Grimm Reaper

Ozwald wasn't someone who was going to judge another person based off of their actions, but he thought that Freyd might have been a little too harsh to Elora. The girl that he was walking beside had seemed to almost completely shut down, and it made him sad to see someone so lively turned into someone who wouldn't talk, and would just look at the floor. Ozwald leaned closer to the girl, he wanted to try and lift her spirits, but he didn't fully know how. "You know, I thought your throw was pretty good." Ozwald whispered to the girl not knowing whether or not this was the right thing to do.

Leaning back to the side of the path that he was walking on Ozwald put his hand behind his head, seemingly very relaxed. "Thank You both for joining me." Ozwald thanked the pair, he could have easily handled the quest without them, but it was always more fun with a companion on an adventure. The trio walked all the way back to the town of beginnings in what was honestly a fairly short amount of time. 

"Ha, I wouldn't call myself good with kids." Ozwald laughed rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "But I worked at a zoo, before this." Ozwald was a zoology major before he had picked up this game, and as part of his learning he had decided to start volunteering at his local zoo. "Well I am glad that the kid is safe at the very least. Sorry to derail our date, where were we?" Ozwald asked his lover wanting to go back to the amazing date that he and Ozwald were on prior to this. Ozwald reached out and took Valentine's hand, starting to drag him off in order to go back to their walk, or start to head home, whichever one fancied the pair after they started walking. Ozwald was glad that he had been able to help the child, he was worried that he wasn't going to be able to deliver the good news the mother was looking for.

"Oh no, we have quested together plenty of times. Just all of it was before we started living together." Ozwald explained how Valentine and him had done quests together on numerous occasions not mentioning that most off them had started out as dates that just turned into quests. Ozwald was glad to hear that he wouldn't have to fight in the water, while that might be a neat mechanic, it was definitely a lot harder than fighting on land.

Ozwald and present company kept walking, they were getting closer and closer to the eighth dragon with each and every step that they took. Soon enough they would come upon the lake that the dragon was said to be hiding, or a puddle if Chase was right. Ozwald was paying attention to their surroundings, a few of the dragons had had other creature's nearby to help keep players away, and this one might be no different.

"Yeah, we just moved in together, that took up the majority of the time I had waiting for the gear." Ozwald wasn't lying he had just moved in with Valentine, into an estate on the snowy fourth floor. "I trained a bit, when I had the free time, but no I didn't do any leveling at all." Ozwald explained to Chase. Ozwald knew that Chase was someone who worked himself until he reached his goals without taking a single break, but that wasn't the kind of person Ozwald was, he would strive for his goals, but he would take the time to relax along the way. Thus far Ozwald had kept up a fairly good pace when it came to leveling, it had barely been more than a month since he had started at level 1, but now he was already at level 25 so to him it was a job well done.

"If this dragon is a water dragon, will we have to fight it while in the lake?" Ozwald asked the man beside him, he knew he wouldn't know the answer, but it was nice to hear his opinion on the matter at hand.

Ozwald wasn't upset that Chase was joking around even in the slightest, it was rare to see his friend have a face of anything other than disinterest or blankness is a better term. "Yeah, imagine it trying to submerge itself, its wings still out of the water." Ozwald laughed at the thought of the small dragon trying to call a puddle its home. "Oh, it took a while for the guild to process my order, in the meantime I had some quality time with Valentine." Ozwald blushed at the latter half of his sentence, the quality time was a little less than family friendly after all, but Chase didn't know that. 

The pair were just casually walking along a windy path that seemed to never end, but that was fine with Ozwald, he enjoyed the downtime between fights more than he cared to admit. The fighting in Aincrad was a huge part of the game, but walking around and just enjoying the scenery was a very nice distraction from the fact that this game was a trap.

"Yeah, perks of being in a guild, the free loot." Ozwald joked with his blue haired companion. It was nice to be back with the man, although they didn't know each other that well, Chase was the first person who Ozwald could call a friend in this world, so working with him was always a treat. "In a lake? Is it some kind of water dragon then?" Ozwald was curious because so far it seemed that the dragon's sort of fit the elements like one was wind, one was earth, another sand and so on. Ozwald didn't know how long they would have to walk for, but he was fine with it, he had spent two days doing nothing other than waiting for his gear to be approved and made by the guild, so it was good finally getting out. 

"The eighth dragon, we are getting really close. Makes me think what is going to be at the end of this journey." Ozwald commented. Ozwald was hoping that the castle on the tenth floor lived up to expectations, with how much hype it was getting it would be more than sad if it just turned out to be another dime a dozen boss.

Ozwald had gotten his gear from his guild fairly easily, they provided free gear to anyone within the guild, which to Ozwald seemed like a bad business strategy, but he wasn't a guild leader so how would he know. Ozwald's new armor was different from his old pair, but it was the same general premise, it was light and easy to move in, making it perfect for both the stealthy build he was going for and the high movement requirements of his sword arts.

Ozwald received the message from Chase, and he eyed the mask that was sitting in his inventory, he had decided that he would only where the mask when he was alone, or around Are so as to avoid people knowing it was him. Ozwald made his way from his fourth floor home that he shared with his dearly beloved Valentine, and teleported to the eighth where Chase was waiting for him. "Hello, I see you are as ready as ever." Ozwald greeted the man that he had not seen in a few days.

Ozwald was not expecting to see what he saw. Seeing himself standing behind him, gave him more than his fair share of surprise. Ozwald didn't really know what to do, especially since he didn't know exactly what this quest was all about. He didn't have to ponder that question for very long though as the doppelganger him launched at him, laughing a laugh that seemed to originate from everywhere around Ozwald rather than from within the fake version of himself. Not expecting the hit, Ozwald took the punch that the fake Ozwald had delivered to him. Ozwald didn't know what was happening, not really. He was currently being attacked by himself, and he had no idea if he should attack back or not. After dodging four more punches from the fake man it said "Too cowardly to even fight back, how can you protect anyone like that." This was what pushed Ozwald to fight back against his fake self, launching a fierce right hook at him. The claws on his gloves seemed to rake against the doppelganger's face, but no blood poured out of the open wound.

Ozwald wasn't yet used to the cool metal that was placed upon his face, but it hid him better than anything else would. The mask was designed so that one could not even see Ozwald's eyes, but Ozwald could see through it just fine. It's entire purpose was to unnerve the people fighting against Ozwald, and hopefully that would be the case.

Ozwald knew where the quest that he was heading for would be taking place, but he knew nothing about what the quest actually entailed. Making his way through the thick jungle along the overgrown path that he had to use to reach the quest. It didn't take very long for the masked man to push away the last of the vines and step into a clearing that the quest would take place in. Walking into the clearing further Ozwald couldn't see anything that would make this the quest spot.

After walking almost to the other side of the clearing, Ozwald still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, until a branch snapped behind him. Whipping around Ozwald turned to face whatever was there behind him, but to his surprise it was himself, without a mask on.

Ozwald didn't return home after receiving the new gear that he had requisitioned from the guild, instead he walked to the sixth floor where he had heard there was a hard quest that he should attempt at the start of tier 2. Ozwald teleported to the sixth floor again, he had only been here once before with Chase, but that wasn't what was on his mind. Ozwald opened his inventory equipping the armor that he had requested from his guild.

Ozwald stared at the mask that he had made, the metal of it was cold to the touch, exactly what you would expect for the face of a dead man. Taking the mask and placing it upon his face Ozwald pulled up the cloth hood that was attached to his leather armor. No longer could Ozwald be seen, every single part of Ozwald was covered up. This was fine by Ozwald, due to Are's rules with this mask on, he was no longer Ozwald, he was the spectre, a dead man walking, a man fighting for those who were gone, a spectre in the night. 

"Yes, Let's get her out of here." Ozwald slowly walked up to the child that was shivering in the middle of the cave, making sure to be as non threatening as possible. "Hey, we are here to take you back to your mommy." Ozwald bent down stretching out his arm for the child to take his hand. Ozwald began leading the small frightened child of the cave that was once home to a pair of giant bats.

The floor outside of the cave was now surprisingly bright, after coming out of the dark cave the light from the digital sun was much stronger than what it would have normally been. "Let's take her back to her mom, Okay?" Ozwald asked his lover who had followed them out of the cave. After receiving confirmation the now trio started walking in the direction of the settlement that the mom lived in. Taking the Child to her mother was a joyous occasion. The child ran crying to the mother, where they embraced and went on their way.

Ozwald was going to introduce himself to the man who was standing beside his dearly beloved, until he told him that formal introductions could wait. Ozwald was about to ask what their next course of action should be but was cut short by a loud crash from nearby, turning to look Ozwald saw a building tumble down on top of an NPC. Aquan ,as Ozwald had learned, reacted even faster than he himself could, but that did not stop him from running slightly behind him to go help hoping that Valentine would soon be following suit.

Turning to look behind him Ozwald could see Valentine, the love of his life struggling against the inky black downpour that had suddenly appeared. The wind starting to lift him into the air, pulling him towards the black clouds above. Ozwald didn't even hesitate before he turned around to pull Valentine's feet firmly back to the ground. "Are you okay Val?" Ozwald asked making sure that Valentine was safe before heading back to help the crushed man.

"The name's Grimm." Ozwald called out above the torrent of both wind and inky black rain that was caused by the storm. Crouching beside the pile of rubble Ozwald pulled debris off of the buried man throwing it to the side. All Ozwald could think about was making sure that the man survived, but the chances were looking, much like his name, very grim 

ID#: 177433
Initial Roll Value: 20
Giving or Receiving: Giving 1 to Valentine
Final Roll Value: 19

Ozwald felt Valentine brush past him fairly recklessly and shook his head, he loved his headstrong lover, but even on the first floor you should be careful. Anything could happen and a powerful creature could appear anywhere. Ozwald wasn't going to let Valentine fight alone, not if he had anything to do with it. 

Ozwald was not more than fifteen seconds behind Valentine's charge. Turning the corner Ozwald saw that Valentine was protecting the child that they were looking for, from two very large bats that seemingly wanted this child for dinner. Not hesitating for a moment longer Ozwald leaped himself into the air spinning in a full three sixty spin that brought his foot spinning by the first bat, missing by not even a hair, and slamming into the side of the second bat. When Ozwald's foot met the second bat it exploded into the normal blue explosion signalling that the bat had been killed. There was only one bat left, and Val could easily deal with it.

Ozwald followed Valentine into the cave, it was definitely very dark, and he could hear the bats off in the distance. The cave was not only very dark, it was also very cold. Ozwald was used to the cold damp and wet environments of his home, so this was nothing to him, but he couldn't imagine that Valentine was having a good time with it. Ozwald decided that he would take the lead, he had more health so taking a few hits wouldn't be as much of an issue for him as it would be for Valentine, if things did happen to go wrong. Ozwald passed by Val walking in front of him to make sure that he was safe, the sounds of the bats getting ever closer and closer. "I think that they are just around this corner." Ozwald informed Valentine listening intently to the sounds of the bats that they would be combatting.

Ozwald graciously accepted his offer of a walk "Don't want to get virtually fat after all." Ozwald laughed grabbing the man's hand and started to head off into the town that was on the second floor. The pair walked around town while just talking for what was a surprisingly long time, a few hours had passed of the two of them just talking. Ozwald was really glad to be spending time with Valentine, this was the man that he absolutely adored being around after all. 

The pair's walk was cut off by a woman who was seemingly very distraught coming up to them. The woman was crying grabbing onto Ozwald "Please, Please you have to help me. Please" Ozwald could barely tell what the woman was talking about. "What's wrong?" OZwald asked the lady, turning to face Valentine with a worried expression. "My Daughter, she. . . I can't find her, I think she went exploring in the cave nearby. I'm so worried that cave is dangerous." Ozwald looked back down at the lady sobbing in his arms "We will find her I promise."

Ozwald imagined the place that Chase was describing while they walked back through the winding pathways on the seventh floor, to Ozwald it sounded wonderfully beautiful. "That sounds beautiful." Ozwald commented on the picture of the place that he had in his mind, he had never been to the twenty first floor, but he was bound to get there eventually. "I can't wait to see it." He added.

The winding pathways eventually led the pair back to the main settlement that could be found on the seventh floor making their way to the teleporter "I know we are on a roll, but I just hit tier two and need to go find some better gear, I will get in touch when I have, and we can continue this." Ozwald was marginally upset that he couldn't complete the adventure in one fell swoop with Chase, but getting the better gear would help him be more useful in the long run.

Ozwald nodded towards his blue haired friend, it was true that as he got higher level the loot would be worth more, and he was fine with that, that is what happens when you are doing fairly easy quests. "So far I have liked most of them, the dessert wasn't really my thing, but they have all been so amazing." Ozwald did his best to prevent himself from talking about all of the different plants that he had seen incorporated into the world, some were incredibly realistic and accurate to their real life counterparts and the ones that weren't were fascinating.

"I think my favorite would have been the jungle." Ozwald was certain that that floor was his favorite by far so far into their adventure. "The biodiversity there was phenomenal, there were so many plants and animals." Ozwald seems to smile more than normal when talking about the animals that he saw present in the game, after all animals were going to be his career before this game happened. 

"Hmmm, not the best haul in the world, some tier one armor, which is good for my shop. As well as almost two thousand Col." Ozwald was neither displeased nor excessively pleased with the loot that he had gotten from the dragon last hit. No matter the amount of Col he got, it would always be nice, and while he wouldn't use the T1 armor, he could still sell it at his shop after identifying it. When Chase finally managed to pry the gem stone out from the necklace that it was attached to both Ozwald and Chase received a notification for gaining the gem and completing the quest.

"And that has officially made seven out of the nine. Only two more to go." Ozwald was glad about their pace, they were going through the dragon hunter quests at an amazing speed that was boosting Ozwald in not only levels, but also just the quests, completing them now means he wouldn't have to come back and get them later.

Ozwald smiled at the story from his lover, they had come from two very different worlds, Where Ozwald was loved by his family with shows of great affection and spending time with them, Valentine's family seemed to have shown there's in a much different way to say the least. "Well I am glad they raised you how you are, I like the man I see before me." Ozwald meant the words that he spoke to Valentine, so far through their relationship Ozwald was surprisingly happy, almost as if this death game weren't so much of a game, but more of a life. 

Ozwald and Valentine had a lovely dinner together, the food may not have been classy, but that is what Ozwald preferred he didn't like big fancy restaurants he liked  ones that were small and homey, but no matter where they were sharing his time with Valentine was more than enough for Ozwald.

Ozwald watched as the mostly broken blade coalesced into a shimmering blade that fell down on top of the dragon before the pair. Although Ozwald had seen Chase's sword in action before, it always shocked him. The blade when not being used wasn't much to look at, just seemingly a shattered blade, but when in use it was a beautiful sight to behold, so much different than the weapons that Ozwald always fought with.

Ozwald didn't want to be shown up by Chase's display and prowess, but nothing that he knew was all that flashy really, Ozwald was a brawler his punches hit with efficiency less than style. Either way the short black haired man slowly made his way to the dragon, walking almost nonchalantly at the beast before stopping next to it. Ozwald brought back his fist punching forward with a mighty fist that not only caused the dragon to explode into an explosion of blue light, but also created a sonic boom that rippled through the air. 

"Yeah I definitely know that that is how I feel, better me than someone I care about." Ozwald was mainly thinking of Andi, the woman who was his best friend in the real world, and was the entire reason he had decided to use martial arts rather than fight with a sword. Andi had planned to join Ozwald in this game, she had bought it and everything, but when the day came she wasn't able to get on with him, it would have been her first game too. Ozwald was glad that he was the only one who ended up here, inside of the trap that was Sword Art Online. 

Ozwald noticed that they were practically at there destination, so he kept his eyes open even more than he normally would have. Turning to look off to the side Ozwald saw something peculiar, a structure similar to stonehenge. "Hey," Ozwald called out to grab Chase's attention "Do you see that, think it could have the dragon hatchling?" Ozwald asked pointing towards the stonehenge esque structure that was in a basin beside them.

Ozwald felt really sorry for the blue haired man that he had come to call a friend, it was more than horrible that the first game he ever played was this hell hole of a game. Ozwald knew that Chase was not someone who liked to be pitied, or at least he seemed that way, so Ozwald didn't say anything of that sort. "Well, you sure picked a great game to start with." Ozwald joked, it may have seemed unsensitive to joke about something that was so serious, but that was how Ozwald dealt with issues that were important. 

"You weren't wrong though, this game is stunning, I have never seen anything quite like it." Ozwald commented on how amazing SAO would have been if it weren't a death game that everyone involved in had no way of escaping. This game would have been a breakthrough for gaming, and technology as a whole had Kayaba not turned it into his own twisted and sick joke. It was sad to think about all that could have been.

Ozwald was walking behind Chase, in much the same fashion that he was, his hands in his pockets walking without any hurry at all. Ozwald barely reacted to Chase's question before he opened his mouth to respond. "No I don't think you have. I mean when I was younger I played a lot of games, but life gets pretty busy this is the first game I picked up in, I think five years." Ozwald informed his companion about his gaming habits "Hell of a choice to get back into right? How about you?" Ozwald joked before asking Chase the same question.

Ozwald kept walking listening to the ambiance of the world around him, it was a beautiful sound, animals that they couldn't see making a harmony of sound that, to Ozwald sounded like music. The path would periodically grow steeper as Chase and Ozwald would walk up smaller hills in order to wind around the larger mountains.

Ozwald wasn't the greatest with public shows of affection, the act of showing that he loved Valentine was something that he loved, but he preferred showing it in the privacy of there home, though he would never say no to something Valentine wanted to do. Ozwald was lost in thought until Valentine's last statement telling him to order for them. Ozwald had never been to this restaurant before and had absolutely no idea what would be good here. 

Ozwald looked at the menu, pretending to ponder over what what would be the best thing to order here, the place wasn't some big fancy restaurant, it was more of a small homey place. Looking it over Ozwald decided on a very simple food, one that no one could say they didn't like. When the waiter came around Ozwald ordered them a plain cheese pizza. "I hope that suits your tastes." Ozwald told his lover, pizza was an amazing food, and sharing it with someone special made it even better.

Ozwald's anger rarely lasted more than a few moments, and this time was no different, the anger that he had felt at himself for not noticing the information broker's notes had dissipated and left him soon after the feelings had first appeared inside of himself. Ozwald now knew exactly what the coordinates were, but that was only so useful when he literally knew nothing about the floor he was on, from what he could tell the entire floor was covered in mountains which would make it harder to find those coordinates. 

Ozwald decided that whether he knew where he was going or not, it was still better to just follow Chase along on the quest. Ozwald just followed behind the blue haired man "Yeah I have already gained quite a lot since we began this questline." he told the man agreeing with his statement on the matter. The paths that the pair were following twisted and turned around mountains, at this rate it would take them twice as long to reach the dragon on this floor than any other previously.