Hey guys! Firestorm40 here with a new chapter. I'm still doing my best to keep up the writing for all of you! Hope you enjoy this new chapter, because I sure did! And be sure to leave a review with thoughts/requests.

Opening Theme - No Game No Life

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XXX

Alfheim
Neutral Territory
Lugru corridor

Shoto, Kirito, Haru and Leafa were all walking into a dark corridor. Haru said that this will be a good chance for Kirito to use his Night Vision. Kirito nodded his head the began the incantation. After a second, the cave had lit up, so that you could see properly.

"Oh! Now I see even a useless Spriggan was capable of something like this." Leafa said, smirking.

"That's exactly what I said." Haru laughed.

"As I said before, that really hurts." Kirito said with a sigh.

"Yeah, well, Regardless of it, Illusion magic is basically useless in battle" Leafa replied, closing her eyes.

"That doesn't make me feel better at all!" Kirito said, with a tick appearing on his forehead.

"How far until we make it to the next town?" Shoto asked as he held a flame in his hand.

"We should be there in about fifteen minutes," Leafa answered. "Why? Do you have something going on IRL?"

"Nah, just wondering," the Salamander shrugged. With that, they proceed to continue their journey.

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XXX

Later

As they were walking, Kirito decided to learn some magic. But the magic was all in different languages so he was struggling even to spell it right.

"Why the heck is the incantation need to be on different languages? I probably should just stick with fighting with my sword" Kirito complained.

"If you are complaining about that, then I wonder what you'll do when you learn the high level magic. They are consist of twenty words and more" Leafa said rolling her eyes at Kirito.

"That doesn't make me feel better at all" said Kirito then sighed.

"No complaints" said Leafa strictly. Suddenly, she received a message from Recon.

"Sorry, I got a message... Huh? It's from Recon" said Leafa and opened her mail box.

"Really? What does it say?" Haru asked.

"Knowing him, I think it's nothing, but I'll check anyways..." Leafa said and read aloud, "I was right, be careful. S... Weird, that's it. But what does he mean by 'L'? Sa... Shi... Su...?"

Haru thought about that before realization hit her. "Oh, crap." She muttered.

"What is it?" Shoto asked with a worried frown.

"Uh, it's nothing!" Leafa said as she shut down the message.

Yui suddenly displayed expressions of alarm. "Daddy! Uncle!" Yui gasped. "I'm picking up movement behind us!"

"Monsters?" Kirito asked as he looked behind them.

"Uh-uh," Yui said with a frown. "Players- at least a dozen of them."

"That's a pretty big party," Shoto muttered. "And by the way, told you so."

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Haru said worriedly. "We should hide."

"Okay, but where?" Shoto asked her.

"Just leave that to us." Leafa said confidently.

Leafa pushes Kirito towards a empty space, as Har does the same with Shoto.

"H-Hey..." Kirito said.

"This isn't the time to get all freaky!" Shoto exclaimed, getting a punch to the head by Haru.

"Just shut up and keep quiet!" She yelled.

Leafa then spun around and began saying a spell. After the spell was done, a wall of rocks appeared in front if them.

"Make sure you whisper as quietly as you can. If you're too loud, it'll break the spell." Leafa whispered to them.

"Roger." Kirito said, touching the wall.

"That depends if Pyro over here can even keep quiet." Haru muttered, gesturing at Shoto.

"Hey!" Shoto whispered/yelled.

"We'll be able to see them soon." Yui said, peeking out of Kirito's pocket.

They waited for a while, but no one has appeared. Then Haru noticed a flying bat not far from them. "Damn! It's a tracer again!" She yelled and chanted a spell to create a few lighting bolts to destroy the bat. Then she turned to Shoto, Kirito and Leafa.

"We need to escape now. They've detected us!" She called out. Hearing that, the group began to run to the exit.

"Can't we just hide again?" Kirito asked.

Leafa shook her head. "The enemy knows we blew up their tracer. We won't be able to fool them. And that was a fire element familiar. Which means that the approaching party..."

"Salamanders?" Kirito finished.

"But what the heck is a group of Salamanders doing here? And how'd they even know that we would be here to send a tracer?" Haru asked.

"Maybe they want revenge, because me and Kirito wasted some of their guys yesterday." Shoto said.

As the four of them kept running, Kirito and Shoto both look down to see a lake.

"Whoa! Check out the lake!" Shoto said.

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XXX

At the Bridge

The group continued to run onto the bridge towards their destination.  

"Sweet! Looks like we're going to make it." Shoto said with a grin.

"Don't lower your guard and fall in." Haru told him.

Just as they were about to reach Lugru's gates, two beams of magic were shot from behind them and created a huge wall blocking their path.

"Oh crap" Kirito muttered, before he took his sword from his back and tried to cut the wall. But it just sent him to the ground.

"That won't work. This wall is made by a pretty proficient mage" Leafa said looking down at Kirito.

"You should said have that sooner" said Kirito with a tick on his forehead.

"I didn't know! It's not my fault you're in a hurry!" Leafa snapped.

"Then, how about we jumped to the lake to hide?" Shoto proposed.

"That's a bad idea." Haru said. "As the monsters bellow are all high level... Looks like we don't have a choice but fight" She turned to the direction of a dust zone ahead of them.

"Fine by me," Shoto smirked as he stepped up to face the enemy, who had formed into rows of three, making four rows total. "And we make sure that they regret it."

"Yeah, I haven't had a good fight in a while" said Kirito step in line with Shoto with a smirk.

Haru and Leafa were about to follow them, but Shoto interrupted them. "Haru, Leafa, I'm not doubt your ability in fighting. But would you two back us up by using healing magic?" Shoto said, turning his head a little to look at said girls.

Leafa just about to say something but Haru put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's trust them." She said.

 Leafa looked back at them before nodding. "Okay." She said, as both girls jumped back.

After that, the squad of Salamanders consist of 20 players have arrived, before number of fireballs were launched at the group. Shoto decided to act at that moment and chanted a incantation, creating a large fireball in his hand.

"Fight fire with fire!" Shoto exclaimed as he hurled the spell into the oncoming attacks, smashing and neutralizing them, much to the awe of Leafa, Haru and the mercenaries. "Kirito, switch!"

"Right!" the black-haired boy shouted as he moved forward with his sword drawn. But the four Salamanders up front quickly erected a barrier with their shields that was just enough to block the attack. "Aw, come on!"

"Well, that didn't go as planned," Shoto muttered. "Although..." He eyed the Salamanders with a gleam in his eye. "Time to get up close and personal." He shot forward, fire in his fists and a fierce grin on his face. Kirito immediate followed him, already aware of his friend's plan.

"Are they crazy?!" Leafa gasped as she prepared a healing spell.

"Let them be," Haru assured her, doing the same. "They will be fine."

Together, the two boys slammed into the front line, using melee techniques to decimate them before they could erect another wall. It seemed that despite their skill with defense, their HP stat wasn't all that great.

However, they were left open to an immediate collective counterattack. Kirito went flying back, but Shoto bulldozed thought the flames. That is until he was smashed by a earth spell that made him sprawl in the dust next to Kirito, only a few yards away from Leafa. Both boys were a quarter down on health.

Seeing that, Haru and Leafa began to chant the healing incarnation to heal Shoto and Kirito.

At this rate, with the level of skill that these wizards were displaying... "Guys, let's just give it up!" Leafa called. "We'll just lose a few hours- its' okay!" She was about to add to her plea, but both boys shot up to their feet and looked back at her with hard eyes.

"No way!" Kirito called back.

"As long as we're alive..." Shoto seethed. "We're not going to let our friends die- never again will we endure that!" And he whipped his gaze back to the group of enemy mages in unison with Kirito. Letting out wordless bellows, they darted forward again, steely determination in Kirito's eyes, and fury in Shoto's.

The Salamanders erected another shield formation, fear and uncertainty in their expressions as the two boys ran at them, one looking like a demon on the hunt and the other like an executioner come to collect. The formation they set up was smashed to bits, and they went flying backwards. Their party members tried to cover them, but Shoto and Kirito leaped backwards out of the range of their attacks. However, instead of leaping back into the fray, they each took a steady stance.

"This is it!" Yui suddenly said to Leafa and Haru.

"What do you mean?" Haru asked.

"Use all the mana you have left to block the magic attacks!" Yui added. "This is our only chance!"

"Uh... how will that help?" Lucy asked, even as she prepared to a spell.

"We don't have time to hesitate!" Haru shouted. "Trust them!"

"All right, all right!" Leafa said in surrender. 

Soon, Haru and Leafa began doing their spells while the Salamanders began their spells too. A bunch of butterflies appeared and all of them went towards Shoto and Kirito, forming a shield. The Salamanders chanted their spells and unleashed more fire balls at both of them, but it hit the force field around them. Leafa and Haru were trying their best to hold the shield in place.

"Daddy, Uncle, now!" Yui cried out.

Kirito raised up his sword and started chanting a spell around him and Shoto.

'That's illusion magic. But it only makes you look like a big monster.' Leafa thought.

Soon, the girls' spell ran out. The fire around the boys made a tornado, before Leafa and Haru saw two monster shadows inside the blazing twister twister. When the fire disappear, there in Kirito and Shoto's place were two giant monsters. One was the Gleam Eyes, and the other was massive, red fire-breathing dragon.

"Whoa!" Haru said awe.

"Is that Kirito and Shoto?" Leafa said, also in awe.

The two monsters roared and started charging towards the Salamanders. Gleam Eyes stab two of them through their bodies, while Dragon Shoto slammed his claws down on another, which caused them to turn into flames and disappear.

"Idiots! They're just illusions and have long reach. If we stick to the plan and stay in formation, the damage won't get through!" The boss shouted.

The two monsters ate more of the Salamanders, turning them into flames. Then after that, Gleam Eyes threw two to the ground very hard which made them disappear and become flames.

"E-Explosion magic!" The boss shouted, in a panic voice.

But before he could rally his men, Dragon Shoto reared it's head back as a large fireball suddenly materialized in it's mouth, a mixture of fire and orange. And the Salamders were very afraid.

"Is-Is he going to?" Leafa began, still in awe.

"Go for it, Shoto!" Haru crowed.

"Yay, Uncle!" Yui cried.

"Retreat!" the leader shouted as they all felt the air ripple with pure magic. "Get away from that!" But it was too late for them.

Dragon Shoto then unleashed a massive blast of fire that took up most of the bridge. It consumed the group nearly in its entirety, just narrowly missing a grunt that had run off to the side before the attack to avoid being it. Nothing was left of the Salamanders, and the bridge was scorched black where it wasn't glowing from the incredible heat.

Gleam Eyes and Dragon Shoto then looked at the boss, who also managed to avoid the blast. Knowing he couldn't win, The Salamander tried to run, but Dragon Shoto just swung his tail at the him and sent him into the water. As he land in the water, A creature started eating him up which made him disappear into a flame. 

Hardly believing their eyes, Leafa and Haru ran up to meet the two brothers, who were advancing on the sole survivor. Behind her, the magic-erected rock wall crumbled to dust. "Aren't Daddy and Uncle amazing?" Yui giggled as they came close to the others.

Gleam Eyes had the survivor by the collar and was ready to take his head off, but Leafa intervened. "Wait!" she said as she grabbed his shoulder. "We need him alive!"

Hearing that, Gleam Eyes dropped the man like a sack potatoes. As soon as he had, Haru stepped on his chest and pulled her sword out. 

"All right, if you wanna live, you'll tell us who sent you ass-hats after us." Leafa demanded.

"No way!" he said defiantly. "Kill me if you want, but I'll never tell!"

"You got it," Haru snarled as he lit up his fist again.

"Hey, wait a sec," Kirito said as he and Shoto walked out of the dust cloud in their normal forms.

Shoto then knelt beside the defeated player. "Maybe we can make a deal." As he faced the bewildered player, he gave him a grin and swiped open his menu to display a number of items and money. "That was a good fight," he said. "You guys had a pretty solid plan, too. If either of us had been alone, we wouldn't have lasted a minute against you dorks."

"What're you telling him that for?!" Leafa protested, but Shoto ignored her. "Don't worry, we got this." Kirito told her.

"Here's the thing," Shoto continued. "You see all of this? It's the money and items we got from beating your sorry asses. Just answer a couple of questions, and they could be yours."

The other player's eyes lit up as they widened. "Are you serious?" he asked.

"Totally," Kirito grinned. The other player showed confusion, followed immediately by delight. Leafa looked on with something akin to disgust.

"Men," she huffed.

"It's like they forgot we're here," Yui sighed.

"They seem pretty blunt about it too..." Haru mumbled.

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XXX

Later

"Okay, so this morning I got a text from Jitakasu," the player began. "He's the leader of the mage boss raid party, I mean...He asked me to meet him in the forest where we started tracking you. He said he needed twelve of us to hunt down four players, which I thought was overkill. Then he told us that you had taken Kagemune, and that there was a Salamander who went renegade, it made sense."

"I guess they mean you, Shoto." Haru whispered to him.

"Seems that way." Shoto chuckled.

"Wait," Kirito frowned. "Who is Kagemune?"

"He's the leader of one our guild's team. He's famous for hunting Slyphs," the young man answered. "Yesterday, he got creamed in a fight and had to retreat. I'm guessing that was you guys."

"Pretty much," Shoto nodded. 'Called it!'

"Hold on," Leafa said with a worried frown. "Why's this Jitakasu guy want us out of the way so bad?"

"The order came from the top," the other player shrugged. "Somethin' about you guys interfering with the plan."

"Oh? What plan?" Haru asked.

"Hey, I'm just a grunt," the wizard said with his hands up defensively. "They don't tell me anything. But... I have a feeling that something big is about to go down. This morning, when I logged on, I saw a huge number heading north."

"Then... They must be heading for the World Tree!" Leafa gasped. But the player's next answer dashed that thought.

"I don't think so," he replied. "No way. We figured the whole army would need at least ancient weapon-class equipment. So we're saving money for that."

"Hmm..." both Haru and Leafa put their hands on their chins, thoughts already racing.

"That's everything I know, I swear," the man said. Looking up at Shoto and Kirito, he whispered. "You guys weren't lying about your end of the deal, were ya?"

"Course not," Kirito grinned as he arranged the trade. 

"We're men who stand by their word, partner." Shoto said. The three of them exchanged another pair of grins.

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XXX

Once it was done, the man took his leave. 

"So, those big giant monsters we saw..." Leafa said as they approached the town entrance. "That was you guys, right?"

"Maybe." Shoto said, placing his arms behind his head. "I think so."

"You think so?" Leafa asked

"Well, it just happens to us sometimes... We just snap in battle, and start forgetting things." Kirito said. "Mostly Shoto."

"Scary." Leafa said, a bit freaked out.

"Though I do mostly remember this recent one. We used the spell Yui suggested." Kirito said.

"And then we got huge... We lost our swords too, so we just started grabbing people." Shoto said with a grin.

"You two were chomping on them, too." Yui said, from Leafa's shoulder.

"Come to think of it, yeah... I got to feel like a monster. It was lots of fun!" Kirito said.

"Did they taste like anything?" Haru wondered.

"Mmm...Kinda like grilled meat just before it's burnt." Shoto said, with a huge grin.

"Actually, never mind. Don't say it." Haru said, waving her hand.

Shoto then gained a mischievous grin on his face, before he grabbed both Leafa and Haru's hands.

"What are you-?" Leafa began to say before she was cut off, due to Shoto biting her hand and Haru's.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Both girls screamed before they slapped him.

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XXX

At The Lugru terroritory

"So this is Lugru," Leafa said, as they reached the town without further trouble.

"Not too shabby," Haru said looking around.

"Oww! Damn it, that hurt!" Shoto groaned, stilling felt the pain of Leafa and Haru's slap; He had two red handprints on each cheek.

"That one was your fault, Uncle." Yui scolded.

"Seriously!" Leafa said with a huff.

Kirito patted his friend's shoulder. "You reap what you sow, bud." He said.

"Geez, it was a hilarious joke to lighten up the tense vibe." Shoto said.

"Next time you do that, I'll slice off what makes you a man. You too Kirito." Haru warned the duo with a glare.

"Y-Yes ma'am..." Shoto said, holding his groins protectively.

"Why me? I never did anything!" Kirito exclaimed.

Leafa was immediately drawn to a shop that held a silver celestial key. She was about to ask the NPC what the price was when Kirito said, "Hold on, I just remembered something."

"Huh?" Leafa said as she turned back to face him.

"Just before those ass-wipes ambushed us, didn't you get a message from Recon?" Haru reminded her.

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed. "I totally forgot!" She swiped open her menu, and checked her friend's list, whereupon she frowned. "Weird- he's not online."

"Maybe he's asleep?" Shoto suggested. "Why don't you log out and give him a call?"

"Hmm..." She thought for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I should. I'll be gone only a sec, okay? Hey Yui? Guard my body with Haru, okay? I don't need your dad ad uncle messing with it."

"Roger!" Yui said, saluting.

Haru waved her off. "Don't worry. We got you covered." She said.

"Seriously..." Kirito sighed

"You got to be kidding me..." Shoto said.

"Thanks," Leafa smiled brightly, then she sat down on a bench and logged out.

"Well, since I can't draw on Leafa's face, mind if I go get some food?" Shoto asked.

"Didn't we eat just a couple of hours ago?" Kirito sighed.

"Yeah, but I wanna see if this place has anything tasty," Kirito said as he walked off with Yui floating beside him. "I'll be back in five!"

"Bring me back something!" Haru called out.

"You got it!"

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XXX

Five minutes later, two things happened. One, Shoto returned with some kind of meat on a stick, before handin one to Haru, and two, Leafa shot to her feet as she exclaimed, "Haru, we gotta go!"

"Huh? How come?" Haru said, her mouth full.

"What's the matter?" Shoto asked.

"I'm sorry..." Leafa said, her eyes downcast. "But there's something Haru and I have to take care of right away. And I don't think we'll be coming back here, either."

"Well then you'd better talk while we run," Kirito said as he stood up with her. "Let's go- lead the way."

"Uh..." Leafa stuttered. "Okay..." Then they were off at a run. Once they were out of town, Leafa started to explain. "Forty minutes from now, Sakuya and the leader of Cait Sith are having a meeting in Butterfly Valley. They're gonna make a peace treaty where they assault the World Tree together. The Salamanders are sending up a small army to back up Sigurd, who hired them and to stage a coup!"

"Wait what!?" Shoto exclaimed.

"That bastard..." Haru growled.

"Mind if I ask a couple of questions?" Kirito asked.

"Go ahead!"

"How does this benefit the Salamanders from attacking the Sylphs and the Cait Sith?" Kirito asked.

"First, they can stop the alliance. If the Cait Sith found out their leader was killed because a Slyph turned traitor, wouldn't the Cait Sith be very pissed?" Leafa said.

"Yeah." Kirito said.

"I can see that happening." Shoto nodded.

Haru then spoke up. "Also, It's possible there could be war between the Cait Sith and the Sylphs. And if you two take out a territory leader, you get thirty percent of the territory's money, and you can invade its town for ten days and levy whatever tax you want." 

"You can do that?" Kirito asked.

"Damn," Shoto muttered.

"We wouldn't lie to you," Leafa said. "Guys, this isn't your problem, though! It's a Slyph problem! And you don't need to risk your lives over it! Chances are that if we do make it to the meeting, we won't make it out alive, and we'll have to start over from Slyvein again!" Suddenly, she stopped running, and her eyes were downcast. "But, this could work out for you two...Especially you, Shoto."

"Huh?" Shoto asked. "What do you mean by that?" The group stopped running to face the girl.

"You guys wanna get to the World Tree," Haru said. "You might be better off working with the Salamanders. If they pulled this off, it would help fund their next assault on the Tree. You could sign on with them as freelancers... And if you wanted to kill me and Leafa, you could... We wouldn't hold it against you."

Both brothers were silent for a long moment before Shoto spoke. "You might not hold it against us," he said with a hard tone in his voice. "But I would."

"It's just a game in the end, right?" Kirito said. "Anything goes, right? If you wanna kill, you kill. If you wanna steal, you steal. That's how a lot of people think in the virtual world. I even used to think like that."

"But none of that is true," Shoto said as he walked over to Leafa and Haru, putting his hands on their shoulders with fire in his crimson eyes. "In the virtual world,there are things you have to protect with your life because it's a virtual world."

"If you let your impulses control you in here, what's to stop them from changing your real life, too?" Shoto added. "Shoto's one of the people that showed me that both player and avatar are intertwined, with just a gateway separating them. They're still the same person, no matter which side of the gate they're on."

"Haru, Leafa, you both are good person to me," Shoto said. "Even as we travel together, I'm learning more about your characters. I'd like to call you both my friends- and we never attack our friends, no matter the circumstance." Yui, and Kirito all nodded together as Leafa and Haru finally looked up at them.

"We couldn't live with ourselves," Kirito said with a gentle smile.

"Kirito..." she said softly. "Shoto..." She put her hand on the one covering her shoulder. "Thank you."

"Uh..." Shoto said, not entirely sure of what to say. "I guess that sounded fairly arrogant, didn't it? My bad."

"Uh-uh," Haru smiled. "It was pretty cool."

"Aw, crap! We're kind of on tight schedule, aren't we?" Kirito said. "Yui, lead the way."

"Better idea," Shoto countered. "Leafa, take Kirito's hand. Haru, take mine, and be sure to have a firm grip."

The girls looked at each other, and then back at the boys. "O-Okay."

"Don't try anything." Har said, as they took the boys' hands.

"Let's go at mach speed!" Yui suggested.

"Did you say- AAAAAAAAAH!" The cry was drawn out of Haru, followed by Leafa, as they went shooting down the cave so fast that it seemed to split the wind. 

Leafa saw monsters right in front of them. "U-Uh, m-monsters!" She screamed.

Shoto and Kirito just went flying pass the monsters with no problem.

"The exit!" Kirito said, looking up ahead.

"I see it!" Shoto said with a grin.

Leafa and Haru looked and saw light in the distance as they were approaching it rapidly.

To be continued...

Ending Theme - Light of Hope

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Haru: Well, the dynamic duo pull off the impossible again. Why am I not surprised?

Shoto: We're the Red Fang and Black Swordsman, after all. But I think Firestorm40 wanted us to announce something else in this segement instead of focusing on the chapter...?

Leafa: Oh yeah! In case many of you readers didn't know, once Legends of Aincrad is finished, Firestorm will be returning to Fox Slayer to make up for all the time he's spent away from it.

Kirito: Gotta say, even though people here came to read about Fairy SAO, the ones that started out reading Fox Slayer are probably going to be all over both stories.

Shoto: That's what he's hoping for! Anyways, be sure to leave your requests in either review or PM, and we'll see you all next time!

Haru and Leafa: Bye guys!