Alkor

If Lessa wasn't where she'd like to be, then Alkor certainly wasn't any closer to goal. He knew exactly how she felt. For all the time they'd both spent in Aincrad, neither of them were satisfied. Alkor had to smirk at that. Between the two of them, Lessa cared infinitely less about that kind of progress than he did. It seemed almost hilarious, because there was a time when she'd admonished him because he obsessed over it. Then she mentioned the token boss battle that either of them had fought in, and he fixed his gaze on the Monkey King. Neither of them wanted to relive that nightmare. She immediately suggested that they start, and he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, luckily, neither of us have done this quest, so it'll be a big help."

He took a step forward, and when he seemed like he was about to freefall and eat the damage, he reached out and grabbed one of the many vines that hung from the canopy. It swung out under his weight, carrying him out and away from the settlement. "WOOOHOOOOOO!!!" he called out wildly. The Players all had a pretty good idea about how the fauna on the eighth floor worked now, several years later. The tricks of the trade, everything that made moving around easier were common knowledge- or just an Info Broker away. He continued to glide through the air until his feet set down on a lower platform, whereupon he grasped another vine that hung lower and swung out in the opposite direction. The complex series of shortcuts available made it easy and convenient to move across the floor without having to walk across the forest floor itself. After all, it was dangerous to do so, what with the King rampaging.

Alkor's howl hadn't gone unnoticed, however. It became apparent that the King's attention shifted toward the source of the sound, and the monstrosity swung out toward the Player with the intent of swatting him out of the sky. With a lopsided grin, the swordsman shifted his weight and swung narrowly out of the beast's reach. By the time it got another hand out, he'd already made landfall and started running. Now, if Lessa followed closely, she might be able to engage with the King before it had time to recuperate; but if she was a bit slower to follow, it would have a chance to swing on Alkor once more before they began the battle in earnest.

He got his weapon out and ready in he meantime. The adrenaline rush was welcome, a heightened response that would help to abate any lingering doubts that Alkor had, as well as to wash away any thought to the Ninth Floor boss battle.

There was no easy answer to that question.

Just saying "no" cheapened the deeper thought that it inherently evoked. Alkor couldn't just dismiss Koga by saying 'of course not,' either. He'd brought the talk to this point by probing, and so the only fair and just recourse was to think about something he'd fought so hard to suppress. With a visible frown on his face, he stared hard at the sunset. "Her conditions worsen pretty much every day," he revealed, a truth he'd spent all his time avoiding. Thom remained alone in his room whenever he was home, isolated from a world that he'd chosen to reject. The pain he felt, the tears he shed. Everything became a second, thicker, iron skin that he wore protectively. 

Even against his own family.

They were the source of so much pain, to the point where his emotions altered them into the enemy apparent. Alkor couldn't love them- or he thought he couldn't. He refused to admit it to himself, the fact that he couldn't just erase a lifetime of emotions. As Jericho came tumbling down, his face remained stoic. Inside however, the ruins and dust had no time to settle.

Alkor cracked. 

He cracked, so imperceptibly that if Koga blinked he'd miss the uncomfortable shift in Alkor's position. The youth lifted his pipe once more, shaking like his bones were ancient. A puff, then another, and he inhaled deep. When he exhaled, his body stilled. He still felt the ache. There was nothing even the pain dampeners of Aincrad could do against what plagued him now.

"The doctors gave her morphine just to deal with the anxiety that her degrading memory induced. She screams out. Doesn't recognize anyone. Not the people she sees daily, or the ones she's known for years. She's alone in the world, and medically, she's already gone. Her body just hasn't caught up to her mind, but it's not far behind."

His expression was weary, for the first time visibly burdened by the entire world he held on his shoulders. Alkor never showed that struggle to anyone, but he couldn't hide it now. Not in this situation. He went for the pipe again, but it fell out of his hand. When it landed on the ground, it split in two and fragmented into billions of pixels. He cursed softly.

"She wouldn't have made it this long. Nothing short of a miracle would have to happen. Being here, in this place, I won't even be able to say goodbye. I ran away like a fucking child, and now, this is my punishment. The one person I can't live without, who's been with me through everything, and I couldn't even be bothered to be there for her when she had no one else."

He looked down now, his hair falling over his eyes. Darkness obscured his features as he sank into those thoughts for just a moment. Everything he'd said was an admission of guilt as much as it was acceptance. All the things he didn't want suddenly became real. Yet, when he lifted his head, Alkor smiled over at Koga.

"Honestly," he said finally. "If I did anything less than live the best life I can, she'd be ashamed of me. Next time I saw her, she'd slap me out of heaven and send me falling back down to Earth, screaming down at me to do it again, but to do it better. Do I think I can live a normal life? Fuck no. I'm a weird kid, I don't understand how other people think or what they feel unless they tell me explicitly. I can't ever be normal. But I can go back and live a good life. That's the only thing I can do."

In the early morning, most Players were still asleep. The token few who weren't generally spent their time ambling around the higher floors, polishing their techniques and improving their skills through trial and error. Alkor took that time to go through his own skillbook, reviewing the various abilities he rarely used and how they might be useful to implement in rotation. He hadn't put much thought into that sort of thing since the Floor 9 boss, but he was rapidly approaching a time that would see him doing so again.

It never hurt to get back into practice. 

On the second floor, a place where he wouldn't have to worry so much over death if he screwed something up, the golden eyed swordsman carved through weaker monsters like a hot knife through butter. Each skill sent a numeric string of information through his HUD, which in turn gave him the information that he'd use to optimize his build and rotation during raids.

He was consistently hitting, which made things go a bit more smoothly, but he did want to get a bit more resistance from his targets. That was when the idea struck him.

"Maybe someone could use help with one of the stronger field bosses?" he thought out loud. It was a good idea. If he found someone who could trigger the quest, he could spend some of his time roughing up the weaker trash mobs, and even take some aggression out on the field boss if they weren't strong enough to cut it down themselves. "Now, I just have to check the postings..."

Alkor hurried back to Urbus, all the way to the request board where he mulled over the myriad postings for anything related to higher level quests. If there was anything, he hadn't seen it yet. Surely, someone would need to finish the quest.

Alkor Level 48

If Setsuna was still nearby, Alkor didn't see any sign of her. He supposed that meant she was doing what she did best, and succeeding at it. What it meant for him though? More work. As he tore through the enemies with almost no effort, he half expected Setsuna to pick up some of the slack. It appeared that she didn't feel it was necessary.

Alkor didn't particularly mind. Every enemy he struck down was another useful experience, another chance to hone himself into the warrior he wanted to be. He spun the blade round in his grip to reverse, charging up his Sword Art as the creature charged at him with reckless abandon.

As if on cue, Alkor's blade sang upward, gliding through the distance between them. At the precise time of impact, he stepped through and as his weapon joined him in perfect unison. Carved in two uneven halves, the Stygian Warrior spasmed for an instant before exploding into two massive red clouds of data.

He knew what the quest entailed, but almost groaned aloud when the set of four more Warriors apparated. More pressing was the sudden arrival of the Leech Lich, which rose from the Waters of the Stygian with a low groan. Its hunger was instantly visible as it clambered up the shoreline, still feeding on the remains of a soul that it had sundered. There was no blood, no gore; but the sight of an emaciated spirit torn to ribbons, hanging from the maw of an amalgamation of horrors was more than enough to prompt Alkor into unbidden shuddering.

The enemy that they came for had arrived, and Setsuna had bidden her time. This was her moment. If she didn't seize the opportunity, the creature would slowly snowball in power to a point beyond where they could go. Alkor just had to provide suppressive fire in the meantime.

"Any time now," he muttered.

Alkor: 960/960 HP 87/104 Energy (-6] | DMG:14 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 4

Setsuna: HP:900/900 | EN:90/90 | DMG:22 | EVA:3 | ACC:5

Stygian Warrior 2 HP: 100 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0 (ID# 183657  Battle: 3+4=HIT)

Stygian Warrior 5 HP: 100 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0 

Stygian Warrior 6 HP: 100 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0

Stygian Warrior 7 HP: 100 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0

Stygian Warrior 8 HP: 100 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0

Leech Lich HP: 250 | DMG: 50 | MIT: 25 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 0

"Yep, Rain Check," Alkor said with a soft smile as the other two paired off to head back to civilization. Out here where there was no one else, the hermit elected to sharpen his skills further. While he watched them filter out of the area, Alkor scrolled through his menu and looked for the skills he was dropping points into. He needed more money to shift to anything else, which meant a day or two of grinding out on his own.

That wouldn't be too much of a problem. It just meant he should probably have taken the offer of food; but Alkor figured Koga would have a lot of fun eating steamed buns at a bakery rather than whatever conversation the golden eyed swordsman brought with him. And with a cute girl?

Not that Koga actually was a simp, but the man was coming up Millhouse.

He gave the other man a thumbs up as he looked back, then turned his own attention to the room where the Lich spawned. "Okay, it should spawn again in an hour or so," he said. "Judging by what I saw, I should be able to take it out on my own..."

Alkor couldn't disagree with Setsuna on that. Every time the system gave, it felt like an attempt to make them forget about everything it had taken away. Sometimes it was more heinous than others. The Tanabata example was a perfect one. By giving them something that they remembered and that seemed familiar, it almost made them feel like the festival itself had never really gone away. The game wasn't intuitive enough to project the memories of their family or anything like that, though the Cardinal system had every bit of potential to do something so foul, but thus far, it hadn't done anything that severe. Some people did lean hard into it, though. Those who fought were less inclined to see it as anything but a respite than those who didn't.

When she backed off and blended into the environment, Alkor knew his cue had come. He reflexively readied his weapon and rushed headlong toward the enemies. They would fixate their attention on him foremost, and after that, Setsuna would come in with the clean sweep. The most important thing of note was that the field boss would only spawn after the first wave; so it was unlikely that the girl would attack right away. Alkor recognized that she would be at most efficient if he cleared the way first, and then she moved in only once the Lich creature appeared.

So, he dove.

His explosive motion ripped through three of the enemies with ease. Skilled though he was, even Alkor had not developed the necessary grace and agility to extend his stroke reliably to a fourth target. He would have to train harder from now on. Still, three out of four was actually excellent, and he'd almost cleared the way entirely in one fell swoop. He gripped his weapon tightly and took up a defensive stance, certain that the mob would retaliate on behalf of its fallen allies.

Alkor: 960/960 HP 93/104 (-11) Energy | DMG:14 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 4

Setsuna: HP:900/900 | EN:90/90 | DMG:22 | EVA:3 | ACC:5

Stygian Warrior 1 HP: 100 (-120) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0 (ID# 183616 Battle: 2+4=HIT)

Stygian Warrior 2 HP: 100 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0 (ID# 183617 Battle: 1+4=MISS) (5 to hit Alkor, minus 3 for his evasion misses)

Stygian Warrior 3 HP: 100 (-128) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0 (ID# 183618 Battle: 9=CRIT)

Stygian Warrior 4 HP: 100 (-120) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 0 (ID# 183619 Battle: 5+4=HIT)

Alkor almost laughed out loud, but suppressed the urge when NIGHT referred to him as Wayne. Some jokes never got old, and that one actually held some merit for him beyond the humor. He still stared down at the water, remembering the battle that ensued when the sky started to fall. "Yeah, if I'm remembering it correctly, I was in the middle of something, too," Alkor replied as his gaze moved up to look over the others. The third person, he didn't know; and Alkor wasn't very good at social discourse, even to the point of failing to pick up common cues. So, as the woman asked how he'd been, he considered the answer for a moment. Since that day, he had thrown himself headlong into every possible fight. All the strength he could muster went into forging even more strength, to the point where he was almost on the Frontlines again. But he hadn't made a great deal of progress at the other things in Aincrad. He didn't have many friends, still, and the ones he did have he was notoriously bad at keeping in contact with. Koga was the rare exception, because they'd seen each other multiple times in the recent week- and here he was, again.

"I've been okay," he said after a moment. "I hope you have too, NIGHT." 

His gaze flickered over to Koga, amused at the misconception he'd had. "Nope," he said, "just a criticism on how batty I am," he attempted to pander to the inside joke a bit more, uncertain about how those worked but still hopeful that it might get a cheap laugh out of someone who actually didn't like him very much. NIGHT and Alkor had become acquainted only through a series of strange and outlandish events that led to an awkward misunderstanding. Even after the resolution, he had the feeling that he hadn't left things better than they'd been- not that he expected anything else. 

There were all of four people who knew his real name in Aincrad, and they were people who he'd been through some intense hardships with.

When he felt the other woman's eyes on him, his own gaze moved to hers. He blinked once and tilted his head curiously. It was pretty unusual for women to stare at him, in his experience. "Last night?" he asked, confused. "Not that I know of, no," he looked back to the lake, imperfect and yet still beautiful. It dawned on him that she was probably referring to his comment. "Oh, that's what you meant. No, this happened a few months ago. Some boss level enemies appeared and the floor fell through. It was the end of a festival, so everyone was pretty thrown off by it."

Maybe that would help? A detailed explanation to abate any further confusion seemed like the proper decision given the situation. Or maybe he was missing something? 

Oh! She gave her name. Right. He should introduce himself.

"I'm Alkor," he said, after a moment. "Nice to meet you."

It had been a good occasion to call on Lessa, that was certain. He didn't often reach out for help, but in recent days he'd put more emphasis on doing so. It was her request that he not take on any excessively dangerous or exciting things by himself. She'd even had an attack dog to punch him over it; though, she hadn't strictly known about that encounter until later. Alkor didn't hold her accountable to that as a result. Instead, his thoughts were more on how to approach the conversation. Unlike the people he didn't know quite so well, Lessa was well aware that Alkor was no good at communicating. She almost seemed happy at the compliment even Alkor considered weak. He just didn't have much to draw on for more; and now, he felt awkward about it.

Lessa was brilliant as expected, even in her response. She said that she was glad to hear from him, and he searched himself for the proper answer as if she'd posed him some cryptic question. How did he feel? Did he feel anything? Was he glad too? Or was that the proper, courteous thing to say in the situation? His face betrayed nothing of the turmoil hidden behind it. "That's good," he said, "I'm just glad it didn't inconvenience you at all." That seemed like a fairly safe response. Maybe a bit flatter than it could have been, but it seemed to show some kind of empathy?

She quickly changed the topic back toward the situation in front of them, which gave him a bit more confidence about what he should say. Unlike trying to figure out what people were thinking or feeling, tactics were direct. There was very little room for something to have a hidden meaning. He listened carefully, eyes once again on their intended enemy.

Though one or two hits from the thing probably wouldn't do him in, Lessa had more survivability overall. Alkor's build was geared toward evasion rather than taking the brunt of any damage. Lessa wore heavier armor explicitly for that purpose. It stood to reason that she would be the one standing at the front. She'd come so far, and gone so far ahead of him. Alkor always felt a bit awed by the progress she'd made.  "Yeah, I think that'd be wise," he agreed. "I can hit it pretty hard, but if it hits back, I don't know how many of those shots I'll be able to take. You might get one or two more than me." He smirked. "You've gotten a lot stronger than I remember," he commented. "If you're afraid, I can't even tell."

Notably, his gaze never left the beast as he spoke, and he wasn't inclined toward fear himself. He was taking all the necessary precautions. Something insignificant like this wouldn't be the end.

"Looks like it," Alkor commented without looking up at first. The sight of it was daunting, especially given that the beast wasn't confined to some boss room. This was a free roaming, dangerous creature that caused collateral damage, just like the Twinfire Phoenix had. But unlike that monstrosity, this one kept respawning. It was an absolute menace. "I don't think there's a good way to put it down, though," he observed, then finally glanced up to the blonde.

"You ready?" he asked. It was about as good of a "how are you?" as the man could manage, considering. He never knew how to talk to Lessa; because she was one of the few people who had known him for such a long time, she had seen him in the darkest parts of his time in Aincrad. When he was at his most detestable, she'd sought to help him. Despite the venomous creature he'd become, she had still shown kindness. 

Lessa was so far away, even standing right next to him. Where he reached out for the light, in many ways, the woman embodied it. It was always just out of reach. She was always just out of reach.

"I figure we can take it pretty quick, honestly," he assessed, "and with drastically decreased risk, but there will still be a small margin for error. Judging by how it's ripping through mobs, it can take a healthy chunk of HP out with a single hit."

As he spoke, he didn't really look at her. It was like staring at the sun for too long. It was easy to feel compelled, but it would burn your eyes if you gave in. For Alkor, it was more that he felt ashamed. He was bad at keeping in touch, and she let him keep his distance. 

But, for the sake of that friendship, there were days when he did try to close that gap.

Like this one. "You look well," he added. 

The Monkey King

The village in the canopy was the safe zone particularly because of the behemoth below. Alkor could see the creature romp and smash from his vantage point near the edge of town, like some morbid statue that presided over the carnage unflinching. He refused to let it be. "The thing looks tough enough," he muttered to himself. It would be a decent distraction; but would he be alright going it alone?

He knew at least one person who wouldn't be happy to hear that he took the chance. Alkor watched as the King smacked another hapless beast aside, sending it sharding into pixels. It had no regard even for its own kind- he didn't consider the creatures as beasts, more as cogs in an ever turning machine. Even at that, the system dehumanized them.

With a quick message spared to the person who'd told him to stop taking risks, Alkor explained concisely the situation he found himself in, and a suggestion that they tag team the field boss rather than him going down by himself and shooting the dice. If nothing else, they hadn't gotten much of a chance to catch up at the Tanabata festival. This would be... well, Lessa would probably like that.

Or maybe she'd get annoyed. Alkor wasn't really sure. He sent off the message and waited for a reply.

Alkor level 47

It was a sight that many Players talked about, but few ever really took the time to get close to. 

A hole, far too dark to see to the bottom that pierced the perfect waters of an otherwise peaceful lake. Alkor came to see it for himself because he had overheard a few people talking about some other guy who allegedly jumped into it and died; and there was another who claimed that it spat him right back out. With the conflicting stories, Alkor neither knew who was telling the truth or if they were both lying, nor did he particularly care. 

It just seemed like something that they ought to raise awareness about. Could someone accidentally fall into it? Could they be pushed? All very fair questions, things he wanted to discern. In his travels through Aincrad, solving its mysteries and expanding his knowledge were some of the few joys that the golden eyed swordsman found. The others came from combat, and he did that often enough without having to try.

As he approached the pier, Alkor saw two people he never expected together. The first was Koga, who he'd been teaming up with recently. Then there was NIGHT. Alkor approached them from behind, but not before another girl got the first word in. It was funny to think that someone might consider this... tragic sight a decent venue for a date, but Alkor supposed that anywhere was great when you were playing a game that could literally kill you.

He made no comment as he slipped forward, adopting a neutral stance next to Koga with his arms crossed. Alkor gazed down at the floor, the circumstances of its creation still fresh and hot in his memory. "That was a crazy night, huh?" he asked, to no one in particular.

Someone had given this poor girl the wrong impression of what an Otaku was; though, to be fair if she really wanted to she could just as easily have called Alkor Hikkikomori. Not that she knew that about him, or anyone else in Aincrad did, really. Still, the basis was there- a fondness for the Japanese culture. Her own culture, by the look of her. Maybe it was less a weeb thing than it was a traditionalist thing. He couldn't say.

"Tanabata, huh?" Alkor asked, straining to recall the festival. It had gone by pretty uneventful for him, other than a conversation with Lessa and the jarring boss encounter at the end. He stopped for a moment. "Yeah, I went," he told her. "Pretty cool that the game has these things for the Players. Almost considerate, if it didn't mock us so much at the same time."

That was about when she mentioned the group of enemies. Alkor turned to look ahead of them, wondering if she had caught sight of their destination. "Yeah, that's what we're looking for," he answered. "A group of like, three or four. They go down and the mob we have to kill spawns."

The fact that they mellowed out so quickly was a relief. Instead of getting up in arms, both Koga and Kasumi took Alkor's words in stride and the woman went so far as to invite them out to eat as thanks for their help. He quickly reassessed the situation. Clearly, there was a mood here that needed to be preserved, and this was a bike that already had two wheels. It did not need a third.

"Actually, I had some other plans after this," he said. There were plenty of quests left to do, and Alkor was almost to his goal. Soon, he'd be able to fight alongside the others. He just had to make the last push and propel himself into the top echelon of Players. "You guys should go ahead and fill up, have a few drinks for me." 

With his HUD opened up to the menu, he skimmed over a few things and double checked that he'd gotten credit for clearing the quest. Satisfied that he'd fulfilled the parameters, he smiled to the other two. "Rain check, maybe?" he asked.

Honestly, he wasn't really great with other Players, or people in general, and he didn't want to drag down the mood. Plus, Koga could use more friends- and the way Alkor figured it, he was repulsive as far as attracting friends went. This really was the best move for everyone.

"No, no, I absolutely appreciate the sentiment," Alkor grinned when Koga dismissed the apology as unnecessary. "Just be a little more cautious from now on," he told Kasumi. "Things can get dangerous, even if you're overleveled. All it takes is a little bit of bad luck and..." he made a gesture like exploding, to indicate the stream of data that Players and mobs alike became when their life bar ran dry. He didn't press his luck, though- he'd said enough about Koga for the man to get irritated, and even Alkor hadn't missed the telltale glare.

"Like he said though, it ended up working in our favor, so I can't really complain."

Alkor turned his gaze sideways at the question Koga asked. A scout Player didn't necessarily have to belong to a guild; and it seemed like they would at least have someone with them to handle the heavy lifting if they were coming somewhere that carried the risk of death. If she as in fact guilded, they were taking risks he didn't agree with regarding their Players. 

He didn't say anything, though. Alkor had never really loved most guilds in the game, with most of them focused insular and creating friction in an already stressful environment. Others were a bit more overly friendly, and that had its own annoying aspects. "...Alkor," he said his name after Koga finished. "I'm Alkor."

"Wrong?" he asked. Alkor turned and waved his hand in front of his face, a warding gesture. "You got me all wrong, I ain't the kind of guy who tells a girl there's something wrong with her clothes." Alkor knew better. Clothes were a direct reflection of a woman's tastes and outlook. To comment negatively on something like that? Tantamount to a declaration of war. No- it wasn't her aesthetic that sparked his commentary. "I'm just speaking on the irony of a burgeoning Otaku calling someone a dork."

Alkor notably didn't lose the gentle smile that he wore as he spoke. It was important that he didn't give her any reason to think he was being hostile. "There's not a thing wrong with your clothes," he assured her. "I've seen people at various festivals and events wearing that kind of stuff."

When she pushed him, he backpedalled a few steps and came dangerously close to taking a dive in the drink. Alkor managed to catch himself. "Fall!" he laughed sarcastically. "Is that what you're calling it?" The fact that she reacted at all was definitely positive. It showed that she wasn't completely numb, no matter what airs she tried to put on. Alkor felt a bit better, knowing that.

"Any time now," he said, spinning on his heel and returning his attention ahead of them. "We can't be too far."

"...whew."

Alkor exhaled audibly as the fighting ground to a halt. He stayed low and came out of his stance only after the victory fanfare was signaled across his HUD. When he stood upright, his golden gaze shifting over the other two to be certain they were still in one piece. "We did it," Alkor took a deep breath and sheathed his blade, placing both hands behind his head while the others had an opportunity to regroup.

He was glad that it ended without too many hits like that last one. The Lich King had taken half of the woman's health in a single blow. She wouldn't have withstood much more. He was glad they showed up when they did for that fact. "What were you doing alone?" he asked, then immediately realized after speaking that his words seemed abrasive. "That could have gone pretty badly. But I guess I'm actually more glad that it didn't that anything else," he said, carefully shifting the flow of conversation away from the collision course he was originally set on.

With his gaze shifted sideways now to Koga, he recalled that in the heat of the moment the man calling out that he hadn't realized that she was a woman. At least there was that. Alkor folded his arms and closed his eyes. What would come next? With this boss felled, he would be a few short steps away from the first of many goals. Alkor was almost there, almost back to the strength he had before the Ninth floor robbed him of it.

He could stand to be a little more lighthearted in this situation. "...Koga here was pretty worried about you," he told the unknown woman with a smirk. "He looks pretty relieved."

He found himself stuck at the edge of a cliff and barely hanging on. The urge to throw himself headlong into the Stygian swelled as she responded to him, not mincing words to declare her disinterest. At least he didn't have to worry about her trying to humor him. Alkor gave a flat, mirthless grunt in response.

When she asked her question, he glanced over the waters and considered. "I couldn't say," he muttered.  "I haven't spent a lot of time on this floor. But, we can look for it when we finish, if you want?" His voice had raised a little bit to assure that she would hear the offer; but somehow, Alkor didn't think Setsuna would be all that interested. It was most likely just another of her many observations. 

The next words out of her mouth were "You're a dork," and she covered her face once more. "Y'know, that'd be a lot more convincing from someone who wasn't dressed up like a ninja from some anime," he stuck his tongue out toward her, snapped his fingers, then whispered under his breath. "Gotcha!"

Alkor gave a gentle sigh as he led the way to he River. He couldn't read the girl at all. She seemed so cold with him, all the time. It didn't seem as though she hated him, which was reinforced by the fact that she agreed to join him for the duration of the chain. "You like mythology?" he asked. For someone so young to have an interest in anything historical always pleasantly surprised him. "Like how Stygian is actually a word that refers to deep darkness, like nightfall? It's a pretty interesting choice to replace Styx. I wonder what the developers were thinking when they made that call."

He asked these things aloud, not really concerned whether or not she would engage him further. It seemed like they shared that interest; but maybe he was wrong. "It'd be much creepier if there were lost souls adrift in its floes," he said with a laugh. "They went a completely different direction with it. It's eerily pretty," he commented. "But that's really all there is to it. I wouldn't go swimming in it, though."

The darkly dressed swordsman shot her a goofy smile. Setsuna in turn said she was going to wait in hiding, and that he knew her methods. He was probably more of a nuisance to her than she was letting on.

Sure, yeah, I understand.

"I'll take point, then," Alkor turned his face forward and strained for visual confirmation of their prey.

Alkor watched the others rail against the skeleton army with reckless abandon. The woman was surprisingly stronger than he'd expected, as she took the fight directly to the boss with no hesitation. He saw Koga follow suit by rushing the rest of the mobs with an area of effect attack, then immediately noted the boss' health replenish. There's more to this than we thought, his eyes went for the skeleton left standing. If he was right on his assumption, they all had to be cleared before the Players had any hope of leaving lasting damage on the boss' life bar. "Alright then," Alkor confirmed for himself as he designated his target. He exploded forward with his weapon readied, Sword Art charging in the wings.

And he fired off an onslaught of blows that ripped the unsuspecting Lich to shreds. Data exploded outward in a plume, leaving them alone with the creature. Looks pretty strong, he assessed as he planted his feet firmly and prepared his next attack. If they even made it that far. Gotta be careful, he remained mindful and vigilant. This thing might be stronger than anyone here thought it would be going into this. He didn't like the idea of the unknown. There were too many factors at play. The faster they brought this thing down, the safer they would be.

"Hit it again!" he called out. He was certain that there was room for error here, but if they coordinated, they could minimize that margin immensely.

ID# 183327 Battle: 3 (+4) = 7 HIT

15x11=165 DMG

ID# 183361 MOB: 9 Lich King critically strikes Kasumi!

Kasumi | HP:419/820 (-401) | EN:68/82 | DMG:20 | EVA:3 | ACC:5 | BLD:24
Koga | HP:760/760 | EN:62/76 | DMG:15 | MITI:18 | EVA:2 | ACC:4 | BRN:24 | BLGT:24 | FLN:4 | REGEN:10
Alkor | HP:960/960 | EN:104/104 | DMG:14 | MITI:12 | EVA:3 | ACC:4 | BLGT:24

(1,0,0) Lich King | HP:350/350 (+100) | DMG:400
(0,0,0) Shambling Soldier #1 | HP:0/100 | DMG:140
(0,0,0) Shambling Soldier #2 | HP:0/100 | DMG:140
(0,0,0) Skeletal Lich #1 | HP:0/100 | DMG:140
(0,0,0) Skeletal Lich #2 | HP:0/100 (-165) | DMG:140

"Yeah, this is where we met, isn't it?" he said with a faint smile in response to her words. He hadn't forgotten that. There was just something so surreal about being alive, to the point where he sometimes didn't quite believe his experiences were real. "You remember that, huh?" he asked, more rhetorical than anything. Setsuna didn't really seem the sentimental type. They were through the warp gate by the time he asked; so he wasn't quite sure that she'd heard what he said. Regardless, this wasn't the time to reminisce. Instead, he regarded her with a glance over his shoulder. "I have a pretty vague idea which direction we need to go in," he assured her.

Another ding across his HUD heralded the message that confirmed the directions for him. "We're headed to the Stygian river," Alkor said, "that's just over this way... and then..." 

He led her on the path, out of the safe zone. When they crossed the threshold he took his blade in hand. "Things shouldn't get too choppy for us to handle, but on the off chance that we do get attacked, better safe than sorry right?" he asked. Nostalgia about running headlong into danger floated at the forefront of his thoughts. He wanted to break the habit. "Apparently there's some adds that'll spawn ahead of the boss, so if we see that, we'll know we're on the right track."

It was no nonsense when talking to this girl, and he understood that. Alkor just wished that some of that ice would melt and she might show a bit more of the soft side. It would be good for her.

"Was it really a good idea to run and gun in like we just did?" Alkor asked incredulously. "We skipped a whole lot of prep, and even though this is a lower floor for us, it's not like this is an easy que-"

His complaints were cut short by the sudden, vicious interjection of a skeleton. With his blade barely connecting in defense, Alkor staggered backward. The exchange only solidified for him that this would be a much more difficult encounter than the Floor generally offered. He understood implicitly the need Koga felt to run headlong into the fray in order to prevent anything horrendous from happening to the other Player, but them being unprepared was just as bad if not worse than her trying to take the quest on by her lonesome. He sneered as he pressed back, forcing the skeleton that assailed him onto the back foot. Now he had the advantage.

"Like I said, next time, we think first. That sound okay to you?" he asked rhetorically as his blade carved through the mob and sent it scattering. He took a quick breath just in time for another skeleton to engage him. "God, they just keep coming," he muttered beneath his breath. "Just because she's a girl..." There were too many guys who had that weakness. What did they call it? Simps? Some trendy term from the 2010s. Either that or Koga just had a bad case of Main Character syndrome. 

With a heavy sigh, Alkor resigned himself to the fight at hand.

"Get over there and make sure she's okay!" he called out. This was Koga's show, not his. He wanted to fight the Quest boss, sure. The Lich would be his dance partner.

Alkor level 47 

960/960 HP 104/104 Energy

14 DMG | 12 MIT | 3 EVA | 4 ACC | 24 BLT

Blightsteel [T2 Demonic (2 DMG/1 BLT/ CRS)] Cowl of the Wandering Warrior [T2 Perfect (3 EVA)] Eye of Osiris [T1 Perfect (3 ACC)]

Rank 5 Curved Sword / Rank 3 Light Armor / Athletics / Precision / Ferocity 

Finesse (rank 3) / Fighter Familiar (rank 3) / Survival / Energist / Extended Mod Limit

"Well, I'm going to check something real quick, and then we'll know a little more." Alkor opened his menu and fired off a message. It wasn't more than a minute before he had a response. He glanced up as they headed for the teleporter and spoke toward Setsuna. "Looks like we're headed to the tenth floor," he explained as he took the lead in earnest. Seemed a bit strange, they were just jumping around and taking shots in the dark.

Whatever enemy they were looking for would likely be more difficult to fell than Kumatetsu had been. And on the tenth floor... if he hadn't gone there to have a look around, he would have thought it was a pipe dream. Everything that came after the ninth floor was uncharted territory. It was good that he'd have this chance to explore it.

"I guess I just assumed you enjoyed taking in new sights," he shrugged. "Because I imagine if I was born without sight, every minute I could experience even small things like color, I'd be amazed." It wasn't really something most people talked about directly. If it wasn't Alkor, who had extremely weak social skills and therefore lacked the proper etiquette to realize there were some things you just didn't talk about... it probably wouldn't have come up at all.

But Alkor didn't have any reason to think it was a sore topic. Setsuna had told him about it, after all. He rested his hand on the pommel of his blade as they made it to the teleporter. "Not everyone has my limited perspective, I guess," he laughed. "Teleport! Yomi!"

Alkor heard Koga's words and chuckled quietly. "Everything here has meaning, huh?" He questioned that sentiment because it perfectly mirrored the facade he once adopted. Alkor opted for a path toward becoming a hero that eschewed everything he was outside of Aincrad. Koga's situation was different, certainly, but the same lesson came to mind. "You're not wrong about that, I reckon," the golden eyed swordsman returned the pipe to his lips and took another healthy pull. 

The smoke he exhaled joined with the graying clouds above them. "Everything here is structured and nearly everything has meaning relative to something else. It's how games are. Programs, logic, numbers, code. Everything here is simulated. Maybe that's fine, maybe it's not," Alkor shrugged. He wasn't there for semantics. This whole conversation started because Alkor screamed into the wind about everything he'd felt up to now. It just felt fitting that things came around to laying it all on the table.

"But Koga, don't you think that just means you should try to make things more meaningful, not just here in Aincrad, but back in the real world too?"

Everyone had their own way of thinking, and it showed. Alkor didn't think Koga was wrong either. Some people had made lifelong friendships through the trials and tribulations of Sword Art Online. "I definitely don't see this as not real," he gestured out toward the augmented reality ahead of them. Down to the smoke that they were inhaling, everything felt just like their actual bodies were doing in. The brain was hard wired to machinery, and with impulses not unlike neurons firing off signals that mimicked true life, their experience happened no different from if they were using their own hands or eyes. He couldn't just discount that. He tried- back when he was pretending to be something that he wasn't, in order to pretend like it had nothing to do with him.

Childish notions for a childish man.

Alkor liked to think he'd grown at least a little since then. "It's more like, everything we're doing now put the lives we were living previously on hold," he made a vague gesture toward the other man. "Everyone and everything I knew was violently replaced with unfamiliar faces and places. I don't want to die without being able to go back and say goodbye to those things. They were precious to me. They still are, even. And there's too many other people that I know now who I don't want to lose out on that opportunity, either."

He twirled the pipe between two fingers and sat backward further, reclining his weight on a single hand. "I sure don't mind the idea of risking my neck to make sure other folks survive," he murmured thoughtfully, "but one day, I got to thinking, maybe it'd be cooler if I didn't have to die in the process. Self-sacrifice can be noble, sure, but if it can be avoided, shouldn't it? Rather than consigning yourself to the idea of death... wouldn't it be much better than to try to reject it entirely? So many people inside this world have gotten this black and white idea that you either survive or you don't. I just one day realized it was selfish of me to think that, with everyone waiting on me on the other side, and all the things I've left undone, to say 'I'm willing to die for this."

The golden eyed man tapped the pipe to his chin thoughtfully. "Everyone's afraid to die," he said, "I've made peace with that fact that I very well could. But I've got reasons to live."

When he saw the tears and heard the laughter, he knew that Koga had been holding in a great deal more than he let on. That was true of many people in Aincrad. Sadly, the way some chose to face the hardship was more toxic to themselves than actually trying to heal. He wasn't the authority on positive mental health, so he wasn't going to tell anyone their way was wrong; but there was a genuine weight lifted from his shoulders when the other man opened up about his lost sister, and his love. It was hard to do. Alkor hadn't initially opened up about his grandmother to anyone, either.

Remembering was the first step, though. Facing the ghosts of the past was breaching the barrier of denial. With that dam broken down, the stages of grief could flow over and eventually, Koga might even be able to move past it all. All of that depended on him, though. Alkor had done all he could. "It's good to talk about them," he said quietly, a smile on his face. He drew another pull from his pipe and the oaky, burnt and acrid flavor rippled through his thoughts again. Far away, in another time, Thom remembered the first time he tasted whiskey. He remembered the way his grandfather's eyes flickered on his deathbed, and how he raided the old man's stores to mourn his death with the same fluid that had made the man numb for so long.

Being numb wasn't moving forward, or backward. It was just... existing. Alkor didn't want to be numb anymore. 

He blew the smoke out through his nostrils and offered the tobacco to the other man, unsure if he'd accept the gesture. There weren't any real ramifications for it. Augmenting drugs did nothing in Sword Art Online: so the act was purely cosmetic, if a bit nostalgic. "Any time, buddy," he told Koga honestly. "There's a lot of stress in this world without the demons we keep hidden from everyone else eating us alive from the inside. Don't hesitate to look for a shoulder. There's a surprisingly large support system if you're willing to reach out." He said that because he knew more than one person who had tried to be that for him. Lessa and Mari were the most prominent examples, but he was certain there had been others. His memory was still a bit hazy. Alkor had made his choice in that. Those people probably still would listen to him, if he cared to talk. 

"I think my biggest thought about dying in this game," Alkor slurred his speech a bit as more smoke roiled over his tongue, "is not being able to see what comes next. I didn't have much of a life before I got to this world, and I'm not satisfied with that. This isn't where I want to go out. I've never done anything, gone anywhere, I've never even been in love."