Calrex

"Yeah...you've got a point. If this place was abandoned, then it wouldn't be likely that any smells would be coming out."

"If there were items in the fridge kept in there they might have spoiled, but the airtight seal would likely keep the smell contained."

While Calrex was trying to analyze the potential things that could be within the next room, another player appeared to have made their appearance. Turning to see who it was, the bluenette gave a nod while Lessa and Cordelia spoke. "Alkor...somehow that name seems familiar. Where have I heard it before."

Hearing Cordelia suggest that they move onwards he gave a small sigh and nod, "We probably have thought about this enough, so might as well see what actually is behind here. I can take point on this one."

Moving closer so that he was right in front of the left side door the Ultramarine Knight steeled his nerves, tensing his right hand as if he was preparing to use a Martial Arts Sword Art. Cautiously raising his left hand the bluenette brought his knuckles forward...and knocked.

@Lessa @Cordelia @Alkor @Mishiro @Tower

A knock on the frame of the Execellence Elexirium could be heard as the Ultramarine Knight entered back into the alchemist shop, giving a wave as he walked over to the counter, "Hey Zan, heard that most of the order is done. The day of the boss fight was decided, so wanted to get what was ready so I don't get freeze-locked again, heh."

Adding the items to his inventory the bluenette gave a nod, "Awesome, these should keep things going for now. No rush on the rest for now, feel free to message me again when the remaining four are all set."

With that he gave a departing nod and smile before heading back out, "This one's going to be tough, especially with everyone suspecting this boss fight is going to be some kind of threshold. Best be as prepared as I can be. It's been a while since I've actually used items outside of maybe a single safeguard. Hopefully everyone is doing the same."

+11 Corrumpebant

"Really hope that's the case!"

Hearing Mari call for him and Macradon to follow up, the armored blue knight clenched his right hand into a fist once more, readying <<All Might>> as his gauntlet burned with bright blue energy. As he was about to calmly exhale, he stopped sharply as the giant Peep tried to slam him again, only to miss by a good six feet, "Well I'm glad I didn't get squished this time."

Rushing forward the Ultramarine Knight slammed his fist into the creature's spongy exterior. As the damage number flew by he began to draw his arm back, although this time there was a lot more resistance, "What in the..."

Lifting hi a leg he pushed against the Peep's form, finally managing to get his fist free with a rather disgusting, pucker-like popping noise, the built up momentum throwing him back with a few stumbles, "Well that was nasty. I think the spit made a vacuum seal around my punch that time..." 

The weight from the massive Peep immediately vanished from above his avatar as it split once again into the numerous, more disgusting sounding sugary confections squelching across the dungeon floor. As one came near to his body the armored player batted it aside, "No way I'm putting another one of those in my mouth again."

With a quick shoulder roll he flipped onto his back, giving a small sigh before looking over, seeing that Macradon has made his way over and extended a hand to help him up. The bluenette gave a smirk, reaching out and accepting the gesture, using the leverage to get back to his feet, "Yeah, better finish this thing off so we can move to something hopefully less...stomach turning I guess."

Stretching his arms for a moment the Ultramarine Knight prepared himself once again while lowering himself back into his fighting stance, ready to trigger his next Sword Art once the smaller Peeps reformed back into their monstrous form, "Now the question is will we be able to do enough damage in a single rotation to finish this thing off."

It appeared during the time that Calrex's mind was split between laughing or not, the giant Peep had decided to fall over. He only had a moment to look up as it cast a looming shadow before the massive amalgamation of sugary fluff, spit, dirt, and other substances surrounded by him. At this point he felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head, still briefly saying thanks that the Grand Chariot III was a full-body armor, meaning no part of his body was in "physical" contact with the creature, "Good thing cleanliness is an easy thing to do, if this were real life I'd really want to hit the showers after this."

He gave a small sigh while lowering his body, feeling the strain on his quads from the extra weight the Peep was giving to his avatar, "At least it's spongy enough for me to move around beneath. Now let's see if this might get it off of me."

His right fist shone with bright blue Sword Art energy as he readied <<All Might>>, drawing his arm back with a calming breath. Tightening his balled fist he raised up his left arm to clear some more space in the area he was being squished under. Twisting his shoulders and hips he aimed upwards, slamming with all off his strength upwards, the bright energy spreading upwards like an arrow.

From the outside, it could be seen a part of the giant Peep being pushed upwards, like something was trying to break through...before promptly stopping and returning back to normal. A small thud could be faintly heard beneath as Calrex felt the lifted part come back down, gently forcing him to full body face first slam onto the earth below.

"So much for that idea..."

With that, and his third tuna skewer consumed, he set the pencil back in the stack on the table before heading over to patch of bamboo the young woman had pointed over to previously. These ones were also extraordinarily tall, but easily identifiable by the already tied pieces of paper hanging from their branches. Finding a good set of branches to attach his wishes to, Calrex began tying them up. He had chosen to leave them anonymous, as the words he had written were non-specific enough that he hoped maybe someone else could potentially also benefit from them. He wasn't a superstitious type, but the bluenette also understood the power of words, and potentially at the right place at the right time, someone seeing the wishes he had chosen might find some comfort from them.

As he finished tying the last one up, the Ultramarine Knight noticed that his vision had grown blurry for a moment. With a blink he felt something slide down from the side of his eyes, down to his cheek, eventually collecting at his chin. Surprised for a moment he gave a small laugh to himself, also feeling relieved that no one was over where he was at, at least for the moment, "Guess there really is a bit of relief from doing something as silly as this..."

Calrex Hung Tanzaku Papers

Raising up a gloved hand he wiped away the tear trail from the side of his face, closing his eyes for a moment as he took a step back, looking up at the night sky with a calming breath, a small smile coming to his face, "Well, best get going to see what else there might be around here..." 

Turning back towards where the food/activity stalls were located he gave a small sigh, giving a quick glance back at the bamboo forest while returning his hands to his jacket pockets, "Guess it would have been nice if I ran into someone else, but I guess if there is anyone they might be at a different section of the festival. Surprised that Baldur hasn't shown up anywhere just yet, I woulda thought he'd be big into something like this. Ah well, guess I can go grab something else from the shops while looking around."

As more and more people appeared to make their way over to the table, Calrex felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head, "Maybe I just got here a bit early?"

The tuna skewer in his mouth was now about halfway eaten as he reached over with his free hand, grabbing one of the pencils and moving away from the table. He thought he recognized some of the individuals that were approaching, but at the moment the bluenette was a bit too occupied with what was in his hands at the moment. With the skewers in his left hand, and the tanzaku papers in his right, not to mention the one skewer in his mouth, he was busy.

Spotting a trash can nearby he made his way over while finishing what remained of the tuna skewer in his mouth, tossing the two sticks he had already consumed, a small sigh of relief escaping his lips, "Okay...now I can probably focus a bit on these..."

Popping the remaining skewer into his mouth freed up both of his hands as he looked at each of the prompts, making his way back over to a open spot on the table to write on. As he mulled over each of the prompts, it took a few minutes for him to form his thoughts. However, after it was formed, he slid one of the papers out from the stack, promptly writing down his wish, and placing it back in the pile.

Wish 1:

Wish 2:

Wish 3:

Wish 4:

Wish 5:

"What in the..."

As the gigantic mass of fluffy sugar attacked by laying down on on top of him, the armored player struggled for a quick second, "Ghh mh..."

Then the mass burst into tiny bite-sized versions of themselves once again, Calrex being revealed beneath. He glanced at the surface of his armor, feeling his eye twitch as the deep sea-blue sheen was not covered in a viscous transparent layer, "Okay...that just is not right..."

"I am so glad I am wearing armor though. I would not have wanted that to happen when I'm in regular clothing."

Hearing Mari comment on the similarly slimy appearance of the peers, the bluenette looked forward, also seeing Macradon begin to stuff his mouth with the tiny confections once again, "Most likely...and I repeat...that is just not right...no way I'm putting one of those in my mouth again, let alone trying to play chubby bunny again!"

Instead of attacking he took the moment to try and wipe, shake, and scrape off what he could of the spit, a bead of sweat on the side of his head. Glancing forward he could only stare as the Imperial Topaz continue to feed more and more of the peeps, "I...really have no response to what I'm seeing now...Mac you do remember we were BOTH eating those right?!"

At this point Calrex couldn't tell whether he should be laughing at the randomness of what was happening, or do otherwise.

"Hm...it's been a while since I came to this town, at least since that battle so far back..."

As the bluenette walked through the streets of the Coral, the town now buzzing with life beneath the red lanterns in celebration. He gave a small sigh, glancing upwards at the sky for a moment, seeing the glint of blue feathers as Roc soared overhead. Calrex had materialized his familiar and let the peregrine falcon off to do his own thing, as the two would reconvene later on. Returning his gaze back to the numerous stalls in front of him, he entered in, glancing at the various activities or delicacies that the stall operators were offering.

There was a cluster of kids all gathered around the goldfish catching stall, their eyes hyper focused on trying to accomplish their objective. Another was a shooting gallery, where some NPC couples were trying to shoot down prizes with cork-firing toy rifles. All of it put a small smile on his face as the bluenette maneuvered his way through. Keeping his hands in his jacket pockets, Calrex continued onward, trying to look at the tops of the stalls to get an idea on his location, "Let's see...is this the Eastern side of th..."

“What d’you want?”

"Hm?"

As he returned his attention back to center, the Ultramarine Knight found that he had inadvertently walked right up to one of the stall fronts, with a rather imposing owner behind it. It had been some time since he had to crane his neck back to look at a person's face, and this was certainly one of those times. "Well, since I'm here..."

He quickly eyes the snacks in the windows. A lot of them were commonplace for festivals like this: Yakisoba, okonomiyaki, takoyaki, and the like. However, since he wanted to keep moving, the bluenette pointed to one a little off to the side, "Three of the grilled tuna skewers please."

A bead of sweat formed on the side of Calrex's head as the man scoffed, giving a nod before turning to the grill beside him. Apparently it wasn't an order that was ready to go, as those were all mostly the dishes that people would likely get. Nonetheless, the bluenette thought he spied a proud smirk on this man's face as he pulled out three skewers from the container they were marinating in. “Easy. Watch and learn.”

Whoever had designed this NPC seemed to have done their research, as in stead of the usual flashes of faint blue light indicative of in-game cooking method, this person was actually grilling the skewers just like in real life. Flames licked the surface of the skewers with each flip as the dark red color of the tuna turned to a rich brown hinted with flecks of black. Liquid dripped off of the pieces of fish, singing as they touched the burning pieces of wood below, wisps of smoke coming back upwards to help flavor the dish even more. As he watched, Calrex recognized that the display was rather impressive, taking note of his mouth filling slightly with saliva in anticipation.

The now cooked skewers found their way off the grill and into the man's hand, fanned out between his finger as he reached over the counter to hand the bluenette the order, "These look and smell amazing. Thank you very much."

The man gave a cocky smirk before turning back around. With their transaction complete, Calrex guessed the cook felt no need to continue talking, instead returning back to his work. The bluenette gave a small nod of his head in thanks before heading off to the side, separating one of the skewers from the group into his other hand. It was still steaming from being freshly prepared, and as he took a bite his eyes widened as the taste, "It's...actually really good..."

While snacking on the piece, he continued onwards, finding himself opting to temporarily get away from the hustle and bustle of the streets, "Huh...wonder what's over in that direction."

There appeared to be a large bamboo forest, a bit of a walk away from the cluster of stalls, and at the edge of it someone had set up a table with various small pieces of paper and writing utensils. As he approached the young woman standing nearby gave a wave and invited him over. Finishing his first skewer, Calrex returned the empty bamboo stick back to his other hand.

“It’s tradition after all. Wanna give it a shot? Just write down your wishes here on these papers, and then hang them up on one of the stalks over yonder. Maybe it’ll help you clear your mind!”

"That is true. It is a big tradition around this time to put your wishes and tie them up. I remember one time seeing a ton of them hanging from the bamboo stalks. Guess it wouldn't hurt."

"Sure I'll give it a try."

As if prepared for his response, the young woman hands into his free hand a series of colored papers, with what appeared to be a list of questions on the top of the stack.

“Helps to hone in on what to write, I’d think. If you need any pencils or crayons, we’ve got those here too! I’m only asking that you return them to me after you’re done.”

Calrex gave a small smile and a nod at the woman's statements, "Much appreciated. I'll be sure to do so."

 “Thank you! Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival!”

Calrex received Tanzaku Papers

As he moved off to the side to let others approach the table, Calrex bit down on another tuna skewer, holding it on the side of his mouth while he looked at the prompts given with the papers:

"Hm...I'll really have to think about what to put...and how I'm going to somehow fit it on the papers..."

"Yeah, I'm up but..."

"Just...what in the world..."

Watching Mari's attack on the creature made him concerned about his own turn, "It's a single target, so there's be no point in using two-handed battle axe...great I've got punch this thing don't I..."

His face beneath his helm turned blue for a moment as the thought of having to shove his fist into the spongy...now saliva-ridden mass, but after a moment he gathered himself, takin a deep breath, "Screw it let's get this over with..."

Blue light formed around the Grand Legionbane before he shot forward, the massive axe dissolving into faint lights before reforming into the Grand Gauntlets III. As the Ultramarine Knight shot across the distance his right fist gathered with Sword Art energy, readying <<All Might>> for the moment he got into striking range. <<Charge>> empowered steps carried him at breakneck speed until he stopped instantly, arm drawn back before he sent the punch flying forward, slamming into the yellow flesh.

Calrex felt his fist sink in with the accentuated sound of what would be closest described as a wet sponge being squeezed. Pulling his arm back, now apparently covered in liquid, he felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head, "Ok...this is just nasty...I'm really glad I'm wearing full body armor right now...Mari...uh...go for it?"

@Mari

The bluenette gave a laugh at @Baldur's passing comment, finishing off another skewer of chicken, mushroom, onion, and bell pepper, "I mean you did offer a room. If you see me here, it's usually for a power nap before I'm out and about again, heh."

Taking a sip of his drink Calrex watched as the rest of the liquid vanished into his avatar's mouth, a small bit of steam escaping his lips with a sigh. With his plate clean of food he got to his feet, heading over to the sink to wash his dish. The act itself, even in the game, was fairly mundane, nothing really to note. In fact he wasn't surprised that the game didn't simply this so much that you could deposit the dishes into the sink and hit a button on the menu.

Looking over as @Ariel - The Crowned Lion made her quip he gave another laugh, "If we're being honest I'd have a sneaking suspicion she'd rip so many new ones in me I might as well be compared to Swiss cheese. Less seriously, I would say that'd be not too different from being back in Absolute Pin, at least when it was first formed...and with an upper layer of clothing. In any case, I'm going to head to the dojo, so I'll catch you guys around. Feel free to holler if you need me."

With that he departed from the kitchen, sliding open the door, looking in surprise for a moment as the form of @Mari came into his vision, right in front of the doorframe, "Oh, hey Mari. There's a lot of food set out, so go to town."

Weaving around the young woman the Ultramarine Knight set off down the hallway leading to the dojo, hands in his pants pockets, "Shouldn't be too long. It'll be mostly Quick Change drills, and some training with each weapon array. If I've got the energy maybe I'll pull out the old Grand Blade and swing it around a little, just to make sure I don't forgot my real old techniques. Outside of that there's nothing else I really need to work on."

"Uh...Oikawa?"

As the dark-haired man suddenly stopped moving, Calrex looked with concern before refocusing on the fight. Normally an avatar not moving would symbolize a player stepping away from the keyboard or controller in any other game, but in SAO it was something potentially concerning. However, the spearman was not dissolving or bursting into crystals, so for now all the Ultramarine Knight could do was put off the worries until the fight was over, "Guess we're three-manning it for now..."

As the giant Peep burst into smaller versions the bluenette felt a bead of sweat form against the side of his head, "Eat...the peeps? You...gotta be kidding."

Mari seemed to be having none of the request, deciding to continue her assault. However, Macradon decided to take part, and managed to cram an impressive amount of the small sugar confections into his mouth, "Geeze this is getting weirder and weirder...well at least we can't get sick from these...hopefully."

Reaching up he removed his helmet, setting it on the ground for a moment as he went and started gathering together a handful of Peeps in his hand, giving a small sigh before opening his mouth and starting to place them inside.

"Chubby Bunny..."

"Chubby Bunny..."

"Chubby Bunny..."

"Chubbi Bwunny..."

"Choobi Bounie..."

"Cwhubbui Boungi..."

"Tchuggbui Bowie..."

"Tchugg...pweh!"

After about seven handfuls, Calrex ended up giving in, ejecting the birds from his mouth, surprisingly still intact. He probably could have gone for longer, but the big issue was the overwhelming artificial sweetness that was in contact with his avatar's taste buds. "Well...let's see what happens now."

@Mari

With @Crozeph's appearance to give assistance, Calrex gave a nod of appreciation to the young man, "Sure thing. It might make things a little bit easier to distribute as a result."

The silence on the walk back to the meeting room only seemed to accentuate the amount of tension from the serious conversations being had inside. It was something that the bluenette had grown accustomed to at this point, and if he was being honest, he was only surprised that it took this long to get to this level of heaviness. He gave a small smirk before following @Cordelia inside, continuing where she had left off in terms of distributing the cups around the room, taking his own before moving to a spot a bit more off to the side. While the Ultramarine Knight had been a regular attendee to these meetings, he never was one to really feel a need to be at the center of the discussion. He found his place on the side, listening and observing, pointing out things that may have bee missed.

One of those points seemingly came to light a minute after he took a seat, forcing him to raise his hand to call @Baldur and the room's attention, "Apologies for the interjection. If you're not familiar with who I am, I'm Calrex, member of Jacob's Ladder, and a regular frontliner tank/off-tank since the eleventh floor boss fight. To add a bit late to this strategy for Orgoth, I would agree that gaining a temporary ally for this fight would prove useful, going from what's been said so far. However, I wouldn't bank too hard on that idea. There has in fact been at least one time to my memory of a similar concept being thrown around for the floor raids. I'm not sure who here was around for the floor thirteen boss boss fight, but Leothiel, an angel that was captured during a quest before the battle against the floor boss Avarious, was strongly hinted at to have been capable of being turned back. Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case, as the Leothiel merely served as a damage sponge for the floor boss. There is the chance that the Cardinal system did decide to go with some way of removing the possession, but going from past knowledge we can't be fully sure that will be what happens."

As the meeting was underway, Calrex was holding a kettle of prepared tea, the cast iron piece still hot from being freshly taken off of the stovetop. Setting it onto a tray with a grouping of teacups, he gave a small sigh to himself, "Wonder if they already started with the discussions. There was already a good amount of people gathered from what I saw, so I wouldn't be surprised if the pillars decided to get started."

Escorting @Cordelia over to the kitchen in order to assist preparing drinks had taken a bit longer than he had expected. It was at the end of a decent length hallway, one that was farther from the meeting room than what the bluenette remembered from the last time he was here, "I'm still working on knowing this place like the back of my hand, but I guess having just woken up my brain wasn't exactly at 100%."

Glancing over at the trays set up on the preparation table, it seems like it was possible for the two of them to bring all of the drinks over. In the real world, the balancing necessary would probably be a bit more difficult, but from what he could guess the game system assisted them to some level. As long as their avatars were in contact with the tray, they had a lot more control over it.

"Think we've got enough for the people present so far?"

Looking down the Ultramarine Knight gave a small tug on his cloak, keeping it from sliding further forwards or backwards than necessary.

"What time is..."

A small yawn could be heard faintly echoing through one part of the guild complex, as one of the members of Jacob's Ladder had woken up from their nap. Ruffling his blue hair, Calrex gave a small sigh, opening his eyes. He had stopped in to the room Baldur had set aside for him and Teayre, mainly to take a quick rest before the supposed time for the floor raid meeting. It had been quite some time since the pseudo-tank had been to one of these. In fact he couldn't really recall the last meeting, if there even was one for the Leviathan boss raid. Getting to his feet he walked over towards the door, stopping for a moment as he heard the faint sounds of conversations, "Shoot...I guess I overslept a little. Probably should get moving over there."

Looking down at his usual garbs, a bead of sweat formed against the side of his head, "Knowing the setting, I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of people are likely going to show up in thematic attire for the area..."

"......"

"I only have one set of clothing that sorta matches...and that's my old training attire when I was practicing on the eighth floor mountainside..."

His hand met his face as Calrex recognized the awkwardness of it. While there was a cloak to go over, his upper body would be exposed, and there was some kind of shading effect to accentuate muscle tone, "That old man, I swear I don't know why he decided to have this be the training gear. Tch...fine I guess I'll just have to do my best to keep the top covered..."

With a swipe of his menu his clothing was replaced with the Japanese blacksmith inspired garment set. Flipping the cloak inside out so that the detailed pattern-work was facing outwards, the Ultramarine Knight fixed it around his neck, pulling the sides so that they remained set for the most part against his upper torso, "Let's just hope it stays for the most part."

Sliding the door open he made his way over to the meeting room, the bluenette heard the footsteps of the arrivals, listening as he heard @Crozeph usher them towards the room. Hearing the formality sent a feeling of stiffness up Calrex's spine as he stopped moving, stepping to the side for a moment so that he was out of sight, "Okay...I know this is supposed to be important and all, but now I just feel like I'm at some sort of executive conference all of a sudden."

Giving a small breath he calmed himself, shaking his head, "It's alright, you've done this many times before. It's not the first time your guild has hosted a meeting either, and you're not even in charge of running the actual thing anyway."

Taking a few more calming breaths, he steeled his senses, turning back forward and making his way towards the meeting room entrance. Seeing the familiar faces as they moved through the halls he gave a nod and a wave before heading over to where he saw @Baldur and @Mari were situated at the moment, "Looks to be a good turnout of people so far. Do you need a hand with anything at the moment? Seems like Crow's got people moving towards the meeting room for now."

It wasn't long afterwards that a familiar white-haired player approached, seemingly in surprise while greeting him with a...familiar adjective-turned nickname? A continuous string of sentences followed, but the bluenette was able to gather that @Cordelia was suggesting to help her make tea for the people in the meeting. Giving a calm smile he nodded, "Sure I can lend a hand with that. Also you were close, it's Calrex, heh."

Watching as she gestured to follow her, Calrex felt the bead of sweat on the side of his head once again. Calling to get her attention he directed down another connected hallway to the left of where she was heading, "Um...Cord? The kitchen is down this hallway. Here I can show you where it is."

"I wonder how long the soft hands comment is going to be a thing..."

Almost immediately after he had arrived to assist, the armored blue knight saw the three "gods" make their exit, seemingly having grown bored from the players attempts to fell them. That being said, Calrex also made note of the fact that more than half of his health was eliminated and shortened from their single atta...flexing. Giving a small sigh his armor vanished, being immediately replaced by his casual attire, the Grand Legionbane returning to his inventory. Eyes closed the bluenette scratched the back of his head before turning around, orienting himself back towards the first floor settlement, "I'm...just gonna go back to the cafe..."

Not really giving notice to the people around him outside of avoiding walking into them, hands in his jacket pockets. This was by far the oddest thing he had witnessed in all of his time exploring Aincrad. "I swear that Cardinal must have been on something if it decided to come up with something like this..."

It wasn't long before he was back at the gates, giving a small glance at the two guards protecting the border. With that he immediately turned right, navigating through the streets until his eyes were met with the entrance to the Starlight Cafe. Opening the store he gave a exasperated sigh, muttering while the door closed behind him.

"What in the ever-loving -XD-..."

The bluenette was in the middle of working on a yakitori skewer as Ariel made her way into the kitchen, previously confused and moving over to cover Assassin's eyes. Quickly finishing off the remaining pieces until only the bamboo skewer beneath remained he gave an amused smile and a small laugh, resting his head against his hand, "See? I knew it was gonna happen eventually. 久しぶりAriel, good to see you're well."

Shield and Baldur entered into the room soon afterwards, Calrex giving a nod as each entered, "Surprisingly none of them have made a comment. If anyone I was at least expecting Baldur to mention something. I must still be half-awake or something..."

Continuing to eat what was on his plate, the Ultramarine Knight adjusted the white cloak that rested over his shoulders to help it rest evenly, mostly covering his upper torso save the occasional times the front would open slightly with the movement of his arms. Picking up another skewer he gave a few breaths to cool it before taking a bite.

"Wonder if anyone else is going to come into the kitchen. It already seems like this place is going to become more and more clustered. Maybe now that everyones here I could probably go to the dojo and get my training in before heading out again."

As he felt the weak resistance being put forth by the young woman in his arms the bluenette gave a small smile, quietly responding with a light toss to bounce and adjust her while he continued walking, being careful to cushion the small fall by bending his knees. He wasn't sure exactly how much further it was to the Glacial Cove entrance, but he could rest a bit easier knowing that the redhead was still somewhat coherent, "Usually in real life the real time to worry was when the person stops talking, since that could mean that they fell unconscious."

He gave a calming breath, his expression lightening to his normal demeanor as he looked down towards Teayre's face, "The cold really must be getting to you. Telling me to leave you behind to continue moving forward would be like asking a car to go uphill without its engine."

Feeling the storm pick up as the wind blew from the side, Calrex turned his body so that his back was shielding her from the incoming chill, "Yeup, Survival is definitely coming in handy on this one..."

"Haven't I told you before? You're the reason why I started adventuring and training as hard as I did, and why I still keep pushing forward now. If anything, you're the one helping me forward. Now, let's keep you focused on staying warm while we get out of this blizzard, alright?"

@Teayre

"Just...what...in...the...world...is going on?"

------

Prior to the start of the battle

By happenstance, the bluenette was down on the first floor, relaxing in the Starlight Cafe, when all of a sudden he saw a swarm of players make their way towards the outskirts of the first settlement. Glancing down at his messages, he had received the same message that was sent to the rest, feeling a bead of sweat form on the side of his head, "There's no way this is a real thing. Why would Cardinal decide to give us a quick way out compared to that was originally designed into the core of the game?"

"I guess it's possible? Maybe the government has somehow managed to force the devs to do some kind of forced patch. I thought the Cardinal system was supposed to be the one handling any updates. After all that's what's caused so many changes like the discovery of Sword Arts and the nerfs to the unique skills..."

With a small sigh he set down his mocha, a hint of steam escaping his lips, "Maybe I'll go take a look after I finish this drink..."

------

Present

He could feel his eyelid twitch at the display that was unraveling before his eyes as the bluenette stood at the edge of the safezone. "Uh...uh...just..."

Tons of players both familiar and new were striking against three...bosses, "Parodies of bosses might be the more accurate description..."

Turning around for a moment, Calrex inspected to see if anyone was watching him, or watching what was happening, "Is this April 1st? Is someone trying to -XD- with me right now?"

Giving a small exhale to center himself he looked forward again, his calm demeanor almost instantly being dispelled at the sight. Putting a hand behind his head he closed his eyes, scratching with increasing intensity, his hair becoming more and more unkempt before he took a step forward, "-XD- it!"

His casual clothing was replaced by his dark blue armor, the Grand Chariot III as he charged into the fray, his eyes darting left and right to try and get a grasp on the situation. Some were attacking, and some...in fact fellow members of Jacob's Ladder...were...posing.

"Geezes...just don't think about it...the others are apparently doing something unconventional, I'll just follow along for now and see what happens next..."

Crouching low the Ultramarine Knight leapt skywards, looking downwards to spot his landing. His trajectory was a bit off, seemingly setting him a foot in front of a red-cloaked swordsman closer to the front (@Bahr). Hovering for a moment he gave a calming breath, leaning his body back as it turned into a backflip, helping to stop his forward momentum and letting him drop straight down where he intended to land.

The ground beneath him cracked as his greaves slammed into the earth, touching down in a three point stance, his right fist slammed into the ground in front of him as he looked forward. Glancing back he recognized the blonde behind the white haired man as Lessa, giving a nod, "Pardon the intrusion."

Quickly straightening his stance the bluenette brought his right gauntlet-clad arm across his body, triggering his weapon change as it burst into lights. Drawing across his body a series of arcing lights illuminated the travel path. At the same time, his blue peregrine falcon, Roc, appeared and mirrored the route with his flight path. His arm fully extended outwards the light converged and formed into the Grand Legionbane, his massive two-handed sword-like battle axe.

"Whether or not this is true, it's worth giving it a try."

A feeling of panic came over him as he watched the redhead fall forward, feeling her virtual weight on him fall in an unstable manner. It was easy to tell that she had lost the passive level of control over her body as Teayre fell limp. While Calrex couldn't really deduce the strange skewed vision that she had muttered about while collapsing, the bluenette could suspect that she had overly exerted herself traveling so far from the thirteenth floor. Being an orange player, one of the things denied to his wife was the ability to access the teleportation plazas, meaning that the only means available was the staircases connecting the floors which originated from the defeated raid boss rooms.

"Nine whole floors of travel after staying in the shop for so long...that's like running a marathon after staying at home for months without regular exercise...the fact that SAO is replicating that level of exhaustion, unless this is induced maybe by our subconscious? Either way I've got to get Teayre somewhere where she can rest"

"Geeze don't the both of us have the Survival skill as well? How is the cold affecting her?"

Giving a quick tug on both sleeves of his jacket loosened it enough for the Ultramarine Knight to shrug it off, draping it over his wife's shoulders before swiping on his menu with his free hand, moving the Grand Legionbane back into his inventory. Noticing the sword nearby, Calrex lifted the Amaranth Rose with an arm over his shoulder briefly so that he could retrieve the blade, also returning it to the inventory before shifting to pick the redhead up fully in his arms, giving a small sigh before scanning the area, "There's no good places that both of us can go to at the moment outside of Glacial Cove...and that spot is teeming with monsters. Tch...if that's the only spot we've got I just hope that staying just inside out of the snowstorm will be enough..."

Orienting himself in the direction of the special location he steadied his senses, "Definitely not in the best position right now, so I need to stay on alert, at least until Tea's had the time to recover. It's a good thing this isn't affecting her game HP, but being unable to control your avatar properly is just as bad."

@Teayre

The sound of snow crunching below heavy weight rung out of Snowfrost Town, accompanied by creaking and scraping metal as a dark blue silhouette rushed past the guards at the settlement's edge. Labored breathing escaped from the full helm as the featureless headwear only showed a single pair of light blue slits, indicative of eyes. The armored player rushed through the fields, ignoring his surroundings as lower level mobs seemed to actively get out of their way, oriented in a specific direction. In front of the player was the light blue light emanating from his mini-map, which was tracing a location, "Glaciel Cove...I can't be far now..."

Quote

Incoming Message
Player: Teayre
Floor 4. By Glacial Cove. I’m Sorry. Teayrie.

"After staying in the boutique for so long...this is the first thing?"

Thoughts of confusion and concern ran through his mind with each step he took. It had been so long since Calrex had seen his wife leave the Amethyst Boutique, her artisan shop, ever since Battojutsu faded from her skills. Before then, she was working with Baldur, training to move past the things that had happened prior, to move away from the terrible things she had experienced, and placed upon others. Part of him had assumed the worst from the message, while other parts were on alert, as if suspecting she had been kidnapped. It was why he had donned the Grand Chariot III while leaving the fourth floor settlement, and why Roc was already deep into the snow storm, ready to lend the Ultramarine Knight his sharp eyes in case of conflict.

However, as he got further towards the location, as the silhouette of the familiar redhead came into view, his mind began to focus. He took a calm breath, letting his thoughts flow while remaining centered, "Focus on the Fudoshin mindset. I have to make sure she's safe...This may also be a trap for a potential ambush."

His fingers flying across his menu for a moment his armor was replaced by his casual combat attire, the fur-lined blue jacket, white shirt, gray slacks, and brown boots clothing he had worn outside of combat for so long. A swipe of his right arm produced a series of faint lights that formed back together in an instant, the massive two-handed sword-like battleaxe, Grand Legionbane, appearing as he covered the rest of the distance, "Tea!"

Sliding to a stop in front of her Calrex placed his weapon to the side, kneeling down on one leg while gently placing a hand on her shoulder, leaning forward so that he could see her face, "I got your message. Are you alright? What's going on?"

@Teayre

"Alright, what do we have...next..."

"This...really is happening isn't it...we're fighting...a giant marshmallow bird..."

As Mari began her attack on the next enemy, the Ultramarine Knight looked onward, only for his eyes to be met with a gigantic yellow Peep, "Uh...trademarked?"

His brain took a moment to understand the situation, being unprepared to fight a massive, and seemingly potentially edible creature, "Of all the things...alright get my head in the game..."

The Grand Legionbane became surrounded with swirling blue energy as Calrex brought the massive greataxe behind and over his head, raising it high with a calming breath. Once his <<Focused Howl>> energy reached critical mass, he slid one foot forward, bringing the weapon down into a ready stance as the power shot out like a directed sound beam, directly slamming into the massive marshmallow creature. Lowering into his stance to activate Sword Arts, the bluenette watched as his health jumped up, "Okay, that's much better than before. Might be this creature is the one to give us a little time to actually recover before the next set of mobs."

With that he gave a nod to Oikawa, "Go take a bite out of this thing"

@Oikawa

"Sin-chan, I guess going from how Snow is addressing you it's sort for Assassin, gotcha."

"Rather odd username for someone to be picking at her age, but I guess with the scars that might not be something unknown. Still, to think she's probably been through so much before even getting into his game. It reminds me a lot of what Teayre's gone through."

Hearing Snow's comment on his attire he felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head, "I...appreciate that. I'm sure if any of the others saw me in this they'd likely make a couple of...actually maybe more than a couple...friendly jabs, because I swear this thing's got some kind of extra shading effect or something. I'll probably have a small bite before heading to the dojo."

With that he went over to the assortment of food, making a small plate before finding and taking a seat, adjusting the white cloak that draped over his shoulders so it covered a bit more of his torso, "I do appreciate that this is basically held to my body like it had magnets. Probably would be a bit too much to have it be constantly flying off."

@Snow @Assassin

As the white lioness cub rushed over and pawed at his feet, the bluenette gave a calm smile while crouching down, scratching Kimba behind the ears, "Well it's certainly been a while hasn't it. I'm guessing that means your master is visiting as well?"

Roc opened his wings in greet, giving a quick flap to hop off the ground to land next to the fellow familiar, happy to see the fellow animal companion the peregrine falcon had not seem in quite some time. At the same time Calrex fully stood back up to look over at the two other players in the room, a bead of sweat on the side of his head, "Oh this? It's an old training attire I had in my inventory. I was thinking about stopping by the dojo to get some training in before heading back out again. As for Kimba here, heh yeah I've known Ariel from way back. When I was starting to get out of the first floor main settlement, she was one of the people I also partied with. Been a part of a couple of her guilds in the past as well."

Looking over at the young girl that was with Snow, the bluenette also took note of the scars on her form, although this was not betrayed by his calm exterior, "Those definitely are not an aesthetic choice..."

Giving a calming breath he took a few steps forward, glancing at the large abundance of food that was laid out, "I'm guessing you're visiting as well? It's nice to meet you, I'm Calrex."

@Snow @Assassin

Raising a hand, the bluenette's eyes traced the path of Mari's potion as she tossed it to him, the bottle landing in his palm as he closed his fingers around it. With the battle over, he watched the Burn effect of the red-hot bunny vanish, his health slowly climbing back up. Popping off the top Calrex consumed the potion, the additional status enhancement quickly taking effect as light blue flames flickered off of his form, much of a contrast to the original red flames of the DoT he was enduring prior.

"My Battle Healing should still kick into effect once we start combat again, so hopefully i things work out right I should be able to get healed up a decent amount during combat. As long as I don't get struck by another DoT attack again, on top of other attacks. Achilles certainly did a good job staving off direct damage, but on top of the Burn I could only slow how much damage I would take."

"More bunnies huh? Well let's just hope that not all of them are going to be doing damage over time like that red-hot one we fought earlier. This Pengu Ranger doesn't really take kindly to status effect as of late, heh."

Stretching his arms, the Grand Legionbane moved around on his shoulder, reflecting the path of his hand traveling in space. "Well, extreme amount probably calls for area of effect damage now, so I'll stick with my axe for now. Pretty much ready to go if you guys are."

Calrex - 1440/1805 | EN: 125/176 EN | DMG: 16 | MIT: 116 | ACC: 4 | EVA: 2 | BHL: 88 | IMMO 30 | ACH: 0.5 

@Mari