A different kind of Death Game

[blueayes]

Kirito lets out a breath and watches the mist form in front of him, He doesn't say anything to the American who walks past him, neither of them is in the mood to talk.

It's been nine days of nonstop fighting.

If it's not the packs of feral dogs and cats that they have to fight off, then it is the soldiers of the two armies that are trying to kill them.

He wishes that their problems would end there, but he would be lying to himself if he ignored the monsters that no longer have a reason to stay on their floors anymore.

He turns his head when he sees an explosion in the distance, but he ignores it and keeps on walking, the two armies are trying to kill each other, just as much as they are trying to kill the Players and the monsters in this hellish place.

He looks down and tries to ignore the piles of rotting bodies that are being eaten by monsters and wild animals, it's become a habit of his to ignore everything and keep himself from thinking about his situation.

He continues to walk and tightens his grip on his gun, before using his left hand to make sure that his sword is still in place.

His actions may seem foolish to some, but he saw a ninja steal another player's sword and knife without her even knowing it.

It was only after the ninja had taken those things, that she noticed the lack of weight and it was then that the ninja attacked, the girl tried to defend herself, but after she ran out of bullets, the ninja used the girl's sword to kill her.

Kirito stops walking and takes out a letter that Asuna sent him, he can't help but smile, her letters are the only thing keeping him going because he knows that someone is waiting for him.

He puts the letter back into his pocket and silently begs god that this war ends soon because he's scared.

He's not scared of the monsters, the soldiers, the infections, or the undead, not even the starving animals that target the wounded and ignore the dead.

No, he has gotten used to all of that.

Kirito closes his eyes for a moment and smirks when he sees all of the faces of the people and monsters that he has killed.

This's what he's afraid of, he's not afraid of killing anymore, but he is afraid of what he is becoming because he is starting to enjoy it.

He is starting to enjoy killing people.

Kirito tightens his grip on his gun and keeps on walking, he notices that someone is walking towards the jail, and it's not time for any of the scouts to return yet, so it's got to be another enemy.

He lifts his gun and aims, but when he gets a clear view of his target, he finds that the woman is naked and is slowly walking toward the Jail that has become the fortress of the players.

He can hear the other men aiming their guns and preparing themselves to fight, but they all look at each other, no one knows what to do.

He keeps his gun aimed at his target and watches as several naked women and men follow the first woman they are all carrying their clothes and swords in front of them as if they were offering them to the Players.

Kirito slowly lets out a breath and prepares to fire at his enemy, but one of the Guild Masters orders everyone to stop and so everyone does as they are told.

He keeps his eyes on the people outside and watches as they stop walking and are approached by one of the guild masters who is accompanied by players who Kirito can see belong to different guilds.

He slowly lowers his weapon when all of the men and women willingly hand over their clothes and weapons before removing the pins from their hair and handing them over to the players below.

'I can't believe it." he hears the Guild master behind him say.

"What ?" Kirito asks the man whose name he doesn't know, nor cares to know.

"We just received word from the North, East, and West, that the enemy is either dead or has surrendered to us. It's over." Kirito hears the man say, but he doesn't cheer nor show any joy.

He turns his head left, right, and then looks past the guild master and he can see that none of the other players are doing anything either.

This should have been the end, they should have all been sent home after this, but here they were still standing inside a fortress that was a jail where criminals once lived.

 

[blueayes]

Kirito turns to look at the prisoners and he can't help but close his eyes in relief when he sees that the guards are inspecting them thankfully none of them are armed.

He doesn't know what fate awaits the prisoners he just wants to see Asuna and Yui, he wants to eat Asuna's food close his eyes, and forget that any of this ever happened.

The sounds of gunfire makes him turn and aim his gun aim the direction that the sound is coming from, but he can't help but smile when he sees who's making all of the noise.

Rafael is a Player from America and the man has already started celebrating the end of the war.

Kirito isn't surprised to see the man using his help screen to contact his guild.

He can't help but laugh as he sees the man's excitement and joy become contagious and spread to the men around him who begin to make just as much noise as him.

As Kirito feels the hands of the other players cheerfully patting him on the back, he can't help but look at Rafael who is now surrounded by men who begin to buy alcohol from the shop that is still operating in Aincrad.

As the men begin to pass the cans of beer around, Kirito can't help but remember the first time that he and Rafael met.

Back then no one had any idea what was going on, so they were completely unprepared for the enemy's attack.

When Sword Art Online was made available to the people in America the developers decided to add guns to the game as a joke.

Kirito can still remember being surrounded by people wearing different kinds of armor, he can still remember the hot blood of the people in front of him when the soldiers killed them.

Several of the players froze, because as real as the game was, it was never this real.

For a long time even as the enemy soldiers killed the people around them, most of the players from Japan were frozen in place, as they couldn't understand what was going on.

The Americans on the other hand didn't have this problem, as the game was still new to them, so they thought that what was going on was completely normal.

The Americans began to fire at the enemy soldiers and those who didn't have guns used their swords to cut down anyone they could.

Out of instinct, everyone who was still able to move began to force the kids into the center of whatever group they were in while they fought until the enemy was forced to retreat.

It had taken them an entire day to reach the jail and the only reason that they managed to reach it was because the enemy soldiers were completely unprepared for the monsters that call Aincrad home.

They had been fighting ever since.

Since there was no time to reinforce anything, Kirito had seen one player be replaced by another either because they died- were injured or they were forced to become scouts.

"Kirito, I heard that you have a wife and daughter." the guild master says to him.

"Yeah." he answers the man.

"Well why the hell are you still here, Go find them!" the man says to him.

Kirito can't believe his ears, and without thinking he jumps off the wall and starts to run to the entrance of the main building.
[][][
{Character Change [Several minutes earlier ]

The sound of the water flowing through the river was the only thing that she could hear as she sat down to write.

"I have chosen to surrender to the Players, so by the time reinforcements do arrive, I will either be carrying the child of my new master, dead or worse."

"Last night we ran into a group of scorpions the size of an ox. The day before the dead rose and dragged several men away, I can still see the terror in their eyes as they screamed while the dead carried them away."

"The rats, cats, dogs, and whatever else that has been eating the dead are swarming the mountain and we now consider being eaten by them as a mercy, as we have seen worse fates."

"We fought the enemy soldiers three days ago and I can't help but look at my reflection in disgust because we were fighting over apples. This border war has become nothing more than a group of armed men and women fighting over apples."

'I write to all of you, not because I am asking for reinforcements or to give anyone closure, but to warn everyone to stay away."

"Yes this place does have food, but the price that we will have to pay for it will be enormous."

"Mother, Father, brother I wish you the best, please forgive your foolish daughter."

She hands the letter she just wrote to one of her men and sends him away.

She knows that she is sending him to his death, but at least her men will know that she tried to warn everyone.

She stands up and begins to walk, the first thing that she removes is her armor she has no right to wear it anymore, and because it's the armor of a failure it deserves to be lost.

She begins to remove her undersuit and feels her skin begin to itch, as the grass, and leaves that make contact with it only make the itch worse.

She doesn't bother to look back because she won't disappoint her men who have followed her until now with the eyes of a broken leader.

The stench of the dead becomes stronger as she walks and more than once she is forced to unsheath her sword and kill one of the animals that tries to eat her.

She can see the fortress now and it's just as filthy as she remembers it.

The dead walk outside of its walls, while the animals search for those who are still alive, so that they can have a warm meal, they are smart enough to stay away from her.

She can feel the hair on the back of her head stand, as she feels the hate of the soldiers who are looking at her from the top of the walls of the fortress, but she continues to walk until someone yells at her to stop.

She watches as the metal gates open and several armed men walk out.

She keeps her hands stretched forward as she offers her new masters her clothes, and her sword, the only possession that she has, that has any true value.

She doesn't say anything or do anything when they begin to inspect her body, but she can't help but turn her head when she sees the guards walk past her.

She feels hot tears swell in her eyes when she sees the men and women that she has led until now, naked and offering their souls to their new masters.

She is about to kneel and await her fate but the man in front of her orders her to go inside the fortress.

She does what she is told, but before she takes the first step, she removes the pin on her hair officially removing any connection that she has to the empire.

 

[blueayes]

The moment she steps into the fortress she can't help but feel as if she is in a dungeon from which she can never escape.

She can't help but shiver as she walks into what looks like an endless hall that has doors inside its walls, she can hear the moaning and screams of the dead and dying echoing through the hall.

The men lead her to a large room that is filled with cages and they order her and her men to go inside.

She does as she is told and with nothing else to do, she sits on the cold concrete floor of the cell.

It isn't long before a group of women who are accompanied by several guards arrive and begin to fill several bowls with hot soup.

She wished that she could say that she hesitated to eat the food, but it had been so long since she had anything to eat, that by the time she regained control of her senses, she found that she had eaten everything.

As she took a deep breath to make sure that she had regained control, she realized that she could hear the sounds of her men burning themselves as they ate the hot food.

They had become little more than beasts just as she had been moments earlier.

She can't help but sit quietly as the men and women that accompanied her fill their stomachs and bring themselves back from starvation.

She doesn't know what fate awaits them, but it has to be better than whatever is happening in the empire.

'The door to the cell opens and she watches as the soliers of the Empire of the West are ordered to walk in before the same women begin to give them the same soup that they gave her and her men.

The Western soldiers ignore her and her men, as they are entranced by the smell of the food.

She watches as the men who were once her enemies become little more than animals who begin to drink the hot soup as if it were the last food on the planet.

She could do nothing except listen to the beats eat and fill their stomachs before they calmed and regained their senses.

She began to think about the famine that led her and her men to try and cross the border into the West.

She and her men had started this war, but what other option did they have when the emperor ordered them to do it?

The fact that there was food here, no the fact that the mountain was so dangerous was enough for the empire to send its less desirables to it.

From their point of view, it was a win-win situation, if the peasants and lower classes died then the empire wouldn't have to worry about them.

If they survived, then the empire would force them into obedience either by threatening their families or simply using whatever methods were needed to force the lower classes to send food to the capital.

It was for this reason that she knew that her warnings would go unheard.

"Well look at what we have here." She hears the voice of someone whom she would rather not see.

'What do you want? she says to the leader of the knights, but she looks away, as she doesn't want to see the man's mad expression and his privates at the same time.

"So what do you think they're going to do to us?" she hears him ask her, but his voice isn't coming from above, meaning that he didn't bother to stand up or walk closer to her.

"Don't know," she answers the knight.

"So now that we're here, mind telling me why you people invaded the west." he asks her, and for a moment she feels her blood boil, but it quickly calms, there isn't a reason for them to fight anymore.

"There is a famine in the empire. I don't know the details but crops refuse to grow and the animals suddenly fall asleep. They don't die, they are just sleeping.'

"The same happens to anyone that eats their meat, they just lay in their homes sleeping, regardless of what anyone does to them." she says to the knight.

"They aren't dead but they just don't wake up sleeping and the people that eat their meat meet the same fate," she says to her enemy.

"Huh, I almost regret not letting you and your friends in." he says to her.

She can feel her blood boil as she hears the knight make light of the situation, but she realizes that the man just told her something important.

'What do you mean?" she asks him.

The man in front of her starts laughing and looks at her with cold eyes, she immediately remembers how it feels to be in a battle but she doesn't react she just looks at the man who softens his gaze before leaning back.

"I don't know if it's some kind of curse or if hell has just gotten full, but the dead aren't staying dead back home." he says to her before he looks at her and grabs a handful of her black hair.

She watches as he removes several pieces of rice from it before he lets go and continues his story.

"My men and I were ordered to make sure that those things don't leave the empire."

"Don't get me wrong, we already figured out how to deal with them, but just because we figured out how to deal with them doesn't mean that they're easy to kill, and who knows how those things will change if they go somewhere else."

'So imagine our surprise when we found you and your friends trying to sneak in." he says to her.

"So will your king or emperor send reinforcements?" she asks him.

"No, like I said the dead are coming back to life, so imagine how many dead the empire has to put back down," he answers her.

The man looks into her eyes and she watches as he shakes his head, it's as if he is trying to tell her something too painful for him to say.

'So will your empire send someone to help you" he asks her.

'No, to be honest, I'm not sure what they will do." she answers him.

"Okay everyone you're free to go." a young woman's voice says to them before a heavy mood can fully set in.

'But we surrendered." she hears one of her men say to the woman.

'And we fed you and let you rest now we are letting you go free." the woman answers the man.

She stands up and walks past the knight leader who is struggling to get to his feet, the lack of food has affected him more than it has affected her.

'Can you explain to us, why you aren't interrogating or enslaving us." she says to the girl who looks at her as if she has just heard something incredibly stupid.

"There's no point, if we keep you here there's a chance that all of you will turn on us.

If we let you go, then you have to choose between staying here or leaving, and let's be honest this place has already beaten you." the woman answers her.

For a long moment, there is nothing but silence as everyone in the cell looks at the woman but before anyone can do or say anything, the knight captain speaks.

'We have nowhere to go, we surrendered. We are no longer a part of our empires." the man says to the woman who looks at him with cold eyes.

'And how does that affect us?" she asks him.

'Easy, we know how our old masters operate and we can teach you, in exchange you feed us, cloth us and we won't betray you." he says to the woman who just shakes her head.

"First put some clothes on and when everyone isn't naked anymore I want to talk with whoever was in charge of your groups." the woman says to them.

 

[blueayes]

Change

"So how did the interrogation go?" Rafael asks Asuna

"To be honest they are just as lost as we are." Asuna answers Rafael as she hands each guild Master a copy of what the Knight and Samurai said to her.

"Something happened a few months ago that connected different parts of the world and by that, I mean that I mean Japan, China, and Korea are now connected with Europe, Texas, and Mexico." Asuna stops talking to let everyone in the room process what she just said to them.

"The only reason that no one is trying to conquer anyone at the moment is that Texas, Europe, and Mexico are going through zombie apocalypse.":

"China, Korea, and Japan are going through a famine that is the result of a plague that puts people and animals to sleep.

It seems that whatever brought us here, is also causing these problems." she says to everyone before she feels Yui's hands grab onto hers.

Asuna can't help but smile, these last couple of days had been nothing but hell for everyone.

This was supposed to be a game, but somehow seeing the other players and the natives of this world die was too real, then there was the effect that this place was having on everyone.

Most of the girls and women immediately retreated to the center of the jail and began to comfort the kids out of instinct, while the men put themselves on the walls and began to defend the only safe place they had.

As she watched the Guild Masters talk amongst themselves she couldn't help but frown, Kirito had finally come home.

Home was a word that she never thought that she would ever give to a jail cell and yet here she was doing just that.

Still to think that she would be ordered to throw the prisoners out or interrogate them if they didn't want to leave.

"From your report, the West seems to be more than happy to leave us alone, but the East seems like it will be a problem." Heathcliff says to her.

"Yes, because of the dead, the West is keeping itself isolated so that it doesn't spread to any other parts of the world." she says to Heathcliff and watches as the rest of the guild Masters begin to murmur with each other, but Asuna doesn't care about what they are saying.

"From what that woman said to you, the Emperor will blame us for the plague, even if we didn't have anything to do with it." Rafael says to her as he reads her report.

Asuna doesn't say anything as she looks at the man while he flips a page and starts to read the one behind it, she can't help but frown when she sees him put his hand on his forehead.

She feels the same way that the guild master feels, because from the samurai's words if the emperor doesn't blame them, one of the feudal lords will, and if it's not one of them, it's going to be the Shogun.

'Did they say anything about what's happening in the North or South?" Thinker asks her.

"No, but from what little information that does manage to get here, the fleets of each empire are ready to tear each other apart."

"The only reason that they aren't killing each other is that the sea monsters are attacking everyone and anything that catches their attention." she says to Thinker who lets out a breath.

'Damm it." she hears Rafael say to himself before she looks down and smiles at Yui.

"Asuna Kirito is waiting for the two of you, sorry for making you do this, and Kirito take care of yourself." Rafael says to Kirito who has been standing next to the door since the meeting started.

"So should we let them stay or do we kick them out?" Heathcliff asks everyone.

"I can't believe that I'm saying this, but I think that we should let them stay. If what that woman said to Asuna is true then not only will we be invaded, but they are going to throw everything that they can at us." Rafael says to Heathcliff.

"I hate to agree with Rafael but if the information that the knight gave to Asuna has any truth to it, we are going to have a lot of desperate people coming here." Thinker says to everyone before the rest of the guild masters fall silent.

The Knight Captain had explained to Asuna that he and his men were ordered to make sure that no one entered the lands of the west, but they were also told to keep anyone else from going in because they could spread whatever was happening to the rest of the world.

Needless to say, they had failed to do both things, so there was no telling how bad things would soon get.

"Is there anything else that we should know?" the guild master of the Silver Fang Guild asks everyone.

"Yeah, but this part of the report doesn't make any sense." Rafael says to the guild master before he turns to a page and shows everyone.

"It seems that the West had dungeons that people went into to kill monsters and were rewarded for it."

"The East didn't have dungeons, they had to deal with the monsters that lived outside of the dungeons because they didn't exist there." Rafael explains to everyone before he changes the page and points at a couple of words that he wants everyone to look at.

"Yet both sides seem to have to worry about the monsters invading them. The only difference is that the monsters that invade the east all come from the mountains instead of the caves where the dungeons are." he says to everyone.

"This means that we have another problem that we might have to deal with, but since we can't do anything about the problems coming from the outside we should deal with what we can," Heathcliff says to everyone before everyone except for Rafael stands and leaves the room.

Rafael begins to read the report again, he doesn't like what he sees, he knows that what the report says is true, and from what he has seen the last couple of days he knows that it's even worse.

Rafael puts his hands together and begins to pray, he prays for the safety of everyone and prays that everyone can escape this game, if it is a game because from his point of view.

They were dropped into the worst point in history when everyone was invading each other and mercy didn't exist.

 

[blueayes]

"Why are you still here?" Rafael hears someone ask him and when he looks up he sees that it's Klein the leader of one of the smaller guilds.

"Praying." Rafael answers Klein who doesn't say anything and nods.

"Well pray harder because I have some more bad news. The monsters aren't staying on their floors and by that I mean even the bosses are on the move."

Klein and Rafael look at each other before Rafael begins to open his mouth but Klein raises his hand and stops him from saying anything else.

"No we can't stop them, nor do I think that we should." Klein says to Rafael before he sits down and leans back on the chair.

'You know it's funny, I always wanted to be a samurai because of the movies and stories I read, and then there were the games. The problem is that those things were all fantasy." Klein says to Rafael before he stops leaning back on his chair and looks into Rafael's eyes.

".....The problem is that once the fantasy is gone and the only thing that we have left is the truth we are left with the harsh reality."

"The invasion of Korea, everything that the Chinese did to erase their history, let's be honest the past was incredibly bloody." Klein says to Rafael as his voice becomes heavier and heavier.

"What I'm trying to say is thanks for saving us back then." Klein says to him before a heavy silence sets in.

"How does the jail look?" Rafael asks Klein who immediately looks at him with a confused expression.

"Right, you haven't had a chance to see what the girls and the kids decorated everything. Why don't you go and see for yourself while you still have time?" Klein says to him as a bright smile forms on his face.

Rafael can't help but smirk, Klein is the kind of person who looks out for his friends, or at least that's what he saw during these last couple of days.

'No, what I need to do is get some sleep, and maybe get myself a woman so that I can let out some stress." Rafael says to Klein before the two look at each other and start laughing.

The two of them stand up and begin to head to the door, Rafael waits for Klein to open the door and as he walks out of the room he hears Klein's voice.

"Rafael I mean it, go and see what we fought for. It may not be much but if we can't go home, these will be, no they already are our people."

"You need to let them know that the Second strongest Guild Master of America is willing to be with them."

The only sound that Rafael could hear was the sound of his armored boots hitting the stone floor every time he took a step, but as he walked deeper into the jail and passed the many metal doors he began to hear the sounds of music and soon he began to smell the the food that was being cooked.

Rafael found himself standing inside a massive room that shouldn't have existed, there were four floors above him and five floors below the one he was standing on.

The room was almost empty except for a couple of floors where Rafael could see hand-drawn pictures and banners hanging from the cell doors and the side of the rails.

He didn't say anything as he walked towards the stairs and went up until he was on the floor where everyone was living.

He couldn't help but smile when he saw all of the players, happily talking amongst themselves, he ignored the looks that the people gave him as he walked through the hall.

He smiled when he saw several men and women happily sleeping in their cells, sleep to think that something that he had taken for granted had become so precious.

"Come on you know that you can't run." he hears a young woman's voice say to someone before he feels something hit his leg as he looks down he finds that a kid that couldn't be older than six years old is looking at him with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" Rafael asks the boy.

"Guild Master sorry the boy didn't mean any.' the woman says to him but Rafael stops her from saying anything else as he rubs the boy's forehead before grabbing his hand and walking him to her side.

"How many?" he asks her as he looks into the cells and sees that they are filled with the tiny forms of sleeping children.

"Too many, they sleep together in case we have to run away." she answers him.

'Do they need anything" he asks her.

"No, what I mean is that everyone fighting already did enough and we can't ask any more from you." she says to him as she grabs the boy's hand before carrying him in her arms.

"How are you affording to pay for their food?" he asks her.

"Everyone here donates what they can so the kids have food and clothes." she says to him.

Rafael doesn't say anything he just raises his hand and makes a large bag filled with gold coins appear between him and the girl.

"Take this and take good care of them, if you need more come and see me, even if people tell you that I'm busy doing something." he says to her before he walks away.

Rafael knows that he should stop walking and that he should listen to whatever the woman is trying to say to him, but the truth is his exhaustion is finally getting to him and he can barely keep his eyes open.

He finds a cell that doesn't have anyone and walks inside. The bed is hard and Rafael would have complained if he had enough strength to do so, instead, he just closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

He didn't know it, but on the floor beneath him and the cell next to the one underneath his, Kirito, Asuna and Yui were happily sleeping on the floor, across from them several of their friends slept with the same relief that they had.

They were finally able to sleep, and after somany days of none stop fighting, they were finally able to sleep.

As the group slept several of the guards outside stayed awake and kept watch for any signs of danger.

 

[blueayes]

As the sun rose Kirito found someone standing at the entrance to his cell.

"What?' he asked the man who silently walked up to him and handed him a handful of papers.

"The situation is bad and I mean it's bad. The monsters are on the move and they aren't alone." the man says to him as Kirito sits up and rubs his eyes.

"The rivers are either overflowing or they are starting to open new paths and because of this entire farmlands have turned into lakes almost overnight.
So the monsters that used the rivers for food or lived in them have started looking for a new place to live."

"The weather that was kept under control because the floors were separated from each other, has gone insane on some floors because the environments that are on those floors don't have something to balance them."

"So for the time being no one is allowed to go near them and we have no way of knowing when or even if the storms will ever calm down."

Krito looks at the messenger and begins to feel himself growing more and more irritated with the man as he sees the man's worried expression.

"What?" he orders\ asks the man.

"To put it bluntly, both the people and monsters on the higher floors are making their way down the mountain, so the chances that we will have to go to war again are high." The man says to him and Kirito can only let out a frustrated grunt, it's too early for him to deal with these kinds of things.

"So why are you telling me this? Isn't this something that you should be giving to the Guild Masters or Leaders?" Kirito asks the man, but he lowers his voice as Asuna and Yui begin to move.

"Because you are a Solo Player, and because you are now considered to be a member of the scout team as well as a member of the guards."

"More importantly you are married to Lady Asuna, which means that you have been promoted to the leader of both the scouts and the guards." the scout says to him before kneeling and bowing his head to Kirito.

"What?!" Kirito yells as the man stands up and sits on the hard bed that hangs from the wall.

"Last night the Guild Leaders voted to make you the Leader of the two groups, not the Captain and not the Master, but the Leader of the two groups."

"They said that I should make that part clear to you."

'There are people that don't fit in, people that have never been able to be a part of the crowed. Either because they are antisocial, or they just like being alone, but people will target them."

"The guard and the scouts are to become a safe place for them." the man says to him.

'So why does it have to be me?" Kirito asks the man.

"They had to look for someone that was connected to more than one guild and people both hated and trusted." the man says to him before pointing at Asuna who had yet to wake up.

"You are a Beta Tester. You and everyone like you are already hated by everyone else, but at the same time your people helped protect everyone during the attack."

"Your marriage to Asuna connects you to Japan's strongest guild and your friendship with Rafael connects you to America's second strongest guild. This makes it difficult for anyone to attack anyone under your control"

The man doesn't bother to say anything else he just gets up and walks out of the room.

Kirito can only stare at the papers that the man gave him, but before he can start to look through them Asuna pulls the stack of papers away from him.

"They could have waited a little longer." Asuna says to him.

"Did we wake you up?" Kirito asks her.

"No I was awake when you two started talking." she answers him before putting a finger on his forehead.

It was a small gesture but it did more than enough to make the pressure of everything that had happened disappear.

Kirito felt Asuna wrap her hands around him before she made him lie down again, they didn't say anything because words weren't needed, they just lay together enjoying each other's company, as they listened to Yui sleeping.
[][][]

Aincrad Grand Jail

The voices of the Players protesting the Knights and Samurai's presence within the jail could be heard on every floor and while neither the knights nor the Samurais showed that they were nervous, inside they were filled with fear.

"Enough!' Heathcliff yelled the power of his voice silenced everyone as he walked towards the prisoner's\ new arrivals.

"These men are our comrades from now on, so put aside whatever resentment you have. If we are going to survive, we are going to have to adapt and learn from the people of this world" Heathcliff says to everyone before he steps aside and lets Kirito greet his new subordinates.

"Kirito before you say anything, let me have half of them." Rafael says to Kirito who looks at the knights and samurais before looking back at Rafael and asking him why.

"My men and I need to know everything that we can about the outside world and we can't do that if we don't get to meet the people from there." Rafael says to Kirito who doesn't say anything, he just closes his eyes and nods to Rafael.

It wasn't that Kirito agreed with Rafael's words, he just thought that the fewer people that he had to worry about, the less stress he would have to deal with.

So he watched as Rafael took half of the Samurais and the Knights with him before the man led the prisoners through the walls of angry faces that cursed, yelled, and spat at them.

'Okay listen up, all of you are now a part of the scout and guard units. We are interchangeable, and until we can figure out what's going on, you will be a part of these two groups."

"Now I'll make one thing clear to all of you."

"Everyone hates us except a few guilds and people that we know, so don't expect anyone to help you." Kirito says to his men before he lifts his hand and silently tells them to follow him.

Kirito ignored the glares that everyone gave him as he walked, he soon found Rafael who had already gathered his guild and was now heading to the exit of the jail.

He knew that Rafael and his guild would be responsible for burying the bodies of the dead and killing the undead that were roaming outside of the jail.

Kirito almost envied them, because his group would be exploring the border of Aincrad.

They weren't going to stop any of the monsters from leaving the flying castle or was it the mountain now, but everyone needed to know where the border of Aincrad was.

After that, it was up to the guild masters and guild leaders to decide what to do.

He stopped walking when Yui ran up to him and hugged him tightly. It broke his heart that he had to leave her and Asuna again, but he had to do this so that they could be safe.

He hugged Yui and when he looked up he found that Asuna was standing behind her, She gave him a sad smile kissed him, and told him to go.

Every guild and player within Aincrad had a job to do and they did it without question because they all knew that it was only a matter of time before something bad happened.

As this was going on both the empires of the East and West were gathering the people that they deemed expendable and began to send them to the border where Aincrad stood.

 

[blueayes]

Far from Aincrad two different rulers looked at the letters that the messengers brought to them the emperor of the West could only sit quietly as his advisors argued amongst themselves.

The emperor, however, began to smile there was a way that he could use this to his advantage.

He ordered his men to gather the dead and the dying and send them to the border where the giant mountain had appeared.

He didn't like that he was forced to do this but what else could he do when something so dangerous suddenly appeared at the edge of the empire.

The emperor's advisors begged him to reconsider, as the sheer number of undead that would march across the empire would bring ruin to every town and village that they passed.

Normally the emperor would have killed them for questioning his decision, but in times like these, he needed his people to know that he was still thinking clearly.

'What other options do we have?" he asked his advisors who immediately said that they should try and make contact with the mountain and sue for peace.

The emperor laughed at the man's faces, before reminding them that his knights had attacked the mountain and made the empire its enemy.

The men then advised him to gather his armies and launch an invasion, but again the emperor reminded the men of the state of the empire and how they were using everything they had to contain the plague of undead.

The emperor silently watched as his advisors fell silent and lowered their heads to him, he would have to kill some of them for questioning him, but he had to agree that they were right.

He didn't know anything about the mountain and since the world had changed who knew what else could appear, but he couldn't remain stagnant and he couldn't just rush into war, so he decided to use one problem to deal with another.
[][][

The eldest son of the Emperor of the East was forced to stop his father from Killing the messenger who told him that the invasion of the West had failed.

He could barely control his anger at the news that none of his armies had succeded in crossing any of the borders that led to the new lands that had become available to them.

To think that everything had gone wrong, not only were his armies stopped from entering the Nort and South by those empire's armies who had been planning to invade his own, but there was now something else that he had to deal with.

He was about to order the executions of the families of every soldier and samurai who failed him when his eldest son offered him another solution.

Normally he would have beaten the boy for going against him not once but twice, but he chose to let him be when he heard the boy's words.

"Why not use their families to infect the people of the mountain."

The boy's suggestion was a rather simple yet effective one, but he didn't go far enough.

No, he would use the boy's plan but he would change it.

Not only would he send the deserter's families to the mountain, but he would also send the beggars, thieves- murderers, and rapists along with every peasant that the lords and samurais didn't like to the western border.

The plague would spread through the mountain and it would weaken the Players who lived in it, along with the monsters that were swarming the mountain.

Then his men could simply walk in and take all of the resources without having to worry about being attacked by either the players or the monsters.

As for the families and samurais that had failed him, they would all be stripped of their lands and titles it didn't matter if they survived the mountain as they would be nothing more than another bunch amongst the trash.

When the meeting ended and the Emperor of the East was left alone, he began to think of the different ways that he could hurt everyone who would be heading to the mountain and how he could make their pain benefit him.

Because of the famine and the plague, the monsters that lived in the mountains were forced to kill each other to survive as the plague affected them just as much as it affected the people and animals.

Some of the monsters had decided to march deeper into his lands and while he had lost a lot of land to them, neither he nor the monsters were interested in keeping it because of the plague.

He hated to admit it, but too many things were happening all at once, so he had no other choice but to wait and watch what happened in the months to come.

 

[blueayes]

The world is in a state of change, unfortunately, the rulers and the people who make sure that the ruler's orders are followed aren't good people.

This is the world where the Players have arrived.

It's a lot like our world and its history resembles ours.

Now the Players have to handle the people coming into and surrounding Aincrad while keeping their morals.

And unfortunately for them, they will find it's a lot harder to do when the people around them are either not willing to listen or they just can't stand seeing anyone different from them.

 

[blueayes]

I decided to rewrite this entire thing ]

The sounds of gunfire nearly made him go deaf as the fighting grew more intense, Rafael looked a his men who were struggling to pierce the walls that protected the city and while they did have superior firepower they were still struggling to bring the walls down.

With every passing moment, the men under his command were forced to watch more of their brothers die.

Rafael had gotten used to seeing the people around him die but he had never grown to accept it, matter how many times he closed his eyes he could always see the faces of the people who once served him.

Every soldier and servant who died became another face that he would be forced to battle against just so that he could manage to get some sleep.

After everyone had left the jail it was decided that Aincrad would be split in half, the American Players would keep the Western half of the mountain, while the Japanese Players would keep the eastern side of it.

Every once in a while Rafael would look back on those first few days and shake his head at how naive they were, Aincrad is massive, and a mountain of that size will catch the attention of everyone who can see it.

Especially if it didn't exist before.

They thought that because they had managed to stop the first invasion, their problems with the outside world had ended at least for a while, but that was proven wrong in less than a week when the first wave of undead arrived.

Again they were forced to fight against an enemy that they weren't prepared for but it was thanks to the undead that the monsters in Aincrad had enough to eat and didn't bother attacking anyone.

Unfortunately, that was just the first wave, and so began the nonstop invasion, if the invaders weren't monsters, they were Humans, and if they weren't humans they were undead.

Eventually, everyone decided that enough was enough because even if the monsters in Aincrad were dealing with the majority of the threats that came, players were still being injured and ran the risk of being killed.

And so with a heavy heart, everyone that could fight began to push the invaders out of the mountain.

It didn't matter what methods the guilds used or how brutal the players were, what mattered was making sure that no one took the only place that was theirs from them.

Rafael didn't know how long it took them to make the invaders leave but what he did know was that the different kingdoms didn't appreciate them doing it and sent messengers to Aincard threatening everyone with war.

Four years, for four years he and his men have been fighting this meaningless war, every army that they beat was a part of a kingdom that they were forced to conquer.

It didn't matter that they never killed the men or plundered the capital cities of those kingdoms.

It didn't even matter that they never killed the kings or whatever they called themselves, no what mattered to everyone was that he always forced the rulers of the kingdoms to swear that they would never invade again.

While it was true that he took the armies of the kingdoms and added them to his own, along with most of the men of the kingdoms that he defeated, he only did so because of everything that they had to fight against.

And so he found himself here in the last kingdom that attacked Aincrad, he just had to beat whoever was in charge and that was it, after today everyone could go back to wherever they came from and relax.

He watches as the last of the four walls that protected the city falls, his men are now pushing themselves into the city, Rafael ignores the screams of the people and animals.

He ignores the men that fire their arrows or cannons at him, he only has one thing in mind and that is ending this meaningless sidege.

He soon stands in front of the king who glares at him with whatever pride he has left.

Rafael just looked deep into the man's eyes before he turned and looked into the queen's eyes and he was forced to stop himself from feeling joy as he watched the pair shrink with fear.

"Order your men to stop fighting and I will allow you to keep everything. You will even keep your kingdom, my goal was to stop you from attacking us.' he says to the king who looks at him with rage-filled eyes.

'Do as I say, or I will make you watch as I make your woman mine."

"Then I will make you walk before all of your people as my men yell that you watched as I marked her, while you begged me to stop." he threatened the king who lowered his head and ordered one of his guards to do what Rafael said.

Rafael would never do souch a ting, but had ruined the reputations of other kings in the past.

It was nearly impossible for a normal person and even a soldier not to believe the lie when the kingdom had been beaten.

Not only that but it was common for the person who conquered the kingdom to take the queen and the princess as his prize.

To put it simply, no one would follow or even obey the king after that, because there was no reason for anyone to follow the man anymore.

Rafael could hear the sounds of the fighting outside growing quieter until it was completely gone.

He wanted to smile and celebrate with his men but he was unable to do so because he still had a lot more to do.

Before he could leave he would have to take whatever gold the kingdom had, so that he could pay the men who fought at his side, after that he would go home and maybe find a building that was still standing and retire.

 

[blueayes]

The walk back to Aincrad was probably one of the hardest things that they had to do, as the entire trip forced them to look at everything that they had done.

Every once in a while the men would separate and return to the kingdoms that they came from and sometimes they came back as they were no longer welcomed in their old homes.

Rafael never bothered to ask them about what they had seen, as the men either returned with their families or came back alone.

They walked past the capitals of whatever kingdom they had fought in the past and noticed that some had repaired the walls that his men had broken.

Other cities were completely abandoned and the only things that were still moving behind the walls were the undead.

Somewhere along the way they began to pick up strangers that didn't have anywhere else to go and decided to stick to his group as they walked.

Some were men- others were women, some were even orphans, and sometimes entire families joined his group as they marched back to the mountain.

Rafael soon found himself back at the edge of the border and couldn't help but feel his chest swell as he got closer to the edge of Aincrad.

There wasn't a wall that protected the mountain because it didn't need it, the monsters that called Aincrad home were more than enough to deal with most threats.

"Would you look at that, they made it." Rafael heard someone say as he stepped into Aincrad.

He didn't stop walking even as the people behind him and his guild hesitated.

"So are you going to keep hiding or are you going to show yourselves." he says to the scouts who begin to laugh.

Rafael watches as several men dressed in green armor step out of the high grass that covers the edge of the mountain, the men immediately begin to pat him on the back before turning to look at everyone that he brought with him.

Rafael notices that the men's smiles vanish for a moment before they return just as quickly as they had left.

"Well we did invade.' he hears one of them say before the man signals to the group to follow him deeper into the mountain.

the leader of the scuts begins to whistle signaling to the others who are still hiding that it's safe for them to come out, Rafel can't help but raise an eyebrow when he sees that the rest of the scouts are all carrying fruit and begin to hand it to everyone behind him.

"I take it that things have changed since I left." he says to the man who snorts.

"I'll say." he heard one of the scouts comment as he walked past him.

"You don't know this because you only ever cared about making the people outside stop attacking us, but after you beat the rulers of the kingdoms their merchants and messengers started coming here to negotiate their surrender." the man next to him, says to him.

"What are you talking about? We only wanted them to stop attacking us." Rafael asks the man.

'We know that you know that but the people outside didn't know that."

"From their point of view, you won and they were now under your rule." the man answers him.

Rafael soon begins to hear the sound of music playing as they get closer to what looks like a city, to his surprise he finds that there's a city that's surrounded by walls that are made of stone in a place that didn't have a wall before.

'What's going on?" he asks the scout leader.

"A lot of things, the people from the outside began to send slaves- animals and all sorts of things as tribute and taxes."

"Since we didn't have any place for them to live, we had to build houses for everyone and build warehouses and stables for the things and animals that they brought, and before we knew it a city had been born." the man says to him.

As they neared the walls of the city the scouts led his group to a pair of giant thick wooden doors, Rafael couldn't help but let out a gasp when he saw the different building designs that covered the city.

As he walked he noticed how everyone bowled to him and the people with him, but he also noticed something that shouldn't have been there.

"Why are the scouts and guards here?" he asked the man who was leading him deeper into the city.

"A lot of things happened while you were gone and all of the scouts and guards moved here when living in the jail became unbearable for them." the man answers him.

Rafel soon realized that the smaller houses began to be replaced by what could only be considered mansions that had the emblems of a guild or some group that he didn't recognize.

He heard the people behind him murmur amongst themselves as they were being told that they needed to be registered before they could be allowed to live in the city.

"This one is yours." the scout says to him before he leaves.

Rafael can only stare at the massive building that had the emblem of his guild on the front gate.

He felt insignificant in front of the massive building, he hated the feeling, but considering that he didn't have any other options he opened the gate then the front door, and let his men inside.