Sword Art Online: Blood Knight

December 11th, 2029

It's been exactly one month since the launch of Sword Art Online, or SAO for short. One year in development, one year for release, one day to change our lives forever. At this point, salvation still seemed very far away; if it took one month to complete seventeen floors, then getting to the hundredth was going to take a while. Not everyone was fighting, either; children and people new to games entirely chose to wait on the first level's town, as it was too much of a risk to have them fight alongside us.

Everyone is fighting the best they can, and for a while now, it seemed that victory was not that far away. Most everyone was united, and even those who usually disliked the Beta Testers seemed to at least keep their comments to themselves. Three powers rose; the Army, the Divine Dragon Alliance, and the Knights of the Blood. Each guild having their own strengths, their own people, their own problems.

One particular problem was hanging above everyone's heads.

And so we all gathered at the Coliseum. Despite Freya being the leader, I was chose as the 'face' of the guild. I don't know why I'm doing this--if something happened, all would point at me. Maybe Freya really did kill Lucian, and I was next. Or it could just be one big misunderstanding. At this point in time, all eyes were on me, and my own eyes couldn't meet theirs.

If I only I could have seen what was coming, if there was some way to know that we were about to make the biggest mistakes of our lives.

This is our story.

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"Presenting the Third-In-Command of the Knights of the Blood--Eva."

Eva reluctantly lifted her face to the crowd. That simple act had the audience break out in whispers. She wasn't that surprised; she was just a kid, and already she was third highest ranked in a guild notorious for housing strong players. As soon as the noise quieted down, she drew in a small breath. She hated public speaking. The topic didn't help any, either.

"As you know, the shift in power has presented some changes within our guild." She stated. "However, as per our guild's standards, the new leader, Freya, has assigned me as the 'head' of the Front Lines. I'll be in charge of all operations, that is to say. Just...planning and dungeon crawling and...uh, developing boss strategies."

The girl paused, letting that bit of information sink in, and judging by their reactions, this was news. "I'm not the type of person to really lead anyone, nor am I the type to sit around and let everyone else do the work, but I'll do the best I can. I'll be joining the scouting team personally in an effort to measure out the floor's difficulty so that when we tackle the boss, we'll have a better chance at winning and lessening the casualties."

"It might just be a title in a game, but I promise, I'll get us all out of here. If I have to go and beat every boss by myself, then so be it."

Her last sentence got a couple of laughs here and there, but to her delight, she was met with some polite applauding. She sighed in relief as she was dismissed, and she quickly escaped the Coliseum as quickly as possible. A message popped up at her window; the next floor would be tackled later on, at sunset. It was just around late morning, so that left everyone some time. Deciding that she needed a little time to think, she sat at the grand fountain and pondered to herself. She couldn't stand all that staring...

Paul sat on a chair in his shop leaning backwards and tossed a stick in the air. So far no adventurers had come to see him. It seems they were losing footmen left and right. Personally he did not care to move onto the new levels unless there was a severe lack of players coming in. He supposed he could find a new group but his Black Baron Bros had left him behind a long time ago. Most likely they were all dead or dying by now. It was not something he was fond of thinking about but it was the truth. He hated being stuck in one place but hey it was freakin' better than dying out there! Of course it would be fun they said! You wouldn't get hurt they said! It's just a game they said! Screw everyone who thought that because they were liars or were lied to! Screw the leader of the corperation who ran this hell hole! Hopefully he will get arrested soon and they could go back to their original lives...and no worry about god damn technological cyber space people busting his door open and trying to gut him with a flaming sword.

Adrius hung near one of the more secluded areas, the shadows obscuring his form for the most part, with his hood pulled up for good measure. Members of the Knights of the Blood were scattered throughout the Colloseum, too absorbed in friendly conversation to pay any attention to him—that was good; he didn't intend to let anyone know he was ere. Truthfully, the Dark Knight didn't know himself the reason as to his presence here. He left this guild a couple of weeks back, not exactly on good terms, either. For some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to trust this supposed 'strongest guild'. At least not that damned recently-anointed leader, Freya. Too much controversy surrounded Lucian's death, and he didn't want any part of a guild turning to deception and lies, as odd as that might sound, coming from Adrius.

Eva's speech was essentially a motivational speech, along with an update on the guild's next course of action; they'd be aiming to finish the floor soon. Adrius briefly debated on whether or not he'd join the assault on the floor's boss. There was nothing else for him to really be doing—he had no competency regarding subjects other than fighting. Regardless, he'd have to make a stop into town for some supplies, so he could decide then.

During his tread there, he recognized the Third-in-Command sitting against the Grand Fountain, appearing to be in deep thought. From his time among the Knights of the Blood, Adrius had acquired a couple of friends. Although he hadn't really kept in touch with any of them after leaving the guild, he considered Eva to be an. . .acquaintance of sorts. Leaning against the opposite end of the fountain, Adrius smirked, "That was a nice speech back there, Third-in-Command. Really motivational," he added with a sarcastic drawl. Of course, he was partially kidding; even he knew better than to insult one of the top members of one of the strongest guilds. On the other hand, Adrius didn't really care if he offended the guild. After all, he was no longer a member, and he wasn't scared of anything. At least, that's what he's always been telling himself.

Robin stood at the back of the coliseum crowd in his armor hiding his face away from any of the Knights of the Blood members who might recognize him. It was pretty ballsy of him to even come near his former guild after being labeled as a traitor. He was not impressed with Eva's last statement or the whole speech in that matter. This commander is a joke to the 'strongest' guild, I would have been a better commander if that event didn't occur...Tsk forget this, time to search for some new recruits and start a real guild. He thought leaving the coliseum before any of the members caught a glimpse of him.


Joining the assault would be risky depending on the size of the group that is going, he was better off starting a small party before the raid starts to avoid any problems with the guild. But the question was where could he find reliable warrior worthy enough to stand by his side? Robin pulled up his minimap studying it thoroughly to find a location where a pro player would be, it would have been much quicker if he played the beta back then.

You try talking to a bunch of people who are just waiting for an excuse to point fingers. She held her true thoughts but decided to shift the conversation slightly. "So long as my sword proves the results, the talking won't really matter anymore." Eva replied, raising her hand to bring up her menu. The map of the floor was brought up, and she pointed at a room in the opposite direction of the boss room. "I'd like to make a request. I need to get to this room; I have a few names of a couple of players I want to take with me, and you'd be a good addition."

The map zoomed into the specific room, and she drew a path from the entrance to it. "For whatever reason, the difficulty spikes up the closer you get to that room. There's a rumor going around that there's an item there that possesses a stat that makes it impossible for your HP to get to zero." She explained quietly enough for him to hear and for anyone around to not. "I need to see if it's true."

She closed her menu and got up, cloak hanging around her as she looked up at Adrius. "If you'd like, I'll even give you the item. What do you say?"

To be honest, Adrius was a little surprised at her proposal. He had made it no secret upon leaving the guild that he intended to continue working solo. Nevertheless, the rumor drew his interest, despite its rather unlikely proportions. An item that could essentially prevent you from dying. . .if it was possible to equip and un-equip it, then it wasn't quite as overpowering. After all, an item like that could serve more as a burden than anything else; people would be looking to swipe it off of its owner at all hours of the day.

Adrius narrowed his eyes slightly. It could be some sort of trap. The guild could just be looking to persecute me in some way for ditching them. Being one whom people rarely put their trust in, Adrius was just as wary of everyone else. As he thought on it, however, he simply couldn't picture Eva as the type to double-cross someone like that. Besides, double-crossing someone in dangerous territory was dangerous at best. Furthermore, he was confident in his abilities, if worst came to worst.

"Ok, I guess I could join your little scouting party. However, I do have a question: what would you have to gain by giving me the item, when you could take advantage of its rumored power and further assert your position in the guild?"