Chapter 19: Sword of Sacred Bonds. Burn, Caliber of our Souls! (1)

September 25th, 2025. Aincrad, Alfheim. 22nd Floor's Log House, 06:30…

Despite how much she looked and acted the part, the AI known as Yui wasn't human. Her 'little sister', Strea, wasn't one either. As such, none of them really 'needed' to sleep.

Yet, since their time in Sword Art Online, both of them had started doing so every night, as a way of trying to know how humans felt at doing so. Though there wasn't anything special in the action, it had slowly become normal for them, even more after they joined the United Heroes Association. Nowadays, they, especially Yui, could even 'get sleepy' from things like perceived exhaustion or similar things, which only helped to drive the point of how 'human-like' they had become.

But that didn't stop them from, as soon as the first rays of the sun started to shine over New Aincrad, shooting out of their shared bed and looking around in confused panic.

After a couple of seconds staring around and making sure that, effectively, there was no one else in the log house with them and that nothing was seemingly wrong, both ex-MHCP looked at one another with uncertain gazes.

"Yui-nee…you also feel as if there is something REALLY wrong?"

"Yes, nee-chan…I do." muttered the younger-looking girl before looking out of a window, then opening a menu as she quickly changed into her Pixie form. "…let's go see if something is happening."

After a moment of hesitation, the Gnome girl nodded and followed her sister out of the house.

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Sitting on his house's kitchen table some hours later, Kirigaya Kazuto was doing his best to concentrate on his breakfast and not look at his happy-looking little sister, who was busy staring at her portable tablet while also enjoying her own breakfast.

Surprisingly, it wasn't because anything that had happened in their 'date' of the other day, no. In fact, the whole thing had gone…way better than he had expected. He, Sugu and Asuna had just gone out, ate some ice cream in that place he and his adoptive sister liked so much (The chestnut-haired girl seemed surprised by how much they loved the icy dessert) while talking about the things they had been doing lately, both in school and out of it, and what they were planning to do in the incoming weeks. Asuna seemed a bit annoyed to have to go to some sort of family meeting to Kyoto soon, saying that she would probably find it much more boring than ever now that she would also miss everyone. He and Suguha had reassured her that they would do something special for her when she came back to cheer her up, something that had apparently really lifted her spirits. After that, they had gone together and enjoyed a calm walk through a nearby park. The girls had grabbed his hands in a couple of occasions, almost seeming shy about it, and after overcoming his surprise he had been the one to hold theirs reassuringly and smile their way, making them smile with a blush before they once again engaged in idle talking, just enjoying the others' company.

Before they went their separate ways back home, both Asuna and Suguha had kissed him, still blushing but with most of the earlier shyness gone.

All in all, Kazuto could say he had really enjoyed the day and that most of his fears were gone, a bit of confidence that he wouldn't screw things up having returned to him.

…but the reason why he was trying to evade eye-contact with Sugu right now was because of something that happened after he went to bed yesterday. Namely, something he had dreamed about.

Okay, he was an hormonal teenager, yes, and that was perfectly normal, not to mention the fact that he was currently living something that many boys would consider a fantasy that could only happen in manga (That is, going out with two beautiful girls perfectly okay with such a thing), but dammit, did his fucking brain need to be SO 'detailed'?!

Remember the things that had happened in his dream…well, let's just say that it had involved he and his two 'girlfriends'. And the shower. And, for some reason, ice-cream.

The less said about the last thing the better. He HAD needed an urgent cold shower the moment he woke up because of it.

Hence why he was trying very hard to banish such thoughts as he pretended to be concerned about how delicious his breakfast was. Of all the ways in which he thought he could screw their recently started relationship, he didn't want it to be his stupid hormones.

Suguha, meanwhile, stopped looking through the site she had been reading and let a small frown appear on her face at seeing one of the small headlines that had popped up: 'Bicycle Girl's epic return! Criminals shall know true fear?!'

Certainly, she HAD known that she would get attention, especially after a crazy stunt like that, probably even more than usual, but she wasn't expecting it to get so big that it would appear on a website like that one, even if it was just something 'small' among many other news.

She knew she wouldn't be able to hide things from her brother or the others, and she had never intended to, but she was still a bit scared of how he would react. The young kendoka didn't want to jeopardize their relationship with this, especially when she was feeling happier than she could remember and the 'awkwardness' she thought would come from hers and Asuna's agreement had all but vanished after their date some days ago…but she couldn't simply stop doing what she did.

The Bicycle Girl was as much part of her as any other thing, and that was something she couldn't deny. She was just hoping Kazuto wouldn't react too badly at knowing this. Even if it would be hypocrite from him, she knew he cared for her enough to get worried and angry.

Steeling herself, Suguha raised her eyes towards her unusually silent brother, gathering her courage to tell him the truth.

"Hey, Onii-chan…"

"It wasn't my intention, I swear, I can't control what I dream! I'm not a pervert!" automatically shouted the black-haired boy while covering himself.

"…what?" flatly asked the confused girl, eve as the gamer blinked before laughing awkwardly and sitting normally again.

"No-nothing, Sugu, it was just a joke!" quickly assured Kazuto while the young kendoka raised a skeptical eyebrow. "…s-so, what did you want to tell me?"

"Uh? Oh, well…" looking down with just a bit of guilt, the girl passed the tablet to her blinking adopted brother, who took it with a confused look. "There, Onii-chan, looking at that should clear things up."

"Okay…" muttered the gamer while looking down at the small screen…and letting his eyes widen. "Wha…?! No way, I can't believe it!"

"Bu-but it's the truth, Onii-chan." continued the young kendoka at seeing his incredulous face, slightly clenching her fists with determination. "A-and I'm sorry, but I…!"

"Why would you need to feel sorry, Sugu?! If it's anyone's fault that they found Excaliber before us, it's mine! I DID promise to help you get it and then totally forgot about it!"

"…eh?" muttered the blinking girl with utter confusion.

"I mean, well, I guess one CAN blame it on all the craziness that came after we cleared ALO, then school and more recently what happened with the whole Death Gun thing…" commented the black-haired boy while putting the tablet on the table, letting the dumbfounded Suguha to see how a much bigger and new headline was just at the side of the one about her vigilante-self, talking about the discovery of ALO's strongest holy sword. "But really, I should have…!"

"Onii-chan, it's not about that!" shouted the younger Kirigaya with a burning face. "I-I went out as the Bicycle Girl again!"

Kazuto froze, eyes widening again as he looked with shock towards his adoptive sister/girlfriend.

"You…what?! Bu-but then, why…?!"

"I-it was just here at the side, okay, I didn't realize you wouldn't see it right away!" embarrassedly accepted her while pointing at the smaller headline, the boy looking at it in shock. "I-I was so busy thinking about how you would react that I didn't notice the news about Excaliber…"

"Sugu…" taking a deep breath, the boy took the girl's hands before staring straight into her eyes, an unusual seriousness in them. "…okay, I'm listening."

"Re-really?" gasped the shocked kendoka. "Yo-you're not mad?"

"I am…just a bit, though, because I think that, after Death Gun, I would probably be the biggest hypocrite in the world if I got mad at you or the others for doing something incredibly stupid behind my back, despite having my reasons…so I'm willing to hear YOUR reasons before reacting in any way."

"Onii-chan…" whispered Suguha with a soft blush on her face, before smiling widely at the boy. "Thanks."

And so, the girl started telling him everything, from what her reasons for going out where, why she felt she still needed to do it and, with a bit of hesitation, what had happened the day before. Kazuto at least stayed true to words and, despite clearly seeming on edge when his adoptive sister described the event, he didn't explode out in angry or worried shouts. By the time she was finished, he seemed awed, upset and confused all at the same time.

"Wait…again, how did you manage to beat the crap out of the guys in the car?"

"Ugh, I'm not going to repeat it again, Kazuto!" pouted Suguha while looking away, making the boy get back to the matter at hand by using his actual name. "So…what do you think?"

"Well…I won't deny I'm angry, and that it scares me to death to think what could have happened to you…" started the gamer, making the young girl bit her lips. "…but I'm also proud of you." the kendoka's face was filled with shock as she raised it to stare at her smiling brother. "You did what you thought was the best for someone else, without caring for what others thought of it, and succeeded in an amazing way. Yes, maybe you put yourself at risk, and maybe that will always haunt me, but…I can't in good conscience tell you to stop without being a selfish hypocrite."

"Onii-chan…" smiling brightly, Suguha grabbed his hand over the table with a soft gesture. "You're the best person in the world…and I love you so much for it."

"O-okay, now you're exaggerating." replied the boy with an embarrassed blush, before looking back at her with utmost seriousness. "But I'm going out with you next time you do something like that, okay?"

THAT seemed to make the girl react, her eyes shooting in surprise at her adopted brother.

"You what?!"

Before any of them could continue the conversation, though, both their phones started ringing, making the siblings exchange a confused look and get them out.

The message both of them had received made them stand up in surprise.

-

From: Strea.

Subject: Heroes Association, assemble!

Emergency, everyone! Something VERY BAD is going on!

We're not sure what exactly, but we think it may be related to the whole Excaliber business, it CAN'T be a coincidence it happened the same day me and Yui-nee detected this 'disturbance'. Please, come to Alne's main inn as soon as possible, we will be waiting on the 3rd Room of the 2nd Floor.

We may not have much time to stop a catastrophe from happening!

-

Both Kazuto and Suguha were already halfway to their rooms even before having finished the messages, while the gamer cursed his life.

It looked like there really was no resting from all the madness on his life, eh?

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Anyone who was a regular player of Alfheim Online would have noticed the odd contradiction seen in Alne that day. The previous capital of the world of fairies (The current one being Yggdrasil city above) was emptier than usual, yet there was quite a lot of excitement in the air and many players could be seen talking around and exchanging messages everywhere.

Seeing this, Kirito and Leafa exchanged worried glances for a moment before heading towards the meeting point at the inn, their minds swirling with the implications of it all.

"It has to be because of the sword…the ones still here must be the less experienced players and most of the rest must have gone down to Jotunheimr to try and get it…" reasoned the Spriggan while putting a hand under his chin.

"But…did so many people discover the secret and helped out one of Tonky's siblings?" wondered the Sylph with a small frown, her hand around Justice's hilt, even as the caped boy also frowned.

Certainly, it was something that had been bothering him for the last minutes. It wasn't that he thought the legendary blade would be hidden forever, but he was pretty sure that the odds of anyone ever discovering the Secret Quest you needed to do in order to be able to arrive to its resting place on that upside-down pyramid of ice were absurdly low. After all, one needed to be either an idiot or have a heart of gold (Which he was proud his adoptive sister had) to take pity on one of the Evil God monsters roaming Jotunheimr to try and help the Beast-Type ones when they were about to be killed by the Humanoid-Type ones. The gamer was pretty sure that most players would wait for the battle to end or at least to be near its end to try and ambush the humanoid-type field boss and try to bring it down while it was distracted, while also trying to deal the finishing blow to the weakened beast-type one to get the exp. obtained from slaying it.

That was the main reason why no one had ever encountered Excaliber, and maybe also the reason why the original developers had made it that way. After all, you needed to think not as a person playing a game to uncover the way to the ultimate sword, but as a real inhabitant of that virtual world taking pity on the life of another creature…

Any thoughts the Spriggan had about the implications of that with the current situation, however, were put on hold as he and his sister/girlfriend arrived at the inn, walking towards the meeting point and finding several of their friends already there, a worried Strea walking around the center of the room.

"Ah, Kirito, Leafa-sama, you're here." greeted Sinon while sending a soft smile their way, before turning to look at the nervous Gnome once again. "Perhaps you will have more luck calming her down…"

"I'm calmed down, Sinon-san! It's just that this weird worrying-thingie is new to me and I'm not used to it, okay?!" quickly shouted the AI before grabbing her hair and looking worriedly out of the window. "Auuuuugh, what's taking Yui-nee so long?!"

"Yes, she had been like this since we entered." answered Argo the unspoken question both siblings had. "We have more or less managed to get out of her that whatever 'bad thing' she and Yui-chan think is going on has to do with the whole Excaliber deal, but her current 'state' makes it difficult to get more details…"

"I have to say, I have never seen her like this, not even when we were traveling together back in SAO before joining the Association." commented Philia while worriedly looking at Strea. "Kirito, can you try and calm her down?"

"Uh? Me?" blinking in surprise, the caped boy looked at his fellow Spriggan with surprise. "Why do you think I would have more luck with it than any of you?"

At that, the room fell deadly silent (Except for Strea's continuous muttering as she kept walking around), even as the gamer felt every single pair of eyes zeroing on him, even those of Leafa at his side.

"…you don't really want us answering that question, you know?" muttered Lisbeth while shaking her head.

"Kirito-sama…please, be a bit more reasonable about this…" sighed Sachi even as she looked away from him.

Silica didn't say anything, suddenly finding looking over Pina's back feathers to be very interesting, but the implied agreement was painful to see.

The gamer suddenly froze, getting what Philia had been implying and what every single girl didn't want to bring up: Strea's words the first day New Aincrad was added to ALO…and how she kissed him.

Certainly, the lack of any chance on the upbeat girl's attitude since them had slowly let him to forget how she had shamelessly proclaimed her love for him in front of everyone before stealing his breath away with her lips, not to mention he HAD truly believed that maybe the Gnome wasn't really sure of the concept behind her words and actions…

But he had to accept that a small part of him had been scared of what would happen if he ever brought it up again, hence why he had never done so, and why he had been so relieved to see the ever-happy AI girl didn't either. And he was even less inclined to do so now that he was in such an 'especial' relationship like the one he had with Suguha and Asuna.

Even so, it was clear that they were counting on him (Kind of) to get Strea out of her current nervous mood and obtain an explanation about what was happening, so he steeled himself and walked closer to the Gnome, keenly aware of how Leafa walked a step closer to him before he did so.

He was also aware that every girl in the room was watching him with sharp eyes, and he dearly wished Keita and the other guys were already there.

"Uhm…Strea? What's going on? You okay?"

As if she had been snapped out of a trance, the AI blinked before turning around, staring at Kirito with wide eyes. The Spriggan, for his part, waited expectantly to see how she would react.

He certainly wasn't imagining that Strea would throw herself at him and encircle him with her arms, burying her face on his chest and shaking. The gamer saw the same surprise he was feeling (Along with something else a familiar part of his brain was screaming to him not to think about) reflected on the face of every single girl there, even as he awkwardly patted the Gnome's hair and sent his pouting sister an apologetic look, at which she reluctantly nodded.

"Ahhh, Kiritoooo!" whined Strea while holding him as tight as she could, either ignoring or not caring about the looks the other females in the room were sending her way. "I…I'm scared! I don't know why, but this feeling that something horrible will happen just keeps growing and growing, and I don't know why!"

"I-it's okay, Strea, don't worry." muttered the caped boy while trying to soothe her under the worried gazes of the rest of the guild, who were looking at their virtual friend while wondering what they could do. "We're all here with you now, okay? We will solve the problem, no matter how difficult or crazy it is."

"Yo-you mean it?" asked her while looking up at him with teary eyes…which was kind of awkward to see, given that she was in fact slightly taller than the boy.

"I promise." solemnly declared the Spriggan. "And I never back down on a promise."

At this, Sinon blushed slightly and looked down while fiddling with the hilt of her katana, clearly reminding what had happened on the BoB. No one in the room noticed…except for Argo, who gave her a quick glance before returning to look at the Devi…ehem, the poor and scared Gnome.

"Kirito…heh, you always remind me why meeting you was the best thing in my life." grinned Strea before leaning upwards and giving a quick peck to the boy's cheek, making every girl in the room freeze and he to almost jump back from the shock. "That way of always worrying for others is what I love so much about you!"

"Uh…I…"

"He-hey, Strea-san!" shouted Leafa while quickly stomping forward, having recovered before everyone else, her face flushed with anger and embarrassment. "Wha-what are you…?!"

She was summarily interrupted when the Gnome girl let go of the blinking Spriggan to turn around and quickly 'catch' her in another hug, burying the shocked Sylph's face on her chest.

"Don't worry, Leafa-chan! I love you too! And everyone here!" she cheerfully announced while smiling widely at everyone. "Because love is a beautiful thing that should be shared, don't you think?"

While Leafa's muffled voice filled the room as she unsuccessfully tried to get her face out of the AI's breasts, every girl in the room, even Argo, the only one who had caught the 'indirect' in her words, quickly took a step back away from the smiling Strea, as if suddenly fearing for their integrity. All except Sinon, who stood up and pointed at the Gnome with an outraged and blushing face.

"He-hey, Strea-san, release Leafa-sama this instant!" hotly demanded the resident fan of the Bicycle Girl.

"Oww, what's wrong, Sinon-san?" teased Strea while turning towards the Caith Sith with a wide and 'innocent' smile. "Do you want a hug too?"

Kirito (Who was trying to do his best to suppress any 'improper' thought that came from watching his adoptive sister's current position), blinked with surprise when Sinon's bow quickly materialized on her hands in less than a second, an arrow pointed towards the cheerful AI girl as she took a fearful step back.

"N-no thanks, s-stay away from me!"

"AIR!" shouted Leafa when she finally managed to get away from Strea's 'iron-grip of love'. "Sweet virtual air…!"

"Uhm…you couldn't really die of asphyxiation here, though…" helpfully commented Sachi while the Sylph kept taking several mouthfuls of air.

"Everyone, I'm back!" announced Yui while flying into the room, quickly followed by a worried Asuna. "And I think something weird is going…uh?"

"What the…?" muttered the Undine with confusion at the scene, her gaze moving from Strea's happy smile to Sinon's aimed bow, then to the slightly scared girls, the deeply-breathing Leafa and the unmoving Kirito. "What's going on? Sinonon, why are you aiming at Strea-san?"

"Eh?" muttered everyone in the room, sans the aforementioned Gnome, as one, their eyes turning to see the newcomers with evident confusion.

"Uhm, I…no real reason?" tried the Caith Sith with a sheepish look, apparently not minding or noticing the 'nickname' Asuna had given her.

"…did something happen while we weren't here?" curiously asked Yui while looking around.

"N-no, Yui-chan, nothing happened at all!" quickly said Leafa while waving her hands, not noticing how Strea winked from behind her. "Absolutely nothing! Right, Onii-chan?!"

"Uh? Oh, yeah, nothing happened, and…do you know what's taking Keita and the rest so long?" spoke the boy while trying to change the subject, his eyes shooting around in search of the missing males of the group.

"Ah, they said they were truly sorry, but that they couldn't come." answered Asuna while looking down with a small frown, even as the resident Hero froze at the words. "Apparently they were all away in Tokyo buying some spare computer parts for a project they're preparing, so they will take too long in going back to their homes…"

"Oh yeah, I remember Keita-kun mentioning that yesterday," added Sachi with a suddenly surprised look, having apparently forgotten about it in the heat of the moment. "Something about taking advantage of this being the first Sunday we hadn't planned doing anything in a long time to finally get those pieces…guess it will have to be just us saving the day this time, uh?"

"Yes…it looks like it…" sighed Kirito while resisting the urge to facepalm, even as Yui urged everyone to get their equipment ready to head down to Jotunheimr as soon as they could.

Somehow, the caped boy knew this was somehow going to end with him having a headache…

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"So, let me get this straight…" said Asuna a bit later, as the group ran down an unusually long flight of stairs. "You both woke up this morning feeling that something was 'wrong', then deduced it had to do with this whole business about the legendary sword since it was too big of a coincidence?"

"That's right, Asuna-mama!" confirmed Yui from her place on Strea's shoulder, at the very back of the group, which Kirito led down the secret passage that would lead them to Jotunheimr and that apparently was only known by him and Leafa. "Even more so, whatever Quest the players are doing so frantically to try and get Excaliber is NOT the one Leafa-mama and Papa did that involved saving a member of Tonky-san's family. We're not sure WHAT exactly the Quest they're doing is, but it apparently involves some kind of monster extermination. Given the current circumstances, that can't be good…"

"Certainly, if something is disturbing your Ninja Way to such a degree then it MUST be something bad." agreed Silica with a serious look on her face, Pina flying right after her. "Do not worry, Yui-chan, Strea-san, for together we shall overcome this obstacle!"

"…kyuuu." sighed Pina while shaking his head.

"Yeah, I agree, it's very cute when she goes 'full-ninja' mode." softly chuckled Philia while the group's kunoichi exploded in denials and glares towards her faithful pet.

"Ugh…am I the only one who wonders why these dammed stairs are so long?" complained Lisbeth as they kept going through the seemingly endless descend. "I mean, we have been going down for almost 5 minutes!"

"Well, you should be grateful that Kii-bou and Leafa-chi now this shortcut at all, otherwise we would need a bit more than half an hour to get to Jotunheimr the way everyone else is going." explained Argo with a hint of amusement. "Though I have to accept it, going through so many stairs is starting to make me feel like a Bronze Saint…"

"A what saint?" asked Sachi with confusion while looking at the Caith Sith, who blinked and looked from her to the others' questioning looks with disbelief.

"Really? No one got the reference? Am I the only one here who ever watched Saint Seiya?"

"…I'm truly worried about this 'Alternative Quest' business, to be honest." commented Kirito aloud to break the awkward silence that had followed the whiskered girl's question. "I mean, why bother to hide the way to get Excaliber in such a clever and complicated way if there apparently was another, easier one? It doesn't sound like anything your usual programmer would do…"

"Yeah, Onii-chan is right." nodded Leafa while biting her lips, a look of worry on her face. "Besides, it's hard for me to believe that they would make another way for it besides what we did for Tonky. It kinda makes his 'salvation' seem…cheap."

"Then there must clearly be some kind of serious problem hidden in this!" proclaimed Sinon with total conviction, the sniper almost at the end of the group, just in front of Strea. "If Leafa-sama thinks that the way she and Kirito discovered is the only one, then it must clearly be so!"

"Sinon-san, I have told you several times to drop the 'sama' bit…"

"Yay, that's the spirit, Sinon-chan!" happily cheered Strea while eying the blue-haired Caith Sith's rear with a dangerous glint. "You must be really happy about being able to fight at your Heroine's side, right?"

"We-well, it's obviously an honor to know that I…!"

"Got you!" shouted Strea with a massive grin, interrupting the blushing Sinon's words as she grabbed her swaying cat tail and squeezed on it.

Now, there is something that must be made clear for everyone: Alfheim Online became very famous when it came out thanks to its flying mechanic, of course, but that was just part of something very 'interesting' that many players had discovered. Just like you needed to 'imagine you had' the 'virtual bones' to move your wings on your back if you wanted to master Voluntary Flight, reason why only the truly dedicated players were able to do so, the 'alien sensations' that were most popular in ALO were those that anyone who played as a Caith Sith could explain: The tails and the ears.

Unlike every other race in the game, who was almost identical to a human except for the pointy ears, which weren't really that 'weird' on the body, the animal ears and tail possessed by the Monster Taming-race of fairies were something that humans lacked in reality, hence the 'simulated sensations' that came from them were extremely alien and 'weird'. If asking for clarification, a Caith Sith player would only say that they were very sensitive with a blush and try to change the subject. How anyone wanted to interpret that was something free to their own imagination (Though on a side note, one of ALO's male players' secret greatest wishes was apparently to have a Caith Sith girlfriend).

But in the end, the point was that the tail of a Caith Sith was a very sensitive thing. And for Sinon, who not only had been playing with that avatar for less than a week but also had been severely lacking in physical human contact for several years, that went doubly so.

As such, no one could have blamed the sniper when she squeaked like a surprised animal and jumped almost a meter in the air, dragging the surprised Strea, who couldn't let go of her tail in time, as both of them rolled forward.

Towards the rest of the surprised girls.

If anyone were to ask later to Yui, who had a first-row view of the incident, how it had been like, she would simply answer with a curt 'Messy'.

Kirito, stopping dead on his tracks at the sudden screams, turned around in time for Asuna to come crashing against him, followed by a ball of falling girls.

Sadly for him, as Saitama had shown several times through his series, logic-defying strength did not mean logic-defying balance if caught unaware. As such, having all 9 of his female friends (His pseudo-daughter aside, given she was in Pixie form) crashing down on him just as he turned around and had a foot in the air mid-step caused the only normal outcome.

A falling ball of teenagers rolling down countless steps, that is.

Ten seconds of virtual non-pain later, the United Heroes Association (Minus 4 boys) crashed against the snow-covered platform of rock carved straight out of Jotunheimr's ceiling, in a groaning mess of tangled limbs.

Back in the real world, Toyonaga Toshiyuki froze in the middle of looking over several computer parts, blinking as he looked to the side.

"Something the matter, Keita?" asked Takuya while looking at his older friend with confusion.

"I…am not sure, Ducker. But suddenly, I feel strangely glad that we couldn't go help the others with whatever mess they were in." accepted the other boy with a confused frown.

"…that's kind of harsh, but for some reason it makes me think it involves Kirito somehow…" sighed the dagger-user while sweatdropping.

"Hey, Ducker, Keita, come, I and Tetsuo just found the motherboard we were searching for!"

"Really?!" exclaimed the two boys while turning around, suddenly forgetting their strange conversation and running to join their fellow computer-loving friends.

Meanwhile, on ALO, the awkward group was already standing up again and trying to not stare too much at one another while they shook the snow off their clothes…except for Strea, who was looking sheepishly at Sinon while scratching her head.

"Heh, so-sorry, Sinon-chan, I didn't think you would react so…amazingly."

From a moment to the next, the Caith Sith somehow seemed to teleport from standing beside the Gnome to being half-hidden behind Kirito's cape, half-crouching as she snarled in a very cat-like way towards the blinking AI, her ears and tail standing threateningly.

"S-stay away from me!" half-growled the sniper, her eyes never leaving Strea's form as she unconsciously put a hand over the base of her tail.

"…awww, Sinon-chan, you're so adorable!" gushed the Gnome in response, a bright and innocent smile on her face as she clasped her hands together. "You look like a kitty hiding behind her master in the face of trouble!"

Freezing, the blue-haired girl finally seemed to realize the position she had adopted without thinking, her eyes quickly moving around to see how every girl around was STARING at her in silence while a very awkward-looking Kirito looked down at her as he scratched the back of his head.

Once again showing up that unreal speed of her, Sinon squeaked and moved to the edge of the rocky platform, apparently not caring about the deadly fall just behind her, face burning crimson.

"So-sorry, I-I wasn't thinking and, uhm,…!"

"Let's just call Tonky and do as if the last minutes never happened, okay?" proposed Leafa with an embarrassed face, making everyone nod as she got closer to the edge and, after awkwardly smiling at the sniper's grateful face, calling out to the cold land with a loud whistle.

After a couple seconds of silence, an echoing trumpeting sound answered from the abyss, and most of the group let their eyes widen and their mouths to open when Tonky's imposing and multi-eyed form came flying from somewhere beyond their sight, a small smile forming on the black-haired Spriggan's face while the Sylph, Gnome, and Pixie happily beamed.

"Tonky-san!" happily greeted Yui as the massive creature stopped just at the platform's side, slowly moving its strange wings to hover in place in a way that pretty much said 'fuck you' to the laws of physics. "It's great to see you again!"

"Yay!" quickly agreed Strea while hugging Tonky's trunk. "How have you been, big guy?"

"Everyone, this is Tonky!" introduced Leafa with a radiant smile while patting part of the creature's enormous head, looking at everyone with shining eyes. "Isn't he the cutest thing you have ever seen?!"

The several beads of sweat rolling down the back of the girls' heads were a clear indication that they didn't quite share the same concept of 'cute' as the excited blonde Sylph.

"It's…a giant elephant-jellyfish-thing…" muttered Lisbeth while looking the creature up and down.

"Which flies. Let's not forget about that important bit." added Argo while carefully getting closer to Tonky, just a bit unnerved from the many eyes following her.

"It certainly is a…impressive being, Leafa-san." carefully answered Silica while Pina flew off her head, stopping in front of one of the creature's many eyes. "And it's, uhm…very big."

"…kyuu." summarized the feathery dragon of the resident kunoichi.

"Bagaaa…" softly answered Tonky, giving an almost imperceptible nod at Pina, who quickly flew and sat down on top of its head.

At that moment, a friendship that transcended the limits of respect, reality and virtual species was born!

Meanwhile, everyone blinked in confusion, given that none of them understood what the elephant-jellyfish had said.

"Well, if Pina approves of it then I guess we can trust Tonky-san to take us!" determinedly nodded Sachi while raising her spear.

"Hey! Were you giving more trust to him than to me?!" pouted Leafa while putting her arms on her fists and mock-glaring at everyone.

"You would know how to better value that little dragon's opinion if you had gone through SAO with us." sighed Philia while walking forward and starting to climb through the elephant-jellyfish's fur, the many eyes following her movements not bothering the Ronin. "Sometimes he was the only one with enough common sense in the group."

"I feel as if you just insulted us all with that, Philia…" muttered Kirito while Tonky's trunk moved and got a hold of his adoptive sister, who laughed at everyone's gobsmacked expression's as the creature put her on his back.

"Nah, you're imagining it, great leader." grinned the other Spriggan while everyone finally started to climb on the elephant-jellyfish's back, Silica squeaking when, at Pina's petition, she was also raised by Tonky's trunk. The gamer deadpanned at her before simply jumping on the creature's head.

"Well…got to accept it, this is very cool." said Asuna the moment they were all in and Tonky took flight again, a collective sense of wonder filling them as they gazed over Jotunheimr's frozen lands. "Tonky-san is as amazing as you said, Leafa-chan!"

"Isn't he, Asuna?!" happily replied the Sylph while patting the elephant-jellyfish's back. "He's the cutest thing in all of ALO!"

"If you…say so." sweatdropped the Undine while everyone else (Sans Strea and Yui) wisely shut up, even as Kirito looked around from the top of Tonky's head and frowned.

"Say, Yui, Strea…that bad feeling you got…is it getting any stronger?"

"…yes, it is, Papa." worriedly commented the pixie while flying towards his shoulder, everyone else exchanging worried looks as the Gnome fidgeted in place a bit, trying to reassure them she was okay by smiling. "I'm still not sure of what it is, but it has grown since we entered Jotunheimr proper, so…"

"What's going on down there?" suddenly came Sinon's sharp voice, making everyone turn and look the way the confused sniper was doing, only to see a scene that surprised the whole group.

Down at ground level, a big group of players, probably a proper Raid, was attacking one of the Beast-Type Evil God mobs that were Tonky's 'pre-evolution'. That in itself wouldn't have been strange…if it wasn't for the fact that they were being helped by one of the Humanoid-Type Evil Gods, the mob not even glancing at the fairies as it helped them to bring down the helpless elephant-jellyfish.

A volley of spells and a couple of swings from massive swords later, the creature burst into polygons, making all the Players cheer from their one-sided victory. The surprising and foreboding thing, though, was that the evil giant mob ALSO joined the cheer, with a sinister and deep sound that may have been a chuckle. Apparently not caring about this, the Raid started to move eagerly towards their next target, the Evil Mob following after them in a 'friendly' way.

Tonky released a sad trumpeting sound as it kept flying.

"What in the fucking hell?" summarized Kirito what everyone was thinking.

"Wh-why didn't that other mob attack them?" questioned a confused Asuna while looking towards her Sensei. "Did some player Tame it?"

"No, that's impossible. The Taming percentage for all of Jotunheimr's Evil God monsters is of 0%" informed Argo while her frown deepened. "This…maybe this is the rumored 'Extermination Quest' to get Excaliber?"

"Bu-but that doesn't make sense!" shouted a clearly distressed Leafa while glaring down at the far-away group of Players. "Why would kill the poor siblings of Tonky, who are the ones that supposedly have to take you to the sword, help you get it?!"

"Because you're all being deceived, young fairies." proclaimed a sudden and glorious-sounding voice.

Turning around as their ride slowed down, the shocked members of the Heroes Association saw how an impressive female figure over 3 meters tall materialized from thin air, floating at Tonky's side. The otherworldly woman of turquoise pupils looked down at the fairies, her wavy fin-shaped blonde-green hair shining with the same power that covered her elegant dress. She was beautiful in a way that was clearly out of fantasy, but her face was marred by a worried and sad look as she looked down at the Heroes.

"Holy…" whispered Lisbeth at the sight, the others slowly getting out of their shock at the pink-haired Leprechaun's words.

"Greetings, noble fairies, and forgive me for startling you all." apologized the shining woman with a small bow. "I'm Urd, one of the rulers and Goddesses of Jotunheimr's Beast Tribe, together with my sisters, and I need your help before it's too late and Ragnarok falls upon us."

"That's…woah, that's one the most complicated things I have ever heard any NPC saying." confessed Sinon while the group silently agreed. "Is that normal around here?"

"No, it's not." confessed Argo while staring at Urd, something half-forgotten echoing in her mind. "In fact, it reminds me of…"

"Kraken and Leviathan." quickly finished Kirito with a deep-thinking look, everyone else in the group blinking at remembering the names from the Quest at that undersea temple Sinon and Argo had cleared together with the boys. "They could also talk like this, as if they were 'alive'…"

"Papa…that NPC is connected directly to Cardinal's language engine module." muttered Yui with clear surprise. "It has a level of Artificial Intelligence on its own because of that…but I have never seen anything like that happening before. It's way too strange for Cardinal to suddenly do that for a random Quest…"

"Then maybe this is really more serious than we thought." commented Strea before walking forward. "Oh, great, uhm, Urd-san! What problem is this that you ask us to help you with?"

"It's something of utmost importance, young Gnome." answered the virtual Goddess while everyone sweatdropped at their most lively member's antics. "Thrym, King of Frost Giants, is deceiving your race with the promise of Excaliber to help him slaughter our children, when he never has had any intention of giving away the Sacred Blade, which is currently resting on the depths of his icy fortress, Thrymheim."

"You mean that big inverted-pyramid place up there?" asked Philia while everyone turned to look at the fortress of ice that seemed to have been carved out of Jotunheimr's very own 'ceiling'. "But wait…how can this Thrym guy be deceiving anyone to do his dirty work? Can an NPC even do that?"

"Funny thing, now that you mention it. The NPC that was giving away this Extermination Quest is apparently a guy called 'Thrym', or at least that's what I managed to gather with the little time we had before meeting up back in Alne." informed Argo while crossing her arms, clearly not liking the fact of fake information being spread. "But I thought players were claiming the guy had actually shown them the sword…"

"Thrym is a master of disguise and a very cunning evil being. What he showed to your fellow fairies is most likely the 'Fake Sword Caliburn'. A replica of the holy Excaliber in everything but its true power." revealed Urd with a sad and bitter tone. "It's nothing more than a piece of scrap, and obviously something the Giant King would use to achieve his dark objectives."

"Which are?" questioned the caped boy, feeling a sense of foreboding even before the goddess uttered her next words.

"The destruction of your land, fairies. He will annihilate Alfheim and bring about The End of Days: Ragnarok."

An eerie silence stretched over the group at those words.

"That…sounds kinda like, really bad." muttered Argo with a slightly panicked face, reflecting how everyone was feeling at the ominous declaration.

"Wa-wait what do you mean he's going to destroy Alfheim?!" shouted Leafa with a scared look.

"To understand it better you should first hear the full story." spoke Urd as she raised her hands, images appearing as she did so. "Jotunheimr, our realm, wasn't always the deserted land of ice you see here. Before, it was a beautiful place blessed by Yggdrasil's grace, where our children lived peacefully…but one day, Thrym came under the disguise of a wolf and stole Excaliber from its resting place, then threw it at the spring named after me, in the center of Jotunheimr." as she said these words, the goddess let them see the beautiful lake that had once been were the Great Void now was, and the image of Excaliber falling into it tip-first. "The power of the Holy Sword is something beyond comprehension, and as such it was easily able to cut through Yggdrasil's roots. The moment that happened…Jotunheimr lost the blessings of the World Tree, and became the frozen wasteland you know today…" in the images the Heroes Association was seeing, the land slowly died even as Urd's Spring froze over and the roots of Yggdrasil retracted upwards towards the land's canopy, dragging the frozen water with it, Excaliber trapped on the tip of the severed and frozen largest root. Then, as if time was passing at hyper speed, the ice changed shape into the inverted pyramid they could see in the present. "Then Thrym created his icy fortress, Thrymheim, from which he could look down on all of us, and where he has kept Excaliber, still stabbing into Yggdrasil's roots. Since then, it has been an eternal war down here between his giants and our children, mine and my sisters' powers being the only thing holding him back…but this is no longer the case. Now that he has gained the aid of your race with his last nefarious trick, he will finally be able to continue with his evil plan: If all of our children are slain, our power will vanish and nothing will stop him from rising Thrymheim into Alfheim and start the destruction of your world."

"Wait, that thing would go all the way up?!" as she shouted this, Sachi was not the only one who looked at the massive pyramid in shock. "But…it's right under Alne! If that fortress were to go up…"

"It would totally destroy the city just by emerging." finished Asuna with a grim tone, her grip on the rapier at her side tightening.

"And from there, it would start destroying everything else…" added Kirito with a serious look, before looking back at Urd. "Is that how it goes?"

"Yes, I'm afraid. Once he has breached into Alfheim, Thrym will call all the might of his Frozen Giants from Niflheim to reduce the world of the fairies to something similar to what Jotunheimr is now on his war to destroy the Aesir, bringing about the beginning of Ragnarok…" shuddering at imagining that, the Goddess looked down at the Heroes with a pleading look. "Please, fairies, you're the last hope of all the realms! With all of his forces out helping the rest of your race with this nefarious mission, Thrymheim's defenses are at their lowest! You must infiltrate the icy fortress and recover Excaliber, extracting it from the roots of Yggdrasil and restore Jotunheimr to its former glory! Only that way will you be able to stop Ragnarok!"

With those words said, the group received a notification that they had accepted the Quest 'The Holy Sword of the Ice Palace'. They were so shocked by what they had just been told that they didn't really bother thinking about the oddity of the Quest being literally forced upon them instead of giving then the option to refuse (Not that they would have).

"…don't worry, Urd-san." slowly nodded the gamer towards the goddess, even as everyone's expression became deadly serious. "We will take care of this."

"Thanks, noble fairies…here, take this." with a wave of her hands, a golden medallion with an emerald jewel embedded on its center appeared above the group, which Leafa was quick to catch, letting everyone see how there were several black spots on the jewel. "As long as that jewel isn't completely black, then Thrym's power would still be held back. But when the last of our children die and it loses all its shine…please, retrieve the Holy Sword before this happens!"

And with that last plea, the Queen of the Lake vanished in a shower of sparks, letting the United Heroes Association standing on Tonky's back, their mind still trying to process what had happened.

"…well, I think we can be sure that THIS is what that bad feeling of before was about." grimaced Strea while looking at the medallion on the Sylph's hands.

"Yui-chan…was that Urd said, is it really possible?" asked Argo with an extremely serious face, all the information they had received running through her head at high speed. "Can such a Quest like this that threatens to destroy the world just…HAPPEN like this, without any warning or notification to the Players?"

"…under normal circumstances no, Argo-mama…but if you're asking if it IS possible, then the answer is yes." grimly confirmed the Pixie while looking at the gathered group. "Even the whole bit about the 'end of the world' may not be an exaggeration. Remember, after all, that the ultimate purpose of the Cardinal System in SAO was to destroy itself and the Floating Castle Aincrad with it."

"In Norse Mythology, Ragnarok is how they refer to the apocalypse." commented Sinon while standing near Tonky's rear while looking down at the frozen wasteland, vaguely seeing the many parties aided by giants in their slaughter of the doomed beasts. "It's not a pretty thing, to be honest, and if this is anything like in the myths…"

"Uhm, exactly how do those myths go?" nervously asked Lisbeth, despite knowing she probably wouldn't like the answer.

"The Frost Giants will freeze the world, then the Fire Giants will burn it all down. The ancient beasts will awaken and the world itself will unleash its entire wrath, bringing about true chaos. The Gods shall descend to fight and die, not even immortals being safe from death until nothing remains and the floor is devoured by roaring water…" every single person in the group turned to look at Leafa in shock at her words, the blonde Sylph blinking before sheepishly looking away. "I-I kind of got into those mythological stories after starting to play ALO…"

"…yeah, Sinon-san is right, that doesn't sound pretty at all." worriedly looking at her friends, Silica bit her lips while Pina flew to her head in unusually serious silence. "Still…how can such a thing just happen like that?"

"Cardinal's Automated Quest Generation function." sharply said Strea with an unusual scowl. "It's how most of the Quest back in SAO were created, Cardinal would search information through the network and use determined things that fitted with Aincrad's setting to always create new Quests…" at this, both Kirito and Argo blinked, exchanging a glance before shuddering, both clearly knowing firsthand that this was indeed possible. "Someone in Ymir must have turned it on and accidentally let it run at full power. Without any restriction, Cardinal will create a Quest that fits with the theme of the game to make it as 'exciting' as possible without caring for the consequences…even if it means destroying the world in the process."

"Right…" deadpanned Philia while trying to reduce the horror being shown on her face, everyone sans Kirito in a similar state. "So…any chance we can just call for a GM to fix this mess before it's too late?"

"…today just so happens to be a day where the GM-service of ALO is down until later in the evening, Philia-mama." confirmed Yui something that everyone, as unlikely as that was, was fearing. "I guess THAT must be the reason why they haven't realized what is happening yet, but…"

"By the time anyone figures out what is happening, it will be too late." finished Asuna while taking a step forward, looking directly at her friends. "Well, guess that settles it, eh?"

"…yes, it seems we need to save the world." Shaking her head at the thought, Argo readied her claws while everyone else nodded with determination, except for a worried Leafa who was staring at the slowly darkening medallion. "Just another day in our crazy lives."

"Well, that's why we're heroes, right?" grinned Sachi while raising her spear, the Salamander fiercely gripping it. "We won't let that giant destroy Alfheim for some stupid reason!"

"You can bet on that, Sachi!" proclaimed Asuna while everyone smiled, before the Undine blinked at noticing the silent Sylph. "Leafa-chan? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, n-no, I also want to save Alfheim with all my heart, but…" biting her lips, the blonde swordswoman looked down at the beast medallion once again. "I just feel…horrible, thinking how all of Tonky's siblings are being killed right now. I know this is more important and that we still wouldn't be able to do much for them, but…"

Everyone's faces saddened a bit at that, especially Yui and Strea's. All of them, in one way or another and for one reason or another, had learned to think of the inhabitants of the virtual world as more than simple programs. Even Sinon, who had only known the virtual sisters for less than a week, had taken the reveal about their nature in stride and chalked it up to 'More Kirito-weirdness' before treating them as any of her new friends.

As if echoing their thoughts, Tonky made another sad but determined trumpeting sound. The flying elephant-jellyfish seemed to also be feeling down because of his race's fate, but understood how important it was for everyone to…

"…right, got it." suddenly said the only member of the group who had been silent for too long, making all the girl blink as they saw the caped boy walking past them and standing at the edge of Tonky's head. "Girls, I'm counting on you. Go kick that giant's ass, recover the sword and save the world."

"Wa-wait, what?" asked Leafa with utter shock, everyone's faces slowly changing as they understood what the Spriggan was implying. "But…Onii-chan, what will you…?"

"I will be busy becoming the most hated player around…again." informed Kirito with a lopsided grin, before fully turning around and crouching down. "But then again, that's why I am a gamer playing Hero for fun, right?"

Before anyone could even think of answering to his words, the boy JUMPED off Tonky, catapulting himself across the Giant Void and towards Jotunheimr's froze plains.

Every single member of the group rushed towards the edge of the elephant-jellyfish's back, but only the three Caith Siths (And even then only Sinon with perfect clarity) were able to properly see how he landed feet-first against the head of one of the evil giants, crushing it and turning the mob into polygons to the shock and confusion of the screaming raid that had been attacking one of Tonky's siblings.

Even as their also shocked ride started flying them away and towards Thrymheim, the girls were still able to hear the screams and curses as fairies started to fly without their wings left and right, via punches.

"…does he always do things like that?" asked Sinon aloud while staring at the now almost invisible form of the Spriggan with awe, respect…and something more.

"Yes, he does." answered the rest of the heroines with similar expressions, though some (Like Sachi and Silica) showed it more, while others (Asuna and Leafa) just let wide smiles appear on their blushing faces. The rest was a bit better in hiding their reactions, except the beaming Strea (Who didn't bother hiding it in the first place) and the extremely happy Yui.

"Papa. Is. Awesome!" proclaimed the little pixie while raising a fist in a punching motion.

"Heheh, you bet he is, Yui-nee! No wonder everyone loves him!" purposefully ignoring the double-meaning of her words, the Gnome turned towards the rest of the blinking girls and, before they had enough time to process what she said, pointed forward with Gram's strange edge. "Now, ready to kick some giant's ass and save ALO, everyone?!"

"U-uhm, yeah, you bet we are, Strea-san!" quickly answered Asuna while vanishing her rapier, quickly equipping Elucidator and Fafnir's Fang before turning towards her friends and guildmates. "Sensei is counting on us, and everyone in Alfheim too, even if they don't know it, so let's give our best!"

With an enthusiastic cheer as they raised and joined their weapons, the team of Heroines turned to face the imposing form of Thrymheim. The moment they arrived to the icy fortress' entrance and jumped off Tonky, who dedicated them a worried trumpeting sound, they ran forward without hesitation, easily falling into a battle formation at which even Sinon, who had been with them the less time, was quick to adapt. There was a burning determination in all of their eyes even as their beast-friend flew away, maybe to hide or to try and find their Spriggan leader.

Kirito was getting the 'hard work' done on the ground, protecting Tonky's siblings and, in doing so, giving them more time.

Nothing would stop them from saving Alfheim.

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The Black and Gold Minotaurus, proud Bosses of Thrymheim's second floor, were without a doubt extremely powerful and highly dangerous enemies to face.

Compared to the giant Cyclops that acted as the Boss for the icy fortress' first floor, these creatures were armed with powerful battle axes and possessed an extremely efficient fighting strategy: Despite starting the battle together, every time one of them had their HP reduced below a certain value, it would retreat into a 'Meditating' state to start regaining HP, then the other would ignore all the 'Hate' it had gathered to protect its partner until it had regained enough energy to make the players' previous efforts pointless. Even more, the Gold one was extremely resistant to physical attacks, while the Black one was to magical attacks, so combined they were able to cover up for their weaknesses perfectly. When you added to that the fact that they possessed an instant kill, though easily avoidable, attack with their axes and an unavoidable splash-damage one able to hit an entire party in one go, it was safe to say that these were ones of the most complex and powerful Bosses in ALO, excluding whatever upgraded versions of Aincrad's Floor Bosses Ymir was preparing for future updates.

Perhaps that was why, thanks to the slightly advanced AI they possessed given the current circumstances, both were kinda pissed that the group of girls was not only beaten the crap out of them with relative ease (Then again, Argo and Yui figuring out their fighting strategy in the first 5 minutes had helped) but that three of them were even feeling confident enough to have SMALL TALK while fighting them!

"So, Strea-san…" casually started Asuna while giving a rough slash towards the Black Minotaurus, the Gold one (Currently finishing to recover) only watching helplessly at his partner's HP went into the red zone. "Leafa-chan here told me…what you said before."

"Oh, really?" cheerfully commented the Gnome while using Gram's Ethereal Shift to easily bypass the swinging axe of her enemy, otherworldly darkness from her Unique Skill shrouding her as she mercilessly inflicted critical damage on the doomed Boss. "What about it?"

"Uhm, well, you see…" started Leafa while jumping over the black Minotaurus' swinging arm, even as Argo shouted for the rest to be prepared as the Gold one started to rise again, reminding the trio to finish off the black one before it could retreat. "Yo-you may not know it, but, wha-what you suggested the o-other day, about m-me and Asuna-san with Onii-chan…well, we kind of…did it."

"Ah…yeah, I already knew about that!" nonchalantly said the AI girl before spinning through the air and impaling the Minotaurus' nose with Gram's edge, just at the same time as Asuna unleashed a 'Nightmare Rain' on its chest, the Dual Blades Skill being enough to finish off the poor Boss after the 15 minutes of its first and most humiliating fight, even as the shocked Undine stared open-mouthed at her virtual friend.

"Yo-you knew?!" repeated the Dual Wielder while she and the blonde Sylph looked in shock at the sheepish-looking Strea. "How?!"

"Oh, let's just say I…have my ways." 'explained' the younger of the virtual sisters, with a smile that sent a strange shiver running down the back of both girls.

"Bu-but then, why…?"

"Did I still say that? Why do you think?" asked the Gnome while looking a Leafa with a suddenly…'strange' expression, even as they could hear Argo cursing in the background and Sinon shouting something about Sachi covering her, followed by a small explosion. "I was serious, you know. Every time I have said it, I have been. I really love Kirito."

"S-Strea-san…" started Asuna before the AI girl smiled widely at her and the blonde Sylph, turning around to stare towards the frozen ceiling.

"Tell me, Asuna, Leafa…where do you each other in the future? In 5 years? 10?"

"Wha-what? Why ask that all of a sudden…?" started the fairy swordswoman while gripping Justice's Wings humming hilt a bit tightly.

"Maybe happy, with kids and a family?" the Gnome seemed to purposely ignore the way in which both girls' faces heated up at that question, simply smiling widely. "Perhaps working in something you like? Practicing a sport at international level? Well then, let me ask you…where do you ME and Yui-nee in that time?"

The Undine and the Sylph froze, as if the thought had just cut through some invisible veil on their minds. In the background, they idly heard Philia screaming bloody murder after failing to cut off one of the Golden Minotaurus' hands, and what seemed like Silica asking what they were doing, but they 'ignored' it in favor of staring at their virtual friend in shock.

"Wait…why are you…?"

"ALO won't be running forever, you know? This whole Ragnarok business, even if we stop it…it only has made me realize it even more. Sooner or later, this game will close. Even if by some miracle it doesn't, there will be a point where you will outgrow 'playing games', no matter how you like them. You're humans, after all, and that's part of growing up…and when that happens, Yui-nee and I will only have one another."

"Ho-hold on, Strea-san, don't say that!" shouted Leafa with a worried and sad face, though her voice was drowned by the roar of the remaining Boss trying to crush Lisbeth with his axe, and failing to do anything to her thanks to her 'Hades Armor' Skill, which allowed the rest to ambush it. "We would never abandon any of you like that!"

"Oh, I'm not accusing you of ever wanting to do that by your own will, believe me, I know both of you too well for that, girls. But…you can't fight against the fact that you will both have a life out of this world, one that I can't be part of." the smile on Strea's face never seemed sadder that when she looked at both girls in that moment, both feeling as if someone was tugging painfully at their hearts at the sight. "Sooner or later, we won't be able to just 'keep existing'. Be it one way or another…we will part ways. And the only thing I want to be sure of before that happens…is that all my friends were as happy as possible, and that I could be happy with them!"

"Strea …please, don't say that…" whispered Asuna, tears starting to form on her eyes as she walked closer to her.

"I won't interfere with your feelings, don't worry. I'm not saying that you need to convince Kirito of anything now either, I respect and cherish what you feel for him and how he feels about you, but…everyone deserves a chance to be happy, don't you think?" turning away from them, as if to hide tears, the Gnome totally did not remark a certain word for any hidden intentions. "So…won't you let me try and bring happiness to everyone, while we are together? Won't you let me love him too, even if can only be from this world that separates us?"

"…snif…ugu…Strea-saaaan!" cried Leafa while trapping the AI girl into a hug, at which Asuna joined shortly after, both trying to hold back tears (Which sadly wasn't possible in the virtual world) as they tried to mitigate what they thought was an existential loneliness their friend had been feeling for a long time. "Do-don't worry! We wo-won't leave you alone! A-and I'm okay with your feelings for Onii-chan, really! To think that you were hurting so much inside…"

"Strea, idiot! Don't ever hide something like that from us again…" sniffed the Undine while the Gnome happily hugged them back, making for a touching and heartfelt scene. "I don't mind that you also love Sensei when your feelings are so pure…please, don't be sad!"

"Aww, Asuna, Leafa…" softly sobbed Strea while holding them as tight as she could. "You two are the best friends any Artificial Intelligence could ever ask for!"

That only made both of them cry harder, even as they told her to never refer to herself as anything else than a person.

Hence, they were too busy to see how she smiled and, stealthily, gave Yui a small thumbs-up.

Said Pixie, who was at the other side of the room but staring happily at the scene, returned the gesture, at the same time that the Golden Minotaurus exploded into polygons behind her, the other girls screaming in relief.

After all, instead of making carefully complicated lies, everyone knew that the best way of manipulating things the way you wanted them to go (Which was totally good if you were doing it for good reasons, of course!) was by telling the absolute and pure truth…even if they weren't as worried about the future as Strea had made it out to be. Especially with the, ehem, 'totally legal participation' they had been doing lately in the international bourse and several international financial markets. The less said about it the better, but let's just said that, if their stock exchange keep going the way it was, none of the members of the United Heroes Association would need to be too worried about the future…among other things.

At that moment, down on Jotunheimr's plains, Kirito felt a chill run down his body as he finished putting another of Tonky's siblings on one of the many lakes of the area. The gamer quickly shook his head, told the jellyfish-elephant to wait there with the rest and ran away, deciding to ignore the ominous feeling he was feeling and concentrate on his current task, only idly looking towards Thrymheim's distant form while several spells from players screaming 'IT'S HIM!' started to rain upon him, before shaking his head and continuing. The girls were perfectly able to deal with whatever was happening there, he knew that, and anything else was a problem that, as Saitama would said, could be left to the 'tomorrow's me'.

On a totally unrelated note, Future Kirito would always hold an eternal grudge towards Present Kirito for moments like this, as stupid as that sounds.

"…hey, why…why are they all hugging over there?" asked Lisbeth while catching her breath, looking at the hugging trio at the room's other side.

"No idea…maybe they went all emotive after killing the other one because of something?" ventured Sachi while using her spear to quickly stand again.

"It must be something important, if Leafa-sama thought we could do this in our own instead of helping us…" softly muttered Sinon while looking at the scene with…sharp eyes?

"Yeah…probably something like that…" muttered Argo while staring at the trio too, before looking to the side and catching Yui's eyes, who waved at her with a bright smile.

The Caith Sith shivered. It was very easy for everyone, even her, to forget that the sweet little girl and the bubbly and seemingly airheaded teen were in fact some of the most advanced AIs ever programmed, and fully loaded with tons of data about psychological understanding. And that had been BEFORE they actually became as 'human' as they were nowadays.

Yes, she couldn't deny that what they were 'offering' was indeed like a dream come true (Even if a small part of her still insisted it was too good to be true), and that if it worked then neither her nor any of their friends would be 'sad'…but sometimes it seriously scared her how cunning Yui and Strea could be.

Deciding it was better for her sanity to NOT think about that too much, the info-broker resumed her 'task' of watching over the rest of her friends and helping them to get back into shape for whatever next boss they had to face, all the while subtly thinking who could be the easiest to convince next to 'join the plan' (Strea's words).

Hmm…perhaps she could use Sinon's slightly fanatical obsession with Kirito's little sister in their favor, somehow…

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Thirty minutes and an annoying Boss later, the girls were quickly descending through the hallways that led to Thrymheim's fourth floor, where Thrym's Throne Room apparently was. Leafa was looking with worry at the medallion Urd had given them, noticing how a bit more than half of it remained emerald, and it had stayed like that for a while now. While it was a sign that her brother was going way above what anyone would ask of him to keep Tonky's siblings away from harm, it still made her feel sad that so many of the creatures had been killed by the trick of an evil bastard.

Asuna allowed herself to look for a moment towards her before nodding softly at her determined expression, both as eager to kick the ass of the Frost Giant's King as everyone else, before they resumed their quick dash towards the next floor…only to blink and slow down as they came upon an unusual and unexpected sight.

There, carved out of the wall at one side of the hallway, a cage of ice with a design that brought bad and frustrating memories to the Undine's mind stood. Inside it, the surprised group of Heroines saw how an elfish woman of beautifully pale skin laid, her long and deep brown-gold hair sprayed on the ground around her. The mysterious woman wore a white dress and some sort of metallic decoration around her head and over her ears, and, when she opened them to look at the group in surprise, her eyes were of deep crystalline green.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Has someone really come all the way here?" wondered the beautiful woman before standing up and getting closer to the cage's bars, a pleading look on her face. "Please, fairies, would you free me of this thrice dammed prison? I'm Freyja of the Aesir, and I infiltrated this fortress to recover a treasure Thrym had stolen from us. That dammed giant asked for my hand in marriage in exchange for returning what he stole, so I tried to use that to my advantage and recover it...but I was discovered by the third guardian and then imprisoned in this cage as punishment. I beg of you, release me from this prison, fairies! I must recover the stolen treasure, no matter what!"

A moment of silence passed as everyone exchanged a quick glance...then Asuna slashed down the cage's bars, making Freyja's face illuminate in gratitude as she walked out of there.

Sinon, for her part, blinked in confusion.

"Wait...what? You're gonna free her, just like that?! Wha-what if it's one of those traps typical of videogames or...?!"

"Sinon-san! How can you even say that?!" suddenly shouted Leafa while pointing Justice to the ceiling, making the Caith Sith gasp when a mighty aura of epic light emerged behind her (Only on her mind, though). "Remember that, before anything else, we're Heroes! And it's our duty to help and bring Justice to anyone who needs it, no matter what!"

"Hell yeah, that's the spirit!" cheered Lisbeth while raising her hammer, her smile spreading through most of the group.

"Leafa-mama is really into this, as expected of someone who's a Hero in real life!" happily proclaimed Yui while the Sylph blushed at that, awkwardly looking away as she scratched the back of her head in a very 'Kirito-like' way.

"Indeed, Yui-chan. And besides, I can TOTALLY relate with being trapped in a cage by a bastard trying to force you into marrying him." added Asuna with a dark glint on her eyes while everyone sweatdropped, even as she turned around and clasped the surprised Freyja's hand. "Do not worry, Freyja-san! We will beat that bastard to the ground, now with even MORE reason than before, and recover your treasure!"

"Tha-thanks for that, young Undine..." muttered the Aesir with a bit of awkwardness. "I-I will try and use my power to help you fight, then, okay?"

While this took place, the sniper of the group had fallen to her knees and started to bow down before a squeaking Sylph, who was trying to get her to stand up under the 'curious' gaze of the rest.

"I'm sorry for my foolish doubts, Leafa-sama! Please, forgive me and keep guiding me into the path to become Heroine worthy of fighting at your side!"

"Si-Sinon-san, please, cut it out!" squeaked Leafa while her face burned in embarrassment.

Inwardly, 'Freyja' wondered if perhaps she shouldn't have waited in the cage for a less insane group of fairies to come by.

Introductions and reassurances out of the way, the girls of the United Heroes Association and their recently rescued ally finally reached the imposing gate that led to Thrymheim's Throne Room. Without hesitation, they opened it and entered into the MASSIVE area, their eyes widening in surprise both at the size of it and at the sight of mountains of gold, weapons, jewels, and more valuable-looking trinkets.

"Holy shit..." whispered Argo while looking around, her eyes seeming to shine as they reflected the piles of riches filling the entire room. "There must be enough Yrd here to buy all of Alne..."

"All the treasures and riches that Thrym has stolen through the ages..." hatefully spat Freyja while clenching her fists. "My treasure must be among them..."

"Oh, your words hurt me, dear Freyja." resounded a mocking voice through the massive room, making the girls' eyes widen and shot forward, towards the opposite end of the area.

There, slowly standing from an icy throne make specifically for his size, a literal giant of bluish skin stood, looking down at them with amusement as he walked forward, each of his steps shaking the room. Almost 16 meters tall, brown fur coiling around his arms and legs and wearing a plate armor, a single piece of which was the size of a small boat, on his waist, the giant also possessed a blue beard and a long mustache, and a freezing mist seemed to come out of his mouth, like the breath of a person in winter. A golden crown on his forehead contrasting with his bleak blue eyes finished the look of the being known as Thrym, King of the Frost Giants.

"…you know, in hindsight maybe we should have expected it, but…fuck, this bastard is really big." commented Philia while everyone stared up, not having faced against an enemy so massive since the fight with the Skull Reaper, and never in Leafa and Sinon's case.

"Thrym, you thrice dammed villain!" shouted Freyja while glaring hatefully at the frost giant. "Retrun the treasure you stole from the Aesir, right now!"

"Or what, sweet Freyja? You will force me?" mocked the Giant King once more, openly laughing at the notion. "Your stupid declarations do nothing more than amuse me at this moment! In no time, my servants will have ended up all of that stupid woman's children, and then Ragnarok will begin as I ascend to Alfheim and bring down Yggdrasil!"

"NEVER!" shouted Asuna while pointing Fafnir's Fang forward, making Thrym raise an eyebrow when every other girl also readied their weapons, glaring at the Frost Giant. "WE will stop you and your nefarious plot, Thrym! We won't let you destroy Alfheim!"

"And we will also kick you extra hard for being a jerk that traps women in cages!" added Leafa while Justice hummed in agreement.

"And because you're a bad guy!" cheerfully shouted Yui.

"…oh, really? Well then, little fairies…I would like to see you try." darkly smiled Thrym before the room shook again, the heroines looking in shock as two other Frost Giants emerged from nowhere and landed between them and their King, these ones being bald and without any facial hair either, wearing furs of massive animals as clothes. "Though I don't doubt my ability to crush you, I will make full use my brethren to show you the difference between us. It's all thanks to that Creature of the Void, though…its 'help' was fairly appreciated…"

"Uhm, everyone? I think something is very wrong…" gulped Strea while 3 HP bars appeared over the Frost Giants.

"You mean, besides the fact that we now have 3 of these giant guys wanting to turn us into a pulp while we're racing against the clock to prevent the end of days?" deadpanned Argo while adopting a loose stance, claws out and ready while everyone slowly started to move.

"No, Strea-nee is right, this shouldn't be happening!" cried out Yui even as both Frost Giants roared to the ceiling, Freyja casting several Buffs over the party as they burst into motion against the two massive enemies. "One of Cardinal's primary directives is to always create fair Quests, no matter how convoluted and strange they may be! That pattern is being broken right here, both of those things are almost a high-level Boss on their own, yet they're appearing as Adds to another one!"

"Wait, what does that mean?!" shouted Sachi as she used her spear to evade one of the massive fists, quickly executing a 'Partisan' Skill to shot herself above her crouched enemy.

"That either Cardinal is acting weird…or something else is messing with the systems!" answered Strea while unleashing a fierce cut against one of the giant's legs, making it roar in pain and try to crush her, only to receive an exploding arrow to his face for his troubles.

"I thought these games couldn't be hacked?!" roared Sinon over the cacophony of battle that had exploded on the Throne Room, knocking another arrow as she moved as fast as she could.

"They can't…" softly whispered Yui while watching over the fight, wondering why she was feeling a strange and familiar dread. "That's what I don't get…"

Thrym, sitting once again on his throne, just watched with amusement. Freyja, for her part, tried to keep the party on top shape with Buffs and healing spells.

It was clear that the warriors would be the ones to truly make a difference...

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