Reality Imperfect: The Sisters' Tale

A Sword Art Online AU

Written by: Konsaki

15 Dec 2022 - Day 39

Just like stepping out of the bathroom into the hallway, the ever present swirling mists just ceased to be, revealing the ruins of Fel'Huran.

Blinking in surprise, Leafa looked back to see the mists still swirling behind her but acting like it was held back by an invisible wall. Reaching out, her hand passed through the unseen barrier, feeling the muggy humidity on the other side. "Okay… That's weird."

"Huh?" Her older sibling sounded confused, tearing her eyes away from the ruins. "What is?"

Leafa just indicated the barrier they had passed through moments before.

"Oh." Kiriko blinked before dismissing the situation. "It's just something game developers do to show this is an 'important place'. You know, as in there's some latent power pushing the mists, smoke, etcetera back so the player isn't distracted from the ruins itself."

"What are 'game developers'?" Kizmel asked, startling the raven-haired girl out of her explanation.

"Ah… Oh, well… they made everything." Kiriko shakenly stated, wondering just how the elf would take this. "You know, they made everything in Aincrad."

"So, gods unto the gods?" The purple haired woman furrowed her brow at the idea.

"Ah… basically." Kiriko shrugged. "Cardinal even told us she's the Administrator of Aincrad, not the creator of it."

"Hey! You guys coming or what?" Leafa's voice drew their attention, the blonde at the nominal entrance of the ruins, tapping a foot in impatience. "This place is't going to explore itself!"

Kiriko let out a breath, for once thankful for her sister's energy. "We're coming!"

Catching back up to the blonde, the three passed through the opening in the dilapidated stone walls. Inside those, there was only a single building, if one could call the top of a covered stairwell a building. the stone foundation and first two layers of stone walls remained to mark the fact that a building had, in fact, existed to cover the stairs but had rotted away over the centuries.

"Kizmel, do you know what this place used to be?" Leafa asked, looking down the dark stairwell before pulling out a torch from her inventory and lighting it.

"Not exactly." The dark elf woman replied, drawing her blade and moving to the front of the group before the entrance. "Though I've heard that this place is one of the reasons we still retain some semblance of magic where others have lost theirs."

"Like us humans." Kiriko said the words the elf wouldn't, drawing her own sword and torch. "So, maybe magical traps or robots to look out for."

"Just as long as it's not spiders." Leafa declared, not bothering to draw her blade due to the tighter confines of the stairwell. "That's all I've been fighting on this floor."

"What about the Treants?" Kiriko asked with a small grin as they entered the stairwell.

The green-eyed girl just huffed in exasperation. "Big plant spiders! All those dead branches and twigs look like spiderlegs!"

Kiriko just chuckled as she followed behind the other two and was the last to exit the stairwell into a relatively large stone-lined room. After verifying there were no enemies in the area, the three explored the room carefully, the flickering light of their torches just enough to see by. There were two exits, left and right, that she could see, though a large mural of some sort on the back wall held her steely-blue gaze. It spanned the entire wall, though most of it was worn and faded with time.

"So… what do we do first?" Leafa asked up, taking her own gander at the mural, seeing what looked like the elf god or goddess doing something before having to skip over a large grid of runes to where it showed a rather spectacular castle with small figures on either side of it in some form of formation.

"Well, whatever it is we're supposed to be looking for here, it's probably hidden." The black clad girl posited, using her knowledge of how game quests usually worked. This line of quest was different from the Beta but it was still close enough to others to make educated guesses. "There's probably a hidden door in the mural wall that it's hidden in."

"You sound like this isn't your first time exploring ruins…" Kizmel stated, eyeing the human.

"It isn't." Kiriko confirmed, walking around towards the right hand door. "I guess you could say I was a treasure hunter before Cardinal summoned us." She explained away her knowledge, knowing that saying she'd completed the Elf War questline before the 'world reset' wouldn't go over well.

Entering the next room, they came into a dump of a room room, mostly broken objects scattered onto the ground, spanning the gamut of metal, glass and crystal. Really, the only interesting thing in the room was that there were three indentations in the far wall.

"Great… it's one of those puzzles." Kiriko sighed, looking to the scattered junk on the floor.

"What puzzles?" Leafa inquired, blinking as her sister started rooting through the junk on the ground.

Grumbling about the mess, she used a boot to make a decent clear area on the floor, placing the first whole object she found. She glanced over to Kizmel who was doing something similar nearby. "It's one where you have to match the 'key' with the 'hole'' then something happens. In this case, the hard part is just finding the correct needles in a stack of needles."

"That's… not fun at all." Leafa pointed out, wondering why anyone would think this was entertainment. She still dutifully followed the other two in rooting through the junk.

It took them a bit but they amassed a pile of objects before the indentations in the wall and then moved on to the process of comparing them to see if any fit.

It turned out, the third object had been missed and another scavenger hunt occured, with Kizmel being the victor and plugging the key into the wall.

The room glowed with dim yellow light as the wall above the key came awake with lines of power running up the wall.

"Okay." Kiriko dusted off her hands and smirked. "Now we just have to figure out the other side and the hidden door should open or at least show us the last puzzle."

They did pause in the main room, seeing the room partly illuminated with glowing yellow runes or sigils spaced out above the mural. Kiriko saw Kizmel stop to read them with narrowed eyes but didn't comment on it.

The other side room turned out to be even more tedious, finding that the 'broken junk' from the other puzzle were actually required to complete this one.

"What was the point of all that?!" Leafa demanded, shaking her head at how little sense it all made.

Kiriko just shrugged, annoyed herself but not willing to voice it. "I don't know… maybe it was an initiation ritual or way to access the hidden area if something went wrong?"

Either way, lines of power were now illuminating the room, different from the ones glowing in the other with these being blue instead of yellow.

Going back out into the main room, they saw that blue sigils had interlaced themselves between the other ones from before.

"Okay, so now we just need to punch these into the wall to unlock the door." Kiriko informed them, moving up to the grid of now green glowing sigils, showing it to be a keyboard of some sort.

"Stop!" Kizmel commanded sharply. "Do not touch that!" Seeing the black haired human pause, the elf pushed past and stood before mural wall. Reaching out with a finger, she pressed in different buttons that had seemingly nothing to do with the sigils glowing above.

After pressing the last one, Kizmel stepped back before turning around as a grinding sound filled the room.

"Hey!" Leafa cried out in shocked surprise, leaping away from the shifting stone under her feet. A few moments later, the grinding stopped to reveal a stairwell leading down deeper into the ruins. "Good job, Kizmel!"

"Those weren't the runes on the wall that you typed in." Kiriko stated, noticing the difference almost immediately.

"Of course. Those are the question and I gave the answer." Kizmel nodded towards the wall. "Let us head down and find whatever was hidden."

"Seriously, what was the question and what was the answer?" The black clad human asked, the three of them making their way down the stairs. She glanced back as the entrance to the hidden stairs closed behind them, though a single glowing sigil seemed to mark a way to open it from this side.

"Death walks the night, Evil blights the forest; we persevere in the Goddess's name." Kizmel stated in answer.

"So, what was the answer?" Leafa asked as they continued to go further down.

"That was the question and the answer." The elf replied, a small grin on the edges of her lips. "It's an ancient saying passed down from parent to child since before memory. The first half was the part we unlocked."

"While you entered the other half of the saying." Kiriko cringed, thinking about all the 'bad ends' just repeating the sigils could have caused. "Wonder what would have happened if you hadn't stopped me."

"Nothing pleasant, most likely." She dryly replied as they finally exited the stairwell into another room.

A polished bronze dagger with elaborate inscriptions across the blade took their attention first, illuminated by the soft white light emanating from a ring on the ceiling, before the three examined the rest of the large room. Almost as interesting as the obvious artifact, all three of the walls than the one they entered through were covered floor to ceiling in stone spheres, each around half a meter in diameter.

"This smells like a trap." Leafa stated, eyeing the walls warily.

Instead of commenting on the statement, Kizmel stepped forward and picked up the dagger from its pedestal. The two humans tensed but finally relaxed as nothing happened.

"Well… okay, then. We've got… whatever this is, so let's get out of here." Kiriko said with uncertainty, not really expecting the easy outcome.

"Right. This place is starting to give me the creeps." Leafa agreed, moving back towards the stairs. Just as she passed the threshold, the room flashed red and stayed that way. "I didn't do it!"

The sounds of many things powering on echoed through the room, followed by chittering, as the spheres that lined the walls activated and started unfolding into…

"Damnnit! More spiders!" Leafa drew her greatsword with a yell, readying for combat.

Kiriko and Kizmel dashed over to the blonde as more and more spider-like golems activated. Then they collectively blinked as the golems scurried up the walls and through small passageways that had opened up while their focus was on the golems activating.

"What's going on?!" Leafa cried out, confused but thankful the constructs were leaving the room. "Why aren't they attacking us?"

"I don't know but we'd better get out of here before they do!" Kiriko yelled, dashing up the stairs three at a time. Reaching the top much quicker than it took for them to descend, she slapped the still glowing rune, the door shifting down and grinding open.

"The hell?!" A man's voice cried out in shock, the sounds of combat now audible over the grinding stone. Said man fell and landed before her, getting Kiriko to flinch back as he recovered his wits in time to stab out and impale a spider golem that shattered into shards.

"Dynamm?!" The girl shouted in shock, not expecting the pirate looking man to literally drop in before her.

The bandana wearing man blinked at the surprised girl before him. "Kiriko?! What are you do doing… Nevermind." He shook his head as he stood, head twisting as he looked at the melee on the floor above. "We've got a situation here!"

"I know! Something caused the spider golems to activate and they-ah!" She cried out in shock as someone ran into her from behind, causing her to stumble into Dynamm.

"Don't block the door!" Leafa pushed through and climbed out the side of the opening, finally seeing the melee about her. "What the heck?!"

Dynamm batted another of the artificial spiders out of the air as it tried to leap at him, the construct constricting into a ball to roll along the floor before snapping back into spider mode. He then took the time to reach out a hand and helped Kiriko up out of the stairwell, blinking as a purple haired elf followed a moment later.

"Hey! Where the hell did you guys come from?" Klein's voice called out, his sword slashing through the air in a blue arc, connecting with and shattering one of seemingly endless spider golems.

"We ran back when the spiders woke up." Leafa yelled at him, drawing her greatsword but freezing as her sister's hand held her back. "Nee-chan?"

"Don't attack." She said, eyeing the scene before them. "They aren't targeting us."

Her words rang true as the seconds passed, the mobs only going after the men in red equipment.

"Are you just going to stand there or help us?!" Klein demanded, getting pissed at the situation.

"Just run outside, guys! We got… We cleared the ruins already!" Kiriko yelled out, waving for her companions to run towards the exit with her.

The three females ran up the stairs, finding the forest dark as they exited the ruins, only stopping once they passed the ruined border walls. The pounding of feet and armor followed close on their heels, the men fleeing the seemingly endless wave of spider golems.

Klein and his friends didn't relax until they saw the golems reach the border wall, skitter around just inside of it for a bit before slowly re-enter the stairwell to disappear.

"Ah, man… That was nuts." Klein wiped a sleeve across his forehead.

"Damnit, dude! I told you to leave it alone!" Harry complained, slugging the redhead in the shoulder. "It was way too obvious!"

"Don't give me that shit, Harry! We looked around and the place looked solved." Klein defended himself, rubbing at his sore arm.

"Hey, Nee-chan." Leafa spoke up with an obvious grin. "I guess we found out what would of happened."

Kiriko blinked at her sister's statement before letting out a light chuckle. "Guess we do." She shook her head before looking at the redhead. "So, what were you guys doing here anyways?"

"We were exploring the floor and found these ruins." Kuni answered, glancing back at the stone structure. "Kind of surprised to see it already completed but your presence explains that."

"And it seems we're allies instead of enemies for the War." Issin's voice drew looks as he displayed the onyx band on his finger.

"All because Klein decided for us." Dale grinned at his friend.

"What? I figured if the kid was going Dark Elf, there had to be a good reason for it!" Klein defended his decision. "And the kid just saved our bacon." He looked towards the siblings and noticed the third with them. "Okay, so what about you guys? What's up and why is she with you? The elf commander didn't send anyone out with us."

"This is Kizmel and… well, it's a long story." Leafa gestured towards the elf woman with a smile.

"We were working together to find a missing scout in the spider nest dungeon but ran into Kibaou and his group. He's working with the Forest Elves, by the way."

"For some reason, I'm appreciating Klein's decision now." Dale grinned at his friend who flashed him a thumbs up.

"Yeah, same here." Leafa agreed. "Anyways, Kizmel hid us with her magic and scarface let slip the name of this place. Kizmel points it to us on the map, we clear the puzzles and find this dagger thing."

"And saving me and my boys the effort." Another voice cut in, a hint of amusement tinging the word. "Thanks for that, by the way."

The gathered players and elf turned to the side, readying weapons as they spotted the scared Kibaou and his crew at the mist barrier. The man seemed full of himself, grinning widely at the situation he lucked in on.

"Oi? What're you smirking about?" Klein relaxed and tapped the back of his katana against his shoulder, his own grin forming as he walked forward a few steps. "You gonna try and take us on? You really must be as dumb as you look."

"What you say, asshole?" Kibaou scowled, pointing his sword at the chuckling group of men. "Don't piss me off."

"Or what? You'll scream and cry that we cheated?" Dynamm quipped, moving up with Klein, making a gesture with his hand.

Kiriko's eyes narrowed as she saw this happen before realising Klein and his friends were putting themselves between Kibaou's group and hers. Glancing towards her sister, she whispered at her. "Get ready to run."

"What?" Leafa hissed back. "What about Klein and them?"

"They'll be fine." The black haired girl replied with confidence, glancing at Kizmel who nodded back subtly.

"I will blind them." The dark elf stated, hiding the fact that she was readying her offhand for the attack.

"Do it!" Kiriko hissed before giving Leafa a look. "Then we run."

"...press your face into the dirt!" Kibaou threatened Klein, who just stood there with a shiteating grin on his face.

"You and what army, Kibaou, old buddy? Ain't seen these guys bef-"

"Look out! She's doing som-" One of Kibaou's team cried out a warning just as a black cloud enveloped them, muffling the shouts of panic from within.

"Scatter!" Kiriko yelled, leading her group towards the north while Klein's group ran east, past Kibaou's team. The trio heading north just broke through the mist wall before she heard Kibaou's shouts of rage behind them. After a few minutes of running, changing directions with Kizmel's guidance, she had them slow to a brisk walking speed. "I think we lost them."

"Great." Leafa took a deep breath to relax. "I wonder what's so special about that dagger."

"I don't know but if the enemy want it, it's undoubtedly important to their plans." The purple haired elf commented, looking at the dagger thrust into her swordbelt. "We must deliver it to the Commander as soon as possible."

o0O0o

"Hmm." Craliel studied the bronze dagger held in his hands, flipping it over to view the etchings once more from a different angles. Letting out a sigh, he placed it down upon the map table. "While I don't currently know its significance, the enemy are interested in obtaining this artifact which means you did well keeping it from their grasp."

"If it weren't for Kizmel, I'm not sure we'd ever had made it in time, what with having to come back here to get the location and maybe a second time for translations of the runes." Kiriko stated with a nod to the purple haired elf.

"As expected of a Pagoda Knight." The dark eyed commander nodded towards Kizmel as well. "Thought your report of the spiders nesting in a critical location is troubling, especially the death of our scout. It will take some time to decode his message but we should gean some valuable intelligence from it."

"Are you going to send us to take out that nest?" Leafa sighed at the thought of fighting even more spiders.

The elf commander favored her question with a light chuckle and a shake of his head. "No, I'll petition another group of humans to do that. No, all three of you deserve to rest and recuperate. For now, have the smith tend to your equipment, grab some food in the mess tent and rest well."

Kizmel snapped Craliel a salute, which the two human's clumsily copied, getting a salute in return.

"Dismissed."

A few minutes later and trio found themselves seated in the mess tent, a large bowl of meat stew and a hunk of buttered bread before each.

"So, how long have you been a Pagoda Knight?" Leafa asked the elf, taking a spoonful of stew and humming appreciatively.

"I earned my knighthood just a year ago." Kizmel answered before digging into her own meal. "I'm nowhere near the youngest to obtain knighthood but I received mine a little earlier than expected."

"Well, you're certainly strong." Kiriko stated, commenting on the fact that the elf outleveled her and her sister by four levels and even they were overleveled for the floor.

"I have to be." The elf simply stated, tearing off a piece of bread and soaking it in the stew. "There's too much at risk for me not to be."

A quiet fell over the three tired women, choosing to focus on filling their stomachs than talk. It lasted until they were almost done, when Leafa looked up and watched Kizmel mechanically eat. "You know, it's kinda sad."

"What is?" Her sister replied in question.

"You know… the fact that whichever side wins this war, the other side is going to die." She looked at the dregs of her stew. "I wish there was a way for everyone to get along."

"Impossible." Kizmel simply replied with fierce hatred in her voice, refusing to elaborate.

"Why not? I want to know!"

"Sugu! Leave it alone." Kiriko cut in, sharp words making her young sister flinch.

The table was silent for a few moments before Leafa stood. "I'm going for a walk."

Kiriko let out a sigh. "I'm sorry for my sister's actions."

Kizmel just looked at the tired human still across from her before letting out her own sigh, looking like a large weight had fallen on her shoulders. "I had a little sister once as well."

It took her a moment to parse those words but her lips turned down after a moment. "I'm sorry for your loss."

The purple haired elf nodded at the commiseration. "Her name was Tilnel, my twin sister. I've seen how close you are to your sister but there's something entirely different when you're twins. We were inseparable."

"How did it happen?"

"We were separated." Kizmel laughed bitterly at the sour jest. "We watched each other's backs ever since the war started, surviving the odds and doing the improbable. Then… the Nobility learned of us and offered to train one of us to become a Pagoda Knight. She said that I should take it because I was older, so I went."

Kiriko watched the events in her mind's eye, making the conscious choice to keep her eyes closed to give the woman with tears rolling down her cheeks a bit of privacy in her moment of grief.

"I only learned about it after I became knighted… The day after I left for training, the forward camp was wiped out by the enemy forces." Kizmel took a haggard breath. "My sister was among the lost." She wiped her eyes and glared at the empty bowl before her. "They stole half my soul that day and, for that, I'll never forgive them."

o0O0o

16 Dec 2022 - Day 40

Kiriko's steel blue eyes snapped open, seeing her sister's face hanging over her own. "W-what? Sugu?" She tried to blink away the sleep before failing to contain her yawn.

"Wake up! Something's happening!" Leafa's insistent voice pushed away any lingering drowsiness from her elder sister. "Hurry!"

"I'm up!" Kiriko declared, quick equipping her combat kit after standing. "What's going on?"

"I don't know but Kizmel is gone and the elves are rushing around like something huge is happening!" The blonde replied exiting the tent Kizmel had shared with them last night.

Pushing out herself, Kiriko noted that it was still night… or at least so early in the morning that the sun hadn't risen yet and, true to Leafa's word, the elves were mustering and organizing for something.

Spotting Commander Craliel directing the flow of chaos around the camp, they carefully made their way over. "Commander! What's going on?"

The elven man blinked as he spotted the two human females. "Ah, you're awake, good. We've got a bit of a situation brewing."

"We can see that." Leafa quipped, a frown on her lips. "Where's Kizmel?"

The dark haired commander narrowed his gaze at the human girl but let it slide this time. "She's part of the situation. A report came in late last evening that another team had found another ruin, one that just so happened to have what seemed like a keyhole that looked awfully similar to that dagger you found."

"Awfully convenient." Kiriko commented, a frown on her lips at seeing where this was going.

"Quite so." Craliel nodded. "Kizmel volunteered to deliver it but why she declined to wake you, I'd rather not speculate. Not long ago, though, we received reports that the enemy forces are mobilizing en-mass."

"And you're doing the same." Kiriko sussed out, glancing to the growing pool of armed elves in combat equipment.

The man before her nodded. "Precisely."

"Where is she?!" Leafa stepped forward, thrusting her hand away towards the darkness of the early morning. "They're probably after whatever she found! We need to catch up to her!" Slicing open her map screen, she looked to the surprised elf. "Where is she?!"

"The ruins she was delivering the dagger to should be around here." He pointed at a spot on the southeast portion of the map.

"That's Forest Elf territory." Kiriko pointed out, a frown on her lips.

"Indeed." Was the man's reply.

"Come on, Nee-chan, we need to go!"

"Wait a second." Kiriko said, opening up her messenger and typing out a quick message. "I'm letting Klein know about this. Maybe he can help out." She soon hit the send action and closed her menu. "Okay, let's go!"

"Hold a moment longer." Craliel's voice stopped the humans, much to the visible irritation of the blonde of the pair.

"What is it now?!"

"I just presumed you would appreciate being transported closer to your friend." He quirked an eyebrow. If he enjoyed the way the girl shrunk back slightly, he didn't emote it. "Follow me."

o0O0o

The elven magic had deposited the two human players closer to the center of the floor, shaving off almost a full hour of travel, but they still had a long run ahead of them.

After a bit of travel, Leafa spoke up. "What do you think they found?"

"I don't know but it's got to be big, considering how the Forest Elves are mobilizing." Kiriko replied.

"Yeah but what do you think it is?"

Kiriko managed to shrug without messing with her stride. "If I had to guess, it's probably something needed to activate the Spirit Trees."

"But they already have enough parts to make a key." Leafa mused as she ran around the swinging arm of the Treant Sapling her sister slid under. They ignored the mob, leaving it to be swallowed by the mists behind them. "So, maybe the tool to fix the key?"

"Either that or something else they need and haven't told us about." Kiriko hedged, glancing at her map as they ran. "The only time one side or the other went all out in the Beta was when the other side was about to activate their Spirit Tree."

It took Leafa a few strides to react when the raven-haired girl skidded to a stop, leaving visible furrows in the forest floor. "Why are you stopping, Nee-chan?! We need to get to Kizmel!"

"Sugu! The elves only act like this when the other side is about to win!" Kiriko repeated with more clarity. "We're going the wrong way!"

Leafa blinked her green eyes as she processed her sister's statements. "Wait… We need to go to the Spirit Tree?!"

The shorter of the two siblings widened her map and zoomed out. A few quick lines drawn on it and she pointed to a specific spot. "That's the line Kizmel will be traveling and that's where we are. Depending on how fast she and whoever else she's with are moving, we should head to somewhere around here to try and meet up with them."

"And if we don't see them, we try to catch up." Leafa nodded with the idea. "Let's get going then!"

"Right!" Kiriko agreed as she chased after her sister.

o0O0o

"Now you're all alone and we all know how that worked out for you last time." A smug man's voice taunted from behind her.

Kizmel didn't waste her breath, continuing to run as fast as her legs would take her, the critical package held in the crook of her arm. She ducked behind a tree, the wood letting out a sharp thunk as the dagger thrown at her bit into it.

The man let out a grunt, his voice sounding closer with the miss. "You can run but you're just going to die tired."

"Do you ever shut up?!" She finally cried out in exasperation, having long since tired of his voice.

"After being forced into letting you escape once, I'm going to savor this." The forest elf replied with heady malice dripping from every word.

Kizmel spun and flashed out her saber, knocking the dagger out of the air and sliding to a stop to face her enemy. "I won't lose."

"Oh, you already have." The woody-green haired man smirked, catching the dagger as it returned to his hand. He flourished it lazily, taking his time now that his quarry had stopped running. "You see, we've been watching you lot. We know what you have in your arms and even if you somehow manage to escape me again, you'll have to fight through the entirety of our forces currently assaulting your Spirit Tree." His smirk grew teeth as he drank in the dark elf's shocked look. "Just accept your fate."

"No, you!" Another voice cried out, the man dodging as a greatsword slammed down into the space he just evacuated.

The elf hissed out a shock of pain as a dark blade nicked into his side, his second dodge a hair too slow. "Attack first, then taunt, Sugu." Kiriko chasized her sister, dashing around to try and flank the forest elf or at least drive him away from Kizmel.

"I was just giving him a fair chance, Nee-chan. Considering he was nice enough to lead us to him." Leafa smirked at the suddenly scowling elf. "Hello again."

"Sugu!" Kiriko's sharp bark shook the girl slightly. "Don't play with him! We need to get her to the tree!"

"Right." The blonde refocused, shifting her grip on her sword and carefully advancing on the forest elf.

Hearing movement to the side, he flicked his eyes to see his target dashing off into the mists. He lept back as a black blade flashed at him, forcing him to focus on the two humans keeping him occupied. "I'm going to make you regret this, humans!"

He eyed the blonde's condescending smirk, the human letting out a dark giggle. "Well, our Goddess brings us back when we die. Does yours?" Her grin became feral at the reaction he tried to hide. "Thought so."

Kiriko made an annoyed sound as the elf parried her blade, bringing it wide and throwing off her combo.

"I see your game." He counterattacked, forcing the black clad human to parry herself before he lunged away, a greatsword biting the air behind him. "You keep me distracted and she takes advantage of it."

"But can you do anything about it?" Kiriko asked, rushing in with Leafa's feint.

"I don't know." He admitted, parrying it but stepping forward to force the blonde to check her strike as he moved passed the black haired human to stab at her back. She twisted at the last second, making a kidney shot a light graze but it left him with both humans before him for the first time in the fight. "Let's find out."

They danced a dance of blades, each going for faints and pokes with the occasional powershot mixed in whenever they thought there was an opening.

Then it happened.

Kiriko was flashing through an Arts combination, trying to capitalize on the opening Leafa created. She was still stuck in the Arts Lock when she noticed him smirk.

A flourish of his daggers and her Annealed Blade was ripped from her hand. A boot to her gut had her flying back into her sister, to fall to the ground.

"It seems I can." He answered the long ago asked question, jamming the blade deep into a large tree root.

"No!" Kiriko cried out in shock as he bent the blade over, his gloved hand pushing it just a bit more before he flashed his teeth.

The brown boot stomped down. The blade snapped. The sound of a girl's breath hitching in shock following the destructive action.

"Now, I guess the question is, can 'you' do anything about it?" His smirk twisted as his eyes narrowed.

Leafa moved between him and her sister, Kiriko already swiping open her menu to equip her old beginner's short sword. It was old and unupgraded but it was at least something. Still, that instant of loss shifted the entire flow of the skirmish, with the two humans now fighting defensively against a much more aggressive elf.

"What's the matter? No snappy quips? No more flashy swordwork?" He grinned at them, looking at the blonde girl he just drove back. "Don't worry. I don't blame your fear." His voice lowered menacing. "You should be scared."

Leafa let out a wordless yell, drawing back and lunging forward in a flash of red light.

The elf swayed to the side before raising his foot and slamming it down to the dirt, pinning the long blade beneath it. He kicked out with his other boot, catching the blonde in the face and sending her sprawling. "And that's one more down."

Seeing Kiriko moving over to screen her downed sister, he shot forward, his blades glowing behind him. The black haired girl tried to block the strike but he just grinned wider. "Blade Break!"

The two daggers flashed out in a crossing path, the point of intersection aligned with the targeted blade. They passed through like the blade was dust instead of iron, the top half flying off to land in the forest loam, rendering it useless.

"And that is that." He twirled his daggers in satisfied victory over the two humans. "But remember, your Goddess will just bring you back. Ri-ghhh!"

Steel-blue eyes shot wide as a bloody saber exploded out of the elf's throat. He gurgled and reached a shaky hand up to grab it, as if to futility wish it away.

The saber retracted, letting the dying forest elf fall to the ground, as he desperately tried to keep his life blood from burbling out of his neck. Kizmel cooly stared down at him, watching as his body slowly stopped moving as the forest loam absorbed his crimson lifeblood.

"You talk to much."

"Kizmel?! I thought you escaped!" Leafa stared at the elven knight with wide green eyes.

Kiriko took a shaky breath, having stared her own death in the face and surviving. "Not that I'm not thankful but why did you come back?"

"I never left." The elf replied, reaching down to frisk the still warm body, plucking items off of it and putting them in her pouches. "I hid the artifact nearby and used disguise magic to try and get close enough to kill him."

"Well… it worked." Leafa gulped, edging around the dead elf to retrieve her greatsword.

Kiriko took a deeper breath, stepping back to keep the pooling blood from touching her boots. "We still have to get you to the Spirit Tree and it's under siege." She raised the shattered iron shortsword still in her hand. "And I'm unarmed now."

"Gather up the parts. Maybe the smith can forge you a new blade from the materials." Kizmel told her before holding up a hand, the dead elf's daggers held within it. ""And take these as well."

Kiriko took up the two weapons in the palms of both hands. Not really wielding them, just holding them with an unsure look in her eyes. "I can only use swords…"

"You can use them to block with, at the very least." The dark elf stated, standing up and looking her in the eye. "Now, gather up your swords so we can head out. The longer we wait, the more likely we'll be waylaid by enemy forces."

Hearing the truth to those words, the black haired human nodded and sorrowfully gathered the shattered remains of the sword Beth had rewarded her with for saving her son. Seeing 'Shattered Annealed Blade +5' in her inventory list caused her to wipe a tear away.

She felt her sister's hand upon her shoulder, turning to see a commiserating look in her eye.

"Come on, Nee-chan… we need to go."

o0O0o

"Issin, help Dale out!" Klein called, slashing out with his katana to drive back the two forest elves pressuring him. Two throwing knives flashed from either side of his head, one being blocked, the other driving itself into the unprepared forest elf's eye.

Another green and brown clad elf took the casualty's place, literally stepping over her dead comrade's body to push Klein back.

"This is insane!" Kuni cried out, stabbing yet another elf with his spear, taking some heat off of Dynamm who was tanking before him with his buckler and saber.

"Just keep holding the line!" Klein yelled out, taking yet another step backwards.

His newly formed guild had held that line for almost half an hour, almost ever since they showed up to help defend the Spirit Tree. Really, he was just happy that there were no players challenging their position. Oh, he heard the players yelling out in both directions but not before him or his friends.

"Switch!"

A dark elf soldier stepped forward to take Klein's place, letting the human step back to breath. The switching out also drove the attackers back a stride or two in surprise.

Stepping back a few more times, he took out a waterskin and drank greedily from it.

"Klein, how much longer are we holding out here?" Issin asked after wetting his own throat.

The redhead shot the older man a look, seeing the calm question for what it was. "As long as it takes. Kiriko and them should be here any time with that artifact thing."

"Well, they better hurry up, cause we're losing ground and my equipment's losing durability." Harry stated, using a repair kit to try and boost said durability. It was definitely an expensive repair option compared to just taking it to a blacksmith but when you were in the field or a prolonged battle like this, they were invaluable. Especially when the elves on their side were handing them out like candy.

Kuni was in the process of patching up his own spear when he jerked his head up, along with Issin. "Hey, guys… something's going on behind enemy lines."

Klein peered out but cursed when the swirling mist interfered with identifying just what was going on. Looking around, he moved over and grabbed a dark elf by the shoulder, pointing towards the commotion. "Can you see what's going on out there?!"

"W-what?!" The shocked elf stammered.

"What's happening at the back?! Hurry man!" He shook the elf and jabbed his finger out again to direct the violet haired man's eyes.

"R-right." The elf strained his eyes before they shot wide. "T-there's… It's Pagoda Knight Kizmel!"

"Okay… Okay!" Klein's voiced gained confidence as he formulated a plan in his head. "Go grab a weapon, we need everyone who can fight for this."

"W-what?! I'm a-"

"Get a weapon! Now!" Klein roared, sending the elf scurrying off in fright. He felt like a giant fucking heel for it but it needed to be done. "Anyone who can fight, gather here!" He bellowed out, waving a hand in the air.

"What's the meaning of this?!" The dark elf commander's agitated voice cut over the din of gathering elves and the combat nearby.

"Kizmel and my friends are out there fighting. We need to cut them a hole through the line." Klein pointed out over the closer line of battle, the skirmish in the back easier to see now. "If we take everyone able to fight and get them and the artifact in here, there'll be no more reason for the fight."

Cralein breathed in a deep breath, playing the scenario through his head. He finally looked at the focused human and nodded. "Do it." He pointed to the redhead and called out to the assembled forces. "Rally on him! Break the line and make a hole for the Pagoda Knight!"

"Let's win this war!" Klein yelled out, glancing towards his friends and guildmates who readied themselves. Hearing the rallying cheers of the elves around him, he let out his own wordless yell, dashing towards the skirmishing elves.

Klein's sword bit down, taking a surprised forest elf through the collarbone. Kicking the body off his sword, he trusted his team to have his flanks, Issin spearing an elf through the leg while Harry sliced high, Dynamm and Dale dual teaming their own unfortunate forest elf.

It was a bloodbath for the first few moments, the assaulting forces unprepared for the pinpoint counter attack.

After half an hour of combat, the defending force broke through in less than a minute, leaving Klein with a frontline view of Kizmel dismembering a forest elf before readying her weapon at him.

"Get in!" He yelled, pointing to the thin corridor that was quickly closing as the attacking forces adapted their front lines to squeeze against the puncture. The redhead parried and kicked the knee of an attacker, the elf going down screaming before he booted the woman unconscious. "Hurry!"

The dark elf knight and two humans shot through the gap, Klein calling for an orderly withdraw to reform the lines. Klein grimaced at the dark elf bodies he had to retreat over but the status quo was eventually restored, with him stepping back to see the three females run up and into the Spirit Tree.

"Just hold on until they're done!" He blocked and parried the more ferferently attacking forest elves, giving ground slowly with the rest of the line. Lines of damage started peppering his body as his stamina wore and the ferocity of attacks didn't.

Then a wave of power washed over the area, sending the forest elves reeling and seeming to rejuvenate the dark elves, who rallied and started to press the quickly routing enemy.

Soon enough, the enemy had completely abandoned the field, leaving the victorious defenders to cheer as they witnessed their Spirit Tree glowing with an growing ethereal energy before it shot a beam of light into the morning sky and the floor above.

Looking around, Klein spotted his tired but alive guildmates slowly moving towards him. Grinning widely, he thrust his katana into the air and cheered. "Fuurinkazan!"

His friends grinned back, thrusting their weapons skywards in victory.

"Fuurinkazan!"

END OF CHAPTER 10

o0O0o

A/N

Leafa doesn't have arachnophobia, for anyone wondering. It's more akin to having supreme pizza for every meal for a week. At first, it's good but after a while you're just sick of it.

This isn't the end of the third floor and definitely isn't the end of the Elf War, just a major turning point for the campaign on the floor.

So, Klein gets his moment to shine and not be a buttmonkey! Yay! Hope you enjoyed it… cause that's all you're ever getting! -cue evil laugh-

Also, seems that Leafa's turning into a cute little bloodknight.

As always, hope you enjoyed and let me know your thoughts.