lights and with a blinding flash of radiance I was temporarily blinded.

When my vision finally returned I noticed that the knight was now right in front of me except… he was the same height as me now.

"W-what the-" was all I could get off before being silenced by the grip on my throat.

Being lifted in the air I noticed that the knight was now in a blood-red armor with spikes piercing out from every piece of metal. It was then I noticed that he planted his sword in the ground and was now proceeding to punch me into a bloody pulp with his gauntlets.

Accepting the beating I could do nothing to get out of his grip. I tried kicking free of him but his grip was so adamant that I could do nothing but wait until he let me go.

Slowly watching my health decrease I noticed I was entering the yellow range and steadily going down. If things kept up at this rate I would be in the red.

Bringing my dagger up I impaled it into his fist to try and stop his attack. It didn't do much but it stopped him from punching me.

In reaction to this he let me go by throwing me into the air. I thought I would be able to get away and recuperate in time.

I was sorely wrong.

In no time at all he grabbed his sword in the ground he jumped up towards me swinging his red blade towards me.

Blocking it with both of my daggers I could do nothing but defend in the air. This monstrous strength was so overwhelming that every time our blades impacted each other I could feel the tremors of power echo through my bones.

Still in the air I was being pushed back. How this is possible, I have no clue but no matter how you describe it I was left in a vulnerable position.

Right, left, up, down. It didn't matter what angle his attacks were they were all so strong and overpowering that I couldn't stand against him. Before I could react in time I saw his blade come down from above and it slammed into my chest cutting me diagonally and sending me flying straight into the ground.

Looking up I saw the juggernaut gliding down as if he were as light as a feather. This definitely wasn't the case since the second he landed on the ground the whole area cracked under the immense pressure.

I looked at my health and noticed I was down near the red. I had to think up a way to make things move at my own pace.

"Bend Time!" I echoed the words and all around us time stopped.

Getting out from under the knight I took out my katana and backed off away from the knight and chugged a potion bringing my health back up to 60%.

As the effect ended, the knight looked up at me almost as if in shock and he brought his sword to his side as if to challenge me to a duel.

Accepting the challenge I dashed forward and brought my katana across his chest and he parried it easily. Using the momentum I spun myself around the other way and brought my katana back around towards his chest again. This time though, I let go of the hilt and let it fall into the grip of my other hand and then sliced it across his chest.

It gave me a small window to continue my assault but it was all I needed to bring this thing to its knees.

Attacking the legs, I sliced at the opening of the knight's defense and kept switching my angles to avoid its blade. From right to left and back and forth I attacked from each and every angle until finally the knight saw through my pattern and blocked my blade.

'Oh no.' I thought before trying to back away.

It was too late. He brought his free arm up and clenched onto my blade.

With his sword in hand he brought it down upon me. Moving to the ouside of him I barely avoided taking massive damage. I still got clipped on my arm but it only brought me down a good 5-10%.

Spinning myself around I planted my heel on his shoulder and brougt myself up freeing my blade from his grasp. Using the momentum from the sudden change in flow I brought my foot around and kicked him straight in his metal jaw making him shift off balance.

Completing the turn I jumped off of him making me spin in mid-air upside down. I brought my katana across where his helmet and his armor met and in one quick fluid motion I decapitated him.

Recovering from my fall on my face I got up and looked at the rewards. Strangely enough I didn't receive any col from him but I did get something that I knew I would be searching for.

[Rewards]

9500 exp

Orb of the Werewolf

800x Essences of the Dark King

Closing the rewards I opened up my inventory and brought out the "Orb of the Werewolf."

I wasn't sure exactly what this was nor if it was what Argo wanted me to get but she did say that it would be unique and it would catch my eye.

Well this thing did catch my eye and it certainly was unique but knowing Argo she would probably say that it wasn't it but would accept it anyways and send you on your way to finding what she really wanted.

Contemplating what to do next I opened up my menu and looked at my friend tracker. I noticed that my brother was in the area and it would probably take me a good 20 minutes to catch up to him if I left right now.

Deciding to track him down, I took out a crystal and teleported myself back to the town. Taking a deep breath I made my way to his location. It would be the perfect opportunity to 1: make his life miserable and 2: it would be the perfect chance to give him "Death's Hand."

Sprinting out from the town at full speed I couldn't wait to see my brother. I hadn't spoken to him in a good while and I knew that if I showed my face to him I would be pissing him off but that's just what made it that much more enjoyable.

Taking to the trees I noticed that I was running up close to another of my friends. I didn't know who would be out here in this part of the woods at this time but I narrowed it down pretty quickly when I soon saw a couple bits of the organization I had running around for me come into view.

"Virgil!" I yelled out as I jumped into the tree next to him.

"What are you doi-" I was cut off.

"Shh! Look down there." He said pointing.

I noticed that there was a large group of players facing against my brother. Currently only one of them were fighting him but I still saw an extra 4 people and a wolf sitting in the back just watching.

Looking at the battle I could see that my brother was losing. I knew he didn't like me to interfere with his fights and he always came out on top but this guy was different. He seemed like a veteran player and he was using skills that I had never seen before. If I didn't know any better I would go as far as to think he was a disciple but what would be the odds of that actually being true?

Suddenly realizing that my brother was off balance and he had fallen down I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I sprinted forward and threw my katana straight towards the player.

To my surprise he jumped back as if it was a reflex.

'Damn.' I thought. 'I missed.'

Flash stepping out from the woods I grabbed my katana and spun myself around pulling it out of the ground and pointing it at the man's throat.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I said towards the man with a glare of malice.

**Apologies for the late update. I would've posted this two days ago but work has been killer. Hopefully things lighten up with work so I can write more. I'm having more and more fun with each chapter and soon things will be getting interesting. Look forward to it.**


	25. Chapter 25: A Brother's Decision

_Staring down at his enemy, Kira holds his ground blade pointed towards his throat with a glare of malevolence._

"Who are you?" I ask him with hatred in my eyes.

"I could ask you the same thing. Mind putting the blade down?" He asked me taking a step back so the blade was no longer against his neck.

I looked at his marker and noticed it was a dark crimson red. This got me even angrier. I couldn't hold myself back much longer.

"Why is your marker red and why are you attacking Flame?" I ask him with my blade slightly shaking.

"Look I wasn't trying to hurt Flame we were just exchanging-" I cut him off. I couldn't contain my anger anymore.

He was the epitome of everything I hated in this game. He was a Player Killer. He was attacking my brother and he was about to deal the finishing blow. He was going to pay for that.

"I don't want your excuses!" I roared before spinning myself around and slashing my sword at him.

He parried the attack and took another few steps back. I quickly jumped forward and brought my sword down on him to which he blocked and we stood there for a good long moment before disengaging from each other.

Looking behind me I noticed that I felt a killing intent emanating from my brother. I turned to my side so I could see both the attacker and my brother.

"You… YOU BASTARD!" I heard my brother roar before sprinting at me with his claw and sword.

Stabbing my sword into the ground I turned to face him and I lunged forward. I grabbed his sword arm and spun myself and his arm around until it was in an arm-lock.

Using my free arm I interlocked my arm with his and threw him over my body sending him flying down the nearby hill that stretched down a good 100 feet.

Seeing that my brother was now taken out of the conflict for a while, I looked back to see my enemy and noticed he hadn't moved from where I last saw him.

'Well at least he has a shred of honor.' I thought before grabbing my sword again.

"Where were we?" I asked him rhetorically.

"I think you were attacking me for no apparent reason." He retorted rhetorically.

"Ah yes. I was!" I sprinted at him again with my sword held upside down.

I brought my sword across his chest and he blocked it easily. Using my momentum I had gained I brought my leg around and kicked him where his head should have been but he ducked below it and brought his sword up to meet my own.

To my surprise he had a lot more strength than I thought he did despite his size since I was sent higher into the air.

Using this to my advantage I brought my feet down on his blade and launched off of it to gain more distance from him in the air.

Back flipping through the air I threw three daggers at him and noticed he deflected them to the side and was now running towards me to where I was about to land.

Realizing this I threw a smoke bomb down where I was about to land and it erupted in a large smokescreen.

"You have smoke bombs?" He asked a little surprised.

"I have a lot more than that." I replied from the smokescreen.

Throwing three blades out from the fog I heard two clangs of metal but the third seemed to impact him.

"W-What the hell?" I heard from him. "Poison?"

"Correct." I stated bluntly as I appeared behind him and leaned on his back.

"Look. I don't care who you are or your excuses for taking life. You're weak and I won't have you take advantage of him." I said before realizing two of his party members start running towards me.

"Leave him alone!" The man said with his hydra-like halberd headed towards me.

"Yeah! If you want a real challenge then you'll have to face me!" The other one said with her shield and spear.

Walking forward I took my blade and deflected it off of the halberd and grabbed a hold of it. Jumping over him, still holding onto the halberd, I dodged the attack of the girl with the spear and brought the halberd up and over them both making them stumble slightly.

Kicking the girl in the back I watched as they both fell over like a pile of dominos.

Chuckling slightly, my little victory was short-lived when I noticed the wolf that was in the party had gotten on my flank and was leaping towards me.

Taking out another knife I jumped at the wolf and implanted it into the chest and watched as the beast fell limp.

"NOOO!" I heard another girl scream as she went towards her pet and held it tightly, hoping that the wolf was okay.

'Compassion?' I thought before looking back at the only person who hadn't done anything yet.

With a look of pure disbelief I stared at the girl standing there with her rapier at her side. It was her. Why was she here?

"S-Sienna?" I stuttered. "W-what are you doing here?" I continued completely baffled.

I was interrupted in my confused thoughts when I heard the sound of footsteps coming up from behind me.

"How dare you do that to my friends!" I heard him roar before I saw the blade light up in flames.

Side-stepping the blade I saw him continue his assault and I deflected his next three strikes before getting bored with him.

"Too slow!" I yelled before deflecting the blade out of his hands and roundhouse-kicking him in the face and sending him sliding across the ground.

Before I could continue to attack him I noticed the other two I had earlier taken care of start to run towards me.

'This is getting bothersome.' I thought before jumping up into one of the trees and taking out another two knives.

"Get down here!" I heard the halberd-user say.

"Yeah! Get down here! Or are you too afraid?!" I heard the other say trying to taunt me.

"He who barks loudest…" I started before flash stepping behind them and implanting both of the paralysis knives into their backs. "…Is often the weakest." I ended my sentence before kicking them down on the ground.

I looked back over at the girl still crying at the state her wolf was in. I took out another knife and threw it into her so she was in the same state as her wolf.

"W-what did you do?!" I heard Sienna shout at me in terror.

"They're just asleep." I said taking out one of my sleeping knives.

"Thanks to these." I said before realizing I had my back completely turned to the one who was the most dangerous.

Before I could react I felt the blade enter through my back and pierce out through my stomach.

"How dare you… do that to my friends…" I heard him say with a powerful force behind his words.

"And what do you think, you can do about it?" I retaliated by taunting him.

Using this moment of shock I jumped off the ground and landed both of my feet into his lower torso sending me off of his sword and rolling across the ground.

Getting up I noticed he had a new look in his eye, like he was trying to renounce what I had said earlier about him being weak and he was soon going to prove it.

"Please stop fighting!" I heard Sienna yell.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to control myself from my rage for awhile, not while this person was still able to fight. Maybe once I battered him down a few notches and made sure he wasn't a threat I would be able to calm down, but as of right now I was rage incarnate. I couldn't care less how beaten or battered I would be in this fight, I just knew that I had to make sure this guy couldn't do anyone any harm.

"No can do Sienna. He's not getting out of this after what he did."

Hardening my resolve, I waited to see what he would do next.

"Flame whip!" I heard him say before noticing a whip-like line of fire fly at me and nearly ensnare around my neck.

Narrowly dodging it by bending myself backwards I jumped back and waited for him to close in on me. I had my sword slightly pointed towards him and I assumed my natural fighting stance.

"That again? I've seen that multiple times, you're not going to faze me." He said trying to glorify himself.

"Oh have you now? Well then only one way to find out?" I said before I started walking towards him.

"Blazing Trail!" I heard him shout again before he came at me with an incredible speed.

I will admit I was a little shocked to see such agility but it was easy to comprehend. What I didn't expect though, was that he tried to attack me from behind by quickly sprinting around me in a torrent and nearly stabbing me in my back again.

Pulling my blade up I brought it to my back and blocked the attack with ease. I was still facing forward and I gave a slight sigh.

"You see, you haven't actually seen this form in its completion." I said as I tried to explain his mistake.

"Is that all you've got?" I asked him before batting his sword away still looking forward and not towards him.

"Pathetic." I groaned before throwing out another three knives as I turned to face him.

Again he deflected them and took the chance to activate another move I didn't expect to see.

"Flame Vortex!" He roared before a large cyclone of fire appeared around me.

I couldn't see him so I couldn't tell what he was doing but the same was for him. Using my flash step I made myself fly into the trees and out of sight. I took a little bit of burning damage but it was nothing significant.

"Close in!" I heard him say before the twister of fire started to close in on where I once was.

Looking at how stupid this was, I took out a couple of more knives each with their own specific attribute of debilitation.

I had several regular poison knives as well as a couple of hallucination and berserk knives. I also had several new drowning knives and a couple of blinding knives. None of which would be what I wanted to use at this very moment.

Looking through my stock I finally set my eyes on the type of knives I wanted to use: High Explosive knives.

Loading them up into my gauntlet I waited until he realized I wasn't in the cyclone anymore. Oddly enough he didn't do anything that I thought he might have done.

He didn't say "where are you?" or anything of the sort. Instead he stood there in a defensive stance waiting and listening for when I might strike.

If I wasn't enemies with this guy I probably would be rather impressed but since he was like this it meant this was going to be an interesting fight.

Flash stepping behind him I noticed he didn't catch wind of my noise just yet so I took the time to charge up with all my strength an upward strike that would send him into the air.

Crouching there with my blade at my side I let loose all of my strength just a little too late.

He just barely blocked part of the blade with his own sending him flying and into an uncontrollable flip.

Using this window of opportunity I launched out my explosive knives and saw him deflect only one of them while the other 3 exploded all over him in the air.

In a flashy and almost fireworks-like display, I saw the sky light up with explosions and watched as the man fall from the smoke like a rag doll into the ground.

"NO!" I heard a scream come from behind me.

Sienna sprinted forward and went over to him.

"Dark! DARK!" I heard her scream trying to get him to come to his senses.

"I guess that's all he had." I said as I sheathed my blade and started to walk the other direction to where my brother was.

Something strange happened though. I didn't expect this in all of my wildest or strangest predictions but, this guy actually started to get up.

I heard the grunting and the fidgeting of armor as he got up from his dirt nap.

Deciding not to turn around I waited for him to get up. I just stood there with my back turned to him and I waited for him to get up again.

'Why are you doing this?' I thought as I took my blade out once more. 'The fight's over. It's far from anything fair and you want to continue?' I berated myself with questions before finally I heard his footsteps start towards me.

"You should have stayed down." I told him as I got my sword ready in my grasp.

"It's… not my style." He said as he spat out some pixilated blood.

"Your 'style' is going to get you killed. You know that right?" I asked him as I started to spin my katana in my hand.

"I don't care. I don't care if this body is taken from me. If I can save my friends this way then I'll gladly sacrifice it." He said as he readied his weapon.

Giving a deep sigh I looked down at the ground at my hand.

'He's just like a younger me.' I thought before turning around to face him. 'But a younger me, isn't going to keep my brother safe.'

Pulling my blade up and resting it on my shoulder I looked at the man across the way and stood there wondering what exactly I should do. It was then something came to mind.

"Why do you fight Dark?" I asked him with a straight stare.

He looked at me a little shocked but immediately he answered me like he knew what to say all this time.

"I fight for my friends so I can get out of this hell. I fight so I may one day finally get back home and see my family." I saw that he broke his train of thought and looked down at the ground. "I fight… So that way I might meet the friends I have here back in the real world. That's why I fight!" He declared as he brought his weapon up and took an offensive stance.

"A good resolve." I said plainly as I brought my katana back into my stance. I quickly flash stepped in front of him and stared him in the eyes no more than 5 feet from him. "But my reason to fight, far outweighs yours." I said coldly as I flash stepped back to my original location.

"Show me your resolve, Dark." I gave him his ultimatum as I pointed my sword at him with my arm parallel to the ground.

"With pleasure!" he yelled sprinting towards me.

Staring him down I noticed he had gotten a lot faster without the help of his Blaze Trail and he seemed to be a little different than before from our last collision.

He had a resolve, he had a goal and he was dead-set on achieving it. It honestly made me a little glad that I was fighting him.

As soon as he brought his sword up to attack me I brought my own up and had them collide with full force.

To my surprise I felt an amazing pressure from his attack and I was being pushed back slightly with all of the force behind his attack. If I hadn't had the stat boost from beating the dark queen I might have lost to him in a game of brawn.

Gauging his strength I pushed our blades apart and threw another smoke bomb at him.

Quickly cutting it in half, Dark immediately jumped back away from the smoke radius and readied his next skill.

"Flame whip!" I heard him echo through the battlefield again.

Using the smoke to his advantage he grabbed a hold of my leg and brought me to the ground by tripping me. After falling to the ground I noticed that I had been close to a cliff and my sword had fallen down into the nearby valley.

Now that I was down one weapon I debated whether or not I would switch over to my daggers.

As soon as the smoke cleared I noticed that Dark was standing there with a grin on his face.

"Looks like I have the upper hand." He remarked as he saw I had no weapon in my hands.

"Oh, do you now?" I taunted him as I took up an unarmed fighting stance. Balling my fists up I triggered the mechanism in my gauntlets and both blades appeared from their hidden compartments.

Sprinting up to him I brought both of my blades towards his throat and he parried them away. No matter where I attacked him from his flanks he was able to narrowly dodge or block it with his flaming sword and with every time that our blades collided I noticed my health start to chip away.

Backing off from this losing conflict I waited for his next move, ready to counter him and end this little quarrel.

My chance never came.

Immediately taking the opportunity, Dark jumped high into the air and came down on me just as I was backing off.

Having no time to dodge I brought up both of my hidden blades and felt them both shatter beneath the overwhelming force of his blade.

Taking the hit down the middle of my person I felt the flames searing their mark into my flesh. Needless to say, it was rather painful.

Jumping back again I noticed I was now against the cliff with no weapons except my daggers at my sides. I debated once again whether or not I should take them out to deal with him but I didn't have time to think.

Before I knew it Dark had already closed the gap between us and he now had the upper hand.

Swinging his blade at me I ducked below it and punched him in the gut. Swinging my leg up I just narrowly missed his head since he ducked below.

With my back now completely open to him, Dark took his sword and slashed me down my back and I felt my body once again feel like it was set ablaze in the fires of hell.

Falling forward from the force of the attack I soon found myself falling down the cliff. With no time to react or any time to realize what exactly was going on I impacted the water and lost a good chunk of health.

Looking back up I noticed that Dark had found a way down and was making his way over towards me with blade in hand.

Struggling to get up I noticed that I couldn't find my katana nearby. I was stuck with my daggers. I didn't want to use these against him but I had no choice at this point.

"Hehehe…" I started to chuckle and then suddenly I started to laugh as if I was content with this outcome. "Hahaha…HAHAHA!"

Finally lowering my laughter down to a slight snickering, I started to regain my composure and I stared down at my enemy.

"Bravo Dark. You've forced my hand." I said as I put my hands to my sides.

I could feel the bloodlust coming from the daggers. They wanted to have blood and I couldn't blame them. I almost wanted myself to rip him to shreds but my purpose was clear to me in my mind. I wanted to test him.

"Forced your hand to do what?" He asked me with a questioning look.

"To finally get serious." I replied as I took both of my daggers out and spun them in my fingers.

"Shadow blast!" I shout as I send an arc of black energy at my opponent.

"Cutting Edge!" I heard him reply back as he too sent out a blue energy wave as it collided with mine.

Looking back at each other we each stood there in the water next to the waterfall. I didn't know if we thought we were on equal grounds when it came to skill nor did I think we were on the same level but for some reason I felt like he could actually win this fight if I wasn't careful enough.

Spinning my daggers in my hand we both continued to walk around in a circle in the water. The anxiety was killing me but I felt like if I made the next move, I would suffer for it. It was then I noticed his sword glow again and with one resounding roar he disappeared like a fire being lit out and he reappeared behind me.

"Dragon's Flame!" He said before trying to stab me in the back.

"Flash step." I calmly said before disappearing from his sight.

Reappearing up on one of the ledges of the waterfall I looked down at my prey. He hadn't found me just yet so I took the opportunity to attach my chains to my daggers.

Jumping down, I took my chains in my hand and started to spin one of my daggers. Throwing it towards him, he finally noticed my approach and deflected it away. Using my other dagger I threw it towards him and had it wrap around the blade of his sword.

Using my dagger that was deflected away I brought it back down on him and he moved his blade upwards to partially block it. The blades hit each other and the dagger ricocheted into his face cutting him across the cheek.

Retracting the chain I started to spin it again with my other chain still holding his blade. In retaliation, Dark lit his sword aflame and the chains started to morph due to the insane heat. It wasn't long before the chain melted off where it was connected and my dagger fell into the water.

"Looks like you lost your weapon." He said with a smirk.

"Have I?" I replied extending my hand out and willing my dagger into my hand.

"How did you...?" He looked at me astonished.

"These blades are as much as a part of me as my own flesh and blood. It's not that hard to believe that these blades act upon my will." I said as I have one of them float in the air slightly above my hand.

"You are a curious person…" I begin as we both start to walk in a circle like before. "…You take life to save your friends and you take life to preserve your own…" I continue as I start to flip one of my daggers in the air and back into my hand repeatedly.

"…But can you call that strength?" I ask him trying to question his resolve.

I don't know if he was honestly caught off guard by the question or if he was at battle within himself to find the answer but he stood there silent. I stopped in my tracks and waited for his response. Depending on his response I would take the necessary actions.

"I… I don't know if it's necessarily strength or not with having the power to take life… But if I am considered weak then I will accept it. I don't care if I'm considered weak in your eyes, as long as I have the strength to protect my friends that's all that matters to me." He said looking back at me with the same eyes I had pinned him with.

Looking back at each other, we both stood there. Each of us equipped and armed with our own ideals of strength and what it truly means to be strong.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I could meet someone of this caliber. If I would leave my brother in the hands of this person, I think I would be able to rest easy.

It's not that simple though, I still had one more test for him. Still one more hurdle left for him to vault over to see if he truly meant what he said.

Taking both of my daggers I crossed them in front of each other and looked straight into Dark's eyes.

"Good answer. I must say, that is probably the best answer I have ever heard in all of my time in this game. I now know that I don't need to hold back anymore. Prepare yourself." I said finishing my thoughts aloud.

"Activate: Dark King's Domain."

"W-what did you say?!" I hear him yell at me as the surrounding area envelopes in a dark ambiance.

Everywhere we looked the area had turned darker. The water had turned red and the waterfall had stopped flowing. The skies were dark with streaks of purple light cracking the very seams of the space over our heads.

I could feel myself changing to my alter state. My hair had turned black and my eyes had turned into a beady red beneath my mask. My daggers were now engraved in white and ebony sketching completely indescribable to the naked eye.

With the ability finally complete and in effect, I looked back at Dark with my red eyes and watched him.

To my surprise he wasn't shaking from fear. He held his ground and watched my every movement with a calculating eye. He was completely on the defensive and he knew something about what I just did. It warranted his caution and he himself knew that this wasn't going to end well.

"So… You've beaten your specific monster then?" He said with no fear in his voice.

"Yes, I have. As such, I have gained the ultimate ability granted to the disciples. This is my domain. This is the Dark King's Domain." I said taking a step towards him.

"I must say, I'm rather impressed. I take it Mirah told you all about the Disciples and what we are capable of but regardless, you still haven't run or made an attempt to try and save yourself. One would almost say that you're suicidal." I applaud him as I take another step forward.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I may not be able to win this fight with our ability gap so far from each other… but that doesn't mean I'm going to back down." He said taking a step towards me.

"I refuse to believe that I have to run away from you. I refuse to believe that I have to fear you. I won't back down and I won't run away. That's how I've done things so far, and that's how I will continue to do things as long as I live." He said readying himself for the onslaught of his life.

I almost wanted to laugh at his resolve. He spoke to me like I spoke to the Dark Queen. He was completely like me and in the face or certain doom he still stood defiant. I guess it was to be expected since he had shown so much of it earlier but I had to make sure that he wouldn't falter in the face of death itself.

Spinning both of my daggers in my fingers, I slid them back into their respective sheathes and dispelled the Domain. I picked up my katana that drifted through the water and clattered next to my feet and sheathed it as well on my side.

Opening my menu I took out "Death's hand" and looked at it for a good moment before extending my arm out towards Dark.

"I want you to give this to him." I said holding out the black katana. "It's all I can do for him now. He won't accept me nor will he ever want my help. I'm glad he's chosen to someone like you." I say as I stand there trying to hold back my tears.

He steps forward until just beyond arms reach. He extends out his hand and grabs a hold of the katana and I let go.

"Who are you?" he asks me as I turn around.

I notice my brother in the forest nearby running towards us in the water. With his blade in hand he means to attack me again for throwing him down the hill.

Chuckling slightly I start to walk away and before I make my epic exit I turn my head around to take one last look at Dark.

"My name? My name is Kira." I say before disappearing from view.

I quickly hide in the shadows of the nearby forest and look to see Flame talking to Dark. I'm not sure what I was feeling today but for some reason, I truly felt at ease when I saw them both standing there in the water, next to a running waterfall on a beautiful day like today. It made me feel good to be alive and I knew that I had made the right choice in letting my brother decide who he confided his trust in.

Taking one last look back at them I opened my menu and sent a friend request to Dark. Seeing the menu appear in front of him, I noticed he looked around to see if he could find me. Fruitlessly giving up the quick search he accepted the request and I saw the notification appear in front of me.

[You are now friends with DarkBlade]

Jumping further back in the forests I departed for the day and went back to the inn.

A few more minutes into my journey back I received a message from Dark.

**Kira**

**I heard about how you made Sienna cry on the 33rd floor. Add that along with the damage you did to my and the others you have quite a few bad things going for you. Just a warning. If you hurt any of my friends again, I will fight you to the death. Remember that and have a good day.**

**From DarkBlade.**

Chuckling from the threat I decided to write a few words in response and sent it to him.

**DarkBlade**

**Challenge Accepted.**

Finally getting back to town I debated whether or not I would go see Ridge about these new gauntlets and see if he could modify them to make the blades stronger.

Mulling over my options I decided to summon up Virgil.

"Virgil!" I yelled at the shadow in the alley nearby.

Immediately lightning stepping to me and kneeling down on one knee, Virgil appeared.

"You called?" He asked looked up with a smile.

"Why are you following me so intently?" I asked him curious as to why he wasn't off doing intelligence work.

"I had noticed that you left after taking on Dark and I was wondering why you didn't beat him down to a bloody pulp." He said getting up.

"I think you're getting soft." He said taunting me.

"Not getting soft. I'm for once going to rely on my brother to make the right choice in trusting someone."

"Awww that's so sweet!" He said a little giddy.

"Shut up." I replied brushing his affection away.

"I need you to do something. Go track them and keep me updated on their movements. Be sure to stay 50 meters away from them so you don't trigger the Disciple glows." I told him as he once again kneeled.

"It will be done. _My lord._" He emphasized in a samurai/shogun tone.

Erupting in a flash of lightning, Virgil was gone and he made his way towards his destination.

'Now with that out of the way…' I thought before heading deeper in to town. '…Time to pay Ridge a visit.'

I stopped in front of Ridge's shop and gave a deep sigh before making taking a step forward. I knew that this was going to be an earful and I knew he would be pissed that his blades broke but at least he would make them better.

As I took another two steps forward I heard a clicking sound as if I accidentally pressed down on a pressure plate.

Instantly the ground beneath me opened up in a 10 foot diameter and I fell straight through into the abyss.

"DAMNIT RIIIIIIIDGE!" I echoed through the downward tunnel as the hole above closed.

Sliding through the underground tunnel network, I soon found myself sliding up, sliding down and even left and right. Eventually after I got bored of trying to fight my descent… or I guess my transport, I gave up and soon found myself flying into a chair in a room. The room was dark and all I could see was the piercing ray of light as if I was in a police interrogation room with a lamp shining in my face.

It was then that I heard a voice… more specifically, Ridge's voice.

"_Hello your shadowiness…" _He started in a raspy yet crazy voice.

**And with that, Chapter 25. Hope you enjoyed it. Kudos goes out to Darkninja20 for all the help with the collaboration. I hope you liked what we put together, expect to see more cause and effects from us both as we each impact each other's work. Look forward to it. Please R&R… I live for the R&R! _ **


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Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン, Adventure, Fantasy