Chapter Ten: The Strongest Players

Both Kirito and Vali were standing in front of the other Salamanders with their weapons pointed at them with a confident smirk on their face, the Salamanders looked at both of them and started laughing.

"Hahaha! The Ultimate Swordsman Duo! Don't make me laugh! What could a pathetic Sylph and a Spriggan do?"

Vali smirked and looked towards the Salamander along with Kirito who gripped his black iron broadsword in his hand.

"Don't look down on other players!"

"Especially, when those players are us!"

Both Vali and Kirito pressed their feet against the ground and charged towards the Salamanders with an immense level of speed. of speed. The Salamander looked towards them with a shocked expression on their face, and the leader looked towards both of them.

"Everyone get into defensive position!"

"Roger!"

After that order the remaining shield users got into position while the mages preparing another fire spell, which fired off a barrage of fireballs. At that moment Vali stepped in front of Kirito and started chanting a spell, with several Norse lettering circling around him.

"Lightning Edge!"

A surge of white lightning started being channeled through Vali's katana and he started slicing through the fireballs with his electrically charged blade. The counter attacks generated a large cloud of smoke, at that moment Kirito came from the some with both of his hands gripping his sword's hilt.

"Hah!"

Kirito slashed his sword horizontally, once it smashed against one of the Salamander's shields they were pushed back slightly. But they continued blocking their attacks, Kirito saw an opening and stabbed his sword into the opening between two of the shields.

"Nice try, but you can't…."

At that moment Vali stabbed his sword through the same opening, both of them smirked and started pulling the shields apart. Once the shields users lost their means of defending themselves, both Kirito and Vali dealt with shield users.

The remaining Salamanders looked at both Vali and Kirito with a shocked expression on their faces. Kirito smirked and rested his sword on his shoulder while Vali sheathed his katana, but he kept his thumb on the hand guard.

"Now, then what that about us not a pathetic Sylph and Spriggan?"

Leafa looked at both of them with a surprised expression on her face, until she looked towards Yui who was smiling brightly at both of them.

"Who are they?"

"When Tou-San and Oji-San team up there's no one that can take them on!"

"Wow, you really have some strong family members."

Minutes later, both Vali and Kirito had dealt with the remaining players instead of one. Leafa approached him and placed her sword in front of him with a threatening expression on her face.

"Alright now, tell us what you guys are up to."

"If you're going to kill me, then do it!"

"Why you…"

Both Kirito and Vali started approaching the man with a curious expression on their face, Kirito looked at him with a slight smile on his face.

"That was a nice fight."

"What…?"

"It was a nice fighting tactic. If it was just me, I would have been defeated fast."

Leafa walked towards Vali and whispered, with a curious and confused expression on her face.

"What's Kirito-Kun doing?"

"He's doing what he does best…being a Ratty Swordsman."

Leafa's expression became more confused, as Kirito opened up a trade window and showed the man a list of items.

"These are the items and money that I got from fighting your group. I was thinking, if you can answer our questions, then I will give these all to you maybe…"

The man opened his mouth, then both him and Kirito looked at each other with a sly expression on both their face before nodding their head. Vali looked at them with a deadpanned expression on his face, while Leafa only sighed slightly.

"Men can be really…"

"Hey, we're not all like that."

"Yes, you all are!"

"No, we're not!"

Both of Leafa and Vali started glaring at each other each other with sparks while as they started bickering with each other. Yui later flew towards Vali's face and tapped him on his cheek with her small hands, Vali turned towards her with a confused expression on her face.

"Oji-San it's not nice to talk back to a women."

"But she…"

Yui started looking at Vali with a cross between a pout and angry expression on her face, Vali's eyes twitched slightly as he looked away.

"Alright alright, just don't me that adorable pout. It looks like they're done with their little agreement anyway."

As the agreement between both Kirito and the Salamander was finished, he then looked towards them and started explaining.

"This evening, Jiitakusu-San, ah he's the leader of the Mage Group from earlier, contacted me with an email. When I got there it turned out to be around ten people hunting two people, I thought it might be some kind of bullying, but they said it was the person Kagemune-San fought yesterday, so I understood…"

"Who's this Kagemune-San?"

"He is the Lance group captain. He was a famous Sylph Hunter, but yesterday he suffered a rare heavy defeat and retreated home. You guys beat him right?"

After the both Leafa and Kirito looked at each other with while nodding, after remembering their previous confrontation with each other.

"So you guys knew this guy?"

"Yea, I fought him after I first logged on. But why would this Jiitakusu guy want to hunt us?"

"The order seemed to come from someone higher ranked than Jiitakusu-San. Like you are interfering with some king of strategy or something?"

"What strategy?"

"The Salamander among the upper ranks are up to something. They won't tell Junior Soldiers like me, but they are after something big. Today, when I first logged in, I saw a large number fly north."

"North…"

Vali started thinking to himself, before Leafa looked towards the Salamander and asked with a confused expression on her face.

"Do they want to raid the World Tree?"

"No way. We're still recovering from the previous complete defeat. The minimum is to equip the army with ancient weapon rank equipment so we are saving money. For that reason our normal routine is very harsh. Even so we only acquired half the target amount of money."

"Oh?"

"Well, that's all I know. Is what you said earlier true?"

"I never lie about a trade."

Kirito sent the Salamander the items through his trade window, once he looked at the items he started making and excited expression on his face. Leafa looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Hey you, these were all your companions' equipment right? Don't you feel bad?"

"You don't seem to understand. These were those guys' arrogantly shown off rare items, which increase my pleasure getting them. Of course it would be bad for me to use them. I will sell them all and maybe buy a house."

The Salamander stood up and started walking back in the direction that they came through, once he was gone Vali turned around towards Freya who was recovering from drowsiness.

"Are you alright now, Frey?"

"Ugh, Onii-Chan do you hate me?"

"What're you talking about? Of course I don't hate you."

"Then why do you keep torturing me like this!"

Freya started complaining to him loudly while she was flailing her arms around frantically with overflowing tears. Vali started laughing nervously as he continued trying to calm her down, by petting her comfortably on her head. Kirito, Leafa and Yui looked towards them with a slight nervous smile on each of their face.

"They're really close, but they kind of remind me of someone."

"Really who?"

"I don't know."

Ten minutes later, they started making their way through the inside of the city and Leafa along with Freya looked around with an amazed expression on their face.

"Oh... So this is Ruger."

"This is amazing!"

Leafa started walking around the shops and she started to view the weapons and items that were being sold through the windows. Freya later grabbed Vali by his hand and started dragging him around the shops to view the items.

"This place is so cool! Onii-Chan, can we buy something here?!"

"Alright, Frey just lead the way."

As Vali was forcibly being dragged around the shops by an overexcited Freya, while Kirito walked towards Leafa a question with a question suddenly entering his mind. Leafa looked back towards him with a confused expression on her face.

"What?"

"Before the Salamanders attacked, didn't you get a message? What was it about?"

Leafa suddenly opened her mouth widely out of surprise and she turned around and opened her menu going straight towards her message window.

"I forgot."

She started going through the message that Recon had sent her later, but she could respond to it because he was currently offline.

"What? He went to sleep?"

"Try to contact him on the other side."

"Then, I am going to log off and check it out. Kirito-Kun, Vali-Kun wait for me."

Leafa then looked towards Yui who was on her shoulder, humming happily to herself.

"Yui-Chan watch after my body."

"Yes?"

"You have to watch your papa, don't let him take advantage of my body."

Kirito made a slightly irked expression on his face, as Yui nodded and agreed to what Leafa had asked her.

"Understood!"

"Hey!"

Leafa later sat down on a bench and reached towards the logout button in her menu and pressed it, her Avatar immedately became inactive. Vali had walked over with Freya who was equipped with a new silver short sword. She looked up and noticed her older brother giving Kirito a deadpanned looked, with Kirito looking at him with the same expression on his face.

"What?"

"You know you should've called me the day after you logged on."

"Well, the thought had crossed my mind. Though I didn't want to wait any longer, also aren't you kind of busy with your dad's company."

"I'm not really doing anything big for the company, but there's actually something that I won't to talk to you about."

"Alright, but I'm going to go and get something to eat. Why don't you stay here and watch Leafa?"

"But, I…"

Before Vali could finish, Kirito had already ran off to one of the concession stands to get something to eat with a slight smirk on his face. Vali sighed and took a seat right next to Leafa with a slightly annoyed expression on his face, he later felt Yui landing on his shoulder with a smile on her face.

"Oji-San, how's Oba-San?"

"Liz, is doing alright and she's the same as always. Also don't worry about anything, we're going to your Kaa-San back."

"Okay, Oji-San."

"Huh, what're you two talking about?"

Vali looked towards Freya who was making a confused expression on her face, Vali smirked and started petting her on her head.

"Sorry, Frey it's not something for kids to get involved with."

Freya pouted at what her brother had told her and she looked away with her arms crossed, Kirito later arrived with a small lizard skewered with a stick.

"Kirito what is that?"

"It's just a…"

Before Kirito could answer, Leafa's eyes suddenly shot opened and she stood up suddenly scaring Kirito into almost dropping his food.

"Whoa, you surprised me!"

"Oh, you're back Leafa."

"Welcome back, Leafa."

Despite Kirito, Vali and Yui greeting her Leafa had a nervous and slightly shocked expression on her face with the four of them looking at her with a confused expression on their face.

"Kirito-Kun, Vali-Kun…I'm sorry."

"Eh, what's going on?"

"I really need to go to a certain place. I have no time to explain, but I probably won't be able to come back."

Both Kirito and Vali looked at her with a surprised expression on their faces as Leafa told them that.

"Is that so? Alright, let's talk while we move."

Leafa looked at Kirito with a confused expression on her face, Vali smirked and pointed towards the exit to the city.

"Right, it's faster than standing here and talking."

"I see, then let's run and talk."

"Wah! Onii-Chan, you're not going to make me drowsy again are you?!"

"Well, either you can run alongside us or…"

Freya pouted at what he said and she jumped onto his back, with Yui going into Kirito's chest pocket. The three of them started running towards the gate leading towards the exit to the city, while Leafa stared explaining with happened.

"So that's what those guys were talking about."

"Can I ask some questions?"

"Go ahead."

"Why would the Salamanders attack the Sylph and Cait Sith Lords? What good does it do?"

"Well, first of all, it can prevent an alliance. As someone from Sylph leaked intelligence to the Salamanders, the Cait Sith there will definitely not stay silent if it is used against them. In the worst case, it may result in a war between the Cait Sith and Sylph races. The Salamanders are currently the strongest force, but if the two races entered an alliance it would probably reverse the balance. I think the Salamanders want to prevent that at any cost."

Vali clicked his tongue along with Kirito as they crossed the bridge into the cave.

"Also, if they kill the Lord, they will get some amazing bonuses. They will unconditionally receive 30% of the lord's funds stored in the mansion, and for ten days, the territory that the lord rules over would become occupied, then they are free to set taxes and take that money. That is a tremendous amount of money. The reason why Salamander became the largest force in the game was because in the past, they had set a trap for Sylph's first Lord and killed him. Normally lords don't venture into neutral territory. In the history of ALO, only one lord has ever been killed."

"Is that so…"

"It's always the same think, there's always those who'd do anything to keep their own power."

"That's why…Kirito-Kun…"

Kirito looked towards Leafa as she was looking down with a depressed expression on her face.

"This is a problem for the Sylph race, so you have no reason to get involved. After you get out of this cave, it is a straight forward route towards the city of Aarun. If you go to the conference site, it is not likely you will survive. You will respawn at Sylvain and all of the time it took to get here will have been wasted. Well, to put it bluntly…"

"If you're going to tell him to just to ignore this, then you're wasting your time. The one thing that you should know about us, if there's anyone who's in trouble there's no way we'll turn a blind eye."

Kirito then smirked and looked towards her, as they stopped for a second.

"VRMMOs are called games, but this is a contradiction; splitting the player and the role is not a good idea. If you take on traits in this world, your personality in the real world will reflect these changes. Players and their character are one. I like Leafa, and I want to be your friend. No matter what the reason, I will not kill you to further my own self-interests, absolutely not!"

"So that's why we're going with you."

Leafa was slightly shocked by what they had told her, and she started to tear up slightly. Kirito then looked into his chest pocket and smiled.

"Yui, please navigate while we run."

"Understood, Tou-San!"

"Frey close your eyes."

"Okay."

"Lend me your hand for a moment, Leafa."

Kirito then held his hand towards Leafa who looked at him with a confuse expression on her face, but she still gave him her hand. Kirito then smirked and looked towards Vali.

"Why don't we make this a race? First one who reaches the exit wins."

"Sure thing, loser buys lunch for the other IRL."

Both of them smirked and got ready to get off, with Leafa looking at them with a confused expression on her face.

"Uh, guys."

"On your mark…"

"…get set…"

""Go!""

Both of them broke the ground under them slightly, while taking off at breakneck speed completely breaking through the wall of air and creating a burst of wind in the tunnel. They started navigating and maneuvering through the tunnel, with both Leafa and Freya shouting out of fright.

""Waaaah?!""

In front of them were a group of Orcs with their weapons pointed towards them, and both of them shot through them. Kirito looked up with a smirk on his face as he saw the exit.

"There's the exit Vali, are you ready to lose?"

"I never lose at a race, Kirito."

Both Kirito and Vali took a final leap and jumped into the sky as the ground vanished and they started floating into the sky. Leafa had spread her wings along with Freya, Vali and Kirito. Leafa sighed out of relief and glared at both of them.

"Hahaha! I won Kirito!"

"Right, but if we were in a sword fight I would've won!"

"Ha, yea right."

"Thanks to you two, I think years were just shaved off my life!"

"Onii-Chan, you're buying me any dessert when we get out of here!"

Both of them shuttered slightly at both of their tones, they then looked and noticed the wondering expression on their face as they were flying in the hair. They turned around and saw the gigantic tree trunk, which pierced through the very skies. Kirito looked at it with a wondering expression.

"So, that…is the World Tree."

"Guys, I think that we should hurry before the Salamanders get there."

"Okay, how much time until we get there?!"

"…Twenty Minutes."

"If they want to attack the conference, the Salamanders will be coming from that direction."

Kirito then moved his index finger towards the northwest, and he stated.

"If they arrive earlier than us, we'll be in trouble. Let's just hurry. Yui, do a search and tell me if a large number of players come into range."

"Yes!"

As Yui was doing a search the three of them started accelerating towards the direction of the meeting, as they were going Yui opened her eyes and shouted.

"There it is, player response! The group in front has 68 players, these are probably the Salamander assault force. In addition, there are 14 more players on the ground, I expect those are the Sylph and Cait Sith delegations. The two sides will meet in fifty seconds."

As they continued flying, Leafa looked down and noticed that both the leaders of both the Sylph and Cait Sith were in still in their deep conversation with each other.

"Thank you, but…ow!"

At that moment, Vali had karate chopped Leafa in her head with a deadpanned expression on his face. Leafa started rubbing her head with a pained expression on her face.

"Baka! It's never been in neither of our natures to run away from a fight, no matter what happened. We came this far and we're going to see it through until the end."

Leafa blushed slightly after hearing Vali say that to him, she looked forward and saw Kirito placing Yui inside of his breast pocket. At that moment the Salamanders had made it to the two leaders, with their Vanguard holding up their lances reader to strike.

KA-BOOM

There was a large explosion in front of the leaders along with a large cloud of dust both sides looked at it with a confused expression on both of their faces. Once it settled, there was a large slight crater on the ground with Kirito, Vali, Leafa and Freya were standing in the middle of it.

"Both sides, put your weapons away!"

Leafa sighed out of relief and she looked towards the Sylph side and saw their leader. The Sylph leader was a beautiful women with a slender body, with dark green hair reaching passed her waist, and wearing Japanese styled clothing that hugged her body. (Sakuya)

And standing next to her was a petite girl with wavy blonde hair, tanned skin, with armor that resembled a one-piece swimsuit. (Alicia Rue)

"Sakuya!"

Hearing her name, their Sylph leader looked towards her with wide eyes along with a confused expression on her face.

"Leafa?! Why are you here?! No, what's going on here…?"

"It's hard to explain, but right now our fate is in both of their hands!"

Vali looked forward towards the large crowd of them, along with Kirito.

"Hey, we have something to say to the commander!"

The Salamander looked up and separated from them, and allowed a man man with a strong looking body, flame-like hair, wearing a blood red armor and wielding a sword that looked heavier than Kirito's. He looked down towards them with a confused expression on his face.

"…What is a Spriggan doing in such a place with Sylph? Not that it will stop us from killing you, but I will listen to your story deference to the courage that you two are displaying."

Kirito then looked forward and said plainly.

"My name is Kirito, and I am the representative of the Spriggan-Undine Union. Am I to understand that by attacking this place, you wish to start a full-scale war with all four of our races?"

Everyone behind them seem to be utterly surprised by what they had heard from Kirito, the commander looked down towards them with narrowed eyes.

"The Spriggan-Undine Union…? You say that you are the ambassador, but where is your escort?"

"You're looking at him…my name is Vali."

The man looked towards Vali as he had declared that, he viewed the fearless expression on Vali's face and his bodies stature.

"Ah, yes. We both came here to conduct trade negotiation with Sylph and Cait Sith. However, if you attack us at the conference, it will be a different matter. In essence you would be forcing all four races into an alliance against the Salamanders."

"Why sent a Sylph instead of a Undine?"

"Because, I'm the best at what I do."

The leader then smirked and held his hand up and motioned it towards them, three Salamanders then approached him with their weapons ready.

"If you want to prove that you're an escort then take out three of these Salamander before they reach him."

The Salamander commander motioned towards them to attack Kirito, the three Salamanders charged towards Kirito with their weapons pointed towards him. Despite the fact that they were reaching towards him, Kirito he didn't move an inch.

"Watch out, Kirito…!"

Within a matter of second, Vali vanished and there was silver light appearing around them. And Vali had appeared behind the Salamander's with his sword sheathed and his eyes were both closed.

"Believe me now?"

Once Vali sheathed his sword, the Salamander's bodies were slashed apart diagonally and they vanished with a red flame remaining. The leaders looked at him with a shocked expression on their face, Vali looked forward with the same expression on his face.

"I'll believe that you have the abilities to be a bodyguard…but I'm not convinced that you're an ambassador."

The leader went towards his back and unsheathe a huge double edge sword and pointed it towards Kirito.

"If you can withstand my attacks for thirty seconds, I'll trust that you're an ambassador."

"You're so generous, aren't you?"

Kirito smirked and he had unsheathed his double edged sword, Kirito spread his wings and flew in front of the Salamander Commander with both of them looking at each other. As Vali stood there watching them glaring at each other, everyone who were around them could feel the tension that appeared around them. Sakuya looked towards the Salamander General with a disturbed expression on her face.

"This is bad…"

"What…?"

"The Salamander, the two-handed he's holding…I've seen it before on a website reviewing legendary weapons. It's the «Demonic Sword Gram», which would make that make «General Eugene». Did you know that?"

"…Only the name…"

"He is the brother of the Salamander Lord «Mortimer», possibly in the real world as well. He has pure strength to match his brother's wisdom. He is said to be the Salamander's Strongest Warrior…which mean's he's…the Strongest Player. This could turn out to be…"

"This won't be a problem."

Vali interrupted their conversation with a smirk on his face, he looked forward towards the upcoming battle between them.

"This wouldn't be the first time that he's faced someone who's known as the 'Strongest Player'."

As the sun started shining through the clouds unto Eugene's sword slightly blinding Kirito, he immedately charged towards Kirito. Kirito quickly reacted to Eugene's attack, but Gram immedately passed through Kirito's sword and it smashed against his chest sending him flying into a cliff with tremendous force. Leafa made a shocked expression on her face.

"What just…?"

"«Demonic Sword Gram» has a special ability called «Ethereal Shift». When it comes into contact with defensive shields, sword or other objects, it immedately phases through them."

"Oh, he's still alive!"

Kirito unstuck himself from the cliff and charged towards Eugene again and both of them started clashing against each other intensely. As Kirito started to block Gram's attack with his sword, it fazed through his sword again and smashed against his abdomen.

"Guhaaa!"

Kirito was spun in the air and he spread his wings to regain his balance, he looked towards Eugene and smirked.

"That is definitely effective…Hey, hasn't thirty seconds passed yet?"

"Sorry, now I really want to cut you down. I'm changing the plan, this time I'll remove your head!"

"This guy…I'll make you regret it!"

And Kirito continued his assault against Eugene, but he immedately knew that there was too much of an immense difference between both of their weapons. And Kirito was left with nothing more than to block against his attacks. During the battle Sakuya remarked.

"The situation is grim. Although the players might be seen as equal, the performance of their weapons is far too different. For the one and only «Demonic Sword Gram», only the legendary weapon, «Holy Sword Excalibur», can compete against it, but no one knows where or how to obtain it..."

As both of them continued clashing, Kirito turned around and started flying away from Eugene with him chasing after him with his red wings. Kirito immedately turned around and held out his right hand towards him, while chanting an incantation.

Black dust started surrounding his hand and he fired off a massive stream of jet black smoke towards Eugene, immedately engulfing him along with everyone around them in a dark mist.

"Leafa, lend me this for a little bit."

"Huh?!"

Leafa immedately felt her sword being taken from her person, Vali turned around towards her and sighed slightly.

"He stole your sword didn't he?"

"Are you trying to stall?!"

Eugene took his sword and slashed through the thick cloud of smoke, immedately dispelling the massive smoke cloud. Everyone looked around and some were wondering if he had run away from them, until…they looked up and saw a Kirito diving down towards Eugene while he was in front of the sun. Eugene clicked his tongue and charged towards him.

"Waaahhhhh!"

He stabbed his sword forward towards Kirito he responded by blocking it with his greatsword, but Gram phased through his sword. Kirito reached for something strapped to his back, he unsheathed Leafa's sword and blocked Gram's blade. Everyone made a shocked expression on their face, but Vali smirked after seeing the stance that Kirito had made.

"Dual Wielding, huh."

Kirito stepped forward and started slashing at Eugene with a barrage of slash attacks, he responded by slashing at Kirito with Gram. Though after he phased through one sword it couldn't phase through the second. With immense speed Kirito charged towards him and stabbed him in his stomach with his greatsword, with Eugene's health going into the yellow zone.

And finally Kirito removed his sword and slashed Eugene in twos with both of the swords and exploded in a large fiery explosion. Everyone on both sides looked at what happened with a shocked expression on their faces. Until both Sakuya and Alicia smiled at what they had saw.

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

"Amazing! Nice fight!"

Everyone from both sides started applauding Kirito for his victory against the 'Strongest Player in the Game'. Kirito then landed in front of them and handed Leafa back her weapon, he then looked towards the remaining light that was left of Eugene.

"Would someone please use revival magic?!"

Sakuya went towards the flames with a blue light surrounding her hand, which started encircling around the light. Once it vanished, Eugene reappeared and looked towards Kirito with a smirk on his face.

"Those were impressive skills, you're the strongest player that I've ever seen and that Sylph might as well be the fastest player in the game…the world is a very big place."

"Thank you, well do you believe me now?"

Eugene glanced towards Kirito again, one of the Salamander's went towards him and started whispering something into his ear. Once he was finished, Eugene nodded towards Kirito with a smirk on his face.

"Neither our Lord nor I have any desire to provoke the Spriggans and Undines under the current conditions. We will leave this place, but one day I would like to fight you once again."

"I await that day."

Kirito held his fist towards Eugene's and both of them fist bump each other, at that moment he spread his wings along with his soldiers and they flew away from that location. Leafa went towards both them and sighed slightly.

"You two, are too much to deal with."

"Yea, we've been told that sometimes."

As both of them were laughing, they were suddenly stopped by Sakuya who had coughed gaining the three teen's attention.

"Sorry, but it would be helpful if you could explain what just happened."

"Okay, you see…"

Leafa started to explain everything to Sakuya, once she was finished Sakuya sighed and her her arms over her chest while nodding her head.

"For the past few months, Sigurd's attitude became very restless. I felt he was up to something, but I couldn't remove him from the council for fear of being seen as a dictator."

"Sakuya-Chan, it seems your popularity put you in a difficult position."

"Restless... from what?"

"It was probably that his heart could not forgive the situation. He could not tolerate being second place to the Salamanders."

Leafa was speechless by what she had heard.

"Sigurd was a man driven by power, both in his character's numerical stats and his political power as a player…hence the thought of the Salamanders conquering the World Tree and ruling over the skies of Alfheim, the idea of looking up at them from the ground…that is something he would not forgive."

"…but even so, why would he…?"

"He was probably looking forward to the «Rebirth System», as long as he has the Salamander's Lords permission he could reincarnate into a Salamander. Though it cost and huge amount of money for it to work, so I doubt that the leader would agree with the terms."

"My, you're well informed for a supposed beginner. And from your tone from before you seem to be used to talking to a large number of people without becoming nervous."

"Hey, what can I saw I'm well informed…and I've had practice with talking to a crowd of people."

"ALO really is a sinister game that tests the desires of the players."

Kirito smiled wryly, while Vali narrowed his eyes slightly.

"It's all because of the designer of this game…he's not what you'd call normal."

"So…what will you do now Sakuya?"

At Leafa's question, Sakuya smiled slightly and turned towards Alicia.

"Rue, you've been training your dark magic skills, right?"

At her question, Alicia nodded in agreement at what Sakuya had asked her.

"Well, then please use «Moonlight Mirror» on Sigurd."

"That's fine, but it is not night yet so it won't last long."

"It won't take long."

Alicia smiled and took a step back from Sakuya while chanting a magical incantation to herself with the moonlight gathering in front of Alicia. At that moment, a mirror appeared in front of them and at a desk a man with green hair and eyes had his feet propped up on the desk. (Sigurd)

"Sigurd!"

At hearing his name Sigurd immedately jumped out of shock and looked at that reflection in front of him with a shocked expression on his face.

"Sa-Sakuya?!"

"Yes, unfortunately, I'm still alive."

"Why…no…the conference…?"

"It's likely to end successfully. But the signing of the treaty has just begun. Oh yes, we had an unexpected visitor."

"A…g…guest."

"General Eugene told us to say hello to you!"

He suddenly made a shocked expression on his face, he looked and saw the three teens looking at him with a smirk on their face while waving at him.

"...Those incompetent lizards. So... Sakuya, what do you want? Reprimand money? Kick me out of the Ministry of Power? But if you lose me as army commander, what happens to your political power..."

"No, if you can no longer stand being a Sylph, I'll grant your wish."

"Wh, what...?"

Sakuya elegantly waved her left hand and a huge system menu exclusively for the Lord appeared. The numerous windows were not stacked, but formed hexagonal columns of light. Sakuya found one particular window and slid it out with a finger. In the mirror, Sigurd stared as a blue message window appeared in front of him. After looking at the message his expression became enraged and he shouted.

"Why, you..! Are you insane? You... to me... You are going to banish me!?"

"Yes, you will become a renegade and wander the neutral zone. I pray that you can find new fun in this game soon."

"Well... I'll sue you! I will go to a GM with a complaint of an unjust use of power!"

Vali suddenly stepped in front of the screen while smirking slightly.

"I'm sorry, but that won't happen. I personally knows one of the people who're in charge of this game and I'll personally stand at her defense."

A faint blush appeared on Sakuya's cheek and smiled slightly, while saying her final goodbyes to Sigurd before he was transferred away.

"...Sakuya..."

"Whether my judgment was right or not will be decided at the next lord election. Anyway, thank you Leafa. I'm very glad you, who stubbornly refused to join the council of elders, came here to the rescue. Alicia as well, I'm sorry you got mixed up in the Swilvane civil unrest and came under danger."

"We survived, so it doesn't matter!"

"I did not do anything. If you want to thank someone, you should thank Kirito and Vali."

"Yes, now that you mention it... what are you..."

"Are you actually the ambassador of the Spriggan-Undine Union?"

Kirito suddenly smirked and answered with a straight face.

"It was all a big lie, of course. A random bluff, but it was necessary for negotiations."

"Wha…?!"

At that moment their mouths were all opened wide out of shock, while Vali started scratching the back of his head.

"I always seem to get involved with you and your schemes."

At that moment, Alicia started laughing while stepping in front of her with a mischievous smile on her face.

"You big liar, you're really strong though! Do you know? General Eugene is probably the strongest player in ALO. You actually beat him face-to-face, so you're the Spriggans' secret weapon, right?"

"How could that be? I'm just a humble warrior."

"Pfft, yahahaha!"

Alicia suddenly hugged Kirito's right arm into her chest while giving him a seductive expression on her face.

"Free means you can come to Cait Sith territory as a mercenary. I can offer you three meals a day and an afternoon nap."

Kirito suddenly made an embarrassed expression on his face at Alicia's advances and Vali started laughing at him with a smirk on his face. But he later felt something pressing up against his back causing his face to turned a deep shade of red, he looked and saw Sakuya behind him giving him a slight smile on her face.

"Vali-Kun, we could go for drinks in Swilvane and then we could take care of some personal matters…"

"Uh, I…I…"

Leafa's face started turning bright red at what she had saw and she started twitching slightly, she suddenly took Vali by his hand and declared.

"No! Vali-Kun is my…"

At that moment, Leafa stopped her face and she immedately stopped talking immedately. Vali calmed down from his embarrassment and responded.

"I'm sorry, but I can't join you at the moment Sakuya-San we still have some business to attend to in the Central Region."

"Oh, that's unfortunate."

Alicia suddenly let go of Kirito with a solemn expression on her face, Kirito later walked over to Vali and whispered.

"We should be more careful."

"Yes…because you know what."

At that moment, there was a dark presence coming down on top of them and two apparitions of their girlfriends appeared over them with dark. Both of them started making a slightly terrified expression on their face.

""We'll both be killed!""

They started looking at that them with a confused expression on their face. After everything that they've been through, something else terrified both of them more than facing an army of Salamander. Leafa looked towards Vali, with a deep blush on her face and placed her hand over her chest.