Newt spawned into the Black King's throne room to find a scene of carnage. Of course, we logged out in the middle of the battle. She thought to herself. Everyone's probably already cleared out or hasn't logged in yet. I'm sure they're not eager to stay without plans or numbers with Moon Rider on the loose. The siege is already breaking, but I have been ordered to help with cleanup. She couldn't help but sigh to herself. The Black King and Emma Roche, what a great team to be taking care of this. I'm sure I'll be useful. She mused, completely sarcastically, to herself. The Black King will be cutting down outlaw after outlaw, but Emma was resigned to the fact that she would have trouble dealing with one. The Ebony Strykers were undoubtedly incredibly weak, with a great disparity between the King and her guild members. One level nine and a couple of low-level newbies, and the other guild member, Flan, was nowhere to be seen.

I could always just wait for the meeting, Moon Rider might not notice... Emma's sword materialized in her hand. Buuuut I guess I should try to make myself useful, she sulked to herself as she left the throne room, emerging into the dreary lonely streets of the Black Kingdom.

But they certainly weren't quite as lonely as they had been in the past. There were outlaws about, Moon Rider, probably Flan, and who knows how many random people attracted by the opening of the Ebony Strykers. Emma was just happy that it wasn't a warzone like yesterday. She could hear the sounds of fighting in the distance. Likely not Moon Rider, since any one of the outlaws were no match for her. But looking for Moon Rider would probably be a good start- she might have her orders, but it wouldn't hurt to meet with the King.

Goal in mind Emma started down the street, footsteps echoing in the desolate avenue. The skyscrapers craned above her, Getting rid of those outlaws is a big task. I'm sure that Moon Rider is able to track them because she's a rouge, but I'm at a bit of a disadvantage. There's so much space to hide. So many buildings, with all those floors...

Ahead was a purple light, dancing in the relative darkness of the city. If I'm not mistaken... that must be Moon Rider's sword. Emma approached the dim glimmer for a better look. As she came closer she caught the features of Moon Rider, executing a lone bandit. I guess I should go say hi. No more games. Emma raised her hand up, waving. "Heeeeeey! Moon Rider! How's it going, queenie?! The girl called out from afar, hurrying towards the King.

---

---

Smitten Kitten was back right where she was, minus a vehicle, Dissolutions, or the other players. She wasted no time wondering around and immediately set off to the Black City. While there was a bit of a mishap yesterday, she was still determined to take out the black king. She just needed to get there first. Being a rogue Smitten Kitten knew instinctively that in a straight up fight she wouldn't do well. Avoiding the enemy, striking them when they're weak and not fighting them when they're strong, that's the only way she could survive. During her trip to the Black City she only fought one Dissolution using this hit-and-run tactic: as soon as she saw it she snuck up on it, got the drop on it, then ran away. Of course it gave chase, but Smitten Kitten made sure to hide whenever she knew she couldn't run to cover. And when the Dissolution eventually lost aggro and left, but was still in Smitten Kitten's way, she attacked it again before it knew where she was. Then she ran. She did this all the way to the black city.

At the Black City she could hear the death cries of various players. She gulped down some worry. She heard that the Ebony Strykers were killing Outlaws... She would have to refrain from using her Outlaw declaration until she could find a good time to attack the black king alone. That meant other Outlaws would be Smitten Kitten's enemies. But she was a rogue, and sneaking around was one of her best, if only, notable skills. Smitten Kitten took to the roof tops, climbing the walls with little difficulties and jumping across the gaps with ease. She moved fast, but when she heard fighting she'd lay low and try to listen to what was going on. She would try to determine how the fight was going just by sound: Who many were fighting, how they fought, who was getting hurt the most. She didn't interfere and stayed as far away as she could, because there was only one person Smitten Kitten wanted to take down. And soon she would have her chance.

"Heeeeeey! Moon Rider! How's it going, queenie?!

Stopping for a moment Smitten Kitten ducked behind a wall and looked towards the sound of the voice. There she saw two players. One that looked like a rogue and another a mage. The mage called the rogue "Queenie" as well as Moon Rider. She was the leader of the Ebony Strykers. "Now's my chance!" Smitten Kitten took out her Outlaw Declaration, getting ready to activate it. She waited for the mage to leave though, so she could get the drop on Moon Rider. Once she was alone, Smitten Kitten would go all out on her.

Driving wasn't easy. Driving was damn hard, and she was only 14 to boot. Was she even allowed to drive in this game? Nies Hellum found that she didn't care, as she wore in and out, like a crazy person towards the Black City. She let out a squeal, enjoying herself, and for the first time in a long time, Nies felt free. She laughed, slamming her foot onto the accelerator to rocket off.

She wanted to do this all the time. She wanted to feel this freedom, every day. Nies was sure she was smiling like an idiot, but she didn't care. No one knew who she was in DGO. She could probably line dance, and make a complete fool of herself, and still know one would know who she was. It gave her a strange sort of thrill, and not even the thought that she was alone, could barely fight and was only level three could bring her down.

So what if she got herself killed? So what? You couldn't go through life terrified, and you couldn't just stay hidden in DGO. For the first time, she saw a massive flaw in DGO. Why sould a game dictate your whole life? If you made mistakes, you shouldn't be punished for it. That was life, wasn't it? Nies turned the wheel violently, avoiding a boulder and causing the car to go on two wheels. Her heart pounded, not from fear, but from adrenaline, as she let out a whoop, laughing like a maniac.

She soon arrived at the Black city, parking the car with some success. It was crooked, but at least she didn't crash into anything. Nies looked about, with curiosity. Maybe JUkebox had made his way here, if he had logged in. She was curious, and wanted to know if that had been him this morning with the music. Still, she didn't let that stop her.

She had made it to the city, by herself after all.

---
To: Midnight Soloist
From: Moon Rider
Subject: Re: (No Subject)

The opportunity is always open for you to join the Ebony Strykers. In fact, you should still have the option in your User Interface. If you would like to assist the cause of our newly rebuilt Guild, please feel free to eliminate any stray Outlaws you may come across. Also note that the Ebony Stryker meeting will be taking place in roughly thirty minutes. Feel free to drop by if you're interested.

As for me personally, be assured that I have enough influence and power to protect your identity in the real world. That is all you need to know Midnight Soloist. I await meeting you again.

-Moon Rider
---
Well the bit about her protection was mostly true, Moon Rider mused as she replied back to the private message. With Retsu’s involvement in their campaign now along with the support of the Erasers and Sweepers, the Black King had enough ammunition and real life ties to ensure that next to no threat could be carried out towards her fellow Guild members. Speaking of which, that reminded her. Deactivating her beam saber, Moon Rider turned away from the remaining pixels of another dead Outlaw, bringing up her user interface.

The Black King searched until her eyes found the option to allow access into her gates to other Players. A few button clicks later and now any Eraser-and by extension, any Sweeper as well-were free to join the Ebony Strykers. That was all the confirmation they needed to join her side and in one swift movement, the Black Guild had an army once more. Moon Rider had fulfilled her end of the deal and now it was up to Dark Wraith to do hers in assisting her client.

Crossing her arms, Moon Rider was ready to move on and defeat her next enemy when a very familiar voice rang out to catch her attention. Turning around with a slightly surprised expression, the Black King saw the newest recruit, Newt, running to join her. Truth be told, Moon Rider couldn’t help but smile at the sudden company. Young leveled Players were always the best to deal with in her opinion and it was getting a little lonely fighting out here by herself.

“Greetings Newt. I’m afraid the meeting won’t be starting for another half hour. I take it you’re here to help the clean up? In that case, you wouldn’t mind accompanying me, would you?”

Even as she spoke the Black King could sense other Players gathering around her District. Most of them were Player Avatars, no doubt curious about her Guild like the prior day. But one of them was distinctively hostile and Moon Rider kept her hand on the trigger of her beam saber. It was most likely an Outlaw but surely they wouldn’t dare to attack against both an Ebony Stryker and her King?

Lucky for her though, it seemed that would not be the case. A moment later and someone spawned right next beside Smitten Kitten. Dressed in their poncho cloak and grumbling about a Player named Flan, Corpse Collector pointed her gun at Smitten Kitten with a frown on her face.

“Hey kitty, back the fuck off you hear? Black King is mine to kill and no one else’s. Also I see you got a Outlaw Declaration on you,” she noted without even shifting her gaze. “Drop it and let a real solo Player kill her, got it? Unless you’re brave enough to take me on-shit.”

For a split second the Corpse Collector had panicked. Two things had happened that was cause for concern. The first was that her Player name above her head flickered into static for a couple of moments before returning back to normal. The second thing that worried her was the fact that Moon Rider was looking in their direction right now, sweeping her gaze over the landscape.

“Fuck me,” Corpse Collector muttered, ducking down and out of sight. “Damn Moon Bitch. Fucking piece of….hey have fun dying kitty. Cause I’m reading that you’re a Level 1 and ain’t no way in hell you can take on the Black King.”

As Nies Hellum tried to decide what to do, her wild attitude calmed, and she realised what she had just done. She had crossed a dangerous landscape, by herself. She could have been killed! She was just a healer. And she was still alone. What had she been thinking? Had she let confidence overwhelm her? She must have, to have done this! She leaned against a building, as she began to hyperventilate. She closed her eyes and just concentrated on breathing. How was she going to get back to the guild, alone?

She soon got control of herself, breathing out a held breath all at once, opening her eyes and looking about. Well. She was here and she had got herself here, so she could get herself back. She just had to believe that. She would do what she came here to do, and that was find information. So she pulled herself together, and made sure she would be prepared for anything, looking about.

First thing first. Find someone to work with, so she wasn't vulnerable. At least not as vulnerable as she was at the moment. She started to look for someone, anyone she thought might be willing to at least pair up, in this strange city. She walked through the city and around the city as well, before She spied someone, strangely enough another healer. Well, it wasn't an offensive skill, but Nies decided she didn't care. Feeling that another healer might be more accepting, she started over to them, moving so she wasn't in front of the boulder.

She swallowed, and said, her voice shaking slightly, "Um? H-hello? Are you alirght?" She asked, nervously

"Come on, come on, I told you it wasn't that scary! And look, you only jumped in my arms like five times throughout the whole thing too! Not that I was counting or anything. But seriously, I don't think I've ever heard a guy scream like that before."

A good hour and a half had been spent watching the latest horror flick at the nearest movie theatre. It was really a shame that the cinema on Purple Crown's campus was only open on Saturdays. Otherwise, Maribel would have dragged them over to that one. Either way, they still would have watched some kind of monster mash-up movie. The blue-haired girl giggled as she crossed her arms with her fan resting between her fingers.

"So, anything else you wanna do Jukey? I actually have to head back to the Council room in a few but I can kill a little more time right now. It's not like Yoshino-chan needs me or anything right now."

Alex was shaking, he truly couldn't handle scary movies. He could have said something about seeing one as a kid and it being traumatic, but that would have been a lie, being jumpy and easily shocked seemed to be a defining character trait and there was little he could do about it.

"I-I don't mind doing something" still shaking from the movie "It would be nice to not end on what feels like a downer... do you know any good places nearby?"

The smirk on Maribel's face was too great to behold. Before Alex could protest, she was already dragging him to a place that surely he would have known well. Soon enough, the makeshift couple were standing before the sole gaming arcade on Purple Crown's campus. And it was close to the Council office too, making the location a plus.

"How much you wanna bet I beat you at all of these games?" the Blue King asked coyly.

"I don't have much to bet with" secretly Alex had a little confidence, since he didn't have much of a social life he had spent a lot of time at the arcade and although he didn't have the highscores, he did have second place on most. Keeping the smile off his face he asked

"What do I get if I win? What do you get if I lose?"

"Hmm. Well if I win, I get to choose. And if you win, you get to choose the prize too!"

With that kind of logic, it almost questionable why they were even playing in the first place. Nevertheless, Maribel dragged Alex inside with great stride, using her own money to pay for the game tokens. It was the least she could do since Alex had nearly wet himself back at the movies. Once again, people stared at the two with just a little amazement, a good majority of the guys wondering how someone like Alex had ended up with the Blue King herself.

"Let's try this one first," Maribel said, pointing over to a generic zombie shooter. Taking up the first player gun, she gripped the gun and felt her finger along the trigger. A gleam of something new and different reflected in her crimson eyes and she waited for Alex to step up beside her.

"Kind of amazing we still have places like these around, right? What with DGO running everyone's lives."

"I think I prefer this, this feels more real, despite DGO meant to be a complete virtual reality thing-a-majig" stepping up to the 'Player 2' position, Alex hefted the gun and looked back at Maribel with something close to her gleam in his eye.

"Shall we begin, Miss Maribel? Or are you not used to playing with toys like these?"

"Oh look at you being snarky with me! I think I like this kind of Alex. Or is that just Jukey talking for you instead?"

Maribel stuck her tongue out at him playfully before reacting as soon as the first wave of enemies entered the screen. With quick reflexes, she dispatched the coming horde of zombies, aiming, shooting, and reloading in what seemed to be only mere moments of timed interval. By the time the second wave was approaching, there was an obvious difference between the two's points.

"What's wrong Jukey? You forget that you're playing against a King in her territory?"

"Jukey is simply a matter of confidence, Miss Maribel. It's easy to be confident in DGO since no one knows me there" trying to keep pace with the King he could see himself falling behind, a slight sense of foreboding creeped up on him wondering if he was being hustled.

Reaching his second wind, Alex started clawing his way back closer to Maribel's score, but the initial burst she gained in the first wave was massive.

"How could I forget? You're obviously good at this one, better than me certainly, but I only need to beat you once to win the bet!" still having some pride Alex continued to lessen the gap between them as best he could before the game ended.

"If you say so dear," Maribel said airily, shooting away at the increasing number of enemies without much effort. Some time passed before the game was finally over. To the surprise of the people watching them, they really expected no less when Maribel's score was still significantly higher than Alex's. This pattern continued for the next game that they played, air hockey. And the next. And the next. With each victory gained by the Blue King, the numbers in the crowd watching them grew more as well.

Some of the other teenagers were giving Alex looks of sympathy, knowing that if one was to date the Blue King they would be required to sacrifice more than a little pride. Though it wasn't hard to say that at this point, they were all cheering for Maribel.

"Whoo! Well there's only one game left Alex. You sure you don't wanna call it quits?" Maribel asked as she gave him the giant teddy bear she had won at the skill crane machine.

Alex laughed, actually laughed. Not some nervous giggle, but an actual belly laugh

"Haha! I get it now! You're not just the Blue King, but King of the arcade!" sighing "Why would I give up?" Alex grabbed Maribel by the hand and dragged her over to the last machine: DDR. Almost leaping on to the dance pad Alex span on his heel and went into a little bow.

"C'mon up Blue Bel! You're on my stage now~♪!" the widest grin Alex had ever made outside DGO was plastered all over his face, almost taunting Maribel to come up.

"Someone seems confident," Maribel commented, the crowd's eyes following her as she stepped up onto the pad. "But you may be rushing into things Alex dear. Take a look at the scoreboard."

As if on cue, all eyes now traced back to the scoreboard, slight murmurs spreading across the crowd of fellow gamers. Alex's name was listed as the second highest score with a new name being slated for number one. The date was marked yesterday afternoon and had Maribel's Avatar title in bold letters: Mercury Titania. Needless to say, the tension was high in the air.

Placing his hand to his brow as if he couldn't see the name Alex leaned forwards "OooooOooo~♪! Number one! Such a lonely number... like a King I suppose. Well if I only have to use one pad, I might beat you though~♪!" slotting in the tokens the game started up and music started to fill the air.

The coundown started:

"3!"

"Are you sure I won't beat you Blue Bel~♪?"

"2!"

"I don't mind if you want to concede~♪"

"1!"

Maribel's response was a rapid flurry of what could only be described as dance moves. Or rather, simulated dance moves considering that the motions were displayed on the screen as the arrows moved upward. Throughout it all, Maribel never faltered in her confident smirk, moving at a speed that made the crowd go silent in anticipation. Now if only she could file her paper work just as fast.

As the game began Alex pulled his hair out of his face and moved. Maribel moved with speed that surprised Alex, but he listened and determined what the next move would likely be, his feet already there before he saw the arrow. Laughing he had to hold himself back from wanting to borrow Maribel's pad and focus on his own.

The scores were almost level, barely five points between the pair as the chorus kicked in.

"Giving up yet Alex? The song's almost over and we're still really close to each other too~"

As the Blue King danced to her heart's content, she couldn't help but think how fun this all was. When was the last time she was able to compete in a game without the stress of the future weighing down on her? Now that she thought about it, when was the last time she even visited this particular arcade? Sure she had stopped by yesterday but she remembered a time when she had come here frequently with someone else.

Yes, that was right. Now she was remembering those happy times. And the more she remembered, the slower her movements got. It took all she could to concentrate on not frowning for Alex instead of the actual game.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Maribel falter and his heart soared, he was going to win! Then he saw a flash and instinctively leapt to hit it, fully off his pad and onto Maribel's, seeing the ones she was going to miss and hitting them, barely keeping out of her way as she danced.

Realising what he was doing he jumped back onto his pad, but it was too late. He had handed Maribel the game on a silver platter, the score was too much to surpass in the time remaining.

The thunderous applause that followed almost made Maribel jumped. Staring dumbfounded, she glanced at the score with some amazement as it showed that she had won. Well wasn't that strange. She knew for a fact that she hadn't been paying attention for the remainder of their game so by all logic, she should have lost.

"Say...you wouldn't have had anything to do with that, eh Alex?" she asked, giving the other teen a smug look. "Aw, you really are a gentleman! Handing over games to his lady like that. Aren't you just the cutest knight in shining armor~"

"Handing over the game? Never, I just danced the best I could and that happened to be on your pad~♪" now that the game was over he felt the confidence subside a little, blushing deeply at being called a knight in shining armor and the applause felt uncomfortable to his ears, since he knew that some part of it was directed at him.

"So you won the bet, Miss Maribel. What do you choose to win?" a nervous smile replacing his previous confident one.

"Hmm. I did win, did I....how about this! You join me for a quick cup of coffee! Won't that be fun? Unless you had something else in mind like a visit at this great hotel I know~?"

"Uhh... coffee is fine, thanks. C-can we get out of here? I kinda don't like the staring..."

"Sure, sure. Off we go then."

Maribel latched onto Alex's arm and began to lead them off to the nearest coffee shop. Honestly at this point, it was becoming common practice for her to move Alex around in such a manner. But despite the fact that she should have been feeling happy right now, Maribel still couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that lingered close to her mind.

Even at the coffee shop, she really only smiled when Alex said something before turning away while he went to get their drinks. Taking the coffee in hand, she made sure to have the concoction sweetened with glorious amounts of sugar and cream. Yet staring into the browned liquid, she found herself letting a sigh escape at the thoughts that bothered her. Maybe going to that arcade was a bad idea.

Alex was happy to be lead away from the stares of the arcade and he had actually started to enjoy Maribel's company a lot more as the day wore on. Getting Maribel her coffee, he saw her pour in more sugar than he thought the cup could hold and then just stared at it and sighed. Oh no! She's regretting meeting me! Wh-what do I say?!

"M-Maribel? Umm..." unsure what to say, he took the straw out of his iced-coffee and stole some of her sweetened coffee, hoping for a reaction that wasn't a dissapointed face, coughing as it went down the wrong way "H-how do you drink something so deathly sweet?!"

"Hmm? Sweet? Jukey, this is barely up to my standards. Besides, that's what you get for sipping in other people's juices~" she teased before her smile faltered. "I was just thinking about the arcade. I used to go there alot with someone I know and now it all feels like long memories or something. That's all."

"Whew! I thought you were in trouble or something! If you have a bad time there, why did we go today? Also, why not just go back to the arcade with them? Don't they like the games?"

A dry chuckle escaped from Maribel as she looked over at Alex. She sighed again before saying, "No, not exactly. Didn't you know that the Student President hates video games with a passion?"

Alex's eyebrows shot up "The President? If the President hates games why did you used to go to the arcade with her?" the image of Maribel and the President playing arcade games together just confused him, he just couldn't see the President there, let alone playing a game.

"No one is born hating games Jukey. And Yoshino-chan was less devoted to her work back then I guess. She either really sucked at them or she was so good that she was embarassed by it. I sort of forget which one it was," Maribel said with a tilt of her head. "Anyway, she stopped being so frequent in those things when her work caught up with her. Sometimes I wonder if she's even sleeping right these days."

Alex listened quietly kicking his legs under the table "... So you're worried about Miss President because she does too much work? Then why not make her have less work? I don't know much about the politics of the Student Council, but surely delegation is a thing, right? She should have plenty of time, the eight hour day you know? And if she doesn't want to give up on her work, make sure the work doesn't reach her in the first place!"

"You sound like I haven't tried that already," Maribel giggled before her voice became quiet. "But it's not just work. Recently, I think she's been having trouble concentrating or something. It's just a rumor, but apparently Yoshino-chan really is losing sleep or something. Whatever it is, I know it's there but she won't tell me."

Shrugging Alex didn't know what else to say "Well if she won’t tell you, then you can't force her. Just support her and look after her I suppose. I'm your secretary, so I'll help out if I can." A slight grin worked its way onto his face.

"So, what do we do now? I probably should get onto DGO sometime today, want to continue the 'date' there?"

"Yeah. Let's do that. I gotta admit, you do know how to make a girl feel better about herself," said Maribel with a wink. "But calling a date in DGO? My little man's growing up! That's so bold of you Jukey~"

"I wouldn't call it bold, I'm just a nice guy that finishes last." Standing up Alex offered Maribel a hand "Shall you lead me somewhere else fantastic Miss Maribel~♪? I'm getting better at this I think."

"On the contrary, I'd say you're doing alright for your first time," Maribel said with a wink. "Now come along Jukey. I hope this means you're considering joining my Guild? Hm? Nah, just kidding. Let's go~!"

"It's very tempting to join you, but as I said to Miss President, if I was strong I'd already be a part of your guild. I'll be heading to Black City probably, still kinda got a job there I suppose. Let's meet up there shall we?"

---

Once again, the welcome screen was snarky to him, but he ignored it. Unrelenting Jukebox found himself where he forced to log out, namely the exact middle of nowhere. Spying a part of his car in the distance he walked over to it and found the trunk lid he’d shot off before. If that’s here... then the car must be that way putting the trunk kid in his inventory Jukebox walked to where he guessed the car would be.

He found it on one piece, sure the body looks like a giant wood pecker went at it, the roof was only half there and he had to turn the steering wheel hard to the left so it would go straight, but he could make it to Black City. With that in mind he set himself on the path and gunned the engine and music started announcing his travels.



Jukebox could be heard approaching Black City long before he could be seen. Jukebox made the mistake of taking his hands off the wheel when he made it to the City in one piece and immediately careened right into a parked car and flipped his car into the second floor of a nearby building.

Dragging himself out, Jukebox dusted the broken glass off and went up to the roof to get a vantage point. As he made it to the roof he heard the car explode on the floor below causing the building to shake slightly, but other than that he was fine and didn’t notice that he got the 150 EXP for killing a level 3 outlaw.

---

---

"Back in the game!"

Arms Slave had finished up his homework and got back into Deep Ground before he even got out of his chair. He was alone at the Black City's guild hall, and it looked like the place was empty. Either the players from before hadn't logged on yet, or he just missed a fight. That was a shame. Either way, Arms Slave had a job to do. Moon Rider made it an official announcement that her members needed to clean up the city, and while Arms Slave wasn't formally a member yet, he did need to take down some Outlaws anyways.



Arms Slave smiled as he walked out of the Guild Hall, weapons in each hand. He just loved going on these hunts, they were more meaningful then just romping around swatting Outlaws out of the air. Plus it gave him names for threatening E-mails.









With his letter's sent hopefully his targets, which ever came first, would be sufficiently warned and ready for him. That way he could terror stalk them for days, keeping them on their toes, paranoid, until he could latch them up and ravage them in a dark alley. Such was his modus. Flourishing his weapons Arms Slave fired a Chain Catch towards the top of one of the buildings, hauling himself upwards to start looking for his marks.

---

---

After cleaning up her homeroom and doing her work for school Dark Wraith logged into Deep Ground. She was back at the Guild Hall alone, but she wasn't going to stick around. She needed to get to the Red Asphalt District, which obvious from it's name was located near the Red City. It smelled of a trap but Dark Wraith figured that White Sun wouldn't be so treacherous as to allow the Red Guild to interfere with their meeting. It would be a long walk, but much faster by horse.

Dark Wraith looked over at an empty space, and scanned the room around her using the Cherry Hunter program. Regardless of one's avatar abilities, she'd be able to see any Avatars around her. And once she was alone, Dark Wraith programmed in a unicorn mount for herself. She had no skills to do this on her own of course, so what she did was what other people would call "hacking". But she wouldn't call it that. This was a completely possible thing that could happen, assuming one had the right skills. She simply made it so that for a moment, Dark Wraith had those skills.

Mounting on the unicorn Dark Wraith burst out of the guild hall and headed towards the Red City. Though she was on a horse, she moved faster then most vehicles thanks to the unicorn's unique properties. What it lacked in armament it made up for in speed and glory.

Meanwhile there were more people mobilizing towards the Black City. Various unaffiliated characters, members from all the guilds, and even a handful of outlaws. While the masses were fairly low levels, 1 to 3, a good 40% were an average 5th level. There was even a notable amount of 9th level players among the ones arriving. And these people were Sweepers, here to clean the city of it's filth. Anyone who showed up Red on their radar would be killed on sight, with minimal trial. But before the Sweepers could arrive, there was still a large holdout of outlaws in the Black City that needed to be dealt with. While Moon Rider was doing a good job cleaning up on her own, there were simply too many around the city for her to take care of all of them. Some were smart enough to leave the city while they could. But some... Some wanted to bloody Moon Rider's nose, and if they couldn't do it themselves, then they'll leave a lasting stain on the city itself at least. A few high-level outlaws had left the city, and now they were coming back with their secret weapon...

(( This was a collab between myself and TheWindel. ))

The hooded figure wasn't there a moment ago. In fact, it would have been near impossible for them to appear unless they were either fast or had some kind of cloaking ability. But there they were, all the same. A figure draped in gray clothing with a hood over their head, concealing their face in shadow. And they were standing right in the middle of Hyde's path.

At first, Hyde hadn't noticed the hooded figure. He was too busy focusing on his beauty of a Morningstar to see, which was now tied to his waist. But as soon as he looked up, there it was. It wasn't clear whether or not it was male or female, friendly or enemy. He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the cloaked person. Slowly, but surely, his hand slid down to his weapon, unsure of the figure's next move.

The figure was all too aware of Hyde's presence but did nothing to confirm or deny if it was an enemy or not. However, the closer Hyde got, the figure's status was revealed above its head. It read NPC. It was obvious now that the figure was not going to move out of the way, seeing as it wasn't a Player.

Hyde's hand closed around the handle of his Morningstar, but he did not yet unsheathe it, though he felt his grip get tighter as he got closer. Perhaps it was nervousness since he hadn't met an NPC as strange as this one standing straight ahead of him. It wasn't blocking the road, but Hyde didn't exactly want to slip past it and have some creepy NPC attack him from behind when he wasn't looking. Instead, he called out, "Friend or foe?"

Once again, the figure showed no signs of responding to Hyde. It only stood motionless, like a ghost as Hyde approached it closer and closer. Finally, when it seemed that there was no room to manuever out of the way, a pop-up screen was notified on Hyde's user interface. It was a quest request, as average as anything else. To to find a random NPC in the middle of nowhere offering quests was a bit skeptical at the most. Still, rare stuff like this was always bound to happen in DGO.

Hyde was quite taken aback as the quest request appeared. His hand drifted away from his Morningstar, realising the figure wasn't as much of a threat as he had first assumed. He stared at the cloaked person, looking for any signs of abnormality, but he couldn't actually see his or her face to decide. Biting his lip from behind his helmet, he began to read through the quest information.

---

Help Required: Dead or Alive

Mysterious figure with the ability to change their status indefinitely. Most likely an enemy NPC, Boss tier. Reward is 10,000 EXP. It should also be noted that the Black King, Moon Rider, has apparently come into contact with this enemy. Approach with caution.

---

The figure was silent though it did shift a little closer as Hyde read the quest's details. From the sound of it, it was fairly easy. Instead of hunting down a large conglamoration of Dissolutions like most quests did, it seemed that there was only one NPC to hunt down. The bit about changing statuses was no doubt interesting and would definitely be something to look out for and consider. But what was perhaps most intriguing was the mention that the Black King had encountered such a foe. Maybe this was some kind of hidden quest for a Legendary Weapon or Item?

Hyde couldn't believe what he'd just read. The ability to change their status indefinitely? That was something Hyde hadn't seen before, and certainly wasn't normal, everyday practice inside DGO. But it was interesting. And Hyde had a penchant for interesting things. It was like the easter eggs in other video games he'd played, and he'd probably end up treating this one just the same. Chances are, though, if it had something to do with the Black King, it was almost definitely an enemy. Perhaps it was the Black King, but Hyde doubted it. And that EXP reward. How could he say no? Either way, he accepted the quest.

The hooded figure shifted once more, revealing just a glance of what lay beneath its cloak. No facial features were made out but two points of red flicked about before they were concealed once more. One could only assume that the NPC had red eyes. As if the experience couldn't get any more weirder, the hooded figure stepped away before fading outof sight. It was gone. Coupled with the empty roads and the darkening sky surrounding the Black District in the distance, it was just a little bit unnerving.

As he watched the figure more or less dissolve into the scenery, Hyde just stood there, dumbfounded at the experience. He spied the Black City on the horizon, and began his journey once more, planning on starting his investigation into this status-changing-NPC-thing. Though, the Black Guild and it's players weren't renowned for their welcoming attitude towards prying eyes, and, if the Black King actually did have ties to this person, Hyde doubted he'd last long anyway. Forgetting the negative thoughts, he pushed on towards the City, deciding on fate to guide him.

Azga paused in his hiding spot as he received a message. Blinking, he pressed his back to the wall and made sure no dissolutions were looking his way as he pulled up the screen. It was from someone called 'Arms Slave.'

"I'm gonna kill you all, I'm gonna kill your friends and your family, I'm gonna track down your grandparents and turn them inside-out, nobody can stop the blood train that will turn your loved ones into a red splatter across the tracks of humanity!"

Azga blinked at the message and lifted an eyebrow. Who was this 'Arms Slave?' And how exactly had they come to know of him, anyways? At this moment, to his knowledge, Azga was a nobody. Was this just some sort of... troll? The blonde magician scratched his cheek. Nobody knew who Azga was in real life and vice versa, what he was reading was just an empty threat. He smirked, clicking the option to reply to the message.



Ah... now that that untidy business was done, he noticed the dissolutions had left the area and managed to run all the way to the headquarters of the Black Guild. Stepping inside, he looked around, keeping his guard up. It seemed deserted to him...

A wall of flame erupted before her, and without hesitation, the Midnight Soloist leapt through, her mechanical arms shielding her from much of the flames as she descended upon the cornered mage. Grabbing the panicking Outlaw by the throat, she crashed onto the blackened streets and began to pummel him over and over again with her bare fists, until the mage turned into pixels and she could relax once more. How many was that now? After a while, she had stopped counting, and a message alert from the Black King served as a nice distraction from her constant hunting. It looked like she was forgetting her rule of ‘doing things in moderation’ quite often recently.

Flicking out the message and taking shelter in one of the black monoliths, just in case there was another annoying mage or rogue stalking the rooftops, the petite girl skimmed through it pretty quickly, bypassing all the fluffy words and getting to the crux of the matter. The Black King did not understand what she was asking for, and that, regardless of that, the invitation was still going to be open.

Funny person, huh.

Closing the message and bringing up her UI once more, Yuuki scrolled down the list of options before coming up to the <<Guild>> tab, which had a little neon orange ‘1’ on its upper right corner. She brought up the invitation with a tap of her finger, and from there on, she accepted the invitation. There were no fanfares, no fireworks, just a simple system message. Now she had a little bit of leverage. Good.

And what a surprise! After all that bullshit yesterday, Erika was on DGO as well?

To: Azga the Amazing
From: Midnight Soloist
Subject: (No Subject)
Woah! Two consecutive days of logging in? What a surprise! Is this a virtual date or something?

Flan watched as the area quickly filled up around her. She could see everyone nearby, from a cat girl to newt to even a unicorn flying off in the distance. Apparently school had ended and everyone was back on ready to kick back for the weekend. One character in particular did catch her attention though, as she had just spawned in next to the cat person. Flan quickly jumped down off the building, receiving a message from a guy named Arms Slave as soon as she hit the ground. Quickly reading it, she couldn't figure out what exactly it meant. Was it suppose to scare her or was it a letter of challenge? Maybe it was sent to the wrong person? She thought about replying back, but desired to just shrug it off and deleted it altogether as she started running off towards Corpse Collector.

"Hey Corpsy~!" Flan waved her arms as she yelled and catching up to the makeshift group hiding out of sight, though flan was without a doubt completely exposed. "Sorry for disappearing on you, I had to pop back to the real world to take care of some stuff. Cream puff?" Flan offered one of her remaining treats before taking a look at Corpse's company to find an adorable kitten girl to fawn over. "Awe! I love cats! And your just so cute!" Flan began petting the the cat girl's head and messing with her ears before realizing that there was actually a player behind that avatar. "Oh, sorry..." She gave out a nervous chuckle at her invasion of personal space, but continued petting, unaware at her ability to stop.

Newt grinned widely at Moon Rider. "It would be my pleasure... if you think you can keep up." She winked at the King. Her tone in the last part of her statement was obviously sarcastic, but the former part of the sentence was meant sincerely. The girl opened up her menu, suddenly curious to check if any new players had joined the Ebony Strykers. Lo and behold a surprisingly large number of players had joined the guild. Not only that, but many of them were level 9 players, something that was fairly surprising for the small guild that had just opened. It was obvious that there was something more to it than players randomly joining. "Say... Moon Rider, did you get some outside group of players to join up? Perhaps... well, the only organization I could think of that would be so ready to swap sides is the Sweepers."

Dropping In

There's that mage we were fighting yesterday... He thought.

The Black King had company now, one of her fresh recruits. Actually, when he thought about it there wouldn't be anyone else with her really, she only had new recruits. The Black Guild hadn't had any members besides the King prior to the day before after all. Still, this wasn't exactly helping him find Flan. Wherever he was, he didn't seem to be anywhere nearby and it looked like the Black King was going to be taking her time too.

Suddenly he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Quickly turning around, he spied a figure falling from a nearby building. But as he watched, they hit the ground and started running towards the base of his building.

Hey, there he is! He thought.

He followed Flan's movements until Flan reached a bit of ruined wall down the side somewhere and stopped. Then he seemed to start talking.

What the? Is someone there? He thought, Did someone find me?

He couldn't really see, but from his angle he should've been able to see something of someone behind the wall Flan seemed to be talking to. Maybe they were really small or something.

"Time to go find out, I guess." He muttered to himself, opening his inventory and using one of his many outlaw declarations.

If the guys Flan was talking to were other Ebony Strykers, he'd have a bad time if he just went and fought him. Therefore, he needed to do some acting. He pushed the railing back and forth a little bit, loosening the rusted black-steel bolts somewhat. Then he took a few steps back, and ran forward and did a flying kick, breaking the railing off completely and sending him hurtling over the edge. Looking down, he saw that he was vaguely over Flan which was exactly where he wanted to be.

If there were Ebony Stryker buddies over there, then he could pass of his little assassination attempt as an accident. The broken railing and his current screaming would vouch for that. He didn't think falling on someone would be able to kill them unless they had really low health but it was bound to do some damage and maybe even a stun if he was lucky.

"Heads!" He shouted.

His health bar shot down to half as he hit something solid. Whether it was Flan or just the ground was another matter entirely.

“And then, just like that, I’m blown off and left with a bunch of Level 4 losers who can’t follow a single damn order!”

“Hmm.”

“I swear, if the Jukester was one of them there today, he sure as hell didn’t say anything during that whole freaking meeting!”

“I thought you said Jukebox PMed you? Said something about hanging out with your ex?”

“Oh yeah. That explains why I was more pissed than I should have been today. Whatever. That kid still owes me some intel on Moon Rider. Since she’s raising an army and all that good jizz.”

“Sounds nice. But Grin?”

“What?”

“Does it look like I even remotely care about any of this?”

Inside one of the many taverns located in the neutral territory of Faded City, two Colored Kings walked into a bar and one of them immediately went set about complaining. Now it was no surprise to most people on DGO that Crimson Streak and Verdant Grin were intolerable drinking buddies. In fact, that seemed to be the only thing they had in common really, what with the Green King always doing his best to piss off his contemplative counterpart. More often than not though, these little expeditions almost always resulted in a ruined and smoldering bar. Thus, only the bravest dared to offer up their business to the two of them.

While no one in Deep Ground was of legal age to actually consume alcohol, that didn’t stop the program from generating false drinks for those that wanted to at least simulate the experience. Whether this was morally right or not was usually taken to massive internet debates on the DGO Forum websites. Still, it was there if only for the atmosphere and no one really knew for sure if one could actually get intoxicated in Deep Ground Online.

In this particular pub though, the surrounding Avatars tried to avoid the two Kings as much as possible. No good came from Crimson Streak and Verdant Grin drinking, especially in neutral land such as this. Even the bartender was keeping a close eye on them, ready to be the first to bail if things went south.

“So I hear you got a new girlfriend buddy!” Verdant Grin said with mock happiness, taking a swig of whatever the hell he had ordered. “Dating the latest Mitsuki chick, eh? Sure, that’s one way to have a future with some kids.”

Streak gripped his glass tightly before giving the Green King a cold glare and saying.

“Who told you that?”

After many scenarios just like this one, Grin was far used to the hostilities by now. So he took it in stride, shrugging with a smug smirk.

“Maybe a little birdy? Not buying that? Too cliché? We’re friends man! Come on buddy, you know you couldn’t keep something like that from me! I’m glad to see you finally found someone too. Hope she’s better than that Cowbell Bitch.”

“You shouldn’t talk about girls in that manner,” Streak said gruffly-or was it apathy?-taking a swig of his drink. “Might come back to beat your ass in the ground one day.”

Grin sniffed, about to say some smartass biting retort when something loud was heard. It sounded like a thundering step or a shuddering crunch, and it seemed to be coming from the direction of the Black Guild. Such premonitions were but the precursor to one small band of Outlaws that wanted to see the Black King broken and bleeding.

In one final attempt to bring the Ebony Strykers down once more, they had lured an incredibly powerful Dissolution right to the Black District’s gates. One by one the Outlaws sacrificed themselves to the horrible Level 5 beast, hoping the strength it gained from their deaths would be enough to halt Moon Rider’s progress forever.

This omen was not lost on the Black King either, and she tensed up before turning back to the front gates of her domain. Surely that couldn’t be the sound of an army, her army, approaching? No. As ideal as that was, she knew that she still had enemies amongst her. Maybe it was something else. Something much more sinister.

“To answer your question, yes I did employ the assistance of the Sweepers,” Moon Rider answered for now, turning away from Corpse Collector and Smitten Kitten's location. “And I think we might be needing their help sooner than expected,” she continued, already moving at an astonishing speed on her feet alone, expecting Newt to follow behind.

Nearby, Corpse Collector released a shaky sigh of relief once she saw that Moon Rider was going in the opposite direction. Even if she hated her with a passion, the Level 5 Player was still piss scared of the Black King, the one who had slain so many before. The large thuds slowly but surely approaching was a little cause for concern but she could always just move to another location. Besides, she predicted that the Black District would soon turn into a battleground anyway. All of this, she thought to herself, only snapping back to reality when Flan appeared.

“Oh fuck me,” she groaned. “Look Cream Puff. Either stay dead or leave me alone. Now you’re just like a lost puppy following me around. Also…I think you’re about to get drop kicked real soon. Or something.”

Smitten Kitten turned to see some blond cowgirl aiming her gun at the cat girl. This girl was called Corpse Collector, but then the oddest thing happened. Her name suddenly vanished. Was it some sort of Avatar Ability? She does seem to be the assassin type. Smitten Kitten started to edge away from the gun barrel, hoping that Corpse Collector was going to leave her alone when a random girl named Flan arrived. She seemed to be a friend of Corpse Collector and started talking to her before turning her attention onto Smitten Kitten. Unsurprisingly she was petted by Flan who mistook her as a NPC, but even after she figured out Smitten Kitten was a player character she continued to pet it. It felt... Nice. "Mew..."

Things started getting crazy pretty fast when another player arrived who seemed to know Flan. Or rather, fell on top of Flan. Smitten Kitten didn't know if he was trying to attack Flan or was just that klutzy. Then she received a message from someone named "Arms Slave", who seemed to be trying to threaten her. It scared Smitten Kitten because up until recently she's never played Deep Ground before. How does this person know her and why did he send her this message? Just how many people knew she was here? Smitten Kitten knew she couldn't stay around forever. She peeked behind and noticed the Black King had vanished, either getting close to kill them all or running to fight more outlaws. Smitten Kitten couldn't lose her now!

While everyone was distracted Smitten Kitten jumped off the side of the building, using her claws to slow her decent so she could land safely on the streets below. While she wasn't as fast as some characters Smitten Kitten was no slow poke, and could keep up with the Black King well enough to keep Moon Rider in sight. As long as she didn't take too many turns Smitten Kitten was able to follow. And once she was certain she had lost the other players who was with her, Smitten Kitten also parkoured her way back onto the roof tops. "Where are you going?"

"Heh he he he... MUWA HA HA HA HA!"

Having just gotten Azga's message Arms Slave started dancing around with his axes. "Someone answered my challenge! Good! Good! Now I know I'm not facing a coward. Listen to me now Azga... Tonight, you!" Arms Slave was about to go and look for her when he noticed someone sneak into the guild hall. He only caught a glimpse, and yet... It was worth a shot, right? Arms Slave shot his Chains towards the roof to the Black Guild, back to the same spot he came in from yesterday. He didn't go through the hole at first and just looked through, but sure enough he saw his first target: Azga the Amazing. What a stroke of luck for him to be here!

Azga wasn't currently going Outlaw, but that was fine. Arms Slave had a few himself and he was certain he could talk to Moon Rider into pardoning him once he finishes a few marks. His name turned red and Arms Slave equipped his weapons: Two massive tower shields known as the Orma and Reeve Stone Shields. They were big enough to protect his entire front body, but using them together would allow him access to a unique power up: They could do double the amount of damage if they both strike the same target. He also had two unnamed battle axes which he had obtained from slaying Outlaws back at in the Green City. He just kept using them since they're one of the two axes that actually looked the same, instead of the wide assortment of weapons he has stashed somewhere in Deep Ground.

Once armed and ready, Arms Slave made no other noise as he attached his final chain to the edge of the hole, using it to swing into the room. With the Orma and Reeve shield right in front of him, he literally got the drop on Azga. He intended to crush him without warning, not even so much as a hello.

"Uugggghhhhh!"

Michelle let her pencil rollout of her hand as she leaned back on her chair, having spent a long period of time on her homework. She had enough of equations and science jargon for one day. Sliding the paper away to one side, she got up and flopped onto her bed, eager to get into Deep Ground again. She took off her glasses and put them onto a nearby table, then got into a comfortable position and closed her eyes.

It felt good to be back in the game again. Static looked around, trying figure out where she was, and remembered that she was in the Black City. She remembered fighting a horde of Dissolutions with a few others, and then the game crashed. That was an unfortunate time. Static still remembered the time when she punched her teammate in the back to try to save her from a giant Dissolution. Oh well, the past was the past. Static began running off in a random direction, hoping to find something to gain exp from, and hopefully a lot of it.

Static ran for a while, then heard a crash sound somewhere nearby. Static skidded to a stop, then looked around to try to find the source of the noise. Static continued running, hoping to find some easy prey, maybe an Outlaw on low HP. She took a couple turns, then spotted a couple of people in the distance. As she got closer, Static gave their equipment a look and assumed they were healers. 2 healers alone? That was never a good scenario to be in, and maybe Static could offer her help. Skidding to a stop, careful to stop a bit sooner due to her rather unfortunate trait of being unable to stop easily, she asked Nies Hellum and the other, "Hi there, what are you two doing alone in the Black City? It's dangerous for two healers to be alone like this."

Nies Hellum let out a frustrated cry. The one time, the vey one time she approached someone, and they didn't seem to notice her. She tried, she really did, but what was she meant to do when people ignored her? She threw up her hands, having a little tantrum, before getting herself under control. As music started, echoing it seemed, or at least heard from far away, she looked about. Jukebox

She was about to follow the music when someone approached, engaging her, and if the other healer was listening, them too. Nies blinked, someone had actually approached her? When she seemed dementated? She let out a smile, relieved, and said "I know, I know. I was paired with someone yesterday, before being forced to log out, but couldn't find them today and...I just didn't want to stand around and do nothing" And now she was babbling, just like she would have been outside of DGO.

She swallowed, getting control of herself quickly, she smiled meekly. "um. I'm Nies Hellum. And I didn't want to miss the chance to see the black city" She said, trying to make it seem like she wasn't a babbling idiot, as she studying the person. Could she be lucky enough to find someone else to pair with for the day? She hoped so.

it would make things so much easier, for her.

At that moment, Azga received a notification that he'd gotten another message.

"Hmm...?" His dark honey voice hummed as he pulled up the screen. Being ready for another trolling message from the Arms Slave, he was surprised to see that Midnight Soloist had sent it instead. His golden eyes rolled over the text as he adjusted his glasses. Virtual date?! Ah... Azga felt his virtual cheeks heating up. Really, that sort of joke after what happened this morning was so... he coughed. Now now, he was Azga, not Erika. With a charming smile--mostly to himself to keep his persona in tact--he began to type out a response.

To: Midnight Soloist
From: Azga the Amazing
Subject: (No Subject)

Solo~

You're one to talk. You're right in here with me, aren't you---

Before the message could be continued, a loud sound of chains rattling caused him to look towards the roof where a hole had been made. From through it he could see... something peering in. Something quite disturbing. Azga felt himself stiffen as he stared with his eyes wide, nearly shitting virtual bricks at such a terrifying site. It only got worse as that figure swung into the room and went straight for him like some kind of horror movie monster. He screamed--internally--as his pupils shrank and he stared up at the oncoming threat. He only had the courage to actually move at the last second, diving out of the way and rolling across the ground as the ground became a crater beneath the creature character. The tectonics caused him to finish his landing rather ungracefully and he got up shakily, falling against a wall before using it for support.

He took a deep, shuddering breath as he looked up through his slightly cracked virtual lenses. The hairs on the back of his neck raised as he got a better look at his assailant. A four armed monstrosity with skin of different shades sewn together, with a helm of grey and red and atop his head a crown of barbed wire. He carried two massive shields that were just as tall, and as menacing, as he appeared.

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod was the only thing being screamed in Azga's mind. Outwardly, he looked incredibly nervous as he sized up the attacker, his golden eyes wide as his hand pressed firmly to the wall beside him. It was times like this, er, not that he'd ever encountered someone so daunting before, that he wished he was a mage in control of dark elements rather than a witch doctor. It only got worse when he noticed that above the beastly player's helm read the words 'Arms Slave' in crimson text.

Uh oh.

Hyde strolled along, thinking about the quest he'd just accepted. He wasn't sure what he'd done. Had he gone too far accepting it? Was it going to be too hard? Was he going to have to find help? All relevant questions. All of which, plus many more, were floating around his mind, unsure of which to decide on. The NPC that handed out the quest was spooky enough, let alone the quest itself. A player or NPC that could change it's status for whoever long it wanted. And it had ties to the Black King. Who knows how the quest would end? Hyde's continuous killings? Or, perhaps, he might actually pull it off and kill the NPC.

As he approached the entrance to the Black Guild City, he felt a strange aura. Was it just nerves? Was he about to be attacked? He wrote it off as just nerves and entered. Hyde grit his teeth and carried on deep into the city. So far, nothing was out of the ordinary. It looked like any of the other cities he'd been to. Except the others weren't ran by a psycho that had a particularly violent reputation among the players of Deep Ground Online. Was the Black King actually the status-changing-NPC that he'd been sent after? Hyde didn't know what he'd do if he ended up squaring off to the Black King and his guild.

Hyde didn't know where to start, either. He had no solid leads, and the only one he did have lead straight to the Black King. And something told Hyde he wouldn't get an audience with him easily. Or at all. He decided that he would just keep quiet, and see what he could soak up on the streets. Though he doubted that his target would just show up out of the blue, or he would miraculously get information from some random source on the street. Hyde found a single bench and sat upon it, alone with his thoughts. There was nobody around, so he could think clearly about what he could do and what plans he could formulate on the spot.