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The forest was different today. The wind had softened, carrying a gentler tone as though the very air knew that something within it had changed. The faintest hint of sunlight slipped through the clouds, painting the snow in delicate gold. Miyuki stood where she always did, blade unsheathed, posture still as the trees that surrounded her. But there was no tension now. The sword no longer looked like a weapon in her hands it looked like an extension of her breath. She began to move. Each motion flowed seamlessly into the next: strike, pivot, guard, release. Her blade traced arcs o

The next morning came quietly, dressed in silver mist and frost. The world was still asleep when Miyuki returned to the clearing. Even the forest seemed to hold its breath, as though waiting for something sacred to begin. She placed her katana gently on the snow, then knelt beside it. For a while, she didn’t move. Her eyes traced the faint line of her previous training the pattern of her footprints now buried under the night’s snowfall. It was as though the world had erased her yesterday, inviting her to start again. She closed her eyes. And breathed. The sound of the air fill

Snow still clung to the folds of Miyuki’s cloak as she stepped back into the clearing. The world was untouched only her earlier footprints marked the ground, fading slowly beneath fresh flakes. The silence left behind by her mentor lingered like incense in the air, soft and grounding. She unsheathed her sword without a sound. The curve of the blade caught a single glint of light, like the horizon itself had bent to meet her steel. There was no command, no audience, no expectation. Only the faint rhythm of her heartbeat. She inhaled. Her sword moved not fast, but fluid, trac

The world had grown quieter since her last breath. Miyuki stood in the clearing, her sword now sheathed at her side. The snowfall eased to a slow drift, flakes catching faint glimmers of morning light that broke through the overcast sky. The forest exhaled a soft, wintry sigh as if it, too, had been meditating alongside her. Footsteps approached, muffled by the snow. Her mentor’s presence did not startle her. She’d sensed him long before he arrived not through instinct or skill, but through stillness. “You’ve been silent for a long time,” the old man said. His voice carried the cal

After her mentor’s words faded, silence reclaimed the clearing. The snowfall had thickened, but each flake landed soundlessly small, fragile reminders of the world’s constant motion. Miyuki knelt where she had stood moments ago, the tip of her blade resting in the snow beside her. Her breath slowed until it matched the rhythm of the drifting flakes. In and out. Stillness. The cold bit at her fingertips, but she didn’t flinch. Instead, she welcomed it. It kept her awake kept her here. The ache in her arms, the faint sting of exertion, the memory of her mentor’s strikes… they all exist

When the clash faded, only the wind spoke. The snow that had been shaken loose from the trees drifted lazily between them slow, soft, and unbothered by the violence that had briefly filled the air. Her mentor’s stance eased. He slid his blade into its sheath with a quiet finality. The sound was delicate, almost reverent. “Do you know why I strike without warning?” he asked at last. Miyuki straightened, her breath still heavy from the exchange. “Because the world doesn’t wait for us to be ready.” A small nod. “That is the surface of it.” His eyes softened, yet carried the sh

The mentor’s footsteps were nearly soundless as he stepped away, sheathing his blade with a soft click that seemed to echo longer than it should have. “The world rarely warns you before it moves,” he said, turning his gaze toward the tree line. “Your blade must not answer thought it must answer truth.” Miyuki blinked, lowering her sword slightly. “Truth?” He smiled faintly. “You’ll see.” Without another word, he vanished into the forest path not teleporting, but slipping between the branches like smoke. Silence fell heavy, save for the rustle of leaves and the distant chirp

For a long while, neither spoke. The wind whispered through the trees, scattering faint motes of frost that shimmered in the pale morning light. Miyuki held her stance blade low, breath even waiting for the next strike that never came. Instead, her mentor’s voice reached her, low and steady. “Awareness is not the end of the path,” he said. “To sense the strike is one thing. To move with it that is mastery.” He raised his katana once more, but this time there was no warning. His movements were fluid, deliberate, yet unpredictable each cut flowed like water, impossible to anticipa

Stars lighting the perpetual darkest, holding something in her hands that she carved herself. Mind wonders through the motion of how she got here. Back that she was just some ordinary kid that was shy and stayed mute. It was simply because she felt like she didn't belong, like she was a pawn on a large board. A piece that seemed like it never mattered, was never noticed, never given a chance. Her life felt like a lie filled with more lies. A voice that seemed so little that it mattered to no one, not even to her sister. It was a prison of her own making because she did not feel like she could

"W..wait no!" Ceres' hands snapped up to cover her ears when she heard him give a garbled scream, she didn't want to hurt him. "S-Stop! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" But nothing stopped. The tiny pools of lava still bubbled around her and the snake still tore and wriggled beneath his flesh. Ceres shut her eyes tight and burried herself into a ball. "I'm sorry...I'm sorrry... I'm sorry..." She kept repeating it over and over again, barely audible over his anguished screams. Whatever gumption she had, faded away into pleads. Ceres thought the man an asshole....but he didn't deserve to die because of it

Nails wrapped around his legs, spiraling up as he opened an eye to catch only the snag. A glance back with that toothed grin of serrated teeth, that did not belong to him originally. The man screams out in pain, as the thing rips into his flesh digging its way deep into his chest. A horrid sight of it just beneath the skin, withering up the shoulder. All the while he kept that smile, unfolding and beginning to gag. The snake comes out of his mouth and digs into his right eye, like a worm in an apple. The laughter continues to play, canned laughter like from a sitcom. This was all a part of the

"W-What?" Ceres looked at her empty hand as butterflies erupted from it. How? She looked to him with a questioning gaze. No. This had to be an illusion right? She was still holding onto it. RIght? Ceres would make a crunching motion with her hand, "Taft!" She'd shout. The smallest of names. She waited. Nothing.... "T-Taft!" Again she'd shout, in more panicked tones, but her release didn't come. What did... was everything she said. His mask began to melt off his face in globs. Teeth skittered about and pierced the skin of his arms, legs and hands. Her eyes widened as she took a step away from h

The man laughed and laughed with every little outburst, every prod and poke against his body. The cane was such a paltry attempt at recourse, and it showed that she had the notion. The mask slowly melting into a sad droopy face, it drips from him in globs. "Shouldn't, Wouldn't, couldn't." Tybalt repeats and adds in a mantra speaking beneath her constant babble, finding it hilarious that she continued to bark insults but constantly bringing them back. Spitting out a small cacophony of teeth soldiers. Everything she'd produced was so abysmally tame. The teleport crystal in her hands turns into p

"Hey!" her brows would furrow in frustration as he would pull the wand from her hand. "I wasn't finished." But he was. He said he was right to pick her. The cards were, there it was again...saying she was being chosen for something. "What exactly am.....I being chosen for?" She'd ask with a tilt of her head. Her lavender eyes wafting over his shoulder to watch a cloud wave at her as it floated by. This was a quest right? Shouldn't he be sending her a party invite? That's how these things worked, right? It had been years since the woman had bothered with questing. Ceres blinked as she caught hi

A reach back to take the wand from the girl, the man had done exactly what he had intended to do. Give her the nudge to appreciate and embrace chaos, and her agreement to it was exactly what he had hoped. Not many had such an active minds eye, and fluid expression. "That'll do, You'll do. I was right to pick you Ceres, the cards were right to pick you." The man took a darker tone, a nearly silent murmur. "Such simple nightmares, so BORING, where is your imagination?" Tybalt remarked as he'd tap the street near her left leg, causing a pair of alligator like jaws made of concrete to spring up an

Ceres was pulled back with a sharp grab of her shoulder, almost causing her to fall backwards. "Ah!" She turned to see the man who had bought her here in the first place. "Mister Tybalt!" A tilt of her head and a purse of her lips. "My name...is Ceres...remember?" He waved her off, as though he either did not hear here, or did not care. "Where you a magician? In the real world?" She would ask with a sense of wonder. He was...this was amazing! She couldn't help but cover her mouth as light laughter fell from her lips. She enjoyed his antics. It was refreshing to see someone so flamboyant and fu

The dark invitation felt almost unreal when he held it, as if the dying sunlight was being absorbed into the shadowed paper. The gold filigree sparkled faintly in the light when he turned it over, tracing the edges of the fancy lettering calling him. A Masquerade Ball. Tonight. The Blackbook. After dusk was upon the city, Jack was at the door of the place, a grand hall made of glass and marble that reflected the moonlight into silver fragments. He once more pulled at the collar of the black suit that he had borrowed, its fabric still having the faint scent of cedar and old perfume. Even t

A whimsical descent down into the depths of madness, as Ceres would face plant teeth first into the street. The hat had since expanded out and so elegantly took its place as a parachute, being clutched in both hands as the man would float. "Now Now, best not be too hasty dear Alice." The man quipped with a sickly turn on the phrase. The hat deflates as he lands, even making a noise akin to that of a balloon as it does. A jerk of his arms, he rolls it up his sleeve and a twist of his elbow sees it sit squarely upon his head. "This is my domain, where all of your wildest dreams can come true..."

Tumbling, twirling, whirling and falling…. Down… Down… Down… “OOmph…” Ceres landed unceremoniously with a thud on the ground. She sat up, rubbing her head. “Owww… what happened…” Another grumble as she stood, a little shaky from the constant spinning. Where was she? A glance around caused Ceres’ eyes to squint, it was bright….very bright. “Huh.” A tilt of her head as she stared up at….what was she looking at exactly? It looked like a road that had twisted and twirled in the air above her, covered in obnoxiously bright colours of pink and yellow. She hadn't

Approved

Approved

COUNSELOR UNIT 64E7877, REQUESTING A SECOND SIMULATION. <<Query received. Credentials remain verified. Input hypothetical.>> LOAD PREVIOUS PARAMETERS. ADD ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS: DAY 906, USER ACANTHUS SUCCESSFULLY KILLS USER TEION. USER MORNINGSTAR INTERVENES, BUT FAILS. BOTH USERS RECEIVE GREVIOUS INJURIES, BUT ESCAPE ALIVE. <<Last parameter is redundant. Aincrad mends injuries of all kinds.>> NOT ALL KINDS. RETAIN FINAL PARAMETER—THAT IS A COMMAND. <<Acknowledged. Secondary Parameters loading in. Counselor, additional simulations should be

Approved

Approved

THREAD SUMMARY Experience | 2447 / 5 = 489.4 * 10 = 4894 + 2500 (quest) + 4200 (Dungeon) = 11,594 EXP Col | 128,000 (Dungeon) + 5000 (quest) = 133,000 col Materials | 38 (Dungeon) = 38 materials Other | 1 mon Quest | Tanos Key