Calrex

While all of the people were gathering in the main section of the estate in preparation for the tournament to being, off at the end of one of the far branches a faint yawn could be heard. Calrex opened his eyes and gave his arms a stretch, "Well, that was a much longer nap than I had planned for. Let's see...probably about time to head to the dojo."

While he was currently clothed in his normal combat attire, it only required a few swipes on his menu to shift into the training gear he had grown accustomed to. Grabbing the two-toned white and blue cloak he affixed it over both shoulders, glancing down at the attire for a brief moment, a sweatdrop rolling down the side of his head, "...I...really should see about getting this updated..."

With a small sigh he slide open the door of the room set aside for him and Teayre, closing it behind him before heading up the wooden hallway which connected the branch to the central section of the estate, hands calmly hung to his sides. It wasn't long before he could hear the voices of the participants and spectators alike already gathered, most likely helping themselves to the refreshments prepared beforehand, assisting where need be, and socializing. In some ways, it brought the Ultramarine Knight a bit of relief to still be able to witness these more laidback moments. A small smirk crossed his face before he turned a corner, the many people who had arrived entering into his vision. Weaving his way through, the bluenette gave a tap on @Baldur's shoulder.

"Anything else needs assistance getting set up?"

Stats:

Attire:

As he helped with preparing for the upcoming tournament, Calrex continued to ponder. After having spent some time, he gave a small sigh, followed by a small smirk across his face, "Y'know what, it's been a while since I've dueled anyone. Even though it's for Valentine's Day, might be fun to clash swords again. Definitely will help work off the rust as well."

Walking over to his mentor, he gave a pat on the man's shoulder, "Go ahead and sign me up, heh. Can't make earning prize be a walk in the park, after all."

As Shield and Baldur voiced their opinions and made their choice, Calrex tilted his head downwards, a small smirk crossing his face, hidden beneath his armor's helmet. From what I knew and understood of his guild leaders, it made sense both as a player, and as a person in the game. There was a time long ago when he was faced with similar moral quandries, namely at the hands of Opal and Laughing Coffin. To her, seeing him as one of the strongest players in the game, that meant the Ultramarine Knight was in a position to be judge, jury, and executioner, something that could be a rivaling force against those who wished to take life as they saw fit, the notorious player-killers of time.

The result of that reinforced the same conclusion he came to that night: No matter what level of power one wielded, it didn't give them the right to be the arbiter of one's life. The strength he had gained was to be wielded solely for the sake of getting everyone out of this death game. That remains true to this day.

It was the choice his guild masters made, but thinking about it more, it was also the choice he hoped they would make.

The brief relief was promptly dispersed as he saw what he could only deem as a "precautionary escalation" in the tension. It was already enough to feel like a string being pulled as taut as it could possibly go, but once he saw weapons being drawn, it was almost like he could see things reaching their limit. When he was still still a more plucky up and coming player, he might have acted similarly. But now things were different.

Giving a small sigh the blue armored player walked forward towards the trio, hands clear away from the sword strapped to the back of his hip, a sign he had no intention of fighting. Reaching his hands up, he firmly grasped the sides of his helmet and pulled, removing it from his head to reveal his facial features beneath.

With that he addressed @NIGHT and @Koga first:

"...I've got no good way to start this...but the two of you, I commend you for wanting to prevent anyone from forcing their hand in this decision. However, as Baldur said, this isn't the time to be raising our blades as a deterrent. I've witnessed many of these conflicts, and I can tell you that presenting a threat is only going to make others answer in kind. So, I implore you to keep your weapons in their sheaths until time, and have at least a little faith that the other people here will also honor that."

Briefly pausing he in turn addressed them all, including @Baldur

"If it'll satisfy the group for now, I'll stand guard over the Fallen King here. Should the majority decide to take or spare his life, that choice will be honored. If anyone does decide to take matters into their own hands, well, things will have to proceed from there. However, I tend to think one grizzled veteran should suffice in this situation, wouldn't you agree?"

He glanced back at Gabrandr for a moment before looking forward again.

"In addition, should the king decide to pull a sneaky move on me, I've already got a Safeguard active. I'm sure you're all aware how those old things work."

As the room and the boss seemingly grew still, Calrex remained on guard for a moment. After many battles where a lull in the combat meant another was coming, he didn't want to take any chances. Brief pauses could mean a final wave was coming, much like how the Leviathan unleashed a tidal wave after retreating for some time.

However, as the choice mechanic appeared in front of him, that gave the Ultramarine Knight meaning to brief relax. Closing his eyes for a moment a calming breath escaped his lips, the building energy for his followup Sword Art technique being dispersed. A brief flick changed his grip on the Grand Blade IV into reverse once again. Reaching back to adjust the sheath he guided the sword back into place, stretching his arms and shoulders for a moment, "Well, I guess the Cardinal system is playing back into that moral quandary debacle we had some time back."

It may have been because of his many quests and battles leading to this point, but the bluenette's opinion of the NPCs had become a fairly neutral stance. While he could play along and deliver conversations with them in order to progress quests, deep down he still understood that at their core was a series of binary inputs. Their human-like complexity was produced as a result of the learning AI that SAO was built around, and these were at their base allocated resources for performing a certain job. To a degree, that was what every player in the game had become as well. While their appearances and the like were supposedly one to one with their real life selves, in the end they were still digitized copies.

All of that being said, he gave hesitance to the decision. As he glanced across the field, he saw many players from the other teams with their choices written all over their faces. If Gabrandr was some kind of martyr for his people, he had made a terrible first impression by choosing to attack the frontliners. However, how much of that was also chocked up to him programming? This was, after all, a floor boss raid. Fighting was to some degree inevitable. It reminded him much of what transpired with the Dark Elf Council, ending with sparing a couple of the remaining boss characters. They were still able to progress, which did clue in that the requirement of "killing the boss" specifically was not a hard and fast rule.

His eyes stared at the choice window in front of him for some time before the veteran frontliner gave a small sigh, walking over to the rest of his team, "Here we go again. From what I can tell, a good amount of the other players wish to see blood. However, I have a feeling in my gut that there's more to this whole thing. At the same time, I also want to avoid risking splitting the frontlines after we've finally got some cohesion again."

Giving a small pause, he looked over to @Baldur and @Shield, "I'm gonna defer my decision to the guild leaders on this. Whatever choice you think is best, I'll back you up on it."

Reaching into his battle-ready equipment slots, the Ultramarine Knight produced one of the extremely rare items in SAO, a Safeguard Potion, "I've still got a bad feeling about this, so gonna take a precautionary measure."

Tilting his helmet back and exposing his mouth to the open air, he tossed the potion back, the vial vanishing from his hand. A brief sheen became visible over his character temporarily as the protective barrier came into effect.

Cries from his teammates to push the attack was more than enough for the Ultramarine Knight to resume his assault on the floor boss. With the second team already dogpiling on the newly activated scather, Calrex gave a small sigh, focusing his attention fully on the foe that continued to stand before them.

His sword already in a standard grip his body locked into position as the Grand Blade IV blazed alight, gleaming blue energy coating the entirety of the blade as he rushed forward. Bringing his sword arm across his body he made his frame small while darting and weaving through all of the other players taking their shots while they could until he came into striking distance. Four horizontal strikes followed, two from the left followed by two from the right as Calrex used both the front and back edges of his blade to unleash circular slashes across the boss before his momentum carried him past, turning around with his body already in position to unleash a second barrage at the next opportunity. A bright blue trail of light followed his sword's path through and around the target until his attack concluded.

"The swallow departs, but not for long, as soon after..."

Hearing the roars of the battle around him faintly echoing, the blue armored player closed his eyes for a brief moment, "Come on Calrex, this is not the time to be stuck in your own head. It's not the first time you've gone into a fight with so many possibilities and variables at play. The more you concern yourself with that, the more you'll lose sight of what needs to be done."

Lifting his right foot, he gave a small grunt before stamping it into the ground, lowering his body as his eyes locked onto the boss' form, seeing his teammates already pressing the attack, "It's not the first time...nor will it be the last..."

Reaching back his right hand firmly grasped onto the handle of the Grand Blade IV in a reverse grip, his mind briefly returning him back to his early days in Aincrad, back to the days when he first used the straight sword, and what he had utilized before the Sword Arts system had been changed. Now had shifted once again, but not into a more locked system. Now, he could let his muscle memory and instincts take over.

Seeing Baldur step back and sheath his sword, preparing for a draw strike, Calrex let out a calming breath, leaning forward almost like a sprinter preparing to take off. The outline of his body briefly flashing light blue as <<Charge>> engaged, sending him rocketing across the battlefield, closing the distance in tandem with his mentor's advance. Coming just shy of striking range the Ultramarine Knight crouched his body low, hurlting himself forward in a corkscrew while drawing his blade, slicing through the boss in a rapidly circulating spiral path before sliding to a stop on the opposite side.

Turning to face the boss he flicked his wrist, switching his grip on the blade from icepick to hammer. As he transitioned, the boost from Light Momentum wore off, replaced with Keen's activation as the light blue eye marks on his helm blazed alight, "Sorry for the wait guys. Ready to go."

Cooldowns:

With the boss revealing his actual form, Calrex gave a small sigh, hearing the sounds of affirmation that this was the actual foe they should be fighting, "Well at least we pulled him into this rather quick."

The new form definitely proved to be much more dangerous compared to Gabrandr's previous form, as his opening attack tore through a good chunk of health from two of the other frontliners. The bluenette felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his head, the sight reminding him that he no longer had the safety buffer of his unique skill from before. Giving a breath to steady himself, the Ultramarine Knight reached back and grasped the handle of the Grand Blade IV. "Guess it's time then..."

Leaning his body forward the armored player shot forward, rapidly closing the distance to the boss before preparing to leap upwards. Unfortunately, due to the numerous parts from the scathers scattered across the ground, his jumping foot landed on a loose piece of metal, causing him to lose balance momentarily, killing all of his momentum while sliding behind where the boss was positioned, "That's...certainly not a good way to make an opening strike."

Taking a moment to loosen his shoulders, Calrex lowered himself back into a ready position, prepared to strike when the next opportunity presented itself.

A long breath escaped, forming a faint mist in front of his helm as Calrex looked forward. He was already on alert, a natural instinct after having been a participant of so many floor raids. However, as the mist slowly rolled into the room, he felt every nerve in his virtual body go on alert. The rainbow hues flecking off each surface of the entrance area. I some ways it almost felt as if the preparation zone which the frontliners were standing in had become a part of the battlefield itself. It was something that Ultramarine Knight certainly was not at ease about.

As his vision adjusted to the obscured surroundings, his eyes and ears were directed towards the person standing before them, telling them to evacuate. However, the deep blue armored player's attention was more focused on the massive mechanism behind him. Even with the faint blanket of mist around the area, the two bright orange lights at the north and eastern sides of the room were more than enough of a warning signal to him than anything else.

Hearing Baldur call out his orders, Calrex merely gave a nod, arching his body forward into a dash. Even without <<Charge>> he felt his body moving at a much faster pace than before, indicative of the lighter frame of his new Grand Chariot Revamp. It was unfamiliar, but he felt he had no choice but to make do with the circumstances. As he hurried across the area, others were all piling on the other contraption to the north, and as seconds passed he could hear something indicative of a deactivation taking place, "Well that's one down...hopefully..."

"It would be some kind of sick joke if we had to turn them all off, and then later have to turn them back on. Really hope that's not the case...[/i]"

Arriving as the eastern machine he quickly gave a breath. Although, as move of the mist parted before him, the Ultramarine Knight saw that someone was already there...riding the strange mechanism like it was a horse. Uh..."

Oddly enough, it seemed like the young girl's playful actions were in fact having an affect on the strange object, as he could hear the sounds of gear whirring in a struggled manner. Something was malfunctioning inside.

"If I'm behind honest...right now I think she's doing a pretty good job. I could directly try to help...but I think that would only slow down trying to shut this thing down, but I've got a better idea..."

With a resigned sigh he oriented himself in view of the panels, and instead of directly interacting with the various pieces, he instead gave small hints and suggestions to @Shiina. Players passing by could hear various short phrases like:

"Maybe pulling on that lever might work?"
"Try spinning that knob all the way to the left, then all the way to the right."
"It might be the thing's just old. Try pushing the button harder."

"Dang that was a quick turnaround, thank you so much!"

Retrieving Grand Blade IV and Crimson Citrine Spiderlily

Request 1:

Request 2:

Using 3.0 Equipment Change Ticket from Paragon Level 25 reward 

Link to Conversion approval (Approved by Night): Here 

Old:

New:

"Well, this is going to be a big change."

The bluenette gave a small sigh as he heard one of his fellow Jacob's Ladder guildmates rap on the screen door of his room. Getting to his feet slowly Calrex glanced over his UI one more time, looking at how his skills and abilities had been shifted around. It was a significant change from before, especially right on the verge of a floor boss raid. There were a lot of variables in play that he was not experienced with before, at least when it came to his own actions in combat. "Let's just hope things work out alright..."

Sliding the door open the Ultramarine Knight rendezvoused with the rest of his teammates before departing, mostly in his own thoughts while they made their way to the gathering area for the boss fight, "So my role this fight is specifically DPS. Alright, with what I managed to throw together...I'm going to need to make sure of this...and that..."

Tactics and strategies flew through his mind as he continued to ponder further, until @Baldur placed an AoE healing crystal into his hand, snapping him out of his thoughts. Pursing his lips with the slightest bit of concern, he gave a nod before opening up his interface once again, swiping through the menus to sure up his preparations.

Moments passed before the bluenette lowered his hand from his menu, all temporary buffs for the raid consumed, and his equipment now adorning his form. His body was encapsulated in the familiar deep blue armor he had started from the game with.

However, the entirety it felt foreign and familiar at the same time. The armor itself was no longer heavy, his limbs feeling lighter than before as he moved them about. Secondly but not least, the familiar outline of the Grand Blade laid across the back of his hips. With assistance from his guildmates with coming to terms with SAO's new updates, the Ultramarine Knight had in fact returned to the weapon he started with from his early days in Aincrad: The straight sword. 

A similarly shaped weapon rested across his back, a part of his battle ready inventory. This one had a blade with different flowing shades of red and yellow. The changes had him return somewhat to his roots, and this blade was a representation of that. Of the bond he shared with two of his closest companions, who both in some ways had retired from adventuring through Aincrad altogether: Teayre and Oikawa. In a way, this was a reminder to himself that he'd be carrying their wishes of exodus from the death game everywhere he went.

A small sigh escaped his lips before Calrex crossed his arms, "Alright...I'm ready..."

Calrex | HP: 1008/1008 | EN: 124/124 | DMG: 26 | MIT: 138 | EVA: 6 | ACC: 6 | BH: 56 | KEEN: 1 | L.M.: 1 | TAUNT

"So it looks like we're locked on environment objects that might assist in the boss fight, similar to how it was before. I guess since it was introduced somewhat in the past, that would be a thing to consider. However, their importance in the battle is something to be questioned."

Concerns were already being raised about this point, since they were moving towards a lot of speculation based on an observation Ariel was able to make out. To a degree, it was trying to devise a strategy on a vague and unstable assumption. More than enough people were reflecting this point, but there was one more thing the Ultramarine Knight felt compelled to point out before things went any further. Pushing his back off of the wall he was leaning against he moved closer to the discussion circle, crossed arms returning back to his pockets.

"Hey everyone, apologies for being late. I'd like to also express concerns about these cannons. We should really approach this carefully. If there was no indicator in the labyrinth exploration that these things can even be used, such as having someone utilize them beforehand, I have reason to doubt they'll be in play. Even if they are, it'd hard to say how vital they will be in the upcoming fight. They may prove useful, but we should be careful about forming any tactics involving them. Second..."

Before he continued the bluenette glanced across the room, specifically at the people he had fought alongside in the past, the fellow frontliners and veterans of the boss raids. They would be the ones that would be most acquainted with Calrex's abilities and his role as a tank in the past.

"Before we go any further I'd like to give a forewarning, especially when it comes to our team formations. @Hirru, I appreciate you setting me as a tank, but right now I think it may be better to have someone else be set for now. As you are all aware, the combat arts and skills for SAO have changed yet again...and frankly I'm not quite sure if my build and abilities are going to cut it at this point, especially when it comes to my unique skill. When I view it in my menu, the description and stats are messy and garbled, almost like the code itself is corrupted, and everyday more and more of it vanishes..."

He gave a small sigh, as if resigning himself to accept what he was about to say.

"If I had to be honest...I don't think the unique skill, Achilles, is useable anymore..."

"So, in light of that I'm most likely going to be revisiting my build, and it's highly possible I might switch to a different role."

"Hm?"

His eyelids slowly opened as the light of day greeted his dark blue irises, forcing Calrex to squint for a moment before fully opening his eyes. He had gotten a notification in his menu that had awoken him from his brief nap within the room set aside for him and Teayre within Baldur's estate. After spending some time exploring the floors and trying to come to terms with the changes in Aincrad's system, the Ultramarine Knight had felt mentally and virtually burned out. The past few days was the laziest he had been in quite some time, back to the early days before he even decided to leave the safety of the Starting City's walls.

"It looks to be from Baldur...I guess they found the floor boss..."

"The question is...am I even in a state to really participate? With everything that's changed...I'm not even sure I can technically be considered a competent player anymore."

A small sigh escaped his lips before the bluenette got to his feet, swiping on his menu to don his casual combat attire, the outfit he had sported from so long ago. Adjusting the scarf he made his way over to the door, sliding it open and closing it behind him after passing through.

The trek to the designated meeting place blew by as he wanted through the world in a bit of a daze, hands in his pockets while his virtual limbs moved through the crowd, the young man completely preoccupied with his own thoughts until he finally snapped back to full attentiveness of his surroundings. Since he was merely following the directions outlined from before, Calrex never took the time to fully analyze his surroundings and the secluded hollow Ariel had moved her shop into, "So...I guess Ariel's really made some upgrades from before, heh."

Stepping through the Ultramarine Knight was briefly taken aback b the numerous amount of people scurrying around inside, a bead of sweat running down the side of his head, "...really made some upgrades..."

Closing his eyes with a small sigh he made his way through, keeping silent and only giving brief polite nods to the passers by...

Or at least that was his intention, but upon entering into the gates he was greeted by one of the people waiting inside, asking if he was here for the floor boss meeting.

"Uh...yeah, here for that. I received word from my guild leader..."

With that he was swiftly ushered through at a pace even he considered to be quicker than usual, "I guess they must have started already. Wouldn't be surprised, I did kind of take my time getting here..."

As they drew closer to the house Calrex could over hear mentions of a rat, as well as cannons, confirming his suspicions. Giving a thankful nod to the person that showed him here, the bluenette took one more moment to give a calming breath before stepping just inside and off to the right so that he wasn't blocking the doorway.

"No real reason to be directly in the conversation. I haven't been out and about as of late, so it's probably best to just listen in for now. Everyone here seems to have more contextual knowledge about this fight, best to hear those first."

Count me in XD

There was an eerie level of silence in the aftermath of the battle, the blue armored player looking around. While some of the NPCs began to disperse, others lingered, cautiously staring at the frontliner, similar to how one might view a bear when encountering one on a hike. A small sigh escaped Calrex's lips before his warhammer vanished back into his inventory, "Whatever they think, I guess it's really none of my business. I'm not someone to fear, at least in terms of Aincrad's crystal color system."

Calmly walking past and back into the streets of the market, the Ultramarine Knight looked left and right, taking in the various shops as he passed, "These new changes definitely are something, but I think there's still some kinks in my build I'll need to get sorted out. It feels like I've lost more than I gained, but that could just be me. I'll probably need to test some more in order to get an idea of what exactly I need to polish with this thing."

With a calming breath, the deep blue armored player turned to face the nobleman, who by this point was barely getting to his feet. To all the onlookers still remaining on the perimeter of the battle area, it was clear to see the difference in power between the two. At this point the finely-clothed NPC was shaking in his boots, his weapon unsteady. His guards were defeated swiftly, and the faint wounds that they had left on the frontline player were healed before it seemed like even a moment had passed.

"P-Please spare me! I-I'll give you whatever you want! What is it you desire?! Money! As much as you want! Just spare me!"

Completely focused on his final attack, Calrex bringing his warhammer over his head until the massive two-sided striking end crashed into the ground behind him, glowing with bright blue energy as his Sword Art charged. Beneath the expressionless helm of his armor, the young man gave a small sigh, his eyes locking onto his target. Right as his technique reached full power and his body began to be taken over by the assisted system, he only said one line in response, "Then you should have tucked your tail and run."

His hammer flew forward, the frontliner's own body being carried along with it, flying straight at the nobleman. Too stunned to even move, the hammer struck true, slamming right into and through the enemy's abdomen as the noble's form burst into into crystals. A long trough formed as the hammerhead slid against the ground, Calrex flying ovr the handle until he was jerked to a stop, landing on bent knees with one arm barely holding onto the end of the warhammer. With a quick tug, he released the Grand Legionbreaker from the ground before hefting it back onto his shoulder, "Well...that's done and over with..."

"Alright...and now for this attack..."

"You vagrant! You've already killed two of my men, is that not enough?!"

The words of the nobleman still fell on deaf ears as the Ultramarine Knight let his mind be fully focused on the task of becoming acquainted with his new weapon. The warhammer certainly felt similar in some ways to when he wielded the two-handed battleaxe version of his old weapon, but it still had more heft to it and felt much heavier due to most of the weight being at the very end of the tool.

However, that weight could be used to the user's advantage. Bringing the weapon horizontally behind him, Calrex moved into a small spin, the pose needed to pick up his next Sword Art, <<Twister>>. As the assisted system took hold, he felt the moment continue to build more and more until the weapon was a bright glowing blue, turning his entire body into a deadly whirling top-like blur of movement. Feeling his avatar lock onto a target, a sensation much like a rubber band seemed to take hold in his mind, as if the blue armored played was controlling the trajectory. Orienting himself towards the space between the nobleman and the final remaining guard. Releasing the hold he felt his body jerk forward at high speed.

The nobleman barely avoided the strike, but the guard was not so fortunate, being caught in center as as Calrex flew by, bursting into crystals with no resistance. With the technique ending the bluenette planted his lead foot, tightening his core muscles to try and slow his spin. His right leg bent forward while his upper tosro reached past, the hammer ending on his right side with him folded over. With a calm sigh the Ultramarine Knight righted himself, turning back to face the final remaining enemy, "Alright, only one more to go."

"Alright, next AoE I've got is...this one I think..."

Bringing the warhammer to the side, Calrex focus on the three human targets in front of him, giving a calming breath. By this point, the merchant the nobleman was threatening had already cleared away, and the guards which were paid off continued to refrain from stepping in. They had, after all, already received their extra money from the nobleman's guards, so there was not as much leverage to have them step in.

Sword Art energy formed around the Ultramarine Knight's weapon once again as he triggered <<Double or Nothing>>. Since he was already in fairly close range to his foes, it didn't take much for him to move into striking distance. The wide opening swing forced the nobleman, who was already on the backfoot, to fall over and narrowly avoiding the technique. The same could be said of the third guard, although the first guard met both strikes of the attack, being reduced to crystals just like the guard eliminated by the armored player's opening attack.

Looking up at his HUD for a brief moment Calrex saw three new indicators, "...this HUD is going to get crowded with all the cooldowns that I'll need to track."

Unfortunately, as he glanced away for a moment, the only remaining guard got to his feet, managing to take a swipe on the deep blue armor, a very small scratch forming to reflect the minimal damage the player beneath received, "Well...that's unfortunate..."

"Y-You, how dare you! The audacity to think you can do that to me and my men!"

At this point the nobleman's AI generated words fell on deaf ears as Calrex tuned his surroundings out, focusing his entirety on learning the appropriate measures for wielding his new weapon. He definitely felt more powerful that he was before, but it still felt off. It was like he was moving his body in ways it was not accustomed to, rather than the familiar movements he had become accustomed to over so many battles, "Geeze, I'm feeling particularly slow, even though it seems like my hits are carrying much more weight. It's been some time since it's seemed like I've been able to hit this hard. Well, with that on cooldown now, guess I need to try something else..."

Hefting his weapon onto his shoulder the bluenette focused once again as the Sword Art energy reformed around the head of the warhammer once again, but this time instead of electrical energy, it solidified, taking the form of a massive spiked flail, even though the weight of the weapon didn't seem to change, "Well, alright then..."

Using his shoulders, the armored blue player made a couple of massive swings, the flail extending outwards and sweeping at his three remaining enemies. Unfortunately, the slower attack did allow the nobleman and the weaker of the two guards avoiding the attack. However, the full health guard, seemingly still recovering from avoiding Calrex's first attack, was caught in the side from the second one. The entire time none of them seemed to find an opening to strike back.

"So, just a friendly suggestion, if you're gonna draw your blade on someone, you should be resolved to actually use it instead of waving it around like some kind of intimidation stick."

As the nobleman and his guards readied themselves, Calrex gave a calming exhale, "New weapon, new Sword Arts. I'll need to prepare myself. It's still similar to wielding the battleaxe, but the movements are going to be more clunky as a result of this being a bludgeoning weapon. Need to keep that in mind...

Closing his hands around the end of the handle for the Grand Legionbreaker the blue armored player locked his gaze upon his targets, focusing on them in his mind. As he did, the light blue energy familiar to him for his Sword Arts began to form, but it took on a different shape. As the hammer head became coated with the enrgy, it began to crackle and hiss, with sparks erupting from various ends of the mass, almost as if the Ultramarine Knight was wielding Mjolnir itself, "Odin's Wrath is what this attack is called huh?"

Looking forward he planted his front foot, letting himself be taken over by the assisted system. His form shot forward before stopping right in front of the cluster of enemies, two-handed weapon already over his head in the process of descending. Even if the mobs had decided to strike now, there was no way the momentum was going to cease him from bringing the hammer down.

The most unfortunate person in place was the second guard, who was slammed into the ground directly by the massive hammer head, instantly bursting into crystals. In the meantime, the force of the shockwave send all but one of the guards back, the nobleman and other guard thrown onto their butts.

"You troglodyte! You dare try to take advantage of me?! This piece right here is worth more than your entire life! I could easily have you cut down right now, or you sell it to me for the price that I proposed earlier!"

At this pointe Calrex could already feel his ears deafening themselves for the sake of preserving his brain cells. Whatever was occurring was due to a noble flexing their authority, something that appeared to be all to common in Ladonia's walls, "I really should have picked a better floor to test these new changes out on. Being here makes it more difficult and less straightforward in terms of combat. I'm much more comfortable with the typical find mob, fight mob grind than whatever this is..."

Looking across from the noble, the armored player could see that the guard who served the noble were already surrounding the merchant, who had a look of absolute fear on his face. A few of the other guards were standing to the side, with bags in their hands, most likely some "incentive" provided so that they would not interfere with what was occurring, "Man this is really an eyesore isn't it...Whatever..."

Stepping out into the expanse of the crowd the armored blue player locked his gaze onto the noble, whose AI appeared to detect Calrex's appearance and turn to face him, "My my well isn't it another one of those new ragamuffins who...oh wait...that armor...oh I see, you're a more seasoned fighter aren't you? Run along, this is none of your concern."

"Seasoned would be putting my experience lightly. I've killed a lot more fierce a monster than whatever snake of a tongue you've got on you. Now how about you and your men pick up and clear out. You're clearly interrupting a place of business. I thought you liked wealth. Can't really leech it from others if they can't make it."

"I will have you know that I come from a line of fine wealthy noblemen and women, ones with all of the merits of one who should rightly serve under our Grand Imperator."

"Looks like that bloodline ran short on the merit of shutting your mouth."

As Calrex responded to each of the man's sentences, he could see his face getting redder and redder, his hand clenching into a fist, "Might want to take a breath before you boil over like a teapot."

A frustrated sigh escaped the nobleman's nose before he made a gesture. The guards that surrounded the merchant all came back, forming a half circle towards the Ultramarine Knight. The nobleman pulled out his blade, "These insults will not go unretorted!"

"Unretorted...geeze if you're gonna say a quip, at least use some real words. At least finally..."

Hefting the massive warhammer from his shoulder, Calrex let the heavy two-headed end fall to the ground, a visual crack forming on the tile, "...I can test this stuff out..."

As he stepped into the bazaar, the Ultramarine Knight's eyes looked across the long stretches of stalls and shops, having some blend of discord and order at the same time. Majority of the shops were well organized, their wares laid in a manner that made it easy to peruse. On the other hand, there were smaller stalls where their wares were placed in no particular order, albeit in a open layout so that should a person literally look at a glance they could easily spot something if they had an idea of what they wanted in mind. There were a handful of guards around, staying at their posts with their arms at the side. Some were vigilant, diligently performing their duty of keeping any eye out for disturbers of the fragile peace that currently existed.

But, as Calrex continued further in, that peace was easily broken in the second place. He could hear the loud sounds of some kerfuffle that was currently in progress, "As much as it feels weird going towards something like this, I guess this is really the only form of player combat that can occur here, other than making a choice that'll turn you into a red or orange crystal."

The sounds of the conflict continued to grow until he began to notice a wall of people had formed, as if to clear space for something, "Guess I found whatever the commotion is that's happening here. Alright, excuse me, coming through, one side!"

Pushing his way through the crowd, eventually he made it through, looking onward at whatever was happening.

As he walked through the streets, the armored players eyes continued to casually scan left and right through the NPC crowds. It seemed that the people who were passing through were regular inhabitants of the expansive imperial city, "Nothing so far...now I almost stand out like a sore thumb among the people walking around. If anything I would look closer to a guard. Surprising none of them have approached me for something. Probably because I'm still a player character, and unless they're for triggering a quest I doubt most of these busybodies are going to interact with me."

"Still, doesn't look like I'm going to have any luck trying out any new combat stuff here..."

"Most likely because of the abundance of guards in this area. I might as well try looking in a different area...I have a feeling that there might be more likely chances for more...politically minded confrontations might occur in a different section of the area."

"Hm...where would there be a more likely clashing of different levels of this hierarchical society...yeah...probably the market..." 

Pulling up his map for a brief moment, Calrex oriented himself towards the direction of the Aquilainean Bazaar. "Where people of all sorts come to exchange goods, there more or less likely going to be some kind of scuffle that will arise, especially if any of the nobles are wandering around."

A blue flash appeared in the teleportation plaza of Ladonia as the Ultramarine Knight stepped out, already looked left and right in his surroundings. From what he had heard in passing from various NPCs and players as he had made his trip from Baldur's estate to here had warned that the main settlement in itself was not actually a large safe zone, as many had grown accustomed to from all of their previous settlements, "There's only one safe zone here, and it's definitely going to be smaller than anything compared to the Starting City. Well, I was hoping to test out whatever this new 3.0 changes are. I'd best get started."

Swiping to pull down his menu there were numerous things that Calrex had to have register in his mind. The changes he had made during the many nights in his room gave him the time to come up with something fairly theoretical to work with, but theory and application in this game had a tendency to be fairly distinct in outcomes from each other. "No matter how well-laid your designs are, if they're not tested then they'll only ever be good in theory. A decent plan in reality tends to work better than a perfect plan, right?"

He gave a small smirk to himself before glancing up at the sky, "Looks like there were some changes to how familiars behave as well. Unfortunately Roc, it seems I can no longer rely on your sharp eyes for aid in combat anymore. But, it does seem like there's another way you can still assist me pal."

The blue peregrine falcon materialized high overhead, weaving in and around various airships that were passing by. The bluenette gave a nod to his companion, acknowledging the creature's presence before continuing forward. "Well, better get myself ready for whatever comes next..."

His normal clothes flashed brightly as his character's normal attire was replaced by the all to familiar deep-sea blue armor he had worn ever since his early days in Aincrad. The Grand Chariot IV shimmered into existence, even more refined from Oikawa's original design than before. With the conversion he had to do, it was surprising just how much detail was able to come through. While his pendant shifted to around his neck, a new item came into existence.

What used to be his familiar battle-axe, the Grand Legionbane, was now a massive warhammer, the Grand Legionbreaker. With advice from his guildmates, the Ultramarine Knight had opted to go with a weapon that seemed to suit the new changes, and would hopefully still function in much the same form as his previous tool had before.