(3rd Person POV)

The heinous villain hid within the darkest shadows in the midst of the wooden forest surrounding the perimeter of our protagonist's home.

His features were draped with the shadows, only his sapphire eyes illuminated the dark shadows he concealed himself in. Hiding within his element, the darkness.

The rustle of leaves caused his lips to curl with wicked, dishonorable thoughts, delighted having the black knight within range with his companions following his lead.

His eyes flicked between Kirito and the group following him, and thought excitedly to himself, it was time to use the hidden hacked ability he's been wanting to use.

•••

(Kirito's POV)

We checked the last corners of the forest, the darkest part of the forest. Its notorious for PK players. If Ken would be anywhere in these woods, I guess he'd most likely hide here.

As if my thoughts were read, we heard villainous laughter fill the woods, echo against the trees, followed by a vile chuckle.

I growled, clenching my Calibur sword in my hand.

"Rawr," Ken's voice said playfully, as I turned to the direction his voice came from, I saw laminating blue eyes in the darkness, stare right into mine.

"You think this is a joke?" I remarked. Suddenly his laugh from another direction, and saw another pair of blue piercing eyes stare at me, near Asuna.

"No, I take this quote seriously," his voice replied, but now to my left.

"There's more than one of them?" Asuna grunted in frustration.

"Oh yes, there's more of me to go around," he said flirtatiously, near Asuna, the pair of illuminating blue eyes.

"This is just sad, couldn't you play fair without the hacks?" I ridiculed. He merely scoffed.

"Yes, because its completely fair one on, what, five?" Another pair of eyes appeared to Klein's right and another on Silica's left.

"Aw and where's little blue? She decided to stay home again?" He purred. My hands simply clutched my sword, waiting for a opening.

"Hey, where's Hikari?" Klein mumbled. Crap, he's right. Where is Hikari? I don't like this.

The Ken duplicates stepped out from the shadows, now into our vision. All appeared exactly the same.

"She had an errand to run for me," he said vaguely, shrugging his slender shoulders.

The Ken's all stepped forward, causing us to be on guard.

"You look like fun," one spoke to Silica, leaping towards her, latching her hand and pulling her into the shadows.

"Silica!" Asuna reached towards Silica but was to late, now only grasping air.

"I guess you'll do," the other one said, latching onto Klein's belt.

Now only Asuna, Lisbeth, and I were left, our backs were to each other, facing the the pairs of illuminating towards us.

(3rd Person POV)

"Now, who's next?" The three Ken's pondered out loud, tapping his chin with his finger. Kirito's hands were shaking with fury as he clutched his sword with an immense grip.

A long silence passed, they all held their gazes at the multiplied foe.

"Come my dear," he held out a sapphire rose towards Asuna. Asuna's lips curled and took a step for the, gazing at the radiant rose.

With her sword, she simply cut down the rose, turning it into sapphire pixels.

"My hand must've slipped," she replied dryly before he pulled her in the shadows, plunging back into the pitch black shade the forest provided.

Lisbeth and Kirito were left, with only two pairs of eyes glaring back at them.

"Stay close," Kirito whispered. The forest became horribly quiet, waiting for the other two to make a move.

Ken's eyes lowered, facing Lisbeth and murmured an enchantment under his breath.

"Sta-su-lin"

With rapid speed, the tree vine wrapped around Lisbeth's foot, and around her leg, hauling her with in the darkness.

"Kirito!" She managed to shrieked before she was entirely pulled in.

"Lis," Kirito tried to grasp her but she was no longer there, now into the dark abyss of the shadowed forest.

"And then there were two," Ken announced.

"You're not a clone?" Kirito muttered, hand still clenching the legendary sword.

Kirito was thinking of Sinon, of Shino, while he held it, keeping his promise, and not once had he broken it.

He thought of the monstrosities Ken must've done to her. And how she must've felt. How he couldn't stop it from happening. This caused his hands to clench the sword with all the strength he had, his hands trembling with anger. His glare filled with hatred.

The air thickened with tension, and Ken stepped out of the shadows with a big grin.

"The original, I guarantee it," Ken crossed his arms, and smugly chuckled at a thought he had.

"I feel quite honored that you felt the need to bring your little friends to take me down. Make me feel, well, powerful," Ken sighed in delight, smile never leaving his lips.

The air was thick and heavy, and the atmosphere darkened from the clouded sky, the sun no longer providing light.

They took a good look at each other, studying the new features of the other, given the fact they had only met not too long ago.

Ken equipped his sword, a new sword, since the other was destroyed in the previous battle. This one looked fairly similar to the last one. Sapphire in color, glistening like a gem, but it looked larger, sturdier, and more durable than the last.

Suddenly Ken leaped across the forest floor, and swung his sword with immense force in a vertical slash.

Immediately, Kirito brought his legendary sword up, shielding himself from Ken's blow with his sword, now the swords against each other.

With a grunt, Kirito pushed back on his sword, causing Ken to leap back. With the first contact, came the second form Kirito, rushing towards him with a horizontal slash, which Ken simply jumped over.

Still in the air, Ken brought down his sword above Kirito, only to be encountered by Kirito's sword.

Ken's feet landed on the ground, and the two were having a match if pure strength, both pushing on the swords, still against each other.

"You know what I hate the most?" Kirito growled, kicking Ken's torso, causing his body to slide back, still on his feet.

"What? Having your girl being messed with by some other guy?" Ken teased wickedly, licking his lips, going back to those memories fresh in his mind.

"Got to say, she's a ten," Ken added. Kirito chuckled darkly.

"I guess that takes number one, but here's what I also hate," Kirito raises his sword high and said a short enchantment.

"Ai-re"

He swung his sword down, horizontally, causing a strong wind form from his sword.

Ken plunged his sword deep into the forest floor, and held on to it, the wind nearly knocking him off his feet.

Kirito dash immediately towards him, and thrusted his sword in Ken's body, piercing his chest, and the sword went through his chest and poked out his back.

His HP began to drop immediately.

Kirito's lips neared Ken's ear and growled.

"I hate being lied to," he plunged it further, the sword sticking out his back even further.

"You're pretty smart," the clone mumbled, dispersing into sapphire pixels, all being watched and studied by afar, intently, from a certain sapphire eyed foe, before taking his leave.

Rustling came from the forest and Silica, Asuna, Lisbeth, and Klein walked into Kirito's vision.

"Kirito!" The girls called out to him, rushing by his side. Klein simply walked.

"Thank God you're all okay," he said, bitter sweet. His thoughts still on Ken. He's still alive somewhere, he thought.

"So we got rid of the clones, you?" Asuna questioned hopefully. He simply sighed and put his sword back into his inventory.

"Clone," he mumbled.

"He's such a coward," Silica pouted.

"I think he did all this on purpose," Kirito grimaced.

"What's the matter?" Lisbeth asked.

"He was evaluating our movements. How he we held our weapons, how we fought. I have a hunch he was watching,"

The group became silent, all wondering, what now?

•••

Authors note: That Ken is sure a tricky one, isn't he?

That honestly took a while to write so sorry for the wait (╯︵╰,)

And thank you for being patient!

PS: Ahhh my neck hurts guys (╥_╥)

The story is reaching its final chapters pretty soon.

Anywhooo

Until Next Time!

-InGameProdigy