Kirito was sitting in his throne with a grim look on his face because he was a bit in a odd spot.

His recent defeat had set the Alfs back, which was only the case since they had lost a decent amount of units to the ever still powerful Prince of Darkness during the recent battle some were calling the "Bloody Road".

Although nothing had come to attack them in the recent time since, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Kirito to try and keep training units up while trying to upgrade his kingdom so they could field more or better units on the field. And then there was the problem that he had come so close to Sinon and Lisbeth yet it was a far goal that was still out of reach.

He looked up as he watched Klein walk in, keeping to the samurai-look as he walked with his legendary blade at his hip, when Klein gave a slight bow before saying, "Kirito, can I have a word?"

"Speak openly, Klein... I'm just mulling over what to do.." Said Kirito.

"Well, the good news is that we've found a Hel Settlement."

Kirito looked up with a curious look. "Who found it and how?"

"While we were away on our expedition, a small guild went out and stumbled across a walled village in Hel in the east direction, bearing the green colors for the Prince of Plague. It has a relatively small garrison form what they said but they didn't stick around for long in case the Prince came with an army."

"So your saying we have a target to go to for our next move?" Asked Kirito.

"From what I'm seeing on both forums and in the few taverns around, the Lords will be gearing up for an attack on it to hopefully nab it from the Prince..." Said Klein. "And since they are, several Guilds are trying to team up to nab some other small villages nearby from this small village."

Kirito nodded and when he got up, Klein asked, "But the best news so far is that since there are some deposits near the Portal, we've been able to gather some Blood Iron from deposits to use to upgrade our infantry."

Kirito nodded and then Klein said, "If your worried about Sinon and Lisbeth, don't worry about them as much... I'm sure they're doing fine and trying to get back to us as best as they can."

Kirito looked at one of his most loyal friends he'd met since SAO before he then stood up and said, "Alright then, Klein.... so let's get to work on those new units."

Kommando293 was exhausted and about to fall asleep in his throne even if he was trying to keep himself awake for a bit longer. He was going to have a Night Terror, likely triggered by the blood from the battle against the alfs coating the road. He was fighting the urge to fall asleep in VR, because even if it somewhat counts in real life, he knew that he would rather prefer real sleep to virtual.

But then slowly, ever slowly, his heavy eye lids were forced down by sleep and he was soon out cold on the throne in a semi-comfortable position.

Sinon was walking through the lower floor halls as she had just gotten a little snack from the kitchen when she entered the throne room and as she looked around, she then saw something that surprised her as she saw the Prince of Darkness snoring away on his throne, slightly curled up on the throne.

I wonder what made this NPC go to sleep? Is something gonna happens that I need to trigger? Sinon had had a few of these smaller events trigger when you did something to an NPC like touch them or speak to them or something and it was 50/50 on how the outcome was either good or bad.

And so, with this in mind, she slowly walked over down towards the throne but it didn't take long before she heard whimpering. It was coming, strangely to her, from the Prince as he began to shift and turn on the throne and while she came closer, she began to notice that he was visibly shaking in his throne while he whimpered.

"Hey, Darkness? Are you-" Asked Sinon as she slowly reached out a hand when she reached him.

Unfortunately, it seemed this was one of those bad events as the Prince suddenly flew awake and his hands grabbed one of the swords that were next to his throne in their sheathes and Sinon gave a yelp as she tried to get away, closing her eyes as she braced for a hit from his Longsword. But no blow came and when she opened her eyes, he was standing there wide-eyed with his sword inches from her neck but then he dropped the blade and rushed her into a hug that enveloped her.

"Oh I'm sorry! Oh I'm so sorry!" Said the Prince as he seemed on the verge of sobbing with his voice seemingly broken and while Sinon managed to hold him up, the Handmaidens came running in with their hands on their weapons till they realized who it was and stopped.

Eventually, in a few minutes of shaking and some sobbing that surprised Sinon, the Prince calmed down and then he straightened up as he let go of Sinon, she looked up into his bone mask beneath his hood as he said, "Forgive me, my dear... I... I had a bit of a nightmare I'm afraid..."

He slowly began to walk away as he rubbed his mask like it was his eyes and while Sinon watched him, she then asked him, "Is there... there anything I can do to help it?"

The Prince stopped and looked at her before he seemed to think of this, which Kommando293 was doing. He didn't know the best way to stop these Night Terrors, few did know, but as he looked back to her, one idea came to mind but he doubted she would be up for it. But he still asked her, "My dear... I... have only one idea but... it involves something personal to ask.."

Sinon patiently waited as she then said, "And what is it?"

"I.... I would like you to sleep with me..."

Sinon gave a blush and even took a step back but then the Prince explained, "I don't mean like doing.... anything... but I believe you perhaps sleeping beside me can... calm my nerves down."

Sinon thought about it and the thought was wholesomely absurd to her, to sleep with someone regardless of what the situation was or whom it was but when she looked at him, she then said, "On one condition..."

"And what would that be?" Kommando293 thought he had her figured out for what she was gonna ask him to do.

"If I do this... I hope you'll allow me visit back into one of the towns you have..." said Sinon.

"And why there?" Asked Kommando293, genuinely curious.

"I.... feel like a caged bird here... I feel like we only really get out on either dungeon clearing or hunts.. maybe a battle.." Said Sinon. This was true on all accounts she had said.

Kommando293 paused and then lowered his head before he said, "I promise then that... when we awake and when I have a moment of pause in my duties... we will visit the town outside my castle.. maybe even continue past there... you understand I fear for your safety is all..."

Sinon looked up as though she had originally hoped to maybe be able to get away with Lisbeth but when she had thought about the reason, simply being able to go out from her room and this castle would do better. Well, do better till Kirito and the others could come in and barge down the door to rescue her and Lisbeth from this place finally.

But then the Prince of Darkness held out his hand and before Sinon took it, she paused as she looked to the Handmaidens as she then said to them, "If he does things to me, you better kill him or I'll hunt you down."

"Do not worry, my lady. He has been a man of his word has he not?" Said Sanginium.

And then the Prince gently lead her from the throne as he said, "If you can forgive me for this, I promise to make sure we have a whole day just outside the walls."

"Oh alright..." Sinon was gently lead from the throne room by the Prince while she tried to keep up as best as she could due to how he seemed urgent to get some real sleep.

They soon came towards the top of the castle almost, above even Sinon room, and when the Prince came to his room, she watched him slowly open the large, DarkIron doors. Inside, it was massive much like Sinon room but with quite a bit more in it. The bed was as big as Sinon with the same sort of look but this one had skeletons bones to make its entire structure. In one corner was an armor stand and a weapon stand next to a dresser that had a mirror. On the other side of the room, there was a closed closet along with a line of armor similar to the Princes with halberds near the closet.

The Prince went to his armor stand as he began to take his armor and weapons off and put them on the stands, Sinon walked to the bed and she asked him, "This is so embarrassing... having to sleep with a boy already."

"I am sorry... but I'm sure you will likely need the sleep as much as myself." Said the Prince.

Then, he was done and when she looked over, he seemed to be only wearing his mask, some black clothing, and a bit of a hooded robe as he said, "I hope you don't mind me in this... I won't make you change out of your armor and weapons if you don't want to, I'd like you to be as comfortable as possible."

"No, it's fine.." Said Sinon as then she began to take off her dagger blade and her armor but her normal Alf clothing was still on her and while her tail and ears twitched about with the new freedom of being free from the armor pieces and weapon.

The Prince nodded and as he slowly walked to his bed, he got onto its top and didn't bother with the covers as he said, "Come... and join me?"

Sinon slowly got onto the bed and as she got near him, he slowly turned his back to her as he said, "Well... I guess good night?"

"Good night, my Prince." Said Sinon as she soon fell asleep with him. But as she did so, she slowly reached out and put a hand against his back in case some physical touch reassured him.

Some time later, after he had woken up, Kommando293 was not only refreshed with his energy but he was also genuinely happy about it. Sinon had been asleep when he had woken up and he had let her sleep there while he went to finish up his duties and then prepare to escort Sinon out to the village when he suddenly gave pause.

Someone was in the throne room and they weren't an NPC.

"Who are you?" He called put as he got up. His normal Necromancer garb was on as he had his dual Longsword's.

At first, nothing happened and he thought he was getting to hyped on something else when he then saw them. It hadn't been a single figure he had felt but a collection of the, at least 5 of them that now stood in the middle of the throne room that, when Kommando passively in his mind activated his "Goldy" powers, he instantly could tell their auras.

Hackers. The only way to get past his defenses without triggering an alarm.

The players all wore various gear and weapons on them and all had a form of a smile but when Kommando stood up, he then decided to drop his charades as he stood up and said, "Alrighty then.... let's drop formalities and get this over with..."

"What? No exposition?" One of the Hackers asked.

"I'm g9nna be brief... you won't win and you won't go unpunished." Said Kommando as he began to slowly and unnoticed become a phantom of sorts.

The first hacker smiled and he suddenly flew at him with Speed Hacks that made his feet glow neon green and when his axe flew at Kommando, it suddenly passed through him without even seemingly grazing him that made the Hacker suddenly stop past Kommando.

"Oh I'm sorry... but this is my domain." Said Kommando darkly as one of his arms became encased in pure gold 1's and 0's.

Before the Hackers could move, four of them were hit by spikes from his arms and they suddenly shattered into shards with the words "Banned" above them while the last guy behind him looked at him in shock and before he could move, Kommando stabbed his arm into the boys chest and when he shattered, the words "Banned" appeared before Kommando.

"Well shoot... guess they were gonna appear at some point." Said Kommando with a sigh before he went to contact Chryseheight and the other admins about what had just happened.