Year 2024, November 1st. Aincrad Standard Time, 19:00.. Floor 1, Orphanage Church..

After stocking up their supplies in Floor 50's marketplace, they return back to Floor 11 for the preparation.

*Door knocks*

Sanya: They're back.

Sasha: Yeah...

Oathkeeper opens the door, seeing Kirito, Asuna and Sanya who are already prepared for the raid.

Asuna: You're back! Should we start, Oathkeeper?

Oathkeeper: I'm not the commander..

Koharu: Oh yeah, I forgot! The Solo Team should be on the move first before everyone. We need a good timing on when to strike.

Kirito: You can count on us! Sanya, Oathkeeper and me should be the one heading there first. We'll update you every of the guard's move.

Koharu: Great! Asuna and I will return back to Floor 11 to get the squads going. We'll arrive with you guys in 30 minutes. And Oathkeeper...

Oathkeeper: ?

Koharu: You know... Since we're married and our storage is shared, you can use any of my tools if you need.

He checks his storage again, confirmed that she has stored over thousands of knives and other throwable weapons, hundreds of Titan's Shurikens and several rolls of invisible strings and tripwire for traps.

Oathkeeper: You sure carry these a lot..

Koharu: It's a good thing that the weight system doesn't apply on the storage. It should be enough. I chose these because we don't know what they'll pull out from their disposal. Might be something with huge firepower or something..

Oathkeeper: Yeah..

He closes the storage..

Oathkeeper: We almost forgot Thinker and Yulier. They're on their move right now.

Koharu: Let's hope they are doing okay so far. I'm so worried about them..

Kirito: Let's act fast. Teleport: Floating Palace!

Oathkeeper and Sanya follow Kirito's lead and teleports to ALS's secret base. Leaving Koharu, Asuna and Sasha in the church.

Koharu: They're heading there now...

Somehow, her worries only gets worse after seeing them off. Asuna notices her worries.

Asuna: What's wrong?

Koharu: No.. I got a bad feeling about this..

Asuna: Because of Thinker and Yulier?

Koharu: No.. As soon as the raid starts, Oathkeeper will unleash his wrath to its fullest. I just can't bear the image of him standing surrounded by corpses. And I afraid that all of you will be scared by him as a monster or even a demon.

Asuna: But everyone has known him as the Savior. No one will recognize him as a demon. Maybe you're just overthinking.

Koharu: Yeah... I should stop worrying on some things that won't even happen. Anyway, let's go back to the HQ.

Asuna: What about the kids?

Koharu: Sasha will take care of them, right? Are they ready?

Sasha: Yeah. Mina, Gin and Kain are geared up.

Kain: We're here!

Mina: Me too!

Gin: Hey! Wait for me!

Asuna: Looks like they all pumped up. We should go now, Commander.

Koharu: Yeah!

The five of them teleports to Floor 11. Leaving Sasha only with the other kids.

Meanwhile... Floating Palace..

*Teleports noise*

The Solo teams had arrived at the Floating Island with a 2,484 meters and fifty cubits wide buildings as the Palace, similiar size as the Tower Of Babel. They got teleported at the end of the broken bridge that leads straight to the Palace.

Kirito: Alright, we're-

Oathkeeper: !!

Sanya: !!

They both notice the lights from the tower is moving towards them. Suddenly, Oathkeeper pulls Kirito away as he joins with Sanya by jumping off from the bridge.

Kirito: Wait, what the-!?

The three immediately hop off and two of them successfully grab onto the ledges. Almost got themselves exposed by the guard's sight from the tower. Kirito got tied up with a rope connected to Oathkeeper who is grabbing onto the ledge of the bridge.

Meanwhile...

ALS Guard: Huh? Is that a Teleportation noise?

He moves the light to entrance when the teleportation point had set. But he didn't see anyone at the bridge.

ALS Guard: ...I guess I'm just hearing things.

Back to them..

Sanya: You saw that too, right!?

Oathkeeper: Yeah.. They almost found us out..

Sanya: They set the point out of the open so the guard can identify them instantly. Let's find a place for hiding.

Kirito peeks down a bit, barely can see the ground as they are in at least 431 metres high from the surface.

Kirito: *Gulp* Just don't look down, okay?

Oathkeeper: Quit whining...

They climb across underneath the bridge, all the way to the cave below the palace.

Timeskip...

Oathkeeper swings Kirito to the cave before he swings again for himself to land. The team temporarily stay inside the cave for a while. Sanya updates their situation to their commander.

Sanya: Koharu? We just found ourselves a hideout. Almost got exposed at the entrance.

Koharu: How?

Sanya: Thinker didn't tell us about that..

Kirito: I think that teleportation set at the bridge is already in default which it cannot be changed. Maybe Thinker forgot to tell us that or didn't have the chance set another one for us to teleport in.

Koharu: Alright, can you contact Thinker and Yulier?

Sanya checks the private message she just sent to Thinker. Unfortunately, both messages still hasn't been read yet.

Sanya: They haven't read the message yet.. Should we wait?

Koharu: Yeah, just a little bit longer. If they still haven't reply. Oathkeeper...?

Oathkeeper: Yes?

Koharu: You know what to do...

He nods..

Oathkeeper: Affirmative... Commander...

Koharu: Alright, the squads are ready. Once you shut down the safe zone protection, give us a call.

Kirito: Okay..

They hang up the call. Oathkeeper tries to find an opening from below by knocking against the wall. As his ear leans against it, he could hear several soldiers are chatting.

ALS Soldier 1: Hey. Do you think Kibaou will still be elected as our new leader? Because now Thinker is back after being missing for a few days.

ALS Soldier 2: Don't be foolish! Of course he will be! He will lead us to freedom once we conquer this world! Everyone will support us and we will be the one who beat floor 100 and become the heroes! Isn't that great!? Even the Knights of the Blood Oath will not stand a chance against us when it comes to number! Think about it, we even have Super Soldiers on our sides!

ALS Soldier 1: Yeah! Long live the Army!

ALS Soldier 2: And Long live the ALS!

The voice starts to dim away.

He got confused..

Oathkeeper: Wtf...?

Then he changes his mind and decides to climb the rock back to the surface.

Sanya: We should wait for their response.

Oathkeeper: They are already in big trouble once they step into this place.

Sanya: Yeah but why climbing back up?

Oathkeeper: I could hear some of them in the tunnels or wherever they are through the wall. Busting through there will alarm all of them and they definitely will knock us off from this Floating Palace and then you two can say goodbye to this world.

Kirito: But we can't just stay around and watching you take all that heat and glory.

His punch almost land on Kirito's face.

Kirito: Alright, alright! Easy there!

Sanya: Cut it out, you two! So what you want us to do?

Oathkeeper: Good, once the course is clear. Set a teleportation point for them at the yards. Then, the rest goes back to what we had planned.

Sanya: Okay.

Oathkeeper backtracks a bit, then starts gaining momentum as he runs, jumps and grabs onto the rocks. Then he hurls himself to another one and starts climbing up.

Kirito: Damn.. He can climb onto rocks like that..

Sanya: Fascinating.. He ignored the fear of falling off.

Kirito: So what's our next move?

Sanya: We only have to wait at this moment... Then, we're going back up and do as Oathkeeper said.

Kirito: Sounds like a plan..

Timeskip... Foyer in ALF..

Most of the Army are gathered at the Foyer, waiting for their leader to show up at the stage. At the backstage, Thinker takes a deep breath while preparing himself for the worst. Yulier just stay besides him, worrying about his safety.

Yulier: Will you be alright, Thinker?

Thinker: It was our plan after all.. You should head to the basement right now. It'd be the best to destroy the panel.

Yulier: Yes, Thinker..

She heads to the basement from the backstage as fast as possible along the corridors. Passing through some of the Elite Soldiers and Commanders who feels suspicious towards her. She successfully arrives there, deciding to call Oathkeeper before shutting down the safe zone protection.

Yulier: I'm counting on you, Oathkeeper..

Suddenly, someone stuns her with the paralysis arrow. Causing her to lose control of her body and falls down.

Yulier: ..I can't move!

???: Do you think Oathkeeper will save you all after robbing away so many innocents lives? Just how naive you are..

She struggles to turn around, shouting..

Yulier: He will save us all! They are evil! Including you! Kibaou!

He smirks evily.

Kibaou: ..That's not true.. With the God on my side. Justice will prevail and he'll be judged and sentenced with a swift sheer, death in the end..

He starts laughing out loud..

Meanwhile... Sewer..

Oathkeeper just arrives at the tunnel in the Sewer System and seems there's no one around, he rushes through the tunnel, finding a way to the basement. Suddenly, he got a call from Kibaou.

Oathkeeper: Yulier?

Kibaou: Yulier's gone...

Oathkeeper: Kibaou...

Kibaou: I expected you to come, old friend.. I already sent an Army to Floor 11.

Oathkeeper: You son of a..

Kibaou: Will you able to kill me first or will your friends get to perish first?

Yulier: Oathkeeper!

Then, he could hear the knife being stab into something else. Yulier shouts out in struggling voice.

Yulier: Kill him!

Oathkeeper hangs up the call. His rage rises up in astonishing rate.

He jumps onto a wall, then jumps again to reach the vent above, enters it and makes his way to the basement. He busts through the vent and arrives at the tunnel, spotted by the Soldiers immediately.

ALF Soldier: It's the Oathkeeper, open fire!

They raise up their crossbow, starts firing a streams of arrows. Oathkeeper deflects them back and rushes forward. He charges against one of them and pummels the Soldier very hard. Despite of dealing high damage, the Soldier doesn't die due to Safe zone protection. He throws the Soldier towards another one. Oathkeeper rushes upstairs to the corridors, zooming through his way to the basement to deactivate the protection.

Meanwhile... In Floor 11.

MBC is now attacked by the Army sent by Kibaou. The Valkyries are holding them off while Asuna discusses with the Commander and the Leader.

Asuna: Damn! Kibaou knew our moves and got ahead of us!

Koharu: But they haven't respond back! We shouldn't teleport yet!

Keita: I agreed with Asuna! We need a change of plans! We need to move!

Koharu: But..!

Asuna: The longer we stay here, the Army will soon get us! We have no choice but to teleport!

Koharu: Damn.. It shouldn't ended up like this! Let's go! Hope Kirito and Sanya are okay! And I trust Oathkeeper will make it out!

Sachi informs them with the recent message from Kirito.

Sachi: I just received Kirito's message. They had set the teleportation point! We're heading there now!

Keita immediately orders everyone in the HQ.

Keita: Everyone! We're heading to the Floating Palace! Get ready to storm against the Army!

MBC Member: Let's go!

Everyone: Yeah!

They all teleport to the Floating Palace..

Meanwhile...

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Zap!*

Oathkeeper just destroys the control panel and disable the Safe Zone protection. He loads up a 50 rounds drum magazine to his Crossbow which he snatched it from the Armory, both of its limbs spring up as he pulls the bullet chamber. He could hear some soldiers outside the basement.

ALF Soldier: He's here!

He rushes out and busts through door, crashing against a Soldier. Oathkeeper grabs the Soldier as a meat shield, blocking the fire at his front. Oathkeeper ducks down and shoots another Soldier's foot to stagger him who is behind Oathkeeper. Then, he ends the Soldier's life by blasting the head off. He charges forward with his meat shield on while shooting.

*Whack!*

He throws the corpse to tumble them, he pulls eight knives out in total. Throwing them one by one at full force. Struck onto their head and eyes as a one-hit kill. As he throws all of them, he resumes on his Crossbow, reloads it and proceeds his way to Foyer which leads to the outside. Suddenly, he could hear a barrel spinning. Then a Level 180, Heavy-Armored Super Soldier reveals himself in the next second.

Super Soldier: You will not escape! Terrorist!

Oathkeeper: !!

A fat stream of arrows just burst out from the Super Soldier's Arrow Minigun. Oathkeeper blocks the arrows with his Sword's Spinning blade but some of them manage to break through and struck on Oathkeeper's waist. He grabs out a Titan's Shuriken while spinning his Sword. Starts spinning up as well and throws it out. Literally cutting the Super Soldier in half and the Shuriken ends up stuck onto the wall. The Super Soldier burst out and drops the weapon from his arm. Oathkeeper picks it up and inserts his whole arm into the weapon. The Barrel spins and the Arrow chainbelt automatically attached to the chamber all the way from the backpack full of Arrows. Ready to fire, along with his Dark General's Sword equipped.

Oathkeeper: I will kill..

A large number of ALF Army surround him..

Oathkeeper: All of you!!

Meanwhile...

Outside the Palace..

Koharu: Alright! Everyone! Hit them hard! Until we rendezvous with Oathkeeper!

The Valkyries respond back before the rest of them does.

Everyone: Yeah!

The MBC troops advance straight to the palace with all of the Valkyries moving on the front.

ALF Commander: Men! Get ready to fire!

Several turrets and mounted Crossbow were deployed and ready to shred the attackers apart.

ALF Commander: Fire! Make sure all of their heads are on the floor!

A waves of arrows shot out from the tower, Turrets and Artilleries. Sachi shouts out.

Sachi: Everyone! Get behind!

The Silent Knight activates her Shield Skills, forming a huge barrier that blocks most of the Arrows. While Sachi's barrier is still active, both of Asuna and Yuuki's Swords are charging up, with Star Splash and Tsunami Slash combined as Linked Skills. As the barrier is about to break.

Sachi: Now!

Light and Purple sparks on their Swords as they release their attacks.

Asuna & Yuuki: Tsunami Splash!!!

Both of them charge straight towards the gate. Releases an endless of slashes that disintegrate the whole gate into polygons. After their Skill ends, their fist met each other as they fist pump.

Asuna: Nice work!

Yuuki: You too! Now the gate's down! Let's hit them!

Koharu: Attack!

The whole troops shout back with confidents and aggressive. Rushing into ALF's compound, about to fight against the ALF Soldiers with Crossbow equipped and Cannons that shoots out Lava Lance and Explosive Arrows.

ALF Commander: Attack!

Some of the MBC troops are able to deflect the Arrows from the ALF Soldiers with their Sword Skills under their Valkyries's lead. Some of them are ambushed by the Snipers from the tower and from the top of the palace's wall by managed to repel it. Koharu slices some of the ALF Soldiers down to red bar who are targeting her in melee combat. Then, she tries to assist the troops as much as she can by throwing knives to their enemies and also tries to destroy the Artilleries with her Titan's Shurikens. Lisbeth and her squad starts spamming the AoE Dive impact Skills by stabbing the Spear straight to the ground, sending shockwave to tumble the Soldier around her squad. Asuna, Yuuki, Sachi and their Squads are fighting them in melee combat. Asuna and Yuuki both stand back to back, watching each other's back as they are surrounded by the Soldiers.

Yuuki: Are you feeling psyched right now!?

Asuna: Definitely! Even though I don't know the reasons!

Yuuki: Well, you don't have to! Because that'll ruin the fun!

Yuuki ducks down while Asuna hops up, both dodging the arrows coming from all sides. They separate and fight the Army. Asuna dances with her Lambent Light while Yuuki performs with both of her Obsidian Slashers. Sachi stuns her first target with her Shield bash and attacks the second one, then back knocking down the first one. She turns around, notices the Soldiers and blocks their fire, but they are pinning her down with their suppressive fire. But, several Fire Arrows just shot out from Sachi's behind, lighting up the Soldiers in flames. Sachi turns around and knows it was Sinon's doing.

Sachi: Thanks, Sinon!

Sinon: Be careful! Their weapon techs are more advanced than us. (Just like in GGO.)

Sachi: But those arrows are deflectable! So don't worry about us! Focus on taking out the towers!

Sinon: Silica is working on it.

Sachi: Huh?

They both notice several Soldiers just got knocked out from the towers and on top of the palace's wall. It was Silica's doing after climbing her way up with Pina. Silica dodges every of the Soldier's melee attack, then she knocks them out who are standing in her way. While Pina tackles the other one out from the wall as well.

Silica: Pina! Go check inside the Palace and report me with Oathkeeper's location!

Pina: Pina!

Her pet dragon familiar flies to the Palace, the turrets try to shoot it down but the arrows are deflected by Sinon's and the Turrets are destroyed by Koharu's Titan Shurikens.

Silica: Thanks, girls!

Koharu: Keep going! Huh?

She dodges several arrows coming from her behind.

*Slash!* *Tush!* *Slice*

Kirito flawlessly slashes down a Soldier who is about to shoot the MBC Commander. Koharu notices that.

Kirito: Keep your heads in the game! Gin! Kain! Mina! Take the potions to them and stay away from the Army!

The children reply back with confidents.

Gin: Yes, sir!

But then, another one is about to attack them straight on. Sanya sweeps his leg and lands an uppercut on him, sending him away from the children.

Sanya: It's better than just stay with me.

Kain: Yes, Madam..

So far, there are no casualties on both sides until the palace echoes with the sound of players explode into polygons. The grand door of the palace plus an injured Soldier got launched out to the outside. Then, a fat stream of arrows fly out and shot down the injured Soldier in the air with 59 arrows impale through the body. Everyone in the fight are just stopped. Oathkeeper comes out with a Minigun attached to his whole arm and his Dark General's Sword with a head stuck on the tip of the blade. About to battle against thousands of Level 100+ ALF Soldiers.

Koharu: Lai...?

*Minigun cocks*

He sprints forward, shredding up every Soldier's body with Arrows who are standing in his sight. He rams through several of them with a charge attack, catches and pummels them. He slices the victim's throats and stabs through another. He kicks away and the barrel still keeps on spinning. He screams out in rage as he keeps shooting in Rambo style.

Oathkeeper: YAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!

All the Turrets and Artilleries are focusing fire on Oathkeeper. Several Titan's Shurikens were thrown out and cut out Turrets and Artilleries in half with the assist from Koharu. Oathkeeper slams his whole Minigun on one and slaughter the rest of the Soldiers, ended up leaving some limbless torsos, headless one, only torsos and even bodies that cut in literal half. But Oathkeeper sinks himself even more deeper and more violent. Instead of Swordfighting, he rips out one's eyeball, crushing their skulls and even pulls their spinal cords out. Silica updates a warning to everyone.

Silica: Multiple Super Soldiers are heading to the outside! Everyone! Stay away from their fire!

Koharu: Leave them all to him! The rest of you, try to survive and stay away from the Super Soldier! You all no match for them!

Keita: You heard her! Do not engage!

The troops retreat to the outside of the wall while Oathkeeper quickly detaches his minigun. But they all hear the Teleportation noises.

Koharu: Wait! The Army teleported back!

Keita: Get back! Get back inside!

The MBC troops backtracks inside. Oathkeeper quickly scoops out from the Soldier for Arrows. Picking up a lot of drum magazines and dispose all of them into Arrow belt to refill the backpack. He chains the belt from the backpack all the way to the Minigun's chamber and equips back up. He raises up his Minigun with his whole arm and starts mowing down the Army coming from outside. After he just done, Oathkeeper just escaped from being almost got perforated by Ten Super Soldiers, including the Elite Commander equipped with Quad Miniguns, attached on both side of his Shoulders. They all still shooting at him as he runs.

Koharu: Lai!!

The Super Soldiers keep on firing. Oathkeeper, who is running with his Minigun gradually starts spinning up as well.

Elite Commander: Shoot him!

A tons of arrows had fired out in a mere seconds. Despite the weight of his Minigun that would slow him down. Oathkeeper still able to run at fast speed away from their concentrated fire that is powerful enough to destroy a pillar with just a sweep.

Elite Commander: You're blocking my line of fire! Scatter!

The other nine Super Soldiers start scattering. Oathkeeper switches his Dark General's Sword to his Titan's Shurikens, using it as a Shield. Oathkeeper attacks head on with his Shield on, exchanging fire with the Super Soldiers. Koharu throws another Titan Shuriken, penetrates through one of them from the back and stuck on the chest. Giving Oathkeeper an opportunity to get close. He grabs the Shuriken that stuck on the Soldier's chest and pull up, along ripping the Soldier apart. He throws it to another one that cuts into half while Koharu rushes forward and lands a dropkick to tumble another one, then recovers with a backflip. She quickly picks up two of any weapons that littered on the ground. Quickly loads the magazines and she is now wielding with two Automatic Crossbows. Standing back to back with Oathkeeper.

Oathkeeper: ...

Koharu: ...

They both separate and take out the Super Soldiers one by one, while being watched by General Kibaou from his office at the top of the palace, unnoticed.

Kibaou: Just keep on dancing... You'll never defeat the god..

Timeskip...

*Minigun firing*

Oathkeeper blocks the fire with the Titan's Shuriken head on, using the blade to stab on the Soldier through. He rushes straight to the one another with the body as the meat shield. All of the arrows impale on the shield, tearing up the avatar. As the shield's down, Oathkeeper grabs the Soldier's neck and slams him straight down entirely, landing a stomp that crushes his head into pieces. Koharu shoots another one and swings a kick to tumble. Giving her partner a chance to kill him. Then, they both rushes straight towards Elite Commander.

Elite Commander: Die!

They both separate and strafes runs to the side, both throws out Shurikens that struck on the ALF Commander's armor. Causing him to flinch and kneels down as he loses controls, Oathkeeper swings a kick to the helmet away. Revealing the face, Oathkeeper stabs the head three times before cutting it off. Then, he jams his Minigun onto the armor, starts firing. The arrows penetrates through the armor and the body. Releasing his rage..

Oathkeeper: HAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

He keeps on firing until the upper part of the body got shredded completely. Koharu just witnessed his wrath and his violent side.

Koharu: (What's got into him..?)

After the fight, they both scavenge for more arrows from the Super Soldier's backpacks. The MBC starts revealing themselves.

Keita: I think the course's clear! You all can come out now!

*Fwissh!*

A spawning noises came up from the sky, a Gargantuan Mecha Golem is about land down on them.

Koharu: Watch out!

Keita: Go back! Go back!

Oathkeeper rushes to tackle her away while the MBC sprints back to hiding. The Golem's landing creates a massive shockwave that tumbles and blows both of them away.

Koharu: Ah!

Oathkeeper: Gah!

They both quickly recover from their tumble. Koharu drops her jaw as they look at the Golem's gargantuan size. With several laser beam launchers on both of its shoulder, triple rotary gatling guns that shoots Harpoons Spears installed on both of its entire arms and a green annihilating death ray installed on its chest.

Koharu: What the...?

Oathkeeper: ...

The speaker that attached to the Golem starts broadcasting..

Kibaou: The duo known war criminals has been sighted.. Lay down your arms, terrorists.. On the behalf of the citizens in Aincrad, you are ordered to surrender...!

Everyone was shocked and terrorized by its size and its weaponry.

Kirito: What the hell is that!?

Asuna: The ALF has their own boss!?

Keita: Shiet..!

Sanya: We should get going to hide! No point standing here!

Yuuki: But what about them! They are not going to take on such monstrosity!

Sanya: We can't do anything for now. We'll be a trouble for them if we intervene. They both are the strongest units in our assets so they'll make it out somehow...

They both check on their weapons. Oathkeeper attaches the belt to his Minigun from his backpack while Koharu reloads both of her Automatic Crossbows with drum magazines.

Kibaou: Cease your criminal activity...

Koharu: Let's go, Lai!

They both zoom forward, Koharu throws several Titan's Shurikens to disarm the weapon on its shoulder while Oathkeeper attacks on its leg to stagger it. The Mecha God manages to shoot down Koharu's projectiles with its gatling guns.

Kibaou: You are antagonizing the rule of law!

Koharu dodges away from the laser beam and joins with Oathkeeper. Both are focusing their fire on the legs. But they change to melee. Oathkeeper attacks with his Dark General's Sword as Koharu changes her style and wields two Giant Shurikens that can launch 10 combos in a second. Oathkeeper keeps on swinging his Blade with full force while she spins her Shurikens to cut the legs. One of them lifts up and swings at high speed. Sending Oathkeeper flying in the air with its kick.

Oathkeeper: Gah!!

Koharu: Lai!!!

She quickly turns back and reacts its stomping attack. She barely dodges away due to its quick movement.

Koharu: How did it moves so fast with that size!?

Kibaou: This is not an ordinary golem you fought in Aincrad! This is the god's true creation! The strongest guardian from the heaven's dimension! It all made with the Collapse Stars and the Heaven's Obsidians!

Koharu: He even used something that could break the entire Aincrad!? He must be crazy!

*Hook pins*

Two invisible strings just connected to its leg, Oathkeeper zooms back and tackles straight on with full strength. The impact results the Mecha God to tumble. The string retracts back and Oathkeeper pulls out to detach its laser beam launchers. The Launcher loads up and starts bombing its head off.

*Boom!* *Boom!!* *BOOM!!*

Oathkeeper: DIE!!!!

He keeps on bombing as he rages out loud. Until he blasts half of its body away. Then, he throws the launcher straight up, leaving a hole on the Palace.

Kibaou: How did he!? Impossible!

Oathkeeper: I'm coming... To get you!

He tosses away his Minigun and equips back his Dark General's Sword. He sprints forward to the Palace. Koharu notices him.

Koharu: Wait!

She quickly turns to her troops. Commanding them.

Koharu: All clear! Follow Oathkeeper!

Asuna: You all heard her! Let's go!

Everyone: Yeah!

The MBC troops storm into the Palace. Sweeping out the rest of the ALF Soldiers.

Timeskip...

*Fragments burst*

Oathkeeper storms through every corridors, killing all of them in his way to the top before the troop arrives. Suddenly, a screen turns on and reveals the face of the General.

Kibaou: Lai!

Oathkeeper: ...

His fist bangs on the table.

Kibaou: You fool...! You had killed hundreds of Soldiers and now you're aiming at us!? if you keep on slaughtering all of us! There'll be nothing for you to save! Doing this will not-!

*Bam!* *Screen burst*

He shot an arrow to the screen. Shutting it down..

Kibaou: I'm doomed...

Oathkeeper ignores his warning while disarming the ALF Commander's weapon. Then slices him in half. He throws a knife that blows a hole through the Soldier's head. He heads to the next floor and repeats the whole process. He receives a call from Koharu this time.

Koharu: Lai? If you can hear me! Our mission is to capture Kibaou and the rest of them alive! Do not-

Oathkeeper hangs up the call.. Loading up his Crossbow. Distributing all of his unused stats and skill points to STR and AGI boost after gaining billions of exps and raises up a lot of levels from slaughtering the Super Soldiers and the Mecha God as the steam-powered Elevator takes him to the next floor. He got surprised as he checks his Level.

Oathkeeper: Level 457...

He leans against the wall. Can't imagine how much he'll get after getting rid of everyone in the ALF guild. But as soon as he hung up the call from Koharu. There's no turning back for him at all. Then, he senses all of the Soldiers on the next floor are prepared to ambush him once the door's open. He tightens his fists holding his Sword and Crossbow. As the Elevator stops, Oathkeeper kicks the door, it got launched and crashes several soldiers along with it. His Agility becomes very fast to the point that he can zoom to his target in Lightspeed. Able to execute faster and deadlier attacks. He throws out a rage spike, penetrates through a couple of Soldiers in a line. After finishing the approaching Soldiers, he check out every room for the one's who are still hiding and he can tell that everyone had barricaded themselves. He grabs someone through a thick wall and pull out since he can sense their presence even more far and accurate. He throws down and stomps onto the commander's face. The other Soldier shoots him as he is panicking screams. He stabs through the same wall and stabs him as well. Suddenly, Oathkeeper got rammed by a Super Soldier equipped with thruster on. Pushing him forward.

Super Soldier: Die!

Oathkeeper escapes from the ram and got onto his back, cutting all of the Soldier's limbs. Using the torso as Oathkeeper's meatshield. He quickly cleans up every rooms and head to the next floor before the troop arrives. There are about 500 of them in each floor.

Oathkeeper: Level 473...

Timeskip...

Koharu: Lai!? Damn it! He hung up!

Kirito: He must be going for a massacre! We have to stop him!

Sanya: But there are thousands of Soldiers inside the Palace. I'm sure they'll eventually slow him down or even stop him with all of their disposals. We should keep up to his pace!

Koharu: I'll leave some of the troops here! We should go!

Koharu rendezvous with Asuna, Yuuki, Sanya and Kirito. Forms a small group to catch up with Oathkeeper.

Koharu: Alright! The rest should take care of the wounded one! You all! On me!

Timeskip... ALF Palace..

Floor 5, Level 489...

His strength is getting stronger and stronger each time he clears a floor, able to execute more deadlier moves and fatalities. His mobility zooms even faster that shortens the clearing time. He keeps on killing, that he couldn't feel anything but vengeful. He couldn't keep his promise with his partner after all and always getting ahead of her. But he will not turn back and still keep going to where his consciousness brings him to.

Floor 6, Level 513...

*Burst!* *Burst!*

Soldier: No! No! No!

Oathkeeper just literally rips a Level 180+ Super Soldier in half with his bare hand. Raises up a few of his levels.

Floor 7, Level 529...

Oathkeeper could tell the enemies are getting harder and harder to deal with as he proceeds higher floor. In this floor, he is now encountered three Mini bosses, a Level 325+ Mega Armored Golem, a Level 350+ Gigantic Ultra Soldier with six Miniguns formed into Hexagon and even the Level 350+ Hyper Helllord's gate that literally consumes one's soul and shoots a wide death ray across the entire floor. Oathkeeper uses the corridors and dodges away the attacks from the Soldier. He targets at the Golem as his primary targets. Oathkeeper rushes in and tackles it, he cuts one of the Golem's legs. Stomp on its head to execute it once it falls. The Golem bursts into fragments. The Soldier moves in fast speed, spotted Oathkeeper in a second. All six of his Miniguns spin up and fires a Tsunami of Acid Inferno Arrows. Oathkeeper blocks the arrow with his Dark General's Sword in lightspeed movement. He takes his opportunities to throw a few of Titan's Shurikens. Struck onto the Soldier's body to stagger. Then, Oathkeeper rushes forward and uses his whole strength to push the Soldier. The Skull on the Gate opens its mouth and fires a crimson death ray. Destroying everything in its sight, but not for Oathkeeper as he is using the Soldier's body as his cover while pushing forward. The Soldier's body starting to melt away by the ray. As he reaches the Gate, Oathkeeper stabs that penetrates the body and through the Skull's eye. The Gate emits out a roaring noises as it dies. Both the Soldier and the Gate are now destroyed. He proceeds to the next floor.

Elevator to Floor 8, Level 579...

As he almost reaches Level 600, he could feel his strength had reached to the Demigod level. He maxed out all of his Unique Skills and eventually unlocked its advanced section, the "Ultra Skills" that are far stronger than Unique Skills. As he browses through the recent unlocked Darkness Blade's Ultra Skills. There are "Void Barrage", "Oblivion Eraser", "Thousands fold funerals" and other many buff skills. Since he still has many Skills points left, he maxed out all of them and eventually unlocked the final section, "Darkness Blade's Ultimate Skills". With the skills name, "At Blade's end", "Oblivion shift", "Hell's core", "Satan's wrath". At a second, he couldn't believe what he just discovered. But he maxed all of them out immediately. Keeping all of it to himself. Suddenly, something cuts the power of the elevator and he forces the door opened As the door opens, a Gargantuan Cyberdemon grabs his body throws his out from the elevator and shoots its ray blast from his cannon. Oathkeeper dodges it in mid air and it ended up blasting the ceiling. He dodges a few more and suddenly his palm raises, receiving its last shot's energy. Then, he blasts it back straight to the demon's core. It explodes and he hops onto the next floor.

Meanwhile...

They all could feel the elevator trembles right before the power's off.

Koharu: Damn! The power's off!

Kirito: Open the hatch!

Koharu: Right on it!

She blasts the locked hatch with her explosive kunai. Jumps up and pry opens the entrance door. The others follow her as well. Searching for survivors. Unfortunately, they all didn't made it out.

Kirito: They all... Dead..

Koharu: Kibaou already dug a grave for himself after he released the boss. I don't expect any of them make it out alive except Liten. For now, I'm worried about Thinker and Yulier.

Asuna: You're not blaming him this time?

Koharu: He saved us all.. The ALF had gone too far this time.

Asuna: Yeah, whatever you said.. What done is already done.

Back to Oathkeeper... Floor 10..

*Burst!*

ALF Soldier: He's here!

Several of the highest level Soldiers in their group started their battle cry while charging towards him as soon as they heard the alarm. Oathkeeper sweeps them off with a sword slamming straight to the ground with one of the AOE Ultra Skill called "Star Breaker". After that, he slowly approaches to them, with his blade drawing along the floor, making the carving noises. The rest of the ALF Soldiers and Kibaou are backing off a bit.

Kibaou: Release the hostage!

One of the soldier just released the ALF leader, Thinker. He rushes to Oathkeeper's side. Then, he asks calmly.

Oathkeeper: Where's the other one?

Kibaou: Other one? Who-?

Oathkeeper: Where the f**k is she!?

His head went down as he is about to tell him the bad news.

Thinker: He killed her..

Oathkeeper: ...

He zooms off and grabs Kibaou after a second. He immediately throws him away from the Soldiers. Oathkeeper pins him down and repeatedly punches him with full force. Raging out on him.

Oathkeeper: You!!!

*Smack* *Tush!*

Oathkeeper: Because of you!!!

*Tush!* *Whack!*

Oathkeeper: Everything in this world!!

He knocks out some of Kibaou's teeth.

Oathkeeper: Has gone!!!

The room filled with nothing but horror screams from a man. He could feel he had broke Kibaou's jaw with one his punches. But he isn't holding back at delivering the pain.

Oathkeeper: To shiet!!!

He stops the process of beating Kibaou up, changing his plans to cutting all of his fingers off with his Sword. He pins Kibaou's hand and his Sword ready to stab one of the fingers.

Oathkeeper: Fecking suffer like everyone did!

Kibaou: Damn you!

*Chop!*

Kibaou: Ahhh!!!

The scream gets louder and louder as it terrifies the Soldiers while witnessing Oathkeeper's wrath. He keeps chopping off one and another to satisfy his anger. Kibaou struggles to let out words from his pain.

Kibaou: Alright! Alright! We're surrendered!

Oathkeeper stops as soon as he heard it.

Kibaou: Great... I'm... I'm sorry for what I've done to other people.. Especially Yulier..

The General slowly reaches to his knife while buying himself some time with his lies.

Kibaou: But you can fix it, right? You still can save us all from this hellhole! Think about your loved ones! Think about her! I know you always hate killing players that you are needed to!

After hearing it, Oathkeeper grabs Kibaou by the neck. The General takes his chance to stab him right on his head. But unfortunately, Oathkeeper retracts and counter back the incoming stab from Kibaou by just bites off the blade completely. The shards from the blade drop onto the ground.

Kibaou: Damn it!

Oathkeeper: But you don't get to live in another day...

He throws Kibaou up to the air and about to perforate him with tons of arrows. But a stream of arrows already penetrates him and one of them even headshots him before Oathkeeper does. The corpse falls and burst into fragments right in front of the remaining Soldiers. But he immediately can tell that it was Koharu's doing as he acknowledged her accuracy.

Oathkeeper: Koharu..

Koharu: He doesn't get to see another day from now on. You happy now?

Oathkeeper: ...

Instead of raising her voice to embarrass her partner in front of everyone.. She sighs as she let it pass this time.

Koharu: *sigh* You never listen.. But I'm glad you're still alive.

When she notices Thinker is with him, it immediately reminds her about Yulier.

Koharu: Where's Yulier? Why is she not with you, Thinker?

Both of them couldn't response to her anything but with silent.

Koharu: What's the hold up?

Oathkeeper: She didn't make it..

Koharu: ...

She pauses there for a moment, couldn't believe what she just heard. When she finally realizes it as a fact, her heart shatters. One of the Soldiers pleads them to spare their lives as they all drop their equipments.

ALF Soldier: We're surrendered! We all just doing what he says! That's all!

Oathkeeper: ...

Thinker: ...

Three of them are just pausing there while Oathkeeper is waiting for her commands.. She turns around to wipe off her tears.

Oathkeeper: They had surrendered.. Commander..

Koharu: ...Tell them to pick up their weapons. We refuse their surrender..

He immediately executes it as soon as he receives her order. He unsheathes his sword, slowly walking up to the Soldiers. He points his sword to one of their One Handed Sword.

Oathkeeper: Pick it up..

ALF Soldier: Huh?

Oathkeeper: I said pick it up!!!

The Soldier trembles by his shouts, he quickly picks it up just like Oathkeeper had said. Then, he brutally cuts the Soldier in half. The others back off from him. Thinker tries to stop him.

Thinker: Wait! You said you wouldn't kill them!

She cuts him off by headshotting one of the Soldier's with her arrow.

Koharu: But they took it too far! She's my friend! They just robbed my friend's life away!

She vents her anger on them by dual wielding her Automatic Crossbows. Massacring all of them until her explosive arrows runs dry and she can hear the click of her weapons. She finally calms down and leans against Oathkeeper's chest, drops her weapons and crying silently. He gently wraps her with his both arms.

Thinker: Although she didn't make the right choice, but she made the necessary one. And we made it count. Sorry about the loss, Koharu.

Oathkeeper: She just needs a rest.. Huh?

He notices a figure of Diavel.. Smiling at him.. As to congrat him for getting rid of the "mistakes" that Diavel made. Even that, Oathkeeper still couldn't smile, only an unpleasant expression. Eventually, Diavel disappears from his sight. Then, he hears Thinker's voice..

Thinker: I'll be rendezvous with the others..

He heads out from the Throne Room, leaving them alone. They both stay in hug silently for a long time, until Koharu breaks it with her question.

Koharu: ..When the suffer's going to end?

He hugs her tightly.. Couldn't find an answer for her question.. Then, he responses as he only knows the suffering will end someday

Oathkeeper: It'll be temporary...

The Moon shines down on the duo. He lifts up her face and gives her a surprise kiss on her lips. Soothing her soul away from her pain. Koharu closes her eyes as she submits herself to him while her tears rushing down through her cheeks. Both pushing their lips gently while their tongues are wrestling each other. They both break the kiss and Koharu happily response to him like she already forgot the pain and what happened to Yulier.

Koharu: It felt warm... ❤️

Oathkeeper: Let's get out of here then.. There's no point staying here anyway..

Koharu: *nods* Yeah..

They both leave the Throne Room together.. Ready to rendezvous with the rest to celebrate their win.

Timeskip...

After the fallen of the ALF, the duo are on their way to the ground floor. Suddenly, they hear Kirito and Asuna are calling out to them.

Asuna: Koharu! Oathkeeper! You both are okay!

Oathkeeper and Koharu: Huh?

They both walk up to the duo, seems they had something to tell them about.

Koharu: I thought you all should be in the ground floor.. What brings you here?

Their expressions are showing with sadness..

Asuna: ..We're sorry about your loss..

Koharu: Yeah, I know... Yulier...

They both surprised a bit that they haven't know about it. But they decided to tell them anyway.

Kirito: Actually... It's Yui.

His response got question from Oathkeeper..

Oathkeeper: Yui? What about her?

???: The truth is... She's a program..

The duo immediately recognized the woman with the silver hair. But also surprised that the fact she is alive.

Koharu: Yulier!? You're alive!?

Oathkeeper: ...How!?

Koharu: And wait, what do you mean Yui's a program? What is going on?

Asuna: ...

Kirito: Look.. This will be hard for you two to understand but.. She managed to revive Yulier before the system, Cardinal actually deletes her.

It took 5 seconds for him to shake away from overthinking.

Oathkeeper: You're joking, right? I refuse to believe that. At all.

Kirito: But please let me finish it.. She didn't tell you because she remembered that she was afraid of you.

Oathkeeper: I don't care! What the feck happened back there!? I thought she died at Kibaou's hand!

The Black Swordsman let out a sigh as he expected the response from him. Yulier tries to explain what happened during the call.

Yulier: Well..

Several hours ago..

During the call with Oathkeeper before the attack, she was strangled by Kibaou's arm. Then, her heart got pierced by his Knife. Before her vision turns dark, she notices Yui who was witnessing her getting murdered by the leader from a far. After burst into fragments and her soul floats up, Kibaou immediately spit on her corpse and left. Yui seized her chance to approach to Yulier's soul, putting her hand above her soul and brighten it up. Her soul returns to her avatar figure, as a sign of being revived completely. Yulier immediately warns Yui about the danger they're in.

Yulier: Yui!? What are you doin-!?

She got cut off by her sentence. Then, they could hear several commotions from a far.

Yui: There's no time for that. We must hide!

Yui runs off to the basement direction.

Yulier: Wait!

Yulier follows the girl to the basement where Oathkeeper had destroyed the control panel.

Timeskip...

The basement room was almost filled with debris due to the damage Oathkeeper has caused. They both sat on the debris. Yui was prepared to answer all Yulier's questions about what happened just now.

Yulier: Did you just revived me?

Yui: Yes.. I'm glad that I arrived just in time. You see, my memories are back.. And it's horrible..

Yulier: How bad is it?

Yui: You see.. The world in Sword Art Online is controlled by one massive system. It is called "Cardinal". And this system, which was designed to function without human maintenance. It controls the balance of SAO under its own judgement. From monster and NPC A.I to drop rates for money and items. Everything was controlled by the processes the Cardinal program executes. Even player's psychological care.

Yulier: Cardinal.. But how you know so much about it?

Yui: Mental Health Counseling Program, prototype 1. Codename: Yui.. That's me..

She gasps by her true identity..

Yulier: Wait.. You're.. An A.I? A program?

Yui: Yes.. I was given the ability to emulate emotion. To put players at ease with me. But in the end, I'm still the fake.. I'm sorry.. Everyone..

Her tears flows out through her cheeks.

Yulier: Yui.. Don't be..

Yui: I'm okay.. For now..

Yulier: What do you mean?

Yui: You may wonder.. Can an A.I suffer Amnesia? Yes.. Two years ago, on the day of the launch... For some reason I can't understand.. The system forbidden me from interacting with any of the players. I was forced to do nothing, but to monitor the player's mental state. It was utterly horrible. I watched them got overcome by negative feelings, rage, fear, despair, terror. Some of them are even became insane completely. Gradually, I fell apart due to the errors accrued with me.

Yulier: That's horrible.

Yui: Then one day, I saw a group of players whose mental parameter were very different from the rest. There's a joy, peace and, her.. The one who are always protected by the one with blue hair.

Yulier: You mean Koharu?

Yui: Koharu.. Huh? I had admired her positivity.. For a long time.. But I'm afraid of the other one.. Until the tragedy happens to them..

Yulier: I heard about it.

Yui: I watched her went despair when she got held.. But the other one, his mental state went so extreme that the system couldn't handle it, thus he shook away from the system's palm. Then, I watched him fought alone with all of his negative feelings containing inside. With the intent of a killing machine.

Yulier: Do you hate him?

Yui: Hate...? I can't know... But I understand his intentions somehow..

Yulier: He was once in fear of losing someone he loves because of them.. But now, he fears the one who had feared him in the past.

Yui: But I don't sense the fear from him.

Yulier: Because he'll save us.. He gave us the hope and positive feelings.

She smiles..

Yui: I hope I can receive that someday.. But not for now..

Yulier: Huh?

Yui: You see, the system has detected an unusual activity and running a scan on my body.. I'll probably be deleted soon.

Yulier notices that Yui's body starts to fade away. She grabs her hand.

Yulier: No! How am I going to tell them!?

Yui: Don't worry, I'll always be by their side. As long as I'm close to her.

Her hand disappears from Yulier's. Soon, her entire body got deleted by Cardinal.

Flashback ends..

After it ends, both of them are still frozed, stunned by Yui's identity.

Koharu: I never knew about that until now.. Yui...

The Silver hair woman looks up to Oathkeeper.

Yulier: What about you?

Oathkeeper takes a long breathe as he barely contains it all due to the war has wore him off.

Oathkeeper: It was all Kayaba's fault. But for now.. We all need a rest.

Koharu: He's right. Kayaba's the one who created Cardinal that has been confining us!

Kirito: We'll start the investigation tomorrow. But I afraid we have to cancel the entire vacation..

Koharu: How? Where are we gonna start?

Kirito: I don't know but we'll see.. Right, Asuna?

Asuna: Well, we don't know anymore right now..

Asuna sighs in depression as a response. Kirito pats her shoulder to console. They all leave the Throne Room in the end..

End of Chapter...