alfheim online (ALO)
time 20:00pm
butterfly valley
dead of night, silence as usual, the fairy guard of the cait sith and sylph patrol the area, eventhough it was just a game the patrol was needed to ensure no sudden attack from the salamander territory down south
some of them wait for the time to log off and change of shift with those who had log in but eventhough it was dead of night the guard of both side suddenly see black smoke spreading far on the valley
one of them see a there are two green color cursor in front of them, indicating two people, but they can't see anything and cant be sure if it was ally or foe as if someone was using a smokescreen spell "could it be a spriggan ?" one of them though to themselves before in a blink of an eye there are only one color cursor
"where the other one go!? " said one of the guard as they getting confuse and look around before he pull out his weapon in prepared to fight yet he can't see anything "show yourself, spriggan bastard"
as they finish these word it became all silent before suddenly some of the guard were attacked as some of them quickly use a spell but before they are about to finished, their HP drops to zero in an instant
as some of the players group into one they were attacked from a black sword slicing them in an instant before disappearing into particles leaving only small flames on the ground used to revive them, just in time for the smokescreen to fade as the person in white look around the beautiful forest as he lay his sword on his shoulder
a notification came as he checked to see it was from the guilds vice leader, Tate, "look like they are doing fine with the other side, what's next? " the man in white asked the man in black
"simple, we bring eris to alfheim, that is our duty here after all, if possible ask them what had happen to the legendary items" the man in black said as he began to use the spell again as word of incantation circled around him
while the man in white look around to see more incoming players as he grin, walking menacingly as he approached them "stop right there, what do you think your doing !?" without listening the man in white continue walking toward them before decided to ran in full speed
"casters, attack!" as the man ran he see small green needle throw at him , while he ran and dodge every attack with an unexpected twist the sword was thrown to the guard as one of them strike it to the air before they knew it
the man jump into the air grab the sword as he slice down breaking everything in half, killing the guards in an instant as he continued to slaughter them all one by one while attacking every incoming attack with speed that is comparable to the long past 'zekken'
as he slaughter the last one he look back seeing that his partner have turned to giant golem as it eat the players flame not to mention killing some cait sith for the fun of it, as he got to see it in action he sheathed his sword as he claps for the stunning performance for eating them as he approach to the golem it turned back into his avatar
"report back to Tate, our mission is complete" the man explained as he walk pass the man in white
"you sure that Cait sith guy doesn't need our help? " the man in white look to the waterfall wonders
"he and his fellow beast is enough to handle it, there no need to bother his fun" the man in black walk away from the scene before the man in white follow it soon
the next day
10:00am
the news of the attack was spread to the entirety of sylph territory, even into the ears of the Lord of sylph, lady sakuya, who was lucky enough to get some Intel from the players that were slain that night, yet all they can tell was the fact one of them was an undine (water fairies), while the other some say it were a spriggan for the smokescreen, and other believe it could be a Cait sith for its agility and sneak attack, on the other side is confirmed to be a Cait sith for its ability to tame beast
to her this can be a problem, especially for fear of causing the relationship between the sylph and the Cait sith, as she wonder she heard sound of footsteps entering while guards attempt to stop them before the door was barged open and a blonde girl dress in green enter "sakuya!" she said as sakuya realize it was her friend leafa, a well known player among the sylph, just the person sakuya was looking for as a plan came to her "perfect" she said as she got up quickly "you came to talk about the incident last night ?"
"yes" leafa said "will this incident cause the disturbance between the alliance we made ?"
"yes, which is why you came in time" sakuya replied "just as you enter i would like you to do a favor for me"
"do tell" leafa replied
"if possible, could you bring this to kirito, i would like you to discuss the matter more detailed with him" sakuya requested as she send a message through the menu "this incident, never have ive seen an attack this serious, multiple players unable to defeat three people, so i need you to gave this to him in case he encountered them"
"for the sake of the alliance, I'll give it a shot" leafa said as she quickly walk out of the room before "wait" sakuya said as leafa turned back "help me say thanks to him"
"I will" leafa said closing the door behind her as she see the menu she wonder if her cousin had also heard of this
12:00pm
forest house k4
the blackswordman kirito himself recieving such note from leafa as he sipping on his tea that his girlfriend asuna made, with his hand putting down the cup ,with his hand crossed he wondered, only to come up with nothing, it doesnt seems like a doing of the laughing coffins, but to him most importantly, who would want to create conflict among the alliance, there gotta be a motive behind them
"thank you for the explanation, leafa, and also thanks for warning us about this" kirito said just as leafa left the house to explore, now he is more excited for the teriyaki chicken burger that his girlfriend had prepared, he was still wandering how should he be able to find unless, he is remind of the sword excalibur which he got from the holy sword ice palace quest, he bring it out eventhough he had promised himself he wont use it, but it seems that he had no choice but to use it, he look to the golden sword reflecting his face
"excalibur... , is that even a name for you, were you any different from the dragon saber..." kirito whispered he wondered if this can resolved it he sigh as he replace the blue long sword, he quickly hid it as he hear asuna said the burger is done, she come out wondering where is leafa, and pity that she had made an extra, kirito wouldn't mind eating extra as she put down the burger she wanted to discuss where should they go after this, having some family bonding not only for the couple but also for yui, their "daughter" who was in the form of a pixie
kirito think a bit before he suggest a stroll around the emerald city
12:45pm
swilvane [emerald city]
the town was crowd as always, with the street filled with people (mostly sylph) so people like kirito and asuna stand out of the crowd of green
eventhough it was his idea to go for a stroll in this market, asuna notice he always looked around every direction, the more kirito does this the more she felt a bit uneasy of what happen, before she began to ask
"hey, is something wrong, you doesnt seem to enjoy yourself"
"oh, it was nothing, just wondering if there is something on sale at the moment" kirito explained as asuna look around seeing nothing new yet she see kirito continued to act weird, but everything was distracter as long as yui around without knowing that from a tower a bit further from the market the vice leader Tate was watching to him, he wanted to see if anyone gotten an excaliber, but one thing caught his interest as he see a little pixie floating around a spriggan and an undine
"interesting" a fellow man wear a great helm said as he observe them
"something caught your eye, Tate ?" the man in white leaning on the wall ask, wondering what caught him interest
"why dont you take a look yourself, jakul ?" Tate said as jakul enchant a spell to create ice lens as he see them
"a pixie ?, why would that caught your interest ?" jakul asked as he look at tate
"don't you know those thing are a rare deal, but something was...off about this one, dont you think ?" Tate explained as he checked on what the spriggan was doing
as jakul continue to observe he realize who the man was "could it be !?" he reminded of the survivor of the death game, if he recall he could be one of them but when he about to see closer his spell stopped working "dang it, ice lens can't see that far"
"i'll handle it from here" with his enchance eye he can see clearly where they were going as he see them scroll the menu, through the lens he see it clearly "jackpot" jakul heard this quickly asked "what did you get ?"
"where they are about to go, it seems they are inviting others" Tate said as he scroll down pick up their destination
"quick, he could be the person we are looking for" jakul said as he pull up the map to follow the location
"one location, coming right up" tate continued to searching before his hand stopped at one location jakul look to see it was the newest floor, the only thing he can suspect in that floor would be monsters "are you sure ?"
"what, dont trust my eye, they stop there and giving invitation there, there no need to worry" hearing this jakul scroll the floor of the map and press it as he and tate was teleported to the location
kirito notice the tower with two people suddenly dissapeared as he look to the message, and send it, as he and asuna press the location they were teleported to the location as they will clear some enemies along the way mostly for the fun but also to buy some time waiting for the arrival of his friends
12:50pm
with a press of a button he, asuna, and yui were teleported to the location emmidietly they were blown by some cold wind as they see the place was a barren snowland as asuna quickly used the cold resistance spell before they walk down the path, asuna kept her rapier ready, while kirito only uses one sword so far its been quite a while since they have facing a floor like this, but the further away from where they start the more they realize there are no sign of monsters at all, asuna even try the searcher spell by summoning fishes to see the surrounding yet no sign of any enemies revealed themselves
thing are getting silent, too silent for a floor as they approch closer they heard the sound of monsters getting killed, as they apprach they see a man in all white with a long black bladed sword, stabbing the monster, as he turn around for kirito to see the man face, the man simply whistled, put the sword in the scabbard as he stand there facing kirito, with his sword in front of him "hello there, my friend"
kirito see the man smile yet it doesnt look welcoming at all, rather it felt that he had ill intentions, before he knew it the sound of laughter came out of nowhere as kirito and asuna back to back look around them, wondering where that sound coming from as kirito told yui to send message for help quickly
while he look around, jakul found the laugh simply annoying to hear before it finally stop as he sigh in relief, and soon a giant of a man appear on top a nearby cliff as kirito see the man all covered without revealing his face but not for long beside him were dragoons that landed on his shoulder, though small it can pack a big punch in a fight
jakul simply stand there dissapointed that his friend here gonna start some monologuing AGAIN!, he just hope he can quickly get over with it
"well well well, if it isnt the survivors themselves" Tate looking down on his opponent
"were you two be the one that do the attack on butterfly valley?"
"of course, i'm pretty sure the guards have mentioned me, especially this little fella of mine" Tate petting his dragoon as he looking down at how helpless the two are
"so your the cait sith that burn the other side of the valley"
"yes, it is i, the one and only, Tate the goliath!" Tate said feeling proud of his name
"never heard of it" hearing this jakul can simply chuckle at such reaction
"you-, fine, at least now you know" Tate said prevent the embarassment
"why attack your own people ?, what your motivation in doing this ?" kirito asked pointing his blade toward the goliath himself
"i'm pretty sure you can guess it already from what sakuya had told you or are you too dumb of a detective to figure it out ?" Tate taunted kirito as kirito began to wonder what are their motives
"i'll leave that decision to you" Tate said as he about to go before kirito yelled out hey! only to be stop and push back by jakul, with his sheathed sword he push it to kirito stomach as it push him back, dealing some amount of physical damage "sorry there, but i have to stop you there" kirito got up as he see jakul pull out his sword, with this ready, kirito pull out his other sword excalibur, jakul was impress to see this sword in front of him
before he can call his friend, his friend had already see the sword while he can only said "impressive" before he is ready in stance "let's go" while kirito with his two sword ready he prepare in his dual bladed stance
as they remained in silent, while the wind blow the snow, their surrounding getting silence as jakul try to think of a way to deal with a dual bladed wielder, he remained calm as he attempt to see his attack, before he smiled as he attack first with a slash he misses, kirito take the advantage and attack, but with full speed jakul hoisted his sword to parry the attack before defending a second incoming attack from the other as he quickly block it before using his arm to pull the excalibur out of kirito hand, to see him throw it to stuck on the wall behind him,before in full speed he uses the pommel of his sword and attack his face, with the blunt force attack the face, he was pushed back for a bit, before quickly blocking an incoming slash pushing kirito back a few feet
jakul spin the sword a few times before checking the edge "impressive reaction" he said as he walk to grab the excalibur "but i prefer to have a fair fight" he pulled to see the sword before yelled out "hey, big T, here a sword for you" he throw the sword toward Tate as he grab it swiftly, and in disbelief to see and touch the sword by his own hand "excalibur, the king of all blades, the sword that surpass gram, yet without gram how can this world ensure balance" he look down while scrolling the menu "he's all yours, jakul"
"wait !" kirito about to chase tate but only to be stopped by jakul in front of him "sadly, it's just you and me, amigo, now lets continue this fight" as he in ready of his stance, kirito was in prepare for another round
"asuna support me and protect yui" he said before charging forward with asuna casting some spell on him
jakul can simply grin as he quickly stab in front of kirito with the blade close to his neck he see jakul began to move forward as he quickly walk back before attempt to stop the blade only receive a small cut on his legs, jakul step back a bit as he simply chuckle as kirito wondered, he asked "you could have stab my neck then and there, but why you didn't chose to do so"
"if it weren't for your family i would have stab it then and there, you dont want that little pixie to see his daddy have a blade punchtured his neck, do you ?" jakul explained
"does that mean i should thank you for that ?" kirito asked
"that is up to you, but in this third round, im going for..." jakul check at kirito before decided "your arm and an eye, hope your ready, amigo ?"
as kirito prepare he look to his family as jakul see this as he sigh "this guy is a definition of a syndrome" as he was ready to see what kirito can do
kirito began to ran in full speed with his blade began to have flame on it as he thrust toward jakul but as he dodge one he see multiple thrust at the same time with his speed he parry everything before dodging an incoming attack as he step back a bit before he go for another plunge attack "not this time!" as he began to attack to his eye, creating a scar on his eye, leaving him unable to see for some time
"my turn" jakul said as he prepare to made a slash, with kirito seeing this he plan to cause him to distract as he attack , but when the slash was unleash he thrust, jakul with a smile in his face dodging the blade and before kirito realize it the blade beneath him began to rise up as it sliced his arm in half before he kicked kirito to the guts "kirito!?" asuna yelled out as yui called to his father, before kirito knew it jakul approaching toward him, as he raised his sword for a final blow, asuna suddenly charging with her rapier at hand unleash mother rosaria
jakul shock to hear this name before he quickly dodge the incoming attack in full speed, to both kirito and asuna shock that jakul had dodge every incoming attack, as he quickly step back "i never though i would see this sword skill again, but look like she have passed it down to you" he stop there processing what had just happen before with his sword ready "whatever, even if she were to pass it down to you, you are not her, now lets see how much have she taught you" he said as he attempt for a fight
but as jakul about to attack, something flew pass him in a instant as he see a throwing knife was thrown at him, he recognize this knife as he quickly look around him, before he heard sound of people teleport here, as he pulled out the knife and said "lucky trio" but the next thing he know, bending and some sylph caster magic were flying in full speed toward him as he parry it with his sword without any problem, as he see kirito friend came as jakul quickly create press the safe zone before looking at kirito with a grin as he was gone in a sudden
a fellow salamander named klein arrive to see kirito in a dire state as he quickly carry him wanting to ask question, while asuna using the searcher spell look around the floor, to see nothing, to her and kirito they see a flying dagger was thrown at jakul, but to her its more suprising that jakul know the true owner of mother rosaria before yui came to her wondering what mama was thinking that she decided to discuss this back in the forest house