"Incoming!!!"

Eugene kept his shield up as he watched the arrows slowly coming crashing down upon his army and as he gritted his teeth and watched the Skeleton horde slowly marching its way towards him, those stupid pinkish-purplish skeletons, he then shouted to what remained of his units, "Now! Charge!!"

Salamander swordsmen units went charging straight down from the hill they were on as the skeleton army suddenly held its position and as Eugene ran down with his men, he watched as the enemy skeletons archers began to prepare another volley and he could only hold up his shield as soon enough another volley of arrows came down upon his army.

Another swathe of his quite green army was cut down but as the rest continued to charge the enemy skeletons on the plain they were on, he simply tossed aside the shield he had as he let loose a roar from his lips and crashed against the enemy lines.

Meanwhile, she was simply watching from atop the hill as her Salamander mage robes fluttered around her and as she held her staff, its red crystal floating on the very top of the staff, she could only hope her mana recharged fast enough for her to cast another spell before Eugene was destroyed.

"Come on!" Shouted Eugene as he hacked and slashed his way through the skeletons but it was slow going and as he managed to see another of his units begin to rout from the battle, he knew this was not going to end in his favor and so he simply shouted out, "Retreat!" as he ducked a swing before running away himself just as the skeletons began to chase after what remained of his army.

And as she watched all of this happen, she simply began to run as fast as she could from the hill as she detached herself from the archer unit she had been with and as she began to flee, she simply ran away from the battlefield as she simply hoped to get away from the skeletons.

But then, as she looked behind her for a split moment, she watched a whole unit of Skeleton Swordsmen running after her as she could only keep running away for the moment.

And the only reason why she could not fly was coming suddenly diving down upon her as she rolled to the side and she watched the gryphon and its rider, someone known as the "Princess of Lust", slowly go back into the sky, she then continued to run deeper into the nearby forest as she began to run away from any form of help.

Well, not all help.

"Aww... man keeping an eye on you all can be really... bothersome..." muttered Klein as he watched the three Spriggan Swordsmen units as they harvested the forest trees for lumber.

Ever since the first battle in Hel and the first attack against the castle, the group had been trying to do their best to up their tech and get better units out for the coming battles. Of course, with so much resources often being used, it left very little to be put elsewhere like units.

Which meant that Klein had to take what few units they had to collect and gather what resources was around the castle. And this day was gathering Lumber while somewhere Leafa was trying to gather some stone and ore with her single unit of Spriggan Horsemen.

And so, it simply mean for him that there was a few minutes to simply look around him and not to look too bored from doing this.

But as he watched the three units all taking axes to tree trunks and taking the harvested ones to be put on carts to later be pulled along, he suddenly heard a screech from some distance off and as he noticed his whole unit of swordsmen stopped to grab their swords, shields, and maces as he took out his Soul Blade.

"Somethings coming... and I don't think its friendly..." he said to himself.

And then as he slowly got onto he road, something in red suddenly hammered into him and he heard himself and whoever hit him give a yelp out as then both of them went down.

He groaned as he heard running feet and as he looked up, he saw the gryphon and the rider on it as the skeleton unit came running down the same road and he immediately shouted out, "All units! Charge!!"

He immediately shoved the person who had ran into him as he began to run straight for the fighting as all 3 of the Spriggan swordsmen units, who were all green units, were engaging the single veteran unit of pinkish-purple skeleton swordsmen as he then watched the Gryphon land between him and his men as the rider held her two-handed Mithril sword while upon her back was a halberd of nefarious design.

"Why hello..." said the Princess of Lust as she looked at him.

"Hi..." said Klein. If she wasn't a enemy, he may have wanted to like her but as he held his Soul blade as it came blazing to life with fire, he then simply said, "But I need you to buzz off."

"Maybe..." the girl said with a small smile as her gryphon moved beneath her. "But what do I have to fear?"

Suddenly a large bolt of fire went directly over Klein's head and hit the Gryphon beneath the princess and as he looked behind him, he almost wondered if this was suddenly a dream.

The girl had gorgeous brown hair that went past her shoulders as she wore the garb of a Mage class. In her left hand currently was her staff that had a rotating red crystal spinning slowly around on its top as in her right was a fire spell. Her eyes were blue, like an ocean, and as she raised her hand again, he looked back to see the Gryphon rearing back and away from the mage as the rider then sneered as she said, "Next time, warrior!"

And with that, she flew off as he looked past her to see that the skeletons, what few remained, were swiftly pulling out of their fight as the remains of his three units cheered as they held their ground wisely.

He then slowly put his blade away as he looked back on the girl he had run into as he then said to her, "So... can I have your name?"

She slowly looked at him as she then said, "Thank you... my... my name is Shisho.."

"Well then, m'lady... would you like to stick with me for the moment until we can get you somewhere more safe?" asked Klein.

Shisho looked to him as then she simply nodded and as Klein looked right back to his troops, he sighed as then he said to them, "Alright... lets get back to gathering..."

Kirito watched as Leafa and her small company slowly made its way back to the slowly being upgraded castle he was at and as he looked over to where Asuna stood, he sighed as he then asked her, "So that's what happened... I wasn't a battle... it was a massacre..."

"No one was able to heal?" asked Asuna.

"If they could... they were too busy trying to stay alive.. trying not to die from arrows... bolts... and rocks..."

Asuna shook her head as then she said, "And.. Sinon is gone you said?"

"Yep... haven't seen her..." said Kirito as then he saw Klein walking towards the castle as he also saw the girl with him and as he saw the two with a noticeable few of his troops from the swordsmen gone, almost half of them in total.

"Oh... looks like Klein met a friend..." said Kirito as he then began to go down the nearby stairs as Yui and Asuna slowly followed him.

Down below, Lisbeth was hammering away at a Steel Mace as she looked up to see the castle gates opening up and as she watched past Agil training some Guardians in combat training, she watched as more resources began to slowly pull into the castle as she sighed and continue to beat her hammer on the glowing steel ingot.

As Kirito watched Klein slowly enter, he saw the girl had the clothes of a Mage-class while being a Salamander and as he reached the bottom, he then asked Klein, "So... where did you drag her up from?"

"Kirito, this is Shisho... She ran into me after being chased by the Hel guys... I dunno much beyond that." said Klein as he smiled and held a hand out to her.

She gave a curt bow to Kirito as she said, "He-hello... sir..."

"Hello, Shisho... so, who were you with before you met Klein here?" asked Kirito.

"I was with... Lord Eugene... until just minutes ago when he lost another battle against the Invaders of Hel..." said Shisho.

Kirito could only sigh as Shisho said, "Its been hard... trying to hold off the invaders..."

"I don't doubt that one bit..." said Kirito when horns were blown as he then shouted out, "Enemy attack! Prepare the defenses!!"

Sinon woke up as she logged back into her avatar and then gave a sudden groan of frustration.

She had been trying many times to see if she could spawn into Alfenheim but she could never seem to find a way and it was not frustrating her. But as she slowly sat up and looked around, she then looked down at herself and saw she was wearing something new unlike her last outfit.

In fact, it looked like her normal outfit but with a darker steel armor pieces and what looked like a few gems attached to it along with a armored skirt around her waist. Her normal green cloak was now replaced with a dark grey and as she looked around her with her ears roving for danger and her tail curled close to her, she wondered when this had happened when she heard a voice say, "Hey, you're awake."

She looked around and saw another skeleton but his armor was different form the usual swordsmen or unit. His armor was obviously better and his sword and shield were made to suit his looks.

"I am General Raiden. I'm here to... escort you to the Prince... please follow me.." said the General as he then motioned for her to follow him. "And please bring your weapons..."

She grabbed her quiver, her new dagger, and her bow and as she slowly followed the skeleton out, she was surprised to not see and honor guard follow them.

It wasn't long before they were out of the castle and as Riaden lead Sinon, she was also surprised how little he spoke of her which made her wonder what was going on. But then, as she saw them coming to an underground entrance, she looked at him and asked, "Down there?"

"Yes." said Raiden and he pushed her towards it.

She knew that there was probably something down there she was going to have to fight and kill and she doubted the two whole units of full elite swordsmen units with the General would come running to her aid when she did it.

But as she looked down the hole, she knew that she had to go down. She then looked back at her quest log.

"Quest: Escape!"

She sighed and knew that at this rate she was never going to escape but she decided now was the time to persevere and so she slowly began to walk down the stairs descending down as she took and arrow and knocked it.

The tunnel was lined with old torches that glowed a faint, eery blue as she slowly walked down the steps and as she kept her ears out for trouble, her tail slowly swished side-to-side as she kept going.

She slowly found a light at the end of this stairwell and as she walked towards it more and kept her bow up, she slowly slid into the light as she was stunned at what she saw before her.