Hello and welcome back! I hope you're all ready for a good fight scene, some Kirisuna moments, and another cliffhanger, because that's what is being served! Enjoy!

(Opening theme)

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Shoto, Kirito and Asuna were now standing in front a door that lead to the boss room. "Let's take a look, eh?" Shoto suggested.

"Good idea," Kirito nodded. "Maybe we can see what we'll be up against. Just keep your teleport crystals ready." Shoto and Asuna both did as they were told before they shoved the massive doors open. To their surprise, only darkness and silence greeted them.

"Where is it?" Asuna asked with a slight frown.

"I don't know," Shoto replied, also frowning. Looking back for a second, he said, "Hey, Asuna. Stay here. Kirito and I are going in for a look."

"What?" Asuna hissed.

"Don't worry, we won't go in far," Kirito said as he grasped Asuna's shoulder reassuringly. "We'll be fine." With reluctance, the girl let them go in first, deciding to content herself with remembering that this was a standard boss scouting procedure. Asuna stayed behind with her crystal ready in case of an emergency while Shoto and Kirito went in to look at the boss to study its weapons and anything else that might help them counter it.

For a few steps, nothing happened. But about ten feet in, a blue fire was lit atop a torch. Then another. And another. They kept lighting until the round room was lit entirely, and the boss was illuminated.

Shoto and Kirito both gaped in shock at the sheer size of the monster before them. It stood easily three or four times their height. The blue fur that covered its body was all rippling underneath with finely chiseled muscles. In it right hand rested a sword big enough to cleave a horse in two with one swipe. On its powerful neck rested a goat's head while it had a tail in the likeness of a snake. The thing was a Minotaur, Shoto realized.

It suddenly raised its sword and roared, its red eyes blazing with blue light. The name appeared simultaneously: The Gleam Eyes. Seeing the whole thing, the trio did what any sane human being would in their situation- they ran for the dungeon's nearest safe zone, all the while yelling, not looking back once.

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"W-Well..." Shoto gasped as the three friends all sank to the ground. After a good ten minutes of running, they had managed to reach the safe zone without antagonizing any mobs. "I think that's got to be the fastest I've run in the two years I've been here. Talk about a great work-out."

"Yeah," Kirito agreed. "That one's gonna be a real pain to beat. It's probably got all kinds of crazy two-handed sword skills."

"Right," Shoto nodded. "We're gonna need at least two separate teams just to wear it down by switching in and out. And at least ten of them should be shield-users."

"Shield users, huh?" Asuna said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, Shoto's right," Kirito nodded. "What's with the funny look?"

"You guys," she said as she made a vague gesture towards the duo. "How come you're so eager to send other people with shields in? You both have one-handed swords, and the biggest advantage to that is that you can use a shield."

"Do I need to remind the kettle that it's still calling the pot black?" Shoto quipped. "You're the same way as us."

"I don't use one because it slows down my rapier, and you overuse that expression," Asuna shot back. "What's your reason? You're basically the wildcard out of the three of us"

"Same as you, though I can't speak for Kirito," the blonde shrugged. "Besides, shields just get in the way of my style."

Kirito also nodded in agreement, although to Asuna it seemed as though his was delayed and a little too forced. "Yeah, I'm with Shoto," he said. "Shields are too slow."

"Are you sure it's not just because it looks dumb on some people?" Asuna japed. Before Kirito could come up with a response, she smiled brightly and said, "Actually, never mind. It's rude to ask other people to justify their skill set."

"You didn't seem to have a problem with it when you grilled me out," Shoto said with a pout.

"Yeah, but I like Kirito a lot better than you," Asuna shot back. Kirito's face turned bright red as she said that, and Shoto turned away with a huff. Either ignoring them or just not noticing, Asuna opened up her menu and started searching her inventory. "Since it's getting late, we might as well eat," she explained as she opened up a picnic basket. "I brought this along since I considered that we might not have time to make it to a restaurant tonight."

"Did you make it yourself?!" Kirito asked eagerly. Asuna giggled happily and answered that she did as she gave Kirito the first package. The boy eagerly tore open the wrapping to find one of Asuna's sandwiches within.

Asuna then gave Shoto a sandwich, which he tore into. "Awesome!" he exclaimed happily.

"Wow, Asuna," Kirito said in between bites. "I swear, this is even better than the ragout you made!"

"You really think so?" she said while turning away slightly to hide her blush.

"Yeah, totally!" Shoto said enthusiastically. "I mean, you could make a fortune selling this stuff!" He continued to eat his sandwich.

"That might not be such a bad idea, actually," the girl said thoughtfully. "The ingredients for the sauces aren't that hard to get at our level, and I could do with some extra col..."

"No, wait!" Kirito suddenly said with a frown. "You can't sell it."

"What, why not?!" Asuna asked, confused.

"Cos then there wouldn't be any left for me," Kirito said with such sincerity as he looked at the girl that his blonde friend looked at him in shock, pausing on his meal.

"My god, you're greedy," Asuna said as she rolled her eyes. "If you like it that much I can always make more, you know..." Kirito looked like he was about to reply, but then Shoto shot to his feet with Arondight in hand.

The others followed suit just in time to see a group of young men walking into the safe zone. Their leader was easily recognizable by his red bandana, scraggly beard, and katana sheathed at his waist. He looked up from the ground and immediately locked eyes with his old friends with a bright smile.

"Kirito! Shoto!" he called cheerily, waving at the Black Swordsman and Yellow Fang. "How ya doing, guys?"

"Oh, hey Klein," Kirito replied, clearly disgruntled about having his late lunch interrupted by the Furin Kazan guild.

"I see you're just as friendly as ever," he smirked as his friends hung back, talking among themselves. "Hey there, Sho. Still hanging around with this punk?"

"Of course. He's my bud." Shoto replied as he fist-bumped with the lanky warrior. "Besides, do you think that he'd have made it this far without moi?" They all laughed at the thought except for Kirito, who frowned at being made fun of constantly.

"Oh, wipe that frown off!" Asuna said as she playfully shoved Kirito and moved into Klein's field of view from behind Shoto and his black-coated friend. "You'd have been fine, unless you forgot to eat. Wait, no, that's probably the one thing that you'd never forget. Shoto too."

"Hey!" the two boys yelled.

"What the-?" Klein said in surprise. He suddenly froze with his jaw hanging open.

"Oh, sorry Klein," Kirito said as he moved aside slightly. "I guess you guys have never officially met outside of a boss battle. This is Asuna, Vice Commander of the KOB. Asuna, this is Klein, leader of the Furin Kazan guild."

"It's nice to meet you," Asuna said, extending her hand. Klein didn't move, which worried his friends.

"Klein?" Kirito asked as he waved his hand in front of the red-head. "C'mon, say something."

"Is he lagging?" Shoto wondered aloud.

Before anyone could come up with an answer, Klein bowed deeply and extended his own hand. "H-Hi!" he stammered. "I'm K-Klein! T-Twenty-four, single, and looking for a- oof!" His rant was cut off as Kirito slugged him in the stomach, hard. Klein went rolling while Asuna stepped back and gasped in shock.

Shoto tensed up as the other members of Klein's guild all rushed forward to stare him and Kirito down. Asuna looked over at them nervously as they did. If they committed anymore 'crimes' against green players, they'd need to do a quest to keep himself from becoming a permanent orange player. And if they kept lashing out after that, they'd be marked permanently anyways.

Fortunately, it didn't come to that. The group of men simply wanted to get a closer look at Asuna, which led to Shoto and Kirito holding the other guild back. "These guys are okay," Shoto grinned at Asuna as he and Kirito forced them back.

Kirito chucked. "I just don't know about Klein- ow, hey!" The last part was directed at the other guild leader, who smirked at his younger friend. "What the hell?"

"That's payback, you weasel," Klein quipped. "Now how'd you two end up with Asuna in your party?"

"I volunteered," Asuna said as she waved timidly from behind the three boys.

"Kirito, you son of a-"

"Hey, what am I supposed to do?! Turn her down?"

"Leave some ladies for the rest of us!" That particular comment earned him a rap on the head with the flat of Solar Heart's blade, though not hard enough to make him lose health points, and leaving Mataras' icon green.

"Dude, I get you're girl-crazy, but don't talk about Asuna like that," Shoto said, before throwing a friendly arm around said girl. "She's family." Asuna and the others looked at him with something close to shock. He considered her a part of his little SAO family?

Before anyone could ask him what he meant, another element entered the picture. The combined guilds turned to see a group of two-dozen heavily armed men enter the field's safe zone. Their leader turned to face them as soon as the last one entered and called out, "At ease!" The men sank to the floor, completely spent, groaning in relief.

"The army that runs floor one?" Klein asked quietly. "What are they doing here?"

"They were almost completely wiped out on floor twenty-five," Asuna recalled. "They've spent their time since then building up their numbers instead of their stats. I'm honestly surprised that they even made it this far into the dungeon."

"Man...those guys look beat up and tired." Shoto said looking at the group. "They must have forced themselves to get here."

Only their leader seemed to have retained his strength as he strode up to Klein, Kirito and Shoto. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Corvatz of the Aincrad Liberation Army," he proclaimed.

"I'm Kirito, and this is Shoto. Members of the Moonlit Black Cats," the Black Swordsman replied evenly, gesturing to himself and Shoto.

"Sure, sure," the man said, clearly unimpressed. "Do you have a map of the area ahead of here?"

"Yeah, we got a full map that includes the location of the boss' room," Kirito replied, annoyed at the man's attitude.

"Right," Corvatz nodded. "Then hand it over."

"What the-?" Klein sputtered. "Do you have any idea how much of a pain mapping is?"

Shoto nodded. "Yeah, you got no right to come here and demand that!"

"No right?!" the man roared. "We share all of our information and resources with civilian players, and don't charge a thing for it! We maintain order where there would otherwise be chaos! Therefore, it's your duty to cooperate with us! Now hand over that map!"

Shoto and Klein placed their hands on their weapons, ready to put the arrogant man in his place when Kirito waved them back. "Easy, guys," he said smoothly. "I was gonna go public with the map once we got back into town anyways. It's cool." He set up a data transfer and gave Corvatz the map without another word.

"C'mon Kirito, you're being way too nice to 'em," Klein protested, but the boy ignored him until the data transfer was complete.

"Our guild doesn't make money off of map data," he said as Corvatz closed his menu. "Like I said, it's fine."

"Thank you for your cooperation," the lieutenant said as he turned to leave, not sounding like he meant a word of it.

"Hey, I'd stay away from the boss room, by the way," Kirito said as Corvatz walked away.

"That is my decision to make," the older man said, not turning around.

"If you're planning on hitting the boss room, you're not only rude, but a fool as well," Shoto said with a glare, gesturing to his men. " Look at them! Your men are in no condition to fight any mobs on this floor, let alone a floor boss. You need to go home before you do something stupid!"

They could practically hear Corvatz's teeth grinding as he turned around and shouted, "Nonsense! My men are tougher than that!" Turning back to face them, he roared, "On your feet! Move!" And with that, the group staggered to their feet, and left the safe zone.

"Did he seriously just imply that we, of all people, are inferior to his troops?" Shoto said as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Pretty sure he did," Kirito muttered. He was clearly having second thoughts about having given the map to the arrogant leader of the soldiers.

"Do you think that they'll be okay?" Klein asked.

It was Asuna who answered, though. "I'm sure they'll be okay," she said unconvincingly. "I'm sure even they wouldn't go and rush the boss without at least checking it out first."

"Damn it," Shoto said as he drew his sword and started walking after the army.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Asuna asked after him.

"He probably is that stupid," Shoto sighed, not turning around. "And they're that loyal. Which means that we're going to have to save them."

Kirito sighed heavily and nodded. "He's probably right," he muttered sourly. "And just when I thought we might be able to head home..." He started walking quickly to catch up to his friend. The others looked at Klein, who nodded firmly.

Furin Kazan moved to follow the Black Swordsman and Yellow Fang, but Klein hung back for a moment. "Hey, Asuna," he said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I got a favor to ask..."

"Sure," Asuna said with a smile as they stopped to face him. "Name it."

"I know you know this by now," he said, still not looking up. "But even though they're loners, mainly Kirito, and are addicted to combat, they're really good guys, both of 'em. Take care of Kirito and Shoto, would ya?" And he bowed to her.

"You know I will," Asuna said with a smile. "Don't worry, they're in good hands."

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XXX

Progress back to the boss' room was even easier now that two of the top guilds in Sword Art Online were making their way through it together. It meant less experience points for everybody, but no one really cared. They had all already filled their levelling quotas, so it didn't really matter.

When they were less than half a mile away from the boss' lair, they managed to clear out the last mob in their way. "That's the last of 'em," Klein confirmed as they all looked around. "Now all that's left is the boss room."

"Hmm..." Shoto was staring down the path to the boss room with a slight frown on his face. "Did those guys wise up and go back? Or did they..." As if in response to his unfinished question, screams began to echo down the long hallway. "Ah, damn it all!" he snarled as he took off on a full sprint.

"Asuna!" Kirito looked over at the girl.

"Yeah, let's go!" she agreed. The next instant, a shockwave was left in their wake as they took off at full speed, leaving the Furin Kazan far behind. At their speed, it was less than a minute before they got to the boss lair, Shoto was standing at the entrance with a grim expression on his face.

Inside the room looked like something out of a Greek legend where the heroes were about to lose their lives fighting against the demon. Corvatz's men were scattered, their rigid discipline shattered. All of them were dangerously low on health, but their commanding officer was refusing to back down, shouting at the army to get to their feet.

"Get out of there!" Kirito shouted at those that were unable to get to their feet. "Use your teleport crystals!"

"We can't!" a young man shouted back. "The- they're not working!"

"An anti-crystal zone in a boss lair!?" Shoto exclaimed, as he and Kirito looked at each other. The Moonlit Black Cats both recalled the death trap that they had barely escaped from on floor twenty-seven, the memory filling them with dread.

"I've never even heard of a trap like that being in a boss' room," Asuna said.

"What's going on?" Klein said, as he caught to them.

"They can't use their teleport crystals." Shoto quickly explained the situation to his friend, causing the red-head to look with worry at the men being scattered by the boss' horse cleaver. "Isn't there something we can do?" Klein asked, afraid.

"We could distract the boss, but going in there's too risky," Kirito said with a shake of his head. The monster suddenly unleashed a breath attack, scattering the men everywhere, followed by a mighty swing of its sword. A single man was thrown all the way back to the entrance, unmoving. Corvatz.

Shoto knelt beside him, reaching for a potion, but then the helmet shattered, causing him to freeze. "I..." the man gasped. "I can't believe it." Then he died.

Shoto stood, his head bowed. Asuna averted her gazes, horrified. Kirito and Klein could only stare in shock.

"No..." Asuna said, covering her mouth.

Suddenly, she heard screaming. She looked to see one of the men in front of the Gleam Eyes. The Gleam Eye raise up its sword once more, intending to kill the rest of the men.

"No... I..." Asuna trying so hard not to grab her sword, her bangs covering her eyes.

Shoto and Kirito looked over at her. "Asuna?" Shoto began.

The boss was about to slash the man, until Asuna had enough and shot into the room.

"NOOOO!" She cried out. She drew her sword and charged at top speed right at the boss, ignoring the cries of her friends.

"Asuna!" Kirito yelled out.

"Come on! We gotta help her!" Shoto exclaimed, before both boys charged into the room.

"Oh, what the hell!" Klein said, running into the room as well.

Asuna charged up her sword skill and leaped high and attacked the giant, scoring a few solid blows across its back and causing it to whirl around.

Before Asuna could react, the boss punched her while she was still in midair, sending her skidding across the floor, stunned. She looked up, dazed as the boss raised its sword to swing it down at her, much like it had been about to do to the army. Is this how it ends? Her thoughts were blurry, and she could barely move.

Movement. A shout. Asuna forced her eyes to focus as Kirito quickly interposed himself between the boss and his friend. "Move!" the boy shouted as he deflected the blow just enough for it to land a few inches away from his legs. Asuna shook his head to clear it and leaped away.

Klein and his guild were guiding the soldiers out of the boss' room, many of them leaning heavily on the men in red samurai armor.

"Are you okay?" Klein asked the man he was carrying.

"Thanks..."

The Gleam Eyes turned around towards them and was about to fire another break attack, when Shoto appeared behind it.

"Your fight is with us, you overgrown cow!" The blonde exclaimed and slashed the boss across the back.

"ROOOAAAARRR!" Gleaming Eyes roared in pain, before it then slashed a horizontal slash towards Shoto, who blocked the attack but was thrown away.

"Uck!"

Kirito's eyes followed the thrown form of the blond. "Shoto!" But then, he realized his mistake, on instinct hone through hundreds of battle, he raise his sword up just in time to reduced the damage of a punch from Gleaming Eyes, and like Shoto, he was thrown away and landed near him with cursed of pain.

"I can't believe we have to fight this thing now..." Kirito groaned as he and Shoto climbed to their feet.

Shoto just grinned. "Yeah, but look on the bright side. We managed to save a group of people from being killed."

Kirito only shook his head, then his attention is back to the boss. "Now, what do you suggest we do? That boss is too dangerous to leave alone, I can imagine that there'll be a lots of casualties."

"Heh, if you can imagine that, then why asked for suggestions?" Shoto continued. "We're the Moonlit Black Cats! We fight to protect, We fight so that we can be free from this shackle, we fight so others won't have to suffer the sorrows we've suffered." Shoto eyes held determination. "So my suggestion, is we fight! Let's show this cow why we cats got claws!"

Kirito smiled, same old heroic Shoto. He swore his heroic spirit was as large as the entire Asia. "Fine then, let's have it your way."

"Oh yeah! While we're at it, let's try out that combo we've been training out!"

"Eh?! But, that means we gotta use those-"

"Come on, Kirito! That boss can unleashed a paralyzing breath, if we wait too long he'll unleash it again! We gotta save some lives!"

Kirito pondered about it. On one hand, if they do 'that' they may finish this boss level and the forntline squad won't have any casualties, on the other hand...

"Kirito!"

That snapped Kirito out of his train of thought. "Ugh, fine!" The black swordsman took a deep breath. "We'll need twenty seconds, keep him busy."

Asuna, who just completed her task, nodded her head without even knowing what was going on.

"Klein! You help too!" Shoto yelled out.

"What?!" Although a bit far, you could see Klein was looking at Shoto with a 'Are you crazy?!' look. " You know what? I don't care anymore!" Klein unsheathed his katana and charged in, while the other men quickly headed to the entrance, with the help of Klein guildmates.

Shoto quickly went into his settings the same time as Kirito, while Klein and Asuna ran past them to hold off the Gleam Eyes.

'Come on... Come on...!' Shoto was sweating as he panicked slightly, before he found what he was looking for. "Aha!"

Pressing the ability, Shoto looked up towards Gleam Eyes as his own eyes glowed a golden color. In his vision, everything became a yellow shade as red circles scanned over the monster.

"Shoto, how's it going??" Kirito called out, seeing as Shoto didn't see it as he was focused on the red circles only he could see.

Right as Kirito asked this, the red circles finally zeroed onto Gleam Eyes' stomach as it locked on, before the words >Weakness Located< popped over his view, making Shoto grin as he pulled out his sword.

"Yeah! I found it!" Shoto said, gripping his sword very tightly. "Come on, Ki!"

"Almost..." With one last push, he is ready. "Okay, we're ready!" Kirito exclaimed.

Hearing Kirito, Asuna quickly slashed Gleaming Eyes' Zanbatou away into the air.

"Switch!" Shoto called out. Asuna quickly jumped back, it was now up to the Moonlit Black Cats.

Suddenly, Shoto quickly pushed off the ground and shot forward in a blue blur, but as he did the floor had cracked under his foot, leaving a massive creater behind before a huge shockwave raced out across the area.

The Yellow Fang was the first to strike, deflecting the massive sword first with a flick of his blade, then shifting his body so that his outstretched frame was parallel to the sword that was bigger than he was. The next instant, Solar Heart came up and over in a powerful, vicious arc to slice the boss' face. The follow-up attack happened almost too fast for the others to follow as he moved to smash the hilt in a reverse strike to the Gleam Eye's jaw, sending it staggering backwards a few paces.

Shoto retreated quickly to let Kirito hit next, as the black swordsman passed with a battle cry. Gleaming Eyes tries to slash Kirito in two, but the swordsman bashed the Zanbatou away with his sword, then he took out another sword from his back and thrust forward toward the boss head, knocking him back. Everyone minus Shoto could only watch in awe and surprised as Kirito, the famous black swordsman was holding not one, but two longswords!

The large creature quickly went back on its feet, and slashed downward towards Kirito, with the swordsman blocking the slash with both of his swords. Kirito grunted and pushed away the larger weapon.

"Now!" Kirito cried out to Shoto.

"Okay!" Shoto nodded, before he boosted his strength and fastened his speed, as his sword glowed brightly. The blond's bright green eyes narrowed as he whispered. "Heaven Cross-Storm..." Then he accelerated towards Gleaming Eyes passing the black swordsman, when he is but an inch away from the monster, he attacked.

Shoto stared to waylay the boss with flurry of attacks, before he started to cross-slash every which way around it, piercing the Gleaming Eyes from the top, bottom, sides, everywhere. His power was strong, fast and effective.

Asuna, the one who was known as the 'Lightning Flash' has her eyes widened at the sheer speed of Shoto's relentless attacks, all she and the other could see was the flash of slashes from Shoto's attack.

When the blond's combo was finished, he kicked himself away from the large monster, using the momentum of the staggering monster, as Kirito quickly shot foward and prepared his own combo.

"Aim at the stomach!" Shoto called out.

"Alright! Star Burst Stream!" Kirito yelled, slashing and thrusting the larger monster across the stomach. Earning a large roar of pain from the boss monster.

"W-What is this...?" Klein asked, everyone's heard but no one answered.

Then the two beaters continued on this pattern, when one finished with their combo, the other covered him up with their own combo, it's a simple yet very much effective strategy.

"They're... So fast..." Asuna said, although she said everyone, her eyes stick to both players. She was in too much shocked and awe to comment anything properly.

Unknown to others, the two famous beater has only one line of thought in their mind.

Faster!

Kirito slashed the stomach of the blue monster.

Gotta go even faster!

Shoto joined in with a thrust, then continued with slashes and finished with another thrust.

FASTER!

Kirito's combo was cut in halfway when Gleaming Eyes grab hold of Kirito's sword, however instead of having a shock expression, he only smirked. Then that's when Gleaming Eyes saw the blur of red-orange, using Kirito's body to propelled himself into the air. The large boss stared directly into Shoto's deep green eyes that held one message for it.

'You will die.'

Shoto raised his sword above his head, while Kirito cocked back his hand. Then the two players let out a battle cry, Shoto slashing downward and Kirito thrusting forward.

""HYAAAAAHHHH!""

It was then, the others witnessed two players beating the floor boss with only the two of them, with both of their HP closely at running out.

It was a legend they will never forget.

Soon both boys had began to have their conversation.

"Man... That was awesome!" Shoto laugh loudly. "If only there were a camera in this game..."

Kirito stared at his partner annoyed, "I would rather refrained myself from doing it again...We were THIS close to being killed."

Shoto stop laughing and looks at his and Kirito's almost empty health bar, only slight tiny wits red color remained in it. "Yeah... You're right." Then both boys slumped down to the floor, scaring the shit out of everyone.

"Kirito!"

"Shoto!"

Asuna ran forward and slumped down next to them and grabbed their shoulders, shaking both boys hard. "Kirito! Shoto!" she shouted! "Wake up!" When they didn't respond, she shook them harder and shouted even louder. They finally stirred, even as Klein made his way over to them with his men at his side.

"Uhh...can you people stop bothering me...?" Shoto moaned as he got up. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Ugh..." Kirito groaned, before looking around. "What just happened? Did we win?"

"You both did it," Asuna said, obviously relieved to see that her friends were okay.

"How long were we out?" Shoto mumbled even as Asuna got him and Kirito to drink some potions.

"Just a few seconds," Asuna said as Shoto climbed to his feet and rolled his arms.

"You reckless idiots!" Asuna shouted as she threw her arms around Kirito, unable to hold back the mixed tears of fear and relief anymore. The gesture threw Kirito off a bit, but then he smiled gently.

"Don't hug me too hard, or else I'll lose my HP before that potion does the trick," he joked lamely. Then his expression grew serious. He looked up to see Klein, his friends, and the remnants of the army. "How many did we lose this time?" he asked.

"Corvatz and two of his men are the only ones that didn't make it," Klein replied.

Shoto's face fell at the news. "Man, we haven't lost anyone in a boss fight ever since floor sixty-seven," he murmured.

"That wasn't a boss fight, that was suicide," Klein spat angrily. "Corvat was a damn fool. What's the point in any of this if you die?!" No one had an answer for him, so he eventually decided to change the subject. "Okay, you two!" he said as he pointed at Kirito and Shoto. "What the hell was that?!"

"What was what?" Shoto asked in confusion.

"Do we have to tell you?" Kirito sighed as he stared at Klein.

"You bet you do!" the katana-wielder grinned. "I've never seen those moves before! Also, that combination was awesome!"

Kirito sighed heavily and looked down as he said, "Sho and I both have extra skills... Mine is Dual-Wielding."

"Whoa!" Klein gasped, as did the others. "Are there prerequisites?"

"If I knew that, I would have shared it by now," Kirito replied with a slightly rueful grin. "About six months ago, I was just scrolling through my menu, and there it was."

"Huh, it's not on anything that the info brokers sell," Klein muttered. "It must be exclusive to you. You got a unique skill, man! How could you keep that from your buddies? No wait, what about you?" He pointed at Shoto, who rubbed his head. "You knew about Kirito's skill, right? And what was that I saw? You saw the boss weak spots and was dishing out damage like it was nothing, but your strength and speed increased beyond anything I've seen before. What's up with that?"

"I'm surprised nobody said anything before today," Shoto replied with a sigh. "Like Kirito, I also picked up on a extra skill, but it only came into play once my strength and tracking skill were both maxed out. It's called Limit Break, it allows me to go beyond my current level with all my abitities boosted to their maximum. It also allows me to find my enemies' weak spots so I can attack them. The drawback is that it drains most of my stamina, and it stays active till the fight has ended."

"Whoa..." Klein breathed. "That's so cool! But seriously, why did you keep it under wraps like that?"

"Remember how everyone reacted when Heathcliff first used the Divine Blade?" Shoto responded. "They all wanted to know how he gained that skill, even though he didn't have an explanation for them, but a lot of people didn't buy that and they got really angry. It wasn't until he founded the KOB and began clearing the floors with Asuna's help that people really accepted him without any animosity."

"True..." Klein admitted with a nod. "A lot of gamers are like that... You're right, people are probably gonna be jealous of those skills. And especially Mr. Kirito here," he said as he winked at the Black Swordsman, still holding Asuna. As Kirito averted his gaze, Klein smiled and added, "Well, they say that life is made better by the challenges you face, so keep soldiering on, you guys."

Turning to Shoto, he said, "We're gonna go ahead and trigger the warp gate to the next floor. Want to come with?"

"Nah, I think we all need a break," Shoto replied with a shake of his head. "Besides, I need to head home and rest up for a bit. The fight took a lot out of me."

"Fair enough," Klein said as he and the others moved to go. Before he headed out the new door, though Klein stopped and said, "Hey Kirito?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how you just ran in there? To save those army guys?"

Kirito cocked his head with a slight frown and replied, "Yes... What of it?"

"It did my heart good," he replied without turning around. "You and Shoto both. See you guys around, okay?"

"Sure thing, Klein" Shoto said as he looked back at his best friend and the girl still embracing him tightly. "Should I give you two a minute?" he asked. Kirito looked up at Shoto and nodded once.

Shoto grinned and nodded back before heading out the room.

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The group all got home at roughly the same time, due to Shoto picking up some more items, and Kirito talking with Asuna. They all went to bed immediately, completely spent. They hoped to sleep in, but as it turned out, that was going to be impossible.

Shoto was the first one to answer the door as he heard someone constantly pounding on it. He had his sword in hand as he prepared to confront the intruder and he opened the door. The instant after he did, he really wished that he hadn't.

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XXX

Floor 50: Algade

"The blue demon that almost succeed in killing an entire army squad, was taken down by two guys: One with dual wielding while the other with all-seeing eyes and ablities beyond compare. Together, they nalied the boss with a hundred-style-slash combo." Agil reads out loud, not hiding his amusement at all. "You guys made it to the news!"

The two Cats were upstairs Agil's shop, and neither of them in were in the mood to laugh, especially Kirito.

"That's way too exaggerated." Kirito said with no amusement in his voice or face. "We've been chased around all mosrning by swordsman and information brokers, and it's not amusing at all."

"Yeah..." Shoto agreeed, sitting on Agil's ordinary and plain bed. "I mean, I can understand Kirito, but me? Nearly EVERYONE was hassling me about how to break their limits!" The blond didn't hate being famous, but being chased around for hours? It was annoying.

"I don't wanna hear it, I have to make a break for it too." Lizbeth said walking into the room, carrying a box filled with something. Though unlike the boys, she seems to be quite amused. "You said it was going be our secret, but you blew your own cover." She grinned.

"They are the Chosen Ones! As it was foretold by the scrolls!" Agil teased, before he and Lisbeth broke out in laughter.

Kirito grunt in annoyance, and then looked at Shoto, who seemed to be too tired from running around all morning.

The sound of fast footsteps gained the attention of all the occupants.

The sight of a distress and panting Asuna greeted them. "What do we do now, guys?" She asked between panting. "We've got a huge problem.!"

"What problem?" Shoto asked sitting up. "That Agil's place that looks like a dump?"

"Hey! I'm here you know!"

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XXX

Floor 55: Grandum, Knight of the Blood Oath HQ

"Is this the first time we met away from the front line, Kirito, Shoto?"

The three frontlines players consisting of Kirito, Asuna and Shoto were now standing in front of the high rankings of the famous guild 'Knight of the Blood Oath'. His uniform and place at the center of the table that seated five-though one spot was currently vacant- marked him as Heathcliff, the leader of the Blood-Oath Knights.

"No, we had a brief talk during the strategic meetings for clearing the 67th floor." Kirito said. "Commander Heathcliff."

"We did?" Shoto whispered.

"Yeah, you just didn't paid attention at that time."

"Oh."

Heathcliff closed his eyes. "It was a hard fight indeed. We barely made it alive." He sighed. "I know people called us top guild, but out forces are at their limits." Then he stares at the three. "And here you two are, a rival guild, trying to draw away one of our most important players."

"No one here wants to be rivals," Shoto replied calmly. "We all want to clear the game, that's all. Why are you trying to pick a fight with us?"

"Actually, I agree with you, Shoto," Heathcliff replied smoothly. "I would like it very much if you both would become a part of the team here. However, I can tell that not everyone here would be happy with that arrangement."

"Damn straight," Kirito muttered under his breath.

Heathcliff continued to say, "I am willing to cut you all a deal. If you want to take Asuna with you, one of you wi have to fight me for it. Your best fighter against me in a one-on-one duel. If they win, you'll be free to take Asuna with you." His face twisted into a small smile as he added, "On the other hand, if Shoto or Kirito loses... You both join the Knights of the Blood-Oath."

Before Kirito could make his response, Shoto stepped forward and spoke, "No deal. At least, not under those conditions."

"What do you mean?" Heathcliff asked, intrigued. The other members looked angry that Shoto had addressed their leader so roughly, but they held their tongues.

"If mine and Kirito's freedoms are at stake here, then it should be a fight done by both of us," Shoto replied. "Asuna is part of our family now, and we'll do whatever it takes to make sure that she can do what she desires. So what I propose is a two-on-two fight. The team that can get the other's HP into the yellow zone first will be declared the victor, and the afore mentioned conditions will take effect."

At first Heathcliff looked somewhat surprised, but then he gave them that dry smile of his. "I find that to be completely reasonable," he said with a nod. "Very well. The Moonlit Black Cats will face off against myself and Raphael. Normally I'd ask Asuna to join in, but I have a feeling that she'd refuse in this instance. Are we all in agrrement?"

Shoto looked back at his friend with a determined expression. Kirito also nodded and added the words, "Sounds good to me. If they wanna settle this with swords, that's fine by me."

Shoto turned back to Heathcliff with his own eagered smirk in place. "Sounds as though we have a duel on our hands. I look forward to facing the Divine Blade."

To be continued....

(Ending theme)

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Boom. Stuff just got real.

Here it is! Please like it! And put a review in this chapter so my motivation to write this fic increased!