Laurent kept her focus on that new and very formal looking new guild. She noticed that the other guild leaders were being taken into another room in the back, leaving all the solo players and guild members in a meeting with all of the second in commands leading the field boss meeting. This left Neon colossus in an awkward position, having members late didn't matter as they still weren't the last to show up. "I uh, Pterro. I think that woman over there is calling for you." She gestured to a woman holding a door open that Asuna for some reason didn't go into. A man broke from this new guild and went into the room, Heathcliff. The other guild leaders followed suit, including Pterrophos. "Ok, let's uh... Maya, could you lead us in? It's kinda your job and stuff to make us look all scary and stuff for these meetings. Everyone walk in two lines side by side? Maya take center front, Mez and Kharn take the first row, then the rest of us just, I dunno stand behind them and glare like Maya. The bitchier the better!" She said shoving Maya and Pterrophos foreword.

The guild lined up nicely, but Laurent was too busy trying to look bitchy (which wasn't normal for her, normally she just had her resting bitch face to do that for her.) to notice her guild members bitchy faces. The crowd sort of parted due to Maya's presence and obviously superior bitch face being able to part a crowd of high level warriors. They took their seats and Laurent looked at the empty leader seat that most guilds had a second in command occupying. "We uh, we need someone to sit there and I don't know fighting as well as you guys..." She looked to the others anxiously. She was nervous that her guild was going to be the center of unwanted attention. "So uh, someone needs to sit there. NOT IT!" She shouted. And waited until the rest caught on and said it too. Mez was the last to say it. "MEZ! HA! Go represent us!" She said trying to shove the obviously stronger Mez to the forefront of the meeting room.

---

"Uh, yeah listen to Laurent, I apparently have an important meeting!" He said wrapping his arms around Mez and Kharn's shoulders. "Maya these boys don't look near pretty enough. I thought I told you to do that ahahahaha!" He chuckled before being shoved foreword by his loving secretary. He weaved his way to the stage in the middle of the meeting hall and into the back room where the woman (who in reality was a solo player he had never met before) was gesturing to. Inside he saw all of the guild leaders.. And Heathcliff, dressed in armor that matched the new guild that was lead by Asuna. "So uh, I'm assuming we need -" He was cut off by Heathcliff.

"The Knights of the Blood will be taking the lead guild position now that the Army has given up the position." He spoke with such power and calmness. Of course nobody agreed with this decision, as everyone there also wanted that position and a guild that was JUST formed had no right to it in the first place. "I'm willing to duel anyone for the position. I'm sure we're all the best warriors in our guilds, correct? We'll represent ourselves!" He glared at Pterrophos who openly admitted to not being the best warrior in the guild. Everyone drew their weapons that they kept sheathed while Pterro stumbled through menus to get his Rapier out.
Immediately, Heathcliff challenged the leader of the DID, the strongest contender to himself. He dispatched of her with relative ease, calling up the other leaders one by one taking them out leaving just Pterrophos. "Uh, hey man. You know how uh, strong and CUNNING I am right? I don't think this duel is absolutely necessary!" He let out, ready to lose but jokingly trying to get him to just quit. The duel request was sent quickly, mid sentence though and was mindlessly accepted. He flicked his rapier knocking Heathliff's sword away with relative ease, but his shield made it near impossible to hit his opponent. Eventually he must have slipped because he attempted a parry but seemed to have moved his rapier perfectly around the man's sword that cut his arm off, which proceeded to dissipate in front of him. It manage to do enough damage in one hit to sever the limb digitally. Pterro let out a yell and collapsed to his knees. It would be a bit, perhaps five minutes until it would regenerate so he wasn't too worried but it hurt like a bitch. "Asshole... But yeah yeah, you win. What's our move Supreme glorious leader Kim Jong Heathcliff?" He chuckled, and Heathcliff chucked a bit as well before getting a bit more serious.

"I'll leave that to our second in commands outside. They were left in charge to handle the meeting." With that said, a look of terror crossed Pterrophos' face. He had no second in command and couldn't imagine what was going to happen. Was someone stepping up? Was his guild going unrepresented? He tried to grab his face with his stump arm and just mimed the position awkwardly.

With a crouch, she leapt up to grab both of Attania's arms by the wrist and pulled herself up with the sheer force of her abdominals, swinging her legs around the tree branch Attania sat on. Beneath her, missing her by a sneeze length, the hybrid mini-boss charged past and into the brush once more. Panting, She dislodged her legs, and then let go of Attania to drop to the ground. Her eyes were focused on the bushes that moved, keeping an eye on the boar's location.

"Attania," She called his attention, once again materializing her blade into her hand. "Listen to me. What I want you to do is lure the boss into something. It's fast, not smart. I know it's dangerous but you'll be okay if you move on my command..." She looked at a sturdy looking tree. "There... go stand there... and dive to the side when he's coming at you. Once he's stunned, I'll attack it with a skill set."

Collab between Kalas & Experiment

The woman, who had taken all of the leaders into the back room, shut the door tightly and walked back towards the middle of the hall, where a map was lain out on a table. There was a part of the map circled in red, labeled to be the location of the first field boss of floor 26. "Here, in this clearing, is what we think to be the location of the next field boss. We don't know what it is, since the scout teams that reported back to us haven't gotten very close." She turned to face Mez. "Aside from your guild, all scouts have reported back in. Your's, however, have not yet return. Where are they?" She asked in a condescending manner.

Mez had barely reached the designated chair he'd been forced to occupy when the woman, who seemed to be the organizer of the meeting, addressed him with a question regarding Attania and Durdansa's whereabouts. They were two of the Guild's scouts that had yet to return from their run. A fact that troubled Mez, seeing as Durdansa was the Guild's most experienced scout. If she hadn't returned or tried to contact anyone, it likely meant that she was either in trouble or had discovered something important. Realising the position he'd been forced into, Mez had to make a quick decision and respond in a way that wouldn't shed Neon Colossus in a bad light. After all, not knowing where exactly your scouts were whilst trying to vie for the position of leading guild on the frontlines would do them no favors.

He refused to answer her straight away, making a conscious effort to remove his over-sized greatsword from his back and driving it into the ground next to his, newly-given, chair in silence before seating himself upon it and making himself comfortable. Just because she'd organised the meeting, that didn't mean he answered to her. There were looks of confusion from some of the other Second-In-Commands but there were also looks of amusement, they knew exactly what Mez was doing; Sending a message to everyone else that Neon Colossus would not be walked over by anyone.

"Our scouts..." He began. "...Have not returned due to a discovery they have made whilst on their scouting run." He lied. However, he managed to keep his face straight, staring directly at the Organizer as he spoke. The room stayed silent after he finished and the Organizer seemed to quickly mull over the information she'd been given. She didn't seem impressed with his answer and was about to ask another question before Mez cut her off. "Details of their discovery, however, are scarce at best. Communications have been dark for the past hour, indicating that they may have run into trouble. Rest assured, though, that our Head of Recon; Durdansa, is operating in the field and has more experience than almost any other scout on the frontlines." He let that information sink in. Mentioning Durdansa's name had been an excellent decision it seems, seeing as she'd provided solid information on the most recent Floor Boss that had saved countless lives. Mez smiled inwardly. 'So this is what is feels like, eh Pterro?'

Laurent was proud of Mez for holding down the situation but now she tugged on his armor to try and grab his attention. The Organizer had shown the map to everyone and it had showed the place that Durdansa and Attania had been running around in for the past hour. A look of horror crept over her face. "Mez. MEZ!" She whispered, trying not to be loud. "Mez that spot on the map... that's where Durdansa and Attania have been for the past hour." But he was far too interested in the rest of the room. Suddenly, a wave of panic washed over her and she couldn't contain herself. Laurent stood up from her seat. "Mez, what do we do? Oh my god, that's where they are! In that circle on the map! They can't beat a field boss on their own! Oh God, where's Pterro...Oh no! MEZ DO SOMETHING!" She screamed, causing a scene. The Organizer whipped her head around as she turned back to look at Laurent after being interrupted by her outburst. She sneered before looking to towards Mez, who remained perfectly still.

"Is there a problem, sir?" She began slowly walking over, hands on her hips. The rest of the room had gone quiet, some shocked at her sudden panic attack. As the Organizer neared, Laurent slowly shrunk back into her seat. The woman bent down to glare at Laurent, tears filled her eyes from the thought that another of her guild mates might die. "Or do we need to escort you outside? Hmm?" She said, treating Laurent as if she was a mere child.

Mez was distracted from his thoughts by a sudden outburst from Laurent, Pterrophos' assistant. He turned in his seat to face her as the young girl's rising wails began to cause a scene. Acting quickly, Mez stood from his seat as the interrogatory Organizer set her gaze upon Laurent. His movement caught the immediate attention of the woman, causing her to take a step back. "I'd appreciate it if you left me to deal with my guild members, thank you." He said, crouching down in front of the Pterro's aide to calm her. "It'll be okay, Laurent, I promise. Durdansa knows what she's doing. She's been in stickier situations before." He placed his hands over her's as he spoke. His softened voice gently soothing her emotional outcry.

Once he was sure the girl had been calmed, he stood just as quick as before and spun to face the Organizer. "Like I said earlier, our Head of Recon is still operating in the field. Her location has recently been revealed to be near that marked area on the map. I can assure you, if she has found anything, she will be taking the utmost professional measures to ensure the safety of our other scout and herself in order to eventually relay important information back to us." He paused, before directing his next sentence to the entire meeting. "So, we can either wait here, patiently, for more information? Or we can organize strike squads to surround the marked area until we can reestablish communications with Durdansa?"

The doors in the back of the hall almost burst open and the guild leaders all walked out in a small crowd. Pterro waved his freshly-gained stump at his guild mates, ignoring the fact they were obviously in trouble for something. "Hey guys, what's been happening out here?" He asked. Laurent was just starting to calm down after Mez' kind words but seeing her leader without a hand brought more shock to her. She was frozen in place. No words processed in her mind, there was just too much going on for her and just stared into space. Pterro looked awkwardly at her. "Uh, Laurent? Mez? What's happening?"

Himika didn't bother trying to look 'bitchy' as some others suggested would be a good idea, though she wasn't sure if she had that expression in her repertoire. She stayed out of the way as the Guild Leaders moved off and went into a separate room, leaving the rest of them to talk about the next move the guilds were going to play. She only half tuned in to the meeting. Paying attention to what she needed to and zoning out at the parts that were less serious. Everyone seemed to be getting along despite some past differences. It was kind of admiriable that people would come together like this and try to solve the problem of this death game. Even Laurent's outburst and Mez's trying to calm her was the only moment of surprise that happened really. Himika wouldn't lie though, she was just as worried for her guild mates as Laurent was, and she felt for them.

Sooner than expected, the Guild Leaders started to leave the room one by one. Many of them looking disappointed and mumbling about something she couldn't quite hear. When Pterro came out, her brown eyes widened when she saw the state of him, missing part of his arm.

"What the hell?!" Himika said aloud, rushing over to him. Her face had turned red as people stared and raised their eyebrows at her, but she just ignore them. "Wha-what happened?"

"Oh hoho, it's uh. It's nothing much. It'll respawn or whatever in a few minutes. Also we uh.. We're not the head guild guys. We dueled for it and we all know how that goes..." He moved his arm up to rub the back of his head and just kinda flung the stump around his neck and ear. "Heathcliff won, and kinda by a lot."

"You dueled for position of Head Guild?" she said, sounding stunned. When she heard that Heathcliff had one, it was a bit less surprising."That is an unfair way to judge which guild would be best for the job and he knows it. Let me guess, it was his idea?" she said, crossing her arms angrily. Himika knew what game the bastard was playing.

Pterro chuckled before switching into a sarcastic tone. 'No of course it was I who suggested it! The champion of Aincrad!" He attempted to unsheath his rapier but again, just waved his handless arm over it's handle. "And what could we say, that's how these things get handled in Aincrad. You fight and when you win you get your way."Her nails pressed into her palms as she squeezed her hands into fists. "I want to fight him." she said, more in a tone that was asking permission. She glared at the door of the room the bastard was still hiding behind and looked back to Pterro for an answer.

Pterrophos looked to Himika and opened his mouth but a voice carried over his. "Then let us fight." It said. Heathcliff had walked out from the room and now stood behind Pterro, ready to fight. Himika glared at him, moving to stand between him and her Guild Leader, placing her left hand on her sword. "Did you really think we would all just sit by while you try to flaunt your power over the other guilds? Who in the hell says the Leader must be the strongest player in a guild? A proper leader takes their time and ensures the strength of his followers over his own, putting them first. Something you clearly didn't think about. The Lead Guild should be chosen by a fight? Fine. Then I'll fight you and claim that title for my guild!" she said, not intimidated by him in the slightest. Okay she was, but she wasn't going to show it in front of all these people who were staring at her. It was like she had a third eye or something. Had no one really stood up to him before? Seemed it was a rare sight and her speaking to him drew surprised gasps from the people in the room.

Stepping past him, the man simply let out a 'Hmph' and followed behind her, a scowl on his face as he probably had no one speak to him like that before. When the two entered the large room, some others fell in to watch. Looking around the room, it didn't seem like a big space but it would do.

Without saying much, Heathcliff opened his menu and sent her a Duel Request. Himika tapped a few buttons on her side, selecting 'Half Loss Mode' as the requirements. She noticed him getting his things ready for the fight right when she pushed confirm to start the countdown. More people started to peek in and move to line the walls around them, some muttering that Himika was stupid to take him on. A pout forming on her face, she dismissed them. They just don't know what I am capable of. she thought, ignoring the mumbles of disaprovement she was getting. Like hell she was going to let this guy step all over her Leader and her Guild.



Drawing her Ebony Warblade, Himika took position, raising the sword up and pointing it towards Heathcliff who had his shield facing her, his sword pointed to the ground at his side. Widening her stance, she started a glare off with the man as the timer took forever to wind down. Finally at ten seconds, Heathcliff spoke. "Impressive sword... I admire your resolve to fight me even knowing you will lose. Should you impress me, I might be willing to invite you to my guild after this is over."

"I respectfully decline." she said.

As soon as the timer hit zero and the duel started Himika ran forward, moving at her top speed and coming at the man like a blur, using her Rage Spike skill to pull her forward towards him. Narrowing his eyes, Heathcliff easily blocked the move by bringing his shield forward and countering by swinging his sword towards her left side. Flipping her sword, she easily blocked it, though the force of it made her stumble and slide to the right. Jumping backwards quickly, she readied herself as he charged at her, bringing his shield up as he was about to ram her with it.

Knowing that would only make her stronger, Himika allowed him to hit her, though playing it off like she was surprised he had charged her. As she was thrown backwards, she gritted her teeth, quickly rolling to the side and running forward again. She used her sword and slashed at him as fast as she could, surprised at the durability of his shield. Hopping backwards as he made a swing towards her, she began to use her pattern of attack and flee to keep him off of her. It was working, and three minutes into the match, the integrity of his shield had gone down by nearly half. She could tell as her blows to his shield had started taking effect on his HP. Still in the green, Himika grinned at him as he looked frustrated. He was no where near as fast as she was, really only enough to keep her from attacking from behind as well as keeping his shield up and protecting himself.

Thinking of him like a boss, she wondered how she could manage to get past his incredible defenses. At the rate she was going, her sword would break before she got anywhere close to piercing his shield. Though the pattern of hit and run was working and keeping him on his toes, she wasn't strong enough to do any significant damage. The timer continued to tick as the two stared eachother down for a long moment. Her right hand clenching in a fist again, she would think of something. She had her speed as an advantage and she could use that to somehow get a hit into him.

Running forward again the two erupted into a full on clash with swords. Himika sent a barrage of attacks at him, where as he was simply trying to block and get in a hit or two, which she denied by doing a backflip away from him. Hearing him growl in frustration and charge forward, Himika knelt as she landed on her feet, activating Rage Spike and keeping her body low until he brought a swing down over her head.

"I've got you now!" she said, raising her left hand as it guided her forward towards his right arm. The sword was coming down over her, but she would be faster than his attack, her aim was to slice his arm clean off at the shoulder. She just needed a few more inches!

Suddenly, time around her seemed to pause, and her eyes widened as it felt like her speed was sapped from her all in one moment. Her sword kept moving towards his arm at a slow motion, and from the corner of her eye, she saw his shield coming forward, raising up to protect the arm she was aimed at. What?! What is this!? she thought as his shield was moving faster than the rest of her. She was shocked as the shield was sucessfully placed between the tip of her sword and his arm, when suddenly time went back to normal and her attack was deflected off the thing, making her turn to the right and get her shoulder bumped painfully against the shield.

Spinning around, her back rested on the shield for a moment as she narrowly dodged the swing from his sword. Bringing up her own as she completed the turn, she was facing his left side, shield still moved to protect his right arm, she lowered her sword as fast as she could, letting out a yell as she did, her sword coming down on the arm that held the shield and cutting it clean off at the elbow. Hearing him grunt in pain and twist around, she had no time to react or move away as he drove his sword forward and into her stomach. Gasping at the pain herself, she watched as both of their health bars fell into yellow, with hers going farther and landing into red. His had just barely made it to yellow and she sighed in relif as the duel was pronounced ended and with a Draw.

Heathcliff ripped his sword free from her abdomen and she winced, moving forward and stumbling onto him with the motion. He held her steady, dropping his own sword and gripping her shoulder to keep her upright. Himika started shaking as she was relieved the duel had ended and he didn't accidently Crit her with the last move. When she was right on her feet, she stepped away from him and they both watched as his arm dissipated. "Well at least that was payback for what you did to Pterro." she said, panting heavily and slowly opening her menu, trying to find a health potion to take. Why was everything so hard to do in the red zone?

"I hope you know this doesn't mean your guild will be at the lead here." Heathcliff stated, annoyance in his voice as he opened his menu and put away his sword and shield before getting his own potion. "You would have had to beat me for that." he said. Himika just glared at him, at least she had made her point. But what the hell was with that shield of his? "That's fine. Good game." she said, sighing as her anger faded. She shrugged and took the potion herself, watching with relif as he HP went back into the green.

"Well if we're done here, lets get back to the problem at hand." Heathcliff said, nodding at her before reaching out. Himika took his hand and shook it before thinking, and that was the end of it. Himika dropped her head when he walked past her. Running a hand through her hair, she was dissapointed she couldn't have put her guild at the top. Again she started to critique her fighting, knowing she'd have to apologize to Pterro for screwing things up for them.

A man, quietly, in the shadows, leaned against a wall of a sort. As the others bickered and squabbled amonst themselves, he smirked as a few got cocky and challenged heathcliff to a duel,

pfft, fools.. he thought to himself.

During the last duel, a female, apparently dueling for what seemed like a leader of a guild, who lost the duel beforehand, showed of some very impressive skills. Her tactics seemed flawless, and he took note of how she let the shield hit her to use it to her advantage. After she took a blow, the match was ended in a draw. To him, this was unheard of. He was shocked to see that she was actually that close to beating him. Shortly after the said duel, he brought himself to get off the wall, and speak with this woman.

" I'm rather surprised a pretty girl could keep on her toes with a man like heathcliff. I can respect that. Those were some pretty good moves, though. I've never seen anyone get that close."

As he walked up to this young woman he also took note of her rather attractive appearance, and chuckled to himself.

"I'm sure after leveling up a few more times, and honing your skills, you might actually be able to beat him. The name's Kuromi, but you can call me, Rome."

He extends his arm for a handshake, as he awaits her reply.

Attania stared at Durdansa for a second or so before slowly dropping down from the tree branch, staring at her as he landed, nodding once more. "Got it," He stated, grinning for a slight second -- something out of character for him -- as he took off over to the spot Durdansa had pointed to, standing just right in front of a rather large tree, waiting for Durdansa's signal as he clutched his dagger with his right hand.

He stared at Durdansa, and then slowly shifted his head over to the bush where the boar had run off into. He would be lying if he had said he wasn't nervous. If he didn't react fast enough to Durdansa's call, the boar would run into him. If Durdansa didn't react fast enough to the boar running out to kill him, Attania would die. If the boar just didn't even go for him, Durdansa might even die if she didn't react fast enough.

Needless to say, the stakes were high.

To say Khârn was pissed would have been a gross understatement. These..children wish to squabble about who leads...why does it matter? They believe themselves to be capable of leading...They let them, all I can say is good luck, our lives,or death are at the mercy... A failure rest squarely on their shoulders...Besides at worst I would gladly kill them if they are incompetent he thought as he slowly squeezed his hands open and closed, cracking his hands as he squeezes shut. I have no time for these childish spats...besides it has been shown we are not strong enough to tell them anything he thought as he looked at Himika and Pterro. He didn't blame them our feel any negative feelings towards them. If the guild master did suggest the duels then he truly didn't know his own skill, but likely he some how was forced to duel. The stump that was Pterro's arm ...must have hurt he thought as he shifted his position. "Lets hurry this up" he muttered softly to himself If our scouts die... because of this meeting...May your gods have mercy because I will not he thought as he gently started to tap his fingers.

Mez watched unflinchingly at the scene that unfolded in front of him. Firstly, Pterrophos, his guild leader, emerged from the back room missing an arm. Then, before he could even think to act, Himika initiated a duel with Heathcliff to seemingly get revenge for the loss of Pterro's arm. Or at least that's what it looked like. As the battle between the pair went on, he studied both of their movements. More so Heathcliff's than Himika - after all he'd seen her fight many opponents on previous occasions. This opponent, however, was different. Heathcliff was a player that had seemingly just appeared on the frontlines, with his bossiness and his bravado to follow. In a matter of months, he'd worked his way up the ranks of whatever guild he joined and now there he was, the leader of a fancy new guild with the Frontline's poster girl as his second in command.

Mez felt his pulse quicken as Himika was sure to land a finishing blow. But something happened that he didn't quite understand. Heathcliff's shield seemed to move of it's own accord. Somehow, he'd managed to block Himika's attack which looked dead certain to land. He furrowed his brow, replaying those last few seconds in his mind. There was certainly something odd about it but he couldn't tell what. His mind was brought back to the fight when Himika's next attack actually hit this time, severing Heathcliff's arm at the elbow. A few gasps from the room as well as some quiet cheers. Though they were quickly silenced as Heathcliff spun and drove his sword into Himika's abdomen. He instantly felt his heart skip a beat for a brief second and a minor urge to reach for his blade but Mez managed to stay perfectly calm.

Then the duel was over, that's when Mez glanced over to Khârn. His expression was almost thunderous, as if he could murder by simply glaring at you. He was angry at the current events that were taking place. Not many others could have learned this from a glance but Khârn had been his battle-brother for a long time, Mez had witnessed his every emotion each time they stood together in battle. Realizing that the attention for his ultimatum had been lost due to the reappearance of the guild leaders, Mez decided that he needed to act fast in order to discover exactly what had happened to Attania and Durdansa.

It was then that Mez moved. And he did so which such suddenness that people around him turned their heads quickly to see just what he was doing. He shot up from the throne-like chair and immediately reached for his weapon; Judgement. Whispers shuffled around the crowd, no doubt wondering whether he was going to challenge Heathcliff next. But Mez had no intentions of fighting. Khârn's anger was not misplaced, the focus had deviated from the true reason why they were here and they were wasting precious time. Still, he said nothing as he slowly raised his greatsword above his head, one-handed, then re-sheathed it upon his back. Every step taking him closer to where Himika and Heathcliff stood.

From afar, it looked as if Mez were glaring directly at the man who had just lost part of his arm and impaled his guild mate, but in reality Mez was looking past Heathcliff and towards his guild leader Pterro. By now Mez was within striking distance of neatly-armoured warrior, but he simply strode right past him. Not even acknowledging him with a glace, despite Heathcliff looking slightly concerned and attempting to make eye-contact.

More whispers as Mez continued to walk until he stood face to face with Pterrophos. "Pterro, we have reason to believe that Attania and Durdansa have found something in regards to the floor boss. Their last known location coincides with the suspected location of the boss which has been marked on the map. I suggest we move now, Durdansa can handle herself but Attania, Ghesh's protege? There's no telling how he'll be. Especially with him losing Ghesh merely hours ago."

Taking a deep breath, Durdansa got into a stance that showed she was ready for action as she crouched in the shadow of a tree. For a moment, everything was silent. Her breath was consistent, controlled, and most of all prepared. The shrubbery where the boss was shuffles again, causing her grip to tighten on her ceremonial blade.

Then the beast emerged, the rhino-boar letting out a squeal as it charged straight for Attania, its cloven feet hitting the ground hard and the swords jingling as each step went over the other. The beast got close quickly to the young boy, and just as it was a few feet close to him, Durdansa cried out while simultaneously bursting from the shadows, preparing to unleash a sword skill.

"Now, dodge right!!!"

Nadie quietly fiddled with her fingers as the guild leaders left to another room, including her own leader Pterrophos, leaving their deputies to represent them. But the chair for Neon Colossus remained empty, causing Laurent to begin to panic slightly. When she shouted “Not it!”, she quickly realized what was going on and internally panicked as well. The others began shouting the same thing, and whoever did not would become the de facto second in command for Neon Colossus. Could Nadie fulfill such a position? She would have to represent the rest of the guild while Pterrophos meeted with the other leaders. Suddenly before she could have been the last one she managed to softly squeak:

“N-Not it!”

It was Mez who ended up becoming the second in command, and the Organizer asked him about the status of the guild’s scout team. What was Nadie thinking? She couldn’t be a leader. Mez appeared to pull an explanation for their absent scouts out of his ass, something she likely would not have been able to do. Laurent began to panic again when their location was revealed on the map, but Mez again improvised a response concerning the scouts. All appeared to be well, until suddenly the guild leaders came back, and Pterrophos was without one of his arms.

Nadie froze in shock at the sight and gripped the handle of her sword in it’s scabbard. He soon explained that he had dueled for them to become Head Guild and lost. Why would they decide the position that way? Such a method appeared glaringly ineffective and more of a way for a guild leader, likely Heathcliff given it appeared to be his idea, to assert authority and power over the other leaders. Almost immediately, the girl Nadie saw earlier had stepped up to fight Heathcliff. Ultimately, while she did not win the duel, she had managed to repay the loss of Pterrophos’s arm by amputating Heathcliff’s. A small smile grew under Nadie’s mask at the view of his new stump, and the meeting continued.

"Got it!" Attania shouted out before diving over to his right, doing so as soon as he heard Durdansa's command. If Durdansa had perhaps shouted out something else, or even just said his own name, he would have dived nonetheless just because of how tense and nervous he was. Attania rolled as soon as he hit the ground, standing up quickly as he heard a loud "BANG" noise.

He turned over, facing the tree, only to see the boar laying on the ground, stunned. Attania moved forward, nearly tripping but managing to regain his balance as he moved over to the boar. They did not have much time before the boar gained consciousness.

"Not me, boy." Was the first thing to pop out of Divinity's mouth when they were all trying to figure out who was going to represent Neon Colossus in the guild meeting, and she quickly stepped away from anyone's reach so as to avoid being chosen. Of course, Mez was. Good ol' Mez. Good for hiding behind on the battlefield while being attacked by bosses. At least that was something, right? The Queen lightly patted his shoulder when he pulled the lie about the scouts out of his ass, but her chill was very quickly torn apart by several things happening in succession.

When the woman leading the meeting spoke to Laurent, Divinity became hostile almost automatically. "Hey, you watch your mouth, woman. There are a handful of people who I'll allow to look at and speak to my guild members like that, and a good seventy-five percent of them are me." She drew her short sword quickly, pointing it toward the Organizer but backed off to allow Mez to deal with it in it's completion. Then the almighty guild idiot returned with half his arm cut off and Heathcliff looking smug as fucking ever as the other guild leaders dispersed while grumbling and mumbling. Of course things didn't go as planned.

Divinity rolled her eyes at Heathcliff, then immediately trained her eyes on the guild blacksmith who decided to challenge him. "Get him, girl! Make him-" After saying the beginning part of that sentence, Divinity let out a pretty... graphic, string of swears that shouldn't be recounted at any time or place. They stopped a good way into the battle, as she watched Himika use strategy to her advantage. She was so surprised that she actually started a quiet cheer along with others in the room, only for her enthusiasm to be curb-stomped when Heathcliff pulled a win out of his ass. Deciding that the lives of her guild members were more important, she reminded herself to send a nasty message.

"So, uh. Why ya'll sitting around like a bunch of pussies? Are we at the Pussy Olympics? Or the Pussy Limp-dicks, if you will?" She opened up her map. "Me, personally, I'm going to go save our guild members. If you'd join me, that'd be great." She ran out of the door with that, not waiting for anyone to retort or to follow her.

"Himika no he-" She shoved past him. "Well this should be good." He spun on his heels and walked backwards taking a seat next to Laurent and behind Mez. He wrapped his handless arm around her trying to comfort her. "Kharn, I know that look. Let it go man, we have bigger problems. if what Mez says is true, we need to get going soon and..." He didn't finish before Queen Divinity spoke up and stormed out. "Well, uh, Thanks queen!" he said standing up from his chair. I'm in no condition to lead at the moment so... I'm sorry Laurent but you need to replace me for this fight." He smiled and swiped through a menu equipping an ax and handing it to the girl. "Just listen to Mez and you'll be fine." Pterro had only seen Laurent fight once, and she was good but nowhere near his own skill level, even as bad as he was. Hopefully she could do fine with Mez and Kharn controlling the battlefield. He got out of his seat and looked back up, seeing Himika shaking hands with a disarmed Heathcliff disarmed (ha). He must have missed the whole fight, but he could pretend he watched it by judging the reactions of others.

There was a new man talking to Himika, whom he approached first while sending a message to Repageroy. The message told the man to gather anyone he wanted and head to Durdansa's location and to expect a fight and possible loot. He reached the man and cleared his throat. "Listen, you want to get with her, go prove yourself big guy ok?" He said smacking the man's butt. He pointed his stump to Mez and said "That guy is gonna be the judge, follow him." He continued to Himika, on his way barking an order to Mez. "I hope you'll be joining Divinity, otherwise I might just fire you, Mez." His voice got quieter. "Himika, that was fuckin' sweet, I want ot go high-five Heathcliff though, he seems like someone that would HATE that you know?" He chuckled. "You better hurry up, Mez is probably going to rush out any second, don't want to miss the chance at a boss drop right?" He did his best to raise an eyebrow but failed missreably and went with a wink instead.

---

Laurent sat in shock as her leader walked over so calmly and wrapped his handless arm around her expecting it to comfort her. "I.. who, what." All of her answers were being swiftly provided by Himika challenging Heathcliff, and the ensuing hatred she had seemed to flow from her into the blacksmith as well. She was focused on the fight trying to ignore Pterrophos next to her until he handed her ax to her and told her to fight. Something she hadn't down in god knows how long. "But Pterro, I.. I want to stay with you I can't just go out and fight!" She stood up in protest but he just waved her off. "Divinity tell him I-" She turned to see the queen running out the door ready to kill the field boss. She ran to Mez. "Sir, uh, what are m orders?"

She swiped through her inventory and found her old, but still effective armor and equipped it. The plate male made her body a lot less feminine looking but it did it's job. She did a practice swing with her ax and tested a few pre-positions for her sword skills she hadn't used in so long, cancelling them all before unleashing an attack on her new leader for the time being, Mez. She was slow and timid about all of her test swings, she hadn't held that ax in a long time, almost since well Pterrophos brought her into the guild. She was worried about him more than focused on the fight but the march or charge over would hopefully clear her head. Maybe she could take out her anger at him picking fights he couldn't win on this boss, whatever it was.

Durdansa continued running to the boar and started doing sword skills at its downed form immediately, getting in a good few slashes before she noticed that Attania was near the boar. She didn't pay much attention to the smaller boy at first, keeping her concentration up on what she was doing. Her unique skill, 'Blood lust,' was handy in this case. The more she was able to hit the boss, the more damage it started taking. She felt a grin spread on her face just as a sword skill finished with a dramatic slash...

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the mini-boss's eyes open and turn its head to look... directly at Attania. Her eyes twitched to its backside, where the swords quivered like porcupine quills. She'd played video games many times in her life, she knew exactly what this meant.

"Attania, get down!"

She dove to the ground herself just a little too late as the hybrid got up and bristled the swords on its back before shooting them out like arrows in every direction, causing her to take a few hits as the swords sliced her leg, shoulder and back. Luckily, none of the hits had been lethal. She looked up to see the hybrid shake itself off from its stunned state and rush back into the brush with a squeal. Groaning, Durdansa rose up and looked to wherever Attania was, panting.

"Are you alright?"

Himika hardly had enough time to take a few moments breath before she was approached by someone she didn't recognize. A tall guy with handsome features and really nice hair. She was actually taken a back by how good looking he was. It brought an involuntairy blush to his face.

Then he ruined everything by opening his goddamned mouth.

"I'm rather surprised a pretty girl could keep on her toes with a man like Heathcliff. I can respect that. Those were some pretty good moves, though. I've never seen anyone get that close."

The half assed comment made Himika's mood turn foul, and turning away from him, she would sheath her sword.

"I'm sure after leveling up a few more times, and honing your skills, you might actually be able to beat him. The name's Kuromi, but you can call me, Rome."

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, noticing he had a hand extended out towards her. Turning her head to look at him, she raised her brow. Did he really think he was going to get a nice hello from her after that comment he pulled? As if.

"Rome huh? Let me tell you one thing." she said in a low voice, stepping over to him and keeping her voice down to not disturb anyone. "If you're implying that a girl can't hold her ground like a man can, you really need to rethink that idea." she said, raising her arm and pointing past him, she pointed to Asuna, arguably the strongest female rapier user in the game. "Don't assume my goal after this will be to beat him. After this meeting is over, I wont ever think of that man again, or whatever kind of cheat he uses in combat." she said, referring to the thing Heathcliff had done with his shield. "My goal is to make get this game cleared, so don't think you need to tell me I need to hone my skills. Afterall..." Taking a few steps until she was standing at his side, she patted his shoulder. "I'm still leagues better than anyone here." she gave him a smirk and and removed her hand.

Walking past him, she didn't allow him a chance to speak or say anything else to her. She didn't care what he had to say. All she cared about now was the safety of her guild mates, and according to some things that were said, two in particular were in trouble. She went over to Mez and Pterro, and as soon as she was about to apologize for her behavior, Pterro turned to her and started talking in his abnormally loud voice, causing her to cringe in surprise.

"Himika, that was fuckin' sweet, I want to go high-five Heathcliff though, he seems like someone that would HATE that you know?" He chuckled and she smirked, giggling as well. "You better hurry up, Mez is probably going to rush out any second, don't want to miss the chance at a boss drop right?" He did his best to raise an eyebrow but failed miserably and went with a wink instead. This cased Himika to turn about as red as her hair and she was flustered for a moment. "I uh... um. Uh... no I suppose I don't want to miss that. And uh... I wanted to say that I..." her voice trailed off and she looked at him for a long time. Tell him... tell him Himika... just tell him how you feel. That you love him! she thought to herself.

Smiling again, she made a fist though her blush didn't fade. "Pterro... we'll find them. And.. I'll protect Laurent for you, with my life." she said, rather than what she wanted to. Nodding once, she looked at Mez and then Laurent. 'I'm going after Divinity!" she said before turning and running out the door. Attania and Durdansa were out there and their lives were in danger. Hell... it would be on Himika's shoulders for wasting time if one of them...

Died.

"I'm alright!" Attania shouted out as he stood up, thinking to himself that he had been lucky and that none of the swords that flew out of its back, thinking that all of them had just narrowly missed him. He was unaware that a sword had shot out, flying towards his shoulder only to merely fly past his shoulder, leaving a rather small cut behind on him, causing an orange gash to show on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?!" He shouted out, moving his head slowly to look towards her only to be interrupted by the sound of a boar snorting. His head shot back over to the boar, only to see it scraping one of its hind legs on the ground, preparing to charge once more. The boar roared before taking off into a rather fast charge, charging towards him. Attania quickly dove out of the way, but was just slightly too slow. The boar's head managed to nick Attania's leg just slightly, but still painful nonetheless.

As the boar charged into the bush, Attania tumbled as he hit the ground, letting out a grunt before finally stopping. Slowly, Attania stood up, dagger still in hand before turning to Durdansa almost as if nothing had happen -- even though the boy himself was in a bit of pain. "Have you tried contacting anyone in the guild yet?!"

As Attania spoke, Durdansa's hands were already moving as quickly as possible on the text menu.

"Pterrophos, We are in contact with a mini-boss in a field. Send help immediately. -DURDANSA"

Satisfied, she pressed send and quickly swiped through her menu to find a health potion. She drank down half, wincing at the pain in her back until it healed smoothly. She ran over to Attania and opened her menu to give him the rest.

"Hang onto this," She explained, her eyes narrowed in concentration as her eyes flicked around the bushes in paranoia, waiting for the hybrid to show its ugly face again. "Get into position again... We may not be able to wait for the others." Her sword materialized in her hand as she fled to the shadows, waiting for it to show again. "And take cover when it's starting to get up!"

"Sir, uh, what are my orders?" After Pterrophos had left him in charge of the rescue mission, Laurent had approached Mez to inquire her next move. "Well.." He began, watching Himika leave the meeting room shortly after Divinity. "We're moving out!" He stated, raising his voice so that the others could hear. He noticed a few of them turn to face him now, even Heathcliff had turned his gaze in his direction. "This is a free invitation towards any other guild here, if you wish to join us. But Neon Colossus will be taking the lead on this. Those are our members out there and, thus, it is our responsibility to see that they're safe. If there are any of you who disagree or would do anything to jeopardize the lives of our members, I urge to you to raise your hand so that I can respectfully dismember it for you." He looked directly at Heathcliff, ignoring the quiet whispering of the others.

"Well then, Colossus on me. We're headed to that location!" He pointed towards the map that lay on the table. A red circle denoting the suspected location of the floor boss. He then turned back to Laurent. "I want exact coordinates of that location and the fastest route to get there, including portals. Once you've established that, relay it in a guild-wide message and pass it on to representatives of any of the other guilds who will be joining us. After that, find me someone who's good at battlefield analysis. I'm gonna need an extra pair of eyes if we're gonna be fighting in the field." With that, Mez began to head for the exit, striding past Heathcliff once again but still refusing to acknowledge him.

"Got it," Attania said, scrolling through his inventory quickly after receiving the potion, nodding to himself after seeing that it was there. Satisfied with himself, he stared over to the bush the boar had charged into, seeing it rustle slightly. As he waited, his dagger in his hand, his fist clenched on it, his eyes wandered momentarily over to the tree right beside the bush, observing how the blades had stuck itself into the tree.

Not only were the trees covered in blades, the ground had blades scattered about -- albeit not as much as there were stuck in the trees. He sighed before his eyes moved over to the bush. There was a slight feeling of worrying creeping on him, stuck on his shoulder as the grip on his dagger became much more fierce with every passing second. He wondered if his guild mates had noticed both Durdansa and him gone.

... Well, they probably only noticed Durdansa gone, He said in his head with a rather depressing tone. He didn't really have any friends in the guild. His eyes shifted over to Durdansa only momentarily, wondering if he could call her his friend -- although probably not.

While the excitement died down after Himika’s duel with Heathcliff, Nadie watched as Divinity ran outside, though not before leaving with a few insults. Himika left as well not long after her. Nadie herself silently slithered through the crowd and out the door, following after them as her fingers curled around her sword’s handle. Once she was out the door, her casual stride broke into a dash, and she soon even sped past Himika and Divinity.

It wasn’t long before she reached the area the scouts were last seen in: A forest clearing. As she approached, the first thing she noticed were trees all stuck with swords like they were pincushions. Even the ground was pierced with swords as well. The second thing was a boy, likely one of the members of her guild, hiding, as if in preparation. He watched a nearby bush as it shook slightly, and Nadie quickly figured out some type of enemy hid behind it. She offered the boy a small wave in acknowledgement before entering the clearing alone.

In the center of the clearing, she turned to the bush and suddenly drew her sword. The blade slid out of it’s larger scabbard, revealing it to be broken. It was broken diagonally, still leaving the tip somewhat sharp, but the blade was only around a foot in length. At this point it was no longer really a sword but more of a large knife.

Nevertheless, Nadie held her severed weapon at the ready, waiting for the enemy to show itself. Even standing in the middle of the clearing, it was still unlikely to go straight for her. But when it revealed itself, she would be ready to attack.