Forum:Lore:Black Coffin

Black Coffin is a Lore book in Paradox that tells the story of Kirito's corruption in the aftermath of Cayde's death and rise to power in a war that claimed Zavala's life. Entries are unlocked by defeating the Shadowkeepers in High Orbit.

Prologue
All was quiet and serene

"ATTACK!" Kirito yelled as he led the thirty members of the "Laughing Coffin" in a charge, their weapons raised to the group of twelve or so luckless fools that had decided to travel through the forest on the twenty-seventh floor.

Kirito was the first to make contact with the soon to be besieged group. He swung his two swords behind him and then pushed forward with his back leg into the Shattering Meteor strike. Kirito's strength and speed was more than a match for what looked like the group leader, as he only had time to raise his katana in a feeble block before both of Kirito's blades cut through it. The man only had a surprised look on his face before one of Kirito's blades left a deep gash on his right arm and the other struck the man's neck.

Kirito watched with a sadistic smile as his opponent sank to the floor and his health meter rapidly depleted, smirking as the final three red dots disappeared and the man's body fell into polygons. Shouts of fear and loss came from the leader's frozen teammates as the rest of the ambushing "Laughing Coffin" group surrounded them. A couple tried to fight back, only to fall to the ground as swords came from all around and impaled them.

"You have only one chance left to live, and that is to surrender your weapons and everything from your inventory, NOW!" Kirito said as he placed his two swords back into the sheaths on his back.

Weapons fell to the ground as the beaten group operated their menus with their right-hand to place all items onto the floor. The "Coffins" eyes gleamed as they saw the intricate designed weapons, high level healing potions, several full set of white shining armour, five teleportation crystals, and what appears to be over 300k of gold.

When they were done, Kirito approached the loot and selected one of the swords on the floor, swung it around for a second, nodded and placed it in his inventory, also grabbing 20k.

"C-can we le-leave now?" One of the captured players asked.

Kirito ignored him as he addressed his subordinates, "You guys can split the rest of the stuff".

Everyone cheered and thrust weapons into the air. "What do we do with these losers?" Cline asked.

Kirito gave a smile that sent shivers down everyone's back; "Kill them all, and do it slowly. I want to hear the screams when I go over that hill for a nap" He said as he strolled to where a hill with a solitary sakura tree sat.

"You got it boss" Cline intoned as he and the rest of them brandished their weapons.

"Ww-wait, you said that we would be- AHHH!" one of the prisoners protested, right before Cline stabbed him in the throat with his katana.

Kirito threw his head back and laughed maniacally as the pleas and cries of the defenceless dead-men reached his ears. Kirito rested with his head against the tree sitting cross-legged and his eyes closed with a smile on his face. A sudden weight fell onto his lap and he opened his eyes to find Asuna straddling him. Asuna was smirking as she inched her face closer and closer to his until only centimeters were between their lips.

"Having dirty thoughts?" Asuna asked innocently.

"Now I am" Kirito growled as a tingle ran through his body from the feel of Asuna's hot breath on his face and lips.

Asuna only smirked as she lustfully pressed her lips against his, their tongues battling for dominance until Kirito won and began exploring the inside of her mouth. Asuna moaned and bit his lower lip, she moaned again as someone's high-pitched scream reached her ears. They both pulled away after a couple of minutes to catch their breath and to gaze into each other's eyes.

"Take me here?" Asuna asked with a purr as she shifted in his lap.

Kirito sighed as he kissed her again and picked her up bridal style when he stood up. "Not right now, my dear" he replied huskily "There are people watching". That in fact was true, after finishing off the little worms, the LC members noticed their boss' girl holding him down as they kissed, several had jealous looks on their faces.

"So what?" Asuna asked. "Does it actually matter, or do you not want me?" Asuna began to pout.

Kirito chuckled as he let Asuna stand. "Not at all, but I have much work to do, and some training as well… would you like to join me later for some 'strenuous activity'?" He smirked.

Asuna replied by pressing her body against his and whispering into his ear; "I would love to, but I get to choose where we "train". Asuna finished by nibbling on his ear.

Kirito growled again as he began to suck on her neck. Asuna moaned one last time before pulling away from him, pulled out a yellow teleportation crystal, gave him a wink and cried; "Teleport Falador" before disappearing in a flash of light.

Kirito brushed some non-existing dust from his person before heading back to his group. Several clapped him on his back and Cline gave him a fist bump. Several newer members had the stupidity to make snide comments about Kirito's sex life; the rest smirked as their leader dismembered each and everyone one of them.

A couple hours later

Kirito dashed to his door as the chime went off and standing before him as Asuna in her personalized KoB uniform, like the others only more like a school uniform and with knee-socks. "Are you ready for a night you won't forget?" She asked.

Kirito's reply was to pull her inside and push her back against the closed door as he took her in a fiery kiss. He pulled away a minute later and whispered; "First things first; more sword training and then relaxation... although I doubt we'll do much of that anyway".

"You'll have to wait and see" Asuna giggled as he nuzzled her neck.

"Let's go" He said as he led her to his training room in the basement.

Asuna went to the other side of the room and the two faced off; Kirito with his two swords and Asuna with her rapier. This was far from a regular match; on one side, there was Kirito and Dual Blades, while the other side had Asuna and Accel.

Although Asuna's speed was almost Kami sent, Kirito has already mastered his agility, dexterity, and intuition. They were almost evenly matched, but Kirito had the edge with more power and an extra sword. The two met in a burst of light and sound as they both jumped off from their back leg. The sound of clashing metal was heard as Asuna blocked and over-head strike from both of Kirito's swords. Kirito began chaining combos together; all the while Asuna parried and dodged strikes by millimetres. Only once did Kirito accidentally over step during the last move of Endless Rain. That one mistake was all Asuna need to begin her counterattack with Eagle's Talon. The winner of the match repeatedly switched between the two, until Kirito was able to use New Divide to hold off Asuna's rapier with one sword while the other rushed to her neck before coming to a halt a centimetre from touching. They sparred for an hour more before growing tired and calling it a night.

They both went into the kitchen and Kirito sat down at the table while Asuna placed on an apron from her inventory and began making dinner. At some point, Kirito grew bored and grabbed Asuna around the waist from behind while pulling her against his body. "I am very hungry right now... I might be forced to eat something else" He said while his eyes flickered from her eyes to over her body.

Asuna placed the meat back onto the table before fully turning around to face her lover; "Now, now. Main course first... before you get your dessert." Her tone had gone a shade or two more seductive on the other half of her sentence and as her fingers trailed down his body. Kirito growled before reluctantly letting go of her waist and sitting back at the table. Dinner was a delicious sandwich of a lot meat, some green, leafy vegetable and something that tasted distinctively like mustard.

After the plates and mugs were placed back in the cupboard, there was a new sense of urgency as the couple headed to the bedroom. The tension in the air finally caused Asuna to crack and she try to push Kirito against the wall, but with blinding speed, Kirito spun with her until she was the one against the wall.

Kirito smirked as he watched Asuna try to escape his grasp; all the while their gazes were locked. Kirito slowly moved his face until he felt her hot breath as she panted beneath him. He finally claimed her lips in a passionate kiss as Asuna wrapped her arms around his neck. Asuna moaned into his mouth, giving the chance for him to sneak his tongue into her mouth. Asuna gasped as Kirito picked her up bridal style and carried her to his room.

Kirito placed her on the bed before lying down next to her. Asuna took the initiative and rolled them over until she was straddling his waist. She bent forward to claim his lips while her hands went through his hair, Kirito's hands have also moved; one was on her hip and the other was holding her head.

"I... Want... You... Now" Asuna said in between gasps of air.

Kirito only smirked as he rolled them over until he was on top. Asuna all but forced him to get rid of his clothes and when he was done, she was already naked beneath him. Kirito's mouth was suddenly dry and he was unable to make coherent thoughts. Asuna smirked as she saw his predicament and crooked a finger for him. Kirito could only sigh as he pulled the covers over their entwined forms.

What feels like several hours later, Kirito is awake, but just barely. Asuna had fallen asleep after their late night activities and he couldn't help but think back to the time when they first met.

Sword One
Five Weeks Prior

Kirito was having a bad day, first; the ambush he planned on the twenty-second floor had been themselves taken in an ambush, all but one were killed. 'What I wouldn't give to have someone on par with me to help lead attacks'. He thought darkly. Kirito walked out of the "Rehabilitation" room and smirked at the name; it was the room he used to interrogate and torture traitors, unlucky victims… and fools who bring bad news.

Kirito entered the mess hall of their base on the thirty-fifth floor; the room was full of the most rowdy, bloodthirsty, and violent people in all of Aincrad (him included). All noise stopped as he walked in, all eyes fell to his figure as every member watched "The Black Swordsman" stride to the centre of the room.

Kirito stopped and faced his fellow Guild members: "Some bastards have killed our guild members" He growled. "I want our best infiltrators going from group to group, I want these white and red uniformed people found!"

Kirito's words were met by growls of anticipation and excitement from the assembled group of killers, liars, and double-crossers; it was through that last method that Kirito himself was able to take over as leader of the "Coffins". Kirito was part of Cpt. Sparrow's team when Kirito decided to replace him. Kirito not only killed their leader, but his loyal subordinates as they were going to ambush him only two months ago.

The people most loyal to Kirito were sitting in a corner and did not take part of the rowdiness before Kirito showed up. From left to right were Cline; Katana wielder, Rosaline; Infiltrator/Spear wielder, Mustafah; Battleaxe Tank, Lizbet; Weapon-smith/Mace wielder, and Reki; Tactician/Throwing Knife expert.

These five had been with Kirito for the past eight months when he had first joined the guild.

8 months ago

''A solitary man in no armour but a black cloak, simple black shirt, black pants and a black sword in a scabbard on his back strode to through the lower levels of Lumbridge City. He ignored the looks of the ragged beggars and cutthroats as he headed further into the slums. Kirito smirked as he used Scan to view his surroundings and found that he was being followed by what looks like a group of five other players. Kirito walked aimlessly until he came to a stop in an alley with a stone wall in front of him.''

''" You guys can come out now" Kirito called out. "I know you've been following me for the past little bit". Kirito then turned to the mouth of the alley to see five dirty and ratty looking men enter with swords and one even had a big axe.''

''' Weak, worthless and poorly armed' Kirito thought has he unnervingly smirked at the band of petty criminals surrounded him. "What do I owe to the pleasure of your ugly company?" Kirito called out to the man in the middle, who appears to be the leader.''

''" Just give us all you got in your inventory kid, also that nice sword on your back". The leader said with a sneer.''

''" What proof do you have that you won't just kill when I drop everything?" Kirito asked, chuckling on the inside as he regarded the bandits.''

" Let's just kill him boss" one of them said.

" It's not like you guys stand a chance against me anyway, you pile of worthless dog shit" Kirito said with a smirk as the bandits.

''Several members growled at the boy's audacity in speaking like that. The leader silenced them with a raise of his hand as he glared at Kirito, before stepping forward to wipe the smirk from the kid's face with the edge of his sword.''

''As the sword came towards Kirito's head, Kirito used a simple Half-Step to move to the left of the sword's downward slash. The bandit was surprised to say the least when his sword met thin air and he fell off balance from the resulting swing. He did not have enough time to bring his sword back up before Kirito impaled his right leg to the ground as he pulled out a dagger and began stabbing and slashing at the man's face.''

''The bandit's scream was bloodcurdling as his health meter began its descent until it just reached the red are. Kirito stopped his attack and pulled his sword from the floor. Kirito then gave the man a swift kick to the face, causing him to hit the alley wall. The other bandits were stunned at what they have seen; a boy no older than his mid teens had beaten a man almost twice his size in less than a minute.''

They rushed to the aid of their leader and surrounded Kirito again, but they realized their mistake too late; Kirito had maneuvered them so that HE was the one standing between the wall of the alley and the exit.

''" I'm not going to run away" Kirito said. "I am going to kill you all". The bandits shivered in fear as a large amount of killing intent suddenly came from the boy and surrounded them. The bandits attacked in fear of the monster in front of them but the width of the alley only caused them to trip and clash against themselves.''

Kirito took the time he had to place Dual Swords into one of the twelve skill slots he had and grabbed the second sword with his left hand from the scabbard on his back.

The bandits finally realized something was different about the boy in front as they saw the second sword in his other hand.

''" H-how is that possible?" One gasped at the absurdity of what he saw. Several others echoed his question.''

" I don't know" was Kirito's answer as he began Wind Blades.

''The screams of agony and pain could be heard for several kilometers as Kirito hacked and slashed through the ranks of the bandits. The leader on the floor saw that there was a smile of pure sadistic ecstasy on the monster's face.''

Several minutes later and after the last body had dissolved into polygons, Kirito turned his gaze to the downed Leader.

''Darkness radiated out from Kirito's body as he neared the downed bandit. The man continued to scoot across the floor until his back hit the wall, fear evident in every move and shake of his body.''

''" G-get away! Get ah-away!" The bandit screamed pitifully as Kirito neared closer and closer.''

" I'm not going to kill you, idiot" Kirito replied bored at the man's fear.

''" You-you're not?" The man asked bewildered.''

" No I am not" Kirito answered.

''" Re-really?" The bandit asked again''

" Yes, really" Kirito answered again, this time getting annoyed.

" No jok-?"

''" JUST get the hell out of here!" Kirito interrupted, causing the man to quickly drag himself away.''

''As the man was just clearing the exit of the alley a sword pierced him through the back. As the polygons disappeared, standing over him was the grinning form of Kirito who sheathed his sword a second later.''

''" You guys can come out now" Kirito called into the shadows of the surrounding area. Five more people came into view, 'this time these guys seem bettered armed and much higher level' Kirito thought as he regarded the two guys and three girls that were all in battle stances.''

''" Who the hell are you?" A guy with spiky, red hair called, with his katana in an overhead position.''

''" Call me 'The Black Swordsman'" Kirito smirked as the guy's eyes narrowed. "Who are you people?"''

''" Why should we answer you?" A girl with shoulder length aqua-blue hair piped up.''

''" Common courtesy?" Kirito offered.''

Several of the people in front of Kirito snickered at his idea. The redhead silenced them with raised fist.

''" To answer your question; we are part of the 'Laughing Coffins' Guild headed by the fearsome Cpt. Sparrow… you have heard of him, correct?" The redhead asked as he finished talking.''

''" I don't care who the hell you are, but why are you here ?" Kirito asked as he studied the people in front of him more closely. A redheaded guy with a katana, a girl with aqua or teal hair, but no visible weapon, a brown man with a bald head, beard and war axe, a girl with pink shoulder length hair and mace, and another girl with fiery red hair that went to the middle of her back and a spear clutched in her right hand.''

''" We heard the sounds of fighting and screams of pain" Redhead answered. "We got here just as you spoke to the downed guy and before you stabbed him in the back."''

''" Hmm… So what now?" Kirito asked as he mentally thanked that they had not seen his unique sword skill.''

''" Well… Would you like to join the guild?" Redhead asked. The girl with aqua hair began spluttering and choked out: "You can't just ask random people to join! What do you think Sparrow will do to us without his permission?"''

''" Don't worry, you heard those screams right? There is so way that this guy isn't fit to join us." Redhead said to sooth the girl.''

''' Hmmm' Thought Kirito. 'This Cpt. Sparrow must be a high leveled guy to instill fear in them'. "Okay." Kirito said after coming to a decision. "Show me the way, but no promises."''

''The five people in front of him placed away their weapons and got into formation; Redhead in front, aqua hair to his immediate left, but several feet behind, the rosette was to his right, the spear wielder and the axe wielder took up the rear. Kirito just followed behind the guy with everyone else around him.''

''As the group walked on they exchanged names; the redheaded guy was Cline, the teal haired girl was Reki, the axe wielder was Mustafah, the pinkette was Lizbet and the fiery red was Rosaline. Kirito then introduced himself as they arrived at a different part of the lower sections of Lumbridge, in front of a keep.''

''" Where are we?" Kirito asked as he peered around.''

" Our base" Was the only answer Cline gave him.

" Who goes there? A guard asks as him and several more appeared on the wall.

" It's squad Fuurinkazan returning from our last job, and we got a recruit" Cline yelled to the guards.

" I said I haven't decided yet" Kirito muttered.

" Shut it" Cline muttered back.

''The gates to the keep creaked open as a group of three guards came forward. "We are to escort the so-called recruit to see the Captain." The one in the middle began. "The rest of you are done here, get going".''

''Kirito was lead to the top of the keep and escorted into a lavishly furnished room where a very fit man sat at a desk and sharpening his large, decorated broadsword. Kirito sighed in his head, as he regarded the man. Though his actions would have frightened a weaker man, Kirito had have seen worse things in his time as a solo.''

''" You wish to join my guild?" Sparrow asked, his voice having a harsh grate on the words that came out.''

" Sure, why not" Kirito replied flippantly.

Sparrow's right eye twitched at his tone, but no other movement suggested that he had taken any offence from the statement.

''Kirito studied the room intently; noticing the sets of armour and weapons along the walls. 'Braggart' Kirito thought.''

''" Report to Cline; the redhead you came with for an introduction to MY base." Sparrow spoke with emphasis on the fact that he was leader there.''

''Kirito did not bother to answer and only shrugged his shoulders as he walked out of the room. He followed one of the guards that let him from his new boss' room to what appears to be the mess hall. Kirito looked around and saw Cline waving at him. Kirito grinned as he headed over to the group's table.''

''" So you plan on sticking around?" Cline asked as he pulled up a chair for Kirito.''

" Yeah, and I am going to be part of your team" Kirito answered as he took the proffered chair.

''" Welcome to the team, new guy!" The group cheered.''

Several months later

''" Here's the bag of gold" Kirito said as he dropped a whopping bag of 4000k. Everyone in the room stared with eyes wide at the amount.''

''" H-how the hell did you get that much?" Sparrow asked.''

" You told us to go take out a clan and so we did, we went straight to some merchant guild and forced them to give it all" Kirito replied with a shrug.

''" YOU DID WHAT!" Sparrow screamed as he stood up with a look of disbelief evident on his face. "You're telling me that six people took down a guild that averaged about twenty!".''

''" Wasn't that hard, we snuck in at night and took out the sentries first and then proceeded to take out the guards and mercenaries, before dragging every fat seller and forcing them to empty their account of money" Kirito shrugged again. "I'll be leaving now" Kirito called over his shoulder as he left the room.''

''In the several months that Kirito had started as a guild-member; he had brought in over 10 million col and had accounted for over thirty kills. Rumors had circulated that Kirito planned to take over the guild soon and that most of the members were going to back him up.''

''' What the hell am I going to do' Sparrow thought as he paced his room. 'He does rake in a huge amount, there are rumors that he wants to be leader, but he himself hasn't shown any signs of doing so'.''

''" Gerald" Sparrow called, coming to a decision. "Follow Kirito and see what he does and who he talks to".''

''" Yes Captain." Gerald said before quickly leaving the room.''

' Soon my plan will begin, all that is left is to trick the fool' Kirito thought as he walked through the halls until coming to an empty room.

" Report" Kirito told the man leaning on the table.

''" It is as you said he would do" The man answered. "He gave me the exact order just now."''

" Excellent, now it is time for phase two. Good work… Gerald" Kirito smirked.

" Yes sir" Gerald said as Kirito exited the room

''Kirito walked back to the mess hall and sat down with the rest of his group, although Cline out-ranks him, everyone follows Kirito's orders, even Cline. His friends were talking about the next job, who was fucking who out back of the keep, and the plans for Kirito's rise to power. Many do not know it, but Kirito had finally deemed it safe to tell his team about his unique sword skill. Now they are his most devoted followers and his best friends.''

" Where's Cline and Rosaline" Kirito asked as he looked around the room.

''" Probably still in Cline's bed" Lizbet snickered. "They've been gone for a few hours"''

''" Doesn't matter, someone can fill them in later" Kirito dismissed. "Phase two is to start now, keep the flow of rumors and lies to keep him off balance and then gather all the men loyal to either you or to me" Kirito explained. "Then when the time comes, we are going to take over this place in a coup."''

A week later

" Kirito, you are to join me, the "Black Cats" and the "Sons of Salem" on our mission today" Sparrow ordered Kirito.

Kirito shrugged as he stood up from the table and prepared to head out, not before nodding his head slightly to the rest of his team.

" So what are we suppose to do" Kirito asked as they left the keep.

''" We plan to attack a caravan of goods that plans to pass through the forest west of Algade." A girl piped up as she took her place as a forward.''

''" Thanks" Kirito replied. 'Who are you by the way?"''

" I'm Sachi, this is Kayta, that is Broms, the man to your left is Gordimir and the girl beside Broms is Seraphin" Sachi said as she gestured to the girl on her left, pointed to the man carrying a warhammer at the back, waved to a tall man with a two-handed sword strapped to his back, and nodded to a girl holding a katana.

" Nice to meet you all" Kirito greeted.

''As the rest of the sixteen men team formed up and headed to the forest, Kirito was keeping an eye out on Sparrow and a man with a pony-tail. 'Cradil, that snake, so he does plan to take me out' Kirito mused as he glanced at each member of the party; other then Broms; Sachi, Kayta, Gordimir, Seraphin and himself, they were the only ones in front, while Sparrow and the other ten hung back. 'This is going to be a problem soon' Kirito groaned in his mind.''

''As the group arrived at the forest, Kirito noticed that the "Sons" were staring intently at either him, Sachi, Kayta or Seraphin. 'Oh Shit' Kirito thought. 'It's coming soon'.''

With that thought, Cradil and his men suddenly yelled, drew their weapons and surrounded the "Black Cats" and Kirito.

''" What the hell is the meaning of this?" Gordimir asked as he took a step forward only to fall to his knees as Cradil stabbed him in the chest. They could only watch as Gordimir's health bar depleted and his body fell into particles. Shouts of dismay came from the "Black Cats" as derisive ones came from the "Sons" and Sparrow.''

''" What the hell do you think it looks like?" He taunted. "We're gonna kill you sons of bitches and take them women over there" Cradil finished as he pointed to Sachi, Kayta and Seraphin.''

''Broms readied his weapon and stepped forward to stand next to Kirito and between the girls and Cradil. Kirito had a bored expression on his face as he looked down upon Cradil, Sparrow and the "Sons of Salem".''

''" Boss! What's the meaning of this?" Sachi pleaded to Sparrow. "Why are you doing this?"''

''" To answer your first question; I have to protect my power base within this guild" Sparrow answered. "And to do that, I need to kill Kirito, he who threatens to take my position."''

The "Black Cats" all gasped and looked to Kirito, who just shrugged.

" B-but why does that concern us" Kayta said as she trembled while readying her weapon.

" Nothing really, I just picked a team by random" Sparrow said like it was of no consequence.

" Everyone, if you want to live, then please stand behind me" Kirito said as he did absolutely nothing, other than place Dual Swords into his skill slot.

''" What do you think you can possible do?" Cradil guffawed as several of his team laughed.''

''" I can and will kill you all" Kirito said calmly as a maelstrom of killing intent came from his body. Broms took several steps back.''

Sweat began to pour down their backs as Cradil and his men were hit by an onslaught of killing intent, some even staggered back a step or two.

''" What are you waiting for?" Sparrow yelled. "Kill him!"''

''" AHHHH!" They screamed as they surrounded Kirito and began to stab, slash, and hack at Kirito.''

''Kirito gave then a minute or so. The attacks faltered as they realized that they were doing little to no damage on Kirito.''

''" What the hell is going on?" One asked.''

" With all your attacks, I would say you do about 700 damage per ten seconds, but I have Battle Healing and that allows me to gain 500 health every ten seconds and added to my health of 15,500" Kirito's sharp reply.

" That's just not fair" Someone else said.

''" Fair? I have that skill because I am already level 85!" Kirito said.''

''" 85? Why the hell is someone with your power here? You could be a Clearer!" Sparrow said.''

''" Doesn't matter what I could be or what I am" Kirito said. "You'll all die now" He stated.''

''Kirito quickly punched two of his attackers with the point-blank skill Embracer. Kirito's hands glowed yellow as he buried them in their recipient's stomach. The two luckless killers screamed as their health meters fell no zero and disappeared into flickering light. No one had time to comment on the power that Kirito had, Kirito unsheathed both his swords as began with Sonic Leap, charging through the mass of bodies as he swung his swords, connecting with every swing.''

''Cradil and several others backed away from Kirito as he dismantled and dismembered the ambushing party. Kirito turned to Cradil and pointed to him with both swords…''

''' Both? Cradil thought. 'How is that possible?'''

''" How the hell are you able to use two swords?" Cradil asked. "What skill is this"''

" I don't know, it just appeared in my inventory one day" Kirito answered as he cut down another man.

Cradil nodded to the two members beside and they each pulled out a red pill.

''" What the hell is that?" Kirito asked, eyeing the pills.''

" Something that will make us stronger beyond belief" Cradil crowed as he and the other two quickly swallowed the red pills.

''Instantly, their swords glowed a blood red as a red hue also entered their eyes. Kirito did not give them a chance as he leaped to the closest one and quickly began The Eclipse to place twenty-seven consecutive hits on the man's body. He did not even have time to scream as his body fell into polygons and disappeared. The rest of the "Black Cats" Gaped at the level of skill and power Kirito held.''

''Cradil and the other man stood with Kirito between them as they both used Avalanche as they charged forward, Kirito had no time to dodge and so used Half-Step to get out of the way of the two swords. Cradil and the other man realized too late as they struck each other with their attack.''

''As the two men stood still after striking each other and when the system skill caused a small delay, Kirito took the opportunity to stab the other man through his back. Cradil regained movement just in time to deflect Kirito's two swords. Cradil sprung forward with Fell Crescent and Kirito was thrown back several feet as he blocked the attack.''

' That pill must be the real deal then, he didn't have that kind of power earlier, but he's still not good enough to beat me' Kirito thought as he dodged another Avalanche strike.

''Kirito then attacked with Horizontal Square, opening a deep gash on Cradil's right arm. Kirito then followed up with a simple Reaver sword cut that disconnected Cradil's right hand and sword to his arm. Cradil screamed as he fell to his knees clutching the stump to his body. Kirito kicked him on the head to shut him up and then proceeded to place his sword tip on Cradil's back and slowly applied pressure and weight until the sword was buried in his body. As the polygons disappeared Kirito had an unnerving smile on his face.''

''Kirito turned to Sparrow and stood in his stance. Sparrow's eyes flickered from Kirito to the surround area and back, as if gauging the distance. Sparrow suddenly turned around and ran as fast as he could.''

''Kirito sighed as he placed Knife Throwing into a slot and assumed the Single Shot position. A second later, Kirito let fly the knife and watched as it struck his former boss in the back of the knee. Sparrow pitched forward as the use of his left leg left him.''

Kirito calmly strolled to the prone form of his ex-boss, while the "Black Cats" stood still in shock. Sparrow quickly reached into his pouch for a teleportation crystal. Kirito could not have him getting away so he kicked the crystal from Sparrow's shaking fingers and stabbed him through the right leg with his sword.

''" AHH-!" Sparrow started to scream before Kirito forced his head onto the ground.''

''" PLEASE! SAVE ME!" Sparrow pleaded to the "Black Cats" as they finally caught up to Kirito.''

''They all gave blank looks to Sparrow and shifted their gazes to Kirito. "What do you plan to do to him?" Sachi asked.''

" Kill him, obviously" Kirito said as he unsheathed his swords and took several steps forward.

''" NOOO-!" Sparrow began to scream, but was cut off when Kirito stabbed him through the head.''

" Ahhh. Peace and quiet" Kirito said in a relaxed voice.

''" So what now?" Kayta asked.''

''" That depends; do you want to leave and never come back, or continue as a member of the "Laughing Coffins"?" Kirito asked. "Don't worry, if you choose to leave, I won't hunt you down".''

''" Since it's all right with you, I vote to leave" Sachi said as she gazed at her teammates. Each one of them nodded and Kirito also nodded before turning around and heading back to the keep.''

End of Flashback

"Let's get to work, people!" Kirito yelled, causing the assembled men to disperse to their assigned jobs.

Once almost everyone had left, Kirito headed over to have a word with Cline.

"There's something I want you to do" Kirito began. "Take your team and head over to Steel City, there's a man there that might know about these Knights of the Blood people and where their base is. Use whatever means necessary to get the information."

"You got it boss" Cline intoned. "What are you going to do now?" He suddenly asked.

"I am going to do a little soloing" Kirito replied. "It's been awhile since I've last done so"

"But Boss! You can't go out alone!" Lizbet jumped in.

"I'm the boss, so whatever I say goes" Kirito replied harshly, Lizbet flinched. "But I can take care of myself, after all, I did become boss" Kirito finished more subdued.

"Let's go team, we got information to beat out" Cline said with a grin.

As they left Kirito had only his thoughts. 'So it begins. All the other teams will be distractions while "Fuurinkazan" goes after the real target.' Kirito began walking out and headed to the sixtieth floor to train.

Sword Two: First Encounter
Sixtieth Floor

When Kirito had pent up stress he usually lost himself with three things; training, torture, or rampaging in a small village. It was through these three ways that Kirito levelled up so fast, not because he actually cared, but for the pure joy of feeling he gets when someone or something dies, especially when he is the cause.

'What to do?' Kirito thought as he wandered the forest of Eden City. 'I could explore and just fight all the monsters I find, or I could... what else is there to do?'

As Kirito was musing in his head, he did not notice as he literally walked into the 'lion's den'. There was three large King Lions in the clearing around a black chest and they all turned to gaze as Kirito walked right amidst them. As one, they stood and roared.

Kirito mentally berating himself for not using Scan before walking aimlessly in an unexplored area. Kirito sighed before he used Half-Step to dodge the charge of the first lion. Kirito then pulled out his swords and prepared his stance, he was rewarded with all three lions rushing to him. 'Well fuck' Kirito thought before charging himself. Kirito attacked with Endless Rain as he leapt past the lion in the middle. As the lions wheeled around, he had struck. The lion fell forward as deep gashes crisscrossed its flank and torso. The other two lions decided to circle around and trapped him between the two of them. Kirito smirked at their attempt, remembering how Cradil and his crony had fared trying the same thing.

Before the two lions could attack, Kirito swiftly leapt to the one on his right and landed under its maw. Kirito used the devastating Piercing Sword to push the entire length of his sword through the roof the lion's mouth and out the back of its head. As the lion dissolved the second attacked Kirito's unprotected back. Claws dug into Kirito's back as the lions landed on top of him.

Kirito's health meter fell considerably as the claws pierced through his black cloak and black shirt. At times like this, Kirito sorely wished that he had bought armour. Kirito could only squirm as the lion repeatedly clawed at his unprotected back. One of Kirito's arms was able to get free and pulled the special dagger he had from the holder on his waist.

This dagger was coated with a specially designed level seven poison that Kirito had created himself; it allows for the victim to retain the ability to speak as the rest of the body became paralyzed. Kirito began wildly stabbing over his shoulder; he came very close several times to pricking himself until he finally landed a scratch on one of the lion's paws.

The results were instantaneous; the lion seized up and fell on its side as the use of its limbs became non-existent. Kirito slowly staggered upright as he checked his health; it showed that he had lost a little more than a third of his HP.

Kirito stepped to the unmoving lion and squatted near its face. The lion roared its anger at Kirito; his response was to deftly slash out the lion's eyes.

As the lion roared its pain, Kirito had a look of content on his face as the sounds of pain reached his ears. "Ahhh" Kirito sighed. Kirito then stood up as the exhilaration left him and stabbed the lion through the head.

Kirito walked to the black chest and deftly kicked it open. Inside was a set of Dark Templar Armour; which gave a boost in attack power and speed, a suit of black armour trimmed with jet black lining and a plate helm with an eye slit instead of a visor.

Kirito was stunned, the armour in front of him was worth at least 300k coll. Kirito quickly placed the armour onto himself and strolled out of the clearing. All in all, Kirito left happier then when he had entered.

Kirito was too engrossed with his new armour that he did not notice the person following him. She was close to his age and had on a white skirt, white knee-socks, sleeves but bare shoulders, chestnut hair that fell down to the middle of her back, a heart shaped face, cherry lips and… a very excited expression.

Kirito found a path again and began heading deeper and deeper in the forest. All the time, the girl followed him at a discreet distance as to not draw attention. Kirito happened to use Scan at the time as he was walking and noticed the player behind him. Kirito did not stop walking and continued on, content to watch instead of confronting the player behind him.

Several Hours Later

After passing through several dungeons and walking around in several circles, Kirito had to note that whoever was following him was really good. Kirito grew tired of the game they were playing and stopped back at the original clearing where he had faced the lions. Kirito laid down in the clearing and pretended to take a nap.

"Come out now, I know you've been following me for the past several hours." Kirito called, with his eyes still closed. The sound of slight rustling noise took his attention as a girl came into view.

Kirito was barely able to hold onto his composure as the person entered the clearing. 'Holy Shit… I think I am seeing an angel' Kirito could only stare as the girl came closer and closer to him.

"He-hello" The girl said timidly.

It took several seconds for Kirito to realise that she had spoken. "Y-yes, why were you following me?"

"Because I saw you kill those lions and found you… interesting" The girl replied with a glint in her eyes.

Kirito's eyes narrowed dangerously at the comment and began to scrutinize her more closely. 'This girl seems not that dangerous, but that's what people say about me' Kirito thought. 'But, why me?'

"So what is so interesting about me?" Kirito asked, willing to play along for now. "I look pretty normal, maybe even androgynous"

"The way you fight, your attitude, and… especially the look in your eyes" The girl answered as she unnervingly gazed at him. "At first, I thought you were just another low-levelled orange cursor, until I saw your eyes".

"What about my eyes?" Kirito asked, trying his best to keep his face neutral and to not go for his sword.

"The look of a killer… of a man who has power, knows how to wield it and of a person that takes great pleasure in another's pain" She replied.

"And how do you know all that from looking at my eyes?" Kirito shot back. "For all you know, I could be just delusional or mental unstable"

"Are you seriously trying that card?" She asked with an incredulous look. "If you are, then you're dumber than I thought"

"… Okay, that was pretty dumb, but why do you care?" Kirito pressed.

"Because… I get that look too" She said. Suddenly, her face lost that innocent look and became more… sensual, more… lewd, her eyes had a gleam that both intrigued and turned Kirito on.

"Okay…" Kirito began. "Who are you anyway?"

"Just call me Flash" She said. "What's your name?"

"I'm just Kirito" Kirito said with a shrug.

"Okay, 'Just' Kirito" 'Flash' said. "Want to become a party with me?"

'Hmmm' Kirito thought. 'On one hand, this is a complete stranger, but on the other; she seems like my kind of girl…'

"Okay, I'll party with you" Kirito said, letting his virtual libido tell him what to do.

"Great!" 'Flash' said with a cheer. "What to do you want to do first?; we could try exploring or go walk the town or… something more relaxing… maybe in an inn?" Here eyes flickered down Kirito's body and back up to his face.

With the games over-exaggeration; Kirito's face turned as red as a tomato. Kirito coughed several times to regain his composure and quickly headed off on to another trail. 'Flash' skipping along. The two of them came upon another dungeon and quietly entered. As they were rounding the corner of the corridor, they came upon a trio of Roaches; spider like creatures with four legs, two huge scythe-like appendages that are used to attack and with coal coloured scale-armour.

As Kirito watched her fight not one, but all three at the same time, he could not help but stare at her speed and… *blush* how her skirt twirled.

'She really does earn the name Flash' Kirito thought. 'She's so quick that you can only see a blur'.

The two began to travel deeper and deeper into the dungeon and fought several more groups of Roaches. Time flew as they happily killed all that stood in their way.

As the day was ending Kirito realized that he was having 'fun' with another player and it was not in the torturing kind of way, it was oddly pleasant. Kirito shook his head a few times erase such pathetic thoughts.

As evening came, they two had arrived at Eden City Square and were sitting together on a bench. Kirito just realized that he had spent the majority of his day with a girl he still had no clue to what her name was.

"Excuse me, but what is yo-" Kirito began, only to be cut off as a man wearing a strikingly familiar set of white and red armour appeared in front of them.

Kirito was about to go for his sword when he heard the man speak.

"Asuna-sama, we have bad news; one of or informants has disappeared and his home had been searched, it is no longer safe for you to travel alone, we must get you back to the 'Ko-" He was unable to finish as the recently named girl kicked him in the head.

"Do not call me that in public, and do not speak of guild matters in such an open place" Asuna said sternly as her face contorted in rage.

"Ye-yes, Leader-sama" The man stuttered as he got back up from the ground.

"I am sorry, but I must go now Kirito, but I hope we meet again, just in a more private setting" Asuna said to Kirito.

The man suddenly glared at Kirito. 'Fanboy, interesting' Kirito thought as his mind went into overdrive with the new information. Kirito said nothing as Asuna got up and headed towards the city gates, only waving goodbye at her back.

Kirito sat stunned for a minute as his mind finally processed the one thought. 'I had spent the entire morning and afternoon with the person I wanted dead so fast... well I'll be fucked'.

Kirito quickly stood up and headed back to his base of operations. As he just walked through the front door, he ran right into Cline, who was heading to Kirito's office to make his debriefing.

"Gah"

"Oof"

The two picked themselves off the ground and Cline gave a hasty salute after realizing who he had crashed into.

"Kirito, I apologize for knocking into you, I should have been more careful" Cline said.

"Nonsense, and what of your mission?" Kirito asked, keen to get more information on his new friend.

"It was like you said, the man inSteel City was there supplier of goods and equipment. We were able to get the information out of him just before a group of them showed up, the man is currently in your 'Rehabilitation' Room awaiting you." Cline said as he handed over a shipping manifest and several letters.

"Good job Cline, convey my congrats to the rest of the team" Kirito said as he headed over to the 'Rehabilitation' Room. "And before I forget, please gather the rest of the people I sent out earlier, we need to prepare for war."

"Hai Kirito, it will be done" Cline gave one more salute before turning on his heels and briskly walking down the hall to the Communication Room.

Kirito headed back to his office, sat behind his polished oak desk and rested his head upon it. 'The day just gets more and more hectic'. And with that thought, his office door as busted in as two people rammed into it at full force.

"What the hell is going on?" Kirito asked as a vein appeared on his forehead.

"SS-Sir, one of the teams didn't make it back, and the man beside me is the only survivor" the man on the left quivered out.

The temperature in the room instantly dropped several degrees as Kirito's entire focus switched to the other man.

"Well? Spit it out, what happened?" Kirito asked as he stared down the survivor.

"W-Well, yo-you s-see, ww-we wer-were-" The man began as he looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

"Stop stuttering, you fool!" Kirito said as he was getting impatient and could hardly understand what the man was saying.

"H-Hai" The man replied as he cleared his throat and started again. "Well you see, our team of five were on the forty-fifth floor posing as a group of travellers that had finally decided to brave the higher levels. We visited some of the major shops and chatted with some other players, but they didn't seem to know anything, but as we got into the seedier parts of Varrock City those that we spoke to would clam up and distance themselves from us, we thought we were on the right track until we met some guy in a cowl and cloak who said he could take us to their place. We thought we hit the jackpot and we agreed to follow the man… but it was a trap, we entered some apartment building, the halls were too narrow and we had to walk in single file… that's when they hit us, the first two were instantly stabbed by several spears, they didn't even have time to draw their swords or shields. Me and the guy in front of me got lucky, we bolted from the building, but they had guys outside waiting. They had us surrounded in a semi-circle, but then they moved to the side, we didn't understand until she walked in-"

At this point, Kirito had to interrupt; "She? She who?" He asked as a bad feeling began to form in his gut.

The man gulped before he answered. "Their leader, we don't know her name, but her men called her the 'Flash' and she then-".

Kirito interrupted again; "So after she showed up, she then fought both of you and kicked both your asses. She then killed the other guy and left you alive so you could bring back word of how strong she is and how powerful her guildmembers are." Kirito finished with a bored tone.

"Ye-Yeah, that's what happened" The man finished lamely.

"Fine, whatever. Get yourself cleaned up and start training, we're going to war soon." Kirito ordered as he began going through some paperwork. The two men saluted and closed the door as they left. Kirito then remembered about the man that Cline was able to capture.

'Yes! Something to do here other then work' Kirito cheered in his head as he hurried to the 'Rehabilitation' Room.

As Kirito got just outside the door, he could already hear someone screaming and moaning in pain. 'Odd, who is using the room right now?' Kirito opened the door and saw a man tied to a plank board with his writs and ankles chained to the stone wall behind him. Standing with her back to Kirito was Lizbet holding a riding crop in one hand and a dagger in the other.

Kirito would never admit it, but the sight of Lizbet holding the whip, her pink shoulder length hair, her stance with her left hip jutting out, and the pure sadistic smirk on her face turned him on in a very perverted kind of way. 'That is really Hot!' Kirito shook his head after that thought. 'Focus! Focus! I came here to do something'.

A little voice at the back of his mind replied to him. ' But you wouldn't mind doing her, now would you?'

'I am going crazy, aren't I?' Kirito thought to himself.

' More or less, yeah you are.' The voice said again, this time with a tone of smugness.

Kirito ignored the voice and coughed to get Lizbet's attention. Lizbet turned around and when she saw Kirito looking at her, her face promptly turned the same colour of her hair.

"Ki-Kirito, what are you doing here?" She asked as a she turned her head around to hide the blush on her face.

"I could ask you the same thing" Kirito answered as he leaned on the door.

"I w-was ju-just trying to get him to talk" Lizbet answered.

"I can see that, but why are you doing it? I thought only I did the whole torture thing." Kirito asked again as he studied Lizbet's work so far.

"Well I always did like doing this, it was just that I never had time and there never was anyone in here when I did have time." Lizbet explained as she turned around to talk to Kirito.

"Huh, well continue, I want to see what you can do" Kirito said as he waved his hand back to the victim.

"Really?" Lizbet asked, her voice was several tones higher and she was shaking in either joy or pleasure. Kirito did not know.

"Yeah, go ahead, I'll just be here" Kirito said and gave another wave to the victim.

"Yay!" Lizbet cheered as she turned back to the man.

Kirito was curious as to what Lizbet was able to do as an interrogator and he was not disappointed. Lizbet began with a slow run of dislocating joints, followed by cutting off a finger or two every now and then, wait for it to regenerate and cut it off again.

Kirito was quite happy with what she was able to do. In only after ten minutes from when Kirito had entered the room, the man was reduced to a quivering pile of slush, had lost the ability to coherently talk and the use of several body functions.

"Great Job Lizbet!" Kirito congratulated as he walked up to their toy and nudged it with his foot. "It looks like he's finished "

Lizbet blushed a deep red, glanced at the floor and poked her two index fingers together. "I-It was nothing, boss"

Lizbet was about to stab the man in the chest but Kirito stopped her. "Allow me" He said as he pulled out his sword and slashed the man's throat. The two left the room as the polygons began to disappear.

The two went back to Kirito's office to share a glass of Red Ichor and to talk about the finer points of sadistic pleasure. At some point, the two had gotten very drunk and very horny somewhere along the way. After only three glasses of the stuff, the two were currently having a heated make out session in Kirito's armchair. Kirito was sitting in it while Lizbet was on his lap with her head against his chest. Every now and then Lizbet would make slight moaning sounds that sent shivers down Kirito's spine. Kirito's alcohol induced mindset gave him the idea to grasp her breasts through her clothes. Lizbet gave another throaty moan as the pleasure increased.

A very small part of Kirito's mind was telling him to stop before things got out of hand, Kirito was able to break out of the kiss. "Lizbet, we shouldn't be doin-" But he was unable to finish as Lizbet kissed him again.

"Why shouldn't we?" She asked. "I do want this, and so do you, no matter how hard you deny it" Lizbet whispered the rest into his ear.

Kirito groaned into her mouth and started to knead her breasts. Lizbet once again moaned and shifted to give him better access.

'Just this once' Kirito thought as he let his alcohol fuelled passion take over.

The Next Morning

Kirito groaned as he woke up. 'What the hell happened last night?' Kirito thought as he glanced around his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that he had fallen asleep in the chair in his office, the second thing was that he had a blinding headache and the third thing he noticed was that he was not alone in his chair. Sleeping with her head against his chest was a very familiar pink-headed person. Then it all came back to him, what had transpired the night before and things the two of them had done on his desk.

Kirito groaned again as he tried to get out of the chair without waking Lizbet up. He was unsuccessful to even move his upper body.

Kirito's constant shifting woke up Lizbet and she still was not fully awake as she greeted Kirito.

"Morning, Kirito." Lizbet said with a yawn. "Let me sleep some more." With that, she promptly went back to using his chest as a pillow. A second later, Lizbet lifted her head and paid more attention to her surroundings. She glanced at Kirito's face, then at herself, at Kirito's body, and then back to Kirito's face.

Lizbet's face looked like a fish out of water as she tried to understand what her eyes were telling her.

"It seems after we got drunk, things got… out of hand" Kirito said to break the ice.

Lizbet did not trust herself to be able to make a coherent sentence and only nodded her head.

"I think we should get dressed and talk about this" Kirito said.

Lizbet nodded again and got off Kirito on wobbly legs. Kirito had to steady her before she fell face first onto the floor.

As the two began to place back their clothing from their inventory, neither said a word until they both looked presentable.

"I need to apologize for what happened las-" Kirito began.

"You shouldn't be sorry, II wanted it to happen" Lizbet interrupted as she poked her two index fingers together.

Kirito's train of thought just went over a cliff at her statement, he did not know what to say at this point and could only gesture for her to continue.

"You see, I have had a crush on you the moment you joined the guild. When we must found you I like the rest of 'Fuurinkazan' didn't trust you yet, but after that I started having feelings for you, but you were always doing something else and I never had the chance to tell them to you." Lizbet explained.

Kirito had no idea as to what to say, he was attracted to her, but not on the level that she was to him.

At getting no answer from Kirito, Lizbet's eyes began to tear up. " I'm glad that I was able to at least have sex with you, even if you don't lik-" She was not able to finished her sentence as Kirito had grabbed her face and gave her a resounding kiss.

"I know you don't expect me to love you back, but we could start somewhere. We could start from now and go on" Kirito whispered into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her.

At hearing his words, Lizbet began to cry into his shoulder.

After several minutes where Lizbet cried her happiness into his shirt, lizbet said the most shocking thing to Kirito he had ever heard.

"You know, just because I love you doesn't mean you can't go after some other girls as well" Lizbet said.

"Let me get this straight" Kirito said. "You are okay if I were to have more than one girl in my love life?"

Lizbet nodded and Kirito continued; "Why are you okay with that, and why would you think I would in the first place?"

"Because then it would be more fun for the both of us" Lizbet answered with a very lewd smile.

"You are very perverted Lizbet" Kirito said.

"Obviously, don't you remember what we did last night?" She asked. "Because I do, and it's going to be very hard not walking with a limp for a while."

Kirito blushed at her comment and pulled her in for another kiss. One thing led to another and the new couple didn't leave the office all morning.

When they did get around to finally leaving Kirito's office, Kirito instantly became serious as he went to find all Squad Leaders and to give them their new orders. Waving goodbye to Lizbet, Kirito briskly walked to see Cline. 'Soon the war will begin, but who shall cast the first stone?'

Sword Three: It Begins
Laughing Coffins Headquarters

Kirito headed towards the war room after calling for all Squad Leaders to assemble. War was looming on the horizon, and only one will stand at the top.

Kirito had just finished ordering all squad leaders to their assignments in preparation to the looming battle. Some looked eager to shed blood, while others were more conservative with their anticipation, but it was there nonetheless. He had thought long and hard, but had come to a decision; he will go in search of the girl from the day before.

Several Hours Later

Kirito had aimlessly walked around the mostly unexplored forest of the sixty-third floor, very close to where the frontline was, but far enough that the "Clearers" would not be near.

Kirito was travelling along a game trail that seems to have belonged to a deer when he came upon the entrance to a dungeon, with nothing better to do, Kirito entered the dungeon. Kirito fought through several roaming bands of Lizardmen until he arrived at a junction that branched off into three other tunnels.

The left-most tunnel had the design of what appeared to be a sword and shield over it, the middle tunnel had a grinning skull, and the right-most tunnel had a scythe over it.

Kirito, being one for thrill and danger, instantly went with the grinning skull and went down the middle tunnel. Not even a minute since entering the tunnel, Kirito was attacked by a Cyclops; a seven foot tall creature with one eye and armed with a wooden club. Wishing to try something new, Kirito got in the Single Shot Position and aimed his throw as the monster gave a roar and charged. It did not make very far as Kirito threw his thin knife dead centre into its eye. The Cyclops gave a roar of pain as it dropped to its knees and covered its blind eye. Kirito wasted no time and sliced off its head.

Kirito was attacked several more times by Cyclops and twice by marauding Goblins; squat little vicious monsters that were very weak, but came in squads of five. Kirito grew bored as he cut through the tenth and last Goblin; 'Whatever is at the end of this tunnel better be worth it, I'm forced to fight through such pests' Kirito thought as he continued through the tunnel.

Kirito soon saw light at the end of the tunnel and quickened his pace forward. As he exited the tunnel, Kirito was blinded by the light as he left the dark tunnel. As his sight came back to him, Kirito squinted to see his surroundings and noticed that he was outside in another part of the forest, and a chest was on a dais three feet from him. Kirito gingerly moved forward as he Scanned the area to confirm that he was alone.

As Kirito confirmed that there in fact was no one in his immediate surroundings, he opened the chest. Inside was an emerald green crystal, mystified as to what it was, Kirito moved over it and saw that it was an Invincibility Crystal; the most rare and powerful crystal that only two others had been found, earning the words "ultra-rare" before speaking of it. It allowed the bearer to emit green light around their body and made them into an Immortal Object for the span of five minutes. With shaking hands, Kirito placed the crystal into his inventory.

So engrossed with his good fortune, Kirito paid little to no attention to wherever he was going, the thoughts of the crystal still in his mind. As he was leaving the forest area, he walked right into someone and they both fell down. As Kirito was about to apologize, he then realized who he had run into; it was the girl was before, Asuna the 'Flash'. Kirito's mind went blank for a second and then he started praising whatever being that governed the universe. ' Praise the Creator, for He brings marvelous gifts!'

Kirito then got up and helped Asuna back to her feet. "Fancy running into you here, are you following me?" Kirito asked with a smirk.

"It's you!" Asuna exclaimed. " I wanted to do some more stuff with you, but I didn't know how to contact you".

"Do you want to do some stuff now then?" Kirito asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure!" She replied. "What do you want to do?" She asked.

"Let's go explore the forest and hunt us some game!" Kirito suggested.

"You want to go exploring and to hunt wildlife?" Asuna asked with an incredulous expression.

"Not wildlife! I'm talking about other players!" Kirito explained. "With there being such a large portion of the forest unmapped, there are bounds to be a couple parties here and there!"

Asuna took a moment to absorb what Kirito just said, and a predatory smile soon graced her beautiful face. "I like that! Let's go now then!" She exclaimed as she began to drag Kirito along as she ran to the forest.

Kirito and Asuna spent the next several hours playing "Hunt the Rabbits" a very fun pastime where the players go forth and search for weak pests and rabbits and dispose of them through very violent and messy ways.

Evening on the Sixty-third Floor

Kirito and Asuna went into an inn to share a meal after the time they spent hunting. Asuna drew many a man's eyes as she walked in, and Kirito could not help but glare and release killing intent at them. Asuna patted his arm and gave him a smile to show that what he was doing was appreciated. Some of the braver/dumber ones decided to take Asuna off Kirito's hands, so to speak. They were left beaten and bloodied outside in several short, but education duels.

After finishing their dinner that was disturbed by several fools, Kirito and Asuna went outside and into the forest to have a friendly duel. Kirito and Asuna stood on opposite ends of a small grassy clearing as they regarded each other. After initiating the duel the two began their respectable moves; Asuna began with a simply four hit combo of hers that used speed over power, a Blitzkrieg attack. Kirito went right ahead with an over-head Avalanche strike. Kirito's attack was repelled and several light cuts covered his torso and upper chest.

Asuna smirked as she saw the attack connect, but it soon fell off when Kirito used Horizontal Square and gave a deep gash on her right arm.

Asuna had a blank look on her face as she regarded the wound, although the attack had more luck then actually skill in connecting, the amount of damage she received was equal to that of a Clearer! Asuna began to pant at just the thought of a man who could fight on par with her.

Kirito also noticed the change come over Asuna and wondered what it could be. As the fight wore on, Kirito began to notice the puffy lips, the constant and quick panting, the slight shiver of her body when ever their swords collided, and the glazed over expression on her face, that drew Kirito to only one conclusion… she was getting turned on as they fought. Kirito had to admit that the fact of Asuna going into heat as they fought was undeniably sexy, and a major turn on for him. Kirito's own body began to react to the fight as it progressed; his true smile was showing now and there was an unmistakable bulge in his black trousers.

It was only a matter of time when they both forgot about the duel and just collided in the air, as they grabbed onto whatever they could reach on each other and began to kiss. The strange couple fell onto the grass as they began to French kiss. It was not for a couple minutes before the two broke apart for air, a trail of saliva connected between their mouths. The two gazed into each other with lust filled eyes and stayed like that for a full minute.

The two then did what any horny couple would do in a situation like that; they recklessly made love in the clearing. It was not for several hours before either of them realized what had happened and neither of them cared, regardless of the consequences.

The Next Morning

As Kirito awoke, he realized that he had forgotten to confront Asuna with the truth. 'But do I really want to do that now?' Kirito mused as he glanced to his side and saw her sleeping peacefully. 'Regardless, this is about the bettering of the Guild, and not my hormones'. Kirito thought as he came to a decision.

Kirito stealthily slid out from under Asuna and quietly equipped his trusty sword Demonreach. After quickly getting into position, Kirito lightly kicked Asuna in the leg to wake her up.

Asuna woke with a start. "What's happening" She had yet to fully wake.

Asuna's eyes slowly focused on the sword and then travelled upwards to the hand holding it and then to the face of which the hand belonged to. Her eyes narrowed as she realized that the person threatening her was the same one she just slept with.

"What is the meaning of this?" Asuna asked as she tried to use her cursor without Kirito noticing.

"Stop moving your right hand or I will cut it off" Kirito ordered in a cold tone. "we are going to have a chat, whether it ends in one of us dying is up to you"

Asuna thought about it for a moment. 'I could risk it, or just see what he has to say' Asuna came to a decision. "Let's talk then, why are you doing this?" She asked

"Because you aren't what you appear to be" Kirito cryptically answered.

"And that warrants you to hold me up at sword point?" Asuna incredulously asked.

"It does when you are dealing with one of the most deadly players in Aincrad, and not to mention the leader of the 'Knights of Blood'". Kirito explained. Asuna's face had gone from snow white pale to deathly pale.

Asuna regained her composure after several seconds of silence. "And how do you have that information?" She asked as her eyes narrowed and all trace of any form of softness in her tone gone.

"Because you aren't the only one with a powerful guild behind you and because your men have been causing trouble for mine" Kirito answered. "You recognize this don't you?" As Kirito said that he showed Asuna a tattoo she had previously missed during the night before.

"You are one of those 'Laughing Coffin' guys, you serve under that bastard the 'Black Swordsman'!" Asuna spat out. "He sent you to kill me didn't he? Hmph! Loser can't even do his own dirty work"

"Sorry Asuna, but only one of you assumptions are correct" Kirito said with a chuckle. "You see, yes, I am part of the 'Laughing Coffins' but I do NOT serve, as you so eloquently put it 'that bastard the 'Black Swordsman'. I am actually said bastard. By the way, I actually do my own dirty work"

Asuna gaped for a minute before asking; "You're him? I thought you would be taller, or even, maybe more buff"

"Yes, I am the 'Black Swordsman' and no; this is how I look in reality as well." Kirito said with a sigh, many a people had questioned whether he really was as strong as they said he was, all that did had be put in their place… six feet under.

"Since we have gotten the pleasantries over; why have you been targeting my people these past couple of months?" Kirito asked with a glare.

"Cose your bastards tried to take over OUR ambush" Asuna said. "We'd been planning that attack for months and then some amateurs tried to take our prey, worse they had the balls to try to rape me as well, but we showed you! Your little group ain't the only powerhouse here." Asuna was now sneering at Kirito.

"Why did that survivor say they were ambushed and attacked without reason?" Kirito pressed, trying to get the real reason.

"What survivor?" Asuna asked perplexed. "We didn't leave a survivor, we turned every last one into polygons, I made sure of that."

"Well you did, because one came back with three-quarters of his health gone and a crystal showing the whole thing" Kirito explained.

"But we didn't leave ANY survivors, you sent twelve guys to the ambush site, we killed TWELVE guys" Asuna said.

"But I got a survivor and proof that my men were wiped out and all you have is your word" Kirito said.

"Let me see this fucking crystal you have" Asuna said.

Kirito thought for a moment and lowered his sword, but not before tying her hands behind her back.

Asuna and Kirito watched the video crystal together. The crystal showed the twelve of Kirito's men get annihilated by a much bigger group of twenty or so KoB members. After the video played out, Kirito turned to Asuna; "Well?" He asked.

Asuna gave him a You're-so-dumb look and said; "You're an idiot"

"What!" Kirito exclaimed.

"Yeah, you are. Didn't you notice that the video showed the entire battle and not from one person's perspective?" Asuna asked, disbelief evident in her voice as she looked at Kirito.

"Now that you mention it-" Kirito began.

But Asuna interrupted him; "And another thing, you saw all of your men die, but the guy recording seems to have been hiding during the whole fight."

"Okay, but-" Kirito was once again interrupted.

"And lastly, untie me now, dumbass." Asuna ordered

Kirito sighed as he went behind her and untied her bindings. "Look, I'm sorry about the whole thing-"

At that moment when her bonds were gone, Asuna flipped around, grabbed Kirito by the black jacket and pushed him onto the ground with her on top. A kitchen knife or all things appeared in her hand and it was hovering dangerously close to his throat. "Never do what you did to me earlier again, or this knife will castrate you" Asuna growled.

Kirito gulped and nodded weakly, the risk of losing his manhood even for several minutes was a daunting prospect.

Asuna grinned and got off of Kirito, when she stood up, she offered her hand to Kirito. Kirito gladly took it and stood up as well. An awkward silence then filled the clearing. Neither knew what to do now, they had made love and then threatened each other, and the fact that they were rival leaders also stood between them.

"Sooo… Let's start fresh here" Kirito said. "Hi, I'm Kirito, leader of the 'Laughing Coffins' and the one called the 'Black Swordsman'" As he offered his hand to Asuna.

"I'm Asuna, leader of the 'Knights of Blood' and called the 'Flash' for my speed and dexterity" She said as she took his proffered hand.

The two stood shaking hands for what seemed like an eternity, until Asuna spoke; "So what now?"

"Do you want to get some breakfast?" Kirito asked. "I know this great place on the fifty-third floor that sells these great stuff called that looks and tastes like crepe, but is called Sweet Bread."

"I would love to go there" Asuna said as she blushed. 'Sorta feels like a date'

Just as they were about to leave the clearing for some breakfast, someone stumbled into the clearing, she had pink shoulder length hair, bright blue eyes, and was carrying a mace.

"Lizbet!" Kirito called out as he realized who was standing in front of him.

"Kirito!" Lizbet called as she threw herself at him and gave him a big hug before kissing him. "Where were you this whole time? We were all worried that you got ambushed while soloing and-"

"Cough, cough" Asuna made some noise to get her attention. "Why did you just kiss him?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice that promised death for the wrong aswer.

"Cose he's my boyfriend" Lizbet said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Asuna gaped at Lizbet for a second and then slapped Kirito; "Bastard, you made love to me while you had a girlfriend?"

Kirito reeled away from the slap and was rubbing his cheek as he answered; "It's okay Asuna."

"How is it okay?" Asuna demanded as she began to take out her rapier.

Asuna was stopped as Lizbet grabbed bother her hands and pinned them above her head, Asuna was unable to get free and futilely tried so.

"So you're the one that Kirito chose as his second partner" Lizbet said. "You are quite beautiful, I might take a bite myself sometime" She said as she gazed up and down her body with lewd eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Asuna asked as she tried to break free from her grip.

"You look scrumptious, mind if I have a taste?" Lizbet asked, and before Asuna could answer, she had devoured her lips in a kiss. Asuna was stunned and did not understand her own feelings and her thoughts reflected it. 'What the hell is going on? I'm being kissed by another girl, why aren't I fighting to get free?, why does my body feel so hot all of a sudden?, and why does her lips taste like strawberries?'

Asuna's conflicted thoughts and emotions paved the road to a new self discovery about herself. Asuna had no idea as to why she felt so, so good being kissed by a girl and accidentally let out a moan.

Lizbet took her moan as the go ahead to stick her tongue into Asuna's mouth. Lizbet then loosened her hold on her hands and wrapped one arm around Asuna's waist and the other across her back. Asuna moaned again into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Lizbet as well, all thoughts of breaking free gone and replaced by the sense of touch, taste and lust.

Kirito stood to the left of the two the whole time with eyebrows raised and a growing sense of lust in the pit of his stomach. As most young men, Kirito was immensely turned on by the sight of two girls kissing and touching.

After several minutes, the two stopped kissing and both turned towards Kirito.

As one, they both said; "Well? Aren't you going to join us?"

Kirito's face lit up with the biggest grin ever.

Several Hours Later

After spending some quality time with his two lovers, Kirito was aimlessly wandering about in his keep in a daze, the thoughts of his now existing sex life left he giddy. Kirito actually forgot that he had a meeting with the squad leaders about the 'KoB'.

Coincidently, the room he wandered right into was the war room. Kirito finally regained his senses when he smacked into the opposite wall in front of all his subordinates.

Kirito gave himself a little shake to orientate his thoughts. As he gazed around at his men, Kirito realized that what he was about to say would sound downright ludicrous.

"Ahem, there has been some… new developments in the pursuit for revenge" Kirito began. "It seems that the so called 'Knights of Blood' did NOT in fact ambush the team, it seems that I was, ahem… fooled" Kirito finished weakly as he showed them all the video crystal's contents.

Stunned silence filled the room following the crystal, after several seconds, the room burst into chatter. Some voiced their displeasure and yelled to all within earshot to replace Kirito with themselves, some yelled to hell with any code of conduct, just kill them anyway, and the last group of lieutenants facepalmed at their leader's moment of stupidity and waited to hear their next orders.

Kirito gave them a minute to try to inflate their standings before unleashing a miniscule amount of killing intent, just enough to shut everyone up and get all eyes back to him.

"Now it seems that there is no point in preparing to fight them at all, but that doesn't mean there isn't someone out there trying to screw us over. Whoever sent the fake survivor here wanted us to waste resources and manpower in a needless war, what we now need to do is figure out who sent him in the first place and why" Kirito paused for breath. "Your orders are the same, but just that there will not be a big battle" Kirito began to leave the room, but stopped, turned around and addressed the assembled men again. "If you so badly want my position, then you should fight me for it" Kirito unleashed the full brunt of his killing intent, several of the weaker willed individuals keeled over and fainted, a couple went into the fetus position begging for their mommies, and the rest stood stock still, frozen in position, unable to even move a muscle. Once again, they were all reminded why Kirito was in charge.

Even with Kirito out of the room, his killing intent hung around them like an anaconda with its prey. Cline was the first to regain movement of his limbs and left the room to find Rosaline, they had some unfinished business to do, and he needed something to get over the fear. The other leaders slowly left the room individually, a couple at times or not at all, it all was depending on their level.

Kirito now had an overflowing plate; the subtle attack of an unknown assailant had nearly cost him much of his manpower, two lovers now that seem to be nymphomaniacs, and then there was the renewed search for him up on the frontier. 'I am never going to fight a boss again' Kirito thought as he remembered the fight against the fifty-eighth's boss guardian.

Flashback

''Kirito had decided to explore the frontier, not many people from the lower levels ever come up, the need to be ten levels higher than the current floor is demanding and not worth wasting time that could be spent lazy off. Kirito was more than sure he could hold his own against whatever came at him, even if it was a Clearer. Kirito knew about bosses, having help fight the one on the thirty-fifth floor and the twenty-ninth floor back before it was life or death respectively.''

''Kirito was in need of a challenge and to fight some weak monsters on the thirty-sixth floor was boring. Kirito was currently in a dungeon area wandering around, passing several other players who nodded in greeting. Kirito chose not to attack them this time. He was hoping for some monsters to stumble upon him to attack. Kirito entered a room to find in surprisingly big and devoid of any monsters. Kirito was too busy admiring the towering pillars that were placed all around the outer edges of the room that he did not notice the grand staircase he was currently standing in front of.''

''Kirito gazed around for the pillar that seemed to be missing until his eyes caught the sight of the staircase, with a sinking feeling in his stomach, Kirito mentally did a checklist. '1. Very big room, check. 2. Staircase leading upwards with a barely visible gate, check. 3. No monster in sight… *Gulp*, ch-check' Kirito just realized that he was in the boss room, but the boss was not in sight.''

'''Where the Hell is the boss guardian of the floor?' Kirito asked himself as his eyes constantly moved around the room, sweeping from left to right. Kirito then used Scan and still found nothing in the room. Kirito moved into the centre of the room and turned 360 degrees, but still found no trace of the guardian. Kirito was contemplating what to do next when several large droplets of liquid fell onto his head, drenching his head and shoulders completely.''

''Kirito finally realized where the guardian was the whole time… right above him. With another sinking feeling in his stomach, Kirito slowly raised his head to look directly upwards. Kirito's face paled severely as he came eye to eye with a humongous spider. With eight visibly gleaming red eyes, the spider gazed back as its fangs sprang open and it gave a hiss.''

''Luckily, Kirito dove to the left just in time before the spider landed where he just was, sadly, he was on the opposite side of the room to the door out, right in front of the staircase. Kirito steeled himself as he read the name of the guardian; Black Widow. 'Fitting' Kirito thought as he placed Dual Swords into his slot. Kirito was not going to pull any punches here, he could actually die.''

Kirito grabbed the hilt of the second sword and pulled it from its scabbard across his back, Kirito got into his stance; His left foot was half a body in front, his waist was lowered, and the sword in his right hand was held downwards with its tip nearly touching the floor, while the one in his left hand was held above his head, pointing at the spider.

''The spider sprang with such speed that Kirito almost missed it moving, the spider jumped right in front of him and tried to bite Kirito's head off. Kirito rolled to the left and swung both swords at one of its legs, only for the two swords to bounce off and nearly knocking him off balance.''

''Kirito took to the offensive and attacked the spider's main body, but he was once again stopped by the heavy scales on it. Kirito backpedalled to get some distance between them and to better observe the monster. Kirito noticed that the underbelly of the guardian was a lighter shade of black then the rest of the body, it was more of a fleshy grey colour. He spider tried again to catch Kirito in its mouth as it sprung forward again. Kirito this time dove forward directly underneath the spider and stabbed both swords upward, the two swords each pierced eight inches deep as the monster gave a high-pitched scream as its health bar dropped one-tenth of the way down.''

''Kirito pulled his swords out and jumped to the right as the spider tried to crush him. Kirito got into his stance as the monster got back up and faced him. It then jumped onto one of the pillars and started climbing upwards. Kirito lost sight of it, but prepared for anything. Several seconds later, several litres of what appeared to be green slime rained down onto his position. Kirito was not fast enough to dodge all of the slime and was clipped on his right leg, the slime that connected onto him began to eat away at his clothes and then his body.''

''"Ahhhh!" Kirito screamed as the acid severely burned his leg and he lost a fifth of his health. The spider then landed a meter or so away from him and prepared its hindquarters to pounce again. Kirito tried to jump away again, but the use of his right leg was limited and he was only able to stumble. The spider landed almost on top of him and grabbed him between two of its legs before jumping onto a pillar and holding him up above the ground. Kirito struggled to get loose from the guardian, but to no avail, he could only swing his swords about, but they did not damage against the spider's hide. Kirito gazed into the spider's eight eyes and saw himself reflected in all eight. Kirito then had an epiphany; he went into his inventory and pulled out his special dagger and dropped it on the spider's face.''

''The dagger pierced one of its eyes and the spider screamed again as it dropped Kirito onto the ground. Kirito ran at the monster again and used Raging Whirlwind a thirty-two hit combo that seemed like it was meant to fight bosses with.''

''To an onlooker's point of view, he or she would see almost a literal tornado attack the spider and in the center of the tornado you could barely see the outline of a somewhat skinny young man. The living maelstrom hit the spider like a tank does to house; ramming it and running it over.''

''As the winds bowed down, Kirito stumbled a little as he turned around to see about the spider. The boss' health had be reduced to the finally three red dots and it was stumbling a bit as it tried to stand up on eight severely damaged legs. There were cuts all over its body and several of its eyes were bloody pulp and one was hanging out by a thread of sinew.''

''The spider was about to jump back onto a pillar and climb away, but its body suddenly froze and it was left crouching on the floor. With the massive amount of damage it took from Kirito's last attack and its body weakened in such a state, the poison was finally able to take root within its body.''

''Kirito slowly dragged his feet towards the guardian, his tired footsteps was the only sound in the room. Kirito stood in front of the guardian and once again saw himself reflected in the undestroyed eyes and with a tired smile, he stabbed it in the head. The body disappeared and so did the acid burns around the room. Kirito grabbed a healing potion and drank its contents, tasted like fruit punch. As his health slowly healed, Kirito went to the large double doors. As he was about to open them, several other players burst in with weapons raised, ready to face the boss, they were completely confused when they saw no Boss, the leader of the party noticed Kirito and called out to him. "Hey! Hey you!"''

''Hearing the man call out to him, Kirito bolted through the door and came onto the newly discovered fifty-eighth floor, he was standing in the city square of Azeroth City. Kirito quickly pulled out a teleport crystal and ported back to Lumbridge.''

End of Flashback

After word had spread that the floor had been cleared and most shockingly that the group of high level Clearers were beaten to the kill by only a single man, Kirito was a wanted man. He earned himself the nickname 'The Dark Knight' and many a players wanted to know who this strong player was and why did he not fight against other bosses with the Clearers? The ability to single-handedly defeat a boss is astounding and such a player with that ability would be a welcome sight to those on the frontier. The only clue as to the man's identity was that he looked to be in his mid-teens and was wearing light black combat armour of unknown make. The fact that the unidentified man did not come forward had many people questioning who he was; Was he ashamed at how he looked? Did he just live in a really remote village? Or did he have a dark past that would better be left alone?

Many Clearers believed the last assumption to Kirito's identity and had started cracking down on orange guilds. Last he heard; the 'Hell's Angels' and the 'Black Knights' were all either killed or rounded up and sent to 'The Army' for prison.

Kirito was mentally tired and was about to go to sleep on his desk when a quiet knock was heard. Kirito looked up as the door opened and walked in was both Asuna and Lizbet, both had very perverted looks on their faces and a slight sway to their hips as they came towards him.

Kirito mentally groaned, he would not be getting any sleep tonight.

Sword Four: Yue-chan
Several Months Later

The last several months had been the usual routine stuff any self-respecting orange guild does; pillaging, stealing, the killing of other players, and the occasion lucky dungeon find. But Kirito had been going through Hell from the amount of paperwork he had to do to keep his guild afloat and not crumble. Kirito even had no time to spend with his two lovely ladies; a fact that both are very pissed off about. Right now, Kirito had some vacation time and was going to spend it at a little cozy village on the twenty-second floor, in a cottage with his lovers. The guild affairs were to be handled by Cline and he was to only, and to only contact Kirito if there were an emergency on the scale of one to ten, and it was an eleven.

Kirito was currently at the table, waiting the breakfast that Asuna was preparing for the three of them, he was reading the newspaper, if you could even call it that. It was just a collection of information from the day before about anything that happened that could affect any player.

One article caught his eye though; Orange Guild Crushed! 'There goes another one' Kirito mused. 'We are a dying breed it seems, I think we got less players than the solos'

Kirito's thoughts were taken from the newspaper to the food that was placed in front of him. Kirito could not help but grin wildly at the sight of a heaping stack of pancakes.

After the hearty breakfast, Kirito and his two beautiful girlfriends decide to go on a stroll through the quaint forest of the twenty-second floor. At one point, Asuna grew tired and had a sudden thought.

"Hey Kirito?" Asuna called out.

"What is it?" Kirito asked as he looked over his left shoulder.

"Can I ride your shoulders?" Asuna asked as she pouts.

"Huh?" Kirito asks, not understanding the request at first thought.

"Plleeeaasssee?" Asuna begs as she grabs Kirito in a bear hug, making sure to press her breasts against his back. "I'm sure your strength stat can do it"

"No fair!" Lizbet shouted. "Why does she only get a ride, I want one too!"

Kirito could only sigh as he tried to calm the two down before things got violent.

"Fine, fine. I'll give both of you rides on my shoulders" Kirito said in an exasperated tone. "Asuna, get on" Kirito said as he knelt down while leaning forward.

"Yay!" Asuna squeals as she on to Kirito's shoulders.

"Why does she get it first?" Lizbet asks as she pinches Asuna's leg.

"Because I am the one who asked first." Asuna said with a triumphant look, scowling a little as Lizbet continued to pinch her. "Stop that!" As Asuna tried to swat her hand away.

"Lizbet" Kirito chided. "Please stop that, you'll get your turn soon"

Lizbet stopped pinching Asuna but continued to have a very cute pout on her face.

Kirito could not resist, and he pinched both of Lizbet's cheeks with his hands.

SLAP! The sound of hitting flesh was heard in the forest as a flock of startled birds flew away from tree branches.

Several Minutes Later

Kirito was still nursing his pink cheek as he wandered the forest of the twenty-second floor with Asuna on his shoulders and Lizbet glued to his right arm.

The three people headed deeper and deeper into the forest, the cries of the elusive birds and even the sunlight began to fade away.

"Do you want to hear a ghost story?" Kirito asked as the sunlight disappeared.

"Huh?" Both Asuna and Lizbet intone, trading looks before glancing at Kirito.

"Yeah, there's a rumor that a ghost lives in this forest, near where we are" Kirito explained

"What do you mean?" Asuna asked. "Like a banshee or some monster of the Astral kind?"

"No. It's a player's spirit" Kirito said as a creepy smile graced his face. "Apparently it's a female"

"B-But, How is that possible? Something like aa ghost in a virtual game is im-impossible" Asuna vehemently protested.

"It seems that once there was a female player, she was betrayed and left in the forest to die, after those she called 'friends' attacked and tried to rape her, but her 'Ethnics' option was still on, and the rapists were unable to touch her. So they brutalized her body and left her to die in the forest" Kirito explained. "Eventually, she did die, but not before swearing revenge on those that killed her, she would haunt the place of her death until they had tasted her revenge" Kirito stopped here and took a breath, and then his smile got even more unnerving. "A few days later, a couple of players were in search of treasure, when they heard a cry for help. They investigated the source of the voice and game across a female player huddled on the ground, her head facing away. The two players approached the girl and asked her what was wrong. She told them that she had been attacked by orange players and left here. The two guys came up to the girl to check her health, only to realize that there was no health bar… or a cursor at all. The two guys, not understanding what was going, backed away from the girl. At this point the girl became angry and called to them 'ARE YOU LEAVING ME HERE? ARE YOU JUST LIKE 'THEM'!' she cried. She then turned around to face them, and what they saw scared them to the bones; the face was elongated, cheekbones that were visible under taunt white skin, her body became thinner and thinner, hands turned into elongated claws and her eyes, red sunken eyes with the white part all milky. The two players could only scream as fear rooted them in place. The ghost called to them; 'I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID ' 'But it wasn't us' They cried, but the ghost took no heed to them. Only screams were heard as the ghost indiscriminately took her revenge." Kirito finished the tale with a flourish. "So what do you guys think about it?"

Lizbet had a smile on her face as she thought about if such a thing was possible, Asuna on the other hand; her legs were shaking so much that they occasionally knocked into Kirito's head. Asuna was frightened at such an encounter.

Lizbet then grabbed Kirito's hand and said; "Can we go find her?" Lizbet then started badgering Kirito about it.

"W-Why would yo-you want to find a gg-ghost?" Asuna asked, trying very hard to stop the quaver in her voice.

"Come on Asuna" Kirito said. "It's just a rumor, let's go investigate!"

"Let's go!" Lizbet cheered.

"…" Asuna said nothing, not trusting herself to not stutter when she spoke.

A Couple Hours Later

The trios had gone quite deep into the forest and have yet to see anything remotely scary. Asuna and Lizbet had switched places on top of Kirito's shoulders several times and it was currently Asuna's turn again.

"How much farther do we have to go?" Lizbet asked as she scanned the surrounding area. "It's been hours!"

"We are looking for a ghost you know" Kirito said as he gave her a smile. "And I recall that you were the one who wanted to search for the ghost in the first place"

"I still don't get why we are doing this in the first place" Asuna said as she frowned at her two lovers. "What's so cool about going after a ghost, we don't even know if the rumor is true or not."

"It is getting late" Kirito said as he glanced towards the blackening skies. "We should be getting back to the cottage"

"Let's go. It seems that we won't find anything tonight" Lizbet said with a huff. Then a coy smile graced her face. "We have a lot of catching u to do still"

"I agree!" Asuna interjected. She then bent over and kissed Kirito. "We have much to do"

Kirito could not stop the massive grin forming on his face. "Then let's go!"

Kirito grabbed Lizbet's hand and started running back the way they came.

"Whoa!" Asuna cried at the sudden rush as Kirito ran.

Kirito was running as fast as he could and did not stop until they came to the edge of the forest.

Kirito suddenly stopped, Asuna almost fell off of him and Lizbet stumbled.

Asuna was not happy about the experience and smacked him on the head. "Kirito! That was not nice!"

"Yeah, what if I had tripped?" Lizbet said with a pout.

"Hahaha… sorry about that, but at least we are her-"

The sound of movement behind them stopped Kirito from finishing what he was about to say. The three instantly turned towards the source of the noise. After several more seconds of rustling leaves and branches, a girl wearing white, and shining in the darkness of the night came into view. The 'apparition' stood still and then fell backwards.

"W-What wa-was that?" Asuna asked, once again scared.

"I don't know, but let's find out" Kirito said as he gently placed Asuna back onto the ground.

"WHAT!" Asuna screamed. "You want to look at it?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Lizbet said as she began to drag Kirito with her to the 'ghost'.

The three went to under the tree where they had last seen her; with Lizbet dragging Kirito and Asuna hiding behind his back.

Behind the tree they saw it was not a ghost, but a very young, very pretty female player in a one piece dress. Kirito knelt down and cradled her in his arms. She was still unconscious. Her eyes were closed under long eyelashes, arms hung loose at her sides.

"Is she alright?" Asuna asks as she peers closely at her face.

"How the hell should I know?" Kirito replies with an exasperated look. "We technically don't breathe neither do our hearts beat in this world"

"Then what do you propose that we do with her?"

"I don't kn- WHAT!" Kirito did not finish his sentence.

"What's wrong?" Lizbet asked. Slightly unnerved at his sudden shout.

"There's no cursor!" Kirito said. "Take a look, a cursor doesn't appear over her!"

"Huh?" Both Lizbet and Asuna placed their cursors over the girl, and to their bewilderment, the little girl had no cursor of her own.

"How is that possible?" Asuna asked, her fear of ghosts coming back.

"I don't know" Kirito had a perplexed look on his face. "I mean, she's not a ghost. I can hold her and touch her…"

Asuna peered closely at the girl again, but no cursor showed up.

"Could it be… maybe a bug or something like that?"

"I wonder…" Lizbet spoke up. "Why is… there a girl as young as her, playing SAO?..."

"What should we do with her?" Kirito asks as he kneels next to the girl, "Should we just leave her here"

"What!" Both of them cried.

"Why would you want to leave her lying here!" Asuna asked.

"Yeah! Look at her, she's so cuuuttee!" Lizbet said, crooning over the girl.

"Then what do you guys want us to do, take her with us?" Kirito said, looking up at the two.

Kirito's suggestion gave way to a smile on both Lizbet's and Asuna's faces. The two girls shared a look before turning their gazes back to Kirito. Kirito, seeing the look in their eyes, came to the most dangerous conclusion at the moment.

"No! No way!" Kirito shouted as he stood up. "We are not going to tak-"

"Shush! You'll wake her up!" Asuna admonished Kirito.

"Man up Kirito! Haven't you always wanted a cute little sister?" Lizbet asked

"I already have a little sister, thank you very much, and though she may no longer be cute, she has grown up quite nicely" Kirito said with a lavish smile on his face.

Both girls shared another look with each other and simultaneously slapped Kirito out of his thoughts. Asuna on the left and Lizbet on the right.

Several Minutes Later

Kirito was nursing his left cheek as he dashed through the forest, back to the cottage. He was scowling deeply as he adjusted the little girl in his arms.

As the three arrived back at their home, the little girl had yet to wake up. Kirito placed her in the middle of the King-sized bed and stood as Lizbet and Asuna sat to either sides of the girl.

"It seems that she is not a NPC" Kirito began. "The fact that we were able to take her in here proves that"

Asuna and Lizbet were too preoccupied with taking care of the unconscious girl to pay attention.

"So what now?" Kirito asked.

"We go to sleep, and see what happens tomorrow" Asuna said as she changed clothes and tucked herself into the bed to the left of the girl.

"Yep! Good night Kirito" Lizbet said as she did the same, but to the right of the girl.

"Hold on, where am I going to sleep?" Kirito asked.

"The floor, obviously" Asuna said as she turned over to face the girl.

"What? Why?" Kirito asked, already getting an idea why such cold treatment was coming to him. What they said next just confirmed it.

"Because you have been a bad boy, thinking dirty thoughts about your own sister" Lizbet said with a huff.

"But she's not my sister, she's only my cousin" Kirito said, trying valiantly to defend his actions.

"Doesn't matter, baka hentai" Asuna said, still not looking at him

Kirito could only sigh as he searched through his inventory until he found his trusting sleeping bag, and placed it to one side of the room.

The Next Morning

Bathed in the bright morning light, the sounds of a clarinet playing, reached into the drowsy consciousness of Asuna. Asuna lied in bed, listening to the melody her alarm played. A flute joined the clarinet and Asuna lost herself in the melody. The sounds of violins soon joined in and coupled with the faint humming voice of…

Hold on, humming?...

Asuna's eyes snapped open as she looked for the source. Her eyes fell onto the girl sleeping next to her, with her eyes still closed, humming to the melody of Asuna's alarm.

The little girl, hummed in pitch and in time, not a single beat was missed.

"Li-Lizbet-chan, Ki-Kirito-kun" Asuna called.

"Hmmm?" Kirito asked, slowly get off the floor.

"What is it Asuna-chan?" Lizbet asked.

"Both of you, come here now!" Asuna said, not moving an inch.

Both Lizbet and Kirito shifted their gaze from her to the sleeping girl next to her.

"She's singing?" Kirito asked.

"Ye-Yeah" Asuna answered. She then started to lightly push the girl's shoulder and called out. "Hey, wake up… Come on, open your eyes"

The girl's lips stopped moving. Soon, here closed eyes twitched several times, before her long eyelashes rose up.

With black, misty eyes, the girl peered around her surroundings, coming to a rest at Asuna's eyes. The girl blinked several times before opening her almost colorless lips just a bit.

"Aa…uu…" The girl's voice rang out, like the sound of vibrating silverware. A beautiful sound.

Lizbet gently picked the girl up and placed her on her lap.

"Thank goodness that you are all right" Lizbet said. "Do you have any idea as to what happened to you?"

The girl was silent for several moments, until she gave a short shake of her head.

"…Then can you please tell us your name?" Asuna asked.

"Na… me… My… name" the girl tilted her head in thought as a strand of her glossy black hair fell onto her cheek. "Yu… i… name… is… Y-Yui"

"That's a sweet name, my name is Lizbet" Lizbet said, pointing at herself. "The other girl here is Asuna, and that person over there is Kirito"

The girl called Yui followed Lizbet's pointing finger until she saw who it was pointing at. "Li… et. A… una. Ki… to"

"Hey Yui-chan, where were you on the twenty-second floor? Are your father or mother near here?" Asuna asked.

Yui fell into a deep silence. "I don't… know…. I… don't know… anything" she said while her eyes were downcast.

Several Minutes Later

Yui was happily drinking a cup of Sweet Milk, while Asuna, Lizbet and Kirito were in the kitchen to discuss

"What are your thoughts about this?" Asuna began.

Lizbet chewed on her bottom lip for a second before answering. "With what she said so far, I think her mind is damaged somehow"

"So you came to the same conclusion" Asuna's face became clouded. "What do you think, Kirito?"

"Why should I care?" Kirito said with a scowl. "You're the ones who wanted to bring her in"

Lizbet smacked him upside the head, while Asuna kicked him in the shins.

"Don't be rude now" Asuna said with a glare. "She could have died in that forest if no one found her"

"Now you are going to sit next to her and introduce yourself" Lizbet said.

Kirito's scowl deepened and then vanished as he faced off against his two lovers. Kirito sighed as he dragged himself into the dining room and took a seat next to Yui.

"Hi Yui, do you remember who I am?" Kirito asked, not all that happy to talk with an eight-year-old girl.

"Yo…u… Ki… to" Yui said disjointedly.

"No, say it with me; .to" Kirito said, trying to at least get the girl to speak properly.

Yui's face became scrunched up and she became silent as she tried to say his name properly. "…Kirito"

Asuna and Lizbet walked in and also sat at the table.

"If it's too hard, you can call him any other kind of name you want" Asuna said, shooting at look at Kirito to not disagree.

Kirito sighed again as he awaited his new name.

Yui pondered for a while, not even moving an inch while doing so. Finally, Yui raised her head and timidly said. "… Papa" she then turned to Asuna. "Auna is… Mama" and lastly to Lizbet. "Liet… is also… Mama"

Kirito had his scowl back on his face, and was mentally berating his situation. 'What did I ever do to deserve this?'

' Many things could have screwed you over' The voice at the back of his head said.

'So you're back, it's been awhile since I heard from you' Kirito thought to himself.

' It looks like your life just got more complicated, hahahaha!'

'Shut up! And go back into whatever dark part of my mind you inhabit!' Kirito mentally commanded himself.

' Sure ,sure, but be advised… your sex life just hit negative seven on the scale'

Other Side of the Table

Lizbet and Asuna were both shocked for a second, before breaking out in squeals and hugged each other.

"T-That's right… I'm Mama" Asuna said.

"So am I!" Lizbet piped up.

Kirito only scowled and said nothing.

Several Days Later

Kirito still was not used to being called 'papa' and did not understand why they were taking care of a child in the first place. Eventually Yui was able to speak coherently and fluidly. Yet Kirito spent as much time away from Yui as he possibly could, always pushed her needy arms into either Asuna's or Lizbet's, they were more than happy to play with her, they doted and treated Yui like a real daughter.

Kirito was taking an afternoon nap while Asuna and Lizbet were preparing that night's dinner. Yui had just woken up from her afternoon nap and wanted someone to take her outside to play.

"Mama, will you play with me outside?" Yui asked Asuna.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but I need to make dinner for all four of us tonight" Asuna said with a small smile.

"Okay, Can you play with me outside, Mommy?" Yui asked Lizbet this time.

"Sorry honey, but I have to help Mama with cooking food tonight, why don't you ask Papa?" Lizbet told Yui.

Yui was not that happy with going to Kirito, he always didn't want to be around Yui.

Yui went up to the sleeping Kirito and prodded him a couple times in the side. Kirito slowly opened one eye to see what was going on and when he saw Yui, he deftly closed his eye and pretended to still be asleep.

Eventually, Yui left Kirito and went back into the kitchen, her face downcast and sad.

Asuna noticed Yui still here and asked; "I thought you were going out with Papa?"

"He's still asleep, and won't wake up" Yui said, looking at the floor. Yui did not notice the dangerous gleam in Asuna's eyes.

"Wait here a second, Yui. I'll get him" Asuna said as she strolled in the living room and kicked Kirito hard in the leg.

"What was that for!" Kirito asked, already knowing the answer.

"You are going to take Yui outside to play, understood?" Asuna ordered as she stood over Kirito's prone form.

Kirito sighed before getting off the couch and slouching into the kitchen to retrieve Yui.

Once outside, Yui started running around. Kirito slowly followed in her wake. After going several yards away from the cottage, Kirito thought that is was far enough, and called out to Yui; "Don't go any farther from here"

Kirito heard no reply and scowled. Kirito called again; "Yui, come back!" still no reply.

Kirito used Scan to try to find Yui and did… but she was also surrounded by several unknowns. Kirito sighed as he snuck up to where Yui was. Kirito just rounded a tree and saw Yui being held captive by some thuggish scum. The sight of Yui scared; caused an ache in his heart, an unpleasant feeling that would not go away and he did not like it.

Flashback: A Couple Minutes

" Hello stranger! My name is Yui" Yui greeted the thugs.

''" Who the hell is this?" One thug asked another.''

" Dunno, but she's kinda cute" One replied.

''" My papa is with me outside and I'm really happy" Yui continued, not hearing the thugs speak. "He always seemed like he didn't like me, always had somewhere else to be, or something else to do when I am around" Yui's face became downcast. "But he's here with me now" At those words, Yui smiled again and became more happy. "I love my Papa, I just want him to love me a well"''

''" What do we do with her?" A thug spoke up.''

" We could have some fun, boys" The apparent leader said, his eyes bright with malicious.

The others grinned evilly and took up positions to cover escape.

" Well, goodbye mister stranger, I should go back to Papa" Yui said in farewell as she turned around to leave.

''" You're not going anywhere" The leader said as he grabbed Yui by the hair. .''

''" Papa! Papa! Save me!" Yui cried out for Kirito.''

''" No one's coming, kid" The leader said. "I bet that guy would even pay us to take you, he doesn't love you, why do you think he's never around when you are?"''

''" That's a lie!" Yui yelled. "Papa will come… he cares"''

''" Then where is this guy, huh" The man laughed. "Anyway, let's go, you're coming with us"''

End of Flashback

"Papa! Papa! Help!" Yui cried again.

As the thug made to smack Yui with his other hand, Kirito's body moved without conscious thought. His mind registers that he had even moved was when he felt his sword cut through the arm holding Yui hostage. He then followed up with a slash that carved away the man's head. Disappearing into polygons.

Everyone in the clearing was surprised to see Kirito, except Yui.

"Papa! She cried as she clung to Kirito's neck as he held her in his arm.

"I'll always be there to protect you" Kirito said, though he had no idea what made him say such things. "Close your eyes and cover your ears, this will be over soon"

Yui nodded and complied with what he said.

"You think you can take us all" One man sneered.

"… Yes" Kirito answered simply at he attacked the thugs.

A Minute Later

A light tap on Yui's shoulder signaled her to open her eyes. When she did, she saw Kirito holding her in his arms and the thugs gone.

"Let's go back for dinner now, Yui" Kirito said with a small smile.

"Okay, Papa!" Yui said as she snuggled into Kirito's chest, with her arms around his neck.

Sword Five: The Beginning to the End
Forest of the Twenty-Second Floor

Days flew by as the happy family spent their time together. After the little encounter with the thugs; Kirito had spent more and more time each day with Yui, going out to gather herbs, playing in the surrounding area, or just lazing around. Although Kirito himself did not know it; he had been treating the little girl like a daughter.

The four were having lunch out in the forest, a bright day with few clouds and good scenery. Kirito, Asuna, and Lizbet were all having sandwiches; Hot, spicy Boneless Chicken cutlet sandwich for Kirito, a nice BLT for Asuna, and a bagel with cream cheese of all things for Lizbet. Yui was having the specially made fruit pies and Sweet Lemon tarts that Asuna and Lizbet had made that morning.

Yui had just finished her second tart and was looking at Kirito's sandwich curiously.

"Papa, what are you eating?" Yui asked as she inspected the other half on Kirito's knee.

"I am having a super hot and spicy sandwich that Mama made" Kirito answered as he gave Asuna a kiss on the cheek in thanks.

"Can I try some?" Yui asked as she continued to look at the sandwich.

"Are you sure Yui-chan?" Asuna asked. "It's very spicy, and you might not like it"

"Yes! Can I plleeeaaase have some?" Yui asked again, more insistent this time.

"Here Yui-chan, open wide!" Kirito said as he prepared the other half of his sandwich to feed Yui.

Yui opened her mouth as wide as she could and took a very big bite from the sandwich. The other three were waiting for her verdict on the taste.

"Mmmm! Tasty!" Yui said after she had swallowed. She beamed at them.

"Ha! She has guts!" Kirito said as he picked Yui up and placed her on his shoulders.

Kirito and Yui both laughed and smiled as the two fooled around on the picnic blanket. Kirito would always end up tickling Yui's sides as she squirmed in his lap. Asuna and Lizbet looked on in amusement at the two. Having Yui in their life has changed them for the better; they had forgotten whatever innocence they had as children. Though there was only one downside… with Yui sleeping in the embrace of Asuna or Lizbet (depending on the day) there was little chance for the two sexually frustrated girls to release any tension.

The said two girls were currently gazing at Kirito with predatory gleams in their eyes as they imagined him without clothing on.

Kirito, feeling their gaze on his back, shivered slightly. Kirito knew what they wanted and he feared what would happen when they got the chance to be alone. The more he thought about it, the more he actually wanted to experience it... His thoughts must have showed on his face when Yui then spoke up.

"Papa, why do you have such a weird look on your face?" Yui asked, still an innocent computer program child. "Do you need to go potty?"

Kirito blinked several times before bursting out in laughter. "No Yui, I don't need to go to the bathroom, I just had some things in my head" ' ''And they're still there… No! Must. Not. Show. Perverted. Face. To. Yui! '' '

Yui did not notice the mental battle going on inside Kirito's head as she happily leaned back and went to sleep with her head on Kirito's chest.

Kirito was finally able to hold himself back and relaxed in the shade.

"Kirito!" Lizbet said as she came up behind him and hugged his back. "Let's take a walk around the forest!"

Kirito turned around to decline, when suddenly, he was fiercely kissed by Lizbet. After the initial shock, Kirito kissed back and dueled tongues with her. Lizbet silently moaned into his mouth as they continued to passionately kiss.

As the two broke off for air, Kirito's face was grabbed by a pair of hands and was turned to the other side this time, and he just had enough time to take a breath before Asuna kissed him this time. As with Lizbet, Kirito dueled tongues with Asuna and tasted the inside of her mouth. Asuna moaned deep in her throat as they kissed.

When these two broke the kiss for air, there was a trail of saliva connecting the two. It was at this moment that Yui made her presence known.

"What are you Papa, doing with Mama?" Yui asked sweetly in her bell-like voice. She had apparently woken up from Kirito shifting in his seat.

"I-It wa-was a-" Asuna stuttered, trying to find a believable excuse.

"It was a kiss, Yui-chan" Kirito stated simply.

"What's a 'kiss'?" Yui asked, perplexed at the meaning behind the word.

"It's when someone else's lips make contact with something else" Kirito explained. "It's like this" Kirito then gave Yui a kiss on the top of her head.

Yui beamed at the contact. "Let me try! Let me try!" She cried as she tried to push Kirito's head down so she could kiss it.

Kirito laughed as he lowered his head just enough for her to give him a kiss on the forehead. Yui went onto the tips of her toes and gave a peck to Kirito's forehead.

Several Days Later

Early Afternoon

Yui was just getting the hang of 'kissing' and was using every opportunity to kiss Kirito's face, Asuna's face and Lizbet's face. She would wake each of them up with several kisses across their faces. Eventually though, her excitement died down, but she would still kiss Kirito whenever she had the chance.

There was only several more days left before they had to leave and go back to guild headquarters. Yet the three had yet to make any decision regarding Yui; Yui could be regarded as a liability and be used as a hostage against them, especially against Kirito.

"What should we do?" Asuna asked as she regarded sleeping form of Yui. "We can't take her into that place"

"I agree" Lizbet said. "She's still young, she shouldn't have to see what happens there, what we do as a living" Lizbet finished, slightly shameful if their daughter were to learn of their deeds.

"I don't give a shit" Kirito said, much to the shock of the other two. "I say we take her in and kill all who try to take her from us, she'll learn of the truth eventually, it's just a matter of time"

"But-But wha-" Lizbet stuttered.

"But what?" Kirito asked. "If she doesn't like us for who we are and what we do, then there is no point keeping her, she'll always resent or hate us"

The two girls were silent as they thought over what Kirito said; on one hand was their almost none-existent guilt, and on the other was Yui's love and trust.

"Okay" Asuna said, coming to a decision. "We'll tell her the truth, and see what happens"

Lizbet glumly nodded her head in agreement and said nothing else.

"Now, on to some more pressing matters" Asuna said as a predatory smile emerged onto her face.

"What's that?" Kirito asked. "I thought that this was why we went across the cottage, where Yui would is least likely to hear whatever we do or say?"

"Oh yes, Yui is very important" Asuna said, making a slight motion of her hand to Lizbet, which Kirito missed. "But you have forgotten one very, very important thing"

At this point, Lizbet was directly behind him.

"What's that?" Kirito asked, still not understanding his situation.

Lizbet wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself onto Kirito's back. "Ever since Yui has been with us, we have been very lonely, the bed is so, so cold without you" Lizbet whispered in Kirito's ear.

Kirito shivered from the virtual feeling of Lizbet's warm breath caressing his ear. Lizbet felt him shiver and pressed her lips to his neck and began to lightly kiss. Kirito's mind was slowly losing its reason and it disappeared when he saw Asuna sauntered forward, her hips swaying with each step. Asuna grabbed his face and slammed her lips onto his.

' I guess Yui CAN wait for an hour… make that two hours' Kirito's last coherent thought soon left his mind as something far more primal took over.

Later That Night

The four of them had just finished a delicious dinner cooked by Asuna and Lizbet of roast Spring Chicken, roast Large Potatoes, a salad of crunchy Cool Lettuce, crusty Golden Baguette, and some cool Berry Mead for the teenagers, and Apple Cider for Yui.

They were sitting around the dining table, all nursing their mugs until Asuna finally decided to bring up the topic.

"*Ahem*, so Yui, in about a week or so, we need to head back into our… jobs" Asuna said.

"Are we going to a big, big city?" Yui asked, already planning what she wanted to do in such a new place.

"We are…" Lizbet interjected. "But there are some things you need to know first…"

"What's that?" Yui asked.

"Do you know what we do for a living here?" Kirito bluntly asked.

"Yep!" Yui chipped in. "Papa is head of a guild and Mommy is a member, while Mama is head of her own guild!"

"Yes…" Asuna cautiously said. "But do you know what we do in the guild?"

"Ummm" Yui scrunched up her face as she tried very hard to think about what her parents specifically did.

"We kill other players and take their stuff" Kirito bluntly answered.

"Ohh..." Yui said as she processed what she just heard. Asuna and Lizbet waited with baited breath for her answer, while Kirito leaned against the doorway and patiently waited. "So when do we head out?"

Yui's question was met with stoic silence from Kirito and surprised looks from both Asuna and Lizbet.

"Y-You-You're okay with it?" Lizbet asked, very hopeful.

"Yep!" Yui answered cheerfully.

"Wait, wait. Yui, you do know what we're talking about, right?" Asuna asked, making sure.

"Yeah, you guys kill other people for fun" Yui happily answered.

"A-And You're okay with that?" Asuna asked.

"Yeah" Yui said with a serious expression. "…Does that mean I have to do that stuff too?"

"NO!" Asuna and Lizbet both said at the same time. "If you want to…" Kirito said as well.

Asuna and Lizbet glared at Kirito for being so dense and both reacted differently; Asuna smacked him upside the head, and Lizbet slapped him.

Yui laughed at the pout on Kirito's face as he rubbed the back of his head and his left cheek.

"*Ahem* Anyway, you're going to live with us in the base, but you must not let anyone see you" Asuna warned.

"Why can't I?" Yui asked. "I want to make new friends!"

"You can sweetie, but the people you are going to meet wouldn't want to be your friend" Lizbet said, kneeling down to Yui's eye-level.

"Why not?" Yui asked, downhearted that there were people who she had yet to meet who already did not like her.

"Because there are people who would hurt you, just to hurt us" Asuna said with a sad smile.

"But don't worry so much" Lizbet said. "You'll have fun, I swear"

"Really?" Yui asked with hopeful eyes.

"Yes" Lizbet answered as she petted Yui on the head before standing back up. "Anyway, let's go to sleep, we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow"

Yui just happened to yawn at that moment. "Okay" She stretched her arms out for Kirito to pick her up.

Laughing Coffin Base

During the Night

"Are we in position?" A man wearing armor and a cowl asked.

"Yes, sir" a person answered. "We are ready to attack"

"Excellent, send a message to our brothers; take as many as they can alive, but show no mercy" The cowl wearer said.

"Yes, sir" the other answered.

Next Day

Forest of the Twenty-Second Floor

Kirito blinked as his alarm chime went off.  'What the hell happened last night?'  Kirito thought as a painful throbbing thundered in his head. 'Feels like a hangover' Kirito grumbled as he tried to get out of the bed, tried, being the operative word.

Kirito was being held down by both Asuna and Lizbet; what was weird was that both of them were on top of him, one on top of the other. Asuna was straddling him, and Lizbet was straddling Asuna… 'What the hell went on last night?' Kirito asked himself as he glanced around. ' Oh God, I hope Yui didn't see this '

Kirito looked around for Yui, but saw nothing of her in the room and let out a sigh of relief. As he looked up again he came face to face with Yui.

"AH!" Kirito let out an unmanly cry at the suddenness of Yui's appearance.

"Good morning!" Yui cried as she proceeded to jump on top of the pile. "We're going home today! We're going home today!" Yui cried as she began to jump on the bed.

' Why aren't Lizbet and Asuna waking? ' Kirito asked himself.  'Oh yeah, you won't awake until your personal alarm goes off'  So Kirito was stuck at the bottom of the pile until the girls woke up.

"Papa, why are you underneath Mommy and Mama?" Yui asked as she finally got a good look at the scenario.

"That's a good question, and I sadly do not have the answer to" Kirito answered as he tried to shift out from underneath the girls, but remained stuck.

With nothing better to do at the moment, Kirito opened up his menu and decided to check out his mail box. To his surprise, there were five messages from Cline, all time stamped light night and two minutes apart.

' What are these about?' Kirito asked as he opened the first message.

Kirito's eyes got more and more narrow as he continued through the message. He opened the second one and it had only one word; HELP. The last three all said the same thing as well.

' Something's not right' Kirito thought as he tried to somehow poke the two girls awake.

"Papa, what are you doing?" Yui asked me from the side of the bed.

"Trying to get your Moms off me" Kirito answered as he unsuccessfully did that.

"Do you want some help?" Yui asked.

"Thank you, but I doubt…" Kirito never got to finish.

"Mama! Mommy! Wake up!" Yui cried.

Kirito highly doubted that it would work; the player does not wake up until their personal alarm went off.

But something happened.

At first, it was just a small shift, but next it was Lizbet flopping off Asuna and started rubbing her eyes blearily.

Asuna was letting out small groaning noises as she herself shifted on top of Kirito.

"What the…?" Kirito breathed out, something like this was unheard of before.

"Yui, how did you do that?" Kirito asked, tearing his eyes away from the phenomenon.

"What do you mean?" Yui asked, her head tilted to the side, looking at me with wide child-eyes.

"How did you wake Asuna and Lizbet?" Kirito asked, baffled at the situation.

"I just called them to wake up" Yui answered, still not understanding why her papa did not understand himself.

"But... – that's… – it's…" Kirito was unable to articulately explain why he did not understand. After several seconds of sputtering, Kirito finally gave up. "Nevermind Yui, it's not important" He said with a sigh.

"Okay!" Yui said as she turned around and skipped from the room with childish grace.

"So how are you two feeling?" Kirito asked as he directed his gaze to the two girls who were sprawled on the floor.

"… What happened?" Asuna groggily asked as she shook her head.

"… My head hurts" Lizbet added as she rubbed the back of her head.

"You were both awakened by Yui's calling and then promptly fell out of bed" Kirito answered as he pulled off the covers and went through his inventory to place on the necessary clothing. "It looks like Yui is more than just an irregular NPC"

"Get dressed, something's wrong" Kirito continued as he checked over his favorite sword. "We might have some… minor issues"

"What's wrong?" Asuna perked up as she sprang up, sleepiness forgotten.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look good" Kirito answered as he glanced out the room to see if Yui was nearby. "Asuna, you and I are going back to check up with the worms. Lizbet, you will stay here with Yui, don't leave the cabin today"

"But why do I have to stay?" Lizbet whined as she pouted up at Kirito.

"because even if your Strength skill is high, but your Stealth and Agility are lacking" Kirito explained as he began placing potions and extra armor into his inventory. "Asuna and I will be back by this afternoon, we're only just getting some reports on the goings on and then we're coming back, but just in case something happens, don't leave the cabin"

"But Kiiiriiitooo" Lizbet protested.

Kirito sighed and turned away from her, he could never win against the face.

"You ready yet?" Kirito asked as he looked back down to his menu.

"Just about" Asuna answered as she fiddled with her menu as well.

"I wanna go too!" Lizbet tried again.

"It's okay, Lizbet, just watch over Yui" Asuna said as she placed on her rapier. "I'll let you have your revenge on Kirito when we get back"

Lizbet stopped in mid thought with her mouth open as a thoughtful expression came to her, and then she smiled very broadly. She looked at Asuna and she nodded her head. Asuna then also grinned broadly as the two began to laugh; "Fufufufufufu" Kirito paled visible as he began to look from Asuna and Lizbet, trying to see what kind of telepathic communication had gone on between the two.

Kirito sighed in defeat as no answer was forthcoming.

Twenty Minutes Later

Asuna and Kirito arrived outside the gates that led into the base in Lumbridge, what was odd was that there was no one manning them. 'I got a bad feeling about this' Kirito thought as he looked around and then used Scan; there was no one nearby. Kirito pushed past the swinging gates and it was like walking into a ghost town.

There was not a soul in the area and it looked like someone had trashed the place as well.

"What the hell happened?" Kirito asked as he regarded his trashed base.

"I don't know, let's search for clues" Asuna said as she started to make her way to the interior of the keep.

The two made their way inside, but it was the same in every room; trashed and devoid of anyone.

After ten minutes of searching, not a single clue was found as to what had occurred, the best theory was that some unknown group had attacked the Black Coffins and had succeeded into either killing everyone or carting them off to Starting City for jail. Either answer meant bad news; there was a group out there with enough high level players to make the difference in a battle.

Kirito scowled as he gazed around the deserted keep. "Let's go, there's nothing left here" Kirito began to make his way out.

Suddenly, a group of cowled and cloaked players made their way in.

"And you are?" Kirito asked, hand on his sword and eyes narrowed.

"Kirito" One of them said in a deep voice. "You're time has come, prepare to die" and saying nothing else, the group of five charged Kirito and Asuna.

Kirito and Asuna were not fazed at the sudden attack, the two sprang apart and drew their weapons.

Three attacked Kirito while the last two went for Asuna.

"There is no chance for victory, give up and face your death quickly and quietly" The leader of the attackers said.

Kirito smirked before saying: "We will not go quietly into the night" he declared as he positioned his sword to begin Piercing Sword.

His three attackers fanned out and surround him as he did so. Kirito's body faced the one to his right, but his eyes were targeting the leftmost attacker.

In a blink of an eye, Kirito took a step forward and drove his sword through the chest of the rightmost attacker. His sword left a red trajectory through the air as it struck.

"What?" his victim only had time to voice that as he convulsed once, and then turned into polygons.

"Very well then" the cowled leader said, you could practically hear the scowl on his face. "Use it" he ordered.

Kirito's gaze moved between the last two of his attackers, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Asuna dancing around the two fight her.

His focus turned back to the two in front of him as they each pulled out an orange potion, watching the two, Kirito re-gripped his sword, prepared for anything.

His two attackers' boots glowed orange and then they disappeared from his line of sight.

Kirito instantly threw himself forward as they two attackers swung their swords from right beside him, and just missing him. Kirito turned around and brought his sword up just in time to block a strike to his head.

Kirito grit his teeth as he held back the strength behind the two-handed sword.

His opponent disengaged and kicked out at Kirito, catching him in the side and throwing his away. Kirito smashed his back into the stone wall of the keep and gave a cry of surprise.

Kirito looked up only to find the blade of his opponent pierce his stomach.

"AH!" Kirito cried as his health dropped to 45%. Kirito grit his teeth again as he rammed his sword into the cowled head of his attacker.

"AHH!" The man cried as he back away, leaving his sword stuck in Kirito.

Kirito gave a mighty grunt as he pulled the sword out of his virtual guts and threw it away. He only had a second to take a breath before the other attacker came at him.

' I guess there's no other choice' Kirito thought as he held his sword pointed down and behind him. His entire body began to glow green. 'Reckless Charge' Kirito thought as he jumped off his back leg and swung out with his sword.

His opponent stopped in mid-step and jumped back, but that was what Kirito was hoping for; he took the precious couple of seconds and placed his secret skill back into his slots.

Kirito drew his second sword and charged, bringing both swords to either side of him. His swords glowed red as he attacked. His attacks were so fast and so numerous that one could not distinguish the start of one and the end of one, it was like one continuous swing, one raging tornado of blades. Kirito gave no quarter.

Death was quick, too quick for Kirito's taste, but he had no time to spare at the moment.

The man he was attacking was unable to even let out a sound as his dissected body parts turned into polygons.

The leader, the one he had managed to smack the hilt of his blade into his face, was picking up his sword again.

Kirito did not give him the chance; he grabbed a poisoned dagger and entered the Single Shot position; the dagger glowed green for a second before his arm extended and threw the weapon at the recovering person.

When the blade made contact, the man promptly froze in place and fell over onto his side. Kirito glanced over at how Asuna was holding against her opponents.

Asuna appeared to be just dancing around her two opponents. Her movements full of grace.

Kirito decided against interrupting the fight to just watch one of his lovers kill someone.

And Asuna did not disappoint; her rapier glowed purple as it left after-images of itself as it struck. There was no way for one to guard against such an attack.

Kirito could not see it, but he was sure that the man had a look of surprise on his face he disappeared and became nothing more than another name on the monument in Starting City.

' I wonder why her uniform consists of such a short skirt.' Kirito mused as he watched Asuna fight. 'I wonder what we'll do after this… probably that' Kirito thought as his eyes tracked every movement of her skirt.

Kirito gave a yawn; it was much less interesting watching someone else fight.

Kirito perked up when Asuna stabbed the second man through a shoulder, and then proceeded to main each limb.

The man was screaming now, not even bothering to fight back against her. A second later it was all over.

Asuna walked over to where Kirito was and gave him a very eager kiss.

"Finally done?" Kirito quipped, smirking slightly.

"And I didn't even get to see their faces" Asuna pouted.

"Well, we could just take that guy" Kirito said as he gestured at the prone body several feet away.

"Oh! You captured someone!" Asuna said as she practically skipped over to the man.

Asuna ripped the hood back to reveal the man's face. He was rather plain looking and boorish; brown hair and brown eyed. Nothing remarkable.

"Hello" Asuna purred. "We're going to hurt you soon" she said as she drew a diner knife and then proceeded to lick along its blade.

"Now, now Asuna" Kirito interjected. "Wait until we get back, Lizbet deserves the right to torture him"

Sword Six: Information
Forest on the 22nd Floor

Kirito had lugged their prisoner back to the gates of Salem City and teleported back to where his little cottage was located.

"Lizbet!" Kirito called out as he entered the building. "We got you a toy!"

"Don't you mean it's for Yui" Lizbet asked as she came from the bedroom. "What toy? All I see is a trussed up prisoner…"

A look of understanding then came to her face, her eyes went wide and it looked like her face was starting to sparkle a little bit.

"Yes" Kirito answered the unasked question. "He's for you to play with"

Lizbet began to happily jump around and then grabbed Kirito by the head and forcefully kissed him.

"Thank you very much, Kirito" Lizbet whispered into his ear. "I think I need to properly thank you later tonight"

Kirito smirked before dropping the body to the floor and pulling Lizbet into another kiss. "I can't wait" he whispered back as he crushed her frame against his.

"Don't forget me" Asuna said from behind Kirito, pressing herself against his back. "I helped"

"PAPA!" a young girl's voice could be heard throughout the house. "You're back!"

Yui dashed as fast as she could across the room and smacked herself into Kirito's legs and latched onto them in a death grip. Kirito almost toppled from the sudden onslaught from the young girl.

Kirito had to struggle to see Yui through the mass of limbs around him. "Hello Yui" he greeted, smiling down at her. "What did you do while I was gone?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh" Yui began to jump up and down while still attached to Kirito's leg. "Mommy explained to me that the reason why I keep hearing 'Oh God!' from your room is because Papa, Mama, and Mommy are praying together every night!"

"… What?" Kirito asked, not understanding exactly what Yui was saying.

"You know when you lock your door after you put me to sleep and then yo…-"Yui didn't finish her answer as Lizbet used both of her hands to cover her mouth.

"Nothing, it was nothing at all" Lizbet interjected, covering Yui's mouth with one hand while the other made a dismissive hand gesture.

Kirito had a blank look on his face still, but behind him, Asuna had a playful smirk on her face and gave Lizbet a wink. Lizbet chuckled slightly.

"Anyway, Yui, how would you like you to go on a picnic with Asuna and I?" Kirito asked.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Yui cried, hugging Kirito's leg harder. "… But what about Mommy?"

"Oh… well, Lizbet has a… job to do for me" Kirito answered, phrasing his words carefully.

"Oh…" Yui said, looking downcast at the prospect of missing one of her mothers for the picnic.

"Don't worry Yui" Lizbet said as she placed a hand on top of her head. "I'll just join later when I'm done"

Yui instantly brighten visibly, her face gaining a new radiance it lacked several seconds earlier. "Okay!" she cheered enthusiastically, finally releasing Kirito's legs and backing up slightly to smile up at Lizbet.

Lizbet smiled back and gave Yui's head a gentle pat.

"That's great, now Yui, please help Mama with packing the basket" Asuna said as she began her way to the kitchen.

"Yes Mama!" Yui said as she scampered after Asuna.

There was a soft click as the kitchen door closed behind the two. Kirito and Lizbet were left in the living room with an oddly large black sack between them.

"So… is that my present?" Lizbet asked sweetly, eyeing the bag closely. The smile on her face was eerily cheerful.

"Yes" Kirito answered. "It's for not taking you with us when we left" Kirito apologized. "Get everything you can from him" Kirito said as he gave the bag a swift kick.

"Okay, dear" Lizbet said as she grabbed the sack and literally skipped to the door the led to the basement.

Kirito was left waiting in the room for Asuna and Yui to come back with the necessary things for their picnic. He did not have to wait long as a several seconds later; Asuna came back carrying a large basket under one arm and Yui hopping along right behind her.

"Let's go" Asuna said as she grabbed Kirito by his right arm and shoving the basket into his left hand.

Kirito nearly fell over at the sudden weight, but righted himself and gave a slight sigh.

Kirito was about to head out when there was a slight tug on his pant leg. Kirito looked down to see Yui clutching the fabric with a shine in her eyes.

"Can I ride on Papa's shoulders?" she asked, smiling brightly at him.

Kirito only paused for a second before placing down the basket, and knelt down so Yui could climb up.

"Yay!" Yui cheered as she sat on Kirito's shoulders, resting her hands on the top of his head.

(Scene Break)

The three of them walked along several trails; Yui kept pointing at the most random things she sees and asking questions about them.

The three sat down on top of a small hill in a clearing, Kirito placed down a blanket and then the basket.

Asuna sat down gracefully and turned to open the basket while Yui got off of Kirito's shoulders and sat in his lap instead; the both of them were waiting impatiently for Asuna to finish making their sandwiches, their mouths watering.

Asuna laughed lightly at seeing their faces before handing them their lunch.

Kirito and Yui instantly began digging into their super hot sandwiches, looks of bliss on their face as they ate.

Asuna laughed again as she begin eating her lunch as well.

When they were all done, Yui wanted to play down the hill, and Asuna joined her as Kirito began eating his second sandwich.

Kirito was still eating when Lizbet showed up.

"So what did you find out?" Kirito asked, taking another bite.

"He didn't know much, but I was able to get a name; Poh" Lizbet answered.

"Hmm" Kirito murmured. "Poh, huh?"

"Do you know of him?" Lizbet asked, watching Kirito's thoughtful expression.

"Possibly" Kirito answered, taking the last bite of his sandwich. "Though, I guess I will need to find out more of what happened to the guild" Kirito said as he chewed.

Lizbet suddenly hugged him from behind; "You know, I'm still slightly unappeased " she said as blew into Kirito's ear.

"And what would you like that I could give you?" Kirito asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

"I'll… think of something" Lizbet said as she began to kiss Kirito's cheek and neck.

"Papa!" Yui cried. "Papa!"

"Yes Yui?" Kirito called back as Lizbet released him, a pout on her face.

"Come play with me please!" she asked, looking up at him from the bottom of the hill.

Kirito gave a chuckle as he stood up and stretched; "Okay, Yui" he said as he gave Lizbet a swift kiss before heading down the hill.

Lizbet scowled and followed Kirito, when he was just at the beginning of the slopes downward; Lizbet tackled him from behind as he took his first step down.

The two of them fell down the hill in a mass of limbs and entwined bodies. When they reached the bottom of the hill, Yui jumped in as well, thinking is was a new type of game they were playing.

"No Yui!" Kirito cried. "Don't grab my neck!"

(Scene Break)

Demacia City

Sixty-Fifth Floor

"So Kirito, where are we going?" Lizbet asked as she and Kirito were walking through the city square.

"To see someone" Kirito answered, his eyes never leaving the road and the surrounding area.

"Who is so important that we risk going so close to the Frontlines?" Lizbet asked as she watched the other players milling around, bad enough that she already drew attention just for being a girl.

"The man who knows everything" Kirito answered cryptically.

The two of them stopped outside of the actual city an were in the surrounding countryside. They were standing in front of a large farm actually; a male NPC was currently tending to some chickens, while the female was visible to be milking the cows.

"Why are we here?" Lizbet asked. "Is there some NPC here that is secretly a spy?"

"Close, but it's not the NPC that's the spy" Kirito answered with a wry smile, which disappeared as fast as it came onto his face.

Kirito tapped on the door several times, in several different intervals, in several different tempos.

Lizbet was mystified as to why he was currently randomly beating out on the door. Once Kirito stopped, he stepped back and stood as if waiting for something to happen. Lizbet opened her mouth to inquire, but soon forgot what she was about to say as the sound of large bolts were heard being pushed back, the rattling of several chains, and then the loud squeaking as the door opened inwards on less-than-regularly-used hinges.

"What?" Lizbet breathed out.

"Welcome to the Damocles Fortress" a voice said from within. "Are you ready to make a deal?"

"Huh?" Lizbet voiced again.

Kirito chuckled as he made his way into the building, followed by Lizbet. They walked through a dimly lit hallway with many doors leading to who-knows-where.

At the end of the hallway was a large ornate door. Kirito pushed it open without hesitation and walked right into the room, Lizbet stood unsure for a second before following Kirito inside.

The room was not extraordinarily large, but it looked like a meeting room instead of a study; there were several book cases full on the left-hand side of the desk, a great desk sat in front of a large set of glass windows that looked out into the countryside.

Behind the desk sat two people; one of them was a man with ebony black hair that fell only to the nape of his neck, purple eyes, and classical good looks. The other person was a girl, and she sat in the man's lap; she had lime-green hair that fell down to the middle of her back, and her eyes were currently closed as she kissed the man.

Kirito sighed as he stood waiting.

Several long seconds passed and the girl had still yet to stop kissing the man.

Lizbet tried getting their attention by coughing loudly; it seem to work as the girl released her lips from the man and turn around with an amber glare at Lizbet.

"Yes?" she asked coldly, staring at Lizbet. "And what is so important that is has to interrupt my time with him?"

"That is no way to greet your guests" Lizbet answered hotly.

"And who says that I must treat you properly?" the green-haired girl asked. "It's not like I care if you are comfortable or not"

"Why you…!" Lizbet growled out, her hand reaching to the mace as her waist.

Kirito grabbed her arm and gave a shake of her head. Lizbet scowled, but relented.

"So… Black Swordsman, what brings you here to my humble abode?" the man asked, one hand brushing through the girl's green hair.

"Information" Kirito answered. The man gave a bark of laughter.

"Obviously" he said, his hand now brushing up and down the sides of the girl, the girl in question gave a loud purr of pleasure. "What kind of information are you searching for?"

"On Poh" Kirito answered.

The hand on the girl stopped moving, and the girl gave a displeased pout.

"Poh, you say?" the man asked. "It's been a while since someone had asked for information regarding that man"

"So how much will this information cost?" Kirito asked.

"Not so fast" the man said, wagging a finger at Kirito. "You know my policy on giving away players"

"That has never stopped you from selling the locations of dozens of guilds, groups, and dungeon treasures" Kirito scoffed as he scowled.

"True enough" the man answered. "But Poh is a dangerous man…-"

"So am I" Kirito interrupted.

"… Are you trying to threaten me?" the man asked in a bored tone. Lizbet did not understand why the other man was not quaking in his shoes to answer Kirito's questions as fast as he could.

"Of course not" Kirito answered dismissively. "I'm only pointing out that as a fellow Beater, you would know the most about our capabilities"

"We're a dying breed" the other man said with a snort. "Anyway, why do you want information on Poh?"

"Does it really matter?" Kirito asked, a tad bit impatient. "Isn't good enough if I just want to get to know the guy better?"

The other man gave another bark of laughter.

"Don't try to bullshit me" the man suddenly said with a glare as the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees at once. "I don't deal against our own, you know that"

"But he's broken the code " Kirito answered, his voice almost in a whisper.

"… So it's true then" the man behind the desk said with a sigh. "Well, I guess it has finally come to this" he then turned to the girl on his lap. "CC, go send a message to the rest, let them know of what has happened"

The girl did not say a word and instantly jumped off of him and left through a side door. The man behind the desk opened up his menu and began to fiddle around with it; a second later, a packet of paper was dropped onto the floor in front of Kirito.

"There's all the information on bases and personnel that belong to Poh" the man behind the desk said, pointing to the papers.

"How much will this cost me?" Kirito asked, eyeing the large stack of paper.

"Nothing" the man answered. "Poh is now lower than a Renegade. Just end the Oath-Breaker"

"Thank you very much, Zero" Kirito said with a short bow of his head.

Lizbet was shocked; Kirito never deferred to anyone… ever! Zero gave one more short laugh.

"I haven't gone by that name since the BETA stage" Zero said as he reclined in his chair. "I go by Shadow Broker now"

(Scene Break)

Several Minutes Later

"… Kirito?" Lizbet asked after then had left the pseudo-farm.

"Hmm?" Kirito made a random sound with his throat as he turned to her.

"Who was that man?" Lizbet asked.

"Zero?" Kirito asked as he jerked a thumb back at the building they just left. Lizbet gave a nod. "Well, during the original BETA Test for SAO, there were two groups of testers; those that were randomly picked (the newbies), and those who knew exactly what they were getting into and how to play a MMRPG (Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game)"

"So Zero and Poh are both part of the latter?" Lizbet asked.

"Yes" Kirito answered. "When the Sao incident started, all of us proper Beaters had ourselves an agreement, an accord of sorts"

"What did you people agree upon?" Lizbet asked, fascinated by Kirito's unspoken past.

"We agreed to not meddle in each other's affairs and to only commit retaliation from a direct breach on the Accord" Kirito answered. "There's more to it than just this, but this is the main article of it"

"So how many great Beaters are out there?" Lizbet asked.

"Seven or eight left since the beginning of the SAO Incident" Kirito answered. "There's the leader of the 'Army' and his second-in-command, Me, Zero, I think Zero's girlfriend, a couple of Solo players on the Frontlines, and Poh"

Kirito remained silent the rest of the way back to the cottage; he eyes glued to the packet of papers given to him.

(Scene Break)

Twenty-Second Floor

Kirito's Cottage

Later That Day

The first thing Kirito noticed when returning to the cottage was that there was the smell of freshly baked pie.

"Asuna!" Kirito called as he stepped through the door. "We're back!"

"Papa's back!" Yui cried as her small form raced down the stairs and collided with Kirito's legs.

"Hello Yui" Kirito greeted as he gave her a pat on the head.

"Hello Kirito" Asuna said as she came from the kitchen.

"Hello…-" Kirito began.

"Asuna!" Lizbet cried, cutting Kirito off. "I got stuff to tell you!" she then proceeded to grab Asuna by the arm and drag her up the stairs.

"Does Papa know why Mommy just did that to Mama?" Yui asked as she gave a curious look at their retreating backs.

"Not a clue" Kirito answered immediately. "Now come on; let's go eat some pie"

"Yay!" Yui cried as she latched onto Kirito's leg all the way down the hall to the kitchen.

"Hmm" Kirito murmured as he stopped in the hall and checked the clock on the bottom right-hand side of his menu. "Maybe we shouldn't; it's almost time for your nap"

"I'm not sleepy!" Yui cried as she began trying to drag Kirito to the kitchen. "I don't need any nap today!"

"That may be, but then Mama would get angry at the both of us" Kirito argued, suppressing a shiver.

"Hahaha" Kirito laughed as he allowed himself to be dragged to the kitchen to indulge Yui.

In the kitchen, on the counter was a very tasty looking Wildberry Pie. Kirito instantly went up to it and took a serving knife from the knife block next to it and cut out two slices; one for him and one for Yui.

The two of them sat down at the kitchen table and began to dig in to their pie. The two of them were still eating when Asuna and Lizbet walked into the kitchen.

One look from the rest of the pie on the counter to the happy expression on Yui's face, Asuna instantly understood what had happened and dealt with Kirito accordingly.

BONK!

"Ah!" Kirito cried as he grabbed his head in pain, rubbing the back of his skull to sooth the sudden attack. "What was that for?"

"For ruining Yui's nap time and my plans for the afternoon" Asuna snapped as she glared at Kirito.

Kirito seem to wilt slightly under her gaze; he knew far too well what happens when Asuna and Lizbet have too much pent-up frustration and no release for several days on end.

"Ki-ri-to" Asuna sang out, a smile frozen on her face, the corner of her right eye twitching as an aura of doom began to surround her.

"Y-Yes?" Kirito asked, shrinking back in his seat.

"Yui, let's go take your nap now" Lizbet said as she picked Yui up in her arms, planning to leave before things got more dangerous.

"Okay!" Yui said happily, oblivious to the atmosphere. Kirito deflated as the only thing stopping Asuna was taken away.

"You know the rules" Asuna said as she continued to smile; an angry tick mark was making its appearance on her forehead.

"I-It wa-was just o-one slice" Kirito stuttered out.

"So?" Asuna asked, the tick mark getting bigger. "Rules are rules"

Asuna proceeded to grab Kirito by his black jacket and drag him off.

"NOOOO!" Kirito cried.

(Scene Break)

Dinner Time

"Mama, why does Papa look like he has had his soul sucked out of him?" Yui asked, taking a bite from her Roast Pheasant.

It was true though; Kirito looked like someone had sucked all the blood from him, he looked like a dried husk or mummy.

"Whatever do you mean?" Asuna asked, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as she smiled, her eyes crinkling.

Yui tilted her head in thought, glanced once more at Kirito's prone form and decided it was not worth her trouble and continued eating.

(Scene Break)

The Next Day

"I'm going out" Kirito declared the next morning as everyone was eating.

"Where are we going?" Lizbet asked, her eyes gleaming.

Kirito only shook his head; "Just me" he answered. "I'm going out alone"

"And why is that?" Asuna asked now, her tone cold and demanding.

But Kirito did not back down, not this time.

"I have business to attend to" he answered. " Guild business"

Asuna did not give an answer and only continued eating. Lizbet said nothing as she turned her face down towards her food, and Yui continued happily eating.

There now was an awkward silence at the table, and the awkwardness continued until Kirito stood up, gave Yui a kiss on the head, and walked out of the cottage.

Suddenly, Asuna gave a sigh as she stood up from the table, and rushed after Kirito. Lizbet stood up a second later and followed Asuna. Yui, with nothing better to do, went as well.

The three of them caught up to Kirito just as he was about to teleport away.

Asuna ran up and kissed him; "You better come back fast" she growled.

Lizbet also kissed Kirito; "Please bring me back something new to play with" she said sweetly.

Yui hugged Kirito's right leg; "Can you bring me back a book?" Yui asked, looking up at Kirito.

"Sure" Kirito answered, ruffling Yui's hair.

He gave Asuna and Lizbet one last kiss each before shouting; "Teleport Kalimdor!" and disappeared in a flash.

(Scene Break)

Kalimdor City

Forty-Fourth Floor

Kirito slowly walked into the fortress city, his eyes constantly moving around, scanning the area for targets or people of interest.

There were several distinct features of this City: the majority of the buildings had flags draped over balconies or were flying the flag on poles, scruffy looking individuals were everywhere, and for the most part, Kirito saw almost no one on the main road.

Kirito continued on his way, only sparing some of the people around only a single glance as he walked. Eventually, Kirito came to the gates of the City's inner Sanctum.

Kirito rang the bell and waited.

The gates creaked loudly as the opened inwards, and Kirito strolled in.