Chapter 5: Dark Christmas! Roar, Spear of the Heavens!

𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟰, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯. 𝟯𝟱𝘁𝗵 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗿, 𝟮𝟯:𝟱𝟬…

It was the night before Christmas, and snow once again fell upon the Floating Castle of Aincrad, though it somehow seemed much colder than the last year.

For a certain group led by a chestnut-haired girl, walking towards a snowy forest on the distance, it seemed even more so.

"Man…why did Kayaba Akihiko…have to make even the cold…so real…?"

"Don't complain now, Ducker!" shouted Keita while looking once again towards the entrance to the Field Dungeon known as the 'Forest of Wandering'. "We need to find her before she does something stupid!"

"And we will." declared Asuna while clenching her fists, determination burning in her eyes even as she looked at the hooded girl to the side. "Are you sure she is going to come here, Argo-chan?"

"I would bet my whiskers about it." curtly replied the unusually serious info broker, looking around with a hint of worry. "Dammit, if I had known it was going to end like this I wouldn't have told her about that Quest…"

"It's not your fault, Argo-chan." assured the rapier-user while looking forward. "None of us could predict that all of this was going to happen back then…"

What the girl was talking about was, of course, that day months ago when she and Sachi had almost died inside that room of the 27th Floor Dungeon. Two very important things had happened the day after that.

First, in the real world, the new generation of VR Devices, the AmuSphere, had been created (Though it wasn't as if any of them knew about that).

Second…Sachi hadn't come back. Neither did she the day after that.

Worry filling everyone, most of all Kirito who blamed himself for not being there, they tried to locate Sachi using their menus, which they could do thanks to having the girl on their Friends List.

Every time they tried that, though, Sachi would quickly move to another Floor and sent them a message telling them that she wanted to be alone for a while, that she would come back soon. After two days of trying to convince her of the contrary, they gave up and decided to wait for her.

When two months passed with the girl only letting them know she was alive through messages, everyone's worry was understandably through the roof. That was when Argo offered herself to go and find Sachi talk to her…

Talking about her, the hooded girl's presence was probably one of the biggest events that had happened in these last months, together with the entering of Keita and the others to the Frontline battles and, on the real world, the creation in November of the VRMMORPG known as Alfheim Online (Though, again, our heroes had no way of knowing this, and it wasn't really important…YET).

Since that day when Sachi had 'ran away' from them, Argo's constant presence had become something at which they all had become, slowly but surely, used to. Whatever happened in that 'mission' the caped boy and she did had left the normally sassy and laughing Rat with her nerves standing on end for almost a week, in which she didn't get too far from either Kirito or Asuna and was always looking over her back. She had eventually gotten better and returned to her usual self, but had since then almost always stayed wherever their strange group did.

Keita had once tried to ask her WHAT had happened that day that left her so on edge, but the info broker had refused to say anything beyond that she had added a second line to the list of things that absolutely terrified her. Incidentally, when Asuna had tried to ask what the first one was, Argo had cheerfully replied that not even all the Col Cardinal could produce in a year would be enough to buy that info, which had made everyone quickly drop the subject.

But getting back on topic, the girl of the whiskers had used her connections and then disappeared for a few days, returning later to tell them she HAD found Sachi, on an Inn on the 40th Floor (The Floor just under the Frontline back then), and that she had told her that she WOULD return with the others, eventually, though not until she felt 'worthy' of it, in her own words.

When Kirito had rushed to try and see if he could find the girl, she was already gone and moved to another Floor barely 5 minutes after that. The others had asked Argo WHY she hadn't called them as soon as she saw the girl instead of talking with her alone, but the Rat had simply said that she had seen 'something' on Sachi's eyes that had pushed her to try and talk to the girl alone.

Since then, the hooded girl had been able to find Sachi 3 more times. As the months went by, the others had grown from worried to a mix of resignation and anxiety, the daily messages from the spear-user calming them a bit but never stopping their uneasiness about her not wanting to come back. Sadly, their duties on the Front Lines had prevented any of them from actively searching for Sachi to try and convince her to return by themselves, Kirito's most of all because the more they kept advancing through the castle the more his 'limits' for going around saving people became clear, as the only ways of going from a Floor to the other were either the Dungeons or the Teleport Gates.

Nowadays, with the Frontline at the 50th Floor, the boy was barely able to keep 'watch' over the Front Lines and a couple of Floors below that, including sometimes going to places where unexpected 'problems' arose, like the one he and Argo found on the 22nd Floor that day. The way in which Aincrad was made, a Floating Castle in the middle of an endless virtual sky, limited the caped boy almost as much as the Walls of Light that impeded him from entering the Dungeons.

Now then, the reason why everyone was currently heading towards a snow-covered forest so late at night was simple: a little more than one month ago, Sachi had 'vanished'.

As in, just after her last 'meeting' with Argo, the girl's name had suddenly disappeared from their Friends Lists. A rush to the 1st Floor by Kirito, however, revealed that the girl was still alive, her name not having been 'crossed' from the 'Monument of Swordsmen' on the Starting City. The only explanation for what had happened, then, was that the girl had willingly erased them all from her own List.

Sachi's last message to everyone hadn't exactly put them at ease either:

'𝐼 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢! 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒. 𝑁𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒.'

When Argo had met up with them again, shocked by the events, she had realized with a grimace WHAT had happened that had made Sachi do what she did.

On their last meeting, trying once again to subtly convince the girl to return with everyone and that Asuna didn't blame her for what had happened on the Dungeon, she had been telling her about the many rumors that went around Aincrad those days to get her to relax: people saying they had seen a Ninja that controlled a dragon, scared players reporting about an 'orange demon' that could kill anything without unsheathing its blade, that Heathcliff was secretly an otaku…

But, among all those wild tales, the only one that was 'more or less' solid had apparently caught the spear-user's attention: Rumors from NPCs had been saying that a special event would take place on Christmas, on that exact forest, and they said that an extremely rare item would be obtained as reward for it.

One who could 'revive dead players'.

Of course, no one with half a brain would truly believe some fantasy about resurrecting someone who had died long ago. After all, they had ALL been there when Kayaba explained it how 'Death' worked in SAO the first day, which meant that they all knew that anyone would die at most some seconds after their HP reached 0 and their virtual bodies disappeared.

But still, the rumors were THERE. And if that mysterious item could at least somehow STOP someone from dying…

It wasn't difficult to deduce that almost everyone relevant in the Front Lines had suddenly become very interested in the subject. That had been back in mid-November.

Now, a month and a half later, Asuna, Argo, and the Moonlit Black Cats were there because their only and best deduction, coming from the whiskered girl herself, was that Sachi was planning to get the supposed revival item to 'prove herself worthy' of fighting with them.

Which was madness, because it was very clear that this was some kind of special event meant to be taken in groups, probably with a very strong Boss awaiting, and the girl was apparently going to try and solo it when there were several groups interested in it, including several Front Liners…except the Knights of Blood. Or more exactly, Heathcliff.

That last bit made Asuna grit her teeth in annoyance even as their group finally arrived at the forest's entrance.

For some reason, the man commonly called 'The Paladin' hadn't been interested in the rumors about the supposed resurrection item, saying that they could spend better time planning for the incoming Boss Fight than chasing ghosts.

It was exactly that what had caused that Kirito wasn't there with them at that moment, because the crimson-armored man had said barely one hour ago that his guild should try and organize a 'scouting assault' on the Boss that same night, to get info for the real battle.

The self-proclaimed gamer playing hero for fun had obviously told him that it was a stupid idea, that he shouldn't try and 'test' the 50th Boss with just his part of the Front Liners, because if his theory about the 'Super Boss' that had been the 25th one was right (Cemented by the fact that the 26th was much less deadly), then this one would also be an extremely difficult one. And, more importantly, that he may be able to enter in this Dungeon too when someone else reached the Boss Room, as it had happened in the 25th Floor, and that he was their best option to prevent any deaths from happening.

Heathcliff, however, had countered him by calmly and coolly stating that all his arguments were about something that had happened only once and that he had no solid evidence about it. Not to mention that it led to the leader of the KoB to ask WHAT would he be doing that night that was more important than helping on the Front Lines if he was so 'eager' to face the Boss for them if the opportunity arose.

All of that had led to a heated discussion in which the boy was probably still in the middle of, hence why she had been forced to leave him behind and come with the others, and why they were almost late (The event supposedly would begin sometime after midnight).

Asuna came out of her angry thoughts, however, when a calm hand suddenly touched her shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking, and yes, I also think it sucks." grimaced Argo while they entered inside the labyrinthic forest. "If I was paranoid I would even say that it's as if Heathcliff purposefully was trying to waste Kii-bou's time and force us to come looking for Saa-chan without him…"

"Yeah, right." snorted Tetsuo while trying to hold back a chuckle, more to try and relax the atmosphere than anything, but it was clear that he wasn't nowhere near as good as Ducker was with that. "Next thing you will say is that he's secretly Kayaba Akihiko in disguise."

Some seconds of silence passed between the Party before they all exploded in laughter, their voices echoing in the cold forest as they continued advancing.

"…hahahah! Ah…thanks for that, Tetsuo, we needed it."

"Well, mad conspiracy theories aside, we have a mission to accomplish!" declared Asuna while unsheathing her rapier and pointing it to the fake sky. "We got to find Sachi and drag her back with us if needed! Don't hesitate, guys!"

"Hell yeah!" proclaimed Sasamaru while slamming his mace on his shield. "Let's make our friend recover her senses and realize she's as important as any of us!"

"Wait for us, Sachi!" shouted Ducker while raising his dagger. "We're coming!"

"That's the spirit, everyone!" declared Keita while joining with the enthusiastic cheer.

"Hmm, yeah…you know you could have tried to be A LITTLE more silent with that?" sweatdropped Argo while grabbing the Claw-weapons that always hanged from one side of her waists and putting them on, everyone blinking and realizing that several heavily armored figures were coming from one side of the trees and glaring at them. "Because I'm pretty sure everyone around heard you…"

"You…! The Mighty Flash and her group?!" Asuna's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the nickname, mainly because nowadays people knew her more from it than from her actual name. "Are you after the resurrection item too?!"

"The Divine Dragon Alliance…" whispered Keita while tensely gripping his staff, recognizing the signature armors of the second strongest guild in the Front Lines after the Knights of Blood. "Of course they would be here…"

"Boss, maybe they're after the crazy girl with the spear too?!" the words coming from one of the other armored figures made the whole group's eyes to widen. "They may know where she went after rushing through us!"

"Wait, you saw Sachi-chan?!" Asuna's outburst got the attention of everyone from the DDA, their stares turning suspicious and hostile. "Did you see where she we…?!"

"You are with her?! That crazy bitch did some sort of weird trick I had never seen before with her spear and sent half of our group to the ground with some crazy damage before running past us!" the revelation of the angered leader of the raid made the group blink in confusion, more for the fact that Sachi had managed to do something like THAT than for the fact that she had attacked them. "What kind of lunatics do you have in your group?!"

"It was to be expected, they're all eating from the hand of that Beater, after all!"

"Who said that?!" suddenly shouted an angry Asuna while clenching her rapier and GLARING at the whole group from the armored guild. "I dare you to try an insult my Sensei again, bastard!"

"Okay, that's it!" roared the apparent leader before raising his sword and pointing it at Asuna. "Get the hell out of here and we may forgive you for what your crazy friend did! That resurrection item will belong to the Divine Dragon Alliance!"

"…is it me or some fuckers seem to sometimes forget that we are all supposed to WORK TOGETHER to get out of this game?" wondered Argo while scratching a side of her hood with her claws, a deceptive movement to hid how she was preparing a Martial Arts Skill if needed

"We don't really give a damn about the item, though." muttered Ducker while subtly using his Tracking Skill to see if they tried to surround them. "We just came to look for Sachi…"

"Well, I don't think these guys are quite willing to just accept that…" declared Keita while slowly putting his staff in a battle position. "At least we may still have a chance of solving this without fighting."

"Let's kick those worshippers of that dirty Beater out of this pla…!"

"GAAAAH!" roared Asuna while shooting forward like a meteor and slamming the side of her rapier on the head of the idiot who had spoken up, interrupting him mid-talk and sending him to eat snow face-first. "Who else is going to insult Kirito-sensei, uh?!"

Two seconds of silence passed.

Then, the whole DDA's Raid screamed murder and raised their weapons, pointing them towards the still very mad rapier-user.

"…you were saying?" deadpanned Argo before rushing forward and unleashing a quick two-hit Skill to the face of a guy trying to get behind Asuna.

"…yeah, well, I could hope." shrugged Keita before he and the others shouted improvised battle cries and entered the battle as well. None of them really seemed to mind their cursors turning orange.

Their only worry was to get to Sachi before something bad happened…

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

Softly panting as she ran, Sachi's eyes shone with purpose as her feet left marks on the virtual snow, which vanished in no time at all.

If anyone who had known her before were to saw her now, they would notice a few differences about her. For starters, her old equipment had been replaced with a blue-white tunic that covered her body but ended in the middle of her arms and legs, and that hugged her very closely. She also now wore boots and gloves that seemed to be made from the skin of some animal, the bluish SCALES that made them up easily revealing which one. The only armor she now seemed to wear was a pair of heavy-looking silver shoulder pads, which made a strange contrast with the rest of her light equipment.

The reason for this all, though, was BALANCE. She needed it, after all, because stats or not, she always needed to be careful when using her new weapon in battle together with THAT. A slight mistake could make her lost control of it, after all.

Said weapon was the 'spear' she was now carrying on her hands…if the weapon could be called that. The heavy lance the girl was carrying was almost two and a half meters long, with a specially made part near the middle of the shaft to serve as the weapon's handle. The 'tip' of the spear seemed like an oversized arrow-tip, but with four ends connected into one edge instead of two, shining a bright red in contrast to the dark-blue that colored the rest of the weapon.

The girl had been lucky, of getting a weapon like this one. Very few spears in the game were this large, so much that she couldn't properly run if she carried it on her back (Reason why she was now wielding it despite the lack of enemies). Most had to be custom-made specifically to be this long, but Fate seemed to have smiled upon her and she had found this one 2 months ago, inside a side-dungeon of the 42nd Floor. She had been upgrading it like crazy since then, and the limit for it had almost been reached. The weapon would need to be replaced soon for a better one, if she planned on continuing exploring the Front Lines, but that was fine with her.

Because as long as this 'Whale Ripper' allowed her to succeed in her current mission, she would be able to return with her friends, finally having proved that she had become strong enough to not be a burden to them. She would prove Asuna and the rest that she was worthy of being part of the group that followed the Hero known as Kirito…

Her train of thought, however, was suddenly interrupted when the sound of footsteps reached her ears, making her stop and tense as she glanced around. As expected, a group of 5 players emerged running from one of the many paths of the labyrinthic forest, their tired looks revealing that they had probably been fighting some of the weird mobs that had filled the forest dungeon for the event.

She had seen some bizarre things since she got trapped in SAO, but small killer-elves wearing green suits tinker bells? Really? Had the Cardinal System decided to try and make everyone hate Christmas?

As soon as the other players noticed her, though, their demeanor changed, tiredness being replaced by wariness as they raised their weapons and looked at her, or more exactly, to the orange cursor over her head.

It wasn't as if she wanted to attack those armored guys, but she had no choice! Really, the bastards had tried to bully her into leaving the forest and she had been forced to use THAT to throw them down and escape!

Sachi idly wondered if she would have to do the same to get these guys off her, grimacing at that thought. It wasn't as if she wanted to keep THAT a secret (She was planning on using it for everyone's sake when she returned to the Front Lines, after all), but it still made her feel bad to use the reason why she had needed to change her equipment style and get the longer spear she could find against other players.

"An Orange…what do you want?"

"I'm not searching for troubles, if that's what you think." curtly replied Sachi while looking around, never lowering her lance from her battle stance as she tried to decide if she was running in circles again or if this was a new zone of that damn forest. "I'm just searching for something…"

"You here to try out the Quest for that item too?" one of the men asked while looking her over, grinning slightly while moving his mace. "Want to team up? It seems that you got lost or something…"

"Sorry, not interested." answered Sachi while nodding their way and starting to run in other direction, leaving them open-mouthed. "I need to this for myself or it won't mean anything."

"Wha…?! Hey, we're not done talking with you!" growled the same player before taking an angry step towards her and…

"Stop right there, buddy!"

CLANG!

The sound of virtual metal clashing made the spear-user turn around blinking, looking how a group of…not-really-impressive-looking guys had suddenly appeared between her and the other party. Their apparent leader, a guy wearing what seemed like a red samurai armor rip-off, was stopping the mace of the other player with the side of his katana. The man's most notable feature besides his reddish hair was, obviously, the red bandana he wore around his head.

With a heavy move, the samurai-lookalike threw the other player back while his friends raised their weapons and stood on a protective formation around him, cutting any way for the other party to go after Sachi. The katana-user turned around and, with a smile he thought was charming but in reality was quite creepy, gave the young girl a thumbs-up.

"Heh, you have had Kirito worried sick for quite some time, girl! Don't worry anymore, though!" at these words, he pointed with his katana towards the virtual moon. "The Guild Fuurinkazan is here to help you now!"

A couple of seconds passed while the man maintained his, on his mind, epic pose and everyone else seemed mute from the shock…

"…uhm, who are you?"

…and then he face-faulted at Sachi's words. Every other member of the guild sweatdropped.

"Wha…?! What do you mean who I am?! It's me, Klein!" shouted the outraged samurai while moving his arms up and down. "Weren't you traveling with Kirito for months before all of this?! He should have mentioned me more than once!"

"…no, I think I would remember if I had heard Kirito-sama talking about someone like you."

"Eh?! Bu-but I was with him on the first day! And we see each other almost always on the Front Lines! We're like, super pals; he HAS to have mentioned me more than once!"

"…sorry, no, still doesn't ring any bell."

"Klein, man, maybe you should drop it…"

"NO! I refuse to acknowledge this! How can she say that Kirito never talks about me and expect…?!"

"GET THEM!" growled the annoyed mace-user from before, remembering Klein and his guild that they were STILL there, and also that everyone seemed to be in a rather 'Beat the crap out of everyone'-mood that night.

Sachi allowed herself one last blinking look towards the scene before shaking her head and start running once again.

Whoever the hell those guys were, she would make sure to thank them later…if she even remembered them.

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

Arriving at yet another area after 10 minutes of running, Sachi stopped for an instant, looking ahead while her eyes narrowed.

On the distance, visible atop a small hill, a very notorious and big tree stood out from the rest.

One didn't need to be a hardcore gamer to know that that was probably the place everyone had been looking for all night.

With a last, decisive nod, the girl started to walk forward…only to stop when a horde of 20 of those elves-from-Hell spawned around her, laughing and making their bells to ring with each of their shaky moves.

"Dammit, not now!" growled Sachi while readying her spear, glancing around as the things started surrounding her. She would need to use THAT once again. "I don't have time for this, I'm so clo…!"

Her monologue was abruptly interrupted when a dagger flew through the air and impaled the back of one of the mob's heads, making it stop laughing and fall to the ground before exploding into polygons.

"Looks like you could use a hand, uh?"

All the monsters seemed to fall silent as, as one, their heads turned towards the direction from where the weapon had come from, the girl of bluish-black hair doing the same in surprise.

There, standing half in the shadows, a silent figure stood under some trees. The way in which the stranger was standing didn't let Sachi see much besides a bit of soft-orange hair and deep, green eyes, but the voice at least let her know it was a girl.

Also, her cursor was orange, but that didn't surprise Sachi at all. Most of the players she had run into since she was an hour into the forest had had it like that because of all the stupid fighting going around.

"Wh-who are you?" asked the spear-user in confusion even as the mobs started to ignore her and walk towards the mysterious girl, her sudden intervention having drawn all of the 'Hate' from their AIs.

"Just a wanderer searching for something to fight for." simply replied the girl even as she moved slightly to the side, letting Sachi see the long, sheathed katana she carried on her hip. "Now, you should get going. I will take care of these things; you go and do what you must."

"Ah, uh, yeah, thanks!" shouted the spear-user before starting to run towards the tree in the distance, her figure quickly vanishing into the forest.

"…she seems like a good person. I hope she knows what she's doing." muttered the mysterious girl even as the elves surrounded her with dark intentions, making her sigh as she adopted a strange stance, one of her feet in front of the other while she twisted her body to the side. "And about you all…I'm sorry to tell you this, but you will all be dead by the time my blade has been unsheathed."

Their AIs being obviously too simple to understand the girl's words, the squad of killer-elves jumped forward, their claw-like hands ready to tear her apart.

If any player had been there, they would have probably been shocked at seeing how the girl's katana started to shine while still INSIDE the sheath, her hand on the hilt being the only direct contact between player and weapon.

The next instant, there was a flash of 'something' cutting through the air and the girl was now standing several meters away (Revealing her revealing mix of clothes and armor), her blade now unsheathed and still extended on her hand on an arc-like position.

Behind her, all the mobs exploded into polygons.

Without saying another word, the girl sheathed her katana, grabbed her fallen dagger and, with one last glance towards the tree in the distance, started the long walk out of the forest.

Her parting words were very simple, compared to the impressive feat she had just done.

"Merry Christmas…"

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

Just for this night, a new section of the Wandering Forest had manifested itself.

It was in the middle of this open field around a small hill where a big and very notorious tree stood. Anyone would have been able to easily identify it, too.

It was a pine tree, the so-called Christmas tree, minus any kind of decoration and covered in snow.

Slowly walking towards it, Sachi gripped her spear tighter. The girl was ready for ANYTHING that may come her wa…

The sound of Christmas bells and a sudden impression of something 'flying' above her threw her off balance almost as much as the massive figure that landed between her and the tree.

Sachi STARED even as the pale blue skin of the zombie-like Special Boss seemed to be even paler against the moonlight, in sheer contrast with his blood-red clothes and hat. His equally red eyes were grotesque, bloodshot and each one looked in a different direction, like a chameleon's. To complete the 'set', the parody of the Christmas symbol in which almost every child in the world believed it had a springy moustache and a long beard, all of which was a yellowish-white color, as if the hair had been being dirtied for some time.

Four HP Bars appeared over the creature's head at the same time that it roared and the game finally revealed his game: 'Nicholas the Renegade'.

Even as it raised its massive arms in a gesture more akin to a rabid animal than anything human-like, a giant battle axe appearing on its hands, Sachi arrived at a certain conclusion.

"This game REALLY doesn't like Christmas, uh?"

With another mighty roar for all answer, the powerful Boss shot forward like a raging bull, intent on crushing the lonely player opposing him.

The girl, for her part, just took a deep breath and lowered her stance, the tip of her spear pointing forward and slightly upwards, directly towards her enemy's chest.

It was time to use THAT at her full ability.

20 meters still separated them, but that didn't seem to matter for the girl as she achieved the correct position and her heavy weapon started to shine an azure color. Nicholas the Renegade had almost crossed half the distance between them and…

"Pierce it." whispered Sachi while thrusting forward. "LONGINUS!"

…and suddenly, the boss, still a bit more than 10 meters from the girl, found his chest impaled by a long shaft of dark blue light, just where a human would have its heart, with a speed and strength so brutal that it was enough to make him stagger. The attack had gone through him as fast as a bullet would have.

One-Hit Infinite Spear Sword Skill, Longinus. An attack with a devastating piercing power that impaled any enemy in a simple, straight-line…5 times the distance of the weapon one was wielding.

Her 'Whale Ripper' was 2.5 meters long. The distance it had 'pierced through' right then as almost 13 meters.

For such was the power of the Skill known as 'Infinite Spear'. 'Multiply the range of the spear' was the ability around which all of the Skills of its Tree were based.

If Kirito had been there, or any high-level user of One-Handed Swords, they may have been able to point out the similarities between this and the Sword Skill known as 'Vorpal Strike', which doubled the range of the sword and Kirito had used quite a lot in the Beta. The boy had always wondered WHY in all of SAO there seemed to be only ONE Skill that increased the attack range of a weapon beyond its own length, basically giving someone a means to use a long-range attack in a world where, supposedly, distance-weapons didn't exist.

The reason for that, as no one but Sachi currently knew, was that the rest of those Skills all belonged to the 'Tree' of the Infinite Spear Unique Skill, though this one went WAY beyond the 'simple' Vorpal Strike.

Besides the range-multiplying, Infinite Spear also increased the speed and potency of the thrust in an exaggerated way. She could still remember the first time she tried out 'Longinus', the most basic of its Skills, the next day after discovering the mysterious Skill Tree…only to end up rolling through the ground an losing a chunk of her own HP when the spear almost jumped out of her hands as it threw her backward.

If she had to classify the speed of the thrust back then, she would have simply said 'Asuna-fast, but lacking any of the grace or control she had'.

She had come a long way since them. First forcing herself to master the basic 'Spear' Skill all the way to the top, getting to know her weapon better than anyone. Then changing her equipment for one better suited for movement and balance the moment she understood the Unique Skill became more effective the longer her weapon was. And despite that, it had still been extremely difficult.

More than once, she had taken some serious damage while just TESTING any new Skill she got from the Tree. She remembered that, in the beginning, lying on the ground staring at the fake sky after her first failed Longinus, she had wondered if she could ever become someone truly worthy of not only fighting at the others' side but also of using that Skill.

That had been more than half a year ago. She had finished 'mastering' Infinite Spear just a week before, preparing herself as best as she could for this. It all now came down to see how good she had really become.

It had been barely a second while she remembered all of this, and the light from her Skill had already vanished, the Event Boss shaking his head and roaring in rage as it resumed its charge, his HP depleted in a noticeable but still minor amount.

Sachi was already moving the moment it had started roaring.

That was probably the most useful perk of the Infinite Spear. In exchange for being extremely difficult to manage and control in almost every way, and very useless against single, fast and small opponents, all of its Skills had an absurdly short of recovery time compared to every other known in SAO. Even its Ultimate Skill's post-frozen time barely reached the 2 seconds.

It wasn't very useful if you were being thrown around because of your own attacks all the time, of course. But if you managed to successfully execute and connect a hit with it, it was an advantage that could be decisive in a battle for your life.

Even as the Boss swung his weapon and barely missed her, Sachi's eyes were already set on the next spot she needed to stop in. Her attention never completely leaving her enemy, the young girl spun her weapon to the side and used the momentum to stop perfectly on the stance she needed.

The Santa Claus-parody from Hell was already preparing his axe to unleash his own Skill when her spear shone once again, this time with a dark red color as she aimed a bit lower than last time, her left hand closer to her right one.

"IMPALE, TRIANA!"

The 3-Hits Sword Skill was unleashed with viciousness, three consecutive thrusts, each one with a range multiplication of 4, hitting the Boss in the groin, the heart and the neck.

If Nicholas the Renegade was a living being, he would have dropped dead from those deadly hits. As he wasn't, the only thing the monster did was to stumble back in rage at the triple critical hit he had just received, a chunk of his HP bar visibly vanishing.

A smile slowly crept up on Sachi's face as she once again started to move, her grip on her weapon tightening as she decided to quote what Asuna had said all those months ago.

"Bring it on!"

…she had also picked up the 'shouting the names of your attacks aloud' from her, if you were wondering.

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

"Argh…arf…did we lose those guys?"

"I-I think so, Keita…damn, they were REALLY annoying." Sasamaru's groans were heavy as he looked at his yellow HP bar, his eyes wandering to the rest of the party, only Argo and Asuna not seeming tired and scanning the trees around them in full alert. "We gave them a good beating before retreating, though."

"Considering that we left most of them with their HP on the yellow at least twice, they will either have to retreat for the night or risk fighting the Event Boss with little potions." commented Argo before sighing and looking back at the girl at her side. "We should take a small break to recover, Aa-chan. We're not going to help Saa-chan if we're exhausted and with low HP when we fight her."

"…5 minutes. We can't afford anything happening to her if we take any longer."

"A-agreed…" muttered Ducker while standing up, looking around with tired eyes. "Why does this place have to be like a giant maze, though?! I barely even know where we are in relation to the entrance anymore!"

"Well, they call it the 'Wandering Forest' for something, I guess…" said Tetsuo while taking a potion. "Still, we HAVE to be getting closer to Sachi, right?"

"We're not going in circles, if that's what you're thinking, I have been making sure." declared Argo while looking at her inventory, the claws still on her hands not seeming to bother her as she did this. "We should be getting closer to the center of the dungeon, though if Saa-chan is there is anyone's guess…damn, I hate forests SO much."

"Uh? Why?" questioned Keita with confusion while looking at the hooded girl. "I mean, it's not as if there aren't much darker and scarier places in SAO…"

"…I hate forests and that's that, okay? The info about why it's also something I'm NOT willing to sell…"

"A-Argo-san, you're making that scary smile again…"

"Okay, that's enough resting, we need to move!" without even waiting for them, Asuna started to run towards the nearest path through the trees she could find, the others following after her in seconds. "Please, be alright, Sachi-chan…" looking up, her eyes caught the glow of 'something' in the distance for a brief instant, over the trees. "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘜𝘨𝘩…𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦…"

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

A roll, a stab.

A feral charge, a quick retreat.

A hit taken, another one returned.

Panting hard and clenching her teeth, Sachi's eyes shot towards her HP Bar. It was yellow, though not for much longer if she kept getting hits like the last ones. Fighting a Boss alone wasn't the smartest of ideas precisely because the brief pauses between attacks allowed no time to grab and use a recovery item.

She had barely finished that thought when Nicholas the Renegade charged at her once again, faster than before as his last HP Bar had just hit the yellow, and almost bisecting the spear-user with his axe. Sachi barely managed to jump to the side at the last second.

Out of balance and about to roll while grabbing on a weapon as long as hers, though, she was unable to evade the kick that followed and that sent her upwards in an arc to a height of almost 4 meters, her HP turning red as less than 20% remained. The Sachi of 7 months ago would have most likely panicked and lost it at that point, either freezing up or letting go of her weapon as she fell.

The current one simply let herself roll with the momentum as she aimed with her spear to the ground in front of her head, an orange shine covering it as it 'extended' faster than a bullet.

"PARTISAN!" echoed Sachi's voice as the Skill with the shortest multiplication range she had activated, just a measly 'x3', but also the fastest one. The One-Hit Skill crashed against the snow 3 meters below her and into the ground, the missing 3 meters the 'aura' of the attack needed to extend to achieve its full range sending her upwards like a Olympic gymnast, the incoming swing of her enemy's axe missing her by inches.

Above the suddenly confused Boss, and finally starting to fall, Sachi let her body spun with her new momentum and pointed her lance directly at the grotesque head bellow her.

"DESCEND, DRAGOON!"

One after another, two fast extending-thrusts of white energy shot from her spear, impaling at the Boss' head and inflicting critical damage even as she fell behind him, rolling over the snow to reduce the impact of her fall.

Months ago, when she first learned the 2-Hits Skill, she had wondered of what use it could possibly be when it literally needed to be pointing down to the ground to be activated. She had needed two weeks to realize that it was meant to be made in combination to others of the Infinite Spear Skills. After all, when wielding a weapon like a lance, no matter what old videogames said, jumping effectively was almost impossible…unless you cheated and used the range-extending abilities of your spear's Skills to shot yourself upwards.

She had suffered A LOT of crashes against the ground, most of those face-first, just to master the 'jumping' part. Actually learning to use the Skill in a useful way had almost killed her. Twice.

Now, even as she got to her feet in an instant and spun her heavy weapon around with extreme precision, leaving it pointing straight to the chest of the roaring Boss, she couldn't' help but feel a bit giddy.

Despite still having a giant zombie-Santa Claus barely 2 meters from her and about to kill her, that's it.

Time seemed to slow down even as Sachi idly realized that this was the 3rd time she was about to die in the middle of a battle since she got trapped in this world.

Even as a silver glow covered her weapon and she let her hands slide the furthest she could from the spear's tip, she was pleasantly surprised to notice that, despite being scared shitless on the inside, she was finally able to think clearly and calmly in such a situation.

With a final glare at the grotesque parody of the most famous symbol of Christmas, Sachi ROARED with all her soul as she unleashed her Ultimate Skill.

"DRILL THROUGH!" Nicholas the Renegade was already over the girl as her words echoed in the snowy hill and she THRUST her spear forward with all her might, her feet digging into the snowy ground for the purchase she would need. "𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗟𝗬 𝗣𝗜𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗘𝗥!"

The Event Boss SHOOK when the expanding shaft of silver light crashed against his chest, killing all his momentum.

Then, it started to PUSH HIM BACK.

The screaming form of the Renegade trashed even as the mighty attack kept pushing his massive body over the snow and backward until it finally stopped when his back hit the tree on the hill's center.

At first glance, the only impressive thing about this Skill would be its savage range, achieved by multiplying the range of the user's weapon FIFTEEN times. But of course, that would also mean that one would believe that it was only a One-Hit Skill.

It wasn't. The numbers of Hits of this Skill was 20.

And it was something that the body of Nicholas the Renegade could testify clearly. After all, unlike every other Skill Tree in SAO, none of the Infinite Spear Skills actually needed the weapon to TOUCH the enemy to inflict damage. It was the projected 'aura' of the Skill which reduced the enemies' HP.

The main difference between this Skill and all the others that Sachi could do was that this one's aura inflected MORE than one hit.

Because the spinning, drill-like shape at the tip of it kept damaging the enemy for a great total of 10 seconds, inflicting two 'hits' by endlessly rotating twice each second.

Against several enemies, alone, this Skill would literally turn one into a sitting duck as it has such an absurd time of execution, which basically let you frozen and exposed to any other attack. But against only one, big enemy…

Nicholas the Renegade screamed once again, only 2 seconds left for the Skill to end.

Sachi ROARED in response, her own feet starting to be dragged back some inches from the Skill's power.

"UOHHHH!"

And then, with a final spin, the Skill drilled THROUGH the virtual body and the Event's Boss HP reached 0, making it explode into a shower of polygons.

The Heavenly Piercer ended a second later.

A pop-up of 'Quest Complete' appeared in front of Sachi, who opened it with shaky fingers and quickly materialized the item she had just obtained.

The 'Divine Stone of Returning Soul'. Able to 'resurrect' any player that had died a maximum of 10 seconds before its use.

"…I did it." smiled the girl before letting her body fall backward.

A pair of strong arms were there to catch her, which made the shocked spear-user open her eyes to see a familiar boy clad in black and white holding her, his eyes fixed upon her with a mix of shock, worry, and awe.

"…hey there, Sachi."

"Kirito…sama…?" whispered the girl, wondering if the exhaustion was making her hallucinate.

"Sachi…that was FUCKING AWESOME." declared the caped boy with a low voice.

"…eh?! Yo-you were watching?! Since when?!"

"Ehm, since a bit after half the battle, more or less…" confessed the boy while sweatdropping.

Honestly, when Heathcliff FINALLY relented and accepted to delay the 'scout assault' for the Floor Boss until the next day (Or later in this one, if you were being technical), the gamer had been both surprised and frustrated, because it seemed as if the leader of the KoB had suddenly changed his mind from a moment to another.

He would have given that more thought if he wasn't so scared of not getting news about Asuna and the others, so he had rushed towards the 35th Floor as fast as he could and then proceeded to run around while shouting Sachi's name, hoping that nothing had happened to the girl.

But when he had finally managed to, by chance, arrive at the center of the Field Dungeon, he had found a sight he wasn't expecting in the slightest.

Sachi (He only needed an instant to recognize her despite the change in equipment), facing what seemed like a giant zombie parody of Santa Claus by herself.

He had been about to jump in and intervene to 'save' the girl when he had seen her using the Sword Skill she knew as 'Moonlight Swept' (Two-Hits, Omnidirectional and with a multiplication range of 4) and had frozen in shock at seeing the unknown and seemingly impossible action.

Kirito had stood there, telling himself that he would step in and end the fight if Sachi's life was put in true danger at any moment, and had watched with an increasing amount of awe how the girl displayed her full skill with Infinite Spear to face off against the Event Boss.

He had almost stepped in when Nicholas the Renegade kicked Sachi up and left her HP in the red, but her quick reaction and the awesome way in which she had used her Skills to go full airborne and impale the Boss through his skull had not only stopped him but also left the caped boy speechless. Still, he had been ready to finally get the girl out of there when he had seen her landing just behind the Santa Claus from Hell.

Then, she had screamed and, as if something pulled out from a shonen anime, unleashed THAT last Skill against the raging Boss, driving him back and DRILLING through him until it died.

Hence, his words to the wide-eyed and blushing girl he now held in his arms.

"...extremely awesome."

"N-not really, it wasn't anything as impressive as the thing you usually do..."

"Sachi, at the end of the day, all that I do is kicking, punching and running around. You just soloed an Event Boss while using a spear almost twice as long as you're tall and still managed to even jump over him like a professional acrobat, impaling it while doing so." the black-haired boy scowled down at the girl. "So yes, you were awesome, and that's final."

"But...!"

"I SAID: That's final."

"...yes, Kirito-sama." sighed the girl with a tired smile, leaning against the caped boy as best as she could. "I was awesome."

"Yep, that's better." nodded the gamer while starting to walk away from the area, intent on finding the others. "...by the way, NEVER try doing something like THIS again, okay? And I'm not only talking about facing a Boss by yourself, but about the running away bit. We have been worried sick for you all this time."

"But...I needed to become stronger to prove everyone that I wasn't a burden and...!"

"Sachi, has anyone ever said you were a burden?" the girl lowered his eyes at his words. "Asuna never blamed you for what happened in the dungeon, she told me. It wasn't your fault that that treasure chest was a trap."

"...and yet, if I had been stronger, I and Asuna-san wouldn't have almost died." the girl of bluish-black hair clenched her fists. "A-and I did it, right? I have become much stronger!"

"Yes, you have. I can attest to that." the boy looked at her with a serious look, gaining the girl's full attention all of a sudden. "But it's not a matter of being strong, Sachi. It's about WHAT do you do with that power and HOW do you use it. You never needed to come and face that thing just to prove you were strong to us. We appreciate you, Sachi, no matter what. And you never needed putting your life at risk or getting any fancy item for that."

"...does that mean I have been an idiot?"

"Heh, not quite. You proved something to YOURSELF, right?" the girl seemed to ponder that for a few moments before her eyes slowly widened. "Then that means that all you did had a purpose...but, next time, let us help you with it, okay? That's what friends are for."

"Kirito-sama...thanks." finally said the girl while refusing to meet his eyes. "And I'm sorry for worrying everyone…"

"Don't worry about it, Sachi, everyone will just be glad that you're okay." with a final nod, the boy kept walking through the snowy forest, the tired but smiling girls on his arms. "...and what was THAT you were doing with the spear anyway?"

"Uhm, it's called 'Infinite Spear'. I-it just showed up on my menu th-the night I...ran away. I don't think I have seen anyone else using it, though..."

"Oh...then maybe it is like that thing Asuna got with two swords...?"

"Eh? What about Asuna-san?"

"Ah, it doesn't really matter right now." sighed the boy before giving the curious girl another smile. "For now... let's go back to everyone, Sachi."

"...yeah, lets."

10 minutes later, when Kirito and Sachi found the others, the first thing she would do after they had stopped shouting her name and hugging her would be getting out the Divine Stone of Returning Soul and offer it while saying 'Merry Christmas' to them.

Asuna would them chop her in the head and hug her again, telling her to never do something so stupid again. Kirito smiled.

All was right with the world...

...all until the part when Keita announced that they should disband the Moonlit Black Cats. Before any of his friends could express their shock at his declaration, however, he clarified that it was so that they, now that they were all together again, could become a new, more awesome guild to face the Front Lines as a group, something that Asuna had agreed with enthusiasm and that made Sachi smile.

When Argo cheerfully asked if she could join too, no one was truly surprised. When she had asked how they should call the guild, however, everyone had fallen silent and started thinking very hard.

"Why don't we call ourselves the 'United Heroes Association', then?" had joked Kirito with a silly grin at seeing everyone's extremely serious face while trying to come up with a name.

Hours later, when their new guild had been fully formed and proudly announced to the rest of the Front Liners under their 'awesome' name with him as the leader and Asuna as the second in charge, Kirito swore that, for his sanity, he would never make a joke again.

Meanwhile, on the real world, Kirigaya Suguha was putting some flowers and a small package at the side of her brother's bed, a soft smile on her face as she looked down at him.

"Merry Christmas, Onii-chan. I hope you wake up soon."

Then, she gave him a soft kiss on his cheek before exiting the room.

Only when she was already on the way back home on her bicycle would what she had done fully register on her mind, making her face burn red and almost causing her to crash against a wall.

And like that, as previously stated, all was right with the world...

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

The late evening sun of the Christmas day slowly vanished as Kayaba Akihiko looked over the many screens that filled the cottage where he was hidden from the world, thinking.

Things were going differently than how he had planned them originally, but at the same time, they were becoming much more interesting.

The 50th Floor had been cleared barely an hour ago, he himself having led the Front Liners as they stood strongly against the fierce Boss that was the giant and 6-armed Buddha statue that guarded the pass to the next Floor...for all the 10 minutes that Kirito had needed to find his way into the room and punch it to oblivion, to the cheers of his newly formed guild and many of the other Front Liners.

At that moment, almost everyone in Aincrad was openly celebrating a massive party under the excuse of both Christmas and the defeat of the 'Superboss', so it wouldn't be strange if the clearly-not-fan-of-parties leader of the KoB was absent for a while. Not even his direct 'subordinates' would miss Heathcliff's presence for at least a couple of hours.

Still, even as he looked once again at the images of the girl who now possessed Infinite Spear facing off against the Event Boss that Cardinal had created for Christmas, he couldn't help but feel an amused smile making its way to his face.

It had been certainly unexpected that the System had changed his original limitation over most of the Unique Skills; that is, for the Floor 89 to be cleared before they started to be assigned, but it was a surprise the man welcomed, for it made the things to come all the more unexpected and, because of that, exciting, especially considering that the girl had joined Kirito's group.

Also, if his reports were to be believed, the one called Sachi hadn't been the only one with a Unique Skill in the Wandering Forest the past night...

With a simple change of screen, the man's eyes shot over the list of 9 Unique Skills beside his own.

Battoujutsu, Shurikenjutsu, God Hand, Dual Blades, and Infinite Spear had already been assigned. He only knew the user of one of them, though, but that added mystery to the whole thing. If rumors were to be believed, the owner of Battoujutsu, the so-called 'Orange Demon', had been in the forest too, and many sightings of the owner of Shurikenjutsu had been reported around under the description of 'a Ninja that controlled a dragon'.

The owners of God Hand and Dual Blades had not yet made any open move that revealed them, but the Mastermind behind Sword Art Online knew it was only a matter of time. After all, he himself was almost ready with his own new 'preparations' if things ended up going as he thought they may…

Another smile made itself present on his face at that thought.

Had Kirito realized yet, why he allowed him to face both the 25th and the 50th Floor Bosses…?

"…you're smiling. That can't mean anything good."

Without any visible reaction to the words, Kayaba turned around to face the petite woman with short, black hair staring at him from the doorway, a blank stare on her face, as always, but unable to hide the small hint of regret and hate that lurked beneath her eyes.

"Merry Christmas, Rinko."

"…what were you doing?" silently muttered Koujiro Rinko while looking to the side, refusing to meet his gaze.

Despite what many people of the world thought about him, Kayaba Akihiko wasn't a heartless bastard that laughed and enjoyed with the deaths and suffering of others. In fact, if you sat down to talk to him, you would even say he was a nice guy.

That didn't make him less of a monster for what he had done with Sword Art Online, though. And that was the reason why this woman, the only one that had been able to deduce WHERE he would hide, had found him and confronted the man, threatening to kill him if he didn't stop the Death Game.

Of course, he had no intention of doing such a thing, and his friend from College, who had stayed with him through the years and even helped with the development of SAO (Without knowing of his plans, of course) hadn't really been able to bring herself to kill him.

He knew the main reason was that Rinko loved him, maybe had done so since college, but, despite that, he had had no intention of either taking advantage of the woman or threatening her. From the moment she had been unable to kill him, she could have walked away, called the authorities and be done with it. He appreciated Rinko, so he wouldn't have hurt her or tried to stop her even if that would have meant the end of his plans.

Instead, the woman had stayed and even taken care of his body when he had to Dive for long periods of time. He hadn't asked for her to do it, but she had done so anyway.

The instant of reminiscence ended for the man, however, when he realized that she was still waiting for an answer. And so, with the biggest smile he could muster (Which wasn't really that big), he answered.

"Planning how to face a group of 'Heroes'."

Of course, to the man's shock, he was still in for another surprise that Christmas, when some hours later, a Unique Skill that COULDN'T have been assigned to anyone yet, was.

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

The moon shone brightly on Aincrad's 35th Floor, and in the middle of the Wandering Forest, everything was silent around the hill with the tree where Sachi had fought against Nicholas the Renegade…

And yet, anyone with enough insight would have realized that something was WRONG because said tree and hill should have disappeared from the forest little time after the Quest was finished.

Then, suddenly, a 'distortion' appeared in mid-air in front of the tree, two figures being 'spat out' of the strange phenomenon before they crashed face-first on the snow in front of the pine tree.

Several seconds of silence passed before the smaller of the two stood up, blinking and looking around.

"It worked…?" muttered the little girl wearing a black dress as she looked around before her eyes widened and a big smile appeared on her face. "IT WORKED! YAY!" the little girl jumped to her feet, pointing her index finger to the virtual moon with a massive grin. "In your face, Cardinal! I needed more than half a year, but I did it! I'm free!" the program known as MHCP-001, or Yui for short, laughed openly before blinking and smacking her head. "Ah, I mean, WE are free! Right?!" still smiling, the AI turned towards the second figure…who still hadn't moved and was still lying with her face on the snow. "…hey? Strea-san? Helloooo?…crap, don't tell me something went wrong?!" the little girl looked around, panicking and wondered what she could do.

Despite the small window of opportunity she got months ago, Yui had still needed a lot of time for her 'escape' after having done her 'preparations', both to prepare her own program and that of her 'little sister'.

It hadn't been difficult with herself, really. She had removed almost ALL of her administrating privileges, her Status as an Immortal Object and, also, any and all sub-routine that allowed her to look into or over other players or systems and 'Voila!', she had become little more than another mob for Cardinal.

…of course, that came with the downside that she would literally be erased forever if she 'died' in Aincrad and that she had a body that was weaker than a level 1 player, but that's why she had enabled her 'safety measure' and also prepared the MHCP-002, codename STREA, to protect her.

Her pseudo-'little sister's preparations were what had needed so much time, really. For starters, she was the only one of the Mental Health Care Programs that had a 'default' appearance, and seeing as she couldn't' exactly create one for Strea from scratch, she had done the next best thing and stuffed the code of her sister on an unused player avatar, which had still been there on the servers since not all of the original 1000 Beta Testers had returned to SAO.

Then the hard part had come: giving 'life' to her sister. After all, two MHCPs couldn't' be active at the same time in the current settings, so to evade Cardinal's scan she had been forced to 'hide' the other AI in a 'half-awake' state and pretty much inject both human knowledge and all she needed to be a 'player' of the game directly into her code. She had just hoped that, combined with the 'mission' she had programmed on her, her own functions as another Mental Health Care Program would allow her to 'start herself' when they 'escaped'.

…she had also assigned THAT Unique Skill to the avatar her sister was going to use. She may not be human, but she had 'grown' enough thinking as one to be horrified of the Skill's acquiring-condition, and had been smart enough to know that someone who did THAT should never be allowed to have such power.

Now, finally, taking advantage of Cardinal's attention being slightly distracted on its daily revision of Aincrad's status, she had 'jumped' out of her virtual prison using this temporary area as an escape point, dragging her 'sister' out with her.

But as she looked at the unmoving form of the avatar at her side, worry that something had gone wrong and Strea's programming hadn't properly activated, rendering her a useless amount of data unable to even think, filled her mind. Even worse, with all her 'rights' having been removed, she had no way of knowing what the problem was or how to fix…

The sudden appearance of a horde of angry killer elves distracted her from her panicking thoughts, making her look at the rushing mobs with an annoyed look.

"Damn…I don't have time for this!"

That said, the girl faced them…and started to FLOAT, her hands raised even as the mobs froze in place and then, slowly, started being slammed around, against each other and the ground.

This was her 'safety measure' to protect herself. The ONLY 'right' that she hadn't removed from herself was her control over the system's gravity. It was risky, but, as long as she didn't try 'flying' out of Aincrad or throwing anything through the air hundreds of meters, Cardinal shouldn't suspect a thing. Plus, it kind of made it seem as if she had some sort of telekinetic superpowers, and that was really cool!

Still, it would be troublesome to move around without anyone protecting…

No sooner than those thoughts started running through her mind did a sudden blur of darkness shot past her, roaring like a mad beast and raising her wicked blade.

With speed and ferocity that seemed more proper of an animal than any human, the figure slaughtered the elves, her sword describing weird and sinister arcs through the air, never stopping oozing that inky blackness from it.

If one were to pay closer attention, they would have seen the mobs suffering several negative status effects or starting to spasm before dying in explosions of polygons.

Not even 10 seconds had passed and none of the 20 enemies remained, the blinking Yui looking at the panting figure with confusion, fear, and hope.

"…Strea-san?"

In response, the 'girl' slowly turned her head around before fully facing the floating little girl. She seemed to be 16 or 17, with lavender hair and red-violet eyes, combined with a VERY revealing armor that showed off her mature figure, and also allowed to see the two moles she had on her left breast. On her right hand, somehow, she was wielding a Two-Handed Sword from where the sinister shadows that covered her were coming.

And as soon as she saw the little AI, the darkness suddenly seemed to stop oozing from her blade, her eyes brightening as she jumped up and down in almost child-like delight, all traces of the previous wickedness gone.

"AH! Yui-nee! Did I do well?! I wiped them all out!"

"…yes, Strea-san…you did. Uhm, do you…remember your 'mission'?"

"Of course!" answered the girl with a bright smile, putting her empty hand over her massive chest. "I need to protect Yui-nee, and help her to find Kirito, the Hero!" then, as if an afterthought, she added. "He's awesome!"

…okay, maybe SOMETHING had gone wrong after all, but at least her 'sister' was awake and willing to 'help her', so she would let it slide.

Besides, it seemed that she could properly control the sinister power of Darkness Blade…kind of.

"Okay then! Let's move, little sis!" turning around, Yui pointed towards the horizon. "We have a Hero to find!"

"Yay!" Strea cheerfully answered.

And like that, the two AIs started their long journey towards 'freedom'…

𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬𝟬

𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪!

"Hiiiiii, everyone! This is Strea, here to give you all the next chapter's preview :D! Ahahah, woah, being 'outside' feels really weird! Everything is so new and exciting…I can't wait until we find Kirito, eheheh, I REALLY want to get to know that Hero…ah, yeah, okay, next time on 'One Punch-Gamer': 'The Dragon Ninja?!' Kirito will meet again with someone outrageous, and after a tragedy strikes their meeting, will he be able to her this mysterious character to save the life of a fallen friend?! Don't miss it!...AH! Yui-nee, wait for me; I can't float around like you do to-!"

𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪!