CHAPTER 9 - To change

"Did you guys hear about the secret log out location. Heard it as in a location in the western forest" Someone said in a gathering of people, trying to get them riled up and engaged in the conversation as if he as some kind of town crier.

Murmurs and began to spread amongst the crowd as tensions began to rise because this was ground breaking news but the smart people recognised the topic for what it was... 'a Hoax'. Taking into account the number of people gathered here with no presence of an actual information broker in sight, Michael also thought the same and chose to ignore such talk.

"Hey, what do you think about this?, you think there could be any truth to it" Miku questioned from the side,  walking along with michael on their way back from the equipment store.

"That's just wishful thinking, there is no way Kayaba went through so much effort to plan all this just to leave such a massive loop hole in his grand design and with the cardinal watching everything" Michael curtly replied, snuffing out any sense of hope before it could even begin to form in her mind.

Looking ahead, he began to question himself as to why he made such a hasty decision and following this path because such behaviour was alien to him previously. Thinking on it now he could only say trying new stuff out is very exhausting.

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[Few days back]

On getting to the location, Michael spotted a young man with black hair struggling to keep himself alive amidst the endless assault of the monsters, observing for a little bit, he moved to help the young man when he saw him losing HP quickly.

Michael was not a good guy or some hero of justice as he never believed in good and evil. He only ever sought to better himself and if he was not losing anything by helping he would help , not out of some generous spiel of doing the right thing but because he could it without repercussions, so why not?!

Blasting off in an amazing display of speed, michael appeared between the bear and the young man yuuji, stopping it's attack mid strike with his still sheathed sword.

Putting a little more strength in his grip, he threw the bear of the ground, spinning around he vanished from his spot and arrived behind the second bear, a red slash line going along it's midsection dividing it into two horizontal halves.

As the other bear was close to the ground, it's field of vision became blurred before it broke into fragments unaware of it's own demise.

Sheathing his sword michael, turned to face yuuji who was still in an attack state, His hands tightly gripping his sword, feet spread apart and ready to pounce at the slightest hint of aggression from Michael.

Before the situation could escalate due to a misunderstanding, Miku and megumi arrived at the scene searching for the monsters but saw michael standing there relaxedly.... staring at them.

Miku decided to break the silence by asking "Yuuji are you alright?".

Snapping out from his battle ready state, yuuji managed to calm his nerves , taking in a deep breath, he replied while lowering his sword "Mostly, I think..... I'm not sure? ".

Looking lost and wondering where it all went wrong, he began to look around for Ash, but couldn't understand what happened to him.

" have you seen ash anywhere, I couldn't find him" Yuuji asks in a sombre tone, the simmering anger in his voice was almost palpable.

" I think *sniff* I  saw him going to the other side of the woods and leaving through there before the others arrived" Megumi answered still sobbing.

 She was still in shock at ted's death because this is the first time she has experienced someone dying in front of her.

Michael heard their conversation but remained silent, he was building an internal profile of all of them and checking to see if they could be useful to him in any way in the future. 

Forgetting about michael they began to console megumi as she was hit harder by the apparent death of ted and yuuji was deflecting his sadness choosing to focus on megumi's welfare first.

After some time, Miku approached michael

"So I heard from yuuji that you saved his life, thanks for that" Miku thanked him.

Accepting the show of gratitude, michael said" Don't mention it, I'm just sorry i couldn't make it in time to save your other companion".

Miku only smiled sadly at that when yuuji and megumi came forward as well to thank him.

Telling michael about the situation with ash, he gave no comments about it, telling them that he may have left them to die to save his own ass would be the truth but it would make him come off as cold,   so he kept that little tidbit to himself, as they say... ignorance is bliss.

"what are you guys gonna do now?" Michael asked.

"We were on our way to the New town when this happened so we'll keep going ahead , what about you?" Yuuji answered on the group's behalf.

"same here, Mind if i tag along with you guys" Michael asked.

Yuuji as about to reply when miku cut in

"That would be great, right megumi?" Miku said while smiling at megumi .

"sure" Megumi answered sullenly, paying little attention to the conversation.

Paying no mind to yuuji's opinion, Miku accepted the request. Seeing this little interaction play out between them amused michael but he only smirked inwardly.

On the road to the town , they were occasionally attacked by stray mobs but were quickly dispatched by yuuji because he was still frustrated by ted's death and was pouring his anger out on the monsters.

 Seeing this, Michael began to wonder what was driving so much anger in yuuji, cause ted was just his friend not even best or close enough to warrant such anger, chalking it up as an emotional thing, he promptly forget the matter.

Deep in his subconscious, he asked him self how he would feel if he lost his brother, this question seem to trigger a complex reaction from him and something began to stir in the deepest recess of his soul before it once more became calm that it won't ever come to that while he was around.

Stepping in occasionally whenever yuuji was getting overwhelmed, michael swiftly dispatched the monsters with moves so fast it was just a blur to the naked eye. Miku became curious and began to ask michael how he became so strong, "Practice, trail and error and I am just awesome that way" he said to miku in a smug manner.

Michael normally wouldn't brag about his skills but he began to try new things since logging in this game, getting trapped and meeting karma.

Choosing the confident and proud persona as a change of pace, he began to ooze arrogance so much so you could almost see a glowing light behind him.

Laughing at his reply, Miku asked him to give her some pointers to which he agreed cause he lost nothing doing so and may benefit from this instead.

 Due to her preference for large swords, great swords  or longswords , michael wanted to experiment with her character build and create an attack focused powerhouse.

Giving her tips along the way, he directed her to develop a critical eye for monsters weaknesses and used them to her advantage, putting more strength into her swings with her entire body's  weight into each strike.

Strolling into the town after a day's journey, mIchael as about to say his farewell to the group when miku approached him.

"Hey, can i come with you?.... I can be of help and i promise not to hold you back" Miku asked in a pleading tone. She looked so vulnerable asking this question and he as honestly surprised to see this side of her.

Looking back at her companions for their opinion and seeing their calm demeanour told him they already discussed this. returning his gaze to miku, he asked "why?".

Although already knowing the answer as it was obvious from her demeanour if you knew her well enough.

"To become stronger, To never have to fear for my life again! ....To never feel so helpless ever again!" she stated with her  voice raising higher by the end of her speech, great determination and the resolve to weather any storm in her eyes.

He looked impressed at her statement but that wasn't enough for him as he couldn't see much benefits from this in the short term. Noticing his hesitation, she added "I'm also an excellent cook and my chef level is very high so i can prepare good meals for you even in the wild. I also promise to listen all your commands without question".

Hearing that, caused Michael to pause as he takes things like a chain of command very seriously, he doesn't know why but he just does. Discipline has always been that made him become how he was today. making a commitment to work under him means you can never slack of, make careless mistakes or betray him. He dislikes traitors and that's saying something when talking about a high functioning sociopath like michael.

Looking at her sharply, Michael asked " Do you understand what you are saying, the commitment you are making is no small one?"

Taken aback by the severity of his tone, Miku asked herself if it was worth it to do so, thinking back to ted's death, she reaffirmed her resolve and said" I'm fully aware and I keep my promises".

"This is more than that, this is a contract which you can't break or face the consequences and trust me they will be extremely harsh, for you that is" Michael states with a sly smile that made him look like a demon here to bargain for someone's soul.

Gulping audibly, She ignored his creepy smile and confirmed" I am sure, Do you need me to sign somewhere?" chuckling nervously.

Looking at her for a few minutes and scrutinizing every inch of her being with his extraordinary perception, he found no hint of deceit from her but he still couldn't understand why she wanted to follow him. Logically speaking, she could be said to be a skilled player after receiving pointers from him for over a day. He just couldn't get why she would make such a choice.

Finding no answers to his questions and having decided to accept changes in this new reality, he replied "No need for that, but I'm surprised you didn't shrink away at that, tell me what drove you to do this"

"I just want to get stronger" Miku said smiling softly.

"Then welcome aboard, ranger.....it's gonna be a bumpy ride" michael replied.

"It's good to be here" Miku said.

Meanwhile yuuji and megumi were giving them both strange looks. Saying their goodbyes to the pair, they parted ways as megumi decided to retire to the safety of the town and forego fighting for a while with yuuji by her side.