Search Results

Higure's feet were getting sore from all this standing. While the Adults talked he merely made his way to a table next to the man with blue hair whom Hunter; as most people were referring to him, had called Specter. Apparently Specter was a mute even though he had just spoken not too long ago. Besides, Higure also isn't mute and Aedion could testify to that. A small sigh escaped the young lad, letting feet dangle in the air while he sat there patiently.

Lance, Aello, and myself. At least I know someone in my team...

Most likely he'd have to talk to Lance at one point or another during their mission. Lance wouldn't be the spitting image of Hunter when it came to personality. That was a hopeful thought, however. He could always be far worst. While people talked, Higure looked around for any sign of food. Whether a doorway that led to a kitchen, hallway, or just a snack lying around. Stomach was grumbling a lot now.

"Sshi-" words stopped themselves.

A blast had just went off, a near miss for Jankano and his group of players. The Guild members running with the swordsman were all actively looking for the source of the blast. Another went off, this time severely injuring a player who cried out in pain. The black and white haired greatswordsman turned to the non-party member. With quick work off his tongue, Jankano chanted a healing spell to the injured player, rejuvenating the player's health bar to nearly full green. The party and player gave their thanks while he just merely went on his way with the active party that was his.

"We have to find who or what is firing those cannons!" Jankano shouted loud, not only for his party to hear but for everyone on the field as well. "Or else we're going to have a REALLY hard time with this boss!"

His current party split into groups of 2, settling for 4 people each. They dispersed to go about doing their jobs. Jankano's small group had gone off to help keep the minions off the players who were engaging the boss, while the other half had gone off to help the other guild members search for the source of said cannon fire. If everyone wanted to come out of this fight alive, they would all need to work together, and not just together, but in sync. Summons had been called out by nearly every player, all of them going big on the boss. Since Jankano did not have a summon just yet, he had to rely on his teammates to back him up. With a great swing of his Giant sword, the swordsman knocked a Goblin out of the way, immediately bringing up its health bar and name.

Goblin Elite. Level 4. Yellow Health.

For a level four, it's sure got some health...

No kidding. Perhaps it had to do with it being a boss minion and not just a regular spawn. It was an Elite after all. Jankano quickly knocked the goblin's scimitar aside, and brought the blade down on the monster. It's health had dropped to red. It seemed fairly simple, except there was obviously more than one of these one the field. A spear wielding Elite lunged at Jankano, fairly missing it's intended target in the swordsman's reaction. A quick counter brought that Elite to yellow health. Players rushed in with their summon's to finish his work.

"Here it comes!" a player shouted.

Jankano wasted no time in honing in on the person. It was a female player looking at the boss, to which eyes darted from the player to the Boss just in time to see the Guild Leader, Alpha, avoid a near close call. The Goblin King had swung two large blades down on the leader, and had missed by inches. The Boss was in a recovery animation, obvious because of the time it took for the Boss to get back into normal stance. Players rushed the boss with <<sword skills>>, giving it their all to whittle the monster's HP. It was taking a while for it to get back into stance. Normally, a bosses recovery animation took no longer than 2 seconds; 2.5 tops before its recovery animation ended. And that was conditional to certain attacks. Desperation moves or really powerful attacks took longer. The swordsman only knew this much because of other games. Despite differences and whatnot, every game always had that one thing similar to it. That's just how things worked. Frames per second. So, it was odd when the monster took it's sweet time. Only 2.5 seconds had gone by, and nothing changed before Jankano's eyes widened with horrifying realization.

"EVERYONE PULL BACK!" he shouted, eyes widening in horror. "HE"S NOT DONE!!"

It was too late. The Goblin King feigned sluggish movements as it spun it's body 360 degrees, letting blades hang back to feed off of the momentum it was building. It took a giant step, Blades cutting through the area, and hit box ranging 270 degrees of it's body when the blades had first started to spin.

A powerful gust of wind blew into the crowd of players that were lucky enough to be patient or to have pulled back. Anyone caught 3 feet beside him or in its path were tossed aside and left on the brink of death; and those that had already lost health prior....

Jankano's eyes stared in horror, time dilating for a moment as mind registered the event. Summons died before them, and unsuspecting players suddenly felt their virtual bodies become corrupted Data. Without a word, they merely vanished alongside other players whos HP had reached 0. It was so fast, but just like that Shards of player data drifted in the air, and two names were removed from the swordsmans party. Only the creator knew how many other players had fallen from this attack. In the UI, it read, "JackNicholson was removed from the party. BallzDeep69 was removed from the party."

The Goblin King gave a loud war cry, reminding everyone that this IS a no extra lives game. You die here, You're gone forever.

D'daear felt Beuce take hold of him for a moment to deliver his message, to which all the tall youth could do was to give a coy smile in response. It was true, he was not very good with witty retorts. So perhaps he would take him up on that offer when they had some time to relax. For the meantime, whoever, they all had a job to do. He stood there, giving Beuce and Karina a glance as they talked things out. No doubt Beuce had a way with words, and it showed in the way Karina sort of mellowed out a bit. A sigh of relief escaped the youth, glad that Karina had calmed down. To make things even better, Oswald seemed to calm down as well when he overheard Beuce name Yen Sid. Blue irises flared to life in interest to what Oswald had to say. Yen Sid's first pupil, Half of Disney being hidden in a book, and a shadow blot needing to nom nom hearts in order to break free where as another way out of the book was by being remembered.

"Blot? To be remembered?" he repeated, looking up in thought. This sounds an awful lot like that Phantom Blot person we encountered. By we he meant his previous group, and by the Phantom Blot he meant the guy who was going on and off about being against change and wanting things to stay in black and white. Oooh, he remembered him now all to well. A pout was faint in D'daear's expression as he grew a bit salty at the character. That guy was a jerk.

"You said you had friends here right? Well, hurry and round em up! If the shadow blot is released, then the world outside our own won't be able to stop it!"

Now there was an idea he could get behind. Keyblade withdrew itself back into the light, and D'daear nodded happily.

"Yeah! We should definitely get to doing that!" he replied, turning to Beuce and Karina. A bit of excitement stirred in the young boy's heart. The place they were in was honestly a little creepy, but not as creepy as the graveyard they had been in with all those skeletons. Not to mention that they now had somewhat of a guide to this strange world. Things were starting to look up. Looking back to the black rabbit he started the intro.

"I'm D'daear." he introduced himself, pointing a thumb at himself.

The sooner they got moving the better.

Mindstorm, is your laptop missing a few updates? That could be a reason, unless your laptop is just old.

I don't think the trailer showed any unverse, and the reason I say this is because UNverse have red eyes while heartless have yellow; there are exceptions to this like the Final Boss Aqua fights in BBSFM. However, all the heartless in the trailer had the heartless insignia; from what I could tell.

I do hope Vanitas makes it back to the series, though, as it would be interesting to see Sora face to face with another person with his face. It'd be like Star Wars Empire Strikes back when Luke Skywalker went into that cave to fight his darkness or whatever. When he defeated darth vader, the mask popped open to reveal Lukes face, a warning to him saying that he could just as easily fall to the darkside if he is not careful. To further push this idea forward, Riku had to fight Anti Black Coat ( Sora's Darkness) in KH3D when he was attempting to wake Sora up from his deep sleep. Basically, the closer you get to the light, the bigger your shadow becomes. In this case, Sora's light was so strong that he harbored this strong darkness inside him as well.

Just like Luke Skywalker; he shows us that he also harbored this anger in Return of the Jedi when he cut off Darth vader's hand off (Poor guy).

What I'm trying to say throughout all this is pretty much I agree with Cailyn. There's a lot of space in the story to bring Vanitas back.

A lot of talking was going on, and it looked like people were disagreeing with the man that had called everyone for the meeting in the first place. A light sigh escaped the large hat wearing youth as he remained standing next to Aedion. Stomach was rumbling, clearly ringing the I am hungry bell. However, Higure didn't want to impose or anything so he remained silent. Ideas were thrown back and forth while Higure took a quick look around. There was a man reclining on his chair, a woman who sounded really familiar, another man who sounded really familiar, ANOTHER man who sounded really famili-

Are these three the same people who were causing a ruckus outside the forest while I tried to sleep?

Eyebrows went about their motions, expressing his thought process; although no one could see due to his overly large wizard hat. Red cape remained concealing his holster where he held his gun. The only reason he had the cape was for that very reason because other than that it was entirely useless. If he could ever find himself a pancho, he'd definitely switch to that since those were more comfortable and actually looked cool aside from useful at concealing stuff.

He kind of just stood there, being the child everyone thought him to be. Hopefully the adults could come up with a reasonable plan because this was honestly taking to long. Seriously how hard was it to divide a group of 7 people? They could either have a group of three with one man left out or a group of 2 with again an odd man out. Since Aedion was already hinting at leaving Higure, Yu, behind to "defend" the town, then he supposed he would be the odd man out. That left either two groups of 3 or three groups of 2.

Can't they all just go to the island? I'm pretty sure the guards and the other soldiers here aren't that incompetent... Right?

Feet shuffled within boots while Higure stood waiting for grown ups to make up their mind. Seriously, chop chop. A boy needs to get some grub for his rumbling tummy.

Whatever decision the group came to an agreement to, he too would agree with them; doubt he had much of a choice anyway being a child and all.

While a bunch of players had stayed behind in the Town, a swarm of players had begun their journey together, following a man who had created a guild called, "Summoned Knights". Jankano was not ready to join a guild just yet. It would be a while before Jankano would even consider the idea of joining one as the fight to beat this game had just begun. Past experiences led him to believe that not all guilds built from the beginning lasted long, and those that did would have to go through moral trials. Whether the leaders of these guilds were good people or bad, what Jankano was really going to be looking for was who they became down the road. For the time being, he'd stay guildless, but giving the front lines his active support nevertheless.

Jankano wondered what the people who stayed in the town would be doing. Would some pick up a craft and lend their support via Blacksmithing, tailoring, weaponcrafting, or some other trade? If the game started with 1,000 players, then just how many players were ACTUALLY going to be in the front lines? Brown irises took a quick look around the crowd of players that had joined the Summoned Knights. At most he estimated 40+ players. Perhaps there were some players going in other routes? The swordsman bit his lower lip as he looked on ahead, a camp becoming visible in the horizon.

"Could we make it with 100+ players at the front lines?" he queried under his breath.

Oh who the hell was he kidding. There would probably be more players arising to take up arms in the long run. However, how many players they lost...

A deep sigh escaped him as the large group of warriors made it to the goblins camp. Jankano took up arms, right hand gripping the handle of his two handed sword. It was still a bit heavy than what he remembered, but perhaps it had more to do with him being a little rusty. He joined a party after a quick talk with some random people and they went to work in earning exp. Grouping was a wise decision as he had no knowledge of this game. Learning the basics, and getting used to the mechanics of this game was top priority for him. It would be a lot safer to do so with a group as it reassured a safety net if things ever went south. Also, by grouping up he would be able to observe and analyze anything unusual.

All things aside, Jankano and his group went to work. Goblins with spears, scimitars, cannons, shield, knuckle, and god knows what other weapons were they using further in the camp. All he knew to do when he saw one was use a sword skill to cleave through their virtual bodies. Gaining the exp to lvl 2 was easy, but it started to get a little tougher to reach lvl 3 when the monsters started to take a while to spawn. With his group, and their being so many other players in the same camp, it was a no brainer. Supply and demand could be such a pain in the ass. They eventually started tackling higher lvled monsters when everyone in the party got to lvl 3. Lvl 5 goblins weren't tricky, but they obviously hit a lot harder, even when using the <<parry skill>>.

It was nice to take a moment of reprieve when the leader of the Summoned Knights, Alpha as they called him, showcased something that had completely slipped Jankano's mind.

That's right... In the character creation screen, we were asked to choose a hero. Is this what they are used for?

He watched alongside his group as the summon took place, and becoming quite the spectacle for a good while. Afterwards, a few other players started their summoner's ritual. His group decided to undergo their ritual's one at a time, in case one or the other couldn't handle their summon. Again, safety nets. The group only had to interfere once with one of the player's ritual, but other than that they all underwent them successfully. Jankano had decided to not undergo the ritual just yet as he was more focused on just getting his level up. He had to admit though, the summons really helped the grinding process out a lot. The group managed to reach level 6 fairly easily as the grinding became more of a Time Spent: Exp ratio. With the summons aiding them, they were able to take down more lvl 5 goblins with ease.

Eyes had fallen to the floor in petrified disbelief, the words having sunk and marked the Circle of Judgement and all of those in it with fear and despair. Jankano just could not believe this. A second death game. What were the odds of him ending up in yet ANOTHER death game? Was his luck just this bad? Breathing became abnormal as stood there without motion, eyes merely becoming soulless for the episode he was dealing with right now. The voices, yelling, terrifying cries of people, it all became muffled sound as Jankano fell into his own little world.

Sword Art Online had started with 10,000 people, and had claimed the lives of 4,866 people. Among those 4k+ people were his friends... People he had grown up with, people he had met in the game... They are gone forever, taken by the cruel world that had held them prisoner for 2 whole years. That happened even with the little help they had gotten from Beta testers, and guide books. This...this game only has 1,000 people, and it lacked any sense of guidance unlike Sword Art online. No Beta testers, no guide books. Nothing. They were all starting from scratch, lost in the wind.

A bead of sweat slid down Jankano's temple, heart pulsating above average rhythm. Breathing became heavy, and there was this homesick feeling arising in his sternum. Eyes started to feel the need to perspire as he just stood there, only raising his left gloved hand up to see the palm. Breath exhaled from mouth while gritting teeth, brows expressing ambivalence once again.

But wasn't Sword Art Online enough? Were we all not tested every single day? Every time we stepped out of the safe zones, we risked our lives in order to help our fellow players get one floor closer to beating this game...

Wasn't... THAT... enough?

Jankano wanted to cry, to just break down and weep while he pitied himself for ending up in another virtual prison. This world was fake, and yet the situation was very real. Mind understood this, but mediocrity wanted to anchor him down in this moment and to pretend that this was just fake, a dream that he would eventually wake up from. For goodness sake, he wasn't even using the nerve-gear anymore. Left hand curled to a fist as he slowly moved it towards the bridge of his nose, releasing the built up perspiration behind eyes. Pupils were dilated, metaphorically burning a hole into the ground.

Jaw tensed, teeth baring themselves while Jankano let the episode run its course.

"Another... death game... " he spat out under breath.

Frustrated, irritated, and whelmed with fear of death. Slowly he cried the episode out of his system. The peoples muffled voiced slowly began to pick up strength, a sense of reality coming back to him a tear at a time. Eyes began to lift off the ground, and forward. Fist slowly removed itself from his face and began to shake with angry fervor. His moment of self pity was over. This was the real and the now. Whatever happened to him from here on out, he would have no one but himself to blame. If this game was going to be what killed him, then so beat it. He didn't want to die, but life is a roll of the die. You never know what number you'll roll. However, like hell he was about to die in a game designed by some scrub without dishing out some pain of his own. The swordlands were fierce, and unrelenting. He would see for himself how this game would be.

Damn this game... Just Damn it, and your seed Kayaba...

The same way he defied SAO, he'd defy this SAO.

Putting his fist down, he turned around and made his way out of the crowd of 1,000 people; ignoring any all commotion in the Circle of Judgement.

-----------------------

His first stop would be to the NPC blacksmith on the edge of town. It only took a few minutes until he found himself standing in front of the NPC. Slick back black hair, and a black beard. The NPC looked at him.

"Hey there, what can I do for you?"

"Enchancement. Evolve." Jankano uttered the words.

The blacksmith's eyes came to life and straightened his back. "You sure about that? Seems to me you don't have the necessary exp accumulated on your sword.."

Taking out the free potion given to all the players in the circle, he extended it out to the blacksmith.

"Well I'll be damned... This'll be all you need then." he said as he took the potion from the swordsman's hand.

Taking the sword by the other hand, the blacksmith poured the potion all over the blade and then dipped it in the furnace. A menu popped up before Jankano, giving him three options. Without hesitation he poked at the option that read, Great Sword. A sliver of a memory re-surfaced, one that involved a certain Sub-Boss and a solo run for half of it the fight. After confirming the choice, the sword in the furnace let out a sparkle. The blacksmith pulled it out and dipped it in water before handing it to Jankano.

"Here you go! A mighty fine job, if I do say so myself." he praised with a smile.

A message popped up in his UI stating he had unlocked the <<Great Sword Proficiency Skill>> and a Basic <Great Sword Skill>>. Jankano took the weapon, and weighed it for a moment. My goodness was he a bit rusty. He could maintain a one handed grip on the great swords handle, but it took a bit of work. Eyelids shut as he let out a sigh, sheathing the blade onto the back of Lumbar spine. Gold was deducted from his total, and the interaction with the NPC ended. As he walked away, he looked at his menu. There was still another sword in his inventory. He had wanted to play around with dual wielding ever since he witnessed the <<Unique Skill>> in SAO. Oh well, not like he could afford playing around now anyway.

He stopped for a moment, taking in his surroundings.

Some girl was about to wonder off the city and into the outside, and that was it. From the looks of it, she seemed pretty confident in herself. Head cocked slightly, a brow raising itself. Thoughts immediately began to play mind games on Jankano.

Is she serious? Does she have a death wish? No wait, maybe she's good.... OR she could be bait to lure anyone nice enough to care about her into a PKer's trap... Damn... Good or Bad. What is it? i

Eyes fell to the floor, remembering his friends. If only...

Eyes fell apathetic at the verdict. He wasn't about to risk it. First things first, he had to find a stable group to party with. Gain their trust, and then outright survive. At this point, it was just a matter of building a network of people he could trust, people he could go to for help, resources, and information. With a quick deep breath, he ignored the lone girl and headed to an NPC shop to buy potions before heading back towards the Circle of Judgement. Upon entering the circle, the crowd had already begun to disperse while others were already forming groups. In a game of 1,000 people, everyone needed to stick together and work together. The more groups they had that were unified, the more they could divide and conquer this game, learn its secrets, and share the information.

Thumb tapped on his thigh as he stood there, letting eyes wonder in a decision.

Two people had just walked out of the crowd. Both of them looked like a couple of sorts or perhaps they were siblings or really good friends.

Another group of people consisting of 4+ people were already in the process of what seemed like them forming a party.

And then there was the one guy who seemed to really know how to take charge. He was standing among a leftover crowd, talking about amassing a group of Elite players to help clear this game.

Eyes narrowed at him, remembering the way things were in SAO. Like always, there were good people and bad people. So many high end guilds were formed, and a lot of the leaders he remembered as being good people. Except one person. Kibaou was a good example of a good person gone bad.

Jankano looked away, eyeing the groups.

Can't blame them.... Stick with people you trust until the whole attains a common goal...

The question was, how long until they all found that common goal? The swordsman stood there, indecisive for the time being. Oh how he wished they could all just stick together. For goodness sake, there's only 1,000 players!!!

I'm interest. :F

Do I need a cool picture for my posts like almost everyone is using? :D

Let me know if you need me to change anything.

Username: Jankano / Jankano (Idk which one to pick. They both suck, but I like the none final fantasy one better. Might use the final fantasy picture for SOS. ;P)

Real name: Minano(Last) Jankaruro (First)

Appearance:

Gender: Male

Current Age: 19

Weapon Choice 1: Sword ---> Great Sword

Weapon Choice 2: Sword ---> Katana

Summon: Lugh

Weapon: Gae Assail/Fragarach

Physical Skill: Fragarach ---- Using his legendary sword, Lugh is capable of dealing various forms of combos. Gives Lugh a combo meter. When meter is filled(4 bars), Fragarach can be create harmful shockwaves to enemies. Each use of shockwave reduces meter by 0.5 for a total of 8 uses at max bars. Bar gains 0.2 upon every hit the sword lands (Attacking a blocking/parrying person counts) Blade can be used via telepathy but only for simple things like Toss and retrieve (Think Mjolnir).


Magical Skill: Ibar and Athibir --- Upon casting the spear(Gae Assail) onto his foe, the incantation Ibar will cause the spear to lock onto the marked foe, fly until well…yeah. IMPALE. Deals Heavy Damage if it hits its mark; but come on. Magical spear.

Can fly on its own accord, targeting only enemies.

Saying Athibir will auto retrieve the deadly spear back to Lugh like Thor’s Mjolnir. The retrieval can A) fly back into Lugh’s hand or B) disappear in a light spectacle and be re-summoned in his hand. Retrieval of spear through Athibir grants invulnerability frames for 0.65 seconds.

Other Skill: Celtic Fervor ---- Lugh summons balls of light and scatters them throughout the field. Lugh, summoner, and teammates can collect for RANDOM buffs. Can range from 2% boost in one stat to Health regen related. Stat boost can stack up to 5 times per stat only for a 10% buff total. Buffs last 30 seconds.

Only 10 Balls of Light are summoned per use.

Balls of light stay on the field for 15 seconds. If not collected by time limit, they disappear.

3 Minute cooldown, and starts upon the final Ball being retrieved or disappearing from the field.

Idk roll a die or something.

Special Link: (LOCKED)

Race: Reaper (because I can't find a decent picture for what I'd imagine my character to look like as a griffin. #sadface)

Current Personality: A rather semi-Apathetic youth whose heart had been toughened up from the Death game(SAO) experience. Can be outgoing, funny, affable, and generally docile when the mood strike. Is generally led by emotions at times, and can get pretty angry when he feels a sense of no control. Thinks logically, not clinging to false ideology like hope, faith, etc; most of the time. Having experienced great loss(s) in SAO, such ideas are things that he rarely holds to unless desperate. If anything, he believes more in results. What can get the job done. Seems to remain in better/stable moods when around people he has befriended through SAO.


Bio:

Spoiler: SAO Read if you dare

November 6th, 2022

Out of 10,000 people who started playing SAO, only 6,147 came out of it alive...

Minano was a game enthusiast, and perhaps still is even to this day or maybe...something else. 10,000 copies of the Sword Art Online had been distributed through out Japan, and anyone to not have gotten a copy was lucky. Minano and his 3 friends were not so lucky, and were among the first to accept their new reality when the game director/creator, Kayaba Akihiko, made his public debut as the giant cloaked in red, floating over the first floor's lobby. It was here that Jankano and Minano became one and the same. The tall muscularly well-toned avatar of his had become the simple 5'6 foot tall young adolescent. The truth hit him hard, and fast; this was not just a game anymore. It was their new real life.


As the Dusk loomed over the horizon, Jankano acted fast and without a second thought. He and friends rushed to the nearby Item Shops, and bought as many Potions as they could alongside his friends before the large player base could make sense of anything. Afterwards, he and the group were led on by one of his friends, Arekkusu, as he had been a Beta Tester for the game. With him leading, It was this small group that were among the first to leave the safety of the first town, and venture out into the wilderness. Together they fought their way through the battlegrounds, amassing exp for the sake of being above other players that could be potential Player Killers as well as helping others. They stuck together, fighting as one and never venturing out alone.

December 2nd, 2022

A month flew by, and it honestly felt more. The goal of reaching the 100th floor was beginning to feel nigh impossible to achieve. Standing at 5'1, Meari, one of his friends, always went on about having to keep faith and to always believe. A naive one, that girl, but always cheery and great-hearted. The loli of the group as his friends would call her.

It was during a raid on a field boss that the message popped up in the sky. Everyone there couldn't believe it except her.


It read,


"First Floor Cleared!"


Shocked, Meari was the one to have approached Jankano and comfort him as he was among the first to fall prey to tears as hope began to arise within a hardened heart.


The raid cheered, celebrating this new found idea that...maybe...just maybe...this Death Game could be defeated. That this prison they were all in could be undone.

December 22nd, 2022

It was from here that the warriors of SAO began to pick up momentum. It was not long until they found the 2nd floor dungeon.


In the 2nd Floors dungeon, it would be Arekkusu, Jankano, Meari, and Ani who would join the Dragon Knights Brigade alongside the other players to help bring the people of SAO one floor closer to beating this game. The boss fight was a scary one at that, and it made Jankano wonder just how the previous group had found the courage to deal with the 1st floors dungeon boss(s). The fight lasted a while, with the room filled with 8 parties fighting to bring down the boss of the room. They first took out the first sub boss, and soon after regrouped to handle the last sub boss. It was here that Jankano began to admire two handed users. A two handed Axe wielder by the name of Agil was among the people to inspire him to pick up the weapon; if he ever survived. The fight lasted to the point that all resources were at their peak exhaustion. Jankano had found himself staring up at death as the tall Tauras King loomed over him with weapon ready to end him. Yet, that was not the case as a silhouette parried the King just in time. More so, it left an opening for everyone to unleash their sword skills. In the end, this fight had a happy ending.


However, being a death game, death is inevitable.


SAO having become the real world, it meant that Jankano could spend more time with his friends. Over time, the group had formed a strong bond; only one that friends alike could understand. So naturally, death would hit them hardest when they lost someone.

September 13th, 2023

Meari was naive, and great-hearted. Such innocence in a Death Game had no chance to survive, and what made it worst was the guild was supposed to offer them protection in return for THEIR services. The Dragon Knights Brigade did not follow through on it. The loli was stabbed in the back by someone she called friend, but in reality was a Titan's Hand member in disguise. Arekkusu, Ani, and Jankano barely survived the encounter...


Angry, confused, feeling stupid and useless, Jankano's softening heart slowly started to regress. The now surviving trio would leave the Dragon Knights Brigade and later leave a Memorial for Meari in the very same spot she had been slain; despite the Monument of Life in the room of resurrection. It wouldn't be until months later that Jankano would hear the news of a Black-swordsman having subdued the Wench that his friend called 'friend'.

March 20th, 2024

The next person to go was Arekkusu. This time it was also by another Pker. However, it was Laughing Coffin this time. It was a straight up ambush. No cheating, lying, set up or whatever. It was just...


The trio had gone into a dungeon to gain exp while at the same time build their map of the dungeon to help people reach the boss room more easily. It was a swamp themed dungeon this time, so they were extra careful for the sake of not letting a monster get the drop on them. Arekkusu took point because of his shield, Ani took flank because of her polearm, and Jankano took center because of his newly acquired skill, the Katana. Thanks to information gathered, the greatsword user had decided to practice the use of curved swords for the sake of unlocking the extra skill >> Katana. With this newly acquired way of fighting, Jankano would prove valuable to their survivable.


The swamp was eerie as there wasn't a single sound to be heard except for their gear and footsteps. They had walked on for some time now, but had yet to encounter monsters. It was odd because they were deep in the dungeon, and that's when you'd normally see more and more. Something in Jankano's gut was telling him something was not right, and Arekkusu was willing to listen. He was the voice of reason in the group at times, always kept a coolhead as well as temper, and was very calculative. He and Jankano had first met at the end of elementary. The two were polar opposites, but at the same time were the same. He was the logical type, and cunning while Jankano was the emotional type, but carried strong instincts. The two enjoyed games, art, manga, brainstorming for story ideas, and even the competition it could bring. Together, they pushed one another to become better. Perhaps it was this that caused each other to rub off on one another.


The fog had thickened as the two neared the end of a narrow passage in-between lakes. The trio progressed slowly, not wanting to fall into the lake for only the game designers knew what lurked in there. Jankano looked on ahead over Arekkusu's shield, and noticed a silhouette standing at the end of the passage. He gestured for them to stop, alerting them to the person masked in shadow. The tension in the air was already increasing. Their hearts raced, Jankano's heart pounding against his chest as he hoped with what little hope he had left, that the silhouette was NOT a PKer.


Footsteps emanated from behind them. Ani was the first to quickly spiral in a 180 degree turn and without thinking thrust her spear forward. She struck something, and both Jankano and Arekkusu turned their heads to see Ani's spear having impaled itself in a cloaked figures head. Eye's widened in shocked at what had just occurred, but not because of what Ani had done, but because the person in the cloak had their dagger drawn. Jankano watched as the last of the cloaked person's health bar depleted to nothing, and just broke out of existence. Upon the shards of this person's avatar dissipating Jankano was quick to see another cloaked assailant dashing for them. Beyond the person were 5 other cloaked members, all rushing into the narrow passage.


Oh my god... Pkers...!


A bead of sweat found itself sliding down Jankano's temple as he felt his heart pound from fear.


"Hold your position! This is a narrow passage, only one of them can come at us at a time!! We can do this!" Arekkusu shouted as he set his eyes upon his side of the passage.


Jankano turned to where Arekkusu was staring and saw that the one silhouette had become three more. Brows furrowed in defense against this overwhelming fear, jaw clenching itself in defiance to this basic instinct. Arekkusu was the first to clash with one of the assailants as his shield felt the impact of the man's dagger. He quickly parried, allowing the man to lose his balance. With a quick shift of his foot, he caused the assailant to trip forward. The man was left wide open, and all Jankano did was shove the guy into the lake where the denizens of the water took care of him.


His cries rang in the air, causing Jankano's eyes to widen in realization of what he had just done. Both Arekkusu and Ani were lost in the moment, unable to register the man's death.


“Janka!!” Arekkusu called out.

Jankano looked to his friend.

“You got to stay focused right no- Tch HNNGH- Stay focused! We’re all counting on one another!”

He was right, and Jankano always knew this. However, to take someone’s life…that was just not something someone could easily get over. So instead, the young man blocked it out and instead allowed himself to get indignant about the situation. Ani’s soft cry emanated as he blocked the man’s dagger with her spear. She was exposed like this.

“Ani duck your head!!” he cried as he swung his katana over her.

She tucked her head forward as the blade cleaved the man’s head off and into the empty digital space of nothing as the body dissipated.

“Push them back! Now!” he commanded.

Giving a loud shout, Ani got angry and lunged her spear forward just as another assailant came forward to replace the fallen man. The spear poked into the pker, and with a twist of the wrist, lodged itself. Ani pulled the assailant towards the trio, and Jankano stabbed the Pker in the throat. The blade carved red data as the health bar began to drop. However, the bar dropped to zero instantly as suddenly one of the members stabbed through Pker with their rapier, reaching enough to poke Ani’s sternum. The girl cried out in pain, accidentally losing her stance and falling back a bit. Jankano caught her, but not without dropping their defense. The stabbed opponent vanished, making room for the rapier user to come in and commence their counterattack. A flurry of sharp blows reached Ani, dropping her health to the yellow. Without hesitation Jankano flung Ani behind him, and began to parry the man’s swift attack, countering with his own sword skills.

The man and Jankano clashed for a moment, and he caught a glimpse of his face. The split second shock caused Jankano to lose ground which the man took advantage of.

He fell back to Ani’s feet where she provided cover for him while he tried to regain his footing. The Black hooded man parried the girl’s jabs with ease as he took up a fencer’s stance. Jankano noticed this, and out of desperation shouted to Arekkusu who had been blocking the enemy from the otherside.

“Arekkusu! We need to get off of this passage!” he cried out.

Ani’s eyes widened as she heard Jankano command.

“Wait! Why!? We have a better advantage here!!” she shouted In disbelief.

Jankano’s tone of voice was enough to convince Arekkusu that something serious was up. The blade in his right hand began to charge up, and shield began to charge up as well. With a lunge forward, shield remained up as the sword pierced through the blockade of people. One of the Pkers fell into the lake, meeting their end as Arekkusu paved a path for them with his trusty sword and shield.

“Let’s go!” he shouted, leading them off the passage.

When Ani made it out, Arekkusu positioned himself in the way of the passage and started tanking.

“Arekkusu!” Anie cried out.

Jankano stood there, looking around the area for any signs of an exit or-

Irises locked onto a colossal tree hidden within the dense fog. It didn’t take a genius to surmise just how huge this thing was. It was the largest tree he had ever seen in his entire life. The trunk had a large cave like opening to it.

What the-? Is this…

“Guys! I have an idea. Follow me!” he shouted, pointing to the base of the tree.

“But Arekku-!”

“I’ll be right behind you! Just go!” he shouted as he stood his ground.

His health bar was dropping into the red zone.

No man left behind.

Quickly Jankano opened up his menu, and found the equipment’s menu. Dragging an item into his hand slot, the sheathed katana disappeared and a great sword appeared on his back. Right hand drew it, and he lunged to where his friend was holding up.

“AREKKUSU!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!” Jankano screamed, weapon glowing a golden hue.

Arekkusu jumped out of the way just a fraction of a second before the sword was about to hit. This caused for the rapier wielding man to be caught off guard as the colossal blade smacked into the man’s quickly positioned sword. It left the man injured, and stunned, causing a momentary blockade of the passage. This gave the trio enough time to escape into the tree.

They ran as fast as they could through the strange passage way this tree had to offer, clueless as to where they were going. It took a few minutes before they reached a giant stone door with torches set up on both sides.

“Is this…?”

“A boss door…” Jankano ended in awe.

The sword and shield user cursed under his breath.

“What do we do? Those guys are probably right behind us!”

Jankano looked on the floor, hopeless. “I don’t think we have a choice… We’re going to have to try and beat this boss in order to make it out of here alive…”

Ani was going to say something, but stopped herself upon realizing their situation.

“Damn it. Of all the days for us to forget about those god damn warp crystals…” Jankano spat out, getting irritated the more and more he thought of their unlucky day.

Footsteps began to resonate through the halls, alerting the trio.

“Crap they’re on to us.” Arekkusu uttered under his breath. “Guys, drink a potion and then open that door!”

The three did so as quickly as ever, and then rushed to push the stone gates open.

“They’re up ahead!” one of the Pkers shouted.

Brows furrowed as all three of them pushed with everything they had. The doors gave, and opened for the three.

Jankano and Ani ran inside as fast as they could.

Arekkusu quickly began to give out orders. “Alright guys, same plan as alw-!” he paused.

The greatswordsman turned around, to see Arekkusu having took only one step inside the boss room. Eyes looked forward, perplexed.

“Arekkusu?” he questioned, beginning to feel worry.

He followed his gaze to where Arekkusu might have been staring at, but saw nothing.

“Dude what the hell just get inside!” Jankano shouted, alerting Ani’s attention who was already way inside the room.

Arekkusu merely stood there like a statue, throat and lips shuddering, but words unable to escape him. Jankano cursed under his breath as he saw the Pkers only a few yards away. He began to run up to Arekkusu in order to drag him into the room when a leather hand reached over the sword and shield users face and grasped it tightly.

“Arekkusu!” Jankano cried in horror, going from a run to a full on sprint.

Ani screamed, suddenly falling to a pointless sprint.

A laughter began to emanate from the corridors as the pkers were only a yard away. The hand pulled Arekkusu back and out of the room, instigating the gates code into beginning closing shut. Terror, disbelief, and a deep sadness overwhelmed Jankano as he knew he wasn’t going to make it to the gates in time. Legs were commanded to move faster, to somehow move beyond their limits. It was a vain attempt at the impossible. Before the gates closed, he could see through sliver gap between doors the man with the black cloak approach with rapier in hand. Behind the Skeleton mask, red eyes gazed at him through the small crack in the closing gates.

“NOO!!” Jankano screamed, slamming into the gates just as they closed.

Dismay fell upon the swordsman as he stood there against the gates. A faint horrifying scream could be heard behind the thick stone gates. It was a scream of agonizing pain. A fear vocalized into a scream, with hope no longer being an option. It was the same scream as the man he had pushed into the lake.

Brows furrowed in anger, frustration, guilt, and grief. Tears rolled down his virtual cheeks as he could hear the torturous scream emanating from Arekkusu and the laughs emitted from the coffins that overtook him. Ani fell to her knees only a few feet away from him, bawling uncontrollably as she too could hear the death scream from their dear friend.

Torches in the room began to light up as the boss room came to life. A deep bass toned growl resonated deep in the room. Jankano slammed his fist against the gate in pure ambivalence as he became irritated. Their friend just died, only moments from joining them in this fight. He was with them since the beginning, taking the hits they could not in order to keep them alive. His friends, and family…

They were ALL supposed to make it out of this game alive together.

Jankano stood there, gritting teeth while tears rolled down uncontrollably as well. Arekkusu’s parents. How will feel when they find out their son died? Are they with him in the room in the real world? What’s going to happen to his family? How…how was he supposed to face them when he got out of this mess?

The growl became louder as the creature neared.

Eyelids shut themselves while Ani turned to face the monster, still sobbing like a little child on her knees. Despair was all that was left in Ani.

“Damn those Laughing Coffins…. Damn Titan’s Hand…. Damn Kayaba Akihiko…” he started, pushing himself off the gates to turn around towards the feral beast standing before Ani.

Lips shuddered, teeth bared themselves at the creature like a feral animal backed into a corner, brows furrowed deeply as tears fell out of Jankano to display the emotional mess he was in right now.

“AND DAMN THIS GAME!!!” he roared as he dashed towards the monster with two handed sword held in one hand.

His form passed a sobbing Ani, forgetting she even existed for a moment.

The creature was a lycanthrope the size of a bulldozer. Its muscles rippled like most Anthropomorphic creatures in this game with sharp nails for claws. It stood on all fours, salivating uncontrollably while glaring at Jankano’s unrelenting sprint.

The sword in his hand began to glow the same golden hue as before. As he locked onto the target, he saw the creature had four HP bars. The wolf howled a monstrous one as minions jumped from the shadows the room’s light could not touch. They were dire wolves, about seven feet tall.

However, he did not falter. Rage fueled his mind and body as he swung wide, knocking two wolves aside as they attempted to lung at him with their fangs. The blade glowed blue, and he quickly spun the weapon around him like a windmill. The sword cut four wolves, but not ending them. The wolves eventually landed their hits, but he did not give up. Despite his HP already on yellow and not having landed a single hit on the boss, he did not give up. Footwork began to accelerate. Each swing became faster and faster, and each blow became stronger and stronger. As a player wanting to use a greatsword and a katana, he had invested mostly in strength, but always made sure to keep Agility not too far behind. When it came to weapon stats, he always went to light weight gear because he enjoyed the movement speed he could attain from lightweight gear. Most would have gone with lighter weapons like daggers, or rapier. Nope, not him. He wanted to move fast, and yet deal enough damage. Hence, he always went with weapons with low heaviness, and high sharpness. Heaviness >> Sharpness >> Durability was his train of thought. Accuracy stat always suffered, which would result in low Min-maxing. However, Jankano had a gained a few skills that aided him.

The sword cleaved through a minion, and the swing not stopping as he pivoted and batted a wolf on the head, sending it flying towards another wolf. He kept screaming, attracting all the agro to himself while leaving Ani to grieve.

“DAMN YOU DAMN YOU DAMN YOU!!!” he screamed, every time attracting newly spawned dire wolves.

With a mighty jab, the sword plunged itself into a wolf, and with great strength he lifted the wolf off the ground and began to mash it onto the other wolves, each time causing the wolves to bounce from the ground in a stunned state. When he was done bashing the creatures, he swung the impaled wolf off his greatsword and onto the Lycanthrope. Jankano’s pupils dilated as he hone in on the bosses HP bar. Somehow it had been losing HP this entire time as it was now on its second to last bar.

Just keep swinging.

A mighty roar unveiled itself as he urged himself to keep attacking. The mobs were practically on top of him as he continued his berserk like assault. He countered, parried, and took the offensive; each hit allowing him to recover a small portion of HP. Battle Healing had also come into effective while his HP had fallen to the Red Zone which was how he was maintaining his HP from not falling so dramatically.

The minions slowly waned in numbers, every new spawn there being less and less of them. Eventually, the Bosses 2nd Hp bar reached yellow, and that’s when it decided to take action. Baring its teeth, muscles rippled as the large wolf began to rise to its two legs. It gave a loud howl when its transformation had been settled, now staring down a heavily panting Jankano whom was staring back at the lycan defiantly.

“Ani…” he called out, not even thinking of removing his gaze from the monster. “Get up. Arekkusu… Meari… They wouldn’t want this of us… to just die like this…”

Blade fell to his side as he gripped it with both hands, tightening fingers as he thought of the laughing coffins, and Titan’s Hand.

“If we just give up… Then those bastards will get away with what they did to our friends. Get up to fight another day, and maybe… one day we’ll be able to strike back.”

Ani looked up to Jankano, only able to gaze up at Jankano’s back. She was shocked at how Jankano still held on to hope, despite having been the one person among the four who had the least of it.

The lycan swung wide, baring claws to eviscerate the berserker. However, just like his gaze, he defied the boss by activating a sword skill, and deflecting the attack.

“RRRR- ANI!” his voice echoed thunderously as he remained locked in his animation.

Ani quickly took up courage, not wanting to let the only friend she had left down, and dashed towards the opening her friend had created. Readying her spear, she lunged it forward with all her might whilst screaming with fighting spirit. The weapon glowed, and immediately unleashed a flurry of blows on the Lycan’s chest. The boss jumped back, its massive form causing the ground to shake briefly just before it got on all fours and readied a charge at them. It’s hind claws dug into the ground, and it lunged itself at them with claws and a gaping mouth bared at them. Jankano forward, and swung the massive sword overhead, activating that golden hue once more. The blade crashed down on the lycan’s face with impeccable timing, and Ani came in to unleash yet another spear skill. She leaped into the air using her spear like in pole-vault and came crashing down with a piercing dive to the creatures back.

The two fell back, and watched as the lycan’s health dropped to the last health bar. Jankano took the opportunity to down a potion to bring his health bar back to yellow.

The Lycan got up and growled at them menacingly.

Defiantly the two charged it, and Jankano began to activate a sword skill as to either attack or to prepare for a deflection so that Ani could come in with a spear skill. However, the boss went ahead and blew that idea away; quite literally. It huffed and puffed, and blew Jankano back towards the gates. It was quite the surprise, one that left him stunned for a bit.

“JANKA!! LOOK OUT!” Ani screamed.

Jankano quickly looked up to see well-positioned claws lunging towards his small form. Unable to deflect properly, he parried the attack with his greatsword, watching the large hands or whatever slide past him and his blade and into the gates. A salivating mouth was literally over him as he stood there, staring deep in.

Thankfully Ani was there to agro it with a spear skill. The boss turned around as she managed to distract the beast long enough that Jankano could finally activate one of his stronger sword skills, and with a loud roar cleave deep into the monster back.

Its HP dropped to zero, and with that the monsters form vanished into shards of data that dissipated.

Relieved, Jankano fell to his knees as he looked at his HP bar. It had reached its critical point in the red zone. Anymore and…

Ani began to cry again as she dropped her spear and fell to her knees. Jankano could only look on with friendly sympathy. He dragged himself and his sword towards Ani, but soon stopped when he realized something was off about this situation.

“Hey… where’s the congratulations message?” he pointed out, looking up towards the center of the room.

Ani continued to cry.

He sighed, her crying seriously making him uneasy in a situation that was ALREADY making him uneasy. The torches in the room suddenly began to light a different color one by one, causing the room to go darker than it already was.

“****! Ani get up! We’re not done yet!!”

Yellow eyes suddenly began to stare through the darkness. It was really eerie as it actually had shape, and form, like a sentient life was actually looking back at them.

The great swordsman ran to Ani’s side, getting into stance. All that rage he had was spent on the first boss, and he had been running low on HP potions before Laughing Coffin attacked them. At this point, he honestly didn’t like the odds. Suddenly, the gates behind them began to open.

Jankano’s eyes widened in fear.

Oh no… Laughing Coffin!? Were they waiting for us this whole time?!

The doors parted, the sound of metal clanking resonating strongly like the ocean waves.

“Alright men! Just like we planned it! Group A will take point, Group B will fall back and wait to replace Group A when they fall to yellow health. Group C and D will flank the enemy, and do just the same as Group A and B. Group E will- huh?”

A large man clad in heavy armor wearing a red cape followed the gaze of one of his soldiers into the room. To his surprise, they saw Jankano and Ani, then the yellow eyes that stared at them from the shadows. He noticed their incredibly low HP. Without hesitation, he commanded his entire squad as he ran in head first.

“We’ve got wounded players! Form a parameter around them! Move move move!” he shouted, rushing into the boss room with shield up. The entire battalion gave a war cry and flowed into the room, Group A and B being the first to form a protective parameter in front of them.

Jankano’s brown irises became watery as he was relieved that death would not take them today. Shoulders dropped in ease of tension and he just fell to his knees.

The man in charge knelt beside them and assured them that they would be ok, meanwhile the battle had commenced.

When it was all over and the floor had been cleared, Jankano gave them the explanation that they all wanted to hear. It wouldn’t be until later that he would find out that Arekkusu had been inflicted with paralysis, which was why he couldn’t move. A few weeks passed, and Ani grew distant from him despite the fact they ventured off together. When Jankano finally asked, he found out that Ani blamed him for Arekkusu’s death, going on about how if they had just stayed held their position, they could have come out on top, and they wouldn’t have even had to bother with the boss room, quote, “BS” that had happened to them.

They eventually went their separate ways, only ever encountering each other in Boss room raids. Eventually Jankano stopped seeing her in the fights all together. He messaged her several times, but never got a reply.

November 1st, 2024

A lot happened to him as the clearers progressed further through aincrad’s floors. Jankano eventually found the courage to visit Black Iron Palace in which Meari’s “friend” had been held.

He stood there, letting his brown irises gaze past the prison cell and deeply into the red heads purple eyes. Neither of them flinched, with the woman merely giving him a mildly interested look.

“You going to call me names like all the other Blood Oath guards?”

“No…”

“Oh? Well what do you want? You going to threaten me or something?”

He just stared at her, just letting those eyes do all the talking for the moment. Countless battles, Pker encounters, near death experiences, and the blood that had to be shed for survival had left his eyes without innocence. He may have looked like an adolescent, but in his heart he had become a man; at least in this world. Sometimes he wondered how life would be for everyone in SAO if they ever beat the game. They had been stuck in this game for nearly two years. How would society treat them?

Eyelids narrowed, wondering what the woman might have had to endure while in this prison for the last nine months.

“No…”

She broke the mildly interested look, and became weirded out.

“..Then what do you want…? Do I know you?”

Eyes averted from her, falling to the ground beneath her. Somewhere, within his hardened heart, he wanted to find that innocence that could find the strength to forgive. Yet, he could not find it. Not because he hated this woman, or because what she had done to his friend was unforgivable, but simply because…somehow… throughout the constant struggle for survival, the player killing, the lost friends, comrades… He even managed to take revenge onto the Laughing Coffins alongside the clearers! And yet, he found that…

He just… He didn’t care anymore.

Old Friends had been lost, new friends had been lost. This world only took and took away, but never gave anything back that was worthwhile. What good was getting a rare drop when you have no one to share that happiness with? He was alone.

“Does it ever get lonely here…?” he began, letting his eyes scan the prison cell she was in.

“What?” was all that could be said.

“Does it ever get lonely here.” He repeated.

The red haired woman looked onto to White and red garb wearing swordsman with perplexing eyes. This was the first time a Knight of the Blood Oath ever bothered to ask her such a question. Being coy from the unexpected question, she tucked her knees to her bosom and wrapped her arms around them, letting her chin rest on it. Her eyes answered his question, even though she did not intentionally.

Jankano’s head titled forward, a large sigh escaping him.

“I thought as much…” he uttered before leaning his back against the cell.

The only gear the woman had on was the armor she was allowed to wear, because they couldn’t just let her be naked. That was inhumane.

“Why did you do it? The Player Killing.”

“I never layed a hand on anyone.”

“Yeah, but you aided the actual player killers… “

“But I didn’t kill them! Besides, it’s not like we know for certain that people actually DIE from dying in this game!” she shouted defensively, as if trying to convince him of some misguided ideology.

“…”

Knees tucked themselves further in while arms hugged them tighter, eyelids narrowing as if she was hold back some emotion. “I didn’t… kill anyone…”

A chuckle emanated from Jankano as bangs hid his eyes.

“…Leave me alone…”

“No, no… Sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at myself…”

“…Why…?”

Brown irises stared up at the ceiling, eyes feeling that perspiration arise.

“…because…you sound just like me…”

Jankano continued on after not having heard anything from her. “…I’ve…had to do things that I’m not proud of… Hell, many of the players had to do things that they are not proud of. I keep trying to convince myself that I did it only because I had to. That I had no other choice…”

Fingerless white/red gloved hands raised themselves so that he could take a closer look at them.

“…but…the truth is… I did. I always had a choice…. WE… always have a choice. My hands… they’re stained with the blood of Players… Doesn’t matter how I try to justify the why I did it… In the end, that guilt still weighs heavy in me…”

He let the silence settle before turning his head after hearing sniffle emanate from behind. In a corner with knees tucked to chest, and arms wrapped around them, was the woman digging her head into her knees, sobbing.

Eyes found themselves looking away from her. Getting up, he kept looking away. “This world can get pretty lonely without friends… this much I learned the hard way… And carrying that guilt around without anyone else to share it with… it can be painful…”

Finger slid through the air to bring up a menu. After a few button pressed, a yellow and white window popped with a blue circle and red X with the following question:

Add Rosalia to friend list?

He pressed on the Blue circle, and it was done. On the friends list it read, Pending Request next to Rosalia’s name. With that, he walked away towards the crystal that would warp him out of the Prison.

November 7th, 2024

It was a long a gruesome battle against the skull reaper, but the raid was a success. They had cleared the 75th floor, but at the cost of 14 people. Sitting there among the many players, the white/red armor wearing Jankano sat with his greatsword at his side. He gazed over to Kirito, and the two swords he was dual wielding. It was on October 20th that the player Kirito debuted with that unique skill of his, rivaling Heathcliff’s Holy Sword. Heathcliff was thought to be the only person with a unique skill, but that all changed. It made Jankano wonder whether there were others with unique skills. Just how did someone come across that?

In a blur Kirito lunged at Heathcliff, only giving Jankano a split second to react as one split moment Kirito was sitting down, and the next half second he was parried by Heathcliff.

Everyone was shocked, even Kirito’s girlfriend, Asuna. However, what made everyone even more shocked was the Symbol that arose upon Kirito’s blade striking Heathcliff.

Immortal Object.

Jankano sat there, wide eyed and confused.

“What?” he uttered among the others.

Everything from there just went spiraling out of the norm. Jankano watched as Heathcliff confessed to being Kayaba Akihiko, and to being the 100th floor boss. With GM privileges, Kayaba caused paralysis to everyone, but Kirito. Jankano laid there, weak and benched. After some talk between him and Kirito, A duel was had for the fate of everyone. The wager was if Kirito could beat Kayaba here and now, then they would be spared the other 25 floors and the game would end here and now, setting everyone free.

Kirito’s friends, Agil, Klein, and Asuna were all worried for the dual wielder’s safety.

Jankano’s heart felt the feels as he envied him for having friends like this, or rather for still having friends at all. Kirito and his friend’s survived till the end. Not struggling against the paralysis, he just laid there in solitude.

“Just end this stupid game…” he muttered under his breath apathetically.

The duel commenced and metal against metal was heard. So much grunting, and groaning from Kirito, and yet not a single thing from Kayaba. Fingerless gloved hands curled into fists.

Kirito doesn’t stand a chance… doesn’t he?

Surely enough, he was right. Except the outcome was different. Asuna somehow managed to break through the paralysis and took the hit that was meant for Kirito. Jankano cringed, remembering his friends. Eyelids overlapped irises, enveloping in sight in darkness.

I’ve lost….everything…

His emotions finally took a toll on him, and he merely passed out without watching how things would end.

After sometime had passed in the day, he awoke staring at a white ceiling. A strange beeping sound was emanating next to him.

What?

Was he wearing sunglasses? When? Wait, SAO didn’t have shades.

As he got up, he immediately felt pain throughout his entire body. There was something lodged in his hand. He looked down to see an IV embedded in him. It didn’t take long to realize where he was.

“Wh-what? The hospital? How? D- He did it?!” he uttered in a fumble.

Spoiler: GGO

After the events of SAO, he rarely got on to game anymore except for when his new friends played. Even then he only got on sometimes, deciding to rather spend his time walking around the town, or doing some other hobby like exercising. I mean, muscle atrophy is a real thing, especially for someone laying on a bed for TWO WHOLE YEARS.

He met with Rosalia in the real world. The friend invite had been accepted 3 days after he had visited her in SAO’s Black Iron Palace. After having been discharged from not having actually committed any murder through PK in the real world, they met over some coffee and from there became good friends. Her real name is Rua Kokatsu. As it turned out, she had been interning as a school teacher for a middle school. Talk about weird considering her SAO gig.

She is among the new friends he has made ever since stepping foot into the real world, as well as among the friends he plays ALfheim online with from time to time.

The only other online game he actually bothered to play was Gun Gale online. The reason behind this was that it had nothing to do with swords, so that was just fun. He also found it interesting how you could actually dodge bullets. He partook in the Bullet of Bullets. However, since he didn’t really take the game seriously, he gave himself a weird name.

Lion King Richie

He honestly didn’t take this game seriously, and merely played it for the potential real life money you could earn, and because it was a nice change of scene compared to swords and magic.

He partook in the Bullet of Bullets twice, both times never making it to the end.

Special Skill: [LOCKED] - This cant be done just yet...


Past VRMMOs: The Death Game (SAO), GGO,


Other: Plays ALfheim online on and off, and is a Sylph. Actually practices kendo at a nearby dojo, and has been exercising relentlessly ever since he awoke from SAO. He is now 5’10 thanks to some final adjustments through puberty.

"Beuce!" shouted D'daear as the man got jumped.

At first glance it was thought to be a heartless, so naturally the boy drew from the light and summoned the keyblade to hand. However, it was quickly revealed that it was no heartless; since it was wearing pants. Fighting stance waned, but only a bit while the boy watched the moment unfold. A black rabbit like person, no taller than Mickey was looking at Beuce rather irritated. Now this black rabbit could be two things: 1) a bad guy or 2) a good guy. Since D'daear was one to listen, it came to mind that this rabbit may not have ill intent considering the verbal cues. It was going off on the group about not looking like pirates, which seemed to ease the tension a bit for D'daear.

Yet, when it's small eyes landed on their weapons that was when the rabbit got real with the moment. It got off Beuce, and drew to fighting stance. What came from it left D'daear a little amazed.

"TWO!?" Axel s- I mean the boy uttered in amazement.

The rabbit was wielding not one, but TWO keyblades. The only other person he knew that was capable of that thus far was Steel. Things were getting interesting. In the now, Brows furrowed as D'daear got serious, body tensing for a potential battle.

"KN-Knucklehead?! Who are you calling a Knucklehead, nnnggh..." he paused, trying to think of a comeback. Sadly none came to mind. "..nn...Knucklehead!" Whatever.

Since the rabbit was being rather rude, D'daear decided NOT to answer anything until the black rabbit calmed down.

"You'll get your answers once you put away both, your keyblades AND that attitude! I mean seriously, do we LOOK hostile to you?"

D'daear was so caught up in the moment that he had not realized that he himself was just as lost as the rabbit, and he was pretty sure the others were just as lost. Where were they exactly? Why did they end up here of all places? Where were the others?

Then Karina happened, which was counterproductive.

Blue irises fell dull the moment her mouth opened, unveiling every word that was spoken.

"It's like you WANT to fight. ALL THE TIME." he said turning to Karina, ignoring the Black rabbit for a moment.

A huge sigh escaped the tall boy, mind flooded with confusion. This tension needed to be lifted. A free hand fell on the bridge of his nose as he tried to collect himself by shutting his eyes. If this situation escalated, they'd be wasting time getting nowhere.

"Alright alright. Let's...let's all settle down. Call back your keyblades guys. We can work this out without a fight. Please?"

It might not be corrupted like Baymax, but it could just be some disney like plot where both parties are merely manipulated. The more I think about it, the more I think that seeing Oswald go all Dark mode or corrupted seems unlikely. Sure Oswald is very bitter towards Mickey, but he doesn't harness anger and rage towards him like some characters in KH. It's more like an upset child envying another child for getting more attention than him. What makes the other kid so special compared to me? or How come he gets that and I get this? type of thing.

And remember, Big Hero 6 had already introduced

Spoiler: A Scene in the movie

Baymax going all killer mode because Hiro inserted that disk into Baymax's drive.

So for all we know, the "corrupted" baymax could just be Baymax with that program doing the controlling. But w.e, that's just speculation on my part.

Bringing it back to Mickey and Julius, I really doubt that it'll be a DARKNESS related thing, and it could just be a more Disney plot related thing that accidentally drives these characters to introduce Julius.

Higure nodded at Aedion and walked up to the man, handing him the ring just as commanded. It made the boy cringe a little when he mentioned he had lost it before, although it's not like anyone could make out his expression underneath the bandanna cowl and large hat. Turning to the axe wielding woman, he too gave her a nod. It looked like everyone wanted to head back to town; and for good reason. The sun had been waning in power for sometime now, and it looked like it was about to get really dark. The last thing Higure wanted now, more than ever was to stay in a dark forest where yellow eyes could easily spawn.

"You may call me... Yu." he answered, only giving her his last name.

Surely had he given them his first name, his alias would've been brought up; or at least he thought. Now that he thought of it, his alias might not be well-known in these parts. Oh well, too late now. He had given her his last name as his first name. If they were to ask for his last name, he'd definitely remain shut; just in case.

"What's yours?" he queried back to the girl.

With that, he was ready to follow the two into town where they would meet up with some people Aedion mentioned.

Time Skip to Neoph and company

Stomach growled uncontrollably as he stood there listening to the man, Neoph, explain a dilemma.

It was just one big show of so many variables than in the end got the better of them all.

D'daear awoke, vision blurred from whatever it was that had been unleashed from that book Mortimer had been holding. Everything looked so gloomy, like nightfall or something. With a groan uttering from vocal chords, the young boy slowly attempted to stand, only to feel knees buckle and to fall back. Head smacked against something hard as he tumbled back.

"Ow!!" he cried, the pain jolting him awake.

As he looked back, he noticed a large statue-esque kind of structure. It looked like a fountain, only it wasn't; or so it appeared that way. Rubbing the back of his head in a bit of irritation, peripherals noticed two bodies on the other-side of the structure. Vision focused on the two as D'daear rose to his feet with some help from the statue. Blue irises quickly scanned the area as he made his way around the structure with caution towards the two people. From a glance, the entire area looked nearly abandoned, and from the looks of it the statue was the center of this...town?

Thoughts raced in quick succession as he wondered whether he was alone, feet slowly making their way to the two whom he hoped were others from the group. Thankfully, they were...but that grateful spirit quickly turned to disappointment when he saw who it was among them.

"...why...?" he questioned the universe in silence.

It was Beuce and Karina. Now he had no beef with Beuce, as a matter of fact he really admired the man's spirit. In central haven, he had proven to himself to be a great tactician; aside from a mere joker. That part was the best part of this, but the other one...

Eyes narrowed, displeased with the memories in Beast's castle, and Yen Sid's tower that came flooding back. She had left an impression on him, that of a girl who thought she could do everything on her own. Admirable yes, but it was her attitude that really made D'daear cringe. The way she lashed out on anyone that angered her, or the way she was just so mean.

A deep sigh escaped him as he stood a few feet away from them.

"Well...One out of two ain't bad...I guess..." he muttered, clearing his throat to speak to them. At least he had two veterans on his team.

"Hey, guys?" he spoke out, hoping the two were awake or waking up.

Oh boy, hopefully Karina wasn't the type to get all grizzly when disturbed. Although, Beuce would probably defend him....right?

Awesome!

Relief was whelming when he saw the girl spring to action with a materlalized axe in hand. A mental note was made as to next time, think things through more thoroughly. The axe wielder cleaved through one of the jumpsuits like it was nothing, and set her next assault on another one. By then, the silver wolves of this forest were cut down to a mere one which left everything easier to deal with. Sapphire eyes locked on to the masked man as words were directed to Higure's direction.

The first words directed at him were generic, something to be expected when you are expected to flee for safety but instead make your way back. The next couple of words were more of a lecture, which he did not like, but had to admit that those were words of wisdom. Rim of hat tipped forward as the youth contemplated on those words. Right hand tensed over gun. When hat tilted back again, sapphire eyes looked on to the masked man with charming youthful eyes.

"Ok..." he replied, using one word to respond to everything the man had to say. He gazed at the piece of cloth wrapped around the rich swordsman's arm. It did not take a genius to know he had been injured. "...but before we leave, let me heal your wound." he said, quickly revealing and aiming his gun at the masked man.

Without hesitation the child pulled the trigger, breaking the sound barrier as the gun unleashed mana pent up in the chamber. A green ball of energy spiraled its way to Aedion with unfathomable velocity; unless you had bullet time. Within a zeptasecond it would reach the man's body and infuse him with mana that would aid in mending the small wound the swordsman had. Although, who knows how someone would react to someone pulling a gun on them. It'd have to be one of those reflexive dives, upon catching the glimpse of a gun, to react to this situation.

Higure used Cure!

The quiet youth continued to run through the forest while the lady followed behind him.

"So what exactly is the problem?"

Lips remained sealed. There was nothing that needed to be said when all he had to do was just show her. The jumpsuits were not to be taken lightly; and that was an understatement. Every second that passed could potentially lead the man one step closer to a bitter end; although Higure had a hunch the masked swordsman could hold his own while taking a few hits. A small group of minutes passed before sapphire eyes could make out the shapes of silver creatures swimming through the air a small distance ahead of them. Higure stopped about 5 meters away, and dramatically pointed to the swordsman who was fending off the creatures. Other hand gripped the ring tightly as he glared at the creatures. With there being three of them out on the battlefield now, the odds had dramatically shifted in the swordsman favor. What was more, since the boy and the woman were a five yards away, the element of surprise was with them.

With the enemy now on sight, he had no problem whipping out the triple barreled sawed shotgun hidden behind the red cloak. Mana was still running close to dry, however with the masked swordsman and this woman, he was sure he'd have no problem with what he had left. Then a thought occurred to him which left him feeling really incompetent. Although, given that he just picked up a random stranger out on the road, who was to say that this woman could even fight? Oh he hoped with all his heart that this person could fight.

The castle was rather quiet, save for the group, Pluto, and Big Mickey.

"That sounds an awful lot like that one window we encountered in that Black and white world." words uttered under breath after Mickey had explained what happened to him.

The window that had shown a memory of Pluto being captured and taken into a castle. It was there that the villain had strapped Pluto down and was plotting some weird experiment regarding a chicken or something. The tall boy wondered whether there was some kind of correlation between the two. Could just be coincidence, though.

"Wait..." Mickey recalled. "He said he needed... That's right! I-I came running over here because he kept saying he'd take Minnie's heart! I can't let that happen!" the mouse cried out.

D'daear snapped into focus, having dozed off in thought while Hikaru and the Mouse spoke. The floor beneath them suddenly quaked as the monstrosity of a mouse ran past them, and out to the front of the castle.

"Wait! That doesn't answer everything!" Hikaru called out.

"Uuuhh-!!! M-Mickey wait up! You're gonna end up-" D'daear called out as well, but in vain as Mickey was far gone. "..scaring... Minnie..."

A huge sigh was let loose as shoulders sagged from lack of energy. Can't we just have a small break? Starting with a few steps, the young boy worked his way into a jog before working his way into a a light sprint. "We gotta catch up to him before he scares the living daylights out of Minnie." he spoke loudly so that everyone in the group could hear.

So first there was the white hooded people, now there were the black hooded people. What's up with everyone and hoodies these days? Can't they be cool and dawn a mask or something? Anyway, D'daear eventually made his way to the front of the castle thanks to Pluto having taken up point. I mean, what dog deeply concerned for their master doesn't want to be by their side right? By the time the tall boy made it to the front of the castle, commotion had already begun to stir.

Spoiler: Dialogue

"Yes my Princess! It is I, your faithful love Mortimer here to help save you..."

"But I-I don't..." Minnie began.

"You!" The monster began. "It was you wasn't it!? You're the one who did this to me!"

"Whoa now beast! I don't wanna have to slay you in front of the princess," Mortimer smirked.

"I'm not a monster! I'm Mickey!"

Minnie frowned and pouted at such an insult. "You're not my Mickey!"

"You heard the lady? What would little Mickey say if he heard you besmirching his name like that!"

"Huh!?" the sound came out of the boy as he stood a few feet away from the action. "HEY! Aren't you that Mouse that tried to steal Minnie from Mickey Way back when?" D'daear pointed a finger while shouting out loud. It was in the spur of the moment really, but the memory just popped up into the boy's mind. Among the many windows his group had encountered, one of them was a memory of Mickey and Minnie having picnic together with their vehicle. It was a nice picnic until that taller mouse showed up sporting that newer vehicle. Man, what a jerk.

To make this moment even more salty, the Mouse called Mortimer was holding a keyblade. How does someone like Mortimer end up with a keyblade?

As the quickly escalating scenario would have it, D'daear couldn't register the moment properly as randomness unfolded and from nowhere another mouse came into the scene. This time, it was a very familiar Rodent. Blue Eyes widened in shock as the Feral Mickey came into play, throwing a book at Big Monster Mickey. H'oh boy, things were getting a little out of whack.

Minnie turned to Mortimer after watching him pick up the book. The Princess folded her arms. "Just what is going on here!"

Randomly standing by Minnie's side, shoulders sagged once more as head cocked to one side with a very confused D'daear looking at Mickey, Feral Mickey, and Mortimer. "I'd like to know that too, your Majesty..." he spoke, indirectly at Minnie.

Shocked, Confused, and a little angry, it looks like D'daear was now the one in ambivalence. Although, when isn't he?

Higure made to the roadside, finding it to be empty. Why he even hoped for those three to still be here, he did not know. However, good fortune was still on his side; as always.

"Are you alright? Is somethint wrong?"

The boy turned to his left to see a woman approaching. Without answering her orally, the ring given to him was quickly shown to the new face while using his free hand to point towards the deep forest next to them. I hope she knows the meaning of this ring. Gesturing her to follow, he quickly darted into the woods.

That is a good question. I'd love to see this happen; for a portion of course because Mickey's just too cewl for the darkness. If my memories serves right, there was an interview where nomura stated that among the seven guardianz of light, one of them would end up doing something plot twisty. So perhaps this could be what he was referring.

The KH games have aalways had hidden bosses that end up playi g a major role in the next installment of the series. So unless 3D is there to break that pattern, it could be that your logic is correct Glen.

The question is....what causes Mickey to go all king king?