September 20th, 2025. New Aincrad, Alfheim. 15th Floor, 12:30…
Standing silently at the edge of the Floating Castle, the black and white-clad form of Kirito stared towards the land of Alfheim down below, taking in all the beauty of the world of fairies with his eyes.
Idly, he wondered if it would really 'last', like this. Giving his record, some crazy shit or another would pop up sooner or later to threaten this 'peace' he was enjoying, to send him in yet another mad quest to try and stop a lunatic, save a virtual world or rescue someone in troubles…
Sighing, he shook his head, wondering when he had accepted such things as part of his 'normal' life. In the end, it didn't matter, he guessed: If something threatened him, his friends or anyone innocent, he would punch the problem away. Like always.
…it was kind of 'sad' that he had already accepted that as his default course of action for most things. And that, at the same time, he had been forced to accept that there were many things (Sometimes TOO many) that he COULDN'T solve by just punching in their general direction.
For example…his current 'situation' with Asuna and Suguha.
Honestly, the black-haired boy…couldn't understand it. Like, in ANY way. It just…didn't make sense, as if his brain was a computer suffering a severe case of Blue Screen of Death, just worse.
It had already been 4 days since the 'meeting' at Agil's café, and his mind still couldn't properly BELIEVE what had happened. After leaving him speechless and with a serious case of mental-shock, both girls had acted as if nothing special had happened and spent most of the time they were there after the 'event' talking with Shino as the group 'welcomed' her. The bespectacled girl seemed a bit overwhelmed, but still clearly happy about being accepted by so many friendly people (Not to mention her personal 'heroine'). As the evening progressed and everyone finally started to bid farewell to each other, part of his mind had started to think that maybe he had hallucinated the whole thing.
Then Asuna and Suguha had quickly walked to his side, each one grabbing one of his arms and happily dragging him ahead. He was pretty sure he had felt more than one of his friends STARING at them before they rounded a corner out of sight.
A minute later, he had finally recovered enough of his thinking ability to demand (Plead) to the girls for an explanation, which they had given him while still dragging him through a relatively desert street.
They had agreed to…'share' him, for lack of a better word. It wasn't as 'crude' as it sounded, however: Both had accepted their feelings for him, both accepted that he loved both of them and both were willing to acknowledge the other's feelings. As such, they had reached a 'compromise' to try and both 'be' with him, with full consent and approval of the other, for their sakes and that of everyone else.
The gamer, for his part, had wondered if Death Gun hadn't somehow managed to kill him for real in the Bullet of Bullets and that was some sort of crazy afterlife. There was NO WAY something like that was happening.
He could accept getting Saitama's 'superpowers' in the virtual world. He could accept his life and friends suddenly turning into weird parallels to One Punch-Man. He could even accept lunatics suddenly getting evil parodies of the show's villains' powers or that he somehow retained the Caped Baldy's 'instincts' in reality.
But that his adoptive little sister and best friend suddenly accepted to be in a relationship with him AT THE SAME TIME, as if it was the plot of some convoluted manga? Yeah, right, no way that could happen to him.
That had been more or least the 'loop' in which his brain had gotten caught until both girls, blushing and a bit shy, had asked him if he was okay with it.
Funny. Their question implied that he even HAD a possibility to refuse, and he was pretty sure his life would have ended one way or another if he did. Not that any part of his mind or soul, be it the one that was a hormonal teenager or the one who dearly loved both of them, had any wish to refuse, of course.
Numbly and still thinking he would wake up from an epilepsy-induced coma at any moment, he had accepted. Both Asuna and Sugu had beamed happily at him before once again kissing his cheeks, then walked away by themselves to talk about 'girl things' (In their words).
Kazuto, for his part, had stood there like an idiot for almost half an hour and, after realizing that he WASN'T dreaming or dead or in a coma, he had remembered he left his bike parked outside the café. He vaguely remembered Agil, Andrew on the real world, taking out the trash and asking if he was okay as he got on his motorcycle. Kazuto had responded with a curt affirmation before riding away. He had arrived home, took a bath, eaten with his family (It was one of those rare occasions in which Kirigaya Midori was home to talk with her children and ask how things were going for them) and started washing the dishes, all of it almost in 'auto-pilot'. Then, Sugu had walked closer the moment their mother went away and kissed his cheek, wishing him goodnight.
The gamer brain had finally reacted at that point, accepting that the events of the day had, indeed, been real. An inner war had started inside him, between feeling like the luckiest bastard to ever live or being freaked out beyond belief about how much he could screw everything up, the many ways in which he could accidentally hurt one or both girls, and so and so on.
After all, as stated several times before, Kirigaya Kazuto hadn't been the most social person before SAO. Even after that, his 'Person Skills' got limited to try and punch away every problem he encountered, then maybe befriending people that were helped by him punching said problems away. If they didn't run away screaming or just thought he was crazy, that is. He DID love Asuna and Suguha, that was one of the few things he could be absolutely certain of nowadays, but aside from that fact, his knowledge about actual relationships was limited to videogames and manga. Didn't really help that he preferred more the 'violent and explosive' or 'epic adventure' types of both things, and not the 'sweet romantic' ones.
He was just glad of having arrived at his bed before passing out from mental overload. The last thing he needed was a concussion or something from falling face-first on the ground.
That was why he was now there; trying to calm down and tell himself he WASN'T going to screw things up in his current and crazy 'relationship'. And that he was going to do his best to make both girls happy, no matter what happened, until he died or something else shattered this impossible 'dream' he was now living in. Things he couldn't just 'punch away', that is.
Like the whole thing being found out by his adoptive mother/aunt. Or Asuna's family. Or the rest of his friends…
"…I'm dating my adoptive sister and my best friend, at the same time and with both their consent…and the probabilities of this ending horribly wrong are as high coming from me as from an outside source." whispered Kirito before sighing and looking down, a gloved hand finding its way to his face. "Can't my life be a bit less complicated? Or at least something that doesn't make me think I have more possibilities facing the Sea King like the metaphorical Licenseless Rider than getting out of this okay?"
"That depends. What the hell are you talking about?" came a familiar voice from behind him, making the boy squeak in surprise and turn around, in time to came face to face with a freaking black-grey hippogriff.
The gamer was glad that his instincts were 'trained enough' to not punch every little thing that freaked him out. Otherwise, that wouldn't have ended well for the creature that the blue-haired catgirl was riding.
"Goddammit Sinon, don't scare me like that!" complained Kirito before shaking his head, giving the Caith Sith a sidelong-glance. "Why are you even here?...and wait, how long have you been here?!"
"Uhm, since the part you complained about your life being complicated, Mr. Hero. Why?" asked her before getting off the large creature. "Good job, Charon."
"Nothing…important, really." muttered the caped boy while eyeing the large familiar.
When they had invited Shino to play ALO with them as a way for her to get to know everyone better, the gamer had been unsure if she would accept. After all, she seemed clearly at home in her gun-ruled and post-apocalyptic world.
Of course, he should have expected the sniper would jump at the opportunity to spent more time with her 'role model' (Aka his ex-vigilante little sister) in the virtual world. Given that she had just won the BoB, she had quite a bit of cash to spare, so buying a copy of Alfheim Online hadn't been a problem for her.
What Kirito wasn't expecting was for her to convert her GGO account. When he had asked her why she was doing so, she had stared at him in confusion and replied 'Why not?'
It made sense, in hindsight. After all, despite being a game mainly ruled by your own skill, ALO still was affected somewhat by your character's stats, and it was clear that Sinon didn't want to start off too far behind the rest of her new friends. Besides, as she herself had pointed out, it wasn't as if she couldn't convert her account back for the next Bullet of Bullets or something. Hell, she had even offered to guide the Association through the world of guns if they ever wanted to go all together to 'experience' a very different world. The idea had clearly intrigued everyone, and the gamer had no doubt that they would probably be going in group to Gun Gale Online at some point in the future.
Back on track, however, Sinon had been very quick to 'adapt' to the game. Despite having been playing for only three days, she had quickly gotten a hang of how she wanted to play. Even more so, she had chosen to play as a Caith Sith because of the sharper senses the beast-like race had over the other races, something that didn't surprise the boy given her mixed fighting style, but she had also been quick to take advantage of the other thing the Caith Siths had above the rest of fairies.
Monster Taming.
Pina and Silica were inseparable, anyone could see that after watching them fight together just once, and despite their many 'arguments' no one could deny they complemented each other in an amazing way. The little dragon packed quite a punch and was way more intelligent and independent than any basic AI should be, something Yui and Strea had happily pointed out several times. In every sense, he was as much of an SAO survivor as everyone else. Meanwhile, Garasu, the black crow, was the perfect 'pet' for Argo. Maybe it had little to no abilities in a fight, but it was an incredibly tricky creature, and it helped the whiskered girl a lot to do her favorite hobby, info-gathering, without having to spend ungodly amounts of time away from her friends.
Sinon had gone straight for effectiveness when, two days ago, she had asked the two other Caith Siths of the group for help getting a familiar on her own. She had been very clear too, saying straight out 'I want something fast and that can hit hard. It would be cool if I could ride it, too'.
The beast in front of him, named Charon after the ferryman of Hades, was the result of that. An imposing and fast creature, not only a great partner for the reliable sniper but also quite good for her to use the longbow she now had from a safe distance. She also carried a special katana on her hips, crafted by Liz herself, just a bit over half the length of Leafa's own Justice or Philia's Akumakira, which she was quickly getting used to as best as she could, using the same 'cut as fast as you can in the enemy's general direction'-style that she used with her lightsaber, but also having taken some basic lessons about katana Skill with the group's other Spriggan, in case they were necessary.
There was also the advantage that she could RIDE the proud flying beast, which not only helped her with her problems with flying (None of them had any doubt she would learn how to soon, but, given that she hadn't been doing it for even a week, she still relied on the controller and that annoyed the sniper), but was also slightly faster than an average fairy.
"Oh yeah? Well, if you say that then maybe you can come and use your time for something useful?" questioned the girl with a confident grin on her face. "Argo says she found quite an interesting Quest about an undersea temple or something like that. Keita-san and the other boys are free right now, so we wanted to go and tackle it as more training for me to get used to this game."
"An undersea temple?" blinked the gamer with a slight surprise. "Well, that's something I can truthfully say I have never seen before…eh, why not? It may be fun…"
"Yeah, just try and don't go around killing everything for us, okay?" joked the Caith Sith while the Spriggan deadpanned at her. "Besides, this will help calm down Argo, I think. I don't know why, but she seems on edge every time the rest mentions how excited they are for the next 'Update' for the Floors of Aincrad and about arriving at Floor 22 or something…"
"Oh…That." sweatdropped Kirito while looking to the side. "Let's just say that…it's for personal reasons."
While it was understandable, a part of the gamer and his friends had been a bit disappointed to know that not ALL of New Aincrad's Floors would be available right away. It was obvious why, though: Ymir had decided to make the Floating Castle the new 'Grand Quest' of the game, to replace the previous fake one, and despite already having the data for the scenery and the castle itself, they couldn't exactly put Aincrad back together as it had originally been inside ALO, or it would have been TOO EASY for the players to conquer. On the first update, which included all Floors from the 1st to the 10th, the SAO Survivors had been able to experience firsthand how, despite looking the same, Aincrad was now much more difficult to beat, mobs and Quests having been 'upgraded' to be a challenge to both new and old players of Alfheim Online, and the main Dungeons and Bosses having suffered also quite some changes, in some cases being radically different from how they had been back in SAO. Besides, all dungeons in the castle were a No-Fly Zone, and the Flying Limit of the whole world was 'tied' to Aincrad, in the sense that the limit would never go above the current Front Line.
Of course, all of this had just been a welcome and exciting challenge for everyone, the United Heroes Association eager to try and beat the new and upgraded castle, with Leafa also being eager about getting to know the place where her beloved Onii-chan and his friends had spent so much time in. None of them had skipped a single of the Boss Fights (Even if Kirito didn't actually participate, for obvious reasons), and they had all celebrated a party in real life when they reached and beaten the 10th Floor Boss. When the second 'update' came, containing all Floors from the 11th to the 20th, they had enjoyed themselves even more, despite not being able to get into every single Boss Fight like before, the hype about Aincrad having attracted many Players from everywhere and, adding their restarted educations to that, they couldn't quite devote themselves as much to the game. Even so, they still had tons of fun and exciting adventures during that time, not to mention getting to be the ones who dealt the last hit to the 20th Floor Boss.
But this incoming update in particular, which would come out in 4 days, was what most of the guild were eagerly waiting for. Because it would contain all the Floors from the 21st to the 30th. Which meant there was only one Boss separating them from their 'vacation house', that old log house in the woods on Floor 22. Everyone was really excited about it, the girls even more, and even his sister was really curious about the place where they had apparently spent most of their last weeks of Sword Art Online.
Everyone except for Argo and himself, of course, even if they wouldn't outwardly show it and pretend to be as 'enthusiastic' as their friends about it. After all, they would NEVER be able to feel relaxed in Aincrad's 22nd Floor again, ever, not after THAT NIGHT.
Banishing the thoughts about a tall and slender abomination in a suit from his mind, Kirito decided that it didn't really matter. They would get back the Log House and, with any luck, that THING wouldn't spawn again, the Cardinal System having forgotten forever about that horrible Quest.
Hey, he could wish for at least SOMETHING to be positive about his crazy-looking future, right?
"Well, I'm sure I will see it by myself soon enough…" commented Sinon while the caped boy got out of his memories. "Anyway, ready for this? We're going!"
"Uh? Just us, Argo, Keita, and the boys? What about the rest?"
"They're all busy with something or another right now, apparently." informed him the sniper while she once again got on her loyal mount. "Philia and Sachi are trying to get some rare spear for her somewhere in Salamander's territory, Liz and Silica went to the Leprechaun's capital for the former to get some rare ingots, Asuna and Leafa-sama say they needed to talk about 'something private' and no one has seen Strea or Yui since this morning."
"…for some reason, I get an incredibly ominous feeling about the last two bits…" muttered the gamer while shivering.
"Hey, stop complaining about nonsense and let's get going!" shouted the Caith Sith, already several hundred meters down and flying away from the floating castle at Charon's top speed. "That undersea temple awaits us!"
"…her motivations for becoming stronger changed from 'overcoming her fears' to 'become a worthy protector of justice that would make Suguha-sama proud' scarily quickly. That's…something good, I guess." idly commented Kirito before sighing and jumping off Aincrad. "Sinon, take it easy! It's not as if that Dungeon it's going to go away!"
A little less than 2 hours later, Kirigaya Kazuto took off his AmuSphere, blinking. He was just finishing standing up when his door opened and Suguha's beaming form appeared there, looking at him with a wide smile.
"Oh, Onii-chan, you're back already!" said the young kendoka with a bright smile. "How was your day in ALO?"
"Well…we went to the ocean and then had Keita use some of his Undine spells to help everyone who needed it to arrive at this weird underwater temple, where a shady old man asked us to 'recover a stolen treasure'. It was pretty cool, the design and everything, even if I was mostly just tagging along to watch and help the others to 'train' Sinon in the things of Alfheim…" the gamer noticed how his adoptive sister released a nervous chuckle at the mention of her 'fangirl', still not quite knowing how to deal with someone that saw her as a heroine and savior. "But I was kind of feeling that something was off about the whole thing, so when we got out and Keita was going to give the old man the treasure I stopped him and tried to question him about his motives."
"And what happened then?" curiously asked Suguha, apparently not finding her brother trying to inquire things like that to an NPC to be weird.
"Well, turns out I was right. The old man started to laugh like a cliché villain and revealed himself as some sort of evil giant squid. Funny thing, it was fucking obvious in hindsight: The 'treasure' wasn't a pearl, but an 'egg' of some kind and the old man was called 'Nerakk'. An anagram of his true identity 'Kraken' the Abyss Lord."
"So he had tricked you all to steal the egg for him?!" gasped the young kendoka with wide eyes, unable to believe the villainy of the virtual monster. "How despicable of that bastard!"
"Yep, I thought along the same lines. Didn't help that he was apparently stronger than a couple of SAO Floor Bosses put together, the others (Who were quite pissed for the deceit, by the way) could do little more than scratch him and even Argo going full Berserk on him or Sinon shooting an explosive arrow to his eye barely slowed him down, so..."
"You punched him." finished the girl with yet another smile, now sitting at the black-haired boy's side.
"Can you blame me? I don't like sea-related evil monsters." both siblings released a chuckle at the joke behind that before Kazuto continued his tale. "After that, while everyone was cheering for the bastard's death, this cool and imposing guy called Leviathan the Sea Lord showed up. He seemed quite surprised we had defeated that Kraken bastard, but still thanked us for it and said he had to go and put the egg back in a safe place. Argo handed it back to him after we were 'sure' he was a good guy and then he summoned a white humpback whale to take us back to the shore."
"Woah, that sounds very cool!" a look of wonder in her eyes at imagining it, the younger Kirigaya looked back at her brother with an excited look. "What happened after that?"
"Well...nothing much. We had finished the mission, so we went back and then Logged Out." accepted the black-haired boy, making the kendoka blink in confusion.
"But...what about the egg? What happened to it? Where did that Leviathan guy take it? Why did Kraken want to steal it?"
"I...am not really sure." confessed the gamer while looking away, pondering. "I THINK I remember the bastard saying something about defying the 'Aesir' and I don't know what else...certainly, it seems a bit TOO complicated of a hidden plot to just be forgotten like that...maybe there is a way to find where that Quest continues somewhere else...?"
"Heh, why don't we think it over while we go to eat some ice-cream?" grinned Suguha before standing up. "Ready to go, Onii-chan?
"Uh? Wait, right now?"
"Duh, of course! It will be like our first 'official' date, don't you think?" said her with a blushing face before softly leaning forward and giving him a quick kiss on the lips, freezing Kazuto's mind in place. "Don't take too long!"
The gamer was still trying to think of what to answer when the girl ran out of his room, giggling softly all the while.
"A date...okay, Kazuto, don't panic." were the panicking thoughts of the black-haired boy as he tried to not hyperventilate. "You CAN do this. You have punched down gods and madmen with alien powers, this...this can't be too difficult. You WON'T screw this up!"
That was when someone rang the house's doorbell, making the surprised gamer start to stand...
"Oh, Asuna-san, you came!"
"Hi there, Suguha-chan!"
...then sink back into his bed with a terrified expression, never having felt less than a Hero able to punch a world into oblivion and more like a socially-awkward teenager about to go on his 'first date'. With two girls.
He was SO going to screw this up...
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Back in ALO, in Aincrad's 10th Floor, the Caith Sith known as Argo jumped over yet another of the small ruins that surrounded the area near the 'Thousand Snake Castle'. As she had expected, one of the samurai-like mobs that roamed through the zone was waiting there, turning around to try and attack her with a Katana Skill.
She didn't even give it a chance.
"Predator's Fury"
With a mental sigh, the info-broker let her mind wander slightly as she 'entrusted herself to the Berserker', so to speak.
Being honest, Berserk wasn't a Skill that she would have ever thought about having, back at the beginning of SAO. Leaving aside how she never thought about becoming an active Front Liner back then, she used to prefer quick run-and-hit tactics, while her Unique Skill was the opposite, but she had adapted quickly after getting it.
Berserk's Skills were the 'longest' ones in the game, which was the main point of them, to allow to make up for the lack of damage one could cause unarmed by unleashing more hits than with a weapon (Though her claws certainly helped too, especially since Liz starting forging for them with God Hand). However, this also gave way to the greatest weakness of them.
Even as she saw how her brutal and deadly blows beat the 'Snake Ronin' into submission, Argo could feel an almost familiar 'disconnection', though her sharp mind was ready for when the 'control' of her body was 'given back'.
Simply put, not only were Berserk's blows brutal and almost seemingly random but also left her wide open for any counterattack. While there was a bit of a stunning property in her hits while she executed the Skills, this meant that she couldn't take on more than one enemy when alone, for it would risk other easily attacking her in a deadly way while she was unable to stop her body, the long Skills belonging to the Unique Skill's Tree being pretty inconvenient in that sense. While there was the second hidden property of Berserk to take into account, that of slowly increasing her damage output if she lost HP while executing her Skills, that didn't make up for the fact that if someone or something skilled enough tried to target her limbs or head she would be easily brought down by her own attacks. Back in the old Aincrad, she had been quick to learn and to be cautious with this.
And yet, that hadn't stopped Kayaba from easily using this against her and left her on the ground, missing a leg and both her hands, after she tried this same Skill on him.
Sighing this time for real as the mob broke into polygons, the Caith Sith allowed herself an idle moment before the Skill finally finished, 6 hits to spare having been dealt at the empty air and left her wide open. If she hadn't scouted the area first, to make sure no other of those samurai-mobs were around, that would have probably cost her quite an annoying Death Penalty.
"And that's done." whispered the whiskered girl to no one even as Garasu descended from the skies and rested on her shoulder, giving her a questioning look (Or so she thought). "Yeah, good job, boy. Scouting in anti-flying areas is way easier with you around."
Honestly, she knew very well that she wasn't really into the Quest while finishing it. Her mind was currently far too distracted, thinking about a certain gamer able to blast everything into oblivion with one punch.
She had been ready to give up on her feelings, not long ago. After the…'mess' caused by Kirito accepting how he felt about both Asuna and Suguha, she had been sure things wouldn't end up well unless they put real effort into it. And even when she and the others had been ready to try and help the situation to be resolved, she had no doubt that, after that, things would be too awkward between them for the boy to ever think about a relationship.
Then, the Death Gun thing had happened, which had resulted in two things.
One, she had realized that she TRULY loved the boy, without a doubt, remembering clearly how her heart clenched in horror every time she had seen his body suffering under the 'attacks' of the hooded killer.
Second, things between him, Asuna and Suguha had 'fixed themselves', as if by magic. Hell, they seemed even CLOSER than before, for anyone who bothered to look closely. Subtle things like how both girls acted towards him and the disappearance of most (If not all) of their previous 'rivalry' was what ticked Argo off. She wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but a strange feeling that seemed to be jealousy mixed with anger and something else swelled inside her when she thought about it. Which led to her current situation.
Should she just forget about Kirito already? Certainly, it seemed like the most logical option, given the crazy state of things (Meaning having 90% of her friends also loving the boy) and how the boy was dense as a rock most of the time…but the true realization of her feelings had shaken her in a way she didn't know was possible. After all, for all the teasing nature, scary intelligence, sharp cunning and great value of info and money, Argo the Caith Sith was still Izawa Shiori, a simple teenage girl in love. And everyone knew those were usually the most dangerous kind.
Didn't exactly help that, if the 'subtle hints' she had seen earlier that day on the undersea temple's Quest were anything to go by, their newest member, Sinon, was either in the way or already in the 'club' of girls that the caped boy had unintentionally charmed.
Shaking her head again while letting her back rest against a wall, the whiskered girl thought that maybe it would be better to stop thinking about it for now and Log Out already. After all, it wasn't as if she could do something to resolve the situation 'magically', like making a pact with the Devil or something like that…
"Why do you look so sad, Argo-chan?"
Freezing even as Garasu cawed in fright, the Caith Sith's eyes shot upwards, coming face to face with a nightmarish visage, clad in ethereal and never-ending darkness, a figure tall and with eyes the color of blood that seemed to drink her soul, as if the Evil One himself had heard her joke and come to answer her pleas…
"Oops, sorry, forgot to turn off Darkness Blade!" sheepishly apologized Strea while jumping down and sheathing Gram on her back again, making the surprised Argo blink. "But seriously, you looked really down and totally not-cute with that frown of a moment ago, you know, Argo-chan?"
"Yes, and that's not good!" added Yui while popping from behind the Gnome's shoulder, cutting off any attempts of the info-broker for asking where she had been or how did they found her. "We should all be always happy if nothing bad is happening, after all! Right, Argo-mama?"
"U-uhm, I…I guess?" uncertainly answered the girl, wondering why she felt as if she was a canary in front of two hungry lions.
When the smile on the face of the 'younger' of the virtual sisters widened at her words, she couldn't help but shiver for an odd an unknown reason.
"Great to know you agree! So, then, Argo-chan, why would you say if I told you I have a way to make sure we are all happy if you help us…?"
As the sun started to go down on Alfheim, Argo couldn't help but feel that maybe making a pact with the Devil would have been less scary…
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September 24th, 2025. New Aincrad, Alfheim. 21st Floor's Boss Room, 14:30…
Ready to fight with all its might, the 21st Floor Boss of New Aincrad spawned, ready to try his best to obliterate the players that wished to arrive at the 22nd Floor.
Armed with all kinds of abilities and tactics especially designed to test the players of Alfheim Online to their limits, the first Boss of the recently released 'update' readied his massive and golem-like body, the blocky form of his mass seeming imposing enough to…
Wait, why was only ONE player walking towards him? And why where so few of them there?
…is what the Boss would have wondered if it had any degree of sentience. However, as his AI wasn't quite that advanced, it merely moved forward to try and crush the Spriggan clad in black and white, who stared at the imposing creature with a mix of resignation and…sorrow?
"I'm TRULY sorry for this. Really, only imagining all the effort those guys from Ymir put into programming you, designing you, readying all your different phases and battle tactics to test the players to their limits…it hurts my gamer pride, to even entertain this thought. Hurts it badly…"
"Hey, Kirito, what's taking you so long?" came Lisbeth's voice from the other side of the room, and if the Boss had any ability to wonder about such things it would probably have questioned why they all were already in front of the currently closed door to the next Floor. "Quick, before anyone else comes!"
"…but they REALLY want to get to Floor 22 right away." sighed the caped boy while looking down in defeat. "And, something I'm starting to realize may be a serious problem, I can't say no when my friends beg something to me…"
At this point, the Floor Boss froze, whatever code the staff of Ymir had programmed into it seeming for a moment to be overridden by whatever 'AI enhancement' that the Cardinal System of ALO seemed to grant several of its inhabitants thanks to the fact that its 'life' was suddenly in mortal danger…
The massive granite golem had enough time to emit a sound roughly translated as 'Fuck'.
Then, Kirito punched it.
Less than 20 minutes later, the United Heroes Association was standing proudly in front of a certain log house near a lake, in the middle of the massive forests that covered the entire Floor. Asuna proudly finished buying the virtual property again under the curious gaze of Sinon and Leafa, the only ones who only knew of the place thanks to the tales of the rest.
Everyone cheered once the house was once again the property of the guild.
…well, everyone except Kirito and Argo, the former still brooding about the 'crime' against the gamer community of ALO they had 'forced' him to commit and the later watching him with dubious eyes and a 'weird' look on her eyes.
"…hey, cheer up, Kii-bou." said the Caith Sith with a smile, though if the Spriggan had been a bit less 'depressed' he may had noticed it was a bit strained. "Everyone will be happier like this, and I don't think they will care too much that you offed a Boss if you never do it again!"
"If you say so…" sighed the caped boy, apparently not noticing the 'odd' choice of words of his arguably first friend (Though they had only been 'acquaintances' in SAO's Beta), before looking at her in confusion. "I would have thought you would be more annoyed by this, though, giving that you never really liked this Floor after…"
"Yeah, let's just never mention that again, okay?" cheerfully commented Argo while shaking the gamer a bit, making him nod quickly before a 'weird' look appeared on her face, her next words coming out slightly trembling. "A-and remember…I will always be here to cheer you up or whatever, no matter what happens, okay, Kii-bou?"
Kirito blinked at her, clearly surprised at her words.
Then, a soft smile spread through the Spriggan's face, and Argo wished with all her might that she wasn't blushing as much as she thought at the sight.
"Thanks, Argo. Count on me to do the same, okay?"
"Ye-yes…of course…" shyly replied the whiskered girl while letting go of him.
"Hey, Sensei, Argo-chan, come over here!" came Asuna's voice while everyone gathered in front of the house, a crystal floating in the air near them. "We're going to take a picture to commemorate this moment!"
"Oh, okay!" replied Kirito before looking back at the Caith Sith. "C'mon, Argo, let's go."
Then, he took her hand and dragged her with the others.
As this happened, and even as she was idly aware of how strangely warm the boy's hand felt through his white glove, the whiskered girl caught sight of Strea grinning her way and Yui (Currently sitting in her little sister's hair) giving her a hidden thumbs-up.
While the picture was taken by the special crystal and she still felt the caped boy holding her hand, Argo mused that maybe having made a 'pact with the Devil' wasn't really so bad.
She would have second thoughts about it, however, when she ran out of her room hours later, screaming her lungs out after having stared at the picture that a confused Asuna had just sent her.
Because, on the background behind the house, half-hidden in the woods, a tall and slender figure was also waving to the camera.
It would be quite some time before Shiori willingly put a foot on Floor 22 again.
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It had seemed like something simple, something silly at the moment. Really.
Leafa had gone out and started to look at the setting sun from the second floor of the log house when Sinon had appeared before her. She had been nervous at first, still not all that comfortable with how the other girl seemed to idolize her…but the Sylph had been surprised at the strangely serious expression in the Caith Sith's face before she asked a simple, earth-shattering question.
"…why did you stop?" there was no reproach in the sniper's voice, no blame or anything, just…honest curiosity. "Why did you stop being the Bicycle Girl?"
"Because…I made Onii-chan worry." she finally accepted while looking to the side. Though it had been difficult for her, she had in the end relented to her brother's plea and stopping her 'crazy vigilante' acts. "He…didn't want me endangering myself…"
"…that's not fair, don't you think?" had been the Caith Sith's reply, a confident smile on her face, to Leafa's surprise. "After all, you were only trying to do something good for other people…and it's not THAT what he did against Death Gun, even knowingly putting himself in danger for it?"
The Sylph had blinked several times, staring at Sinon's smile. When she put it that way…she was right. Kazuto had been a bit of a hypocrite with that.
Then again, maybe that was his 'older brother instinct' acting up. It still warmed her heart, that he worried so much for her, even more now that they were 'together'…but it also irked her a bit.
Did he think that only HE could do crazy things that put him in danger, even if it was for good reasons? Well, they had already chewed him out for doing that, but…
"…you're kind of right, Sinon-san. Thanks."
"No problem, Leafa-sama!"
"…please, stop calling me that."
And so, it was night already over Kawagoe. The relatively big city waited, nothing really impressive seeming to happen.
Of course, it was things 'not really impressive' what often were a problem for the lesser people.
Like the two laughing men on an alley, both inside a car, the one who wasn't driving quickly looking inside a bag filled with stolen goods from a small jewelry store.
"Man, did you see the face of that old geezer?! It was SO funny; he was trembling like a leaf!"
"I know, right?" continued the second one, proud of how they had found such an easy target to 'relieve' of all his valuable objects. "How much do you think we have?"
"Don't know, pal, but sure as hell we're going to get a good chunk for…!"
Both men froze, something creeping over their perception, for no apparent reason. As if they suddenly found the alley they were in TOO silent.
Looking forward, both of them were barely able to make out a silhouette that had seemingly appeared 10 meters in front of them from nowhere. Shaking for some unknown reason, the driver quickly turned on the car's front lights.
A figure clad in a red coat stood there, facing the car as she rode over a bicycle. A green helmet covered her head, reflective glasses her eyes and a health mask her lower face.
Resting on her hand, a shinai balanced lazily on the wind.
"The fuck?!" screamed the driver, his eyes clearly not believing what he was seeing. "What in the…wasn't that bitch dead?!"
"I-I thought she was just an Urban Legend everyone got bored of?!" questioned the second while staring forward in shock.
The heroine, for her part, just stared forward, wondering if she perhaps had lost some screws on her head. Not because she was once again doing this, no, but because this was clearly out of her league. She should have called the police to deal with this. It was clearly too dangerous…
But then, she remembered the sobbing and scared face of the old man from the jewelry store. She remembered the bastards' laughs at having left him essentially ruined, someone who couldn't defend himself and that probably didn't have any other income that wasn't from that place.
Once again, sage words echoed through her mind.
'If the Heroes run and hide, who will stay and fight?'
On the back of Kirigaya Suguha's mind, something 'broke'. A limit that shouldn't be crossed was shattered.
She was too busy staring forward at the criminals with fire behind her eyes to realize this, however. Under her, Justice shook with unyielding might, almost as if the vehicle was grinning.
"Wh-who cares, it's just a fucking kid! We got a car, and THIS!" remembered the second robber while raising a gun. "What does SHE has? A bicycle and a bamboo sword?! HAH!"
"Ye-yeah, you're right!" grinned the driver with newfound courage. "Get outta the way or we're running you over, bitch!"
And with that shout, he accelerated towards the seemingly unthreatening girl.
Gripping the handlebar tightly, the Bicycle Girl rode forward.
Half an hour later, several police cars surrounded the alley, a group of agents looking dumbfounded at the scene, their minds still trying to comprehend it.
A car was crashed into a wall, as if someone had been stupid enough to try and run straight against it. On the ground, the two beaten up delinquents they had been reported about an hour before laid, twitching from time to time.
And over a nearby trashcan, the bag with the jewels stood perfectly still, a small note resting over it. The gun the men had been reported to have was just at the can's base, broken in pieces as if something extremely hard had smashed it.
Hesitantly, one of the policemen reached for the note, turning it around.
There was a single, simple phrase in there. The same one that, away from that area, a certain girl was whispering, as she overlooked the city from her bike above a rooftop.
"I'm back."
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Down, on the deepest part of Alfheim, just under the roots of the World Tree, SOMETHING was happening.
On the lowest level of Thrymheim, the icy fortress that hung just under the City of Alne was, the most majestic blade of them all stood in silence, as always, forgotten by the world above.
Excaliber, however, 'shook' when reality seemed to break apart inside the chamber, a 'door' materializing from thin air as someone…something stepped inside it, entering into Jotunheimr from somewhere Beyond.
Looking down at the golden sword, the Entity frowned, confusion filling its dual-colored eyes.
Was THIS the origin of the distortion it had felt? Well, the stats of the weapon item were certainly impressive, but not what it had thought would cause the strange 'ripples' across the Virtual Void that the inhuman being had felt.
As if it was calling for something…or someone.
Shrugging, the Entity decided it didn't matter. It would take it and analyze what exactly was that had caused the anomaly, which strangely reminded it of HIM. Deciding on that course of action, it reached forward with its hand, took a hold of the blade's handle and PULLED.
Excaliber didn't even bulge from its resting place. Blinking, confusion filling its system, the Entity tried again, this time with both its hands, forcing its whole 'strength' over the object.
Nothing.
Lowering its arms at the improbability, the inhuman being looked up and frowned, reaching outwards into its systems to try and make sense of what was happening. Surprise filled it when it reached an answer.
Somehow, the Cardinal System of ALO itself was 'protecting' the blade. Or to be more precise, it had 'tied' it on its place until someone finished the Quest that had suddenly been spawned and assigned directly to it. The more it looked through the data, however, the more the Entity realized that some stupid human must have accidentally let the copy of Cardinal out of its 'leash' and give it full reign over the Quest Generating System.
It was the only explanation for which the Quest tied to the blade would, literally, cause the 'end of the world' in Alfheim Online, if it wasn't fulfilled, after all. And also that the NPC ruling over the Quest would be smart enough to 'trick' the Players into doing his bidding.
Puzzled over this, the Entity pondered. It didn't really care about what happened to that world because of the stupidity of some human, but it really wanted to get that blade to analyze the 'anomaly'. However, the inhuman being couldn't just hack into the system and get it for itself. The Cardinal copy would instantly detect its presence, and the Entity wasn't ready to fight against that…YET.
It sadly couldn't complete the Quest either, because the system wouldn't recognize it as a Player…but it quickly realized that, once the 'first part' of the Quest 'failed', the System wouldn't need the sword to continue the 'Ragnarok' anymore.
Arriving at that conclusion, the inhuman being slowly let a smile form behind its metallic mask. Then, it opened its ethereal wings and flew upwards into the fortress, towards the Throne Room it knew was just about the chamber, knowing what it needed to do.
The moment it stepped into the room, a massive form of bluish skin and icy aura turned to look at it, a mix of confusion appearing on its frowning face.
"…what in the name of Jotunheimr are you?" asked the giant as the being floated near its face.
Suppressing its newfound and too human need to laugh, the Entity bowed to the massive creature, a smile so big it almost split its face hidden behind its bizarre 'helmet'.
"Greetings, great Thrym, King of the Frost Giants. I have come to offer my assistance in your Quest to destroy the Aesir…"
On its resting chamber, Excaliber shook again, golden light shining around it for a moment before stopping.
The time had run out. If the Holy Blade wasn't retrieved soon…then the world would End.
And after that, what IT did with Excaliber…wouldn't be pretty, either.
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NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW!
"…huhuh…interesting. Yes, I like your way of thinking, Creature of the Void. With your help, nothing will stop me from getting my revenge…uhm? The next chapter's preview? You dare to demand something from the great Thrym, you lowly humans?! Heh…well, I will take pity of you and do this, if only because your land will be next after I have finished with the fairies. Next time on 'One Punch Gamer': 'The Sword of Sacred Bonds'. Ragnarok comes. The fairies, blindly help to their own extinction. A puppeteer hurries the end for its own benefit. In the middle of this all, does the only hope fall with a group of 'Heroes'? Or it's already too late for Salvation to be found?...huhuh, of course, the answer to that is obvious. Because all shall know the might of-!"
END OF THE PREVIEW!