Out of the castle into the world

[blueayes]

Guild Girl waited patiently the last couple of days had been interesting but things had calmed down now and the usual routine was back into how it always had been.

Adventurers another world for them is a bunch of troublemakers or criminals, Guild Girl remembered her senior's words, as she looked and listened to the various faces of the adventurers drinking and laughing as they usually did.

Amongst them were the ones that had either failed to complete one or several missions or had lost everyone or a single person during their quest.

This was the life of an adventurer, if you failed then you didn't have any money to pay for the things you needed to live, but if you chose something you aren't ready for, what you lose is your life.

"So what did they say?" Guild Girl heard Noble Woman ask the Black Swords Man who sat in front of her.

"Klein and the others are still exploring the tunnels that were found under the fortress and Andrew says that the Floor Bosses made their rooms bigger somehow, that they now look like the old boss rooms we fought them all in"

"The thing is they don't attack anyone that goes in there even when the door closes behind them the Floor Bosses just ignore them and go back to sleep" the Black Swordsman answered Noble Woman

"So what did the Guilds decide?" the Black Swords Man asked Noble Woman

"Since we are still settling in and things are still changing, we're going to not call anyone else for help, considering how much Eldath s arrival changed the forest near us, we're going to wait a little bit" Noble Woman answered the Black Swords Man

Guild Girl made a mental note to write down as much as she could remember from their conversation, as the capital and by extent, the king would want to know as much as possible as they could about the knights.

Yet Guild Girl had already learned a lot from the knights ever since they arrived, for on the Knights are devived into separate houses and each house is referred to as a guild when it reaches a certain number of people.

Yet not every knight is a member of a group or guild, some like the Black Swordsman are loners who act as mercenaries and diplomats between the different houses.

All Knights have certain skills that they share but vary from person to people, such as the appraisal skill, distant voice, and distant sight two skills that allow the knights to communicate with each other from long distances as well as see what the other is seeing despite how far away they may be.

Guild Girl liked to take her time and enjoy sights like these, despite it being a usual occurrence for her and the rest of the guild staff, she was fully aware that the faces around her were constantly changing, and as such she only recognized the adventurers that hadn't retired or the ones that were lucky enough to live.

She could hear her boss working in the back as he looked for quests that needed the knight's attention and thereby allow the guild to get rid of the dept it had to the knights.

One thing the guild quickly learned is that no matter which knight one was dealing with, they all paid with gold regardless of what they used or ate, at first, this wasn't an issue, but due to the many- many low-level missions, the knights completed recently the guild found itself owing them several favors.

Favors her boss wanted to get rid of as soon as possible.

"Hey, so what are we talking about?" Spearman asked the Black Swordsman as he sat next to him, while his partner the Witch sat next to Noble Woman.

"Not much we were just talking about the fact that a lot of us will be looking for things to do" Black Swordsman answer Spearman

'What do you mean? I mean arent you guys knights so shouldn't you all I don't know be doing what Knights usually do?" Spearman asked Black Swordsman

"Yeah, but some of us will get tired of being knight and others will get old," Black Swordsman said to Spearman before becoming quiet as if remembering something painful.

"Let's....forget...about that...I... heard..l you...Knights... have se....veral...items" Witch said to Black Swordsman and Noble Woman

'We do have a couple like these" Noble Woman said to Whitch as she took out a pair of rings before she handed them to Spearman and the Witch

"Just don't put them on," Noble Woman said to the two adventurers who had already put the rings on before the words left her mouth.

Guild Girl watched as the Black Swordsman and Noble Woman shared a look before wordlessly coming to some sort of agreement.

"Kirito, will you take responsibility for this man?" Noblewoman said to Black Swordsman as she suddenly stood up and spoke with a commanding voice

"Asuna, will you take responsibility for this woman?" Black Swordsman said to Noble Woman

"What's going on?" Spearman asked the two Knights as he tried and failed to remove the ring he had just put on.

" I Kirito the Black Swordsman, member of the Black Cats Guild am the witness for Spearman" Black Swordsman declared

"I Asuna Second In Comand of the Knights of the Blood Oath am the witness for miss Witch" Noble Woman declared

Guild Girl listened closely to the two kights declaring their position in their houses and she was surprised by Noble Woman's position within her order, she knew that Noble Woman was someone of high importance but to think that she was the second in command.

'Waite, what's going on!?"Spearman aksed\ Demanded

"Calm down, the fact that our rings fit the two of you means that you're perfect for each other" BlackSwordsman said to Spearman

"The rings, they're wedding rings, by the Laws of Ainrcrad the moment the two of you put the rings on, your marriage was made official," Noble Woman said to Spearman

"Go ahead take them off," Noble Woman said to the two adventurers who immediately did what she said and found that they could remove the rngs now

"If you don't believe us, look for someone that can tell you what the magic the rings have done so you can find out if we lied to you," Black Swordsman said to Spearman and the Witch, both of which were looking at the two Knights with shocked expressions

Guild Girl instinctively covered her mouth with her hands as she tried to keep the sound of herself gasping as both Black Swordsman and Noble Woman took of their armored Gloves and revealed a pair of rings just like the ones the two adventurers were wearing.

"What? Don't tell me you guys didn't know, Asuna is my wife" Black Swordsman said to the two adventurers

The guild had fallen silent, everyone knew about the two knights' affair, but everyone believed it was something akin to two teenagers caught in a purely physical relationship, but to think that the two are married and belonged to separate houses.

"Can you remove the spell?" Spearman asked Black Swordsman

"Why?"

"I men the rings would have never fit on your fingers f you weren't perfect for each other" Black Swordsman said to Spearman

"If you're worried about the consequences Kirito and I already dealt with them by being your witnesses, so you don't have to worry about any curses, "Noble Woman said to the pair

"....' Witch didn't say anything she just kept looking at the ring that she held in the palm of her hand.

She had already discovered the ring's power and it was exactly what the two knights had said, she was by all rights and laws Spearman's wife.

The fact that they both had someone that had seen them wed willingly to each other stoped the curse from activating.

"Am...I ....not..good...enough?" Witch asked her partner, she tried to contain her emotions from showing but she could barely contain the pain in her chest as she feared her partner's answer.

"It's not that, I mean you shouldn't be forced to be with someone like me" Spearman answered his partner

"I'm...not..forced"Witch answered her partner

"Look for the next few weeks, the two of you will have to act as a married couple" Black Swordsman said to the two adventurers before Noble Woman hit him with her elbow.

"Okay, we can undo your marriage, but it takes about, hold on," Noble Woman said as she looked at the ring she wore on her hand

"It's going to take about three weeks or two months, so until then the two of you have to be husband and wife," Noble Woman said to them

"So what do married people do?" Spearman asked the Knights who looked at him with shocked expressions

Guild Girl could feel her head hurt, to think that the man could ask such a stupid question.

"He's right, the two of them should get some help in their relationship from people that have experience" Guild Girl heard her boss say as he looked t the situation in front of him

"What do you mean?" Guild Girl heard her coworker say to her boss

"Adventurers or at least some of them had parents and family members that were married, but seeing it and doing it are different things."

'For Adventurers settling down is something difficult because they were adventurers, it takes a lot of work to keep a marriage together, that means being together even when you don't get along"

'Adventurers separate when they fight for no reason, so it's better if they get help from people who are close to their age, and have a stable marriage" Guild Girl heard her boss explain to her coworker

She soon noticed that the doors to the Guild opened and a ranger walked in carrying a bag filled with parchments.

"Get this to the Capital," the ranger said as he gasped for air.

Guild Girl watched as the man handed her boss the bag and her boss immediately took out what looked like several sketches of what looked like strange objects she had never seen before.

"Let's talk in the back" Gild Girl heard her Boss say to the Ranger.

Several wards kept the guild staff's voices from being heard beyond the privacy of the rooms, but they were meant to keep their voice from being heard by anyone not working directly with the guild, like the Adventurers and everyone else.

So Guild Girl listened to what the two men were saying to each other, she wasn't spying, after all, she would hear all bout it during the next meeting.

Guild Girl watched as both the Witch and Spearman left the guild and she noticed that once again Noble Woman and the Black Swordsman were once again sitting with each other.

"They have what in that fortress?" Guild Girl heard her boss say

"They have a, if not the Greate Stone of Revival inside their Fortress," the Ranger said to her boss

Guild Girl felt her mind stop working, the revival stones were objects of myth, things that could bring back the dead, not simply heal someone hat stood between the lines of life and death, but truly bring back the dead before a certain time.

Yet the Greate Stone of Revival was said to be able to bring back people from the dead regardless of when or how they died.

It could even recreate a person's body after it was destroyed, there was a lot of information about it because it's believed to be an artifact that was lost and now existed in children's stories told orphans in the temples of the Earthmother.

If word got out that the knights had it, then it was more than enough reason for the capital to mobilize and attack them, but if they had the revival stone then there was no way that any of the knights would remain dead for long so a simple battle could and would become a war.

"There are a lot more things in that fortress than the stone" the ranger gasped for air when he spoke each word

"Sacred beasts- undead- both Demy Gods and I believe a God, live within the fortress each one keeping to themselves inside rooms whose doors are closed but not locked," the Ranger said before the sound of his body hitting the floor reached Guild Girls ears

"Slayer!" Black Swordsman said as he saw Goblin Slayer and Priestess walk into the guild

Guild girl watched as both Goblin Slayer and priestess walked up to the Black Swordsman's and stood next to the table.

"Just the guy we were waiting for, listen on behalf of all of us knights, what can you tell us about killing Goblins," Black Swordsman said to Goblin Slayer and he placed sixteen gold coins in front of him

"Do you have something to write this down?" Goblin slayer asked the Black Swordsman

"No need, I'll have everything in here" Noble Woman answers Goblin Slayer as she pointed to her head

 

[blueayes]

[Within the fortress, Radius opened her eyes something had turned its attention towards both her monsters and the humans under her care.

She watched as ancient beings played a game with the lives of the denizens of this new world, her eyes watched as many lesser beings toyed with many other beings all the while completely uncaring for the consequences of their actions.

Radius watched as the being simply Known as Truth decided to kill the humans exploring the tunes underneath her fortress, while the being known as Illusion failed to save them.

Her humans would have perished right there and then, but Radius doesn't share her charges, so with a wave of power she joined the game.

Her new name or perhaps it had always been her name was Here\There, she stood in front of the two beings and rolled the dice.]

Guild Girl listened to Goblin Slayer tell the knights everything he knew about Goblins but the truth was most if not all of what he was telling the knights was information everyone knew either from personal experience or things that senior adventurers would tell the new adventurers.

"Hold on, Asuna are you seeing this?" Black Swordsman asked Noble Woman as he graved his head as if he was in pain

"This is Asuna all available units prepare for" Noble Woman declared before stoping as if she had suddenly noticed something

"What do you mean the doors to their rooms suddenly opened and they ran into the tunnels!?" Noble Woman asked someone that wasn't in the Guil

"Klein, I know you're there, talk to me!" Black Swordsman desperately called o someone that wasn't in the room

"Yeah I'm here, they came out the walls suddenly they were everywhere, but the floor bosses killed them all" Klein answered Kirito as he gasped for air.

Guild Girl watched as both Noble Woman and the Black Swordsman let out breaths of relief as if they had just heard something that relieved their worries.

"God, I thought I'd lost you there man," Black Swordsman said to the person that wasn't in the guild

"No, we're just a little shaken up, looks like the bosses are on our side this time," Klein said to Kirito as he watched the monsters kill all of the remaining goblins

'Thank you for telling us what you Know" Noble Woman said to Goblin slayer before leading Black Swordsman out of the Guild, yet as they were about to leave Noble Woman stopped walking turned back, and handed Guild Girl a hand-drawn map.

"Our scouts found that a lot of tunnels led to a lot of the missing villages we found."

"The same tunnels led to the fortress we're living in, and you can imagine where I'm going with this" Noble Woman said to Guild Girl yet as Guild Girl picked up the man, she could feel her heartbeat nearly stop.

The tunnels led to every direction of the frontier that was already mapped and explored, yet there were even areas that no scout had gone to before.

"The map doesn't show the surface of the unexplored areas of the frontier, just how far our teams managed to get before they nearly overwhelmed," Noble Woman said to Guild Girl

Guild Girl felt her boss grave the map and take it from her hands.

"We will pay you back for" her boss began t say t Noble Woman but Noble Woman stopped him from saying anything else.

"Don't, we just want to warn you about what we found," Asuna said to the guild staff

"And what are you warning us about?" the boss of the Guild said to her

"I'm not sure, but we're starting to see a pattern forming and...' Asuna said to the man, before pausing as if realizing that she was about to say too much

"Excuse me," Noble Woman said to the Guild Girl and her Boss, before walking back to the Black Swordsman's side and leaving the guild
[][
"What's going on?" Kirito asked Asuna as they walked to a nearby bench and sat down

"The Guild Leaders are having a meeting about what just happened and they're trying to decide if they should collapse the tunnels that don't lead anywhere or collapse all of them," Auna said as she looked a the townspeople who were just going about their day

"Well I have news for you, our civilians said that the moment the floor bosses left their rooms the pillar started glowing, it's not just a black pillar anymore"

"From the videos, they're sending, the thing created revival stones and divine stones of returning souls, oh yeah the pillar itself has all of the gems and stones colors covering it, so that a thing now," Kirito said to Asuna

He paused for a brief moment and looked at a group of children playing together.

'Hey Auna, do you want to stop being a knight and settle down in one of the villages and you know start from scratch" Kiritosaid to Asuna

"...." Asuna stayed quiet as if considering his words

"....Maye when things calm down, the villages aren't a safe place to raise children," Asuna said to Kirito as she remembered every village the two of them found and built things in.

The two of them watched as a group of elves walked into town, normally the two of them would have prepared themselves to fight for their lives, but the elves weren't doing anything that made them look hostile.

At least if one ignored the way they looked at the humans around them.

"They must be the group that the Army met," Asuna said as she watched the group of elves walk towards the adventurers guild

 

[blueayes]

[ In this universe, the original Sword Art Online, setting before it was turned into the Death Game.

It was supposed to take place during the ancient war, a time when there was a ton of magic and magic users, only that the players weren't able to use any of it, except certain things like the crystals and how the Blacksmiths can fix or make magic items.

This made the player have no choice but to come up with strategies to kill powerful magicians or magical monsters.

If a person didn't have people to help him\her, then he\ she would have to do a bunch of side quests to become strong enough and gain enough items, to be able to beat the monster

The players were meant to be able to eventually kill Gods or Devils when they became strong enough, as such the strongest players can do this but never got the chance to do it, because of the Death Game everyone was thrown into.

For proof of this Radius is the last boss, a god that can stand up to the two players playing the Goblin Slayer Board Game.

The rest of the players can still achieve this level of power but will have to do a lot of fighting to be able to do it.

Also because the players- items and monsters are from Sword Art Online, the players are like a beacon to everything that's from the game, that isn't an animal that needs to live somewhere else to live.

This is the reason why they have all of the items inside the game that would have normally been scattered when they arrive.

Add to his the fact that the floor bosses now live inside their fortress, this made most if not all of the magic inside Aincrad focus itself on the fortress making it into the new Aincrad.

This is why a lot of the items- gold and armors just show up in there, the players have no control over them so they just act as guards for all of it.

They can still use the stuff, but they have both be strong enough to use it and know where to find it inside the fortress]

 

[blueayes]

Guild Girl looked up from the counter and she found herself looking at a small group of elves walking into the guild.

'Yes may I help you" she said to the leader

The woman did not say anything she just looked at her with cold calculating eyes, the rest of the group wasn't any better.

Elves are a race that lives for a long time, so they tend to think that they're better than everyone else, it's only the elves hat chose to leave their forest or the ones that are forced to leave for one reason or another that lose this sense of superiority that they all have.

"We have come to inform you that we will e living in your..."

Guild Girl watched as the Elf Queen stopped herself from saying anything else and took a deep breath, it was as if she was both defeated and disgusted with herself for having to say the next few words.

"Guild Girl watched as the Elf Queen undid a small naught and slightly opened her shirt revealing a gold necklaces, Guild Girl didn't understand what the Elf woman in front of her was trying to say but thankfully the Elf started talking before she could ask any questions.

"I request a piece of land for my people to settle into," the Elf Queen said as she removed her necklace.

As Guild Girl received the necklace her boss came out to see what was going on and to her surprise, he immediately graved the necklace the elf woman had given her and returned it to the elf.

Guild Girl watched as her boss stood up straight and looked at the elf woman in the eyes.

"By the rules of our alliance, we deny any aid to your people, as all of the lands here belongs to us Humans"

"I'm sorry, but we can't repeat the events of[][][][]" her boss said to the elf

Guild Girl watched as the group of elves accompanying the one that was speaking to her boss immediately became angered by her boss's words, yet the woman in front of her didn't react.

'Then we request to be allowed to live in your towns and villages, we will work just as any other villager" the elf woman said to her boss

Guild Girl watched as her boss took a deep breath and swallowed, it was as if he was preparing himself to say something that could easily cause a lot of problems.

'We have nowhere to put you at the moment, a large group of settlers have just arrived and so all of the inns and guild houses are full, either housing the settlers or hearing the sick and injured."

"However, there is a fortress that houses several knights that guard the frontier, perhaps they can help you," her boss said to the elves who left without saying anything else

 

[blueayes]

Heathcliff looked at the report in front f him, things were finally starting to make sense.

People think that when a person is magically moved from one world to another, that they suddenly get aces to everything they were used to having, that's far from true.

For example plumming, they were lucky that the fortress already had a sewer system, a ridiculously big one, but it is a sewer system.

The problem with it is that they had t find out where it led to.

The scout teams eventually found where all of the paths led to but none of them liked what they found.

The sewers are a maze, that if the players didn't have their mas to rely on they would have gotten lost, the situation is as follows, there are several fortresses scattered all over the frontier and those fortresses are connected by the sewers.

Why aren't monsters just using these giant paths to invade, because there are a bunch of powerful monsters that live in the dark.

These monsters act as a deterrent so any fortress that has goblins or any other kind of monster living in it, has them because those monsters entered from the main entrance or a hole in the ceiling.

Why is this important? because the sewers end at the side of a mountain facing the ocean.

The scout teams have been gone for weeks and it's only because they barely rested at all that their journey ended as fast as it did, or else they would have been gone for years.

One major issue is that no one knows where this mountain is, because the maps only show the underground path, no one knows how the surface looks like, so the dangers along the way are unknown.

What they do know is that the mountain is somewhere in the unexplored area in the frontier, where no one has gone to in recent history.

The players used teleporting crystals to get back home but their warning didn't go unheard by any of the guild leaders, something is happening in the frontier.

There's a large gathering of ships that don't belong to anything Human the ships haven't touched land yet, but they're close enough for the scout team's eyes to see them, with their farsight skills.

Not only that but something else is happening in the forest.

Animals and even monsters have a way of doing things, for example, if a deer is relaxed a person can tell just by looking at it, the animal is doing what it does because its body isn't alert.

The same goes for any monster and yet all of the animals and monsters seem as if something has spooked them.

At first, everyone thought that Eldat's arrival had caused this, but the goddess herself has left her garden more than once and whenever a monster or animal sees her, they calm down and relax.

Both the animals and monsters sense somethings wrong and so all of the guild leaders agree that they have no choice but to prepare in case something bad is coming their way.

Now another problem has shown itself.

The group of settlers that the Army ran into, wasn't the only one attacked, unfortunately only a small amount of the settlers made it to their destination.

One group was dead long before they even made it to their new homes, while another was captured by monsters, but the Iron Dogs rescued them along with several other villagers from villages around the frontier.

Another group ended up getting lost but had enough sense to stop and wait for the storm to pass despite the dangers o the frontier and rather than keep going forward they all turned around and walked back and were met with one of the guilds that helped them get to their destination.

The last group... it's better not to say what happened to them, but their survivors along with the survivors of the other groups are now living around the fortress, helping out with what they can.

Things are starting to make sense, a picture is starting to take shape and Heathcliff didn't like what he was seeing.

"Asuna as of this moment you're in charge, I'm leaving the fortress for a couple of days," Heathcliff said to Asuna through their help screens

The same words were being said by the other guild leaders as they weren't going to take any chances.

 

[blueayes]

][][
Kirito watched as the smile on Asuna's face vanished and before she could say anything his help screen alerted him that several of the guilds were now under the control of the people that were one step below the guild leaders.

"Asuna?" Kirito began to ask his wife but Healthclif teleported in front of them before looking around and finding Asuna sitting next to Kirito

"Asuna, I need you to take control of the guild while I'm gone, the rest of the guilds are doing the same thing," Heathcliff said to Asuna before turning to look at Kirito

"What's going on?" Kirito asked Heathcliff

"To be honest we don't know, but it looks as if something might be planning to invade. The guild leaders are the strongest amongst the players so we're going to go and deal with whatever treats we can find so we can at least slow down whatever's coming" Hethclif answered Kirito

"Wait if your not sure then wouldn't this cause more problems, if you're wrong?" Asuna asked Heathcliff

"Your right, but here's a question, are any of us mentally prepared to fight a war?"

"Asuna half of the players are still hoping to go back home, the other half have already given up, but both believe that this place might be our new home at least for now"

"Aincrad was our prison, but it was also something familiar to us, now it and our bodies are gone....."Heathcliff didn't say anything after that he and for a long moment the three of them shared a look and an understanding formed between them

Up until now no one voice the real reason why the players didn't just do what players usually did when they play a game, meaning start to explore and then leave an area to get more items or rise in the ranks of a guild.

Even now none of them had dared to say it, but Heathcliff had hinted at the reason.

They were all exhausted, they were told that if someone managed to beat the game then they could all go home, but instead, they ended up here, a place where lizardmen walk amongst humans as if they were friends and where the stuck up elves, weren't stuck up and asked Humans for help rather than chose to die before asking the lower races for help.

None of them were even sure if this place was real or not, for one nothing was indestructible anymore, and everyone could get hurt by anything.

In Aincrad you couldn't just destroy a part of a building, now anything broke if it was hit hard enough, even their powered up bodies could be hurt by anything, for example, someone scratched themselves on a broken tree branch something that shouldn't be possible in a game, not even in the one they are or were traped in.

Yet here, there are magicians and monsters, add to that all of the things that followed the players to this place.

Nither Asuna nor Kirito wanted to admit it but the Guild Leaders were right, none of the players are prepared to fight any battles at the moment, even the players like them who go out and do missions are only doing it because they want to stop themselves from thinking about the situation they're in.

Yet in all of this, the guild leaders had no choice but to dig their heels into the ground and keep both the players that are exploring and doing missions as well as the none combatants in cheek and give them some kind of direction, so they were being pushed even more than everyone else.

"Okay, do what you have to do," Asuna said to Heathcliff and the man did not say anything he just walked away leaving them behind

 

[blueayes]

[][]]
The sent of filthy air from inside of the guild mixed with the repugnant stench of the town as they stepped outside of the guild, this was or soon will be their curse, to live amongst lesser beings.

One that she both welcomed with open arms yet was repulsed with at the same time.

Her people as well as herself had brought the hatred of every other race upon themselves with both their pride and complete dismissal of the problems of every other race.

Yet to think that even the other elven kingdoms would turn their backs on them, on her.

The other kingdoms needed someone to shift the blame to and her people were perfect for it, after all in the end out of all of the elven races hers was the only one that didn't have half breeds amongst them and her people kept themselves separate from the rest of the world.

Granted her people as well as herself could have aided the other races in their struggles but they were constantly attending to the other kingdoms' needs, to be able to help any of the other beings in anything.

Perhaps there was the rare fool amongst her subjects that would have helped those that sought her people's aid, but that didn't matter anymore, whatever and whoever her people belonged to or represented was lost now, for even their gods had turned their backs on them.

Yet in these lands filled with dangers, they found a goddess that welcomed them with open arms and helped her people rest- calm down and relax.

Yet the goddess never spoke to any of them she merely greeted her people with simple or overly flamboyant gestures before beginning to hand them food and signaling them to sit and rest next to the human cattle.

For a moment after speaking with the knight that wore the metal armor that had been crafted to resemble stone, she soon saw her people relaxing next to the goddess as he walked amongst them.

For a brief moment, she was tempted to kill and chase off all of the humans that were sitting at the goddesses' side, yet those thoughts were quickly crushed the mommet she felt her heart nearly stop.

It was then that she had the goddesses' complete and undivided attention.

Despite the Goddeses' calm nature, her eyes were anything but calm, as she walked and gently gave both her people and the human's food and water the goddess yes never stopped looking at her.

There was an unspoken threat, no warning and for a brief moment, she swore the goddess called out to knights that wore the same armor like the ones she had left behind.

The men arrived faster than any human should have been able to and stood in front of the goddess who finally averted her eyes and greeted her servants.

No words were spoken, she merely touched the men's faces before her own began to change.

One moment the goddess had the physical appearance of a human woman, the next she looked exactly like an elf queen, no she looked better than an elven queen, finally, she looked almost like a Nymph.

She never changed, one moment a person looking at her saw the face of a human, they blinked and the face of the goddess was now that of an elven woman.

"So that's what's going on," one of the knights said as he stood in front of the goddess.

The man spoke in such a disrespectful manner yet the goddess merely laughed, despite making no sound, both the goddesses' expressions and gestures said she was laughing without restraint.

"Greate now we are all going to end up wondering if the girl we're talking to is your a woman that wants to be with one of us," the man said yet the goddess immediately stopped laughing and seductively moved from one knight to another.

None of the men reacted to her attempts to get them to react yet one of them stepped forward.

"Okay let's do it, I'll marry you but I want you to act like a proper wife, that mean's fulfilling all of the duties of a wife, "the man said as he walked up to the goddess and while placing a ring on his hand

He removed his helmet dropped it on the ground and quickly graved the goddesses hand ad was about to place a ring on her finger.

The goddesses expression changed and she quickly lost her smile, now her expression resembled that of someone that was panicking, and as the knight placed the ring on her finger.

The goddess opened and closed her mouth as if speaking.

'Oh so you were just playing with our hearts" the knight said as he stopped himself and removed the ring from the goddesses hand

Yet as the man turned around he removed the ring he had put on earlier before turning round and graving hold of the goddess once more.

"No,' he said with a serious tone in his voice.

"I ][][][Knight of the Army have decided that you ][][] will be my wife," the knight said as he placed the ring on the goddesses hand

Everyone present watched as the goddess looked at the man and then at the ring in her hand with a shocked expression, then she quickly took a deep breath and pointed at the ground.

Everyone present watched as the knight did as he was told before the goddess of relaxation sat on his lap.

The goddess began to lif one finger after another as if she was setting some ground rules.

"Waite let me stop you there, I'm not wearing my ring so we aren't married," the knights said to the goddess who immediately made the trees around them grave a hold of the knight.

The rest of the knights began to cut away at the branches and tear the trees but they were quickly pushed away.

Yet despite all of the insanity happening in front of them none of the humans or elves watching all of this happen felt any sense of danger.

Everyone watched as the goddess forced the ring onto the man's hand before both rings jumped vanished from their fingers, appeared next to the pair, grew pair of tiny legs, and walked away while holding hands with each other.

They stopped walking and pointed at the goddess then pointed at the traped knight.

t was as if the rings spoke in a way no mortal could hear, yet after the words were spoken the goddess freed her trapped knight and sat near him, the rest of the knights quickly surrounded the man before chastising him for playing with the goddesses feelings.

Even as she walked into the human's town she remembered all of this for two reasons, the goddess had sent her a warning in two forms.

She welcomed all to her garden to relax and heal themselves while she was remarkably close to her servants to the point where she would toy with them and they would toy with her as if they were children that didn't take things as seriously as they should.

The goddess would quickly react to any threats to those that sought her aid, the fact that the goddess had split herself into a being that had two separate natures was something she wondered if she had forced the goddess to do or if she had always been this way.

It didn't matter anymore she had left her people behind to rest under the goddess's protection while she came to negotiate with the guild.

As she and her escorts walked out of the town they notice that the two knights banished from where they had been seated, it was no doubt a form of teleportation magic, but to think that the humans could use such blessings as casually as the pair had just done.

As she stepped out of the ton she began to hear whispers in the air.

Magically spoken words were being carried from far away lands to distant kingdoms, as she listened she heard bits and pieces and hart filled with fear.

A dark fleet sails to an unknown place, it brings death to any island or hips it runs across, while twisted horrors march from one land to another, yet they only stray from each other when they need food.

There are warnings that an ancient horror stirs as if reawakened by something someone.

Magicians and cultists alike had begun to move as if someone -something was urging them forward.

Her heart beat faster and faster as the words of the gods that turned their backs on her people reached her ears.

"War," they said before abandoning her once more

 

[blueayes]

[Further investigation is needed ]
The soul scream or the screaming soul is the result of someone forcefully ripping one of the Lost Knight's souls from his body, the effect was instantaneous.

Unlike the faint glow of a Humans- lizard mans or any other beings soul, except the elves the Lost Knights have a particularly bright soul.

It's now questioned by many priests and clerics if the Knights are even Human at all, for the following were the events witnessed by everyone during the war.

Ghost and specters both willing and forced to serve their dark masters were instantaneously sent to be judged the undead be they humanoid -monster- insects or animals were turned to dust while their souls were cast to the next realm.

All beings that sided with order were either heald or straightened depending on how injured they were, while the exact opposite happened to those that fought on the side of chaos and destruction.

Yet as all of this was happening the Lost Knights near the being stealing the lost knight's soul attacked the one responsible before using a sacred relic to resurrect their fallen brother who immediately joined them in the war as if nothing had happened to him.
][][][]

Aincrad history]

The Soul Takers were a small team of friends who chose to only fight on floors whose flor guardian was already beaten.

For this reason, they would do the same missions over and over again until they had several of the same items that helped them live comfortably in Aincrad.

That is until for whatever reason they started to attract the undead wherever they went, as such, they began to specialize in dealing with the undead.

One of the items they found was a rosary that was broken, unlike the rosary that immediately destroyed the undead and all monsters around the user.

The broken rosary did this but slower because it was broken its power affected everything else besides the undead, meaning it both healed and got rid of things like ghosts, but was unable to destroy truly strong monsters like an undamaged rosary could.

The broken rosary's power manifested itself as one of the soul takers losing his soul before bursting into a flash of white light.

With the broken rosaries effect, the player would have just about enough life left in them to not die and use whatever items or potions they had on them to heal themselves and not die.

 

[blueayes]

[ Recently discovered by the players\ Guild leaders]
The reality of Deep Dive Games.

There exist something called the Astral Plane its a place made of pure psychic energy the reason this is important is that deep dive technology somehow accesses this other dimension.

The creators of Sword Art Online created a game that had everything the real world has but t wasn't real, that is until several thousand human minds entered this none existent world.

....Somehow, for reasons we have yet to understand multiple gods took an interest in Aincrad and used their power to strengthen its existence somehow making it even more real.

Perhaps they took pity on the payers for a place that should have been a place where people to go and unwind from their everyday lives, became a hellish prison for all of us, perhaps like one of the gods said, they found Aincrad peaceful and wished to preserve it.

Whatever the reason these gods entered the game doesn't matter, at least not until now...

However the clause from before the time these gods entered Aincrad remained, defeat the last boss and all of the players get to go free, thereby destroying Aincrad in the process.

According to both the floor bosses and the gods we have been able to speak to, they didn't have a hand on whatever brought the players to this new world, but they have chosen to protect the players because we are by their statements, the gods and floor bosses own words their unwilling children.

It seems as if we have no choice but to accept the reality of our situation, this new world we are all in is our new home, there is no going back for us.

Signed the Guild Leaders

 

[blueayes]

The One Hundred Rooms of the Fortress
This will change further down

The one hundred rooms are miniature realms that were created by beings that rival the powers of both Gods- Devils- and Demons, they were created by beings simply known as the Floor Bosses by the Lost Knights.

Each room is a minor plane of existence and houses all sorts of beings and even settlements within it.

The Floor Bosses rule over each room but remain completely uninvolved with the day-to-day lives of the people and beings living within their realms.

For example, they protect these minor realms from outside threats or major threats from within, but will not interfere with one person killing another.

If a person were to try to enter or exit these minor realms they would have to fight the floor boss responsible for protecting it, according to the floor boss, or perhaps they should be called guardians, they do this to keep people that want to cause harm to the citizens of their realms.

The same can be said for when they prevent people from trying to leave their realm because some people wouldn't be able to stand the reality of their entire world being a single room inside a fortress, surrounded by other rooms that lead to other realms similar to theirs.

This researcher was granted an audience with the floor boss known as Gleaming Eyes, who asked me a question when I asked him why they kept these realms within the fortress.

His question was as follows.

"Why not?"

Gleaming Eyes later pointed out that even if our entire world dies the miniature realms would simply join together with the fortress and escape our world to keep their realms safe, he hinted at something rather disturbing.

According to Gleaming Eyes, there is a chance that this has happened before and the knights are simply the refuges of a world that has died, meaning that the miniature realms are in fact what remains of several worlds that have already died.

Many questions have come up, but I was only allowed to ask one.

Further investigation is needed

 

[blueayes]

[Green The Vault ]
Will change further down

The Vault was discovered to be under the Lost Knight's possession and has become an object or better said the objects maintained within have become the source of many many arguments.

As we all know the Los Knights are unable to use magic or cast spells in the same way most other people in the world can.

Instead, they wield powerful crystals which they use for a variety of effects along with enchanted armors- weapons and shields.

The importance of what has just been said can not be underestimated, for within the Vault were so many objects of power that when the vault was opened when the fortress was being under siege.

It caused all of the ones responsible to go mad and start killing each other.

The knights answer that this insanity wasn't a spell or any of the treasures doing, that the invaders killed each other because of their greed.

Those that managed to enter the vault to help clear out the bodies of the invaders have said that within the vault was a vast library containing thousands if not hundreds of thousands of grim wards.

Crystals of all kinds that have yet to be used by any of the knights.

Swords and many magical weapons and trinkets such as rings that can only be used by pure-blooded elves.

Automatons that didn't hesitate to fulfill their duty the moment the vault was broken into and began to kill all of the invaders within the vault before joining in the defense of the fortress.

Ancient armors- axes and hammers that were made by Dwarven hands, the list goes on and on but these were just a few things seen.

When word about these treasures reached the various kingdoms, the Knights soon received several ambassadors from each race, however, they were all turned away.

The knight's reason was that these treasures are what remains of Aincrad before its destruction.

Normally this explanation would have been more than enough to deter most f, not all people, but members of the Lost Knights were seen and recorded traveling to distant lands for reasons we have yet to confirm.

Some say it was to weaken the invaders before the war began, others say that they were searching for objects of power to help them in the battles ahead.

Yet some say that they weren't doing either and were instead looking for places that they could move their entire population should they lose the frontier.

Something that is believed by many that they fund.

Regardless of the reason, many believe that some if not all of the treasures within the vault are the objects of power the Lost Knights discovered during their travels and as such simply ask for them back as Humans cant use things that were meant to only be used by elves.

The knights cant use the grim wards because they can't use magic, so it makes sense that the magic schools make good use of them.

And because the armors and weapons were created to only be properly used by dwarves then they should return to their proper owners.

The Knights have until now denied any petitions from everyone including the King of the Green Kingdom any of the treasures that they keep locked away.

Yet tongues loosened by drunken fools in taverns have led the secret of the vault spread and now wizards - thieves and a number fiends have turned their sights towards the vault and the treasures within it.

 

[blueayes]

One shot

The entire hall was silent as she watched the battle come to an end, the armies of the undead were being annihilated as the knights used crystals that had been embedded with holy magic to put the restless souls to rest.

She couldn't help but cry as she watched her brother let out a breath as she watched the knights slowly surround him, each one holding their weapons ready to kill her brother.

And yet none of them did, instead, the oldest of the knights walked up to her brother and congratulated him on a job well done.

Tears began to fall from her eyes as she quickly realized that her brother would soon be somewhere beyond her reach.

"Don't go" she struggled to say, yet she failed to notice that both her father and mother had entered the hall along with the magicians and they had heard her struggle to say those short but painful filed words.

Her brother unlike herself wasn't born with the touch for magic, meaning that he couldn't cast any spells regardless of how much he studied the art of magic.

He lacked any sense of talent for any weapon, and his intelligence well no one would ever call him a genius.

Perhaps that was why she had grown to believe herself superior to him and why he had grown such a massive inferiority complex.

Unlike him, she walked amongst mages - lords- ladies in various positions of power while true she didn't have time to deal with the peasants, while her brother spent time with lesser nobles and the people they ruled over.

Her brother didn't want to be the next lord, because he believed that someone capable should hold the position and that was her of course.

Their father however believed otherwise because the commoners needed a lord that both understood how they lived their lives and their everyday needs.

Not only that the ruler needed to be able to walk amongst the nobility and be able to stand amongst them, even if he wasn't ever going to be at the very top with the strongest of leaders.

So by their fathers' wisdom, her brother was better suited for the throne.

So one day after having an argument with their father and listening to one of his attendant's words she boldly told her brother to leave so that she could inherit the throne, after all, no one would accept a failure such as him as their ruler.

It was the anger she had felt at that moment that fueled her stupid act, and when she went to apologize, she discovered her brother was gone.

She tried to search for him and sent out scouts before anyone could find out about her treachery but when all of her attempts failed, she confessed to her father and mother what she had done.

Her father's attendant was immediately executed for his treachery, while her father and mother refused to look at her.

It had been six months since then and now that she finally found her brother, it's at the very moment that he is being welcomed into a new kingdom with opened arms.

He was her brother, he was someone that deserved the throne, someone that had helped retake the lost kingdom Myth Drannor.

She watched as the Knights handed her brother a clear blue crystal.

"Don't go" she wept, as her guilt and regret finally overwhelmed her resolve.

She watched as the crystal shattered and her brother vanished from sight.

The moment her brother was nowhere to be seen, was the moment she felt her strength abandon her and she fell to the ground before crying without restraint.

She cursed herself for being so easily manipulated, it was because of her that her brother left her father's kingdom.

It was because of her, that her brother first met the red knight that carries the greater white shite shield that has the red cross as its sigil.

It was her words that sent her brother into battle with nightmarish creatures that would have killed him instantly had it not been for the red knight.

"Sister" she heard her brother say to her as he removed the mask that covered the top half of her face.

She looked at her brother with wide eyes filled with disbelief, her brother stood before her, the days of battle combined with the time he had spent traveling had changed him.

His once innocent eyes now had a hardness in them, the kind she would see in the eyes of adventurers and nights.

"I'm home," he said to her before she threw herself at him and held him in her arms as tightly as she could, as the fear that he might leave again overwhelmed her.

"Hold on, I have a story to tell you."

"You see I met this knight who was looking for something that not even he knew what it was" her brother began to tell his tale even as she held him

This takes place during the time the Guild leaders were gone

 

[blueayes]

One shot
They held hands as they walked to the mage's house, he had told his little sister about their father and the short months he was able to come home.

He felt his sister's hand tighten slightly as they approached the mage's house, she began to slow down until she finally stopped walking.

'What's wrong?" He asked er

"Dad's supposed to be someone important, what if, he's forgotten about us?" she said to him as she looked down at the ground.

'Nope, remember what I told you Dad's a knight and he's fighting monsters in the frontier, hell come home when the war is over" he said to her as he knelt so that they were the same height.

His sister unlike himself was born completlyHumanand for that reason everyone in the town treated her warmly.

he never had trouble making friends, and was always invited to play with the other kids, and was even welcomed to spend time in their homes.

None of that was ever given to him......not until their father found them that is.

Before their father left he removed a small pin from his glove and gave it to him, the pin was shaped like a wolf's head but what stuck out the most was the single silver fang sprouting from the wolf's mouth.

Their father immediately called another emblem and gave it to his mother.

He had cherished that emblem and often held it whenever he could, when his sister was born their mother gave hers to her that very day.

The emblems are the same, but they are their most prized possessions because they proved that despite how different they may look, they are both their father's and mother's children, regardless of what others may say.

He didn't know who cursed him or why they had done it.

At first, he believed what the townspeople told him, that he must have been something thrown away that his mother took pity on and decided to raise, but when his father found them he had recognized him instantly.

One day his mother had left home to go and pick mushrooms from a nearby field, they were short on coins so they had to make do with what they could.

So he waited inside the house and passed the time playing with anything he could get his hands on.

He didn't know why, but something compelled him to look out of the window and he saw his mother walking next to a man he had never seen before.

The man had short black hair, light brown skin, the kind that only gets slightly dark when the person is outside for long periods.

The two of them were talking to each other happily and without a care in the world.

Unfortunately back then the only thing he could feel was terror.

The man accompanying his mother was covered in armor and carried a sword that was easily taller than he was back then.

Granted he was only slightly taller than the rest of the children his age, he can still remember the terror he felt at the sight of the massive man who was heading in his direction.

So without thinking he ran to the fireplace and picked up as much ash as he could and rubbed it on, that way the man wouldn't be able to see his pale skin, the burned whenever the sun touched it.

Then he graved a spare shirt and covered his head so that he could hide his ears and his silver hair.

It's funny how different a story becomes when two people tell it, wherever his mother tells people about when his father first saw him, the only thing he feels is an embarrassment, and whenever he told the same story, his words are filled with regret.

The moment the door opened his mother was met with a complete disaster, in his rush to hide his skin, he had spilled the ash all over the floor and when he ran to get something to put on his head, he had left footprints all over the floor.

He can still remember his mother's shocked expression that soon became one filled with rage.

Yet before she could say anything, the man began to laugh.

For the life of him, he can't remember the first words his father said to him, but he still remembers what he did next.

The moment his mother said that the man was his father, he ran up to the man and hugged him, the man didn't hesitate and hugged him back before carrying him.

His father's armor seemed to react to his skin and before he knew what was happening, he was burning.

His curse was being affected by whatever magical protection his father had on, yet even as his father held him in his arm, he didn't react to the fire.

The man simply stared at him and placed a silver cross necklace on his neck.

Ever since then he never removes the necklace when he's outside, after all, it's the very reason why he can work during the day, of course back then it was the very reason why he could play outside, but that didn't matter anymore.

He stood up and began to walk again.

For a brief moment he wonders how the two of them must look like, people often say that he and his sister are like night and day.

Where his sister has had long golden brown hair, light pink skin, light brown eyes, and pink lips that seemed as if they were painted red.

His sister is almost a replica of their mother except for one thing, where their mother s patient and slow to anger, his sister is prone to having temper tantrums just like any child her age.

He, on the other hand, was born with the same skin color as his father and with the help of the necklace around his neck, he now has the luxury of having the same color his father had back then.

His hair unlike his father's black hair and his mother's golden brown hair is silver and his ears despite not being as big as elves' ears, they are still bigger than any humans.

His eyes are just like his father's, meaning that they are dark to the point that they almost look completely black.

He can still remember being taught how to play catch by his father one day when the man was finished fixing the roof of the house, he decided that they had worked enough and that they both needed to relax and have some fun.

Sometimes the man would teach him how to use a sword or explain to him, that things like poisons and traps had their place in battle and that only a fool loses their life fr something that doesn't matter to him or his would-be killer.

He can still remember laughing as the man taught him several different games, or holding the man's hand as they walked through town looking for things that they needed.

The people in town murmured and gossiped, but none dared to say anything to them, and no one dared to throw rocks at him like they had when his father wasn't around.

The man would often leave home to search for something that he desperately needed, and he would be gone for days, during those days he should wait for him.

Then onde day he had to return to his post, he had to return to his post.

His sister had none of these experiences, but like himself, she was born without their father being present, but she did have him, so in his father's place he taught her everything he could.

This is why they came here, the mage is a woman with short light pink hair and fair light skin, normally a woman such as her would have many suitors, but her personality is that of an.....

To put it simply once the woman has met you ad decided that she likes you, she hugs you until you can't breathe anymore, and if she decides she doesn't like you it's as if you don't exist at all.

They stop walking and before they can knock the door swings open and they met with the woman's large breasts, yet before he can say anything his sister is lifted in the woman's embrace.

His sister desperately holds his hand so that she isn't pulled away from him.

"She can't breath," he says to the mage

The woman looks down and lets his sister go, before turning to look at him and he takes a deep breath, thankfully the woman didn't hug him, but she still acknowledged him so she didn't dislike him.

So he exhales in relief.

"Dont think I forgot about you!" the mage says to him before graving him, the warm and soft sensation that should bring joy only brings pain as the mage has more strength than she should.

Meaning that even if he tries to breathe he cant.

"Okay, I have everything ready. Now you just need to hand me a letter your father wrote and the emblem your father gave you." the mage says to them

He hands her a letter of many his father sends their mother and them whenever he can and the emblem their father gave him.

The mage doesn't bother to cast any spells she simply places both items on a nearby table and immediately the inside of the house begins to change.

His sister screams in terror as an explosion occurs, she holds onto him tightly as Orcs run past them.

The two of them slowly realize that the monsters around them cat see them and as they look around they see that they are on a battlefield somewhere.

Once again something makes him turn around and there holding a sword covered with what should be blood, was their father.

"Dad," he said as he looked at the man for the first time in years

"Look its dad," he says to his sister who just looks at the man with wide eyes, as she tries to take in everything about the man as she could

They watch as their father reaches for something that isn't there and by magic, he's suddenly holding a gold crystal, ta begins to glow as a beast the size of a mountain gets closer and closer.

Their surroundings start to change and they find themselves back inside the mage's house.

'So your father's at the frontier, no wonder he hasn't been back" the mage says to them as she hands them back the letter and the emblem

"Now off you go, the deal was that you just wanted a moment and a moment is what I gave you," the mage says to them.

So they said their goodbyes and began to walk home
][][][
Her eyes hardened as she watched the siblings walk away.

"So when are you going to tell them the truth"

"When are you going to tell that boy that he isn't human, that he was never human"

"That no one cursed him," she said to their mother

"Normally a lie like this doesn't matter, but it matters now because of what he is"

"What will you do, when he enters a cave or some hole in the ground and meets others that look exactly like him?" she asked the woman, but she doesn't answer.

"His necklace is keeping him safe for now, but if he ever loses it," she said o the woman, as she handed her an enchanted chain to replace the none magical one the necklace was being held with.

 

[blueayes]

One shot
In a single moment, they oped their eyes and gasped for air, their hearts threatening to burst out of their chests as the memory of what they had just dreamt lingered.

None of them knew each other or had ever seen each other, but whoever they were they knew that the gods had called upon them and wouldn't take no for an answer.

They stood in an unknown land that was unnaturally silent, but before they knew what was happening armies of fiends- orcs- tainted beasts from every realm spilled into the forest, but that was not the only place that was being invaded.

The sky darkened under the sheer number of creatures and spells, while underground creatures slither, crawled both in the earth and the tunnels within it.

They watched as a group of knights each carrying different sigils held firm and prePAREd themselves to meet the invaders.

They knew that they couldn't stop the invading devils, but they could at least slow them down.

They watched as a beam of light shot itself into the sky from behind the knights before spitting the sky open and a massive angelic being came down from the heavens before annihilating the first wave of invaders.

Yet as quickly as the angel came it left.

The invading devils would not be deterred and pressed to continue their attack as their dark masters used archaic spells to strengthen them.

Again, the knights used another great spell, however this time they called forth a storm of lances made of the elements that killed every monster they touched, while those that missed and landed on the ground exploded and killed those that were near them.

They watched as a small group of knights stood before what seemed like an endless army of shades- specters and undead.

The knights made quick work of their enemies before turning their sights towards those that had called the unfortunate and tainted souls alike to do their bidding.

The monsters didn't seem to have an end to them and the knights used one devastating spell after another, but slowly a group of them separated themselves to deal with a major threat amongst the invader.

One thought was shared amongst them.

The knights were losing.

Despite ever having met, they either sat on their beds, walked towards the kitchen, or sat o a chair, what could any of them do, none of them were adventurers or had any experience in battle.

That was when the image of a gate leading to a realm none of them ever knew existed appeared before each of them.

They knew they had to find the tear in reality, after that what they had to do or who they had to speak with was lost to them, but they knew that they had to seek this gate.

They tried to reject their dream and go back to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come to them.

They knew what they had to do, so they packed whatever they needed and left on their journey, never knowing that greater powers had turned to look in their direction and had begun to guide them

 

[blueayes]

The entire hall stood silently none could utter a single word, they had both taken apart of a sacred ritual and tainted themselves by forcing their way into it and we're now cursed to keep something so wonderful secret.

Yet that thought wasn't shared by all, some wanted to run out and inform every priest- paladin- druid - knight and commoner that they could find and tell them of what they had seen, what they had felt, of the experience they had been a part of.

Yet how could they? after all only those that were connected to what the knights called the chatroom could experience such a gift and they had forced themselves into it.

They had committed one of if not the highest sins they could have ever committed.

The day started simple enough, today was a corporation day, something the various faiths did every once in a while.

A representative from each of the faiths would gather and help the people, it was something that had become so common around these parts that most if not everyone just saw it as just one more thing that happened.

So they moved from city to city, from one town to another and so on, yet it was when they reached their fifth maybe the seventh village in their pilgrimage that they encountered a young woman

Comparing the woman was a boy about ten maybe twelve years old and a small girl who had just started to walk judging by the way she clumsily walked by her mother's side.

If they ignored the various magic-infused crystals the woman carried along with the pendant the child had around her neck that protected her from harm, and the shortsword that the boy carried on his waist, they would have ignored them and continued on their pilgrimage.

"Excuse me, but would you happen to be the Hands of Faith?" the Mother asked them

"Yes" answered Whispering Priest

"Could you help me find someone, you see"

"We met a man that called himself Rafael, I know the name is strange because what does a Rafael even do, but he aid that he had to leave because he had to....." the woman said to them

It was a simple case of a man that abandoned his wife and children, but there were holes in her story, she said that they met, meaning that either the woman and other people had met the man, or that one or both children had already been born by the time they met him.

"We need details," said Lizard Druid

"There was a plague in a land far away, I'm not sure how far, but we met him there" she begena to tell her story

They listened to her every word, she described a land curse by Lich who had poisoned the air so that nothing could grow and everything that breathed it became ill and died.

It was there that the woman walked alongside her brother and an infant child whose mother begged her to carry away with her last breaths, before dying and joining the bodies that littered the ground around them.

She tried t walk away to safety, away from the poison, but every step she took became harder from the last one before it and she fell.

She didn't know how long she had lied on the ground but when she awoke a man was wearing black armor tending to a fire next to it was her brother and the infant.

"Slowly," the man said to her brother as he spoon-fed him some warm stew

"Can you do it on your own?" the man asked her brother who slowly nodded

She watched as the man paced some sort of bottle onto the infant's mouth and the child eagerly succeed on it.

'You're awake, the man said to her."

"I wasn't able to see the town, my friends are investigating the other towns but I'm sorry," he said to her as he walked up to the other.

"Listen take this crystal and get the hell out of here," he said to her as he handed her a bright blue crystal that seemed to ward off the poison around them.

"Excuse me," he said o her

"What do you mean?" he said to someone that she couldn't see

"So if we can't leave, then that means the enemy can separate us when it wants to"

"I have three survivors here and I can't just leave them here," he said as he paced back and forth

"Okay change of plans, you three are coming with me"

"Now I'm going to give you three something that can help you defend yourselves, but they're only going to work if we become...." he struggled to say his next words

"Well be considered a family by all of the other players," he said

"It's the only way I can keep you three safe," he said as a blue window appeared in front of her. there was a small window n on its center, but she couldn't understand what it said.

She didn't know why, but her instincts told her to touch it, and when she did it was as if the world had opened up itself to her.

Her brother did the same but the infant only had the window in front of her for a moment and then it was gone.

She looked around and she could see letters next to everything she looked at, but she couldn't read so she didn't know what any of it meant.

Then the letters began to glow faintly, it wasn't bright so it wouldn't ever distract her, and a voice spoke directly into her mind.

She suddenly knew everything she was looking at, what it was called, what it was made for, and what materials were needed to repair the things her eyes met.

She even knew the am of the curse, but she had forgotten it and tried as she might she couldn't remember it anymore.

It was then that she turned to look at the knight and discovered who he was, Captain Rafael of the Soul Takers team, specialized with dealing with undead threats.

"You're lying," said High Elf Paladin no spell could do that none that didn't need the caster to chant for an extended period of tie anyway

"Its rue we still have it, it's the reason we came to talk to you' the boy said to them

"Why are you looking for this Rafael, considering that the three of you are here then he killed the lich came here for safety," high elf paladin said to them.

"We wanted to tell him, thank you and that we're safe" the mother of the three children answered, she may have been the girls adopted mother and the boy's sister, but she was the only mother that they hand now, so that was what she was

It was a simple request so high elf paladin used a location spell, normally such a spell would take more than a few minutes to cast, but high elf paladin could perform it in a few seconds.

The world around them changed and they found themselves inside a massive fortress, the mood around them was grim, despite a large banquet having been set up.

Wines of all sorts were being handed out, alongside various cheeses and jams.

With the knights were people from various towns and adventurers, all of which had the same sad expressions, but they were all smiling.

The knights began to sing, it was then that a blue window appeared before them.

They looked back and found that both their escorts he knights appointed to protect them in their pilgrimage had the same screen appear in front of them

Will you join your voices to the quire, it asked them in bright blue letters

They felt their heart joy with the hearts of those that were inside the fortress, all of a sudden they were no longer inside the fortress but in another realm, being watched over by gods who both loved them and pitied them.

They watched as the souls of the dead gathered both in the fortress and in the past.

In the past, the knights sang as they cried with wide smiles because they understood what had to be done and it broke them inside.

They celebrated because their torment would soon be over, they mourned those that had died and celebrated those that would one day be born.

Next to them stood the gods drinking cheering and weeping along with side them, there was o difference between any of them, that day they were one.

In the fortress, the knights- the adventurers and the commo people sang, songs o the dad, to those that would one day be born.

They gave thanks for the homes that came to know and the ones they left behind.

Amongst their group, they suddenly saw the homes of their parents, the forest they grew up in, the orphanage they had come to call home, and the mansion they had grown up in.

Without knowing it they all soon began to sing

{My son one you'll leave this world behind so go live a life you can remember" ]

They cried for those that had left this world and gave thanks to those that had helped them along the way, and before they knew it, they found themselves in the presence of not just those that ad died but also the presence of gods both of whom they knew and those that they did not

They sang together and wept together, because of what was to come.

Amongst the group stood the woman and the two children who had walked up to the man they were looking for and stood around him singing as they thanked him for saving them.

the last thing they saw, was something that child them to the core, a massive army was gathering and there was no escape.

They suddenly understood why everyone had gathered to perform this sacred ritual and they hated themselves for it

"They're going to need help," said Dwarf Shaman

They knew what they had to do, but how could they do t without revealing their crime.

"Thank you" they heard the boy and the woman say to them

Consequences be dammed they know what they had to do, and they had to do it even if it killed them

 

[blueayes]

In the few seconds, it took for her to process what she just heard, she failed to notice the stench of death that clung to those that dwell in places where many have died or those that have killed many themselves.

She heard the whispering of spirits of those that have long since gone granting their protection to the living.

Besides the armored footsteps that could only come from a man, she heard the faint steps of a woman, one young and inexperienced, yet she could feel the sensation of order in the girl's footsteps as she walked.

Her escorts stopped and her walking and allowed the pair to walk past them and they were cough by a sight that looked like night and day a young Priestess with long blond hair, and white clots walked past them accompanying a man who wore gray armor that covered him from head to toe.

Where the girl's clothes were kept clean and free of any wrinkles, the man's gray almost black armor was covered in scratches and dents, where he had received attacks from his foes and where it had been reforged after it had been broken.

The man's every step spoke of experience, while the girls spoke of youth and her inexperience was in full display with the way her body moved as she walked.

They watched as the pair walked away towards an unknown destination, this place was indeed different from their old home, to such a point where one that doesn't serve the Gods of Order can stand next to the servant of one.

They started to walk again and they slowly began to quicken their pace untile they began to move faster than any human ever could, they knew where the knight's fortress was located after all they had passed it before arriving at the town it was after a few minutes that they stopped once again.

Severa knights walked past them each one moved in such a way that it demanded obedience, yet it was their very presence that forced the forest around them to become quiet.

The beasts and monsters could sense the danger of these creatures that could no longer be called Humans as they moved, the forest became quiet, but as they left an area the forest slowly regarding the sounds it normally had.

It was as if she was watching a group of sharks moving past entire schools of fish that instinctively gave wide breaths to them.

"What lands are these that they make Humans like them," one of her guards said as he watched the knights walk away

When the knights were gone and they felt it was safe to move again they began to move towards the fortress, this time, however, they did so with more caution, lest they be mistaken for invaders.

They soon began to hear the sounds of beasts grazing in the open fields nearby, but the sounds they made were unnatural, Humans didn't keep creatures so large because they were always a threat to both them and the environment, yet as they began to get closer to the fortress they noticed some off.

In all of her years she had ever seen such a sight, Human children wearing allsorts of armors sat quietly as their instructor lectured them about something called astrology.

Yet it was the creatures next to the children that caught most of her attention, there was Pegasus grazing nearby, while a young blue dragon slept near one of the human girls.

Massive beasts carried stone and creatures she had never seen before labored as they repaired the fortress.

She watched as knights and Forge Born alike woked together as they dug the surroundings and exposed more and more of the fortress that hat had been buried over the years.

One of her escorts gasped as the trees themselves had faces on them and seemed to be having conversations with one or several of the knights, but that was impossible such beings were born to protect the forest and protect nature.

They are sacred beings that would rarely speak to any being not native to the forest they protected and yet here they are speaking to Humans that were cutting down trees.

She turned to look at one of her guards who always stayed alert and she noticed that the man was keeping his eyes on the entrance to the fortress, when she turned to look at it, she noticed the heavy stream of magick that flowed in it.

The Humans had taken something that had a connection to magic and made it their own.

This only increased the ganger of them being here and yet she couldn't help but wish to be a part of it.

She took yet again a leap of faith and walked past her escorts, the knights turned to look at her and then returned to whatever they were currently doing, they had completely dismissed her existence.

In the past this would have been a major insult, now however she had to accept that she was, is nothing, and shouldn't expect any special treatment.

She stood before the entrance to the fortress and waited, her escorts quickly took their places around her and a knight stepped out to greet them and beckoned them forward.

 

[blueayes]

][][]
They sat down at the table to eat and despite the mood, he tried to appear in high spirits for both his family and the servants.

He had been given control over all of the nearby lords, despite whatever power one might assume he had gained, the truth is completely different.

Unlike the lands near the capital, the frontier had no guarantee that any help would ever arrive, and if it did it would certainly be too late.

The lords under his command didn't have much wealth and whatever wealth they did have, it was spent, either replenishing the surrounding villages, potion supplies as well as trading what few goods the farmers- smiths and whatever else existed here.

It wasn't that there weren't any merchants in the frontier, far from it, but each lord kept a close eye on them because if just one village spent too much or sold too much, it meant the difference between life and death.

Even the adventurers guild, in these savage lands, remained a separate power because it had to be to function properly.

This alone highlighted the danger of this place, more than half of the settlers had died or disappeared, while those that survived did so out of sheer luck and avoided the attention of the monster.

The other half found one of the knights stationed nearby and were guided to their destination by them.

The knights are another issue, despite having his knights sworn to him, the ones stationed in the frontier served no lord and didn't even swear loyalty to the crown.

These are men and women whose experience far exceeded his men's and he had to somehow get them to corporate with him.

Long gone are the elegant balls filled with nobility whose with a single word sentenced entire populations fates or the plots of those that thought too highly of themselves.

His family would never again smell the delicious odor of warm bread and cooking meat in the mornings, nor the pleasant fragrance of the various perfumes and scented oils commo amongst the nobility.

His connections had kept him and his family alive but they are now meant to live their lives in a position that placed them barely above commoners.

Whatever paries he would make or attend to, now had to be things even commoners could attend, and his daughter if she was lucky might find a husband amongst them.

If she wasn't then perhaps she might find one amongst his subordinates, one of the adventurers, or maybe amongst the knights that had no loyalty to him.

Their new home was a home of the previous Highlord and the fact that it survive the last monster wave is proof of how strong it is, not that it helped his predecessor.

From now on, every waking moment will be dedicated to retaking the surrounding lands that have fallen under the control of the forest and the monsters.

In the past, it was ridiculous for a servant to even consider eating at the same table as their betters, and now here they are eating alongside him and his family.

The surrounding lords had already come and gone, the fact that they knew how these lands functioned helped them arrive at his home even before he and his family.

It was them and their servants that cleaned his new home and left whatever they could spare to help his men and his servants recover.

They just said their greetings, presented themselves, and left in the capital none of this would have ever happened but here it had witnessed it with his very eyes.

He had sent one of his most trusted knights to deliver a message to the knights stationed nearby, but the man returned saying that the knights said that they are currently too busy to greet him but would come when they had the chance.

The level of insubordination spoke more about what the knights thought of him and the crown than words ever could.

No, he had to stop himself, perhaps this was normal here and the knights were dealing with something and simply couldn't spare a single man at the moment.

This meant that he would have to go and meet with them himself a dangerous thing to do, because if the monsters didn't kill him, then bandits would.

This raised another issue could he leave his wife and daughter behind or would he risk taking them with him.

"Sir forgive me for interrupting your meal, but it seems that a number of the Knights have left their stations in the forest and are heading somewhere unknown" one of the scouts informed him

"Deserts?' he asked the scout

"No sir, just by looking at the men they appear to be fairly powerful, but they are going in what looks like random directions" the scout answered him

At first, it seemed as if the man hadn't answered his question, but that was just the man's experience showing itself.

He had said that the men appeared to be powerful, meaning that they possessed a great deal of experience and strength, perhaps magical or simply physical or perhaps both.

The fact that no one was trying to stop them meant that they had a reason for leaving their posts, even though the knights couldn't spare people at the moment and that was something troubling.

"Anything else?" he asked the scout

"Yes, several Elves have moved into the area, and" the man paused

"It seems a goddess has descended and one of the knight houses is protecting her at the moment"

The room fell silent a goddess had descended, to lie about such a thing meant that one's soul could never enter heaven, and yet the man had said such a thing.

"What else" he ordered

"The goddess is currently watching over the majority of the elves and an umber of the settlers who were attacked during the storm"

"The knights, are building homes for them at an impressive speed," the man said to him

Yet again another difference from things he had seen before, why would knights help peasants build homes for themselves? or for that matter help elves?

He understood what he had to do he had to meet with the knights and hear from them everything that was being kept from him, and there is no safer place for his family to be, than close to one of the gods.

 

[blueayes]

Lore past and present

From floor 80 and up all players without exception had to take part in the wars, not battles fullscale wars.

This was done so that only those that desperately wanted to leave Sword Art Online could do so, while everyone else either died or was so mentally broken that the other players had no choice but to either kill them or let them die.

This is when the gods that were watching the events inside Aincrad fully interfered, now by the rules of Aincrad they couldn't just enter the game so they did the next best thing, they fully reactivated all of the games defense systems.

This means that everything that kept the players from killing each other regained the majority of their power.

Plus the reawakening of the programs that kept the players from going insane.

This is the reason why all of the players aren't a bunch of xenophobes worried about being attacked by everyone they meet.

So on Floor number 80 all of the players gathered and had a massive first, it was here that both the floor guardians and the gods agreed, they would do all they could to ensure that the players survived the game and whatever dangers they might find.

This is the reason why the floor guardians are with the players inside the fortress.

The Gods knew that they couldn't directly interfere, so they altered some of Aincrads rules.

This caused all of the Human N.P.C's to begin a massive migration through the floors that had their Main Bosses already beaten, allowing the players to get equipment alt easier as well as being able to do more missions because they were needed.

During this great feast, the line between the gods and the player's world blurred allowing every player that had died to be present and all of the gods to stand next to the players that were still alive.

This would later be considered a ritual so sacred by the people in Goblin Slayers world that, that those that found out about it didn't know if they should confess about unintentionally joining their voices to what would later be called the choir.

The choir will one day be considered something akin to an extremely high-level spell that only those connected to the chatroom can do, as it allows every layer and tho granted access to the chatroom by the players or those that were given access and later granted access to someone else can perform

The only thing comparable to it is the union that the elves can do because every player and everyone granted access can feel what everyone else feels.

They can see the past of everyone in the feast or somewhere else, and meet the souls of those that have already died.

During this time the gods that took notice of the players and Aincrad are able to stand next to the players and offer comfort to them.

The spell is worthless for offense or defense, as its only purpose is so everyone can remember their past lives and give thanks to those that died along the way, as well as give those that haven't been born their blessings.

During this time everyone sings if they want, drink or eat if they want to, or simply lets out all of their emotions without restraint.

After this event, all of the players began a massive campaign of defeating monsters and acquiring crystals- items- potions and everything they could get their hands on.

Unfortunately, this means that they had a bunch of things that they couldn't use because they can't use magic and a lot of the things they got were magical.

All of these useless items are in something called the Vault inside the Fortress that the players are living in.

Now from floor 80 and up the wars that were fought only became more and more insane but thanks to the changes that the gods made, the defeated floor bosses and field bosses could be summoned to help the players.

As to how bad they got think Warhammer 40k, with the chaos gods either at the point of winning or have already won.

It's a wonder that anyone even survived, this is the reason why some of the players are so strong that they can kill gods because they gained items or became strong enough to do so.

The majority of the players, however, were either just regular soldiers that fight against the weaker opponents so that those strong enough could deal with the strongest monsters or helped acquire whatever the other players needed.

That meant going back down to do missions and regain said items.

This is the reason why the payers are so exhausted ad have just kept to themselves up until now, they were just tired of fighting and that hat did only did so to gather information or keep their minds off their current situation.
As to what happened to the Human N.P.C's they died alongside Aincrad, some did survive but they're mostly automatons without souls.

Why the monster survived is because of the deal with the floor bosses, the payers were the ones that mattered not the N.P.C's so all of the ones that survived were the ones that could create crystals or whatever the players needed, as for the monsters.

These were the first wave that began to attack the recently opened floors, to help weaken the floor's defenses

This is why a lot of the monsters survived and why a lot of them didn't, the gods didn't allow the truly evil ones to exist after the game was destroyed.

 

[blueayes]

one shot
She sat on the cool cave floor and kept her eyes on the people around her, and she wished that she was either tired enough or stupid enough to sleep like some of the men and women were already doing.

Half a year ago a flying fortress passed over the city, like every other gladiator she hadn't paid much thought to it, after all, she wasn't ever going to see what was inside it.

So she continued with her training.

A few months passed and the event was forgotten like all things are, that is until word about a failed siege began to spread, sieges happen every once and a while and weren't things to take notice of.

Either because the men died long before getting to their destination, because of the heat, the monsters, or because they became themselves were targeted by some horror no one knew about.

The sound of an infant briefly caught her attention, the infant's mother was spitting on her hand before rubbing the child's face as she tried to keep it clean.

Their destination wasn't far now.

A couple of months ago several slaves had rebelled and managed to escape, in the confusion some of the gladiators took their chances and tried to escape as well, most succeeded, and a couple of didn't.

She turned to look at several men lifting large rocks as they practiced how they would show their strength to the masters of the fortress.

The people inside the cave had gathered because of what they had heard, the details couldn't be relied upon, and if she was, to be honest, everything they had heard seemed like something a naive child would come up with.

Fields of grass so soft that when it touches your skin it tikes, the wind was so cool that when it touches your skin you can't help but to breath it in, as you don't want to waste a single moment.

There are beasts of all kinds just walking about without are and they are so plump that we ate for days, even the trees had so much fruit that we didn't want to leave.

The man telling the story laughed, you should have seen it, rivers filled with water, so clean we just stuck our heads in and drank, it was cold and tasted better than anything I've drunk in my entire life.

In the end, the siege failed because one of us felt like fighting anymore, I mean why would we, the man said to them

The man had said to them, ad when another gladiator said to the man why he even bothered coming back.

Isn't it obvious, the first ma said before a woman answered him.

She never bothered to get too close to the other gladiators because whenever she did, they would be forced to fight each other in the arena, she had learned to live her life separate from others, this way when she killed someone it wouldn't hurt.

She watched as women gave their final lessons to their daughters on how they should act, as to make themselves more appealing to the masters of the fortress

Everyone including herself was aiming for one of two things, either they would be looked upon by one of the fortress's inhabitants and be taken as a slave or be allowed to live outside of the towns and cities.

Normally slavery is someone everyone either wishes to avoid or escape and here they are hoping for it.

She looked down at herself and wondered if the scars she had received over the years would make her look unappealing to her new masters, or if they would seal her fate and she would be thrown into the arena to live what was left of her life as a gladiator.

She watched how most of the women practiced either standing a certain way or acted in a way to make themselves more sexually appealing and her attention changed to several gladiators practicing as they imagined themselves becoming guards.

She turned her attention back to the girl she had met before joining everyone who had heard about the mysterious kingdom.

Once again the girl was helping her mother this time she was helping the soulless woman stand up as the sun was already starting to come up.

It would be a couple of hours but it was better to start walking before the sun was out and they had no choice but to walk under the scorching heat.
]][[p[
They walked towards the destination their guide took them no one knew if the men were taking them to the place they told them about or if they were just walking to their deaths.

In this world, the latter was far more possible.

Her mother and herself are what's left of their town, if there are any other people left they're either being worked to death or...it was better if she didn't think about it.

She had approached the Half-Elf woman because they are the same half-elves, it didn't mean anything, but they were currently surrounded by all sorts of people that might decide that they didn't like their elf halves.

Elves are by far the most wicked creatures that existed in the world, next to defilers.

Her mother was raised in a town that told away everyday farming and she had received the luxury of being able to grow up in a house with both a mother and father, that did care for her.

Every once in a while the Elves would come to their town to trade and her mother had fallen in love with one.

She wished her mother had never met her father.

Like all elves, her father ran the moment danger showed itself and she was just a small girl when she watched him run away.

The beast never bothered to turn back, he, no it just ran.

She watched how the townsmen fought the raiders and died protecting their loved ones.

Her grandfather died that day, the man was nowhere near young, but he wasn't old either.

That day her mother died inside, and ever since she did her best to keep the woman safe.

They walked for hours and when the sun had finally reached the point that it could and would cook them alive if they didn't find somewhere to hide from the sun's heat, they began to hear the sound of something moving in the distance.

The group kept quiet less they catch the attention of whatever horror was moving closeby.

Yet their guides, yes there are more of them now, the men only began to walk fasted ad she watched as they started to laugh when they saw what was making the sound.

Hesitantly everyone else followed the men's lead, and they were met with a sight that both filled them with fear and aww.

A massive centipede-like creature was spinning its skeletal body, creating a dust storm that hid it from view.

The only reason any of them could even see the creature's body was that whenever it stopped spinning the creature leaped forward and slammed into the ground.

When the dust storm calmed itself because the creature had moved on, she noticed that something had begun to follow the path where the creature had been.

When the wind blew, both herself and the rest of the people with her recognized the scent.

It was water, water was flowing into the long-dead earth, that greedily drank it as if it was someone that was about to die from thirst.

Who knows perhaps the world was dying and, the water that had been brought by the creature was helping it regain some of its life.

"Quickly," their guides said to them as they pointed at a black dot in the distance.

The men guided them to the recently created river but warned them not to drink from it.

The sun is on top of them now and several men and women nearly drowned when they fell into the river when they tried to use the cold muddy water to relieve themselves from the heat.

For whatever reason, their guides wouldn't allow them to go any further unless they help the fools.

Soon, the oldest and youngest amongst them had fallen and their guides ordered everyone to carry them.

"They're watching us," their guides said to them, as she looked around she didn't see anyone, but she helped carry the half-dead corpses when it was her turn.

Everyone walked and as they walked they began to notice that the water had started to change color, at first it was thick with mud, then it was a filthy brown, then a strange green, now it was was crystal clear.

'Everyone drink as much as you want" their guides said to them before sticking their heads into the river and immediately lifting themselves out.

She watched as the men gasped with delight, and even as the men smiled at the women that were accompanying them, the crowd around her threw themselves at the river and greedily drank from it.

She went down to get a hand full of water to give to her mother and when she returned to her spot where she had left there, she found that her mother was gone.

She began to look around in panic, then she found her mother close by walking almost as if she was in a daze.

She followed her mother and found herself looking at a field of green grass.

She ran to her mother's side and watched as the woman reached into a small hole in the ground and brought out a hand full of water.

The grass had started as small patches that didn't do anything t stop them from touching the hot dirt, then it was in such abundance that it could be considered a floor or a carpet.

She followed her mother, granted she could have already reached the woman, but she was already having difficulty believing if what she was seeing was real.

She watched as her mother stood in front of a tree and reached to pluck a fruit that hung from its branches, and as the woman bit into it, she watched as life returned to her mother's eyes.

She watched as her mother turned to look at her and for the first time in years the woman smiled.

"Did we die?" is this heaven"?' her mother asked her

She was bout to answer when the slow grumbling and the moans of massive beasts reached her ears and she felt her eyes widen at the sight that lay beyond where her mother stood.

Titanic beasts walked the lands, so plump that just one could feed a city for a month, not to mention everything that could be made from its bones and skin.

She turned to look at the people that had come with her and her mother and to her surprise, the woman she had met before joining everyone else stood next to her.

Yet the woman's eyes were locked on something, she nearly screamed at the sight before her, not just one but several dragons watched their surrounding, but ignored the people near them as they ignorantly walked alongside the river towards wherever their guides were taking them.

"Guards," the half-elf woman said

"The dragons are keeping their eyes out for danger," the half-elf woman said

The sounds of me and women cheering caught their attention and they noticed that men and women began to fight amongst themselves, but by the way, they moved none of them meant to do any harm to each other.

She knew what they were thinking, after all, it was the same thought, the half-elf, and her mother shad.

They had found paradise and would be dammed if they were forced to leave it.

It was time to get back to the group, everyone knew that there is safety in numbers.

"Come on," she said to her mother and she waited for the woman to take her hand, but to her surprise, the woman didn't move instead she turned around and pointed at something.

She felt her eye widen and her breath left her, the moment she saw what her mother was pointing at.

A massive figure white figure raised its hand and made rainfall around them, the rain didn't touch her or anyone walking alongside the river, instead, it touched the dry world that was just out of reach from her current location.

Sword art online - Dark Sun Crossover

 

[blueayes]

He nodded and signaled and the ma took it as a signal and he left the dining room, once again he sat alone with his thoughts, even though he was in a room filled with people, he felt entirely alone.

His mind was quickly filled with fear and worry, too much had happened in too short a time for him to properly process it.

Truth be told he should hate the king, but he knew that the man hated himself when he gave his verdict and sentenced both him and his family to this accursed place.

For years his family's estate as well as their lads and positions were envied by lords and ladies who only cared about their positions amongst the nobility.

For generations his family had fought off one assassination attempt after another, if someone wasn't trying to destroy their reputation, someone else was simply trying to kill them.

On one hand, his family had exchanged this kind of life for one similar t it, now instead of having to watch out for humans and other civilized creatures that attempted to destroy them, now they just had to watch out for the save orc or whatever horrors live in these lands.

He took another spoon full of the stew his servants had cooked and looked toward his wife and daughter, both were so close yet they seemed as if they were words apart from him and each other.

His wife and daughter shared their appearance meaning that if someone looked at his daughter they would see a younger version of his wife and if they looked at his wife they would see the woman his daughter would eventually become.

Both his wife and daughter have light pink skin and long blond hair, his daughter unlike his wife had inherited his mother's slightly plump nature, but it was combined with her mother's side of the family that always kept her thin.

This meant that his daughter would always have a rather enticing figure, of course, she lacked her mother's natural grace but that is something she could and would eventually learn.

A lot of good that something like that would do for her now.

His stomach twisted inside him, he had just barely managed to keep his family safe, and it had cost him everything else.

Right now as he and his family, not to mention his servants and the men swore to him ate or cursed their circumstances the people responsible for doing this to them are celebrating.

Generation after generation lost because he couldn't bear the thought of his daughter being given to a lord whose cruelty was only hidden behind a thin veil that he used to hide whatever atrocity he committed.

His daughter was to web the man, this was what several members of the kings' court had decreed and he pleaded to the king to reconsider.

The king wasn't present when the decision was made because he had more important things to do, but when he heard about the decision the king flew into a rage that for a moment he believed that the man would have stormed out of the room and killed every member of the court.

The problem was that the decision had already been made, and if the king changed it without a good reason then, who would trust the king ever again.

Who could trust a man who didn't stand by his words, granted that the king hadn't said it, but anything the court said was as if the king had said it himself?

That was when the king banished him and his family to the frontier, he allowed him to take every single thing that had any worth, from both his families lands and home.

He didn't doubt that the people responsible for doing this to him had their days numbered and truth be told he was relieved to not have to always watch behind his back for would-be assassins.

If only it hadn't cost him his daughter's smile.

He watched his daughter and listened to the silence that lingered around her.

She used to smile so brightly that it drew people to her, and despite the fact people often told her she talked too much, she spoke anyway.

Now her smile was gone and she didn't even say a single word.

His wife despite doing her best to remain strong brushed away a tear every once in a while.

She use to be someone both men and women desired to stand next to and if they had any luck, something that he had once perhaps they could share her bed.

"Finish eating, we're going to pay a visit to the knights," he said to his family, his words were loud enough, so the men listening could hear them and prepare the horses.

 

[blueayes]

When the king ordered him to head to the frontier it was both an act of mercy and cold logic for this way both he and his family would remain safe, but at the same time, the man allowed him to strip every ounce of worth that was inside his old home.

Now whoever inherited his family's lands would have to do their best and keep them as fertile as his men did....his men.

How many of the people in those groups had been apar of the groups that had been attacked, what horrors did they see? he asked himself quietly, though he never said it out loud lest he add to his family's pain.

As his family and the servants ate, he thought about the knights that were stationed near his new home, on a horse the trip to the fortress took less than three hours.

Fortunately several of his men can cast a spell whose name ha can't recall at the moment, regardless he knew what it did.

The men would chant a short spell and nearly all of the weight that was on the horses left the animals so they could run faster than they should.

Meaning that a journey that should have taken three hours was reduced to thirty minutes.

The first to finish their meals are the servants and they immediately excused themselves, next was his wife, then his daughter until only he remained.

He watched as both his wife and his daughter left to prepare themselves for the journey, he didn't have to change considering that he had been forced to change as soon as he arrived.

The armor he wore was given to him by his father and just like both his father's and grandfather's armor it was carefully polished so that anyone looking at it could see their reflections.

The chainmail underneath it as well as the extra padded clothing underneath that served to add extra layers of protection.

Up until recently, his family's armors' only purpose was to serve as clothes for him to wear during special ceremonies.

The armor covered him from head to toe when he wore his helmet, he walked to the front of his new home and waited for his wife and daughter to finish changing.

Unlike his men and himself, they had remained inside the fortress and helped the servants prepare their new home so it was pleasing to their eyes.

He watched as both his wife and daughter exited their new home and for a moment his breath left him, both women wore gray armor that had their edges painted gold, to emphasize the women's curves.

Unlike himself, neither of them wore a helmet because it would ruin their hair.

Judging by how his men had their collective tungs hanging both women are a sight to be seen, one that he was certain would remain in his men's minds during their time alone.

The moment his men cast their spell they made on their way towards the fortress, thankfully nothing decided that they were a perfect meal, or decided that they were weak enough to attack.

He did his best to ignore all of the oddities around him that increased the closer that he got to the fortress, some trees had faces and their eyes turned to look at him and his men when they rode past them.

Packs of wolves that seemed to e made out of the very trees around them, the fur covering their bodies were something like grass or moss, while their bodies were made of collected branches or tree trunks, while their faces and paws seemed to look like a wolf's, they were an unusually pale color.

A strange ape-like creature watched them as they approached the fortress and to his surprise, he found what looked like a town in the process of being born.

He felt his blood burn as he looked at the children listening to their instructors, as both the men and women taught them mathematics and the basics of swordsmanship.

Forgeborn worked alongside, his mind stopped working, there's a blue dragon carrying materials around like a trained mule.

A single dragon could easily turn the tide of a battle, but the beasts are temperamental so their loyalty isn't ever guaranteed, for if a soldier were to accidentally insult the dragon, it would turn on its allies and kill them without hesitation.

Yet here was an admittedly young blue dragon, happily helping the knights who are repairing the fortress.

Like the rest of the nobility, he was surprised to know that the kingdom had knights stationed in the frontier, it made sense after all, but considering their lack of success in preventing the destruction of the various farming towns and villages.

If hewer, to be honest, none of the nobility nor himself for that matter believed in the men's skill.

When he heard about their existence, his first thought as well the thoughts of many nobles around him, was that the knights must be those that failed to become knights or are trouble makers that were sent away for one reason or another.

People that were just like him, people who were discarded by everyone they knew.

He took a deep breath and spoke loudly

"I am the High Lord appointed to these lands and I wish to speak to whoever is in charge!" he said and he watched as everyone turned to look at him for a moment and then went back to what they were doing.

Such disrespect, he thought to himself.

The moment he dismounted his horse and walked towards a nearby woman carrying a crate filled with raw iron, he found that he felt dozens of predatory eyes n him.

"I wish" he began

'I know, I heard you. If you want to talk to the guild leaders they're inside, but you came at a bad time" the woman said to him as she pointed at the entrance of the fortress.

"I'll need an escort," he said to her

'"just walk inside, someone will guide you, look around I can just leave," she said to him

She was right, the fortress was being repaired and it looked as if its repair would take a few months perhaps even years, it was clear to him that the girl just wanted him to leave her alone.

He smirked, fine if she wanted to play it this way, he would play with her and waste both his and her time.

"You said this was a bad time, I am the High Lord and I must keep these lands secure and working as best as they can"

"Tell me what's going on," he said to her

The girl looked at him ads closed her eyes.

'The guild leaders are gone, they left to take care of some things, they don't just do that"

'The guild leaders are some of our strongest people, we have a couple of people that are just as strong as them, but it hurts when we lose just one, but a whole group just left" she said to him with a grim voice.

"Their second in commands are in charge now..... somethings happening, it might not happen fr a while, but its coming," she said to him

His lie detection didn't activate, this meant that everything the girl had just said to him was true, but if the guild leaders are as strong as the girl implied and judging by the creatures under the knights, they were, then he needed to know whatever is happening.

"My wife and daughter are accompanying me and my men, can I trust you to find someone to guide them and keep them from accidentally hurting themselves while I'm here," he said to her, the girl looked past him

He watched as the girl lifted her hand and without chanting, she made a window that was made of blue light appear in front of her.

He watched as the girl pressed something and soon a forgeborn walked up to them.

"Take this home, I need to help the High Lords family," she said to the creature who nodded at the girl's words

 

[blueayes]

][][
Asuna rubbed her forehead, she had no idea Heathcliff had so much to do.

Before the guild leaders left they wrote down everything that was currently going on, how many players were out doing whatever missions they could, and those that were either exploring the underground tunnels or inspecting the fortress for any hidden rooms or traps that they missed the first time.

She thought that she understood the weight that Heathcliff and the other guild leaders had on their shoulders, but only now did she that she had no idea.

Asuna felt Kirito's hand on her own and she smiled at him, she hated herself for what she was about to do.

"Kirito," Asuna said to her husband

"I know, just tell me where and I'll take care of it," Kirito said to her with a calm voice.

Asuna smiled and felt some of the pressure on her chest remove itself, Kiritos words helped her remember that there are still some players that can and will fight.

She knew that the guilds had gathered together and made a detailed list of information the players had gathered, it wasn't anything new, it was just a list of monsters- maps- location and important people the players could use.

Hardly anyone had bothered to look at it.

The players had dedicated themselves to their day-to-day tasks and didn't bother doing anything else and how could she blame them, they had been promised that after all of their suffering they could go home but instead they were dropped here.

She felt Kirito tighten his grip and her growing sense of worry calmed itself, she remembered that she wasn't alone in this.

More than half of the Knights of the Blood Oath are unable to fight, the other half is helping repair the fortress...

She looked up and stared at the crystal that provided light to her new office, she didn't like it, but she had no other choice she had to deploy the other players and scout the unexplored regions of the frontier.

If the sewer systems had an opening somewhere then they needed to be found long before the enemy o the other side could get to them, thankfully this was the easy part.

The sewer systems were already explored, granted they weren't completely explored and Asuna suspected that they never would be, but they were all somewhere, where water or animals managed to enter them.

From there it would be a simple task of either booby-trapping the places or killing any monster that could be easily controlled while leaving the ones that couldn't so they could hurt the enemy forces.

Next was taking into account their resources, the One Hundred Rooms had more than enough land to grow crops and enough water to ensure that none of the players or their animals would die of hunger or thirst.

Unfortunately, those aren't the only resources needed, they would have to fall back on their old war tactics, every lower level player would have to be deployed to recover any items that will be lost and that's if they're even in those rooms anymore.

A lot of the things they used were made by the N.P.C's and they didn't arrive here as the monsters did.

Then there was the new problem, refuges, no she had to stop herself, she was thinking too far ahead, one thing at a time.

Her help screen appeared in front of her, and she looked at the sword emblems displayed on the top right corner, the other guilds had already deployed their members and those that were already in missions and those that weren't accepted the call to arms.

She watched as Kirito followed her lead and sent out the call for help to the solo players and teams, the groups didn't have any loyalty to any guild, but those that wanted something to do would accept the call to arms.

Mission one kill every monster that can be led around by other monsters, that have appeared near villages and towns, the other mission uses the sewers and explore the places that they leed to.

Mission three, take every broken weapon and armor that our blacksmiths haven't been able to fix and get them to someone that can repair them.

According to the letter, Heathcliff left the guild leaders' mission was to slow down the monsters that are approaching, look for allies, or find a place that everyone could escape to and lick their wounds before we come back to retake our new home.

"You did what you could, for now, let go greet our guest, "Kirito said to her.

 

[blueayes]

From the night before and early into the morning, the entire land was silent, nothing dared to make a sound, both beats and men whose instincts warned them to flee did so until all that remained were those either too foolish to leave or those whose lives were connected to the lands themselves.

Both Payers and adventurers stood guard knowing all too well that a single mistake could cost them the war.

Inside the one hundred rooms low-level players did one mission or another to collect whatever crystals they could so that those fighting in the frontlines of defending the fortress wouldn't lack the necessary weaponry that had saved their lives in the past.

As the armies of the invaders approached, both the outside and inside of the fortress could feel the danger growing with every passing second.

Everyone listened and they soon heard the sounds of explosions echoing through the silent land.

The players had killed any monster that could be easily controlled near whatever ruins they found leaving those that were either too powerful or too savage to slow the enemy down.

Outside of the ruins and scattered about the forest and fields both the players and the adventures had booby-trapped waiting for any unsuspecting enemy to trigger them.

The screams of the dying monsters soon accompanied the sounds of the explosions that had replaced the once heavy silence that had coved the lands.

Still, the enemy marched on and soon was within sight, the enemy outnumbered the combined forces of the adventurers and the players, and had the payers any intention of meeting them in a fair fight the war would have ended in less than a day.

However, the Players had no intention of doing that.

Barrels of oil hung in the air by spells that had been cast on them long ago and made invisible so that the enemy could not locate them.

When the signal was given the mages removed their spells and nd the barres dropped and with a spark a sea of flames soon spread.

The enemy monsters in their hurry o extinguish the fire that burned them to death pushed their allies into holes hidden holes that had spikes in them.

Some killed their comrades as they waved their clubs swords or axes like mad as they died.

Yet those that followed the first group used the bodies of the dying to choke the fires ad marched on.

Closer and closer the enemy came, soon the defenders would have no choice but to meet them, however, the players had many more surprises left.

The sheer size of the enemy army was so great that even the strongest amongst the defenders would lose if they fought all of them, so the players made the difficult chose and began to use the weapons they had gained on the highest floors of the flying castle.

With the sound of a shattering crystal, a bright beam of light shot into the sky splitting it open and an angelic being came down from the heavens, its eyes focused on the enemy army.

The angel made no sound it simply drew its sword and swung it three times, the first swing decapitated the first wave, the second split the next wave of enemies in half, and finally, the third swing slide the enemy to pieces.

The angel then returned to the heavens from whence it came.

The defenders out a breath as they hoped that had remade the enemy lose their will to fight.

Unfortunately, the dead son began to rise as lich's called to their minions and ordered them to charge.

Upon seeing this and locating the undead, the Soul Takers separated themselves from the rest of the defenders and began to carve their way towards the hoard's masters.

Another crystal shattered and as meteors fell around them, the soul takers witness something that chilled them to the core.

The combination of experience e in dealing with the undead and the magical protections they wore allowed them to quickly reach the masters of the undead army.

Yet their eyes widened with horror as the lich's opened several grand gates and from them, thousands of monsters spilled through.

The war that should have ended after this one battle seemed as if it wouldn't be so easy anymore.

Still, they had to kill the lich's and prevent any more grand gates from being opened and so the Soul Takers combined their Rosaries and let out a blast of holy energy killing the enemies and exposing their locations to those that weren't undead.

The team fought bravely even as they were swarmed by powerful monsters, but in the end even as they screamed in pain they died and added their manes to the monolith inside f the fortress.

Luckily for them the moment their names appeared, several players use divine stones to resurrect the fallen players.

The soul taker quickly returned to their ally's side and they immediately knew something was wrong.

Their eyes son saw something that made their heart sink, three massive gates were opened each leading to a location that looked as if it belong to hell.

A dessert world that laked everything eve water and from it a sea of goblins spilled through.

Another seemed to open directly into a place that had little to no light and they watched as shadow creatures stepped out and began to poison the land around them.

The last gate was the worst of them all, as friends walked onto the moral ream and laughed at the few defenders that stood between them and the world they would soon conquer.

Every high-level crystal and weapon, was invaluable, for each time a crystal was used it was destroyed and was remade inside of one of the hundred rooms.

Meaning that the players need to go in and look for them if they wanted to keep attacking the enemies from afar or deal high amounts of damage.
o the players hardened their hearts and strengthened their resolve, they knew what needed to b done and so they began to do i.

One crystal called forth a powerful storm that lifted the enemy monster into the air before cutting them apart with the wind itself.

Before the storm could disperse, the adventurers combined their spells ad made the storm change, and soon spars of ice were flung at the enemy monsters that were strong enough to resist being piked up by the storm's wind.

Another crystal called forth a giant made of ice and another summoned an elemental made of pure lava, both creatures broke the monster's will, and sand made those that hadn't died yet flee.

While all of this was happening the finds laughed and eagerly watched as the two massive beings closed the distance between them before attacking the giant and the elemental, the two beings fought bravely and managed to harm the demons but in the end, they both died.

Calls for help were being sent out by the mages that were too weak to be of any help in the battle, but few answered, and those that did said that they could only offer a place to house the refugees or provide food for the defenders.

The players collapsed every tunnel they could find to deny the enemy any chance to attack them fo below, unfortunately, they never expected the Dark Elves to use a beast to dig a path directly into the fortress.

As the dark elve swarmed the fortress they soon found themselves standing before the Vault and the moment they opened the doors, they were driven mad as the weapons called out to them demanding that they prove themselves worthy.

The dark elves began to slaughter each other as they reached for whatever weapon they liked the most, yet the moment they stepped into the vault, they were greeted by the living armors that protected the vault's treasures.

Those that had managed to ignore the weapons calling to them, soon found the people hiding inside the fortress and began to attack them, as the players and knights tried to defend the people a single child heard a voice calling to him.

The boy ran past dak elves and players alike and soon stood before the first of the one hundred rooms.

Even as the dark elf staved him with its sword the boy pulled open the door.

The dark elves' eyes widened a Gleming Eyes stood over it, as with a swing of the floor guards' mighty hand it died.

Gleaming eyes began to open the other doors and the floor guardians and their minions entered the battle.

With every passing second, the peace that the land once knew was lost, and soo both the skies, the land both above and below ground was being fought over.

The demons quickly cut the distance between them and the defenders, the humans and their allies were locked in a fight for their lives.

The situation became even direr when several red dragons arrived to join in the battle.

The demons laughed as the humans cowered when they thought that they were about to be bund alive yet in the span of a few seconds, the Skeletal centipede shot out of the ground and wrapped its massive body around one red dragon, and bit into another before dragging them both underground.

The dragons would not die so easily however and they continued to fight despite the skeletal centipede advantage.

One by one the players died alongside the adventurers and soon only the strongest amongst them remained.

Yet from the fortress several men and women carrying divine crystals stepped out of the fortress, they were shaken by the dark elves attack, but they gathered whatever will they could and began to resurrect the players and adventurers that died.

From close by the dark elves watched as the bodies of those that had died were remade and soon their enemies stood armed and ready for battle.

In the sky the remaining red dragons found themselves having to defend themselves from the combined might of griffins eagles and dragons that did everything they could to defend their masters.

As the demons fought the players and adventurers they were shocked to see that those they had killed had been resurrected and returned to fight them hoping to get revenge for their murders.

Nearby Eldath ordered her defenders to join the battle delivery exposing her territory to danger and she began to build her first temple.

Even as the ground, trees, and stones moved and took the form of a building, goblins- dark elves and orcs carrying totems of their gods rushed towards her undefended land and instantly lost any will they had.

As the minions of chaos sat down, they never noticed the weapons scattered around them rise.

No one heard their screams.

Like the heartbeat of an infant being born, every stone solidified Eldath's presence in the world, it was only when the last stone was placed that the last room opened inside of the fortress and Radius stepped out.

The god\goddesses rage shook the world as she watched the players die and only the strongest of her children remain, not even the adventurers remained and her children were slowly being driven back.

The restriction placed on them by this world was hindering them, so she simply removed and the players made quick work of the demons.

The invasions was over, but the land had been changed by the repeated use of high-level weapons, however, Radius didn't care about that as she only stepped out to watch her children and those that had died to be reborn into this world.

The Great Stone of Revival began to glow the first ones to be born were the knights next were the common people and one by one the players that had died in the death game.

The first that had died were those that had fallen during the invasion, then it was the ones that died during the last days of the death game until everyone that fell at the beginning of the death game awoke in this new world.

It was the final group that screamed in despair, but Eldath stepped out of her garden and soothe their minds.

The battle was over, but its effects would be felt for years to come.

 

[blueayes]

[][][

He looked around and it was only his year of experience that prevented him from displaying his amazement a the sights before him.

The moment the pink-haired girl led them into the fortress, he felt his body suddenly become heavy while t the same time he felt himself become light-headed.

Magic saturated the air inside of the fortress, to the point that he suspected that if he wanted to cast a spell, he merely had to think of it and it would happen.

Crystals provided light for the fortress leaving no room for any dark place for intruders to hide in, and despite everyone ignoring his presence, he felt the eyes of a dozen trained assassins looking down at him.

There is no doubt in his mind that no title would keep him safe from these people, the moment he stepped into the fortress he was their prisoner and he would live only as long as the knights allowed him to
]
Yet even the feeling of being watched didn't change the sight before him, it was like if he had just seen night and day.

Outside of the fortress, the world was calm, while there was come movement because the fortress was being repaired it was nothing compared to what was happening inside.

Banners were being hung from the ceiling by insects that followed a small child's guidance, next to that child was a man who was carrying more weight than he should have.

The man was arguing with a woman about something that sounded like the woman hadn't told him what size she wanted one thing or another.

Every room they passed was filled with motion, if one person was doing one thing another person was doing something else.

It was chaos, there was no way that these people could make any progress on anything they were doing.

"What's going on?" his daughter asked the pink-haired girl

"A lot of things" the girl answered his daughter and she gave no hint of wanting to explain the current situation, that is until she took a deep breath and stopped walking.

"Okay, there are a lot of heavy doors here, so we thought about making something that would open them for us, of course, we can just use magic for that so we decided to build it ourselves"

"The problem is that we needed metal so that whatever we built doesn't take too much space and will last long enough for our efforts not to go to waste"

"Then we looked around and found some squeaking doors, but they weren't the problem, it was all of the molds inside, so the chemist is making something to kill all of the mold"

"From there the smiths began to work on repairing a lot of the statues that were already here, but most of us are just decorating," she said to them

He listened to the girl's complaints and realized that the knights had only recently been appointed to this place, which explained why no one knew that the knights were stationed here.

He was about to ask something when he saw a blue window appear in front of the girl, however, it wasn't just her, the blue light of the window came from every direction and as he looks around he found that everyone around him had the same windows floating in front of them.

He watched as the people around them placed a finger on the windows and immediately the windows vanished as quickly as they appeared.

All of a sudden the people around them began to move.

Some picked up whatever they had been working on and left, others simply ignored the commotion going on and continued what they were doing, while others handed whatever materials they had on them to whoever they were working with.

"What just happened?" he asked the girl and he noticed that the smile she had since she first ether was now gone.

"Nothing good" she answered him and the only reason she looked up to see his face was to see if she should tell him anything at all.

"Something must have happened, we were just told to kill anything that can be led around and leave the strongest monsters that are in the ruins," she said to him

He wondered if the girl had just listened to herself, the only reason anyone would do that was if, someone was preparing to invade or...

The realization hit him.

"Is there an invasion coming?" he ake the girl

"I don't know" she answered him before she turned around ad led them deeper into the fortress.

As they walked he found himself looking at an artificer surrounded by forge-born working tirelessly.

"I see that you don't have any mages here," he said to the girl who didn't answer him.

"Welcome to the town o beginnings, we named it after a place we once knew," the girl said to them as she pressed a button and a pair f massive stone doors opened.

The area they had been guided to was a massive room that could easily serve as a spot where training could be done or where those in charge would gather and plan any major conflicts, instead, h found himself looking at entire rooms turned into the living quarters of one person or a group of people.

Some people were cooking food, while others kept busy by sowing clothing and others were looking at gems and before they began to draw the power of the gem and infuse them into the weapons they were working on.

Yet amongst all of them, a group of elves sat quietly watching the people around them go about their days.

His blood boiled to the sight in front of him, Dust Elves, were allowed into the kingdom's only outpost in the frontier.

Dust Elves are the worst of their kind, pride-filled creatures that look down at everyone that isn't an elf, the last he had heard of them was that their kingdom had been attacked and their arrogance had caught up to them.

No one helped them, not even the other elves.

"Ladies gentlemen, thank you for waiting. I'm Asuna, second in command of The Knights of The Blood Oath" Noblewoman greeted him and his group as well as the Dust Eves

 

[blueayes]

The fighting was growing more and more intense with every passing second, they had already lost more than half of their forces.

The combined might of the demons and the dark elves was starting to become too much for the players and already more than one of their allies had used one potion or another to heal themselves.

Next to him, a Dust Elf fought a Dark Elf, if he had any time to breath and stop to look at the two women fighting Kirito would have sworn that the two were dancing.

The monsters that had arrived in this world alongside the players had helped strengthen the players and their allies ' resolve, still, it wasn't enough they needed help.

From the corner of his eye, Kirito could see the light of the players being brought back to life and he knew that soon enough most if not everyone that had died would be returning to the battlefield soon enough.

The few mages that they had were casting one spell after another either strengthening the people that were fighting or weakening the enemy, but they were getting tired and were quickly losing their ability to chant.

As Kirito forced back orc he noticed the faint light that only appeared when someone teleported from far away.

It was then that he found himself looking at a young girl that couldn't have been older than ten years old and a young ma that looked to be the same age s himself.

It was then that Kirito received the alert that two members of the Silver Fang Guild had arrived.

The man's long silver hair immediately caught his attention because unlike the girl that was accompanying him, his hair was silver slightly pointed ears and light skin that had been tanned by exposure to the sun.

The girl however was blond, had light skin that almost looked pink, and was very clearly Human.

The man removed a necklace he was wearing and instantly his body was covered in fire.

Both individuals didn't hesitate to attack everyone in sight, if they weren't wearing armor or looked like a Dark Elf- Demon- Goblin or any other monster the two spellcasters attacked them without hesitation.

Yet for all of the pair's ferocity, it was barely enough, the enemy had decided that the two needed to die and started to concentrate their attacks on them.

Dark Elves and Demons graved every goblin near them and used them as living shields to protect themselves from the man's fire while quickly cutting the distance between them and the two spell casters.

A minotaur that was covered in runes rushed towards the girl, it was then that the light of holy magic made its presence known, help had finally arrived.

Whoever these paladins and druids were didn't matter at the moment Kirito was just grateful that they were doing everything they could to banish the demons.

"Guys I'm here get out of the way" Kirito heard the voice of one of the guild leaders say, as a flying castle flew over the battlefield and began to bombard the enemy wherever they stood.

The castle shields hed even as the red dragons attacked it, but they were soon driven off by a combination of giant eagles and griffins.

Again it seemed as if the battle had ended and only a few enemies remained, Kirito let out a breath of relief but he stopped when he heard the screams of the women and boys that were tasked with resurrecting the players.

The non-combatants had used up all of the crystals they were given and were making their way back into the fortress to get some more when they were attacked by the dark elves.

The women and children cowered as the knights assigned to protect them fought the dark elves who seemed to be trying to kidnap them rather than kill the cowering humans.

The dark elves were soon forced to retreat as several giant sheep ran out to help the knights.

Seconds, Kirito felt severy precious second pass as if they were hours, something big was about to happen.

He stood motionless as the forest came to life and the trees uprooted themselves and joined the battle.

Kirito gasped for air, the battle was over, it had only been just a dream and nothing more.