Chapter 21 - The Children

When Kirito finally made his decision to search for Yui's parents Mint messaged him, it told Kirito that he found a little girl that has white hair and if Kirito knew something about her, Kirito quickly wrote "A little girl? We found one too at the forest yesterday, she lost her memories so we planned to take her to the beginner town to search for her parents" Mint replied "Wait for a second... So we both found a kid probably around the same day... Let's just meet up at the started town teleporter..." Mint just replied "Yep"...

When Mint arrived at the town Teleport Gate half an hour earlier so he opened a demonic door to a luxurious inn to wait inside...

After Kirito and Asuna felt nostalgic about being in the beginner town they spotted the demonic door, Kirito was curious but he guessed it's Mint's door so he knocked on it, after he knocked the door opened revealing Mint and Shiro playing chess, right as Kirito opened his mouth to say hi Mint won the game earning a cute pout from Shiro while she said "You must be cheating or something" Mint replied arrogantly "I am the best at games so of course, you would think that, but don't worry as I'll teach you all the tricks and we will work together to create a stronger team than ever!" Mint patted her head at the second sentence, Kirito then waved his hand awkwardly and said "Hey, Mint... The door was open..." Mint nodded and said, "So I am Mint, the Fiend God, this is Shiro she calls me big brother so get used to that. this is Kirito, my little brother. this is Asuna his wife and..." he gestures to Kirito that finishes the sentence "This is Yui she calls us dad and mom so you too get used to that", Shiro greets them monotonously and then goes to hug Mint's arm, Mint then says "Alrighty let's start the investigation!"

Mint went around town while piggybacking Shiro with the gang, Mint, and Shiro mostly zoned out as they walked until they heard someone shout "Return the children!", Shiro pointed into the direction and told Mint "Be the hero!" Mint just nodded and sprinted towards the sound while he was about twice as fast as both Kirito and Asuna.

Mint suddenly appeared near the kids, as if he teleported there, Shiro then said "It looks like they are gangsters..." surprising everyone at the newcomer, the soldiers of 'The Army' then roared "Who the hell dares say that?! Are you going to obstruct us from doing our respectful duties?!" as the man shouted he took out his sword to make himself more intimidating, and it worked on the kids but Shiro just said monotonously "Annoying... Brother, can you crush him please?" Mint smiled and said, "Sure just let me summon the right fiend for these weaklings!", Mint then waved his hand and 3 Chain Devils that were each made out of 5 [he could summon 30 chain devils at his level], each of these devils used a skill on all the soldiers [6 of them] called that makes the target see a departed loved ones or bitter enemies making the soldiers scared as fuck, some even used teleport crystals to teleport to the furthest floor from here [I too would want to run away if I saw my dead family and lover being covered in demonic chains, plus this is a death game so the people will have a weaker mentality when faced with things like this]... So after they all ran away Mint clapped and unsummoned the Fiends, after doing so he gave a thumbs up to the 3 kids and said: "Don't worry, because I am here!"... The kids were obviously amazed and ignored the scary devil he summoned so they stood there stunned while looking at Mint with glistening eyes, Mint then noticed Yui mumbling some things while tightly holding Kirito... Until suddenly a static noise pierced everyone's ears, everyone tried to block the noise and Shiro stumbled back distancing herself from Mint as she blocked the noise out with her hands moreover a change occurred to Mint, Mint shouted , a giant cage made out of crystal bones appeared around Mint and surrounding it were all kinds of chains from demonic to holy quivering trying to contain the beast within leaving only one door to be left open, as the cage appeared a necklace Mint gave Shiro activated making an Incubus that looks similar to Mint appear with a frown... After a minute of Shiro calming down with the help of Incubus Mint as the real Mint has separated from her Kirito asked him "What the hell happened???" Incubus Mint said frustrated "Well first off I am an Incubus that's made to be Mint's replacement when he gets a certain quest that forces the Fiend god side of him to fight for dominance of Mint's body which if he fails will make him into a boss equal to the floor 100th boss. It was supposed to happen when we reach floor 93 and when he enters the god realm that connects all of to get his 2 remaining weapons that will help defeat the final boss, but it seems a bug occurred making the quest activate now, but luckily Mint is above level 100, he's level 104 and the maximum level for him is 150 as the quest would have penalties for below level 100. Oh, and I am made out of 96 Incubuses because he used a skill called that doubles his summoning limit so here I am, pretty strong... Oh, and my main weapon is a lance/spear thing..." Kirito processed all that information and says at the end "When will he finish the quest?" Incubus Mint thinks and says "From five hours to three days, I will sense when he finishes it so shall we go for now? Oh, and my name is Baal." Baal then went and hugged Shiro and said "Your big brother is completing a quest so I shall be with you okay? Oh and don't worry whatever I feel Mint feels too!" Shiro nodded and Baal piggybacked her...

At the orphanage when asked about Shiro Baal told her that she too was found in the forest but at a different location on the same day without her memories.

They now entered the dungeon as Baal said he wants to come with them on their quest to save Thinker... After Kirito slew the scavage toads he first approached Asuna to cook the frog meat but when she denied him he looked at Baal, Baal said "Mint does have plenty of recipes that can use the Toad Meat" Kirito nodded and smiled while giving a thumbs up...

When the Fatal scythe appeared Baal prepared to fight with his all after he sent Shiro to be with Yui and after equipped his bone armor, he summoned Mint's personal mount Antoran the nightmare with wings, after Asuna and Kirito tried to block Baal went at full speed while activating a skill "" and after he activated that skill a red and black aura was radiating from Baal and Antoran, Asuna and Kirito could see Baal's health dropping about 6th of his health per 5 seconds. Baal charged at Fatal Scythe with his Lance but he blocked it with his scythe while he got pushed back considerably, Baal continued his charge as Antoran stepped forward step by step pushing Fatal scythe back, but then Fatal scythe suddenly parried the attack and struck Baal and Antoran hard with the scythe, Antoran disappeared into data crystals as Baal flew back with shattered armor and a gaping hole in his chest as the skill lowered his armor, after seeing Shiro and Yui slowly walking towards Fatal Scythe he cursed saying "Fuck me it's my first day in this world and it's ending so soon?! Shiro, go back!" as he got up with his weapon in hand the skill he used diactivated on his own, Baal tried activating it again and again but it didn't activate but not because he didn't have sufficient health as he still had a fifth of his health.

Baal watched as Shiro silently followed Yui and activated her item eraser making a firey sword appear in her hand, as Fatal Scythe blocked Yui sword Shiro slashed him from below erasing it... While Yui had her confession openly with Asuna and Kirito Shiro layed on Baal's healed chest as she silently cried while saying "My story is the same as hers but I'm the second prototype" Baal hugged her tightly only comforting her and Shiro hugged Baal back tighter as Yui got asked "What do you wish for?" by Kirito, as Yui said they two will be deleted by cardinal Baal shouted "I'll prevent it by any means! I was instructed by Mint to protect you all!"... As they both disappeared Baal ran to the GM console and punched it, unexpectedly it went through the console while Baal screamed as his skin seemingly molted, after 22 seconds Baal got blown away while he started laughing, after he used a healing crystal he said "I succeded saving them!" as he gave Kirito an item, a frozen crystal looking like a tear called 'Yui's Heart while he kept a similar object in his hands tightly hugging it...

While this all happened Mint watched all this on a screen inside the cage while using Tower Shields to deflect all the attacks coming at him. while smiling he said, "Time to finish this... Baal gained sentience so that's nice"